It’s official. We will have four more years of Champ Bailey.
We will have four more years of a veteran cornerback that can shut down pretty much any team in the league.
Four more years of leadership, four more years of experience, four more years of a fan favorite.
“Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!” It almost sounds like a presidential political rally.
We know that Champ is capable of and even though he may be in his twilight years, he can now take his house off the market and make it into the future retirement home that he has always dreamed.
Congratulations Champ and congratulations Denver. Champ is what championship teams are made from.
No I am not talking about that John. Anytime anyone hears John in the same area code as the Denver Broncos they think of John Elway.
We have a new John on our hands.
And newly hired coach, John Fox has a problem on his hands.
He has to once again turn around an NFL franchise that has headed straight to the showers after the regular season into a tough and winning football team.
He did just that at the Carolina Panthers even though his last few years have been lackluster. It is no surprise to those that follow the Broncos that we have the second draft in the NFL, the first draft going to the Panthers.
So why does the second worst team hire the coach from the first worse team? Many reasons: money, being turned down by other coaches, best of what’s left.
But we must be excited about one thing and that is the fact that this man’s mind is on defense. Broncoholics have been begging for defense for years and now we finally get to see it happen.
John Fox now must turn the Broncos around, and while doing it, show his wisdom through year’s of coaching positions and take on the NFL. But he must do better than that, he must win.
Putting the cart before the horse. Putting things in the wrong order. Doing things the wrong way.
That sounds like an awful lot like the Denver Broncos lately as they continue to play ass-backward, losing to the mighty 3-9 Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. It was like watching two homeless people beat up on each other, or rather, one homeless person dominating the other. There is nothing to fight for, just the pure spectacle, and yet, it still isn’t fun to watch.
What has gotten into this team? Or rather, what have they lost? Why are they one of the worst teams in the league? At 3-10 they are akin to the weakened Voldermort of the first couple Harry Potter books instead of the powerful wizard that was once feared.
Kyle Orton is no longer the dominant passer he was at the beginning of the year and he showed it on Sunday with three interceptions. There are rumors that Quarterback Kyle Orton has been playing hurt. Whether or not he is hurt, we can all agree that he isn’t playing well.
And it isn’t just the team as a whole or Kyle Orton as an individual that has lost its aura.
Mile High stadium is a shadow of what it once was. Teams aren’t afraid to come in here and play as before.
Catchers aren’t catching. The offensive line has seen a bit of an improvement but it’s like a seesaw with this team. When one portion of the team rises, the other side falls.
There have been plenty of distractions this year: suspected DUIs, suspected sexual assaults, SpyGate 2, a coach fired, injuries, yet it seems that even had not all of that occurred, this team still wouldn’t be any good.
The Broncos have to decide if they want to win the remaining three games, or if they would rather tank and up their spot in the draft. They are currently sitting with one of the top five picks. So it comes down to pride in one’s play, or calculating for a better pick.
Speaking of the draft, they have this year’s first-round draft pick sitting on the shelf, looking pretty. Every so often they take him off the shelf for all the fans to ooh and awe at. I suppose every couple of days they send a maid to dust him off so he still looks shiny. But there he sits, neat and tidy in his case as the entire nation wonders why the hell he isn’t playing yet.
With nothing left to play for, with Kyle Orton playing bad football, there is no reason that Tim Tebow should not be on the field, gaining real-time experience as an NFL quarterback.
Against the Cardinals, when there was no chance of a Broncos comeback, Tim Tebow was still stuck on the sidelines. The only help he could give was an occasional pep talk.
The Broncos have definitely put the cart before the Tebow. They are doing things the wrong way. Tim Tebow needs the experience and the remaining three games of this losing season is the perfect time to give him that experience.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the Broncos organization prefers to put a weakened Orton out on the field instead of a ready and willing Tebow.
Here’s to hoping they see the light and put Tebow in on Sunday, if not for him, than at least so the fan’s have a reason to watch the games. Because without him, we’ve seen it all before. With him, at least there is something shiny and new. And with Christmas just around the corner, who doesn’t like shiny things?
Only the Magic 8 Ball has the correct answer. Of course, of the 20 standard answers it gives we don’t know which is the right one.
Is McDaniels firing good for the Broncos? “As I see it, yes.”
Is McDaniels firing good for the Broncos? “Cannot predict now.”
Is McDaniels firing good for the Broncos? “No Dude, you’re screwed.”
Well that last one isn’t accurate but you get the point.
We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that the Magic 8 Ball has the correct answer. We will have to wait a season or two to see it for ourselves.
Mr. Bowlen’s decision that enough was enough with McDaniels, sent a shock wave of excitement and anxiety, much the same as what was shot through Broncos Country when Tim Tebow was unexpectedly selected earlier this year in the draft.
With McD gone, the Broncos are in limbo as they try to hurry up and wait. They are on their way to new territory as the McDaniels era (all 23 months of it) is over. Still, the Broncos are on hold as newly-minted Coach Studesville is only a temporary solution. The search is on for the next coach that will take us to a Super Bowl.
With only four games left, what will be considered success for the Broncos?
If they lose all four games, will most fans be angry? Or will the fans instead see it as a necessary evil that must be endured for getting rid of McDaniels?
If the Broncos split the remaining games will that inject much needed excitement into the Mile High City?
Or, do Broncos fans dare dream that the remaining four games can all be won?
How will the players react? Already this season they have had to deal with SpyGate 2. Sunday will illuminate whether McDaniels was a rope around the feet of the team, or whether he was instead, a tie that strengthened the team.
We will find out on Sunday as the horrible 3-9 Broncos take on the equally horrible 3-9 Arizona Cardinals.
Clearly, the number of questions that have been asked this week are enough to confuse everyone but the Magic 8 Ball. But, most fans are willing to ask them if it means that the Broncos future is brighter than what it was before.
It’s not fun watching anymore. I still love the Broncos but I hate sitting back every Sunday as they throw their games away.
After most of the Broncos’ losses this season, the average fan can take a look back at the game and parse out the portion of the team that could’ve played better. Those players, whether they be offense, defense, special teams or even coaching hold the key to winning. When they don’t play well, the whole team suffers.
This week, it was Kyle Orton. Pass after pass was thrown in the dirt, or thrown behind a receiver, or thrown out of bounds. Kyle was more than off his game, he wasn’t in the game.
It takes all players to win. Though the defense played well by forcing a much-needed turnover and even stopping the Chiefs when they went for a touchdown on fourth down, the offense didn’t do anything to help move the Broncos passed the Chiefs. Two field goals aren’t going to force the Chiefs into submission, yet that was all the Broncos were able to grab.
If even one of those field goals had been a touchdown, the Broncos would have had a chance to get their offense back on track in overtime.
And the offensive leader is of course Kyle Orton.
So where was Kyle Orton during the game? Man I wish I knew. Would the real Kyle Orton, please stand up.
In most games, one can point to a handful of plays that dictate the winner.
This week, most of those plays involved Kyle Orton.
But even when Orton finally made a good play, the ref stepped in to call it back. The play could have changed the momentum of the game. Kyle Orton felt pressure in the pocket but managed to save the play just as he was being sacked by shovel passing the ball in front of him as he was being thrown to the ground. It was a great play to be honest.
But the ref decided it was time to get in the way.
My goodness, what was that ref doing? Was he handed a big gallon of Kansas City BBQ sauce and some dollar bills from the Chiefs’ front office before the game as payoff?
I hope the ref spent his money wisely because he sure earned it.
The Broncos did manage to give themselves one more chance at a win with a last minute Hail Mary, but one thing we have learned is that Orton just doesn’t have the power or will or the ability to stay calm under pressure to lead the Broncos back from behind. We know this based on watching the last few opportunities for a come from behind win as they ended in nothing but a sad and frustrated fan base.
Now that the broncos are 3 and 9 and on their way to a horrendous losing season; maybe now the only thing left to play for is a high pick in next year’s draft.
If it wasn’t for great plays from players like Champ Bailey, who shut down Dwayne Bowe, and Mario Haggan, this loss would’ve been even worse.
Kyle Orton needs to come to play with his head in the game next time. Even though the Broncos have nothing to play for, they could at least give the fans a reason to watch.
“Civis Romanus Sum.” Translated: “I am a Roman Citizen.” Those words offered the ancient Roman traveler great protection from the hoards of evil-doers outside of the Roman Empire. It was said that a Roman Citizen could walk the breadth of the land and when there was danger, if they said those words, no harm would come.
When Caesar has you’re back, you’re safe from the swords of any person no matter how much they might despise you.
In the realm of the Denver Broncos, that means that Coach McDaniels’ job is safe based on the letter sent out by the owner of the Denver Broncos, Pat Bowlen. Mr. Bowlen indicated that Josh is doing good even though the organization is not where anyone wants it to be.
On top of that, no matter the casual fan’s view on whether or not Coach McDaniels had any hand in SpyGate 2 – the recording of the 49ers walk-through in jolly England – Mr. Bowlen believes McDaniels when he says he is free of any sin.
So no matter how many calls for McDaniels’ head there are, and no matter how many citizens of Broncos Nation rise up against the coach, and no matter how many metaphors I mix in this article, Josh McDaniels can look at all of us and say, “Civis Broncos Sum,” or in other words, “I am a Broncos Citizen,” and so with that statement, he gets all the protection Pat Bowlen wants to bestow.
It’s good to be Caesar. And if you’re not Caesar, well then it’s good to be his coach.
