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Published on 03/04/2009 at Wed Mar 04 13:00.
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Josh McDaniels: On the Hot Seat

Posted Wed Mar 4th by

Josh McDevil

Congratulations, Josh McDaniels. You’ve earned yourself the dubious honor of being placed on the hot seat before ever seeing a football field as Head Coach.

The fans and media have spoken. From Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, who says you’re nuts for thinking of dealing Jay Cutler for Matt Cassel, to the fellow fans at KeepJayFireMcDaniels.com, who provided the loving image in your likeness – you’ve lost any patience or leniency as Head Coach. At least from this fan.

It’s ironic. No one could deny that your predecessor, Mike Shanahan, was a great football mind and Head Coach — it was his personnel decisions that ultimately cost him his job. As bad as some of his calls were, he never, ever would have considered trading a quarterback of Cutler’s caliber.

And that’s exactly what you did. For an unknown period of time on Saturday, you were seriously considering trading Jay Cutler for Matt Cassel.

Let me say that I believe the media has blown this way out of proportion. I believe you and GM Brian Xanders were the group that turned down the deal for Matt Cassel, and I don’t believe you instigated the discussions. The media is too in love with Bill Belichick to recognize that, and have just assumed that Mr. Cutoff Sweatshirt had to have been planning “something.” Please. It makes much more sense that both the Bucs and Pats were willing to make the move while the Broncos wised up.

The problem is you should have turned a deaf ear from the start. Those trade talks shouldn’t have made it past the word “Jay.” You have the 2nd-ranked offense in the league and a Pro Bowl quarterback, wide receiver, and offensive line. Fix the defense; leave the offense – at least from a personnel standpoint – alone.

So here we are. It’s March 4, exactly 52 days after you were hired as Broncos Head Coach, and a lot of fans are already calling for your head (see that web site above). I think firing you right now would be a huge mistake, and would severely set the team back for 2009.

So here’s my ultimatum: if the Broncos don’t win 7 games in 2009, I’ll be joining the throng of fans calling for your head. If the Broncos lose 10 games, I won’t be satisfied until another man is sitting in your chair.

I would have been patient enough with your plan to accept this season, no matter how it turned out. I love these free agency signings for the most part, but I know making such a huge transition on defense will take time. I was willing to be patient.

You’ve spent that cushion in my mind. Now I want results. I need results. You need to deliver in Denver this season or I’ll be convinced you were the wrong man for the job. Punch the next ticket out of town. We’ve won without you before and can win without you again.

Struggle this season and I’ll join the maddening throng. Win with us and all will be forgiven.

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  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    ROFLCOPTER on that photoshop job. Also, you just became my hero again Kyle, I agree with this post completely.

  • kerry

    awesome pic. i love it. its just too bad we didnt wait another 2 weeks. we could have hired Jon Gruden instead of this kid TRYING to play head coach. i still think we should fire him and bring Gruden in or promote Dennison for the interim. oh wait that would be the smart thing to do. nevermind.

  • Boisebroncoguy

    Hey Kyle, I bet we could use that top picture for a create-a-caption! I think T- Money would agree. Anyways, thank you for saying what was on my mind as well. McD was crazy for even entertaing the thought. I just hope we can find a way to keep Scheffler. If not, I hope we get more D-line help. Good job Kyle.

  • Candide

    Josh is now Jay’s biaaatch. He is going to be Jay’s jock toter for the rest of his career as Broncos Under Coach.
    I bet he has to run all future personell decision past Jay and his agent until further notice. Jay say jump/Josh say “How High”

  • http://www.search-this.com mark

    McDaniels just needs to come out and say, “My bad, I f-ck’ed up royally”

    There is no try – there is do and f-ck’en up royally and right now McDaniels you are f-ck’en up royally…

  • OC Bronco

    This is all hearsay but let me get this straight – We have a QB that supposedly asks for a trade when bates is fired and then our Head Coach and GM listen to an offer but decline because they have what they consider to be a franchise qb and we are calling for his job?
    So we shouldn’t take calls for Tom Brady? Really? Maybe this is what McDaniels and Xanders really wanted Who knows? Maybe I’m missing something but I feel like everyone is taking crasy pills.
    And sure Cutler threw for a ton of yards (pass attempts) but as your past articles have proven our offense WAS NOT THAT GREAT! We couldn’t score against the Buffalo Bills to make the playoffs! We got rolled by Oakland’s D at home. We did not lead the league in scoring.
    And next year – Our schedule is twice as tough. With this team I don’t expect to win more than 7 games. My prediction last year when everyone was talking superbowl – 9-7.
    2010 is when we will take back over the AFC West and put ourselves in a position to win the SB.

  • kerry

    there is no way we win more then 8 games this year. the chemistry is gonna be so F**KED up from the genius “im gonna trade a franchsie QB for a glorified backup” McDaniels, that the team wont gel until midseason, if at all.

  • http://broncotalk.net Joe

    Kyle, you are the man. Straight up. Awesome, awesome article. I agree with it 100%. If we have a losing season this season,its his head. Than we can go after Shannahan or Cowher next season. Some real coaches who actually have a sack and wont do this kinda stuff. (Yes I did say Shannahan. Maybe this opened his eyes and reallized that he should have focused on the defense of stand point more, if he watches us have a lose record this season. And YES, I would love to have him back.)

  • champ2203

    Outstanding. Agree 100%

  • jcampb72

    Our schedule last year was a cake ride compared to the one this year. With a new head coach, def coordinator, new systems, i’d say if we get 8 wins that would be a miracle. Anything more than that I think is unrealistic. I’d say we are a good 2 years from being contenders, that is if our drafts and FA’s are perfect. Maybe this whole pissing Jay off thing can work to our advantage. Maybe somehow it lights a fire under jays azz and he plays with a mean streak, instead of pouting when the chips are down.

  • jdkchem

    OC Bronco, You nailed it. The only thing the pointless ranting proves is that there are more fair-weather fans than anyone cares to admit.

    Will the fair-weather fans please go back to New York! And take invesco with you.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    I’ve been ranting for several days on this already so I’ll just say… good article, Kyle.

  • kalberts

    This is pretty low.

    This is pretty weak. No matter the truth of this whole ‘controversy’, I’m pretty sure we all agree that what happened was a mistake. As a human we’re entitled to making mistakes sometimes. How about we kinda…uh…move on. Cuter’s going to be our QB and our rookie head coach simply will make mistakes. Guarantee you he’s going to make more than this one. It’s going to happen. Just is.

    I just thank god the plethora of fans out there in Broncos land don’t really have a say as to what goes on behind closed doors, the team would be flaming ruins.

    I really enjoy this website but this was low blow.

  • Candide

    I disagree withe everybody who says the Broncos will have a mediocre year. An angry team may just be what we need. An (fake) angry Cutler and an angry defense.

    I’d say it’s about time. 10-6 easy maybe 11-5.

  • http://broncotalk.net Joe

    By the way, Kenny Peterson has signed a three year deal with us, According to Adam Sheftler. At least we will have another familiar face to add to the defensive side.

  • rnunns

    Everyone that is ready to have McDaniels fired, criticizing his decisions or just flat out blasting him for everything he does will be right back on the band wagon if we start winning again, with or without Jay Cutler. I love the Broncos and have faith that Josh McDaniels knows what he is doing and will be successful as our coach. There is a reason that he is an NFL coach and we just sit at the computer and blog, so lets give him a bit of a chance.

  • Jose

    Love the article Kyle. couldn’t have said it any better. McStupid is acting like the Devil, but good thing we got J.C, our football savior! You really can’t say it’s a rookie coach mistake, he’s been coaching for a while and pull a fast one like this? Now he’s looking into trading Tony S? I just think he’s not up to being a Head Coach quite yet. I can understand fixing the D, but dismantlling the Offense? What a clown, he should be coaching the clowns at Cirque de Solei or something.

  • rnunns

    kalberts I could not agree more!

  • Jaiu

    Arrington Signed today as well. i guess they took the verbage out of his contract that stated he needed to get his phone service from tatum Bell.

  • Sabrina

    very very very good article. My mood is the same. I don’t know what will happen next week between Josh and Jay but I’m a Bronco and I would like to see Jay dressed orange/blue for a long time…….maybe. GO BRONCOS and GO JAY!!!! I miss Shanny!!!!

  • Hansen

    So Peterson re-signed and JJ Arrington signed.??!! Hmmmm, I really hope someone ran all this by Jay.

  • jvill

    “It’s ironic. No one could deny that your predecessor, Mike Shanahan, was a great football mind and Head Coach — it was his personnel decisions that ultimately cost him his job. As bad as some of his calls were, he never, ever would have considered trading a quarterback of Cutler’s caliber.”

    Hmmmm…

    So, McDaniels’ fleeting moment of trading Cutler will have a more negative impact on our team’s success than Shanny’s 5… 6… 7…? years of poorly manned defenses? Doesn’t that seem like the obvious conclusion from all the people wailing over McDaniels and wishing Shanny was still here?

    “Win with us and all will be forgiven.”

    That, as always, is the cure all.

    To me all this brouhaha over Cutler and McDaniels is like the draft class grades the day after the draft — why bother wasting your time when we’ll all know the truth just a little while down the road. As you said, if they win, no one will give a whit about all this drama. If they stink, he’ll be out anyway…

    jdkchem: Will the fair-weather fans please go back to New York!

    WTF? Why would you send them here? Oh, I get it. So they can spend more time with a 25-year Broncos fan like myself.

  • Jordan C

    Jaiu –

    That was pretty funny, but where’s the link? Source? Schefter hasn’t posted it, yet. Was it Lombardi or Mortenson?

  • http://broncotalk.net Joe

    what source shows that arrington signed?

  • Kawike

    Amen, Kyle. I completely agree

  • Hansen

    Denverpost.com

  • http://www.dbaumgartner.com daveb

    Weak…why do we continue to act like we actually traded Jay? I would be disappointed if this new staff DIDN’T listen to all offers (they don’t even know each other yet to make that kind of call without consideration). THEY DID NOT TRADE HIM! I am still WAY more disappointed in Mr. Crybay’s reaction to this whole thing.

  • Candide

    Looks McD doesn’t trust Mike’s RB draft picks either.

  • dr.Gonzo

    All that pic is missing is DOUCHEBAG written across his forehead. Great article Kyle.

  • ryan

    Well at least McDaniels is staying busy, he just signed Simms. I like this pickup.

  • ryan

    Another interesting not is that we have signed 13 Free agents already (granted some may get cut in training camp) and will add 8 or more players through the draft. That means we will have at least a 40% new roster. Big changes. How about a blog post looking at the whole FA class up till this point and its expected impact?

  • http://keepjayfiremcdaniels.com/ StayJay6

    As the c0-creator of the website listed above, all credit for the photshop job goes to Porter Yates. Thanks for linking the site!

  • Colorancher

    Pesonally I don’t agree with the article. Knowbody in this last week has given Mcdaniels any credit. Get over it, HE’S NOT SHANNAHAN!! Anytime a new coach is brought in things change. Hopefully for the best. We have no control over it.
    The season hasen’t even started and everybody has given up on him. New players will do nothing but help us. How many playoffs have we had since elway. Come on give this guy a chance. 1 year is not enough to build a defense, but I bet we will do alot better than we did last year. All the pickups this free agent season so far have been good pickups to help us win games. Exception: Paxton

    remember: Shefter first reported that the Broncos had no interest in trading Cutler when contacted by the other teams. Why are you siding with the media.

  • steve

    its going a little too far now

    mcd is gonna be a great coach for this team, and im telling you, as soon as this team starts winning games and making playoff runs you people are gonna be on here posting pictures of mcdaniels as an angel, wearing a halo and surrounded by clouds, so dont overreact too soon.

    and as for the cutler thing, everything will be fine. bowlens gonna pay him his money, some huge 6 year, $130 million deal after this next season and hes not gonna be going anywhere. mcdaniels might be coach but bowlen cuts the checks and hes gonna pay cutler his money.

    i quote the infamous rod tidwell: “its all about the coian”

  • Broncnyc

    I think this post is ridiculous. Because the new coach takes a phone call on our qb he loses all credibility? I loved Shannahan as much as the next guy, but obviously things were not going right. Bates proved to be a very formulaic and predictable play caller and our offense was producing at 60% of its potential. Shanny was not going to be able to fix this defense and Bates isn’t all that as far as I’m concerned.

    Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette and that is exactly what McD is doing. Good for him. I’m glad Cutler is staying though, obviously but I trust McD 100% and think there are good things coming for this team. If Cutler can’t put this little incidence behind him and play his heart out this year, then he is not the qb that is taking us anywhere anyways. Go Broncos!

  • T

    Why are we signing so many rbs? buckhalter jj and jones

  • Colorancher

    What did any of our backs(besides Hillis) do for us except get hurt.

  • http://brocotalk.net (dee)

    Colorancher I like the way you think, I dont mind any of the signing’s thus far. Torain isn’t proven, Hillis was good and I think he will serve in the fullback role well. Everyone else was forgetable. We all know what Tatum can do and we can bring him back anytime because no one else will touch him. Andre Hall is crap , he just is. Selvin Young had some good games, but had some bad games as well and also he seems to be too fragile.

    With the signings of Simm , the RB’s and the Wr’s … QB,RB,WR positions are pretty much set going into camp. IF we trade Scheffler I want at least a 2nd round pick for him. I say we trade Scheffler to Detriot for their 2nd…

    This draft will be DEFENSE HEAVY … thats why I dont mind them signing offensive players if they will be DRAFTING DEFENSIVE players, Dawkins will provide leadership to the young defensive guys they bring in.

    Overall I like the direction the team is going, we have no need to draft offensive players , other than linemen in the later rounds. Defensive will be drafted early and often.

  • http://BroncoTalk.net Mr.East

    The comments at keepjayfiremcdaniels.mysitesucks.com make me loose faith in Denver fans, hell just really humanity in general. I guess why McDaniels makes millions and they flip burgers.

  • Roy

    Look, McD did his job. He had a QB that asked for a trade, and teams called with offers. He listened. He is not going to be fired, Cutler will make a statement about how they have reached an “understanding,” and people will forget all about what an immature whinny baby he was about the entire situation. Cutler needs to grow the f*** up, McD needs to figure out how this got out, and put a lid on it, and people need to move the f*** on. Seriously, can we stop with these articles and focus on any remaining free agents, and where the team is going?

  • Richard

    ryan I wholeheartedly agree let’s talk about our new free agents instead of McD should be fired and Cutler is a spoiled child. Theres a lot of free agents to talk about, and we need to figure out where we go in the draft. I’m tired of this food fight.

  • http://brocotalk.net (dee)

    Mr East

    I think alot of people have developed man crushes on Cutler, and are taking out their venom on McDaniels. Granted Cutler is a great quarterback I like him alot, but fans need to realize the bigger picture and what McDaniels is doing is for the best interest of the Denver Broncos winning football games.

    What fans need to realize is that Mcdaniels would trade Cutler for Cassell if he felt he would win more games by doing so. This isn’t a popularity contest. Mcdaniels doesn’t trade for Cassell if he thinks hes going to make his team worse and potentially cost himself his job. Fans need to think about this rationally, and the insults back and forth need to stop. Can we please wait to see how the season plays out before making judgement’s on Mcdaniels? The same people that “hate” Mcdaniels now were in favor of the signing when it occured.

    I think the backlash is do some degree also due to the fact that the fans have had their feelings hurt, for most of them Cutler is their favorite player, its like taking a kids favorite toy away from them and giving them one that “safer”.

    Finally, those who have known me in the ingame blogs last year know that I can be very negative on game day, but I’ve taken an wait and see approach with Mcdaniels and I believe that this can a great season for us. Like in everything with fans, usually emotion gets in the way of sound thinking and I think thats why theres so much backlash.

    Denver Bronco Fans , I urge you to have patience and wait to see what McDaniels can bring to the Broncos …rather than calling for his head before the poor guy has coached a game.

    P.S.

    I am not a Cutler bashing or McDaniels supporter, like many I was shocked at the possible Cutler trade. However in looking at the situation rationally I see why it may have been discussed and I see why cutler is mad, all am I proposing is we move on from this and try to rebuild the Broncos into the great franchise we all know they can be TOGETHER and not Divided.

    GO BRONCOS

  • Colorancher

    Amen Richard. Agreed

  • Colorancher

    Mr.east ,
    You are 100% right.

  • Colorancher

    I ment Dee…

  • http://broncotalk.net Ben

    We just signed Chris Simms

  • http://broncotalk.net Ben

    Also it zounds like we finished the deal with Arrington both according to Adam Schefter’s blog, so we almost know they are done deals.

  • http://brocotalk.net (dee)

    Tory Holt wants out of St.Louis …. we may need another receiver? Hmmmm

    It would cost alot for an over the hill player though

  • http://BroncoTalk.net Mr.East

    Colorancher,

    Nah you meant Mr.East.

  • soxbigdog
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