Nolan signs as Dolphins’ defensive coordinator

Ladies and Gentlemen your captain has turned on the seat belt sign due to minor turbulence. We would like to remind you that in the more than likely event that we are going down in flames that an oxygen mask will drop from the over head to make you feel like there's hope. We hope you enjoyed your flight on Josh McDaniles airlines.

Seriously, I'm tired of this. Denver needs to hire a competent D-coordinator (which Nolan was) and stick with him through thick and thin. Continuity helps build championship defenses. Denver has a good mix of youth and experience on defense and it would go a long way toward getting back to the playoffs if the they had a consistent scheme from year to year.

Nolan was “his” guy. It was his first hire. Once again, nobody has a clue what really happened. It's all assumptions and speculation from people who really have no idea what they are talking about at this point.

As far as chasing others away. Shanahan was going to trade or even cut Brandon Marshall outright. Tony Scheffler has always been a fan favorite that has never done anything on the field before or after McD arrived. Cutler is a physically gifted and mental wreck of a qb that wouldn't do anything for us and according to Adam Schefter, Shanahan said he had plans to put Cutler on the trading block after last season.

Whether he would have actually traded Cutler or not doesn't matter. Shanahan obviously wasn't all that high on Cutler or he would have gone to the Bears to be a head coach. Obviously Cutlers old qb coach wasn't very high on him or he would have gone to the bears to work with him again instead of going to Seattle. Cutler led the league in int's both inside redzone and the other teams 20 last year. This year he damn near set a record for int's thrown. Nobody chased Cutler away, he did it to himself.

I'm not thrilled with everything going on in Denver but people need to get real about it all. The Bronco's haven't lost anything important other than maybe our RB's coach and Nolan (both of which won't be determined until next year).

Nolan was brought in to help McDaniels figure out what the hell he was doing so Bowlen could sleep at night, but he was never his guy. McDaniels doesn't want anything to do with anyone who wasn't hand picked by him, within 3 years every single holdover from the Shanahan era will be gone, including Clady. McDaniels would rather drive an '91 Geo Metro that he bought, then a Maybach that was given to him.

This entire situation stinks to me. While I agree that we may never know what really happened, the timeline of events is just not right. The Phins request permission to interview Nolan, there is a mutual split and Nolan already has a signed contract; all within 24 hours. Now I am not a contract lawyer, nor have I ever even seen an NFL contract, but that seems really fast. I wouldn't think that teams carry a standard coaching contract with fill-in-the-blank spaces for title and salary. Those things take time to draft with things like clauses protecting both parties, salary information, and special allowences having to be discussed. Something just doesn't smell right, kind-of like bad Tuna…

Yeah dude, big money from ESPN, I got people on the inside everywhere. It's not my common sense or anything that McDaniels is a control freak and doesn't want a threat of someone that can take over if the franchise continues to slide, as well as disagree on defense philosophy, Nolan is from the Walsh tree and McDaniels/Pees is from the Tuna tree. McDaniels just needs a pawn as DC, someone to say yes sir you are correct we will do it that way.

“McDaniels is a control freak”

All head coaches are and have to be or they will never succeed. There isn't one great coach in any sport you can name that wasn't one. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not saying McD is a great coach or even a good coach at this point. Just one cannot achieve that status without that quality.

“doesn't want a threat of someone that can take over if the franchise continues to slide”

I don't buy that at all. Any head coach that is concerned with a franchise sliding under his control isn't in the NFL very long. That is certainly not the attitude McD's over confidence portrays.

“as well as disagree on defense philosophy, Nolan is from the Walsh tree and McDaniels/Pees is from the Tuna tree.”

That is the most likely scenario but who really knows. Money, family, living conditions, lots of different things can play a factor in a lateral move.

Obviously the defense broke down in the second half of the season so it is either primarily McD or Nolan's fault. As I said before I would tend to side with Nolan at this point considering his impressive defensive resume but only time will tell. If the defense is better next year, it was obviously a problem with Nolan. If not, we know who to blame.

Listen everyone. I am a Phins fan and am very glad (more like elated) to have Nolan as our new DC. But just think about it…Nolan wanted to leave and McD had no choice. Should he have forced him to stay? What else could he have done? I think you guys have a heck of a coach, I really do. Let all the cards fall into place (which may take a couple years) and Denver will be a big time contender. To he honest with you I don't see how you guys let Shanahan go I have always really admired him as a coach and for his drafting abilities. Give McD some time and the benefit of the doubt, he REALLY wants to win and is a great football coach.

Public ownership is the best way to correct the problems with the Broncos and ensure that our team remains in our town. Green Bay is publicly owned; why not Denver?

McD should coach the defense because I loved what he did with our offense.

now you're really losing it trog. We haven't lost anything important? Regardless of the circumstances, we now have a significant list of folks who chose not to be involved with our very young coach. The last of which was 'his man', who made a lateral move to start over in miami after all his work here this past year.

And Shanny had the option to coach in Chicago? When?

Maybe McD can still pull out of this tailspin. I hope so. I truly hope so. But it's time to call it what it is.

….oh, I just did.

hear hear

there's my fear in a nutshell. It was my main criticism of Shanny (and I'm a huge Shanny fan).

Delegate!!!!

That is an awful idea, I like to think I know a lot about football but I don't even have a one thousandth of the knowledge needed to run a team, that's why I'm a fan, and I overreact and get too emotionally attached and complain about McDaniels all day at work on here.

I would like to see our defense blitz, and blitz, and blitz some more, and after that, blitz even more.

Oh my bad, reading is fundamental.

I mentioned both Bates and Shanahan. It was widely speculated that Chicago had secretly talked with Shanahan about taking over the Bears head coaching position shortly before he went to the Redskins. If that is true then Shanahan obviously wasn't interested in going there. Considering word got out he was going to put Cutler on the trading block, it wouldn't have worked out anyway.

So does anyone recall that Nolan was up for the head coch job with McD? How can anyone think that Nolan was picked by anyone other than Bowlen? This is is just a parting of strategical minds. McD obviously wants more controll of the D than Nolan is willing to give up. McD is a cancer. Plain and simple. And to say that Scheffler never produced b4 McD is just plain and simply ignorant.

Agree.

Posted Pees record (couple of topics back) with NE over the past 4 years and it is very impressive. Yes, I know Belichick had a lot to do with that.

Still, I think Pees would be a good if not great hire. Also, I still liked the way this defense played when Coyer was the DC. He was fine until Shanny stuck his nose in it and turned them from blitz monsters to give 'em 10 yards of cushion at the line of scrimmage.

Who knows why Nolan left… hopefully it's not because of a personality conflict with McD. If it is, we have real problems that will come to the surface quick enough.

Thanks to you and Plato for responding to my comment. I did not mean to suggest that fans should run the Broncos, merely that they should own them. If you look at Green Bay's business model, fans have purchased stock in the team and have recruited professional management and coaching through a Board of Directors. As in any publicly held company, management is ultimately responsible to the shareholders. The Packers remain competitive despite their being publicly owned, and the team will always be in Green Bay.

ahh yes, but a huge day in American politics yesterday. The machine has been shut down and the democratic dictatorship is over.

Even if there was tampering, no one will call it that. It would be called a “friendly discussion amoung colleagues,” or some other crap. Since everyone does it, it would take an extreme case of tampering to bring acusations.