Spygate II: Electric Bugalow

Having McD as the head coach is like eating at a 1 star Chinese restaurant. It might be cheap, but it will upset your stomach and give your ass the sneezes!

the fact that Ellis said it was not a fireable offence means he checked it out. I think if he could fire him with cause and get out of the contract he would have

Mcd wont get get fired …bowlen wont pay three head coaches…. We no longer have any credible assnt coaches that could act as a interm… What we have is a lame duck quarterback who is biding his time until some one decides tebow was drafted to play and not sit.. A 1st round running back who has one 100 yard game in about one full season of duty… not one play maker on defense champ bailey two interception dj williams 13.5 sacks two ints…. the most consistant person in our organization is greek…what we need is more character guys like Tebow… Cutler wasnt the problem attitude reflects leadership…

Sounds like the NFL is convinced the guy acted alone. But he was a repeat offender and ESPN is reporting that he may be banned for life over this incident. So if bringing in 'character' guys is such a big deal in the locker room why does that concept not apply to others in the organization?

As I said before… I MISS DAN REEVES. That was a man with class. We have a cheater as a coach…. He is pathetic. Just like his record. Just like his roster decisions. Just like his play calling. ALL IS BAD! PLEASE PAT: save this once proud franchise and fire him NOW. I know you are losing your mind, but PLEASE!!!

27 year fan. This is not the Broncos – not how we do business. McD was behind it in New England and should be banned from football now like the video guy. Disgusting! Must be rampant all over the league otherwise they would be a tad rougher with the no talent minnie-check. Champion UF quarterbacks never make in the NFL (check the stats), and apparently either do Patriot assistant coaches. The NFL is just as much to blame for not being more severe with their fines/actions. Just spinning for the sport – learned from politics.

Its a sad day when any NFL organisation makes the Raiders look organised adn even sadder when its the Broncos. The organisation is one giant clusterfck at the moment and the last thing it needs is anothger three years of turmoil that bringing in a new coach would bring in. What it does need is someone with experience and someone who both Coach and Mr Bowlen can trust to calm things down.

Despite the NFL saying “Based on our investigation, we have found no evidence to suggest that Coach McDaniels or any other member of the coaching staff watched the tape. Nor have we identified any evidence to suggest that any member of the coaching staff or club management directed Mr. Scarnecchia to record the practice” it won't be enough for some people. It appears that rather than doing something illegal or immoral, Coach McDaniels has just been stupid.

For whatever reason, some valid some not, there are Broncos fans out there who hate Josh McDaniels. I don't. I feel he'll become a good NFL coach in the future but what I do hate about this whole situation is how the Broncos can't seem to go about their business anymore without something happening. I don't so much care about the record, they could go 3-13, I don't support the team because they win. What I do care about is the turmoil that seems to engulf the team on every turn. And, I'm sure some of you will disagree but bringing in a new coach, new coaching staff and new players will just add to it.

I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Thoughtful except for your last sentence. This team lacks real talent in most key positions. They have a coach and GM that took the leagues most productive offense 2 years ago and made it among the worst today. As a bronco fan for more than 35 years I have NEVER seen this team in such disarray. If your point is McD has no where to go but up from here, maybe you are correct. I just think he will have a very low ceiling and it won't be made of glass. Sometimes you have to throw in the towel and start over. Bowlen, throw the towel. Throw it now!

I'm not going to say what happened was ok or anything, but over 6 minutes of tape I just have to ask: Who cares? In 6 minutes, even if he watched it, you are not going to find anything that will win a game. The big deal being made out of this is just another little bit of this unexplainable media vitriol that has come to us since Shanny got deuced.

Its nice to have a discussion that doesn't revolve around name calling!

I agree about the need for better players at some positions and the team obviously needs to improve if they're only winning 3 games.

But my main point, what I'd really like, is an offseason without drama, without trading talented but troubled players, without moving around in the draft to acquire a QB who splits opinion on his abilities. What I'd like is to start back up in September 2011 without the Broncos having made headlines for the wrong reasons. And if McDaniels is fired and a new coach comes in, we'll have to go through the last two years again with them.

One other point to support your argument virginiabronco. Their running backs were COMPLETELY decimated by the week ten and had to go get Tatum Bell to finish the season.

Make a wish for christmas .Well it might be a “Hard candy Christmas ” for the Broncos fans . Things are not going to get much better this season . Lets' just kick back and watch our guys play . There are men on the team playing their ass off and not having much luck winning . We have problably all been there . Lets just hope that next season whenever that is , it is definetly improved and that keeps improving.

Dumervil's injury: I said “I think”. That's an opinion based on what others were saying rather routinely after the injury. And he could bring in a high pick or a couple of high picks.

Never said we would get 1,2 or 3 for Orton. Never said we would get a high pick for Bailey. The idea was to stock pile picks because we need to rebuild from the ground up.

How can you say we have no shot at Luck? We are going to most likely end up with a top 5 pick anyway and that's where a Dumervil trade could come in handy.

And why not have two QB's in Tebow and Luck? Great competition and yes, potential trade bait for more players for the o-line and d-line.

wink should be the next head coach….pat quit screwing around and give him the wheel…

Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson, LaGarrette Blount and Peyton “won't stand for being demoted to kickoff duty' Hillis are sent packing for choir-boys who worship Josh's magic-playbook (and can memorize it like Brady Quinn… whom Cleveland would have eventually waived if we had waited until after the draft).

Meanwhile all the same Nixonian/Napoleonic front-office moves continue unabated (from Shanahan's habit of defensive-coordinator/puppets-into-fall-guys “left to twist slowly in the wind” to McDaniels' doiing the same).

Give me guys with guts and killer-instinct like Cutler and Romanowski any day.

At least, Chicago has their QB quandary finally settled after years of Cade McNown, Orton, Miller, Stewart and Griese (unlike Denver, Miami and S.F.'s still-continuing search to replace the missing legends). And, even though Jay's a petulant turd who throws off his back-foot too often, his INT's also have to do with Martz's system, his lack of protection and his lack of top-line receivers.

So, I now think Josh emphasized the INT angle to secure the job with Bowlen (whom he knew was looking for a reason to not pay Jay's salary).

Admittedly, Bowlen also wanted a guy like Elway who could lead the team at QB.

And Josh was smart enough to make sure their were no Jason Garrett/Mike Nolan-types waiting in the wings (which he obviously learned from Shanahan).

Too bad this perfect marriage has left the rest of us cold (and we still have an unimproved and passive defense, a head coach who believes solely in the power of his magic playbook and an offense that can accumulate yards but not time-of-possession, TD's and wins).

In fact, Shanny and his cheaper clone McDaniels– who only changed the zone-blocking to a power-blocking scheme and the 4-3 to a 3-4– even share the indignity of under-rating Peyton Hillis (whom the rest of us could see was a can't-miss stud).

Shanny put him fifth on the depth-chart behind Andre Hall and a cast of nobodies and McD put him on kickoff returns and claimed he couldn't run outside the tackles on the edge (even though he just took some sweeps and pitches for TD's today like he did for Denver at the Jets and Falcons his rookie year). Oh, and he has 12 TD's in 10 games and joins Le Roy Kelly, Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell as the only Browns backs to have 10 TD's in 10 games.

Too bad we aren't running a calender for conservative heart-throbs. Quinn, Tebow, McNeidermier, Bowlen and George W. Bush's cousin-of-cover-up's Joe Ellis all share that trait.

And, unfortunately, the brain-dead idiots at “The Denver Post” never wrote a single article about what truly doomed Shanahan in his lost-decade after taking the blitz away from Greg Robinson's repertoire in the new millennium.

Pathetic. And if it was just a question of us being patient enough to wait for the talent to be developed and acquired, I'd still be a McDaniels apologist.

But after seeing how the previous week's lessons from the KC win were predictably ignored at San Diego– where they were last utilized to great effect a year earlier– I am firmly in the dissident camp instead.

For its not just a lack-of-talent. Its the same stubborn and morale-sapping coaching that is still hobbling this team and its memory-addled, football-dense ownership.

Fire Ellis, Fire McDaniels and Go Rams. Any wins for McDaniels will allow him to continue his practice of excluding any evidence he doesn't want to acknowledge. And doing anything possible to avoid moving the opposing Safties away from snuffing out our wide-receivers opportunities to exploit man-to-man opportunities.

I knew it in the Jets game, when 20 games was enough to conclude that our lack of aggressiveness was no aberration. And to think that McDaniels actually convinced Bowlen that Nolan's once-or-twice-a-game CB blitzes– which were actually successful 90% of the time in our 6-0 start– were the reason for our faltering finish.

McDaniels told the “Denver Post” that Nolan run-blitzed too much against the Chiefs last season (and it sounded plausible enough to believe).

But now I see that he simply wanted to wait for unforced-errors so that his offensive-genius could win games on the offensive side of the ball (while allegedly keeping things close enough with our “keep everything in front of you” morale-sapping, cover-two passive 8-yard CB buffer zones).

Well, use all the draft-picks and free-agent dollars you want on defensive-backs, Josh, But you'll eventually find that nobody in the NFL can cover for five-seconds with no pass-rush penetrating the backfield.

Of course, when you bring in wise B+ defensive-players like Kevin Vicerson, Joe Mays and Jason Hunter, I can give credit where credit is due (if only we also supplied top-line talent as well with all these squandered draft-picks).

But we expect Jason Hunter to cover instead of pass-rushing on 95 out of every 100 plays (even though he's an ex-4-3, defensive end with hardly any experience at dropping back).

And then we see that Peyton Hillis is actually quite capable of going around the tackles, cutting back and doing everything you could want for a system that is all-too-similar to McDaniels/Mangini/Bellicheck's.

Now I know why Belicheck was upset when Mangini left but McDaniels flew the coop with his blessing. Mangini has an eye for talent and doesn't let his ego get in the way of doing whatever it takes to win (even if it means evolving from his stiff-necked and previously-endorsed philosophies).

McDaniels, like Shanahan, is more concerned with avoiding anything he doesn't believe in (even if it works). And I still recall Denver's diplomatically-chosen reactions when Goddell wasn't capable of covering-up the years-long SpyGate that allowed Tom Brady to know the defensive calls before the snap.

That may be yet another similarity between the two head-coaches that Bowlen has saddled us with.

So congratulations Pat. You'll be the only owner who won't be gritting his teeth and filled with angst and mixed-feelings while the strike takes a year away from a talented and patiently-assembled roster of stars.

Good thinking ahead (for you alone).

How do we know what Wink believes in? He's another defensive-coordinator/puppet the head-coach is pulling the strings for.

Bill Cowher or Dick LeBeau would be a great pick-up. Heck, if we get a Tight End I'd even offer to let McDaniels stay on as offensive-coordinator (if his ego could take the demotion).

Then he'd be forced to put his money where his mouth is about the need for continuity with his still-evolving offense (which they've spent two seasons learning his voluminous terminology about).

Of course, with his unwarranted ego, McDaniels wouldn't agree to that move. But recall that Bowlen asked Shanny to fire Slowik before firing him when Mike refused.

Hiring LeBeau as head-coach and offering Josh the chance to stay on as offensive-coordinator– and perhaps to re-assume head-coaching in 2-3 years if LeBeau retires– would be an unprecedented way to save face, avoid paying McDaniels to go elsewhere (and get someone who knows how defensive football should be run and staffed personnel-wise).

I wanted them to trade Dumervil coming off the 17-sack season and blogged about it endlessly (as I worried that his lack of physicality and one-dimensional reliance on speed-rushes/coverage-sacks made him worth more on the open-market).

Plus, a 3-4 OLB should be the size of a LeMarr Woodley or James Harrison (since they are equally dangerous at bull-rushes and therefore capable of keeping offensive-tackles unsure about whether to automatically open their stance as wide as Senator Larry Craig in an airport men's-room).

If the opponent knows that Dumervil isn't coached to do spin-moves like Dwight Freeney and isn't strong enough to push them back, the only sacks he'll get are 4-seconds-plus when the QB is caught from behind while holding the ball too long.

It's all BLAH BLAH BLAH until you start talking about Pat taking control of his team,putting Joe in his place,wherever that may be,cutting all ties with Josh and showing the NFL,Denver,The Team and The Fans that he is serious about once again earning their respect.Nothing would say that more clearly than having a press conference today where he terminates Josh and makes an offer to Bill Cowher to come right this sinking ship.

I think Jay Cutler and Shanahan would have been a strong combo… From everything I've read (post-Jake-retiring), he readily admits to not having a BURNING drive for football. It's was a job, he says. He wanted to be good at it, but he didn't live/breath/die football. I think Shanahan saw that and, even if for the wrong (80% of offseason workout attendance) replaced Jake, I think it was the right long-term decision.

You need a QB that is more than doing a 'job', the folks that win Super Bowls are 'obsessed' with football. They work every waking hour on being the best… It makes them horribly unhappy people in real life, but it gives you a chance to win the big game.

So, I disagree that drafting Jay Cutler was the mistake. I think letting Shanahan be VP of Football Operations was the mistake. If Shanahan had a strong GM that could have gone out and hired Mike Nolan as our defensive coordinator (like we did during Josh's first season), we would have been a Super Bowl contender that year. But Shanahan just isn't a guy that can pick good DC's. He needs a GM that can cover that weakness.

That's my (very long) two cents…

I think Jay Cutler and Shanahan would have been a strong combo… From everything I've read (post-Jake-retiring), he readily admits to not having a BURNING drive for football. It's was a job, he says. He wanted to be good at it, but he didn't live/breath/die football. I think Shanahan saw that and, even if for the wrong (80% of offseason workout attendance) replaced Jake, I think it was the right long-term decision.

You need a QB that is more than doing a 'job', the folks that win Super Bowls are 'obsessed' with football. They work every waking hour on being the best… It makes them horribly unhappy people in real life, but it gives you a chance to win the big game.

So, I disagree that drafting Jay Cutler was the mistake. I think letting Shanahan be VP of Football Operations was the mistake. If Shanahan had a strong GM that could have gone out and hired Mike Nolan as our defensive coordinator (like we did during Josh's first season), we would have been a Super Bowl contender that year. But Shanahan just isn't a guy that can pick good DC's. He needs a GM that can cover that weakness.

That's my (very long) two cents…