Chasing Ghosts

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_16738959

and what do you guys think about this?

I don't call 3-8 an incredible year for Kyle “Almost” Orton. Yeah the Alphonso Smith thing doesn't make McDaniels look smart, remember, it was DENVER that wasted a 1st rounder on him, not Detroit. Please no more Cutler references, he has been gone awhile now and do we really need to be reminded of his 8-3 record this year?

How do you expect to hire a rookie head coach and win immediately? . . . . hence, ROOKIE HEAD COACH. We will win, eventually. If this team was so good when he took over, why didn't we have even one playoff appearence with all our talent prior to being traded, when Shanny was the coach?

sounds like a great idea to me, but maybe take a safety in the second round.

so true, I hardly ever remember reading posts about firing Shanny in his last few years here. It seems like it was a complete shock to everyone. Yet he was making awful personnel choices, his play calling was atrocious and stale, and he couldn't get us to the playoffs. A change was needed. Gun slinging QB's & zone blocking do not win the Superbowl anymore in the NFL, so a new scheme and a house cleaning was needed. It will take time people. Be patient and realize that it is not possible to rebuild overnight. Like Ian Henson said “you leave the dance with the date you brought” We spent a lot of money on a corsage and a tux rental, lets not throw it away until all is lost.

Ian I almost always dig your articles but this one is SO far off base. EVERYONE knows Nolen left because McD wanted to do things his way. We lost one of the greatest D coords in the game because of an immature know it all head coach.

We didn't fall forward against St. Louis. Look at every 4th quarter game St. Louis has played and you will see that team consistently folds in the 4th. They have a young inexperienced team that has a problem closing out games. They were 1 – 16 last year and we lost to them. Until they quit playing, we were getting blown out by them.

McD has completely ignored doing anything logical to fix our defense and while our offense wasn't better than average with Cutler and Marshall, it was at least average and not a bottom dweller that gets shutdown every time it plays someone decent.

After all was said and done we traded Cutler for Orton and a bench sitting TE. Cutler has A LOT of major faults but anyone who thinks Orton is as good or better is sipping SO much kool-aid they have a permanent sugar rush.

We traded a first round pick for a second round pick and then used that on a CB we didn't need, then traded him after ONE YEAR for a 3rd string TE. The draft was stupid enough but then we didn't even give him a chance to develop before we lopped him off for a nobody!!!

We traded back in the draft this year and looked so smart, racking up extra draft pick after draft pick, it seemed so obvious we were going to draft an entire defensive line, and then we traded back up to get Tebow!!!! I like Tebow but WTF did we ship off Hillis to the Browns so we could get Quinn for???????????

Our head coach looks like a nervous 15 year old boy at our press conferences who has no people skill, no leadership skill, and obviously no personnel skill.

I say all Broncos fans should boycott all home games and force Bowlen to get a real coach.

If you think Cutler got the Bears to that record you're mistaken. Their defense has been playing lights out and the Zebras gave them a win against the Lions. I will give Jay that Eagles game, he played fantastic. That's what you get with Jay, a great game and a boneheaded game the next. We would be division leaders if we had Chicago's defense.

I-Man,

I appreciate your article and I honor your Bronco loyalty and I share in it, but when you state that the fans are “demanding perfection”, you are missing what I believe is much of the sentiment that is being posted on these pages.

I speak only for myself, but when I call for a new administration, or I am critical of our defensive performance, it is because I seek only what we have been promised…hard effort, improvement and an ability to learn how to adapt to the competition. I believe we are getting none of the above.

Very few of us on these pages are expecting that we should be 11-0 right now, but with all of the misdirected personnel decisions and embarrassing performances resulting in scandal and a 3-8 record, our disenchantment is not unrealistic, nor is it a call for perfection.

We have grown to expect that only from YOU. :-)

Cutler marshall and shef blew a home game chance to be in the playoffs to the Bills!!!!! not one of them stepped up in 2008, not just the defense. So honestly who cares about them? Hillis was a mistake…guess what every coach makes mistakes. We are as a team looking better in the red zone than we ever did in 2008 despite having a worse run game…all I am saying is give the guy another year to finish rebuilding this team. He hasn't lost the players despite the poor season, that alone earns the coach some kudos in my book.

Why does this feel like a lynching with “fans” foaming at the mouth? Put down the pitch forks and torches for a second and think about it. Why do most rookie head coaches that do succeed, do it for a different team than they were hired for? Shanny is a perfect example. Lack of patience, are you going to step up and admit you blew it if we can McD and he has success for a different team? What if the Giants canned Parcells after his first 2 years with a 12 of 19 record?

McD better start chasing those ghosts.

Unless that guy somehow qualifies for federal whistleblower status, he had better root his ass out and get him gone. You cannot operate effectively with someone selling you out to the league and the media at every turn

This isn't the 80's or a respectable coach

I am counting myself amongst the fans, I know that we'd more than likely be in a similar situation, but I really wanted Steve Spagnuolo to be our head coach simply for the reason that he would give an immediate boast to our defense.

When we went this off-season and I heard rumors about Wink I was fuming. I called for Denver to bring in Wade Phillips as soon as he was fired. I still think they should bring him in, in January or February (as early as is legally allowed). In the back of my head I think it must be a defensive coach (if not coordinator) who is leaking all of this information to Fox & Yahoo.

At this point though, knowing and seeing what we've seen would you come and take over the Broncos as a defensive coordinator? I'd need something pretty potent in my vodka.

I meant for my post to be more of a compliment to the fans, as opposed to a critique. So I am sorry if it came off as anything other than that, but thank you very much for your compliment (it was very humbling).

I am an optimist too I believe there have been some attempts through free agency to find a D lineman to come here and make the difference but it hasn't happened but you never know there have been more than a few cast offs who get there game back like a Seymore or Pryce when he went to Ravens. Nolon was good but that fizzeled and once being a Head coach maybe there was a clash we don't know for sure. One more year of McD is not going to doom this franchise there are pieces and flashes on both sides of the ball maybe with some good drafts and move in free agency it will come together boycotting the team will not help if you have tickets and don't want to go give them to some kids organization I am sure they would be appreciated

whoa whoa whoa. so Kyle Orton has a winning record in Chicago and its because he is a great player but Cutler does it and none of it is because of him?? cant have it both ways.

i like josh. i think he is in over his head. but as a Type A, fiery head coach, yeah i like him. he needs to win some freaking games. but i thought i was the only one behind this guy.

we have two options. 1) be miserable every week from here to 16, or 2) understand that we are not the greatest team in the nfl but can play with anyteam on our schedule. Bowlen is not firing MCD, and I'm pretty positive about that for the rest of the season and almost as positive for next year. His offense works, the players respect him and they know how he wants to run things. (if that were not true, more than the few that have demanded out would be gone)

Thanks Ian for a positive message on a blog who's comment section looked like an obituary. My Tebow jersey came in yesterday, and it is ORANGE! We get the Chiefs, Raiders, and San Diego all again. We don't have to search for something to prove, that's pretty clear already!

go broncos

I really don't want to argue about the differences between Cutler and Orton, but if one can't declare Orton the better quarterback clearly then it's not worth even putting up an argument over.

Even without being a “winner” Orton is having a much better season than Cutler other than the fact that Orton's defense is less than impressive.

troyn- to me the Rams were the better team, not even just record wise.. Any team that you give a 21-7 run towards in run quarter, that's showing that you're falling forwards.

I have been screaming for McDaniels to apply the two minute offense the entire game. This is Peyton Manning's success, I think a veteran coach may point to the fact that most of that time the defenses are in a prevent type defense, but what are they going to switch to after a team hits them up for three 15+ yard gainers in a row.

Rex Ryan, Mike Smith. John Harbaugh… rookie head coaches that won.

The Chiefs are going to roll this weekend, payback time!!

Hey im all for bad mouthing mcd for what hes done bad, but every last one of you is forgetting is that mcd IS NOT THE GM! he may of started things off badly with cut and marsh, but ultimately its not up to him to get rid of people, it's xzanders and ellis who have the final word and they are the ones responsible for cut, marsh, smith, hillis, shef, wiegman and the draft. mcd may have quite a bit of influence but in the end they put the stamp on it so they are the ones to blame for the perssonel moves. remember that xzanders is a new gm here in denver and maybe the wrong kind of gm. ultimately, bowlen needs to grow some balls and tell them all to get there shit together or they're gone!

Also, I know it's hard to admit it broncos fans, and i know it hurts, but jay cutler and brandon marshall were the bread and butter of our offence. cutlers about to go to the playoffs this year( even though most of that has to do with have one of the best defences in the league to help him) and marshall may not be pulling the same numbers he made here but he's still the same ol marsh. teams are double and triple teaming him which leaves the other revievers wide open. he will be one of the biggest reasons why the dolphins start to hit the playoffs every year. And to say that they weren't doing much while they were in denver is ignorant and shows how many of us broncos fans took it to heart when they left. The year before they left, in shannahans last season they produced the best offence, statisticly, in the nfl. cutler had a 96% passer rating and marsh was on his 3rd straight year of 100 receptions. all together they had the most passing yardage in the league. what was in question that year wasn't the offence but the defence, which had suspect for the previous 4 seasons. if we had kept cutler and marshall we were on our way to having the absolute best offence denver has seen since Elway! Bronco fans need to stop justifying their departures and realize that letting go of those 2 players was the single most stupidest decision in nfl history. It's very sad to see all of you bad mouthing them like they did something wrong when they were under contract here, cutler in particular had 3 more years left on his contract and because bowlen, xzanders, and ellis dont have the heart to tell them to sit down, shut up, and play ball we now have one of the worst teams in football. as bronco fans we need to admit this sad event being the teams fault and move on and hope the team can do something to get back what they had 2 years ago through the draft and free agency.

Cmon man really? You see how Orton gets his stats. He waits until the opposing team goes into a prevent then picks up the garbage yards. Have we seen him come back from behind even once to win a game? ( Don't say Cincy because that was a miracle ). It's time to put the Cutler comparison to bed because he is gone and not coming back. The only QB subject we should be discussing is whether it's time or not to give Tebow some starts.

I agree with your comments. I am also a Coach McDaniel supporter. I like his team first approach and I think he still has the support of his players. I hope Mr. Bowlen will give McDaniels a full season next year and that some positive changes will be made with the defense. Go Broncos!

lol the ones that Lloyd has made have been. I haven't seen those kinds of catches since the Lynn Swan highlights I use to watch as a kid.

5-16 folks, 5-16.

Faith gone, pocket book closed. Listening Pat?