While I was watching the Broncos fall farther and farther behind to the Cardinals on Sunday, I noticed myself checking the sideline to see if number 15 would trot onto the field.  Unfortunately he never ran onto the field, even when the game was out of hand, but what I did notice was that he had his helmet on every time I saw him.  This impressed me, not because he is trying to be ready to go at a moments notice, but because he was able to listen to Mike McCoy call the game.  Now I cannot confirm one way or another that that is the reason he was wearing his helmet, but knowing who he is I can only assume that is why.  

To me that is great, he wants to learn every chance he can get.  I do not know if he did this in other games, because I was not paying as much attention, but in his first chance to listen to how McCoy calls plays and learn what plays McCoy likes to call he took advantage of this.  Pan 30 yards down field to Brady Quinn talking to no one I recognize with no helmet within 10 yards and a baseball cap on.  I do not care where Quinn was on the depth chart he was giving off an I don't care attitude.  Now I do not know if Tebow will be a star or even get a chance with the Broncos but at least he looked like he cared about helping this team and making it better. 

Well that is my my opinion and in a crappy season I am grasping at straws for hope, other than a top 5 pick in the draft.

Now I would like to say I am a skeptic because for the first 12 months of the current leadership I disagreed more than I agreed with McD.  I did not like "the trade" (mostly because we got KO in return), I did not like how he handled the draft last year ( it felt like he was lost and grasping for players and forcing picks), I did not feel that he addressed the most galring weakness on the team last offseason( the d-line) and lastly I did not like that he cut Mike Leech and replaced him with a NE player( I have no clue why this one bothered me so much but it did).  There are personality things that I did not and still do not like about McD, but I can overlook those if he turns this team around, I did it with Shanny.  That being said these last 3-4 months I have been pleased with the most of the moves and the way he worked the draft and the players that he got. 

Lets start with the last thing I greatly disagreed with him on and that was how he publicly handled the benching of Marshall and Scheffler.  I think it impacted their trade value because everyone knew there was an issue of some kind and that there was a good chance that they would be parting ways.  As for the trades, with this perception that there is a problem between these two players and McD I think we got very good value for our picks.  I think if there had not been this public divorce perception we might not have to have given up a 7th rounder in the Scheffler trade and could have picked up a 3 or a 4 in this years draft on top of the 2 2nd's for Marshall.  I know it is not a lot but it could have meant another starter or backup.  I have no problem trading the two players, Sheffler did not fit McD's system and Marshall was not worth the money he got.  I understand the Hillis trade, low risk potentially high reward.

I think McD did a good job in FA bringing in three big space eating d-lineman.  That should help the run defense and free up the LB's to make more plays in the passing game.  The only move in the FA period that is questionable is letting Davis go.  I liked his workman like hole plugging mentality.  I know he was not flashy but you need a few guys like him on your team and I would have loved to see what he could do playing behind that line. ( On an aside, I come here regularly but I do not have time to read everything so if anyone has McD's reason for cutting Davis can you direct me towards it).

Now onto the draft.  No matter what you feel about the picks, you have to like the way McX worked the draft this year over last year.  They let the draft come to them and collected extra picks and then when they felt the need they went and got their player.  They addressed need, and when they took character issue players it was late enough in the draft that it would be a low cost.  Just really liked the handling of the draft this year, in fact this was more of what I expected last year, but better late than never.

The players:

Thomas:  What made this pick more unpopular was the fact that Dez was still on the board, but upon hearing that he blocks well, comes from an option offense that had a strong horizontal passing game aspect, runs well after the catch and saw his measurables, I like this pick.  He seems like a good fit and he filled a huge need.  Argue all you want about the tallent at WR on the roster, but they are all 2nd and 3rd WR's not a #1 and Thomas has that potential.

Tebow:  Personally I always liked Colt McCoy best out of all of this years so called top QB's.  It is nothing against Tebow but something Colt showed me over the years in College.  I think if we had drafted Colt in the 2nd and kept some of the extra picks I would have given this draft an A+.  But enough about Colt, I do not mind the pick of Tebow, he cannot be any worse than what we already have on the roster (if you cannot tell I am not a huge fan of our QB situation).  Plus, every time Tebow talks I smile and get goose bumps, if he can do what he says he can I think I will be happy in 3-4 years.  I honestly can say I have not been this excited about a Broncos QB since Super Bowl XXXIII and has any other draft pick seem to fit a Broncos jersey as well as Tebow?  Oh man I am becoming a Tebow convert.  The main reason I am scared of the Tebow pick is because Skip Bayless and Woody Paige love the pick so much.

Second Day: I like the Beadles pick, yeah it might have been a bit early, but he plays multiple positions and most experts had him as the 3rd or 4th best guard across the board, so it was a matter of fit. Plus he fills a huge need as a guard and potential RT if Harris continues to have injury problems.  Walton, what is there not to like so I will not go on.  I like Decker, great redzone target, yeah he lacks explosiveness and break away speed, but he can make a great complimentary WR to Royal and Thomas and fill a little of what we lost with Scheffler.  My only concern with him is his injury.  It is an injury that I had and it appears to have needed surgery, as mine did. It is a bastard of an injury and can effect him this season (took me two years to feel my best following the injury) and the longevity of his career ( I was informed that I have an increased chance of arthritis in my foot because of the injury).  Like Decker but I have my concerns.

Third Day:  Good values here, love Cox, added youth a depth to the defense and some depth to the o-line but from what I read I think Olsen will be practice squad bound at best.

I watched day 1 of the draft on ESPN and recorded NFLN, which I immediately watched following the end of ESPN's coverage (do not worry my family has contacted A&E and they will be doing an episode of intervention with me during the 2011 NFL Draft).  After watching NFLN i went onto the internet and did more research.  So I was able to get 10-15 opinions about the draft and a couple things I learned is if 10-15 people all say someone has a simple trait it is probably true (Thomas and his blocking and and horizontal passing scheme in college) so don't dismiss them even if you do not like them, there are multiple draft philosophies out there and that it looks like McD has a combo of NE and Indy (amass picks which is NE and always get your man even if it is not the best value which is Indy), the experts are more willing to give you a benefit of the doubt on reach picks if you have a track record which MCD does not (they gave Shanny  the benefit with o-line and RB picks for 5-6 years) and lastly I did not know there is a medical round grade given to each player that the experts do not know, which could explain falls of certain players.

A few quotes I heard that were interesting

TJ on ESPN:  All the leadership and intangibles only matter if you are on the field. Like it or not I thought that was very true so lets hope Tebow makes it onto the field soon.

Mayock on NFLN: You have to like the way the Broncos worked the draft, you might have problems with the players they chose but they were masters at working the draft.  He then went on to explain that the Broncos entered day 1 with a 1st, 2 2nd's, a 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th round picks and left day 1 with 2 1st's, a 2nd, 2 3rd's, a 5th and a 6th round picks.  

For the next season I would like to see the return of the running game, which going to one blocking style for the line should help.  Eddie Royal to return to the 2008 version of Eddie.  KO to get a pocket awareness and ability to avoid 1 guy to extend a play and not go down so easy ( for me the season went down hill for KO after the 1st play against Baltimore when he got killed by front side pressure, learn how to make 1 guy miss like Peyton did). Improved run defense.  If I see those things I will be more of a believer than a skeptic plus if they work the draft so deftly again I would be really happy.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings and opinions and don't let the MSM get you down but you still got to listen to them and I personally am liking am1510 here in Denver, especially the 10am to noon show, very rational in there take on the Broncos.  And I looked but where was the mention by a more prominent member that this site was listed as the site of the day on ESPN's SportsNation last Friday???????

I am going to start this post by saying I am not a big Kyle Orton fan, mainly because I do not think he can take us to the next level, but I have to say my respect for him is growing after this interview. 

It was done on the Fan in Denver (104.3 FM) during Scott and Al's show.  Bubby Brister was also sitting in during the interview asking Kyle some questions.  What really impressed me was when they started talking about the Int's and Kyle took the blame for them.  If you listen at one point Bubby starts to say stuff about Graham taking some of the blame because of he did not do something, and Orton jumps right in and says no it is all me Graham did what he needed to on that play.  That really impressed me because it is how it should be.  You can see why Urhlacher had so much resect for him in Chicago.

Other things that were touched on in the interview was the play calling difference between Orton and Simms, Kyle stated that it was partially by design and partially becasue of the base defense SF lined up in regularly against Orton.  He also talks about what it is like having a coach that has his back and stands up for him and Kyle's early feedback on the defense.  If you are at all familiar with this show you know there can be more style than substance but today they gave a good amount of both and this was just a small piece of it.  Earlier in the show both Scott and Al feel that Chris Baker and Spencer Larsen are going to be "surprise" starters by the end of the season.  Which I have to agree with and hope we see soon.

I know this post does not have a lot of deep info but if it can make me see Orton in  new light maybe it can do it for others.  Plus it is refreshing to have a local athlete/coach take the blame as opposed to how Gary Barnett and Clint Hurdle would constantly blame others for loses.

Here is the link, I am not that technical so it is probable not formatted correctly.

http://www.fm1043thefan.com/channels/audioOnDemand/Story.aspx?ID=1126593

I just received the current issue of SI and read the article on the Nuggets in there, which includes some nice stuff on John Elway, comparing him to Chauncy Billups, and vice versa.  Once I was done I realized, that of everyone, Chauncy has handled the legacy of Elway better than anyone.  He knew by wearing #7 who he would be compared to and why.  He never backed down from it, he embraced it and felt honored to be mentioned with Elway. He knew in this state what wearing #7 means, it is like wearing 23 in the NBA or 99 in hockey.  He knew you have to be special to wear #7 in Denver and announce that the reason you wear it  is because of "the man".

Chauncy gets it, both on and off the court.   He knows Elway played hard and to win, he did not care what his stats were, he cared if the team won.  He wants the ball, just like Elway did, in the final minutes of the game.  Chauncy has fun playing the game just like Elway.  Chauncy trys to connect to the community like Elway did early in his career signing autographs for everyone. 

Looking back at the quarterbacks who followed Elway none them have really gotten it.  Brister was so nervous other players did not trust him in the huddle, Griese never permamently endeared himself to the fans on or off the field.  Plummer was close but was not given enough of a chance and was missing that something, plus he had too much negative off the field press.  Cutler might have been the closest on the field, but he never came close off the field or in his overall demenor.   I know there were others but do we really need to talk about Chris Miller, Gus Ferrote, Danny Kanell and Steve Beurline (forgive me on spelling).  

I understand that this is a subject 10 years old, but when your last QB says to the Chicago media that Denver is still Elway's town, I think it is still valid going forward.  Whoever is the next starting QB, call Chauncy and ask him what is it like to be compared to Elway and how to handle it correctly, cause he grew up in this town idolizing Elway and now he is this cities new Elway.  Not that we expect everybody that plays QB for Denver to be Elway, we just want them to respect the legacy and try as hard as Elway did to win.

I saw the posts on how the draft depth should improve our special teams and read Coach McDaniels words about Prater, making it sound like conditioning lead to his decreased performance.  But if Prater has another year like last year, starts out great then fizzles, it will put undue stress on both sides of the ball, regardless of how much better the talent is around him on kickoffs and field goals. 

So what do people who have played the game or studied kickers more closely than I, think?   Is conditioning really a logical explanation or just the most convienent?  Or was it coaches changing his technique and McDaniels was being polite and did not want to point fingers publically at the previous staff?  The most intriguing one that I have heard is that he just cannot kick in cold weather (an idea a patient of mine shared with me), cause his downslide does coincide with the colder part of the schedule.  I was in the stands for the Buffalo game and it looked like he could barely kickoff to the 15-20 and it might have been the coldest game of the year, lending merrit to an arguement that a non-player is starting to buy into.