Going into the bye week undefeated has led to the LONGEST bye week ever! If there had been a loss or two then you end up telling yourself "okay, we need this week to regroup and get our gameplan together." Also, most teams use bye weeks to heal from injuries, but aside from a few sore ankles and banged up shoulders, we are a pretty healthy team.

This isn't the case with the 2009 Broncos. And I am happy.  But like the rest of us this week, we are reaching for things to talk about. So I bring up Tom Brandstater.

Third on the QB depth chart, Tom probably won't see any gametime this season, but what do you think is in the cards for old Tom? I think a lot of us viewed his drafting by Josh McDaniels as a kind of 6th round diamond in the rough that Coach can mold into a Tom Brady type.

So, I'm wondering if McDaniels wants Tom to be his QB within the next 2-3 years, or if he is going to keep Orton for as long as he can since Orton is running the system beautifully right now, and is only getting better.

Then there's Chris Simms. In New England they usually only kept 2 QBs on the active roster, and so i see McDaniels eventually wanting to do that too. Also, with the influx of inferior quarterbacks in the league right now, Simms has to wonder if he can get a starting gig with another team, (Buffalo, Cleveland, St. Louis, Oakland, Carolina, Jacksonville to name a few.)

What do you think?

This week, I had to depend on College football to get my fix. I live in Utah and am a fan of BYU, who got spanked by TCU on Saturday. BYU Coach Bronco Mendenhall is a good coach and he has instilled good character and work habits in his players. His mantra is "Stick to our gameplan", but the problem is their gameplan never changes. They never adapt to the challenges of each team. My friend, who doesn't really know much about football, tells me that she can even notice that BYU doesn't prepare for individual teams and adapt to the weekly challenges.

When BYU beat Oklahoma in week one, many people claimed that BYU could contend for the national championship. Then Florida State puts up 54 points and a win on them, while now the Seminoles are 3-4 and out of bowl consideration. What works against one team doesn't always work on other teams.

Reading potent quotables from John Bena today, you can sense from Josh McDaniels' lengthy responses that he has adequately broken down all three phases of the Raven's team and has a new gameplan that he will feed to his players this week at practice.

I love how McDaniels used his insider information to adapt his playcalling against the Patriots. He remembered that the Pats struggled against the wildcat formation last season, so he developed a brand new "Wild Horses" scheme during practice before the N.E. game. (I have yet to see another team have his QB audible during the wildcat formation after decifering the defense) And as we all remember, Belichick was going nuts on the sideline when he saw the Wild Horses and was forced to call a timeout.

McDaniels adapted again today by swapping Brett Kern for Mitch Berger. (By the way, what made McDaniels make the switch? I know he was irate at Brett Kern. Was it simply because he punted right to Darren Sproles?)

Okay, two more quick points:

-As a BYU fan I follow Austin Collie, WR for the Colts each sunday. If Peyton Manning passes to Michael Hart and Anthony Gonzales for touchdowns this season, he will have hit 4 players that have names that are also cities in Texas: AUSTIN Collie, DALLAS Clark, Michael HART and Anthony GONZALES. (Okay, I know it's a big stretch, and yes, I had to Wikipedia Texas Cities, but come on! It was a long bye week!)

- My brother in law, who is a loyal Chargers fan and has never had anything good to say about the Broncos, admitted to me today that Coach McDaniels is a "Genius". Seems that the rest of the football world is coming to that realization....

I just noticed that when Darren Sproles scored his kick-return touchdown on Monday, he turned to the crowd and was pointing at his name on the back of his jersey.

I'm not saying that the entire Chargers team has a me-first attitude, but It kind of shines a light on a team that is struggling as a whole when players act like that.

I can understand that Sproles was excited. It was a rivalry game, and it's nowhere near as bad as Dre' Bly's embarrassing Deion Sanders impression-turned-fumble.

And there may have already been some of that kind of showboating with the Broncos that I missed, but all I know is I am liking the team first mentality that McDaniels has installed in this team.

McDaniels - I'm Lovin' it!

So, we heard the report that Shanahan was offered the Washington Redskins job this week which he turned down. Shanahan is watching more film now then when he was coaching, and trying to learn all he can about being a better coach. He has said that he wanted to take this year off, and when asked if he will coach again he mentioned holding a sign that said "Will coach for food". Come next year, Shanny will be chomping at the bit to coach, and teams will be chomping harder to get him.

I think that the main consensus is that Shanahan will be coaching the Cowboys next year. Wade Phillips is in the last year of his contract and he clearly can't get anything done with a very talented Dallas squad. But there are still a few teams that should be interested.

The San Diego Chargers are in a similar state as the Cowboys. Lots of talent, nothing to show for it. If the Bolts keep losing, then Norv Turner's seat will only get hotter. And as to my knowledge, Shanny doesn't have any beefs with San Diego like he does with Oakland.

The Washington Redskins obviously are interested in him after contacting him about the job. It will be interesting to see if/when Jim Zorn is fired if a interim coach will take over and assume the reins next season, or if they will approach Shanahan again.

The Buffalo Bills are showing impatience with Dick Juaron, well, the fans are anyways with this billboard

The Panthers haven't really inspired fear in anyone lately. And if John Fox can only beat poor teams like Washington and Tampa Bay, he might get the boot by season's end.

The Broncos cut ties with Shanahan who was the longest tenured coach in the NFL at the time. Now, the Titans may have to consider doing the same. With an 0-6 record, the Titans scheme's might have grown a little stale. (And wearing your rivals jersey can't really help matters either.)

The Browns might want to consider cutting their losses with Eric Mangini. Four years into his head coaching career and he is one of, if not the most loathed head coach in the game.

Watching the postgame show with Steve Young, I can agree with one thing that he said. "The Broncos aren't great at anything, but they are good at everything." I think he's right. Orton only had 225 yards passing...but he had two TDs and no picks. We didn't have a running back with 100 yards on the night....but we surpassed 100 rushing yards as a team. Our special teams gave up a TD...but our special teams also scored two TDs. Elvis Dumervil is not the ideal pass rusher...but he leads the league in sacks. Our big play maker Brandon Marshall only had 40 something yards...but the TDs went to whoever's number is called. Our front seven is "garbage"...yet we lead the league with 21 sacks.

I think it was hard for Steve Young to give any praise to the Broncos, because on paper, there's no one factor that explains why the Broncos are undefeated. Good, solid play across the board is why we are winning. McDaniels has really gotten the point across that it's about fundamentals, team oriented play and the old Patriots mantra "Do your job".

Still, I'd like to ask, who was the MVP from Monday night?

Let's take a look at the NFL teams with new head coaches and see how their records stack up.

Rams:  0-6

Bucs: 0-6

Browns: 1-5

Chiefs: 1-5

Lions: 1-5

Seahawks: 2-4

Jets: 3-3

Colts: 5-0

Broncos: 5-0

Honestly, you can put anyone at head coach of the Colts and they would be undefeated at this point. Peyton Manning calls all the plays and everyone knows it. All of these teams, besides the Colts, were in disarray last season and were in desparate need of a change. Looking solely at records, I think the Broncos made the best pick.

Remember when we were considering the likes of Raheem Morris and Steve Spagnoulo? And everyone was upset that we didn't hire Spagnoulo because he's a good Defensive Coordinator. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I made an observation last year right before a game with the Raiders last year. Mike Shanahan said something along the lines of Nnamdi Asomugha being the "most underrated player in the NFL" (if someone could find the exact quote, that would be appreciated). Now, last year was Asomugha's sixth NFL season, and prior to that he had made the Pro Bowl one time. He was a Second-team All-Pro selection, very deservedly. That season he caught 8 of his career total 10 interceptions.

Last year he was a First-Team All-Pro selection, while only making 1 interception. A far cry from 8. Why did he make the pro bowl with one interception? I am convinced that the only reason he made the Pro Bowl last season is because of what Shanahan said. After Shanahan said that, EVERY commentator weighed in on Asomugha, heaping praise on him. Am I crazy or do Shanahan's words carry that much weight in this league?

I know that we haven't played very good teams yet (although Cinci knocked off the Super Bowl champs), but I am pretty excited about our Defense. We have 5 picks through three games while we had 6 all of last year. Dumervil has found his niche as a pass rusher, and Champ and BDawk are training all the new guys to be ball-hawkers. But there are some things I really want to see this year.

-A pick 6

-A safety

-A punt return/kickoff return for a TD. (I know this is Special Teams, but whatever)

I can't think of the last time these happened. Glen Martinez was the last punt return for TD, I think. Anyways, that's just what I am looking forward to with the new defense.