The Denver Broncos are 6-5 and on the cusp of the NFL Playoffs.  The defense has played out of its mind, and Von Miller could break the rookie sack record (14.5) held by Jevon Kearse.  Brian Dawkins looks 5 years younger, and the defensive line that was supposed to be a weakness is getting it done when it matters most.

Oh yea, and Tim Tebow is now 5-1 as the starting quarterback for the Broncos this season.  He gets all the pub - much like every quarterback in the NFL.  Too much credit and too much blame.  We are halfway through the 11-game audition for Tebow that started back after the Broncos fell to 1-4.  At that time, we all felt the next 11 games would be a good indicator of what the Broncos should do in the 2012 NFL Draft.  It was my assertion that Tebow would need to play the Broncos out of a Top-5 pick in order to be given a shot after the season.

Boy, has he done that.  So, as a mid-term, I ask you, Broncos Country, if the season ended today, has Tim Tebow shown you enough to be given the off-season to prepare 100% as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos?  In order to encourage a comment battle, I am opening the comments to the poll.  After all isn't this the thing we all care about as fans right now?

So ....plagiarism. WHAT?

Let me say that I've been ANTI-Tebow but was 'touched' a bit today by uncle tim.... (and that I've been twice banned ...please don't)

First of all to all you folks that say you don’t care who starts, you "just want to win". Really? This year or in four years?

The ONLY VALID QUESTION HERE is:

How do we learn the most about Tebow?
On the bench or playing?
Somebody do a poll.
It’s the ONLY issue.
Quinn/Orton ARE NOT our future and we all freaking know it.
We’re NOT WINNING THE SUPERBOWL THIS YEAR and we all freaking know THIS too.
We simply need to learn via the quickest method possible: Do we need another QB next year? (or maybe the year after)

?#2 after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Nothing clever comes to mind but we all know there will be both sides going on... From the "I told you so's", to the "He sucks", to the "Mile High Messiah" .... I want to casually shoot them all down with some uniform reply from we who know very well how little we're going to learn from one game that we don't already know. He's a gamer. That's the only thing we truly know right now.

I was thinking "THAT" or "YAWN"... I don't know. Anything to keep us from having the "it's only one game" conversation over and over and over...AND OVER! What do ya say? Anybody like that idea?

I had an epiphany. I started out to more clearly define my opinion of the prudent approach to rebuilding the Broncos. You know, smart, patient ...safe. We draft to our needs, give Kyle Orton another year to learn the play-book and get in synch with our receivers. Take another year to improve our run blocking and our run stopping. Hell, we might even make the play-offs next year with any improvement at all. Making the play-offs in the midst of a large scale reload …sounds good right? It’s really, REALLY hard to win in this league. A true fan has no problem living with mediocrity if we truly are building towards something special… Right?

About then my own personal devil’s advocate chirped up and bade me consider the flip side of the conservative way. What if Mr. Bowlen told McX to Win Now? What if the Phonz reach was motivated by pressure to Win? Maybe McX doesn’t care what the world thinks and isn’t afraid to go for it when it feels right? How much fun could a guy have in an uncapped year, having just been told to let it all hang out? An aggressive front office in this year’s Free Agency is critical to our ability to draft the Best Talent Available!

The harp strums as I lapse into never say never land after the jump…

Continue reading this post »

ESPN.com news services - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - "He was known as a genius, a mastermind and, yes, a Super Bowl champion. Shockingly, though, Mike Shanahan has a new title: unemployed coach."

via www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com

               My brother, a life-long, hard-core Chiefs fan, called me from KC, offering his "heart felt condolences" but unable to contain his utter glee that his most hated rival (next to the Raiders of course) had made this "bone-head" error. He likened it to the Raiders letting John Gruden get away, only to feel the sting of it in the Superbowl. Myself, I was awed, angered and generally sick to my stomach. We were one game and 10+ serious injuries(!) out of the play-offs with an all-pro Rookie left tackle, Brandon Marshall/Eddie Royal & Tony Scheffler lighting it up and our 3rd year All-Pro QB showing signs of 'getting it'. ...and then we hired McXanders and traded Cutler.

We here at MHR and every fan site around the country have hashed out the merits of this regime change, drawn clear lines in the sand, become divided, hateful and obsessive over our side of the issue. Most of us who thought it a mistake, especially those of us unbiased enough to see Shanny's flaws (as well as the possibilities McDaniels brought to the table), have grown resolved to 'wait and see'. Not that we had any other option! After a year, aside from the 'hater faction' (and a few who simply do not believe), we're still waiting, hopefully ...for any sign of progress. For evolution.

via www1.pictures.zimbio.com

               I imagine 2009 saw many of the 13-3 Baby! fans take a breath and perhaps even fall off the Kool-Aid Wagon after our 2-8 finish. In contrast, as many of the 3-13 Doomsayers were surely swayed somewhat by our amazing 6-0 start with successes verses some quality teams. How many of us fist pumped right there with McDaniels after the New England win? I for one rewound it several times in order to get a few more blows in and release some of that intense offseason angst. In the end, our talent level and 'new boss' growing pains leveled us out quite evenly indeed.

               Further leveling us out was the loss of Mike Nolan. His 1st hire was my 1st hope that McD was truly an upgrade, as Shanny never could seem to hire or trust a strong willed DC. …his loss feels a bit like the ‘same ol’… 

               8-8. We're not comfortable with average as Broncos fans. We're spoiled but wouldn't have it any other way ...lest it be MORE spoiled! That said, where are we now? An intelligent fan should easily realize the lengthiness of the rebuilding process. It takes a smart, patient front office with owner support and maybe a little luck. ...and it takes years. That last bit is the really scary part. Our worst case scenario has us spending the 3-5 years to completely rebuild our team in McXander's image ...only to fail and head back to the drawing board. I've woken sweaty and shaken at the thought.

               Years? Yes. Even so, in the upcoming weeks we'll learn volumes as to the direction of our team as well as our front office's assessment of our existing talent. Pretty damn exciting actually.  I can't envision Pat Bowlen being so short-sighted as to require McX to Win Now. We're about to get a much clearer picture of McX's team building philosophy. Will McXanders risk everything on making a play-off run in 2010 with flashy, Win Now players or do they trust that Pat Bowlen will allow for a longer process and go for long-term, less glamorous, 'in-the-trenches' talent?

               As examples of Win Now/Flashy choices I submit K. Moreno, Dez Bryant, any QB (or 2nd rd CB) we’d have to trade up to draft or D. McNabb. All would look good in Blue & Orange but I'm all for standing behind McX and patiently building from the trenches up.

Either way, let's hope McX performs as advertised and continues to build us a team of high talent, high quality men who are passionate, team 1st players and will represent our team for years to come. At least in this way, if the 'worst case' comes to pass, the next regime would be left with a better base level of talent than Shanny left us.

...I'm looking forward to part II of this story - Looks Like Evolution - Post Draft/FA! Maybe I'll even have the opportunity to write it...

-Whidbey Bronco

Gawd we real fans up here in the thin air of mile high have had a rough off season!! Believe me when I say that though we'll never bleed anything but blue & orange, your colors are pretty close... many of us will secretly be rooting for you guys in the windy city. Thank God your in the NFC! Cutler will be amazing for the bears! He's human of course but he's got every throw in the book, he's got eyes in the back of his head, he studies hard, is excellent in two minute mode and is VERY young ...still improving noticably from year to year.

@$%^^%$@!!!

So why did we let him go for some punk Belicheck cast off?

I don't know, maybe for the same brilliant reason we fired Shanny one game removed from the play-offs with FOURTEEN starters lost to injury last year!

Not Happy in Bronco land,

Good luck Bears, it's been awhile since ya'all had so much hope eh?