I love nfl game rewind.  Today I was watching the Patriots Bears game and realized that I haven't really watched anyone else play but the Broncos for awhile.  Ironically watching another team made me appreciate some of the players on the Broncos even more.

Here is what I noticed in watching the Patriots.  Tom Brady had three things that I hadn't really registered how much they were missing in Kyle Orton's game.

1) Tom has a long pocket, Kyle has a short pocket.  What I mean by that is he had time to stand and dance before he threw.  Not really so for Kyle. He has time to get back and get it out now.  

2) Tom had a running game.   We all know what Kyle's been going through there.

3) Tom had  1-2 yard openings, Kyle has 1-2 foot openings.

This is something I've really noticed the last two years.  Kyle, when healthy is incredibly accurate.  I first started noticing this last year.  There were several times last year I'd watch a slo-mo replay and Kyle would through into a 1 foot gap at 20 yards.  This year he has taken it to a new level.  He doesn't throw to an open guy.  He throws to a guy that has his balance while the CB is off balance but literally no gap.  And his done that frequently not occasionally.

I realize that the last few games he's playing with separated ribs and you can see his accuracy fading.  I think the ribs thing has also effected his how he stands.  And thus he has generated much railing on by superficial fans.  But earlier in this season, he has thrown with accuracy I'm not sure who to compare with.  But look at the early games guys.  He seldom has anyone wide open.  He definitely doesn't have the luxury of a TE.  It's why as big a fan as I am of Tim Tebow, I'm pretty nervous to throw anyone else out there right now.  The margin for error is pretty slim.

Now this brings me to something else I've notice this year.  Moreno is a much better back than people realize.  Much better.  Just a simple rule of thumb.  When NONE of your running backs can gain a yard, the RB isn't the problem.

Watching the Patriots and watching the Charger cream us, I notice holes that are a couple of yards wide to run through for other teams.  Knowshon can actually make good yardage out of a two foot hole.  If you really watch Knowshon move with what little space he is given two RBs come to mind.  Walter Peyton, who he reminds me of the most, and Barry Sanders. Now I know I'll be mocked for stating that.  But if your tempted to mock, go watch the difference I'm talking about more carefully.  Go back to the beginning of the season and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is so much closer than we realize.  

In fact, I've seen over and over that oftimes the difference is small enough that the margin between winning and losing is the fans.

So in this meander I come to my last point.  We the fans entirely and completely underestimate the power we as fans have to destroy this team or to regenerate it.

I've appreciate that here at MHR the fans register that this site is important in renewing the fans and renewing the Broncos.

Though many many fans are happy with the firing of Josh McDaniels, I'm predominately blue because of opportunities lost.  The spotlight is now placed squarely on an owner I like and appreciate, Pat Bowlen.  Nevertheless, he has made some gross errors and progress requires that he and we begin to understand them.

So to begin.

Let's start with calling things what they are.  

Our predominately orange uniforms are mostly dark blue. 

Our stadium that was built to be predominately loud, was actually built to muzzle the fans.  Fans at old Mile High knew they could change the outcome, and for a time with average talent we won almost all our games at home and barely won any games away.

The fans made the Broncos.

I think Invesco Stadium sponsored by Mile High field or whatever the name of it is, I think it was built for taking naps.  It will more likely inspire a man to take up knitting and occasionally watch a game than ito become the Barrel Man.

It was a Mile High mistake and no amount of enthusiastic young coaching can make up for it.

Speaking of young coaches.

I think that if you have a great older coach that can't handle GM responsibilities and head coaching what makes us think it's a good idea for a 32 year old coach?

I think in an age of whine baby fans like myself you absolutely have to separate HC responsibilities from GM responsibilities.

Then when the fans begin to eat their young at least two men can share in being savaged.

I think we see that it works well in San Diego.

Norv and Smith take turns in being savaged by the fans while they win the division every year.

I think that really I've never seen so much on an HC in my life.  Some of it self induced but most of it would not have happened with a GM.

Which makes me wonder what I think of Joe Ellis.  I think he had plenty of time to see some of these problems and adapt, but he didn't.  I wonder what he was doing?

I think one of the roles of a COO is to coach the coach.  When losing starts, coaches...all of them begin to forget that the game is supposed to be fun.  They get knocked off track.  I think this would be a role that John Elway could play.  I'm sure I must be wrong, but it feels like Joe Ellis was mostly a superfan who got paid alot of money to watch Josh McDaniels take all the blame.  One of his main jobs as COO for a pro football team is to take care of his coach.  And I don't think he did it.  In all of this I wonder if he had the least to do and made the most errors.

If I could go back in time, I would fire Joe Ellis, hire John Elway and do what was obvious, distribute the work load.

So much for what I think, what do you think?

Watched the game this morning with my tivo recording.  I feel sorry for those of you who watched it live because even as I skipped ahead from play to play to avoid hearing Collinsworth all I could hear was Collinsworth.

So before talking about the game a note for those who had to listen to the announcers.  Pat Bowlen prides himself on having a player friendly organization.  When Cutler became fully insubordinate even with Mr Bowlen...which by the way Brandon has not done.  It was Mr Bowlen that decided enough was enough.  Not McDaniels.

In case you think this isn't true, recall that when Brandon asked to be trade, I believe Brandon when he said Pat promised he'd try.  So as badly as the MSM wants to make McDaniels into a prideful and arrogant coach.  People if a mistake was made it was Pat's mistake.  He's a great owner but when he promised Brandon he'd pursue a trade I think that was a mistake too.  But driven by the motivation that this is a player friendly team.  Mr. Bowlen has no desire to force players to stay here.

I also heard a brief comment where Rodney Harrison said McDaniels is an easy going guy to play for.  I believe that given the way he's handled Brandon.  Patiently, and with professionalism, but when the suspension was required it just had to be done.

So on to the game and the matchup with Cutler and Orton.  I actually read a press report before the game and thought Orton must have played miserably and Cutler was completely dominant.  So I was very surprised that when they were both in the game they had an almost identical game.  An almost identical game.  They both had to deal with trying to get out of the endzone.  They both had a heavy enough rush that they had to get it off fast.  Orton was dealing with more penalties and injuries on his side of the ball.  And Cutler was dealing with the noise.  

I am more impressed weekly with the coaching and personnal, and with the personnal assesments.  Who would of thunk our Tommy B. would look this good after last weeks outing.   Dawkin's really is a monster.  I had doubts about our new defensive backfield but I'm very impressed.  

Chris Baker.  Great pickup.  Doomer, this is a perfect defense for him.  I confess, I didn't really mind his late hit ;-)  Even though it was expensive and I would not want it in the regular season.  OLB in a 3-4 is what he was made to do in the NFL.  

Overall this is obviously a well coached team.  Very exciting to see how much progress they make from week to week.

As a boy growing up in Idaho I became a Denver Broncos fan.  Since that time we have had a great owner, coaches, quarterbacks, and teams.  We now have an amazing stadium, and have won two Superbowls.  And as a longtime fan, winning those two Superbowls was so much fun.  And Yet...and yet, I would trade those Superbowls back for something that was even so much more fun. 

You see even as a kid I could feel the Mile High Magic and it really was magic.  In those years when the team would go on the road they could hardly win, but when they played at Mile High they could hardly lose.  Yes Virginia, there really was magic in Mile High.  And I don't think I've seen anything in sports quite like the Mile High Magic before or since.  When the team was down and the players were discouraged, the fans would rise up and put the team on their back and carry them to a win.  Just nothing else like it.

I think most of the Magic was that the fans weren't worried about how strong an arm the QB had, they weren't worried if the team would make it to the Superbowl, they didn't care about how many all pros were on the team, they were in the moment cheering for their underdog team and willing them to win just that game on that day.  They loved the team and the team loved the Denver fans back by doing everything they could to win that game on that day. And more often than not it worked.

And so I know now more than I knew as a kid why I became a Broncos fan.  It wasn't because of the owner, the coaches, or even the players.  I became a fan of the Broncos because of the Broncos fans and the Mile High Magic they made.

And I want it back.  I want it all back.  Not just for myself, but for boys growing up on farms in Idaho and in cities like Denver.  And it's beginning here at the Mile High Report.  Here we care not for a journalist world turned upside down where political journalists do nothing but gossip and where sports journalist think they are reporting watergate daily!  Football is fun and journalists ought to report it that way, but since they don't the fans here do!

Here at MHR the Migh High Magic is being rekindled.  Let the word spread from MHR that Mile High Magic Fans don't boo their own team.  Booing is for cynics, cowards, journalists, and losers.  Let the word spread from MHR that we don't boo former players or coaches.  We cheer in apprecation because we're honored that they once played for us.

But when our team comes on the field...then the Magic begins!  When our team comes on the field everyone else may think our team is the underdog but we know that we the fans can will them to be better than the other team.  We know that because they've practiced hard and prepared their best we can will them to be even better than they thought they were!

Here at MHR it's back the Mile High Magic is back!!!

Spread the word!!!

13-3 baby and Superbowl bound or bust!!!

Just some quick observations.  I watched a few of the highlights of Tom Brady tonight in his return to the NFL.   There were a few passes that since I'm a Broncos fan I would have definitely booed him ;-)  He shouldn't have even been on the field.

One was just a short 10 yard pass that looked completely weak.  The ball limped to his receiver and fell lamely incomplete.  Another one was a long ball attempt that was a duck.  Not sure it traveled 40 yards.  It ended up being intercepted.  Only 10 completions for the night and he played much of the game I understand.

Maybe it's just me but unless you have a QB with a cannon arm you can't win in this league.  Tom definitely looked like a guy who can't make all the throws he needs to in this league.

Rocko1 one of our astute MHR readers mentioned in a earlier reply that Steve Young was on ESPN the other day and was very critical of Kyle Orton as our Cutler replacement.  As he put it Steve of all people should know better.

How true.  In fact it seems worthy of a separate post to review the Curious Career of Steve Young and why he of all people ought to see the silver lining in our Kyle Orton future.  I was a student at BYU when he played there.  He put up amazing numbers and ended his career with a completion percentage of over 70%.  His career was so good that he was projected to be the #1 pick in the NFL...and then the USFL gave him astounding 42 million dollar contract.  Who could turn that down.  He played for the USFL LA Express for I think a year.  Sometimes playing at RB.  Because of contracts similar to Steve's the USFL ulimately folded and he became a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

Steve was there for something like two years.  He had a completion percentage with Tampa of 53%.  53% people!  Doug Williams made fun of his noodle arm.  But Bill Walsh, coach of the SF 49ers remembered Steve's days in college playing an offense very similar to his own.  Bill was considered a genius because while most people saw Steve as an NFL scrub.  Bill remembered something different.  He remembered Steve's college days playing essentially his offense.

We all know the rest of the story.  Steve displaced Joe Montana, whom some consider the greatest QB ever.  He went to the HOF.  He left the NFL with a 64% pass completion stat passing for over 70% in one season.  And while Steve was winning his Super Bowls with Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Tom Rathman, and Roger Craig.  John was if I recall still laboring under the Reeves run first system with guys like Gaston Green.  John was pulling out games with an amazing talent and little talent around him.

History often repeats itself.  It seems to me that Cutler is now entering the Reeves portion of his career.  He will amaze us all with his talent.  And without really needing the ability to read a defense he will continue to put the ball almost anywgere he wants.  But he won't have the career he should have had.  Meanwhile in Denver, our own coach saw what Kyle Orton did with not alot of talent in Chicago.  He saw a player who had a prolific career playing a spread offense similar to his own.  And while Kyle may be no Steve here's betting he passes for 63% in this Offense!

13-3 baby!

I think the MHR is an amazingly good fan site.  Just wanted to thank so many who contribute to my own enjoyment of being a Broncos fan.

I think as a big Jay Cutler fan I think I'm beginning to recover.  I feel badly for Jay that he is now entering the Dan Reeves era of his career, but of course it was what he wanted.

I think I appreciate what a marvelous job Mike Shannahan did, but one thing missing that I think I detect in McDaniels.  From some of the comments he's made, he seems to understand that at the heart of it all, football is a game.  It ought to be fun. Mike lost some of that as Jake Plummer has often pointed out.

I think this draft felt alot like last years.  Initial panic by most fans, then resignation, then realizing that our front office may have pulled off an amazing job.  The UDFA pickups were also outstanding.

I think Mike Shannahan knew and Josh McDaniels now knows, the Peyton Hillis injury sealed Mike's fate.  When Peyton played, the team looked like a tough, hard nosed ball club.  When he was inured, they won no more.

I think this speaks to what a great pickup Moreno is going to be.  About an hour before the draft, having looked at the possibilities and having read MHR, it occurred to me that Moreno was the likely pick.  Thinking of our past season, he was the one that made the most sense.

I think that picking up the TE Quin may have been a reach but it was defintely a reach with a plan.  MHR highlighted how important the 3 TE sets are and we definitely have some personnel combinations to make it very tough on defenses. Marshall almost makes a 4th TE.  I could almost feel sorry for some of these teams ;-) 

I think that McDaniels is getting more interesting all the time.  He definitely picked up on the fact that our defense started the season looking a lot more stout than they ended.  Losing 400 lbs over the season might account for some of that.

I think I loved the fact that McDaniels and the front office waited on the DL drafting.  As I looked at our own roster it looked like our own potential OLBs would grade about the same as what we would draft and convert to OLB.  It was just that simple, why draft what we already have?    

I think I'm done now :-)  Thanks for a listen.

I'm saddened by the decision of Mr. Bowlen to trade Jay Cutler.  And yet as I read from journalists, bloggers, and fans everyone states that this has reached a point of no return.  There is no turning back.

WRONG.  He's still our guy until he's traded.  It's time for the three stooges Bowlen, Xanders, and McDaniels to step back from the cliff and ask themselves if they really want to be the Baltimore Colts II.  Nobody knows better than Pat Bowlen what happened to the Colts after they traded John Elway.  There wandered in obscurity for TWO DECADES.

As I've written previosuly  it's difficult to trust that McDaniels has even scouted his own team.  IF he had done so he wouldn't have believed that his biggest and first priority was to sign a long-snapper.  If he had done so he wouldn't be shopping a Pro-Bowl QB who has proven that he will work hard and wants to win.  If he had he would know the guy scored extremely well in intelligence tests.  If he had he would know that Jay is alot like John was at this age.  

But now it's Bowlen that I'm wondering about.  Was he there in John's early years? Does he recall how Denver won their SuperBowls?

Come on Pat.

This is no time for a cliff jumping  suicide act.

Back off and do the right thing.  If you think Jay hurt your pride.  Your r pride is really going to hurt in the next 20 years of wandering humiliation.

Until a few weeks ago Mike Leach was the long snapper for the Denver Broncos.  Few people pay much attention to a long snapper, but when Lonie Paxton was signed from the Patriots everyone noticed from the Denver Broncos fans to the players. 

The signing of Paxton was big deal because it indicated to a couple of very significant things.

First it indicated that Coach McDaniels, not GM Xanders is in charge of personnel decisions.  Xanders appears to be the guy who negotiated the contracts and manages the salary cap.  If Pat Bowlen intended to split control of the team it didn't happen.  McDaniels is Shannahan II, without the experience.

Second, the signing indicated something very big to fans and players.  A long snapper doesn't have to adapt to a new offense, they snap the ball that's it.  Mike Leach has done it for years and nobody can remember when he last made a mistake.  In signing Paxton for more money, McDaniels was signaling that he either did not watch film on his own team, or that performance doesn't matter.  From a strategic sense, it seemed like an odd waste of precious time and money when there is so many other things that are realy needed for the team.

We can only conclude that McDaniels needed a friend on the team.  And Lonie was going to be his buddy.

No surprise then when Brandon Stockely expressed the feelings of the team and fans at large.  A sort of collectve...Huh??? 

So within this context Jay hears the trade rumors.  McDaniels doesn't seem to get it.  His first move in becoming the head coach was to set a stage of distrust and then he follows it up with an effort to trade Jay for another buddy.  We have to ask again.  Has McDaniels watched the film yet on his own team?  Is he aware of what Jay did?  Is he aware of what anybody on this team has done?

So the distrust for the organization is not one of just thinking the coach told a white lie about seeking to trade him.  It's deeper than that.  And McDaniel's still has no clue what he did.

Given the strange decisions McDaniels is making, and his own tone deafness to it, it's not just the players who want to be traded.  The fans want to be traded to a place that makes sense again.