Hi guys - I'm a sbnation guy but a milehighreport.com (Broncos) guy first and foremost.  I have lot of family and buddies from Mass who are big Pats fans and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills (Zoolander quote) because they're all on the ledge.  I figured I'd post something over here because sometimes its nice to have someone take a look at your team who doesn't care as much as you do.  Here's my take:

Truth is guys and gals, this is how the NFL works these days.  You drop games you should have won and vice versa.  The top 16 teams in the league are all really good.  The difference between the Saints (maybe 16-0 soon) and the Dolphins (no real playoff shot) is two or three playmakers (or a draft pick and a few lucky/shrewd free agent moves).  That's it.  My Broncos were becoming one of the 'bad' franchises until our owner slammed on the brakes, took the wheel, and found a guy who knew how to steer a team and stay consistently competitive in today's league.  He learned from your favorite franchise.  It's a huge compliment that the "Patriot way" is more popular on NFL sidelines thank dreadlocks and backwards hats.

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I think we're averaging 3 or 4 fan posts a week on this topic of media.  We all need to get over it.  Me included. 

Most outlets think the Broncos stink and will stink and are stupid.  That's their right and somebody (regardless of whether they should or shouldn't) pays that person to write down their opions.  Just because we don't agree doesn't mean the analyst's job is incomplete or unfounded. 

It's a chicken and the egg type of situation right now.  Did our demand for specialized information create this divisive type of media coverage or did the media coverage cause fans to act derisively towards the media? 

The answer is: who cares. 

To use a cliche postgame interview quote: "it just it what it is." 

After the jump is a great article that sums it up for me and generally speaking, is something we should all remember before climbing back up on the soap box to rant about how callow John Clayton's analysis of the Denver Broncos was or is.

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I keep asking myself why I even look for news any more on (other) blogs, the national sites, and on the local sites.

I still don't know why I do, but I need to think about stopping because this is all giving me SUCH a headache.

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Buy, sell, or hold?

That's a trading floor question, but applied to the Denver Broncos after 8 quarters of two publically televised practice games, what do you think?

As a basis for current stock price, I asked myself: "is this unit better than, worse than, or as advertised to the public by the press and the team before the preseason".

As for my opinion...

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I'm a big believer in the the adage that 'past performance predicts future success'.  However, it's tough to say that when the offense has changed, the coach has changed, and personnel has changed to the degree that it has.

In hoping to keep this objective, I put together two charts.  The first charts New England's offensive yards and points production from 2002 to last year.  The second charts Denver's offensive yards and points production over the same span.  I figure that coach McDaniels took a huge role with the offense in 2005 but had some effect on the team  before then (however small) and over time I wanted to see where the offense was and what it did once he took a prominent role with the offense and see if I could draw any conclusions regarding what he's hoping to accomplish in Denver over the next few seasons.  Also, the Pats are generally the measuring stick for a successful NFL franchise, so why not look at the tale of the tape and compare the Broncos with New Engalnd.

I'm not neccesarily trying to prove anything, rather I'm attempting to look to MHR for some conclusions and hypothesis for what did and could possibly happen in the short term future of the Broncos offense.

I have a handful more of these charts and I hope to get them out onto MHR in the next few weeks.

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I LOVE the 1960 throwbacks (this was originally a reply post to Broncotodd's recent fanpost). I love the 80's unis.  I even kinda sorta like (hate) the current unis even though...well...

Okay, so I have had a love/hate thing with the current "swoosh" uniforms because they have a VERY short "style shelf life". We’ve had the "new" unis for 12 years and I think that we’re again "out of style". Can I use "quotation marks" any more?

Anyway, what I’m getting at is that the Broncos need a face lift on the style front. In the mid 1990’s there was rumor that a change was coming. I started to see jackets and t-shirts with a navy blue clor instead of the royal blue that we’d seen for so long. We knew that Denver’s color scheme needed updating. We assumed that we’d see a darkening of the colors and a "tougher" logo. I didn’t expect the swooshiness (made up word) that we went with and was FURIOUS at first. We lost our identity and Bowlen tried to BS the fans with the 'predominnantly orange' comment.  I still think the unis are a bit silly.

Then we made a Super Bowl run and the new unis became part of our identity. Then colleges and high school started to roll with the swoosh design. "Cool", I thought, they are copying us. Well, all of those teams that switched to the swoosh unis have switched away from them and gone with a more modern design. Now, instead of darker/tougher/more intimidating uni’s, we’re seeing a move towards simpler, cleaner, and more "old-school" looks.

I, for one, think Denver needs to come up with a hybrid of the 60’s, 80’s, and current unis.

Here’s my required list for unis:
1) We must keep the orange and blue (especially an orange predominance) only because Denver’s become known as Orange & Blue. Plus, in another year or two, we can be the second comming of THE ORANGE CRUSH.
2) Get rid of the swooshes.
3) Lets go with a more simplified helmet design. Our current set up looks like 1998 threw up on it. Not only do we have the new logo, but we have 3 orange stripes over the top (are they supposed to be kinda like a horse’s mane?).
4) Lets go with dark pants on the road like we did back in the day – maybe we go with blue though instead of orange? (Coolest Floyd little photo ever)

5) We need more stripes on the socks – just saying, they’re cool!

via cache.gettyimages.com

So…long post..but fun topic…

What do you guys think? Still undecided on may favorite road unis. This is just my ghetto mock up of what I think we should be doing.

SImple home unis, kept the logo, got rid of the helmet stripes, pant stripes, swooshes, and jersey stripes. Added sock stripes (I mean is any other team synonymous with sock stripes, regardless of horizontal or vertical orientation more than the Broncos?). I kept the 1980’s block lettering/numbering although you can’t see it that well. The jersey is a combo of the 1960 throwback and the 80’s color scheme. The pants are boring, which I like. As far as the road unis go, I think the blue pants/white socks look tough and the simple – all orange number without a border color looks cool to me, so I put the same jersey with orange pants on the last one just to see what it looks like.  I even went with a gray facemask because I love that the 1960 uni had the gray facemask and in the mid 80's we had grey facemasks too.

We could always go with this too:  A real Orange & Blue lover's uni:

via img269.imageshack.us

For the roadies, I love the darker pants. The first one has the same numbers as in the 80’s and essentially is the same exact concept as the late 1960's/early 1970's roadies (like the Floyd Little photo above) just without sleeve and pants stripes. I kept the pants all stripe free. I think my fave (aside from the home unis) is roadie #3- nah, I like roadie #2 because it's simply more Bronco-ey than the other ones. 

 

What do you think?

via img38.imageshack.us

Poll

Broncos uni's - what should we do?

32%

Stick with the current swoosh unis

148 votes

11%

Back to the 1980's

51 votes

21%

Make some sort of hybrid of all the old ones - like I did here

95 votes

0%

Go with the vertical socks/1960 unis

4 votes

34%

Stay with the current uni's but change to an orange (current alternate) jersey instead of blue

154 votes

452 votes | Poll has closed

…don’t the Broncos run the no-huddle/hurry-up offense (is there a material difference?) at home?

I read an article featuring Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink, Outliers, and many other great works) this week and Gladwell is blown away why the Broncos aren’t using the best home field advantage in the league to their advantage.

I considered an article by KaptainKirk that I read on May 7th that was both fantastic and eye opening.  Even elite athletes have a harder time recovering in the altitude in Denver.

Gladwell has a great point and although it’s not novel, it resurfaces something painfully obvious.  In this day of pro football where coaches and trainers evaluate shuttle times, blood-oxygen levels, vo2 max, and mental capacity, why don’t the coaches in Denver use this to their advantage.  I mean, coaches actually videotaped other coaches’ signals (even though Belichick was the only one fingered for it) to gain a perceived advantage.  Why would the franchise in Denver not take advantage of the elevation where their stadium is?

Maybe, just maybe someone will figure it out.  But what would that take?  It would take a quick fire passing game.  It would take an offensive line that is very athletic and quick and just as good paving the way for a running back as it would be in pass blocking.  It would take great receivers that have differing but interchangeable skill sets that can present a multitude of problems for the pass defenders.  It would require a quarterback who could play within the system, take his checkdowns, and keep the chains moving, while staying away from sacks and interceptions.  This quarterback would need to move well in the pocket and be able to manage the other players and the pace of the team.  He would need to be able to change the play at the line of scrimmage.  It would certainly require a huge stable of runningbacks.  They would have to have runningback personnel that could adapt and stay fresh and get on and off the field in a hurry.  It would require very smart players who truly understood the system and the concept of the plays.  Even if we run the fast break, our guys will get tired too.  Depth is key.  Speed and execution take on heightened importance.

Who has that kind of offense?  Just food for thought….

I don't love mock drafts (other than stuff like Colinski or Draft Tek puts together) but what the heck, right?

I'm putting this together as if Ty Jackson and BJ Raji don't make it down to #12.  If we draft Sanchez, I'm going to go out to my car and slam my head in my car door.

I have a reach or two and a huge value falling into our laps once or twice (Shonn Greene).

1a) Brian Cushing (OLB/USC)

1b) Sean Smith (CB/Utah)

2) Jason Glibert (DE/San Jose St.)

3a) Shonn Greene (RB/Iowa)

3b) Dorell Scott (DE/Clemson)

4) Kevin Olgetree (WR/Virginia)

5) Scott McKillop (ILB/Pittsburgh)

6) Chris Baker (DT/Hampton)

7a) Ray Feinga (OG/BYU)

7b) Pierre Walters (OLB/Eastern Illinois)

 

via bleacherreport.com

Buried in the phenomenal Horse Tracks pu pu platter put together by NYC today was this gem from the first item in Horse Tracks:

Never mind the new set of running backs (Buckhalter, J.J. Arrington and LaMont Jordan) the Broncos acquired through free agency. Perhaps the most significant change to the Broncos' offense this year will be the diminished role of the zone-blocking scheme that had been a Denver staple since the Mike Shanahan era began in 1995.

"That was really their bread-and-butter," McDaniels said. "We did more gap schemes in New England, where we're going to pull a guard. I can't give that up. That's kind of my baby. But you're going to see both."

We've had multiple conversations and posts in the past few months about what we should expect in 2009 and beyond, but  this small quote is a BIG ONE considering what it means to the offensive look we've become accustomed to.

Now, I know what the Zone Blocking system is and what kind of players it uses, but although I have a general idea of what the "Gap Scheme" is, I don't have an in depth level of understanding of what it is, what kind of players it likes best, and what it means for the Denver Broncos, so......um.....

Hoosierteacher......can you help us out?  Pleeeeease?  Anyone?

Thanks in advance, everyone...