OMG, OMG, THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!! WE TRADED BRANDON MARSHALL!!! We suck again!!! The above is the general consensus of Bronco Nation as a whole if you read around the web right now. Just like last year at this time when "The Player" was unceremoniuosly booted to the Wind Bag City, just not as bad. We kinda expected this one, so the freak out is not on that epic scale, but well, kinda close. So I did what I did last year, sat down and thought about it for a bit.

Well, I came to the same conclusion as I did last year. I liked the move. The first thing I thought about was wow, we took a big hit in the talent department from this one individual being traded. Then I told myself "Self, the funny thing about football, it is a team sport." I then became thoroughly convinced that the Denver Broncos (depending on how the draft is handled) actually became a better football team today.

You are probably sitting there wondering what the heck I am smoking to think after taking a talent hit that we are a better football team. Brandon Marshall may have be on his way to being one of the best WR's to play the game, but plain and simple the guy is a malcontent, bad egg, turd in the punchbowl, or whatever other analogy you may want to apply to the guy. I am not even talking about his rap sheet with the law, I am talking about the rap sheet he had with his former team, the Denver Broncos. Calling out the staff for misdiagnosing his hip injury, stretching out injuries to not have to participate in TC (see his first year when Shanahan called him out), not wanting to practice because it is to cold, kicking the football, not going to rehab, and on and on and on.

Do you get my point? No? Well think about in these terms, do you want your young players seeing one of the team's star players acting this way? If you answer anything other than no, well, good luck in that. One malcontent can ruin a team's chemistry and moral in a flash. I have seen it way too many times in the military not too know for a fact that it is a real thing and something to be taken very seriously.

Well, I am not going to sit here and ramble on and I really only have one thing else to say: Thank you for the trade Mr. Tuna, I personally love it. Oh and good luck, your going to need it.

BtD

I know that this is not exactly the place to request this, but I respect Randall's opinion over anyone elses when it comes to breaking down potential draft picks and where the Bronco's might go in the draft. His analysis on draft picks is top notch and on the most part dead on. So bro, any chance you are going to do a breakdown of the candidates we might go with or are you too busy with law school? Do I need to beg?

I am doing my usual morning puruse through MHR and I noticed something missing, noone is talking about the Invterview that McD did with 104.3 the Fan. Link below:

http://www.fm1043thefan.com/channels/audioOnDemand/Story.aspx?ID=1193296

Why is this interview interesting at all? Well he talks about BM in this interview and his and Brandon's relationship. There is no finger pointing, there is no calling out, and it is actually positive. What in the world is going on? The trade of BM is a foregone conclusion from what I have read from the MSM and from various blogs and message boards. To quote a famous viral video "Why is this happening to me?"

BtD

I have a bad back and it is currently keeping me up this evening. As I laid in bed trying to sleep and not getting comfortable I kept asking myself "Self, why am I ok with our current defense and so many people are not?" Is it because I tend not to be a doom and gloomer? Am I less resistant to change overall? What was it? I started thinking back to the early stages of FA and how I was feeling as the FA signings were coming in, even with all of the Cutler drama going on. I started relating what was coming in to what had left.

Starting with the coaching, I could not have been happier that Slowik was gone. His assistants with him. Then McD started bringing in his staff, Nolan, Nunnely, and Martindale. These were names I kinda new and I kinda respected. Going into this year, I am not trying to convince myself that these coaches will get what we have ready for the season.

Since the DC leads directly to the scheme we would run, I started relating this next. Knowing a little bit and only a little about Nolan, I can remember that he did make adjustments, he did not necessarily let up in the second half and continued to apply some pressure, and he did not have all of his DB's playing in a soft coverage. These were all things I literally beat my head against a wall about last year.

Then I started relating what we had on the roster this year as compared to last year. Gone are Ekuban, Engleberger, Lowry, Manuel, Macree, Webster, Koutovides, Bly, and others that I really do not care to remember. In came Dawkins, Hill, Goodman, Davis, Reid, and Fields. I will admit, I did not necessarily know all of these players, so I did some research. I noted common themes, blue collar, hard worker, leader, team player and I liked them immediately over what had left.

Since the next progression was leadership and I touched on leaders, I started thinking about the leadership we had on the field. Since Lynch and Al have left, really we only had kinda soft spoken leader guys, where were the vocal guys that call you out and get people pumped up? They weren't there, but lo and behold, I look to our current roster with Dawkins and Davis, with Dumervil emerging and I immediately like it over last year.

This is just my opinion and everybody is entitled to one, but thinking relatively, I like the heck out of what we currently have on this team as far as D over last year. I think it is a vast improvement. If you were looking for this staff to turn the D into the rebirth of the Orange Crush in one year, you were probably being unrealistic, but what is realistic is this not bad for what was handed over from last year.

BtD

Oh and btw, did I mention that Nate Webster no longer plays for the Denver Broncos? That fact alone almost makes me as giddy as a schoolgirl.

First of all, I would just like to post that I only discovered MHR about a year ago and this past Wednesday was the first time that I caught Guru's Podcast. I am from the Broncos' brethern over at ESPN and that is where I regularly post and since Guru does not do a whole lot, if any advertising over there, I really never got the hint of this site and just used it for news and very good insite. I have been thinking about a few of the things that Guru said on the podcast and wanted to put down a view point that I based off of it:

So, I have seen alot of posts on various sights about the "Denver Way" this, the "Patriot Way" that and so on. I can only reference back to around 76', which is the year I started watching football and even then, I was only 5. From hearing the old timers speak, prior to 76', the Denver Way was the losing way. In 77' till about 83', the Denver Way was the Defensive Way. Around 84' or so, the Denver Way became the Reeves Way for 3 quarters and the Elway Way for a quarter. In 93' and 94', well, let's not discuss those two years, especially since 94 was the year I got to San Diego and in such, where my distaste for Chargers' Football started stemming from. Then in 95' we got the Shanahan Way which was largely influenced from the 49er Way. My point? Which one of these way's is the Denver Way, I am kinda confused?

So, now lets talk about the Patriot Way. From what I am understanding about the Patriot Way of football is it is built around a "team concept" and no player is above the team. Funny thing is and I may be wrong, but isn't football the ultimate team sport? Am I missing something? What is wrong with the concept that even the biggest stars on the team are going to be called out if their head happens to slip up their behind? Billy Hoodie Boy aside, what is wrong with it? Is it not very close to the Steeler Way? Yes, I acknowledge the fact that the Steelers and Patriots have different concepts fundamentally, but they both emphasive one point, the team. Its about the team and not about the individual, its about holding everyone accountable,  its about reloading and getting the new individuals who come into the team, and its about winning as a team.

Once you get enough people  believing they are a team a really funny thing starts happening, they become a team. They start doing things as a team, the play as a team, and they lose or win as a team, they become we instead of I, which is something I believe has been missing from the Denver Way.

BtD