Josh McDaniels Is an Evil Genius

Josh McDaniels spits in the face of conventional wisdom.  He is an evil genius.

It is generally considered a rule to live by the following axiom:  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  The 2009 Denver Broncos have obviously never heard of this saying before. 

I will attempt to explain just what went wrong and went right with this year’s Denver Broncos. 

At the risk of beating a dead horse (no pun intended), we will start with Jay Cutler.  Jay Cutler was drafted out of Vanderbilt in 2006 and is highly regarded as the best quarterback from that draft class that also includes Vince Young, Kellen Clemens, Matt Leinart, Tarvaris Jackson and Brodie Croyle. 

Cutler and Young have the distinction of being the only two quarterbacks from this draft class to be selected to the Pro Bowl.  Vince Young has since lost the starting job in Tennessee to former Giants Super Bowl loser, Kerry Collins. 

Cutler had a great season in 2008.

Cutler threw for 4,526 yards, 25 touchdowns, 18 interceptions and had a passer rating of 86.  He also rushed for 200 yards, and was sacked just 11 times. 

The Broncos finished the season with an 8-8 record and Pat Bowlen immediately fired two time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan, and replaced him with Coach Josh McDaniels, former offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. 

McDaniel’s first order of business? 

Trade the franchise quarterback for what would amount to Kyle Orton, Alphonso Smith and Richard Quinn.  

Strike one. 

Next, McDaniels enters the NFL draft for the first time as a head coach, and proclaims he only has 100 players on his board, despite most teams having as many as 500 players.  Bold strategy; let’s see if it pays off. 

The most immediate concern is, of course, the defense.  The Broncos finished 29th in total defense surrendering an average of 28 points per game.  The Broncos are going to commit to the 3-4 defense in 2009 and need pass rushing specialist on the outside, along with big interior lineman and inside linebackers to stop the rush. 

McDaniels drafted one defensive end in Robert Ayers. 

Ayers is also too small to fit the system, and has zero use in coverage.  Not to mention he was a one-year starter, and the Broncos still don’t have a nose tackle.  Did I mention that Ayers only had three sacks in his senior year?

Did I mention that the Broncos traded next years first round draft pick to get a nickel corner in Alphonso Smith. 

Also McDaniels traded both of his third round draft choices to draft a blocking tight end!

Genius.

Strike two. 

The only prize the Broncos took from the draft was Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno, who should finally put a face on the stable of running backs the Broncos use currently. 

McDaniels has to fix the defense through free agency.  The Broncos were giving up 7.7 yards per pass play, and 5.0 yards per rush. 

McDaniels acquires an over-the-hill Brian Dawkins, and signs the 35-(36 in October)-year-old to a five-year deal. 

Then, he signs inside linebacker and Cleveland Browns reject Andra Davis to start at inside linebacker alongside talented D.J. Williams. 

To play nose tackle, he signs Ronald Fields, a guy who couldn’t even start for the 49ers and has only nine career starts. 

To play the defensive end across from Robert Ayers will either be Jarvis Moss (the horror) or Ryan McBean (oh, the horror!) a guy who has played in just one game.  Jarvis Moss will most likely have to transition outside to be a rush linebacker, even though he has no pass-rush ability.  Leaving the only capable player, Elvis Dumervil, to play rush linebacker on the other side. 

Other notable signings included aging defensive backs Andre Goodman, and Renaldo Hill.  No one starting in the Broncos secondary is under the age of 31. 

Strike three, four, five and six. 

McDaniels is breaking the land speed record for ruining a football team.   

Or is he a true evil genius the likes of which this league has never seen? 

Let’s check the scorecard.  The offense has gotten worse, the defense has gotten a lot worse, and nothing has been done on special teams. 

More baffling, still, is how Broncos fans seem convinced that not only is McDaniels doing a good job, but actually believe that the Broncos will be better than they were last year! 

Kyle Orton is not Jay Cutler.  Cutler threw 18 inceptions last year.  This is true, but his interception percentage was only 2.9 percent compared to Orton’s 2.6 percent.  Asking Orton to throw the ball more often and for more yards will undoubtedly lead to more interceptions and an overall lack of production in the offense. 

Orton is a system quarterback.  He is a clock management-type quarterback.  He has no arm.  This does not bode well for a pass-happy Broncos team.

Broncos fans cannot honestly say that they are better off without a guy who threw for 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns last year.  Not to mention losing a coach who knows the division like the back of his hand in Mike Shanahan.  

Josh McDaniels is the best thing to happen to the Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers since merging with the NFL. 

A true evil genius.

Battle For Supremacy: AFC West Quarterback Showdown

The Oakland Raiders have their work cut out for them this year, playing against a slew of tough opponents.  Five playoff teams await the Raider on the gridiron this year, but we will get to those in a later article.  For now, lets focus on two teams at a time in our own division: the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. 

It has been speculated over and over that Cassel and Orton will somehow become dominant forces in the AFC west.  Allow me the indulgence of disagreeing. 

When Brady went down in, ironically, a game against the Chiefs, many fans sat around scratching their heads as to who exactly was Tom Brady’s backup. 

Enter Matt Cassel.

Who he is and where he comes from is still a mystery to many NFL fans.  Cassel was a perennial backup at USC behind the likes of Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.  Cassel never started a game in the NFL, or in college for that matter. 

I’m sure Raider fans remember the 49-26 drubbing that Cassel handed the Raiders last year.  But I can assure you, that is all part of the past, Raider-nation. 

Cassel had many things going for him in that game.  I shall list them for your convenience:

1. Receivers. Randy Moss, Wes Welker, etc. 
2. An offensive line that wasn’t awful
3. Great coaching
4. A decent defense

Cassel now has to deal with the following as the Chiefs staring quarterback:

1. Inconsistent receivers, although Dwayne Bowe will be very effective, but will surely draw double coverage without Tony Gonzalez
2. A giant question mark in the coaching sector, having a former Patriots executive doesn’t make you a winner, despite what everyone seems to believe
3. A horrible defense.  I mean horrible. 
4. A line which I believe is slightly worse than New England’s line, but not by too much.  Although, with Waters disgruntled, it could get a lot worse. 

50 Sacks again this season?  Most likely, and here is why.

The Chiefs running game will remain semi-potent to be sure, with Larry Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Kolby Smith, and Jackie Battle will create a competent rushing attack.  But their defense has not improved at all. 

An anemic 10 sacks was all the Chiefs could muster last year.  The addition of Tyson Jackson will be mitigated with the Chiefs shifting to a 3-4.  The Chiefs defense is in shambles, which means they will be playing from behind in most, if not all, of their contests this season. 

This simply means: run, Matt, run.  Run for your life. 

Cassel will be sacked a lot this year.  He will also be forced to throw the ball on the run, which for a quarterback like him will almost certainly result in more interceptions.  If Cassel gets sacked 47 times with New England, that number will only rise on the much-worse-off Chiefs.  I’m afraid that the Chiefs have been had.  They bought an expensive tackling dummy. 

It has been pointed out on NFL.com and other sites that Cassel’s QB rating was around 28 when opposing teams blitzed.  OUCH.  You think other teams will watch his game film?

Cassel will perform better than Thigpen, but that won’t be enough to lift the Chiefs from the bottom of the barrel in the AFC west as some ridiculous sports writers have claimed.  Cassel the second-coming of Brady?  I think not.

 

Next, we come to the wayward Broncos.  I almost feel sorry for the fans in Denver for the way their promising team last season has imploded in the offseason.  I’m not just talking about the most boneheaded trade I’ve seen since…well…Randy Moss to New England for a fourth-round pick was pretty bad. Then again, I don’t feel THAT bad.

I digress.  The Broncos will be better than the Chiefs this year.  That much is certain.  Their offense is still dangerous even without Cutler, but they will soon learn the cost of their mistake when they send former Purdue wunderkind onto the field, Kyle Orton.

Orton has shown some much improved maturity and poise in recent years, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Orton may not even start this year.  There is an open competition with Chris Simms.

Simms initially seemed promising during the 2005 season, in which he came in after then-starting quarterback Brian Griese had a season-ending injury.  He led the Bucs to a playoff berth with over 2,000 yards and a passer rating of 81.4. 

Then, he imploded the next season.  We all know what happened next—ruptured spleen, release, Titans, released to make room for a punter.  Ouch. 

Neither one of these quarterbacks are horrible.  But when you are talking about them starting for a team with one of the worst defenses in the league, that’s bad news.  Like Cassel, their main problem will be playing from behind. 

We know the Broncos aren’t short on running backs. I believe they currently employ nine running backs who have potential to touch the football this year. 

Here is the reason the Broncos quarterbacks will suffer this year:

1. Horrible defense.  Having to play from behind is not a good way to get mediocre quarterbacks like Orton and Simms to win games.
2. Josh McDaniels.  I’m not one of the believers who thinks just because you were in New England, you’re a winner.  So far, he has been a train wreck.  Broncos fans must pray he can coach as well as he can run his mouth. 
3. No Mike Shanahan.  This needs no explanation.   
4. The fans.  Even if Kyle Orton and Simms perform marginally well, they won’t be Jay Cutler.  The fans will have little or no tolerance for failure.

I believe Orton has a far better chance to get the job than Simms.  He’s a better quarterback with a more consistent track record.  But, at the first sign of trouble, don’t be surprised to see him get yanked and see the Broncos play the quarterback shuffle. 

The Broncos have to pray that Knowshon Moreno is the second-coming of Walter Payton, or else this will turn out to be another disappointing season. 

 

In closing, the Broncos are in a much better position then the Chiefs, despite what everyone seems to believe.  They are largely unchanged in their core from last year. The loss of Shanahan and Cutler will definitely take their edge away. 

Next time, the Chargers and the Raiders!

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