I think it was in King’s MMQB today, but he said that the Niners were worried about the Broncos filming them, so they didn’t run any planned plays in their walkthrough that did get taped. I found it surprising that they anticipated the Broncos cheating like they did.
As to why a powerhouse like Denver would look for an edge against a powerhouse like San Francisco, who knows? I bet both head coaches are fired at the end of the season.
Sarkus
3562
Outside the issues relating to the potential work stoppage that might save some coaching jobs, the Denver situation is even more of a problem in that the Broncos are still paying Shanahan for another year after this. So if they ditch McDaniels after this year they will be on the hook for another coach on top of that. Plus whatever the next coach costs.
Entirely Bowlen’s fault, of course, but I can see McDaniels getting an undeserved third year through the combination of factors.
So looking at the standings and the NFC West I’m wondering if this is the year we get a team with a losing record in the playoffs while other teams with winning records miss it.
Sarkus
3564
I’d be surprised if the winner of that division ends up less then 8-8, thought that is certainly a good possibility.
One thing I don’t get all the hand-ringing, as if crappy division winners don’t bump good teams out every year. Seriously, go back and look. It happens a lot that there are 9-7 or 8-8 division winners.
Trading Peyton Hillis AND 2 6th round draft picks for Brady Quinn should get McDaniels fired, if nothing else had happened ;)
Sarkus
3566
As a follow-up on the Broncos taping thing, Peter King’s article today covers a lot of interesting angles. This quote from the NFL’s legal counsel Jeff Pash not only explains why the Bronco situation was different from the Patriot situation, but also makes pretty clear what the Patriots situation was:
I thought Pash explained it well on Saturday. "Here [in Denver] you had, as best we can conclude, a single incident as opposed to, in New England, years of activity. You had an incident that, as best we could identify, was carried out by a single employee without direction from the coaching staff or anyone else at the club. That’s obviously different from what we saw in New England, where the head coach was actively supervising the activity. And … from the Commissioner’s standpoint, the most important point [with Denver] was that as soon as senior management and ownership was aware of it, they came forward and reported it to our office and cooperated fully in the investigation.’’
Yeah, but to be fair no one thought Hillis could run like he’s been doing. And McDaniels obviously wasn’t sold on Orton. Hindsight says it’s a terrible deal, but at the time it didn’t seem nearly as lopsided.
I was watching the Rams - Broncos game yesterday and John Lynch was commentating. He pulled up a chart showing Denver draft picks and most of them were offense. His comment was that McDaniels inherited a good offense but not a good defense, so he was being critical over that.
The Tebow pick looks especially suspect. Orton is young and looks good. I can’t see Tebow ever throwing the ball as well as Orton. I don’t even really see what Tebow adds to the Broncos if he doesn’t play QB. And didn’t McDaniels trade picks to move up to get Tebow? Yes, he did. Thanks Google:
“The Broncos gave up choices in the second (No. 43), third (No. 70) and fourth (No. 114) rounds to move back into the first round and draft Florida’s southpaw quarterback, whom McDaniels had raved about last week.”
That’s a lot to get a guy who doesn’t even seem to have a position. Those could have been players drafted to help the defense.
You just don’t get Tebow. If you spent 20m in his presence, you’d be a better person for it.
McDaniels drafted him to be team chaplain! Now I get it. (And yes, I know you were joking.)
I have nothing against Tebow. I’d enjoy seeing him play just to see if he can translate his college game to the NFL. Orton just looks solid, though. I think Orton is playing better than McDaniels expected.
Bowlen probably needs a new GM as well as a new coach.
My own pet theory is that they did it to sell tickets. The Colorado Springs area is a major hotbed of the evangelical movement. I mean, it’s seriously huge. And guess who the evangelical’s favorite sports poster boy is?
The Broncos have had no issues selling out their home games before Tebow.
Yeah, I think the Tebow pick was hubris on the part of McDaniels. Lots of scouts were down on Tebow for his mechanics, but McDaniels, offensive genius that he is, could see in Tebow what the others couldn’t.
And who knows? Tebow may have a fine career, but QB wasn’t a pressing need for the Broncos and Tebow’s a project rather than instant help.
I’ll bet they’ve moved a couple bucks worth of Tebow merch.
I believe the Tebow jersey was the top-selling NFL jersey for awhile.
Makes you wonder why Jacksonville didn’t try to trade down a bit and grab Tebow. Jacksonville can’t sell out. Tebow would have gone a long way towards helping them financially.
sluggo
3576
As loopy as this sounds, if the 49ers hold on tonight and were to beat the Rams and Seahawks in the coming weeks, it is not only possible but quite believable that they could enter the final week at 6-9 and control their own destiny to win the division, thanks to having beaten the Rams twice and having a better division record than the Seahawks.
Rimbo
3577
I want this to happen now.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; the 49ers are better than their record. The beginning of their season was just brutal.
They probably are better, but I don’t think Troy Smith is the answer at QB so that will hold them back.
Sarkus
3579
Sounds like Gore is out for the year, though, so even though Westbrook did pretty well in relief, I’m not jumping on that bandwagon.
More seriously, it’s a fractured hip which hopefully isn’t any more serious then just a season ender.
On another note, it’s a good thing Whisenhunt got the Cards to a Superbowl a few years back because this season is a disaster, one he deserves plenty of blame for with the QB mess they have. That team looks like it’s quit on him, which is never a good sign. And Derek Anderson yelled at a reporter in the aftermath. Even though I think Whisenhunt will keep his job, a firing wouldn’t shock me.
sluggo
3580
I think the 49ers, who have lost to Seattle and Carolina, have exactly the record they deserve. If you removed the NFC West from the equation, they might be one of the worst three teams in the NFL.
