Mike Shanahan

Rick Meyer

Rick Meyer

Veteran
I know this was briefly brought up in the NFL thread but due to my love for the Broncos and my absolute respect for the man I felt he deserved more than a blurb. I can remember the exact day back in 95 when he was hired. I called my GF at the time and said "we'd be in the Super Bowl within 3 years!"

Sure, the mods can shut this thread down. Or combine it or whatever. I'm just here to vent. This feels like the day that Princess Diana died. Yeah, its not a tragedy in the literal since but its shocking and quite the blow. Its horrible news.

Bowlen will want to shiv himself when the Chiefs or Chargers fire Herm or Norv respectfully, and hire Shanahan. That day will probably come.

Sigh. Im so bummed I am holding an 8 hour tribute to Mike Shanahan by looping REM's "Everybody Hurts" off of my laptop. My GF, who is home for the day, will want to shiv me by 9-thirty.

Thanks for all the wins Mike...
 
I agree. He's not perfect, and I have screamed "What the F@ck are you thinking Mike?" more than once. But the number of coaches in that caliber is a a single digit number. And most of them are already working, or are dead...

I know it's frustrating for Pat and the fans, but Shanahan was as a big a part of those rings as Elway (and I Love Elway). A lesser coach would have gone 6-10 this year with the injuries they had.

If Mike has a flaw, it's that he has a hard time picking D coordinators. He's obviously an offensive mastermind, but I have lost count of the Defensive coordinators we have gone through since he took over. Maybe he wont hire (or keep) anyone who will stand up to him. The problems switch from year to year between D-Line, secondary and linebackers depending on who they sign and who is hurt.

When they lost Kubiak as O Coordinator, I thought the offense would suffer more, but it showed how much of the success really was Shanahan.

And special teams was kind of a joke this season. If they are willing to lose Mike and not Prater, that would be a sin.

Thanks Mike. One of the classiest (and winningest) coaches ever to put on a headset.
 
Jim-

Thanks for the input.

I have followed the Broncos since I was a little kid in the 70's. I look at stats, I pay attention to off-season moves I watch what they are doing with the practice squad etc. No one, in the game has a better Offensive mind that he has. And, his track record speaks for itself. When he was QB coach in the 80's he worked closely with Elway and we went to the Super Bowl. We lose him to the Raiders for a stint we don't go to the Super Bowl. Then, he comes back in a larger Offensive capacity and we go BACK to the Super Bowl. Then, we lose him to the 49'ers and THEY go to the Super Bowl and in 94' have THE most prolific offense the NFL has ever seen. He comes to Denver, we go to the Super Bowl in seasons 3 and 4. We have never won less than 6 games. We have NEVER had to use the term "rebuilding." We were ONE game away from going to the Super Bowl just 3 lousy years ago then he decides that Culter was more the man for the job. I COMPLETELY agree and the proof is in the pro-bowl pudding. So, we struggle the first year going 9-7. Still a respectable season. We insert Jay. We struggle last year. And are decimated with injuries this year. But anyone could see that our Offense was on the verge of something special. Something great.

If Shanahan had a weakness it was on the Defensive side of the ball. It was picking coordinators and selecting defensive talent. But there was a solution. The Goodmans and Xanders (their answer to the loss of GM Ted Sundquist) were doing a fantastic job. This draft was one of the best EVER. We would have went with Defense solidly and would have made the playoffs. Of this, I have no doubt. Now Shanny will take that team of evaluators to his new team of Super Bowl contenders. *sigh*

Do you realize that over the past 14 years, with noname running backs (aside from T.D and Portis) he has amassed NINE seasons of having an Offense that ranked in the top 5 of the NFL. FOUR of those seasons we were number 1. With Greise even. The man IS (not was) an Offensive Mastermind and has earned that moniker for good reason. Throwing him away was the stupidest thing Bowlen has ever done.

Sorry...still reeling....

PS and the thing with Kubiak is that everything he knows about football Shanahan taught him. But, he doesn't know everything Shanahan knows. It's a no brainer. Would you want someone who has learned how to do it or someone who was born to do it?
 
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Yeah, it was a bit of a shocker. I'm not a Broncos fan but I've got a lot of respect for Shanahan, very classy coach.

Maybe it's for the best though and maybe a change is needed. Time will tell. One things for sure is that Shanahan will not be out of work for long.
 
Rick Meyer said:
I know this was briefly brought up in the NFL thread but due to my love for the Broncos and my absolute respect for the man I felt he deserved more than a blurb. I can remember the exact day back in 95 when he was hired. I called my GF at the time and said "we'd be in the Super Bowl within 3 years!"

Sure, the mods can shut this thread down. Or combine it or whatever. I'm just here to vent. This feels like the day that Princess Diana died. Yeah, its not a tragedy in the literal since but its shocking and quite the blow. Its horrible news.

Bowlen will want to shiv himself when the Chiefs or Chargers fire Herm or Norv respectfully, and hire Shanahan. That day will probably come.

Sigh. Im so bummed I am holding an 8 hour tribute to Mike Shanahan by looping REM's "Everybody Hurts" off of my laptop. My GF, who is home for the day, will want to shiv me by 9-thirty.

Thanks for all the wins Mike...
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Gennice: (DROPS HOT DOG) Oh no, my frankfurter, my frankfurter fell (sob sob sob sob) . It was really good. I can't believe that I dropped it. (sob sob sob sob)


Jerry: It's okay…it's just a hot dog, (still sobbing) everything is going to be okay.
 
ugafan said:
Gennice: (DROPS HOT DOG) Oh no, my frankfurter, my frankfurter fell (sob sob sob sob) . It was really good. I can't believe that I dropped it. (sob sob sob sob)


Jerry: It's okay…it's just a hot dog, (still sobbing) everything is going to be okay.
Click to expand...

lol.
 
Then, we lose him to the 49'ers and THEY go to the Super Bowl and in 94' have THE most prolific offense the NFL has ever seen
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At that time. :) I think last years Pats offense, passed everyone on that list.

Do you Broncos fans remember that AFC divisional game in 2005 where you guys spanked us pretty good. The Champ Bailey INT return where Ben Watson ran from like goaline to goaline to knock Champ out of bounds on like the 2 yard line? Anyways, I can remember the following year Shanahan was talking about that in pregame press conference and how it was one of the greatest individual efforts he's every seen, he mentioned how he would show that to his players for years to come on how never to give up on a play. Thought was pretty classy on his part.

One things for sure, we know he's not going back to Oakland. Loved the karma that Shanahan gave to Al Davis after Davis poo pooed him. I think there is one thing we can all agree on and it's our hatred for the Raiders.

He, maybe if Josh McDaniels takes the coaching job in Detroit, the Pats would sign Shanahan as the OC. Belichick has a lot of respect for the guy and the get along pretty good, although we usually promote from within and I'd think Shanahan would be looking for another HC job.
 
Yeah, no way in heck Shanny would demote himself. I would love it if he went to the Jets. Get him out of our division. But I still think he is going to wait for the Chiefs or Chargers to make a move.
 
I'm thinking Shanahan got fired cause there were certain unemployed coaches out there right now that the Broncos are interested in. Not to mention a lot of teams will be changing GMs & Coaches.

Sometimes you gotta change things up. Cause if you don't, you can bet that your competition will. Just don't hire Nick Saban or Cam Cameron.

The interesting thing now is that there is proof, in 3 different cities, that it doesn't take 3-5 years to turn it around or build a good team.
 
Yeah, no way in heck Shanny would demote himself. I would love it if he went to the Jets. Get him out of our division. But I still think he is going to wait for the Chiefs or Chargers to make a move.
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poo poo that. Please Shanahan for your sake stay away from the Jets, such a pathetic franchise. How Ironic is it that after the Jets dumped Pennington he comes back to beat them, I swear nothing ever goes right for them.....and I love it.

Chiefs or Chargers is the place for him and I think he'll end up in KC.
 
Funny, cause in the press coference this AM, Bowlen specifically said he hoped Mike wouldn't go to KC.

I gotta say that after watching Shanahan this morning, that he is a class act and I belive now more than ever that this is a mistake.

I am not looking forward to next season.
 
He kept talking about the Broncos as "we", and how much he respects Bowlen as the best owner in sports. He said he had no idea he was going to be fired, but he knows that Pat is going to do what he thinks is best for the team, and he respects that.

He also said that he thinks the team will do well next year because of the new, young talent, and that he feels better about the team now than he has in years.
 
Jim Brennan said:
He kept talking about the Broncos as "we", and how much he respects Bowlen as the best owner in sports. He said he had no idea he was going to be fired, but he knows that Pat is going to do what he thinks is best for the team, and he respects that.

He also said that he thinks the team will do well next year because of the new, young talent, and that he feels better about the team now than he has in years.
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Knowing they would be re-running this on a random sports channel all day I just watched it. At the risk of sounding l like a pansy...broke my heart a little. They way he kept referring to the team is "our" team or "we", like you said, shows that this hasn't even sunk in yet.

What a class individual. Too bad Bowlen couldn't say "Mike, I was too impulsive and made a mistake. Please come back."
 
This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach... and what is funny is that most people are shocked at this, and believe it's a bad move... look at this guy's track record? He's a GREAT coach... the ONLY guy (who's available) we could pick up who is even close to as good a coach would be Cowher..

I am sad Mike is gone... very sad.
 
Not sure I understand this either. I'm sure he has done a great job in NE, but the majority of the Broncos problems come on the other side of the ball. He's only 32. Man, I feel old.

Well, here's to 'em. I hope he does well
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As a Pats fan, I can tell you guys that your getting a coach that will have the Broncos prepared on both sides of the ball. McDaniels took a position with the Pats in 2001 after a stint in college as an assistant. Any time a coach or assistant is hired, they always learn the defense first, that's the way Belichick works, first year he did basic film break down, and for the next 4 years I believe worked solely on defense. Belichick never allows new coaches to just move to offense, they need to learn the defensive side of the ball first, and when he believes they've done that, then they can move onto learning the offense, which is the case with McDaniels first becoming the quarterbacks coach and then eventually the OC.

He is only 32 though and it may be tough for him to first get the respect of some of the older players on the Broncos, that being said, you couldn't ask for a better mentor than McDaniels had, if it's one thing McDaniels will bring to the Broncos its getting the entire team prepared. It's something Belichick preaches constantly. It's going to be his way or the highway, if you've got dead weight on your team, expect for them to be cut and I wouldn't be surprised to see it early next year if you've got egos on your team.

Now maybe the Pats will hire Shanahan as their OC. :)
 
That's good to hear. My only real concern than (as would be with any new head coach), is that they have put together the beginnings of a strong offensive arsenal. Three really good receivers, an exceptional tight-end, an effective running game and a pro-bowl QB. I hope McDaniels looks at what he has, and how well it works before he starts making a lot of changes.
 
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