Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Broncos Tab McDaniels As Coach


The Denver Broncos hired New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach. This comes as a surprise to some as some people thought the Broncos would hire a defensive minded coach after coming off of an offensive minded coach in Mike Shanahan. They also struggled defensively last year, and that led to their late season collapse which resulted in them missing the playoffs after having an 8-5 record.


McDaniels was the man behind the Patriots offensive explosion in the 2007 season, where the Patriots went undefeated at 16-0 in the regular season. The season, however, didn't finish the way they wanted it to, as they lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII in February of 2008 in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. That season, quarterback Tom Brady had a record 50 touchdown passes and wide receiver Randy Moss had a record 23 touchdown receptions.


McDaniels takes over a team that was previously led for the past 14 seasons by Shanahan. Shanahan won two Super Bowls with the Broncos, when Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway was quarterback. Since then, they only have one playoff victory. McDaniels also has to change the culture of the defense, which was last in the league in takeaways.


I think the switch from Shanahan to McDaniels won't do much for the Broncos. Their defense needs to improve for them to be successful, because they already have the offensive pieces in quarterback Jay Cuter and wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal.

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