John Fox No Longer Denver Broncos Coach. Is Adam Gase Up Next?

All signs point towards the hiring of Adam Gase as the next head coach of the Denver Broncos.

Is Gase Up Next (....and is
 Manning okay with that)?

Why not? By season's end, we not only  came to know who Gase is, we started to forget who John Fox was as well.  Reminder: John Fox is just as afraid of the big moment as is the current starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos.  As a result, John Fox is a former Broncos coach and  Adam Gase, the guy most responsible for the mid-season transformation of the Broncos, is likely to be the guy who takes over.

The loss of Fox doesn't bode well for the future of Jack Del Rio who's vanilla approach to defense gave the best quarterbacks in the league way too much time to think.  These two old school coaches saw Denver as their next best hope for career resurrection and they remained arm and arm throughout the trials of expectation and the travails of coming up short. If reports about John Fox being a candidate for one of the open NFL head coaching positions are true, Del Rio might be well served to follow his friend Fox.  Before Gase, two previous offensive coordinators were gobbled up by the head coaching circuit and Gase will become the third in a row with or without the intervention of Elway who had better hire him or watch him work from another sideline next season.

Gase might become another beneficiary of coaching the great Peyton Manning, but he is also the first coach since Tony Dungy to remind Peyton who the boss is.  Manning has been given such freedom throughout his years as a quarterback that his decision to continue playing, after multiple surgeries on his neck, was as much a function of his support from management as his freedom to "Be Peyton".  Elway offered a reasonable attraction for Manning when it came to managerial support, but he could only continue to allow Peyton to be Peyton to the extent that it fulfilled the larger objective.  Elway's off season focus on the defensive side of the ball should have clarified the larger objective, but Gase had to deliver the message to Manning because Fox simply wasn't smarter than Manning when it came to coordinating offensive attacks.

So Fox had to go.

Fox might not be much smarter than Del Rio either because Denver's vanilla defense rarely found a sprinkle of nuts or candy on top.  Although players seemed supportive of Fox overall, winning was never something they seemed to do for the sake of the coach.  Fox was a great team builder, but an average button pusher in the heat of the moment.  If he gets another job, he will always be forced into great game planning  because on the fly adjustments are not in his wheel house.  Better coaches seem to work circles around Fox who's predictability is becoming legendary.

The real question is whether or not Manning is willing to press on while being pressed down beneath the thumb of head coach Gase?  Despite the obvious success that the run game revealed to Denver Bronco players and fans, Manning seemed to be having less fun at football when the game plan adjustments took the ball out of his hands.  During the playoff loss to the Colts, Manning passed up on 20 yards of open field that would have allowed him to run  (don't laugh) and convert an important third and 5. Instead, Peyton failed to thread the needle to a well covered Emmanuel Sanders.  Those who later claimed that he didn't have the legs to run might have missed the 4 yards that he quickly ran from the middle of the pocket just to attempt the pass to Sanders.

Manning loves to remind you how physically mobile he can be when necessary, but fails to recognize how mentally immobile it reveals him to be from a holistic approach to football.  Manning's mobility is limited to whatever it takes to complete a pass, so the only thing the Colts had to employ against a pass happy Bronco team is the Seattle Seahawks Superbowl blueprint of pressing the outside receivers.  Denver's desperate cry for a healthy Julius Thomas was as much a game plan giveaway as is his presence on the field which immediately denotes something other than a run play.  Thomas, who is notoriously poor at run blocking, became the visual equivalent of an empty backfield for Denver's defensive opponents, and the Colts salivated at the opportunity to make plays when such offensive declarations provided them.

Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson have likely decided that it is time to send all of the old guard out to pasture, not just Denver's aging Bronco, so Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers had best be ready for a real fight in the conference finals.  As for Manning, he is no longer the glue of his team and might soon become the kind of glue that an old horse fears the most.  While the Broncos could use his ability to help them transition into the future, he is likely too proud to finish his career as the game manager that C.J. Anderson and a well stocked defense need him to be, but too old to try and start again somewhere else.  With such an abrupt exit from the playoffs....again, whether or not Manning returns to the field next year is probably a question that even Manning himself has not figured an answer for.

As a matter of decision making, Manning should know that Gase will remain in his face and C.J. will become the chosen Mr. Anderson who fixes this matrix.  Denver also becomes a leading candidate for the acquisition of Jameis Winston(FSU)  or Cordale Jones(OSU), college quarterbacks with the kind of stuff that might impress someone like the great John Elway who has to recognize that his true challenge will be overcoming the great quarterbacks who threaten to own the league for years to come, and that Brock Osweiller is not equal to any of them. Will these great college players fall within the reach of Denver or will Denver be forced to trade (maybe even Manning) for a chance to find its future quarterback?

Stay tuned.

Coach Fox and Coach Manning Confess Their Faults. Is Father John Watching?

Analyzing coach speak is an art of a particular kind.  Sometimes you are forced to digest the bits and pieces of crumbs that come from the tight fisted, poker players like Belichick in New England or like John Fox used to be before last weeks butt kicking by the Patriots.

When you do a proper assessment of the Broncos, you have to listen closely to all of the coaches because they don't actually share a unified voice out in dove valley.  Their head coach and dude in charge, #18, has loads of NFL records including being the quarterback to run for the fewest yards in the history of earth.  He may seem unflappable at times, but he uses his distinguished accomplishments to snub his nose at the critics.  My point is not to deny Peyton Manning the right to snub his nose at me or anybody who denies his greatness.  My assessment of this coach is that, good or bad, he is listening to everything that is being said about him.

What does that mean?

"Running the ball is football religion.  Nothing is more
powerful than something you can not stop." - Elwayian Proverb

If Manning has decided to NEVER run the ball HIMSELF, it is a conscious snub for certain.  Had Manning NEVER won a Superbowl like his coach John Fox, he might be compelled to listen to him. He does not.

Or maybe he does, in which case Fox is overriding Adam Gase, the Offensive Coordinator who notoriously met Manning out on field several weeks ago because he kept emptying the backfield and  declaring the run game...or the lack thereof.  The humility to run the ball week in and week out will be the most uncomfortable career experience that Manning shall endure on his way to a championship season.  He can endure a game or two of ball control offense, but under stress (ie., any game against the Patriots/Belichick/Brady) Manning reverts to his comfort zone.

Gase has finally introduced himself recently in the nature of the running attack that started to become the buzz of the NFL up until last week.  Coach Manning and Coach Fox both quickly took ownership for their failure to execute the age old formula for winning tough games on the road; run the ball and control the clock.  Coach Gase seems to be in good graces\ with the doctrine of John (Elway), so he is the only voice in the news this week that's is blaming poor execution on the field and not himself like the other two coaches have suddenly begun doing.

Few should have expected the Broncos to go on the road and win that game, but the surety of the run attack that they had developed in the previous games was reminiscent of high level little league football with the 3 or 4 teams that have a quarterback that can pass.  The teams that pass too much rarely win the Superbowl, even in little league, while teams that never pass seem to get shocked by a timely passes in here and there.  Whether little league or NFL, balance is the key to the chess match, and the chess match is the key to the crown.

No matter how ugly the page, every team has to be on the same sheet of paper to truly be successful.  Elway wrote the script for championship journey's at the latter stages of one's quarterbacking career. His doctrine is law and he is not leaving it to chance that EVERYONE, including coaches, recognizes the plan.  Paying for one high profile defensive player is a nice addition- adding three is a definitive statement to the entire league.  Emmanuel Sanders might prove to be the best free agent acquisition, but he was a less expensive swap that happened to work out.  This team was built to play defense and defensive approaches begin with  the run game.

The Broncos had better return to a run-first, defensive approach or Coach Fox and Coach Manning will be sounding more and more like they are preaching the Gospel of John.  Elway is a "no excuse" kind of person and the compulsion to take ownership for your own crap is Elwayian for certain.  The more Manning and Fox face the music says they've spent time in Father John's confessional box.  And what did Father John prescribe for his flag football loving quarterback and the coach who allows it?

Tell the world how bad you played in the game, even though you produced nearly 500 yards, and tell assistant coach Fox to review the Seattle Superbowl tapes in which his team didn't even step off of the plane, and then both of you take ownership for fixing the problems instead of doing your customary asshole interviews.

If this team needs a divine intervention to make it all the way, father John is going to do his part. To that I say, Amen.

Denver Broncos Defense Making A Name With No Name Players

We spent a full season slobbering over the other worldly exploits of the Manning they call Peyton

When Manning is long gone..I'll be stuck on the Broncos

, but remain curious as to whether he will shake the label that keeps his little brother (and dad) in the debate as the greatest Manning quarterback of all time.  So long as that debate rages on, this Bronco fan is focusing on the team that I will love and support long after Peyton decides to poop or get off the pot. That being said, it is time that we share some of the same adoration saliva that we spilled on Manning and lather it all over our defense.

Ready for some drooling?

The Denver defense is proving to me that they are the best in the league.  Yeah, I said it!  The best in the league.

You need proof?  Well, I don't have the actual film review that play graders use when evaluating performance, but trust me when I tell you that I watch the game VERY closely.  My expertise may be in basketball, but my passion is the Broncos from as far back as I can remember.  In my own football humility, I sat quietly in the background over the years that the great "shut down" cornerbacks like Deion Sanders and Darrell Green ruled the roost. There became a great debate over who dictates QB pressure, the pass rush or the cover corners who buy time for the rush?  By the time the debate came to an exhausted conclusion, it became clear that no one had a definitive answer for why great pass rushers can create pressure or why great cover guys force QB's to only see half of the field.

Bradley Roby made the grade...and Kayvon Webster into a forgotten backup

This fly on that proverbial wall did not leave that conversation without taking notes about football, and for years I have been imagining the team that could do both.  Yeah, I know you think Seattle has that team, but they don't.  These guys are stout up front and mean in the secondary, but they can be burned in one-on-one coverage, and the film has forced every team towards that approach when playing the Seahawks (who fell to the Dallas Cowboys yesterday).

Do you remember a Bronco named Kayvon Webster?
 If you forgot about this guy, who played well for the Broncos in the Superbowl last year, it is because of another cat that we are getting to know, despite rarely getting to hear his name.  Bradley Roby could be exactly what we thought we drafted, and it might have already clicked in for this dominant, starting rookie.  If Roby is good than Chris Harris Jr. is great, and his stature among DB's in the league says that Denver already has a top 5 cornerback.  Aqib Talib and TJ Ward are footnotes in this paragraph because of the dominance of my first two examples, but I guarantee you that both New England  and Cleveland are sad when they witness what their former players are now doing in Denver.

Who is Quanterus Smith, and is he the reason Vonn Miller is back already?

The secondary will only get better, but they are not nearly as dominant as the front four is right now, so forget about those guys for now.

Demarcus Ware and Vonn Miller?!  Nuff said.  Terrance Knighton will go to the Pro Bowl because NO ONE can run against the Broncos.  He might take Derek Wolfe with him after yesterday because there was a definite Wolfe sighting in New York.

But forget about those guys too.

Who is this Smith dude that had to come into the game when Vonn Miller got his bell rung?  When I witnessed Vonn falling a try to stay up, I was curious about who would fill that spot, and if the Jets would instantly attack the Broncos with Miller missing.  The very next play after Vonn went  out resulted in a Demarcus Ware sack.  Ware got credit for the sack, but Mr. Smith created the pressure that forced it to happen.

By the time I Googled to find the name Quanterus Smith connected to #93 of the Broncos, I started to shake my head at the embarrassment of riches.  Quanterus Smith is the easiest explanation to why Vonn Miller got his game back so quickly, and why he tried to stay in the game when he got his bell rung.  This unknown dude can play and seems more powerful than Miller, which allows him to create pressure without compromising his lane assignment.  The New York Jets defense was rather impressive as well, but they seemed emboldened by the exploits of the best defensive coach in the game with Rex Ryan.  Any time you make it tough to score, you  indirectly make it easier for your offense to score by giving the ball back to them over and over again.  Sometimes good defenses will stifle scoring, other times it forces frenetic scoring patterns like it did in New York against the Jets.

What separates the good defenses from the great ones is the ability to take the ball away, and that has yet to become a trademark of Denver's D.  In New England, they teach this skill to a level that nearly neutralizes their defensive weaknesses, but gamblers always crap out eventually. If Denver never improves in this area, it will only matter if we continue to put the ball on the ground while trying to develop a solid run game.  The turnover battle does not really have to be won, it simply cannot be lost.

After 6 weeks of football, it might be a bit early to determine who the best defense in the league really is, but thus far, I will take the Denver defense over any of them for both current performance and immense upside.    The better your defense performs, the more likely any coach is to honor their efforts with a solid run game.  Since the Broncos finally got a 100+ yard rushing performance, Fox will have to finally honor to the new MVP of Denver and give them the respect, and consistent run support that great defenses demand.

Broncos Star QB Must Recognize Denver's Defense As The MVP

What's up with Peyton's fourth quarter production.

Every attempt that we keep making to answer the question about Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos seems to leave us more clarified about the competition and not the home team or its leader.

Much like the first two weeks, Manning has finished a really close game with no reason for anyone to believe that he is the game closer that will be necessary for the final climb to the top.  This Superbowl rematch started out eerily similar to the original game.  Much like the Superbowl, Denver's improved defense gave Peyton time to decide if he wanted to show up or not.  Another fumble on our opening offensive play shut down Denver's confidence in Montee' Ball and running the ball with Ball.  In a wild stroke of luck, Ronnie Hilman actually resurfaced early in the game, even though he was inserted to give Peyton another passing weapon (screen out of the backfield) and not a reliable running attack.

By games end, the Broncos had settled on 20 running plays versus the 47 running plays that San Diego used a week prior to upset the Superbowl champs.  Granted, the Chargers were lucky enough to do it on home turf, but their blueprint was never designed to yield humongous yards on the ground.  No self respecting defense would ever give up too many yards on the ground anyway.  The commitment to running is like making slow love.  It may take a while to yield the benefits, but its well worth the patience shown.  Three years and three weeks into the Manning experiment, and the Broncos are still full of quick triggered, youthful exuberance, but lack the wisdom of experience.  Their defensive effort in last nights game was similar to that of the Superbowl, but failed offensive series after failed offensive series is likely to run any defense into the ground, even an improved one.

Three weeks into the season and John Fox is also continuing to use the same 'tired' excuse as an explanation for shoddy play down the stretch.  Fox has yet to explain the lack of offensive execution late in games that has made the first three games such an adventure, or assign his QB's fourth quarter departures as the reason for the dilapidated defense in Denver that he  does keep referring to.  Its likely that Fox is just another well paid talking head who understands football, gains the love and respect of his players with a jovial, laid back personality, but can not hold the leader of his team to the highest level of expectation- which Manning is so apt to do when other players fail to execute.  Is there no one in the Bronco organization to tell the quarterback to step your end game production up?

At the conclusion of last nights defeat in Seattle, Denver cornerback Chris Harris Jr. tweeted a comment that Russell Wilson is better than Luck, referring to Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts.  If Harris Jr. had the courage to tweet such a comment about two up and coming QB's in the league, what do you think he feels about the old guy he has on own team?  Both Luck and Wilson show late game execution that Manning lacks since so many defenses are certain that he will ONLY sit in the pocket and pass when the game is on the line.  Harris Jr. might be right about his evaluation of Wilson, but he might also be admitting what is starting to become clear about Manning.

The Broncos would love to win it all on the backs of their best player, but they simply have overestimated how good he actually is.  Manning will always be knowledgeable enough of the game to make average teams pay dearly, but against the best of the best, Manning becomes mortal.  In fact, he is pretty average. If you can remember the last time he ran for a first down against pocket pressure you might have witnessed the first time as well.  In some ways, it is remarkable how well the Broncos perform on offense given the fact that they can be forced into predictability so easily. .

Harris Jr. wasn't out of bounds with his comment.  Wilson is special, and capable of winning it all once again.  It is not as though he has skills that are beyond that of most QB's in the league (although his ball fakes are legendary).  In fact, his lack of physical stature actually leaves him at a disadvantage compared to the average NFL QB.  Wilson makes up for every shortcoming in his game, and in his team, by squeezing the life out of his own potential.  When you watch Wilson make plays, it makes you wonder why he doesn't do more of the same throughout the course of the game.  Why doesn't he ignore the run game and Marshawn Lynch?  Lynch performed well last night, but was held below his normal production by a stingy Broncos run defense. Lynch finished the game with only 88 yards on 26 carries, or 3.38 yards per carry, but scored the game clinching touchdown in overtime.

Wilson only passed for 255 yards on 35 attempts, yet the formula for a Seahawk's victory will rarely include 300+ passing yards when balance and patience are their agenda.  Denver did acquit themselves better in the final scoring, but they did not show themselves truly competitive throughout the game, except on defense. If  Wilson is better than Luck then he probably is more capable than Manning too at this point in each players career.  No matter how you size up these players in a head to head comparison, Wilson is not the MVP of the Seahawks team, just as Manning isn't that for Denver.

For both of these Superbowl contenders, the collective defense is the MVP of each team, and it will be the team that relies on its defense the most that will win the next match up, which most expect to be for all the marbles.  When the game mattered most, Wilson grabbed the reigns and kept his defense from being needed,  however, it was his reliance on them throughout the game that made it possible.  Denver was an overtime away from a 3-0 start to a season in which their star quarterback has yet to outplay his competition.  Scoring is down in Denver, offensive production is sporadic, and the Broncos still appear to be the team most likely to take on Seattle in the end.

WHY?

If the current signs are legitimate, Denver has fielded the most impressive defense in its storied history and very few people are talking about them as the real hope that the Broncos have to capture the crown.  Manning has to see how impressive his defense has performed, but, thus far, seems to be the most unaware Bronco in the stable. The defense might be growing weary late in games, but to these tired eyes, it is totally on Manning whose style of play says that he still thinks of himself as the primary key to victory.