The first thing a coach does in the off-season is evaluate his teams performance from the year before - understand what worked well, and what needed fixing. Coaches then move to add personnel to shore up weaknesses, and to adjust for what they want to do.
What did McD do when he came in? How did he evaluate the 2008 Broncos, and what moves has he made to improve things?
Released Jeremy Bates, the Bronco playcaller.
retained Dennison and Turner, the long time OL and RB coach.
considered (and then did) bringing in a caretaker type QB (as opposed to a risk-taking gunslinger).
signed Buckhalter, Arrington, Jordan as free agents.
drafted Moreno in the first.
traded up to draft Quinn in the 2nd, a blocking TE despite having Scheffler and Graham.reading the tea leaves, I think that McD is going to try to take the air out of the ball and run...alot. They will run zone blocking, they will run power blocking, they will run win or lose. With the entire OL (and coaching staff) returning they will be successful. Moreno will be the prime beneficiary. He wasn't brought in to sit on the bench; he was brought in after the other FA backs were on board. As of right now, June 4, 2009, I expect Moreno to beat out the rest of the backs and give Denver what it has wanted for most of this decade - clarity @ the RB position.
I do not expect RBBC to the extent it has been used in other locations. I believe Moreno will be a three down back. Buckhalter will spell Moreno on the occasional 3rd down; Jordan will spell Moreno occasionally in short yardage, and Hillis will get a good number of carries and catches as well (actually, I see Hillis playing kind of an Alstott role). Moreno was McD's first draft pick of his head coaching career, and I expect McD to use Moreno to vindicate his controversial off-season moves.
When it's all said and done, I see Moreno @ 301/1311/10, with 29/263/3 in the passing game. ROY.
Disclaimer: it's early June. I haven't seen any fluff pieces in the Denver Post about Moreno since April, and I find that to be a little troubling. Risks to the above projection include Moreno not earning this role in training camp, injuries to the OL, and the dreaded rookie wall late in the season.
ETA: before anyone accuses me of inflating numbers because I'm a
, let me add that I don't have any Bronco WR getting more than 900 yards - not Marshall, not Royal. The 2009 Broncos will be very different than the 2008 Broncos.
I love how folks have already traded Marshall for Denver.
no offense I'm always amazed when people listen to coachspeak. it means nothing. anyway having a hard time getting a read on Moreno but IMO he at least cracks 1000 with only thing stopping a big year is how much sharsies he does. I do agree that mcd will make Moreno the man more or less, but that doesn't mean 300+ carries necessarily.
in hope that things will get back on track.
no offense I'm always amazed when people listen to coachspeak. it means nothing.
no offense I'm always amazed when people listen to coachspeak. it means nothing. anyway having a hard time getting a read on Moreno but IMO he at least cracks 1000 with only thing stopping a big year is how much sharsies he does. I do agree that mcd will make Moreno the man more or less, but that doesn't mean 300+ carries necessarily.
