Top 10 ways Josh McDaniels has destroyed the Denver Broncos

• biggest cause of mcnugget killing the broncos ... allowing mike nolan to leave ...

• I think the worst thing that came out of Mcdaniels era is the fact that they had a good coaching staff in place, and that he completely dismembered it. They needed help on defence, they had mike nolan, then he mysteriously disappears. I think that Mcdaniels inability to keep defensive creative minds behind him cetainly helped speed up his exodus. I hope the next head coach can keep working on the defensive side of the ball. I guess we'll see.

• Who is Josh McDaniels? And besides, I think Dan Reeves will still get us to the playoffs this year. Definitely last year probably.

• what about passing on Dez Bryant? Clearly a stronger more agressive player than our speedster.

• Who are you Michael Roberts and where have you been? This list is no where near accurate and it makes me wonder if you know anything about football or the Denver team. I'll address this in proper order: 10. I'm OK with this one. Cutler wouldn't have worked in McDaniels' system just because he needs to be the one making decisions, not the coach. However, if Cutler could be taught to be instictive and cerebral instead of impulsive, he could have set records. 9. This one I agree with. But only in the sense that he did create a larger mess when a precedent should have been set. 8. Drafting Knowshon Moreno over Orakpo shouldn't even be mentioned. Orakpo plays the same position as Elvis Dumervil, who ended up putting up epic numbers (although we all knew he would if you followed Denver football). This could be extended to not drafting Cushing, Maualuga, Matthews, or Ziggy Hood. But this should be one about how dismal his drafting has been. And been around gaffe #3. 7. Um, Richard Quinn wasn't a Cutler draft pick directly. And Quinn wasn't a "baller" at any point in time. He has done nothing for the Broncos even after you look past his beating of women. Anyway, Quinn should be rolled into a giant bad drafts number which should be around #3. 6. Obtaining Brady Quinn is worse than trading away your supposed QB of the future, poor drafting habits, and trading your number 1 playmaker? Give me a break. A gaffe, sure. But not worthy of a top 10 consideration. 5. This one I agree with. Hillis showed promise his rookie season. Unfortunately, McDaniels doesn't run many fullback packages. 4. If you are bringing in your system, you must change blocking to best fit it. This could be closer to the bottom, maybe even #10. Let's also point out that he got rid of aged players in Ben Hamilton and Casey Wiegman, most of the offensive line has been injured for most of the season, and we're starting 2 rookies. 3. To be fair, Elvis Dumervil is out for the season. And the players you just mentioned are all D linemen. D linemen don't get many sacks in a 3-4 defense. They clog area and let athletic OLB's do their thing. The 3 you mentioned were brought in to stop the run. This should be turned into a not improving a bad defense in general and signing only aging players. Broncos' starting D is 30.1 average age. And this should be #2. 2. This should be drafting Tim Tebow and killing Kyle Orton's momentum as a QB. Every time Tebow comes in, Kyle isn't getting reps. And the more Tebow touches the ball, the worse Orton gets. You are right, Tebow isn't throwing the ball and is predictable. But the grander problem is that Tebow is messing up Orton's rhythm, killing our chance of victory. 1. I agree with this. However, that's an after affect of the above. That's giving him a gaffe based off of accumulated gaffe's. The effect of the other 9 causes. Thus, it's more of an outcome than a gaffe.

• Biggest mistakes this dope makes is Peyton Hlllis and Moreno with Tebow a close third.Everyone who saw the courageous Peyton play two years ago when we we desperate for a running back knew this guy had heart and talent. Then he blows two first round picks getting a scat back and whoever who he cut. Then Tebow who may be a future Paul Hornung but is no quarterback. Get thee gone McDaniel. It will take minimum of 5 years to get back where we were. JD

• Lastly, his repeated actions of publically castrating various and sundry Bronco Players, did nothing to enhance the balance of the team he was hired to revitalize, so to speak. Don't forget how many running backs went down during Shannahan's last year.

• Further more, you, Pat Bowlen, should have paid the price and went after Kubiak.

• Damn, something must be wrong with me--I agree with all your comments, but I would add a couple more--when you hire a pouty, spoiled lil boy to coach in the NFL, you get your ass kicked. Secondly--it was overly apparent he wanted to get rid of every one representative of the Shannahan era regardless of skill set. Simply stated this little boy tyrant killed the locker room in his quest for personal recognition. I say now is the time to fire--yes terminate him--burn his ass at the stake,like he did so many Bronco Players. C'mon Bowlen grow a set of balls and recognize the fact, you made a mistake.

• Tim Tebow has showed he can make posative yards so why not play him? Because he is your number one QB? Do you want to win or just be popular for all the wrong reasons? The perpose of playing this game is to win, so why keep giving a RB the ball that keeps making negative yards running the same play over and over? YES the Broncos coaching is rotten. Put in the players that can win the game.

• I can agree with most of them except for number one. I think the guy has handled most things with class. yes errogant at times and young dudes make mistakes. But hey i can think of quite a few other bad coaches out there who have done just as bad. And using the word "destroyed" seems a bit dramatic dont you think? especially considering that Mike Shanahan's (whom for the record i like as a coach) last game as a Bronco Coach was a 52-21 beat down a season which the Broncos finished 8-8 (same as MD's first year). Oh and remember Ashle Lelie, Willie Middlebrooks, Maurice Clarette (who we passed up on Marion Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Darren Sproles) Marcus Nash??? all busts. yeah even hall of fame coaches mess up bad on Draft Day. I'm not defending McDaniels here. . . but saying he "destroyed" the Broncos is a bit dramatic and misleading. They been mediocre at best since a guy who wore the #7 left. 6 minutes ago

• Great post, Doc. And great countdown, Michael. I guess I have a little different take, but I sure don't disagree with the overall conclusion. The Tebow pick was a catostrophic mistake. It was a front office publicity stunt, and it did slow the season ticket defections for the immediate present, but it was a football mistake. The fact that Tebow can't play quarterback at this level, given the 4 draft choices overall sacrificed to obtain him in the first round earns Mcdaniels the title of biggest draft error. Ever. Worse than Ted Gregory in '88. Denver had a competent quarterback going into the draft. Biggest needs were guard, center and defensive line and/or linebacker. At 14 Pouncey, Bulaga, and Iapati were available. When McClain went to Oakland, Josh quit thinking critically and reached for the moon, jockeying back and forth, until landing on 22 and 25. The 14th pick went to the Steelers, who saw what EVERYBODY saw in Pouncey. The center that would have played for Denver for 15 years went to Pittsburgh. He'll make the probowl........as a rookie. As far as losing the lockerroom, my thought is that he did that when he waived the white flag by punting with 4:05 left against the Colts, then ran his mouth the following week about how some players "quit" in that game. Never mind the Jets game the next week. That was professional football players doing what they're paid to do. When Champ Bailey, the ultimate warrior, packs it in, you've lost the veterans. Watch the long McFadden run. Enough said.

• Two words; Steve Mariucci.... I totally lost any hope for McDaniels after the Jets game, we had that game won, but through poor play calling and terrible clock management McDaniels almost single handedly served it up on a platter to the Jets in the final 4 minutes or so... he might be a good coach someday, but not this day and not with this team, it's pretty obvious he's "lost the lockerroom" at this point, so instead of letting him gut the team a third time let's bring in a west coast offense guru like Mariucci, trade Tebow for a real running back and see if we can't salvage some of the season....

• Mik, your comment about a Raiders loss leading to Shanahan's ouster is right on. In Denver, losing to the Raiders is worse than losing to anyone else -- and it's particularly embarrassing when the Men in Black aren't exactly world beaters.

• This loss sucked, and it's all on Coach's shoulders for not recognizing who his enemy is. The Raiders show their players film of their history with the Broncos to get amped about the game. The Broncos, on the other hand, said publicly that they'll, " treat this like any other game." Big mistake. Losing to the Raiders was the last nail in Shannahan's coffin, it may be the first in McDaniel's. That said, this team is no worse than it was when McDaniels took over. It is still mediocre as hell.

• The broncos are a mess. The raider's loss was embarrassing. This whole season has been a rollercoaster ride through death valley--even at their highest moments things have been low. I give up. Sorry McD but this is ridiculous.

• "should of" and "might of" ...presuming you meant: "should have" and "might have"

• Id have to say this list is more like a top valid reasons rather than a top 10 that's just clearly biased. Jay Cutler couldn't (and still can't) get the job done. He had one of the highest red zone turn over rates and should of gone 7-9 his last year in denver if it wasnt for the blown hoculi call. You cant compare the cutler to marshall situation either. One couldn't perform and the other could but had issues that could potentially be fixed but weren't. Mcd wanted to keep a top 10 WR and saw Cutlers limits. I mean look what orton did last year and even this year compared to the 2. He fits his system better and Marshall was atleast worth the effort of keeping. Hindsight is 20/20. Peyton hillis was doing decent as the back in 2008. If the evidence of what he is today is somewhere back then, then I would love to see it. The trade looks dumb now because hillis became a better player than what he was when he was here. Mike Turner did the same thing. Pass rush consists of more than defensive linemen. For some reason i feel like we had the nfl sack leader last year. thats so strange.... Oh the Tebow situation. I can go either way with but you made it seem so clear that he is under used and so ready for the real life game. And its hard to predict anything from 4 snaps. He might of deserved some playing time, hooking the nfls 2nd most yardaged qb isnt that easy even with the "god like" tebow.

• McDisaster.

TotalComments: 19