Month: January 2017

Thank You, Rick Dennison

Rick Dennison has always been a brainy guy, making Second Team Academic All America @ Colorado State as a linebacker/tight end, where he also earned a master’s degree in civil engineering. His senior year, he received the Merrill-Gheen Award as the university’s outstanding male scholar-athlete. I’ve heard Kubiak and Elway both say he’s one of the smartest people they’ve ever met. That’s the type of player he was, too. Dennison was quick to diagnose plays from his LILB spot, but @ 6’3″, 220 pounds in an era when inside backers typically carried more ballast, Dennison was weak at the point of attack. He was still so heady he earned a starting job.

Unfortunately, he was blocking Bowlen’s Folly, clubhouse lawyer Ricky Hunley on the depth chart. In a major mismatch, Bowlen prevailed over Joe Collier in a battle of wills and Dennison was benched so Ricky Hunley could misread keys and overrun plays and bite on the Hog’s counter trey 22 times one afternoon in San Diego. While it’s true Hunley never played another game for the Broncos after helping make Timmy Smith the answer to bar trivia, he was actually dumped because he ran afoul of Dan Reeves during the bitter lockout that took NFL players off the field for four games of the 1987 season. So did Meck and some other guys, but Dan needed them to win ballgames.

While Hunley was washing out of the league in AZ and with the Raiders, Dennison moved back into the starting lineup, this time @ RILB and he started for two more years. Give Dennison better physical tools and he probably would have started here for a decade. In total, Rick Dennison spent 26 years as a Bronco. Nine seasons as a player and 17 as a coach. He was with the team for all three world championships and six of eight AFC championships.

How Should The New Coaching Staff Alter The Broncos’ 2017 Offseason Road Map?

When I wrote my offseason road map for the Broncos this year, I did so under the presumption that Gary Kubiak was not going anywhere.  That, of course, was incorrect, and the Broncos have already got a head start on achieving goal #1, a cleanout of the offensive coaching staff.

Now that we know that John Elway has hired Vance Joseph as head coach and Mike McCoy as offensive coordinator, I think it would be prudent to revisit some points on my roadmap–specifically the goals that refer to the quarterback and offensive line positions. Continue reading How Should The New Coaching Staff Alter The Broncos’ 2017 Offseason Road Map?

Brads NFL Picks The Division Games 2016 – 2017

 

Brads NFL Picks   The Division Games   2016  –  2017
 
Brads Picks was 2-2  last week and is 160 – 98 – 2  on the season.  Here’s the good and ugly from last week:
 
the good:
 
Pittsburgh 30, Dolphins 12  –  It was 30-6 at the end of the third.  Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown each had two TDs.
 

Continue reading Brads NFL Picks The Division Games 2016 – 2017

Laughing All The Way To The Bank

Today, In-thin Air commentor @bradley shared a USA Today article on the City of San Diego winning by losing the Chargers to Los Angeles. The article coupled with another Disqus thread earlier in the week about the NFL’s former non-profit status had me thinking about the true cost of public subsidies for NFL construction and renovation projects.

Ultimately, I wanted to find out if having an NFL team was really worth it?

Now, don’t shoot the messenger here, I love the Denver Broncos, but after the fold, you might learn Denver is not isolated from these welfare problems and that Mile High taxpayers should probably start $aving NOW.

Continue reading Laughing All The Way To The Bank