Category: Midweek Musings

As everyone knows by, the Denver Broncos have benched Trevor Siemian and will start Brock Osweiler this week against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bronco fans are all too familiar with Osweiler, who played in eight games (seven starts) for the Broncos back in 2015. He was serviceable in those starts, throwing 10 touchdowns and six interceptions on 170-of-275 passing. He was also playing behind a less-than-ideal offensive line, in which guard Evan Mathis played reasonably well but most everyone else was mediocre at best.

While some fans had hopes that Osweiler could be the starter in 2016, he spurned a sizeable offer from the Broncos, reportedly as high as $15M APY over three years, to sign with the Houston Texans on a four-year, $72M deal. As everyone knows, Osweiler was awful, throwing 15 touchdowns with 16 interceptions on 301-of-510 passing. He was rated one of the worst QBs in Football Outsiders DYAR for 2016, with only Jared Goff rated worse than him.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: A Change Had To Be Made

Hello, Bronco fans! Four weeks have passed and now it’s becoming clearer where things stands with the Broncos (and other NFL teams, for that matter). The Broncos get a Week 5 bye, and while it stinks having an early bye, four weeks is still the time to evaluate where the Broncos are at, identifying what the strengths are and why they are strengths, and recognize what areas need improvement and who is really responsible.

Let’s start by looking at where the Broncos stack up in each aspect of the game (offense, defense, special teams) as measured by Football Outsiders, then get into each position and find out what’s really going on with particular players.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Evaluating After First Quarter of Season

Hello, Bronco fans! It always feels good to come away with a win, but it’s understandable that there will be concerns, particularly with how the Broncos couldn’t put away the Chargers when leading 24-7 in the fourth quarter.

However, we must always remember that Week One is the week in which you should be careful not to jump to conclusions about everything. There are a few things you can reasonably conclude after Week One, but the overwhelming majority can’t be concluded, because there are always going to be players who take time to develop or get comfortable alongside new teammates.

With that in mind, I’ll examine a few points about how the Broncos looked in their Monday night opener and which ones I think are indicative of how things will go this season and which ones I wouldn’t read too much into based on one game.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: What Might Be Trends After Week One

Hello, Bronco fans! Hard to believe we are a little more than a week away from training camp and our thoughts will shift to not only our favorite team, but the rest of the NFL and how the season will take shape.

In the meantime, though, there has been plenty to talk about not regarding the Broncos, but other teams around the NFL. I wanted to cover a few items of note and see what we might learn from them.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Front Office Shenanigans

Hello, Bronco fans! We have an eventful week with Gary Kubiak retiring and the Broncos searching for a new coach, so there’s a lot of talk about who will take over and what the Broncos need the most. So let’s get to some of the things we should consider regarding the coaching and how it might affect the roster.

In the words of Ted Bartlett: “Ready… begin!”
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Life After Gary Kubiak

Obviously, we Bronco fans are disappointed that our favorite team will not go to the playoffs this year. Nick and I have each gone over some of the reasons why things didn’t go the Broncos’ way this season (see here and here) and what should be the focus this offseason (see here and here).

I wanted to go into more detail about the areas the Broncos should address this offseason and address a few points for everyone to remember as we work to address those needs.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: More Thoughts Regarding Broncos Offseason

In recent days, there’s been plenty of discussion about what the Broncos need to do down the stretch and whether or not Gary Kubiak isn’t being flexible enough with his offensive schemes.

Some of this seems to go back to the thought process surrounding coaches who strongly believe in their schemes but didn’t have success in recent years and that this must mean that a “scheme trumps talent” mindset doesn’t work. Then we hear about coaches who “adjust their schemes to fit talent” and see them win and we think that’s the answer to the Broncos’ problems.

I know somebody brought up a couple of weeks ago an article that our good friend Ted Bartlett wrote about differences between coaching philosophies, with those who believe “talent trumps scheme” and those who believe “scheme trumps talent.” I know Bartlett used the former to describe John Fox and the latter to describe Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels. It’s easy to say that because the latter two did not succeed in their most recent years as head coaches that “talent trumps scheme” doesn’t work, but I don’t believe that was Bartlett’s point. If it was, the likes of Bill Belichick and Andy Reid wouldn’t be having success.

Now, I know what some will say about Belichick and Reid, but the truth is they do subscribe to the “scheme trumps talent” philosophy. They are willing to adapt, but not in the ways you think they do. In order to understand the two philosophies, you need to take a deeper look at what they are really about and what they really require.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Broncos Philosophy Isn’t The Problem

I follow Scott Kacsmar on Twitter, who has debated with many people about who should or shouldn’t be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player this year. One observation he has made is that there aren’t any strong candidates for MVP.

Much of his debate surrounds those who argue that Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is an MVP candidate, which Kacsmar strongly disagrees with. One example:

Oakland also came into the week ranked 12th in yards/drive, 9th in points/drive, 3rd in field position. Again, not MVP caliber stuff.

— Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) December 5, 2016

Regardless of what you think about Carr’s MVP merits or Kacsmar’s thoughts, I concluded that Kacsmar has a valid point about this being a weak MVP race, something that isn’t the case with awards other than MVP. First, let’s review major awards other than MVP:
Continue reading Midweek Musings: A Weak Year For NFL MVP Candidates

Happy Thanksgiving, Bronco fans! I haven’t had as much time to do Midweek Musings because of several work-related projects and other activities, the latter which I’ll get to toward the ending of this writing. But before that, I wanted to go over a few topics I’ve been meaning to touch upon. I’ll do my best to sum things up with each.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Thanksgiving Edition

Kevin Clark wrote an article at The Ringer exploring the issues with the decline in NFL prime time ratings. I’ll let you read the article but Clark raises the question as to whether or not there may be oversaturation of NFL games.

I wanted to expand on a few of his points and make some suggestions that might help the NFL in following a smarter path to potential revenue growth, rather than assuming the traditional route it has taken will keep working.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Let’s Talk NFL Ratings