nfl

Sharpe & the Hall

Jeromey Balderrama

I’m hoping to find time to send some pre-Super Bowl football thoughts, but I wanted to put this out there before this year’s Hall of Fame class was announced.

I just wanted to send some positive thoughts to one of the greatest players to wear the Orange & Blue.  Sharpe deserves to go in as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

There’s been a lot of debate in the sports world over whether Sharpe deserves to go in during his first year of consideration.  There has been a lot of resistance against Shannon.  Their justification is that they don’t consider him a Tight End, but rather a Wide Receiver.  Totally disregarding his position, they examine his stats against other Wide Receivers not in the Hall – namely Cris Carter – and justify a vote against Sharpe.  That logic is complete crap to me, as Sharpe helped revolutionize the tight end position to become a major offensive weapon.  The fact that the position has evolved to incorporate receiving does not mean that all Tight Ends are now wide receivers.  Sharpe has been considered a Tight End throughout all of his career, to now be considered a Wide Receiver is pretty shady.  I’m also a big fan of Cris Carter, and want to see him in the hall – but not at the expense of Shannon Sharpe.

The other argument against Sharpe is that because he is amongst the first receiving Tight Ends to be considered, he may set a low bar that Tony Gonzalez and other Tight Ends may easily hurdle.  Again this fails to realize that Sharpe revolutionized the position and still was the most politic Tight End when he played.  Gonzalez may be shattering more of Sharpe’s records, but he’s following down a path that Sharpe blazed.  At the end of the day, it comes down to the Rings: Sharpe has 3, Gonzalez has 0. 

I’m not a conspiracy theorist that believes that the HoF voters have something against the Broncos, but I do think that it’s an insult to look at Sharpe the way they are.  I hope Sharpe gets in this year, but it’s only a matter of time before he’s recognized for his accomplishments.

More on Shanahan

Jeromey Balderrama

After digesting the news coverage for a few hours, I have a few more random thoughts on the firing of Shanahan, and where that ultimately leaves the Broncos.

  • The word is that Bowlen wanted Shanahan to fire Defensive Coordinator Bob Slowik and Shanahan’s refusal to do so prompted his own firing.  Shanahan’s had a pretty rocky relationship with defensive coordinators, but at least Shanahan didn’t sacrifice his convictions and took a bullet for one of his guys.  The end result is now they’re both gone
  • Driving around this evening, I unplugged my iPod and turned on Talk Radio.  You have all of the hacks calling in and saying they should make John Elway or Dave Logan the coach of the Broncos.  Give me a break! That makes as much sense as naming Barak Obama head coach of the Broncos
  • Speaking of head coaching candidates, the Broncos have a pretty attractive coaching opportunity when compared to other teams: A Franchise QB (unlike the Jets), a good corp of receivers (unlike the Browns), a good outlook (unlike the Lions) and an owner that’s supportive without being too crazy (unlike the Raiders).  This may lure some of the prospective coaches that were looking for a good opportunity. Bill Cowher Cowler would be the blockbuster of the off-season.  Peter King says that Cowher Cowler won’t consider coaching until this daughter graduates high school this spring, so it’s still a long-shot.  Steve Mariucci is also a coveted coach that is reluctant to leave his NFL Network job – I’d like him as well.  There are also some really good coaching prospects from the Pats and Giants.
  • One coach I’d be really disappointed with – Brian Billick. He may be a damn good coach, but he loves the camera a little too much.
  • Shanahan’s going to be back in the league coaching this year. My money says the Jets, but he may have to swallow his pride and accept less power.
  • I heard another long-shot perspective for Shanahan: The Dallas Cowboys. How funny would it be if Wade Phllips got fired AGAIN in favor of Mike Shanahan. One thing’s for certain: this off-season has gotten a lot more interesting.

Shanahan just got fired?!?

Jeromey Balderrama

This just in: Shanahan got fired

As I was writing my “Things I Think I Think” it never entered my mind that Shanahan had to go, but apparently the Broncos brass felt that they needed to do this.

I’m watching the NFL Network, watching Adam Schefter saying that this was something the fans were demanding – completely full of crap.  Look, I realize that Shanahan may not be the coach that he once was, but tell me an NFL-caliber coach that’s better than Shanahan that’s available right now.

I think the firing is basically because while Shanahan has been an amazing coach, he hasn’t been the best Football VP – all of these questionable draft picks, free agent signings.  While the coach/GM role was popular at the turn of the century, there’s been a shift to a distribution of power. Maybe they wanted Shanahan to give up that power and he wasn’t willing to do so.

I wonder if the Broncos have an ace in their pocket with a premier coach like Cowler, but I don’t think that’s going to happen

NFL Things I Think I Think

Jeromey Balderrama

Throughout the NFL season, part of my Monday morning routine was to fire up my browser and read Peter King’s “Monday Morning QB” column.  At the end of each column, King lists his “Top 10 Things I Think I Think About Football”.  They usually turn out to be more than ten things, but great insights on the week in NFL.

Since imitation is the best form of flattery, I wanted to borrow the idea from Peter and list a season-ending “Things I Think I Think” about the Broncos, other teams and football in general:

1. Despite the let-down that was December, the Broncos still had a decent season in 2008.

-a. I can’t believe we tore through running backs the way that we did: Pittman, Hall, Torain, Hillis, Pope, Young, leaving only mid-season hire Tatum Bell to run around for the last few games.  When you consider the injuries, it’s not surprising the Broncos struggled with running the ball as much as they did.  That said, while injuries are part of the game, it’s pretty daunting to lose 6 running backs in one season. It makes me wonder whether something happened with the blocking that left the running backs so exposed.

-b. Speaking of Tatum Bell – hey media: we get it! Tatum Bell worked at a cell phone kiosk before being signed by the Broncos. It was mentioned so much I was thinking of starting a drinking game.

-c. What an amazing season for both Cutler and Marshall.  When they were drafted three years ago, who would have thought they’d become one of the best QB-receiver Tandems in the NFL?

-d. As any typical Denver fan, I can’t help but make the Elway comparisons – and I’m wondering if we’re seeing a mirror of some of Elway’s early years.  I was too young to remember Elway’s early years, but I’ve heard that Elway also threw some pretty costly interceptions which led to such nicknames as “SmELl-way”.  Despite the worst-time interceptions, Cutler still managed great season-end stats, with a 25:18 TD/Interceptions, and an 86 rating.  Compared to Elway’s 3rd year of 22:23 and a 79 rating those are pretty good. The difference is that Elway led the Broncos to a 11-5 season that year.  Elway also had the ability to take some below-average Bronco talent and place them on his shoulders. Cutler is surrounded by too much receiving talent to have to do that.

-e. There are a lot of comparisons between Marshall and T.O- mainly because they have similar body types.  I hope the comparison ends there, as I hope my fear that Cutler felt compelled to get the ball to Marshall and forced bad passes to do so doesn’t come true.

-f. Another similarity between T.O. and Marshall for 2008: both dropped a lot of balls at really bad times. As it turns out, Marshall never completely healed from his fight with the Entertainment Center and his hand was numb all season.  Get well Brandon.

-g. Let’s be honest about Broncos expectations for 2008: They were pretty dismal at the beginning of the season.  I knew we were going into the year with a very young team, and that we were trying to develop players in very key positions. I was realistic about the chances, yet hopeful that we’ll surprise those teams. We saw a lot of that potential, especially in the first game when we dismantled the Raiders the way we did.  Then the injuries started to pile up, and we never managed to recover from that.

-h. All that said, it’s embarrassing that we weren’t able to cash in one of those last three games, especially with the Bills at home.

-i. When we had our Fantasy Draft this year I picked up Eddie Royal in one of the last rounds.  My friend in Houston said “who’s Eddie Royal”? I replied, “Oh you’ll find out in Week 1”. I was vindicated and Royal didn’t let me down all season long.  If we can keep Stokley & Scheffler healthy and Marshall selfless we’ll have nothing to worry about for a while.

-j. It’s time for Dre Bly to go. I realize that with Bailey out he was put in very tough match-ups, but it felt like every time there was a big play caused by blown coverage, Bly was a key player.  If we are going to free agency to replace Bly, let’s stay far away from Dome team cornerbacks.

-k. Our Defensive Line and Linebackers celebrated way too much and over-trash-talked for the way they performed.  Here’s to finding some humble pass-rushers for 2009.

2. Even if the Broncos were able to win against the Panthers, Bills or Chargers and get into the playoffs – we should have stopped hearing about the blown Ed Hochuli call in week 2, and how that ruined the Chargers season a long time ago.  Yes Hochuli made a bad call that affected the outcome of the game, but Hochuli didn’t make the Chargers lose the other 7 games, took the air out of L.T’s tires, didn’t get LB Merriman hurt, or make the Chargers defense as bad as the Broncos D.  When the Colts ravage through the Chargers this weekend, hopefully Charger fans won’t blame that on Hochuli too.

3. How funny would it be that Favre’s likely last pass was an illegal forward lateral that went nowhere.  Was coming back from retirement worth it?

-a. Also a telling Favre stat I came across: 273 games, 310 interceptions

4. Nice job Lions, at running the table.

5. It’s great to see teams at the bottom of the barrel turn it around the way they have. The Falcons story is the most incredible, closely followed by the Dolphins, and I can’t help but have a soft spot for a Cardinals.  I think the Falcons will be the only ones that advance to the second round – as they are playing the Cardinals.

-a. I also think all 4 home teams will lose next weekend

6. As tempted as it is to pick the #1 seeds, I’d love to see a Carolina/Pittsburgh Super Bowl.

I have plenty more thoughts on the NFL, but I’ll take a break for now. I’d appreciate any thoughts that you may have.

Lack of Home Field Advantage

Jeromey Balderrama

Maybe I’m reeling from the Broncos loss to the Raiders on Sunday, but this article from ESPN’s Bill Simmons about the lack of Home Field Advantage in New Stadiums got me thinking.  Simmons is pretty articulate, so here’s the reader’s digest version:

Teams with new (or significantly remodeled) stadiums in the last 10 years have compiled poor records against point spreads.  In 2008, the (spread) record for these teams are 29-44 this season.  In fact, the teams with new stadiums have fallen below .500 in beating-the-spread numbers 5 of the last 7 years.  The conclusion: SOTAS (state-of-the-art stadium) teams have watched their home-field advantage evaporate in a pile of money.

At first glance this seems coincidental, but when you think about how new stadium have changed the experience of going to NFL games, it’s pretty easy to understand why home field advantage isn’t what it used to be for these SOTAS teams.  Simmons tells a pretty good story of the Foxboro  gameday experience in his column, and it’s pretty similar to ours’.

Each Broncos home game, we make our way down to Denver with our tailgating gear in tow about 4-5 hours before game time.  Going to Broncos games does take the better part out of our day.  We leave the house at 10 and don’t get back home until 8pm. We arrive at the stadium, set up the grill, the chairs, the awning, the ladder golf and have our pre-game celebration.  We usually eat and drink pretty well before the game, and gluttony is still a fraction of the cost of the food & beer in the stadium.  We then take the 20 minute walk to the stadium and usually get to our seats right after kick-off. 

Our seats, while in the nosebleed levels, are great seats when it comes to watching the plays develop and being with fans that make true financial sacrifices to support their team.  As Simmons points out though, the NFL’s actions – both negligent and intentional – have diminished the role of the everyday fan at these games.  I never went to a game at the old Mile High, but I definitely heard the stories: stories of how loud that stadium got, and also stories of people who had season tickets during the stadium transition and got screwed out of great seats.  As Simmons points out, people who used to scream at the field are now sitting in the upper levels where they scream towards the sky. 

Simmons also makes a great point about the length of the games:

Throw in the dirty secret that it isn’t really fun to attend an NFL game in the 21st century — the routine of "kickoff, TV timeout, three plays, punt, TV timeout, five plays, field goal, TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout, someone gets hurt on first down, prolonged TV timeout, three more plays, touchdown, extra point, TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout" gets old after about 25 minutes

-Not to mention that during those TV timeouts, you’re subjected to ads there in the stadium. Everything has become sponsored by someone.  I thought it was Eddie Royal that brought us that first down – not Lowes.

I’ve been lucky enough to sit down in the 4th row from the field before, and while heckling the visiting bench is fun, most of the people down there really don’t give a damn about football – at least when compared to the people in the upper levels.  Bethany and I have sat in the club level when she got tickets from work and the people around us seemed annoyed when we made noise for the defense.

While I do consider myself lucky and blessed that I have the opportunity to go to the games, I can’t help but wonder about the comment Simmons made:

“The bad news is that, with just a few exceptions, it’s now more entertaining to invite your friends over, tailgate in your backyard and watch your favorite team on TV. You get the replays. You get HD. You have your own bathroom. You’re saving money. You can stand up if you want. You don’t have a commute. If you have the NFL package, you can flip around to other games during commercials. What’s the downside? You got me. I had 10 times more fun watching the Pats-Jets game at a New York City bar last week than I would have had at the actual game. And the sad thing was, I knew that would be the case.”

Playing at Mile High used to be a lock for Denver, but we’ve now dropped 3 games in-a-row at home.  I understand that the Broncos have a lot of other problems, but one can’t wonder if the Mile High Magic has diminished at Invesco and other brand new stadiums.