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Sorry guys, for those of you who adore and admire Mike Shanahan....but Shanahan is overrated as an NFL head coach. I'm a life long Broncos fan, and I respect Shanny, but the truth can't be ignored.
As Denver fans (and I include myself when I say this) we all put him up on a higher pedestal than he really deserved to be on.
To put this into proper perspective, he's a good coach, but not a great coach.
Yes, he brought us a pair of Super Bowls. Problem is, since then he's had 1 playoff victory with the Broncos, and none with the Skins.
I always liked him, thought he was a mastermind offensive genius, but I've finally accepted the fact that he's not as good as everyone would like to believe he his.
Shanahan and Elway, was a mutually reliant relationship. They both needed each other to accomplish the goal of becoming Super Bowl Champions. Without Shanahan, Elway wouldn't have won the Super Bowls he did. Without Elway, Shanahan has done pretty much nothing, with the exception of lifting the play of Jake Plummer to a level to get us to an AFC Championship Game.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Shanahan hater, I don't despise the man, but he gets way too much credit.
His offenses are good, his play calling is usually fabulous, but from past history as it's shown, they might be too complex for his own good. Offense was never the problem here, it was always defense and special teams.
lately there's been somethings that have happened, that I just can't understand, that Shanahan's done. Namely, how do you run off a future hall of famer in McNabb? McNabb had absolutely no support last year. McNabb didn't help himself by showing up to camp out of shape and a tad heavy, went straight to Shanahan's doghouse, and that's never a good place to be, but you can't argue with what McNabb has accomplished in his career, because McNabb is a damn good QB. Running him off in lieu of Rex Grossman?
That's Shanahan's ego and pride getting in the way. But Rex Grossman over McNabb? Shanahan's gone off the deep end folks.
Further troubling, he can't get along with his own players. He ran Haynesworth out of town, instead of trying to find a way to utilize the guy to his benefit.
His play calling and decision making last year were at times baffling. Many of his challenges were extremely questionable. I think he was too hard on McNabb considering what problems the O-Line had, and the poor quality of WR/TE talent they had. McNabb might have been the best QB he's had since John Elway retired, and he got rid of him after only 1 season, surprising considering how much Shanahan likes to air it out.
He's never drafted and developed his own QB (I won't include Cutler in this discussion, because Shanahan only got 2 season's and 6 games with the kid before he was fired, so he didn't get to really completely develop Cutler to his full potential).
Brian Griese - drafted
Jarius Jackson - drafted
Bradlee Van Pelt - drafted
Matt Mauck - drafted
Jeff Lewis - drafted
not one of those guys are still in the NFL playing today.
he brought in free agents
Jake Plummer
Steve Buerlein
Gus Ferrotte
Chris Miller
Bill Musgrave
Bubby Brister
Danny Kanell
and none of them are still playing today.
the only one to anything at all was Plummer, but Shanahan gave up on him after repeated mistakes of which were a pair of fumbles against the Steelers in the AFC CG in 2005 and a pair of picks (4 turnovers in all) and drafted Jay Cutler and then traded Plummer, who retired and called it quits.
without John Elway, Shanahan's just about average, and like I said...overrated.
I appreciate what Mike brought to us from 95-98, but aside from that, the Broncos were pretty much average under Shanahan. we made the playoffs a few times, and only won 1 playoff game after Elway retired.
As Denver fans (and I include myself when I say this) we all put him up on a higher pedestal than he really deserved to be on.
To put this into proper perspective, he's a good coach, but not a great coach.
Yes, he brought us a pair of Super Bowls. Problem is, since then he's had 1 playoff victory with the Broncos, and none with the Skins.
I always liked him, thought he was a mastermind offensive genius, but I've finally accepted the fact that he's not as good as everyone would like to believe he his.
Shanahan and Elway, was a mutually reliant relationship. They both needed each other to accomplish the goal of becoming Super Bowl Champions. Without Shanahan, Elway wouldn't have won the Super Bowls he did. Without Elway, Shanahan has done pretty much nothing, with the exception of lifting the play of Jake Plummer to a level to get us to an AFC Championship Game.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Shanahan hater, I don't despise the man, but he gets way too much credit.
His offenses are good, his play calling is usually fabulous, but from past history as it's shown, they might be too complex for his own good. Offense was never the problem here, it was always defense and special teams.
lately there's been somethings that have happened, that I just can't understand, that Shanahan's done. Namely, how do you run off a future hall of famer in McNabb? McNabb had absolutely no support last year. McNabb didn't help himself by showing up to camp out of shape and a tad heavy, went straight to Shanahan's doghouse, and that's never a good place to be, but you can't argue with what McNabb has accomplished in his career, because McNabb is a damn good QB. Running him off in lieu of Rex Grossman?
That's Shanahan's ego and pride getting in the way. But Rex Grossman over McNabb? Shanahan's gone off the deep end folks.
Further troubling, he can't get along with his own players. He ran Haynesworth out of town, instead of trying to find a way to utilize the guy to his benefit.
His play calling and decision making last year were at times baffling. Many of his challenges were extremely questionable. I think he was too hard on McNabb considering what problems the O-Line had, and the poor quality of WR/TE talent they had. McNabb might have been the best QB he's had since John Elway retired, and he got rid of him after only 1 season, surprising considering how much Shanahan likes to air it out.
He's never drafted and developed his own QB (I won't include Cutler in this discussion, because Shanahan only got 2 season's and 6 games with the kid before he was fired, so he didn't get to really completely develop Cutler to his full potential).
Brian Griese - drafted
Jarius Jackson - drafted
Bradlee Van Pelt - drafted
Matt Mauck - drafted
Jeff Lewis - drafted
not one of those guys are still in the NFL playing today.
he brought in free agents
Jake Plummer
Steve Buerlein
Gus Ferrotte
Chris Miller
Bill Musgrave
Bubby Brister
Danny Kanell
and none of them are still playing today.
the only one to anything at all was Plummer, but Shanahan gave up on him after repeated mistakes of which were a pair of fumbles against the Steelers in the AFC CG in 2005 and a pair of picks (4 turnovers in all) and drafted Jay Cutler and then traded Plummer, who retired and called it quits.
without John Elway, Shanahan's just about average, and like I said...overrated.
I appreciate what Mike brought to us from 95-98, but aside from that, the Broncos were pretty much average under Shanahan. we made the playoffs a few times, and only won 1 playoff game after Elway retired.
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