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Game Day Thread: Rams @ Broncos


champ11

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After reading Lomax's write up I can't help but think most of this funk rests currently on the players. I get that the QB is meh and schemes very from game to game, but if the players are giving up on or not listening to the coaches because they don't "buy" this week's message that's a weak excuse. Actually it's a terrible excuse. They're getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, to work a gap assignment and be a cog in a system. And they can't do a simple task because they have too much ego. This is a team sport, no? The Patriots, for example are plug and play. Do Your Job, isn't that their motto.

I'm getting sick of the whining...

...and I don't care what happens this Sunday so long as they play the full 60 minutes and with passion.

Kicking and screaming!

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1 hour ago, champ11 said:

we'd be better off just having trevor out  there and not being locked into a 2 year deal, but Case is clearly a better player IMO

Yeah, even as bad as he’s been it’s pretty obvious he is better than Siemian.

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14 hours ago, The Helicopter said:

After reading Lomax's write up I can't help but think most of this funk rests currently on the players. I get that the QB is meh and schemes very from game to game, but if the players are giving up on or not listening to the coaches because they don't "buy" this week's message that's a weak excuse. Actually it's a terrible excuse. They're getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, to work a gap assignment and be a cog in a system. And they can't do a simple task because they have too much ego. This is a team sport, no? The Patriots, for example are plug and play. Do Your Job, isn't that their motto.

I'm getting sick of the whining...

...and I don't care what happens this Sunday so long as they play the full 60 minutes and with passion.

Kicking and screaming!

Joseph was hired because, according to Elway, he was a 'leader of men' - all the evidence is that he is not.

It is very hard for players to motivate themselves when they don't 'buy' that the guy at the top is able for the job. Professional sportspeople at the top of any sport are very fickle - they go through massive moods swings on a week to week basis, up when they win, down when they don't. Most have more money that they ever dreamed possible and many can't handle the money, the hype, the celeb status etc.

To counter-act all of that you have to have a culture developed over a prolonged period that shows the people at the top know what they are doing and everyone down the line buys into what is going on. The Pats have developed that culture over 18 years - based around Belichick and Brady - players see both doing it week-in week-out and that Brady will take a hometown discount to win. But just like it fell apart in Denver when Manning and then Kubiak retired, it likely will fall apart in NE when Brady retires, BB goes with him and McDisaster is running the show.

The biggest impediment to creating a culture is the dominance of a 'win-now' mentality. It takes time to develop a culture of consistent good practice - and it works from the top down. At the moment the Broncos don't have an owner - the Ellis braintrust is running the show and they seem far more focused on a financial control approach rather than working to build a football. Joseph was hired on a four year contract, likely on a low salary for an NFL HC. The next problem is Elway - he has to set the tone, demonstrate he knows what he is doing and then fix things that go wrong before they become unfixable. Elway zeroed in on Vance Joseph, someone with a mediocre coaching record, ignoring the five other better HCs who were hired, because he was convinced he was a 'leader-of-men' from the interview he did when Kubiak was hired. Elway made the right decision with Fox, the right decision with Kubiak, but absolutely the wrong decision with Joseph - and I think that came from the fact that he fixed the mess McDaniels made, managed to get the old band back together to win a SB (and getting Manning helped), and then thought he could just hit the repeat button and do it all again. In sport being lucky is better than being good, but when you are not lucky then you better be good. The reality is that Joseph had the training ground necessary to become a good head coach - he was on Kubiak's staff in Houston under Phillips, looked good in Cincinnati as DBs coach, the meh began in Miami and that is what Elway should have noted - was he capable of making the step up - instead Elway bought into the message Joseph pitched when he was still a DB coach and never looked beyond it.

The issues with Elway weren't confined to his coach hirings - they also permeated his draft selections, zeroing in on players - going for physical attributes rather than proven talent etc. Then we have the coaches - Elway kept Woods because of potential - rather than keeping the proven article in Wade Phillips - when you have something that works, you don't replace it with something that has the potential to work unless you have to. McCoy came in - feeling he wasn't' given a fair crack in SD and wanting to prove he is a HC - you want your OC to focus on being an OC, not trying to prove he can be a HC forced to be an OC. You hire an ST coach based on the fact that he is an assistant to a top-of-the-line ST coach - when what you should be doing is hiring his boss.

Thinking about Elway's approach - win now and win in the future - it really is only a soundbite - it means nothing. You win now if you have the culture, the coaches and the roster - you win in the future when you build the culture, hire the right coaches and draft well. Denver lost the culture needed with the retirement of Manning, then the retirement of Kubiak, the dumping of Phillips, the retirement of Ware etc. even moving Greek out of the day to day contact with the players I suspect had a big impact. The one step that Elway has made in the right direction was bringing Kubiak back in - Kubiak is not afraid to speak his mind and I think his impact on the draft should not be under-estimated.

When you have coaches - and particularly a HC - who is incapable of instilling a culture of success then that permeates the who organisation. Joseph has never looked like he has known what he is doing - and that has been obvious since very early in his tenure. If we as fans can see it - then it must be glaringly obvious from the inside - to Ellis and Elway - to the players - and that is why we are where we are now.

Control at the top of the Broncos needs to be sorted - whether that means putting Beth Bowlen in charge or sorting something else out. We have no idea if she can run a franchise - and she has big shoes to fill - but that needs to be sorted to give a structure that is capable of creating the necessary culture to succeed. Elway has big decisions to make - he needs to find out if Kelly can play QB - that will dictate what he has to do in next years draft - that is the most immediate decision. Then he has to find a HC that is capable of coaching and is capable of being part of that creation of a culture of success - and Elway needs to pick the right guy (he has done it before) because the best run teams do not change coaches every couple of years. Elway needs to clean house with the vets - they have been through too many transitions and it is getting to the stage of not being able to teach an old dog new tricks. He needs another couple of drafts with the same potential as this years draft - and then he needs to keep the ball rolling. It is a big ask - we will see if he is up to it. It is only then that you can adopt the attitude of 'do your job' and 'next man up'.

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Sunday is going to be about facing your fears. What I mean is the Broncos are giving up over 7 yards per carry against 11 personnel. Gurley has ran the ball 101 times in 11 personnel. If the Broncos are going to slow down Gurley they will have to do better because the Rams are running 11 personnel 97% of the time. This could be a career game for Gurley in rushing yards. His career high is 159yds. He did that Week 5 in 2015 against the Packers in his rookie season. Good luck. 

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This could be bad.

That being said, I think it won't be 4 full quarters of annihilation. We'll likely shoot ourselves in the foot around the 2nd quarter and the Rams will coast to a 30 point victory.

No beef with Rams fans. You guys have an awesome team and you all are pretty cool. Hope you guys win the Super Bowl. I live in Minnesota and damn did Goff make a statement against the Vikings.

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One thing that really hasn’t been touched on is how poor Von Miller has been the past couple weeks.  He’s supposed to be the face of the franchise and a leader, but hasn’t done a thing as of late.  I’ve always thought he’s been a bit of a coaster type of player, who picks and chooses when he’s going to show up.  He looked like a DOPY candidate after the first 2 games, maybe he’s fed up with what’s been going on.

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15 hours ago, germ-x said:

One thing that really hasn’t been touched on is how poor Von Miller has been the past couple weeks.  He’s supposed to be the face of the franchise and a leader, but hasn’t done a thing as of late.  I’ve always thought he’s been a bit of a coaster type of player, who picks and chooses when he’s going to show up.  He looked like a DOPY candidate after the first 2 games, maybe he’s fed up with what’s been going on.

Not that he’s played well at all but sometimes fans get way too caught up in numbers. There’s a lot that Von does even when he isn’t getting sacks.

 

Now that said he does need to play much better than he has the previous 3 weeks if this team is going to have any success on defense. And also putting your best player in the positions he thrives in is also pretty key.

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