HonestChieffan
08-23-2007, 07:02 AM
Shannahans either getting old and just does not care...or
They really believe this crap.....
I dont care how you view it....when the first team gets slapped around like Denvers did vs Cowboys...you have to see that all your up your sleeve hidden special good stuff aint gonna be enough. Sure the score at the end may not be important but the play of your best...even for a few plays or a quarter...thats critical.
If Denver has a secret...its one very well kept one.
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
Teams are reluctant to show too much, but winning still welcome
ENGLEWOOD - Psst, everybody's got a secret.
Tucked away in their training camp playbooks, waiting to come out. Just not before its time.
"We keep the bread and butter for ourselves," Broncos cornerback Dré Bly said. "We haven't shown any of our bread-and-butter stuff, and we're not going to. It's the preseason, so you play basic, just give us something we can line up and play. That's what it's all about, just lining up and playing."
And there is the rub of the NFL's month of full-priced games that don't count. Coaches say they want to win but don't commit many of their starters to do it. Teams say they want to play well but usually don't want to show during the ides of August much of what they really will be doing in September and beyond.
So the Broncos, like every other team, wonder: How much is enough in the preseason? Enough of the good stuff to stay happy, healthy and still be ready for the regular season.
"Sure, there are different philosophies with how much you show and how important it is," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "When you first come in as a coach and the group of players you have might not be used to winning, you want them to end the preseason on a very positive note.
"On the other side, as you do get older and you feel like your football team believes it can win, it's not as important to game plan different games as it was earlier in your career."
Shanahan, as the second-longest-tenured coach in his current job in the league, certainly takes a conservative approach to the preseason. At this point in his career, he doesn't show much of his offensive or defensive playbook in the preseason. He plays starters only a limited amount and the Broncos usually keep things simple, looking for execution over fireworks.
During the loss Saturday against Dallas, the Cowboys looked far more aggressive, particularly on defense under first-year coach Wade Phillips. The Cowboys blitzed plenty throughout the game, coming after a battered Broncos offensive line, much like a team would in the regular season in picking on a trouble spot and pounding away at it.
"But sometimes in the preseason, teams have to do what they do, too," Broncos tight end Stephen Alexander said. "And that's what (the Cowboys) do. The blitzes are part of their defense, their base defense. That's who they are, their base package. To play base, they have to blitz; that's what they have to play. It would be like us changing our whole offense just because it's the preseason."
Said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey, "No, you don't want to show anything. You've got to show something, though. You can't just go out there and stand around. You play your base stuff, or at least enough of it to get through the game."
But opinions always have varied around the league as to what the preseason can prove in terms of football. New coaching staffs often do a little more during such games, flash a little more of what they will do in the regular season, trying to build confidence in their own program, in their own locker room.
Still, even longtime coaches are searching for the answer. Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, frustrated by last year's 0-4 showing in the preseason - when he took a measured, conservative approach to how much his starters would play, leading to a 5-11 season - changed things up this time.
This year, he said he wouldn't tell his starters how much they were going to play in each preseason game. The idea was to force them to be prepared to play more than they might have expected.
And there are those who are looking at the quality of play, at how players run the basic parts of the playbook, more than the final score.
After his team's 48-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Friday, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said "there's losing in the preseason and there's losing poorly."
Holmgren went on to say that if he was getting the "right answers" on players, he could almost tolerate losing a "game or two" in the preseason.
"But I think you have to be more basic in the preseason, you've got young guys, people new to the system, you can't just throw everything in at them," Alexander said. "It's more about what guys can do, how they can cut it loose and play.
"They're not out there thinking, 'Am I messing up?' They're just playing. That's what the preseason's for, to see how guys play, but the objective is to win. I have never been at a place where they didn't care about the preseason. They want to win, but usually win with just your basic stuff."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...680362,00.html
They really believe this crap.....
I dont care how you view it....when the first team gets slapped around like Denvers did vs Cowboys...you have to see that all your up your sleeve hidden special good stuff aint gonna be enough. Sure the score at the end may not be important but the play of your best...even for a few plays or a quarter...thats critical.
If Denver has a secret...its one very well kept one.
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
Teams are reluctant to show too much, but winning still welcome
ENGLEWOOD - Psst, everybody's got a secret.
Tucked away in their training camp playbooks, waiting to come out. Just not before its time.
"We keep the bread and butter for ourselves," Broncos cornerback Dré Bly said. "We haven't shown any of our bread-and-butter stuff, and we're not going to. It's the preseason, so you play basic, just give us something we can line up and play. That's what it's all about, just lining up and playing."
And there is the rub of the NFL's month of full-priced games that don't count. Coaches say they want to win but don't commit many of their starters to do it. Teams say they want to play well but usually don't want to show during the ides of August much of what they really will be doing in September and beyond.
So the Broncos, like every other team, wonder: How much is enough in the preseason? Enough of the good stuff to stay happy, healthy and still be ready for the regular season.
"Sure, there are different philosophies with how much you show and how important it is," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "When you first come in as a coach and the group of players you have might not be used to winning, you want them to end the preseason on a very positive note.
"On the other side, as you do get older and you feel like your football team believes it can win, it's not as important to game plan different games as it was earlier in your career."
Shanahan, as the second-longest-tenured coach in his current job in the league, certainly takes a conservative approach to the preseason. At this point in his career, he doesn't show much of his offensive or defensive playbook in the preseason. He plays starters only a limited amount and the Broncos usually keep things simple, looking for execution over fireworks.
During the loss Saturday against Dallas, the Cowboys looked far more aggressive, particularly on defense under first-year coach Wade Phillips. The Cowboys blitzed plenty throughout the game, coming after a battered Broncos offensive line, much like a team would in the regular season in picking on a trouble spot and pounding away at it.
"But sometimes in the preseason, teams have to do what they do, too," Broncos tight end Stephen Alexander said. "And that's what (the Cowboys) do. The blitzes are part of their defense, their base defense. That's who they are, their base package. To play base, they have to blitz; that's what they have to play. It would be like us changing our whole offense just because it's the preseason."
Said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey, "No, you don't want to show anything. You've got to show something, though. You can't just go out there and stand around. You play your base stuff, or at least enough of it to get through the game."
But opinions always have varied around the league as to what the preseason can prove in terms of football. New coaching staffs often do a little more during such games, flash a little more of what they will do in the regular season, trying to build confidence in their own program, in their own locker room.
Still, even longtime coaches are searching for the answer. Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, frustrated by last year's 0-4 showing in the preseason - when he took a measured, conservative approach to how much his starters would play, leading to a 5-11 season - changed things up this time.
This year, he said he wouldn't tell his starters how much they were going to play in each preseason game. The idea was to force them to be prepared to play more than they might have expected.
And there are those who are looking at the quality of play, at how players run the basic parts of the playbook, more than the final score.
After his team's 48-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Friday, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said "there's losing in the preseason and there's losing poorly."
Holmgren went on to say that if he was getting the "right answers" on players, he could almost tolerate losing a "game or two" in the preseason.
"But I think you have to be more basic in the preseason, you've got young guys, people new to the system, you can't just throw everything in at them," Alexander said. "It's more about what guys can do, how they can cut it loose and play.
"They're not out there thinking, 'Am I messing up?' They're just playing. That's what the preseason's for, to see how guys play, but the objective is to win. I have never been at a place where they didn't care about the preseason. They want to win, but usually win with just your basic stuff."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...680362,00.html