BRONCOS

Mile High Monday: What could’ve been with Kyle Shanahan

Oct 28, 2019, 6:36 AM | Updated: 9:12 am

The Broncos lost another close game on Sunday, this time to the Colts. For the third time this season, Denver lost on a last-minute field goal by their opponent.

It’s been a disheartening start for a Broncos team we all had higher hopes for. With a 2-6 record, the postseason is nothing but a fantasy, and there might be more changes to the roster this week with the trade deadline looming on Tuesday afternoon.

I like many of the members of this coaching staff. Things were supposed to be different this year with these guys in place, but the results are so far worse than they were with Vance Joseph running the show.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ – even if it’s a little cold! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Be Aggressive

Broncos offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello has to get more aggressive as a play-caller. It’s bad when the Broncos can’t get the ball in the end zone regularly and they struggle to have continuity on offense – especially when the game is on the line.

Simply put, this team needs to be more aggressive on offense. Even Joe Flacco – who never says anything even halfway controversial – had some strong words about the play-calling after the loss to the Colts.

“I just look at it like, we are now a 2-6 football team and we’re like afraid to go for it in a two-minute drill. Like, who cares if you give the ball back to the guys with a minute and 40 seconds left. They obviously got the field goal anyway. Once again, we’re a 2-6 football team and it just feels like we’re kind of afraid to lose a game. I just felt like, what do we have to lose? Why can’t we be aggressive in some of these situations? That’s kind of how I feel about a lot of the game today,” Flacco said.

I’ve said it a hundred times on the 104.3 The Fan airwaves that Scangarello is like Seth Rogen’s character from the movie “Knocked Up.” When he’s on the dance floor, Rogen only has one dance move – that he uses too much, and his friends give him grief for it.

Scangarello must have more “dance moves” if he wants to put more points on the board.

The Broncos average a paltry 15.6 points per game in 2019. That’s just plain bad, especially considering this pass-happy league and how scoring is on the rise around the NFL. This offense can put up points (see San Francisco), but it needs to have a better flow from the play-caller and better execution from the players. Right now, it seems like the players and the coaches are not on the same page offensively.

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Deals Get Done at Deadlines

The Broncos already made one trade last week, sending wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to the 49ers – and they may not be done moving talent. All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris Jr. may be the next star player the Broncos move on from as they continue this rebuilding process. The trade deadline is coming up on Tuesday, and we could see the Broncos continue to move players for picks.

Harris was asked how difficult it was to focus this week with all the trade rumors swirling around Dove Valley.

“I’m not going to lie to you; it was the hardest week for me. Hardest week to focus. It was hard to play the game, but I got through it and I thought I played solid today so trying to give our team a chance to win.” Harris said.

People I talk to around the league indicate there is a market there for Harris. It comes down to whether or not the Broncos want to deal the corner and for what price. The Eagles seem to be the team most associated with rumored interest in Harris. I’ve heard that it would take a second or a strong third-round pick to pull Harris away from the Broncos.

I would love Harris to be a “Bronco for Life,” but that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. If he is not dealt by Tuesday, then perhaps he would leave as a free agent in 2020. Harris can still play at a high level and might want to go elsewhere to compete for a championship instead of staying with the Broncos on a new deal that might not pay him as much as other teams.

The Broncos made a huge mistake this offseason by signing Bryce Callahan and not extending the contract of Harris instead. Callahan might not play at all this season, while Harris continues to play at a high level. He’s expecting another child, a daughter, any day now and Harris wants to stay in Denver too.

We’ll see if the interest in Harris actually leads to a trade of the fan-favorite corner and final member of the famous “No Fly Zone.”

***

What Might Have Been

One can’t help but wonder what things would have been like for the Broncos had they hired Kyle Shanahan instead of Vance Joseph. While Joseph had a better record than Shanahan over two seasons, Shanahan has now found his groove with the 49ers and his plan is paying off for the undefeated 49ers. Joseph is the defensive coordinator of a bad Arizona Cardinals defense and the Broncos are 2-6 with new head coach Vic Fangio.

Why couldn’t they come to an agreement with Shanahan? The rumblings abound that the younger Shanahan was never a serious contender for the job even though he was highly impressive during the interview process. There’s also buzz about his last name ultimately preventing him from getting serious consideration for the job. If true, that’s just sad.

Mike Shanahan was a legend as the head coach of the Broncos. It would have been fantastic for his son to continue the tradition in the Mile High City. Instead, we’re left wondering what might have been while Shanahan’s team is on fire this season.

It’s easy to project the 49ers being closer to a Super Bowl than the Broncos. In fact, the 49ers have the best record in the NFC right now and are in position to have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if they continue their winning ways. There’s a chance the 49ers make it to the Super Bowl this year, while the Broncos are looking at a top-five pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

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That’s What Friends are For

I was pleasantly surprised this week when I received the ultimate gift. My friend Luke Patterson, from Mile High Report, surprised me with a custom pair of Jordan-brand shoes.

Not only are these custom painted, but they have renditions of my artwork on them. The shoes feature my comic book character “Gravis” on them. Gravis is a character my best friend Eric Hoffman and I came up with back in the ’90s when we were in college. We never published any of our comics back then, although we were going to be featured by Legend Comics before they went out of business.

We were teenagers back then and felt our dream was over before it even began. We stopped dreaming up comic books ideas regularly, but did share some story ideas with each other from time to time over the years.

In 2014, Eric was diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer. I didn’t want our creation to go unpublished, so I went drew out a small segment of our main story with Gravis and had the comic book self-published. I wanted Eric to see our creation in print, as I felt it could help him in the lengthy recovery process.

I’m happy to say that Eric is cancer free today, and we are back to writing stories and coming up with new characters and ideas for our comic book universe. In fact, we are working on treatments and pilots for five different properties we plan on pitching to a few Hollywood studios.

It would be a lifelong dream to see our comic book characters on the big or small screen! I think Luke for getting me these shoes as a support for my dream as I was a small part of getting his dream (covering the Broncos) going about a year ago.

This is my first pair of custom Jordans. I couldn’t be happier with them, and certainly appreciate having friends that know me so well! Do you have custom shoes? If so, send me a picture on social networking so I can check out your kicks.

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