Taking Exception

I tend to live by some very basic rules… mottos I have picked up along the way.

Treat others as you want to be treated, and I treat everyone like a jerk. So there’s that.

It’s better to understand the person than to listen… more on this in a minute.

Don’t eat head cheese… ever. This is never to be broken. Never, under any circumstances, eat head cheese.

I take a similar approach to this job. In review of the Denver Broncos, in review of any football game, I tend to lean heavily on three simple ideas.

Understand your place and the environment in which this is happening.

Don’t bitch about play calling.

Think about the big picture.

Here’s the thing… this week, EVERYONE is bitching about the play calling. No one in this town is happy with the play calling. Nearly each and every review of the loss to Indianapolis was quick to trumpet “the lack of imagination” or the “failure to be creative” in the set of attempts to gain yards put forth by Josh McDaniels and company. As they are known to say in Kansas, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a voice or set of fingers ready to rail against the offensive gameplan put forth in the 16-28 loss.

Our good friend Kyle from BroncoTalk was none too happy. Cartoonist Drew Litton added some words of concern for Josh’s choices along with his latest sketch. Mike Klis from the Post wonders if Josh shouldn’t be doing things differently. Ted Bartlett from the Mile High Report was positive but still questions Josh’s decisions in game calling and the use of the running backs.

However, my favorite example of the week comes from the man known as the Stable favorite of any week.

We’ve discussed Denver Post columnist Dave Krieger at length in this spot and we have professed great admiration for his approach to covering this team. And as Dave has been known to do, he may be to blame for starting the “What was Josh doing?” bandwagon with his offering in Monday’s rag. Titled “Head-scratching logic can hurt” Krieger was quick with the notes from time spent discussing the game with Josh, putting quotes to use in taking direct aim at Josh’s map to freedom against the Colts.

“Everybody talks about, ‘You’ve got to start fast and get ahead.’ I don’t really believe that because that hasn’t worked for anybody all year,” McDaniels said after the Colts overcame three Peyton Manning interceptions to improve to 13-0 and set an NFL record with their 22nd consecutive regular-season victory.

Krieger goes on to explain that Josh was hoping to get a late possession at the end of the first half (thus the decision to defer Kyle), expecting his defense would keep the game somewhat respectable (they didn’t, but that’s neither here nor there), and then he would pounce. In deferring the kick you (a) avoid the temptation to be drawn into a high-stakes shootout with Peyton Manning and you “start slow,”, (b) you setup for a late possession in the first half and try like hell to get points on the board, then (c) come back to get the kick in the second and come at ‘em again to get it close, if not take the lead.

That was Josh’s plan, as told to and then relayed by Krieger. However, as Krieger notes, it appears Josh gets his wish and fails to make good.

McDaniels’ pretzel logic was twisted beyond recognition when he got exactly the opportunity he wanted near the end of the first half. The Broncos had scored on their previous possession to cut the Colts’ lead to 21-7.

Had they put together an effective two-minute drill resulting in a touchdown, they would have been back in it, down by a single score with another possession coming to start the third quarter. In other words, precisely the scenario McDaniels envisioned.

But instead of an aggressive two- minute drill with 1:41 showing, McDaniels called a running play, a screen pass, another running play and, on fourth-and-1, another running play. The third- and fourth- down runs were both stuffed, and the Broncos turned it over on downs.

Krieger goes on to ask Josh why they didn’t get as aggressive as his earlier words suggested they would, and Josh explains his fear, at the time, of coming up short and leaving Peyton Manning with nearly two minutes on the board to bring it back down the field.

“The first thing is, you don’t give the ball back to him,” McDaniels said, referring to Manning. “If you do, it’s one of the silliest mistakes you make. So if you start by throwing two incomplete passes and give him two minutes on the clock, you’ve made an error.”

And Krieger’s take?

So giving Manning the ball to start the game is clever and imaginative, but giving it to him about 90 minutes later is one of the silliest mistakes you make.

This is where I would like to interject, where I would like to think big picture, and where I would like to recognize my place as well as Dave’s (as well as all of those that were quick to jump in that line with him).

First and foremost… YOU called it “clever and imaginative” Dave, not Josh. Josh suggested it was different. Nothing more, and nothing less. I’m not even sure (based on the quotes Krieger provides) Josh thinks it will work. He noted what others had tried, he noted they had failed, and he took the road less traveled. Dave Krieger made it “clever and imaginative” and then he attributed those assertions to Josh McDaniels, and that’s not really playing fair… is it?

(And if you enjoyed a good laugh at Bill Belichick’s expense when he tried to keep the ball away from Manning with little time left on the clock, then you understand why Josh could assert following THAT path would have been silly.)

Second, we focus on Dave’s decision to question why he suggested the decision to defer was motivated by a plan to get the ball late and then be aggressive, only to play it safe and run the football. To this we once again turn to McDaniels’ roots. Put the light on the education learned under Belichick and you must come away with two distinct and irrefutable lessons Josh is probably carrying today:

There is nothing to be gained in embracing an honest relationship with the press.

The best game plan is a plan to adjust.

I read each and every word of those pressers and I listen to about 15-20% of it (unless it is Brandon Marshall who can’t help but wear his heart on his sleeve, and that can be as revealing as anything). Whatever unfolds on the field is influenced by so much more than is explained in these press conferences or interviews… to be blunt, Josh is telling Dave what he wants Dave to hear and write about. He may be honest at points, he may dishonest in others… we have no way of telling  as he understands what he wants to say, when he wants to say it, and most importantly, how he wants to say it.

Tell me he wants to be aggressive before the second half and I won’t be shocked if he decides to run the wishbone and brings back Rod Smith to run the thing.

You can’t take this piece and that piece and mix them together (unless you just insert some of your own words for his to help it along)… and if Josh wants to suggest that his plan to go aggressive at the end of the first half was shot to hell when Manning blew up for 21 quick points, and thus the thought of watching him tack on six more before the half with the vaunted no-huddle offense (the same no-huddle offense Krieger and all of us wrote about leading to this game… the no-huddle offense Denver can’t stop) led him to change his ways and get conservative, I’m all good with that. Dave isn’t.

(After all, we’ve been BEGGING Josh to get conservative more often. We don’t get to play both sides of the coin… or at least we don’t want to.)

Last but not least, I would like to ask this: if you feel comfortable as a commentator or, better yet, a columnist from the one of the nation’s leading newspapers with the decision to question the plays being called on the field, do you feel comfortable accepting the big-picture view that you are offering Josh McDaniels as the source of failure for the Denver Broncos in that game?

Don’t worry… Krieger doesn’t leave us with any doubt.

McDaniels said afterward he wouldn’t change the decision. The loss, of course, was all about poor execution, too many mistakes, by the players.

But the truth is their coach didn’t help them. On a day when Manning threw three picks, the Broncos made it easy for him. They beat themselves.

It’s a fair point. Manning threw three picks, and for the first time in his career, the Colts managed to win despite those three quarterback-caused turnovers (that’s right… the Colts have never won a game in which he’s thrown three picks until now). I have some fair points of my own, and we’ll keep it big picture again.

- As we noted in our game preview, plenty of teams have coerced Manning into mistakes over recent games. The guy has TEN interceptions over his last six games… and he’s won them all. We are reaching a point where we must admit Manning is perfectly capable of overcoming his own failures. That’s who the Colts are.

- Josh was right, Dave. It came down to execution. For example…

3rd and 7 at the Denver 14, 9-yard completion to Dallas Clark, first down. Three plays later, TOUCHDOWN #1 (on 3rd and 5).

3rd and 9 at the Denver 10, 10-yard completion to Dallas Clark, TOUCHDOWN  #2.

4th and 4 at the Denver 34, 22-yard completion to (you guessed it) Dallas Clark, first down. Four plays later, TOUCHDOWN  #3.

That’s execution.

3rd and 2 at the Denver 19, Buckhalter rush for -1 yard.

4th and 1 at the Indianapolis 41, Moreno rush for no gain.

4th and 1 at the Indianapolis 45, Moreno rush for no gain.

3rd and 2 at the Denver 27, Orton incomplete to Royal.

3rd and 6 at the Indianapolis 38, Orton sacked for -7 yards.

3rd and 6 at the Indianapolis 20, Orton interception, intended for Marshall.

That’s not execution. That’s Denver trying in every way imaginable to make a play, and in every way imaginable, they failed.

That’s not play calling. That, as Josh noted, is the difference between execution and frustration.

(And that’s the bone I wanted to pick with Krieger and all of the other haters today… and he doesn’t need me to tell him. He’s playing to his audience. The folks that buy papers these days are the same folks that would welcome Mike Shanahan and his 2-4 career record against Manning back. That’s Krieger’s target, and as such he is wise – as usual – to take aim.)

Thanks for stopping in.

Tags: Dave Krieger, Denver Broncos, Denver Post, Indianapolis Colts