| Are you ready to say goodbye to players that Broncomaniacs have known and loved?
Don't get me wrong. It is time for Ed McCaffrey to go. It was time for him to retire a year ago.
But it is increasingly hard to tell the Broncos without a scorecard.
And doesn't that unsettle you?
Coach Mike Shanahan is doing more than overhauling the roster of a mediocre football team that has failed to win a playoff game in five seasons.
Shanahan is doing a personality purge at Dove Valley.
The mastermind is turning out the lights on Denver stars who shine brighter than him.
Fans of the local NFL franchise could be excused for feeling predominately blue. Our familiarity with the team is being orange crushed.
First, the team tore down the fond memories of Mile High Stadium.
Now, Shanahan is running off the football heroes from the team's new stomping grounds at Invesco Field at Mile High.
All those Broncos jerseys worn by the faithful on game day are looking more obsolete with each passing day.
No. 26, Clinton Portis: Instead of showing him the money, Shanahan showed him who is boss by unceremoniously showing the tailback the door.
No. 87, McCaffrey: The receiver who gave Broncomania a friendly face now must face the fact the Broncos cannot afford to pay him to be unproductive.
No. 38, Mike Anderson: Although he rushed for 1,487 yards as a rookie in 2000, maybe the fullback's reputation has been permanently soiled by those grass stains.
No. 84, Shannon Sharpe: Why would the greatest tight end who ever lived want to waste one last shot at the Super Bowl on a Denver offense with so few reliable weapons?
No. 74, Ephraim Salaam: Perhaps the only way the Broncos can stop the left tackle from speaking his mind in the Broncos' locker room is to cut him.
No. 52, Ian Gold: If new cornerback Champ Bailey receives all the gold, there might not be any left for a free-agent linebacker recovering from knee surgery.
No. 92, Bertrand Berry: He led the Denver defensive line in sacks and eloquence, two traits that will be more appreciated and better compensated with a different NFL team.
What is going on here? Shanahan is wagering his reputation that quarterback Jake Plummer and Bailey are all the coach needs to win back the hearts lost in a devastating postseason loss to Indianapolis.
No matter how many times the Avalanche hoists the Stanley Cup and regardless of the Nuggets' long-awaited return to the playoffs, this dusty old cowtown gets its sports identity from the Broncos.
And, right now, the Broncos do not have an identity.
Denver scored 34 points to beat Atlanta in Super Bowl XXXIII on the last Sunday in January of 1999.
On the first Sunday of the 2004 NFL regular season, the only remaining player to gain so much as a yard in the franchise's last championship game could be Rod Smith, who will turn 34 in May, and has seen his production slip so much during the past two years that he no longer appears to be a No. 1 receiver.
A football genius only has two hands. Yet Shanahan seems intent on rebuilding the team's offensive line, backfield, receiving corps, linebacking unit and pass rush. Whew. That is a lot a work to get done in six months. The locker room at Dove Valley is a remodeling project so daunting it could intimidate the design crew of "Trading Spaces."
By ripping apart a team made in his own image, however, Shanahan would be making a startling admission.
This is an NFL franchise in trouble, where the old way of doing business has grown old. And tired. Not to mention unsuccessful.
If Portis, McCaffrey, Anderson, Sharpe, Salaam, Gold and Berry all leave the team by blockbuster trade or retirement ceremony or waiver wire or free agency, and the team still cannot become a championship contender, who will be left for the Broncos to blame for their chronic mediocrity?
Not to point fingers, but Shanahan is under contract through 2008.
Source: Denver Post | |
