Meet the One Person Who Predicted Broncos Would Be 5-0

In the six months leading up to the 2009 season, the Broncos traded franchise quarterback Jay Cutler, refused to do the same for wideout Brandon Marshall (who subsequently sulked, half-assing his way through the offseason and training camp), and then-32-year-old head coach Josh McDaniels seemed so far out of his element that I wasn't sure he'd make it to Thanksgiving.

At the time, I figured a six-win effort would be a moral victory for the organization, and if nothing else, McDaniels would learn a valuable lesson about managing a group of 20-something millionaires.

Funny story: Denver is 5-0, Kyle Orton personifies the game manager label, and new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has taken an outfit that was among the league's worst and transformed it into a top-5 unit. In one offseason.

And nobody saw it coming. Well, except for former Broncos wide receiver-turned-studio analyst Rod Smith. During the preseason he had the chutzpah to suggest that the Broncos would start the season ... 5-0.



Sure, that was mostly the homer talking, and maybe he was joking in a "Hi, I'm Al Davis and I'm convinced this is the year we win the Super Bowl!" sorta way. Fine, it's still impressive.

NFL Network co-host Jamie Dukes countered with a statement most most of us thought to be true at the time: "Every time you see a championship-caliber team, those players are willing to go the extra mile. You can't tell me you would not go that extra mile for [Mike] Shanahan. You can't tell me that players won't go that extra mile for Tony Dungy. ... All I'm saying is that if things go bad ... a lot of players will be trying to get off the "Titanic" pretty quickly because you have a situation where you don't trust your coach."

Now? Yeah, I think the Broncos trust McDaniels.

via Awful Announcing