Maybe... I don't think he ever had a problem with accountability and player relations. Also, I think he's still going to be more influenced by his time with his mentor (Mike Shannahan) over anything John Harbaugh did (maybe he can learn from him what not to do... like don't embarrass yourself in a press conference after you got caught with your pants down). If he doesn't take this job, I can't see him going to any other place in the NFL(somebody mentioned Jacksonville???). Maybe he wants to go to college... holding out for when Sumlin gets the boot.
I'm not sure Denver is a good fit for him. If Manning stays, then Manning tends to be his own OC. Kubiak's strength is his own offensve system, so there's a bit of conflict there. If Manning goes, then Denver is basically in rebuild mode with no QB, and a bunch of offensive free agents who have no real reason to stay without Manning (all will get good opportunities on good teams). He's done plenty of rebuilding in his short head coaching career already. I would have thought a job like Chicago, where all the offensive pieces are in place, would be his ideal situation. He's the kind guy of guy could probably get the most out of Cutler by simplifying the offensive reads, etc.
I wonder if he's getting any push-back on taking a HC role from his family because of health concerns.
It makes sense for Denver to go with Kubiak, he got the first success in Houston, and they are facing a full rebuild.
If what we saw the past several weeks from Manning is indeed the start of his decline, he might be open to a new system, especially one that is run-heavy and "safer" for QBs.
On the contrary, I think Manning-Kubes would be a perfect fit. Kubiak would instantly upgrade their running game (which all along has been his biggest strength as an OC), and that would take plenty of pressure off Manning, who's been hesitant to ever rely on the running game for anything other than just a change of pace or simply to run out the clock. On the flip side, Kubiak could utilize Manning's supreme line reading ability to add to his own system... which despite no obvious audibles, relies on a lot of line reads and adjusting to make the right decision based on what the defense is showing. And, of course, Kubiak could benefit from Manning's proficiency in clock management and the hurry-up. Elway will try to sell Peyton that Kubiak could do for Manning what Shannahan/Kubiak did for Elway in the late 90's. Additionally, I feel that in today's pass-happy league, defenses have been constructed more to combat that... leaving some vulnerability to supreme run-blocking/run-heavy teams (see Dallas this year, and Forsett in Baltimore). I also think either Manning stays in Denver, or he retires... I do not see him trying to fit-in or start over anywhere else.
Roll the clock back to 2010... how insane is the thought Peyton Manning would wind up playing for three different teams in his career?
Elway says he wants Manning back (press conference on now)... I think its all set up for some sort of Kubiak/Shannahan/baby-Shannahan reunion. Hell, maybe they've been engineering this thing for awhile (esp. w/ the Shannahans). He just specifically said they'd like to implement the things that got them to the next level back in the 90's again now in 2015.
No... but they get the next best thing if they get the offensive mastermind that was able to get Justin Forsett to run for 1200 yards (let alone guys like Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson... or finding guys like Arian Foster). The bottom line is that Elway sounds like he knows exactly what he wants to do... whether or not he's able to accomplish that will be another story.
So is Kubiak going to change his ways, or is Peyton? For it to work, one of them has to hand control over to the other.
Seems like if I were a coaching candidate for Denver, I would want to know whether I'm getting a Manning-led team gunning for a Superbowl or a rebuilding team. With all their free agents, it seems like they could go in wildly different directions depending on that, and I'd want to know what I'm getting into. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems the Manning issue needs to be resolved before the coaching issue.
Kubiak spent practically all of his NFL career in Denver before he got to Houston and Elway is his homie... Denver might be the place he wants to be regardless on if they are rebuilding or not. And even if Manning stays _ he probably only has 1-2 years left in him at the most so Kubiak would be around longer than him. And last time I checked Denver already has a stable of serviceable running backs.
Or they can mutually work together to co-exist. Listening to Elway, it sounds like him and Fox didn't agree with how to get to the next level and there was no chance of making it work. They're going to follow Elway's vision... and I think he would have enough pull with Peyton/Kubiak to make it work.
In fact, they carried the team over the last 7 weeks of the season... but it seemed pretty either/or with Manning's arm limitations (the running game didn't really open up the passing game... something Kubiak's system actually does quite well).
They're going to follow Elway's vision, regardless... he wants Manning back so his vision probably isn't going to be drastically different from what Peyton wants, but if Peyton is ultimately not on board, I still don't see Elway wavering from the coach he has in mind now.
Yeah but we're talking about completely different styles, you have Kubiak's style where he runs everything, and you have Peyton's style where he runs everything.....where is the middle ground?
If you think its impossible for them to find a middle ground, then you yourself need to see if you can adjust your opinions to consider all possibilities. Elway adjusted late in his career with a lot of success... Peyton has already adjusted a lot of the "control" he had when he was in Indy... I'm sure Elway will draw on his personal experience to bridge the two together if he's able to get Kubiak to sign and convince Manning not to retire. I think if you supplement Kubiak's terrific running schemes with Manning's decision making/read-making ability on the passing routes, it could be a dangerous offense (even with Manning being 39 and unable to throw more than 20 yards downfield consistently).
I agree from Elway's perspective. But I think it's different from the coaching perspective. I think the idea of "going home" in the NFL is odd. This isn't like college where you have an alma mater or deep personal ties or whatnot. There's not a lot of sentimentality at the pro-level, and you're going to be fired if you suck regardless. So if you're a coach in reasonable demand (which Kubiak seems to be), I would think you'd want to know if you're going to a potential Superbowl team or a rebuilding process. If Kubiak doesn't do well in his 2nd stint, he's probably not getting a 3rd chance for a while, so I would think he'd pick very carefully. And you can't know what you're walking into unless you know what Manning is thinking.
The problem is that it usually takes a while to fully switch over to the Kubiak system and I don't think even the most optimistic Broncos fan thinks that Peyton has any more than MAYBE one more run left in him.
