http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3620084.html Consistency marked 20 years in Mile High City By JOHN MCCLAIN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Although the transformation will not happen overnight, Houston fans can look at the Denver Broncos if they want to see what kind of team new coach Gary Kubiak wants the Texans to become. Kubiak will never say the Broncos' way is the best way. And it's not the only way he knows. But starting in 1983, when Denver drafted him out of Texas A&M, he spent 20 years in an organization that has been consistently successful. Kubiak knows the formula for success. Under Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan, Kubiak participated in five Super Bowls, winning two. In 1994, his only season as an assistant coach at San Francisco, he won his first Super Bowl ring. In 23 years as a player and assistant coach, including two years (1992-93) at Texas A&M under R.C. Slocum, Kubiak has been on only two losing teams. "I learned from Mike that you want to be involved with everything," Kubiak said. Calling the shots Shanahan learned how to delegate. For the last six years, he let Kubiak call plays. With the Texans, Kubiak will coach quarterbacks and call plays. He'll work closely with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Troy Calhoun. "We'll bring our system from Denver, although we might change the color of the playbook a little bit, maybe to a little darker blue," Kubiak said with a smile. "But we're going to have the Texans' offense, the Texans' defense and the Texans' special teams. "And we'll be committed in all three areas, and I can promise you that we'll be aggressive." Which is music to the earns of everyone from owner Bob McNair to the fans. "One thing about our scheme is that you teach a system," Kubiak said. "You don't necessarily teach everything that you're going to do. You teach a system, and you've got to be able to branch off from that system." Pieces in right place Denver's players say one of Kubiak's specialties is putting players in position to take advantage of their strengths and keeping them out of situations that will magnify their weaknesses. "One of the great things I've learned is that we have to do what our players do best," Kubiak said. "You can't be stubborn and say, 'This is the way we did it.' We're going to do what's best for the Texans." After he hires his first staff, Kubiak wants to meet with his new players. He'll spend more time with quarterback David Carr than any player on the roster. Before he makes his recommendation to McNair about the top pick, Kubiak has to know what makes Carr tick. "There's tremendous upside to David Carr," he said. "That position is about success. David has to understand that this guy right here is going to be with him every day. I'll have both of these (hands) on him. That's what I know — working with the quarterback, understanding what he's going through." In Kubiak's last season with the Broncos, they finished 13-3 in the regular season and lost the AFC Championship Game to Pittsburgh. Now Kubiak is coaching a team that finished with the NFL's worst record. From almost first to worst. "I understand that we've got a long way to go, but it can be done," he said.
Yes, but will he take YV or Bush? Juuuuuuust kidding. Sounds crazy but I don't think we are that far off from being competitive again. We won 7 games in 2004. I may get flamed for this, but I really think most of what happened this year was because of coaching. I think we can win 6 or 7 games next year and hopefully make a run for the playoffs in 2007. No matter who we draft.
You ahve to add in some bad GM Moves Losing Sharper and Glen hurt Babin and Buchanon hurt us [esp Buchanon] Rocket River
The other Bronconian aspect of this is that they only spent "high" draft picks on Floyd Little (before Kubiak), Clinton Portis (2nd Round) and Terrell Bell (2nd Round)... and they got rid of Portis. I don't know that Kubiak's input was part of this decision-making but they've always gotten along with running back "finds" like Dominick Davis and, perhaps, Morency. It will be interesting.
Also keep in mind that the Broncos did not have many high draft picks during the time which Kubiak was there. And they probably almost never had a shot at an elite RB..
Fair point. Nevertheless, they've proven that you can generate a consistently awesome running game with something other than a "supposedly" elite RB. Bush "may" be worth it though. Time will tell. I've only seen Reggie play one entire game. He was good, but he didn't dominate.
Portis was a 2nd rounder and is very close to an elite running back. ......and they traded him for a shut down corner. Reveals a lot which they think is harder to find and more important to what they do. (In fact Portis has a lot of similarity to R Bush in strengths and style.)
I'm pretty sure Bush blows Portis out of the water in terms of "ratings" coming out of college... and in 2002, no one was really wetting themselves over these guys.. 16 Cleveland William Green RB Boston College 18 Atlanta T.J. Duckett RB Michigan State 34 Carolina DeShaun Foster RB UCLA 51 Denver Clinton Portis RB Miami 54 Seattle Maurice Morris RB Oregon 56 Washington Ladell Betts RB Iowa I wouldn't exactly call that a really stellar RB draft..
That's not the point. Regardless of their relative rankings, Portis was a proven elite RB on the NFL level (which Bush is not, currently) and was still traded by Denver for a CB.
We're talking about Denver here.. RBs grow on trees there. I think Rashaan Salaam just rushed for 1,500 yards there while I was typing this. Keep in mind, Denver's RB factory is the exception, not the rule.. And actually, yeah, that IS the point here. We're talking about Kubiak/Denver's draft tendancies when it comes to running backs. We're talking about PRE-draft player status and how Denver treats that.
So, you don't think that trading Portis away is any indication on how Kubiak may feel about premiere RBs in general?
I don't really have any frickin' idea. All I know is they needed champ bailey in denver more than they needed portis.
I would put Portis in the 2nd tier star level with Tomlinson and Alexander being in the first tier. Bailey is either the best or one of the top 2 CB in the league.
Great point I was about to post the same thing. Bailey is an absolute stud. Teams consistently throw away from him and he still had 6-7 picks this year. It is important to note that Den also had a good stable of RBs already.
If one were to take a step back and look at the big picture, it would suggest that being able to find nice RBs in later rounds would mean no Reggie Bush with the 1st pick. Why? I don't doubt that Bush would be a better RB than any of the current Denver RBs. But the question is by how much, and at what cost? 1st picks cost A LOT OF MONEY, not to mention the inherent risk of losing a top player at another position. Football is the ultimate team game. The strength of the team is determined not by dominance at a single position, but spanning multiple positions. That's why Portis was traded. Because although he's better than Anderson or Bell, the Broncos needed CBs more than RBs. The Texans are in a similar position. DD is nice. And it's possible that our 3rd rounder or Morency can also turn into solid back with Kubiack's system. So the question is, does Reggie Bush provide so big an upgrade that you'd risk losing a DeBrickaw/AJ Hawk/Mario Williams + mulitiple picks to get him?
It's hard to say whether Kubiak doesn't like to draft RBs in the 1st Round or whether it was because of where he was picking. But one thing is sure, Denver has always been able to plug in a RB and have him produce. This year alone: Mike Anderson ran for over 1,000 yards, he was a 6th Rounder that played FB. Tatum Bell ran for 921 (2nd Rounder). 2004 Season: Reuben Droughns ran for over 1200 yards w/ the Broncos (3rd Rounder drafted by Detroit), his best season before was 72 yards for the season. 2003 Season: Portis ran for 3100 yards in his 1st 2 seasons!! Traded that summer for Champ. Like I said, you can't really say Kubiak doesn't like drafting RBs in the first because maybe he felt there weren't any worth taking. But the fact that Denver produces a 1000 yard rusher every single season no matter who it is, you would think he could do the same with DD, Morency and not have to spend such a high pick and money for another.
