We are curious orange.
With all the subtlety of a blacksmith welding a hammer and an anvil, the Broncos indeed have gotten our attention.
They may not be that great, but they will be interesting.
Maurice Clarett?
Mike Shanahan seemed to be following the lead of Col. Frank Slade in “Scent of a Woman,” who said he was just getting started.
Recently I read an evaluation by an NFL expert who claimed the Broncos’ draft was the worst.
Then, another account suggested that the Broncos had the league’s worst offseason free-agent acquisitions.
And there has been laughter the past few days when the Broncos brought in a wide receiver of note.
A couple of local heavyweights have questioned practically every move
Shanahan has made in the past three months.
I, a lightweight, grumbled about the signings of three former Cleveland Browns defensive linemen.
And some upstanding local citizens apparently believe Shanahan shouldn’t be fired, but, rather, tied to a garage door, with the automatic opener set to constantly go up and down while a nearby boombox plays the hits of Boy George.
OK, consider this: Would you rather get excited about the Chicago Bears?
I’m finding these additions kind of fun.
What’s next: Is Barry Sanders coming out of retirement to join the Broncos? Are they trading for Ricky Williams? Is Brian Griese returning? Will Red Miller and Rick Upchurch be hired as assistant coaches?
Shannon Sharpe?
Admit it, that Clarett pick in the third round had you murmuring and wondering and hoping and thinking about asking your buddy for his exhibition tickets. People were drafting quarterbacks and Auburn running backs, and the Broncos took three cornerbacks you never heard of, but Broncos fanatics and NFL draftniks across the country sat up in their chairs when it was announced Denver had chosen Clarett.
Ron Dayne didn’t do it for you.
Tatum Bell and Quentin Griffin are your Broncos running backs, but everybody is talking about and interviewing Maurice Clarett. Can he run the 40-
yard dash in under 10 seconds? Will he rush for 2,000 yards this season or languish on the practice squad or take sophomore English literature?
The Browns thing wasn’t special because the Broncos were losing Trevor Pryce. Bam! Pryce is right back with the program, and Ian Gold – whose parents obviously idolized Ian Fleming and “Goldfinger” – rejoined the Broncos. Courtney Brown looks a lot better as a backup defensive end, and the linebacking corps got smarter and tougher.
Meanwhile, there are 47 cornerbacks under contract. Including Champ Bailey, who may decide he needs to concentrate more on his position than his house.
Jeb Putzier gone to New York. Happens. Jeb Putzier not gone from Denver. Happening.
Todd Sauerbrun has done several pretty stupid pet tricks, but he also punts farther than 99.993 living human beings. And at sea level. Imagine if he punted at altitude eight games a year. Forget 44-yard average. Think 50 yards.
Sauer became sweet when he finally met with Shanahan and agreed to come to the Broncos, who gave the Carolina Panthers a bag of marbles and a Baby Ruth candy bar for the best punter in pro football. Forget the left-footed rugby punters.
So the Broncos’ efforts were fairly unusual.
Before Jerry Rice popped up.
Last week the Broncos signed Rice, the greatest wide receiver in the history of the old game. He already has scored more touchdowns than anyone else and, without much trouble, could go over the 200 mark in TD catches next season. How swell.
A few of us remember a Super Bowl in which Rice caught a 20-yard touchdown pass to give San Francisco a 7-0 lead over the Broncos, then caught two other touchdown passes in the 49ers’ 55-10 victory. Well, we don’t have to worry about Rice catching three scoring passes against Denver
in anymore Super Bowls.
A few of them believe Rice’s career should be over, but he will be the top conditioned athlete in the NFL in 2005, and won’t that make a difference at a mile high? He doesn’t have to catch 100 balls. Fifty would be nice, as a third receiver. Line up Rice against the other team’s third cornerback, and I’ll take that matchup.
And you’ve got your Jake Plummer, who hasn’t been figured out yet, except that when he wasn’t offering an obscene sign at the stadium, he was throwing for more yardage in one season than John Elway ever did. Plummer is no Elway, but he’s no Griese.
Unlike the Rockies, the Broncos aren’t constructing a team for 2034, and we prefer it that way, because a few of us may be eating bananas and drooling on the patio by next Memorial Day.
We would like to see the Broncos get back to the Super Bowl, or, at the very least, beat the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the playoffs.
I don’t know the Broncos are about to win the title or even the division.
But if Shanahan is down to one more season in Denver, he’s not going down quietly.
I like it. There may be possibilities and prospects and pleasure, but it won’t be boring in the 2005 training camp and season. You’ve got your controversial running back; your Hall of Fame wide receiver; your expatriate Browns; your Champ and your chumps; your weird-up, drinking-and-driving punter; your enigmatic quarterback; and your coach trying to remove the tarnish from his iconness.
Burning horseshoes for the Broncos.
Woody Paige’s column appears in The Denver Post on Sundays. He can be seen weekdays on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews on “Around the Horn,” “Cold Pizza” and “1st and 10.” He can be reached at wpaige@denverpost.com.
