Obsessed with Super Bowl dreams, let’s say the Broncos do something outrageous.
Something crazy, like acquiring Terrell Owens, a receiver with the certifiable talent to push a team over the top or over the edge.
Who will step in to keep quarterback Jake Plummer’s sanity and prevent T.O. from becoming Excedrin headache No. 81 on your Denver roster?
The man who kept the peace at Dove Valley is gone.
Gary Kubiak has left the building. Gone home to Texas. Hired by Houston.
“It’s always tough to lose a great friend,” Denver coach Mike Shanahan said Tuesday. “I’ve been with Gary for 20 years.”
You think that 34-17 defeat to Pittsburgh in the AFC title game was tough to swallow?
Kubiak’s loss is bigger.
The buzz about what Denver needs to be No. 1 in the NFL ranges from Owens to a pass-rushing freak. All the talk has merit.
But the most important decision Shanahan makes between now and the next kickoff will be how he fills the vacancy left by Kubiak, whose impact on a team extended far beyond his job description as offensive coordinator.
“What was so great is Kubiak knew how to communicate. He was always the buffer. You knew he was in your corner,” former Denver tight end Shannon Sharpe said. “Mike Shana-
han doesn’t do a whole lot of talking to players outside the big meeting room. Kubiak did all the installation of the game plan. Kubiak did all the correction when you messed up. The Broncos? They’re going to miss him.”
Shanahan is an efficient machine. Coldly calculating.
Kubiak put a face on the machine. He gave the Broncos a heartbeat.
“In this business, you don’t have relationships with many guys like Kubiak,” said running back Mike Anderson, recalling his second start as an NFL rookie, when he filled in for injured Terrell Davis in 2000.
Anderson rumbled for 187 yards against the Raiders that September more than five years ago. But what he remembers is boarding the team bus after the road victory.
“My head was spinning. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing as a rookie, or how I’d done it,” Anderson said. “I’d never been to the Black Hole. Didn’t know what winning there was all about. But I remember being one of the last guys on that bus. Kubiak looked me right in the eye and said, ‘You keep that up, son, and you’re going to have a heckuva career.’ At the time, I didn’t know what he meant. But looking back on it, what Kubiak said was huge. For the first time, I felt like I really belonged in the NFL.”
Shanahan cannot be an easy boss to please. His exacting standards must be a grind. He wears out defensive coordinators quicker than a street preacher goes through the soles of his shoes.
From acting as John Elway’s understudy to reciting game plans for the Broncos, Kubiak has had Shanahan’s back for better and for worse. Nobody stays together for 20 years in the NFL. It takes a deft touch to deal with a legendary quarterback or a mastermind coach.
Shanahan expects to lose more Broncos assistants as Kubiak fills his staff in Houston. For center Tom Nalen, who has bled orange to make the Denver offense a long-running smash hit, to even consider joining the Texans in free agency should be a clue as to the respect Kubiak commands.
When he blew in from Arizona three years ago, Plummer was a scarecrow, known for scattered thoughts and scattering interceptions, until Kubiak gave him a brain.
“Gary has been huge. He’s one of the big reasons for coming here,” Plummer said. “He has really helped me make a step in my career. And him leaving is going to be tough. I know Coach Shanahan and this organization will do whatever they feel is right to replace him. But it’s hard to replace a guy who’s a Bronco through and through.”
In pro sports, the Denver locker room is an uncommonly happy place, with more big smiles than bloated egos.
What Kubiak did best was tighten the nuts and bolts that kept everybody’s head on straight.
How Shanahan replaces somebody who was much more than a sidekick figures to be as much a question of chemistry as football.
Is Dr. Phil available?
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
