I kept waiting for Mike Shanahan to stifle a yawn at his Monday news conference.
“We started out 2-0 last season, so we can’t get too carried away with what we’ve done,” Shanahan said. “We’re young with a very good attitude, and a game like that helps because it shows that you can find a way to win against a good football team. It’s a good first step . . .”
Maybe Shanahan can’t get carried away, but I know a certain nation of Broncos fans who are already there. Who can blame them? At this point, it’s impossible not to wonder where that first step might lead.
Anybody out there think the Broncos are going to lose before their Week 7 game at New England? Anybody?
For the record, the Broncos play the Saints, whose secondary is a mess, on Sunday, followed by a roadie at Kansas City and back-to-back home games vs. Tampa Bay and the Performers Formerly Known as the Jaguars.
In other words, they could well be 6-0 when they arrive in New Eng- land. But that’s not the point, and neither is the fact that the Broncos are in first place in the AFC West.
Here’s what matters most: Shana- han’s faith in a group of players that ranks as easily his youngest team in 14 seasons in Denver.
That two-point conversion Shana- han called for Sunday? The ball was thrown by a quarterback with 23 NFL starts and caught by a rookie playing in his second game. Meanwhile, on the offensive line, Jay Cutler’s blindside was being protected by another rookie. And across the line, on the right side, was a virtual rookie starting his second game after a blowout 2007 season.
If you didn’t know it before the final minute of the Chargers game, you do now: Shanahan has all the confidence in the world this team can get the job done. In fact, though he isn’t about to say it in your morning newspaper, this team is among his favorites since the end of the Super Bowl runs in the late 1990s.
I don’t know where the first step is going to lead, but I know this: The coach believes this team will make the playoffs and could well make something happen once it gets there.
Follow Jim Armstrong’s sports updates on The Jimmy Page at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. And read his columns on Sundays at .
He can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
