Job One for new Broncos coach Vance Joseph: Get a grip on the locker room.
On their way to missing the NFL playoffs, too often the defending champs acted like chumps. I don’t know if lost energy for the tough stuff, but as the Broncos slipped to a 9-7 record, it felt as if nobody was in command of a Denver locker room, where all the shiny camaraderie was tarnished by the moldy residue of mistrust.
After Joseph was introduced as the 16th head coach in Broncos history, I grabbed him in the hallway of the team’s Dove Valley headquarters and asked: Who rules the NFL locker room? The star players? Or the coach?
“The coach has to be in control of the locker room. There cannot be a time when the coach is not in charge. We all understand, itap a players game, and players get a lot of money to play this game, but ultimately the coach has to control that room,” Joseph told me Thursday, without a second of hesitation.
“Itap a matter of being demanding of players, without being a jerk. A coach has got to do both. Thatap my style. I’m not a yeller. I’m not going to curse players. I treat them with great respect at all times. But I am demanding.”
General manager expects Joseph to win, and win big, in his first year as a first-time head coach. It’s a tough task. Here’s why: The championship culture the Broncos like to brag about? Itap a mess.
After receivers and were shown the big money from sweet new contracts, they should have been expected to lead 24/7/365. Instead, on any given Sunday, when young quarterback failed to get them the football, Thomas and Sanders pouted.
is a quarterback with a big arm and bigger potential. Once he lost the starting job to Siemian, however, it seemed as if Lynch was content to ride shotgun, noodling on his cellphone instead of grinding on the playbook. The rookie needs to grow up. Fast. He was irked about not playing in the season finale against Oakland? Good.
is a crazy, brilliant cornerback. He’s the crazy every NFL defense needs. In 2016, Talib was also the personification of a champion falling apart. Shoving and bickering with teammates should not be confused with the kicking and screaming thatap demanded by Elway. Itap losing your cool. Period.
“Itap my job to find the small tweaks to make this team a winning team again. Thatap my call of duty, and hopefully we can do that quickly,” said Joseph, singing music to Elway’s ears. “Itap not a rebuild. Itap a reboot.”
Well, the reboot might require a few swift kicks in the pants of Denver players who have forgotten all great football teams are a brotherhood.
Although the son of a coach, Elway is, first and foremost, a Hall of Fame quarterback. He believes players win. Elway is not dazzled by football nerds in headsets. The strength in Joseph echoes the best of John Fox and Kubiak, who were hired for their motivational skills rather than Mensa IQ scores.
While apountry was attracted to the sweet nostalgia of Kyle Shanahan following in his father’s footsteps on the sideline of Mile High, that honeymoon with Elway would have lasted until the first time the Son of Mike wrestled with Old No. 7 about why his draft choices weren’t ready to contribute. Elway wants a sidekick, not a mastermind.
The truth is in the details, and franchise president Joe Ellis revealed a small but key point I believe pushed Joseph ahead of fellow candidates Dave Toub and Shanahan when the interviews were done. Ellis lauded Joseph for his ability to “manage up.”
At Dove Valley, if Elway ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. Forget the genius X’s and O’s scribbled on a white board. The motto Vince Lombardi made famous is ingrained in Elway’s DNA: Winning isn’t everything; itap the only thing. Joseph wasn’t hired because his Miami defense ranked 29th in a 32-team league; he landed a gig in Denver because the Dolphins rallied from a 1-4 start to qualify for the playoffs.
“There’s only one stat that counts,” Elway said, “and thatap how many games you win.”
Joseph is not here to write the great American NFL game plan or overhaul a last-place team.
This job is far less glamorous, dirtier and simple. Elway issued Joseph a scrub brush and gave him a mission.
Now Joseph must wipe the walls of the Broncos’ locker room clean from the selfish stench of me, me, me.
