In January 2009, the Josh McDaniels era began in Denver. The hiring by the Broncos was hailed as a great marriage of an up and coming offensive mind to be paired with the still somewhat raw talent Denver had at quarterback, Jay Cutler.
McDaniels was an excellent coaching candidate, straight off the Bill Belichick tree (yes, that tree is looking a little wilted now). As Offensive Coordinator (and play caller) for New England in 2007, he guided the Patriots to a 16-0 regular season, and in the process, set numerous offensive records, including 50 TD passes by Tom Brady. After losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl that season, the Patriots in 2008 looked primed to repeat their offensive explosions, but in the first quarter of the first game of the season, Tom Brady was hit in the knee (yes, the hit was questionable), tearing both his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL). Brady was lost for the season after just 76 yards passing and no TDs. Brady’s replacement was little known Matt Cassel who hadn’t started a game in over eight years. Eight years is hard to believe but he was a backup QB in college for four years at USC to Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart, as well as for his first four years in New England to Brady. McDaniels hardly missed a beat, helping guide the rusty Cassel and the rest of the Patriots to ten wins.
At the same time, Cutler was coming off a Pro Bowl Season in Denver when he threw for 4526 yards and 25 TDs. At first glance this looked like a match made in Heaven, but a phone call two months into McDaniels’ tenure, would eventually prove to be the beginning of the end for McDaniels. New England inquired if Denver would be amenable to trading away Jay Cutler and obtaining Matt Cassel (another team and various draft picks and players were rumored to be involved as well). The logic was that Cassel was familiar with the offense McDaniels was installing in Denver, and thus the key cog in the offensive system would already be firing on all cylinders.
What if Josh McDaniels had simply said, “Thanks for the offer, but no” and then told the press about the offer and his outright refusal of it, instead of making no denials and eventually causing a riff so deep with Cutler that Denver was forced to trade their Pro Bowl (but petulant) QB?
And so begins the What If? game. Could it be that Denver would have won a weak AFC West this year? Three key players who departed after the infamous March 2009 phone call would have had a lot to say about this. Not only was Cutler jettisoned, Brandon Marshall talked his way out of town, Peyton Hillis, who was deemed not to be a McDaniels guy, was traded (with draft picks to even out the deal) for the immortal Brady Quinn (who never saw the field). Additionally other players were traded (Tony Scheffler) or cut because they didn’t fit into McDaniels plans. Cutler is now set to start the NFC Title Game for the Chicago Bears this Sunday, Marshall amassed over 1000 yards in only 14 games for the Miami Dolphins, and Hillis was one of the biggest surprises of the NFL season, rushing for 1177 yards and 11 TDs for the Cleveland Browns.
Who doesn’t think those three could have added to McDaniels’ offense? Yes, this doesn’t change the fact that the defense was beyond terrible this season, but if 2009 had been different with Cutler quarterbacking McDaniels prolific New England style offense, might the following offseason been different and might Elvis Dumerville not have gotten hurt?
This drill is fruitless, but I believe it is safe to say that had McDaniels handled things differently when he was offered Matt Cassel in 2009, he would still be the Head Coach of the Denver Broncos and Denver’s streak of missing the playoffs would be a thing of history. Instead John Elway and John Fox are now plotting yet another new course for Bronco success.
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