Mike Nolan next victim

One thing that is consistent in the Denver Bronco organization has been a new defensive coordinator each year. The Broncos are expected to hire former New England Dean Pees according to the Denver Post. Pees chose not to renew his contract that expired. The Post may be correct but Pees sounds like a man who should consider retirement to me. He had to leave the last game of the year in the second half with shortness of breath, had prostate cancer surgery during the summer and fought blood clots in his leg. He is reportedly cancer free but is facing other medical issues. http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/news/story?id=4826721&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

Mike Nolan and Josh McDaniles met after the completion of the season and agreed that their coaching styles would clash and are parting ways. I think that the hiring of Mike Nolan was one of the few things McDaniles got right. If there are any doubts look who has already signed Nolan as D coordinator. The Miami Dolphins with Bill Parcells calling the shots that's a sure sign that Nolan is top notch.

I understand McDaniles wanting people he is familiar with to be his assistant coaches and Pees seems to have had success in New England but his health is a real concern.

This story also adds to the growing opinion that McDaniels is hard to work for. To this point the evidence has come from his dealings with players like Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler. But now it's McDaniels and a highly effective and respected coach that was hired by another team in less 24 hours.

As I've said before while I hope Denver can turn it around next year it looks like the team is getting worse not better. I don't know what the off season has in store for us but things are not looking good to this point.

As for my miserable picks for the Divisional Round what can I say other then I gave to much credit to Kurt Warner and not enough to Favre and the Jets Defense and end up 1-3 for a total of 3-5 for the playoffs. Terrible start but maybe I will be the opposite off the Broncos and start slow but finish strong if I go perfect the rest of the way I'll be over .500 at 6-5.

I took that last few days off working on my evaluation of different positions on the Broncos roster and where I think they should improve the most in the off season. I will be posting the O-line evaluation tomorrow. Next week the Sirius NFL radio crew will be headed to the Senior Bowl and they will start to evaluate the Draft.