IDM.
Or, perhaps IDM2VJ.
My opinion, that is.
It. Don’t. Matter.
Not to Vance Joseph, anyway.
This was made clear on Saturday, when the coach let the media know exactly how much stock he put into what they say, write or think.
“I respect you guys, but your opinion kind of matters not very much when it comes to the quarterback position,” Joseph told the gathered media. It’s important to note that all of this was in good fun and the coach was chuckling as he responded.
When pressed (or “ribbed,” more accurately), he reiterated (laughing once again) his position: “Not at all. Just being honest, right? Not at all.”
I, for one, am not offended. I would sure hope that the head coach of the Denver Broncos, a man who is paid handsomely ($3-4 million, presumably) each year because he knows a lot about football, trusts his own opinion more than mine. We media types pay attention and we write what we think, but we’re not paid the big bucks – let’s call it approximately 2-3 cents per superfluous word we write (see, just knowing “superfluous” just made me 3 percent of a buck) – to know who the starting quarterback should be.
Vance Joseph is right. What we say or think truly doesn’t matter, and it shouldn’t.
But, even though this little post-practice conversation was all in good fun (and it was), why do I have the feeling that more than one person in the media jotted that comment down in a notebook, or simply deposited it away in their memory bank, to be craftily used at a later date?
Who, us? Never.
Well, maybe someday.
Coach, just a heads up, here’s when our opinion will rear its ugly, worthless head: When the Broncos aren’t winning.
We know you don’t care, but at that point, we simply won’t be able to resist. We just have to offer it up.
If Denver’s favorite team is running the table, what we think won’t matter one bit. In fact, if the Broncos are headed to the Super Bowl, you’ll be the smartest man in Colorado and it won’t even be close. It’s just that if and when your team begins to lose, those darn opinions will echo down from the Rockies louder than the steel stands at Mile High. And while you might not hear them, Broncos fans will. And they, like you, might ignore them. But some might not. Losing has a funny way of dividing folks.
Remember when Tim Tebow was finally thrown into a starting role during the 2011 season? Not the season before – when there was nothing to lose and Josh McDaniels and Kyle Orton were tossed aside along with the team’s 3-10 record. I’m talking about when Orton “led” the team to a 1-4 start and the fans at Mile High Stadium were practically ready to storm the field and strangle someone following the loss to San Diego. Orton, as we – the media, the fans, everyone – were told from the start of camp “gave the Broncos the best chance to win.”
A few of us might have asked, “Best chance to win? Wasn’t this the same guy who quarterbacked the orange and blue to a 3-10 record the season before? How can this be?”
Remember though, our opinions don’t matter.
Well, after a 1-4 start, “Best Chance to Win” found himself on the bench in Miami. Timmy Terrific got the nod and brought back from the beach an overtime win.
The rest, as they say, is history. Tebow lost once, then rattled off a six-game winning streak, wiggling into the playoffs at 8-8. Orton beat Tebow as a Chief later that same season, 7-3, but that didn’t stop Tebow’s Broncos from winning the division. Tebow then “pulled the trigger” – an instruction from John Elway, delivered by none other than media member and esteemed columnist Woody Paige – hitting Demaryius Thomas in stride and giving Denver an unexpected playoff win. Woody’s words became the stuff of legend.
After getting bounced from the postseason, Tebow threw six passes as a New York Jet and was out of football all together by 2013. Orton made it through the 2014 season and even paid us a visit as a Buffalo Bill.
The fact of the matter – not an opinion – is that Orton didn’t give Denver the best chance to win at the time. Tebow did.
It’s not that the “opinion” that Tebow deserved a shot before he got one mattered. It didn’t. But in retrospect, that opinion was the correct one.
And you know us media types, we sure like being right.
Coach, for what it’s worth (which is apparently nothing), I’ll offer my opinion about this year’s, shall we say, situation.
Here it is: Your roster is currently devoid of a starting quarterback. At all.
I know – IDM – but I sure hope my opinion is wrong.
