Season Notes

1998

PRE season

We are very pleased in denver to enter the 98 season. We were not pursuing a QB and yet we could not turn down the acquisition of Lawton Fields. It was as much a surprise to us as it must have been Dion Holman that he was released. The team had confidence in Holman, but we simply cannot deny that Fields is an improvement. We sincerely wanted CB Dan Lofton, however we knew that we would only be able to seriously persue him or TE Tomaso Reed. It was a tough call but we felt we had to get Reed. We expect him to help both the running and passing attack. We never expected rookie DE Charles Stafford to be available at #7. His selection forced us to release 10 year vet Dexter Richards. Diego Hauck will start at punter. His discipline force us to give him a look. We have questions at both LB and DB. The loss of Kurt Zordich cannot be taken lightly. Preseason prediction: 8 or 9 wins, we WILL win the division and we will not be shocked to be in the super bowl.

POST season

The Bronco's are thrilled and proud to have won it all! Another great year out of DE JJ Toliver (15 sacks,31 in 2 seasons).Finally RB John Randle has a monster year on the ground with over 1200 yards rushing. We absolutely believe in Denver that the new offensive system and addition of QB Lawton Fields put us over the top. We were dissapointed in the dropoff in sacks from 56 to 50, but were overwhelmed to have lead the league with only 115 points allowed. We feel vindicated to have placed QB-Lawton Fields,RB-John Randle, WR-Scott Byrne,and TE-Tomaso Reed (2 of which were free agent additions this year; a;though dissapointed that DE JJ Tolliver was overlooked.

1997

PreSeason

-It's been an interesting off season. It was difficult to lose a talent like Deon Kelly. We tried unsuccessfully to land free agent Duane Vanhorse. But he had a lot of ties to the Tampa Bay area so I'm not sure we were ever in the running. We expect a big year out of John Randle. He's a superior talent and our offense is tailor made for him. We have confidence that Dion Holman will be able to do the job at QB. However we are a team in transition. We still have a lot of holes and this will not be a quick turnaround. We are excited about DE Slim Pickens. We never expected him to be available at no. 2, it will be interesting to watch him develop in this league.

PostSeason

Wow! We never felt we were gonna contend for the playoffs. The season ended on a sour note, losing those final two, but we're really happy with the way the team played. Our turnaround may be quicker than we anticapated when we took over the team. We could be just a few key moves away. Holman, Randle and Byrne carried this team and we are disgusted that none made the all pro team. Next year we may go a different diirection with the offense to highlight Randle's ability. Expect a similar defensive front, possibly a free agent offensive lineman, and cornerback before next season.