McDaniels, Denver escalate war of words with Marshall
When news first broke yesterday of the Broncos decision to bench their star wide receiver Brandon Marshall for the final contest of the season, speculation surrounding Marshall’s continued existence with Denver immediately ensued, with many pundits expecting a off-season trade or release to take place in the near future.
That fire was fueled even further today, as the transcripts of head coach Josh McDaniels press conference were made public, along with his comments that indicate a definite level of discord between the two sides. Marshall had responded to the benching by quietly slamming his coach for having no professional experience as a player, a tried and tested method that worked once before this season with Larry Johnson‘ exodus from Kansas City.
McDaniels took the discussion to a whole new level though, making the case that Marshall is lying about the severity of the hamstring injury he suffered during practice this past week and that he is being held accountable now for those actions.
“Our word for the week has been accountability. And we’re looking to put the 45 guys on the field on Sunday that want to play together, want to help us try to win and qualify for the playoffs. And anybody that showed any indifference to that, we’ll play without them.”
– Denver head coach Josh McDaniels
The Broncos are no stranger to player-coach arguments under McDaniels watch, with quarterback Jay Cutler getting into a testy battle with McDaniels during the off-season that later culminated in a deal that sent Cutler packing for Chicago. Shortly after that incident, Marshall publicly took issue with McDaniels’ decisions and pushed for the team to move him out of town as well.
Denver made a wise choice in hanging on to the Pro Bowl receiver and has reaped the rewards for that decision all season long with Marshall reaching the 100 reception club for a third straight season. But they’re now facing the difficult choice of either trading their superstar receiver to another team or continuing on with him in the hope that they’ll be able to straighten him out before next season begins.
At this point, the former seems to be the likely course of action given the stance both sides of taken as of late, and while it seems safe to say that there will be no shortage of suitors should the Broncos put Marshall on the block, the cost of acquiring his services may prove to be too great for many teams.
As always, we’ll keep you posted when more information becomes available.
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pat bowlen needs to rethink his decision and find a coach before this wacko little egocentric ass hole destroys whats left of this team,and this fan base.