BRONCOS GOING BACKWARD? October 25th, 2010: Hank Sienzant took over a Bronco team in 2009 that finished 5-11 and promised improvement. Thus far, the Broncos are 1-24 over the 25 games Sienzant has run this team, with the only win coming last year against a San Diego squad that finished 2009 with a equally meager 1-15 record. The Broncos have not managed a win against a winning team since the 2008 season, when they beat the Indianapolis Colts 23-17 in week eight that year - 33 games ago. While they might manage a win against the 0-9 New England Patriots next week in the ISFL, the promised improvement hasn't been there, and it doesn't look like the Broncos, as currently managed, will be competitive for a long time. We figured it was time to sit down with Sienzant and get his take on things. Here is the transcript of the pertinent parts of that interview. Q: What's your take on this current Bronco team? A: We're young and talented, but making too many mistakes that have cost us wins. Q: Such as? A: It might be any of a number of things on any given play. To win a given play, you've got to do everything or almost everything right. One mistake could blow up the whole play and even cost you the game. For example, one of our backs mis-read a blitz against the Jets, and instead of picking up the blitzing linebacker, went out in the flat as an outlet receiver. That got Josh (Freeman) blindsided and he suffered a concussion. We had a receiver open on the play, and Freeman was ready to release the ball when he got hit. Another half-second of protection and we might have a big gain instead of a sack. Q: Can you win with the current players? A: Absolutely. These guys are football players and they want to win. [Rookie quarterback] Josh [Freeman] is in looking at game tapes early in the morning, soaking up all the knowledge we can impart. He will be a good one in time, but he's not there yet. We have a core of young, solid veterans like Joe Thomas and Nate Washington on offense, and Dawan Landry and Ernie Sims on defense, and we are adding young talent all the time. Q: Why are you only 1-24 in your term here? A: Because of the mistakes. As a coaching staff, and in drafting, we've also mis-evaluated some players. We've made mistakes too. We've also had a bunch of injuries. Just on offense alone, we've lost our starting quarterback [Daunte Culpepper], our number one wideout [Dwayne Bowe], our starting tight end [Jermichael Finley], our starting running back [Lendale White], our starting right guard [Eric Wood] for various points of time. Our starting offense played about one quarter of the first game together, and hasn't been together since. Our defense has been equally decimated. Just this last game alone, we've lost veteran defensive tackle Ed Johnson and rookie corner Cary Harris to season-ending injuries. This is not an excuse, but an explanation. Having to incorporate new players into the starting units week after week naturally slows down the pace you can practice at, and it means more time repeating previous lessons rather than introducing new concepts. But overall, we like our players here and think we have the talent to play and match up with anyone in the league. It's just a matter of getting healthy, eliminating mistakes and getting better. Q: How do you do that? A: It's a matter of coaching, repetition on the practice field, and getting experience. It takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we understand there's a process of maturation that has to take place for these younger players to get to where we think they can be. You can see the play unfold in the training session, or on the chalk board but until you train the synapses to just react to what they see in real time, the players are thinking too much, and at the current speed of the game, you can't think out there. You have to react. Our players aren't there yet. Q: And when will that happen? A: It could happen at any time, but it may not happen for everyone at the same time. As the players progress, they will start to win their individual battles more often, and that will translate into winning more plays and being more competitive game in and game out. Eventually, the scale tips and you start winning games you previously would have lost. Some like to call that 'learning to win', but we think of it as more of a natural outcome of young players' improvement. Q: What does the future hold for the Broncos? A: It is always the darkest before the dawn. We believe we are on the right track, and we feel a winning team - a team Denver can be proud of - is not only possible but the likely outcome of the moves we've made. I'm not going to single anyone out, but we really like some of the young players we've drafted or acquired in trade over the past two years, and we feel we're on the right track. Q: How so? A: We've also acquired extra draft picks in the second and fourth rounds in the upcoming draft for some of the veterans we've traded away in the last three months. In addition to owning all our own picks, we also have two extra second round picks and an extra fourth. With the right moves, we can parlay those picks in additional quality players that will help us get to our eventual goal of winning the ISFL Super Bowl. Q: You're 1-24 as a coach and GM in this league, is that a realistic goal? A: It better be, it's the only one we've got.