12 comments Woody Paige Now Has Further Evidence the Patriots are Evil

Woody Paige is not happy Josh McDaniels is working for the New England Patriots. McDaniels was released from his contract with the Rams and was free to get employment anywhere he wanted. Out of left field for no reason, he chose to get employment as an offensive assistant (and probable offensive coordinator next year) for the Patriots, a team he has no ties to other than having worked for them four years ago under the same head coach and the same quarterback. Then New England, using their magical psychic powers about who they would play in the next round, hired McDaniels before the Steelers-Broncos game as if to pretend they don't hold supernatural powers and didn't know the Broncos would win this game. Of course McDaniels was hired close enough to the Broncos victory over the Steelers to set off Woody Paige's bullshit meter.

Woody Paige also wants us to remember Spygate and that the Patriots are super-duper cheaters who are trying to ruin the playoff chances of the Broncos by revealing John Fox's coaching secrets to the Patriots. Apparently Woody has absolutely zero regard for Mike McCoy's offensive system and misses the entire point that teams have known for a while what the Broncos are going to do, they just can't stop it because the Broncos are executing very well right now. McCoy threw in new offensive wrinkles against the Steelers and I would imagine he will do it against the Patriots as well. So it isn't like McDaniels knows the entire Broncos offense.

I do get why some people have a problem with the Patriots hiring McDaniels. It seems like they want a person on staff with familiarity to the Broncos team and system. Of course the Patriots started talking to McDaniels before the Broncos beat the Steelers, but I guess that is seen as irrelevant. The Patriots beat the Broncos just a month ago in Denver without the help of McDaniels, so that may be seen as irrelevant as well. Not to mention John Fox is running a different offensive scheme (the option and all of that) and defense from what McDaniels ran while in Denver. Again, this point is probably seen as irrelevant by Woody. I think I would have more of a problem with this if McDaniels asked to get out of his contract with the Rams to go to New England, which there isn't any indication happened. I would also have a problem if this type of thing was against the rules, which it isn't. Maybe it should be, but it isn't against the rules right now.

Josh McDaniels is reuniting with Bill Belichick​ for "I Spy: The Second Sequel."

I wish I could say Woody goes ahead and gets the whole "Spygate" joke out of the way, but these jokes are all through this column. Spygate happened 4-5 years (depending on when you believe Spygate started) ago. Yes, McDaniels taped six minutes of the Niners practice last year and got fined $50,000. It's over now. We should let it burn.

The Broncos certainly should not hold a walkthrough practice at the razor stadium on the eve of Saturday night's playoff game. They don't know who'll be watching, taping and stealing signals, schemes and plays.

(shaking head sadly) Simply because these jokes are easy, doesn't make it right to use them. On second thought, it doesn't seem like Woody is even joking when he says this. We wouldn't want the Broncos super-secret offensive game plan of running the ball to set up long passes to be revealed to the public.

Will Belichick and McDaniels be rehiring Steve Scarnecchia too? The former Patriots and Broncos videographer is the son of Patriots longtime assistant Dante Scarnecchia​,

Dante Scarnecchia? Just like "Dante's Inferno" which took place in Hell. Do you know who lives in Hell? Satan. Do you know who doesn't like Satan? God and Jesus. Do you know who likes God and Jesus? Tim Tebow. So this game is pretty much good versus evil. I hope this puts the hiring of McDaniels in perspective. It's just another way for Satan to claim a victory for his favorite NFL team, the New England Patriots.

He was a willing, admitted participant in both Spygate and McSpygate.

Has Woody contacted the police to notify them of this yet? He really should. The Patriots clearly have hired McDaniels to tape Broncos practices in order to discover the secrets of the Broncos offense that Woody Paige claims McDaniels already knows by being the Broncos head coach over the previous two years.

What a crock of a coincidence this is.

You mean like the coincidence that the Broncos signed Willis McGahee this past offseason FULLY KNOWING he played for the Ravens last year in preparation for the Broncos playing the Steelers this year in the playoffs? So the Broncos sign a player who has played the Steelers twice a year and is familiar with their blitz schemes? What a crock of a coincidence. Next year, the Broncos play the Panthers in Carolina. Well guess who used to coach in Carolina and knows those locker rooms and players inside and out? John Fox. To make matters worse, Dante Rosario played for the Panthers and guess who he plays for now? The Broncos. You're telling me Rosario and Fox can't tell the Broncos every tendency of the players that Fox drafted and Rosario played with while in Carolina? What a crock of a coincidence. Carolina may as well forfeit that game.

Belichick brought in Kid McCoach as an "offensive assistant" just in time to interrogate him before the Patriots' rematch with the Broncos and 32 of McDaniels' players and nine assistant coaches from last season's team.

Hey, remember that time the Broncos fired Josh McDaniels and this allowed him to choose employment with any other NFL team? Yeah, me too. Did McDaniels sign a non-compete with the Broncos I'm not aware of?

The Broncos fired McDaniels on Dec. 6, 2010, because of failure as a coach (17 losses in McD's last 22 games), his poor player-people-press skills

So let me get this straight. I am supposed to believe Josh McDaniels is a failure as a coach and lacks player-people-press skills. Yet I am also supposed to believe this failure who nobody likes is not enough of a failure that it would prevent him from easily helping the Patriots beat the Broncos (again) with his knowledge of the Broncos offense. Does Woody really believe the Patriots would re-hire McDaniels as offensive coordinator for the only purpose of beating the Broncos (again) in the playoffs? I am also supposed to believe his player-people-press skills aren't so bad this wouldn't prevent him from being re-hired by one of his previous employers as an offensive assistant? It's not like the Patriots hired McDaniels only for the playoffs. He is going to be the offensive coordinator next year as well, so Belichick and the Patriots organization must have some positive feelings about McDaniels. I would have two problems with the McDaniels hiring if either of these were true:

1. McDaniels had never worked for the Patriots before. But he had. As the offensive coordinator, which not-ironically is the same position he will probably hold again next year.

2. McDaniels was only being hired for the playoffs. This isn't true though. He appears to have a permanent position with the Patriots. If McDaniels goes somewhere else after this season, this something about that may smell foul, but every indication is McDaniels will work for the Patriots organization next year as the offensive coordinator.

He can provide inside information and tendencies of players and coaches, especially the offensive coordinator he worked closely with, Mike McCoy.

There are a few problems with this statement. First, the Broncos run a different type of offense under Fox than they did under McDaniels. Second, if Josh McDaniels can immediately stop the Broncos offense because he knows the tendencies of players and coaches on the 2011 team, these are also tendencies that are shown on tape the Patriots would watch anyway in preparation for the game. Third, knowing what the Broncos are going to do hasn't been a problem all year. As much as Woody doesn't want to believe this, the Broncos' offense isn't normally fooling everyone with its complexity. It is the execution of the Broncos that has them in the AFC Divisional Round. Fourth, if Mike McCoy's offense is so similar to the one the Broncos were running under McDaniels perhaps he should offensively coordinate his players some new plays and change their tendencies. After all, wouldn't in-depth knowledge of the team be a problem if any NFL team played their ex-head coach a year or two after that ex-head coach got fired?

Some aspects of his old playbook passing offense were retained.

That's not McDaniels' or the Patriots fault some aspects of the old playbook passing offense were retained. If the Broncos played the Rams or any offensive assistant to the Broncos under McDaniels this year they would have had the same issue of the passing offense being somewhat familiar. If the Broncos don't like this, change things up.

The Patriots would claim that they know all about the Broncos after defeating them Dec. 18 in Denver.

Which would be valid reasoning. What's better to figure out what the Broncos want to do against the Patriots than to use what the Broncos did against the Patriots a month ago?

Yes, but they knew all about the Jets and other NFL teams when they chose to tape defensive coaches' signals illegally during games over a span of several seasons.

I swear this was the next sentence. This is so completely irrelevant to the game this Saturday, it hurts my head. Woody's basic point is the Patriots are cheating by not breaking any rules in hiring McDaniels because they cheated another time. It's silly. Is Woody saying the Patriots taped the Broncos practices prior to playing in December? If so, that's a serious accusation. Or is Woody simply writing two sentences back-to-back that don't make much sense together?

Although Belichick won't acknowledge it publicly, McDaniels will return to his former role as coordinator next season.

I think it is pretty much a given McDaniels will be the offensive coordinator in New England next year. That's the indication I am getting from everything I read. The Patriots have no obligation to acknowledge this.

No league rules are being violated by the Patriots in the hiring of an assistant in the postseason, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell​ should order McDaniels, who was fined $50,000 last year by the commissioner, to wait to join the Patriots until O'Brien leaves.

On what basis? Does Woody really believe McDaniels can tell the Patriots anything more in-depth about the Broncos that the Patriots don't already know by playing the Broncos earlier this year? I don't get why the commissioner should order McDaniels to wait to join the Patriots until O'Brien leaves. As Woody admits, no league rules are being violated.

I love Woody's attitude of, "I don't want Josh McDaniels to coach for the Broncos anymore because he's a huge failure. I don't want McDaniels to be able to coach for any other NFL team that may compete with the Broncos at some point either because he isn't a big enough failure to cause the Broncos to scrap his entire passing playbook nor was he such a failure the Broncos fired all of the assistant coaches that worked under him."

The Broncos gave up deciding where McDaniels coached once they fired him.

What's to keep the Broncos this week from temporarily using fired Dolphins coach Tony Sparano​, who faced the Patriots twice this season, as a consultant?

Nothing. Do it.

Spagnuolo coached the Giants' defense in the XLII Super Bowl victory over the Patriots. Why can't he work for the Broncos on Saturday?

He absolutely can. Get it done.

Because that's not right.

Actually Woody is correct. That wouldn't be right if the Broncos did this because there would be one big difference in the Patriots hiring McDaniels and the Broncos hiring Sparano/Spagnuolo. The difference is Josh McDaniels has ties to the Patriots and used to work for them as offensive coordinator, while Sparano/Spagnuolo have never worked for the Broncos.

The Broncos did rehire Mike Shanahan​ as quarterbacks coach in 1989 a few weeks after he was fired as Raiders head coach, and weeks before the Broncos played the Raiders a second time.

HOW WAS THIS ALLOWED? WHY DIDN'T THE COMMISSIONER FINE THE BRONCOS AND IMMEDIATELY DEMAND THE BLOOD OF A VIRGIN AS REPAYMENT FOR THIS TRAVESTY?

The personnel decision made by owner Pat Bowlen​, not coach Dan Reeves​, in midseason also was wrong.

Let's ignore the Broncos have hired the ex-head coach of a rival 20 years ago because Woody doesn't want it to be relevant to the present discussion. I like how Woody tries to explain Dan Reeves didn't make the decision, as if this absolves the Broncos from any wrongdoing compared to the Patriots hiring McDaniels. What Woody (intentionally) leaves out is that Bill Belichick is the de facto General Manager of the Patriots, so as the head coach/General Manager he would have the authority to hire a coach to his staff. It isn't like Belichick is going above Robert Kraft and his General Manager's head (because New England has no GM) to make the hire. I would assume this move has the blessing of Robert Kraft.

But it was not as blatantly shameless as the manipulative maneuver by Belichick.

Because hiring the ex-head coach of a division rival you play twice a year is so much less shameless than hiring the ex-head coach of a conference rival a team will normally play once a year at most. Because, you know, it isn't like Mike Shanahan knew the Raiders offense that he was running EARLIER THAT VERY SEASON HE WAS HIRED BY THE BRONCOS and the Broncos and Raiders play twice a year or anything. Woody sees no wrongdoing here. Move on, everyone.

Nevertheless, the Broncos will be out for revenge against the Patriots. They are 2-0 in the postseason against New England.

The Broncos will especially be out for revenge now that the Patriots had the audacity to hire the Broncos ex-head coach, the same guy Broncos fans don't like and ran out of town. How dare the Patriots hire a coach the Broncos had no interest in keeping around because he was a huge failure.

McDaniels' knowledge about the Broncos probably won't help the Patriots. He's not a read-option, run- oriented coach.

Who cares if the facts don't support the idea McDaniels will be able to provide the Patriots crack the key to the Broncos offense, who cares if the Patriots beat the Broncos earlier this year without McDaniels on staff, and who cares if the Broncos did something similar to a division rival 20 years ago. It's still a huge outrage that Josh McDaniels got fired and had the audacity to look for a job with the team he had the most prior success with. Why would McDaniels choose to go to back to work for a successful organization in the hopes of eventually getting another head coaching job? Only a crazy person would do that!

Everything he has touched in the past two years has turned to compost.

Then Woody should have nothing to worry about with McDaniels on the Patriots staff. Why is Woody throwing a hissy fit if McDaniels is so incompetent? Since McDaniels is a huge failure and everything he touches turns to shit, then the Broncos have nothing to worry about with him on staff.

The Broncos were 3-10 before McDaniels slithered away, and the Rams, under his guidance as offensive coordinator this season, finished 31st in offense, last in the league in points averaged per game (12.1), and had a 2-14 record. In his last season as coordinator with the Patriots, 2008, they didn't make the playoffs.

Of course the Patriots also went 11-5 that year without their starting quarterback. This is just a small detail and the fact remains the Patriots didn't make the playoffs with their backup quarterback, further proving McDaniels incompetence that nevertheless has Woody so worried about McDaniels' presence on the Patriots staff.

Perhaps the Hoodie-Hoodie Jr. reunion will be more advantageous to the Broncos. But it smells.

Maybe it smells, but it isn't against rules. I would have a much bigger problem if McDaniels didn't have prior work experience with Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. It's not like he was hired specifically for his vast knowledge of the Broncos not-so-complex offense. McDaniels also has knowledge of the Patriots offense and working with Tom Brady.

Honestly, if the Broncos are afraid their 2010 head coach would be able to give game-changing information to the Patriots (which it doesn't seem the Broncos are worried at all), then perhaps the Broncos should not be running a similar system to the one McDaniels instituted with Mike McCoy as his offensive coordinator in Denver. The best team will win on Saturday, but it annoys me to know Woody Paige thinks it will be despite or because of Josh McDaniels presence on the Patriots coaching staff. I really am not sure it matters.