FanHouse Josh Mcdaniels

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

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NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

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NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

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SAN DIEGO -- Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil set aside any doubts that the 2009 Broncos' astonishing turnaround isn't legitimate on Monday night when he leveled Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers a second time in the contest, helping punctuate a 34-23 division victory that gave undefeated Denver a stranglehold on the AFC West.

With that, Dumervil had his NFL-leading 10th sack, putting him on pace to surpass Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22 1/2.

"It's hard to get to 10 [sacks]," said Dumervil, who was surrounded in the crowded visitors' locker room at Qualcomm Stadium by teammates hooting and calling him the next Strahan. "Every sack guy knows it's hard to get to double digits.

"But this ... it's a new team, a new regime, and everything is new. We're just trying to innovate. We're trying to build a brand of football here, what we want to be as the Denver Broncos."

In the six months leading up to the 2009 season, the Broncos traded franchise quarterback Jay Cutler, refused to do the same for wideout Brandon Marshall (who subsequently sulked, half-assing his way through the offseason and training camp), and then-32-year-old head coach Josh McDaniels seemed so far out of his element that I wasn't sure he'd make it to Thanksgiving.

At the time, I figured a six-win effort would be a moral victory for the organization, and if nothing else, McDaniels would learn a valuable lesson about managing a group of 20-something millionaires.

Conventional wisdom.

I've tried to avoid it in my 26 years of reporting on the NFL. Yet I find myself following the herd when I search for the NFL's most pleasant 2009 surprise. How can I not say it's Denver at 5-0 after the offseason chaos following Josh McDaniels' arrival?

Look at Brandon Marshall hugging McDaniels, who suspended him for the final two weeks of the preseason after Brandon acted like a child; Kyle Orton, the quarterback the Broncos got when Jay Cutler demanded to be traded, has a passer rating eight points higher than Cutler; and a defense that allowed 28 points per game in 2008, third worst in the league, is allowing just 8.6 in 2009.

So like everyone else, I have to go with the Broncos as the most pleasant surprise.

As for the rest ...

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

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When Broncos owner Pat Bowlen hired Josh McDaniels, expectations for the organization were about as high as they have been in recent years. It only took a few months for McDaniels to burn through a season's worth of goodwill, and between the Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall soap operas, fans and media were preparing for the worst when Week 1 rolled around.

Yet here we are, five weeks and five wins later. The Broncos are one of the best teams in the league and McDaniels, who looked like an overmatched, overwhelmed junior high schooler earlier this summer, suddenly is the boy genius everybody figured on when he arrived in Denver after spending most of this decade working for Bill Belichick.

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

Consider this hypothetical: what if two coaches met in a dark alley and threw down in a no-holds-barred brawl? Who would emerge victorious?

First, some background: back when I was in high school, when my friends and I were pretty creative in finding ways to avoid actually paying attention in class, we'd create brackets (think NCAA Tournament) where we'd pit our teachers against each other**. Whoever we thought would win in a fight advanced to the next round. It always ended with our offensive line coach against our wrestling coach in the finals and a huge argument as to who would come out on top.

Anyway, last week, the Back Porch staff somehow ended up discussing whether Rex Ryan or Tom Cable would win in a old school playground scrap. I passed along the above information, and shortly after that, an idea was born -- NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament.

DENVER -- Eddie Royal epitomizes the transition the surprising 5-0 Denver Broncos have made from what they were to what they have, thus far, become.

With the arrival of new head coach Josh McDaniels this season, plenty of Broncos players had to expect adjusted roles this season. But for the few facing a drastic, unexpected change -- a change that may have been hard to buy into initially -- they faced a choice: Sulk and be left behind.

Or accept it. Like McDaniels likes to say -- well, actually demand -- "Do your job."

So, Royal has.