FanHouse Nickferguson

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

How many years were the Arizona Cardinals picked to finally have their breakout year? It seems like they were the dark horse pick to have a playoff run every offseason. But since they went to the Super Bowl last year, they can't be that sneaky hot team any more.

Maybe the Texans take over that spot. Their franchise has never had a winning season, and the last two 8-8 seasons have only resulted in higher expectations. Houston's offense ranks about the same as the Cardinal offense, their special teams is better and their defense worse. The Texans are trying to fix that bad defense by replacing a number of coaches on that side of the ball.

Most of the players who left the Broncos this offseason won't be missed in 2008.Nick Ferguson, Ian Gold and Javon Walker didn't do all that much to help the team to a 7-9 record and replacements have already been signed for the first two. Jason Elam, on the other hand, had much to do with helping Denver to its modest win total. His field goals won four of those games so the decision to let him go to Atlanta lefts some scratching their heads.

Champ Bailey is one of those scratchers. He isn't brimming with confidence about the kicker position for next season. He knows who he'd like but, alas, he can't have him.

"I don't know. I wish it was Elam. That would be fine. But I can't make that call...There had better be a guy who impresses me when these camps start rolling around. Because (if not) it would really, really bother me then."

From a talent standpoint it will be hard for the Broncos to replace Elam's touch on field goals but they made the right decision for their pocketbook. The $9 million Elam got would leave you lacking at other positions. Such fiscal responsibility won't matter a whit if the new guy misses a chippie in Week One, of course, but doesn't mean it isn't true.

I don't want to distract anyone from the real news - Darrent Williams was shot and killed outside of a club in Denver at around 2 a.m on Monday. Our condolences to his family. But regardless of the tragedy, the Broncos will play next year. The show will go on, as they say. And so will this show.

No matter what people tell you, and no matter what the idiots say about the state of the offense or Mike Shanahan's choice to switch quarterbacks, don't believe them. This season was all about defense. At the start of the year, it was about a defense that just didn't let opposing offenses score. By the end of the year, especially after successive injuries to Sam Brandon and Nick Ferguson in the secondary, it was about a defense that couldn't stop the run, and couldn't stop teams in late winning drives.

In fact, I posted about both things last week. And sure enough, the defense couldn't stop Frank Gore (153 yards), and they couldn't stop San Francisco's offense as they drove into field goal range late in the overtime period. As Alex Smith dropped back to pass just outside of field goal range, on third down, the Broncos put no pressure on the young quarterback and he completed the pass that secured the game for San Francisco.

Even when the niners were ahead by four points with ten minutes left in the game, the defense couldn't give the Broncos offense a chance to win, letting San Francisco drive into field goal range to make it a seven point difference. This from a defense that was known early in the season for being able to make up for lackluster offensive play. So when Jay Cutler calmly lead the Broncos on a crucial 80-yard touchdown drive, all he could do was tie the game and send the Broncos into overtime.

You can say all you want about the offense that sputtered in the red zone, and gave up another interception for a touchdown. It's probably true that the Broncos should have scored 20 more points than they did. But with the game and the season on the line, the Broncos defense didn't even try to put pressure on Alex Smith. Whether it's bad coaching or lack of a defensive line, it's clear that the Broncos didn't deserve to go to the playoffs. And you can bet filling the holes on defense will be Shanahan's primary focus this off-season.