Josh McDaniels didn’t know what he didn’t know.

In 2009 http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-cheap , he was the baby-faced 32-year-old prodigy plucked out of Bill Belichick’s roost and Tom Brady’s shadow to serve as Mike Shanahan’s replacement in Denver, holding down two jobs he’d never had: head coach and de facto general manager.

He’d trade away his starting quarterback, draft Tim Tebow and win his first six games, including one against his mentor. But he was fired halfway through his four-year contract, losing 17 of his next 22 games and presiding over his very own videotape scandal.

The Broncos blamed themselves for giving McDaniels too much power with so little experience. Denver then embarked on a renaissance under general manager John Elway and Peyton Manning.

McDaniels spent a year with the Rams before returning for a highly successful second stint with Brady and Belichick, preparing him for his second NFL head coaching gig with the Indianapolis Colts , which will become official after the Super Bowl.

Now 41, McDaniels still doesn’t look his age, but he says he is a much wiser than the brash coach who wore the gray hoodie in Denver eight years ago.

McDaniels said he was a much better trainee and tutor in his return to New England, much more appreciative of the breadth of Belichick’s artistry and the depth of Brady’s genius .

”It’s a unique perspective,” seeing things a second time after getting a firsthand look behind the coaching curtain, McDaniels said Wednesday, as he helped Brady and Belichick prepare for their eighth Super Bowl.

”Bill does a tremendous job of understanding the pulse of his team. He relates to everyone very well and I’ve been able to see that and look at that through a different lens. When we need a push, he pushes us. When we need love, he loves us. When we need a pat on the back, he does that. When we need to run hills, we run hills,” McDaniels said.

”He just has a tremendous ability to understand when to do what as a head coach. And he serves us in so many ways to make us better coaches, to make the players better players. He’s there to help us Zach Gentry Jersey , he doesn’t take it away from us. Believe me, I make tons of mistakes in my role and he’s there to help.”

McDaniels didn’t think it was possible, but he now holds Belichick in even higher regard than he did during his first stint from 2006-08, because he now realizes all the juggling head coaches have to do.

”Before you leave and you do that, it’s hard to say that you know what he’s going through because you really don’t,” McDaniels said. ”I’m very happy for the experiences that I’ve gone through. A lot of the failings in my career have been some of the best teachers that I’ve had. I’ve really learned a lot from them, I think I’m a better person, a better coach, a better communicator, a lot of things because of the things that I haven’t done well.”

One thing he’s done exceptionally well is working with Brady, who’s going for his sixth Super Bowl ring Sunday when the Patriots play the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles .

McDaniels has long held that working with Brady made him a better coach, because he always had to be prepared to answer the quarterback’s incessant questions, to justify the smallest of his decisions, to explain what everyone’s role was on every single play.

”We haven’t treated each other any differently. He treats me with the respect of a coach and I treat him like I need to make him a better player,” McDaniels said. ”And I think that’s the only way to do it. I know his experience and his understanding is above all others as a player. But I don’t really focus a whole lot on that. I focus on the next team, the next week, the next practice, our scheme, what we’re trying to do and he’s very respectful of that. And we listen and learn from each other.

”We have a tremendous relationship and it’s been an honor of my lifetime in coaching to have an opportunity to work with a guy like that as long as I have.”

—


Kyle Seager was asked before Thursday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox what it’s like to face a knuckleball pitcher.

A look of horror crossed the face of the Seattle Mariners third baseman.

“Is that tonight?” Seager asked.

Told the Mariners wouldn’t be facing Steven Wright until Saturday’s game in Seattle Chris Lindstrom Jersey , Seager exhaled.

“Wow, don’t scare me like that,” said Seager, who could be excused for losing track as his wife is expecting their third child.

Seager said he has faced knuckleballers Wright, R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield during his career. He is 2-for-6 against Wright.

“It’s just a difficult pitch, one you don’t see that often,” Seager said. “They all throw it a little different; it goes all over the place. It can be fun, you just have to laugh at it a little bit.”

Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy, whose locker is next to Seager’s in the home clubhouse at Safeco Field, said he got his first major-league hit off Dickey.

“My hitting coach said don’t worry about your approach,” said Healy, who was with the Oakland Athletics at the time. “Just swing and hope it’s in the strike zone.”

Wright (2-0, 1.21 ERA) is 2-1 with a 1.32 ERA is three career appearances against the Mariners, including one start.

This will be Wright’s third start of the season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in the previous two. He post a 6-0 victory over Detroit on June 5 in which he allowed two hits in seven innings with three walks and six strikeouts. He gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings in a no-decision on Monday at Baltimore, when he walked three and struck out five in a 2-0, 12-inning Red Sox victory.

“Out of the bullpen he was lights out, and then these past two starts have been pretty unreal,” Red Sox utility man Brock Holt told NESN. “That knuckleball dances around. It’s funny when you’re playing defense behind him and guys get on, they let you know how much it moves. It’s a difficult pitch to hit and he’s been able to throw strikes with it.”

Wright hasn’t allowed a run in his past 22 2/3 innings http://www.falconscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-kaleb-mcgary-jersey , the longest active streak in the majors.

“The thing with knuckleballs is people think you throw just one knuckleball, but the thing is, they’re big-league hitters,” Wright said. “The biggest thing is timing, and a pitcher’s got to disrupt their timing. So, for me, especially as a starter … I really just try to go back and forth with the velocity.”

The Mariners are scheduled to start left-hander Wade LeBlanc (2-0, 3.00), who has a 6.00 ERA but no decisions in two career starts against Boston.

LeBlanc, in his second stint with the Mariners, hasn’t lost in 16 starts for Seattle, tied for the fifth-longest such streak for a pitcher starting his tenure with a team in the live-ball era. LeBlanc is tied with former San Francisco starter Noah Lowry (2004-05), trailing only the New York Yankees’ Whitey Ford (22 starts in 1950-53), Montreal’s Kirk Rueter (22, 1993-94), Cincinnati’s Brooks Lawrence (18, 1956) and the Yankees’ Jim Coates (17, 1959-60).