Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, who came off as even younger than his 33 years while nervously working his way through the early moments of a press conference filled with fidgets and “you knows,” explained that the suspension of receiver Brandon Marshall is part of a plan to impose an “escalating discipline schedule” against Marshall, unless and until he falls in line.
“You know, the league and -- and -- and our organization were trying to follow, you know, an escalating discipline schedule,” McDaniels said, touching his hat and head more than a third-base coach. “You know, you don’t -- you don’t just come out, you know, and -- and -- and throw the most, you know, significant discipline you can at a player.” (In fairness, McDaniels seemed to calm down a bit as the press conference developed.)
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the first suspension for Marshall will expire on September 6.
McDaniels said Marshall was given a warning on Wednesday, and that “a number of events” led to the suspension. It’s unclear whether the warning came before or after Marshall’s antics during Wednesday practices, video of which took the league by storm when it showed up last night on TheDenverChannel.com.
Given that Marshall referred to a “meeting” that preceded his practice-field pouting, it looks like he received the warning during that meeting, and that his reaction prompted the suspension.
“When he’s here, if we’re working together and working towards helping this team win, then we’ll work him in,” McDaniels said regarding the possibility that Marshall will play during Week One at Cincinnati. “If that’s not the case, then that’s not the case. We have good receivers here. We have good receivers here with him, or without him. And that’s the truth.”
He should have just made the raspberry sound at that point, and then walked away from the podium.
McDaniels is likely way too young to get that reference, which likely means that he might also be too young to be an NFL head coach.