DomCasual
10-19-2005, 09:22 PM
Don't know if you all saw this in today's Rocky Mountain News, but I thought it was pretty solid insight. Jeff Legwold has become, by far, the city's newspapers' best Broncos guy. To say his mailbag segment is better than BW's is, well, understating it.
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/broncos/archives/2005/10/the_three_rs_ro.html#more
Brian Burris wants to know who kept the dogs out . . .
Q: I have been frustrated a little the last two weeks. The Broncos had leads in both games. When it came time to make the other teams go on long drives to eat up the clock, Larry Coyer's defense continued to send the house -- and I do not mean (Dwyane) Carswell -- on big blitzes . . . Since the offense went conservative and failed to run out the clock, our defense let teams back into the game needlessly by big blitzes -- it drove me crazy. My thoughts are that Shanahan and Coyer need to be on the same page. If we call off the dogs offensively, we need to be more conservative defensively for the same reason.
A: Against the Patriots, the Broncos blitz patterns, for the most part, matched when cornerback Champ Bailey was in the game.
Early, with Bailey in, they pushed the pocket hard with plenty of extra rushers against Tom Brady, knowing they matched up well one-on-one behind the blitz. Brady didn’t complete 50 percent of his passes in the first half and finished with 118 yards by halftime.
In the second half, after Bailey had left the game with a tight hamstring, Brady threw for 181 yards and a touchdown. The Broncos blitzed far more sparingly but did have one of their best in the game when Darrent Williams came from his cornerback spot out wide to force Brady into a costly intentional grounding penalty on the Patriots' last drive.
A review of the video shows they didn’t blitz much against Washington because the Redskins often kept seven, even eight, blockers in to hold off the rush. It’s far more difficult to find a gap for the extra rusher against that pack-it-in look, unless he comes on a delay.
And often a veteran quarterback like Mark Brunell has gotten rid of the ball before the late rusher gets across the line of scrimmage.
The Broncos have played well for the most part when they’ve been aggressive, but it's far easier for them to be aggressive when Bailey’s on the field. Most personnel people around the league still believe Bailey is the best cover corner in the game.
When he’s out, it forces the Broncos to move everybody up the ladder, including putting two rookies (Williams and Domonique Foxworth) in the lineup. As well as the rookies have played, it's a lot to ask of them to hold up in man coverage too often just so the Broncos can blitz up front.
More troubling for the Broncos is the fact the Redskins did move the ball so well on a foul day when the Broncos were dropping five and six players into coverage against two-man routes.
But again, that’s without Bailey. It is a testament to just what Bailey means to the defense even as the team has put together a five-game winning streak when Bailey has played all the way through just one of those games.
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/broncos/archives/2005/10/the_three_rs_ro.html#more
Brian Burris wants to know who kept the dogs out . . .
Q: I have been frustrated a little the last two weeks. The Broncos had leads in both games. When it came time to make the other teams go on long drives to eat up the clock, Larry Coyer's defense continued to send the house -- and I do not mean (Dwyane) Carswell -- on big blitzes . . . Since the offense went conservative and failed to run out the clock, our defense let teams back into the game needlessly by big blitzes -- it drove me crazy. My thoughts are that Shanahan and Coyer need to be on the same page. If we call off the dogs offensively, we need to be more conservative defensively for the same reason.
A: Against the Patriots, the Broncos blitz patterns, for the most part, matched when cornerback Champ Bailey was in the game.
Early, with Bailey in, they pushed the pocket hard with plenty of extra rushers against Tom Brady, knowing they matched up well one-on-one behind the blitz. Brady didn’t complete 50 percent of his passes in the first half and finished with 118 yards by halftime.
In the second half, after Bailey had left the game with a tight hamstring, Brady threw for 181 yards and a touchdown. The Broncos blitzed far more sparingly but did have one of their best in the game when Darrent Williams came from his cornerback spot out wide to force Brady into a costly intentional grounding penalty on the Patriots' last drive.
A review of the video shows they didn’t blitz much against Washington because the Redskins often kept seven, even eight, blockers in to hold off the rush. It’s far more difficult to find a gap for the extra rusher against that pack-it-in look, unless he comes on a delay.
And often a veteran quarterback like Mark Brunell has gotten rid of the ball before the late rusher gets across the line of scrimmage.
The Broncos have played well for the most part when they’ve been aggressive, but it's far easier for them to be aggressive when Bailey’s on the field. Most personnel people around the league still believe Bailey is the best cover corner in the game.
When he’s out, it forces the Broncos to move everybody up the ladder, including putting two rookies (Williams and Domonique Foxworth) in the lineup. As well as the rookies have played, it's a lot to ask of them to hold up in man coverage too often just so the Broncos can blitz up front.
More troubling for the Broncos is the fact the Redskins did move the ball so well on a foul day when the Broncos were dropping five and six players into coverage against two-man routes.
But again, that’s without Bailey. It is a testament to just what Bailey means to the defense even as the team has put together a five-game winning streak when Bailey has played all the way through just one of those games.