Coyer Overly Simplistic

[Broncos4tw]

We have the personnel to get the job done on defense. We drafted the players, and we have the speed to be a dominant force. Coyer, while a very solid defensive coordinator, seems to also be very simplistic. Our second half gameplan didn't deviate one iota, and Manning had all day to pick us apart.

Last year, he had one gameplan as well, and didn't deviate. Blitz, blitz, blitz. It was either the strength, or sometimes our downfall.

Against the Colts, Coyer decided that a base defense, even though it was repeatedly failing to stop Manning, was a "good idea" through the entire game.

Why does NE stop Manning (except last year)? Because they disguise their defense well. Manning can change the play, but since he isn't certain what the D is running, he is shooting in the dark.

How many times did Lynch come up to the line? How many times in the second half did we even show a blitz was possible? Once? That's terrible. And the one time we showed blitz, we blitzed. Gee, he screened us, what a surprise.

Manning is a smart QB, if you make it simple for him, he WILL figure it out, and he will execute against you. Coyer obviously has never heard the phrase "Stupidity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results."

Or was it Shanny? Mike made a comment as if it was his decision. But I am doubting it. I think he is just sticking up for his coordinator so he won't take the heat. I think Coyer gameplanned this, and Mike OK'd it.

Going back to the basics is a great thing Coyer, nothing wrong with that. Robinson made the mistake of trying to make our D a complex machine that half the players couldn't even figure out. That was a bad idea. Coyer on the flip side, seems to get a gameplan in his mind, and stick with it until the end.

One thing, Coyer during the season has seemed to make some adjustments at the half, he seems good at this. Well, we did well in the first half, no adjustments were needed. But it was obviously in the third that the Colts had adjusted, and we did NOTHING. Coyer needs to learn to adjust DURING the game, not just at the half.

I still like the guy, and think his fundamentals attitude is a good thing for the team, but I think he needs to get more up-to-speed with todays game. He needs to be more flexible during a game, and change our plan up if it isn't working, especially against teams like the Colts.

[Nemesis]

I found this article over the summer and I thought you all might want to read it.

Larry Coyer and his failures in the postseason
<HR style="COLOR: #132556" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->----There are many in Denver who would contend that John Elway is the second coming of Christ; there are far more who believe that Jake Plummer is the second coming of Judas.

It’s been almost a month now since Chris Berman made his last horrendous zinger and officially brought a close to the 2006 NFL Draft, and yet the city of Denver is still abuzz over the Broncos admittedly aggressive moves on that otherwise unremarkable day in April. The city loves the Javon Walker trade, and I don’t fault them for this, but what they’re really BLEEPing themselves over is the drafting of Jay Cutler.

“Finally,” they say in unison, as if they’ve been practicing their speech for months, “we can rid ourselves of that hideous malcontent commonly referred to as Jake Plummer. You know, he’s the reason we lost the AFC Championship last year; he’s the worst quarterback we’ve ever had in this town.”

Though their neglecting to remember the Denver careers of Tommy Maddox, Brian Griese, Bubby Brister, and a litany of others is absolutely inexcusable, the simple fact that this city seems to believe that replacing Jake Plummer is the Broncos’ most crucial and necessary step towards winning another superbowl is absolutely disgusting. You show me a man who believes Jake Plummer is the reason for Denver’s last three playoff embarrassments and I’ll show you a man who’s got his head so far up his ass that he could still be picking pieces of twinkies he ate in 5th grade out of his enlarged colon with his tongue.

That was more than a bit lurid, I apologize.

Jake is not the problem with this team, and he never has been. The problem, as it almost always seems to be, is coaching. Now, I’m not one of these Mike Shanahan haters; he’s a marquee coach who’s at the helm of a marquee organization. He’s an innovator, and an offensive genius, there’s no two ways about it, but he has no control over the defense – Larry Coyer does. The defense is the problem, and that man, seen as being a defensive mastermind by some, is an absolutely horrific strategist.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Larry Coyer came into the Broncos organization following the exodus of Ray Rhodes, who was undeniably awful in Denver. Furthermore, Rhodes was preceded by Greg Robinson, who later managed to do a worse job running the K.C. Chiefs’ defense than Gunther Cunningham. Astonishing, but oh so true. Really, the Broncos have not had a competent defensive coordinator since Wade Phillips was at the helm in the early 90’s (this was obviously back when Wade was actually a good coach). By accepting the position in 2003, Coyer nestled himself into a win/win situation; if he did a great job, he would be heralded as a savior, if he did a terrible job no one would notice because that’s what the team is used to.

Well, he’s done a terrible job for three years now, and as expected, no one in Denver seems to have noticed. His defensive schemes focus around blitzing repeatedly, incessantly… constantly, far far past the point of those blitzes actually being effective. He never gives his D lineman (who last year were the most talented group in the league, though this point could obviously be debated) the chance to establish themselves against the opposing teams’ offensive front. He sells the Broncos DBs, an extremely talented group, up the river by constantly placing them in single coverage situations. He has the fastest group of linebackers in the league, but he chooses to nullify this speed by running them into morbidly obese offensive lineman on every play. He does everything that he shouldn’t with shocking regularity, and yet he’s got more job security than any other member of the Broncos’ coaching staff.

It’s just blitz after blitz after blitz, and yet the Broncos rarely record any sacks. Has anyone questioned Larry’s ability to adjust his schemes because of this fact? No, the blame is instead deferred to Trevor Pryce’s back problems or the fact that we took so many players from Cleveland (why this is accepted as an argument against a player’s legitimacy is beyond me). Back in 2003, when the Broncos received their first merciless shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, the team as a whole was blamed for the loss despite the fact that the Colts' offense simply outfoxed the Broncos defense on nearly every play they spent together on the field. “They just didn’t come to play that day, the whole team came out flat” the people said, and we moved on. 2004 came about, and once again we were blasted out of the playoffs by the Colts due to the fact that Coyer couldn’t devise a way to aid one rookie defensive back (Roc Alexander) in coverage; outside of the other tosses they made, the Colts accrued about 250 yards solely by throwing at Alexander. This wasn’t Coyer’s fault though, oh no, this was Mike Shanahan’s fault, apparently he was past his prime as of the end of this season. Foolishly, most would say, owner Pat Bowlen decided to keep Mike on board for at least one more season.


Then there was last season, which first handed Denver their first playoff win in the post-Elway era, then unceremoniously delivered to the Denver faithful the third consecutive playoff disappointment of the modern Shanahan era. The blame fell on Jake: He fumbled too much, he threw too many interceptions, he alone lost us this game, but that simply was not the case. True, he fumbled twice, and had one inexcusable interception at an inopportune moment during the game, but even if he'd gone turnover free in that particular contest, the Broncos wouldn't have had a shot of winning.

From the outset, Coyer lined up his DBs (including Champ Bailey, mind you) 10 to 15 yards off of the line of scrimmage on every single play. He’d seen the footage on the Steelers, they always seemed to clinch their wins by way of some preposterous trick play, so Coyer decided to intentionally keep his defense back on its heels so that Pittsburgh would never have a chance to execute a trick play. A cute ploy, no doubt, but that strategy sort of falls apart when the opposing team decides to counter that move by running about 40 non-trick 8 yard out patterns throughout the game, methodically moving up and down the field without exerting the slightest degree of effort. Even more impressively, Coyer didn’t bother to move his defensive backfield up at all for the third and fourth quarters despite the fact that the Steelers offense was absolutely obliterating his squad on the field; simply put, the man makes adjustments with the ease of an pock marked 8th grader trying to hide an erection. Of course, you know the rest, the Broncos got absolutely rolled, Jake Plummer became villified once more, and the Steelers got away with murder in both the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl. What no one remembers is that Larry Coyer was the man who gave them the knife.

Sure, if Jake had played better in the AFC Championship the game might have ended a little bit closer, but there’s no way the Broncos would have won the game unless they had another man at the helm of their defense. Unfortunately, it seems that it will take one more outright playoff collapse for the people of Denver to realize that something truly awful is occurring every Sunday in the coaches’ booth. Hopefully by the time Jay Cutler’s taking over the offense Coyer will be long gone, otherwise he might just end up being painted as a villain as well.

Jake doesn't deserve this type of treatment, and the people of Denver don't either. Coyer must go.

http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft (http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft)

[Barry Ramey]

Yep, even when he decided to blitz yesterday, Coyer has safeties and LB's coming from 10-15 yards away AFTER the snap. With Manning's quick release and with the short passes WIDE open all game, the blitzers didn't even have time to get to the line of scrimmage, much less get to the QB. That was some great strategy.

[shakenbake]

Its the same story over and over and over. How many times have we seen this team get dinked and dunked to death. Raiders with gannon anyone ? Its really frustrating to see them come out with the same scheme against the colts and once again get beat on it. The times we have beat the colts (when they have something to play for) we attacked them. That game in Indy 3 years ago we were attacking them and got Payton out of Rhythm. As soon as I saw them go down the field in the first half with ease I knew we were in trouble. Yea we held them to two field goals but you could see it comming. I don't care if he beats us when we blitz atleast go down with a freakin fight. Do something, take a late hit on the SOB but put his ass in the dirt. That is the only way you get Payton flustered.

[shakenbake]

Hell I will take PI calls or holding penalties but when guys like Wayne and Harrison go untouched and make a catch at the sideline and get out of bounds you lose. You have to do something to force thier recievers inside. Hell jump a route do something, you know its comming. If you have a breakdown so be it. Atleast you get the ball back and can try and do something with it, they wernt stopping us. UGH

[epa86b@netzero]

I found this article over the summer and I thought you all might want to read it.

Larry Coyer and his failures in the postseason
<HR style="COLOR: #132556" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->----There are many in Denver who would contend that John Elway is the second coming of Christ; there are far more who believe that Jake Plummer is the second coming of Judas.

It’s been almost a month now since Chris Berman made his last horrendous zinger and officially brought a close to the 2006 NFL Draft, and yet the city of Denver is still abuzz over the Broncos admittedly aggressive moves on that otherwise unremarkable day in April. The city loves the Javon Walker trade, and I don’t fault them for this, but what they’re really BLEEPing themselves over is the drafting of Jay Cutler.

“Finally,” they say in unison, as if they’ve been practicing their speech for months, “we can rid ourselves of that hideous malcontent commonly referred to as Jake Plummer. You know, he’s the reason we lost the AFC Championship last year; he’s the worst quarterback we’ve ever had in this town.”

Though their neglecting to remember the Denver careers of Tommy Maddox, Brian Griese, Bubby Brister, and a litany of others is absolutely inexcusable, the simple fact that this city seems to believe that replacing Jake Plummer is the Broncos’ most crucial and necessary step towards winning another superbowl is absolutely disgusting. You show me a man who believes Jake Plummer is the reason for Denver’s last three playoff embarrassments and I’ll show you a man who’s got his head so far up his ass that he could still be picking pieces of twinkies he ate in 5th grade out of his enlarged colon with his tongue.

That was more than a bit lurid, I apologize.

Jake is not the problem with this team, and he never has been. The problem, as it almost always seems to be, is coaching. Now, I’m not one of these Mike Shanahan haters; he’s a marquee coach who’s at the helm of a marquee organization. He’s an innovator, and an offensive genius, there’s no two ways about it, but he has no control over the defense – Larry Coyer does. The defense is the problem, and that man, seen as being a defensive mastermind by some, is an absolutely horrific strategist.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Larry Coyer came into the Broncos organization following the exodus of Ray Rhodes, who was undeniably awful in Denver. Furthermore, Rhodes was preceded by Greg Robinson, who later managed to do a worse job running the K.C. Chiefs’ defense than Gunther Cunningham. Astonishing, but oh so true. Really, the Broncos have not had a competent defensive coordinator since Wade Phillips was at the helm in the early 90’s (this was obviously back when Wade was actually a good coach). By accepting the position in 2003, Coyer nestled himself into a win/win situation; if he did a great job, he would be heralded as a savior, if he did a terrible job no one would notice because that’s what the team is used to.

Well, he’s done a terrible job for three years now, and as expected, no one in Denver seems to have noticed. His defensive schemes focus around blitzing repeatedly, incessantly… constantly, far far past the point of those blitzes actually being effective. He never gives his D lineman (who last year were the most talented group in the league, though this point could obviously be debated) the chance to establish themselves against the opposing teams’ offensive front. He sells the Broncos DBs, an extremely talented group, up the river by constantly placing them in single coverage situations. He has the fastest group of linebackers in the league, but he chooses to nullify this speed by running them into morbidly obese offensive lineman on every play. He does everything that he shouldn’t with shocking regularity, and yet he’s got more job security than any other member of the Broncos’ coaching staff.

It’s just blitz after blitz after blitz, and yet the Broncos rarely record any sacks. Has anyone questioned Larry’s ability to adjust his schemes because of this fact? No, the blame is instead deferred to Trevor Pryce’s back problems or the fact that we took so many players from Cleveland (why this is accepted as an argument against a player’s legitimacy is beyond me). Back in 2003, when the Broncos received their first merciless shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, the team as a whole was blamed for the loss despite the fact that the Colts' offense simply outfoxed the Broncos defense on nearly every play they spent together on the field. “They just didn’t come to play that day, the whole team came out flat” the people said, and we moved on. 2004 came about, and once again we were blasted out of the playoffs by the Colts due to the fact that Coyer couldn’t devise a way to aid one rookie defensive back (Roc Alexander) in coverage; outside of the other tosses they made, the Colts accrued about 250 yards solely by throwing at Alexander. This wasn’t Coyer’s fault though, oh no, this was Mike Shanahan’s fault, apparently he was past his prime as of the end of this season. Foolishly, most would say, owner Pat Bowlen decided to keep Mike on board for at least one more season.


Then there was last season, which first handed Denver their first playoff win in the post-Elway era, then unceremoniously delivered to the Denver faithful the third consecutive playoff disappointment of the modern Shanahan era. The blame fell on Jake: He fumbled too much, he threw too many interceptions, he alone lost us this game, but that simply was not the case. True, he fumbled twice, and had one inexcusable interception at an inopportune moment during the game, but even if he'd gone turnover free in that particular contest, the Broncos wouldn't have had a shot of winning.

From the outset, Coyer lined up his DBs (including Champ Bailey, mind you) 10 to 15 yards off of the line of scrimmage on every single play. He’d seen the footage on the Steelers, they always seemed to clinch their wins by way of some preposterous trick play, so Coyer decided to intentionally keep his defense back on its heels so that Pittsburgh would never have a chance to execute a trick play. A cute ploy, no doubt, but that strategy sort of falls apart when the opposing team decides to counter that move by running about 40 non-trick 8 yard out patterns throughout the game, methodically moving up and down the field without exerting the slightest degree of effort. Even more impressively, Coyer didn’t bother to move his defensive backfield up at all for the third and fourth quarters despite the fact that the Steelers offense was absolutely obliterating his squad on the field; simply put, the man makes adjustments with the ease of an pock marked 8th grader trying to hide an erection. Of course, you know the rest, the Broncos got absolutely rolled, Jake Plummer became villified once more, and the Steelers got away with murder in both the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl. What no one remembers is that Larry Coyer was the man who gave them the knife.

Sure, if Jake had played better in the AFC Championship the game might have ended a little bit closer, but there’s no way the Broncos would have won the game unless they had another man at the helm of their defense. Unfortunately, it seems that it will take one more outright playoff collapse for the people of Denver to realize that something truly awful is occurring every Sunday in the coaches’ booth. Hopefully by the time Jay Cutler’s taking over the offense Coyer will be long gone, otherwise he might just end up being painted as a villain as well.

Jake doesn't deserve this type of treatment, and the people of Denver don't either. Coyer must go.

http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft (http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft)

Great find. I am in agreement with the article about Coyer.

[wolf754life]

coyer needs to be fired...........

we need a D coordinator who is more balanced in terms of attack/layback

this bend but don't break **** is overrated, against good offenses we will lose.

[epa86b@netzero]

coyer needs to be fired...........

we need a D coordinator who is more balanced in terms of attack/layback

this bend but don't break **** is overrated, against good offenses we will lose.

I doubt firing is necessary. If we meet and lose to Indy in the playoffs like we did this weekend, which is similar to the otehr playoff loses, I expect he will be fired.

His coaching is solid. He seems to struggle with in game changes unless he is making changes that aren't detectible to the human eye.

Remember his scheme has been great for the first 6 games.

[long beach bronco]

Yesterday's game was the home field game and we lost, that's why it hurt so much because Coyer plays scared and doesn't know how to play Manning. In that second half we should've had 8 or 9 guys in the box and called blitzes and bluffs against Manning but we didn't. Same old vanilla Defense against a future hall of famer. Sorry to say, if we meet them again, it'll be the same stinking result. Until we get a D coordinator that can adjust and have Cutler as our starting QB, we aint going nowhere folks.

[troya900]

I found this article over the summer and I thought you all might want to read it.

Larry Coyer and his failures in the postseason
<HR style="COLOR: #132556" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->----There are many in Denver who would contend that John Elway is the second coming of Christ; there are far more who believe that Jake Plummer is the second coming of Judas.

It’s been almost a month now since Chris Berman made his last horrendous zinger and officially brought a close to the 2006 NFL Draft, and yet the city of Denver is still abuzz over the Broncos admittedly aggressive moves on that otherwise unremarkable day in April. The city loves the Javon Walker trade, and I don’t fault them for this, but what they’re really BLEEPing themselves over is the drafting of Jay Cutler.

“Finally,” they say in unison, as if they’ve been practicing their speech for months, “we can rid ourselves of that hideous malcontent commonly referred to as Jake Plummer. You know, he’s the reason we lost the AFC Championship last year; he’s the worst quarterback we’ve ever had in this town.”

Though their neglecting to remember the Denver careers of Tommy Maddox, Brian Griese, Bubby Brister, and a litany of others is absolutely inexcusable, the simple fact that this city seems to believe that replacing Jake Plummer is the Broncos’ most crucial and necessary step towards winning another superbowl is absolutely disgusting. You show me a man who believes Jake Plummer is the reason for Denver’s last three playoff embarrassments and I’ll show you a man who’s got his head so far up his ass that he could still be picking pieces of twinkies he ate in 5th grade out of his enlarged colon with his tongue.

That was more than a bit lurid, I apologize.

Jake is not the problem with this team, and he never has been. The problem, as it almost always seems to be, is coaching. Now, I’m not one of these Mike Shanahan haters; he’s a marquee coach who’s at the helm of a marquee organization. He’s an innovator, and an offensive genius, there’s no two ways about it, but he has no control over the defense – Larry Coyer does. The defense is the problem, and that man, seen as being a defensive mastermind by some, is an absolutely horrific strategist.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Larry Coyer came into the Broncos organization following the exodus of Ray Rhodes, who was undeniably awful in Denver. Furthermore, Rhodes was preceded by Greg Robinson, who later managed to do a worse job running the K.C. Chiefs’ defense than Gunther Cunningham. Astonishing, but oh so true. Really, the Broncos have not had a competent defensive coordinator since Wade Phillips was at the helm in the early 90’s (this was obviously back when Wade was actually a good coach). By accepting the position in 2003, Coyer nestled himself into a win/win situation; if he did a great job, he would be heralded as a savior, if he did a terrible job no one would notice because that’s what the team is used to.

Well, he’s done a terrible job for three years now, and as expected, no one in Denver seems to have noticed. His defensive schemes focus around blitzing repeatedly, incessantly… constantly, far far past the point of those blitzes actually being effective. He never gives his D lineman (who last year were the most talented group in the league, though this point could obviously be debated) the chance to establish themselves against the opposing teams’ offensive front. He sells the Broncos DBs, an extremely talented group, up the river by constantly placing them in single coverage situations. He has the fastest group of linebackers in the league, but he chooses to nullify this speed by running them into morbidly obese offensive lineman on every play. He does everything that he shouldn’t with shocking regularity, and yet he’s got more job security than any other member of the Broncos’ coaching staff.

It’s just blitz after blitz after blitz, and yet the Broncos rarely record any sacks. Has anyone questioned Larry’s ability to adjust his schemes because of this fact? No, the blame is instead deferred to Trevor Pryce’s back problems or the fact that we took so many players from Cleveland (why this is accepted as an argument against a player’s legitimacy is beyond me). Back in 2003, when the Broncos received their first merciless shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, the team as a whole was blamed for the loss despite the fact that the Colts' offense simply outfoxed the Broncos defense on nearly every play they spent together on the field. “They just didn’t come to play that day, the whole team came out flat” the people said, and we moved on. 2004 came about, and once again we were blasted out of the playoffs by the Colts due to the fact that Coyer couldn’t devise a way to aid one rookie defensive back (Roc Alexander) in coverage; outside of the other tosses they made, the Colts accrued about 250 yards solely by throwing at Alexander. This wasn’t Coyer’s fault though, oh no, this was Mike Shanahan’s fault, apparently he was past his prime as of the end of this season. Foolishly, most would say, owner Pat Bowlen decided to keep Mike on board for at least one more season.


Then there was last season, which first handed Denver their first playoff win in the post-Elway era, then unceremoniously delivered to the Denver faithful the third consecutive playoff disappointment of the modern Shanahan era. The blame fell on Jake: He fumbled too much, he threw too many interceptions, he alone lost us this game, but that simply was not the case. True, he fumbled twice, and had one inexcusable interception at an inopportune moment during the game, but even if he'd gone turnover free in that particular contest, the Broncos wouldn't have had a shot of winning.

From the outset, Coyer lined up his DBs (including Champ Bailey, mind you) 10 to 15 yards off of the line of scrimmage on every single play. He’d seen the footage on the Steelers, they always seemed to clinch their wins by way of some preposterous trick play, so Coyer decided to intentionally keep his defense back on its heels so that Pittsburgh would never have a chance to execute a trick play. A cute ploy, no doubt, but that strategy sort of falls apart when the opposing team decides to counter that move by running about 40 non-trick 8 yard out patterns throughout the game, methodically moving up and down the field without exerting the slightest degree of effort. Even more impressively, Coyer didn’t bother to move his defensive backfield up at all for the third and fourth quarters despite the fact that the Steelers offense was absolutely obliterating his squad on the field; simply put, the man makes adjustments with the ease of an pock marked 8th grader trying to hide an erection. Of course, you know the rest, the Broncos got absolutely rolled, Jake Plummer became villified once more, and the Steelers got away with murder in both the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl. What no one remembers is that Larry Coyer was the man who gave them the knife.

Sure, if Jake had played better in the AFC Championship the game might have ended a little bit closer, but there’s no way the Broncos would have won the game unless they had another man at the helm of their defense. Unfortunately, it seems that it will take one more outright playoff collapse for the people of Denver to realize that something truly awful is occurring every Sunday in the coaches’ booth. Hopefully by the time Jay Cutler’s taking over the offense Coyer will be long gone, otherwise he might just end up being painted as a villain as well.

Jake doesn't deserve this type of treatment, and the people of Denver don't either. Coyer must go.

http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft (http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft)


A really cute article, but the writer is obviously trying to lay blame all on the defense and Coyer. While the defense has been attrocious in the last three playoff losses, particularly the D-line, plummer is just as much at fault for consistently ****ting his pants in big playoff games. This writer is silly with all his "yeah but's" with all of plummers F'ups. Granted this article was before plummers struggles this year, but still plummer is garbage and will not lead this team to any championship.

[Taco John]

I'll stick by Shanahan's analysis that it was more important for the team to draft a better quarterback than rush in for a better DE. No doubt, I wish we had a better pass rush. But I also wish we had a quarterback who could complete more than 13 passes in a big game against a bad defense.

And as far as Coyer goes, at this point his job is probably safe. We've got a top 5 defense, and even if we lose, he's got a built in excuse that we don't have a dominant defensive end to help put pressure on the quarterback without blitzing.

Next year, Jay Cutler will be our starter, and we'll likely have the dominant DE that we all want. Everyone will be happy.

[ludo21]

I'll stick by Shanahan's analysis that it was more important for the team to draft a better quarterback than rush in for a better DE. No doubt, I wish we had a better pass rush. But I also wish we had a quarterback who could complete more than 13 passes in a big game against a bad defense.

And as far as Coyer goes, at this point his job is probably safe. We've got a top 5 defense, and even if we lose, he's got a built in excuse that we don't have a dominant defensive end to help put pressure on the quarterback without blitzing.

Next year, Jay Cutler will be our starter, and we'll likely have the dominant DE that we all want. Everyone will be happy.



at the spot we drafted there was no one else besides Maroney I would have taken.

We either gotta get in the top 10 and draft a "sure thing" or pay top dollar for a proven pass rusher.

[Popps]

I'll stick by Shanahan's analysis that it was more important for the team to draft a better quarterback than rush in for a better DE. .

Shanahan has been trying to re-tool the defense for three years. He finally broke down and bought himself some toys this draft. But, his actions over the past several years and his lack of action to bring in anyone to compete with Plummer tells you which areas he's seen as real problems.

His downfall is that he he has thought he could get it done on the D-line by digging through the clearance bin for the last 10 years. At some point, you've got to truly commit to those four guys up front if you want a dominant D.

I mean, we've got the best CB in football. He was useless yesterday (to an extent) because they just threw away from him, at our #2 CB, who was forced to try to cover a guy too long on every play because there was no QB pressure.

It's the same old problem. This is nothing new.

[Taco John]

Shanahan has been trying to re-tool the defense for three years. He finally broke down and bought himself some toys this draft. But, his actions over the past several years and his lack of action to bring in anyone to compete with Plummer tells you which areas he's seen as real problems.


What are you talking about lack of action to bring in anyone to compete with Plummer. He not only brought in someone to compete with Plummer, but also to REPLACE him. You're living in a dream land with that statement.


His downfall is that he he has thought he could get it done on the D-line by digging through the clearance bin for the last 10 years. At some point, you've got to truly commit to those four guys up front if you want a dominant D.

Well, he's won two superbowls on that concept. But I do wish that Daryl Gardener had worked out better for him. I also wish he'd have delayed cutting Griese by a year and used that dead money to chase a DE. But so goes life.


I mean, we've got the best CB in football. He was useless yesterday (to an extent) because they just threw away from him, at our #2 CB, who was forced to try to cover a guy too long on every play because there was no QB pressure.

It's the same old problem. This is nothing new.


It is the same old problem. Like I said. Next year, I suspect we'll get the DE we want, and have a new quarterback to boot. Everyone will be happy.

[Taco John]

at the spot we drafted there was no one else besides Maroney I would have taken.

We either gotta get in the top 10 and draft a "sure thing" or pay top dollar for a proven pass rusher.



Bunkley would have been a good pick. Shanahan didn't have enough confidence in Jake over the long haul to make that pick though, and the Eagles ended up with him instead.

Bunkley would have been a big help for our defense.

[TheChamp24]

I really think now after reading some more that Coyer gets scared about being beat by long passes so he plays conservative defense. We should've brought the 9 men in the box scheme against Indy. And from there, mix up what we do. One down, bring no one extra, another down send Lynch, another down send DJ and Lynch, another down send Gold. You don't think that would confuse Peyton?
Sure, Darrent and Champ would have to play like studs, but I think it could be done. Darrent, although he was getting beat, was still playing Reggie pretty close.
In order to beat Peyton, you must disguise your defense by mixing it up. We never really did that.

[Broncoman13]

I'll stick by Shanahan's analysis that it was more important for the team to draft a better quarterback than rush in for a better DE. No doubt, I wish we had a better pass rush. But I also wish we had a quarterback who could complete more than 13 passes in a big game against a bad defense.

And as far as Coyer goes, at this point his job is probably safe. We've got a top 5 defense, and even if we lose, he's got a built in excuse that we don't have a dominant defensive end to help put pressure on the quarterback without blitzing.

Next year, Jay Cutler will be our starter, and we'll likely have the dominant DE that we all want. Everyone will be happy.


Yeah, where are we going to get that dominant DE from?

[Broncoman13]

Bunkley would have been a good pick. Shanahan didn't have enough confidence in Jake over the long haul to make that pick though, and the Eagles ended up with him instead.

Bunkley would have been a big help for our defense.

I thought for sure Bunkley was the pick when we traded up. Not quite shocked with the Cutler pick, but suprised. Very Happy with Cutler pick now... can't wait to get him on the field!

[freak6]

Kameron Wimbley

[Taco John]

Yeah, where are we going to get that dominant DE from?



That's not my call... If it's a priority to bring in a high priced DE, Shanahan will find someone to give the money to.

Personally, I'll be suprised if we don't go DE in round 1.

[ludo21]

Bunkley would have been a good pick. Shanahan didn't have enough confidence in Jake over the long haul to make that pick though, and the Eagles ended up with him instead.

Bunkley would have been a big help for our defense.


How has he played so far?

And I totally forgot about him now, I thought for sure he was our pick. Man, seems so long ago. ;D

Gaines Adams this year??? ::) a guy can dream right ;)

[TheDave]

That's not my call... If it's a priority to bring in a high priced DE, Shanahan will find someone to give the money to.

Personally, I'll be suprised if we don't go DE in round 1.

Personally i would rather a dominate DT. With the addition of Elvis and Predator i think our ends are good enough to get the job done. A disruptive force in the middle is just what this team needs.

[azbroncfan]

Bunkley has done what this year? In fact I was reading a Tiki Barber quote that is perfect, you can't count on rookies to do the job.

[Wes Mantooth]

I am sure Robinson will be looking for work soon.

[DB84FAN]

I found this article over the summer and I thought you all might want to read it.

Larry Coyer and his failures in the postseason
<HR style="COLOR: #132556" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->----There are many in Denver who would contend that John Elway is the second coming of Christ; there are far more who believe that Jake Plummer is the second coming of Judas.

It’s been almost a month now since Chris Berman made his last horrendous zinger and officially brought a close to the 2006 NFL Draft, and yet the city of Denver is still abuzz over the Broncos admittedly aggressive moves on that otherwise unremarkable day in April. The city loves the Javon Walker trade, and I don’t fault them for this, but what they’re really BLEEPing themselves over is the drafting of Jay Cutler.

“Finally,” they say in unison, as if they’ve been practicing their speech for months, “we can rid ourselves of that hideous malcontent commonly referred to as Jake Plummer. You know, he’s the reason we lost the AFC Championship last year; he’s the worst quarterback we’ve ever had in this town.”

Though their neglecting to remember the Denver careers of Tommy Maddox, Brian Griese, Bubby Brister, and a litany of others is absolutely inexcusable, the simple fact that this city seems to believe that replacing Jake Plummer is the Broncos’ most crucial and necessary step towards winning another superbowl is absolutely disgusting. You show me a man who believes Jake Plummer is the reason for Denver’s last three playoff embarrassments and I’ll show you a man who’s got his head so far up his ass that he could still be picking pieces of twinkies he ate in 5th grade out of his enlarged colon with his tongue.

That was more than a bit lurid, I apologize.

Jake is not the problem with this team, and he never has been. The problem, as it almost always seems to be, is coaching. Now, I’m not one of these Mike Shanahan haters; he’s a marquee coach who’s at the helm of a marquee organization. He’s an innovator, and an offensive genius, there’s no two ways about it, but he has no control over the defense – Larry Coyer does. The defense is the problem, and that man, seen as being a defensive mastermind by some, is an absolutely horrific strategist.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Larry Coyer came into the Broncos organization following the exodus of Ray Rhodes, who was undeniably awful in Denver. Furthermore, Rhodes was preceded by Greg Robinson, who later managed to do a worse job running the K.C. Chiefs’ defense than Gunther Cunningham. Astonishing, but oh so true. Really, the Broncos have not had a competent defensive coordinator since Wade Phillips was at the helm in the early 90’s (this was obviously back when Wade was actually a good coach). By accepting the position in 2003, Coyer nestled himself into a win/win situation; if he did a great job, he would be heralded as a savior, if he did a terrible job no one would notice because that’s what the team is used to.

Well, he’s done a terrible job for three years now, and as expected, no one in Denver seems to have noticed. His defensive schemes focus around blitzing repeatedly, incessantly… constantly, far far past the point of those blitzes actually being effective. He never gives his D lineman (who last year were the most talented group in the league, though this point could obviously be debated) the chance to establish themselves against the opposing teams’ offensive front. He sells the Broncos DBs, an extremely talented group, up the river by constantly placing them in single coverage situations. He has the fastest group of linebackers in the league, but he chooses to nullify this speed by running them into morbidly obese offensive lineman on every play. He does everything that he shouldn’t with shocking regularity, and yet he’s got more job security than any other member of the Broncos’ coaching staff.

It’s just blitz after blitz after blitz, and yet the Broncos rarely record any sacks. Has anyone questioned Larry’s ability to adjust his schemes because of this fact? No, the blame is instead deferred to Trevor Pryce’s back problems or the fact that we took so many players from Cleveland (why this is accepted as an argument against a player’s legitimacy is beyond me). Back in 2003, when the Broncos received their first merciless shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, the team as a whole was blamed for the loss despite the fact that the Colts' offense simply outfoxed the Broncos defense on nearly every play they spent together on the field. “They just didn’t come to play that day, the whole team came out flat” the people said, and we moved on. 2004 came about, and once again we were blasted out of the playoffs by the Colts due to the fact that Coyer couldn’t devise a way to aid one rookie defensive back (Roc Alexander) in coverage; outside of the other tosses they made, the Colts accrued about 250 yards solely by throwing at Alexander. This wasn’t Coyer’s fault though, oh no, this was Mike Shanahan’s fault, apparently he was past his prime as of the end of this season. Foolishly, most would say, owner Pat Bowlen decided to keep Mike on board for at least one more season.


Then there was last season, which first handed Denver their first playoff win in the post-Elway era, then unceremoniously delivered to the Denver faithful the third consecutive playoff disappointment of the modern Shanahan era. The blame fell on Jake: He fumbled too much, he threw too many interceptions, he alone lost us this game, but that simply was not the case. True, he fumbled twice, and had one inexcusable interception at an inopportune moment during the game, but even if he'd gone turnover free in that particular contest, the Broncos wouldn't have had a shot of winning.

From the outset, Coyer lined up his DBs (including Champ Bailey, mind you) 10 to 15 yards off of the line of scrimmage on every single play. He’d seen the footage on the Steelers, they always seemed to clinch their wins by way of some preposterous trick play, so Coyer decided to intentionally keep his defense back on its heels so that Pittsburgh would never have a chance to execute a trick play. A cute ploy, no doubt, but that strategy sort of falls apart when the opposing team decides to counter that move by running about 40 non-trick 8 yard out patterns throughout the game, methodically moving up and down the field without exerting the slightest degree of effort. Even more impressively, Coyer didn’t bother to move his defensive backfield up at all for the third and fourth quarters despite the fact that the Steelers offense was absolutely obliterating his squad on the field; simply put, the man makes adjustments with the ease of an pock marked 8th grader trying to hide an erection. Of course, you know the rest, the Broncos got absolutely rolled, Jake Plummer became villified once more, and the Steelers got away with murder in both the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl. What no one remembers is that Larry Coyer was the man who gave them the knife.

Sure, if Jake had played better in the AFC Championship the game might have ended a little bit closer, but there’s no way the Broncos would have won the game unless they had another man at the helm of their defense. Unfortunately, it seems that it will take one more outright playoff collapse for the people of Denver to realize that something truly awful is occurring every Sunday in the coaches’ booth. Hopefully by the time Jay Cutler’s taking over the offense Coyer will be long gone, otherwise he might just end up being painted as a villain as well.

Jake doesn't deserve this type of treatment, and the people of Denver don't either. Coyer must go.

http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft (http://blogs.foxsports.com/TheGreatWhiteDope/NFL_Draft)

cant agree more.... great post

[Taco John]

Bunkley has done what this year? In fact I was reading a Tiki Barber quote that is perfect, you can't count on rookies to do the job.

Actually, Bunkley hasn't done a whole lot this year. His coaches are making statements in the media that he needs to step up and be more productive... get in the quarterback's face, etc. He's getting about a dozen snaps a game. He missed the first week of training camp with a contract dispute. But he was on the board when we were drafting and was one of the highly valued DT's available. Few DTs, even first rounders, pan out in year one.

[Bob's your Information Minister]

We have the personnel to get the job done on defense.

I stopped reading right there. No, you don't.

[DB84FAN]

I thought for sure Bunkley was the pick when we traded up. Not quite shocked with the Cutler pick, but suprised. Very Happy with Cutler pick now... can't wait to get him on the field!

OSKIE.... OSKIE/// everyone goes after OSKIE.. everyweek before the game....

OSKIE.. i have a suggestion for you... Get that picture out and throw it into trash before he faces a good receiver and gets showed up again.

I can also give a 10 yard cushion and run behind a receiver.

[SteveTensi13]

OSKIE.... OSKIE/// everyone goes after OSKIE.. everyweek before the game....

OSKIE.. i have a suggestion for you... Get that picture out and throw it into trash before he faces a good receiver and gets showed up again.

I can also give a 10 yard cushion and run behind a receiver.

I saw one play where it looked like DW was running away from Reggie Wayne, literally! The ball was snapped and DW took off running with RW right behind him. Damnest thing I ever saw!!