Which Unit Killed Us This Year? [Archive] - The Orange Mane

Blueflame

01-13-2007, 05:56 PM

All year? Special teams. I don't think we had a "good" game on special teams.
The offense struggled in almost all the early-season games, but there were a few good performances mixed in with generally-subpar ones.
The defense was great early on, but injuries took their toll and the line never did get consistent pass pressure.

We need to address both offensive and defensive lines and special teams. And there's no excuse for hearing the words "short punt" in the Mile High City... Ernster needs to elevate his performance or receive his walking papers.

Garcia Bronco

01-13-2007, 05:57 PM

I see Slap, Blue, and myself are the smartest people around.

Short-bus Teams was consistently bad

Popps

01-13-2007, 06:04 PM

Didn't know you could vote on all three. LOL

Dudeskey

01-13-2007, 06:12 PM

Special- I mean short-bus teams... Dropping Saurbrun cost us dearly in the field position battle.

ludo21

01-13-2007, 06:18 PM

All 3 sucked equally throughout the year! Ha! LOL

Gotta shore up both lines and play with more passion on ST's and we will be fine.

ro_50

01-13-2007, 06:24 PM

Special teams was just brutal all season and I'm like most, can I vote for all three to a varying degree?

watermock

01-13-2007, 06:26 PM

It was Brian's fault 100%.

-Slap-

01-13-2007, 06:29 PM

I see Slap, Blue, and myself are the smartest people around.

In that order.

;)

OrangeShadow

01-13-2007, 06:32 PM

you cant blame just one.

offense-jake and the offensive line(for the most part) sucked
defense- the defensive line
special teams- the entire unit

watermock

01-13-2007, 06:37 PM

I'm making a list and checking it twice.

Special teams were awful all around except for Elam.

Cutler can get a little slack, Jake was driving thru the rear view mirror.

Warren played like a gluttoned sloth with bling.

M. Bell was slow, Tater was inconsistent and Cecil went to IR. We haven't had a true feature back since Portis. All second round backs are not created equal. He doesn't quite fit our scheme and lacks vision.

We lost alot more players to injuries both IR and naggers.

BroncoMatt

01-13-2007, 06:43 PM

I just don't think we were really very good this year. The 9-7 record was deserved.

crazyhorse

01-13-2007, 06:44 PM

Shanahan killed you this year.

OrangeShadow

01-13-2007, 06:46 PM

Shanahan killed you this year.

wow thats about as accurate statement as the ones by kmart in my sig. :rofl:

chef fans,i love you retards

crazyhorse

01-13-2007, 06:57 PM

wow thats about as accurate statement as the ones by kmart in my sig. :rofl:

chef fans,i love you retards

I'm not sure the context of the QB comment, however, folks are definately 30 after 29. So for accuracy....it seems acurate. I'm not sure if you were trying to talk smack or tell me you love me.

In any event, thank you for your efforts.

Taco John

01-13-2007, 08:02 PM

I'm not sure the context of the QB comment, however, folks are definately 30 after 29. So for accuracy....it seems acurate. I'm not sure if you were trying to talk smack or tell me you love me.

In any event, thank you for your efforts.

You're like the Jake Plummer of posters. I can't remember when I've ever seen you make a good comeback.

Clockwork Orange

01-13-2007, 08:08 PM

Shanahan killed you this year.

Even if that were true, we could at least take solace in the fact that the Broncos didn't fork over a 4th round pick for the privilege of having a head coach sabotage our season. :wave:

crazyhorse

01-13-2007, 08:37 PM

You're like the Jake Plummer of posters. I can't remember when I've ever seen you make a good comeback.

nice avatar

Bronx33

01-13-2007, 08:44 PM

The colts were the unit to kill us this year, after they undressed our D it was all down hill after that, and all the other teams just followed suite.

Orange_Beard

01-13-2007, 10:40 PM

A better question would be "Which Line killed us this year, O or D"
They were both really bad at times.

Dedhed

01-14-2007, 12:33 AM

I think the OHHHfense hastened the demise from D-Fence to _efense.

BroncoBuff

01-14-2007, 12:54 AM

They all had varying degrees of culpability.

You are 100% right .... BUT: We were 7-2 when the offense stood up and the defense collapsed.

Short-bus teams were a ubiquitous burden, but the defense fell apart when the chips were down.

-Slap-

01-14-2007, 01:31 AM

You are 100% right .... BUT: We were 7-2 when the offense stood up and the defense collapsed.

Short-bus teams were a ubiquitous burden, but the defense fell apart when the chips were down.

We won nine games and the defense won six of them, thus the offense was 50% more culpable.

Here's the true blame formula:

45% on the offense - Two words: Jake Plummer.

30% on the defense - Got it done with Champ and smoke and mirrors for six weeks, then the same problems reared up again.

25% on the special teams - Killed us all year in every phase except FGA. They would carry a higher percentage, but they're on the field so much less.

Taco John

01-14-2007, 01:41 AM

We won nine games and the defense won six of them, thus the offense was 50% more culpable.

Here's the true blame formula:

45% on the offense - Two words: Jake Plummer.

30% on the defense - Got it done with Champ and smoke and mirrors for six weeks, then the same problems reared up again.

25% on the special teams - Killed us all year in every phase except FGA. They would carry a higher percentage, but they're on the field so much less.

That's about the way I've seen the team for the last 3 years.

Crushaholic

01-14-2007, 02:20 AM

The offense, defense and special teams all were at fault. Hence, we went 9-7and missed the playoffs. We won a few games because one facet of the game usually showed up to play. Unfortunately, it wasn't the SAME facet from game to game...

Odysseus

01-14-2007, 08:14 AM

I don't know which is worst a suicidal offense, a chronically depressed defense or a special teams with multiple personalities. I voted all.

Cutler is being fitted for a giant space bubble so that when the blitzes come fans don't have to be satisfied with Preston Parsons Plummer better than impressions.

9-7 is what they deserved and not getting in the playoffs might be the wakeup call the Broncos need. Colts defense kept the Ravens out of the finals not Mr. Manning. Any clues from this?

-Slap-

01-14-2007, 10:03 AM

They need to let Jay go both ways again. He did that in high school and he went 15-0.

Ratboy

01-14-2007, 11:18 AM

Special Teams.

We need somebody like Ted Ginn Jr.

loborugger

01-14-2007, 12:48 PM

I think that swing pass to LT at our house on Sunday Nite emasculated our defense in a way that it never recovered.

However, I have to agree that all three units led to our downfall. But on the brightside, we get a 3rd place schedule next season. Look what that did for SD this season!

LonghornBronco

01-14-2007, 12:56 PM

Punting and K/O teams killed our D and handicapped our O.. Get rid of the Special Ed coach!:cuss: :cuss:

dsmoot

01-14-2007, 03:42 PM

They all had varying degrees of culpability.

Absolutely, offense early, defense later, special teams all year long.

OrangeShadow

01-14-2007, 04:01 PM

games are won in the trenches. We sucked on both sides of the line for the better part of the year.

BroncoBuff

01-15-2007, 04:25 AM

We need Ted Ginn Jr.
Ted Ginn Jr, Ted Ginn Jr, Ted Ginn Jr .... stop with the Ted Ginn Jr!!! WR is a very deep spot now, so no way. And no way to Marshawn, either, as much as I'd like him. No - our first round pick is for Woodley or Moses or Carriker, or if we're lucky Gaines Adams. We need to knock Rivers on his a$$ if we want to win this division again.

Besides, WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY TALK ABOUT DOMENIK HIXON? ARRRGGH! Shanny got some 'hot tip' from a college coach buddy that young Domenik would be a demon returner in the big leagues even after his senior year injury, remember? Well, we strung out that injury to hide him on IR as a rookie ... and now everybody's completely forgotten about him. Neither Burger Bill or the News writer even mentioned him in their year-end roster reviews.

Odysseus

01-15-2007, 09:37 AM

Besides, WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY TALK ABOUT DOMENIK HIXON? ARRRGGH!

Nobody has seen Hixon. Nobody knows anything about Hixon on this board. It's hard to give a crap about a guy whose "hidden away". Even if Hixon was drafted for that role is he the best we can do AFTER the pending draft? I think if the Broncos don't stop acting stupid about Special teams they will continue to pay with early exits. ALL the teams who won this past weekend got help from Special teams.

Drek

01-15-2007, 09:47 AM

Whole team is to blame, but the root of our problems is weak fundamentals, despite not committing many penalties. We didn't tackle well on defense or special teams, giving up extra yardage. We didn't block well either, not just from an OL standpoint but also from poor RB pass blocking and STs return blocking.

We could see improvement on the defensive side, better tackling, with major defensive coaching turnover. One of the first things a new staff looks to improve is fundamentals. Now we need Shanny, 'Dinger, and Dennison to light some fires and get our blocking fundamentals back to where they should be. It'd help if we had the talent needed at HB, FB, TE, and OT (might already with a healthy Lepsis and Pears) to hold up athletically.

fontaine

01-15-2007, 10:49 AM

Nobody has seen Hixon. Nobody knows anything about Hixon on this board. It's hard to give a crap about a guy whose "hidden away". Even if Hixon was drafted for that role is he the best we can do AFTER the pending draft? I think if the Broncos don't stop acting stupid about Special teams they will continue to pay with early exits. ALL the teams who won this past weekend got help from Special teams.

Last year was the first time I can ever remember the Broncos drafting a return man for IR rather than for special teams.

Every other team in the league drafts Special Teamers to start playing their rookie year, but not the Broncos apparently.

We take pride in "developing" our ST players.

Bronco Bob

01-15-2007, 10:57 AM

Didn't know you could vote on all three. LOL

I did.

Odysseus

01-18-2007, 06:04 AM

I did.

I did too. I didn't mean to. I couldn't help it. :giggle:

Old Dude

01-18-2007, 10:11 AM

I'm voting ST.

They screwed up week after week after week, and this had to take its toll on both of the other units. The offense had to march forever, and the defense had to start almost every series with its back to the wall. They might not have been on the field as much, but they had (and always will have) an enormous impact on field position.

Even with all the problems on O and D, an "average" performance by the ST would have taken us to the playoffs. Instead, they were quite possibly the worst in the NFL.

Hotrod

01-18-2007, 10:25 AM

I was gonna vote for the Chargers unit or the 49ers unit then I realized they were not options.

I think its a mixture of all of them. Offense started slow and really lacked the ability to make those late time consuming drives when they were needed. Defense started fast but the lack of pass rush came back to bite us in the ass AGAIN. Of course ST sucks bawls all year long.

Personally Im on the wagon that thinks a pass rushing DT a grind'em up RB and an upgrade at RT and we can make a run next year.

Bronco Billy

01-18-2007, 10:47 AM

What killed us more than anything was the second half of game - specifically the 4th Qtr. This is where the offense didn't sustain drives and the defense always collapsed later in the season.

listopencil

01-18-2007, 11:51 AM