Third down may get more interesting for Denver opponents

[dragondawg]

Anybody perusing the Denver Broncos ' first two picks in the 2007 draft would have had the same thought: "Boy, their defensive line must be awful."

Well, that might be a bit harsh. They're not awful, just old.

Kenard Lang, who had six of the Broncos' 31 sacks last year, is 33 years old. Fellow defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban is 30, and 10-year NFL veteran John Engleberger is no colt.

So the fact that Denver picked two defensive ends -- Florida's Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder of Texas -- in the opening rounds last month doesn't necessarily mean the incumbents are ready for the trash pile. What it does mean, however, is that the meager 2006 sack total is almost certain to go up.

Crowder had 10½ sacks as a Longhorn last season, Moss 7½. The latter also stepped up in prime time, taking down Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith twice for 20 yards in losses during the Gators' upset victory in the BCS bowl.

Along with Elvis Dumervil, who led Denver with 8½ sacks as a rookie (out of only 19 tackles), the addition of Crowder and Moss will give the Broncos three strong third-down rushers.

Actually, the Broncos didn't do badly stopping opponents on third down last season (only 37.6 percent of the attempts succeeded), but that was mostly because of a solid secondary. The other guys threw for 3,410 yards and completed 60.8 percent, evidence that opposing quarterbacks were getting a bit too comfortable in the pocket.

Ekuban had seven sacks, but former 49ers star Engleberger, while still contributing 55 tackles, had only one. The interior D-linemen were even less successful pressuring the passer.

Of the two newcomers, Crowder may have a better chance of playing every down as a rookie. He's bigger than Moss (275-250), more durable (43 straight starts at Texas) and even a tick faster over 40 yards. He's quite capable of playing the run or the pass.

Moss, meanwhile, has been compared to former Gator Jevon Kearse.

"He may be the fastest player we have over 10 yards," said Florida coach Urban Meyer, "and we've got a fast team."

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/05/broncos-thirddown-moreinteresting110507.html

[chaz]

"He may be the fastest player we have over 10 yards," said Florida coach Urban Meyer, "and we've got a fast team."

love to hear that! although i find it a little hard to believe with all the speed on the florida team.

[Borks147]

"He may be the fastest player we have over 10 yards," said Florida coach Urban Meyer, "and we've got a fast team."

love to hear that! although i find it a little hard to believe with all the speed on the florida team.

Yeah but you have to remember that he is trained to get to a quick start to get upfield. Corners of course much faster than he is, but they are no accustomed to such a fast start out of the gate.

[Swedish Extrovert]

"He may be the fastest player we have over 10 yards," said Florida coach Urban Meyer, "and we've got a fast team."

love to hear that! although i find it a little hard to believe with all the speed on the florida team.


I do too. But its funny how sacks have become the say-all end-all on how good a dline is.

[cmhargrove]

Yeah but you have to remember that he is trained to get to a quick start to get upfield. Corners of course much faster than he is, but they are no accustomed to such a fast start out of the gate.

A speed rusher usually starts in a three (or four) point stance, which is the same style as an olympic sprinter. Corners start flat footed. Moss obviously knows how to explode out of his stance and around the tackle. What I like seeing is that he can also rapidly change direction and cut inside the tackle as well. He's not just a one trick pony around the outside. I will be interested to see how he breaks contact, and pursues towards the sidelines.

[Great13]

10 year vet? Wasn't Engleberger drafted in 2000?

[Cito Pelon]

A speed rusher usually starts in a three (or four) point stance, which is the same style as an olympic sprinter. Corners start flat footed. Moss obviously knows how to explode out of his stance and around the tackle. What I like seeing is that he can also rapidly change direction and cut inside the tackle as well. He's not just a one trick pony around the outside. I will be interested to see how he breaks contact, and pursues towards the sidelines.

That's going to be interesting to see how well he does those two things. A speed rusher has to be able to do that to be effective on all downs. Also, I'd like to see both the new DE's pursue 20-30 yds downfield after a play gets past them. That's one of the things I really liked about Neil Smith, he would pursue downfield and hit the ballcarrier in the back. You don't see that a whole lot from DL's. Pryce would never do that. Ekuban is good about that, Warren also his first year here.

[NYBronco]

So last year's defense was ineffective because we didn't have the type of players we do now rather than the ineffectiveness of Coyer.

[ZONA]

I'm not sure why our stat says we were decent on 3rd downs last year because it seems we were horrific. Matter of fact, at the start of the year, when our defense was holding people to few points, mostly that was due to Bailey picking off passes at the goal line. Teams still stayed on the field way too long.

I do think getting younger will help quite a bit. Not that old players dog it and young players never do, but on a week to week basis, younger bodies heal faster and can recover for the next game better then 30+ bodies. You always hear about rookies hitting that wall because their not used to the long NFL season but I think that is more phycological and mental then it is physical. Their clock says season is over more so then their bodies say I can't take it anymore.

[dragondawg]

hope the rookies can contribute

[Cito Pelon]

So last year's defense was ineffective because we didn't have the type of players we do now rather than the ineffectiveness of Coyer.

One could say that, yeah. Coyer is now the "Assistant Head Coach" for defense now in Miami with Cam Cameron as Head Coach, who was the OC for San Diego last year when SD scored TD's drive after drive at times. So we'll see how it plays out.