Late season swoon / and other DPO articles

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by baja

Yes but it is still a defense based on speed, populated by either young or old players.

As the season wears on speed becomes less a factor as the speed players tend to wear down more that the power players and the weather turns wintery.

The rookies often time the rookie wall and the old vets wear out.
In this regard the player personal are similar the the late season fade teams of past years.

I saw it as having light weight ,fast players in the past.

Starting the year at 285 pounds for a LOS guy on either side by this late in the year there is little chance of still being your starting weight. So now your at 270-75 at best those bigger to start out with guys are now heavier and able to dominate that LOS.. You just wear down and less you weigh the more toll it takes on you. Having a 340 pound guy as DT or mostly NT coming at you week after week got to break you down.
You hold the blocks for less time, you do not get the full block.

Now we have better conditioned guys that are heavier on the out set taking less abuse all year becuase they match up better, they are stronger going into the season.
I'd guess that next year with a full year of offseason and conditioning most of the OL will be 5-15 pounds more muscled up.
Which then will improve the run and pass protect.

[Old Dude]

I think the late season drop-off is a more recent phenomena and there are some specific reasons why it happened each year.

First, let's look at the post-Elway era from 2000-2005:

2000 11-5. Final 6: 5-1 (finished very strong)
2001 7-9. Final 6: 3-3 (finished slightly better than start)
2002 9-7. Final 6: 2-4 (below average for season)
2003 10-6 Final 6: 4-2 (finished slightly better than start)
2004 10-6 Final 6: 3-3 (below average for season)
2005: 13-3 Final 6: 5-1 (finished slightly better than start)

Overall: 60-36 (.625) Final 6: 22-14 (.611)

Not really much of a difference.

Since then:

2006: 9-7 Final 6: 2-4 Al Wilson injured December 3; Rookie Cutler replaces Plummer
2007: 7-9 Final 6: 2-4 Meh.
2008: 8-8 Final 6: 2-4 by season’s end, 7 running backs on injured reserve
2009: 8-8 Final 6: 2-4 soft defensive middle wore down
2010: 4-12 Final 6: 1-5 Spygate; McD fired, horrid defense all year
2011: 8-8 Final 6: 3-3 Tebow rollercoaster

It's been a "trend," but there have been plenty of reasons for it.

[Kaylore]

I'm beginning to worry a feeling of arrogance is spreading. A lot of talking heads are picking us as one of the best teams in the NFL and to finish with a bye. I just hope they don't take things for granted. San Diego is going to give us a good shot this week. Rivers play well here. We need to treat this game like a chance to win the division, because it really would do more for that cause than any other game on the schedule outside of the final game to clinch it.

[Kid A]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

I'm beginning to worry a feeling of arrogance is spreading. A lot of talking heads are picking us as one of the best teams in the NFL and to finish with a bye. I just hope they don't take things for granted. San Diego is going to give us a good shot this week. Rivers play well here. We need to treat this game like a chance to win the division, because it really would do more for that cause than any other game on the schedule outside of the final game to clinch it.

I've had to check myself a couple times this week. Old Dude's rundown of the late season collapses was a good explanation of why they happened, but I would still think after 6 straight years of this Denver fans would be cautious in their optimism.

Win this week and we have a virtual 4 game lead in the West. Then talk about aiming for the bye makes some sense.

Lose and it's a 1 game lead with Tampa and Baltimore looming as legitimate tests and a decade of bad history starting to weigh heavy...

[Old Dude]

I agree this week is key.

The Chargers have their backs against the wall. Turner's job is probably at stake. I wouldn't expect him to get fired immediately, but if the Bolts drop to 4-6, they have very little hope of making the playoffs, and he'll be gone at the end of the year.

If Denver wins, they could probably take the division with .500 ball down the stretch against one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. I wouldn't expect them to "let up" but it would be nice to reduce the pressure for a change.

I can't blame fans for being excited. It's been a long, long time since this team was in such good shape injury-wise at this stage of the season, with offense, defense and special teams all performing in the top ten of most categories.

Of course, one cheap hit on Manning and it's all over.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

I'm beginning to worry a feeling of arrogance is spreading. A lot of talking heads are picking us as one of the best teams in the NFL and to finish with a bye. I just hope they don't take things for granted. San Diego is going to give us a good shot this week. Rivers play well here. We need to treat this game like a chance to win the division, because it really would do more for that cause than any other game on the schedule outside of the final game to clinch it.

It is a young team overall. Thus inconsistent to start with, I'm hoping that the kiddies do not start thinking they are as good as the talking heads say they are.

I know as an ex player that it is hard to be mentally sharpe every game. When You add in those nagging injuries it is hard to play at the level you need to win it all.

I'm hoping that the super veterans in Manning/Bailey can keep them grounded.

There are several games coming up that scare me SAN, KC twice and TPA. All f which we should win but could be trap games. Especially San since we whooped up on them in the second half, it is easy for the kiddies to think they are going lie down again for us.

If anything like the Houckli game year they used that loss as motivation to beat the snot out of us later that year.

[lonestar]

Let me add the BAL game is more likely a loss iirc we play there and over the years east coast games have mostly been losers for not only us, but all west coast teams.