Elvis Dumervil replays the sack- and-strip routine

[ICON]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...-on-the-strip/


Elvis Dumervil replays the sack- and-strip routine countless times during the NFL season, not on film, but in his mind.

"It's just reciting things and trying to picture in my head how I'm going to hit the quarterback," the Broncos defensive end said. "I go over it mentally and see myself when I get there going ahead and raising that arm and getting the ball out."

Dumervil entered the league as somewhat of an expert on the subject, with a NCAA-record 10 forced fumbles his senior year at Louisville.

His visualization techniques have translated to the pro level, too.

The scenario has occurred three times this season, with teammates twice scooping up the loose ball for touchdowns and Dumervil recovering the ball himself once.

The routine never gets old.

"That's the best feeling in football," Dumervil said of his penchant for jarring the ball loose from quarterbacks. "I'd rather have that over a touchdown - over anything."

The latest instance occurred in the Broncos' victory Sunday at Kansas City. In a close game, Dumervil burst off the snap, got the corner on Chiefs right tackle Chris Terry with a swat and ended up blasting Damon Huard from the front side. The ball took a convenient one-hop directly into the arms of Broncos linebacker Nate Webster, who ran 17 yards for the score, essentially putting the game out of reach.

"I think most guys are happy to get sacks," said Dumervil, who has eight this season, only one-half sack short of his 2006 rookie total.

"But the good ones, once you get sacks, you kind of get used to those. And getting the ball out of there, that's something new. It's a tough challenge. That's what the great ones do. Derrick Thomas, that's all I watched when I was in college, the way he got the ball out. And if you visualize it and get your mental reps, it happens."

Dumervil is on pace to attain his publicly stated preseason goal of sacking quarterbacks 12 to 15 times.

Only the Chiefs' Jared Allen (91/2) and New England's Mike Vrabel (81/2) have more sacks among AFC players, and Dumervil is seventh overall.

"I like to be a pest. I like to be irritating to people," Dumervil said with a smile. "I'm sort of different rushing than other people. I don't think guys are scared or nothing, but it's something new that they can't really practice against it, unless you're Indianapolis or one of those teams. You don't really practice against guys who are short with really long arms. And then you get it on game day, you might see it on film, but it's still something different than what you face on Sundays."

The biggest difference between Dumervil's performance this season and his rookie year, when he compiled 81/2 sacks, is that he isn't merely catching teams by surprise as a situational player with his short, stout build and 6-foot-6 wingspan. He has been an every- down performer this time.

The result is a more carefully crafted performance off the snap.

"Pass rushing is a game of chess," he said. "You have to set it up. That's why I think it's better to play those early downs, because I can set it up for the third down. It's a game of matchups. You set one move up and you might not get it early, but eventually, it'll come."

The same might be said about double-team attention.

That'll come, too.

In fact, it already has started. Teams combated Dumervil by chipping him with tight ends and running backs when he got off to a fast start as a rookie. The same is beginning to occur now.

"He's been getting a fair amount, but he'll get more and more," Broncos defensive coordinator Jim Bates said. "There will be more attention paid to him, no doubt."

There was an open question heading into the year about how well Dumervil could handle run downs. The thought was, teams would target him directly via the rush, and have so far, to some extent, with success. At only about 5-foot-10 and 250 pounds, Dumervil has to get leverage to hold the point of attack, since he gives up several inches and many times 50 to 75 pounds on opposing tackles. But Bates said Dumervil understands the scheme and is improving as a run-stopper. The Broncos have helped Dumervil, as well, by having the player swap sides to make him a moving target.

"Elvis is going to bring it every play and try his hardest," Denver defensive tackle Alvin McKinley said. "And he wants to be held accountable. If he's supposed to be in the 'B' gap, he's going to try his hardest to be there. His work ethic is the biggest thing I've seen."

Bobby Petrino could vouch for that. The former Louisville head coach, now in the same capacity with the Atlanta Falcons, related this spring that Dumervil's mere presence in his college practices would have his linemen shaking their heads.

"They didn't like looking over and saying, 'Oh, I've got to block Elvis,' " Petrino said. "His arms are unbelievably long and he just has a knack for rushing the passer and causing fumbles."

This season, Broncos defensive end Tim Crowder was the beneficiary of the other touchdown off a Dumervil sack-and- strip. Crowder scored on a 50- yard runback in the Oct. 21 game against Pittsburgh.

That game represents one of three multiple-sack games this season by Dumervil. He has five such games in two years, which, leaguewide, trails only San Diego's Shawne Merriman (seven) and Green Bay's Aaron

Kampman (six). With one more multiple-sack game, he'll tie Trevor Pryce (2000) and Alfred Williams (1998) for the most single-season games with at least two sacks.

"If he puts his mind to it, he can be a 20-sack guy," McKinley said. "It's all up to him."

Imagine that.


Titans at Broncos

*The game: 6:30 p.m. Monday, Invesco Field at Mile High (76,125 capacity).

*The records: Tennessee is 6-3o Denver is 4-5.

*The series: Titans lead 20-12-1 in the regular seasono Denver leads 2-1 in the postseason.

*TV/radio: CBS 4, ESPN, ESPN Deporteso KOA-AM (850), KBNO-AM (1280-Spanish).

*Who's favored: Broncos by 2

[Los Broncos]

20 sacks?

Wow, if he does that he is sure to not wear a Bronco uniform for long.

[SportinOne]

Why do you say that? I know we have a history of letting D Lineman go but i think that just improves the possibility of us keeping the next one that is up for a pay day considering the results of us letting Hayward, Berry, and Pryce go. This isn't baseball, and we aren't a small market team. If he does get his 12 to 15 or even 15+ each year then give the man a fat contract and start finding more players to compliment him.

[Cito Pelon]

Elvis is a smart player. Visualizing is a big deal. Setting up plays is a big deal. Thinking on the field is a big deal. Denver needs more players like him.

[Cito Pelon]

"Pass rushing is a game of chess," he said. "You have to set it up. That's why I think it's better to play those early downs, because I can set it up for the third down. It's a game of matchups. You set one move up and you might not get it early, but eventually, it'll come."

This is why Elvis has to play every down.

[Los Broncos]

Originally Posted by TheChamp

Why do you say that? I know we have a history of letting D Lineman go but i think that just improves the possibility of us keeping the next one that is up for a pay day considering the results of us letting Hayward, Berry, and Pryce go. This isn't baseball, and we aren't a small market team. If he does get his 12 to 15 or even 15+ each year then give the man a fat contract and start finding more players to compliment him.

It just seems we let the good ones go.

We need to lock em up.

[ICON]

Originally Posted by Lynchmob72

It just seems we let the good ones go.

We need to lock em up.

The ones we let go ' THE GOOD ONES" have been on the IR alot
over the years , Some didnt want to be here and others wanted
to much money ..But i do see why you could worry,Doom will be
here for years he has too much class to leave Denver .

[broncofan2438]

He is going to need to get to VY fast on Monday

[fontaine]

Well the pieces are there. Dumervil, Moss, Crowder and Thomas give us the young guns that we'll need. If we could just get a dominating presence in the interior it'll go a long ways towards getting that consistent pass rush because teams will no longer be able to just double team the best pass rusher while the other scrubs at DL just stand around and watch.

[chrisp]

Just for the record, we didn't 'let' Berry and Heyward go, we tried to keep both, but in both cases team with acres of cap space at the time crept up on us and offered them front-loaded contracts that we just couldn't match without killing our cap.

i can't remember the details but I think in Heyward's case (for example) he was actually given a first-year salary of about 7 mil - as opposed to a signing bonus that could have been prorated for the cap. I'm not sure if that's exactly true but it was something like that in the way the deal was structured to mean that we just couldn't match it. Jacksonville had about 20 mil cap space that year so were in a position to tie up 7-8 mil cap money in one player.

When a player wants to come to an agreement with us we will get it done. I firmly believe Dumervil will get a payday and play a long time for us.

[KCStud]

Doomerville is gonna have to work harder. This week he doesn't get to face the statue known as Damon Huard. Vince Young is one of if not the best scrambling QB in the league

[Arkie]

Young has been sacked 9 times in the last 3 games, so it's possible for Doom to get a sack or three.

[Malcontent]

Originally Posted by broncofan2438

He is going to need to get to VY fast on Monday

Yep..and hopefully he doesn't just bounce off VY like most other pass rushers. The guy is hard as nails to tackle.

[2KBack]

Originally Posted by KCStud

Doomerville is gonna have to work harder. This week he doesn't get to face the statue known as Damon Huard. Vince Young is one of if not the best scrambling QB in the league

Scramblers actually get sacked a lot. Look at our own Elway, one of the best scramblers, and the most sacked qb in history.

[Atwater His Ass]

Originally Posted by ICON

The ones we let go ' THE GOOD ONES" have been on the IR alot
over the years , Some didnt want to be here and others wanted
to much money ..But i do see why you could worry,Doom will be
here for years he has too much class to leave Denver .

Looking at a guys injury history AFTER he's switched teams and using it as any sort of justification is a terrible way to evaluate a personnel move.

That's like saying Moss is a bust because he got hurt in practice.