Bly Blames "soft" coverage for D woes - The Orange Mane

Lolad · 08-05-2009, 06:13 AM

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_12993576
Now it can be told.

The Broncos' defense allowed 28.0 points per game last season to rank 30th in the 32-team NFL. Former Broncos cornerback Dre Bly, now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, directed much of the blame at the scheme devised by former Denver defensive coordinator Bob Slowik.

"Defensively, we were awful," Bly told the San Jose Mercury News. "The D-coordinator — not to blame anything on him — but we didn't really have the personnel for what he was trying to run. We were too soft in coverage. And when you have two corners like me and Champ, you can't be soft in coverage. We were into disguising a lot, and it just didn't work."

The "soft" coverage gripe was first presented by cornerback Karl Paymah after the Broncos' 26-17 home loss to Miami. In that game, Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo had 11 catches for 111 yards. Paymah said he was ordered to back off and allow Camarillo to catch the ball in front of him.

The Broncos' defense posted a league-low 13 takeaways last year.

"It made it look like I was probably soft in coverage, like I was scared," Bly said. "I ain't scared of nobody.

"I didn't want to bring any conflict or any beef to the team. I did what I had to do. But it ended up hurting me at the end."

521 1N5 · 08-05-2009, 06:18 AM

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

tsiguy96 · 08-05-2009, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

no, this time hes 100% right. if you have good press corners that are aggressive ballhawk type players, you use them like that. slowik is too damn stupid to make a scheme that fits the abilities of his players.

RhymesayersDU · 08-05-2009, 06:25 AM

Yeah, I know a lot of people will end up bashing Bly here, but none of that was his fault.

Is/was he a great corner? No. But the positions the coaches put him in were horrendous. He either had to play 10 yards off the ball and/or he was on an island with zero help behind him because safeties had to stop the run. He was set up to fail in our defense last year.

montrose · 08-05-2009, 06:26 AM

And Shanny wanted to keep this guy...

tsiguy96 · 08-05-2009, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

And Shanny wanted to keep this guy...

shanny still wants to keep this guy, they are butt buddies at all the other teams camps...

thinking back to last years d, im very very glad we addressed the secondary early and often, its painful to think about them last year.

broncofan7 · 08-05-2009, 06:28 AM

All one had to do was read these message boards and watch ONE Broncos game to realize that what Bly said was true.........nothing novel here

Beantown Bronco · 08-05-2009, 06:30 AM

I've always been, and still am, a big Bly supporter; but the one thing I think he's wrong about here is including Champ in this. It's an undeniable fact that Champ likes to play more off coverage as opposed to press coverage, both so he can watch the QB for an extra second or two and so that he can bait the QB into throwing his way. He has most of his success (and INTs) playing "soft".

Bly, however, did go on record with his displeasure of this type of scheme in Detroit, so he is at least consistent. It was clearly not a good scheme for him.

dbfan21 · 08-05-2009, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhymesayersdu

yeah, i know a lot of people will end up bashing bly here, but none of that was his fault.

Is/was he a great corner? No. But the positions the coaches put him in were horrendous. He either had to play 10 yards off the ball and/or he was on an island with zero help behind him because safeties had to stop the run. He was set up to fail in our defense last year.

+1

UberBroncoMan · 08-05-2009, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beantown Bronco

I've always been, and still am, a big Bly supporter; but the one thing I think he's wrong about here is including Champ in this. It's an undeniable fact that Champ likes to play more off coverage as opposed to press coverage, both so he can watch the QB for an extra second or two and so that he can bait the QB into throwing his way. He has most of his success (and INTs) playing "soft".

Bly, however, did go on record with his displeasure of this type of scheme in Detroit, so he is at least consistent. It was clearly not a good scheme for him.

We also had practically no safeties to help throughout the season. Barrett did an fine job at the end of the season when he was finally allowed to play, but still... if feel bad for any CB last year.

ELEVATION · 08-05-2009, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beantown Bronco

I've always been, and still am, a big Bly supporter; but the one thing I think he's wrong about here is including Champ in this. It's an undeniable fact that Champ likes to play more off coverage as opposed to press coverage, both so he can watch the QB for an extra second or two and so that he can bait the QB into throwing his way. He has most of his success (and INTs) playing "soft".

Bly, however, did go on record with his displeasure of this type of scheme in Detroit, so he is at least consistent. It was clearly not a good scheme for him.

with regards to champ he prefers 3-5 yds off, but at times last year he was eight to 12....bly prefers press as did foxworth and paymah.....slowik was a clown with the way he used those guys, same with how he used hazma.

the secondary was a huge struggle last year, we picked manuel up and started him even though he was mediocre in carolina and we picked mcree up fresh off a bad year in san diego, which he proved wasnt a fluke....

our CB depth was next to nill with a fresh rookie in jack williams, and a UDFA rookie in josh bell....not to mention poor use of paymah and the trade of foxworth....

people dont realize how much the secondary caused our problems last year, not neccessarily the players but the scheme and the coverages....

we actually were doing well against the run the first 4 games of the year, but are pass defense was atrocious because of teh scheme and playcalling. to fix that incompetent slowik decided to implement a 3-4 front with 308Lb weak as Dewayne robertson as the NT, and the proceded to use guys like jarvis moss for RDE even in 3-4 looks.

its no coiencedence that the KC game when LJ went off was the start of our run defense issues. we had gaps everywhere becasue players didnt know how to play the 3-4, we didnt have personnel, and the secondary couldnt tackle well enough to hide the fact our DL wasnt coached and didnt have a clue. After the mid season 3-4 BS, by the time we scrapped it and got guys back to normal injuries hit.....and we were f....then slowik decided the remedy would be calvin lowry, hernza jones, prevent d, and josh barret at PR....lol

im telling you right now the reason we addressed the secondary so much was becasue on tape thats what was noticable....the most....

we will be a better team on defense this year, i dont expect a top 15 run defense more like 20 or 21 ranked, but our scoring defense,turnovers, sacks, and pass defense will be much much improved.....

our Cb depth is fileld with 2 physical ballhawk nickle CB's for depth in JMFW and smith, a promising youngster in josh bell, and 2 wiley vets in goodman and bailey.....both of who are great in run support, tackling and pass defense.

our safties are filled with a improving hill, a elite pro bowl vet in dawkins, 2 very talented but new rookies, and a beast in barrett who flashed serious potential last year.....as well as a solid vet in vernon fox....

i am much more confident about this group than last year.......

Garcia Bronco · 08-05-2009, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

Bly is 100 percent correct

outdoor_miner · 08-05-2009, 07:25 AM

You left out a pretty interesting parts of the article:

Quote:

In defense of the Broncos' defensive coaches, they held season-ending evaluations of their players before they would be fired along with head coach Mike Shanahan.

According to one coach, the consensus was the first player that had to be replaced was Bly, who made roughly $17 million in his two years here.

Nate Webster would have been at the top of my list, although that may not be fair since our D-Line sucked so bad.

lex · 08-05-2009, 07:25 AM

Bly is right on this one. It was a huge problem. A 10 yard cushion on 3rd and 5!!!

WTF! It completely undermined the pass rush too. If youre a QB and the other team is giving you a quick slant for a first down, why would you ever hold on to the ball long enough to be sacked. The scheme was dreadful.

Irish Stout · 08-05-2009, 07:28 AM

It drove me nuts last year - from my perspective, Bly is right. Every single game the CB guys were way off their receivers.... sometimes 15 yards off and it was terrible.

Drek · 08-05-2009, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

Really? He didn't make too many excuses when he went to two consecutive pro-bowls, in '05 when he was still a top end corner, or his entire early career when he was an elite nickel corner on a Rams team that won a superbowl and appeared in another when he was a 2nd and 3rd year player in this league.

The guy was an elite corner for a WHILE in this league. Has he lost a step? Probably, but weak teammates and the prevent-lite defense that Marinelli and Slowick have both tried to have him play in the last few years are the real culprits for why he's been on bad D's lately.

Br0nc0Buster · 08-05-2009, 07:34 AM

Just a pathetic scheme

The whole point was to prevent big plays, yet they still gave up big plays....a lot of them

apparently to run Slowiks scheme you need an all pro defenive line and an all pro secondary, and you need to play a team that sucks on offense

Gcver2ver3 · 08-05-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

you cannot be serious...did you watch the Broncos last season?...

Bly is 150% right...the coverage was so soft, deion sanders and rod woodson would've struggled on our D last year...

Irish Stout · 08-05-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Br0nc0Buster

Just a pathetic scheme

The whole point was to prevent big plays, yet they still gave up big plays....a lot of them

apparently to run Slowiks scheme you need an all pro defenive line and an all pro secondary, and you need to play a team that sucks on offense

Slowik schemes were prevent Ds like 70% of the time. Madden said it best when he said something along the lines of "I finally figured out why they call it a prevent defense, I think the only thing it prevents you from doing is playing defense."

lex · 08-05-2009, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

Youre right but in this case, he's 100% right.

Beantown Bronco · 08-05-2009, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Br0nc0Buster

apparently to run Slowiks scheme you need an all pro defenive line and an all pro secondary, and you need to play a team that sucks on offense

Nolan's as well, if you read his quotes in the other thread.....

misturanderson · 08-05-2009, 07:52 AM

Don't let Taco in here. He was giving us all a lecture yesterday in the Shanahan at Patriots thread about how Slowick should get a pass for last year because he "didn't have time to fully implement his scheme" and needed another draft of strictly defensive players to show whether or not he was a good D-coordinator. What a joke.

Anyone with eyes should have been able to tell that Slowick was single-handedly preventing what little talent we had from reaching any sort of potential. We were not the least talented defense in the league last year, we just didn't play our best players and the players that were in were put into positions to fail (see ridiculous cushions, 6'6" 240 lb. DE in 3-4, etc.).

The fact that Shanahan is toting that POS around with him shows how much of a nepotist he is, yet people that want him back constantly speak badly of McD for his nepotism.

521 1N5 · 08-05-2009, 07:52 AM

I'm not defending Slowiks D by any means. I'm just not defending Bly's either. Guy has a big mouth, and yes I watched every second of every game last season. There were times where he bumped the man at the line and still got torched.

521 1N5 · 08-05-2009, 07:57 AM

And I'm also not gonna sit here and read comments about putting him in the same category as Champ, Deion and Woodson. Those guys would have found a way to adapt.

Gcver2ver3 · 08-05-2009, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 521 1N5

I'm not defending Slowiks D by any means. I'm just not defending Bly's either. Guy has a big mouth, and yes I watched every second of every game last season. There were times where he bumped the man at the line and still got torched.

Bly wasn't great last season...

but he played his heart out on the lousiest defense in football...

quite frankly he could've griped A LOT more and didn't...he played...

i have no problem with Bly at all...i wish him the best...

08-05-2009, 06:13 AM	#1
Lolad Ring of Famer Fan Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,517 Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller	Bly Blames "soft" coverage for D woes http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_12993576 Now it can be told. The Broncos' defense allowed 28.0 points per game last season to rank 30th in the 32-team NFL. Former Broncos cornerback Dre Bly, now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, directed much of the blame at the scheme devised by former Denver defensive coordinator Bob Slowik. "Defensively, we were awful," Bly told the San Jose Mercury News. "The D-coordinator — not to blame anything on him — but we didn't really have the personnel for what he was trying to run. We were too soft in coverage. And when you have two corners like me and Champ, you can't be soft in coverage. We were into disguising a lot, and it just didn't work." The "soft" coverage gripe was first presented by cornerback Karl Paymah after the Broncos' 26-17 home loss to Miami. In that game, Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo had 11 catches for 111 yards. Paymah said he was ordered to back off and allow Camarillo to catch the ball in front of him. The Broncos' defense posted a league-low 13 takeaways last year. "It made it look like I was probably soft in coverage, like I was scared," Bly said. "I ain't scared of nobody. "I didn't want to bring any conflict or any beef to the team. I did what I had to do. But it ended up hurting me at the end." Last edited by Lolad; 08-05-2009 at 06:24 AM..

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

08-05-2009, 06:18 AM	#2
521 1N5 Perennial Pro-bowler Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 970	Yeah okay- Face it Bly, you just aren't as good as you think you are. Every year it's a different excuse with this guy. And he never blames himself.

08-05-2009, 06:25 AM	#4
RhymesayersDU Go Broncos, Nuggets, Rox GANGNAM STYLE Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Back In The 303! Posts: 14,812 Adopt-a-Bronco: Ty Lawson	Yeah, I know a lot of people will end up bashing Bly here, but none of that was his fault. Is/was he a great corner? No. But the positions the coaches put him in were horrendous. He either had to play 10 yards off the ball and/or he was on an island with zero help behind him because safeties had to stop the run. He was set up to fail in our defense last year.

08-05-2009, 06:26 AM	#5
montrose Ring of Famer Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 6,095 Adopt-a-Bronco: VP John Elway	And Shanny wanted to keep this guy...

08-05-2009, 06:28 AM	#7
broncofan7 AKA "THE STANDARD" BQ looks ALMOST as good as I do Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: BIG D Posts: 6,022	All one had to do was read these message boards and watch ONE Broncos game to realize that what Bly said was true.........nothing novel here

08-05-2009, 06:30 AM	#8
Beantown Bronco Athletic Supporter Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mass Posts: 19,041 Adopt-a-Bronco: Matt Prater	I've always been, and still am, a big Bly supporter; but the one thing I think he's wrong about here is including Champ in this. It's an undeniable fact that Champ likes to play more off coverage as opposed to press coverage, both so he can watch the QB for an extra second or two and so that he can bait the QB into throwing his way. He has most of his success (and INTs) playing "soft". Bly, however, did go on record with his displeasure of this type of scheme in Detroit, so he is at least consistent. It was clearly not a good scheme for him.

08-05-2009, 07:25 AM	#14
lex Bowlen Sold Us Out! The Broncos have been DisemBowlened Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Chi-Town Posts: 10,253 Adopt-a-Bronco: None	Bly is right on this one. It was a huge problem. A 10 yard cushion on 3rd and 5!!! WTF! It completely undermined the pass rush too. If youre a QB and the other team is giving you a quick slant for a first down, why would you ever hold on to the ball long enough to be sacked. The scheme was dreadful.

08-05-2009, 07:28 AM	#15
Irish Stout Ring of Famer Run for it Marty! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Colorado Posts: 2,802 Adopt-a-Bronco: Wesley Woodyard	It drove me nuts last year - from my perspective, Bly is right. Every single game the CB guys were way off their receivers.... sometimes 15 yards off and it was terrible.

08-05-2009, 07:34 AM	#17
Br0nc0Buster 2012 AFC West Champs stiff arming through the playoffs Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Kansas Posts: 4,432	Just a pathetic scheme The whole point was to prevent big plays, yet they still gave up big plays....a lot of them apparently to run Slowiks scheme you need an all pro defenive line and an all pro secondary, and you need to play a team that sucks on offense

08-05-2009, 07:52 AM	#22
misturanderson Ring of Famer Why not? Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: FoCo Posts: 1,650 Adopt-a-Bronco: DemaryiusThomas	Don't let Taco in here. He was giving us all a lecture yesterday in the Shanahan at Patriots thread about how Slowick should get a pass for last year because he "didn't have time to fully implement his scheme" and needed another draft of strictly defensive players to show whether or not he was a good D-coordinator. What a joke. Anyone with eyes should have been able to tell that Slowick was single-handedly preventing what little talent we had from reaching any sort of potential. We were not the least talented defense in the league last year, we just didn't play our best players and the players that were in were put into positions to fail (see ridiculous cushions, 6'6" 240 lb. DE in 3-4, etc.). The fact that Shanahan is toting that POS around with him shows how much of a nepotist he is, yet people that want him back constantly speak badly of McD for his nepotism.

08-05-2009, 07:57 AM	#24
521 1N5 Perennial Pro-bowler Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 970	And I'm also not gonna sit here and read comments about putting him in the same category as Champ, Deion and Woodson. Those guys would have found a way to adapt.