Week 4: Time to sink the Bucs.

[cdumler7]

Well today at practice it was a hat day. Kubiak said that with these 3 games in a row of it looking like it will be hot he wants to try and save the players. Also talked about the focus this team has so not worried about going with hats until they show they are not focused.

Injury updates

Did not practice
Virgil Green--Still day to day but I think most think he will play this Sunday
Shiloh Keo--Has a swollen knee
Donald Stephenson--Chance he plays this Sunday is getting smaller by the day. Looks like he could need another week.
Ware--of course we expected this

Limited
TJ Ward--Had a stinger on Sunday so no surprise that he is taking it a bit easy
Justin Simmons--Was inactive this last week with a hurt hand if I remember right so probably just easing him along a bit. Safety depth getting a little banged up again this year.

 

[SpringStein]

He made it to our practice squad.

Broncos sign NT Kyle Peko to practice squad, waive S Ryan Murphy

Also just a quick fact. Right now @SpringStein has just as many sacks this season as Khalil Mack the guy many picked to be the NFL DPOY. Way to go SpringStein.

Why, thank you very much!

 

[Mingo]

He made it to our practice squad.

Broncos sign NT Kyle Peko to practice squad, waive S Ryan Murphy

Also just a quick fact. Right now @SpringStein has just as many sacks this season as Khalil Mack the guy many picked to be the NFL DPOY. Way to go SpringStein.

Extremely funny and extremely well deserved by Springstein.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Carl just jinxed us on Mack. He woke a sleeping beast.

Thanks for link on Peko. Not sure why it was never announced on my application, nor ESPN transactions nor the Bronco roster update. But good news. Thought that was very odd.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Well today at practice it was a hat day. Kubiak said that with these 3 games in a row of it looking like it will be hot he wants to try and save the players. Also talked about the focus this team has so not worried about going with hats until they show they are not focused.

Injury updates

Did not practice
Virgil Green--Still day to day but I think most think he will play this Sunday
Shiloh Keo--Has a swollen knee
Donald Stephenson--Chance he plays this Sunday is getting smaller by the day. Looks like he could need another week.
Ware--of course we expected this

Limited
TJ Ward--Had a stinger on Sunday so no surprise that he is taking it a bit easy
Justin Simmons--Was inactive this last week with a hurt hand if I remember right so probably just easing him along a bit. Safety depth getting a little banged up again this year.

Green makes me a little nervous though. Will be even more nervous if he doesn't practice tomorrow.

Stephenson was expected to miss 2-3 weeks so would have really been a slight surprise to me had he played this week. Really I don't see a major need to push him to play this week.

 

[cdumler7]

Green makes me a little nervous though. Will be even more nervous if he doesn't practice tomorrow.

Stephenson was expected to miss 2-3 weeks so would have really been a slight surprise to me had he played this week. Really I don't see a major need to push him to play this week.

Yeah I am a bit nervous about Green as he does sometimes have injuries that just seem to never quite go away. So if we don't have to rush him back I would rather give him another week. If he is ready though then just another boost to an already improving offense.

Stephenson I agree I would rather not push him. He had this injury already once during training camp so seems like something that is just not quite fully healing. And this week we are playing a team that doesn't have the greatest pass rush in the world and the DE on that end is actually injured with an ankle injury so will possibly be slowed down a bit. Give Sambrailo another chance and see how he does not that he has gotten his feet wet and not have Stephenson come back until he is fully healed. This is a long season. I would rather see these guys missing games now than in December.

 

[cdumler7]

Carl just jinxed us on Mack. He woke a sleeping beast.

Thanks for link on Peko. Not sure why it was never announced on my application, nor ESPN transactions nor the Bronco roster update. But good news. Thought that was very odd.

Sorry guys. My bad on waking him up. Just found it funny that maybe half the national media folks picked him to win DPOY and well up to this point his season has been a bit of a disappointment. Throw in he probably won't have that 5 sack game at some point this season that really helps pad his stats.

 

[Draft Crazy]

One of my best friends is a Raiders fan. I like Mack and Cooper both, but I am tired of hearing about them. He's been quiet on both since the season started.

 

[cdumler7]

One of my best friends is a Raiders fan. I like Mack and Cooper both, but I am tired of hearing about them. He's been quiet on both since the season started.

Well I just remember the article that came out from PFF that stated they thought Mack was a better player than Miller. While I think Mack is a heck of a talent and truly is a top-10 defensive talent in this league I just haven't seen him outside of a few big games be the consistent impact player that Von is. And also be the guy that when his team absolutely needs a play he is the one that ups his game.

Really the entire Raiders team and just the love they got this off season making it sound like they had already arrived just got to me a bit. We have seen way too many teams that "win" the off season then be terrible during the season or just never quite live up to the hype. WE are still young into the season so have to see what they do but so far I have not been impressed with them at all. I think as the schedule gets harder they are not going to like what they see.

 

[randymon]

Mack has 0 sacks I believe, and only 1 TFL so far. Surprising to say the least. Still plenty of time left but that D for Raiders hasn't lived up to the prediction of being much improved this year. Maybe Rio is involving himself to much.

 

[cdumler7]

Mack has 0 sacks I believe, and only 1 TFL so far. Surprising to say the least. Still plenty of time left but that D for Raiders hasn't lived up to the prediction of being much improved this year. Maybe Rio is involving himself to much.

Well he did just this last week take over the playcalling. They had a decent week defensively but it was the Titans. Right now they are tied for dead last in points per game. So not exactly going to start thinking their defense has arrived. Hard to erase how terrible they looked those first 2 weeks of the season.

 

[cdumler7]

I really really hope that after this year we can find some way to keep DeMarcus Ware involved with this team. He could easily become one of the best defensive minds coaching wise if he really wants to be.

Even with him injured this is what he spent his down time doing. When the defensive players walked in on Monday after the game he already had a game plan ready and film study ready for the players. This is why he is a captain and why even injured he is such a value to this franchise.

 

[randymon]

I really really hope that after this year we can find some way to keep DeMarcus Ware involved with this team. He could easily become one of the best defensive minds coaching wise if he really wants to be.

Even with him injured this is what he spent his down time doing. When the defensive players walked in on Monday after the game he already had a game plan ready and film study ready for the players. This is why he is a captain and why even injured he is such a value to this franchise.

You would have to think when Ware decides to retire and is interested in coaching, Elway would jump on that in a heartbeat.

 

[Mingo]

You would have to think when Ware decides to retire and is interested in coaching, Elway would jump on that in a heartbeat.

No, because jumping on things in a heart beat costs more money.

 

[cdumler7]

Well final injury report did come out today.

For the Broncos they will once again be without the services of Virgil Green, DeMarcus Ware, and Donald Stephenson. All 3 are listed as out for this game.

Beyond them we have Shiloh Keo and Justin Simmons listed as questionable.

For the Bucs we will not get to see

Robert Ayers, Doug Martin, Cecil Shorts, or Luke Stocker. All 4 are listed as out.

Joe Hawley is listed as question but most likely will play.


Beyond that John Phillips will once again get the start but they are expecting big things for Heuerman in this one. Sambrailo will get the start at RT.

Interesting stat of the day...Broncos have only scored 6 points in the 1st quarter so far this season. That ranks 3rd worst. Bucs only have scored 9. Broncos have also given up big points at the beginning of games so need to see if they can reverse that trend.

Another great stat is that the Bucs actually don't throw deep a whole lot. Right now Winston only averages 6.54 yards per attempt which ranks 29th. He also has only been sacked 5 times in 3 games. So he is getting it out of his hands decently quick. When I watched him there was some of that but he also loves to dance around some so I think the chances will be there the Broncos just have to take advantage of when he wants to dance around.

And just wanted to share this because well it is pretty cool

 

[cdumler7]

I read a Tampa Bay Buccaneer analyst's perspective on what they should try to do this game offensively to get after the Broncos defense and it somewhat cracked me up. Just reading it makes me think they haven't watched a ton of the Broncos this year/last. Teams have tried exactly what this writer spoke about with little to no success.

Pretty much they said to slow down our pass rush throw the quick slants and go to the screen pass often. Two issues come to mind when doing this. The Broncos Corners love to sit on those type of routes to lead to the big play. Week 1 that is the exact play ran when Chris Harris got his interception where he stuck his hand in and tipped the ball up then made a great play. Part of what makes this team so great is that the Corners can be just as aggressive as that of the pass rush. They know the pass rush will get home so they are hoping teams will show those quick throws so they can make the big play.

Second is that our pass rush is not dependent on the blitz to get home. The Screen Pass works great if teams are blitzing all the time and are using that to generate a pass rush. The Broncos though for the most part get home with 4 or 5 man rushes which leaves our ILB's clean to go make a play on those screen plays. Throw in they are dealing with some very smart players that recognize when a screen pass is happening. So there is a reason that teams just don't do these as often as one might think. The teams have actually watched the film and realized these routes don't work a ton to slow down our team. Honestly the one route that I have seen that has a little success against our team is that of the quick out. Our Corners usually play inside leverage. Great teams can do this because it makes the windows to the outside small but pretty much dares a QB to have to fit passes into those tight windows to find success. I remember last year when we played the Bengals and their QB had success early in the game throwing those routes. The WR's though had to make some outstanding catches and it was easy to see that this style of offense was unsustainable.

 

[Mingo]

Nice observations Carl - once again.

 

[cdumler7]

I didn't realize this but our secondary has actually been outperforming the group from last year. They are averaging 32 yards less given up through the air per game and QB Rating is actually 8 points lower this year compared to last with us only giving up a 68 QB rating. When you consider who we have played at the QB position it is down right impressive that this group is looking even better!

 

[cdumler7]

Just some final thoughts as probably won't be back on until Monday.

I hate those weeks where almost everybody actually picks us to win. Almost enjoy that underdog role all the more.

Still I really do like this match up. The Bucs love to throw the football around. No team has thrown the football more over the last 2 weeks of the season than that of the Bucs. So that plays right into the strength of our defense and I could see one of our biggest turnover games of the season. So the offense might have some very nice field position and opportunities to really take control of this game.

Biggest thing for me that I will be looking for is the coaches have spoke this week of knowing they need to start out the game on both sides of the ball much better than they have. I'm just wondering what kind of adjustments they have made to actually bring that about.

Finally a big thing to me would be seeing Siemian have a 2nd game in a row without an interception. Had a couple of close calls this past week so would love to see him clean some of that up and just go out and have a big day. I think with Ayers out (crazy to think he is one of their best pass rushers) the Bucs are going to have to take some chances with blitzes and hoping their corners can handle man coverage. So Siemian is going to have his opportunities for some big plays. Just a matter of can the OL hold up and can Siemian make the right decisions. Big opportunity for Siemian to establish himself all the more that he isn't just a one week wonder but is quickly becoming a consistent start in this league.

 

[Mingo]

I agree this will be big game for Siemian. As Springstein pointed out this is a late start in hot and humid Florida - tough on a visiting team and historically tough on the Denver Broncos. Siemian has to show the leadership in a game like this being as close to a trap game as any on the schedule. A QB does that by commanding the huddle and executing his part of the play called. Also agree that the will need to show he can make the reads and throw over a blitzing defense - if he can do that no defense can cheat on his Quarterbacking one way or another. Siemian will also be taking off on some runs - you would never see from PFM.

Should be a good game to set up the Broncos running game for the rest of the season. So the Oline needs to continue to jell in order to make that happen. It should result in more touchdowns in the red zone.

Go Broncos.