Game Thread: Preseason at Seattle

[Malibu]

Forgot to add that I was very impressed with Garcia but must admit I'm a Gator homer but I see others were impressed as well.

 

[cdumler7]

Forgot to add that I was very impressed with Garcia but must admit I'm a Gator homer but I see others were impressed as well.

He has had a very impressive camp so far and definitely looked pretty stout today. The coaches were also praising Paradis for his play. Sambrailo was definitely up and down but definitely seemed to settle down after the first couple of series.

Also just for an update for people CJ Anderson is fine. He tweaked his ankle a bit but if it was an actual game that mattered he would have been right back in the game after sitting out a couple of plays. Coaches decided wasn't worth the risk.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Forgot to add that I was very impressed with Garcia but must admit I'm a Gator homer but I see others were impressed as well.

You and I are going to get along just fine.

 

[Draft Crazy]

You and I are going to get along just fine.

You and I are going to get along just fine.

Bronco fans, Gators fans. Living in the midwest.

 

[iknowftbll]

I didn't see the entire game. Pretty much the second qtr and 3rd qrtr before drifting off to sleep (east coast, it was past midnight and it's just a pre-season game). Overall I like what I saw. That O-line looked solid. Oz had some pretty good pass protection and the run blocking was awesome. We've acknowledged this area could potentially be the team's undoing but many of us have been cautiously optimistic. I remain cautiously optimistic but last night was a great start for this unit.

Defense: wasn't it nice to see stunts and pressure? Wasn't it nice to see LBers built for rushing the passer actually rushing the passer instead of dropping into coverage? Much has been made in the off season about how the Chiefs have the best defense in the AFC West. As TE pieces came together, staring with the WP hire, I've suspected this Broncos unit will actually be better than the Chiefs. One preseason game does not make it so, but it is the first step in confirming my confidence. The Broncos defense in 2015 is going to maul some teams.

Special teams: wow. That was ugly. You cannot ignore the importance of special teams. This phase can completely undermine a good team. Special teams play accounted for at least 10 points for the Seahawks. Better ST play and an otherwise dominant game is completely dominant, right down to final, albeit meaningless score. This unit had better gets its act together.

Why it matters: it was @ Seattle. The Seahawks are a good team and even though they did not play all their starters, (neither did the Broncos) they take their preseason games more seriously than most teams. More scheming, etc. it's a recent thing that really emerged in 2012. Their fans really care about the preseason wins too, and tend to read a lot into them. So to go in there in preseason mode against a team that is pretty darn good AND cares about wins in the preseason and slap that team around is a good sign.

These factors aside, it is just preseason game 1 and much room for improvement before the Broncos host the Ravens.

 

[Broncosballer32]

Defense: wasn't it nice to see stunts and pressure? Wasn't it nice to see LBers built for rushing the passer actually rushing the passer instead of dropping into coverage? Much has been made in the off season about how the Chiefs have the best defense in the AFC West. As TE pieces came together, staring with the WP hire, I've suspected this Broncos unit will actually be better than the Chiefs. One preseason game does not make it so, but it is the first step in confirming my confidence. The Broncos defense in 2015 is going to maul some teams.

Yeap, and the only real creativity you can have with different stunts and blitz packages is out of the 3-4 look. Now, they can really use Von Miller creatively. He was already dynamic enough when he rushed the passer as a DE in the 4-3, which is what he did since 2011.

No real creativity at all. Pretty much always from the LE position. No real problem for the opposing offense to identify where he was rushing from, and that was pretty much ONLY when he was lined up as DE and not OLB in the 4-3. He hardly ever blitzed when he was kicked back as LB.

Like I said, no creativity at all. Ware, also played ALL of his best years as a 3-4 OLB. Many defenders over the last 4 years were not being utilized for their real strengths. That, more than any reason was why I was crying for the 3-4.

Plus, as many people knew that have read my posts, I was never fond of the high passing offense that put up pin ball numbers in the regular season, but hardly ever wins a championship. Strong run or strong balance coupled with a decent defense is what usually gets it done.

Top 10 most prolific passing offenses in the history of the NFL, only ONE won a super bowl. The 1999 Rams, and that team won the NFCC game 11 to 6. Yes, the Bucs defense that year shut them down. Just saying.

 

[iknowftbll]

^well said, BB. The only thing better than JDR being gone is him now coaching the Raiders and being on the wrong side of all this defensive talent wrecking shop against his new team twice a year!

 

[randymon]

Where was my l"ll " buddy Bibbs ????? Waaaaa!. Not to impressed with Stewart and poor Juwan had to run behind 3-6 string O-line. Not fair Overall, loved what I saw except like everyone else, terrible St coverage. PS Lockette is going to cause lots of probs with his return skills and have feeling he will get plenty of action in slot before too long. Td must be so proud. His "lil" buddy did good!

 

[LGM]

Garcia, Oz, Duncan, latimer all looked great.

Odd that Virgil made so many errors blocking and looked great recieving.

If Hillman makes good yardage, the oline performed well.

Glad we got a good long look at the oline and Oz. I hope this continues.
DC is a troll.
Fire the new ST coach now.
Number 20 on ST and defense needs to be the first cut.

 

[SpringStein]

Eh, I'm not so upset about the STs, although obviously disappointed with the results last night. They were obviously looking at a lot of young players. Maybe you noticed that the MVP of STs, Bruton, didn't play last night. Neither did Bolden. And I'm sure others who will be there on September 13. DeCamilis is a really good ST coach.

 

[cdumler7]

Where was my l"ll " buddy Bibbs ????? Waaaaa!. Not to impressed with Stewart and poor Juwan had to run behind 3-6 string O-line. Not fair Overall, loved what I saw except like everyone else, terrible St coverage. PS Lockette is going to cause lots of probs with his return skills and have feeling he will get plenty of action in slot before too long. Td must be so proud. His "lil" buddy did good!

Randymon I was wondering the same thing about Bibbs. They had said at practice he was averaging something like 8 yards a carry most days so then to not see him is a bit confusing. I do have a small guess to this that the team knows the kid is a talent but they are hoping to store him one more year on the practice squad since the RB position is just so deep. If Bibbs goes out and has an incredible preseason then of course he is going to be picked up.

I also thought as soon as I saw Lockette take off the first time TD must be going crazy yelling at the TV "SEE SEE I told you we should have drafted this kid!" He definitely does look like a talent. The Broncos helped him a bit with that but he made some nice moves. His punt return where he had 3 Bronco players all in a row and yet he still found a way to get around them should show this kid has a bright future at least on special teams.

Somebody else brought this up but just figured post this in one post. They did comment last night that the Seahawks are one of the few teams that do somewhat game plan for games. They said Wilson was watching tape of Wade Phillips' defenses down in Houston to get ready for this game. So the fact that the Seahawks do put a bigger emphasis on the preseason and do at least do some game film work should show the Broncos have some major promise moving forward with how well they dominated especially the LOS in my opinion.

I also wanted to add that I think Hillman has made this team. I know many of us when predicting our final 53 roster didn't have him on there but he definitely does add a unique skill set to our running game. His speed and ability for the big play is matched by no other RB. I still hate the way he carries the football. I don't know how many times I saw him when he got into traffic still carrying it with one hand as he is too afraid to lose his speed. That is going to come back and bite him and the team at some point this season if they don't fix that.

 

[Duffman]

Eh, I'm not so upset about the STs, although obviously disappointed with the results last night. They were obviously looking at a lot of young players. Maybe you noticed that the MVP of STs, Bruton, didn't play last night. Neither did Bolden. And I'm sure others who will be there on September 13. DeCamilis is a really good ST coach.

Bruton played both on Defense and special teams last night.

 

[SpringStein]

Bruton played both on Defense and special teams last night.

I missed that. He's usually around the ball as the gunner, so not sure how I didn't notice. I still have faith that we are going to be better than last year on STs.

 

[cdumler7]

I missed that. He's usually around the ball as the gunner, so not sure how I didn't notice. I still have faith that we are going to be better than last year on STs.

It is definitely something not to panic about just like we can't get too excited about how the defense and offense looked at times yesterday. It is still preseason so always have to keep that in mind. I do think when you have 90 guys on a roster and are trying to get as many of them into the game as possible it does lead to some major miscommunications. It is why you see such low scores usually during the preseason in most drives there is that one really bad miscommunication that cost the team the drive. We saw that plenty last night and why we so often had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns.

 

[randymon]

Hey Cd and others. My kindle seems to be acting like a jerk lately and not sending my analytic Noble Prize winning responses back at you. Starting to piss me off actually. I like to sit in my backyard, have a beer, shoot some heroin and enjoy the breeze. You know, normal stuff. So just want ya to know I always try to respond to posts esp if directed at me. After I`ve typed my masterpiece and it doesn`t go thru, I lose my accentive. Anyway,on my PC in the hot sticky house and wanted to ask you guys ( was thinking about cds response to Bibbs not playing) when do teams have to announce their Practice Squad players? I know, I mean I think, its before final roster cuts,right?

 

[cdumler7]

Hey Cd and others. My kindle seems to be acting like a jerk lately and not sending my analytic Noble Prize winning responses back at you. Starting to piss me off actually. I like to sit in my backyard, have a beer, shoot some heroin and enjoy the breeze. You know, normal stuff. So just want ya to know I always try to respond to posts esp if directed at me. After I`ve typed my masterpiece and it doesn`t go thru, I lose my accentive. Anyway,on my PC in the hot sticky house and wanted to ask you guys ( was thinking about cds response to Bibbs not playing) when do teams have to announce their Practice Squad players? I know, I mean I think, its before final roster cuts,right?

The way it works from what I understand and somebody can correct me if wrong is on the final cut down day to 53 all of those players become FA's that are cut. The team will then form their Practice Squad with the understanding that any of those players can be signed by another team at any moment as long as it is to the active roster. So yes they form it right away but usually after it is formed they change about another 2-3 times after teams claim certain players.

 

[cdumler7]

Anybody else watching the Chiefs game right now?

 

[SpringStein]

Watching the Rockies...once every five days when Jon Gray is pitching.

 

[cdumler7]

Watching the Rockies...once every five days when Jon Gray is pitching.

Haha I can understand that. The kid definitely looks like a future star. I've been listening to 104.3 the fan and they cannot shut up about the kid. I guess when your team sucks you hold onto every little thing that you can that is positive.

 

[iknowftbll]

Anybody else watching the Chiefs game right now?

I would be, but my wife won't let me. Now hear me out! She has a point: when the regular season kicks off our social calendar literally revolves around the Broncos and to a lesser extent, nfl football. She can't make a social commitment without clearing it with me and I can't commit until I've de-conflicted with the Broncos schedule or any potential games I want to see. Further, I all but monopolize tv time with football once the regular season begins. With all this said, my wife is well within her rights (being very accommodating during the regular season) to say "hell no!" to me watching a preseason game that doesn't include the Broncos!