Actually TBH....Ferguson wasn't all that bad. He should've been a LB though cause dude got toasted a bit in the secondary from what I can remember.
Meh...somebody blew an assignment
Probably a combination of all the above.
Woodyard has not been playing well consistently. Possibly due to his injuries. Teh benching may be a little bit of all 3.
Get him rested and healthy.
Put him on notice he needs to step it up and light a fire under his ass.
Give the other guys some playing time to see what you got/who steps up.
The next 3 weeks will be interesting to watch at a lot of DB and LB positions.
Hopefully Champ can get it rolling.
I was doing my pro-bowl vote and felt guilty about voting him in since he has played so little. But his reputation alone gets my vote.
So interesting thing. I was voting and looking at player stats across the league and a lot of Buffalo Bills Defensive players really stood out.
Mario Williams DE at DE 12 sacks.
Jerry Hughes OLB 8 sacks
Aaron Williams SS 76 tackles 3 INT
Jairus Byrd, FS 33 tackles 3 INT
Now they are not great against the run and the CB are not standouts but their LBers Safeties and DT/DE get after the QB and are ball hawks. Their pass rush is a big part of why they are good defending the pass and lead the league with 44 sacks and are 2nd with 18 INTs.
This aspect of their defense is why Buffalo had some good showings against some good teams earlier in the season.
Why bring up the bills you ask? Broncos are in the middle of the pack rushing the QB with 34 sacks and and up there with 15 INTs.
Shaun Phillips has 9 sacks on the season and Von Miller has 4 in 7 games. Wolfe has 4 but he is out for who knows how long.
Failure to get pressure on the QB is making your Defensive Backfield work harder to cover and leaves them exposed longer than they can effectively cover.
We want to blame a lot of individuals or the defense as a whole, but it all stems form the ability to get to the QB. And not just sacks but pressures where he is forced to get ridof the ball or throw it before he is ready.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sigprp43de.png
Broncos just are not doing a very good job of pressuring the QB or sacking him consistently.
While individual performances can be critiqued, and Miller's 6 game suspension is certainly part of that, I think the real accountability here should fall on Jack Del Rio.
Not sure if his schemes are not being executed properly and it is a personell issue or if he is not scheming well to begin with.
Probably a little of both.
But he does seem to do a pretty good job of 2nd half adjustments.
My issue is that we seem to get off to a slow start, especially defensively lately, and in the playoffs, that could be a killer.
Like to see the defense come in and execute better these last 3 games and show a complete game performance with better consistency through all 4 quarters.
Because that is what it is going to take to win against a team like Seattle.
