Gil Brandt Predicts Chiefs to Win AFCWest

[cdumler7]

Timing...Ty Sam gets the benefit of several snaps at LT before the bullets go live...the speed won't be a shock to him...Matthews played some LT at A&M, but he said it was "different" after spending all OTAs, camp, preseason and the 1st game or 3 all at RT.

As mentioned earlier...they will actually get help from Manning too...he knows they're young and learning.

I would say the other part of this is Matthews played in the zone-read system. That is a completely different style of blocking. The nice thing with Sambrailo is he played in a very pro style offense at CSU. He said he actually did all the blocking techniques the Broncos are doing right now so it is more just learning the speed of the game and getting used to the playbook. From what I understand he and Ware have been battling pretty much every day and Ware has done a ton to try and help him out. They have even stayed after practice working on some things so hopefully that all means he will be ready come start of the season.

And like you said Manning will be their best friend as nobody knows more about when a team is looking to blitz, where they are blitzing, how to block it, etc. than that of Manning. When you throw in his ability to get rid of the football in a hurry there is definitely a reason everywhere he goes and pretty much every season he is near the bottom in times sacked for the season. I honestly do think this OL will be ok. Kubiak took a very unknown bottom of the barrel group the year before in Baltimore and helped them to grade out as the 2nd best OL in the NFL last year. Now I know they had some new moving parts that helped in that as well but as I have been telling a couple of the Ravens fans on here I think they will miss Kubiak when it comes to the blocking done up front. I know Trestman says he will run the same system as they did last year but he has never ran that system before in his life. There will be some growing pains in that process in my opinion.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I would say the other part of this is Matthews played in the zone-read system. That is a completely different style of blocking. The nice thing with Sambrailo is he played in a very pro style offense at CSU. He said he actually did all the blocking techniques the Broncos are doing right now so it is more just learning the speed of the game and getting used to the playbook. From what I understand he and Ware have been battling pretty much every day and Ware has done a ton to try and help him out. They have even stayed after practice working on some things so hopefully that all means he will be ready come start of the season.

And like you said Manning will be their best friend as nobody knows more about when a team is looking to blitz, where they are blitzing, how to block it, etc. than that of Manning. When you throw in his ability to get rid of the football in a hurry there is definitely a reason everywhere he goes and pretty much every season he is near the bottom in times sacked for the season. I honestly do think this OL will be ok. Kubiak took a very unknown bottom of the barrel group the year before in Baltimore and helped them to grade out as the 2nd best OL in the NFL last year. Now I know they had some new moving parts that helped in that as well but as I have been telling a couple of the Ravens fans on here I think they will miss Kubiak when it comes to the blocking done up front. I know Trestman says he will run the same system as they did last year but he has never ran that system before in his life. There will be some growing pains in that process in my opinion.

jmho...you get 5 pro caliber players that are pretty smart...give them enough reps as a group and you can have a solid OL...Bell is a great player, but the Steeler OL is a great example of the sum being much greater than the parts...Pouncey is a pro bowler and DeCastro is flourishing now at RG, but LG and both Ts imo are just okay players...last year year played nearly every game as a group...very few OL changes...they looked like a playoff type OL.

Kubiak is a good coach...couldn't quite get over the hump in HOU, but I like him a lot. I think you guy will be fine post- Manning with him running the show.

 

[iknowftbll]

For a good part of the off season, Chiefs fans have told us our O-line will be crap and theirs will be much improved (with no credible explanation as to why it would be much improved). All the while we have acknowledged our O-line is an area of question on this Broncos team. I think we saw some positive in the first pre-season game and they'll get another good test tomorrow against Houston. Meanwhile if you read the game threads on AP and AA it's pretty funny stuff. The Chiefs line doesn't appear to be doing very well. I realize it's pre-season and there is a lot of time for them to get better before the season starts. Still, it's fun to see them starting to wonder if that line will be "much improved" as they've claimed all off season. And with some ferocious pass rushing D's early in their slate, the Chiefs could be staring an 0-2 start square in the face!

 

[58crash]

The Running game is what saved Elway and is what will give Manning new life that and Kubiak has done this before Elway said he needed to be held back and it paid off ..

 

[cdumler7]

All I kept thinking watching that Chiefs game last night was "Alex Smith is who we have thought he is." All off season I have been hearing that adding Maclin would help the team push the ball down the field and other than the first pass all I saw was the same dink and dunk that has defined Alex Smith's career. His deep ball when he has thrown it has been terrible. I guess he did have one other throw later in the game where his receiver had like 2 steps on the defender for a big time touchdown and Alex Smith decides to throw a back shoulder pass? It was a terrible throw and just showed his unwillingness to push the ball down the field.

Defensively the Chiefs looked great. If they are playoff bound it is because that defense plays lights out all season long.

 

[iknowftbll]

^ Agree. It's early, but so far the samples indicate I may have given the Chiefs a little too much credit. I viewed them as a playoff team this season, but that O-line is going to cost them games if they don't get it together. They're not a lock to win week 1 at Houston (they never were) and despite the circumstances being stacked in their favor for week 2 vs the Broncos, I still really like our chances in that game.

The 2006 Broncos had a pretty lights out defense but the offense that year was bad. It wore on the defense and what started out as a record-setting pace on D ended in a 9-7 finish outside of the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see this out of the Chiefs if that line can't get it together. Maclin's addition won't mean a thing even if Smith does change his willingness to throw downfield. Deep pass plays take longer to develop and Smith will be roadkill by the time he reaches his release point.

 

[cdumler7]

I do have to remember to give them a slight pass for yesterday as both their starting OT's were out but neither of them have shown much ability beyond being average either so at this time going to be interesting to see how they try to help Alex Smith with so many great pass rushers coming at him early and often. Heck he was even walking gingerly after the game yesterday with how many hits he took.