Game Thread: Preseason v. SF

[cdumler7]

Yeah love the D so far! One thing they will have to work on in obvious passing situations vs a good running Qb is to have on guy in the middle just track the qb and stay focused on him. Be wary of a scramble up middle. That seems to be the only vulnerable spot so far.

That will be a bit of a concern. I still like the defense to stay aggressive the way they have been even if that means giving up a couple of big plays like they did with Kaep running.

Another thing I noticed about this team that is so different than past teams for the Broncos is the pressure up the middle. If you go back and watch the safety on Kaep while Ware is the hero of that play the guy that made that possible was Antonio Smith. Kaep saw Ware coming and tried to step up into the pocket but Smith had pushed his guy right into the face of Kaep making that impossible. This just makes me think of back in 2012 against the Ravens in the playoffs...I remember all game long just thinking "These guys are playing our defense perfectly." What they would do is allow Von Miller and Dumervil to even sometimes beat them to the outside but made sure they couldn't beat them to the inside. All Flacco had to do if he felt that one of them had won on the outside was then step up into the pocket where our guys got 0 push and Flacco bought himself an extra at least half second every play by doing that. This year though I don't see that being an issue unless injuries obviously happen.

 

[randymon]

Good call. I remember after watching Smith during game and what good push he was getting up middle and thinking ..I sure am glad/ hope nothing comes of his legal issue because he's played very well when he's been in. He can be very big for Denver rotation.

 

[cdumler7]

Good call. I remember after watching Smith during game and what good push he was getting up middle and thinking ..I sure am glad/ hope nothing comes of his legal issue because he's played very well when he's been in. He can be very big for Denver rotation.

Yeah that is definitely the big worry is if something all of a sudden comes of that and the team is forced to cut a guy that is showing he can contribute in a big way this year. I saw him on about 5-6 plays in this last game alone where he drove his OL guy straight back about 3-4 yards completely throwing off the offense for the 49ers. That is huge to have as a rotational piece.

 

[randymon]

Yeah Cd I can't remember or actually if ever Denver showing as much push up the middle " consistently" as they've shown so far in preseason.If they can continue to do that all year this team could be a 60 sack team! Ok,50 for sure

 

[cdumler7]

Yeah Cd I can't remember or actually if ever Denver showing as much push up the middle " consistently" as they've shown so far in preseason.If they can continue to do that all year this team could be a 60 sack team! Ok,50 for sure

Well if they continue the trend of preseason we are looking at an 80 sack season! 5 sacks a game for 16 weeks is pretty darn impressive. Now obviously that kind of production is unsustainable but they definitely should push for most sacks in the league.

 

[cdumler7]

I also forgot to add that thankfully we have made it through the major part of preseason without a major injury! Obviously I am knocking on wood right now but with the starters sitting out this next game it should mean we make it to the season with the guys we have right now. That hit on Omar Bolden definitely had me worried that he was going to be out for a while but looks like he should be fine come time for the season.

 

[randymon]

I also forgot to add that thankfully we have made it through the major part of preseason without a major injury! Obviously I am knocking on wood right now but with the starters sitting out this next game it should mean we make it to the season with the guys we have right now. That hit on Omar Bolden definitely had me worried that he was going to be out for a while but looks like he should be fine come time for the season.

Absolutely Amen to that buddy! Also think Bolden just got wind knocked out him on relatively cheap shot from Omar. I was worried too.

 

[cdumler7]

Absolutely Amen to that buddy! Also think Bolden just got wind knocked out him on relatively cheap shot from Omar. I was worried too.

They held him out of practice today but it sounds like it was just more of a precaution than that he is seriously injured. On that note Emmanuel Sanders was at practice today and the media present said he looked just as fast as ever. Lerentee McCray was back at practice as well for the first time since like August 6th. My guess is he is a little too late though to make this team. Barrett has for sure passed him on the depth chart and I don't see us keeping 5 pass rushers.

 

[randymon]

Well if they continue the trend of preseason we are looking at an 80 sack season! 5 sacks a game for 16 weeks is pretty darn impressive. Now obviously that kind of production is unsustainable but they definitely should push for most sacks in the league.

Being more of a D man myself I would love to see them number 1 all around as well. Nothing better imo than a dominant defense. Let's just hope their not last in STs . They are improving though and like you referred to earlier, just be middle of the pack in that category. That will work.

 

[58crash]

So interesting stat of the day. The Broncos when they have had their starting defense on the field has only given up 48 passing yards total in the 3 games they have played so far this preseason. Have to remember this is without Chris Harris playing in 2 of those games, Ware not playing in the 1st one, Ware and Miller leaving after just a couple of series in this last one, and our ILB position being a bit limited because of injury. Very good looking unit!

Also both Wilson and Kaepernick were sacked more times than the number of completions they had in the game. The two of them combined had 3 completions while the Broncos defense had 4 sacks against the two of them. We also caused them to have 2 fumbles and a safety against them.

It makes you wonder what the sam heck was Going on with JDR ?????? I thought we was going to kill all the QB's we faced last year??????????

 

[58crash]

it is going to be like a killer bee swarm this year !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cdumler7]

It makes you wonder what the sam heck was Going on with JDR ?????? I thought we was going to kill all the QB's we faced last year??????????

I think the issue with Del Rio is that his system honestly was just not the greatest fit for the talent we had. He played a more react as the play is happening type defense where the talent here allows for a defense to really dictate what the offense even tries to do. Del Rio also is really big into the whole idea of don't let the big play beat you. We are definitely going to be vulnerable this year to that big play happening. I saw about 3-4 plays this preseason where if our Corner doesn't make the tackle there is about 20-30 yards of open space for the receiver to run. That will be the biggest thing for this defense is can they be sound tacklers to make sure not to give up such things?

To me Del Rio is better for taking a middle of the pack type talent on defense and making them look maybe better than they are talent wise. He is not so great though of taking a defense with the talent we have and utilizing it to its full potential. Now some can argue that he did exactly what he should do with the defense in the sense of last year our offense would get big leads and what Del Rio would do is go to a softer defense to help milk the clock. The Broncos with Del Rio in town did have the best record in games where the team was winning by 7 or less points going into the 4th quarter. I think there were only 3 games under Del Rio where the team lost the game with a lead in the 4th. So maybe there is something to what he was trying to do but to me it wasn't so much those games as the games where we struggled early on. He was terrible at making adjustments and especially against great QB's his go to move was zone coverage and just don't let them beat you for the big play. So he just let them pick us apart and march down the field instead.

 

[cdumler7]

Also for those worried about our offense remember that in 2013 our starting unit went out and only scored 17 total points in the 3 games they played during the preseason. Manning has only played in 2 this year with a brand new offense being a part of the learning process and one of his biggest weapons sitting out the entire preseason in Sanders. While I am a bit nervous by what we have seen I don't think it is the time to hit the panic button just yet. Throw in we haven't had Mathis in the lineup and well that signing is something I keep getting more and more excited about!

 

[randymon]

That was big prob with Del Rio. He defense was not tough to game plan for with opposing teams. Pretty much what you saw on tape is what you got. With Phillips, you'll have no idea from game to game and who's comin and who's not.

 

[58crash]

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[cdumler7]

So was reading an interesting perspective on Manning's interception...

Essentially instead of it being a bad throw it was a very bad miscommunication. The thought is that Manning seeing that DT had single coverage turns his route into an option route. If the Corner is playing outside coverage then DT breaks inside. If he is playing inside coverage then DT breaks to the corner. If you watch right before the snap the Corner changes from outside coverage to inside coverage. I think Manning when he was doing his presnap reads saw the Corner on outside coverage where DT saw him make the last second change and went for the Corner. Obviously that leads to an easy interception. Manning had it thrown before DT broke either way so it is a matter of if they are on the same page then it is a touchdown. IF they are not well we see what happened. I've watched the play now about 5 times and I can definitely see how that could be true.

 

[cdumler7]

So some interesting stats so far for this preseason.

The Broncos starting defense (or at least some of the players) have been on the field for what has been about 9 drives against the other team's starters. So far they have given up only 6 points in those 9 drives. That amounts to giving up about .67 points per drive which last year the top team gave up 1.41 points per drive in Buffalo (this is why some would consider them to have been the better defense than that of Seattle last year). We only gave up just a hair over 40 yards passing in those 9 drives combined. We also had 2 forced fumbles and a safety in that span. Not too bad for that unit.

 

[MileHigh64]

It's pretty easy to get excited by the kind of stats our defense has put up in preseason but we'll need to temper it with the knowledge that opposing offenses are playing a vanilla game with some starters sitting on the sideline. I have no doubt that our defense if going to be good but extrapolating preseason numbers into the regular season is probably not very realistic. I guess I'm Debbie Downer today! However, I absolutely believe that the Broncos have a good shot at leading the league in sacks this season. Hopefully, they lead in the all important "points against" category. Almost here, gents. Go Broncos!

MH64

 

[cdumler7]

It's pretty easy to get excited by the kind of stats our defense has put up in preseason but we'll need to temper it with the knowledge that opposing offenses are playing a vanilla game with some starters sitting on the sideline. I have no doubt that our defense if going to be good but extrapolating preseason numbers into the regular season is probably not very realistic. I guess I'm Debbie Downer today! However, I absolutely believe that the Broncos have a good shot at leading the league in sacks this season. Hopefully, they lead in the all important "points against" category. Almost here, gents. Go Broncos!

MH64

Oh I agree can't get ahead of ourselves on this with it being preseason. I think though we can see glimpses of what this defense can be. They can be the type that carries this team even more so than the offense. I know Manning gets all the attention but I think this defense could really shock people with what they can do in a game. I do want to see though what happens when a team tries to push the ball down the field in the passing game. As I have said from the beginning this defense is very vulnerable to the big play. Pretty much this is the opposite of the defense we played last year. So that could mean we actually do give up more yards but it could mean less points. Seems opposite of what it should be but I could see that being the case.

 

[cdumler7]

Can't remember who it was on here but just to give you an idea of the preseason that Shane Ray has had so far he has graded out as the best 1st round pick so far through the first 3 games. According to PFF Shane Ray has a +6.2 grade. The next closest 1st round pick rookie is Leonard Williams with a +2.8 grade.

So far this kid has proven to be worth everything it took to trade up and get him. He has graded out positively in every game against the run and pass. Before the draft some were saying size wise he couldn't hand the run game but so far he is showing this game is not bigger than him.