Super Bowl 50

[iknowftbll]

Much has been made of how this defense will match up with the Panthers up front. What I've not heard a lot of is how well-suited our secondary is to cover their WRs and the TE Olson. This surprises me because our ability to play man against this group is likely the Broncos bid for success against the Panthers offense. Our guys' ability to cover means the front 7 will have some flexibility containing Newton, rushing the interior, and not being overly vulnerable to the run. The Panthers line is far better than the Patriots, but if the edges can contain Newton, the interior rush can get through because Newton holds the ball longer than Brady already, and with our secondary blanketing the pass game, it should present opportunities to either get sacks or maybe even turnovers on a bad throw.

What say you all? CD has done a lot of film study. What are our prospects on defense in the secondary?

 

[TDs3nOut]

Much has been made of how this defense will match up with the Panthers up front. What I've not heard a lot of is how well-suited our secondary is to cover their WRs and the TE Olson. This surprises me because our ability to play man against this group is likely the Broncos bid for success against the Panthers offense. Our guys' ability to cover means the front 7 will have some flexibility containing Newton, rushing the interior, and not being overly vulnerable to the run. The Panthers line is far better than the Patriots, but if the edges can contain Newton, the interior rush can get through because Newton holds the ball longer than Brady already, and with our secondary blanketing the pass game, it should present opportunities to either get sacks or maybe even turnovers on a bad throw.

What say you all? CD has done a lot of film study. What are our prospects on defense in the secondary?

I certainly expect our defense to present problems for the Carolina offense. I'm not sure that people understand just how capable we are of bringing pressure up the middle. Miller and Ware probably won't pressure Newton the way that they did Brady, but your point about the "flexibility" of our front seven is a good one, in my opinion.

 

[Orange Crush77]

Keep Cam in the pocket, collapse said pocket.

 

[randymon]

Much has been made of how this defense will match up with the Panthers up front. What I've not heard a lot of is how well-suited our secondary is to cover their WRs and the TE Olson. This surprises me because our ability to play man against this group is likely the Broncos bid for success against the Panthers offense. Our guys' ability to cover means the front 7 will have some flexibility containing Newton, rushing the interior, and not being overly vulnerable to the run. The Panthers line is far better than the Patriots, but if the edges can contain Newton, the interior rush can get through because Newton holds the ball longer than Brady already, and with our secondary blanketing the pass game, it should present opportunities to either get sacks or maybe even turnovers on a bad throw.

What say you all? CD has done a lot of film study. What are our prospects on defense in the secondary?

Actually have heard quite a few analysts talk about how Denver's secondary can be big problem for Cam and for exactly the reasons you reiterated. Making Cam hold ball to long will let rush get to him and force throws. Denver's D can cause Cam all kinds of problems. It's our offense that worries me. Can they move sticks,keep D fresh and avoid turnovers and short fields for Carolina offense.

 

[iknowftbll]

Randy, do you think the offense can get us 23, 24 points? Maybe the defense can help with a turnover and a short field. I think the offense can get us a couple touchdowns and some field goals and play the same kind of game they've played all season.

 

[randymon]

Randy, do you think the offense can get us 23, 24 points? Maybe the defense can help with a turnover and a short field. I think the offense can get us a couple touchdowns and some field goals and play the same kind of game they've played all season.

My gut is telling me that this game might not need 24 pts to win it. Unless there's a rash of turnovers from both teams, I can see this being a 20-17 game or less. If Peyton and offense perform like they did vs NE but with a better 2nd half, they can put up 24 or 27 points. If Denver gets run game going and Cam's legs cause big problems, all bets are off regarding my " gut ". They could put up 60 points between them. Hopefully Denver plays exactly like they did in AFC Championship game and I think it will be enough to win.

 

[Mingo]

Actually have heard quite a few analysts talk about how Denver's secondary can be big problem for Cam and for exactly the reasons you reiterated. Making Cam hold ball to long will let rush get to him and force throws. Denver's D can cause Cam all kinds of problems. It's our offense that worries me. Can they move sticks,keep D fresh and avoid turnovers and short fields for Carolina offense.

The Denver run game is well suited to this Panther team - the zone blocking and the cut back runs take the speed advantage away from the D. The Broncos have the same problem on Defense. I would expect Miller and Ware to anchor the outside contain and let the rush come from the interior - or in a stunt that allows Miller or Ware's outside responsibility to be covered. One thing the Broncos haven't done all season - is to blitz the MLB - Marshall or Trevathan.

 

[randymon]

The Denver run game is well suited to this Panther team - the zone blocking and the cut back runs take the speed advantage away from the D. The Broncos have the same problem on Defense. I would expect Miller and Ware to anchor the outside contain and let the rush come from the interior - or in a stunt that allows Miller or Ware's outside responsibility to be covered. One thing the Broncos haven't done all season - is to blitz the MLB - Marshall or Trevathan.

I agree Mingo that the rush has to come from the interior of Denver's D line and because of the size of those Carolina O line Denver is going to have to get the middle linebackers involved and also have Ware and Miller play more containment on edges mixed in with the all out outside rush. I have good feeling Phillips will have great game plan and if the players execute as well as they did vs NE, Denver will fare very well on D at least.

 

[58crash]

God I hope this staff is ready for crowd noise ..think about that ...fox...

 

[WalkerBoh]

If the Falcons can hold Carolina to 13 points, surely our defense can hold it's own ;-)

 

[randymon]

One thing I think that will also benefit Denver in this game will be home field advantage. There is a pretty good fan base for Denver in California as many transplants come from Colorado. The 49er fans do not like Carolina and Cam isn`t as popular here,for whatever reasons,as he would be in a East Coast SB or even MidWest SB. I`am willing to bet that the fans in this game will be favoring broncos for most part. I know money is issue but there is a ton of money in SF and in this state. I don`t care how many Panther fans get here but they`ll still be out numbered drastically At least that`s my thinking. Hopefully I`am right and the noise factor will be favoring our Broncos. I have been wrong before, as many of you will attest, but mostly it`s not my fault.

 

[iknowftbll]

^ I was thinking that same thing, Randy. I lived in Monterey a couple years ago and went up to see the Colorado Buffaloes play Cal and Stanford a couple times. Between the two games the Buffs got crushed 100-14. What was awesome was that at both games there were at least 10-12,000 Buffs fans. A fellow Buffs fan told me the Bay Area has the country's highest concentration of CU grads outside of Colorado. I wonder if this concentration of Colorado grads translates into Broncos fans too. I'm sure there is a pretty solid correlation.

 

[TDs3nOut]

God I hope this staff is ready for crowd noise ..think about that ...fox...

This time, all the injured Denver Broncos will go, too (Jan 30, 2016)

Excerpt:
''Yeah, we're practicing with noise,'' Kubiak said after practice Saturday. ''Peyton mentioned that to me and so we took the approach this week to practice with noise.''

 

[cdumler7]

Crowd noise as TD pointed out has been something they actually prepared for this time around. Sounds like the team is much more prepared. Heck Kubiak when he went to speak on Friday had a huge smile on his face and they asked him about it and he said it was because of just how great practice went!

As for defensively how we match up in the secondary. I am torn on this one. There are some of the players we match up well with and others we don't. Funchess seems like the perfect guy for Talib to completely eliminate from the game. He loves those physical receivers that don't have the top gear so he can play aggressive against him. At the same time we know that the receivers who have beaten us this year are the speedsters and well Ginn has plenty of that. So while I think Harris can handle him for the most part with playing off man coverage and maybe erring on the side of him going deep I do worry about us getting beat over the top. Olson is a tough match up for anybody. This is why it is important for us to get healthy in the safety position. When both Stewart and Ward were in during the AFC Championship game Gronk was worthless. As soon as both of those guys went out though all of a sudden Gronk went crazy on us. We have to have Ward and Stewart be able to last at least 80% of the game if we are to stand a chance.

Now here comes the hard part. We have been a man coverage team say 85% of the time this year. The problem with that style of defense is that a running QB can pick up huge yards if he breaks through the initial line of scrimmage. Zone coverage actually is the best remedy for a running QB so honestly you could see us play a bit more zone in this one to make sure that Cam doesn't escape. The other option is to play man coverage but have Marshall or Trevathan spend the entire game with the assignment of just following Cam wherever he goes making sure he can't escape. This would be my choice actually as it allows our guys to do what they do best and 5 guys coming after Cam sounds like a good way to get lots of hits on a guy that hasn't been hit all that much this year.

 

[iknowftbll]

Now here comes the hard part. We have been a man coverage team say 85% of the time this year. The problem with that style of defense is that a running QB can pick up huge yards if he breaks through the initial line of scrimmage. Zone coverage actually is the best remedy for a running QB so honestly you could see us play a bit more zone in this one to make sure that Cam doesn't escape. The other option is to play man coverage but have Marshall or Trevathan spend the entire game with the assignment of just following Cam wherever he goes making sure he can't escape. This would be my choice actually as it allows our guys to do what they do best and 5 guys coming after Cam sounds like a good way to get lots of hits on a guy that hasn't been hit all that much this year.

This is what I assumed they would do, likely alternating between the two. One covers Cam the other covers Stewart/Tolbert. I also wonder how Roby would do covering Olson. A huge task, yes. But Roby is big and athletic and can stay on Olson's hip. If Olson out-battles him for a catch, Roby more so than Harris is capable of wrestling him down. Add in safety help and we may be able to take him out of the game the same way they took Gronk out before losing Stewart and Ward.

 

[cdumler7]

This is what I assumed they would do, likely alternating between the two. One covers Cam the other covers Stewart/Tolbert. I also wonder how Roby would do covering Olson. A huge task, yes. But Roby is big and athletic and can stay on Olson's hip. If Olson out-battles him for a catch, Roby more so than Harris is capable of wrestling him down. Add in safety help and we may be able to take him out of the game the same way they took Gronk out before losing Stewart and Ward.

I wouldn't mind seeing Roby on Olson. At the same time I wouldn't mind seeing Roby going against Ginn as he is our 1 corner that I think could stay with Ginn speed wise. Another option is that of Webster. He is a very big physical corner that has the speed to stay with Olson. Throw in during the playoffs they usually allow a little more shoving down the field and Webster would fit the bill of a guy that could get away with a little more in that area for a game like this.

Right now I would stay in our base defense on 1st and 2nd down as to help with the run game having that extra big body of Sly Williams in the game. I would have Trevathan be my guy shadowing Olson as he has been the better coverage guy this year and then have Darian Stewart over the top to help. So pretty much play our cover-1 defense we have been all year long. Then I would play man on the outside and have Marshall shadow Cam while having Ward drop down to help in the run game. Our Corners are going to have to play great all game long for this style to work.

Then on passing downs go to our dime defense with Webster and Roby coming into the game. I would send blitzes on these plays honestly to make Cam have to make a quick decision. I have watched games where he just sits in the pocket for 5 or more seconds with no fear of being hit. To me I make him have to make a decision under 3 seconds and see how he does with his accuracy.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Carolina WRs seem to be below average as a group. Part of that, in my opinion, is probably because Newton is not the most accurate passer. Their speed guys, Ginn and Brown, are who I worry most about.

 

[CEH]

We need our safeties back there otherwise the Defense takes a gigantic hit and Wade has to game plan around the street FAs.

 

[Mingo]

I think you will see Roby or Talib at different times on Olson - with Stewart drifting his way. If Jackson and Wolfe can get their hands up for a picket fence and Ware and Miller maintain containment - Newton's passing game will be defeated. I saw Miller lining up to rush from the middle in the Patriots game and Brady called time out. When you have guys like Shaq and Shane you can move things around with Miller.

 

[CEH]

I think Danny Trevathon will drop into short coverage and spy Newton. There really is no one that can match Cam for size and speed. Let Von play joker and Ware rush. Jackson and Wolfe will have to collapse the pocket.

Down and distance will be a critical factor. Denver will be living large if they can get CAR into 3rd and 6 or greater.