Week 12 v. Miami

[TDs3nOut]

Obviously a big game this week. What has transpired over the past three weeks makes every remaining game bigger than one might have expected before we lost two of our last three.

Lots of talk about the run game. According to Mark Schlereth, a primary source of our deficient running attack has clearly been the offensive line: "Stink" knows ? Mark Schlereth says Broncos' O-line stinks - The Denver Post

Hopefully we figure some things out before Sunday afternoon.

 

[cdumler7]

This team goes as far as the OL allows it go in my opinion. The defense hasn't been as great as I had hoped but they are still a good defense. Who would have thought that our biggest issue at this point in the season would be our offense not getting it done?


Right now what I am hoping is Fox and company did the old Vince Lombardi method of telling the team time to get back to the basics then holding up a football and saying "This is a football!"

 

[TDs3nOut]

This team goes as far as the OL allows it go in my opinion. The defense hasn't been as great as I had hoped but they are still a good defense. Who would have thought that our biggest issue at this point in the season would be our offense not getting it done?


Right now what I am hoping is Fox and company did the old Vince Lombardi method of telling the team time to get back to the basics then holding up a football and saying "This is a football!"

Agreed. Not ideal to only at this point in the season get around to emphasizing something as fundamental as run blocking, but that seems like what we need to do.

 

[cdumler7]

Sometimes you just have to go back to the beginning. These guys just need to get out of their heads a bit and just play football. I think the pressure of this season and just so much expected of this team is really getting them down right now. So like I said sometimes if you can just have them focus on the very basics they can get out of their own head and just play. I do this with my high school golfers and soccer players all the time if I see them really trying to push it too much. We just have a week of practice just focusing on the basics and then build back up from there. Usually finds some decent success. Haven't lost in soccer in 2 years! Sorry a bit proud of that last accomplishment.

 

[cdumler7]

So just some injury updates that are a little promising...Julius Thomas did not practice but he did not spend the practice back in the training room either so shows some promise that he might be back this week. Also for the TE position Virgil Green looks like he should be good to go for this week. That should give a big boost to the run game. Peyton Manning and the coaches both have talked about how he is one of the most essential parts of our run game...no coincidence that we have abandoned the run game without him so I expect with him back in the line up that we will get back a little more in balance.


Emmanuel Sanders still out as he has not passed the concussion protocol. Coaches have spoke about him possibly being ready this week but honestly I would rather him sit out a week and let Cody Latimer have his chance to shine with the offense and give Sanders a chance to heal up. WE don't need him at 50% in the regular season. We need Sanders 100% for the playoffs.


Some other injury notes...Ryan Clady is still not 100% at this time. The guy just has not looked right this whole season and I think his foot is still just not quite back. On a better side of things though Vasquez is off the injury report and Cornick is a full participant so our OL other than Clady looks to finally be healthy. We shall see if that makes a difference in their ability to actually block somebody.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Good news about JT, Green and Vasquez. Also a good point about letting Sanders recover fully before he returns, though he is a guy who we might really miss.

 

[cdumler7]

We would definitely miss him as he has been huge in this offense so far but to me I do think we need to see what our rookie can give us this season and like I said I would rather have Sanders 100% for the playoffs than to help us beat the Dolphins. My hope is that by playoff time Latimer has finally proven himself enough to be in on our 3-WR sets as Welker honestly just has done nothing this season. His best work has been in recovering a couple of fumbles for us. I think Latimer would give this offense another match up nightmare if he can learn the playbook well enough plus he is an excellent blocker.

 

[cdumler7]

Coaches are mixing it up a little this week with trying to get the players back on track. I guess Del Rio to help the defense get a more aggressive attitude and especially work to force more turnovers is having them watch video of sharks attacking seals to show what aggression looks like.


I'm hoping this means that Del Rio will be willing to play a lot more aggressive style defense. These past few weeks he has gone to a more cover-3 shell like Seattle runs which is great for them but we don't have the safety play to do that plus Talib just does not do well in zone coverage. Big reason we have seen his play off. Del Rio in my opinion his biggest weakness is not having the scheme fit the players but trying to force the players to fit the scheme. Why bring in a press coverage corner if you are going to have him play off-zone coverage? Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Coaches are mixing it up a little this week with trying to get the players back on track. I guess Del Rio to help the defense get a more aggressive attitude and especially work to force more turnovers is having them watch video of sharks attacking seals to show what aggression looks like.


I'm hoping this means that Del Rio will be willing to play a lot more aggressive style defense. These past few weeks he has gone to a more cover-3 shell like Seattle runs which is great for them but we don't have the safety play to do that plus Talib just does not do well in zone coverage. Big reason we have seen his play off. Del Rio in my opinion his biggest weakness is not having the scheme fit the players but trying to force the players to fit the scheme. Why bring in a press coverage corner if you are going to have him play off-zone coverage? Doesn't make any sense to me.

That really did make me LOL. Hopefully it works, however!

 

[cdumler7]

I'm just hoping Del Rio watched it as well with the team and realized he has to be willing to take some chances if he wants to see this defense force some turnovers. Need to get Tannehil uncomfortable early and often. He is one of the worst deep ball quarterbacks in the NFL right now so it should allow us a chance to be more aggressive and jump some of those short routes.

 

[cdumler7]

The entire OL met with the media today. First time in 2 decades they have that when it was not super bowl week. Very interested to hear how that went.

 

[MrDoc420]

So just some injury updates that are a little promising...Julius Thomas did not practice but he did not spend the practice back in the training room either so shows some promise that he might be back this week. Also for the TE position Virgil Green looks like he should be good to go for this week. That should give a big boost to the run game. Peyton Manning and the coaches both have talked about how he is one of the most essential parts of our run game...no coincidence that we have abandoned the run game without him so I expect with him back in the line up that we will get back a little more in balance.


Emmanuel Sanders still out as he has not passed the concussion protocol. Coaches have spoke about him possibly being ready this week but honestly I would rather him sit out a week and let Cody Latimer have his chance to shine with the offense and give Sanders a chance to heal up. WE don't need him at 50% in the regular season. We need Sanders 100% for the playoffs.


Some other injury notes...Ryan Clady is still not 100% at this time. The guy just has not looked right this whole season and I think his foot is still just not quite back. On a better side of things though Vasquez is off the injury report and Cornick is a full participant so our OL other than Clady looks to finally be healthy. We shall see if that makes a difference in their ability to actually block somebody.

I wanna see what Latimer can do with have 10-12 balls thrown his way. Sanders needs to take the extra week and rest up.

 

[{+}Mother-Marge{+}]

c'mon bronkos = beat them fish-sticks,....do us a ~favor~.....pleazzzzze....?!

 

[MrDoc420]

Coaches are mixing it up a little this week with trying to get the players back on track. I guess Del Rio to help the defense get a more aggressive attitude and especially work to force more turnovers is having them watch video of sharks attacking seals to show what aggression looks like.


I'm hoping this means that Del Rio will be willing to play a lot more aggressive style defense. These past few weeks he has gone to a more cover-3 shell like Seattle runs which is great for them but we don't have the safety play to do that plus Talib just does not do well in zone coverage. Big reason we have seen his play off. Del Rio in my opinion his biggest weakness is not having the scheme fit the players but trying to force the players to fit the scheme. Why bring in a press coverage corner if you are going to have him play off-zone coverage? Doesn't make any sense to me.

That really did make me LOL. Hopefully it works, however!

Right?!? Nothing like watching vicious slaughter to get everybody jacked for Sunday

 

[randymon]

Food for thought..
Denver Broncos rushing...
2014 - 243 attpts- 3.7 yd avg. Hilman- 4.2 yds, CJ- 5.2 and JT- 4.0
2013 - 461 attpts- 4.1 yds. Ball- 4.7 yds, KM- 4.3 and Hilman- 4.0
2012 - 481 attpts- 3.8 yds
We have basically the same offense lineman. If Denver stays on recent "rushing attpt" pace they`ll barely get 300 atttpts. The avg yds per carry for the rbs is very respectable. You can`t have succsess running the ball when you abandon it so quickly and are so predictive when you do. Teams are figuring out how to stop Denvers passing game. They`ve got the same guys mostly, they just need a chance to prove they can run it. NE the other night had more than a few 3 and outs and negitive run plays in first half. That didn`t stop them from sticking to game plan and low and behold...... they wore Colts down in 2nd half. They also did very well and disquising their run plays by switching things up and then still hitting same hole and it worked great in keeping Colts off balance. I don`t think there much wrong with both the rbs and o- line right now. Denver just needs to give it a "healthy chance" and mix the running plays up with different looks. Not rocket science. Just do it.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Here is a piece that I think speaks to some of the issues recently raised on this board: Recent struggles not the focus for Denver Broncos

Knighton's description of Broncos fans as "high maintenance" seems to reflect that the team is well aware of just how high expectations are. Perhaps the team is struggling with the pressure of those expectations, though that is certainly not an excuse that carries much weight with a high maintenance fan like myself! LOL

I also find these last two paragraphs quite topical:

"Three offensive linemen, Ramirez, left tackle Ryan Clady and guard Orlando Franklin, remain from the 2011 Broncos team that led the NFL in rushing. Ramirez said he still believes the Broncos offensive line , as it is made up now, can be a mauling group that can control a game.


"We need to be able to have the opportunity to do it, you know what I'm saying?" Ramirez said. "If you give them 50 opportunities to get to the quarterback, they're going to get to him eventually and that's what happened. So how do you prevent that? You try to run the ball. Try to be productive. And whether it is a lot of opportunities or little opportunities, try to take advantage of those.""

 

[cdumler7]

I listened to the OL interviews from yesterday and they seemed pissed off. I guess Stink had called them out earlier in the week and our guys did not take too kindly to his words. I'm hoping then that motivates them to just go out and hit somebody. If they start playing better might have to send a letter of thanks to Stink for getting them back on track.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I listened to the OL interviews from yesterday and they seemed pissed off. I guess Stink had called them out earlier in the week and our guys did not take too kindly to his words. I'm hoping then that motivates them to just go out and hit somebody. If they start playing better might have to send a letter of thanks to Stink for getting them back on track.

Yeah, in case you missed it I posted in the first post in this thread a link to a Denver Post article that includes Stink's unfavorable critique of the o-line. When I read that article I hoped that Schlereth's remarks might light a fire under that unit.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Sanders says he's ready to play on Sunday: Emmanuel Sanders of Denver Broncos says hit was legal, ready to play - ESPN

 

[Southieinnc]

Here is a piece that I think speaks to some of the issues recently raised on this board: Recent struggles not the focus for Denver Broncos

Knighton's description of Broncos fans as "high maintenance" seems to reflect that the team is well aware of just how high expectations are. Perhaps the team is struggling with the pressure of those expectations, though that is certainly not an excuse that carries much weight with a high maintenance fan like myself! LOL

I also find these last two paragraphs quite topical:

"Three offensive linemen, Ramirez, left tackle Ryan Clady and guard Orlando Franklin, remain from the 2011 Broncos team that led the NFL in rushing. Ramirez said he still believes the Broncos offensive line , as it is made up now, can be a mauling group that can control a game.


"We need to be able to have the opportunity to do it, you know what I'm saying?" Ramirez said. "If you give them 50 opportunities to get to the quarterback, they're going to get to him eventually and that's what happened. So how do you prevent that? You try to run the ball. Try to be productive. And whether it is a lot of opportunities or little opportunities, try to take advantage of those.""

NE O-line played poorly early in the year. We were predictable - using the few plays that worked, over and over. I made the comment that "we'd be better to lose than to keep playing predictable." We got rid of the vanilla offense and found new plays that the defense had not seen on film.....