Broncos vs. Raiders: No Bull Answers This week we had a big focus on the trenches for the Denver Broncos. Here are my takeaways from watching the game and my review work Monday:What is making the offensive line look so good early in the season?I hate to throw out a fluff statement
http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/darian-stewart-jersey , but they just look right. The linemen to a man are engaging their blocks, holding their ground (for the most part), and most importantly understanding their reads on stunts with excellent execution.I really think they look like a far better coached line than the past two years is my initial take. One week isn’t going to give me a clear picture, so this is something I plan to follow up on later in the season as we grow the sample size we’re working with.How are the interior linemen on the front seven doing as far as stopping the run?Domata Peko, Derek Wolfe, Shelby Harris, Adam Gotsis, and Zach Kerr are doing a pretty darn good job up front of eating up blockers. The rotation is really more focused on what most guys think of a typical 3-4 defense doing with their down linemen: get push and eat up multiple blockers to let your linebackers Brandon Marshall and Todd Davis attack the ball. Note: I’m seeing this as a focus shift in what the DC is doing / what talent we have on the field. DeMarcus Walker is our one lineman that I see as a 1-gap attacker. Most of the guys in front of him can do that a little, but are more about holding their blocks and crashing in on runs that come to their gaps. It will be interesting to see if Walker gets any snaps this season and if the defensive focus shifts with him on the field.Who is generating interior pass rush either by collapsing the pocket or straight up getting hits on the QB?This was a poor example of a game to really look at this. The Oakland Raiders get rid of the ball far too fast to see if there’s any serious internal pressure being generated. Add in the defense playing a lot of off man coverage, and there was never enough time for the interior pass rushers to seriously make an impact.Is Marquette King going to step up his game?This was a fun story line to look at against his former team, but ended up largely being rather boring (like most punting is in the NFL).In general
www.denverbroncosteamonline.com , he did improve his net average over week 1 so the answer at the end of the day is, “Yes.”What did you learn from this game?We’re only 2 weeks into the season, but I think you guys know the drill. Share your thoughts below on what answers you found. If you posted questions in last week’s question post, paste them below and share!Vance Joseph: “We can’t surrender to this” The Denver Broncos (2-3) dropped their third-straight game, except this time they were not even really competitive. The New York Jets (2-3) ran roughshod over the Broncos defense and were able to pressure Case Keenum into maximum dink and dunk effort.After the loss, head coach Vance Joseph chose to keep upbeat on the 34-16 drubbing and focusing on the next game.“It’s not going to be difficult,” Joseph said of how hard it will be to keep the team motivated. “We’re not going to fall for the noise. We came into this game on a short week after an emotional loss on Monday. I told our guys, we can’t surrender to this — that’s what the public thinks, that’s what the perceptions are, but we have no excuses today. We played Monday night, it’s a Sunday game
Denver Broncos T-Shirt , we didn’t play good. We didn’t play good, and it showed up. That team wanted it more than our football team today, and it obviously showed. But we have no excuses. None.”Did the Jets players want it more? Possibly. Or maybe the Jets coaching staff put together a far superior game plan that took advantage of the many limitations in the Broncos defensive scheme and how little Keenum has attacked down field after the first game of the season.How much truth in reality Joseph’s statement has is yet to be seen, with Derek Wolfe already lamenting the last two years has having some deeper problems than just ‘playing harder’.Even so, what else can Joseph do other than to remain positive and try to get the team to bounce back to face the best team in the NFL in the Los Angeles Rams. The best team with Wade Phillips calling the defense. “I told them we have to bounce back,” Joseph said. “We can’t surrender to the noise out there. It’s early in the season — you see those scores today? No one in this league is perfect. A lot of good teams are losing games right now early. So we have plenty of time, we have a big game on Sunday that I feel really good about. So we are going to fly back home, watch the tape, we are going to coach and play better, and we’ll see on Sunday. We’ll see on Sunday.”Joseph has to know his tenure as the Broncos Head Coach is rapidly coming to an end with each defeat. He needs a signature win and he needs it now.
