On having no turnovers against Atlanta
"One of the reasons I thought we would go to pads was so we could practice getting at wide receivers and running backs, stripping the ball and creating more contact so we can learn to hold onto the football better. We put them in situations in practice that they are going to see in the games. Hopefully we can keep it going. We didn't have a turnover in this game, which is a big positive. Maybe it came by practice or maybe we were lucky. Whatever it was it worked out."
This came from an interview with Mike Shanahan on Monday, November 17. This came a month after I suggested that they hold practices with the defense tackling the offense in practices. Am I a genious or what?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
It's a Good Thing It is a Bye Week
The Broncos are lucky to get to their bye week. After starting off the season with a 3-0 record, scoring over 30 points in every game, they have lost 3 out of their last 4 games, scoring less than 20 points in every game, and giving up a total of 11 turnovers.
What happened? Just weeks ago, this team was putting up offensive numbers surpassing the first three games of last year's record making Patriots.
The answer is simple. Injuries, ball security and defense.
The first three weeks of the season, all of the broncos offensive weapons were available. Last night, Tony Scheffler was out. Brandon Stokely was out. Selvin Young was out. Champ Bailey was injured in the first half. Boss Bailey left the game with a knee injury. Jay Cutler injured his throwing hand index finger on the first play of the game. Michael Pittman was out a considerable amount of the night after being slammed to the turf. Rookie sensation, Ryan Torain, has been out since training camp with a knee injury, and is expected to be back after the bye week against Miami.
With healthy players, the Broncos are a much better team. Fortunately, Stokely, Scheffler, and Torain will be back in two weeks, and Cutler should be fine to play against Miami. This should help out this team tremendously.
All of last week, the team preached ball security. Brandon Marshall even carried a ball into an interview, saying that he has held on to a ball to help remind himself to take care of the ball during games. Apparently, some people missed out on that interview. Andre Hall, last night, fumbled the ball twice on his two first carries. Both fumbles occurred within Patriots' territory. Instead of the Broncos putting up points, they gave the ball up, letting the patriots score 6 points off of those two fumbles alone. Being down by a touchdown, the offense then started forcing things, leading to two interceptions and another fumble.
I don't care how good a team is. If you have five turnovers, you cannot win a football game.
The defense is another aspect that is hurting this team. Last night, they allowed 138 yards rushing from Sammy Morris, a backup runningback to Laurence Maroney. Oh, and all of those yards came in the first half. At halftime, Morris had more total yards than the Broncos offense. This is unacceptable. There were numerous missed tackles and blown coverages. Champ Bailey played a great game against Randy Moss until he was injured. After that, Dre' Bly was assigned Moss and was torched the remainder of the game.
Calvin Lowry was steamrolled on numerous running plays. Nobody on defense could tackle. For example, Sammy Morris broke 7 tackles on a 37 yard run into broncos territory.
How can the Broncos improve?
Well, like I said earlier, the Broncos will let their injuries heal. This bye week could not come at a more opportune time.
The defense and ball security problem can be solved in one step. Since Champ Bailey is injured and will be out for a while, he will take over the defensive coordinator job for the bye week and the defense will learn one thing. TACKLING. Champ will show everyone the proper technique of tackling. The Broncos might also think about resigning free agent, John Lynch. Not as a player, but as Champ's assistant tackling coach. He has always been known as a hard tackler, he could teach the defense a thing or two about tackling, as well.
How will this help with ball security on offense, you ask? Well, the defense will need someone to tackle. Andre Hall will be the tackling dummy, along with Cutler, Royal, Scheffler, and Marshall (the ones with fumbling problems). The team as a whole needs to take a more physical approach and they can do this by having a week and a half of tackling drills.
Defensive players getting paid millions of dollars should be able to tackle. It's their job.
What happened? Just weeks ago, this team was putting up offensive numbers surpassing the first three games of last year's record making Patriots.
The answer is simple. Injuries, ball security and defense.
The first three weeks of the season, all of the broncos offensive weapons were available. Last night, Tony Scheffler was out. Brandon Stokely was out. Selvin Young was out. Champ Bailey was injured in the first half. Boss Bailey left the game with a knee injury. Jay Cutler injured his throwing hand index finger on the first play of the game. Michael Pittman was out a considerable amount of the night after being slammed to the turf. Rookie sensation, Ryan Torain, has been out since training camp with a knee injury, and is expected to be back after the bye week against Miami.
With healthy players, the Broncos are a much better team. Fortunately, Stokely, Scheffler, and Torain will be back in two weeks, and Cutler should be fine to play against Miami. This should help out this team tremendously.
All of last week, the team preached ball security. Brandon Marshall even carried a ball into an interview, saying that he has held on to a ball to help remind himself to take care of the ball during games. Apparently, some people missed out on that interview. Andre Hall, last night, fumbled the ball twice on his two first carries. Both fumbles occurred within Patriots' territory. Instead of the Broncos putting up points, they gave the ball up, letting the patriots score 6 points off of those two fumbles alone. Being down by a touchdown, the offense then started forcing things, leading to two interceptions and another fumble.
I don't care how good a team is. If you have five turnovers, you cannot win a football game.
The defense is another aspect that is hurting this team. Last night, they allowed 138 yards rushing from Sammy Morris, a backup runningback to Laurence Maroney. Oh, and all of those yards came in the first half. At halftime, Morris had more total yards than the Broncos offense. This is unacceptable. There were numerous missed tackles and blown coverages. Champ Bailey played a great game against Randy Moss until he was injured. After that, Dre' Bly was assigned Moss and was torched the remainder of the game.
Calvin Lowry was steamrolled on numerous running plays. Nobody on defense could tackle. For example, Sammy Morris broke 7 tackles on a 37 yard run into broncos territory.
How can the Broncos improve?
Well, like I said earlier, the Broncos will let their injuries heal. This bye week could not come at a more opportune time.
The defense and ball security problem can be solved in one step. Since Champ Bailey is injured and will be out for a while, he will take over the defensive coordinator job for the bye week and the defense will learn one thing. TACKLING. Champ will show everyone the proper technique of tackling. The Broncos might also think about resigning free agent, John Lynch. Not as a player, but as Champ's assistant tackling coach. He has always been known as a hard tackler, he could teach the defense a thing or two about tackling, as well.
How will this help with ball security on offense, you ask? Well, the defense will need someone to tackle. Andre Hall will be the tackling dummy, along with Cutler, Royal, Scheffler, and Marshall (the ones with fumbling problems). The team as a whole needs to take a more physical approach and they can do this by having a week and a half of tackling drills.
Defensive players getting paid millions of dollars should be able to tackle. It's their job.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
