JensK
11-02-2009, 04:55 PM
Denver is absolutely no push-over, and even though they got beaten up pretty badly last week against Ravens, one shouldn't take Denver for granted because this team knows how to play ball!
When watching the Ravens game last week, one thing came to my mind: One of our best forces is actually Denver's biggest weakness. Denver is hard to run against (not impossible tho - Id say easier than Vikings), and god damn near impossible to throw against: Before i continue, allow me to name Denver's DBs:
Bailey - Dawkins - Hill - Goodman / Alphonso Smith
This group is, in my humble opinion, in top 3 in the league, if not the best in the business of football right now. Along with that, they are having great success with getting pressure on the QB, with Elvis Dumervil leading the league in sacks right now. Watching last weeks game, it was pretty clear that Ravens had a really hard time getting anything consistent going against this. Ray Rice ran the ball fairly well, but he seems to do that against pretty much everyone - but the throwing was horrid, and some is to blame on Flacco! He did not have a good game at all, but he was being chased all over the field and forced to throw the bad throws, which their DBs are WAY too good to pick up. When i am writing this, it sounds like Ravens was shut-out of that game, but we all know what it ended, and that Broncos got man-handled. Neither of the teams really did anything at all until second half - Prior to that, there was scored no TDs at all in the game. What did Ravens do? They came out in the no-huddle and marched down the field and put quite a few points on the board. Seeing that we excel at the no-huddle offense, i don't see any reason why we should not go out and use that a lot, especially in the second half, where Denver seems to destroy their opponents (prior to the Ravens game, Denver had only allowed 2 first downs in the second half).
We also need to be blitz-happy, and quit using that big cushion on our CBs. I am going to say this right now, if we play with a too big cushion, Denver is going to put up points on the board, and it may be many. Denver can basically play two kinds of offense: They can run the ball (pretty well), and they can throw screen-passes. You hardly ever see Orton look far down the field. He'll dump it off to Moreno/Buckhalter and Marshall. Eddie Royal can make things happen too, when he gets the ball on a screen-play. How did Ravens counter this? Easy - Pressure pressure pressure, and no such thing as a cushion. They blitzed on almost every play, Ed Reed made a living on the LOS, and their CBs played with a very tight cushion, and mr. Orton looked as lost as a poor man in a Mercedes store.
If we can do these things, i could see us having a field day against Denver, if not, its going to be a long long day at miles high...
to prove my point about Orton not being able to stretch the field (i did not write that, but its the conclusion :P) Denver have 17 plays of 20+ yards in the passing game. Thats good enough to rank 18th in the league, tied with Arizona, Buffalo and Seattle. The only team with a winning record with fewer plays is Atlanta.
When watching the Ravens game last week, one thing came to my mind: One of our best forces is actually Denver's biggest weakness. Denver is hard to run against (not impossible tho - Id say easier than Vikings), and god damn near impossible to throw against: Before i continue, allow me to name Denver's DBs:
Bailey - Dawkins - Hill - Goodman / Alphonso Smith
This group is, in my humble opinion, in top 3 in the league, if not the best in the business of football right now. Along with that, they are having great success with getting pressure on the QB, with Elvis Dumervil leading the league in sacks right now. Watching last weeks game, it was pretty clear that Ravens had a really hard time getting anything consistent going against this. Ray Rice ran the ball fairly well, but he seems to do that against pretty much everyone - but the throwing was horrid, and some is to blame on Flacco! He did not have a good game at all, but he was being chased all over the field and forced to throw the bad throws, which their DBs are WAY too good to pick up. When i am writing this, it sounds like Ravens was shut-out of that game, but we all know what it ended, and that Broncos got man-handled. Neither of the teams really did anything at all until second half - Prior to that, there was scored no TDs at all in the game. What did Ravens do? They came out in the no-huddle and marched down the field and put quite a few points on the board. Seeing that we excel at the no-huddle offense, i don't see any reason why we should not go out and use that a lot, especially in the second half, where Denver seems to destroy their opponents (prior to the Ravens game, Denver had only allowed 2 first downs in the second half).
We also need to be blitz-happy, and quit using that big cushion on our CBs. I am going to say this right now, if we play with a too big cushion, Denver is going to put up points on the board, and it may be many. Denver can basically play two kinds of offense: They can run the ball (pretty well), and they can throw screen-passes. You hardly ever see Orton look far down the field. He'll dump it off to Moreno/Buckhalter and Marshall. Eddie Royal can make things happen too, when he gets the ball on a screen-play. How did Ravens counter this? Easy - Pressure pressure pressure, and no such thing as a cushion. They blitzed on almost every play, Ed Reed made a living on the LOS, and their CBs played with a very tight cushion, and mr. Orton looked as lost as a poor man in a Mercedes store.
If we can do these things, i could see us having a field day against Denver, if not, its going to be a long long day at miles high...
to prove my point about Orton not being able to stretch the field (i did not write that, but its the conclusion :P) Denver have 17 plays of 20+ yards in the passing game. Thats good enough to rank 18th in the league, tied with Arizona, Buffalo and Seattle. The only team with a winning record with fewer plays is Atlanta.