tells me that either Mario Haggens is playing very well, or Spencer Larsen is not quite ready. I’d actually like to see Haggen get a shot at full-time starter. The defense played much better during his rotation— espicially in the first half. He also tackled Farve in the backfield on the huge 4th down play in the 4th Quarter. However, I have a gut feeling that Webster will return as starter. I’d hate to see it, but I think Woodyard goes to the bench when DJ returns. He will definatly not be playing WILL, and I don’t see him moving to SAM, but you never know.

At Corner, starters are Baily and Bly, no question. I know earlier in the season, Bly was moving to the nickle and Paymah or Williams moved to #2 in passing situations. Is Slowik still doing this? It seemed to me that Bly struggled in this role, but maybe we do the same thing and let Bell play at #2 and move Bly to the nikle.

The safety position is a mess. We need to take two or three safetys in the first four rounds in April.

I don’t think Webster wil get his job back.

and my biggest concern is that Woodyard might be taken out

other than that I am in a ‘guess we’ll see’ mood.

I haven’t liked anyone they have stuck back there, Fox played better than Lowry, but he still had some very poor recognition skills. I would like Barret to get some more reps, Lowry should be sent packing. I agree with LB, I would say DJ needs to be in there but I would keep Larsen in the middle and then bring in Woodyard in passing downs with DJ and Winborn.

i posted a similar comment in another thread about the lb’s. we need our best tacklers out there, regardless of positions. enough with the whiffs and arm-tackle attempts. as far as safety, i think he will go with mccree and manuel, for better or worse. next season, cut them both. as far as slowick, i don’t foresee any improvement in the “imagination” area. although he has basically scrapped the 3-man thing, we are just rushing the same 4 down-linemen on every play. this may be to protect the lb’s and secondary in coverage, though, i don’t know. but it’s hard to argue with the results, which were good. there will be an adjustment period with all the players coming back, and some decisions to be made, but you have to think we are better off with the starters coming back, especially champ and d.j. if this causes slowick to change what he has improved upon, then we are probably sunk. let’s hope this isn’t the case

1) Webster should lose his starting spot.

2) Bailey and Bly stay at #1 and #2.

3) At safety, oddly enough, I think it doesn’t matter too much. As long as we use them correctly (as we did against the Jets), I think most of our safeties can do a good job.

Thats why if the scheme is simple as you have said before makes it a better idea to get an athlete like Josh Barrett out there. He will make some plays and make some hits.
Dave, I am with you. Our best tacklers and play makers at LB are DJ, Woodyard and Larsen. I like Winborn but the first TD by Jones was an over pursiut and lack of gap control by Winborn. I love his enthusiasm though, and he is WAY better than Webster and a great back up at all LB positions.

HT what do you think about slowly increasing Champ and DJs time to ensure they stay healthy going in to the play offs. With our success with back ups why not let everyone get some playing time? Of course you have the argument of guys getting in to a rhythm.

i didn’t know where to post this, so i’ll use this thread to discuss the trenches. i commented a few weeks ago about when was the last time you saw the broncos’ win the battle in the trenches, on either side of the ball. well, they did it sunday. yes, we spread the offense out to create room inside, and yes, we stacked the line of scrimmage on running downs. but we won both of those battles in my opinion, stopping the run, and running the ball when we needed to. short-yardage defense has been outstanding the past month or so, and we converted a 3rd-2 and td on the ground! the run-blocking is improving, and the tackling on d is also. good signs for the stretch-run, and a better chance of advancing in the playoffs if this continues. great game, lots of heart and less Favre jerseys seen today in rainy n.j. priceless

I agree with your views for sure.
I think this O line is bcoming a beast as run blockers too.
Things are looking up in Broncoland!

Shanahan noted that Fox played well enough to start again and that they may have erred by not playing Barrett earlier (kudos to the MHR faithful – we’er ahead of the game again!)

Fox and Barrett to start. Sadly, they may bench either WW or Winborn, hopefully Winborn. They don’t seem to trust Larsen yet – he’s learning a second playbook and it’s slowed his progress. I’d hate to see Webster back, but the Flying Helmet is probably in our future.

Back to Champ’s preferred CB approach and folks complaining about Bly…

I agree and i think many will. The trouble with bringing Champ back is that the system he likes is a bad fit for Dre. I think Champ would actually be better as a ball hawking CB like the system we are seeing now.