I have posted this on other posts, but this loss was not as bad as say the Raiders or Chiefs, I didn’t know if they would win, I think Carolina is a great team and going in there would be tough any way you slice it. What did bother me was after we missed the FG, it seemed that the team gave up. I don’t know if Kuper will be out, he played with a cast for much of the pre-season, so I think he will be in there if it matters. I am not of the opinion that he is easily replaceable, from what I heard, K-Lich struggled when called upon.

I agree with the assessment of the defense, they obviously were selling out for the run and Steve Smith was going to have some big play oppurtunities, I don’t know if Bailey would of made a difference, because I really think Smith is faster than Bailey. But would of been an interesting battle.

I think was more because he was used as the feature running back in the last preseason game against the Cardinals. I know he broke something in his foot and from personal experience I know that it is easy to get a stress fracture in the metatarsals if you do a lot of running without properly working up to it.

I think it was just a matter of him not getting all the reps during practice and being ready to go for a full game, not a matter of durability.

I would love to see him as in the rotation you spelled out above and think that in this role he will prove to be more durable as he won’t be expected to shoulder the load for the entire game, just as the change of pace back for 8-10 carries a game.

before the half, it took shanny about 25 seconds to call the timeout i was screaming for. when we got the ball back, i figured we would just take a knee, with the field position and clock now not in our favor. then, a run call? wow, that is really poor. go for it, or don’t, but decide quickly already.

definitely on board with the power running game, as many of you know. your lineup is pretty much what i want, though the small back position is probably up in the air. we need pile-movers and tackle-breakers more than the breakaway threat, which probably isn’t on the roster, anyway.

the injury question i brought up in another post. seriously, this is not pure chance and misfortune at work here. we’re dropping like flies out there 2 years in a row. this could be a lack of size/strength, combined with the risky players we get at low cost/draft position. but obviously, this is something that needs to be looked at. our schedule next season is looking injury-filled with this roster. smash-mouth teams galore. something must be addressed, here.

i think prater will be fine, and cutler does need to take the checkdowns for first-downs if they are there. but it looked like marshall and royal were completely covered in this game, and the te’s were invisible. stokely? how the hell did they cover everyone? the front four for carolina did a great job, but it seems like jay was looking for someone to get open. is their back 7 just that good?

finally, the mandatory safety-in-the-box question. i hope it’s a non-issue next season, but for the playoff run, with rookies and backups, it appears shanny is going to stay with the 4-4. my question is are we in a 4-4 on passing downs, and does ww drop into coverage if we are. if so, i don’t see a problem with it unless someone bites on a play-action, and the ability for the front 7 to stop the run is questionable this year. can larsen help with this when he is healthy, or do we just need d.j. and champ to get on the field? wow, this season is really full of surprises and weekly intrigue, isn’t it? i think we all have more questions than answers at this point, but i do like the fact that ww will be on the field when/if d.j. returns. shanny said he will be playing both positions, so what 2 alignments is he talking about? or is it going to be a call on ww’s part to play 1 or the other on a given play(rush/drop)? interesting

HT, I think you have just snapped as accurate as possible picture of the status of the Broncos. I couldn’t agree more particularly in regard to RB. We need to find some way to keep Aldridge on the team and keep him healthy. He is just one of those guys that stood out to me in training camp. He is a full step faster than anyone else and still has power and quickness. I agree completely with your draft recommendations. Getting that one dominant DT will transform our entire defense and adding a MLB that will make opposing Defensive Coordinators scheme around him will turn our defense into a squad to be feared. This entire post is excellent and highly recommended.

My opinion is that Prater is our man. That is “IF” he can shake this funk he is in next year. I don’t care if he still misses a few this season, but next season he needs to normalize his kicking. If he doesn’t show improvement next season then we need a change.

I don’t think strength is the problem here. Tuten (sp?) is an evil genius when it comes to devising ways to improve strength and endurance. But flexibility is an important key to avoiding injury. It allows the body to make those micro-adjustments during contact that turn a severe injury into a minor one and a minor one into, dare I say it, a booboo.
 
I don’t know of any sport where flexibility not only lowered injury numbers but also improved athletic performance. To borrow an example from another field, one of the big reasons steel is superior to iron is its flexibility. I suspect that might be true of the human body as well.
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I’m totally with you HT. DT is a MUST. I really like the idea of grabbing Haynesworth with a contract that pays big bucks for performance. That is if he doesn’t stay with the Titans.

Even if we do bring in a FA DT, we need to draft another for development and cut some of the cruft of underachievers we have now.

I think these two go together…We need another receiver to get ready to replace Stoke. We need depth at the Oline for our two older guys.

The offense needs to get more deadly…and by that I mean design stuff to take advantage of situations…right now if the run game doesn’t work everyone drops coverage and waits for the mistake from Jay…design more short-mid range plays that don’t even go that deep and get 8 yards a pop.

Agree with HT here…Hillis (he’s our RB future I think…Shanny mentioned TE possibly for him, but forget that…give that boy the rock!!!), Torain, Pittman, [insert change of pace back here].

I don’t care if our 4th is Aldrige, Bell, or Young…they all are easily tackled. Whoever does best in the off-season is good by me.

I would like to see a rotation of Torain, Hillis, and Alridge, I think that gives you a unique set of options, with Hillis playing FB when Torain and Alridge are in at RB. I am somewhat worried that Torain may be injury prone. Pittman I like his heart, but honestly he doesn’t give you anything special. I would love to see us look at a RB in the 3rd to 4th round, just for insurance.

but promised myself I’d wait for the season to end before getting into it….

BUT I would like to add a first day draft pick to that stable. If we only keep four backs, then I’d replace Pittman. Much like you correctly point out that a stout front seven will help out the safeties, a durable all-around back would contribute greatly to a sustained running attack that will help Jay tremendously, but also need our defense off the field when protecting leads (which I think we will be doing a lot of in 2009). It must be a first day guy. No more late rounders (Hillis and TD are the exception that prove the rule), and undrafted guys.

Hillis is a unique talent that can catch out of the backfield better than anyone I have ever seen over a five game stretch, I am very interested to see what Shanny has up his sleeves with this “tiger” position.

As for Torrian, are you guys going to put your faith in a guy that has never stayed healthy at any level? Man, if you take Hillis out of the pure running-back position and he excels at the tiger (Tiger Style.. ha.. Tiger Style), then that leaves us with Torrain and Pittman as feature backs. Both can be great assets, for sure. However, one guy can’t stay healthy and one guy is a member of AARP. I’m sorry, but if we’re a team that’s on the verge of something special and we are injuries to RT & MP away from raiding cell phone booths at the Cherry Creek mall, I’m terrified!!

I feel that the Broncos should go through Free Agency to get a DT since the DT learning curve is about 3 years. I am not sure about Haynesworth with his “character” issues however.

It sounds like it could be a combination RB, TE, H-Back, FB type position.

When he is in there, he could be getting the ball on a handoff, pitch or swing pass, lead block for another RB, line up on the line and pass protect or go out in the flat. You never know where he is going to be coming from, but he will be coming!

After that, I like Train as the starting RB (after seeing what he did in the first half against Cleveland, I was getting that TD/Mike Anderson/Olandis Gary vibe). My biggest concern is of course his injuries (his ACL injury could have him out through training camp at least, though I haven’t heard when they expect him back – those things take a while to heal and rehab).

For the “change of pace” back, I like what I saw in Alridge in the preseason finale against the Cardinals. All that game proved was that he was not an every down back, which wasn’t too surprising with his size. But I think he should be good for a few long carries after the defense has been pounded by Hillis and Train for most of the game

That’s a great poing about not turning your back on Cutler and Marshall because Clady got snubbed. Clady has a lot of years in Hawaii in his future…I’m just happy that the Broncos will be represented at some key positions.

Draft a second or third round back like Foster of Tennesee. Classic size and good hands. Torain could sub him. Boyd could sub both of them.

Draft an appropriate fullback sub for Hillis in the late round or FA. There are a few jumbo receiving fullbacks Easy pickins’ My sleeper is Brock Bolen, Louisville 240 lbs., scores often, lots of catches w/ good yds. per. Bring Pittman to camp.

Lump together our speedsters: Young, Bell, Aldridge and Hall.

Cut one from first group, one from second group and two from third group.

This way, Shanny does not have to try to devise a brand new running game to fit personnel limitations every time a back gets nicked.

We give up a six or one of our sevens for Robertson.

Fun fact: We got Hillis with the Plummer trade pick and Williams for Lelie.

I’d rather have Lelie, a decent offensive contributor, and who seems to have matured (read been humbled) than Williams who appears to have gone south even though there was a dire need at his position.

Although Yoga is an excellent activity, it is only part of an entire injury prevention routine. I would love to see the medical staff encorporate preventative chiropractic care, therapeutic massage and much more strigent nutritional programs. These “avoidable injuries” need to be addressed as few NFL teams have suffered the downtime that the broncos have.

So maybe your are on to something HT. I don’t care if it’s yoga, voodoo, or River Dancing something needs to be done.
I agree w/ HT on backs. I think we can get Pittman for cheap and he is much value added as a back-up or short yardage guy.
I had a feeling before the Carolina game that they would win they are a great team. Their lines are very solid. What bothers me is how we lost. Seemed to have no heart and poor game planning, as coach said.
Thanks for the Great Post HT, as usual you have given us much to think about.

You nailed it.

We need a guy like selvin, Tatum, Hall Hillis at RB who can produce first downs every 1-2 plays
  This will allow us to do play action bootlegs
  Also it will help Cutler out when he is firing into quadruple, fiffiple coverage and is trying to
  Quarter and Penny the defense instead of nickel and dime, when this happens we will be
  able to bring our RB in able to get first down consistently and weaken the enemy’s pass protection

We need a stud DT
If we could get Haynesworth in such a way where we could keep him motivated such as incentive based contracts that might not be to bad. Also I like powell or another player in the draft like powell i think he is a good type to draft

in the draft (not sure about the # of picks)
i think will look something like this
1MLB
2SAFTEY
3DT
4OL
5WR
5CB
6OLB
7RB

And +1 to HACK10 for his comments on the 2qtr fumble
though in real important games i wouldnt chance it given our turnover rate but with an SB caliber team (if we had/have one) we should be able to run that play