I’d really like to give them a C, but we won, so that has to be worth something.

Other than that, the lack of a running game (I think we may have given up on it too quickly) and the lack of a pass rush is going to lose us games.

I’m not sure what was going on with Jay yesterday. There were too many over/under thrown balls to open receivers that would have been first downs if not touch downs.

Seriously, it’s no shock that Bob Slowik is a horrible D-coordinator figuring he’s historically one of the worst ever if you look at his previous jobs (stats bear this out). That said, I don’t know if you can draw up a worse gameplan for a team that has no run threat up the middle at all. The Broncos didn’t stop the run up the middle, it just is a nonexistent thing because Bush can’t run like that.

Also, I think the DL grade should be lower despite the “great” run defense. They are the most to blame (well other than Paymah) for the terrible coverage. If a guy has an hour and a half to throw, he’ll find someone open even if he’s a dreadful QB. Which really gets back to the point on coaching, since the soft zone with a 3 man rush might be the worst possible defense to run against the Saints.

Luck is a funny thing…it feels great, but in the end it always runs out. Where the hell is the blitz?!?

Being a huge fan doesn’t mean you don’t grade honestly. Cutler has shown the ability to thread the needle (thinking of the pass to Stokley) but also loses control of the ball either because he simply guns it too much or throws the short hop pass (thinking of his pass that fell short to BMARSH on a 3rd down play in the 2nd half). That being said, the skies the limit for Cutler and we’re lucky to watch him blossom into an NFL Super Star!

The defensive coaching I would give an F-, that scheme fooled no one and probably should of lost us the game, Shannan’s/Bates game plan seemed to be about the same as it was for the San Diego game, and the Saints started getting wise to it, we adandoned the running game for too long of streches, and I really think this three headed back system is not working, I think they need to establish a primary back and work the other two in when needed.

D-Line I give a D, yes the run defense looked great on the goal line and at the end of the game, but I credit much of that to DJ, Boss, and Webster getting some much needed penetration and filling the holes. The pass rush stunk, they should of rushed one guy and dropped 10 back in coverage, it would of been as effective.

II’m getting a bit impatient with a defense that seems reactive more than proactive. Bring back Larry Coyer. This idea of rushing three and covering with six is not working. If the QB has time to stop for lunch during a play, the secondary is going to look bad . . . I don’t care if you have Champ, Deion, Willie Brown, and Darrell Green in their primes back there.

They seriously need to upgrade their DL, especially DE, and I don’t mean wasting a #1 and #3 to reach for a project player (Moss).

Nonetheless, I generally like the grades you gave, Guru. I believe the running game will improve as the young OL improves. The Broncos have the guns at RB . . . although I am excited to see what Torain can do.

I might qualify my allusion toward the defense. Yes, significant improvement is in order there. However, part of their difficulties can be attributed to the “A” performance of one Drew Brees.

And yes, I agree with Broncoman regarding the defensive coaching. I do believe the offensive and ST coaches deserved a B+, but I would give no better than a D to the defensive side. It goes back to the Rope-A-Dope defense they have seemed to employ . . . sit back and wait for them to bust you in the chops

Taking that safety was a poor call, I know it is at the end of the half, but you had to know that the Saints would be bringing the house, throw a quick pass to Royal or Marshall and I guareentee we would of had a 99-TD at the end of the half.

In addition, once we got the ball back from the missed FG in the 4th quarter, I thought we needed to take a shot on second down at getting a first by running a play action fake, if no one was open, have Jay take a sack and stay in bounds, if someone was open, we get a first down and don’t have to punt to Bush.

No doubt there is plenty of room for more improvement, but I think we continue to get better on all teams: offense, defense, and special teams.

Having said that, I’d still like more risk-taking on offense and defense. On offense, Broncoman’s call of play action from our end zone is a great one. On defense, we did bring pressure occasionally — add in a well-timed and/or disguised blitz and we might have made some damage.

This team seems at its best when it’s most aggressive. Better to gamble and give ourselves a chance for something great than to settle for watching the secondary get toasted all day.

This reeks to me of a defense coaching problem that seems unable to make proper ajustments. If this is not the problem—then it gets worse—our defense stinks.

I am glad to be at KC next week—hopefully we have a good defensive showing—if not even I will have to agree that this season could get rough. We are fortunate (the next two weeks) to be facing a couple teams that are not playing very well—but can’t keep winning with luck. We need to smah someone and put them away.

Oh well, I better cut this short, la-la-land is about to spew me out if I don’t shut up.

Oh, one more thing, lest we forget just how important Cutler is to this team—take a look at Miami-NE.

I would like to thank Silver for my new avatar.

The reason? Because this team is capable of so much more. Dre Bly was right, the Saints should never even have been in this one. The offense was a little off yesterday and although the O Line kept Cutler largely upright they did get pushed around a bit. But, given how strong the offense has been so far this year plus how young they are, it is hard to fault them for having a bit of an off day. You can’t play at the level they did against the Bolts every week.

Obviously I am more concerned about the defense. The total inability to mount a pass rush will be this team’s undoing. We have a lot of solid individual players on defense but when you give a guy like Drew Brees that much time he’ll pick you part, no matter how many all pros you have back there. Brees was back there making phone calls waiting for guys to get open all day.

I imagine when Dumervil gets his hand back he’ll be able to take it up a notch but he can’t be our only legitimate pass rush threat. Hopefully the Broncos can make some moves in that area this week against a weaker team like KC, and see some results.

I hope the run blocking improves, since this was the lowest rushing output so far this year. We still won the game but as was mentioned above – you have to do the little things consistently to be a playoff level team.

That said, I generally like what I see so far, and let’s be honest – part of the fun has been watching this team develop and grow. Hard to say where this year will go but it looks like it won’t be a dull ride!

I saw the play where a saint DB"s face mask just ripped out a huge piece of flesh and the cameras were fucused on B-Marsh just staring at this hole in his arm in the huddle.

Solid B- effort overall. The 21-3 point lead de ja vu makes me worry about complacency on the field.

Good debate…here’s my 2 cents:

B overall (win counts, Defensive improvement seen, ST way better)

Offense: A: Even with J struggling they were potent to say the least.

Defense: C: They gave up a lot of yards, but if you look back they made a bunch more impact plays this game than against SD. goal line stand??? Are you kidding me?

I will say that the defensive play calling and DL need work for sure. We NEED pressure. I have great confidence in our DBs and LBs, but we need a rush. So either get some personnel to address this or start bringing in some more blitz packages…especially on 3rd and long!

To the Defense’s credit keep in mind SD and NO are superb offensive teams. I think our Defense can be really good, but we’ll know in the next 2 games. If KC throws on us like NO and SD, then we have some SERIOUS problems. :)

our defense looked bad but they did make plays when they had to like on the 4th down and the nate webster touchdown. But still, we NEED to get pressure on the QB!!! Jay and B-Marsh and the rest of the offense didnt have their best game either( how many points left behind did we have?!?), but i think every team in the NFL would love their offense’s to score 27 points on a bad day. i hope we can address these problems this week before we play the missouri indians.

Regarding the question about where are all the blitzes…They are coming, but not till later in the season. Why? Remember in 2005 the Broncos got to 13-3 record based on good running and some really creative blitz packages ala Coyer. However, in the AFC championship game, Pittsburgh was able to negate this through max protect and then picking on Dominique Foxworth. I believe that Shanahan and Slowik are saving their best blitz packages for the end of the year because A) Blitzing all the time will wear your defense out in the later months, and B) they think they can use their offensive teams to beat their early season foes.

    who on defense besides DJ willams would be our best blitzer ? we need him to cover side line to side line more against screen plays dont we ?

JMFW. Where was he? The NFL knows that Bly and Paymah have to get lucky and Bailey is getting board over there. Put him in. What’s the worst that happens. He uses his speed to chase down a Sproles or Bush? Sounds good to me.

Good breakdown Guru.

I am happy we won and the fact that our offense just continues to roll up points, however hopefully our defense will step up soon and try to hold a lead. This is the second week in a row that we were up by 18 points early only to see the game wind up being close. Don’t get me wrong I am excited to see or offense perform well to compensate our defense, yet sometimes we won’t be able to throw up 35-40 points a game.

Offense: explosive and performing well, except for those Red Zone turnovers.

Defense: still needs work, however the did make some key stops so that is an improvement. DBs will get better with some constant pressure. Good to see the defense get a turnover and return it for seven.

ST; better and Prater is kicking awesome.

I give us a B because despite all the positive things we did, we manageed to give up an 18 point lead for the second week in a row.

I have to agree with Zappa. This version of this defense is bordering on being WORSE than last year.
The scheming was pathetic! The defense came out on fire, and then we dumb it down once we get the lead and essentially let them back into the game.
One of the biggest things that I dont understand is that we come out with this high octane offense that we ALL know will put up points fast. So, what is the opposition going to do? They are going to throw. So why we are all so stoked on the run defense, no one is really running at us anyway.
If the plan all along was to score first, fast then WHY did we not shore up our pass rush and DB play? Does this really make ANY sense to anyone!
I like the fact we are bringing in some different looks with some 3-4 hybrids….it mixes it up and might give us some advantages. Heck, I am even happy we are taking a look at Jason Babin! He mighjt be good in this hybrid scheme it seems Shanny (Check his interview yesterday at www.denverbroncos.com) and Slowik are leaning towards. I even think a 3-4 will be a good/ better fit for Moss and Boss Bailey.
We need better scheming and LOTS more aggression. The defense gets a D from me….DJ Williams gets an A and the other LB’s a B!!!!
Special Teams….loads better.
Offense…..good but left a lot out there.
Overall a C+.
We were MORE lucky in this game than against San Diego.
THE GOOD NEWS: Does anybody see any other team on our schedule (apart from our last game against San Diego) that can outscore us. We have time to get this defense fixed, and this would be a good week to have a solid effort.
Thanks TSG for the great thread and everyone else for the comments!

i give the entire offense an a, including coaching. well, except for the safety call, but i forgive. the running game will improve and provide us balance in the weeks to come. cutler will cut his few mistakes down when we don’t have to score a td on every posession to win a game. an A+ from me. o-line has been incredible, way ahead of schedule. te’s look great. hillis, rb’s look fine, and selvin is amazing in space. all happy here

special teams looked much better. kicking game was a question mark heading into the season, they look very solid here, and the touchbacks are huge. return game had some nice ones, and the coverage units looked solid for the first time. the out-of-bounds kick was the only blemish, here, but kern has been solid too, for the most part.

ok, here we go. the defense. i was ready for paymah being replaced by jmfwilliams last week, and i still am. i won’t re-hash as to why. moss, you know what i think of him, too. webster and the lb’s had a huge game, and major props for the 2 “stands”, and the engelberger strip/td run. did you see the blocking on that return? excellent. it appears i’m finally getting some support on the 3-man rush+zone=first down, thing. actually, it goes like this: stop the run, stop the run, 3-man rush, first down. that is my ray rhodes formula for failure, and it still applies today. no, we are not getting pressure with even rushing 4, but did you expect to with this unit? how many teams can apply consistent pressure with their front 4? we need to send 5, minimum, to even think about pressure. i give the defense a c, for coming up with huge stops and plays to win the game. the coaching gets an F-, until we actually try to get off the field on 3rd down. i found this quote from shanny particularly disturbing: “If you have a three-man rush, you’re not really sure who is coming. The disadvantage of a four-man front is they know the front four is usually coming and you know what the coverage is.” your thoughts on this?