Shoot out teams can be recognized by three qualities -

1. They score a lot of points,
2. They score in a short amount of time; this indicates that they throw the ball down the field often,
3. They take more risks than teams that don’t shoot out.

Denver does several things that don’t point to a shoot out team. They are very, very careful with the ball. We know that Orton can throw the deep pass, but he throws to high percentage / safe targets most of the time. Denver also has put a lot into running the ball. Denver doesn’t put up a lot of points, but they put enough points on the board by being consistent, and the defense does the rest.

For a look at what a shoot out team does, look at last year’s Broncos and Cutler. A lot of yards, and a lot of points. While this is entertaining football, and also gives fans the belief that the team can come back from a major deficit, it also leads to a LOT of INTs and mistakes. It is high reward, but high risk. At least in my book, I wouldn’t define Denver that way.

Looking at the many comebacks we’ve had this year, we’ve relied on two areas and discarded another. We move the ball carefuly, and allow the defense to hold the line. What we don’t do anymore is throw deep and hope for the best.

Folks can reasonably disagree on defining a shoot out team, but that’s how I would put it.

: )

Baltimore should try to get at Orton, but that’s a tall order against an elite pass block team like Denver. I agree that Denver will go to 2 TE if the BAL pressure looks good. I also think a good pass rush feeds into Denver’s screen passes. Baltimores LBs are the heart of the defense, but they’ve been out of position a few times this season. This is a fatal mistake against a good screen passing team.

Good observations Zoo!

Orton has the ability to change the play at the line to either a run play or a quick throw. It also puts baltimore’sdefenders one on one with Denver’s recievers which would be a great advantage for Denver. They might try timely blitzes but if Denver picks up the blitz Baltimore is in trouble.

force the Ravens to show their hand pre-snap & let Orton adjust as he will

Why don’t you staff guys put your former screen names in quotes, e.g. Tim “Zappa” Lynch?

My guess is that we game plan for Gaither, and I’m thinking he’ll play. But yes, he is now listed as doubtful, and that is just one more reason to like Denver’s attack.

(If I were BAL, I wouldn’t play Gaither. I don’t think a team should EVER play guessing games with a neck injury. Let the guy sit a couple of more weeks beyond when he looks 100%.)

I don’t know that we’ll pass to set up the run too much. Baltimore will play top notch in the middle, and we’ve shown that we aren’t hitting the middle well (especialy on short yardage / 3rd downs). I think we’ll play “what you see it was you get”. In other words, we’ll run wide on run plays (relying on blocks from WRs and TEs), and spread the pass amongst several eligible receivers on the field. Each pass and run should stand on its own this game.

You make an excellent point on Rice. He is scary good, and very underrated.

First, he runs like a bowling ball. He’s small (making him hard to tackle), fast (his momentum breaks a lot of tackles), and strong (he can bowl right through most players). I’ve watched some film this week. Rice is deadly good, and he can even catch.

Even a solid tackler will have problems tackling a low flying, fast, stout player. The key to stopping him will be to either disrupt the run in the backfield before it starts, or to get an early hit to slow him enough for the swarm to reach him. Left untouched for more that 1.5 seconds after his first step, he is going to be tough to stop.

I don’t know that we’ll pass to set up the run too much. Baltimore will play top notch in the middle, and we’ve shown that we aren’t hitting the middle well (especialy on short yardage / 3rd downs). I think we’ll play “what you see it was you get”. In other words, we’ll run wide on run plays (relying on blocks from WRs and TEs), and spread the pass amongst several eligible receivers on the field. Each pass and run should stand on its own this game.

You make an excellent point on Rice. He is scary good, and very underrated.

First, he runs like a bowling ball. He’s small (making him hard to tackle), fast (his momentum breaks a lot of tackles), and strong (he can bowl right through most players). I’ve watched some film this week. Rice is deadly good, and he can even catch.

Even a solid tackler will have problems tackling a low flying, fast, stout player. The key to stopping him will be to either disrupt the run in the backfield before it starts, or to get an early hit to slow him enough for the swarm to reach him. Left untouched for more that 1.5 seconds after his first step, he is going to be tough to stop.

I’m a little confused at Baltimore’s play so far too. I think they’re a better team than their record, but let’s face it, they’re playing a lot of tough opponents and not winning those games. They beat the teams that they should, but not the tough ones. We shouldn’t underestimate them.

I think our pass blocking protects Orton on Sunday, and Orton keeps his calm demeanor. If Baltimore can get the pressure, they can pull this game off. Still, I don’t have a clue why the undefeated team (that also leads in almost every stat) isn’t favored in this game.

lol. Steve, do you see the option of going back to the 3 TE set at times during the game in order to improve our running game as sensible in this case? Between that approach and the Wild Horses options, I’m not sure that anyone can figure out what plays we’re going to be running. Given that one of Baltimore’s weaknesses up until now has been the play in the secondary (except, as always, for Ed Reed), employing 3 TE-based running attack combined with accurate passing could = defensive migraines. Thoughts?

I hear you. But two returns in one game is amazing. And Doom is on track to beat L. Taylor’s sack record. And I figured Orton would play well with a better OL, receivers and coaching. But only one INT? WOW!

We rock!

Not that I’m superstitious or anything, but why change something that works. Oh and BTW, I haven’t shaved either since the Bengal game…LOL. And I really don’t want to Monday morning, so come on boys give it to them.

I don’t think that Foxworth is a good match for Royal or Marshall. However, he will share any “tells” that he’s picked up from his time with Denver, and some may be useful. On the other hand, Denver’s offense is radicaly different than from when Foxworth was here, so many of his reads are going to be outdated.

All in all, I don’t think Foxworth will be able to help the rest of the Ravens with much. And while I don’t think Foxworth should match too well with either DEN receiver, I DO think he will have little edges that other corners in the League wouldn’t have. In the end, I think the advantages are minimal.

The only WRs that Foxworth has experience with are Marshall and Stokely. Everyone else is new to him. Scheffler and Graham, too, if we were talking about TEs, as well.

I’m blushing!

lol

The guy is hard to tackle, but the Broncos are tackling machines this year. I just don’t think the Ravens will be able to cope with our adjustments and smarts…eventually our D will clamp down.

I don’t know if I agree on play action. I just watched a breakdown on film (I think it was NFL.com), where someone (Theisman?) was pointing out how the Denver safeties come forward on the play action, and this gives up yards. I (respectfuly) disagree with his analysis.

Safeties are going to come forward when they see a hand off; that’s what they do. On the other hand, in each case that I saw, the safeties recovered very quickly and the receptions by the other teams were incidental to the safeties. Dawkins is an incredible speciman, mentaly and physicaly. Renaldo Hill has been playing some great football. I don’t think the Broncos are biting on the play action any worse than any other team, and in fact, I think Denver plays against it very well.

In fact, given Denver’s pass rush, I don’t know that Baltimore wants to keep their QB in the pocket any longer to sell a play action.

However, I agree with you about the screen. Baltimore has a star in the making with Rice, and I’m concerned about what he can do out of the screen.

And the indignity of Shannon Sharpe being a huge part of that win for them was too much to bear.

But then it was kind of fun afterwards when our division rivals first played them and expected to beat them, as we had, as if they assumed we just hadn’t been playing the Ravens hard enough then BLAM! The Ravens punched them in the mouth, too.

That’s the only solace I’ve been able to take ever since. I’m just praying we come out of it healthy. I know we’re better conditioned this year, but we always seem to lose a big name for the season when we play those guys.

..the pundits said that SD really needed the game against us if they were going to have a shot at the playoffs.

I think a lot is made of teams “really needing a game”, but when it comes down to it, a team isn’t very preofessional if they treat some games as more important than others.

I believe Denver is treating each game as critical, and as long as they do that, I don’t think we’ll be caught off guard.

I’m certain we have a doomsday plan (a string of 2 minute drills) for nightmare scenarios. If a team is down by 21 points with 6 minutes left, they will throw down field.

But to me, a shootout is 2 teams throwing the kitchen sink at each other for an entire (or at least half of the) game. I don’t see us going that route. In games where we have been behind, Coach has been patient and kept the offense safe and consistent. We’d have to fall pretty far back to start chucking bombs.

Just like that wonderful TD in the DAL game, I expect our magic to be worked by getting the short to medium passes to Marshall, then letting him run over or around the opposition. We’ll win on YAC, not long passes.

Screens, short hitch and curl routes, and runs to the edges. Other than that, I think we are much different.

that he recognizes a lot of what Denver is doing on Defense, from when Baltimore ran something similar, and that he isn’t too worried about not recognizing what is going on out there.

I’ll bet a pint of orange and blue that Denver fields something he doesn’t recognize…

I just re-checked my work against the NFL’s site and found that Foxworth does have an INT. Good catch (you, not him).

And yes, this should be a terrific game win or lose. Denver is playing the best football they’ve played in about ten years, and Baltimore hasn’t been playing well, but they are certainly capable of playing playoff caliber football.

I expect a very entertaining 60 minutes of football.

I hear you. We need Vegas to keep screwing up so Bronco fans can make a nice profit. Ok; I’ll pipe down.

: )

almost….

…it is. Thanks sir!

Well, first you have 5 guys on the line (required), and then the QB and the other 5 eligible receivers out wide. Since you have to snap to somebody, the D knows someone (the QB or someone else) is going to motion over. If the person making the motion was a RB, the defense could man each reciever (including the wide QB) and put a body on the RB at QB. That would be the best bet for the offense, but the formation wouldn’t support the run, and the receivers would be covered. I wouldn’t try it.

On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of the “wild horse” either. However, it works better because it can still sell the run (even though the purpose is more to get a read).

So the 6 wide concept is legal, but perhaps too much overkill to really sell a defense on. (For example, if I’m a HS DC and I see the wild horse, I might call a time out or just let my guys adjust and give up a little info. But if I saw the 6 wide, my guys would just follow their assignments and I’d sit back and enjoy the result).

If you want to know about the Broncos, you go to MHR. If you want to know about other teams, you also go to the corresponding SBN site (in most cases).

I think both team’s fans have room to be nervous. I like Denver in the match-up head to head, but the Ravens are a good team that hasn’t been playing to potential. I fully expect Denver to win, but a loss won’t shock me. The only area that I don’t see the Ravens able to rise above is the skill set at CB.

We knew Orton was much better than CHI gave him credit for, and we knew that Doom was a machine.

But two returns for TDs in one game is awfuly rare. Teams can go years without a ruturn for a TD. I voted as you did – the two returns.

Yes, they are 5th in total yards (as pointed out in the story), but these are coming from long drives. The team is efficient, moves the ball, and converts those opportunities into scores. But they aren’t getting yards in bunches. I did a poor job explaining that. To continue with the thought, as I pointed out, Baltimore should stick with that aspect of their game. Our secondary won’t give them long shots.

I like Ngata, and considered mentioning him. But it is my opinion that he isn’t playing too well so far. I really think the LBs are making things happen for the defense so far. The NFL is listing Ngata at RDE when the Ravens play 3-4, and only giving him credit for 16 tackles for the season, half a sack, and no forced fumbles.

I’m 100% grateful for your coments!

: )

Larsen is versatile, and McDaniels values that. I’d like to see use more FB blocking to get those inside runs, but that seems to be a thing of the past (not just with the Broncos, but slowly over the League). He can come in at LB, and he can run or pass block at FB too.

Will we see more Hillis? Hard to tell there too. Has he earned his way back after the fumble issue? I’d like to see him in at FB. He could either run “dives” or run block the middle. In a weird way, I’m not sure if Larsen’s return affects using Hillis much.

Remember, most folks (me included) got high on Hillis last year, but based on a very small sampling of his play. This year, I think each player is being looked at soley based on current performance. I like Hillis, but he needs to do something on the field when he gets the chance. Larsen has been out awhile, but his reputation in practice before the inury was versatility. He should get a few looks on Sunday.

My border collie has as well!