Our Defense will be better this year then it was last year!.  My goal is to not argue how much better each player will be than the ones we had last year, but to provide some intangibles that provide solid proof our defense will be better next year despite individual play which is toooo unpredictable.  My reasons are as follows

1.       Creating turnovers is one of the most important things a Defense can do to help their team win. And this year, creating turnovers won't just be something that the HC talks about to the media, but will be something that is physically beat into our defensive players bodies and minds.   If anyone thinks McD. will settle for anything less, please let me know.   Here is a quote from McD. during passing camp, "The pace is pretty frantic out there," he said. "(Practices) are going to have a lot of different things included in them and our players are going to be held accountable because if we don't do those things right in a game, we're not going to win.  We've got to do a lot of things right in practice to carry them over to games."  First off, this quote was from passing camp, not training camp or in-season practices.  Second, does anyone remember Shanahan holding anyone accountable last year, to include himself?  The "Boys Club at the Dove" NO LONGER EXISTS and I for one am very excited.  It's Professional Football, it's a very violent game, you play like you practice and with our new Generals McD. and BDawk our D will be more focused and physical than last year, thus forcing more turnovers.  Guaranteed!  This is an easy one to predict considering we forced a league low 13 turnovers last year.  There was only four other teams that had less than 20; San @ 18, Atl @ 18, Was @ 18, and Jac @ 17.  I don't think it would be a stretch to say we double our total from last year to give us around 26 this year.    BDawk and  Goodman combined accounted for 13  turnovers last year and that's just two of new additions to our D.   The extra turnovers will give our offense almost one more short field per game to hopefully convert into points, get our defense off the field,  plus create a HUGE momentum boost for our entire team.  And as we all know momentum is paramount in football at any level.  Thus leading to more wins.

2.       We will have career NFL starters at more positions on D then we did last year.   I'm not going to argue how much better our new players are, but just that they are STARTERS and have been STARTERS in this league for some time.  Pop quiz: What do John Engelberger, Marquand Manuel, Jamie Winborn, Marlon Mcree, Ebenezer Ekuban, Dwayne Robertson and Nate Webster have in common........ Not sure.  Answer:  They all started for Denver last year and are currently not on a team's roster.   That means that more than half of last year's D isn't even good enough to compete for roster spots on the other 31 teams, but they started for us last year.  Yikes!  This year we will have BDawk and Hill (both career starters and would be on most rosters) to replace both MM's.  We also have Davis (another career starter) to replace Webster.    That solidifies eight solid starters on D compared to last year's 5, (Champ, Dre, Williams, Doom, Thomas).  I include Dre because I believe he's good enough to start for several teams and be on the roster of most.   Situational players or role players have their purpose in this league, but it's not starting the game or taking most snaps.   The fact that almost 75% of our starters are career starters versus last year's 45% means our D will be better.

3.       We will run the ball more consistently on offense.  This could be the single most important factor of all.  Last year we had the 5th fewest rushing attempts in the league, only 387 attempts.  This compared to when we were 2nd in the league in 2005 with 542 attempts(surprise we went to the AFC Championship), ninth in the league in 2006 with 488 attempts, and 18th in the league in 2007 with 429 attempts.   To me it is no surprise that 9 of the 12 twelve playoff teams last year were ranked 1-9 in rushing attempts in 2008.  A direct correlation of the effect this has on the defense is that all 9 teams defenses were in the top 13 in fewest points allowed.  Think about that.....  Why is this?  Because if you're consistently running the ball all game what is the other team not doing?  Answer:  playing offense, scoring points, getting turnovers off of interceptions or QB fumbles (which is approximately 2/3rds or more of a team's reason for coughing up the pigskin) ,  controlling the game, and ultimately winning the game.  And if the opponents aren't doing those things what do you think your team will be doing....  Now, the reasons I am confident we will run a lot more this year are: NE under McD. as the OC were 6th, 9th and 4th in the league with 499, 451, and 513 rushing attempts respectively, 25% of our FA signing were RBs, our first draft pick was the top rated rusher in the draft and the only coaching staff retained from 2008 were the highly respected RB Coach and OL Coach.  Surprise surprise!

4.       My last point might be kind of a stretch, but I feel it is a fundamental difference from last year so I thought I would share it anyway.  We do have some question marks on our D and I feel the front 3 and one OLB position will be fielded by non proven players.  However, an improvement from last year is that our personnel question marks aren't underperforming former top draft picks with "potential" or career injury riddled talents or role players expected to be starters as in recent years .   They are young , versatile, developing players that could become starters or role players that have everything to prove and nothing to lose.  For example,  on D-line we have Carlton Powell w/ 1 year of experience (not really, but one year of being in the NFL),   Marcus Thomas (include him because we're not sure where he will play), Ryan McBean, Tim Crowder, and Nic Clemons w/ 2 years, and Darrell Reid , ,  and Ronald Fields with 4 years.   Also, CUFA rookies Chris Baker, Rulon Davis, and Everette Pedescleaux round out the youthful D-line possibilities.  At LB we have one OLB position that is a question mark.   A "role player" Darrel Reid is taking the reps, but with the extremely talented Robert Ayers(Rookie)  on his heels,  Jarvis Moss (2 years experience), and Rulon Davis(Rookie) also applying pressure, I'm confident we will have an adequate fourth linebacker.   

I have hopefully made my point clear.  As to whether or not I have proven my point I will leave to you the MHR faithful and look forward to your comments.    13-3 BABY!!!!!!!!!!!