Broncos camp report: Mile High City should prepare for a new low

by Homer-ism101 on Aug 24, 2009 2:37 AM MDT

Or so CBSSports.com National Columnist Mike Freeman says.

Mike Freeman also has a video up next to the article where he discusses the upcoming Broncos' season with Aaron Lopez (aka: CBSSports.com's correspondent to the Broncos). Of course, like most in the media at this time, they paint a very bleak future for the Broncos. More links and some thoughts after the jump.

It's crazy that the media covering the Broncos are almost gleeful while talking how bad they think the Broncos' season is going to be. It always hurts a bit when a team has drama and a player with a load of talent leaves town. To then have the media rub salt in the wound is never fun. However, it comes with the territory. McDaniels is going to face these media guys and gals all season long. If Orton struggles even the slightest bit you can bet it is going to be picked apart over, and over, again. I guess the preseason is a good time to get used to what you'll be seeing all season long, and those questions will be heard all season long. A thicker skin is certainly in store for Broncos fan, no matter the outcome of the season.

Now, on the the links/articles they provide: Broncos: Five Things To Know and Simms Grateful For Healthy Shot at Denver QB Job.

If you're tired of the negativity, both of those links actually provide good, positive talking points for the most part.

And finally, the thing I haven't heard many talking about when the Denver Broncos are brought up:

5. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan continues to do something I witnessed him do when he was defensive coordinator of the Giants more than a decade ago: run sprints with the players. When Nolan isn't running he's an excellent coordinator and might be the best offseason pickup for the Broncos.

The quickest way to change one's defense is to hire a new coach, and with Mike Nolan Denver should be progressively getting better, and not just because they have no place to go but up as many here have mentioned.

I would like to know, what are the fans' 5 keys to this season? Also, what are your realistic expectations for the 2009 Denver Broncos. While admittedly I'm more of an outsider looking in, here would be the 5 things I look at this Broncos' season:

1. Quarterback play. McDaniels is touted as being an amazing QB coach and having a great system for the right QB to operate under. It remains to be seen if the Belichick branch of coaching can be successful outside of Foxborough and also if McDaniels' has the right QB for his system.

2. Health. Plain and simple. Denver needs to stay healthy. That may seem obvious, but it could be the true difference between a winning and a losing season.

3 and 4. Defense. I would dedicate two spots to the defense; one spot to the defensive scheme and one spot to the players' execution of the scheme and their talent level. Not much more needs to be said about it. An obvious work in progress. New coach; new personnel; new scheme.

5. Leader/Star Player. They aren't always the same. Nevertheless, someone will have to step up and take charge of that team if they are going to succeed. It cannot be the coach. The coach saying something only goes so far. It will be up to the players' play on the field and leadership skills in the locker room that will determine how far they will go, as a unit, both offensively and defensively. I say star player because it takes someone who can go out and lead by example. If they lack the talent or simply make mistakes on the field, that will greatly diminish any player's message or words to his teammates.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Comments

Good analysis Homer. Here's my take on your 5 points.

1. Given last weeks and this weeks performances from Orton, I think they are moving in the right direction with him. The first two games of preseason are tough indicators because we all know coaches love the situational stuff from their starters. However, all playcalling aside, Orton looks much more confident in the pocket this week than he did last week. He looks more focused on the progression, and more importantly, knowing when to check down and dump the ball to the emergency receiver. Of course, he’ll make mistakes, but he seems to be working proactively to correct them and better himself as time goes on.

2. You are right on with the health aspect. While injuries are always bound to happen, even though we all wish they wouldn’t, someone is always going to be injured. The extent and severity of the injury is what makes or breaks the season. I saw something on Saturday night that really made me cringe. That was when Daniel Graham took the catch and got his legs tied up and brought to his knees, and then got clobbered after that by a defender. His body was all tweaked in the worst way and I could almost feel an injury coming on. If this were 2008, there probably would have been an injury, but he got up, shook it off and went to the huddle. I think our medical staff is working hard to keep these guys in tip top shape. That’s a nice change.

3a-Defensive Scheme- The complete overhaul of the scheme and playcalling will take time to get down, but so far I like what I’m seeing from the front 7, our line is putting good pressure and the blitzes so far are being effective. Our secondary needs to be more aggressive in their coverage though.

3b-Defensive execution- I saw 5 passes on Saturday night that should have been picks—3 of them went Andre Goodman’s way. He’s going to need to step it up if he wants to stay on the first team. Although, in his defense, it’s not easy being the cornerback opposite Champ Bailey. That’s almost guaranteeing that you will have 5 times more balls tossed your way than him, making you look like a buffoon if you don’t come down with at least 2 INT’s in the game. In any event, he should step his game up a bit if he wants to cement his spot. Also look for Brian Dawkins return to bring everyones intensity up to “11” if you smell what I’m stepping in.

5. I think our star players this year will be as follows:
a. Eddie Royal- Whether Marshall is here or not, Eddie Royal has gained respect, credibility, and he holds himself responsible and accountable for everything he does. He’s your cookie cutter football player that everyone else should work to be like.

Knowshon Moreno- This one is tough to say for me, because he’s just a rookie, but Knowshon has a swagger to him that is so hard to ignore. It’s a shame they don’t measure likability in the combine because he would break the chart on it. His ability to make everyone like him isn’t just because of his attitude though, he’s a fierce competitor that will make you pay if you don’t respect him and his ability. He brings the fire to the running back position that I haven’t seen in Mile High since TD brought the heat in 98.

c. Brian Dawkins- His presence alone will make everyone try harder. He’s the player that will chew your ass on the field or off it if you make stupid mistakes. He’s earned his keep as a hands down leader on our team. He commits himself and his body 100% on every play, and he is recognized as such. Everyone around him will try harder if for no other reason than to help get this man a ring. He’s been in the league a long time, and everyone in the NFL wants to see him win big. Everyone.

d. Elvis Dumervil- This guy is intense and based on what I’m seeing from him, he just looks natural playing OLB. I never liked that he was being so misused on the line in the 4-3. He seems so much more aware of what’s happening around him and his dedication to giving 100% will be acknowledged and the fruits of his labor could land him in the Pro Bowl this year. He provides that extra “oomph” on the pass rush that will make a quarterback second guess himself—-and then pay dearly for it.

"FLAG! Fail on the field. Re-do." -Disco_Stu

by Joe Medina on Aug 24, 2009 3:47 AM MDT reply actions 6 recs

don't know why Knowshon's was bolded, but it is what it is.

"FLAG! Fail on the field. Re-do." -Disco_Stu

by Joe Medina on Aug 24, 2009 3:48 AM MDT up reply actions

I agree with your points, and that is why

going into this season, two of my biggest fears were that BDawk and Moreno would get hurt. Hopefully, they will not be nagged by injuries all season long. Hands can be slow and painful, as can MCL sprains.

The irony of Elvis being misused as a 4-3 DE is that it may make him a better OLB. He probably learned a thing or two going gainst those 300+ lbs OLTs that other OLBs may not have. Just a theory.

Even if BMarsh gets his act together I am not convinced that his impact will be that great. I know that this might sound like blasphemy, but he had a lot of drops last year. His play in the Pro Bowl was embarrassing. I am just not sure that those drops are going away. Seems to me to be a concentration issue, which would go along with the other problems in his head.

Cutler looked good this weekend. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if his jersey got dirty on Sunday.

by Orange Crush II on Aug 24, 2009 4:11 AM MDT up reply actions

Good thought on Doom.

I never thought of it that way but it seems to me you’re probably right on.

"FLAG! Fail on the field. Re-do." -Disco_Stu

by Joe Medina on Aug 24, 2009 4:20 AM MDT up reply actions

Great analogy joe

by bfree2bronc on Aug 24, 2009 8:17 AM MDT up reply actions

I thought the same thing about Graham

Shanahan had easier practices hoping players would stay fresher longer. He must have learned that from one of the early years coaching the team (maybe 2001?). He spent his whole life around football just like McDaniels has. We can only imagine how Coach Shanahan felt when Terrell Davis went down how he did – and surely, he’d never want to see that happen to such an important player in camp or in preseason.

While there were lots injuries (a good portion were of the ‘freak’ variety) last year, not all can be attributed to lack of preparation.(I’m not sure any amount of stretching could have prevented Hillis’ leg muscles from tearing after that awkward catch/tackle. Ouch, just thinking about it!)

Here’s the flip side: does a hard-fought camp with big hits take it’s toll on the team later in the year? (It’s almost like having more regular season games. Plus with the starters playing LOTS of snaps in this preseason, could that tire out football bodies normally used to less games -including the rookies).

Or will it help the players in December? The term ‘good conditioning’ is too abstract to be helpful. Just because Coach Tuten made guys run and stretch in August doesn’t mean necessarily that the banged elbows/shoulders/knees that resulted from more concentrated high energy practices.

I can see both sides.

My thought is that (knock on wood) the team is on the right track and we’ll lose far fewer man-games than 2008’s squad did.

by dr.mort on Aug 24, 2009 10:56 AM MDT up reply actions

Injuries by bad throws

Test your memory, but I still remember that TD was injured trying to make a tackle after an interception thrown by this young QB named Brian Griese. It was a regular season game and TD was injured when his Broncos teammate Matt Lepsis took out TD’s knee trying to make the tackle after the interception.
Hillis was taken out when (as we all vividly remember) Cutler’s pass was thrown too high, and Hillis went up to make and incredible catch, but left himself vulnerable to the defender and the result was a hyper extended leg and the hamstring tear. Talk about “Being Hung Out” by the QB – Ouch!!!

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also DREAM; not only plan, but also BELIEVE.

by Broncobh on Aug 24, 2009 3:49 PM MDT up reply actions

Great post and awesome comment...rec'd both of ya. :)

Verbose in style, dispersion of thought, procrastination in life.

by Tim Lynch on Aug 24, 2009 4:16 PM MDT up reply actions

The most important thing to me is health.

It seems to be the most important thing every year, with every team. With parity playing such a large part every year, your team HAS to stay healthy. I tend to ignore stats but I heard one the other day that blew my mind and I think it was a huge reason this team did so well. Last year, the Miami Dolphins ended the year with only 4 players on IR. 4 PLAYERS?!?!?! We almost doubled that just with our running backs!!! To me, health is A #1.

All you get from drafting the "best player available" is a team full of good football players.

by orangeblood on Aug 24, 2009 11:36 AM MDT reply actions

That's why I was so surprised

that the stretching and other things we thought Tuten should have been emphasizing in order to reduce the incidence of groin pulls and related injuries were things Shanahan wouldn’t let him do. He wasn’t letting Tuten do his job just as he wasn’t letting his DC’s do their job just as he wasn’t letting the GM do his job just as he probably wasn’t letting the ST coach do his job. Letting Tuten do his job rather than telling him what to do will all by itself improve our prospects of getting “lucky” with regards to injuries.

"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.

by spock on Aug 25, 2009 7:14 PM MDT up reply actions

Not optimistic

Zero depth on the DL.
Zero playmakers on the starting DL.
Brand new defensive scheme
Brand new offensive scheme.
Backups getting very, very few reps in practice, because the starters need to learn the new system.
Probably won’t have our best receiver helping much, if at all, the first 3 games (which are the most winnable.

As has been repeated often, we HAVE to win games 1, 2 and 3. Unfortunately, I don’t see it happening. We are still learning a brand new offensive and defensive system, and that will especially be true at the beginning of the season. Then there’s Brandon. If he comes back this season to contribute, he’ll be more likely to contribute later on than early in the season, since he’s even further behind than the rest of the offense. Ayers is also more likely to still be clueless at the beginning of the season than later on.

I think games 4-8 are losses, unless we are completely healthy and have internalized the new offensive and defensive systems, so that they can play without thinking. This is especially true on defense. The defense has to just be reacting in those games, since our talent level is so low. How likely is it that all these things will happen? Not very.

Games 9, 14 and 16 are possible wins. Both sides of the ball have had time to internalize the new systems. However, if we have injury problems, we are in deep trouble. The backups have gotten much less time than in prior years, since all the starters have to get reps to learn the systems.

This is why I see 6 wins as our ceiling. It’s also why I still am pissed we traded our 1st pick instead of Chicago’s.

Now for the truly scary news. If we have injury troubles, we could very easily end up competing for one of the worst 2 or 3 records in the league. And then you would read about my death when our pick came up in the April draft.

by Broncos_FTW on Aug 24, 2009 2:37 PM MDT reply actions

Hmmm...i watched last years preseason games I don't recall seeing 7 sacks in the first two preseason games.....

I’m just saying. If it doesn’t happen in regular season then so be it, but so far I am much more optimistic this year about our D than last year when the rave was all about NIKO NIKO NIKO. lol

Verbose in style, dispersion of thought, procrastination in life.

by Tim Lynch on Aug 24, 2009 4:17 PM MDT up reply actions

I'm heartened by the sacks as well

and that makes me optimistic about our scheme. However, we’ve played 2 crappy teams and our pass rush has either resulted in a sack or plenty of time for the QB. No consistent pressure and no turnovers. Plus, when a DL gets tired, he’s done. That’s it. And we just don’t have the depth. I’m concerned about what offenses will do to us in the 2nd halves of games. I hope I’m wrong.

by Broncos_FTW on Aug 24, 2009 4:25 PM MDT reply actions