another great post as always TJ, though I think you’re a bit hard on Doom & DJ’s run-stopping abilities…

A good run defender can stuff up the middle and assist the Dline in tackling the RB for 2 yards or less (hopefully in the backfield). DJ is a sidelines to sidelines player. He’ll tackle you for 4 or 5 yards all day long. If he gets beat and the RB breaks contain, it is usually DJ or Dawk that runs him down (Jamaal Charles).

So, if DJ would develop a downhill game and meet the RB at whatever hole the Oline creates, then yes, he would be a good run defender. I think that a better description for DJ is “a good, opportunistic tackler”. He’ll make the tackle most of the time, but he is not a run stuffer.

I’ll fix that right now.

I am really feeling like, if we land this Dean Pees, we could be looking at landing Richard Seymour, or even trading for Vince Wilfork. NE has Wilfork’s replacement in Ron Brace, and Seymour is UFA this year. The UnDead will probably forget to franchise tag him, and he’ll leave on his own accord, and would maybe enjoy reuniting with his old DC.
Call me anything you want, but I have this feeling, bro. Something big is going to happen this offseason, and our team is going to be the better for it.

I mentioned a want for him as well in my offseason wish list. With everyone making there wishes, I thought he would be on some peoples. As of now, me and you are the only ones who have even mentioned Vince and Denver TJ. I don’t know why more people don’t say the same either, as Vince said he wouldn’t want to be tagged, meaning he wants to test the FA waters

in my eyes. He was a force in that game. Coincidence? I think not….

a pure 5-2 in the NFL? None. So it was very creative indeed.

If you remember in the SD game, the pressure came from a lot of delayed blitzes and inside stunts. Clearly the film was circulated. And given that we already put our OLBs at the line of scrimmage, our ability to disguise anything coming from the outside (other than a CB or S blitz) was limited.

Build, build, build!

As a certain Caped Crusader once said, a successful warrior will “…learn to absorb necessary and acceptable losses, in order to achieve every possible gain!”

Nice post super7. I agree with everything you just said except for:

We’re not winning the Super Bowl next year

Once we make the playoffs next year anything can happen my friend :-)

Lombardi thit that one out of the park.

We need to be patient and let Josh build the team he wants. You have 2 choices: Trust Josh or don’t trust Josh. If you don’t trust him, you’re going to HATE some of the stuff he’s gonna do in the next few years.

1. Sideline advantages: Better communication with your personnel and more hands-on sideline work with them when they aren’t on the field. (reverse this for booth disadvantages)

   Sideline disadvantages: You have to get still shots or video of the game to see what is happening properly. Distractions are more prevalent. (reverse this for booth advantages)

2. I believe Nolan chose to be up in the booth.

3. I doubt McDaniels has a preference

4. Calls are relayed to a defensive player on the field

5. Booth to sideline to designated defensive player

6. Defense has radio helmets (this just was changed this year)

But please look at player personnel, which IMO is at least as important (if not more) than coaching personnel.

They have lost Seymour, Bruschi, Vrabel, Harrison, and Asante Samuel in the last 2 offseasons. That’s about 50% of their defense and moreover, their 5 best defensive players.

It’s next to impossible to convince me that it was Pees’ fault that this team had weak depth or lacked talent on defense. I can’t imagine Bellichick calling Pees up and asking him who HE wanted to draft or what moves he thought Bellichick should make.

My question too…

http://www.patriots.com/mediacenter/index.cfm?ac=audionewsdetail&pid=40951&pcid=0

Pees is very well spoken and when you listen to 2 or 3 of these interviews, I think you might come to a different conclusion. It appears as if he is in charge of the D.

To your question, check out these pressers, I think you’ll like how well-spoken and in charge Pees is:
http://www.patriots.com/mediacenter/index.cfm?ac=audionewsdetail&pid=40951&pcid=0

Sometimes it is good to do something without so many stats. I get to interact with more members this way.

Thanks for reading!!

But in all fairness the JEts had a lot of talent on their defence coming into the season.

when exactly did we have the #2 offense? Or are we still talking about that worthless yard stat, that somehow made us look good when we really weren’t?

16th ranked offense in total POINTS.

So, we went from average to average. You don’t win games by getting more yards than the other team.

McD was the one who put it together. Look at all the FA signings McD made on D. It wasn’t Nolan putting the D together it was McD. Of course our defense would be improved after McD replaced Manual, McCree, Bly, & Josh Bell with Dawkins, Hill, Goodman, & Ty Law. Interestingly enough, our pass D was what was really improved from last year (from 26th to 3rd) bur run D was about the same (went from 27th to 26th).

While Nolan deserves credit for the job he did for us, McD deserves just as much credit for the improvements on defense since he completely upgraded the defensive talent on the roster.

not you reacting on emotion based on the limited information available to fans. Interesting that you can be so sure, what exactly is your position within the Broncos organization?

McD was the one who put it together. Look at all the FA signings McD made on D. It wasn’t Nolan putting the D together it was McD. Of course our defense would be improved after McD replaced Manual, McCree, Bly, & Josh Bell with Dawkins, Hill, Goodman, & Ty Law. Interestingly enough, our pass D was what was really improved from last year (from 26th to 3rd) bur run D was about the same (went from 27th to 26th).

While Nolan deserves credit for the job he did for us, McD deserves just as much credit for the improvements on defense since he completely upgraded the defensive talent on the roster.

my mistake that being #2 in yards, yet, in the lower half of the league in scoring points does mean something. Like a lack of real production. Afterall, it’s much more difficult for a defense to defend the field b/w the 20s but gets easier once in the red zone (smaller field to defend and all). Which ironically is why it’s the best indicator of an offenses true ability.

No we did not have a good offense in 2008. Near league leader in INTs. League leader in drops at the #1 WR position. Not one player w/ double digit TDs. No 1,000 yard rusher (albeit injuries). Second highest TO rate per drive in the NFL, behind on SanFran. No we obviously did not have a good offense in ’08.

for results when it comes to Nolan, and only the second half of the season when it comes to McDaniels? Just saying, be fair about this.

Nolan is an overrated coach in my opinion who worked well in the first half of the season but ran out of ideas in the 2nd half and the defense collapsed. All indications are that he would only have spent one more year in Denver max., and then was going to take the Miami job when it came along. He also burned a lot of bridges here in San Fran when he was the Niners. I appreciate what he did in the first half of the season but don’t think he’s all that huge a loss, especially since, as Mike Lombardi pointed out, it seems their styles may not have meshed well together and this was probably good for both parties.

And yes, McDaniels is inexperienced as a head coach. So what? A lot of great coaches were inexperienced when they started because you have to start somewhere. He’s going to be a good coach. he learned a lot this year. He also mentioned being frustrated with the lack of production from Royal and vowed to improve that next year, was a combination of nagging injuries, Royal’s own ineffectiveness and not have a good game plan for involving him.

patience, my friend.

Nolan did have a deceptive defense for the first 6 weeks, but teams started to figure things out after a while and we weren’t near as good. So, maybe a change was needed?

McD shouldn’t have called out Marshall, but at the same time, Marshall wasn’t going to play anyways, so it is a non-issue. Marshall wasn’t going to play on sunday, so McD deactivated him. That’s it.

Peyton Hillis and Scheffler don’t work as much in McD’s system. Sheffler blocks more in McD’s system and DG is a better blocker, so DG got more snaps. Hillis is a FB and Larsen is a better blocker, so Hillis didn’t start much.

Royal needs to learn how to break free of press coverage, but he was productive splitting time with Gaffney. He just didn’t get as many snaps because of depth at WR and an injury late in the season.

I’m not sure why you aren’t excited about being a broncos fan right now. Things are changing, the draft and Free agency are coming up.

“Inexperienced prideful head coach”? After an 8-8 season in his first season, I don’t understand why it was a negative season. He’s learning, sure, but he’s also getting the guys he wants and hasn’t completely put together his roster. Prideful? How so? Because he knows what he wants and gets rid of people that don’t want to be in Denver, anyways?

and his supposed comment about “being ready for the season to be over”, no I have no problem “calling him out”/benching him. Marshall is a continued problem, whom severly overestimates his value, as evidenced by Gaffeny’s ability to produce at the same position in the KC game. He either needs to learn his place in the world and keep his head outta the clouds or he can leave. I wanted him gone 2 years ago and he’s done NOTHING to change that position.

I love the Hillis questions. Guys fumbles most of his touches early in the season and people just don’t understand why the coaches won’t trust him w/ the ball down the stretch. Just so hard to figure out. That and Larsen’s a better blocker kinda hurts him.

Scheffler’s been one of only two things in his career, unhealthy or inconsistent. Yes he can produce as a reciever, too bad that’s only half his job and McDaniels obviously puts emphasis on that other half, Graham playing so much, drafting a blocking TE.

Finally, Royal dealt with a number of injuries throughout the season thus hindering his development. Then again we also didn’t pass nearly as much as last season, so his opportunities were decreased. And he still showed flashes of what he brings to the table.

Waaaayyy too many variables in all the “ifs” you just described to so narrowly classify as either a success or failure.

I’d say that if the Broncos have successful seasons over the next few years and make the playoffs and do all that good stuff, then the results make a case for josh’s decisions.

I could care less what Cutler does in Chicago or what Nolan does in Miami or what Marshall does in whatever city he ends up with (unless it is Denver).

Have fun in the bomb-shelter.

Its just a game.

You hate McD. You love Cutler. We get it.

McD is the Head Football Coach of the Denver Broncos. Jay Cutler is NOT the QB of the Denver Broncos.

Get over it.

Every Bronco sings a sad, sad song…..

But it just didn’t feel right! I like that you brought it up instead, especially in that context.

I agree that DJ has some talent and as Jeremy Bolander brought up, the dude is playing 100% of the plays. Your point about him finding a position is well-taken and well-put.

Peterson is the weakest link..by a wide margin, although I would never say I disliked him as a player. I remember the plays of which you speak.

Regarding Doom, you might recall a post of mine on the value of a sack and his record…this was many weeks ago. I said I didn’t think Denver would resign him. I’m still not sure they will, although I wish they would. There is a lot of talk about trading Marshall, but we could be in for a shock and see Doom actually be the one to go. They didn’t draft Robert Ayers to sit on the bench, now did they?

At this point nothing would surprise me. Considering what this franchise has seen in the last 18 months (and even in the last two days), I think we are still in for a ton of surprises.