Denver Broncos vs Bills: Breaking Down The O-Line Film

by Bewsaf on Dec 28, 2011 2:34 PM MST

Week #16

The Denver Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills, 14-40. The Broncos move to 8-7 on the season while the Bills improve to 6-9.

The Denver coaching staff is obviously becoming more confident with their offensive line. Throughout the course of the game, the tight ends and backs were rarely used to help in protecting the quarterback.

Some of that change is pass protection philosophy is no doubt due to Tebow's ability to avoid defenders...but it appears to also be a vote of confidence in the offensive line.

Chris Kuper ends his day with a 91% and +2 run blocking grade and a 96% and +2 pass assignment grade. He has a solid game a the way around for the second week in a row.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Team Run Blocking		Power Blocking		Power Blocking Score		2nd Level Blocks
Did the lineman get the job done or not? These grades are good for understanding value for a team and not necessarily for comparing across teams. A game in the mid 80s to 90% is a decent score.		How often did the offensive lineman dominate the block or how often did he get dominated? These scores are good for comparing across teams and finding the most dominant lineman in the league.		Anything over zero is a good score. The more over zero the more the lineman dominated the defender. Each lineman is scored a minus for being dominated, a zero for a draw, or a plus for dominating the defender.		The number of successes over failures for the lineman when blocking linebackers and safeties on the second level. The lineman must be athletic to accomplish a high second level score.

Run Blocking Grades

Percent

Grade Bar

Power

Pull

2/Level

Grade

http://profootballspotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/100-rating-run-bar.png

Blocking

Blocks

Clady

86%

http://profootballspotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/80-rating-run-bar.png

Beadles

86%

Walton

73%

http://profootballspotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/70-rating-run-bar.png

Kuper

91%

http://profootballspotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/90-rating-run-bar.png

Franklin

82%

Clark

98%

Run Blocking Notes:

J.D. Walton and Zane Beadles has a nice run double at 12:18 in the 1st quarter.
At :23 in the 1st quarter, Tim Tebow appears to make the wrong read on an option play.
At 8:08 in the 1st quarter, Ryan Clady has moved to the right side of the formation in an unbalanced look. The Broncos run the ball and Clady misses his block. You can see him in the pic, below.

**Pic from Sunday NFL game on CBS

3:45 in the 2nd quarter, Broncos are backed up on their own 8 yard line and Walton and Kuper get a nice run double to get Denver away from their own end zone.
14:25 in the 3rd quarter, Walton has just failed to maintain his third run block in a row. You can see him in the pick, below. He is in the middle of the formation. His defender is using a rip on him and is just about to to get under and around him to stop the running back running up the middle. The receiver also missed a block.

**Pic from Sunday NFL game on CBS

At 12:07 in the 3rd quarter, Orlando Franklin misses a big block on a 2nd and 1.
Franklin's defender pressures the quarterback at 5:56 in the 3rd quarter. Tebow flushes from the pocket to his left and Ryan Clady's defender runs him down for the tackle.

Team Pass Blocking		Passing Power Blocking		Pressures		Combo Help
Did the lineman get the job done or not? These grades are good for understanding value for a team and not necessarily for comparing across teams. A game in the 90% is a good score for pass blocking.		How often did the offensive lineman dominate the block or how often did he get dominated? Each lineman is scored a minus for being dominated, a zero for a draw, or a plus for dominating the block.		How often did the offensive lineman give up pressure on the quarterback? Every once and a while a lineman can do his job but give up pressure on the QB. This stat will help glean more info from the line grades.		How often did the offensive coordinator provide help for a tough defender or a struggling lineman. Yea, two lineman ended up with the same grade...but how much help did either of them get?

Pass Blocking Grades

	Percent	Grade Bar	Power	Pressures	Sacks	Combo
	Grade		Blocking	Allowed	Allowed	Help
Clady	95%		+4	1	0	3
Beadles	86%		-4	6	0	10
Walton	86%		-2	2	0	16
Kuper	96%		+2	0	0	9
Franklin	78%		-2	3	2	3

Pass Blocking Notes:

At 4:13 in the 1st quarter, Tebow is sacked by Orlando Franklin's defender on a play that was a designed screen that was not open. Normally these plays are hard to grade since the lineman are not defending in a way that would keep the defenders out as long as possible. But in this situation, Franklin's defender went by him way to quick...even for a screen.
At 13:46 in the 3rd quarter, Zane Beadles is beat on a pass play but then recovers to make sure Tebow can just step up and over to make a throw. You can see him in the pic, below.

**Pic from Sunday NFL game on CBS

J.D. Walton is having trouble with the Bills defensive nose in the second half. At :43 in the 3rd quarter, Walton gets beat in pass protection and gives up a pressure. Tebow flushes to his right and then throws it away. You can see him in the pick, below.

**Pic from Sunday NFL game on CBS

Orlando Franklin gives up a sack at 7:52 in the 4th quarter. Franklin's defender also gets another sack at 4:56 in the 4th quarter. But the second sack was a result of Zane Beadles defender flushing Tebow.
You can check out the line performance in past games, here.

Check out the Tight Ends & Backs film breakddown

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

Thanks Bewsaf

O-line was just another piece in the dysfunctional puzzle we put together last week. Here’s to a turn-around game this week! Go Broncos!

by eastCOrange&Blue on Dec 28, 2011 3:43 PM MST reply actions

Our OLine is a work in progress and needs serious attention in the offseason...

Being the 2nd youngest in the league doesn’t help them either. If EFX chose to go with the same unit next year then I want to see a lot more improvement all around.

"What's better than 5 - 0?!?...[The whole locker room] 6 - 0"!!!
Head Coach John Fox in the locker room madness following a 13-10 victory over the Bears...

Follow @bfree2bronc

by bfree2bronc on Dec 28, 2011 7:55 PM MST up reply actions

I appreciate the analysis - rec'd.

It all starts in the trenches - HT 11/11/08
Leave the hateful vitriol to the uninformed - HT 3/16/09

by firstfan on Dec 28, 2011 7:11 PM MST reply actions

thanks

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Dec 28, 2011 10:26 PM MST up reply actions

On the sacks did you take into account the time of the play?

I wouldn’t consider anything over 3 seconds as the blame of an OLinemen, I’d attribute the sack to Tebow/coverage…

"What's better than 5 - 0?!?...[The whole locker room] 6 - 0"!!!
Head Coach John Fox in the locker room madness following a 13-10 victory over the Bears...

Follow @bfree2bronc

by bfree2bronc on Dec 28, 2011 7:52 PM MST reply actions

Usually around 3 seconds

If the lineman is beaten within 3.2…I count that toward them for sure.

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Dec 28, 2011 10:26 PM MST up reply actions

Do any NFL teams rotate OL regularly?

I’ve always thought it would be a good idea but I don’t know whether teams really do that

by yibberat on Dec 28, 2011 9:19 PM MST reply actions

Hmmm

AFC West…not really. Oakland is using Stephon Heyer and Khalif Barnes as right tackles/extra tackles though. Although Barnes gets a majority of the snaps.

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Dec 28, 2011 10:27 PM MST up reply actions

Also interesting

that defensive nose who gave Walton so much trouble was Dareus wasn’t it?

by yibberat on Dec 28, 2011 9:21 PM MST reply actions

Yes

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Dec 28, 2011 10:25 PM MST up reply actions

Love this series

Very informative, as always.

I’m no expert, but it seems to me, that in the upcoming draft, the Broncos might take a center early, rather than something flashy like a RB or DB or QB. With a HC who wants to play smash mouth football, a beast at center would make sense. Given that so many teams ahead of the Broncos will take QBs, there may be a stud center available in the first or second round that’s too good to pass on. We will see.

by MichaelCushman on Dec 29, 2011 9:39 AM MST reply actions

An explosive RT/G is also necessary to make the best use of Franklin.

However, I don’t know if that’s going to happen. We may not get RB/DB/QB with the early rounds, but we could certainly pick up LB/DT/DE.

I think those are a bit more necessary than the OL right now. As someone mentioned earlier, we are the 2nd youngest line in the league. Getting some rotational late-round help might not be a bad thing, but we need to see how these guys gel together another year before injecting more youth.

by H-bizzle on Dec 29, 2011 12:22 PM MST up reply actions

Center is such a hard position to grade

because so much of it is in the pre-snap reads, etc.

I definitely think its possible to upgrade over Walton/Beadles, but especially at center, we may be better off drafting a high potential 3rd/4th/late rounder, giving him a year or 3 to learn the NFL game, and then letting the best man win.

On the otherhand, G/T depth is definitely needed, so I could see using a high pick there and let Beadles/new rookie compete for who starts and who is the first guy off the bench. We’ve been REALLY lucky our oline depth hasn’t been tested this year (knocking heavily on wood).

by cjfarls on Dec 30, 2011 11:18 AM MST up reply actions