FanPost

Scoring our playmakers part 1: Defense

This is part one of a post season analysis of our team based around an objective scoring system to make comparisons between players easier. The goal here is to enable us to easily see in an objective way who our consistent playmakers are, and from there determine where we need upgrades. Of course we all have our favorite players, but to remove the subjectivity is important. In a scoring system there are no favorites. Everyone is evaluated the same.

We'll move through the different positions of the defense. There will be two charts for each, the first will be a game by game scoring and the second is the total pts scored for the year.

This is how pts are scored. Points are awarded for good plays, but penalties count against the player. We are awarding players who make plays beyond just tackling. A tackle on 3rd down that denies a first down is worth double a regular tackle. Points are stackable, for example a sack and forced fumble on 4th down would be worth 8 points. Recover the fumble and take it to the house and it's an additional 6 pts.

One last thing that is important. Try to refrain from comparing too much outside of a given position, because each position varies considerably how it should score. DE should score higher than DT for example. CB aren't comparable to LB, etc.

Play Pts
FD Penalty -1
Non-FD Penalty -0.5
Tackle/Assist 0.5
0 gain/PD 1
3rd Down Stop 1
Tackle for loss/sack 2
FF 3
FR 3
INT 3
4th Down Stop 3
INT/FR TD 3

Defensive Ends

ENDS Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2
Ayers 2.5 4.5 4.5 1 6 1 5.5 1.5 1 2 1.5 0.5 2.5 2.5 0.5 3.5
Dumervil 2 2.5 0.5 2 7 9.5 6 6.5 4.5 13 5 7 5.5
Harvey 0.5 3 1 1
Hunter 8 1.5 3 0.5 1 0.5 0.5 1 1 3 0.5 2.5 0.5

(Bold denotes top scorer for entire defense.)

Defensive Ends Reg Season Playoffs
Ayers 40.5 10.5
Dumervil 71 7
Harvey 5.5 0
Hunter 23.5 1

(Ayers played all games. Dumervil was out for 3+ games.)

Everyone knows this but Ayers is not the playmaker Dumervil is. Ayers was a weakness, and there clearly was little to no production from the bench. I'd say we need to do something here. Ayers was huge in the WC game, but he all but disappeared against NE. Is he a starter?

Defensive Tackles

TACKLES Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2 Pit NE
Bunkley 3.5 2.5 1 5.5 2.5 1 4 2 2 2 4 2 2.5 2.5 6
Thomas 6.5 2.5 1.5 2 3 1.5 1.5 2 5.5 6.5 2 4.5 0.5 5.5
McBean 5 1.5 4 7.5 4 1.5 7 3.5 2.5 -0.5 0.5 0.5 -1 4.5
Unrein 1 1 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Vickerson -0.5 0 1 0.5

Defensive Tackles Reg Season Playoffs
Bunkley 34.5 8.5
Thomas 39 6
McBean 37 3.5
Unrein 3.5 0.5
Vickerson 1 0

This position was really inconsistent this year. Bunkley and Thomas are capable of scoring 5-8 pts on this system per game but didn't very often. Thomas was injured to start the year and was still the top scorer of the group. Bunkley looked better to me watching the season than he scored. At the end of the day we didn't get many impact plays from these guys. McBean had two monster games (7 & 7.5 pts), which were the best games of the entire group, but he really faded down the stretch. It would be nice to get someone with more pocket collapsing ability into this mix.

Linebackers

LINEBACKERS Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2 Pit NE
Miller 4.5 8 7.5 5.5 3 7.5 6 7.5 15 16.5 13 6.5 0.5 2.5 1 3.5 -1
Mays 4.5 9.5 6 1 6.5 3.5 0.5 7 1.5 5 5 2.5 2 1 8 3 7
DJW 6 6 10 2.5 4 6.5 6.5 4 3.5 12.5 3.5 7 4.5 5.5 4
Woodyard 3 11 4.5 3.5 4.5 2.5 4 1.5 5.5 7 5.5 3.5 4.5 4
Haggan 0.5 0.5 1.5 1 17 1.5
Irving 1

(Bold denotes top scorer for entire defense.)

Linebackers Reg Season Playoffs
Miller 104.5 2.5
Mays 63.5 10
Williams 76.5 9.5
Woodyard 64.5 0
Haggan 22 0
Irving 0 1

From a playmaking perspective, Von Miller is hands down our best linebacker (best overall too). He had a monster year especially prior to his injury against SD. I really regret not being able to see what our defense was capable of with him healthy down the stretch. He had a huge playoff drop off. Williams was ok, had a couple of monster games against Mia and Chi. Mays was pretty much a disaster. He was outscored by a backup (woodyard) if that says anything. Woodyard is great off the bench. Haggan was a beast subbing for Miller (17 pts!) against Min. Irving didn't show us anything. Mays needs to be gone or sent to ST. We've got to have more production from our MLB. We need 80+ pts from all three. Williams would have easily reached that if it wasn't for his early injury. Mays wasn't close.

Safeties

SAFETIES Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2 Pit NE
Dawkins 5.5 5.5 1.5 8 2 10 1 5.5 1.5 0.5 4 10.5 3 1.5
Carter 1 1.5 1 1.5 4 1.5 1.5 3 1.5 2 5.5 1 0.5 6.5 5.5
Bruton 1 2 0.5 0.5 7 2.5 5 3
Moore 5.5 3 2 5 2 1 4 4 -0.5 1.5
Bush 5.5

(Bold denotes top scorer for entire defense.)

Safeties Reg Season Playoffs
Dawkins 60 0
Carter 25.5 12
Moore 26 1.5
Bruton 13.5 8
Bush 0 5.5

Yikes. Dawkins basically missed the last quarter of the season and still scored almost triple his fellow starter. Gotta remember we're comparing him to rookies. First off, I'd say a fantastic showing for Carter in the playoffs. Hopefully he can carry that over to next year. Like Scotty was pointing out in another post, we need Landry for next year! This is a huge need because of all the passing in the league these days. I would also point out that Moore started the season playing pretty decent but really declined as time went on. What happened?

Cornerbacks

CORNERBACKS Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2 Pit NE
Bailey 4 4.5 2 2.5 9.5 1 5.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 3.5 5 5.5 0.5
Goodman 2 1.5 3.5 3 1.5 2 1 0.5 7.5 4 10 1.5 2 4 2.5 1.5 1
Harris 2.5 2 5.5 9.5 8 1.5 3.5 4 4 9 4 5.5 3.5 4
Wilhite 4.5 8.5 4 8 0.5
Vaughn 0.5 3.5 7 2 9.5
McCarthy 1

(Bold denotes top scorer for entire defense.)

Cornerbacks Reg Season Playoffs
Bailey 42 6
Goodman 46.5 2.5
Harris 59 7.5
Wilhite 25.5 0
Vaughn 22.5 0
McCarthy 1 0

Bailey wasn't the playmaker he has been. There I said it. He can absolutely shut down the best receivers in the league at times, but he isn't the ball hawk he once was. His stats are probably affected by how little teams throw his direction, however the missed pick in the EZ against Pit summarizes his season pretty well from a big play perspective. Goodman had some great productivity in two games (NYJ & Min) but you take out those two and he was easily the worst performer on the entire field in terms of play making. Harris put everyone else to shame. He scored well because he can tackle, and because he makes plays on third down. He is money and needs to start every game next year. Consider that he didn't play the first 3 games of the year! Wilhite and Vaughn had some really nice games to start the year before injuries hit them. I think we have a group of youth potential if we can keep them healthy. Ship Goodman out though.

Team totals Denver Broncos 2011 Defense

Oak #1 Cin Ten GB SD #1 Mia Det Oak #2 KC #1 NYJ SD #2 Min Chi NE Buf KC #2 Pit NE
TOTAL 45.5 55.5 57.5 48 65 66 42 57.5 62.5 65 58 73.5 64 50 49.5 48.5 51.5 51.5

(Bold denotes wins.)

TOTAL WINS LOSES
AVG PTS 61.5 50.8

With this scoring system it takes about 55 pts from the defense to win a game. We beat Pit scoring 51.5 so we can say that we won mostly because of the offense. Take note that we should have won two other games this year, Ten and SD#1. Blame those loses on the offense--our defense was strong enough.

To summarize:

Top Performers Tot Pts Yr.
LB Von Miller 107
LB Williams 86
DE Dumervil 78
CB Harris 66.5
S Dawkins 60
DT Thomas 45

I'll post part two, looking at the offense later in the week. Thanks for reading, please comment. Who are our starters next year, and who do we replace?

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