A Mix of Good and Bad

The thing about our 'backers going forward, is that Bob Slowik, our new defensive head-honcho, will have to make a few choices.

He will have to choose between versatility, provided by some players to our nickle coverages, and  comprehension, players with a grasp of the playbook.  He will have to choose between a guy who makes his tackles, but who hesitates, and a guy who never hesitates, but always misses his tackles.  He will be choosing between tangible size and intangible heart.

In the end, he will be choosing between the future, and now.  If he chooses now, we might get off to a hot start with our linebacking corp.  They will be fast and powerful, but with time, they will be exposed.  If he chooses the future we may fail to gain purchase in the early goings of the season, sacrificing early momentum for the hope that eventually sound technique and consistency will win out, but by then it may be too late.

Or, he may choose to balance both ideas on the edge of a razor, which could cut either way, or neither.  Or, if handled incorrectly, as our defense has been for the past several years, it could cut both ways.

Lets look at the players poised on this thinnest of edges amongst the Broncos' hopeful, and see what case they have made for their future.

My early vote for our starting MLB, Niko has had his ups and downs.  The NPLB analysis points out that he can help this team if he is on the field, especially when it comes to stopping the run.  He shows tremendous instincts when he gets into the garbage around the line, and sometimes you are left to wonder just HOW he managed to slice through and get his hands on the tackler.  The other solid trait that he brings is his tackling.  Whether he is a hard hitter is still up in the air, and for my money, a starting MLB better be able to lay some wood when he gets the chance.  But in every other respect his tackling is exactly what you should hold a MLB too.  It is sure and consistent, and it is a breath of fresh air to see the SAM take out a FB with Niko right behind him.  It gives me a confidence that I haven't felt since Al manned the middle. 

But Niko had his share of mistakes so far in the preseason, including misreading his gaps, and worst of all, playing tentatively.  You see it on the (very few) blitzes that get called, where he looks slow and uncertain, two things he isn't, judging by his physical displays on special teams.  You also see it when he is reading playaction.  He has a knack for staying at home and not overcommitting, and he definitely reads 90% or better of his plays very well, but sometimes his patience borders hesitation, and you are left to watch him choosing a proper angle for pursuit rather than seeing a tackle for a loss.

He seems to be getting his guys into a good position, and though DJ has more familiarity with Webster, he and Niko are getting the plays in and the guys lined up.  When Niko was in with the starters I saw only a handful of instances where players seemed unsure on their assignments, and those were nickle formations, where Niko isn't normally in.  Niko has seen only 3 reps in the nickle so far this preseason, and he was able to hold his own, though he was brought on a blitz one of those times, and showed his tentative side, unable to effectively penetrate to the QB after hesitating near the line.  In goalline situations he led the second team LBs to an above average overall performance against Green Bay, and if he had lined his guys up a yard closer to the LOS, Rodgers wouldn't have gotten through on his sneak.  That Niko laid back a little is a telling sign that he needed more room within which to read the play, something that only experience can change.

Above all, however, Niko is fundamentally a sound player, still adjusting to the speed with which he must read, register and react to the offense.  He executes so consistently that there is no drop off whether he is in with the starters or second teamers, and he is the only LB, including DJ not to receive the lowest grade on at least one play.  In the end he grades out as one of the top backers because he never follows a bad play with another bad play, or a worse one.  I can't say when he will pick up all the nuances and be able to change games, but I can say that he won't hurt this team if he is on the field.  Is that good enough Broncos fans?

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As a whole the Offensive line is much better at pass blocking right now than run blocking, but that could definitely change once the preseason is over.  The next game could actually be a good indicator of where the pass and run blocking is, not because the starters will be in their longer, but because they will be gameplanning for Green Bay like they would in a regular game.

Also, while Holland graded out the highest and most consistent of any of the olinemen, it should be noted that he was in against the Dallas 2nd team, so he may get the nod for the highest ranking this week, and we may see a shakeup in practice down the road, but for now I think we can expect to see him being evaluated, possibly rotating into the starting lineup against Green Bay.

11 total linemen came under the microscope against Dallas, and only Lichtensteiger received too few reps to get a good read on.  Without further ado, here are your Broncos offensive linemen.

Notes:  Holland looked like a man among boys lining up against Dallas' second team defense.  My notes are filled repeatedly with the word "bulldozer" in regards to Holland's play, as he pushed DTs, DEs and of course LBs anywhere he wanted them on the field.  He was effective on almost every play, with no major mistakes, and consistent upfield push.  More than any lineman on the roster right now Holland has the power to drive defenders off the ball in the running game, but it may still be some time before we see him running with the starters as he still has conditioning to go through.  As he gets into better shape he will be more adept at pulling, something he wasn't asked to do in this latest preseason game.

A few shortcomings stood out, all related to missed assignments, nothing that some more reps won't cure.  For a player with every excuse to be out of rythm, lacking timing or guilty of foolish penalties, his game was surprisingly lacking on all these fronts.  He looks ready to take some snaps with the starters, if someone leaves him an opening.  This makes Kuper's report particularly interesting methinks.

He also turned in the most consistent game of any of the linemen, being equally effective as a pass blocker, but again, second string may not have been the greatest test.  It is worth noting that from a technique standpoint he is doing excellent, making the right tackle look good.  In fact, the coaches pulled him for five plays while Ramsey was still leading the second teamers in order to get a look at Lichtensteiger.  I firmly believe that if Hollands issues were anything other than conditioning, that may have been the end of the game for him, but as it was he went back in to finish the game up with the third teamers.  Oh well.  Better than pushing a sled I suppose.

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Introduction:

The following "scorecards" are meant to be useful tools in tracking the development of the players on Denver's roster.  Some things, like Cutler's score against Dallas will come as no surprise, while otherthings,  like seeing who our most well-rounded linemen currently is, might.

Some quick notes: 

1.  Positive scores are good, negative scores are bad.  A 0 is a relatively benign player; they are effective but not desirable.  Every roster will have a contingent of guys hovering around zero due to the salary cap.  The goal of every team is to make sure these guys are in the least significant roster spot they can occupy.

2.  The scores are directly comparable, but you will notice that certain positions can get higher scores "more easily" than others.  This is proper and reflects the nature of the game.  Effective QBs will tend to have higher scores than equally effective WRs.  This is because QBs touch the ball more and have more overall effect.  WRs are simply not invoved in a significant manner on every offensive play.

3.  Sample size is significant.  In this first report two players, Lichtensteiger and Hackney, had 5 and 1 gradable plays respectively.  Obviously a good read was not gained on either.

If you have any questions about specific scores or plays, let me know, and I will try and dredge the answers up.  If you have any questions about the process in general, let me know those too, and I will forward them to the NPLB. 

Notes:  Wow.  Any number in the positives bodes well for a player, and the farther from 0 you go in either direction the tougher it becomes to make progress.  +5 to +10 and you are really helping your team, +10 to +15 and you are scoring TDs and coming through in the clutch.  +30 and you are single-handedly dominating your opponent with ruthless consistency. 

Cutler targeted 8 different receivers, all 8 eligible "starting" class receivers while he was in the game.  He completed passes to 7 of them, with only Hall being left out.  The would-be Hall reception was one of only two checkdowns Cutler attempted, and the drop scored lower for Cutler than it did for Hall.  Though there wasn't any pressure the play had probably ticked down to zero in Cutler's head, and he threw the ball far too forcefully to Hall who was releasing from a block to uncover as an option.  The result was that the ball arrived just as Hall was turning around, and before he could present to the QB, and the ball struck him in the chest/hands and went straight into the dirt.  While both players were penalized, Cutler received a stiffer penalty, since he should be delivering that ball with some touch.  A softer pass can get over the line better, gives the checkdown guy a half second more to get turned around and look for the ball, and will give a second chance option to the back instead of catapulting who-knows-where, likely up and into the defense's waiting hands.  Not a big penalty, but in a game with so few for Cutler, worth noting.

Cutler scored "above average" or better on 91% of his passing attempts, including a "perfect" on the secondary route to Brandon Marshall in the endzone.  A particularly ballsy play, Cutler had to throw over a triple covered Royal, yet still get it low and away to give Marshall a chance and nullify the coverage on Marshall.  A small window that Cutler nailed like a seasoned pro.

Going forward the things to watch will be how he plays under pressure (a constant source of frustration last year) and how well he keeps up the consistency with distribution left/right/center, short/medium/long, and amongst his receivers.  When he plays like this, EVERYBODY looks good.

Continue reading this post »

Well, the NPLB, or "No Points Left Behind" analysts are at it again.

This time around they have taken to looking at personnel early and often for the Broncos, hoping to avoid the end of season workload that they had to suffer through last year.  Curious about their early start this year, I asked them about what went down last year in the situation room (the room where they do their super computer analysis of the Broncos), and what was to be expected this year.  Head Analyst was kind enough to take some time and answer my questions. 

styg50:  You've said things need to change for the NPLB analysts this year.  Could you explain that?

Head Analyst:  (sighing heavily) You should have seen it in there last year Styg.  It was a mess, with half cocked theories, endless calculations and feathers everywhere.  We made the mistake of getting started on the analysis much too late... with only 3 or 4 weeks left in the season if I recall correctly.  Our first report was after the Chicago game I think.  Part of that was, of course, funding.  It wasn't until you got that NPLB Bill passed in the MHR Congress that we were really able to sink our teeth into the numbers, but we should have been organized way before that.  But I don't want to make excuses, I just want to get the analysis in.  To that end, I'm getting the troops armed early this year.

styg50:  I'll say.  Don't you think pre-season is a little TOO early for this kind of thing?  I mean, we don't even know who the team is going to consist of yet.

HA:  Now is the perfect time.  It is a chance to test the theory.  If it meshes with the results, the players who make the roster, then we have got something we can work with.  Better to know now than when the Broncs are on their way to New York to play the Bretts... Keep in mind this is going to be a much different analysis from last year.  We are striving for a good comparative structure for the reports on the players.  That means trial and error.  Theory just won't cut it.

styg50:  You mention comparative structure.  Care to elaborate?  I know last year the focus was on drive comparison, so what exactly is going to change?

HA:  This is really the heart of the whole system.  Last year we worked from the drive charts.  We were trying to establish trends and find the signature inconsistencies that would help point us in the right direction for our analysis of the film.  We got lucky early when the analysts, on a hunch, focused on Matt Lepsis.  At the time no one was questioning the ProBowler, but I think a lot of the work the NPLB did was able to shed some light on that issue.  That saved us a lot of work, which was essential to turning out reliable reports at the time, as late in the season as it was.  Can you imagine if the hunch had been wrong?  How much time we would have spent breaking down non-critical film?  Total we broke down 10 games for 2007, 4 in situ, and 6 from earlier in the season, 3 of the worst and 3 of the best.

styg50:  And this year?

HA:  We want to remove the need for a lucky hunch from the equation.  That means tracking EVERY player, every down, every minute of the every game.  More work from week to week, but less risk of overworking at the end of the season when the answers are most needed.  The early numbers say that this is a borderline playoff team.  Our goal is to present a record of this team that is unassailable.  Win-Loss records can be questioned.  Stats can be questioned.  We want a document in hand that serves as a definitive answer.

styg50:  Lofty goal.

HA:  Perhaps.  All I know is we have about fifteen coffee and coke-zero loving analysts who think its possible.

styg50:  So where does the comparative structure come into the picture?

HA:  The work the analysts are doing right now consists of essentially scouting every play, and every player for the Broncos.  DTs are scouted as DTS, QBs are scouted as QBs.  They are graded individually for technique, and the game itself, the context if you will, is graded ond overlaid on their evaluations.  The second part is a work in progress and will be ready for the home-opener in oakland, but the personnel evaluations are going in full force.  After we have individual grades for each player we establish an average, or baseline, for that player, that we subsequently compare to their evaluation, which we score on a rising scale (i.e 1-10 or whatever, it is different for different positions).  The result is a percentage, a number universally consistent from player to player.

styg50:  I see.  With numbers for different positions that mean the same thing, you are able to compare them.  But why would you want that?

HA:  That is the comparative structure.  When a DT can be compared to a QB, or when a MLB can be compared to a tailback, you gain perspective on who is contibuting and who isn't.  Instead of relying on a hunch you have objective data to direct your focus.  The hope is that the comparisons will allow you to cut through the mess of the game logs we are recording, and find the exact moments and players that require deeper analysis.  The logs are huge.  Sifting through them at the end of the season is too late to be truly objective and useful, but with a tool like the comparative structure, finding what you are looking for will be fast and easy.  And accurate.  Above all, acurate.

styg50:  Sounds like a real asset.  Speaking of game logs, huge is a good word.  The one you turned in for the Dallas game  was 36 pages long!  Impressive figuring that you don't have any thumbs...   I'm looking forward to breaking it down using the NPLB Comparative Structure (CS).  I figured I would start with OLine and QBs.

HA:  Starting at the begining is always a good idea.  Good luck and GO BRONCOS!!!

Coming Tomorrow: NPLB Offensive Personnel Report--OLine and QBs!

       @       

  Dallas Cowboys      @          Denver Broncos

August 16th, 2008 - 7:00pm MST
Invesco Field @ Mile High
Denver, CO

The Broncos continue their reign of terror in the second half.  Lets get another 500 comments guys!!  Keep up the good conversation!

   To Follow The Week From The Cowboy's Perpective, Check Out Blogging The Boys! 

[This is a roundabout answer to Silverblood's question about a fan's psychology, and I hope a good supplement to everything being discussed in the comments there.]

Sport as Art

To lead off this theory, I would like to say that I am basing it on the idea that sport/sports/sporting events qualify as art and that its practitioners qualify as artists.  I understand that this may be a debatable point with many of you, and I would be happy to supply my reasoning, but not in this particular post.  But ask and ye shall receive.

The Purpose of Sport (Art)

Silverblood gave an excellent characterization of a fan's investment  in their team.  Like any artform, the spectacle of the team is of passionately intense importance and profoundly personal concern to those who follow it, yet as she noted, the phenomenon reamins shrouded in mystery with little known about its function in human life or its tremendous psychological power.  And the phenomenon is hardly localized:  sport, and thus fans, have existed in every known civilization across every era of man's existence.

One thing that is often regarded as a distinguishing characteristic of any form of art, including sport, is that it serves no practical, material end, but instead is an end in itself.  There is no purpose to the event except contemplation of the event.   This leads to it and most forms of entertainment/art like movies, video games etc. being considered "leisure" which is often interpreted, even by those who really enjoy the activity, as being "wasteful" or unnecessary.  Anyone who suffers from fandom as Silverblood has described knows that "unnecessary" couldn't be farther from the truth.  If it was so "unneccessary" why would we struggle with it instead of abandoning it?

The reason is that it DOES serve a "practical" human need.  The difference is that it isn't a "material" need, but a need of our consciousness.

Our survival is dependent on several things.  Just as we must nourish our bodies with food, and nourish our minds with knowledge, so too we must nourish our souls with fuel as well.  That fuel is provided by art, and when you are following your team, you are trying to stock up on that fuel.

The way that fuel comes to be has to do with the nature of a human consciousness(soul).  The nature of a body demands that only certain things qualify as food (wheat is good, concrete is bad).  The nature of the mind means that only certain things qualify as knowledge (facts are good, contradictions are bad).  The need for art comes from the fact that the link between our body and mind has a certain nature, just like the body and mind themselves, and thus the link's preservation requires "sustenance" with certain qualities.  (The qualities it requires are "essential" vs. "random" and "important" vs. "inconsequential".  We may look at the qualities in depth a little later.)

The nature of the link itself could use some explanation, but I won't get too in depth.  Basically our bodies work a certain way (physical) and our minds work a certain way (thought) and the two things need a link that joins the two elements together.  That link is served by the conceptual cognitive faculty (consciousness) of a human being.   It links the physical world to our mental world not by isolated percepts (individual things we see, without any sort of context) but by abstractions, or concepts. (A concept is a mental integration of two or more units which are isolated by a process of abstraction and united again by a specific defintion.  By organizing our percepts (what we see, hear, etc.) into concepts (like hoosierteacher) and wider concepts (all teachers) and still wider concepts (people, all of whom could be teachers) a person can grasp and retain, identify and integrate an unlimited amount of knowledge, knowledge that extends beyond the immediate concretes at any given, immediate moment.)

In a nutshell, art, and sport as an art, is nourishement for the soul.

The Method of Sport (Art)

While conceptualization, the process of going from the physical world to knowledge, is an essential aspect of the link between mind and body, it is also a largely automatic aspect.  Even babies conceptualize.  There are some things you can do to enhance or degrade the quaity of your conceptual faculty, but from there the process continues on its own.  Of much more interest to a sports fan is how you go from knowledge back to the physical world.

Basically this consists of knowing something (holding a concept) and doing/creating it.  Among the concepts you acquire will be a whole class that pertains specifically to actions you can do.  By properly learning to abstract those concepts into even even higher concepts you will gain a class of actions that are powerful tools for not only deciding which actions you could do, but which actions you should do as well.  These concepts are commonly referred to as virtues, and include honesty, independence, etc.  Discovering and defining these concepts is what the science of Ethics is for.  

Virtues by definition are very unique actions.  They are actions which are required for survival (via the following formula:  virtues are actions that lead to the acquiring or keeping of values; values are things required for your survival).  Many simple and easy to understand virtues, including defending yourself against an initiation of force, earning your keep or eating to sustain yourself.  But there are a whole host of virtues that are much harder for people to pin down consistently without giving it a lot of thought in order to automatize the process.  These include ideas like justice, productiveness, etc.  These concepts tend to be very context dependent, and thus require that a person have a lot of info before a decision can be made and action can be taken.

Now we are starting to get closer to our goal.  It should be becoming clear that as these concepts add up from a literally infinite supply of concretes (actual units in existence) that whatever system you are using to organize them will become increasingly complex.  Unit reduction (creating higher concepts out of lower ones) allows us to keep up, but every human being has their limits, established by a combination of genetics and effort.  The more complex the system becomes, the more time is required to properly integrate new, wider concepts (though it should be noted that via language, if one person discovers a new concept, they can easily make it available to others, like Guru calling all the minutea of the 2008 season "The Quest".  It will still require effort from everyone to understand, but much less effort than everyone figuring it out for themselves.)  Many people will balk at the added effort and subsist fairly well on the knowledge they have acquired up to that point.  But a few will push the boundaries and keep pushing the whole thing forward.  Scientists drive forward the physical concepts, philosophers drive forward the intellectual concepts.  But who drives forward the concepts that stand for virtue, the concepts of the mind-body link?

The artists.

Consider the complexity of the philosophical system you employ for yourself (don't worry, you have one, even if it consists of saying you don't.  Integrating your concepts isn't something you have a choice about.  The only choice you have is in HOW you integrate them.)  While the entry point into the system for most people is ethics (represented by the question "Should I or shouldn't I?" i.e. what is right and wrong?) the concepts themselves are part of the discipline of metaphysics, the core and center of philosophy, from which all other branches leaf out from.  Metaphysics--the science of dealing with the fundamental nature of things--involve's not only your widest abstractions, but EVERY abstraction that you have ever made and ever will make.  It includes every concrete you have ever perceived and such a vast sum of knowledge and such a long chain of concepts that no one could ever hold it all in their conscious awareness at one time.  Yet it is exactly that sum that you need to guide you in your everyday life, not once or twice a day, but for every choice, decision or action you make.

Remember how I said that the qualities of concern for the mind-body link were "essential" and "important"?  Well, that is what the artist's concern is.  He takes that vast sum and, according to his selective judgment, isolates and integrates what he feels to be the most "essential" components, the most "important" concepts.  An artist may choose anything, and any medium within which to represent it.  Their job, upon choosing the element and the medium is to create a perceptual concrete, something real that essentializes what they wish to show, thus summoning the power of the concept--and the chain of concepts leading up to it--into full, conscious focus.  Where there was once a vast collection of concepts, there is now a single painting, sculpture or aria, which speaks for the artist, and speaks to the viewer.  What it says is almost too much to be put into words.

There are as many mediums for art as there are human virtues.  Every medium has at its core an aspect that is essential to it, that can be produced in no other way.  A dance can never capture the instantaneous moment captured in a  painting.  A painting can never show the inner thoughts of a subject the way that literature can.  Among the arts a need existed to show specifically the physical relationship between a human and existence.

Enter the athlete.

I don't know specifically what role sports occupies in art, but I am working to figure it out.  I have noted that every sport is physical in nature, some requiring more from the mind than others, while all that I know of involve competition.  I suspect that the concepts being pushed forward are political concepts revolving around men's proper relationship to eachother, in a political sense, but I'm not 100% sure.  It will be a good topic for later, I'm sure.

The Fan

Finally, we get to what we came here for.  I have tried to establish an argument that posits sports as a fundamental requirement of man's nature, but not as an activity in itself.  While athlete's no doubt enjoy the perks of being faster and stronger than most, that is no different from a painter enjoying better hand eye coordination than most people.  The true value of sports is in the contemplation of them.  Athlete's should expect to be well rewarded in their striving, and the nature of compensatory competition may have come about specifically as a way of engaging people into becoming athletes as opposed to firefighters or something. 

It may seem that individual sports attract fans on a much more rational basis than team sports, but I don't believe this is true.  First off, one must recognize that your reasons for favoring a team are vastly different for your reasons for favoring a sport.   In fact, reasons for liking golf or weightlifting or baseball are all remarkably rational and similar, usually involving some combination of physical attributes essentialized by that particular sport, which a person finds particularly admirable.  Based on this, one tends to admire the athlete/artists that best epitomize those admirable virtues. 

For selecting a team to root for, the reasons for establishing your fandom are almost always reasonable in a  reasonable person.  Liking your father's team makes a ton of sense unless you dislike your father.  Liking the home team makes a ton of sense unless you dislike your home.  Maintaining your fandom is another thing entirely.  You won't stay a fan of a team that does not reflect your core values (as embodied in the persons and play of the players/coaches).  Now, this doesn't mean that when they do something you don't like that the proper course of action is to abandon them.  Mistakes are a part of life, you learn and move on.  You don't kill yourself for choosing the wrong flavor of ice cream, and you don't abandon the Broncos because they had a bad draft.  But if the Broncos, for example, from the top down, decided that the future of football was FAT, fat WRs, fat QBs, fat cheerleaders, well, you would at the very least go into an extended hibernation until that bout of crazy had passed.  Fans of the NFL tend to understand that elite physical specimens are at the heart of success in the game, and probably feel that in life, such physical acuity would be a great boon as well.  If your team abandoned the fundamental principle, the essential aspect of football that reflects your fanhood, you would feel nothing in abandoning them.  You really wouldn't.  It would be immoral if you did try to feel bad about it, since you would be contradicting your own favored principles in favor of someone else's for no reason other than they want you to. (If that.)

While interesting, the above was treated in depth in the great comments of several posters on Silverblood's thread.  What is more engaging is the deep psychological reaction we have from winning and losing.  If I haven't described anything else here, I hope that I have successfully established that appreciation of a sporting event and its participants is a deeply held belief on the part of most viewers, as deep, in fact, as that person is themselves. 

Mnay sports fans become ever more fanatical as the years pass, making up for decreasing vigor with increasing surety and knowledge, a form of vigor in themselves.  What they are a fan of increases day by day, from being a winner, to favoring different players, to favoring types of schemes, to favoring whole-team philosophies for long term success.  The grander the scope of your fandom, the more you will be able to put up with.  (I would like to note that you do not necessarily have to hold a wide scope consciously.  It is possible to have that same depth of understanding without all the fancy words and without talking about it.  But identifying it, as so many here at MHR have taken the time to do, is a crucial first step in obtaining the confidence in one's ability to protect that knowledge from sabotage, say by a well-meaning, but ignorant friend who tries to tell you "how it is" with your favorite team.)

One last thing I would like to mention is the physiological connection, i.e the literal pain or elation that you might feel when your team wins and loses (or worse).  The reason is that your philosophical system, either implicitly or explicitly contains an ethical code.  That code contains not only our estimation of yourself (what actions you need to do to survive) but your estimation of existence itself (whether survival is a worthwhile goal or not).  The two components together add up to your self-esteem, an absolutely CRITICAL aspect of your life as a happy human being.  (I can't stress that point enough.  CRITICAL.)  When you put the full weight of your values behind a team, and depend on that team to succeed, what you are feeling is the emotional/physiological response of having your self-esteem questioned, or outright denied in some cases if they fail.  You will notice it is a very similar feeling to when you were younger and that cute boy or girl (hopefully you could tell) told you that they didn't like you and wouldn't go out with you.  It sucked then and it sucks now.  As for the other side of that coin, when your team succeeds?  Well, I'll leave you with this thought:

I mentioned earlier that artists may choose any medium and any subject with which to create their vision, including the methods of organized football.  The result is as profound a statement about themselves as about anything else.  Their souls are bared. 

And yours is too, when you respond to their work.

Is Hamza the top Safety in Denver?

[Editor's Note: John Lynch has left the Broncos to weigh his options.  While that changes the fact the Lynch should be listed here, I will leave him for now since Styg's breakdown fit Lynch's proposed role perfectly.]

If you are a fan of defense, particularly if you are into the nuances of the safety position, it is probably safe to say that Denver has been disappointing for years. Its not completely the talent, of course, since no one would argue that Lynch was less than a future Hall of Famer. And it isn't the selection or marketplace, since great safeties have been cropping up fairly regularly around the league, and Denver has had plenty of fair opportunities to go after them.

The thing is, they just haven't.

While not completely ignoring the position, the Broncos have certainly not placed any kind of tremendous priority on it, with the most notable moves in recent history being the signing of Lynch and the recent pickup of Josh Barrett in the draft. And while Lynch was a good pickup, I'm sure that there is no lesson in "NFL GMing 101" that says how wise it is to sign a player recovering from a serious neck injury and going into the second decade of his career. The Broncos put their money on Lynch the person, not Lynch the player, and the bet turned out to be a good one. But guys like Lynch are few and far between. Similarly, Barrett may be one of the best pure talents out of the draft to don Broncos' blue and orange in years, but he slipped to the seventh round for a reason, and the jury is still out.

2008 looks to be the year of the NOW for the safety position. Whether any of the players on the roster will have impacts that resonate deeply for the Broncos for years to come will be an intriguing, and LONG struggle to witness, promising to be one of the final positions to get straightened out in the offseason, and continuing on throughout the regular season as well. Each player brings unique assets and questions to the struggle, and they each bring a dynamic that could make 2008 the beginning of the road, or the end of the road for any of them. Lets take a look at who they are, and what they bring.

Continue reading this post »

BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

On WR Eddie Royal --
"He is doing a very good job. He has a lot of talent, a lot of confidence. We know what he can do when the ball is in his hands with the punt returns and the kickoff returns. He’s got a burning desire to make the starting lineup. He is very impressive."

On he will use Royal on gameday --
"We practice to give them the opportunity to get it done on gameday. Hopefully, he will take advantage of the opportunity. He has a lot of talent, quickness and speed. He is making plays during practice, and when you make plays during practice, usually it carries over to the game."

On the absence of DT Dewayne Robertson, S John Lynch, and C Tom Nalen at practice --
"Lynch was excused for personal reasons. Roberson is going two practices and taking a day off. Nalen… same thing. The knee is a little bit sore. (RB Michael) Pittman a tight hamstring. Same thing with (FB) Peyton (Hillis)… little tight hamstring."

On Nalen not practicing --
"His knee was a little sore. He wanted to practice. He had a little pain in that area, so we told him to stay away. We’ll feel it out, Hopefully, he will be able to come back tomorrow."

On what separates Pro Football Hall of Famer Gary Zimmerman from other tackles --
"Well number one is the guy never missed a play. That’s a good start. He is tough, hard nosed and he just got the job done. He took a lot of pride in what he did. One story that sticks out in my mind is in the locker room at halftime of the Raiders game. He had his shoulder pads off and his shoulder area was just out of place. You could see that it wasn’t even connected. Of course, they told Zim. He said, "I am not going out until number 7 (John Elway) goes out." With his should out of his joint, he goes out and plays the entire second half. He wasn’t coming out unless John was coming out. That gives an idea of the mental toughness and what a player is like when you play in that type of pain."

On S Marlon McCree --
"He is doing a great job. Our assistants are very comfortable (with him). Marlon starts every day."

On G Ben Hamilton --
"He is doing a good job. He has gone through the whole offseason. At the end of March, he had a lot of practices so it isn’t like it’s his sixth practice. It’s basically in the mid-20s. He’s looked good, and he’ll keep getting better."

On his relief that Hamilton hasn’t had reoccurring concussions --
"It’s a big relief to anybody. Anytime you lose a starting player to any injury, it a setback. Hopefully, there won’t be any setbacks again."

On S Hamza Abdullah’s aggression --
"These guys are all competitive. You have got to protect each other. I don’t mind that. It’s just part of football. But if you don’t make a statement out there, it gets full speed and eventually someone gets hurt."

On practice --
"It’s one of those things that you want the defense to make plays, you want the offense to make plays. Obviously, both sides can’t do it. Today was a practice where you had a little bit of both. The offense had some good plays as well as the defense. We have a lot of guys learning the system. It’s going to take some time, but there is some great effort out there today."

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Notes and Highlights

From DenverBroncos.com

-Injuries-

It looks like hydration will continue to be an issue as players are battling tight muscles. Pittman was the latest addition to the inactives as he sat out with a hamstring injury with Hillis and Mustard.

-Nickel Packages-

The team is looking at different nickel packages, including a Moss/Mallard/Ekuban/DOOM line, DJ and Boss doing the 'backing, and Bly, Champ, Foxy, Hamza and McCree doing the covering. The front six in particular with this group looks fast. It has been mentioned in several places that guys are knocking down passes on the defensive line, something we haven't talked about much when we consider the virtues of guys like Moss, Mallard, and Ekuban. And for a "short" guy, DOOM has a knack for getting his hands up too, swatting 7 last year...

-Eddie Royal-

Speaking of Royal, Wednesday seemed to be his coming-out party. He has made great plays before, but this morning he made several grabs including one where he layed out to catch a laser from Cutler in between Jack Williams and Roderick Rogers. During 7 on 7 drills, he also got away from Bly and made a long over-the-shoulder catch for a nice gain, and later caught another bomb for a touchdown.

You really have to love a guy who is laying out in practice to get his chances. I haven't heard anything negative about Royal in a week's worth of practices, and better still, he seems to be catching everything that comes his way. Nothing gives a coach or a quarterback more confidence in what you might be able to do on gameday. Royal is getting it done.

-Josh Barrett-

Rookie Josh Barrett made a big play during 7-on-7 drills. Tony Scheffler made a great grab in traffic and starting running up the sidelines, but Barrett ran at him and stripped away the ball. Not only did he cause the fumble but he recovered it as well and ran to the opposite sideline before the entire offense chased him out of bounds.

A look at the safety position will go up later tonight, so any news on the position seems particularly relevant. This is one of the ultimate roles of a safety, to turn the tide of a game just when it seems the opponent has the upper hand. A knock against Barrett was always that he never put the whole package together like a Laron Landry type of player. Plays like this show us that he is on the right track.

-MLB Battle-

During 11-on-11 drills, Niko Koutouvides had a big stop lined up when a run came up the middle of the line. Then he realized it was Cutler on a keeper, and he quickly slowed up and let his quarterback go with a light tap.

Not a huge piece of news, but a heads up call by Niko not to lay into Cutler. A huge component of the MLB's game is keeping his head on straight amongst the fury, and we know from the past that Webster can't even keep his helmet on straight. This competition looks stiff, with Webster perhaps having an edge in regards to comfort level with the team, and Niko with more focus, and they both have showed up prepared. Stay tuned.

-Aggressiveness-

Speaking of tackles, Abdullah got a light rebuke from Head Coach Mike Shanahan when he wrapped up Selvin Young and actually tackled him on a run play. Abdullah fell back into good graces later in practice when he lept to snag the second interception of the day.

I like what I'm reading, when I'm reading that our defense is being aggressive. Admittedly what he did wasn't allowed, but I like to think that these guys are really starting to get into the heat of battle, and that they might be turning the intensity up a bit. That is just what this team needs, and small moments like this have the potential to build into the fiery competition it is going to take to forge a competitor out of these guys.

Speaking of Hamza, here is a nice interview and article that talks a little bit about how he is faring in the battle for the starting Strong Safety spot. It makes a great prep for tonight's edition of "Breaking down the Roster" where we will be talking about Safeties. I volunteered to give my thoughts on the position while Guru was en route to Mecca, so I hope everyone will check back in to see how I think these guys stack up.

Moment #13 -- One of the Best

-- Marshall turns back the tide.

When Devin Hester tied the CHI game with his first return for a TD, it was up to the Broncos to find an answer, and try to re-establish momentum.

Cutler turned to his budding playmaker and on the first play from scrimmage following the return, he found BMarsh on a 68 yd that netted a quick 7 points and put the Broncos back in the lead.

The play showed just what Denver had in two of its young players: guys who could step up when the going got tough.  Sometimes the best way to answer a playmaker like Hester is to show that you have a playmaker of your own, and Brandon showed exactly that.  It is a combination of dependability and pure ability, and it amazes me sometimes how Brandon can exhibit it so clearly on the field but somehow shortcircuit and fail to apply the same skill off the field.  Maybe he just doesn't take matters off the field as seriously as he takes his job.  He wouldn't be the first, not would he be the last to lose his job because of an attitude like that.

But its moments like the CHI game when it becomes clear that whatever it is that this kid needs to do, he can do it.  That is going to make for some exciting Sundays for Broncomaniacs for some time to come.

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