Patrick Turley's Blog

Of the different works I’ve written, I’ve always had a clear-cut favorite. A novella that I feel makes a worthy legacy. Unfortunately, the subject matter always made the audience ambiguous, which makes for an ambiguous market in the eyes of publishers. Editors unanimously loved it, but felt it was “Too Jesus-y” for mainstream publishers and Christian publishing houses ultimately frowned on its straying from the narrative.

A year and a half after the release of the editorially-mangled WELCOME TO HELL, I’ve received such an overwhelming outpouring of support and positive feedback. I spend my time hopelessly over-analyzing anything and everything out of my control, so despite the many frustrations that have resulted from this project, you all have made it worth every moment. I know it isn’t an adequate thank you for all your undeserved support and consideration, but I wanted to do something for you.

Today I released part one of my favorite project through Amazon direct to uphold the content purity and drop the price down to the floor. Thank you all:

Come get it here.

“The world is corrupt and dark and righteousness is fading; faith replaced with skepticism and empirical observation. The ignored sacrifices and messages of Adonai’s prophets must be answered… and His answer is to lay waste to the human race.

Such is the message delivered by an enigmatic man in black. The mysterious figure travels down the River Styx, through the gates of Dis and into the depths of Hell itself, to spawn the birth of an unlikely protagonist. Man’s greatest villain ultimately becomes his only hope for salvation, as through destruction, Lucifer sees an opportunity to seize what has been spurned. As the armies of Heaven—lead by the Archangel Michael—prepare for war, Lucifer rallies the forsaken toward their long-awaited goal: the invasion of Nirvana.

The last battle starts now.”

(“Maybe next time you should try a bolo tie”)

First off, yes, I’m amazing at Italian numerals.  Secondly, “Choking the Seachickens?”  Why?  Because Tom Brady tears make the best lube.

That’s why.

So, yes, I’ve been gone for a while… but let’s really unite and focus on the most important thing for all Bronco fans right now: that I don’t selfishly monitor how you invest your personal time into your hobbies, so back off.

Also… we’re going to the Super Bowl!

…which is an issue in and of itself.  I feel like the Wolfman where I know a terrible transformation is drawing near and that I need to take the necessary precautions and chain myself in a basement with a bowl of dog food so no one gets hurt.  Fortunately, knowing that I cannot be trusted to conduct myself properly on Sunday, I have made those necessary arrangements and will be watching the game with my daughter and girlfriend–both of which are highly trained at ignoring anything and everything that I have to say.

Let’s dig in.

Analyzing the Seahawks’ Defense

The strength of the Seattle Seahawks team is clearly a hyper talented secondary… but what makes them so good?  Seattle’s secondary drives off of the following elements:

1. They have a very good, one-gap, penetrating front seven across the board. Nearly every player in it is a successful pass-rusher.  The key word here is volume.  They don’t have a Von Miller/Aldon Smith to dictate protections, but everyone in their front seven is pretty good at it.

It’s effectively foregoing haymakers in favor of a dozen jabs.

The Broncos can and will limit this with a heavy-dose of their hurry up offense—staying in their base 11 personnel package and limiting Seattle’s opportunity to substitute fresh legs into their pass rush.

2. They are physical… and far beyond the point that the rules permit.

3. Earl Thomas is simply amazing and his ability and range over the top allow for the corners underneath to play even more aggressively.

4. Richard Sherman is super overrated but still very, very good and most especially at disguising his coverage pre-snap.

How to win against the Seahawks Man-Cover 3?

First and foremost, with a dozen sacks coming from their back seven, Denver needs to have their protection schemes properly prepared to handle the blitz.  Fortunately, Manning/Gase/Ramirez and company are the best in the business in this regard, allowing a league low 20 sacks throughout the regular season (despite lining up against the likes of JJ Watt, Robert Mathis, Suggs and Dumervil, etc) and none throughout the AFC playoffs.

Now, what is Man-Cover 3? A traditional cover 3 has both corners and the free safety covering a deep third. In this coverage, the corners cannot allow someone to slip behind them in coverage as the safety couldn’t realistically get to the ball in time, so you see corners surrendering the underneath stuff and not breaking on short routes until the ball is in the air. In Seattle, however, Earl Thomas is so damn good, corners are able to break and squat on the underneath routes, giving the defense more man-coverage elements… and weaknesses.

Despite the Icarus-esque parallels of flying too close to the sun, as opposed to the traditional “shut down corner”, Richard Sherman does not travel.  While I have no doubts that Manning and DT/Decker are very capable of melting his wings and drubbing him out of the “Best Corner in the league” nonsense, this presents a substantial amount of superior matchup opportunities for Denver’s immensely talented, base 11-personnel package.

Denver excels at attacking the underneath stuff (a weakness of the cover 3) and grabbing YAC yards in chunks.  Expect the latter to be limited by the fundamentally-sound, solid tackling Seahawks defense, but far from eliminated as our monstrous receivers will minimally be able to continue falling forward for a couple more yards.

I would expect Denver to attack those “deep-third”s with some deep crosses out of Twins formations (twins away from Sherman—Sherman is a cerebral player who is easily capable of disguising his coverage pre-snap and baiting our receivers into the wrong read stemming into their route).  This will not only isolate Maxwell and Rapist Cox (if Demaryius lines up opposite Cox, do they play “Smell my finger” before the snap?), but it will also force some last second decisions by the corner and mid-field safety (Earl Thomas), and likely result in at least one big play.  The Broncos would be wise to send Julius deep mid-field to threaten and hold the safety.

Defensively

Lynch will be stopped.  Twice.  Once by the Broncos top-notch-and-getting-healthier run defense, and once by the scoreboard.

Defensively, Denver’s key is protecting the lead… which is something the Broncos have had issues with.  Fortunately for the Broncos, the Super Bowl isn’t a time where defenders are likely to get caught napping with a big lead.

Percy Harvin

…Sucks.

Ultimately

Lynch gets held under 50 yards as Peyton Manning fists Richard Sherman metaphorically and literally (the latter during halftime) and John Fox finally answers the question of “What does the Fox say?” with “Suck it, Pete Carroll”.

Blow. Out.

If your confidence is still shaken…

I plan on sacrificing my body to the football gods in the form of an ice bath on game day morning while I offer homage in the form of reciting my “Our Peyton, who art in Denver, hallowed be thy game”.

On a different note, I’d like to say something for the first–and likely the last—time, “Nice work, Goodell!”  I mean…

Did you guys see the Pro Bowl?!?

If the Broncos weren’t on a historic pace for ass-kicking, this might have been my favorite game in quite some time.  The players showed that the Pro Bowl is still important to them and, if this kind of play continues, it will definitely become important to the fans.

That’s Good Broncos (Happy Anniversary, Brandon Perna!)

Check out last week’s amazing episode on the New England victory and I’ll be sure to update this posting if any more become available.

(Andy Reid calls his father on Thanksgiving)

Did I skip the write-up last week because I was enjoying the holiday with friends and family or because I couldn’t bring myself to give any measure of credit to Brady and Belichick after that horrendous punt fiasco?

A lady never tells.

Speaking of those cheating weasels in New England, I’d like to wish all of Broncos’ Country a happy third anniversary of the day the franchise’s greatest scourge was removed from office: Josh McDaniels.  Happy Anniversary, all.  I hope Hillis banged his wife.

…Aaaaaaaaaaand the Denver Broncos come off another satisfying and likely-division sealing game against perhaps the most annoying fan base in the NFL.  The Broncos, missing several key players to injury, experienced a good portion of adversity early and gave fans a chance to learn much about the team.  Perhaps most importantly, we learned that the 2013 Colorado Flood disaster was caused by whoever gave Knowshon Moreno a copy of My Girl.

The Sodomy of Marcus Cooper

Step aside Vernon Davis.  Yours was not the most blatant display of public molestation.  The Chiefs defense tried to steal a page from the Patriots playbook and played a significant amount of quarters coverage (four deep) with three underneath zones.  Unfortunately, they forgot the 30 mile per hour winds.  The Broncos plan of attack?  Find Marcus Cooper and nationally molest him on CBS’s Game of the Week to a franchise record setting tune of 4 touchdowns and 174 inches I mean yards.

Right now, the Denver Broncos don’t even care if the other team knows exactly what’s coming.  Look at how blatantly Denver telegraphs play selection by substitution:

Jacob Tamme – 19 plays: 15 passes

Joel Dreessen – 7 plays: 5 runs

That’s twenty unbelievably obvious tendency plays in that example alone.

And still, no one can stop it.

In Defense of Defense

The Denver Broncos took a page from the Belichick book of defense and game-planned to take away what the opponent does best: run the football.  The Kansas City Chiefs were able to have a modest measure of success throwing the ball because the Denver Broncos defense dared them to through formation, coverage and stacked boxes.  The Kansas City Chiefs, who lead for most of the game, called 25 runs in comparison to 42 passes.  This is the same Chiefs team who leads the league in run:pass ratio with 323 runs to just 261 passes.  Even more amusingly, the Denver Broncos think so little of Alex Smith, that they incorporated this game plan while missing half of their secondary to injury… and it worked swimmingly (once the offense cut down on turnovers).

This game-plan did expose some low-lights.  Duke Ihenacho was pursued and attacked in the passing game.  Reid was again able to manipulate substitutions and formation to isolate Bowe and Nacho at the line of scrimmage.  I would point out that this more of a coaching mismatch than a fault of Duke’s, but how can you fault coaching when taunting Alex to throw all day was the Broncos’ best defense?  It is somewhat concerning that Champ was nowhere to be seen on the field in the last game-sealing series of the game when both Tony Carter and Omar Bolden hit the field, but–and I can’t emphasize this enough–it is far too early to draw definitive conclusions about a first ballot Hall of Famer.

And after essentially sealing up the division and with it, a first round bye, the Broncos turn their attention to…

The Tennessee Titans?  Yawn.

How anti-climactic.  The ineptly coached Tennessee Titans lead by perennial backup and the inspiration for Good Will Hunting, Ryan Fitzpatrick (Unbelievably coincidental fact: his homosexual lover is named Patrick Fitzryan.  Check-mate, athiests.).  Also, anytime you put any letters before “2K”, it makes the subject unbelievably disappointing.

Expect the Denver defense to tighten back up with the likely return of DRC enabling the Broncos to apply more pressure and force Fitzpatrick into making some Cornell-level mistakes.  Meanwhile, there’s no reason to believe the Titan’s solid but unspectacular defense will be able to matchup with the Denver Broncos offense where better talent and coaching have both failed.  I expect Demaryius to burn Verner with a double-move (likely on play action) on at least one occasion and Peyton to cut the distance between his 41 TDs and the 50 TD record in half.  Lastly, expect Knowshon Moreno to do significantly less uncomfortable-to-watch things.

But truly, I look forward to this game for one reason: It should be an ass-kicking so colossal that the Broncos offense inches closer to the history books (to further immortalize its legacy after winning the Superbowl), and in the hopes that it helps shut up the Seattle craze.  Seriously, you’re a great team, but as good as you are, you’re still far more annoying than good.

Becoming a Juggernaut

Time and time again, the Denver Broncos have proven that their greatest enemy is the Denver Broncos.  Far too many turnovers, blown assignments, and (insert any other mental lapses).  These are the inconsistencies of youth.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget that this dominant team is incredibly young at every position but quarterback.  Similarly, many other inexperienced players have seen additionally significant playing time due to injuries in many key spots—including left tackle and both starting corner backs.  It’s also important to note that the team is not just physically young, it’s systemically young having experienced significant turnover in the coaching staff in the last two years.

Why draw confidence from this?  Because every week, the game slows down a step more for the young guys and because every week, the system and post-snap reads become more instinctive.

A mistake free 2013 Denver Broncos football team is absolutely unbeatable.

Speaking of cringing at the thought of turnovers, does Welker know he can fair catch punts?  Having him back there has proven no safer than the Denver Broncos own Elf-on-a-Shelf, Trindon Holliday, something that will need to be corrected if they want to compete with Mike Tomlin for the AFC’s special teams player of the month.

Free Money (The Alex Smith of ATS picks)

Redskins +3

Baltimore -6.5

Tampa -2.5

Chargers -3

Dallas +1

Cumulative: 16-21-1 (Wooooow!  First winning week in months.  Time to take out a second mortgage degenerates!)

That’s Good Broncos

Don’t you dare skip this glorious episode

(Yeah, you wre-eh-eck me)

Now that the NFL’s most annoying mullet-haired usurpers have begun their downward spiral to a wildcard appearance (and loss) and a barbeque-induced coma, our beloved Broncos can turn their attention to harsher trials:

The Foxboro Monkey on Peyton’s Back –  2-8 career

I’ll begin by extolling our coaching staff.  The Denver Broncos have a terrific set of coaches from top to bottom that have done an exemplary job developing unheralded players, making an extremely young team play consistently good football (teams this young are generally quite inconsistent, a testament to our coaches and veteran leadership), and have generally been utilized to their strengths and placed in position to succeed.

With that being said, the NFL is not about “You’re great!” in a vacuum.  The NFL is about “Are you better than the guy across the field from you?”  Against Billiam Belichick, the Denver Broncos largest hurdle to overcome will be their coaching disadvantage.

Banged up secondary?  Missing key players in their front seven?  Belichick will devise something new and something effective… respectively, at least.  After all, while Belichick’s genius may slow the offense, particularly in the first half, the talent level between the Broncos’ offense and the Patriots’ devastated defense will likely remain too insurmountable to stop, though Billip Seymour Hoffman’s crew is likely to get some assistance from near freezing temperatures.

And while it’s nearly impossible for me to speculate what Belichick plans to do to combat his talent disadvantage, we can speculate on the other matchups manifesting themselves as a team sport.

McDaniels versus Jack Del Rio: Round 3

McDaniels kicked off the end of his career as an NFL headcoach by losing the Denver Broncos 2009 season opener to Jack Del Rio’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

McDaniels battled JDR again early last year earning his first vsJDR victory.

Now McDaniels tries to break the tie while Jack Del Rio says, “Is this guy serious?  Is he even an adult?” and stoops wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy down to pat him on his head.

Gronkowski, Vereen and Amendola

All three of New England’s primary threats in this game are primarily midfield threats.  The play of Dominique Rogers-Cromartie and Kayvon Webster provide Denver with an exterior matchup advantage that makes the Patriots’ wide receivers an ancillary issue.

So how does Denver stress coverage in the middle?  They don’t change a thing.

Denver has a solid back 7 that strives and thrives on lining up against their opponent and playing their game.  For Denver, that’s primarily man coverage.  Amendola has been a very good player for New England, as has Chris Harris for Denver—and Wes Welker just might have some pointers for him.  Shane Vereen and Gronkowski are matchup nightmares for linebackers, while Wesley Woodyard and Trevathan have been giving offensive coordinators chills.  Nacho is physical enough to step to the line of scrimmage and run with any tight end, especially with help over the top—albeit missing Moore (Mike Adams likely to step into his starting role while Jammer or Bruton fill in with Adams in two-deep safety looks while Nacho is at the LOS lined up on the tight end).

Expect Miller to spend some of his focus getting hands on backs or tight ends as they try to release before pass rushing.  Expect Miller to also get more than enough pass rushing opportunities to get to the quarterback.

Expect an incredible matchup as Manning vs Brady always is.

And expect a win (by 7+).

Ultimately, Peyton has simply put his penis in even more professional football player’s butts than Kerry Rhodes.

Figuratively, of course.  In the literal sense, Brady definitely has him beat.

Free Money (If you thought I was gonna get this trainwreck turned around: guess again!)

Chargers +4.5

Carolina -4

Dallas +2.5

Denver -2.5

Cumulative Record: 14-25 (0 right the week before and 1-4 last week.  Anyone betting against me, you owe me a new car.)

 That’s Good Broncos (This week’s episode featuring a dirty joke by me)

(Julius Thomas sees a spider as he crosses the goalline)

Okay, don’t look at me like I’m Dan Snyder.  Is it completely inappropriate and a little bit racist to compare one of the greatest tragedies in American history to the impending domination of the worst 9-0 team football has ever seen (I’m including High School squads)?

Yes.

…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand with that out of the way, let’s talk football:

Chargers

I have a great deal of respect for the talent and ability of the current Charger’s thoroughly bi-polar-in-performance (*Tony Romo and the Cowboys somberly nod in empathy) squad.  This past Sunday, the Broncos met the dominant incarnation of the San Diego Chargers… and proceeded to abuse them in whatever phase of the game they chose.

The Chargers utilized the predominant defensive strategy against Peyton: man-under 2-deep.  The Broncos quickly answered by working inside-out, hitting Julius Thomas for a 74 yard touchdown as he burnt Manti Te’o so badly, I imagine Manti looked angrily at his imaginary girlfriend and yelled, “I thought you had him!”  Of course, Manti’s a softee and has since spent the majority of the week trying to make it up to her with flowers, Shakespeare sonnets after drawing a warm bath, and foot massages.

There was some innovation to address beating the jam: Demaryius Thomas received (what I think were) his first snaps from the slot and was able to use the free release to blow past Shareece Wright for his first touchdown of the day, and perhaps the most athletic of his career.

Opposing Defensive Coordinators

I want to address this template to “beating” Peyton Manning.  As previously alluded to, this template is disrupting timing routes through applying press-man coverage on receiving options while providing two-deep-safeties over the top, and disguising pressure until the actual snap.

It’s not working, geniuses.

At over 41 points per game, maybe–just maybe–it’s time to add some creativity to your repertoire?   As is, the Denver Broncos continue to possess too many match-up options–accompanied with the most gifted executor of an offense the game has ever seen–for a defense to reasonably defend under this “template”.

Fortunately for Bronco fans, Belichick is the only remaining defensive mind with an ounce of imagination–and the accompanying pound of balls required to implement innovation in a cover-your-ass industry–left on the schedule.

…but the Chiefs defense?!?!

Much like our forefathers before us under the shield of Manifest Destiny, the Denver Broncos will favor an approach of annihilation over assimilation for these Chiefs. So let’s discuss:

Kansas City – Why are you in Missouri?

Before the game begins and Broncos-country gets divisive with Chiefs-trailer-park, let’s take a moment to garner some semblance of unity through a sing-along. Don’t worry Chiefs’ fans, the song was carefully selected in accordance with your demographics’ average educational level:

The wheels on the Chief’s bus come off in Denver,

Off in Denver,

Off in Denver.

The wheels on the Chief’s bus come off in Denver,

For the rest of the fucking season.

What They’ll Do:

The Chiefs, hilariously believing their front seven will be capable of stopping the run without assistance against base 11 personnel formations (again, that refers to 1 tight end and 1 running back), will continue to follow the broken template of stopping Peyton Manning, and, more importantly, will continue the trend of being anally-abused by Peyton Manning.  Further, their offense will be ineptly incapable of keeping anything remotely resembling “pace”.

I will credit their coaching staff.  Andy Reid has assembled a terrific staff that will have done an exemplary job scouting the Broncos tendencies.

However, the Chiefs’ heaviest strength thus far has been their pass rush… a pass rush that is rapidly slowing as opposing teams gain larger sample sizes of their blitz schemes.  And therein lies the key to the game:

Protect Peyton Manning, and it’s a blowout.

If he gets pressured, Denver wins by less.

If he gets hurt… well season’s over.

My official prediction.

More Predictions… for The Season Ahead

Last week I discussed that our perspective and measure of NFL teams can only be a reflection of their competition.  Expect this trend to continue with Denver as the Broncos move into an area of the schedule with more defensive oriented teams along with the inclement weather of winter.  The offense will likely continue to dominate without missing too much of a beat–because the variety of match-up problems and snap decision making of Peyton.  That being said, we are likely to experience the following:

- The offense may dip closer to 30 points per game

- The defense will get much more credit

People who don’t understand this relationship (i.e.: the media), will discuss the following:

- The defensive improvements are due to the team taking on Jack Del Rio’s identity

- The defensive improvements are due to the return of Von Miller, Champ Bailey, _____ insert any player that misses time here

While all of the above are certainly helpful, they’re not nearly as vital to defensive success as a crap opponent (reference the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs).

On that note, are we SURE Gronk’s arm isn’t infected again? I think he should go check. Next week.

Alford Watch!

Time for another installment of my favorite SELU (yes, someone from SELU made it to the NFL) rookie making one of the most athletic interceptions I’ve ever seen.  For those of you actually paying attention: fine, it’s a couple weeks late, but last week I was busy napping over the Bye so lay off.

…alright, so it was a lot more impressive than the photo looks…

Free Money (Guys, last time I got EVERY single one wrong… ALL of them.  A monkey would have done better.  Please, do NOT take my “advice”:)

Colts -2.5

Falcons -1

Patriots +3

Chargers -2

Redskins +3.5

Cumulative Record: 13-21 (This is the most embarrassing display I’ve ever exhibited… naturally on the one year I decide to track it)

That’s Good Broncos – They just keep getting better:

But first… I must apologize for no write-up last week. I managed to set aside some time to start writing my ode to Shanahan and soon stepped back to notice that’s exactly what it was going to be… in fact, it probably could be held against me in a court of law if I break the restraining order. Again. So, I’ll refrain and move on and let Terrell Davis speak for me with, “He’s the Vince Lombardi of Denver”.

And as the Broncos go, so does this crappy-blog, so let’s rebound with some football talk after a great win against the greatest and tannest coach (No, you don’t count, Mike Tomlin) there has ever been.

The Defense is Back?

It never left. While certainly impacted by the absence of key players like Woodyard and Miller, people simply have unrealistic expectations of all things defense and have turned facets of that aspect of the game into complete hyperbole.

Pass rush is a massive area of hyperbole. “We have no pass rush! Where’s the pressue?!” is what guys say when pressure doesn’t work. In this game, RGIII was sacked or under duress on over 42% of his throws, which is a fantastic amount. In the much maligned “pressure-lacking” Cowboys game, Romo was sacked or under duress on nearly twice that… but the pressure didn’t work and Romo managed to not only extend the play but his receivers similarly converted.

Zone defenses routinely get comments like “Guys are wide open! Where’s the coverage?!” which sometimes is indicative of zone coverages. In a zone defense, defensive backs are playing the Quarterback (and his eyes) first, then the receiver and finally the ball. In man coverage, defensive backs are playing the receiver (in bump, corners will key receiver and quarterback if they’re using their read steps), and then the ball. Yes, zones have seams where it appears no defender is near. Unfortunately, defenses are limited to 11 players who cannot make contact after 5 yards (*unless you’re playing against the Broncos, then prison rules apply), and those openings happen.

Most importantly, the NFL does not function on a round-robin basis. Every team’s perception, production and results are all quite literally a product of their competition. Our defense’s best results have come against the Giants, Raiders, Jaguars and Redskins, while their worst performances came against the two best opponents they’ve faced—the Cowboys and Colts… is anyone surprised?

To exemplify this a little further, the Denver Broncos are scoring 43 points a game. Does that mean every team we’ve faced has a terrible defense? Not even close. Even factoring in the public sodomy inflicted by the Broncos, the Colts (#8), Ravens (#11) and Raiders (#12) are top half scoring defenses.

The Broncos are the best team in the league and everyone knows it. Professionals rarely lay down and die. These are proud men with chips on their shoulder who don’t like being told they’re inferior. Because of this, the Broncos need to be prepared for EVERY team’s best shot. Offensively and defensively. A huge part of being ready to combat this is found in…

Peyton’s Arm

Everyone is noticing that the Broncos are not attacking down the field with much regularity. So why?

On Sunday, Peyton Manning was 1-of-8 for 16 yards with two interceptions on 15+ yard downfield passes. Further, four of Manning’s six interceptions this year were on deep throws.

Nerve damage? Ankle injury? Overblown?

I decided to take a closer look at this, specifically in the Washington game to try and answer those questions.

Interception 1 – Short throw, Deangelo Hall just beat up Demaryius and took the ball away for a quick 6 pts.

Interception 2 – Man coverage with two deep safeties (each playing a “deep half”). Peyton tries to look off the right hash safety by using Decker streaking down the sideline and then throws to Welker down the middle. Safety isn’t fooled, ball is a little short which permits the defender to tip it and the safety makes the pick.

Interception 3 – Peyton finds Demaryius in single coverage, pass a little underthrown and picked by Deangelo Hall.

Underthrows?!

Let’s clarify something. Demaryius Thomas is still the engine that drives the receiving group. He’s the Broncos’ playmaker. When Peyton sees him single covered, he throws it there. While two passes were slightly underthrown—and are likely a byproduct of discomfort stepping into his throws with the ankle injury—Deangelo Hall simply outperformed Demaryius Thomas for two of those interceptions. Granted, the other was a slightly poor decision… but even Vishnu got duped by Ravana.

The fact remains, Peyton Manning is the league’s…

Most Valuable Player – Peyton Manning

See above. Despite a multitude of neck surgeries and a newly nagging ankle injury, Peyton has transcended the sport in 2013. In 8 games, Peyton Manning is responsible for 30 Broncos touchdowns. For further context, Peyton will break his own Denver Broncos franchise passing record before December arrives.

Offensive Player of the Year – Calvin Johnson

Despite missing a game and dealing with a nagging injury, Calvin leads the league in receiving by nearly one-hundred yards and is only trailing Wes Welker’s TD lead by two.

Defensive Player of the Year – Robert Mathis

Also a game behind (though due to the “Bye”), Robert leads the league in sacking the QB, on pace for over 26 sacks. The record belongs to Strahan with 22.5. It will not last to 2014.

Midway All-Pros Adjusted to the Modern Game—“First Team; Second Team”

Offense (11-personnel, 3 receiver sets):

QB- Peyton Manning; Drew Brees

WR- Calvin Johnson, AJ Green, Wes Welker; Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Jordy Nelson

RB- LeSean McCoy; Jamaal Charles

TE- Jimmy Graham; Vernon Davis

OT- Andre Whitworth, Sebastian Vollmer; Joe Thomas, Trent Williams

OG- Marshal Yanda, Louis Vasquez; Evan Mathis, David DeCastro

C- Alex Mack; Manny Ramirez

Defense (Nickel package, Pass-Rushing OLBs measured against DE’s):

DE/PR OLB- Robert Mathis, Robert Quinn; Justin Houston, Mario Williams

UT/5 Tech- Jason Hatcher; JJ Watt

NT- Dontari Poe; Damon Harrison

OLB- Lavonte David, Alec Ogletree; Danny Trevathan, Vontaze Burfict

ILB- Sean Lee; Kiko Alonso

CB- Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman, Alterraun Verner; Aqib Talib, Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie, Deangelo Hall

FS- Earl Thomas; Eric Reid

SS- Kam Chancellor; Eric Berry

Free Money (LOL at that title, right?!?  Please put your money in a Spider Index instead. Your kids deserve an education)

Atlanta +7

Dallas -10.5

Chargers -1

Ravens -2.5

Green Bay -10.5

Some big spreads, but some big mismatches

Cumulative Record: 13-16 (Nice rebound last posting, let down by two ATS stalwarts: Denver and New England)

That’s Good Broncos:

Peyton Manning reflects on how this big of a douche-bag managed to become so successful

Another week in the books, and another win.  Oh the humanity… winning by only double-digits… fortunately, we got to see the surreal sense of entitlement apparently rampant in a large segment of Bronco fans as they booed their undefeated, historically-potent team as they head into the half.  As if that wasn’t enough to piss Peyton off, the media decided to pile on, questioning his manhood in not diving on fumbled snaps… because that’s what exactly what we need–to risk our GOAT QB in a double-digit win to try and beat the spread.

…but it doesn’t end there!  Shooter McGavin Jim Irsay just couldn’t help himself and had to

tug on Superman’s cape.

Fox came to Manning’s defense and replied by calling Irsay’s comments “inappropriate” when all he should have said was, “Thanks again.”

Meanwhile, Manning had a much more private reaction and just smiled and thought, “See you Sunday night.”

The Jaguars

My intention was not to waste any time covering this subject, but quite a few people posed some very good questions regarding the game–specifically the defense (If your question isn’t answered here, it’s either in the Q/A section below or wasn’t worth my goddamn time so leave me alone)–so let’s get started.

Issues (“issues” because “problems” don’t exist in a 16 point victory) began on offense when Peyton started taking shots from the Jaguars front four.  Speaking of, maybe with the sprain you’ll have some time to pay attention now, Orlando Franklin.

Hey @OFranklin74, Babin’s been cheap shotting QBs all season. Please cut him whenever possible.

— Patrick Turley (@patrickturley) October 13, 2013

Of course, a few minutes into the first quarter and Babin went low on Manning.  That was the first time I crapped my pants.  Seeing Manning walk to the locker room only had me further soil myself.

The pressure applied by Jacksonville’s front four early (pervasive defensive philosophy: “Hit him early, he’ll give it to you late”) placed the offense behind schedule.  An offense behind schedule placed the defense in a bind because of…

The Gameplan

Raise your hand if you predicted a 2 point game into half.  No?  Well, neither did the Broncos.  The defense came prepared to play to protect a lead and work clock with a big mix of zone (further, as a HEAVY man coverage team, this also functions as an opportunity to evaluate players’ zone coverage skills in a live setting, exhibition elements on a bigger stage) coverages.  Truth be told, this issue wasn’t that big of a deal, you make adjustments and go execute, but compounding the problem lay the primary issue with the defense: injuries and suspension.

Wesley Woodyard may have become our defensive MVP.  Controversial with Miller’s dominance rushing the passer, but looking at what Wesley has done statistically as a starter under Del Rio is nothing shy of remarkable and near godlike when you consider his intangibles.  Further, with Miller out, we managed to at least adequately fill the void with Nate Irving on base downs and Shaun Phillips rushing in the nickel.  With Wesley out, all hell broke loose.  That sounds like an exaggeration until you see the facts: we played defense with ONE linebacker more often than not.  Danny Trevathan rang in a whopping 73 defensive snaps in all the dime looks (Dime: 6 defensive backs).  To provide some context, that’s more than EVERY OTHER linebacker on the team COMBINED (Lenon-38, Irving-30, Robinson-3).

The lack of Wesley was most apparent over the middle where the Denver Broncos were eviscerated by the slant.  Blackman alone racked up approximately half of his production on this one pass pattern.  By design, a corner can only hope to get an early slant break and, GENERALLY, the linebacker should be there to lower the boom and break up the pass with the big hit.  Trevathan continues to play admirably, but we simply had no presence over the middle without Wesley.

With Miller gone, Wolfe has been forced to rush the passer more from the outside when he’s more of an inline penetrator on a 3-technique than a dip-your-shoulder-and-beat-him-outside defensive end.  With Ayers also out, Wolfe was placed into assuming this less effective role on a full-time basis notching 58-snaps at defensive end.  Too many to provide fresh pass-rush and in the wrong spot to be optimally effective.

Champ returned straight to his LCB as explained several weeks ago, and after missing over a month of football, produced a mixed bag, as expected, getting tested often–several pass breakups but more completions. I expect this performance to improve dramatically from here out, and if there’s one valuable takeaway from this game concerning Bailey, he’s healthy and a true warrior amassing more playing time than ANY other defensive back.

Let’s test Duke for color-blindness.  No chance he hit more Jaguars than Broncos.

Let’s give some measure of credit where credit is due, Blackman looks like a fine, young player when he’s not too busy drunk driving and getting kicked off the sideline.

Cliffs and Context

Despite working “behind schedule”, out of position, treating the game like a Bye-week with dinged up players, AND placed in bad positions by the offense: THE DEFENSE ONLY GAVE UP 12 POINTS.  JESUS, SHUT UP.

Truly, the game and the fan reaction can be summed up expertly here.

Battling a Luck Dragon

Oh, be quiet, it even looks AND sounds like him.

The Colts are an incredibly competent team in nearly every phase of the game–you can’t hold a Chargers loss against them, the Chargers (and the Cowboys) are as hot and cold as they come, and they were hot.  Fortunately for Denver, the Colts have a significant identity crisis where they actually believe they’re a “run-first” team.  They have a respectable defense creating as many turnovers (7 INT, 3 FR) as Denver (9 INT, 1 FR), that has similarly sacked the QB as many times as the Broncos (17.0).  Of course, the difference defensively comes from their pass-rushing monster Robert Mathis who is currently on pace to break the sack record, and ours… well…

Welcome Back Von

I spent a lot of time trying to find an intimidating picture of Miller, but apparently it doesn’t exist.  Yet.

Not only do the Broncos get one of the best defenders in the league back, but a “rising tide lifts all boats” and here’s how:

Von’s return allows every other player to adjust to favorable match-ups they excel in.  For example, Wolfe can bounce back inside to more favorable match-ups on pass-rushing downs, either Shaun Phillips or Ayers are likely to get isolated on a guard or tight end and Von’s gonna Von.

The pass rush, currently a very respectable 9th in the league, just took a quantum leap forward.  Teams will be forced to fan protect (1-on-1′s) which also means that whenever Wesley blitzes, he’s going to get a clear lane up the middle against a running back–detailed explanation given here (ignore the Tebow talk and replace Carter with Duke, Elvis with Phillips, Thomas with Wolfe and Bunkley with Jackson), which interestingly enough was before the signing of Del Rio and has been HEAVILY implemented ever since.  There isn’t a back in the league that can match Wesley’s intensity.

Combine this with the return of Wesley and Ayers AND the return of aggressive, physical coverage, and australopithecus Luck is DOA.

So, after six weeks of getting by without him, how will the Broncos use Miller?

I would expect the Broncos to leave Irving in situational run-defense packages and for Miller to hit the field everywhere else as an OLB or DE.  Not only has Irving done well in that capacity, this will allow Von to dive back into the speed of the game within his optimal niche and permit enough rest for him to beast anyone who tries to line up against him.

Offense

Irsay handled this.  Thanks again, bro.

Q/A

Are the Chiefs considered a real threat now or paper tigers yet to play a legit team?

Both.  Andy Reid is an incredible coach that has a talented football team playing mistake free football, but it’s… different.  Teams can’t prepare for 2013 Andy Reid because he’s approaching both sides of the ball in ways he never has before.   For the first time in his career, Andy is running the football.

It will be unfortunate for Denver that the Chiefs will come to Mile High off the Bye with an extra week to prepare, but not unfortunate enough.

I think a topic that should be touched on briefly depending on Walton’s condition and health. Could he be put back in as the starter or do you just roll with Manram?

While valuable to every unit and overall team function, no unit is more dependent on COHESION than the offensive line.  Walton’s return will be a massive boon for depth on a crippled unit, but as we saw with Chris Kuper’s patient wait, you don’t disrupt cohesion unless necessary and Manny is playing admirably.  Of course, if his snap issues continue (something that’s been apparent since week 1), a change may be necessitated.

What are they going to do on the OL? move Vasquez over?

This was the solution on Sunday (Vasquez to RT and Kuper in at RG) when Franklin went down with injury, and, to be TOTALLY honest, it was more effective.  Of course, that needs to be qualified two-fold by stating that at that point, our run-pass ratio was much more even and the Jaguars were playing the run playing from behind.  I highly doubt Winston Justice can play as competently, and this line-up is what I’m expecting until Franklin returns, likely after the Bye.

When I type in ‘Jim Irsay’ in my google queue, why is one of the autofill options ‘Jim Irsay Douche’?

Easy.  Next question.

If you’re game planning for the Chiefs, how do you counter their edge rushers and front 4? Who do you target on their defense?

The answer to both questions is “the screen game”.  Kansas City is one of the few defenses more aggressive than Denver’s.  Slow down the pass rush with screens, draws, and the running game (now that Terrell Davis has been sneaking into games wearing Knowshon’s jersey), and play small ball.  Passes will be LARGELY screens or quick shotgun/3-step drops.  Don’t let them have shots at Manning and when it’s time to go deep, the play action will be there.

Free Money (Please don’t check my cumulative record, I’m clearly an imbecile)

COWBOYS +2.5 (this has to be a mistake, right?!)

49ers -4

Atlanta -7

Broncos -6.5

Patriots -4

Cumulative: 10-14. 2-6 last week is as embarrassing as ATS picks can get.

That’s Good Broncos

If you’re not eagerly awaiting these each week, you’re doing it wrong:

The Aftermath

Julius Thomas and Chris Clark delivered as promised while Peyton Manning delivered as promised usual.

Wesley Woodyard hasn’t practiced all week with a neck injury Fox swears is not significant.  Ayers hasn’t practiced all week with a shoulder injury Fox swears is not significant.  Chris Harris got into some limited work Thursday with a concussion Fox swears is not significant.

…fortunate timing for the Broncos to hit their first of two consecutive Bye weeks.

Still, the defense got beat up last week.

Bad.

Romo scrambled through arm tackles of the pass-rush and routinely hit receivers to move the chains against nearly impossible odds.  Defensive backs were regularly in position to make a play on the ball and were simply out-executed by Cowboy receivers and tight ends.

Is the Defense Secretly Terrible?

Not even close.  Here’s a beaten-up by nagging injury and suspensions unit that is hungry to come out swinging and show the world they can stop someone.  And as we saw earlier in the season, they can.

At will.

Here’s some blurry-as-shit sample screen shots from a play I totally cherry-picked to support my point of how close the defense was routinely and there’s nothing you can do to refute it because I don’t even check my comments section:

^ early big 3rd and 10, pocket crushed and multiple Broncos close on Romo

^ Bronco fans breathe a sigh of relief as this drive is about to come to a close

^ despite the ridiculous pressure, first sack eluded

^ now Wolfe can’t bring him down for a second sack eluded

^ here’s Romo staring down the shot from the 3rd Bronco to make contact with him and delivering a ridiculous 3rd down strike.

Champ is a first-ballot Hall of Famer because he MAKES those plays.  Von is one of the best current defenders in football because he MAKES those plays (Assuming he wasn’t avoiding drug tests because of PEDs).

Injuries

Wesley, Harris, Ayers: three key players out of practice or limited with injury.  Three key players, three young guys looking to make the most of their opportunities, three key players with a lot of pride in contract years.

If they’re cleared, they’ll play.  They’ll rest next week.  And Ayers just has to be SALIVATING over their tackle situation with Monroe shipped to the Ravens and Joeckel done for the year.

Demaryius Smash

The Broncos LOVE Demaryius Thomas down the left sideline.  Manning’s stat line targeting him outside of the left hash is 12-for-13 for 232 yards and a touchdown. Compound that with abysmal safety play over the top?

Good luck, Alan Ball.

While that remains my favorite match-up, these Jaguars simply don’t have the speed or talent to match-up with any of the Broncos skill positions.

Oh Paul, I’m So Sorry You Signed There, But It Was Your Choice

What do you call one guy making plays on a terrible football team?  A millionaire.  He’s still a multi-multi-millionaire.  Don’t cry for him.

Julius is coming off some epic abuse of a better, faster Penn State linebacker.   I’m sitting here debating on whether or not I should parlay this into a Sandusky joke.  Am I better than that?

The Passion of the Chad

So the defense will eviscerate the Jaguars hapless offense.  In three starts, Gabbert threw one touchdown to a Jaguar (blown assignment on the coverage), and three touchdowns to opposing defenses.  Unfortunately, the worst quarterback the league has ever seen Blaine won’t be playing.

In his stead, the pretty-good-for-a-backup Henne will take the field.  They’ll try to run the football to play keep away from Manning, the healthy-enough Wesley Woodyard lead defense will crush the attempts and force them into 3rd and longs where Chad Henne will try to bubble screen all day (Seriously, be on the lookout for this.  It’s like watching that shit offense McDaniels installed here all over again) and fail.

Fortunately for Chad, he too will ascend after his crucifixion.  While we can obviously expect the score to be so lopsided the Jaguars start throwing regularly in hopes of a Christ-like miracle, we can also expect guys that don’t sniff the field to get some live looks this week.  Both are a recipe for some moderate Henne success.

I expect approximately 20 mostly-garbage-time points from Jacksonville.

Trap Game?

I hated the Jaguars for over a decade after the 1996 playoff upset.  Imagine how Elway feels.

I still hate my last employer and I wasn’t even fired let alone had an entire community turn on me and walk me to the door.  Imagine how Del Rio feels.

I still want to bury my old rivals.  Imagine how Peyton Manning (a guy who had minimal qualms about hanging 41 points on his brother) feels.

Mental Exercise

Close your eyes and picture this (well you can’t close your eyes and read, but you get what I’m going for, right?): 3rd and 10, Denver up by 7, Brady has the ball and is lined up, and he’s staring down a 5 man rush made up of Von, Wolfe, Malik, Ayers and Phillips.

How many of you smiled?  If you didn’t I’ve got some bad news: you’re a filthy Pats fan.

Around the League:

Only Brandon would knowingly incur a fine to raise awareness for his made-up mental disorder.

Is it just me or is NBC getting a little too cheeky with their coverage?

Jimmy Graham is pretty amazing.  Vanilla-chocolate swirl ice cream is pretty amazing.  …Coincidence?

Now that the Colts don’t have to pretend Dwight Freeney is a good player, Mathis is going off in those favorable match-up pass rush opportunities.  With 9.5 sacks through 5 games, Mathis is on pace for a 30.5 sack season.  Plan for week 7 @ Indy?  Max Protect!

The Streak

So Peyton threw his first pick thanks to glare from the terrible stadium position in Dallas… in the middle of ANOTHER FIVE TOUCHDOWN FUCKING GAME.  But MOST importantly, here’s Wile E. Coyote Peyton Manning fooling everyone because, lol, Peyton can’t run.

**If anyone is competent enough with photoshop to put Peyton on a tricycle or a Big Wheel as he casually cruises that score in for 6, please contact me**

Free Money (…and by free, I mean you’re losing with the vig):

Green Bay -3

Detroit -2.5

Houston -7.5

NYJets -1.5

Cincinnati -6.5

New Orleans +2.5

Dallas -5.5

Colts -1.5

Cumulative: 8-8. Pretty awesome that I can peg each aspect of this except for the part that makes money.

That’s Good Broncos

Is it just me or is he just getting better EVERY week?

And because LeSean McCoy’s a dick (scoreboard, douche)

Because it couldn’t happen to a better guy.

Another week, another swift ass-kicking as Duke met Riley and made Harriet Tubman proud, while Peyton slayed the Nemean lion while it handed him free product placement.  I can’t follow that, so diving in…

The Denver Defense

At the beginning of the game, the defense has to be prepared for the opposing offense to do anything: they need a multi-purpose tool.  As defenses take away what offenses want to do from what they need to do–whether by clock, points, or field position–, the defense can adjust to use a more specialized tool (which is where Denver’s emphasis on versatile players has paid massive dividends), or in this case a more effective pressure substitution package as the run threat is minimized by clock and scoreboard.  Denver will have problems when someone can take what they WANT to do, and score consistently.  That being said, the defense has been well rounded and good enough to have those options eliminated by half.

Against a mobile quarterback prone to tuck it and run like Vick, the four to five players rushing the passer have to engage their opposing blocker and maintain gap-discipline and containment as they rush the passer.  While Vick managed to exploit a man-to-man lack of a quarterback spy for a few third down scrambles, ultimately, he was hurried, hit or sacked on the vast majority of his dropbacks (exceptional against a football team that holds the entire game) and finished the game watching Nick Foles play from the bench.  Mission accomplished.

Interestingly enough, Denver was bailed out early by a big drop by Brent Celek that would’ve placed the Eagles on the 5-yard line.  On this play, Denver was in a cover 2 and Vick and Celek nearly-connected in what is known as its “seam”.  Literally impossible to defend without drastically increasing the depth of your inside linebacker’s coverage drop.  I wanted to emphasize this particular play because it directly leads into Monte Kiffin, father of both the Tampa 2 and a terrible football coach (Jim Mora Sr offers his knowing sympathies).

Why the Dallas Cowboys will be walking funny on Monday

Click for zoomed-out spoiler to Sunday’s game

While Monte birthed the Tampa 2 from his own oaky birth canal, Tony Dungy promptly fell in love with it, courted it and spent his head coaching career with it.  Under Dungy, Peyton spent the vast majority of his own career practicing against the Tampa 2 on a near daily basis.  Recall the Brent Celek example and expect a big day from Julius Thomas as Peyton abuses the seam and the side line (both deep and between the corner and safety). While I expect Dallas to pose the greatest threat Denver has faced this season, there are no breaks on the rape train.

…but, but, but Demarcus Ware vs Chris Clark

How could Chris Clark possibly match-up with one of the best pass rushers there has ever been in Demarcus Ware?  By minimizing the job.

Per Profootballfocus.com, 23 of 34 pass attempts were released in 2.5 seconds or less.  A dizzying rate and a near impossible task for a defender to read pass, beat his man, close and sack the QB.  The other eleven attempts are likely to all be by design–longer step drops, more elaborate developing routes–and assisted with a tight end or back.

This highlights my list of match-ups to watch.  Honorable mentions to Dez vs DRC, Wolfe/Phillips vs Doug Free and Julius Thomas vs Sean Lee (Dallas’ only hope at minimizing big plays down the seam).

The Streak

16-0.  Touchdown to interception ratio, or 2013 regular season foreshadowing?  Not only is Peyton Manning dominating at a level unparalleled in NFL history, but the ball is even looking prettier when Peyton throws it.  Frankly, his performance is only reinforcing my theory that Peyton Manning is a stem-cell Highlander.

Hurry, Hurry, Omaha, Omaha, Alpha, Alpha

What do these mean?  These are key words for offenses that can be rotated from week to week or play to play to disguise their meaning from the defense.  The actual mechanics of this are important.  The words are selected by ease of audible recognition as a response to crowd noise in opposing stadiums.

These words are far from meaningless attempts to confuse the defense, rather, vital communication to adjust to the defense–generally after Peyton makes them declare with a hard a count under center.  Recently Peyton used “Omaha” to call a hot route, while “hurry hurry” was the impending snap, letting the offense know the snap is coming on his next count.

Example of a play:

Offense lines up at the line of scrimmage.

Peyton gets under center, to get the defense to declare.

Defense declares and shows blitz.

Peyton steps away yelling “Omaha” calling for a hot route, sometimes changes players positions (moving Knowshon to the blitz, in this example).

Welker recognizes the Will backer and Strong safety showing blitz to his side and knows that means to hot route to a quick route on his side (maybe a slant or in into the vacated area).

Peyton makes more line calls and maybe a hard count.

Peyton yells “Hurry, hurry” for impending snap.

Snap on “set hut”.

3-drop step drop and while Knowshon picks up the blitz an easy completion to Welker to move the chains.

Around the League:

I like Phillip Rivers a lot better when he’s losing and throwing public temper-tantrums.

With all due respect, Mrs Thompkins, Kenbrell is a lazy name.

It was a good week to be a Peterson as Adrian reminded the Pittsburgh defense how old they were 140 different times along with 2 touchdowns and Patrick caught as many passes (2) from Bucc’s quarterbacks as the guy he was covering, Vincent Jackson.

Bill Ford’s got a lottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt of nerve

QnA:

4 weeks in, how do you see the effectiveness of Phillips/Ayers compared to the guy they replaced in Doom?

Currently, Phillips and Ayers aren’t replacing Doom.  With the suspension to Miller, they’re filling in for both, so in terms of production, you’re asking to compare 2 apples against 1 orange.  We’ll be able to get a much clearer picture of each players’ effectiveness relative to Elvis when Miller returns and pass rushing opportunities from Phillips and Ayers are condenses and matchup exploits are schemed to Von’s strengths.  That being said, I’m absolutely impressed with Robert’s growth and performance against both the run and the pass (despite missing on his diving pick attempt in the flat on a zone-blitz and losing contain against Vick for a big conversion), and also frightfully aware that it’s a contract year. Speaking of those…

Of our UFA’s at the end if the year, who do you consider the highest priority to re-sign at this point? Lowest priority?

As much as I love DRC and Decker, resigning Wesley Woodyard must be the highest priority.  Under Del Rio, Wesley has been the stabilizing force to our linebacker corps and a primary reason for the leap in performance of both our run defense and coverage over the middle–both previously Achilles heels to the Denver defense.

The lowest priority (aside from Andre Caldwell, Quentin Jammer and other low impact players) is Mike Adams.  While he’s excelling in his more limited role as a coverage safety and band-aid for Duke, our secondary depth has made massive strides and his presence could be readily replaced.

Free Money (Just a lil bit of):

Chargers -4.5

Kansas City -2.5

Carolina -1.5

San Fran -6

Denver -7

Cumulative: 6-5 ATS

That’s Good Broncos – Best Episode Yet:

Okay, first of all, get off my back.  Better late than never, fellow football nerds.

I refused to write an update last week because I don’t think the Raiders warrant anyone treating them like a legitimate NFL team.  This week’s is late because [no one cares about personal lives or excuses, so leaving this blank].  Anyway, enough excuses and no cares anyway:

Eagles – An Endangered Species

With the current trend of NCAA coaches cheating as heavily as possible to build a successful program and bolting to the NFL when the heat comes on (And I’m not going to name any names.  It certainly has nothing to do with playing CHIP KELLY this week), we can expect Urban Meyer to return to Florida with the Jaguars any day now.  Worse, as low rent as Chip Kelly–I mean this–is, the NFL gets worse, here’s looking at you Mike herpes-infested Vick.

Of course, no terrible franchise, I mean the Eagles, discussion would be complete without at least mentioning Riley Cooper.  The only thing Riley Cooper likes more than football is jumping fences.  Wait, that’s not the important take away from that video?

Riley, meet Duke.  Duke, Riley.  You boys play nice across the middle, now.

How to Stop Chip Kelly’s Innovative-for-High-School-Sports Offense:

Just add Altitude.  The best part is that Pillsbury Dough-Boy looking dipshit decided to fly in late as opposed to getting acclimated.  Enjoy the second half!

This defense (pic taken from the article here – as a side note, check this guy’s work out, Bronco fans.  Bronco Mike’s doing some amazing work over at MileHighReport):

Here we find a nickel defense in a traditional 43 look where unheralded yet demi-god like beast Chris Harris is playing more of a traditional Sam backer role than a corner.  Ayers (7 tech), Knighton (1), Vickerson (3) and Wolfe (Wide-9) have the size up front to bully Philly’s offensive line and helps aid this level of versatility–next week I plan to examine this defense wide versatility with more depth and clarity.  For now, here’s the score card on Chris Harris:

Perimeter corner? Check

Inside corner? Check

Safety? Check

Sam Backer? Check

No huddle, no substitutions?  No problem.

The [likely] Return of Champ Bailey

“Champ is older.”  “Champ has certainly lost a step.”  “The last time we saw Champ, he was getting torched and causing our playoff exit.”

While all true, let’s talk about what Bailey does bring to the table: Everything.

No wasted movement.  The surest perimeter tackler the league has likely ever seen.  Communication.  Contain.  Route recognition.  Good ball skills.  Intimidation.

Champ Bailey, the greatest Bronco between the Elway-Manning eras, can still cover the best in the business… with safety help over the top.

“But how can you take DRC or Harris off the field?!?”

Well, you don’t.  This is the value of a defensive back.  The discussion between #2 and #3 is irrelevant.  Tony Carter played 63 snaps against the Giants.  That’s more than our starting DTs, Vickerson and Knighton, COMBINED.  Kayvon Webster got playing time against the Raiders after Tony Carter went down with injury, and still had 27 snaps–those are starting numbers for defensive linemen.

In light of the success of DRC and Harris, many have suggested using Champ as a slot corner, or just matching him up against opposing teams poorer perimeter receiver.  When Champ returns full-time, whether today or next week or after the Bye, we can expect to see him back to manning his LCB position, typically the #1 corner slot.  Why?  Because he’s more comfortable there, here’s how this works:

As a corner, your greatest asset is the sideline.  You learn how to work the sideline, whether your coverage dictates giving the sideline to play inside and cut off the ball or whether you want to take the sideline away to funnel the receiver inside toward safety help.  Essentially, imagine spending your whole life driving in the United States and then being asked to drive 100 MPH on the wrong side of the road in England.  It’s incredibly uncomfortable and simply unnecessary given DRC’s extensive experience on the right-side in Philly.

As a defensive back, Tony Carter, our Tramon Williams clone, can rest, stay healthy and be ready to come off the bench to provide stellar depth at any given point.  And again, with the versatility in which we use our DBs (and our defense as a whole), no one will be off the field for long.

Offensively

If Pillsbury wants to increase the number of plays, Peyton laughs and increases the number of points.  We can also look forward to watching our backfield develop as we spend the vast majority of the game grinding the clock with a half-billion point lead–admittedly a pessimistic, conservative estimate.

The Streak

Speaking of demigods, it may be time for Peyton Manning to legally change him name to Gilgamesh.  With 12 TDs and 0 INTs through 3 games, this can’t possibly continue, can it?

We’ll use this section to track the streak.  You’re welcome in advance for jinxing it today!

Free Money – Road Teams Edition

I had San Fran in this category, but procrastination pushes that off a cliff.  Anyway, extras for missing last week too

Baltimore -2.5

Cinci -4

Indi -7.5

Seattle -2.5

NYG +4

Washington -3.5

New Orleans -6.5

Cumulative ATS record so far: 2-2 (not free money)

Bronco Stuff Worth Checking Out

Make sure you check out Brandon Perna’s “That’s Good Broncos”.  Amazing and hilarious recaps of all things Broncos.  Here’s a recent example of his great work: