Smash Jackson & The Denver Broncos (NFL Head Coach 09)

[Kurt l o l]

Coach name: Smash Jackson

Slider set: Ebongreene with edits

Console: PS3

Game: NFL Head coach 09

Personality: Guru

Skills: Performance: 5

Special skills: Receiver discipline, run blocking discipline, game film analysis

Team: Denver Broncos

Offensive playbook: Shanahan Zone Blocking (Default)

Defensive playbook: Broncos man cover (Default)

I will run the offence, my DC will have complete control over the D, I will 'circle' button every play that defence has.

[Kurt l o l]

Philosophys:
Strong arm/tools QB
Workhorse RB
Blocking FB
Routes/Hands TE
Zone Blocking O-line
Tall/Endzone threat WR
Run Stopper DT
Undersized Pass Rusher DE
Balanced OLB/MLB
Ballhawk CB
Centerfield FS
Smart/Productive SS


Today marked relief for Broncos fans as Hall of Fame running back and ex-college coach Smash Jackson took the head coaching job. The Broncos have been looking for a coach to take the reigns for a couple of weeks now after former coach Mike Shanahan retired.

Jackson is known to have been close with Shanahan and also uses the same playbooks as Shanahan, Broncos fans can be excited about what this upcoming season brings for them, with a new coach comes a new beginning.

Jackson is known as being able to successfully run the ball against any defence, some may think it's down to his great coaching ability and some may think it's down to his experience at the running back position. Jackson finished his career with the New York Jets, racking up 17,125 yards in the process, putting him second to the great Emmit Smith.

Jackson had this to say when we caught up with him;

'There is a great group of guys here, coaches and players, it's a great chance for me and my family to move to the beautiful area of Denver and a great privilege for me to coach such a fantastic football team.

Taking over from a great coach such as Mike brings great pressure to succeed, but we have a great core group of players that can contend deep into the playoffs in the first year. I'm looking for great things out of this team.'

We asked him one question before he had to leave;

Q. What exactly is your 'Zone Blocking playbook'?

A. 'My zone blocking playbook is what we will be using here in Denver, it is similar to Mike's playbook who was here before me, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to learn. What is consists of is the O-line have a 'zone' to block, the running back must be extremely disciplined and make one cut and go, it's all about seeing a hole or cut back and hitting it, passing plays are the same as any other offence. The only real difference is the offensive linemen don't have an assigned man, rather they have an assigned zone.'

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Broncos sign first round pick Ryan Clady!

The Denver Broncos today announced that first round pick, 12th overall selection Ryan Clady has been signed to a deal worth $12.2 million dollars over 5 years with a $5 million signing bonus. Clady will fit perfectly into the blocking scheme Jackson will set up, sitting at 315 Lbs and a giant 6 foot 7, he also has extremely good foot work and awareness, just what the Broncos are looking for!

Another signing?! Broncos sign WR Eddie Royal on the same day!

Broncos have announced the signing of Eddie Royal today, selected in this years draft at 42, (second round) Royal is a speedstar, expected to play on the other side to Brandon Marshall, Royal is going to be expected to be able to stretch the field and make use of Jay Cutler's giant arm.

A giant trade!

Today seen the first big movement of the Smash Jackson regime, Jackson traded for superstar Jon Beason from the Carolina Panthers, Jackson stated he wanted to strengthen the front 7, starting by upgrading the heart of the defence, however, a player of Beason's quality doesn't come cheap, the Broncos had to trade away a 2010 second and third round pick.
Beason is a great all around player, in the Smash Jackson defence the linebacking core are expected to be able to rush the passer, play the run and play pass coverage, Beason is one of the few backers in the NFL that are known to have the athleticism to be able to do such.

Beason had this to say:
'Man, it's a great honour to be able to play for such an established team, the Broncos are a great team, man, I'm just going to work hard and try make this team a success and get that ring, you know?'

In with the new, out with the old

Smash took no time upgrading his interior linemen, signing first round draft choice Ryan Clady, however, the RG position was still a lingering concern, Smash took to free agency to bring in veteran LG Ruben Brown, Brown will be shifted over to RG.

Brown signed a 1 year deal worth $5 million dollars, with a nifty $500k signing bonus. However, with Browns 1 year deal, it is unknown if he will be around to see next season, or if he is a long term solution.

To make space for Browns arrival, the Broncos cut RG Norm Katnik, a 4 year pro out of USC, Norm didn't fit into the scheme the Broncos want to run, so he had to leave.

pre-season coverage up next

[Kurt l o l]

Pre-season

Well pre-season is finished and we all got a glimpse of what each team has to offer. While in recent years pre-season has determined pretty much nothing, it's still good to take notice, it lets you know how your not so well known players are doing, are they a diamond in the rough or a complete bust?

1-0

The Broncos started out strong this pre-season taking home a interesting win in Houston, the final score finished up 12-7 to the Broncos, it was an intense defensive battle and one team had to win in the end.

1-1

The Broncos had the first home game of the pre-season, hosting the Dallas Cowboys, Denver started off hot in the first quarter, racking up a 10-0 lead but it soon crumbled, the defence couldn't stop Romo & co. and the offence couldn't move the ball, final score 24-10 Dallas.

1-2

From bad to worse, the Broncos dropped another game in pre-season, handing Green Bay pretty much a free win, the defensive unit played well, holding a normally explosive offence to 13 points, however the Broncos only scored 3 points all game. Final score 13-3 Green Bay.

2-2

Maybe it didn't end too well. 2-2, a normal pre-season record, the last game, vs the Cardinals we gave Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall come time to gel together before the season opener, Cutler threw for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 picks, while Marshall grabbed 8 receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. Final score 29-28 Broncos.

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While many people believe finding undrafted players who have the potential to be starters in the NFL pure luck, the Broncos must have some kind of winning formula, the Broncos snagged 2 undrafted players this year:

RT M. Crockett 82 potential
E. Clayton MLB 81 potential

Hopefully Crockett and Clayton can challenge there respective positions for a starting job.

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Ruben Bust.. I mean Brown..

After signing a hefty $5 million dollar contract over 1 year, the Broncos expected big things from Ruben, who to say the least.. Has been injured since day one.

Ruben got injured before the first pre-season game vs Houston for 5-6 weeks, Smash let this one slide, maybe it was an unlucky break for Ruben, after recovering from his Mild hamstring, the next day he gets injured with the SAME hamstring for 3-6 weeks.

Brown will miss the season opener and possibly 2 games more. A big blow to a Denver team who were ever reliant on the interior linemen.

While getting injured isn't so bad for the superstars, rookie halfback Anthony Alridge also pulled his hamstring, in this case, he wasn't so lucky. The unlucky injury put him out for 5-6 weeks, costing him his job.

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In other news, the Broncos are doing a great job managing contracts. At the moment Denver are sitting with $20 million cap room and a talented roster, Smash told us this:

'We have a great amount of money to spend, we will evaluate how this season goes and consider splashing out in free-agency on the teams biggest needs.'

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We caught up with Smash Jackson and asked him how he thought the pre-season went for his team:

'You know, it was great in some parts, we found our running game, our defence was dominant for the most part, we are getting a great pass rush when only sending 4, and best of all Cutler is connecting well with Marshall.

The blocking seems to be there, Cutler has got time and our backs have got giant holes to exploit. Beason was racking up 6-7 tackles a game which gives me faith in the linebacking core, while Dumervill was racking up the sacks, hitting the 5 mark in only 4 games.'

Regular season up next

[Kurt l o l]

Cutler & Co. Start off strong

After an average pre-season the broncos were unexpected as to which form they would enter the season in, but it showed it was the correct form.

Starting the game off, the Broncos ran a playaction bootleg to the left side, Cutler threw a dart hitting fullback C. Sapp on a flat route out of the backfield, Sapp contined up field running over a defender followed by a stiff arm to the Safety, Sapp continued 90 yards for the touchdown on the very first play.

The first half were just both teams getting a feeling for each other, Broncos knew the raiders wasn't going to be able to pass the ball on them, stacking the box most of the game to disrupt star rookie McFadden was a must. Play after play was a run to McFadden, the Broncos struggled to stop it at first and they strolled down the field only to kick a field goal.

Once the Broncos got the ball back after giving up 3 points, Cutler threw a beautiful 20 yard floater to B. Marshall, Marshall made 2 guys miss and turned it into a 40 yard gain. The next play Oakland came with the pressure, Cutler panicked and threw a duck to a waiting N. Asomugha, the Raiders couldn't convert that into anything on offence however, going 3 and out.

When both teams went into the half-time interval, score 7-3 to the Broncos, they both had a feel for what each time was going to try to do. The Broncos were struggling to run the ball against a under-rated Raiders defence, while the Raiders couldn't pass the ball.

When the teams came back out it was the Broncos getting the ball, Cutler led the team down the field with some great passing, one of which hitting B. Marshall on a beautiful 15 yard post pattern, Marshall carried a defender on his back for a extra 7 yards or so. After stalling around the 20 yard line due to the inefficient running game, the Broncos had to resort to kicking the FG to make it 10-7.

The raiders came out looking strong, handing the rock of twice to McFadden twice in a row for 10 yards respectively, they put trust into Walter to throw one, when rookie free safety G. Anderson was waiting for the pick, Anderson ran it back around 20 yards.

When Cutler & Co. Came back out, they were looking to put this game out of reach, Cutler once again led the team down the field only to again be stalled by the running game, Cutler threw a beautiful 35 yard bomb to B. Stokley on that same drive. The special team unit trotted out to make it 13-7.

The raiders came back out, still in the ball game, still with Walter at the helm of the offence, throwing a pick to Dre' Bly on the first play of the drive, Bly continued to make a person miss, carrying that thing like a loaf of bread he returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. 20-7.

The clock was ticking and the game looked out of reach for Oakland, 20-7 with 1.46 left in the ballgame, when Walter threw one to D. Carter, which hit his hands and flew right in to Dre' Bly for ANOTHER interception, not returning this one, however.

Denver then ran the clock out.

Final score: 20-3 Denver

Positives:

Cutler looked good, 105.7 passer rating, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and a nice 266 yards, he was 14 for 21 and completed 66 of his passes.

Marshall and Stokley had no problems vs the team with one of if not the best cornerback tandems in the league. Marshall racked up 69 yards on 3 catches, Stokley grabbed 46 yards on 3 catches.

J. Beason was a machine out there, racking up 10 tackles, 1 for a loss and even got a pass deflection.

Our pass defence was great, cornerbacks are doing amazing. Champ Bailey allowed 1 reception for 7 yards, he was thrown at 6 times. Dre' Bly showed why he is a ballhawk.

Our defence was getting pressure, 5 sacks overall. 1 for each player: J. Engelberger, D. Robertson, N. Webster, M. Thomas, E. Dumervil.

Negatives:

Cutler turned it over twice, a fumble and a pick. Not too bad, but can improve.

McFadden ran for 101 yards on us.

We couldn't run the ball. 52 yards between Pittman and Young, on 28 carries overall, terrible. 1.8 avg for each of them.

O-Line needs to improve, however Ruben Brown is back this upcoming game.

[Kurt l o l]

Coaches corner

vs

After the Broncos advanced to 1-0 against a push over Oakland team, they turned their attention to the next opponent, the San Diego Chargers. The chargers have a great run game in LT, one of the best, if not the best tight end in Antonio Gates, a few tall redzone threat receivers who can win a jump ball vs any DB, a fierce pass rush in Merriman and Phillips and a promising young quarterback in Phillip Rivers.

The Chargers are widely expected to win their respective division (Chargers, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders) with the Chiefs and Broncos battling for second place. The Broncos are looking to secure the division this year, and finally knock San Diego off the high horse.

We caught up with Smash Jackson, Denver Bronco's head coach and asked him this:

Q. 'You are widely expected to battle for a wild-card play-off position this year, do you think you will achieve such?'

A. 'You know, people don't realize how good our team actually is, man. We held a great raiders offence to 3 points last week, we have a offence who can score on anybody, while a defence who can step up and stop anybody on any given day. I feel confident in saying we'll be in the playoffs this year.'

A. 'Your last outing saw your team struggle on the ground, what went wrong?'

Q. 'Our blocking wasn't doing the job, the fullback wasn't hitting people and the back wasn't hitting the holes fast enough. We'll work on this all week and get things back on track.'

Q. 'Is Cutler your franchise quarterback?'

A. 'Yes, no doubt in my mind. He is here to stay.'

Q. 'If you don't mind us asking, why is that?'

A. 'He makes all the right decisions, he has the best arm in the NFL and is an elite quarterback. His connections with Brandon (Marshall) is only going to get better as time goes on, considering they are both young players.'

Q. 'You're calling him elite, you realize elite means the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady?'

A. 'Yes, we'll see who still doubts him after this season.'

Q. 'Thanks for your time, coach, that'll be all.'

Keys to the game

When going against a team such as San Diego, it's obvious that you have to game-plan. Our plan isn't complex, it's simple;

Stop the running game, force them to pass it.

Blanket Antonio Gates, make him throw to the outsides.

Slow down the pass rush coming from the linebacking core.

Run the ball, control the clock.

Let Cutler do his thing vs a average secondary.

That'll be all for now, tune in tomorrow for the Game.

[Kurt l o l]

Game-day

Denver players arrived at the facility today knowing it was a mile-stone for some of the rookies, and even Vets. The first home game of the season. Many saw Denver's last outing when they took care of the Raiders, today, however, a much tougher opponent comes to town.

The game started off on a bad note for the Broncos, as the Chargers took to the ground game converting down after down vs a normally tough Denver defence, after running it all the way to the 20 yard line or so, San Diego hit the defence with a play action and Rivers threw a nicely placed pass to Antonio Gates on a beautifully ran corner route in the end-zone. Touchdown, 7-0 San Diego.

The first quarter was surprisingly dull, as normal, both teams feeling each other out and seeing what worked and what didn't. The Defence came through and stopped the San Diego offence with 1.40 to go in the first half, Cutler came onto the field with one thing on mind, get into the end zone. After marching down the field to around the 40 yard line in San Diego's half, the coaching staff noticed that the Safetys and linebackers were constantly coming down for the run, not read and react, just react. We took advantage of this and ran a bootleg, Cutler taking the ball amidst a strong pass rush, threw a beauty to TE Tony Scheffler, who got a great block from Brandon Marshall and simply ran over a smaller DB, taking it 38 yards for the score. 7-7.

San Diego got the ball back half way through the second half, they once again took to LT and let him pound the round, racking up yards and making people miss, nothing out of the ordinary. We was keeping him to average yardage for such a complete back, eventually our defence came through after they tried to run it on a 3rd down, and they was forced to kick the field goal. 10-7 San Diego.

Getting the ball back, with fire in his eyes, Cutler knew what he had to do. Connecting on a simple hitch route to Marshall, Marshall turned and made a person miss, taking it 35 yards, then an extra 5 yards with a person on his back. Beast! Taking a 5 yard pass into a 40 yard gain was only normal for the chemistry Cutler and Marshall have, next play, connecting on a 19 yard post route. Beautiful! Sitting around the 45 yard line, Smash Jackson went back to his routes and pounded the rock, all the way down until the 5 yard line, when Cutler failed to convert on 3 attempts, we put faith into out run game and Pittman ran one in on 4th down. 14-10 Denver.

With time still left, Rivers looked to make things happen, 1.50 to go in the second quarter before half time, Rivers threw a deep one looking for Vincent Jackson, however, he over threw it and rookie free-safety Glenn Anderson (Glenn would have 2 picks today) picked it off and ran it back 20 yards. Now Denver, looking in good position at the 50 yard line, looked to make it 21-10, Cutler went to work, hitting Stokley one a slant for 15 yards and a hitch the next play for another 10 yards. We had lots of time left so we decided to run the clock out while moving up the field. Sitting around the 6 yard line we put faith into Pittman, giving him '96 bounce Z left block', he bounced it outside the tackle and walked into the end zone for his second touchdown of the day. 21-10 Denver.

Getting the ball back in the second half, Denver looked to control the clock and put the game away. Marching down the field without any problems again, Cutler looked on fire, hitting Marshall once again on a 'go' pattern, for another 30 yard gain. The offence did however stall around the 26 yard line when Cutler got sacked twice and couldn't convert the down, Denver had to settle for a FG. 24-10 Denver.

Don't count San Diego out yet, however, They came right back and Phillips was throwing like a mad man, hitting pass after pass until the redzone, when they reached out redzone they stalled, they handed it off to LT for the first time this drive and he got stopped 1 yard short. 3rd Quarter and 3 minutes to go, they decided to go for it and LT got in for the 1 yard touchdown. 17-24 Denver.

No other scores happened in the 4th, but it was extremely exciting. With 2:00 to go in the Game, Phillips marched them down to the 5 yard line, using no time outs and the Denver fans crying that it could go to over time, the last play of the game, 0:05 to go, Phillips made the biggest mistake he could do, throwing it to Champ Baileys side. Champ had his receiver on lockdown and knocked the ball down on an attempted fade route. Denver come out with the win 24-14!

Denver win 24-14

Notable performances:

J. Cutler 132.4 Rating, 1 TD, 0 INT, 257 yards, 16 Complete, 21 Attempts, 76% Completion rate
B. Marshall 4 Rec, 77 yards, 0 TD
J. Lynch (Game ball) 15 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 3 pass deflections, 1 force fumble. WOW!
J. Beason 8 tackles, 1 TFL (Commanded the middle)
Glenn Anderson (Rookie, FS) 8 tackles, 2 ints!!
DJ Williams 7 tackles, 3 TFL.