Official Denver Broncos Thread

[kehlis]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

It is Overreaction Sports at it's finest but the Broncos linebackers concern me a bit.

[Broncos86]

First drive? No way. Can't really say anything other than we stayed healthy.

[kehlis]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I did give full disclosure that it was an overreaction post

[Broncos86]

Fair enough. XD

I'm more focused on seeing Osweiler and Montee Ball.

[The JareBear]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I like Danny Travathan. Definitely like seeing him on the field

[Broncos86]

I love Ihenacho! This guy is all over.

[The JareBear]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I love Ihenacho! This guy is all over.

Yeah he's a "hair on fire" guy, liked what I saw

[Broncos86]

Our offensive line depth is suffering from those injuries.

[Broncos86]

I hope our O-Line doesn't lose anyone else. We cannot afford to lose anyone else.

[gr18]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

It was surprising to see Peyton in the pistol formation.

[Broncos86]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Here's what I saw / learned:

- Duke Ihenacho is in serious contention to win the starting position. Mike Adams helped his cause with that pick, but Duke was all over the field. That strip he made is the kind of stuff our defense needs. We need forced turnovers, not just gimme INTs off of overthrown balls.

- Our offensive line needs to get healthy FAST. We have almost zero depth at this point. Our second unit was terrible, and was eaten alive by the 49ers #2s. Osweiler was running for his life, and the running game couldn't buy a block.

- CJ Anderson can run! According to Tom Nalen, he's been tearing it up at camp with the #3s. The question is, can the kid block? He has that instinctive cutback that has "to the house" written all over it. If this kid can pass protect, Moreno's job could be in jeopardy (not to mention Lance Ball and Jeremiah Johnson).

- Defense looked fine. It's hard to say, since defenses tend to play more vanilla in these first games. Nice to see some blitz packages during the game, though. Nate Irving had a nice forced fumble, but this Bradley guy sure put his name into the mix. Von Miller had some nice pressure. Seemed like the first team was kind of mailing it in a bit at the beginning. Honestly, Ihenacho was the real stand out for me.

- No injuries! Thank goodness.

[The JareBear]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I know it was just a limited amount of play time but I thought Von looked great as well.

The o-line is definitely a large concern for me at the moment. I find it hard to accept anyone's criticisms of Brock or Zach because quite frankly the backup o-line was next level bad. Yeah, on a couple of plays maybe Brock needed to step up and pull the trigger but bottom line is he needs to be protected better to see what he can do with the ball. Starting line was, I mean, without Clady out there it was obvious they missed him. That play where Aldon Smith got to Manning and give him the butt slap was just a case of an all-pro player beating a backup tackle like a drum.

I know it is just once half against backups but from what I saw, I would rather have CJ Anderson than Lance Ball. I honestly think Lance is getting cut. Admittedly, I have already said on here, other than his special teams play I don't Lance brings anything special and I can't stand when he's on the field during close games, so, I am biased. I have heard some locals calling in radio shows and blasting both Hillman and M-Ball but I don't quite understand why, they weren't out there very long at all. I didn't expect either of them to pull a Chris Johnson and get a 56 yarder out of just a couple attempts. One guy was like "its clear Ball was used up in college and is already tired." A little harsh, IMO.

Duke was definitely, in my eyes, the player of the game. Adams INT was pretty nice but that was pretty much just fielding a punt, all he really did on that play was not be Rahim Moore. I mean, don't get me wrong, he obviously played it great, but that's where he was supposed to be. Honestly I think they have touch decisions in the secondary. All I know is I didn't see Jammer in the game until the 4th QTR and when he was in there I saw Tolzien throw right at him. This guy has been getting lit up like a Christmas tree for years in SD. I understood the point of trying him out at safety when they signed him but with the much more physically gifted and younger players ahead of him in our secondary I don't see him making the team right now. Honestly I felt our secondary looked great.

I am not trying to overreact and call Duke Ihenacho the next Troy Polamalu but after hearing a lot of great things from guys covering camp it was cool to see him out there just pinballing around the field making plays.

I don't want to get too down on the d-line based on one series. San Fran is a dominant team up front and they definitely moved our 1's off the ball with ease on that first drive. Again, I realize it's just one series of game one in the pre-season, just listing my observations. I tried to watch Sylvester a lot when I saw him in there but I didn't notice anything stand out one way or the other, he seemed to hold his own and didn't get bulldozed or make an outstanding play.

I thought Shaun Phillips looked good in a Broncos uniform. I liked him a lot at Purdue and was glad when the Bolts drafted him way back. I think he's a good guy to have around and adds quality depth

Maybe someone with more info can fill me in on what was going on with Stuart Bradley out there with the first team defense over Nate Irving? Am I wrong to have been under the impression Nate Irving was our starting Mike-backer? Are they putting Stuart out there in case Von gets suspended and Nate needs to move to Sam? Seems like Phillips isn't being looked at as a backer and is going to be used as a full-time end. All I know is Bradley looked slow as hell and couldn't cover to save his life. Quite frankly he couldn't do much at all. As Big Al said perfectly "he spent a lot of time on the ground." Can't say I am excited to see him out there starting again based on that performance. He was my low-point of the game, next to the o-line issues.

Looking forward to seeing more first team action in game 2 and 3.

This all, of course, is just my opinion on what I saw. I could be way off on my views, I just love talking sports.

[Broncos86]

Yeah, I'm not worried about the d-line. First game, it was clear to me they were more focused just getting a series in and putting the hats on.

Nobody can criticize Hillman and M.Ball with the (lack of) blocking they saw. Unless you're Barry Sanders, you're not going anywhere when LBers are in the backfield like that.

Osweiler played fine. Good improvements, and was making multiple reads on passing downs. It's important for him to not lock onto one receiver. I liked what I saw.

The Broncos will have to keep CJ Anderson. Expecting him to clear waivers is insane.

[kehlis]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Maybe someone with more info can fill me in on what was going on with Stuart Bradley out there with the first team defense over Nate Irving? Am I wrong to have been under the impression Nate Irving was our starting Mike-backer? Are they putting Stuart out there in case Von gets suspended and Nate needs to move to Sam? Seems like Phillips isn't being looked at as a backer and is going to be used as a full-time end. All I know is Bradley looked slow as hell and couldn't cover to save his life. Quite frankly he couldn't do much at all. As Big Al said perfectly "he spent a lot of time on the ground." Can't say I am excited to see him out there starting again based on that performance. He was my low-point of the game, next to the o-line issues.

Don't know if you saw it but here's a story about him:

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_23833776/broncos-lb-stewart-bradleys-return-form-pleasant-surprise

It doesn't necessarily answer your question but it's at the very a least a little insight.

[Broncos86]

Bradley played just fine. He was on the hip of the guys he covered and was making tackles.