Stopping the run has always been an exercise for which little brain power is required. You blocker. Him tackler. Line ’em up. Snap the ball.
It’s the mano a mano of football. May the best man win.
The Broncos’ defense hasn’t been winning its share of in-game run competitions this season. Not winning? The Broncos have been destroyed, allowing a whopping 181.0 yards per game.
Maybe they don’t have the best men for the job.
Or maybe the Broncos have been guilty of outsmarting themselves.
Soon after missing the playoffs with a 9-7 record last season, the Broncos made several bold changes to their defensive front. Each change raised eyebrows.
When change produces a defense that ranks 31st against the run in the 32-team NFL, it’s fair to wonder if the Broncos’ struggles are attributed to making so many changes in a relatively brief period.
“Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of new system, little bit of new personnel,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said Monday during his news conference. “Seven-man fronts, eight-man fronts, a combination of those things.”
The first change was to replace defensive coordinator Larry Coyer with Jim Bates. Huh. Well, the Broncos’ defense collapsed in the second half of games in the second half of last season. The time seemed right for a change.
And Bates’ system worked wonders for the Miami Dolphins from 2000-05. A jolt might be just what the Broncos needed.
Is it complicated?
“No,” Broncos linebacker Nate Webster said. “It’s just like anything else, you’ve got to get to know it. You’ve got to learn it. But is it difficult? No. If you execute it, it will work. We have seen it work. There’s a history behind it working. We’ve just got to bring it to life.”
Then the Broncos moved outside linebacker D.J. Williams to the middle, where he replaced the injured Al Wilson. Huh. Well, Williams is a marvelous physical specimen with a rare combination of speed, size and strength. The move made sense.
Next, the Broncos dumped their two starting defensive tackles, Michael Myers and Gerard Warren. Huh. The Broncos essentially paid Warren $6 million for one year, then give up on him the next? Then again, even Warren admitted he wasn’t adjusting well to Bates’ new defensive front operation. Might as well part ways and move on.
Replacing Myers and Warren at tackles were the hulking likes of Sam Adams and Amon Gordon. Then for the game Sunday at Indianapolis, Adams and Gordon didn’t dress and the Broncos started four defensive ends.
Huh. It worked for a while, but Colts quarterback Peyton Manning realized if he stayed patient, he could methodically gash the Broncos’ defense through the run and short pass.
Each change, by itself, was supported by sound reasoning. The results from those collective changes have been soundly disappointing. In their four games, the Broncos have allowed 90 yards to the Bills’ Marshawn Lynch, 200 yards rushing to the Raiders, surrendered nearly a 12-minute drive to Jacksonville, and surrendered 226 yards rushing to the Colts.
Next up for the Broncos are the San Diego Chargers and LaDainian Tomlinson. The Chargers were 14-2 last season when Tomlinson won the league’s MVP award. The Chargers are off to a disappointing 1-3 start, but wisecrackers would suggest even coach Norv Turner knows L.T. can run on Denver.
The Broncos spent the better part of Monday going over their mistakes from Sunday. Run defense was the focus.
“We talked about everything – nothing was perfect,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. “We had problems everywhere. But what showed up the most was the run.”
After the Broncos’ 38-20 loss at Indy, Bailey suggested the Broncos’ problem was a general breakdown in gap responsibilities. What exactly does gap responsibility mean?
“Everybody in the box is assigned to a particular gap,” rookie defensive end/tackle Jarvis Moss said. “And if you’re not in your gap, that’s the gap the ball carrier is looking for. It’s about having discipline and being accountable for your gap.”
Sounds easy.
“If everybody has their gap, then at the end of the play there should be a line of defense,” Webster said. “On the other hand, in the game of football, you’ve got guys on the other side who are good at making a guy miss even though you’re in the gap. So what was going on is, we would have a guy in the gap and he would miss the tackle. And you would have a guy that would get blocked out of his gap.”
So it is about blocking and tackling. Huh. If that’s all it is, perhaps the 2-2 Broncos have hope of correcting their great unsolved problem.
“We can only go north,” Broncos defensive end Simeon Rice said. “That’s the beauty of it. We’ve got to get better.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
