One reason to believe the Broncos’ defense might be better this week is it won’t be playing the Broncos’ offense.
In the Oakland Raiders last week, Denver’s “D” was facing a near replica of its own. “I’ve never seen so many bootlegs in my life,” Broncos defensive end Tim Crowder said.
Some attention had been paid to how the Raiders decided to go with the Broncos’ zone-blocking scheme this year, but the imitation didn’t stop with running plays. With all the misdirection rollout passes that Raiders quarterback Josh McCown executed Sunday, he looked much like Jake Plummer, circa 2005. And McCown had the Plummer-like stats to prove it: 14 completions, 21 attempts, 141 yards.
The very first play for Raiders highly touted rookie quarterback JaMarcus Russell? The Broncos’ naked boot right and 17-yard completion to the sideline.
“It’s very similar,” McCown said after the Raiders’ 34-20 win in which he had three touchdown passes. “That made it tougher when we played them earlier in the year, because you could tell they were ready for it. It makes it tougher to get around those edges.”
The Raiders managed to do it in Week 13, just as they were able to pound the Broncos’ defense for 175 yards rushing. One would think when a defense plays the zone-blocking scheme every day in practice that it would know how to stop it on Sunday. But there’s a reason Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has stuck with the zone-blocking scheme the past 13 years — it works, no matter how many times a defense sees it, and no matter who’s carrying the ball.
The first time the Broncos faced the Raiders, in Week 2, LaMont Jordan had 159 yards rushing. In Week 13, the Raiders’ Justin Fargas had 146 yards.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
