If they’re the same Jacksonville Jaguars, they will arrive here in no particular hurry, but they will get here.
It was last year’s Jacksonville game that became a defining moment for the Broncos’ defense. Remember?
“I remember,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. “We got our butts whipped.”
The Broncos had started the season 2-0, winning both by pulling victory from what seemed to be final-second defeats. In contrast, the Jaguars had an uninspiring 1-1 start.
Everything changed when Jacksonville got the ball for their second possession in the game at Invesco Field at Mile High. There was nearly 10 minutes left in the first quarter when David Garrard trotted to the huddle. There were nearly 13 minutes left in the second quarter when a touchdown finally forced them to surrender the ball.
The drive lasted 18 plays, a Jacksonville franchise record. It took 11 minutes and 44 seconds. It was like watching the Air Force wishbone operate against Army during the Ken Hatfield heyday.
By game’s end, the 23-14 score did not properly portray the Jaguars’ dominance in victory. More telling was their nearly 39 minutes in ball possession. The mere 21 minutes, 18 seconds the Broncos had the ball was their lowest time of possession since 1992.
“We got outphysicaled,” Bailey said.
“Looking back, that was a crucial point in the season,” Broncos cornerback Dre Bly said. “But right now, us knowing what to expect, I think we’ll be better prepared, and I think we’ll play better.”
Some good came from that Marathon March. It led to a complete transformation in the way the Broncos did their defensive business. Two weeks after Jacksonville played ball hog, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan removed defensive coordinator Jim Bates from his systematic principles centered around a seven-man box. After the season, Bates was removed as coordinator.
As time went on, Shanahan started going way out of the box, and we’re not talking the eight-man kind. This is about a 56-year-old man, 16-year head coach who is nothing if not prepared, deciding to mix in a 3-4 defensive alignment not during the offseason minicamps, not during training camp or the preseason, but before the third game of the 2008 regular season against New Orleans.
“You can’t get into theory. I can’t really get into the responsibilities, but it isn’t quite as extreme as you would think,” Shanahan said. “It’s just a personnel grouping that keeps the offense off balance.”
One wrinkle to the Broncos’ 3-4 is there is no nose tackle. Dewayne Robertson or Kenny Peterson will line up shaded off the guard, instead of the center. Big difference, Robertson said, because he’s only responsible for one gap. A nose tackle will have to cover the gaps off each shoulder.
“Here it’s not a true 3-4 with the schemes we do,” Robertson said. “You have a little bit more freedom, you can do more things than just sitting there.”
Still, the reason teams don’t make such a defensive alignment shift during the season is because the type of upfront 4-3 player has different strengths from a 3-4 player. The Broncos have been calling teams and agents seeking defensive linemen with bulk.
Such commodities, though, aren’t easy to find in March, and they’re impossibly scarce in October. Still, the 3-4 concept follows the Broncos’ belief they have more quality linebackers than they do defensive linemen.
It’s not often a team will dress seven linebackers and seven defensive linemen, as the Broncos did Sunday in a 16-13 victory against Tampa Bay. And Jarvis Moss would make eight — linebacker, that is — the next time he gets a game uniform.
“It puts more speed on the field without losing that physical nature you need,” Bailey said of the 3-4. “Linebackers are the strength of our team, I believe.”
When the Jaguars marched into Denver last season — and marched, and marched — they were facing a defense confused by its own unique system. This time, it’s the Broncos’ defense that has been confusing opponents through their varied fronts and coverages.
“Night and day,” Bailey said. “I think because guys know what they’re doing. We were confused all the way through the last game last year. We never created any identity. We didn’t know what we were doing, what we were supposed to do, where we were going.”
It was Jacksonville’s 18-play drive that told the Broncos it was time to go in a different direction.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
