ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—A month ago, the Denver Broncos were giving up huge chunks of yards on the ground and watching their steamrolled defenders dropping like flies.
So, coach Mike Shanahan figured, “What the heck?”
He ditched his experiment with the 3-4 defense and broke from tradition by putting his players back in pads for practices during the week.
“Obviously, the downside of that is getting more people hurt. I thought we’d lost so many people at that time, it really didn’t matter,” Shanahan said. “We had to get better, going back to our basics. And I think that just helped us and it’s carried over to game day.”
The decision to hit during the week came at a time of year when teams are usually starting to dial things back a bit, and it came right after the Broncos had lost three of their top defenders to injury in cornerback Champ Bailey (groin), middle linebacker Nate Webster (knee) and outside linebacker D.J. Williams (knee).
“It was good,” defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. “I’m sure a lot of guys were (ticked) off, weren’t very happy. But as a veteran guy I knew that’s what we needed to do because we were giving up a lot of big plays in the running game. And once we started wearing those pads, our running game has really improved, and we’re a lot more consistent play in and play out.”
Linebacker Jamie Winborn said he didn’t mind all the extra hitting, either.
“The way I look at it is whoever’s on the other side of the ball, that’s the person who should be upset about it,” he said. “Because we don’t care. We’re going to hit. That’s what we do. We’re more of an undersized defense that flies and hits. That’s what we do. It can only make us better, and that’s why we do it to this day.”
In their last five games, the Broncos are giving up 25 fewer yards rushing than in their first seven, when they allowed a whopping 155 yards per game.
With all the live thumping, the Broncos’ offense has tightened things up, too, cutting down on turnovers and ratcheting up their running game.
And they’ve won three of their last four.
“I think the pads practices have made a huge difference,” defensive coordinator Bob Slowik said. “You know when you don’t have pads on, you tag a guy or you reach out and say, ‘I would have had him.’ Well, no. You wouldn’t have had him until we see you do it here, wrap him up.”
Kansas City coach Herm Edwards expects to see a much improved run defense on Sunday than the one Chiefs running back Larry Johnson burned for 198 yards and two touchdowns in Week 4.
“They’re a lot better. They’ve improved a lot on defense. They’ve really made it difficult to run the ball,” Edwards said.
The Broncos believe they’ll have Webster back on Sunday but aren’t sure about Williams or Bailey. There’s no dire sense of urgency, however, for their returns, because all of their backups have played well and helped improved Denver’s defense.
“I think we’re just hitting better,” Slowik said. “The defensive line is more physical because we’ve gone to the pads and we’re able to practice it. Our tackling is more physical. Do we miss tackles at times? Sure. But overall it’s more physical. The linebackers are more physical. The secondary, same thing.”
The next step, Slowik concurred, is to eliminate the big play.
In their victory at New York last week, the Broncos stymied Jets running back Thomas Jones most of the day but watched him reel off touchdown runs of 59 and 29 yards.
Other than that, he ran 14 times for 50 yards or 3.5 yards a carry.
“Ninety-five percent of the runs, shoot, we’re playing really well and hitting and swarming and then one bam! It’s 50 yards,” Slowik said. “We eliminate that then we’re where we want to be. But as opposed to having 60 percent efficiency or productivity on the run, we’re maybe 95.”
Another factor in that turnaround is the switch back to the 4-3 defense with four down linemen and three linebackers.
“Players are creatures of habit and if you’ve been doing something for so long, going back to OTAs, training camp, minicamps, 4-3 is all we knew, and I think we’re just more comfortable with that 4-3 scheme rather than just going to a whole new front,” Ekuban said.
With so many reinforcements, simplicity in the front seven has “probably helped in that any time you’re doing one thing 100 times as opposed to five things 20 times apiece, it makes a difference in your confidence level and speed and reaction,” Slowik said.
EXTRA POINTS:@ Ekuban (back) and S Marlon McCree (ankle) returned to practice, which was held indoors, Thursday. … Williams and Bailey had to dial it down after pushing themselves Wednesday, but Webster was full-go for the second straight day. “Nate’s ready to play,” Shanahan said. “He wasn’t set back. But D.J. and Champ were limited a little in practice from yesterday, a little bit sore, so we’ll see how they do tomorrow.” … FB/LB Spencer Larsen also was limited by a sore groin and hip.
