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Lonestar
08-23-2010, 03:47 PM
Krieger: Lifeless rush a threat to offense
By Dave Krieger
The Denver Post
POSTED: 08/23/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT


The Lions' Kyle Vanden Bosch, left, and Corey Williams sack Kyle Orton, who admits running is not his forte. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
Go ahead. Call me Buzz Kill.

After two triple-digit preseason passer ratings and a shiny new contract extension, Kyle Orton is finally getting some love as the Broncos' starting quarterback. The passing game looks better than many of us expected.

But let's also hold second-year coach Josh McDaniels to his own standards. He has said repeatedly that his goal is to produce a tough football team, and that toughness is best measured running the football on offense and stopping the run on defense.

Halfway through the preseason, the Broncos have done neither.

On offense, particularly, you can blame it on injuries if you like. The Broncos had 16 players unable to suit up Saturday night, including left tackle Ryan Clady and running backs Knowshon Moreno, Correll Buckhalter and LenDale White.

On the other hand, when Moreno's numbers began to slide late last season, McDaniels said it was not about the back, it was about the blocking. And that, clearly, has been a big part of the issue in the early going this year too.

Justin Fargas, who averaged 4.1 yards per carry in seven seasons with the Raiders, didn't just forget how to find holes, although his 1.4-yard average (nine carries, 13 yards) against the Lions might have made it look that way.

True, Fargas has been in blue and orange less than two weeks. Excuses abound for the struggles of a running game McDaniels hoped to emphasize Saturday night. But once the games begin to count, they won't matter.

"I think we all know we have to get better, and that's the bottom line," Fargas said. "We just have to get a little bit more detailed with what we're doing, work together more as a group and just take a little bit more pride in establishing the run."

The Broncos' overall numbers from Saturday night don't look as bad as they were because Bruce Hall picked up 43 yards on five fourth-quarter carries against defenders you couldn't name on a bet. Through the first three quarters, the Broncos had 13 rushes for 29 yards, or 2.2 yards per carry. That followed 15 carries for 36 yards against the Bengals in the preseason opener, or 2.4 yards per carry.

By contrast, the Bengals and Lions averaged 4.9 yards per carry, accumulating 342 yards on the ground to the Broncos' 111.

"The issue we kept finding ourselves in were second-and-9, second-and-10," McDaniels said. "Our first-down rushing wasn't as productive as we would have liked it to be. We were trying to avoid third-and- long as much as we could, so that kind of kept us out of some second- down run opportunities. But we came in looking to run a little bit more than we did."

Changes in personnel and scheme along the offensive line have been well-documented. Inexperience now dominates, with promising draft choices at center and left guard and a little-known free agent filling in for Clady at left tackle.

"They're young," wide receiver Brandon Lloyd said. "It's going to take a little bit of time for these guys to get adjusted to the speed. And not necessarily the speed of the game — it's the speed of when you get to the line of scrimmage and then making the decision of who you're going to block. And it may change before the ball's snapped, but making those quick decisions is what they've got to get adjusted to."

Orton, who did a lot more running around than he'd like in the Broncos' one-dimensional offense, acknowledged the ground game needs work.

"We'd like to get it going, obviously," he said. "Especially earlier in the game, we'd like to get it going and just kind of help us stay in phase on first down and keep us out of second-and-long and third-and-long situations. But we've got a lot of new faces in there, and it's an area where we need some improvement."

With a starting quarterback who is the first to admit that running is not his forte, the Broncos must be able to use play action to buy time to throw. And play action works only if the running game actually presents a threat.

Blame the early struggles on Fargas and Lance Ball if you like, but no one knows if Moreno's hamstring or Buckhalter's back will be lingering issues. As the coach reminded us quite recently, the running game is mostly about the blocking game. The Broncos have two weeks to get both of them together.

Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297, dkrieger@denverpost.com or twitter.com/DaveKrieger

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_15863372

rcsodak
08-23-2010, 04:08 PM
I see all sorts of teams struggling at once phase or another. This isn't just a Broncos thing. Both teams have good Dlines. This is a work in progress with the rooks/backups blocking up front. Unlike previous years, I see them actually getting better as the year progresses.
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Northman
08-23-2010, 04:18 PM
Jrwiz has been busy with the last 4 articles. Not the most overly positive articles but i like this Jrwiz better. More objective. Kudos to you sir.

WARHORSE
08-23-2010, 04:28 PM
I see all sorts of teams struggling at once phase or another. This isn't just a Broncos thing. Both teams have good Dlines. This is a work in progress with the rooks/backups blocking up front. Unlike previous years, I see them actually getting better as the year progresses.
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While there have been blocking struggles, there have also been some very big holes at times.

Along the offensive line, if one guy messes up, the play almost always going to be unproductive. So, we have obviously seen plays like that, and these linemen will go back, watch some tape and learn, cause these are smart men.

But we've also seen some very good blocking, where the line is hitting on all cylinders. Guards are getting to the second level and locking guys up.


These are good times for the Broncos Olinemen cause theyre learning to play together. It especially is effective learning for the rookies.

I believe this line is going to good, especially once we're healthy.


Also, lets give some props to the Dline of Detroit...........Suh and Vandenbosch(sp?) have truly effected that Dline.

Suh practically lifted Harris off his feet and planted him on his rear end four yards deep on one play. The dude is a beast. You either stay lower than Suh, or its over before it started.


Go Broncos.

This is the preseason.

rcsodak
08-23-2010, 05:12 PM
WAR, you're not being a 'real fan'..... Waaaaay to positive! ;-)
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