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View Full Version : Broncos pleased with payoff from trade for DT Robertson



DenBronx
10-04-2008, 04:57 PM
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/AFC/AFC+West/Denver/WWHI/2008/wwhi100308.htm

The Broncos, desperate for help on defense, acquired DT Dewayne Robertson from the Jets for a conditional 2009 draft pick in the offseason. It was considered a low-risk, high-reward trade. Robertson, who suffers from a chronic bone-on-bone knee issue, was viewed as damaged goods with little hope for a long career. Sources in Denver say that in Robertson's short tenure with the club, the deal has been worth the risk. The soon-to-be 27-year-old has emerged as a major difference maker on the D-line and although Denver's run defense has sputtered all season, it has been better with Robertson, close observers say. The Broncos' challenge is to keep him healthy. He missed the Week Four loss to the Chiefs and he has to be handled cautiously in practice. Denver doesn't have much depth at defensive tackle and losing Robertson for a significant period of time would be a setback.

Northman
10-04-2008, 05:00 PM
I wonder how much of a difference he would of been against the Chiefs. I didnt even know he missed that game. Interesting.

weazel
10-04-2008, 05:01 PM
The soon-to-be 27-year-old has emerged as a major difference maker on the D-line

wow, if he's making a difference I would really, really hate to see how many yards they would give up without him... YIKES

yardog
10-04-2008, 05:05 PM
wow, if he's making a difference i would really, really hate to see how many yards they would give up without him... yikes

198.

weazel
10-04-2008, 05:07 PM
198.

yup, I seen that. heh

DenBronx
10-04-2008, 06:05 PM
i think we all know that robertson is not a 1 or 2 year rental. i think he will be around for awhile. he has alot left in him barring injury.

BroncoSojia
10-04-2008, 07:33 PM
I was telling PPL this before the chiefs game even started, our run-d in that game was riding on D-Rob playing in that game, since he was limited in practice the whole week leading up to chief game. He was a game time decision. When i looked on the inactive list before the game and saw his name on it, i knew we were going to struggle stopping the run against KC. Robertson is only reason that we were ranked 15th (not great but 15 spots better than last year's run-d) during the first three games this year. Hearing fans the whole week cry about our run-d must didn't know that D-Rob was out vs the Chiefs. Our Run-d will be fine..providing D-Rob can stay healthy.


BTW, he's playing this week

LRtagger
10-04-2008, 07:59 PM
198.

beat me to it

broncosinindy
10-04-2008, 09:00 PM
i think we all know that robertson is not a 1 or 2 year rental. i think he will be around for awhile. he has alot left in him barring injury.

he is missing time from his knee. is limited in practice and in games. oh yes he will break down and soon...

yardog
10-04-2008, 09:35 PM
I was telling PPL this before the chiefs game even started, our run-d in that game was riding on D-Rob playing in that game, since he was limited in practice the whole week leading up to chief game. He was a game time decision. When i looked on the inactive list before the game and saw his name on it, i knew we were going to struggle stopping the run against KC. Robertson is only reason that we were ranked 15th (not great but 15 spots better than last year's run-d) during the first three games this year. Hearing fans the whole week cry about our run-d must didn't know that D-Rob was out vs the Chiefs. Our Run-d will be fine..providing D-Rob can stay healthy.

BTW, he's playing this week

I hope your right.

dogfish
10-04-2008, 10:11 PM
meh. . . if they're happy with that, it explains a lot about why our D-line has been garbage for so long now. . .

Cugel
10-05-2008, 10:37 AM
meh. . . if they're happy with that, it explains a lot about why our D-line has been garbage for so long now. . .

I think you have a real point here Dogfish! Think about it.

They are starting John Engleberger at LDE. Now we all know that Engleberger is a hard-worker. But he can't rush the passer at all. Not one bit. He gets ZERO penetration and is easily stood up at the line getting no push at all.

On the other hand, he's reasonably good against the run, which is why he's starting ahead of Ekuban.

Ekuban is a better pass-rusher than Engleberger, but still nothing to brag about. Crowder might have the best pass-rush potential at LDE, but he's not that strong and Shanahan has him inactive on game day!

Same thing with Moss. Moss has great speed, but he's not a strong run-defender and he's very light. He's going to be inactive for the 3rd time in 5 games today!

I don't think Shanahan cares about getting a great pass-rush from his front 4. He'd rather play strong against the run, and win a shoot-out. As long as teams can't run on him, they can't play keep away and take time off the clock. If they score quickly, that just puts Cutler and his high-powered offense back on the field.

He seems he'd rather win every game 38-36, but it drives me crazy! I want to see them win 24-17, 17-10. Defense wins championships, not offense!

Everybody else in the league learned a lesson from the Giants' SB win. Even the mighty 18-0 Patriots with Tom Brady and Randy Moss and all those offensive weapons can be totally neutralized by a dominating defensive line that can rush the passer.

The Giants rushed with 4 and 5 defenders, not 7 or 8, and got pressure from all angles. Brady was hit and sacked and forced out of the pocket. His rhythm was disrupted and his timing thrown off.

And because the Giants were able to get consistent pressure with only 4 or 5 guys they were able to drop 7 or 8 defenders into pass-coverage to blanket the receivers.

Brady didn't have time to wait for his talented WRs to get open because he had to get rid of the ball in a hurry. The entire high-scoring offense was held to a measly 13 points!


I've wanted to see Denver build their SB hopes around a defense like that for 10 years but Shanahan just doesn't seem interested in going in that direction.

It's frustrating as hell that he just refuses to get it when every other team has figured it out! He needs to pay the price and trade up into the top 10 next draft and get a dominating DT or monster pass-rushing DE. Those guys are the hardest players to draft outside of a franchise QB. And Denver flat doesn't have any and hasn't for years!

jlarsiii
10-05-2008, 10:45 AM
I agree Cug. Under Shanny's tenure our d-line has been nothing to brag about for sure. I just don't see us ever addressing the d-line fully under the current coaches and FO. Also, don't kid yourself about trading up into the top 10 to draft a monster DT or DE. Even though we haven't drafted them we have brought some of those guys who were drafted that high by other teams and they did not show us anything either. It is no guarantee by drafting that high. A lot of really good DTs and DE were not drafted in the top 10. It comes down to talent evaluation, and our FO has no capability to do this when it comes to d-linemen. It sucks but that is the way it is. . .:tsk:

Broncolingus
10-05-2008, 10:45 AM
So, we're drooling over a guy that missed the 4th game into the season because of an injury, after being injured regularly at his previous team, and that's a great thing?

Folks, enough of this crap - Denver's been trying this type of shit for 7-8 years now and it aint worked.

...we need 1-2 friggin animals on that line and are probably going to need to give up some talent to get them. Then we'll need another 2-3 good (not all pro, but better than average) players for the rotation and scheme changes to round out our STARTING defensive line...

...THEN we need dudes like this to ride the pine and won't start, BUT can come in and play for a few plays for a series or two for fresh legs or if one of our starters needs to take a few plays off (injury, rest, etc.).

Like so many before him, this guy aint a starter in the league and sure as heck aint the answer for what Denvers problems are and Idamn sure aint the fix IF we want to start winning playoff games again.

LRtagger
10-05-2008, 11:34 AM
I don't think anyone is drooling over Robertson or saying he is the answer to our run defense...BUT i think the point is that our run D is much worse without Robertson in the middle and at the price we paid for him, we got a very good deal.

I dont think there is a single person on this board that doesn't agree that we need a couple studs on the DL, but the fact is our defensive talent evaluation has been terrible for the last umpteen years. Put that together with the fact that there are no obvious studs on the DL coming out in the 2009 draft and I think we may see even 2 or 3 more years of this aweful line unless we make some moves for already established players. It has been pointed out in another thread that we may be able to make an improvement by dumping the DL coach rather than keep drafting DL busts. Maybe a new coach can turn around all of our DL picks from 07.

As bleak as it may seem, unfortunately, Robertson is our only hope up the middle and for what it costs us to get him, he was still a bargain.

Also don't forget that we have Powell who is on the PUP but can come back in a couple weeks. He was ferocious against the run at VT and he may provide another solid DT to the squad. I am keeping my fingers crossed that getting a guy like that back will help us out at the DT position, but it's hard to say since he's a rookie with no experience. Plus he was notorious in college for not being disciplined or a very hard worker which is why he was available in the 5th.

gobroncsnv
10-05-2008, 01:34 PM
Also don't forget that we have Powell who is on the PUP but can come back in a couple weeks. He was ferocious against the run at VT and he may provide another solid DT to the squad. I am keeping my fingers crossed that getting a guy like that back will help us out at the DT position, but it's hard to say since he's a rookie with no experience. Plus he was notorious in college for not being disciplined or a very hard worker which is why he was available in the 5th.

Based on what we've seen so far, how could Powell being out there hurt us? Reports from camp were pretty good on the kid. What we're doing right now is just giving us a Dr Phil moment...

How's that working out for ya??

nevcraw
10-05-2008, 01:41 PM
Powell will go in IR. The PUP thing was a roster rules move.. His achilles will need quite some time to heel IMO. ;-)

broncofanatic1987
10-05-2008, 01:47 PM
Powell will go in IR. The PUP thing was a roster rules move.. His achilles will need quite some time to heel IMO. ;-)

Yeah, all the talk about Powell at the time he was injured pretty much made it clear that he was out for the year.

Simple Jaded
10-05-2008, 04:02 PM
i think we all know that robertson is not a 1 or 2 year rental. i think he will be around for awhile. he has alot left in him barring injury.

I think the Broncos would have to keep him fresh by using him in a 3-DT rotation for him to be a long term solution......I don't see that happening.

They'll be lucky to get 2 years out of him......