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omac
10-04-2008, 09:38 PM
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/02/on-broncos-front-burner-patience/


On Broncos' front burner: patience
Cutler must use light touch against Bucs' hot defense
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 2, 2008 at 7:25 p.m.


The stove is right there, easy to see for Jay Cutler.

And it's hot. Very hot, very big, very fast, has eight interceptions and 11 sacks. Cutler knows he shouldn't touch it, knows he shouldn't get lured into thinking it won't hurt.

Because when he stands at the line of scrimmage Sunday, it will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense across from the third-year quarterback, testing every fiber of patience in his 25-year-old body.

"I know a quarterback has to be patient against that defense, you just have to take your 5-yard completions, your 6-yard completions, and, you know, quarterbacks in the NFL, you get tired of doing that," Cutler said. "You get tired of that, and then you take a shot downfield and that's when they pick you off. Peyton Manning is probably the best in the league at taking what's given, moving the ball down the field however he has to.

"Sometimes, it's not very glamorous, and, in a lot of ways, you have to be the same way on offense. Be careful with what you do."

The Buccaneers' eight interceptions are tied for the league lead, and they have scored three defensive touchdowns already this season - two on interception returns and one on a fumble return.

Defensively, the Buccaneers vary things a little more these days than they did when Tony Dungy was the team's head coach, but at the root of it all is still a cover-2 scheme.

"And they don't make mistakes in it," Cutler said. "They're sound and fast."

In essence, the defense is built - by pushing the two safeties deeper down the field, each responsible for half the field, and dropping seven defenders into the passing lanes on many downs - to take away the big plays.

Even if a receiver escapes a cornerback, he still has a safety waiting well down the field.

A quarterback is then often forced to look at the short or intermediate pass routes, where the defenders then converge on the ballcarrier. A team needs plenty of speed to pull it off - two of the Buccaneers' starting linebackers, Cato June and Derrick Brooks, are former college safeties - and quality tacklers who get the ballcarrier down on first contact.

The Buccaneers also primarily rush with only their front four - also a prerequisite to making the scheme work - and while some believe an offense can take advantage of a little more room to run the ball as the defenders move away from the line of scrimmage, Dungy always has said a front four that "defends the run on the way to the quarterback" can be difficult to run against.

"When a defense is dropping people into coverage, they want to see how good the quarterback is," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "And, eventually, I believe a quarterback can find somebody if you maintain the line of scrimmage."

But maintaining the line of scrimmage can be difficult against a team built for the scheme. The Buccaneers consistently have generated a pass rush with their front four - nine of their 11 sacks have come from their defensive linemen.

Greg White, who hasn't started a game this season, leads the team in sacks, with 3 1/2, and the two starting ends, Gaines Adams and Kevin Carter, have two sacks each.

"Their defensive ends are really playing well, with a lot of power and speed," Cutler said. "On defense, they're kind of like we are on offense right now, with a good mix of some older guys and some real young guys who are giving them a lot. They're just sound, so you have to stick to what's there - if you miss the big one, you miss the big one.

"If you take a chance down the field in the wrong spot, they'll pick you off and that's that."

Cutler is coming off a two-interception game in Kansas City, with both interceptions coming when he tried to work a ball into coverage.

Quarterbacks have moved the ball some against the Buccaneers - 7.18 yards per attempt - and have seven touchdown passes. But the eight interceptions, two of those by Adams in the defensive front, to go with the sacks have tipped the scales toward Tampa Bay enough times that the team is 3-1 despite nine turnovers of its own this season.

And when it comes to Cutler, Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden already has invoked a name of a noted risk taker at the position to describe Cutler's abilities and potential in the Broncos offense.

"He's got a cannon," Gruden said. "He's just got a cannon. He reminds me so much of Brett Favre when I was at Green Bay in '92, '93 and '94. Creative playmaking ability."

"(The Broncos) are going to attack you. . . . We think we've got a pretty good defensive football team, and we'll try and do what we can to neutralize their big-play ability."

Wow, what a defense! Al is an idiot for not listening to Lane and firing Rob to bring in Lane's dad from Tampa Bay. :laugh:

If only we had their defense ... :D

Ziggy
10-04-2008, 11:09 PM
We have the receivers and O-line to tear up that cover 2. Stokely may be the best in the league at finding holes in zone, and Eddie is learning fast. BMarsh is BMarsh, so I expect the offense to have a big day if the D can get off of the field.

Benetto
10-04-2008, 11:31 PM
The Bucs have been giving up an avg of 314 YPG....Lets do the damn thing.

Gamechanger
10-04-2008, 11:46 PM
Tampa 2 is one of the most dangerous defenses in the league (Colts run Tampa 2) but find its weakness and it is a bitch (Giving up big runs, TE's having a good day), i'm telling you, DRAW PLAY, and ya'lls RB's will have a good day, Scheffler is gonna have a good day if used right in the mid seams, and since Monte Kiffin is a blitz monster, Cutler to Royal, BMarsh, Stokely, or whoever else should make them pay dearly

good luck buddies, hope ur Offense saves ya'lls Defense :beer::beer:

NameUsedBefore
10-05-2008, 12:18 AM
Yup. Cover-2 (or "Tampa-2") can be exploited but as the article said you have to take what it gives you. If you try to force the issue it will cause turnovers and that's when the frustration sets in. And that's probably its best ability: frustrating the crap out of opposing QBs. Remember the Superbowl a few years ago? Rich Gannon came into that game slinging the ball around like he wanted to be MVP and that defense had a field day with him.

LoyalSoldier
10-05-2008, 02:56 AM
Cover-2 defenses are incredibly hard to come back on which is why you need to be patient early on so you don't have to rush your scoring later in the game.

WARHORSE
10-05-2008, 05:22 AM
Its just like Thanksgiving Day Turkey.






Jay is gonna carve em up.

Bronco9798
10-05-2008, 06:38 AM
Chiefs employ a cover 2 defense as well. They used it on Marshall all day last Sunday. That's why they were somewhat effective on Marshall for most of the game. Not like we're going to be seeing something for the first time. Cutler needs to look underneath today and make some short passes and not rely on forcing the ball to Marshall. That's where he gets in trouble. He needs to take what they give us and move the chains.

Retired_Member_001
10-05-2008, 07:16 AM
Jay Cutler is a smart QB and he will know where to go with the ball. All we have to do is take what they give us. If all they give us is 5-6 yards, then take it. No point forcing something and throwing an interception.

gobroncsnv
10-05-2008, 07:45 AM
Cutler needs to look underneath today and make some short passes and not rely on forcing the ball to Marshall. That's where he gets in trouble. He needs to take what they give us and move the chains.

We need to do the ball control thing anyway, until we get a defense. I won't mind at all today if our longest completion is 7 yards..... as long as our shortest ones are, like, 5 yards, and there are PLENTY of them. You can play keep away with a passing game, as long as you catch the vast majority of the passes thrown. Our oline needs to play big today, so we can see just how good they are.

But we really have to hold serve and score EVERY time we have the ball, and force their mistakes, not our own.

jlarsiii
10-05-2008, 10:57 AM
Jay Cutler is a smart QB and he will know where to go with the ball. All we have to do is take what they give us. If all they give us is 5-6 yards, then take it. No point forcing something and throwing an interception.

Hopefully Cutler learned that last week when he didn't throw to the open man and tried to force it into Marshall. All that caused were two INTs. I guess we will see if he got the message or not.

Dean
10-05-2008, 06:13 PM
Hopefully Cutler learned that last week when he didn't throw to the open man and tried to force it into Marshall. All that caused were two INTs. I guess we will see if he got the message or not.

Jay did a much better job in finding the open man. It is unfortunate that his one shot at a home run ball against the Tampa Two was an overthrown incompletion.

Tned
10-05-2008, 06:20 PM
Jay did a much better job in finding the open man. It is unfortunate that his one shot at a home run ball against the Tampa Two was an overthrown incompletion.

Maybe he forgot he was throwing to a 5'10" receiver :lol:

Dean
10-05-2008, 07:20 PM
What 8'10" receiver do we have with hops? That ball was waaaayyy long.

Northman
10-05-2008, 07:22 PM
Jay was much smarter today and was patient with his progressions. Probably a combination of Jay learning from last week and Bates working with him on how to deal with the cover 2.

Dean
10-05-2008, 09:47 PM
It looked to me like the MLB was slow dropping to the middle and there was a seam about 25 yards deep in the middle of the field. Sending the TE on a go route just 4 yards outside the hash and a wide receiver up the sidelines could have given us a deep option on whichever safety was the weakest.

I guess the game plan was to take the short and intermediate seam routes. The results justify them taking the shorter but safe passes.

56crash
10-06-2008, 10:25 PM
someone needs to do a gift on Cutler running over the CB

broncobryce
10-06-2008, 10:47 PM
someone needs to do a gift on Cutler running over the CB

That was awesome. But hopefully it never comes back to haunt him someday