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View Full Version : Broncos tight ends adopt tough attitude



Den21vsBal19
11-08-2008, 03:23 AM
And unleash talent


from the Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/08/broncos-tight-ends-adopt-tough-attitude---and/)

There were long bombs, points scored, fingertip grabs, a nasty hit, a stiff-arm and an even stiffer leg.

And that was just from the Broncos' tight ends.

In a Thursday night game in which the Broncos gained 564 yards of total offense and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter while quarterback Jay Cutler went all run-and-shoot on the nation, the big fellas charged with the dual job of protecting the QB and bailing him out were at the forefront just as much as the big-play receivers.

Tony Scheffler, Daniel Graham and Nate Jackson combined for 10 catches for 178 yards and a go-ahead score that eventually was trumped by the Cleveland Browns, then surpassed yet again, in a wild 34-30 Denver victory.

Scheffler hadn't played in three games because of a groin tear and still didn't have a second gear pushing off. But his importance to the offense during Denver's recent offensive downturn was made all the more evident from the very first offensive play, when he curled down the middle of the field and rumbled 39 yards.

It set the tone for the game for his position.

Denver's tight ends also did their other primary job - helping keep Cutler relatively clean and enabling him to produce the third-best passing performance in franchise annals, a 447-yard effort that included three fourth-quarter TDs.

"We're pretty proud right now," Scheffler said after his group's performance.

Each tight end had moments he'll cherish, and some he'll likely want to forget, but that just mirrored the up- and-down nature of a crazy game.

Jackson resembled the target in one of those wartime Scud missile demonstrations, when he was hit by Browns linebacker Willie McGinest while laying out over the middle during Denver's game-winning drive.

A series earlier, when Denver scored to take a 27-23 lead, Jackson jimmied his way between two defenders and went up high for an impressive two-handed snare of a pass that had been regularly intercepted during the Broncos' four losses in the previous five games.

"I told him, 'I don't know how you came down with that,' " right tackle Ryan Harris said.

A critical drop by Graham inside the 5 forced Denver to settle for a field goal in the second quarter. But while Eddie Royal's 93-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter resuscitated the flash of Denver's early-season dominating offense, Graham provided the grit on the Broncos' next score.

He sent Cleveland strong safety Sean Jones to the turf with a stiff-arm, then went along the left sideline, past the left pylon and into the end zone with tiptoe-through-the-tulips aplomb.

"They might call me to be on Dancing With the Stars after my career now," Graham deadpanned.

Scheffler, serving as an unofficial judge, begged to differ.

"It kind of looked like a bull in a china shop and not very composed," he said. "Let's leave the dancing to Warren Sapp. He's a little more fleet of foot than D.G."

Hanging in there

Not that Scheffler should talk, considering he wasn't his quick and explosive self. The groin problem clearly still nagged him, but he pushed through. Where earlier in the season he turned an over-the-middle jaunt into a 72-yard touchdown against Oakland, his first long catch Thursday was punctuated by a tackle from behind by Browns free safety Brodney Pool.

Scheffler sat out in stretches and had to continuously keep warm on the sideline. But he crossed the field for a 24- yard sideline grab to set up a field goal, necessitated, in part, by his own pass interference in the end zone when he fought back to an underthrown ball with Pool camped in front of him.

The sideline catch, a mirror image of his first, came on Denver's third offensive play of the second half and ended with him limping off the field.

"It's something that's there," Scheff- ler said of his still-lingering groin injury. "Any time you get a tear in there, it's going to take a little time. You can't just come back 100 percent. I fought through it."

The Broncos made adjustments in the past few weeks to cover for his loss.

Graham emerges

Without Scheffler, who was injured Oct. 5 but still leads all NFL tight ends with at least 15 receptions in yards per catch, Denver had used fewer two- tight-end formations, which limited Jackson's playing time. Graham, in addition to his pivotal role of protecting the edge, had taken on increased receiving duties, which he always has desired but hadn't always gotten with the Broncos.

Graham's TD catch Thursday was his third in four games, his best stretch since reaching the end zone five times in the first four weeks of the 2004 season while playing for New England.

"It's been great," Graham said. "It's not too often I get balls thrown my way. I've just had to take advantage when it does come."

All the tight ends capitalized on chances Thursday and were pivotal to Denver's comeback from a 23-10 hole.

Brandon Marshall's game winner in the left corner with 74 seconds left, for example, came with Scheffler moving his defender to the post.

"We had to kind of rally the troops. That's cliche," Scheffler said. "But we had a lot of guys down with injuries and a lot of people had to step up. A lot of guys proved why they were on this team. And it's so much fun to be a part of it."

Sounds like they stepped when it mattered :salute:

Simple Jaded
11-08-2008, 04:07 AM
Daniel Graham is a true professional and a Beast, he is doing everything the Broncos ask him to do to earn every penny that fans complain that he's getting.......

Den21vsBal19
11-08-2008, 05:21 AM
Some of the flak he's recieved over the last couple of seasons amazes me..............whilst he's not the deep threat that Scheff is, he's no slouch as a reciever, and it's not his fault that he's had to spend so much time is pass protection, he's good at it whereas the other TEs and backs maybe aren't so good.

Plus we've basically been play rookie tackles for most of the last two seasons, which ensure that one of the best blocking TE's in the league will be kept at home to help them out.............

G_Money
11-08-2008, 11:29 AM
When we got Graham, OGs were getting 54 million dollar contracts. We needed OL help, specifically against outside rushers, so we got the best blocking TE and a leader for 20 million less. Guys look up to him in the locker room. He's a solid, solid player, great blocker, decent hands, wants to be here, and a pretty ferocious player who played on a winner long enough to know what it takes to win.

There are worse players to put around our young guys. People can bitch about his contract, and I'd like to see him get more receptions, but we needed him.

As the OL keeps improving, it looks like we might let him run some routes again, which is good. I wouldn't have paid what they paid for him, but looking at the shambles that was our line last year, I can see why they did. I certainly wouldn't call him a mistake - just a different approach to fixing our problem.

And since they took other steps (see the rest of our OL, in which the vets are now the worst players and our young guys are stepping up more each week) it's a fine overall solution.

Hopefully if we get a real RB in here eventually we can figure out how to run-block again and start tearing up the ground game too.

~G

Lonestar
11-08-2008, 01:03 PM
When we got Graham, OGs were getting 54 million dollar contracts. We needed OL help, specifically against outside rushers, so we got the best blocking TE and a leader for 20 million less. Guys look up to him in the locker room. He's a solid, solid player, great blocker, decent hands, wants to be here, and a pretty ferocious player who played on a winner long enough to know what it takes to win.

There are worse players to put around our young guys. People can bitch about his contract, and I'd like to see him get more receptions, but we needed him.

As the OL keeps improving, it looks like we might let him run some routes again, which is good. I wouldn't have paid what they paid for him, but looking at the shambles that was our line last year, I can see why they did. I certainly wouldn't call him a mistake - just a different approach to fixing our problem.

And since they took other steps (see the rest of our OL, in which the vets are now the worst players and our young guys are stepping up more each week) it's a fine overall solution.

Hopefully if we get a real RB in here eventually we can figure out how to run-block again and start tearing up the ground game too.

~G

Plus his daddy was no slouch either, who was part of a winning team for a long time....