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honz
12-05-2008, 12:58 PM
When the Denver Broncos selected Peyton Hillis in the seventh round in April's draft, they weren't expecting him to be their next standout tailback.

They simply liked Hillis as a football player. They liked him as an under-the-radar tailback. But they didn't think of him as a starter in the NFL. They liked him equally well as a soft-handed fullback who could be a receiving threat out of the backfield. They also liked him as a potential H-back. The Broncos looked at the big, fast kid from Arkansas who was best known as the lead blocker for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones and they saw a Dallas Clark-like player.

Denver saw a lot they liked in a player they had a fourth-round grade on. When Hillis was still available in the seventh round, Denver -- which thought it had solved its need at running back in the fifth round by taking Arizona State rookie Ryan Torain -- jumped at the chance to take him. They didn't know where they'd play him, but they knew they got a good player.

With four games remaining in the season and a playoff berth looming for the 7-5 Broncos -- whose magic number to win the AFC West is two heading into Sunday's home game against the Kansas City Chiefs -- Hillis has become much more than a good football player.

He has become a savior of their offense. If not for Hillis, the balanced attack for which Denver is famous wouldn't be possible.

After season-ending injuries to Torain, Michael Pittman, Andre Hall, Anthony Alridge and an injury to Selvin Young, the Broncos broke the emergency glass and inserted Hillis in the lineup as a tailback. They had no other choice.

And he has been flourishing.

"We knew he was an athlete when he first stepped foot here in Denver, the way he can catch the ball and the way he can run with the ball, we knew we had somebody special," Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall told reporters in the locker room Thursday. "There definitely hasn't been a dropoff at running back since he's been back there."

The Broncos are used to this type of sudden impact at this position. Denver has had nine running backs rush for 100 yards in a game since 2004, the most in the NFL.

Hillis has made an instant impact. His rushing totals increased in each of his past four games. He had 129 yards on the ground in Denver's 34-17 road upset over the Jets on Sunday. He is averaging 4.8 yards a carry and he has four rushing scores.

With McFadden struggling all season because of turf toe injuries and Jones done for the season in Dallas, the lead blocker for the two first-round picks from Arkansas is stealing the show in the NFL. Hillis' early success after an obscure college existence reminds some in the NFL of the situation Brandon Jacobs endured while at Auburn. He was overshadowed by Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams before he transferred to Southern Illinois. Now Jacobs is making a for himself.

Hillis, 22, is certainly making a name for himself in Denver. His teammates love the happy runner with that lovable southern twang. Hillis won over his teammates in Cleveland on Nov. 6 when he converted a first down on fourth-and-short with a second-effort run. The play ignited a Denver comeback that was the spark to a streak in which the Broncos have won three of four games despite all of the injuries at tailback and on defense.

"I'm just glad I have come in here and fit in," Hillis said. "I think some people might be surprised but I feel like I'm a versatile guy who could come in here and help and I hope that's what I'm doing."

The Broncos are winning and Hillis, who is 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, is a big reason why. Quarterback Jay Cutler said Hillis, who has 4.5 speed, is a perfect Denver running back.

"I think this running scheme is kind of designed for him," Cutler said. "It is one cut, get downhill, get your five or six yards and every once in a while you can break a 30- or 40-yarder if you get up on the safeties. He has done a good job. He is a smart kid, and I think we have used him effectively. We have tried to play off his strengths. We haven't put him in the position where we have had to ask him to do things he can't do. He has stepped up to the challenge and has been fun to watch."

The Broncos aren't necessarily looking at Hillis as a stopgap answer at tailback. There are those in the Denver organization who believe he will have a role as a tailback next season. The team also likes Torain and he will get a chance to play when he recovers from a knee injury. And it wouldn't be a surprise if Denver added a veteran. But there will be room for Hillis.

"He has proven that he can play tailback," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said."He is better with the ball in his hands at the tailback position running the football or catching the pass out of the backfield. He is going to get a chance to play more tailback because of what he has done and how he can break tackles."

Hillis, a star high school tailback in Arkansas, wasn't expecting the chance to be a running back in the NFL, but he isn't ready to let it go, either.

"I hope I get to continue to play tailback," Hillis said. "But I'll do anything the team wants me to do."

And that's exactly why the Broncos drafted him in the first place.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcwest/0-3-995/Versatile-Hillis-latest-Denver-RB-standout.html

It will be interesting to see how Shanny and company use him in the future when we actually have other tailbacks available. I 'd at least like him to keep getting short yardage/goal line carries, but I'd also love to see what he can do as a Dallas Clark type H-Back. No matter how he is used in the future, he is another great weapon to have at our disposal. I love the kid...plays his heart out. :beer:

Italianmobstr7
12-05-2008, 01:37 PM
Awesome article. Hillis for president!

broncofaninfla
12-05-2008, 01:39 PM
His smashmouth style of play is going to be huge for us down the stretch, very glad we have him. He brought new life to the offense and as the other young guys did on defense. What a draft! One more life that and we will be a force to reckon with for some time.

Lonestar
12-05-2008, 01:53 PM
AS far as I'm concerned it is his job until someone outplays him.. and frankly I do not see anyone doing that..

Young fast but has a Fast Pass to the nearest M.A.S.H. unit..
torain maybe but seems to also have that fast pass issue.
Pitman great older vet to have around in case of emergency and tutor the kiddies..
Andre Hall who the hell knows but I doubt it..
Anthony Alridge speed to burn around the edge great change of pace guy..

The only competition there is torain and Pittman and frankly I do not see mikey placing the future of this team in Pittman's hands.. and torain has played but a handful of games over the past 3 years..

Hillis is the man IMO unless we find someone better in the draft and frankly we have much bigger fish to fry in the draft than RB.. lets hope mikey mends those fences first..

broncofaninfla
12-05-2008, 01:58 PM
AS far as I'm concerned it is his job until someone outplays him.. and frankly I do not see anyone doing that..

Young fast but has a Fast Pass to the nearest M.A.S.H. unit..
torain maybe but seems to also have that fast pass issue.
Pitman great older vet to have around in case of emergency and tutor the kiddies..
Andre Hall who the hell knows but I doubt it..
Anthony Alridge speed to burn around the edge great change of pace guy..

The only competition there is torain and Pittman and frankly I do not see mikey placing the future of this team in Pittman's hands.. and torain has played but a handful of games over the past 3 years..

Hillis is the man IMO unless we find someone better in the draft and frankly we have much bigger fish to fry in the draft than RB.. lets hope mikey mends those fences first..

I think only Torain, Young and Aldridge will be around next year along with some new talent. Hillis style/role is similar to Pittman but Hillis is younger faster and stronger. :beer:

Lonestar
12-05-2008, 02:05 PM
I think only Torain, Young and Aldridge will be around next year along with some new talent. Hillis style/role is similar to Pittman but Hillis is younger faster and stronger. :beer:


so what happens to Hillis?

G_Money
12-05-2008, 02:07 PM
I don’t need a veteran running back on this team.

Next season will be Young and Hall’s 3rd. The life expectancy of an NFL RB is 2.5 years. They ARE veterans now.

If we feel like we have to get a non-Bell veteran backup, make sure it’s someone who knows they ARE a backup, and will only be a starter if the first 4 guys on the depth chart go down to injury – like this year.

Hillis should never have been that far down the depth chart, though, and he’s proving it now. There are several backs in this draft who fit our one-cut offense. Greene, Ringer, Davis…but I really, REALLY like Donald Brown.

Add one of those guys to Hillis and we’d finally have a 1-2 combo I can be comfortable with for the first time in years.

Brown and Hillis splitting carries, and thus giving us the flexibility to play Hillis as a TE/H-back when Scheff and Nate J. get injured again, would also theoretically keep them both healthier during the long season. Playing both of them in a 2-back backfield could also lead to good things on pitches, mis-direction, etc.

Backing them up with whichever of Hall and Young we decide to keep (I’d vote for Hall, but we’ll see) and Alridge as the crazy-fast back, Torain as the backup muscle, and then the veteran we seem to want (Bell or some other water-carrier) if we feel like carrying 6 backs and I feel much better about the situation.

Hillis can play RB, FB, or TE.
Alridge can play RB or WR.
ALL of those guys except Torain are good receivers, and Torain doesn’t suck.

We’d have lots of toys for Shanahan’s offensive sandbox.

Blocking would be where the cracks start to show, as Young, Hall and Alridge are not stellar in that aspect, but many of the RB options in the draft are decent at it, and Hillis is certainly no slouch. And if our OL continues to block like this we can use our backs for other things anyway.

BTW, if you want to watch a matchup of two of my favorite RBs in the draft, LeSean McCoy vs. Donald Brown as Pitt plays UConn at noon on ESPN this Saturday.

Feel free to tune in if you like, and decide if you wouldn’t mind having either of those guys to put next to Hillis and REALLY give our ground game some of its old swagger back.

~G

G_Money
12-05-2008, 02:21 PM
BTW, the reason I want another runner to help Hillis out is that he takes an absolute pounding running the way he does.

Some guys can take that pounding, game in and game out, for years. Jim Brown, Jerome Bettis, John Riggins.

Some guys get busted up but still have more-than-decent careers. Eddie George, George Rogers, Earl Campbell.

Some guys get broken. Their names are far less famous.

Hillis has never had to run the ball 300 times a year, let alone 400 with a playoff push.

TD was lightly used in college and held up fine til that knee injury, but I try not to bet on those things if I don’t have to. I’d rather have a tremendous back we don’t use that much so both men can stay healthy than have to rely on Tatum Bell come playoff time.

Give me a Turner/LT combo pack at the position and I’ll feel a lot better about our offense being able to sustain production in the running game and help take the pressure off of Jay to make every throw.

And to enable our offense to grind the other team into dust in the 2nd halves of football games, just like in the Good Ol’ Days.

~G

fcspikeit
12-05-2008, 03:32 PM
so what happens to Hillis?

I'm pretty sure he meant along with Hillis..

broncofaninfla
12-05-2008, 03:59 PM
so what happens to Hillis?

Sorry, I meant to include him!

20yardline
12-05-2008, 04:12 PM
I love the way Peyton Hillis runs. Glad we have him.

BroncoJoe
12-05-2008, 04:27 PM
Just to highlight for all those that say we can't/don't run the ball:


The Broncos are used to this type of sudden impact at this position. Denver has had nine running backs rush for 100 yards in a game since 2004, the most in the NFL.

G_Money
12-05-2008, 04:52 PM
That can be taken one of three ways, Joe:

1) Any schmoe can run for 100 yards in this offense.
2) We’re really good at picking system backs who will perform well in our system
3) We have had zero luck locking down the position with ONE guy who can be a consistent baller for us.

If Hillis is a guy we’d like to see locking down at least half of the position for the foreseeable future, then I’d just like the other consistent baller, please.

And since I think #2 is more appropriate than #1, I’d like us to put that prowess to use on a good-to-great back, not an okay one this time.

~G

Hobe
12-05-2008, 05:47 PM
My indecision is over!

I'm buying a Hillis jersey!!! :salute:

Lonestar
12-05-2008, 08:02 PM
Sorry, I meant to include him!

do not let it happen again.. :laugh:

Lonestar
12-05-2008, 08:08 PM
That can be taken one of three ways, Joe:

1) Any schmoe can run for 100 yards in this offense.
2) We’re really good at picking system backs who will perform well in our system
3) We have had zero luck locking down the position with ONE guy who can be a consistent baller for us.

If Hillis is a guy we’d like to see locking down at least half of the position for the foreseeable future, then I’d just like the other consistent baller, please.

And since I think #2 is more appropriate than #1, I’d like us to put that prowess to use on a good-to-great back, not an okay one this time.

~G


considering that the OLINE is basically a rookie OLINE and by that I mean everyone on this OLINE is new to their position in DEN except for Hamilton.. Whom I consider the weak link as we speak with Weigmann the next one..

Weigmann only because he is nearing his twilight and would have been a stud in DEN 9 years ago..

I really have to wonder if the talent level of Hillis is not better than many thought, because as good as he has run the past couple of weeks it is still behind an OLINE that is just starting the get the Run scheme down..
We have to plug in two newbies into this OLINE over the next two years.. then it will be a complete transformation..