WARHORSE
05-19-2009, 05:41 AM
Powell hopes to hold ground on Broncos' new line
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/powe...oncos-new-line (http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/powell-hopes-hold-ground-broncos-new-line)
Tom Robinson
The Virginian-Pilot
May 19, 2009
For someone who's yet to play in an NFL game, Chesapeake's Carlton Powell has seen a career's worth of NFL drama play out before him.
One year with the Denver Broncos has brought Powell, a defensive tackle who attended Virginia Tech, a torn Achilles tendon that cost him his first shot at a rookie season. His team, once 8-5 and easily atop the AFC West, lost three straight at the end and missed the playoffs.
His coach Mike Shanahan, a presumed Denver untouchable, was canned and replaced by peach-fuzzed Josh McDaniels, who immediately clashed with high-producing/high-maintenance quarterback Jay Cutler, who wound up traded to Chicago.
Still following? Good. The plot thickens...
The new defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan, brought a new defensive scheme, ditching Denver's 4-3 base for a 3-4 alignment foreign to Powell. Then Denver's defensive line, routinely abused by running attacks last season, was virtually ignored in the college draft, which sparked a grumbling maelstrom in the Bronco-fan blogosphere.
Into this roiling swirl again steps Powell, mended and actually more insulated than most Broncos from the franchise's seismic shifts.
"My advantage was, although I was in film sessions and watching practice, I didn't really go through the same regimen as the rest of the players," Powell said Monday from Denver. "I wasn't as acclimated to the old way, so the change-over probably isn't going to affect me as much as it affects other players that were used to the way things were."
The things that can be are what drive Powell, 23, through his offseason workouts at the Broncos' training complex. Fully healed since January, Powell compares the specter of his NFL debut to a wandering soul in the desert.
"I'm waiting to get that first cup of water," he says, "and it's going to go down."
Powell's ultimate place, however, will be determined more by sips than gulps. Uncertainty surrounds him. He's a fifth-round draft choice coming off surgery, but with a reputation as a solid run-stuffer at Virginia Tech. He's also among a nondescript gaggle of veterans and rookie free agents, one of whom is Hampton University's Chris Baker, on a defensive line that sorely needs to raise its collective game.
"We're gonna get the job done this year, definitely," Powell says. "I'm not worried about it at all."
Powell admits to initial concern over the regime change, though. He's a Shanahan holdover, an unproven one at that. But Powell, who trains five days a week at Denver's complex, says he's been pro-active getting to know McDaniels and his staff by introducing himself around the training facility.
Powell, who Denver lists at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds - Powell says he's closer to 315 - figures to compete for the nose-tackle job rather than either defensive end in coordinator Mike Nolan's new 3-4.
While Powell prides himself on versatility, the priority of a 3-4 nose tackle - holding ground even against double-team blocking - plays to his talents.
"You're right over the center, and if there's a double team it'll be on you real quick," he says. "You cannot give up any movement at all and allow them to get up to the linebackers in a 3-4."
That trench battle is where it really gets dramatic for a guy like Powell on the field. He can't wait, because he's had his fill of the other kind, thanks.
"It just shows you how the league is definitely a business, and that a lot of things can change in a small amount of time," he says of the Broncos' recent past. "You've just got to be able to adjust and roll with it."
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/powe...oncos-new-line (http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/powell-hopes-hold-ground-broncos-new-line)
Tom Robinson
The Virginian-Pilot
May 19, 2009
For someone who's yet to play in an NFL game, Chesapeake's Carlton Powell has seen a career's worth of NFL drama play out before him.
One year with the Denver Broncos has brought Powell, a defensive tackle who attended Virginia Tech, a torn Achilles tendon that cost him his first shot at a rookie season. His team, once 8-5 and easily atop the AFC West, lost three straight at the end and missed the playoffs.
His coach Mike Shanahan, a presumed Denver untouchable, was canned and replaced by peach-fuzzed Josh McDaniels, who immediately clashed with high-producing/high-maintenance quarterback Jay Cutler, who wound up traded to Chicago.
Still following? Good. The plot thickens...
The new defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan, brought a new defensive scheme, ditching Denver's 4-3 base for a 3-4 alignment foreign to Powell. Then Denver's defensive line, routinely abused by running attacks last season, was virtually ignored in the college draft, which sparked a grumbling maelstrom in the Bronco-fan blogosphere.
Into this roiling swirl again steps Powell, mended and actually more insulated than most Broncos from the franchise's seismic shifts.
"My advantage was, although I was in film sessions and watching practice, I didn't really go through the same regimen as the rest of the players," Powell said Monday from Denver. "I wasn't as acclimated to the old way, so the change-over probably isn't going to affect me as much as it affects other players that were used to the way things were."
The things that can be are what drive Powell, 23, through his offseason workouts at the Broncos' training complex. Fully healed since January, Powell compares the specter of his NFL debut to a wandering soul in the desert.
"I'm waiting to get that first cup of water," he says, "and it's going to go down."
Powell's ultimate place, however, will be determined more by sips than gulps. Uncertainty surrounds him. He's a fifth-round draft choice coming off surgery, but with a reputation as a solid run-stuffer at Virginia Tech. He's also among a nondescript gaggle of veterans and rookie free agents, one of whom is Hampton University's Chris Baker, on a defensive line that sorely needs to raise its collective game.
"We're gonna get the job done this year, definitely," Powell says. "I'm not worried about it at all."
Powell admits to initial concern over the regime change, though. He's a Shanahan holdover, an unproven one at that. But Powell, who trains five days a week at Denver's complex, says he's been pro-active getting to know McDaniels and his staff by introducing himself around the training facility.
Powell, who Denver lists at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds - Powell says he's closer to 315 - figures to compete for the nose-tackle job rather than either defensive end in coordinator Mike Nolan's new 3-4.
While Powell prides himself on versatility, the priority of a 3-4 nose tackle - holding ground even against double-team blocking - plays to his talents.
"You're right over the center, and if there's a double team it'll be on you real quick," he says. "You cannot give up any movement at all and allow them to get up to the linebackers in a 3-4."
That trench battle is where it really gets dramatic for a guy like Powell on the field. He can't wait, because he's had his fill of the other kind, thanks.
"It just shows you how the league is definitely a business, and that a lot of things can change in a small amount of time," he says of the Broncos' recent past. "You've just got to be able to adjust and roll with it."