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Lonestar
10-27-2007, 08:37 PM
By Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News
October 27, 2007
ENGLEWOOD - Forgive Daniel Graham if he's a tad bit skeptical when he's told the Broncos aren't going to forget about him in the passing game.
One of the primary reasons Graham signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Broncos after five seasons with the New England Patriots was the feeling he had been pigeonholed as a dominant blocker and that his pass-catching skills were being underused.

There was even preseason talk that the hulking tight end might crack the 50-reception mark when he demonstrated solid hands and route-running skills during spring and summer.

So far this season, it hasn't worked out the way Graham had anticipated in his return to his hometown. But the former University of Colorado standout is too team-oriented to point that out to the staff. And the way events have materialized compared with what he originally envisioned hardly has been a shock to the system.

"It hasn't gone like that, but it really hasn't surprised me at the same time, either," he said. "When I went to New England, they drafted what they knew as a pass-catching tight end and didn't realize my blocking ability when I got there. That shut down quick. And I feel like it's almost the same thing here."

Six games into the season, Graham, while ahead of his pace on the receiving end last year, appears to be falling into a familiar trap: He's so valuable at the line of scrimmage, it's hard to send him out on the pattern.

And when he does run routes, the ball simply isn't going his way much.

Graham averaged 24 catches a year with the Patriots, and with 11 receptions so far, is ahead of that pace but is on his way to only 29 by season's end.

Meanwhile, Tony Scheffler has emerged in Denver as a pass-receiving force the past couple of weeks at tight end, providing seven catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Nate Jackson was involved somewhat, too, at tight end, before his season-ending groin injury.

Graham has three catches for 19 yards the past two games against tough 3-4 defensive fronts in the San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

And outside of the Indianapolis game Sept. 30, he has a total of seven receptions in the other five games combined.

"What's happened is, we've played teams in the last couple weeks where we've needed a guy like him with his blocking skills to make sure the quarterback has extra protection or get the edge on keepers, that kind of thing. It just turned out he's that guy," tight ends coach Pat McPherson said. "He fits that role. Tony's coming along, and his thing is running around and catching, even if he's getting better at blocking.

"I wouldn't say, in our minds, that Dan is just a blocker," McPherson added. "We definitely want to get him involved in the passing game, and that will come. . . . And he's such a good guy and so unselfish that he's understood what his role has had to be in those particular games."

Missing in the red zone

One other side note to Graham's relative lack of passing- game involvement is that he essentially has disappeared in the red zone, an area in which Denver struggled before Sunday.

Despite Graham's overall inactivity with the Patriots, that had been one area in which he had thrived. He entered this season with 17 career touchdowns, many from in close.

"It's like anything. You're attacking the defense," assistant head coach/offense Mike

Heimerdinger said. "He's in the progression. Where Jay (Cutler) goes, we don't tell him. . . . But it's like I tell every wide receiver or tight end: If you come in during (game-plan) installation and there's no plays where you have a chance to get the ball, then you have to start worrying. That's not the fact."

Graham's lone catch in a 31- 28 victory Sunday did come during crunch time, two plays before Jason Elam kicked the winning field goal as time expired. Only four games earlier, Denver was trying to march for a game-winning score against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Graham dropped the ball in the middle of the field with a safety bearing down on him.

The fact that Cutler went back to him at a critical time wasn't lost on Graham and provided a confidence boost.

Besides, "It let me know, however the game's going, you have to run every route like you're going to get the ball because you never know when you're going to get it," he said.

Almost 1,800 miles to the east, the tight end's former team is chucking the ball around in record-breaking fashion, led by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's amazing 27- to-2 touchdown-interception ratio. New England tight end Ben Watson has caught five of those scoring throws.

'No regrets'

But Graham professed no jealousy about not being included in the success of the team that drafted him No. 1 in 2002. Nor, he insisted, will he throw his hands up and create distractions.

He'll continue doing whatever he's asked.

"No regrets at all," Graham said in assessing his current plight. "One of the biggest decisions of me coming here was my little girl. I can always see her whenever I can now. This organization and my teammates here have been real good, too, and just playing for the team I grew up loving, it's exciting for me."

It would be slightly more thrilling if the ball were sailing in his direction just a little more. It might happen, too, with wide receiver Javon Walker out because of knee surgery and Scheffler oftentimes used split wide in offensive formations.

The middle of the field could be an area to exploit - or not, particularly with the Green Bay Packers' stout defensive front that Denver will see Monday night and the potential for more help needed from Graham.

"Until I see otherwise, I don't see much changing," he said. "I'm fearful that, because of my strength in one area, it hurts the other area of my game. It's always been like that."

WAB
10-27-2007, 09:23 PM
Wow, who didn't see this coming? *cough* not me *cough*

Good to see him speaking up a bit, though. He still has a ways to go to reach that 55 reception plateau that everyone was so boastful about.

broncofanatic1987
10-27-2007, 09:50 PM
If this were just about any other team, I think Shanahan's job would be in jeopardy. With the poor start by the team in addition to the large contract with a large signing bonus for a running back that is likely to be suspended after only being one violation away from a one year suspension at the time he was signed on top of the fact that he signed a blocking tight end to a large contract with a signing bonus more fitting for a receiving tight end, I think most owners would view this as poor judgment by the head coach/VP of Football Operations. I think in most circumstances, Graham would be viewed as being under utilized for his paycheck.

It would be one thing if he were being used as a receiving tight end and he wasn't getting the job done. They're apparently not even making much of an effort to involve him in the passing game.

I only call Graham a blocking tight end because that's how they're using him. Heimerdinger is the one that said he thinks Graham could catch 55 passes in this offense. Too bad he's not making an effort to make that happen.

Lonestar
10-27-2007, 09:57 PM
I suspect that it is the newness of the OLINE that is preventing him from getting out into the pass patterns . Hopefully someone will get that fixed and make him earn his BIG BUCKs pass catching especially in the red zone...

Simple Jaded
10-28-2007, 02:00 AM
Well if people are bent at the cap # they should realize that the Broncos are getting what they want out of Graham....It's not that Graham can't do what you think he should be doing to earn that money.

If Denver wanted 55 catches from Graham, they'd get it....

sneakers
10-28-2007, 02:01 AM
Block Daniel Graham, Block! Keep Blocking!

AFGAHNI_BATTLE_DONKEY
10-28-2007, 02:05 AM
he does get payed a lot but he's good.



suprisingly good players always get payed a lot.

omac
10-28-2007, 02:14 AM
Graham's worth every penny.

Dependable when he blocks, dependable when he catches.

Stargazer
10-28-2007, 02:27 AM
The man was brought here to block and catch a couple of passes. And to block he has been doing. Yes, he's getting a BIG chunk of change to block as a 6th lineman. But, he excels at it and with Schef the obvious receiving TE this trend will continue. The two make a great and formidable combo.

Stargazer
10-28-2007, 02:32 AM
Graham's worth every penny.

Dependable when he blocks, dependable when he catches.

He did drop a biggie on the 4th down play. I wouldn't consider him completely dependable when he touches the ball since he does have the occasional drops. Now Schef, going out and catching passes is on another level. The same can be said for Watson in NE. Hence why Graham will be blocker first, receiver 2nd.

Joel
10-28-2007, 02:59 AM
Well if people are bent at the cap # they should realize that the Broncos are getting what they want out of Graham....It's not that Graham can't do what you think he should be doing to earn that money.

If Denver wanted 55 catches from Graham, they'd get it....
Precisely. I'm not even sure how much of the issue is the line, though the loss of Nalen and Hamilton certainly hasn't helped our protection, but the sad fact of the matter is that with the exception of Graham our TE situation is much like our RB situation before the arrival of Henry and, to a lesser extent, Selvin Young: We have players who can be quality ball handlers, and others who can be quality blockers, but none who can do both. The closest thing we have to an all around TE is probably Nate Jackson, whom I think most would agree isn't very close at all. Mustard's a good blocker but not a great receiver; Schefler's a good receiver but not a great blocker, etc. etc.

As run oriented as we are, as young as our QB is, we need a Pro Bowl blocking TE more than we need a receiver, though if the injury bug keeps nipping at us that may change. Read the article again: The coaches have made it VERY clear they want to get the ball to Graham, but don't have anyone else to do what he does at the line, and that should tell you how much he's worth.

We'll certainly need all of his skills and talent on Monday; Green Bay, despite their record, doesn't have much on offense except Favre and Driver (their leading rusher has 202 yards for the season, which is good news for us) but their D is scary, and probably the biggest reason they have a better record than us. The worst run D faces the worst rushing offense, but the Packers D is averaging an 11th best 17.7 points per game, while our offense, 5th in yardage, is 26th in points with 17.8 (in other words, they give up less points on average than we score on average). The line will have to earn its pay, but Favre has shown throughout his career that a team that keeps it close and the pressure on can force him to make costly errors, a comparison with Cutler I wish was less justified.

omac
10-28-2007, 04:41 AM
He did drop a biggie on the 4th down play. I wouldn't consider him completely dependable when he touches the ball since he does have the occasional drops. Now Schef, going out and catching passes is on another level. The same can be said for Watson in NE. Hence why Graham will be blocker first, receiver 2nd.

Yeah, that wasn't exactly an easy catch to make, but he has caught a few critical ones.

WAB
10-28-2007, 03:06 PM
It doesn't matter if we're getting what we want out of him...we're paying him elite money to do what guys like Kyle Brady or Reggie Kelley do for peanuts, in comparison anyways. Draft Matt Spaeth if you want a blocker who can catch.

In the grand scheme of today's NFL, one contract has little significance...but it's still a misallocation of resources.

Simple Jaded
10-28-2007, 06:40 PM
It doesn't matter if we're getting what we want out of him...we're paying him elite money to do what guys like Kyle Brady or Reggie Kelley do for peanuts, in comparison anyways. Draft Matt Spaeth if you want a blocker who can catch.

In the grand scheme of today's NFL, one contract has little significance...but it's still a misallocation of resources.


And that's my point, if the Broncos are wasting their money it's their fault...I'm just hoping fans don't blame Graham for the way he's being used.

But they will....

Stargazer
10-29-2007, 01:34 AM
Yeah, that wasn't exactly an easy catch to make, but he has caught a few critical ones.

That ball should've been caught. There's no excuse. And yes he has come through with critical catches. Unfortunately, he will drop balls.

Schef, he's a catching machine. Now if he drops ball consistently that's just real bad since that is his real strength.