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."
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."