Knighton Preparing for Former Team

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Terrance Knighton knows what kind of players are in the Jaguars locker room and they aren't to be taken lightly.


ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Peyton Manning said Monday that the Jaguars are an unfamiliar opponent. He hasn’t played against them since 2010 and since then the Jaguars have seen multiple changes in personnel.

But the Jaguars aren’t all that unfamiliar to a Bronco starter on the other side of the ball.

Defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, a fifth year veteran, spent his first four NFL seasons with the Jaguars and the Broncos are using that to their advantage.

“Earlier today, it’s the first day we’ve installed stuff for Jacksonville, I told the D-Line things about the guys up front because their O-Line, I played with all of them,” Knighton said. “Even their right tackle (Austin Pasztor), he was on the practice squad last year but I’ve hinted to them some things they get beat on, some of their strengths.”

rest - http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-blogs/article-1/Knighton-Preparing-for-Former-Team/73775b19-0e11-4e7e-81f0-25d478920dea

[Dapper Dan]

That might be the first time I've heard(read) his name this season.

[Joel]

That might be the first time I've heard(read) his name this season.
He's started every game. I've heard his name occasionally, but he's a NT, and those guys usually don't make the sexy highlight reel plays, especially as the NFL gradually phases out running. Our D's been ranked #1 against the run for three weeks though (maybe all year; haven't checked,) despite facing the NFLs leading rusher and #1 rushing offense last week, and the previous #1 rushing offense the week before that. Some of that's building big leads that force teams to pass, but a lot of it's just much improved run D, and that doesn't happen without solid DTs. Knighton's doing his job, and I'm glad to have him.

[Dapper Dan]

I'd like to see a team attempt to run the ball and keep up with Denver. :lol:

[zbeg]

That might be the first time I've heard(read) his name this season.

Run-stuffing interior linemen often don't get much credit, and often they aren't even the ones making the tackles that they set up. Knighton's been rock solid in the middle though and is doing exactly what the Broncos brought him in to do.

If you have Broncos season tickets, you have access to a free subscription of NFL Rewind, and that includes coaches film, which my metrics have it somewhere around the 11th greatest invention in human history. It's super fun to look at line play, which is really intricate and nuanced and awesome. If not, a year subscription is like $70 or something, and you can watch any of the games after the fact (like the next day) as well.

I'd buy it if I didn't have season tickets, but oh what's that Broncos? You are going to give me this thing I was planning to buy for free? Okay, I guess I'll take it...

[Joel]

Run-stuffing interior linemen often don't get much credit, and often they aren't even the ones making the tackles that they set up. Knighton's been rock solid in the middle though and is doing exactly what the Broncos brought him in to do.

If you have Broncos season tickets, you have access to a free subscription of NFL Rewind, and that includes coaches film, which my metrics have it somewhere around the 11th greatest invention in human history. It's super fun to look at line play, which is really intricate and nuanced and awesome. If not, a year subscription is like $70 or something, and you can watch any of the games after the fact (like the next day) as well.

I'd buy it if I didn't have season tickets, but oh what's that Broncos? You are going to give me this thing I was planning to buy for free? Okay, I guess I'll take it...
And here I sit in Europe watching whatever snatches of whatever games I can find however I can find them. *seethes*

Most folks don't watch line play closely though, if at all, which is too bad, because that's where the game's won and lost. But it's not sexy and is hard to see among the pile of bodies; I'm truly jealous of that access to coach-cam footage, because it's about the only way anyone can see what any given linemen (on either side) does for a whole game.

The Hidden Game of Football covered the "fan type" breakdown at the start of its "Opus for the Unsung" chapter, though it was specifically about offensive linemen (almost NO ONE cared about them in 1987, particularly guards.) Various types of people want to talk teams, QBs, receivers, backs, defenses or whatever, but only the most hardcore want to talk blocking linemen. And almost none of them know what they're talking about, because it's so hard to get the data, let alone analyze it. Things have gotten much better since 1987, but only relatively.

[Skinny]

I've been very pleased with him so far. He and Vickerson have formed an impenetrable wall in the interior that has been huge for this defenses success so far. It's been unreal how stout they both have been against the run. What a blessing.

[Joel]

I've been very pleased with him so far. He and Vickerson have formed an impenetrable wall in the interior that has been huge for this defenses success so far. It's been unreal how stout they both have been against the run. What a blessing.
I've been really impressed with Vickerson, too, ever since the end of last year. I keep thinking of a tweet he made at last years TC about gaining almost 50 lbs. while cutting his body fat percentage in half, or some disgusting freakish numbers like that. I remember thinking, If he gained THAT much weight while HALVING his body fat, he just added a HUGE amount of muscle. I sincerely believe part of why he didn't produce much at the start of last year was because he practically had a whole new body to adjust to, with a lot more weight some places and less in others; his center of mass probably changed significantly.

He adjusted though, and well; by seasons end he was a force to be reckoned with, and remains one now. Put him and Knighton together and that gaping hole in the middle of our line teams have been running through for the last decade is CLOSED for business. That makes life so much easier for our D; DEs can concentrate on rushing and shutting down the outside run, LBs can focus on helping them and playing the pass, safeties can worry primarily about receivers: The whole D is better. All because we FINALLY have DTs worthy of the name. If they do nothing else, Fox and Del Rio deserve a medal for that. :salute:

[BroncoWave]

Man, Knighton must feel like he just won the lottery going from the Jaguars to the Broncos.