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View Full Version : Football Outsiders: Denver's run game peaking



VonDoom
01-08-2016, 11:25 AM
I think this is the 3rd FO article I've posted this season from Ben Muth. All of them have been about our line. It started with how terrible it was, then how it was improving and now how it seems to be peaking. I encourage you to click on the link and see the whole thing, complete with some great gifs:


So between mediocre offensive tackle play, poor cut blockers, and backs that weren't used to seeing a lot of daylight, the Broncos' outside zone game has struggled to really get cooking. But that changed this Sunday. I don't know if it's the run game finally gelling late in the season or San Diego being a poor run defense (my guess is a bit of both), but I think the Denver running game looked as good as it had all year, and a lot of it was Denver cutting people down on the back side of the outside zone play. It seemed like after every running play there was a San Diego defender picking himself up off the ground.


The Broncos' running game looked good in the first half but really took off in the second half. Now, people have theories on changes Denver made that might have improved the running game, but I think it had a lot more to due with Denver's success hitting back-side cutbacks in the first half than any personnel changes they made in the second half.

And after a gif of Sanders laying out a safety:


I LOVE this. Sanders is lined up outside the numbers, and the safety is coming up in run support very aggressively, but Sanders still gets the block because he wants too. He busts his ass, flattens down the line, and gets a hat on the guy. It's rare that you see a wide receiver get there to make this block on a safety playing that aggressively (unless they really cut down their split, which Sanders didn't do). It only turned a 2-yard gain into a 6-yard gain, so it wasn't a game-changer, but it's indicative of the type of blocking effort Denver got from its wide receivers all night long, and it made a big difference. I LOVE this play.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/word-muth/2016/word-muth-denver-peaking

This, combined with the article Carol posted, has me thinking we might be on to something with the run game. Please be real, please be real ...

NightTrainLayne
01-08-2016, 11:48 AM
I too love the block by Sanders on the last play he highlights. Love it!

Joel
01-08-2016, 01:42 PM
I'd be more encouraged to see it more than one game, vs. decent and fully healthy teams. That said, there's a lot to like there, especially if Schofield's relegated to the backup role he "merits." Vernon Davis also makes a nice block on that last play, and on the third Garcia does a nice job getting free of the NT (aidedt by Paradis' arrival to engage) and then downfield to meet Perryman. It's just good trenches football, the kind that made me fall in love with the Broncos in the mid-nineties.

It was always more desperate hope than justified belief that our RBs and FOUR new starting linemen (half of which were new to the new team, and the other half second year guys with NO starts) could figure out Kubiak and Dennisons complex nuanced ZBS in just a month or two: There's a reason Kube brought in so many of his former players, and that reason's not just nepotism. "Hopefully" a full season of play was enough.

It's also a good sign they did this against a 3-4, however racked by injury it was. Freelancing LBs and having an extra one well suits 3-4s to stopping sweeps (sorry, Alex Gibbs, but the "stretch" is just Lombardis "run to daylight" with cuts and more cut BACKS.) Running them well despite OLBs quickly flowing to the ball joined by an extra ILB is impressive, and the more they're watching the RB, the less their blitzing the QB from a different spot each down.

The real test will be two weeks from now: Of the four AFC teams playing this weekend, the ONLY one that DOESN'T run a 3-4 is Cincy, which also happens to be the ONLY one we CAN'T play the following week. If Houston, KC or Pitt shuts down our run and swarms our QB as Pitt did in the second half the last time we played, it'll be an ugly, messy and painful one-and-done for us, whoever's under center. We only lost four games, but half were vs. KC and Pitts 3-4s.

Simple Jaded
01-08-2016, 04:42 PM
Ryan Harris' block in that first clip is illegal.

Muth's opinion just fuels the theory that I've had for decades that when theBroncos say "fits the system" they're just saying he's willing to cut block. The common myth is they need players that are super dooper athletic, this is bullshit, the trait theBroncos specifically look for is a mindset.

Sambrailo was the most Meh T left on the board when he was taken by Denver, average in every way measurable, but he cut block more than any prospect in the draft.

And they put this mindset over and above everything, especially ability, which has almost always led to fatal flaws in the OL.

Edit

I'd also like to point how the Sanders clip debunks the utterly bullshit myth that if you're not running zone read from shotgun you're basically playing 10 vs 11.