Denver Native (Carol)
08-21-2016, 07:43 PM
It is the Broncos’ “Bear” call. Sylvester Williams, a hulking, 313-pound nose tackle, the largest player on Denver’s defensive line, a guy who gets paid to get in the way, drops into pass coverage.
“That ain’t normal,” Williams said. “But that’s one of my favorite plays.”
His job on this play is to keep a running back from catching the ball. No defense ever asks a nose tackle to play like a cornerback. The Broncos are not like everyone else.
“We’re different — a lot different,” he said.
When the Denver defense lines up next month to open the season in a rematch against Carolina quarterback Cam Newton and the Panthers, it will be trying to duplicate one of the most impressive playoff showings of all time, capped by a brilliant Super Bowl. In that game, Denver sacked Newton six times, intercepted one of his passes, scored a touchdown and nearly scored another. It put that defense in a discussion among the great defenses of the past 30 years.
But the league does not quite know what it sees in the Denver D. The Broncos are an outlier in the staid NFL. They confuse fans and hardcore insiders. With defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, a football lifer who learned from his dad, Bum, the Broncos are conservative radicals, a stick-to-basics defense that bucks the trend of complicated schemes in favor of beautiful simplicity.
The best defense in the NFL plays in plain sight. And nobody can pin it down.
“They say they know what we’re going to do,” Phillips said, “but can they stop us?”
rest - much more - http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/20/broncos-defense-upended-nfl-simple/
“That ain’t normal,” Williams said. “But that’s one of my favorite plays.”
His job on this play is to keep a running back from catching the ball. No defense ever asks a nose tackle to play like a cornerback. The Broncos are not like everyone else.
“We’re different — a lot different,” he said.
When the Denver defense lines up next month to open the season in a rematch against Carolina quarterback Cam Newton and the Panthers, it will be trying to duplicate one of the most impressive playoff showings of all time, capped by a brilliant Super Bowl. In that game, Denver sacked Newton six times, intercepted one of his passes, scored a touchdown and nearly scored another. It put that defense in a discussion among the great defenses of the past 30 years.
But the league does not quite know what it sees in the Denver D. The Broncos are an outlier in the staid NFL. They confuse fans and hardcore insiders. With defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, a football lifer who learned from his dad, Bum, the Broncos are conservative radicals, a stick-to-basics defense that bucks the trend of complicated schemes in favor of beautiful simplicity.
The best defense in the NFL plays in plain sight. And nobody can pin it down.
“They say they know what we’re going to do,” Phillips said, “but can they stop us?”
rest - much more - http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/20/broncos-defense-upended-nfl-simple/