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View Full Version : Offensive lines of Broncos, others in the NFL are facing their biggest obstacles in years. And there are no easy solutions.



Denver Native (Carol)
12-03-2017, 10:23 PM
Article written yesterday - interesting


When Calais Campbell takes his first step at the snap of a football, his brain presses a stopwatch. Success for an NFL pass rusher such as Campbell, a former Denver South star, is defined by what happens between the time that clock starts and the time it hits 2.5 seconds.

“If (quarterbacks) hold the ball longer than 2.5,” Campbell said this season, “we’re supposed to be there.”

That brief snapshot has increasingly become an eternity for the offensive linemen whose livelihoods depend on keeping players like Campbell away from their quarterback. The comments by Campbell, a veteran defensive end for Jacksonville, came in late October, after the Jaguars defeated the Colts 27-0 while racking up their second 10-sack game of the season.

And numbers like that are popping up everywhere across a league where offensive line play has sunk to a new low.

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/01/offensive-lines-woes-broncos-nfl/

Shazam!
12-04-2017, 05:33 AM
Broncos OLine hasn't been right since 2013 and declined every year since then and has finally bottomed out. It is now the worst Broncos line I have ever seen and one of the worst in the NFL that I have ever seen.

I believe the state of the Line is more than half responsible for the state of the QB. Trevor once played with confidence. He has regressed due to the abuse he took starting in 2016.

NightTerror218
12-04-2017, 12:25 PM
Broncos OLine hasn't been right since 2013 and declined every year since then and has finally bottomed out. It is now the worst Broncos line I have ever seen and one of the worst in the NFL that I have ever seen.

I believe the state of the Line is more than half responsible for the state of the QB. Trevor once played with confidence. He has regressed due to the abuse he took starting in 2016.

I think last year was worse.

dogfish
12-04-2017, 03:53 PM
it's hard for everyone right now. . . that just means we have to prioritize it more. . . we made a couple decent moves this year, but they need to be followed up with more good moves next year. . . if we for some reason don't take a QB with our top-five pick next year, then we damn well better grab one of those big offensive tackles. . . draft and develop, it's still the best approach. . .

Cugel
12-06-2017, 04:53 AM
The problem for the Broncos is that if they don't land a veteran QB in FA, allowing them to use their #4 position on a LT they will need to use that pick on a QB, keep Bolles at LT and hope for the best, and sign a veteran FA RT. That will cost a boat-load of $ of course.

Reilly Reiff, the only really good RT in FA last year got $12m a year. Menelik Watson got $6 m and was not a bargain at that price.

Oh, and they also need a RG and move Leary back to LG. At least he was a good choice who has played well for a terrible team.

They can draft a RT in the 2nd round of course, but they better not count on that guy starting year one. We've seen that scenario for the last 3 years.

Long term, they will have to develop the OL. That's been the mantra for 3 years now and it still hasn't happened.

Cugel
12-06-2017, 04:58 AM
The difference in the college and pro game begins with “a chicken, a bus and a flippin’ barn.”

Mark Schlereth refers to the giant pieces of cardboard slapped with random images that are omnipresent on college football sidelines as an example of the uphill battle faced by offensive players, including linemen, as they transition to a different game in the NFL.

“That tells you where to throw the football and what route is being run,” Schlereth said of the images. “Essentially, all defenses give you is off-coverage zone. Receivers don’t learn how to run routes — or don’t learn how to run clean routes. They learn how to sit down in holes in zones. In that system, you’re throwing 11 bubble screens and eight slants. In a spread offense, on a bubble screen, you’re not blocking anybody. After one step, you release to go down and get a block. You’re not developing the skill set in the college game that translates to the pro game. How many real five- and seven-step drops do you take in the college game? It’s not many.”

Spread offenses have often been a target of blame when young quarterbacks are slow to grasp NFL concepts. In a spread offense, a quarterback rarely lines up underneath the center and is rarely asked to go through detailed progressions. Criticism of the spread as it relates to development of quarterbacks is that much of their decision-making, so vital to success in the NFL, is made before the play in college.

That was the trouble with Paxton. He thrived in a spread offense at Memphis, and has tremendous physical skills, but has struggled terribly in learning to read NFL defenses in real time. If you have maybe a few seconds to process a ton of information, get the offense in the right formation, make your reads, go through your progressions and hit a WR in stride, the mental game is key.

Bolles is struggling now for the same reason:


“It’s completely different, man,” said Bolles, who has started all 11 games as a rookie for the Broncos. “You’re facing the best pass rushers day in and day out. These are guys who get drafted super high, and that’s something that special. These guys you go against, these are franchise guys, very similar to what we have in Von Miller and Shane Ray.”

Polumbus calls it a “genetic mismatch.” Broncos coach Vance Joseph calls it “the biggest mismatch in football.” The matchup of pass rushers, who he believes are the best athletes on a football team, and 300-pound linemen can be an uneven one in its very nature. In this picture, the big guys are the underdogs.