titan
10-07-2009, 07:46 PM
From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ross_tucker/10/07/radar/index.html
1. Maybe these no-names on Denver's defense are actually pretty good.
Yes, Josh McDaniels has done a fantastic job getting his Broncos to play both smart and hard for him after an offseason full of controversy. And, like everyone else, I list Mike Nolan as the leading candidate for assistant coach of the year based on what he has done with the defense in Denver. But maybe, just maybe, the guys Nolan is coaching are not as bad as pundits seemed to think they were.
Admit it. You still don't know much about the majority of the starters in Denver's front seven. Do the names Ronald Fields, Ryan McBean, Kenny Peterson or Mario Haggan ring a bell? Didn't think so. After I surveyed that list and watched them during training camp, I said there were multiple 3-4 teams in the league whose second units were superior to the Broncos starters. But the truth is that sometimes non-descript players play well because they completely buy in to what their coaches are telling them, with no ego or need to be the guy making all the plays or getting all of the ink. It is an oft used cliché, but it truly is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit.
To be fair, the Broncos stellar secondary is loaded with proven performers like Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins. But the players with recognizable names coming into the season in the linebacking corps included a player who flamed out with the Browns (Andra Davis), a guy who is best known around the league for not improving one iota since his rookie season (D.J. Williams), and quite possibly the shortest outside linebacker in the history of the 3-4 defense (5-foot-11 Elvis Dumervil). Yet somehow this hodgepodge of players is giving up fewer than seven points per game. Amazing.
1. Maybe these no-names on Denver's defense are actually pretty good.
Yes, Josh McDaniels has done a fantastic job getting his Broncos to play both smart and hard for him after an offseason full of controversy. And, like everyone else, I list Mike Nolan as the leading candidate for assistant coach of the year based on what he has done with the defense in Denver. But maybe, just maybe, the guys Nolan is coaching are not as bad as pundits seemed to think they were.
Admit it. You still don't know much about the majority of the starters in Denver's front seven. Do the names Ronald Fields, Ryan McBean, Kenny Peterson or Mario Haggan ring a bell? Didn't think so. After I surveyed that list and watched them during training camp, I said there were multiple 3-4 teams in the league whose second units were superior to the Broncos starters. But the truth is that sometimes non-descript players play well because they completely buy in to what their coaches are telling them, with no ego or need to be the guy making all the plays or getting all of the ink. It is an oft used cliché, but it truly is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit.
To be fair, the Broncos stellar secondary is loaded with proven performers like Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins. But the players with recognizable names coming into the season in the linebacking corps included a player who flamed out with the Browns (Andra Davis), a guy who is best known around the league for not improving one iota since his rookie season (D.J. Williams), and quite possibly the shortest outside linebacker in the history of the 3-4 defense (5-foot-11 Elvis Dumervil). Yet somehow this hodgepodge of players is giving up fewer than seven points per game. Amazing.