Thread: Third down situations aid Broncos' win over Seattle

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_16119640

Call it preventative medicine, like some kind of football flu shot.

But the best way for the Broncos to keep the Seattle Seahawks' defense from sending the house at quarterback Kyle Orton Sunday at Invesco Field was to live in a better neighborhood on third down.

"The best thing is don't be in those situations where they can just come right after you," Orton said. "We had very few pure passing situations, so the whole playbook was in play, they couldn't just rear back and send everybody."

The Broncos' battered offensive line, which was missing two starters in right guard Chris Kuper and right tackle Ryan Harris, kept Orton clean enough for his fourth career 300-yard passing game, his third with the Broncos.

"They're working hard, they know it's not the same five every week," said Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. "The longer you play the better they're going to be."

What went right

When things are perfect in his defensive world, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll wants to blitz an opposing quarterback plenty, especially when Seattle is working out of its six defensive backs (dime) package.

But to play the dime, a defense has to be fairly certain an offense isn't going to run the ball at a formation loaded with smaller, lighter defensive backs. In their season opener last week, the Seahawks harassed San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith out of the look because the 49ers spent much of the afternoon in long-yardage situations.

"And we spent a lot of time on that," Orton said. "They gave San Francisco a lot of trouble with all that they did in those situations."

The Broncos were far more efficient on first and second down than they were in their loss at Jacksonville. They moved the ball well enough to face third-and-3 or shorter in eight of their 20 third-down situations - or a robust 40 percent.

They faced third-and-5 or less 13 times.

"We didn't really give them a lot of situations where they could kind of just tee off on us or where Kyle has to hold the ball a long time," McDaniels said. "And all the third downs seemed like they were third-and-3, third-and-4. You know the pass rush shouldn't really matter a whole lot in those situations."

As a result the Seahawks sacked Orton just once, hit him far fewer times than the Jaguars did last week and the Broncos scored all four of their touchdowns on third-down plays.

What went wrong

McDaniels tried to slow down the Seahawks' rush by being committed to the run game despite the Broncos' struggles there.

The 38 rushes against Seattle marked the third-highest total in McDaniels' tenure. The Broncos had 40 and 45 runs in back-to-back victories over the Giants and Chiefs last season, the team's last two victories before Sunday.

That commitment forced the Seahawks to play honestly along the line of scrimmage, but the Broncos didn't get much for their efforts, finishing with only 65 yards on those 38 attempts for 1.7 yards per run.

"We've got to find a way to pound out more effective yards in the running game," McDaniels said. "That's not a criticism of anybody, that's a team thing."

Up next

The challenge for the Broncos will be what they do with a team that can rush the passer and get pressure with only the front four.

The Indianapolis Colts, who come to town next Sunday, are just such a team. They often play the run on their way to the quarterback. Indianapolis, with uber quarterback Peyton Manning, is used to playing with the lead, and teams often feel compelled to throw the ball more trying to keep pace.