Deus Irae

I'm not ignoring anything. You, however, are overrating the front seven. This team's linebackers are poor in coverage, and the DL/OLB group of pass rushers is very inconsistent. What the front seven usually does well is defend against the run. Today, they didn't even get that done.

You act as if the Broncos somehow made it to the second round of the playoffs last year without scoring a single point all season. Denver put up 23 against the Patriots in their first meeting last year, put up 29 against the Steelers in overtime, put up 35 against the Vikings and put up 38 against the Raiders. It was an up and down team, offensively, with Tebow at the helm, but it was also a team that went 8-3 against non-Patriots teams.

Yes, having that lousy defense holding opponents to 10, 20 and 21 points in the playoffs is a good thing. That's kind of the point. Despite having crap for talent (Sergio Brown, etc....), that team found a way to be middle of the pack in points scored against and found a way to limit opponents in the playoffs. That's excellent coaching.

Here's the reality check:

• Chung has never been good against the pass, is undersized for a big hitter, and gets hurt a lot
• Gregory isn't starting talent, and this was discussed prior to the season
• McCourty is a very inconsistent corner and is just learning the safety position
• Dowling lost essentially all of his rookie season to injury, didn't look 100% coming back, and IR'd again
• Dennard is a rookie CB who was at the bottom of the depth chart to start the season
• Arrington is/was a UDFA CB4 who's been forced into a CB2 role. This has been discussed numerous times
• Sterling Moore is a UDFA player who's a back of the roster, at best, player
• Cole is a special teams player who's getting forced into action
• Wilson is a rookie who is lousy in deep space and needs a whole lot of work if he's ever going to make it

As has been pointed out time and again, it's not as if DBs wash out in New England and then go on to greatness elsewhere.

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"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

PATRIOTSFANINPA

In terms of rushing defense,you make it sound like they dominate everyone up front.....so far Spiller and Ray Rice have had their way with the front 7 and there are more big boys coming up soon like Gore and more notably the scary Foster/Tate combo

Those upcoming runners next month will show us just how good of a run stopping unit this team has going into the post season.

Cassanova792

As for the linebackers you are absolutely right! They are poor in coverage (mainly Spikes) yet we still drop them into coverage, they are inconsistent on the 4 man rush, yet we hardly blitz. How can you NOT blame coaching and scheme?

As far as the broncos you are nitpicking scores, i can show you far more games where Tim Tebow was just horrendous yet lucky then games where he played average enough to win. He did have a good game against the Steelers though. Tim Tebow we all know is hardly an aerial threat that you are making him out to be he was just fortunate enough to be on a talented Broncos team.

We can go on all night about whether it is coaching or talent. It is probably both, honestly I could care less as long as its fixed. They brought in Talib to bring in some talent, great, but how bout we try something new from our coaches like blitzing instead of dropping our talented but slow LB's into coverage eh? It's pretty obvious we have a very vanilla easy to read defense, which does nothing to help our porous secondary if the QB has all day to read and throw.

DocHoliday

We still drop them into coverage? So what, you want us in quarters every game?

We have to drop LBs in coverage

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Cassanova792

Obviously not, Mayo should be the only one dropping into coverage and Hightower occasionally. Spikes and Hightower for the most part should just strictly go after the QB and focus on stopping the run. Spikes has no business dropping into coverage, EVER, he is far too slow to cover and is a liability. Hightower, on the other hand can do both. He has the speed to cover but i think he can be very very good at going after the QB (just check his film when he was in college). The problem is our current scheme doesn't utilize to our LB'ers strengths.

Cassanova792

Cmon giving up 101 yards to Ray Rice and 150 yards or so to the Bills talented RB duo is nothing to be ashamed about especially if you are constantly dropping the LB'ers to help our much maligned secondary.

DocHoliday

Uhuh.

And you know exactly which play the Bills would run? Let's say they line up with Spiller and/or Jackson wide. Pats go dime/nickel.

Then bring them both in the backfield and run.

What now?

Either way you lose if you react by pulling LB from coverage just to stop the pass. They'll run right over you

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woolster22

This defense can force turnovers (spikes is a God dam monster), the young secondary plus Talib has me excited. I'm starting to wonder if otg is that crazy after all. Dennard can clearly make plays (push out), also missed a tackle or two...McCourty struggled a bit and mayo got killed a few times against the run. They made big plays though. Spikes is a beast and simply ran over the qb while wrapping up his shoulders...flag? Lol. Mayo call looked worse than it was, but reasonable. McCourty had a huge pick at the end.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

Gotta stop guys like Ray Rice and Arian Foster if you are going to advance in the playoffs......this is my point because the Pats may face both when they get there.

Cassanova792

True but i am more worried about <insert ANY Quarterback's name here> than Ray Rice or Arian Foster. Our secondary cant stop no body.