The big offseason question: How do we solve the Denver defense?

XLIX said:

It is a major upgrade when you compare it to a guy with a 225 yards per game and 9 touchdowns against 17 INT's.

I'm not putting Osweiler in Canton, I just don't think you realize how atrocious Peyton Manning was this year.

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It's an upgrade, but marginal at best. Not a reason to fear the Broncos; their D is. They've got a fun cap situation they need to deal with this off season.

letekro said:

Follow along Supa. In actuality, the Broncos were NOT as good as the Patriots or Panthers--so those posters were actually spot on--then, however, the league did...something...to hand the Donks the Championship. It's all plain as day.

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I'm going to respectfully disagree, here. They just won the SB with the lowest offensive output in all 50 games. That's how tough their defense was.

They put on a defensive clinic in the postseason, holding 3 of the highest scoring teams in the league (PIT, NE, CAR) to 16, 18, and 10. They also held the #1 defensive ranking in many categories this season, had a very capable rushing attack, and used the strengths of their QB (while hiding his weaknesses) to hit their big play WRs when needed.

supafly said:

I'm going to respectfully disagree, here. They just won the SB with the lowest offensive output in all 50 games. That's how tough their defense was.

They put on a defensive clinic in the postseason, holding 3 of the highest scoring teams in the league (PIT, NE, CAR) to 16, 18, and 10. They also held the #1 defensive ranking in many categories this season, had a very capable rushing attack, and used the strengths of their QB (while hiding his weaknesses) to hit their big play WRs when needed.

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All of which were decimated by injuries on the offensive side of the ball.

PIT: missing Antonio Brown and their top 2 RBs
NE: missing two starting offensive linemen, top 2 RBs, and Edelman playing at far less than 50%
CAR: losing 2 offensive linemen during the game, and their starting RB suffering an injury early in the game

FourierSeries said:

All of which were decimated by injuries on the offensive side of the ball.

PIT: missing Antonio Brown and their top 2 RBs
NE: missing two starting offensive linemen, top 2 RBs, and Edelman playing at far less than 50%
CAR: losing 2 offensive linemen during the game, and their starting RB suffering an injury early in the game

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What about the seahawks last year? They had very important players hurt in that SB. Either out completely or playing hurt. Most on the defensive side of the ball. The side brady gets so much credit for torching. Did brady and the patriots only win and do so well because of that?

LightSkinSmurf said:

What about the seahawks last year? They had very important players hurt in that SB. Either out completely or playing hurt. Most on the defensive side of the ball. The side brady gets so much credit for torching. Did brady and the patriots only win and do so well because of that?

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Who was out completely aside from their #3 CB Jeremy Lane after the first quarter? They lost Brandon Mebane several weeks before the Super Bowl. Thomas and Sherman were hurt but that's life in the Super Bowl. Nobody is 100%. Hightower played with one arm, too. Look how many of our players got surgery in the offseason last year.

VrabelJr said:

Who was out completely aside from their #3 CB Jeremy Lane after the first quarter? They lost Brandon Mebane several weeks before the Super Bowl. Thomas and Sherman were hurt but that's life in the Super Bowl. Nobody is 100%. Hightower played with one arm, too. Look how many of our players got surgery in the offseason last year.

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That is actually the point I was making. *Well one of the points* Kam was also playing hurt as well.. And lane is who I was talking about when I made that statement. I can't remember who else they had out I just remember lane breaking his arm pretty early in the game. Right after intercepting brady, btw.

make sure next january we are in foxboro.

SammyBlueCat said:

True. What do you propose that they do to maintain a healthy team?

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A better strength and conditioning coach than the one they just fired would be a start.

LightSkinSmurf said:

What about the seahawks last year? They had very important players hurt in that SB. Either out completely or playing hurt. Most on the defensive side of the ball. The side brady gets so much credit for torching. Did brady and the patriots only win and do so well because of that?

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Did Seattle have 18 guys on IR, with 6 of them being starters, like we did? Most of their key starters played that game, and looked good.

If you don't want to include Edelman in my list simply because he played, that's fine. We were still entirely without two starting OL and our top 2 RBs. Those injuries were huge given the kind of defense we were going up against.

Don't give their pass rushers a free release to the QB.

Stabilize the OL, get healthy, add another bigger X receiver to the mix. The first is the most important. With his full compliment of options and quick outlets, Brady can dissect that defense. He has to be given time, though, and we certainly can't tip when the ball is going to be snapped in the process.

neuronet said:

OLine, OLine, OLine.

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Additionally, I think it might help to have the Faulk/Woodhead/Vereen/Lewis position in there as well for the very short pass game and to pick up blitzes.

I know that was White's spot on the roster, but he doesn't seem to be as good.

Easy. Learn how to mix up your silent snap count. Better yet, don't lose home field advantage by losing to Philly, Jets or Miami.

archstanton543 said:

Easy. Learn how to mix up your silent snap count. Better yet, don't lose home field advantage by losing to Philly, Jets or Miami.

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I.E. stay healthy.

it's not a big question anymore.....Scar is back

IllegalContact said:

it's not a big question anymore.....Scar is back

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We still need talent up front. Scar is great but his o-lines have failed us in the biggest games.

TommyBrady12 said:

We still need talent up front. Scar is great but his o-lines have failed us in the biggest games.

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Those were different offenses, that simply did not match up well against the defensive front of the Giants.

The best thing about about bringing him back is that we know, with near certainty, that the OL will never be as under-prepared as they were in the AFCCG. The mistakes made in that game were inexcusable.

I don't think we need too have a top 5, or even top 10, OL necessarily. We just need the line to hold up long enough for Brady to find those short/quick routes and then let guys like Edelman make plays. The OL played like it was in contention for worst OL of all-time vs Denver.

Also, I think there's some talent here already that just needs to be coached up.

Healthy Solder, Healthy Lewis with another fa/draft pick should do. I also think if they can get Dante back the sophomores will have pretty good years.

Not even that worried about Denver to be honest. They were a muffed punt and a bad game plan against a weak opponent from home field and possibly their 5th title. Like Brady told Jeter. "They blew it."

Brady has got a clock counting down to Super Bowl 51. I really think we will see one of the most focused Brady teams this year.

TommyBrady12 said:

We still need talent up front. Scar is great but his o-lines have failed us in the biggest games.

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I disagree........the Pats did not have the same issue with this defense in the prior year.......yeah yeah, wade philips blah blah blah..........an OL that was not in shambles would have provided an easy victory for the pats even in denver

basically denver got away with 2 straight games of jail break defense........I'd love to see them try to do that all year long.........

Pass blocking better than me would be a good start