To Defensive Coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale, it’s no secret what makes the Kansas City offense successful.
But that doesn’t make it any easier to stop.
“It’s going to be just like coming to your Friday night high school game when you are seeing a ‘Wing-T’ team,” Martindale said. “They run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. And that is what is making them a good team because they are feeding off of their defense’s turnovers and takeaways and they do some good things with it.”
Running backs Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones are both on pace to top the 1,000-yard rushing mark this season, leading the league’s top ground attack and taking the pressure off quarterback Matt Cassel, who has thrown 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions in his last six games.
Those stats have proved the key ingredients in the Chiefs’ unexpected rise to the top of the AFC West this season.
“They control the tempo of the game,” Head Coach Josh McDaniels said earlier this week. “They control the pace of the game and they never ever really beat themselves.”
The Broncos learned what Charles can do when the third-year running back ran for 259 yards and two touchdowns in the Chiefs’ win in last season’s finale.
Kansas City added the veteran Jones in the offseason, and he has offered a powerful change of pace to give the team the league’s best rushing duo so far this season.
The pair have combined for 1,289 rushing yards and five touchdowns in eight games.
“We know Charles, with his outside ability, but you can’t sleep on Jones, who has been one of the leaders in rushing yards for the last couple of years,” Brian Dawkins said. “They have a potent attack. The thing that we have to do defensively is tackle well.”
At times this season the Broncos run defense has flashed brilliance, such as when the unit held explosive Tennessee running back Chris Johnson under 100 yards in a Week 4 win. But in more recent losses to Oakland and Baltimore the squad allowed more than 200 yards on the ground.
Without Robert Ayers for the fourth straight game, the defense’s job becomes even tougher as they try to set the edge and avoid big runs like the 56-yard touchdown burst Charles had at INVESCO Field at Mile High last season.
With that said, the Broncos relish their opportunity to extinguish a rushing attack that has given defenses across the league trouble in 2010 as they try to halt a four-game losing streak.
“It’s a challenge and that’s what it’s all about in this business,” Justin Bannan said. “If you’re a competitor, you should welcome those challenges and see how you stack up.”
FAMILY AFFAIR
Britton Colquitt’s goal each Sunday is to help the Broncos win in the kicking game. This week the first-year punter has a little extra motivation.
When Kansas City visits INVESCO Field at Mile High, Colquitt will square off against his older brother, Dustin, for the first time.
Among the family coming to town for the occassion will be parents, Anne and Craig — a two-time Super Bowl-winning punter with the Steelers, and cousin Jimmy, who punted for the Seahawks in 1985.
“My dad — it’s his dream come true to see his sons both play against each other,” Britton said. “It’s just really cool.”
The family will arrive in town Friday night, and Britton said the group plans to get together for dinner on Saturday once Dustin arrives in Denver.
Since the specialists normally go out early to test field conditions and loosen up, Britton said he expects to have some time to talk with his brother on the field — and even trade a few pointers — before the opening kickoff.
Once the game starts, family bragging rights will be at stake — at least until the rematch in Kansas City on Dec. 5.
“It’s really exciting,” Britton said, “and hopefully for our team’s sake, I outkick Dustin and help our team win.”
The Broncos had no new additions to the injury report on Thursday.
Ayers (foot) and Andre’ Goodman (hip) did not practice and will not play this weekend. Darcel McBath (ankle), Kevin Vickerson (groin) and Wesley Woodyard (hamstring) were limited for the second straight workout.
For the Chiefs, S Kendrick Lewis (hamstring), WR Dexter McCluster (ankle), S Jon McGraw (knee) and G Brian Waters (shoulder) were limited in Thursday’s practice.
- Eric Detweiler, DenverBroncos.com
Below are some photos from Thursday’s chilly practice session:
Tags: 2010, Brian Dawkins, Britton Colquitt, Denver Broncos, Don "Wink" Martindale, Kansas City Chiefs, Week 10
DJ get a driver bro! You can afford one. Maybe he was blowing off some frustrations like all of us! Anyway like all the other bad crap this season and injuries and poor choices we must move on and serve!!
I think scripted Plays are the key for a Broncos victory this Sunday vs. the Chiefs I know we all know how well it worked for Shanahan and a another great coach named Walsh. Who invented it!! A Walsh innovation was scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game. Walsh went as far as to script the first 25 plays but most teams stop at 15. Since the offensive team knew that the first 15 plays would be run as scripted no matter what, they could practice those plays to perfection, minimizing mistakes and penalties. By ignoring situational play-calling and increasing the game tempo, scripted plays also served to confuse the defense and induce early penalties. Executing these plays successfully could establish momentum and dictate the flow of the game. It also gave the coaching staff an opportunity to run test plays against the defense to gauge their reactions in game situations. Later in the game, an observed tendency in a certain situation by the opposing defense could be exploited. Our offense MUST Jump on top and score as many points in the 1st Q will be the key as I and others have posted before know for a fact it will slow down this running KC team!!—-Just me! GO BRONCOS!! ILMSDB
FTR
Not sure if McD belives in scripted plays! I do not think he does this so its only my thoughts. Could be why we suck in the 1st Q. Maybe he will try it?
FTR
FTR says:
November 12, 2010 at 8:22 pm
DJ get a driver bro! You can afford one. Maybe he was blowing off some frustrations like all of us! Anyway like all the other bad crap this season and injuries and poor choices we must move on and serve!!
I think scripted Plays are the key for a Broncos victory this Sunday vs. the Chiefs I know we all know how well it worked for Shanahan and a another great coach named Walsh. Who invented it!! A Walsh innovation was scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game. Walsh went as far as to script the first 25 plays but most teams stop at 15. Since the offensive team knew that the first 15 plays would be run as scripted no matter what, they could practice those plays to perfection, minimizing mistakes and penalties. By ignoring situational play-calling and increasing the game tempo, scripted plays also served to confuse the defense and induce early penalties. Executing these plays successfully could establish momentum and dictate the flow of the game. It also gave the coaching staff an opportunity to run test plays against the defense to gauge their reactions in game situations. Later in the game, an observed tendency in a certain situation by the opposing defense could be exploited. Our offense MUST Jump on top and score as many points in the 1st Q will be the key as I and others have posted before know for a fact it will slow down this running KC team!!—-Just me! GO BRONCOS!! ILMSDB
This is my simple formula.
FTR
FTR…….I think that’s the key bro!
jump on top 1st and never look back!
BFE
Which network is carrying the game?
STAY FOCUSED AND DO YOUR JOB!!
It’s an AFC match up , so as always on Sunday it will be aired on CBS.
I’m generally not much of a stats man, but I couldn’t help noticing the impact of this one:
On 98 rushing plays on first down this season, the Broncos, on average, have gained just 2.93 yards.
That means when they run the ball on first down they are, on average, facing a second-and-7.
The Chiefs have run the ball 136 times on first down and averaged 6.55 yards on those plays. That means, they are on average facing second-and-about3.5 yards.
NO WONDER WE ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DIVISION!
NO WONDER THE CHIEFS ARE AT THE TOP OF THE DIVISION!
Anyhow, I said enough about the DJ’s DUI yesterday, but I’ll say that as of now McD has made no decision as to whether he will play tomorrow or not and that’s baloney.
McD, if you want to earn anybody’s respect, that is if by luck there is any left to be had, you must stand by your belief that you only want high character guys on your team, therefore you must sit DJ down for this game, THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.
Be a man for a change!
OK, LAST DAY FOR SCORE PREDICTIONS, NO PICKS ON GAME DAY.
BTW, for anyone who cares to know how drunk or dumb or both DJ was that night:
He got pulled over at 3 am because he was driving his Hummer without his lights on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bay….dosen’t the NFL decide what the punishment is and when it will be served on a player for breaking the code of conduct?If that’s the case,I heard they were investigating it,and it might take a day or 2,IDK.
I see your point tho,McD has to treat ALL the players the same,whether it’s a star player or a backup,that is the only fair thing to do,he has the right to bench a player anytime he wants too…..dumb mistakes.
McD has got to suspend DJ for at least 2 games!! If he doesn’t, he has zero credability.
How’s this for a scary thought. If the Broncos win Sunday, the Raiders will be tied with KC and the Chargers only 1 game behind them.
The NFL inflicts punishment but the team can inflict his own just like the Jets and Tennessee did benching their players for the first quarter of a game for similar incidents namely their star receivers Braylon Edwards and Kenny Britt, respectively. They may not be able to suspend him with no pay, but they sure as heck can sit his arse down for an entire game, even put him on the inactive list for the game, just saying.
How desperate is McD for a win and for his job will be the answer to that, I guess we will find out soon enough. Will he stand up to his beliefs or succomb to the fear of another possible catastrophic performance without DJ. That’s where the being a man part I referred to comes in. Otherwise, once again in this regime of McD it will be all about talk, no walk, just cheap talk.
I think it would be a mistake for McD to take immediate action and bench or cut DJ.
Thats kinda like Josh saying he is going to punish DJ by his law before the real authorities (Court of law,NFL) can make a decision…
I think Josh should concentrate on the KC gameplan. Prepare to play DJ tomorrow and let the real authorities make the punishing decisions….
If Josh makes a decision before the NFL then doesn’t that just mean that he is trying to over control the situation.
DJ messed up but he is still a good person and great team mate that needs the support of his family and team. You can’t just throw someone away for these kind of things, they need help just like any other person with a sickness.
jomho
McD does as you say OC, and he loses whatever credibility he has left.
But since he has had no credibility for a long time with me, I really don’t give a rat’s arse to tell you the truth, just thought I would lend him a hand here, but it will be too little too late anyway, I don’t call him McDone for noting, LOL.
nothing
I forgot, the Jets and Tennessee have real head coaches in Ryan and Fisher, we don’t.
OK, time for some orange kool aid drinking bloggers to come to the rescue after this mess.
broncos 24-17
DJ and the Broncos have more to worry about then a game tomorrow. How the organization reacts to this will be interesting. Sit him, suspend him, trade him, cut him?
How about support him, rally behind him and most importantly see he gets the help he so desperatly needs. That will earn McD a little credibility in my book. Or, he can do what he’s always done. And ship him out.
haha bay, I don’t call him that because I’m not allowed to….
McDone is cute though…
By no means am I excusing DJ for his actions. What he did was stupid and dangerous. We can’t turn our backs on him.
The moniker, not the man, just clarifying here, LOL.
sndvl, McD wouldn’t make a move like shipping him out mid season anyway, he has always waited for the season to be over to make those major moves, plus we are past the trading deadline, he certainly wouldn’t just give him away, then again with McD anything is possible I guess, but that would be dumb, all I’m asking for is a message needs to be sent from the organization to DJ at this point, like putting him on the inactive list for this game, there will be plenty of time to help the guy out later, but now he needs to feel some wrath, he is no baby, he is a grown man he needs to be scolded first like any brat and then he can be helped. This helping everybody out right off the bat may be politically correct but a good spanking still works in my book.
lmao! but really, I am forbidden the use of any euphuism involving so said name as it is viewed as a “personal attack” and is against the code of respect that I agreed to when I became a Broncos Country citizen.
I’ll let you free speach rebels do it for me…lol
I’m in total agreement baylin. I think he should be sat. If not the entire game, at least a half. He has to know these types of behaviors won’t be tolerated under the McD-machine. I mean c’mon, he benched Scheff for saying he couldn’t wait for the season to be over.
The fact that DJ is a captain confounds this problem. If this isn’t an example of a lost locker room, idk what is!
Anybody realize just how far south things have headed since the Champ talks ended?
That’s funny you mention the Bailey talks debacle, that’s exactly when I said that things would start going bad in the locker room, and I remembered being laughed at by a few bloggers for my comments.
Bottom line is he lost some of the locker room mid season last year, in the off season he gets rid of the troublemakers who caused it, through training camp, pre season and the first couple of game he does what he can to keep the team together, then the top brass tell him to walkaway on the Bailey talks and here we are after a 59-14 loss to the Raiders with DJ getting drunk at 3 am 2 days before a game…
And DJ just had a whole bye week to let loose…
I believe that DJ should sit out this game. He`s a team captain and this is his 2nd offense. Not cool. No favorites.
By no means should we trade him. DJ is not a bad apple, but he is making poor decisions. Hopefully he`ll learn this second time. He must be disiinened though.
oooops. Consiquences.
In this day in age of the NFL, its not to be glorified but 2 duis in 5 years aint bad lol. But yea I agree that if McD is going to stand by his high character blah blah blah, hes gotta take action and he did.
The organization is fining williams, stripping him of his capataincy and benching him for the game. might be just 1 quarter or it might be the whole game. If its just oen quarter might as well bench him for the entire game because all the chiefs are gonna need is the first quarter to pile on the rushing yards on us and he is the only one that does anythign in that front seven. He will not start, that is gauranteed.
I say fine him, strip him, but bench him, i dunno. He is gonna be suspended by the league….use him while u can i say. I am dissapointed in DJ and I can only hope he is dissapointed in himself and is aware of how he has let his team down.
Numbers so far this year:
72 Tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 fumble forced. Sure will be missed. Especially them tackles, only sure tackler. Man im dissapointed in him right now…..TRB out….
The Bronco`s should take action now. There`s no doubt that nobody feels as bad as D.J. He knows that he has let everybody down, including himself.
This is what TRB refers to, and I personally am certainly glad those steps were taken:
Broncos star linebacker D.J. Williams has been stripped of his team captaincy, fined heavily by the team and told he will not start Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs as punishment for his arrest early Friday morning on suspicion of drunk driving.
Benching Williams for the first quarter would follow the precedent set earlier this season by the New York Jets, who briefly benched receiver Braylon Edwards after a DUI, and the Titans, who did not allow receiver Kenny Britt to start after he was involved in a bar fight.
The team said in a statement released Saturday morning that it will leave all further discipline to the NFL.
DJ going out & partying at 3am two days before the game has got to be McD’s fault since DJ was drowning his sorrows over the bad morale lost locker room etc etc. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done it. Fire McD & all problems solved. Yeah right!
well my BSU Broncos won again so I hav some. Bronco joy !
I`ll stand behind that decision. Since this is D.J.`s 2nd offense I see the NFL suspending him 2-4 games. Let the chips fall.
As poor as a decision that D.J. has made he`s a grown man. He`ll learn. He better.
The next offense he`ll be suspended for a year.
Keep the faith, keep the faith, keep the faith!
We’ll win tomorrow, we have to! Otherwise some of you guys are going to explode.
Either way, just enjoy the ride. If we lose, McD will be on the way out and you’ll get what you want. And high picks. If we win, the pain might start to fade.
We’ll be left with lots of young talent either way and I’m still glad Cutler, Marshall et al are gone.
UK
wow here we go again now we have to stop the 1 rushing team without our best lineback good luck out there denver and i hope the o aleast show up
strandofts….I agree,there’s a reason he was voted captain,so he needs to be a role model for the younger players,and there is no excuse for it,and you can’t pin this on McD,as bad as people want to,personal conduct is a rule ALL players must go by,NO EXCEPTIONS,but I hope McD let’s the NFL do their job on the suspension.
When it rains it freaking pours,oh well it’s 5:00,time to go drown my sorrows.LOL
BFE
I expect to see some passing from Tebow. I believe they have been working on some packages to use for Tebow in close divisional games. Tomorrow is the day! Go Broncos!
One day you might be right, LOL.
This is the ongoing results of a poll at the DP asking fans how many games they think we will win in the second half of the season, it goes to show that this blog is not the only one not giving us much of a shot:
2 at most: It’s hopeless. At least get Tebow in for some work.
8157 Votes, or 54.95 %
3 or 4: Better than the first half of the season, anyway.
4473 Votes, or 30.13 %
5 or 6: Now this would be progress.
1076 Votes, or 7.249 %
7 or 8: Playoffs are attainable, especially if the Broncos take care of their division — five games remain.
1137 Votes, or 7.660 %
Baylin you asked for an orange kool-aid drinker to post, well here ya go.
Here is why the Broncos win tomorrow. The Broncos seem to be loose and ready to have fun again, Elways pep talk inspired confidence, a week off helped heal some battered bodies, it is a home game, McD had two weeks to game plan, and I’m going to be at mile high screaming my voice out when Cassel is under center.
Chefs 13
Broncos 17