The Detroit Lions said after Sunday’s game against the Broncos that they went into the game with the plan to put pressure on quarterback Tim Tebow and the Broncos, and they did just that, registering seven sacks. All in all, that brings the total times opponents have sacked Tebow to 13 this year.
However, on ‘Elway Live’ Tuesday, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway said a lot more goes into blitz pickup than meets the eye, and the responsibility lies with the entire offense.
“The thing is, everybody can take their turns getting beat, but if you’re taking it at different times then you don’t have very good protection,” Elway said. “That’s why it’s so important for everybody to be able to hold up. So therefore, the ball’s got to get out of there quicker with a little more anticipation and those are the times we have to make big plays; receivers have to run great routes and get open quickly, catch the football and try to get it there where they can catch it and run with the ball after they catch it, and hopefully break a tackle, then you’ve got a big play.”
Elway said there are two ways the Broncos are getting beat by blitzes. One is by the opponent physically beating players. The other is defenses using what Elway calls a ‘hug linebacker.’ In that situation, the defense will blitz a player, and if the running back picks up the blitzer, then the defender who is assigned to cover the running back should he be in a position to receive the ball, blitzes as well.
While this takes more time to develop, it creates an extra blitzer for the defense.
“That usually gives you a little more time but again, you’re going to be outnumbered and one short as far as blockers,” Elway said. “So when that’s the case, the ball’s got to get out of there quicker.”
Elway said that recognizing and executing plays against blitzes is part of the learning curve of young NFL players. Of the Broncos’ 11 offensive starters Sunday, seven have three or less years of NFL experience, and only one player has been in the league for more than four years.
“That’s the learning curve in this league,” Elway said. “This league is so much faster than any young guy that is coming out of college has seen before. The speed of the game, down-in and down-out, is much quicker. So it’s the learning process and that’s why you see these guys mature year three, year four, because now they understand the speed of the game, where they have to be, and the expectations of them getting to their spots.”
SECOND QUARTER IMPROVEMENT
Elway also identified another area in which the Broncos had room to improve.
In the second quarter this year, Denver has been outscored 83-20. The Broncos often start games well, as they did against Detroit Sunday. The offense drove down the field, nearly scoring a touchdown on a play that had to be reviewed, before kicking a field goal. Elway said the team needs to keep that momentum going.
“Our issue is that we’ve struggled in the second quarter all year long,” Elway said. “We’ve had a tough time sustaining anything we’ve done in the first quarter and carrying it into the second quarter. So looking at that first drive, everybody was encouraged, but then, from that point on, we stalled offensively.”
TWO GAMES BACK
But despite the loss, the Broncos are only two games out of the division lead with Kansas City’s victory Monday night over San Diego. The Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders all sit at 4-3 and the Broncos play all of those teams in three out of the next four games.
“You never know when it’s coming,” Elway said. “There’s always hope that we’re going to start playing really good football and start getting some turnovers and do some things to get us going that put us in a position to win games. There’s no question, going into playing the Raiders and Kansas City the next two weeks, if we can win the next two, then we’re right back in the hunt for the division.
“But we got to take it one game at a time, and it’s the Raiders this week.”
To listen to the entire ‘Elway Live’ podcast, in which Elway talks more about Tebow and young players getting playing time and previews the Oakland Raiders’ matchup, click here.
You can also check out all the previous episodes of ‘Elway Live’ by going to www.DenverBroncos.com/ElwayLive.
-Kenny Legan
Tags: Blitz, Elway Live, Oakland Raiders, Second Quarter, Week 9
Urban Meyer would not change the O he believes in and Harbrough was a NFL QB and had a pro style Offense at Stanford. the Spread Meyer runs is a college Offense
Detroits Dline going into the bronco game was playing horrible…check the games before and see how many sacks they got? zip all….i dont like Orton but to say he didnt face any good Dlines is ridiculous..the raiders have one of the best Dlines in football.
Luck has no reason to stay in college anymore…he stayed this year to finish his education and get his degree..he graduates this year…his father already said its his last year at Stanford…his Oline is all going into the draft.
weber will never play a down as Denver Bronco plain and simple. Quinn will get at least 3 starts unless Tebow gets it together. McCoy should hopefully be gone after this season unless he pulls his head out of his a$z and revamps this playbook.
LAX made a great point about the Oline…almost 5 games with Orton they give up 8 sacks. With Tebow less games and 14 sacks. yet tebownites are in denial about this. same Oline.
I`ll be wearing my raider Hater shirt on Sunday and sporten it with pride. Kill the Faiders!!
Luck is a very good QB, but their is also about 6 or 7 other very good prospects coming out next season. Luck is for sure coming out this year hes already said that, and why risk injury? Look what Ponder and Dalton are doing this yr 4th or 5th qbs taken in the draft, Newton is doing very well also everyone said he would fail. The thing is with college qbs now days are running pro style offenses and now they are more pro ready, so back to luck and all the other qbs they will be good nfl qbs. And as far as TEBOW lax hit it on the head, his mechanics wont let him throw the 3 step drops, its even to slow for screens lol. I hate to say it but he isnt ready to play rt now, putting him in was premature totally, he needs another yr or two just to throwing motion if he even can.
My wife and I will be at the game for our wedding aniversery. I seriously hope the ol’ Broncos can pull it off against a leaderless Faider team.
Nice that some other fans like actually get what I say lol I;m not a Tebow hater… But I don’t believe in him for the next 2 years
How many years have you been married? That is a great way to spend it!
I am amazed at how people defend Tebow so vehemenently even when facts are placed in front of them.
RIGHT???
The same can be said of those who defended Orton when the facts were placed in front of them too.
Either way, we have a QB issue here and it needs to be addressed. We also need to address our OC issue.
He’s our QB, so i’m defending him. When Orton was our starter I defended him too. The difference is whose going to be under contract next year, criticize him all you want, but TT needs to start the rest of these games. Not just because I believe he’ll get better, but because we need to find out if he can get better.
Good luck on the surgery Bay. I had mine yesterday and am moving around the house, but slowly. Lets all hope our Broncos improve this week. my prediction Raiders 31 Broncos 10 It pains me to even write this down.
Baby steps and growing pains is what we’ll be dealing with while Tebow is starting. We have to be patient with him.
With Orton we were dealing with a vet QB who was a decent, not great, QB. But he never showed he could be THAT QB that can lead a team.
With Tebow and patience though, it’s not up to us. It is up to the powers that be. I hope he shows improvement and gets better. I’m going to wait and see and just continue to bleed Orange & Blue!
Go Broncos!!!
I’m not defending Orton we need an upgrade but Tebow is a regression plain and simple
BroncosLAX, Nov 5th will be year one (lasted longer than the Kardasian wedding lol). Traditionally, the one year aniversery theme is paper. So, the wife bought us tickets to the game. She is also a Broncos fan, which is rare here in northern california.
LAX, yah people just have to open their eyes rt LOL. Orton was boring I agree, but watching tebow the last two wks has been horendous WOW. Im not a tebow hater by far, but the fans have to listen to the coaches they were right all along.
Not defending Tebow.
Question is, is Tebow’s developement due to lack of an offseason? Lack of coaching, now? or willingness to coach now? his shortcomings or something else?
Basically, he’s been thrown to the wolves and being forced to learn on the job. What this is showing is yes he’s not ready to go now. Does that mean that he’s a flop? We don’t know. We do know his heart and desire. We’ll see if that wins out and he can improve. If not, we move on when the coaches decide to move on. And our next option is Quinn.
Since this season is lost and most likely we are out of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, shouldn’t we look toward the future, put Tebow on the practice sqaud until he agrees to start running routes and blocking and give Adam Weber a shot for the rest of the season? Given his history with Eric Decker and ability to throw a spiral I think he should electrify the offense.
I still hope Tebow can be our QB, but I have to admit, after the last two games I’m begining to have my doubts…. If he can’t be our QB, let’s not forget he broke Emmit Smith’s TD record at Florida, so maybe he could be a RB/FB?
Thanks again to all the bloggers who are wishing me good luck and buck484 good to hear you’re doing well and I’m right behind you.
One amazing thing that has been lost on us all is that this Tebow cold shower coupled with the 45-10 loss has brought us only one new blog here in the last two days, a place where we’ve been having up to 6 or 7 a day!!!! Wow. Talk about hitting reality….
Even Mike Rice has been speechless….
Elway better be in Luck’s ear about refusing to play for who ever gets the 1st pick if its not us. Then hope he can pull off the trade of the century. As of right now we do not have a decent qb on our roster. Mcdaniels has set this team back at least 5 years and if we dont get a qb asap we could be set back even further.
Lets look at something besides TT for a minute. How many Bronco starters (Offense and Defense) would start on half the other teams?
I say 4 to 6 out 22 starters. I am not a TT fan nor hater, just mad what we possibly gave up to get him. This team lacks talent across the board.
CrushNation, have to agree with you. I think if you rounded the whole team up in a bunch, threw a paint bomb in the middle, you wouldn’t get paint on more than 6 to 8 starters total and maybe a dozen or so good backups. As far as what Denver gave up to get Tebow, remember, McD was doing the drafting so I’m not really sure any of his choices would have worked out anyway!
Henryac, true about McD draft selections.
Kuper, Clady and Decker
Elvis, DJ, Von & Champ
Prater & Colquitt
(and possibly Spencer & Uncle Woodrow on ST)
You have one heck of a wife RH709. I have been trying to get my wife to take me to a Broncos game for my birthday for 5 years now…only about 12 hours from Denver and 8 from Minneapolis. Birthday is on 11/30, they play in Minneapolis on 12/4…and I still cant get her to take me…but she did get me an authentic personalized jersey as a wedding present so I cant complain too much!
My prediction:
Broncos 20
Raiders 17
Just saying some fans are expecting Tebow to need time to develop when he was a 1st round QB who should have been drafted in the 4th at best… And starters would be Clady, Kuper, Decker. Then Dumervil, Bunkley, Williams, Miller, and Bailey. As well as Prater and Colquitt.
Potential solid starters include Moreno, DThomas, Royal, JThomas, Beadles, Walton, Franklin, Then MThomas, Ayers, Woodyard, Moore IMO. I said potential, all of them could be backups potentially too…
RH709 thats what every guy wishes for right? Congrats thats great to hear hopefully the game is memorable but I know just the day will be memorable for you!
sndvl,
Decker maybe at this time. DJ no overrated for three years now.
Von net yet as a starter. 3rd down package player.
BroncosLAX you made my point. They have more backups as staters than starters as starters. This team even with a solid QB would still loose more than win.
*lose
codybleedsorangeandblue, my birthday is also 11/30.
Thanks guys.
I do have one h311 of a wife. She also convinced me to get a 2011 dirtbike when I was just going to get an 09. She said I deserved something new cause I work hard.
No disputing the fact that Tebow should’ve been drafted in a later round.
I like the kid but the former head coach who shall not be named, was extremely dumb in his moves to pick him up when he did.
And anyone else hear anything about Jim Fassel backing Tebow and showing interest in the kid? Wasn’t he Elway’s QB coach/OC early on in his career and developement? If anyone heard anything or has a link can you post it. Curious as to what was said.
And what are thoughts on Fassel coming back here? anyone like that idea?
Lucky guy! And Crush I think they all can be solid to great but all of them are inexperienced at the moment. I think we have mmuch more young potential on the offensive side of the ball then defense and really want to see this draft used on defense aside from #1 going luck lol
CrushNation. I dont understand wat DJ has to do to be just rightly rated. He is not overatted … the fact that people say he is overatted leads me to believe he is underated. No one even pays attention to him outside the broncos. But the guy brings the pain constantly, and minus he DUI u rarely hear from him. I believe he is one of our only staple talents. He has been the only constant one our D (and Champ; doom has been spuratic in comparison). Never complained about the fact that they bounce him from ROLB to MLB to IOLB in 3-4 and then back.
Sndvl, for what its worth. I agree with ur list.
Saving hyrule, you are right … his accuracy was slighly improved against the Lions from the little I saw and some highlights. I think it is all timing … when the time is down, he will be good …. not super accurate but not this hourendousness we are witnessing.
horrendous*
btw, do these guys still practice? no blog up yet. And we all know they can use the practice lol.
TRB
http://www.denverpost.com/paige/ci_19225621
Dennison or Bust for me The Texans are mediocre again which spells the end for Kubiak… Bring him back if he will take OC again but he could get HC consideration for sure… if not then Dnnison as our OC/ Asst. HC
TRB I couldnt agree more other miami backers like john Beason get the lime light but not DJ he has had his share of off field issues but the guy is a stud and only makes plays you never see him missing asignments only making big hits… he is underrated and undervalued
Lax, nice article … and for the record … I was pro dennison … He is a bronco through and through and knows how to run our style of offense … great zone runs, great role outs, utilizing TEs … but JE went with the safe vet instead. I still dream of a dennison running O … but Foxes run O has been effective too and we needed a defensive mind to draft D for us … so nothing but love for Fox … just too old schooly at times. If we could get Dennison over here as OC … runnign the offense fully and completely, his offense … I would be happy … but thats a pipe dream … TRB
Appears McGahee practiced today … dunno how I feel about that. Hear he will have a cast on hand. In the game he got injured in he fumbled … I like his chances of holding on to the ball less with a cast on. He should hold off till chiefs game. Moreno and Ball did a decent enough job together clocking over 120 rushing yards.
Sndvl, would be nice if Hillis came back home … however the way they are talking about his hunt for money, and his disregard for community and his injury prone and slow year … dunno. Still like the kid … but depends on how much he asks for.
TRB
If Houston misses the playoffs again then I think it will happen… Dennison is more likey since he was OC but they need to offer the Asst. HC title
I will have to disagree with him missing assignments. He does make alot of tackles but they are always 7 yards pass the line of scrimmage.
His best days are behind him. Dennison for HC was who I had hoped for this last time around.
Best of luck, Bay … any surgery is a risk … we’ll be waiting patiently for your healthy return …
Until I see SOMETHING to hold on to, I’m going to pick against the Broncos … one of these games, I will be pleasantly surprised … just not this week, I don’t think … although w/ the Raiders QB situation, they are suspect too … but the players around whomever is their QB are better, in my estimation … and I think their coach is better, sorry to say …
Anyway – Raiders 23 – Broncos 13
Well DJ is the week side LB he is cleaning up others missed assignments
Thanks for the link LAX.
Good read.
I remember hearing Fassel’s name in the mix to come back here and I thought that would be a good thing. Especially, when the word was that the organization wanted to get back to it’s roots, get back to what made us a winner. Plus, he’s a proven coach. Not to say Fox isn’t, he is too.
That would be a hell of a combo though. Fox HC, Fassel back as the OC to work with whomever the QB is. and keep our DC, he’s showing something with a mixed bag of talent and age on the D. giving him 1 more year and a solid draft, our D could be fierce again.
good luck bay. But why is every getting upset with the way our team is performing. I’m over it because our team did not do any big moves during FA to show any promise. Maybe next ,next, next year but that might not even happen. But I’m die hard bronco n when we are an elite team once again I’m still going to be here.