The Jaguars have had one of the top running games in the league over the past several years, and with Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor in the backfield, it’s no wonder why.
But so far in 2008, they have struggled. In last week’s game against Pittsburgh, the Jaguars’ two-headed running attack combined for just 26 total yards on the ground. The Broncos’ defense remembers last year’s game against the Jags, however, so they know not to underestimate them.
“We still know the talent they have,” D.J. Williams told reporters after Friday’s practice. “Just cause last week they only had 26 yards doesn’t mean they’re not capable of coming in and running for 100 or 200 yards. But that’s our job – to stop them from doing that.”
In that game last year, Jacksonville had an 18-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that lasted over 11 minutes. Preventing them from repeating that performance will be key in pulling out a victory Sunday, and Williams believes he knows the key to stopping that from happening again. It just needs to be implemented.
“I just say playing sound football – everybody guarding their man, guarding their gap, nobody out of place, knowing their responsibilities. Things like that.”
Williams wants to build on the success the defense had last week and carry it into Sunday’s game at INVESCO Field at Mile High. He has been impressed with the improvement of the defense so far, and now it’s just time to keep it going.
“I’ve been confident,” Williams said. “Last week, we played pretty well. We’re just looking to move forward and play better this week.”
So while the defense will analyze what things they did well in last week’s game, they are wary of looking into the past too much. In the NFL, it’s always about the next game — the next challenge. That next challenge is Jacksonville.
“The one thing we don’t want to do is become satisfied and complacent after one game,” Champ Bailey said. “This is a 16-game season. We have to do that every week. Unless we do that every week, it doesn’t make a difference whether we did it against Tampa or any other team.”
“We feel like we are heading in the right direction,” Bailey continued. “I think our coaches have done a great job understanding the talent that we have and how to utilize it. It is paying off now. We are getting better every week.”
INJURY REPORT
Both the Broncos and the Jaguars are a little dinged up with injuries, and the two teams have released their injury reports.
For the Jaguars, starters safety Reggie Nelson and center Brad Meester will not suit up this weekend. Wide receiver Mike Walker will miss the game as well. Defensive tackle Rob Meier and gaurd Chris Naeole are both doubtful. Starting cornerbacks Rashean Mathis and Drayton Florence are both probable.
For Denver, Tony Scheffler, Ryan Torain and Selvin Young are out. Ebenezer Ekuban, Eddie Royal and Josh Shaw are all doubtful. Darrell Jackson will likely see his first game action since the season opener as he is listed as probable.
– Adam Zinser, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Adam Zinser, Champ Bailey, D.J. Williams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Uncategorized, Week 6
no ekuban a very good pass rusher when healthy. no royal/scheffler/young 3 of our best offensive weapons. Torain and Shaw arent as big losses as the 4 but with all these guys out i dont think we get the W. Jax can double Marshall now. i think we lose but we’ll see
A few years ago Payton Manning the very first play of the game reared back and threw an long bomb for a touch down. Jay should do the same thing. It will demonstrate the speed of our WRs and open them up a little.
I’d love to see that but I’ll be cheering for the team no matter what.
Maverick
i say we win still. double teaming marshall just means he breaks more tackles!and i think with young out and pitt gettin more carries we see how hard he can still run for a 31 yr old and nate is decent in the passing game also if i remember right he caught cutlers 1st td of the yr
oh and i just read something on espn saying the pace jay is on hell throw for 5,000 or more and im willin to bet he still wouldnt get mvp if he does that. the broncos get no love from the nfl. right after we beat sd and the power rankings came out they had us at #7 and guess who was 6th! sd!
Tony Scheffler is made of glass!!!
ur deAD on jmonk………….the NFl “critics” and analysts are so full of it..showin no respect for Denver….
however being underated can be a good thing,,because its sweet when u end up proving them wrong BIG TIME…look at the 07 Giants…
hell, i even play Madden08 and they still show no love for the Broncos…
i’m ready to cheer my heart out for this sunday……
Hmm… well the way I see it is this: its gonna be a tuff game without some key guys like Ekuban on D, and young, Scheffler, Royal on O, but it will prove if this team has the unit to pull out a Good season this year, to me this is like a test, If we get a W against those Jags, we have to feel pretty good, Cutler can work with Stokley and Jackson who Im sure will step in nicely along with marshall’s amazing catches. Michael Pittman and Hall still will get it done in the running game, I like Pittman, hes one tought Mofo!!! and Im excited to see what he can do, hall’s speed will do us good also. Our defense proved to us last week it can get the job done, so lets get it done, Im sure we can get a W, dont forget Jags are missing some key guys 2!!!!
lets give the broncos more credit than that. I think e-royal will play, but if he doesn’t, D-JAX, Stokley, Marshall, and Nate Jackson will step up and destroy the Jags. With Cutler playing the way he is, we should have confidence in all of our offense to be able to step it up. Look forward to seeing Denver putting up 35 and holding Jacksonville to 10. Should be a great game.
those guys are beat up too and its all about who wants it more in this game. we are playing at home and after last year game they will be fired up to come and kick some ass. we have to play agressive on both sides of the ball and not make any turn overs.
The best o-line in the nfl will be taking the field against the Jaguar’s which means another win for the Broncos!
I think Young is playing good, I think Pittman is playing great.Sheffler hurts but the big money TE Daniel Graham can catch. Nate Jackson has good hands too. Our offense will be fine. Eddie Royal even tough he’s playing great doesn’t decide the game. Contain Garrard, get of the field on 3rd down and that’s a W.
With only one running back not dinged up, namely Pittman, how about a Hillis-Larsen backfield for a few plays? Larsen certainly did an outstanding job filling in for Hillis last week.
The broncos have to be the most underated team in the nfl. with the most underated players. yea so our defense makes a couple boo boos here and there. the broncs still have a pretty efficient defense. Nd as far as the offense (3rd in points, nd 2nd in total yds nd passing yds) we are byfar one of the top teams in the nfl. yet we dnt get a credit for it. as far as players… look at who came outta the 06 draft we have for of the hottest nd upcomin stars in scheiffler, dumervil, cutler, nd marshall. Marshall is byfar one of the top recievers in the nfl, nd definately the best outta the wrs in the 06 draft buh who gets all the hype? Greg Jennings!! Why?? cuz hes not a bronco! But thats ok I love the hate! Thats why the broncos are ahead in the afc west by the highly tlkd about chargers by two wins! and as far as the game on sunday we’ll be fine without sheffler. royal is supposed to play in the game. nd lets not forget we have one of the top rushing offensive lines in the nfl for the past couple years, nd Pittman is a Man among boys nd should definately get the start, he runs like its all he lives for. not to mention Sir. Shanahan is a offensive Mastermind. Well find a way to come out wit the W. Go Broncos!! Cutler For MVP
cutlerformvp say that torains injurys isnt as big, thats just silly. that guy was set to be the starter if he didnt get injured(before the first preseason game) so its not like its new news biggest hurt for us is sheffler royal will play i almost guarantee it. cutler country youre right marshal is one of the best wide recievers in the game but that doesnt take away from greg jennings, they are both very talented pros. the broncos are indeed a top team in the nfl, and as for the defense it is majorly improved and when they are both clicking at the same time which they will this year then we could easily score 56 to 0. lets be positive about the leaders of the division and lets keep up the good work. no haters on here anymore go broncos
I heard Denver switched to a 3-4 defense? Cause if it is then broncos will demolish the Jaguars. Anybody see what the Pittsburgh defense did to stop the run they played a 3-4 defense.
OUTCOME
JAC 24 Vs Denver 34. going 5-1 !!!!
GO BRONCOS!!!!!! WOOOO
I love what Shanny and Bob Slowik have done to the D. I think that moving to the 3-4 defense was a brilliant idea. I think that the players behind the D-line are really going to excell.
SO WATCH OUT BECAUSE WILLIAMS, BLY, AND MY MAIN MAN CHAMP BAILEY ARE REALLY GOING TO TEAR IT UP SUNDAY!!
PS. DOOM IS ON FIRE AND WILL LAND 3 SACKS TOMARROW!!
yea i think we should take care of business tommorow. royal will prolly play but wont be as effective. marshall is marshall hes a beast enoguh said. stokley is gonna have a huge day. darrell jackson back should help out a little bit as well. nate jackson hopefully is just solid and makes a few big plays. hopefulyl pittman/hall tear it up too. the d mainly just has to put some pressure on garrard and dont let them run it wild. and jay cutler has to just play smadrt football and limit turnovers. if we can do that i look for denver to win 34-20. GO BRONCOS
Tony G is availabe for trade. Does anyone else think that we should trade Shayne Graham and a draft pick to the Chiefs? Or maybe 2 draft picks. I mean if we have Tony Gonzalez and Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall…..What defense could stop us!!!! We could easily win 2 Super Bowls with Tony G. I think we should all push the Broncos organization to hear the fans and get him. What better place to keep the TE record? What irony that we get him from the Chiefs to win 2 Super Bowls! It’s not like we ever done that before…..wait a minute we did do that before his name was Neil Smith. Everyone start the cheer. GET TONY G!!!
Haha hey jaycutler4mvp! Denwu meant daniel graham not shane graham. Haha buh i really dnt think its necessary to go after tony G. i mean yeah he might have just passed the bronco great shannon sharpe in recievin yards by a te. buh he lets face it dudes old! nd yea he prolly still has a lotta juice in him buh there is no way u should bring him in and trade a draft pick nd a player for him. We have way too much fire power on offense. Nd scheiffler is only gone for a lil while nd he is a stud! no one needs to come in here nd f wit scheiffler for the te spot nd everyone knows tony g would want it nd prolly get it. plus graham is a great blocker nd a pretty good reciever. so i think were cool on the whole lets trade some stuff nd get another te thing. Why not tryn get a defensive player like dwight freeney or somethin to compliment dumervil on the d-line. i hear hes gonna be on the trading block here soon. U know if any trades go down it should definately be on the defensive side of the ball first. buh with all tht said lets face it the broncos arent known as a team to make blockbuster trades. i mean besides frm the clinton portis/champ bailey trade nd a couple others wuh other nfl giant have they snatched up in a trade. So i doubt any real trades will be made. plus were 4-1 they did a lot of transaction work in the off-season nd now we’re kickin ass! so we’ll see what happens i suppose! lets just get out here today nd kick some Jaguar ass! Go Cutler!!
unfortunately, the Broncos are going to lose,
we are not defensive, and start the debacle of the 2008.
The offensive is inexperienced and fragile
another year full of mediocrity