The Broncos showed their defensive flexibility during Sunday’s win against New Orleans. At times Denver mixed things up by implementing a 3-4 defensive scheme instead of the team’s traditional 4-3 formation.
The team’s four linebacker alignment allowed them to utilize different defensive groupings allowing Jamie Winborn to join Boss Bailey, D.J. Williams and Nate Webster as a member of the linebacking corps. With so much talent on the defense, Williams said switching between schemes lets more of that talent see action.
Photo: Eric Lars Bakke
“We broke that out because Jamie Winborn played a very good game against the Raiders and then Boss game back and Coach rewarded him,” Williams said. “We’ve got so much talent that we want to get everyone on the field, so we made up a package to try to get everybody out there. Me, Nate, Boss and Jamie. It’s hard to just have talent sitting on the sideline when you can have him out there. We used it a few times at the beginning of the game and it helped us.”
The different looks not only allow the Broncos to shuffle their personnel groupings on the field, but the contrasting formations also keep opposing quarterbacks on their toes not knowing what scheme to prepare for. In a 3-4 scheme the quarterback doesn’t know which players will be rushing as opposed to a 4-3 when typically the front four rush, limiting the coverage variations for the linebackers.
“It’s just a little different look and a little different scheme,” Head Coach Mike Shanahan said. “It was a change-up for us, and we have different game plans each week and we will throw in a little wrinkle here and there. We are not necessarily a straight 3-4 defense even though it appears to be. Everybody does things differently in passing situations and it was something that we worked on this week that I thought it looked pretty good.”
The ability to switch freely between defenses allows Denver to tailor its defensive schemes to the different styles of offenses the team goes against week to week. Winborn said he thinks the 3-4 can be particularly successful against pass heavy offenses.
Photo: Eric Lars Bakke
“You’re putting a lot of speed on the field, that’s one thing that (a 3-4) does for us,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of things we can do out of it — we can blitz, we can drop back into zones, we can mix it up with some rush zones — we can do it all, really, out of it. We’ve just got to keep working at it and keep fine-tuning it.”
Not one to give out his game plan, Shanahan declined to say how much the Broncos would utilize their alternate defensive scheme — if at all.
But if the 3-4 is called upon Winborn said he feels as though it can be another weapon to add to the team’s defensive repertoire and if it is in the mix the defense will be prepared.
“I hope so. I hope we can. It will be a mix-up. We’ll always have it available and whenever Coach wants to call on it, we’ll be ready.”
Off To a 3-0 Start
The Broncos are off to the team’s first 3-0 start since the 2003 season and they are one of the five teams in the NFL to start 2008 with three wins.
Last week Shanahan gave his players a rundown of all the 2-0 teams that have failed to make the playoffs and all and the 0-2 teams that have gone on to deep playoff runs and Super Bowl success, just to make sure his team wasn’t too caught up in its fast start.
So what are the playoff odds for a 3-0 team Coach?
“I know it’s better than 2-0,” Shanahan said. “I can’t tell you those percentages, but it’s sure nice to be 3-0. I think our guys are realistic: We have a ways to go. We’ve had a good start, we’ve made some strides, but we’re from where we want to be. “
Shanahan’s players seem to agree. Although they admit a 3-0 start is nice, the season is long from over and they feel as though there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We’re feeling good about ourselves and what we’re doing, but we have to understand it’s just three games and we’ve got 13 more,” Brandon Stokley said. “If you let up at all, you’re in trouble. So we’ve just got to keep going in keep getting better. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of things we saw in the film that we need to correct, and that’s our job right now — just keep improving.”
Through the first three games the Broncos have put up the league’s most productive offense in terms of points scored and second most in yards per contest. But in comparison they have also surrendered the third most points and fourth most yards defensively.
“You are always happy to be 3-0,” Shanahan said. “You take a look at a game where a team gets 500 yards of offense then you usually get guys that are not playing as hard as you would like. But when you get guys playing at that level and that intensity, even though they did rack up that many yards, then you have a chance to get better.”
Though the Broncos have given up a lot of yards defensively, Shanahan said they have been able to come through in the area the team has focused on the most – rush defense. Last season Denver gave up the third most rushing yards in the NFL, through the first three games of 2008 the team is in the top half in total yards given up.
“You have to be able to stop the run to have a chance to have a good defense, and we did that holding (New Orleans) to 3.5 yards per rushing attempt,” Shanahan said. “That is where you start. We will get better with our pass defense as time goes on. We are doing a number of things that are new in comparison to a year ago. It just takes some time. If we have the effort that we had overall, offense, defense and special teams, good things will happen for our football team.”
-Jake Grilley, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: D.J. Williams, Defense, Jake Grilley, Jamie Winborn, Mike Shanahan
Loving these updates!
How stupid can you get??
The game must have looked a lot different to the players on the field because for us fans at home it looked like our little 3-4 experiment failed MISERABLY. Giving up 500 yards, yea great job guys. Be proud. Seriously, that was ugly. Who’s the guy that is deciding that we should try take away our strengths and use as many players as we can OUT OF POSITION?
I can see the conversation now…Hey I know! Let’s have Dumervil drop into zone coverage where he can be matched up on D.Sproles! That should be a good way to generate Ø pressure and open up the field for the chargers to get an easy td. Yep worked perfectly, just like I drew it up.. Now how bout against the saints we use a zone 3-4?! No, we can’t use a 3-4, we dont have the personnel for it.. Personnel smersonnel Who gives a s***! We can’t get any pressure with 4 so let’s try 3 linemen and 4 backers, but here’s the kicker.. WE DON’T BLITZ ANYONE! huh huh?? And we’ll top it off with NO MAN COVERAGE! Brilliant!
As I watch the giants get 7 sacks from their front 4 and the eagles super blitz D create all kinds of pressure and get 9 sacks or whatever they got on big ben yesterday, I cry a little bit inside. Our offensive execution and gameplanning has been great for the most part, but we need balance. Our defense is playing ‘just enough’ and needs some serious serious attention in the weeks/months/years to come. I don’t think we need a great D, obviously that would be nice, but right now we could dominate the league with an ok/decent D. What I see at this point, we are not there yet.. But my fingers are crossed.
I don’t care how we win, as long as we win. GO BRONCOS!!!!
ok the 3-4 blows. sorry.
unless however.
you keep d-rob in the middle.
elvis and engleberger on the edge.
and add jarvis moss on the outside.
i know he only had one tackle in the game.
but it was the last tackle of the game and it was pretty good.
plus. hes fast.
and tall. blitz him, put him out in coverage.
it wont matter hes going to make a qb think twice about throwing it.
I share the sentiment that defense SUCKS for the 500 yards….
but as what shanny said that there will be new packages in defense which means some experiment along the way…there will be setbacks but the important thing is that by next it should be corrected so that we can say that the experiment works just fine…lets give shanny the benefit for his new d-schemes since so far we are 3-0 and shanny has been proving his words this season….
GO Broncos!!!!!
screw Vic.carrucci….. by week 7 you will be joining the bronco bandwagon…..
pinoy-bronco-fan
Why couldn’t we have done what traditional 3-4 defense’s do and blitz the OLB’s? As if we have good enough personnel on the DL to rush just 3 men …
It really was a terrible experiment, and if we are going to keep the package, I would much rather see what Jarvis Moss has to offer at the OLB position.
Our D made 2 really good offenses look phenomenal. I’ll be worried if they make KC’s offense look good next week. Barring that, I won’t worry unless we still have the same issues heading into the last third of the season. If it’s not coming together by then, playoffs won’t be a happy time for us.
When our defense was stopping San Diego and NO in the first half of each game, the defense looked great. Even the announcers said on the broadcast, “Why are they just rushing 3 men? Go back to what was working before”. Don’t fix (or experiment in this case) what is not broken.
Sorry but i believe in this team! I personally thought it was the best scheme for the game, since Drew Brees is notorious for making huge plays off of blitz’s hence the 78 yard pass on Manual they caught us man to man had we not blitzed we mightve only gave up 15 or less. If alot of people would spend time going to home page and listening to the players they will find the defense recognizes alot of the problem is communication on the field. So i say Believe in the team even the Defense they are Professionals and they will fix the problem. Keep Up the GOOD WORK BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!
Trust in Shanny!
I liked the idea of the 3-4 and the defensive scheme. But we have to put the right players in position. Like Jake Williams should be playing the nickleback position in the 5-3-3 instead of Karl Paymah. Our linebackers needs to be blitzedmore in the 3-4 package to get pressure. But your safeties are getting beat like a drum in coverage. We just need to work the kinks out.
Coverage definately needs to tighten up. We can’t go blitz happy if we can’t cover. We are giving up too many big pass plays.
For the most part——The defense sucks !!!! This could be the worst defense we have had in years and we have had some awful defenses!!!!! The bottom line here is that we dont get any pressure on the QB.Opponents are getting all day to drop back ,set up ,scan and throw.JAY can feel ELWAY’S pain right now.He can bomb for as many yards and touchdowns all he wants,but it means a bunch of nothing if the D can only generate 2 three and outs the whole entire game.Can anybody say Gregg Robinson??Looks like he left an old playbook laying around and Slowik found it !!!! Shanny needs to re-evaluate Bob with the quickness.Defensive play is critical at this early point in the season,it has to turn around !!!!Especially while I’m watching the bolts Smash FAVRE 31-14 in the 2nd QTR!!!! They are banged up and still gaining ground on us in the standings.I’m pissed !!!!
i cant wait tell the kc game i have tickets i live in wichita ks
i cant wait tell the kc game i have tickets i live in wichita ks
go broncs
Your right SCARY!!!
Come one people… LAST year the team was losing and we were crying… THIS year the team is winning… AND WE’RE STILL CRYING!!!
Give time to the defense to get better because you can’t expect a team to be bad one year and be great the next one.
They know they have work to do and that’s why they’re trying some new stuff to get better. Obviously it didn’t work yesterday but they will find something, I really know that.
2 close call games in a row, where we clearly bow them out in the first half. something needs to get done about your defenseive coach!
d unit doesnt deserve to be on this site hes not a fan. its week 3 we just need some games and 3 and 0 no matter what the score or circumstances is fine by me. let them think they can throw it pic 6s every game baby!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah ummmmm…………….I dont care how we do it, or wat we need to change but seriously 21 – 3 and then seriously win by 2 points that is REDICKEROUS!!!!!!!! OUR DEFENSE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If we bring this defense to san Deigo in week 17 WE ARE SCREWED! and i hate to say it but watching the monday night game right now, san diego is cuming back like they did last year! Remember
“Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships” i dont know about you guys but I WANT A CHAMPIONSHIP, not the PLAYOFFS! srry had to get it out! Broncos for life tho!
toooooooooooo many haters we played good opponites both them games and won get outta here i dont wanna read that stuff you guys are crazy
go broncos good job team 3 and 0
doesnt matter if you win by 1 or 50 its the same in the record book go broncos
whos first in the afc west?
you guys are acting like you dont know the answer
We RoCk!!!
Broncos are in first place baby!!!!!! I am with bailey, lets stop crying, norv turner is a crybaby and we dont need to be acting like him, 1-2, or 3-0, i will take 3-0 any day!
i agree with alot of you i watched the chargers and they did what i expected a good team to against a bad team like the BRETS!!!!!!! all the espn analyst will start turning on us and jump on the chargers bandwagon cause the samething thing happened last year they start off slow but they finish strong. we need make sure we dont take the foot off the gas pedal and keep pounding teams in the first half and when it gets to the second half slow it down with the run and play solid defense by applying some pressure elvis dumervile cant do it by himself teams are gameplanning against him this year so his production so far has not been great we need to bring some of that orange crush mentality when we had al wilson and start punching teams in the mouth get physical cause defense is what wins championchips people ask the giants thats how they beat the so called best team ever the patriots. after all said we must believe in our team and the system it will come along i mean what else can we do fire the defensive coordinator that wont solve anything. so believe the time to really worry is this upcoming game against the chiefs if we let them score more than 20 points and get more than 250 total yards then worry about the defense because the chiefs are fighting with the rams to be the worst team in the league all around offense,defense and special teams their horrible so the score for the game should be something like 38 to 13
p.s. all the denver bronco haters AKA the whole espn crew besides tom jackson can suck it cause at the end of the season their the same ones who will be on the band wagon talking about how good we are.
about the 4-3 or 3-4 its a nice switch up if we can master both defenses but i prefer 4-3 defense cause thats what were built to be good at its good to keep opposing offenses on their toes and if it can help us apply some much needed pressure then so be it either way BRONCOS ROCK!!!!!!!!! keep it up team.
13-3 if the Defense gets better……….
I’m just watching the late SportsCenter Monday evening and for the record, TJ has been joined by Steve Young and Trent Dilfer on the Bronco bandwagon. Of course, ex-quarterbacks think we’re the real McCoy, they are the smartest players on the field…..Anyway, we are 3-0 and that’s a good place to be. The defense must improve and it will improve. There’s no need for negativity. Let’s also remember that the Chargers (which we saw confirmed tonight) and Saints can put points on anyone, and we evaded both of them for a 3-0 start. Let’s just keep pressing forward and blow San Diego out of the water. Next up are the pathetic Chiefs who we should dominate, so 4-0 is forseeable. Go Bronocos!!!
Im from NZ and even I know that the defensive scheme SUCKED EGGS!!! I stood there are watched Bush and Bree’s run loose on the Defence… I know a wins a win, but F@#K when you give up 500 yards you better be lookig to WALMART for a new pair of briefs… I thought we upgraded our D with the likes of McCree, Boss Bailey, Manuel and Robertson? Why switch schemes when we signed DT that fits the 4-3 better than the 3-4? Our scheme wasn’t broken last year, it was the Def coach and his “Harry Potter” plays that stuffed us… IF IT AIN’T BROKE…… I am stoked at 3-0 but if we don;t fix this “red sea” of a Defence we could be looking at another failed season.
On the 3-4 Def…
the whole idea of the 3-4 against the pass is that the offense never knows where the 4th (or 5th) rushers are coming from. You lose that advantage when you only rush 3! D. Rob as nose tackle??? He was mostly ineffective and uncomfortable in that role at NYJ, that’s why we brought him here, to excell in the 4-3- again another advantage lost. I don’t care if you drop 11 into coverage and have every receiver double and triple covered, if there ain’t any pressure on the QB, someone’s going to get open and passers like Brees and Rivers (and Favre) are going to burn you! Once you’ve got a big lead, you need to take a few chances (against the Saints, there was only ONE significant blitz- big pass to Meacham) and knock that opposing QB on his butt. You’re giving up yards and points anyway, at least make the QB pay for it, and think twice before he tries again!
Yes, a win is a win, and we’re 3-0, but we can’t keep this up much longer. The D was exhausted at the end of the last two games, and they won’t have any gas in the tank by mid-season at this rate!
the defense really needs to work something out becuase we are a missed ref call and a miss field goal away from being 1 and 2 right now. just like last year we are not putting any pressure on the QBs but thank god our offence is way better this year. so i think in conclusion PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE. we are LACKING lots of that.
Sounds like we have a lot of fake fans, I don’t care if the rest of the season goes like this. As long as we win I’m happy. GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Mike gets paid good money, he knows what he is doing!!!!!
It really doesnt matter what scheme we run, we dont have the right personel and the coaching is a joke. We have the LB’s to run the 3-4 but not a real NT. In the 4-3, we dont have anybody that can bring any pressure except for Elvis.
The secondary looks like a joke because they have them playing in these ridiculous zones. Paymah trying to cover Gates, like that was ever going to work.
Shannahan screwed this team when he brought in Baily and Bly. The money would have been better spent on some real pass rushers. It doesnt matter if you have the best DB’s in the game, give the quarterback all day to throw and they will be beat.
It is early in the season!!!! That’s why we practice!!! Its practice, come on its just practice!!!! But…….. “practice”!!!!! lol. We will be better in about three weeks. That’s why we practice!! right ha ha -Iverson
Why is Manuel our starting strong safety? He looks lost in the field. He is slow, can’t cover, or can’t hit like a strong safety. He hits like a little CB. Abdullah should be in there. He got great speed for a safety and hits like a LB. Sure he might miss a tackle or two but it can’t be worse than Manuels play. He can’t even make it to the tackling position.
I do like the 3-4 D. We just need to use it like it is suppose to. Heavy blitz for all sides. We is the D when we used to bring 10 players to the line of scrimmage. It made the O-line and the QB guess. That would work alot better with a 3-4 D. You would have more options. Dummervil, D. Robertson, and Marcus Thomas on the D-line with our LBs and sub in Moss at OLB.
Go Broncos. Kick the Chefs Butt this week. Ill be on a cruise ship. Hope they have satellite with NFL pass.
One more thing. I like the 4-3 D as well. For god sakes can’t anybody beat out Engelberger for the other D end job. He can’t do anything but tackle somebody 5 yards pass the line of scrimmage. Moss, Crowder, or Ekuban? Ekuban had a good game when he was in there. Hopefully he is healthy enough to play more soon.
3-4 or 4-3, the Defense has been bad but they had a couple big stops against the Saints.. at key points in the game!! The goal line stand and the HUGE 3rd down stop to force the FG attempt near end of game. I think that the offense and game plan can help our D a bit more. Jay and Brandon are unstoppable!! Why cant we run the ball more? It should give our D more of a break. Yes, we are scoring too fast!! We have been fairly effective running the ball and if running the ball leaves us in those dreaded 3rd and longs… we have Jay and Brandon!!
well the real key is we stopped the saints when it counted.if we can build of that momentum we should be riding high plus look at our schedule ahead.I have a strong feeling that this is a special group they just need to mold better,I mean how many years have we switched d-coordinators.I think it’s been 3,anyways they should be fine by the time we reach week 6,go broncos and god bless the 2005 draft
To the people questioning what kind of fans others are…wow, you’re idiots.
“Umm, I think we should support our president in all of his decisions. His job is hard enough” -Britney Spears
How’s that going? Point is, things aren’t perfect, and we’re extremely lucky not to be 1-2 because our defense is atrocious. Actually, what’s worse than atrocious. Astronomically horrendous? Ya, that sounds right.
I’ll give them time. I’m not calling for anyone’s head, only noticeable improvements. If we give up 350 yards and 20 points to KC, I’ll hand deliver Slowik’s pink slip.
The 3-4 is the right move but wrong personnel. It should be RE Thomas DT Robertson LE Peterson. LOLB Bailey MLB Winborn MLB Williams ROLB Elvis. You can’t put a guy that weights 260 at DE in the 3-4. Elvis will be a monster as a edge LB rusher! Just little tweaks and it will be unstoppable.
We won guys! Give them a little credit. The second half adjustments is a key area that we are loosing. The 3-4 to 4-3 makes the other team have to be ready for both. It is a great idea! The 3-4 is a run stopping D normally. You get to put more weight on the field. The 3 linemen are 3 DT’s and the Outside linebackers should rotate between Elvis, Moss, Bailey and Williams. Rush 4 and 5 guys…you create pressure and don’t leave yourself to exposed. Don’t listen to the haters! We did great with it in the first quarter but after they get the sky pictures the Offense will adjust…when they do we can be back in the 4-3 and always be a step ahead. So glad they are getting more creative. Rushing 3 is where is messed us up. Go Broncos!!
Keep something in mind! if the D gives up 500 yards but stops a team from the 1 that would have scored a touchdown or recovers a fumble and score a touchdown, I think we can say we win! you win by the final score not the total yards allowed, we stop them when it counted most and we won the game.
Look at all the haters!!!! I would expect this if I went to a chiefs/faiders/dolts message boards, but I can’t believe I am seeing this here. I have to say we might have the worst fans in all of football. Look, we are 3-0, if you are too blind to see that I’ll type it again WE ARE 3-0. Broncos are doing a great job at this time, and it’s going to continue. All the haters say our defense is so bad, well look how many new people are playing. If you don’t know I’ll just name some: Mcree,Boss,Manuel(this guy is still better than Adulla),Paymah(I know he’s not really new but he is always lost or just retarded) All I am saying is it takes time for a team to gel. Yeah Bly does get picked on alot, Paymah is the joke of the defense, and Manual isn’t playing the best. However I can’t say anything bad about rest of our defense. Champ is still the man, you guys just see 1 sportscenter highlight of him getting beat and think he’s falling off. Why don’t you guys ask the other teams QBs if he’s falling off, even Phillis Rivers couldn’t say that. I think as great as Lynch was, Mcree is a upgrade. I thought our our pass rush was alright, Doom,Robertson, and Engleberger did a excellent job. I don’t know why you guys hate on Engleberger, he is great. Bottom line is Broncos are a team. When one side of the team isn’t doing well the other side picks it up. Haters just wait til our defense can feel each other out, we are going to be unstoppable. Haters, stay and be a positive fan or bandwagon with someone else. I heard the Faiders are wanting more negative fans. This was just piece of my mind. Thank You
I see that the professional football coaches of America are speaking…it’s not you say, it’s fans crying about us being 3-0. wtf. a. 14 to the raider team, fewer points than a “good” Buffalo team gave up. That could not have been the Denver defense, we let EVERYONE score at will b. Did the Jets give up more points to the Chargers than the Broncos? They could not have according to the Bronco “fans” we are the worst D ever HMMM… It seems as though the Chargers have scored 110 points, did we give up 108, according to some of the crybabies up her we must have c. New Orleans is not one of the NFL’s premier offenses is it, it is ooooohh. So they are going to score points most weeks huh, interesting. The defense made stops when necessary. It is a NEW unit, out of 11 starters how many are new, maybe 6 at some points. I wish you people would have PLAYED football, or better yet COACHED successfully, you would know that all that matters is 3-0.
Basically what I am saying is no we are not perfect but at this point OUR RECORD IS!!!! Enjoy it and know that we are making strides. All you message board coaches, who don’t know a thing, can go to Oakland (which is pretty much hell) You all bash every decision, remember the “why in the world did we take Royal with Jackson available, Royal is no good, we should have taken Desean or Sweed” people. Eating their words. Or what about the “WHY is Shannahan signing Pittman” fans. The dude scores that’s why. Oh and all the “Why oh why did they let Lynch go, now he is going to be a force on another team” how’s that looking. Shut up and be a fan and support. If you want to make personnel decisions get hired by the team or go back to your nine-to-five.
Two pennies
Alright I am going to say it D.J. Williams is the most underrated LB in the league. You didn’t even hear his name a lot but he ended up with 18 tackles against the Saints.
Hey Junkyard, the chargers aren’t gaining on us in the standings. Not falling further behind does not equal gaining. And mateo32, I can’t believe you think Bailey was a mistake. Have you watched a game. QBs are afraid to throw to his side!
And to all those who are using the old adage “if it’s not broke…”, IT WAS BROKE. Last year we couldn’t stop a run to save our lives and we sucked it up in the red zone! We are considerably better in both areas. So now we need to work on covering short passes and big plays (that’s what’s really killing us).
Oh and Defence doesn’t win championships. You have to have points to win any game but you need BALANCE. And that is what the Bronco’s are working on. The Bronco’s are still winning so I say let Shanny experiment all he wants.
Correction D.J. had 16 tackles against the Saints