With the beating running backs take on a weekly basis, having a one-two punch in the backfield serves as a great benefit.
Entering Week 12, the New York Giants are one of only two NFL teams to have a pair of top-20 rushers. Brandon Jacobs ranks 13th in the league with 656 rushing yards, while Ahmad Bradshaw sits in 20th place with 549 yards on the ground.
In turn, stopping that Giants tandem ranks near the top of the Broncos’ defensive priority list.
“They’re an explosive team — how they lost four in a row, I have no idea,” Mario Haggan said. “But seeing how Brandon Jacobs runs the ball, they have a change-up back with Ahmad Bradshaw, you’ve got Eli (Manning) back there — they’re definitely a good team.”
When Jacobs has needed a breather this season, Bradshaw has been right there to spell him. The third-year back has recorded four rushing touchdowns in the Giants’ last six games.
While Jacobs has yet to record a 100-yard rushing game this season, Haggan said that stat does little to stop his big-play potential.
“He definitely sets the tone,” Haggan said. “A 100-yard rushing game is big for a team, but some people overrate that. I think the effectiveness of when he does touch the ball, what he can do with the number of times that he gets it is what makes that offense go.”
Jacobs’ successful touches stem from his superior size. Listed at 6-foot-4, 264 pounds, he stands as one of the more difficult backs to bring down.
Those raw physical gifts had Brian Dawkins label a defender’s ‘want to’ as the key to tackling Jacobs.
“To tackle this dude, it can’t be a second thought,” Dawkins said. “You have to have in your head and your heart that you want to tackle him before the game because once the game starts and you see him running downhill, that is not the time you want to make the decision.”
INJURY UPDATE
While Jacobs and Bradshaw have been available for the Giants from Week 1 through Week 11, NFL.com reported on Tuesday that both backs are battling injuries.
Bradshaw is wearing a boot on his left foot, while Jacobs also hurt his right leg against the Falcons. Head Coach Tom Coughlin told reporters that Jacobs was feeling good entering Tuesday’s activities.
On the Broncos side, after missing the team’s last three games with a toe injury, there is a chance Ryan Harris will suit up at right tackle for Thursday’s Thanksgiving contest.
“We’ll see,” Head Coach Josh McDaniels said. “We’re not declaring him out at all. (We’re) certainly not declaring him out.”
Another player far from declared out is Dawkins. After leaving Sunday’s game against the Chargers, the 14-year veteran said his neck was fine and that he planned to practice on Tuesday. He also hopes to be on the field for the Giants game.
“We’ll see,” Dawkins said. “That is the plan.”
A spectator during the team’s practices last week with an ankle injury, Kyle Orton is moving closer to a full recovery. Orton said on Tuesday that he plans to not be limited in any of the team’s activities leading up to Thursday.
McDaniels mirrored Orton’s thoughts, stating that the next 48 hours will most test the team’s mental readiness.
“(There is) not going to be a whole lot of tempo in terms of physical (work) today and tomorrow,” McDaniels said. “It’s a lot more mental today and the same thing with Wednesday. He should be able to do everything we’re doing. We expect him to be healthier on Thursday than he was last week.”
A full injury report will be revealed later this afternoon, along with a top story detailing more from Dove Valley. For now, here are some photos as the team took the field for Tuesday’s practice.
– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Brian Dawkins, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton, Mario Haggan, New York Giants, Ryan Harris, Week 12
Hopefully Harris does play Thanksgiving, he was the piece of the puzzle the Broncos have been missing on offense. Also Lamont Jordan supposed to be back too, I know a lot of people don’t like Jordan because he lacks speed, but he’s a big powerful back capable of picking up the tough yards and touchdowns on 3rd and goal. Might as well use him if McDaniels wont let Hillis carry the ball.
Oh hillis…
Hopefully we can shut both of their backs down.
Silly Hillis, tricks are for kids
Yeah, well looks like what we say ISN’T going to change his mind. We can all hope and pray for Hillis to get his job back, but apparently we aren’t all of the same mind. I personally would like to see Hillis start and maybe give Moreno a run for his money, but I’m not sure if I see that happening in the near future
What’s going on with Hillis? After what he showed last year I thought he was going to be a part of our Offense. Is he not 100% recovered from last years injury or does McDaniels not like him for some reason?
He made some mistakes, believed he fumble and got in the coach’s doghouse, than his grandma passed and he was very close too her. He just hasn’t been firing on all cylinders at the moment. Once he does I think he will be good, I just hope it is sooner rather than later.
Hopefully he’ll play Thursday – If we get behind early, I think he may get a shot, IF HE WANTS TO, but he may not even feel like playing at the moment. We can all hope, though
C’mon Denver, we need some W’s!
one fumble? and how many has Moreno had? lol. I think Spencer Larsens injury has something to do with it also.
Yeah one fumble and several penalties I believe, he got in the doghouse at the start of the season. And Larsen’s injury didn’t help I think. But if he gets a chance and shines he will be back, plus with Moreno fumbling alot I think he may get more looks. Hopefully against the Giants whos D hasn’t been playing great.
Hillis really flourished in the zone blocking scheme. We’ve sort of moved away from it with McD’s scheme. In addition we hardly use a FB so Hillis probably would be more involved in the passing game. Yeah, I see where everyone is coming from. I’d like to see more of him also.
Damn Aussie don’t say that about the NYG D you’ll jinx us!!! lol
I had the same line of thought when we went to WAS and what happened?? We got done, and we will get done again if we do not respect a team and what they are capable of.
Broncos need to stoke the fire in the belly and get back into that headspace we were at in the first six.
I don’t know whether its the scheme or the player, I am leaning towards the later as it was working fine in rd’s 1-6 but from 8-11 its been nothing but last years rubbish. I noticed on a few plays Doom is getting double teamed and a lot of holding is not being picked up, but if he is being doubled that means there should be a weak spot which needs to be identified and taken advantage of.
To take the West back by the nuts, we need to win the next 5/6. The wins need to be convincing, not last quarter blowouts, dominance needs to be shown from the first whistle.
Hillis is like a pair of aces that is folded. Man this guy could be the tonic we need in the running game to help free up moreno.. actually I think he is exactly what we need… It will be another battle for the Broncos this week and a battle we need to win. Every game is a must win, but now we are trailing in the West, it has more impetus and the players need to recognise this and understand that we do not want to be sitting around at the end of the regular season twiddling our thumbs and hoping results go our way.. the boys need to shape thier own destiny….
I hear you Samoan, I will try not to mention it. But I agree with you, the boys need to shape they own future.
Oh also say six again, haha too funny.
Well, I’m gonna hope this one out. It’s hard right now to be a Denver fan surrounded by Steeler fans & Charger fans, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with that situation. Can’t step out into the street without a crapload of bull about how Denver “sucks”.
FAITH FOREVER, but only to Denver
Whoa, that kinda rhymed. lol BUT, I’m not gonna try and sound like John Madden when he announces a football game. Gotta drink if you want him to make any sense.
Mcd needs to give moreno more carries. he averaged 8 yards per carry last week and he only got 10 carries, and he probably woulve popped off another 40 yard run or 2. thats whats going to really help us down the stretch is if we give him more carries.
I am really concerned about the Giants’ running game because to be honest the only thing the Broncos have stopped in the past 5 weeks is themselves.
Today perhaps was a good omen I was in bestbuy trying madden 2010 its my second time playing and some guy wanted to hustle me. I played the with the broncos who are rated 70 and he was cowboys and I smoked him. Final score was 35-7 Broncos Win. Even though it was only the cowboys I still believe in greatness for this team this year.
The Bronco’s are famous for their zone blocking scheme which gave them one of the best running games in the NFL. It was often said that anybody could run the ball for Denver.
Is there any good reason why you would move away from a proven successful offensive tactic? Should we move back to it to improve the running game?
i agree with everyone on here. where the hell is hillis. that guy was a beast last year. i think after that fumble in the endzone last sunday that hillis should share pt wit buckhalter and go frm there. Use the guy hes got tons of talent
To mauibronco, Madden simulations are often immaterial, but I love the positivity. Too much negativity of late. Let’s release ourselves from the doldrums and beat the G-Men, a classy opponent. GO BRONCOS!!! Dawkins looks so awesome in his orange #20, even if we’re wearing blue Thursday.
You know we could have a good backfield tandum in McD would use Moreno and Hillis. Hillis is 6’1″ 240 and a bruiser of a back, we all saw that last season. He was just running over people, puttin his head down and plowing forward. His running style kind of reminds me of Howard Griffith’s aka “The Human Plow”. Moreno is quicker more agile at 5’11″ 210. Moreno doesn’t have the power to keep from taking a loss in the backfield. He also seems to go down after initial contact. He’s a rookie I know but he needs to work on ball secrurity and keeping his feet underneath him. What I mean by that is there have been numerous times this season where he slips in the backfield, now the grass may be damp or wet, but that’s when you have to change how you run. Then if you become successful with that tandum it does wonders for opening the playbook. You can put both Hillis and Moreno in, then the D wouldn’t know who exactly is getting the ball. Moreno and Hillis both can run and catch. Moreno needs some work blocking and pass protecting, but Hillis does a decent job of it too. You can do so much with a two back set. With only one back there you know who’s getting the ball. McD needs to switch things up, he’s moving more towards Moreno running the ball instead of anyone else. Buck does a better job of pass protecting so if he is in there you can almost guess it is going to be a passing play.
We need to play smart, physical, and determined. No penalties, win the turnover margin, run the ball, stop their run, and attack, blitz, have a good ol’ fashioned beat down. Still waitin’ for one of those this season. Really hungry for a win on Turkey Day and just a win in general. Hope we are tired of losing and ready to do something about it.
Go Broncos!!! Happy Turkey Day to all and to all, LETS GET a W.
Here we go, this is it, time to man up and take responsibility! The Broncos held a player only meeting yesterday to put everything into perspective. Both practices leading up to tomorrows game against the giants have been walk through type of practices, and I believe this will help us get back what we’ve been missing these past four weeks. We’ve lost that mental edge that we had the first six games. We have to get that hunger back without trying to do too much and what better day for that to happen then Thanksgiving. Accountability from everyone on the team is needed to pull this off. Penalties and turnovers have cost us big time and if we can eliminate that, 90% of the battle will be won. Bronco’s Please, Please, Please come out of the gates as a TEAM because their is no individual that can get this done on their own. As I have posted before, history has proved time and time again that the teams that get their act together going into December are the teams that go deep into the playoffs. I’m certainly not predicting Superbowl but one win on one day starting tomorrow could go along way towards the rest of the season.
Heres to hoping everyone on here has a GIANT feast on Thanksgiving. Go Broncos
Coach
What has happened to Doom? After tearing up the league the first 6 weeks he has essentially become non-existent. Although, then again, so has the entire D, oh, and entire O and ST.
Time for a resurgence! Time to make a run at getting a playoff spot! We need some confidence at the expense of the Giants!
GO BRONCOS!
We just need to play a very physical game to beat the Giants,if we can match their toughness,and get a couple of big plays,I think we’ll have a good chance to win…NO TURNOVERS.Their defense isn’t playing so well right now either.We need to get back on track this week,Turkey day would be a good day to do it,we can stuff ourselves,and that night watch our Broncos stuff the Giants.I just hope Orton is ready to go,I know a lot of people have been criticizing him,(including me)but we all know he’s our best chance of winning.Moreno is going to get better,but I for one think we should play hillis more,if not Buck is always ready.I’ve noticed we been playing Larson a little at fullback,that’s good considering we haven’t used a fullback much this year.GO BRONCS 7-4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OH YEAH BAYLIN…BRONCOS WIN 27-24
BFE92, got it.
Personally, I think it will first come down to whether we can stop the run or not. The last three teams we played have racked up 173, 174 and 203 yards on the ground respectively. Obviously, it keeps getting worse and if we don’t turn that run D around, nothing else will matter.
Nothing gets me fired up before a game like reading these blogs (on my boss’s dime no less). Hope we can get a lead and run the damn ball, sprinkled with a few passes down the field. We got a good look at it the last two games but when your down a few points its hard to stick to it. Here is hoping we convert 70% of 3rd downs so our D can hold NY to 20%. Oh, and score some points when we venture down to the RedZone.
I did hear on the radio this morning that domestic violence increases 20% (in the US) when a NFL team loses in an upset. Just let me say, it is never okay to hit your spouse, unless your married to Phillip Rivers.
Happy Thanksgiving !!!
GO BRONCOS !!!
This is the week we HAVE to stop the run. If we can’t stop the run the Giants backs are good enough that Eli might not have to throw a lot of passes. The run MUST be stopped if we want a chance to win the game. We need our running game to rack up some good yards too, that’ll definately help out the O.
There is an echo in here! LOL.
echo…echo…echo…echo LOL! If its worth saying, its worth repeating.
any one have any ideas yet as to why jarvis moss started last game over robert ayers?
Giants ruled Bradshaw out for the game.
I think B-Marsh is staying….He’s too passionate about being here 2 be truthful. He’ll be getting a new contract. I also belive Simms is out the door now….We WILL draft another QB and probably even keep Orton. Do people realize that Brandslater went late 4 a reason. I highly doubt McD sees him as a future over these QBs in the 2010 draft (Clausen, Bradford, Locker, Tebow, etc.). I actually believe that we might get Tebow (like him or not) 2 be truthful because of his leadership and hunger 2 win. He’s a natural-born champion. Also, 4 the last 2 years we’ve been picking up players I really liked but seemed unlikely 4 us to have (Royal and Moreno). Like Moreno or not I think he’s gonna go a long way with us. Hell that fumble that would have been a TD vs SD came from the knee of our own player.
We SHOULD have a TOP 10 DRAFT PICK because I BELIEVE The Bears (4-6) will be 6-10 @ the end of the season. They play The Vikes twice, Green Bay, and The Ravens. That guarantees a losing record! Go Broncos!
Brady 6th rd
Cassel 7th rd
Brandstater 6th rd
I don’t think we’ll draft a QB. I’d rather see us draft a good NT.
ya Ruc, sorry to say but McD doesnt pay attention to QB hype, he looks for QBs that fit a specific mold and have a specific skill set. he didnt draft brandstater to be a 3rd stringer for ever!!
ok baylin… here ya go…. my pick….
31-13 denver
moreno gets 100 yds and 2 TD’s
orton 21 for 30 for 289 yds and 2 TD’s
marshall 98 yds rec, 1TD
royal 89 yds recieving
our D has a resugence forcing 3 turnovers. and we sack manning 4 times! NY doesnt have 100 yds rushing at games end!!
GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!!
Go Broncos
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS”
BRH thank you for making me laugh for the first time all day.
–Just let me say, it is never okay to hit your spouse, unless your married to Phillip Rivers.–
As far as predictions. I am keeping silent this week. I have mine but its not worth letting everyone know yet. I just want to wish a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday to the Bronco nation.
Wow. Please hold the insults, as I clicked submit comment I was hoping for an error. I want to wish a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday to Bronco Country…
Hey…What u guys r sayin makes sense but hey….we won’t know until then. I DO think we WILL have a very pleasing pick this year though. Chicago aren’t winning 7. Even if they did that is still a NICE pick. Don’t be surprised if we pick a QB though. I think the solution is in the draft. I feel that Bradslater would be moved up on the chart after Simms’ performances if he were good enough. He’s not making that much money 4 us not to pick up a greater QB In my opinion. Only time will tell. Until then I’m focusing on the Thanksgiving win we’re recieving 2morrow. Go Boncos!
Serve us a GIANT feast 2morrow…
true… we never know what the future will bring! that being said, i believe that a high profile QB (high 1st rounder) may be a bit out of our price range. i know the team has stated they have a lot of dead money where the cap is concerned but never say never! lol
Go Broncos
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS”
So I’m going out shoppin’ with the wife on Black Friday. I sure hope we win or I’m gonna be pissed. I don’t like Black Friday all that much but my wife does and we do find some pretty good deals. I’m sort of a jerk and when people start pushin’ and shoving I return the favor. My wife gets really mad at me. Point is if we happen to lose this game I can tell you I’ll have an even shorter fuse than I normally do. LOL.
This will probably be one of the last posts I make until after Turkey Day since I’m going back to the stone age at my wifes parents. LOL.
Go Broncos!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all and your families.