Denver Broncos' Scheme Overview For 2009

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

It’s been said that schemes in football are cyclic. It’s also a fact that the NFL is a copycat professional sports league of sorts. As soon as one team finds a way to put a leg up on the competition, other teams immediately try to imitate the type of success the winning team has. 

In order to pull off wholesale changes in philosophy, a team has to be loaded with a versatile talent pool. 

In the NFL it can be hard to teach old dogs new tricks, so any team that implements changes in philosophy usually winds up being a younger team.  Such is the case with the 2009 Denver Broncos as they strive to overcome the shortfalls of the last decade.

Under Josh McDaniels the Denver Broncos have already seen wholesale changes across the board. The Broncos are expected to have a new philosophy on offense and defense, in part due to Josh McDaniels and his version of The New England Way.

On Offense

The strength of the Broncos passing game was Jay Cutler’s rocket arm the last two seasons. Jay has poor technique in where he positions the ball and how he would go about making his reads from time to time. 

This costs the Broncos dearly and more than likely cost Mike Shanahan his stay in Dove Valley and caused a rift between McDaniels and Cutler.  This of course lead to the eventual trade of Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Kyle Orton and a few high draft picks. 

Jay Cutler wanted more say in what happens on the offensive side of the ball and Josh McDaniels played the power card as he wasn’t having any of it. However, it’s important to understand what the Broncos had, what they lost, and where they are going in 2009.

Jay Cutler could hit any spot on the field on a dime. Translated that means the deep passing game, which was slightly under utilized, has now taken a severe hit. Unless the Broncos new scheme has a counter, defenses will make the adjustments.

Jay Cutler connected on 28 passes over 20 yards at home and 27 over 20 yards on the road for a total of 55 passes completed over 20 yards.  That works out to nearly 3½ deep completions per game. 

Kyle Orton is not quite that strong as a quarterback and neither is Chris Simms.  While in Chicago last season as the starter Orton completed 18 passes over 20 yards at home (in cold and humid Chicago), and 16 passes over 20 yards on the road. 

That totals to 34 passes completed over 20 yards per game.  That works out to just over two a game.  Chris Simms had 21 in 11 games in 2005 in Tampa.  That is just under two completions over 20 yards per game.

So with the New England influence in Denver what should the Broncos fans expect? 

Consider Matt Cassel, a first time starter last year in the New England offense threw for a total of 19 completions over 20 yards at home and 18 on the road for a total of 37 catches over 20 yards. 

Those numbers are just a touch above what Kyle Orton put up in Chicago. Taking a deeper look at the line on Cassel he certainly posted some respectable numbers in New England, and that was part of why McDaniels considered trading Cutler. 

Matt Cassel’s stats in New England 2008

G  Comp Att   Comp Pct   Att/G    Yds     Avg   Yds/G     TD   Int    Sck    Rate 2008

6   327    516     63.4      32.2       3,693    7.2     230.8    21    11       47      89.4

The one figure that has a positive is that Cassel connected on 63.4 percent of his passes under Josh McDaniels last season.  On the down side, Cassel was sacked 47 times for an average nearing three sacks per game.

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