Tales From The Dark Side: Bye Week

What's that you said? Would I like some cheese to go with that whine? No thanks; I already have been chewing on the Swiss cheese that has been the Broncos defense (aka "The Dark Side") the last 7 weeks.

With that said, though, let's breakdown the Broncos defensive rankings at the almost half way point in the season:

·           Points Allowed Per Game: 32nd at 32.5 pts per game

·           Yards Allowed Per Game: 30th at 394.6 yds per game

·           Rushing Allowed Per Game: 29th at 154.6 yds per game

·           Passing Allowed Per Game: 28th at 240 yds per game

·           Passing Completion Percentage Allowed Per Game: 32nd at 72.9%

·           Total Forced Interceptions: 29th with a total of 2

In other words, the Broncos have a lot of work to do not only in the bye week, but for the remaining 9 games. The two most devastating effects for the defense to overcome are obviously the loss of team Bailey (Champ and Boss). Champ completely eliminated an entire side of the football field from the opposing QB passing pattern. Now, QB's will have the option to throw to either side of the field. In addition, probably the best tackler on the defense and pretty much eliminated many sweeps or tosses to the running backs to his side of the field.

So how do the Broncos leadership part the red sea of carnage on the current state of the Broncos during the bye week and for the remainder of the season?

The Broncos need to stick with one scheme for the rest of the season. The large holes we are seeing running backs run through are similar to last year when Broncos defenders were trying to figure out which gap to fill in a new defensive scheme.

Additional depth players I would like to see are Jarvis Moss, Jack Williams, and Tim Crowder. I would like to see them get more reps. The Broncos need to know if they should cut their losses or not by the end of the season, and to do that, they'll need to see if these guys can actually play besides the few reps they are being given now.

Overall, this is how the Broncos can cover their defensive shortcomings for the rest of the season:

·           Maintain a base 3-4 defense to disguise the blitz, and bring 5 guys every down. They need to get pressure on the QB to cover the weakness in the secondary.

·           With the constant blitzing, keep the corners off the opposing receivers to allow them to keep the play in front of them. Make those opposing offenses earn those points.

·           Keep two safeties deep even if it means giving up 10 yard rushing/passing plays. It seems that by bringing the safety up into the "box", the opposing rb's tend to get 20-30 yard gains since no one is playing deep as a last line of defense. Basically, the last line of defense seems to stop at the "box" allowing free roaming by the rb and/or the wr to gain the red zone on one or two plays.

·           Cutler and the offense need to develop a running game to keep the opposing offenses off the field, and when a 5 yard passing opportunity shows itself, they should take it. This will lead to long drives and posting as many points as possible to make the opposing offenses one dimensional with the remaining time left to move the ball down the field.