Monday, October 23, 2006

D-FENCE!!! D-FENCE!!! D-FENCE!!!


How good are these guys? Pretty Damn good, but will anyone outside of Bronco nation ever acknowledge it?

Assuming that my beleaguered Colorado Buffaloes offense did not steal the Browns offense's uniforms, the Broncos stifled another NFL offense on Sunday. Yes, that was the 31st ranked O in the league that the defense shutdown, but man, did they completely dominate yesterday. If not for Jake Plummer treating the pigskin like beads being tossed down to topless women on Bourbon Street, the defense would have pitched their first shutout since week 11 last year. Dammit Jake. The defense is not thumping their chest too much though because of who the upcoming opponent is; the 6-0 Indianapolis Colts lead by their fearless pitchman, er, QB Pay-me-a-ton Manning. We'll get to that match up shortly. The game in ever so lovely Cleveland got off to an auspicious start, with former Brown Gerrard Warren getting hurt (the piggie that went to market was sprained) on the first defensive snap. Fortunately that was not indicative of the rest of the blustery afternoon on the shores of Lake Erie. The defense came out and punched the Browns in the mouth, with the key play being a sack of QB Charlie Frye on fourth and 1 early in the 1st quarter. The Broncos mounted a 10-0 halftime lead and for all intents and purposes, the game was over. The Broncos were able to pin their ears back and really get after Charlie Frye, sacking him 5 times led by rookie DE Elvis Dumervil who had 3 sacks. (Dumervil in 2 games has 5 sacks, besting the team leaders from last year who shared the team lead with 4.) Champ Bailey was his same dominating self, getting yet another endzone/goaline interception. Al Wilson, DJ Williams and Ian (or Ion as Dick Enberg kept calling him) Gold stuffed former Bronco, TB Rueben Droughns all day, limiting him to 33 yards on 12 carries. Wilson had a strip of the football from Droughns that made me shout out, in my best Deebo from Friday voice, "That's my ball, punk!"

Hopefully, that's where the Deebo references stop, as most of us will remember that Deebo ended up getting "Knocked the f*$k out". This D has to raise it's game to another level as the high octane Colts come to Denver in the ever so cliche match up of "Irresistible force" and "Immovable Object" . The Colts come in with the best offense, statistically, in the AFC. This cast of characters has embarrassed the Broncos in back to back playoff games in Indy during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Things have changed since then, as the Broncos no longer have to start undrafted special teamers like Roc Alexander to cover Reggie Wayne. The 2005 draft was centered around 3 cornerbacks who have each proved worthy of their draft status, led by 5'8" mighty mite Darrent Williams, who will now have the task of guarding the aforementioned Wayne. Now put Champ Bailey on the other side on perennial ALL-Pro Marvin Harrison and this should not be the lopsided mismatch from disasters past. The key is going to be getting pressure on Manning and knocking him around some. Maybe the super rook Dumervil can continue his sack barrage and put Manning on his back side a few times. So, is this D one for the ages, or just another decent D under defensive coordinator Larry Coyer? I think we'll know the answer to that questions come 5:15MST or so Sunday evening.

Go Broncos!

A side note.....If any one has a good nick name for this defense please let me know. At this point I've not been able to come up with anything good.

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