December 2, 2008 11:18 PM

Broncos Inbox -- Dec. 3

Welcome, the Broncos Inbox is open. It was a surprisingly light week for the incoming queries after what was one of their best wins of the season Sunday. So, please remember the first rule of the Inbox, if you want more answers, I need more questions.

Q: I think that someone should tell (Mike Shanahan) to treat the Chiefs game like a road game. Make the players report to a hotel Saturday morning and act as if they were on the road. Spend the day in a walk thru or meetings or whatever they do on a road game. Separate them from family and friends for the entire day before the game and sleep at the hotel, bus to the game.

A: I asked Daniel Graham right after the win over the Jets - we were talking about what the team could do to keep momentum, something it has struggled to do this season especially after big wins - if the team should simply bus to Invesco Field at Mile High this Sunday.

He laughed and said it might not be a bad idea. Home games are different for players, especially young players, simply because they are responsible for more things on their own on that type of weekend - ticket requests, etc... -- and they have more interaction with the public at large.

And when people see a Broncos player it's only natural they want to talk about the Broncos, about the game coming up, about the season. And the chances of that happening are far greater at home than on the road where the team is confined to a floor or two of a hotel and no one else is allowed on those floors.

This team seems to have felt more pressure at home especially when those on the outside expect them to win. They have not won at home since Oct. 5 - a 16-13 victory over Tampa Bay - with losses to Jacksonville, Miami and Oakland since.

Of those three Miami is the only team with a winning record - at 7-5. Jacksonville is 4-8 and the Raiders are 3-9.

They just seem to press more in home games, reach for things they cannot do. They try to do too much instead of just handling their responsibilities.

On the video in addition to the turnovers that have plagued the Broncos in the games they have lost overall, I've seen more missed tackles, more dropped passes and more over-runs on defense at home. Could be coincidence, just a quirk or my mindset looking at the game may be different, I don't know, but it's what I've charted so far.

On the road, with the exception of the New England and Kansas City games, they have played with focus and concentration. Meaning players, for the most part, have handled their assignments.

The team does stay at a hotel Saturday night before Sunday home games, but the players and coaches drive to the hotel and then drive themselves to the stadium on Sunday. They report to the hotel in the late afternoon and attend meetings Saturday night.

So they are together, but then separate to go to the game.

Basically their schedule is roughly the same at home or on the road - they get to the hotel a little earlier after their flight on the road - they just travel together to the game on the road and on their own at home.

So a bus may be the answer, but tossing a fewer interceptions, losing fewer fumbles and stopping the run better in front of the home fans wouldn't hurt either.

Dr. Wolfgang Schrader in Germany went comparison shopping . . .

Q: With all the injuries piling up on defense, I was wondering and was comparing the Broncos roster with their Super Bowl teams. At that time they had very good ends, serviceable tackles, very good linebackers, some excellent safeties and medium-level cornerbacks. What is, in your opinion, more important: A strong defensive end/defensive tackle or a shut-down cornerback? This brings me to my point. Maybe center field is more important. I was wondering if Champ Baily should move to free safety and cruise the middle. As a defensive coordinator this could be great as it could drive any offensive coordinator crazy. Think about it. Champ cruising the middle, sometimes going into man coverage, sometimes double teaming a wide receiver. The quarterback can not only avoid him by going to the other side, because his coverage could change from down-to-down. He has the speed, the toughness against the run and the ball skills to come out of nowhere to catch an interception. What do you think?

A: A creative solution to be sure. The first item is positioning. If a defense chose to line a "safety'' up in man coverage to counter what it considered to be the opposition's best receiver, he will almost always be lined up where the left cornerback should be, which is where Bailey already plays.

The offense's most dynamic receiver is often lined up on the offensive right. Bailey does match from time to time, following a receiver all over the field when the Broncos believe that will help them more than leaving him to the left side.

Right now when he's on the defensive left, that's also usually facing the strong side of the offensive formation, which is the dominant side in most team's run games. And Bailey is spectacular against the run and is easily one of the best 1-on-1 tacklers I've ever seen.

To match him on a receiver often pulls him to the weak side of the offensive formation, which means teams are then running away from him.

It's possible Bailey could make the move to safety later in his career should he ever lose a step. He hasn't yet and says he feels almost as fast as he was when he came into the league 10 seasons ago.

He's been largely injury free - the five games he's missed this season with a groin injury are more than he missed in his first nine years in the league combined - so that's helped him maintain his speed, quickness and flexibility in his hips.

It would be interesting to see him in a deep zone once in the while in the middle of the field just to see how he could break on the ball after reading the play. However, if a quarterback saw him deep, he would likely check off to something underneath immediately.

They don't often challenge Bailey anyway, it would be even more difficult for a quarterback to consider challenging him if he was facing the ball, in the middle of the field.

There is precedent for the move. Rod Woodson moved to safety late in his career - he played safety for the 2000 Ravens, who set the league's 16-game scoring record and won the Super Bowl. Woodson was a dominant cornerback in his career - a member of the league's 75th anniversary team - and after reconstructive knee surgery, later moved to safety where he finished out his playing days.

Overall when team building, there is an adage that you pay players who make touchdowns and prevent touchdowns, but I think most general managers I know would still start with a list like this:

Quarterback.
Left tackle.
Defensive end.
Cornerback.

Quarterback would stay on top, no matter who you talked to. The other three would shift on the list and sometimes running back or wide receiver might sneak into the top four as well as defensive tackle.

But cornerbacks and left tackles are more difficult to find, in a general sense, than a rush end.

There was a point a few seasons ago the value of cornerbacks around the league was so elevated that the average of the top 10 salaries at the position was the highest in the league, even higher than quarterback.

The quarterbacks have since nudged back ahead, but it shows you the people who make the decisions about contracts likely value a No. 1 cornerback higher than most anything besides a quarterback.

A.P. Crisafi wheeled in with plenty on his mind . . .

Q: Great win by the Broncos (Sunday). I live in New York and believe me, the New Yorkers were stunned. They are so arrogant here, it made my year. The whole team definitely showed me something, it would have been an easy game to roll over and blame the weather. Still lots of holes though, on defense and special teams coverage. But great job by all, including the kicker and punter ... Not to beat a dead horse, but still not much of a pass rush, and I cringe when I see the defensive backs line up 10 yards deep. Why don't they play some press coverage, maybe blitz off of it? Also bump the receivers a little, I think it would help, and I know Dre' Bly could handle it. Also, is there a way to play Woodyard at safety? He seems to make a lot of plays. Is he fast enough for that? . . . How did Jarvis Moss do against the Jets, and why is Tim Crowder not playing? It seems like they are writing him off, and I thought he was one of their more solid picks last year.

A: One goes with the other. Without a more consistent pass rush, the thinking is the Broncos have to give the defensive backs a fighting chance.

And it's good to remember that scoring is on a record pace this season - the league just had its first 800-point weekend two weeks ago - and quarterbacks are on record pace in completion percentage as well. And better coaching of quarterbacks in addition to more attention to detail in the offseason since all involved can look at far more video and crunch more data with the digital technology that's available are certainly part of the reason for the surge in offensive numbers.

But the biggest reason is the strict enforcement of the 5-yard contact zone. That means if a cornerback is going to play press, he's got to get the big bump right out of the gate.

If he misses, most guys are going to get beat.

Let the quarterback stand and look at that - and they are drilled these days to throw to the 1-on-1 match-up as soon as they see it - without being harassed by the rush and the chances for the secondary to hang on are slim, no matter who is back there.

So a lot of teams, the Broncos included, are playing man coverage at times in an "off'' position with defensive backs lined up off the ball a little. Some call this a "vision technique'' because the defensive back is facing the quarterback at the snap and gets a little time before he has to turn and run with the receiver.

The Broncos have blitzed some out of a dime look - six defensive backs - they've played and right now that's been their most reliable pressure package on passing downs. It could even improve some once Bailey is back in the lineup.

As far as Woodyard, he went to Kentucky as a safety and some teams believed he was too undersized to play linebacker. But the Broncos like him at linebacker right now and he's going to forced them to make some tough decisions once all of the linebackers are healthy.

He consistently ran in 4.5s in his pre-draft workouts so has enough speed to play at a safety spot. But he's best suited to play at linebacker and the Broncos appear to want him to learn that spot right now.

They like having safety speed on the weak side and he gives them that.

Moss had 2.5 sacks in a two-game span - the Broncos losses to New England and Miami - and had a six-tackle day against the Dolphins. However, he hasn't totaled six tackles in the last four games combined.

He's flashed, but most offensive coordinators will say they don't think he works inside enough or with enough effectiveness to force opposing tackles to quit leaning toward the outside move.

And if the tackle is allowed to over-play one way or another, it's going to be difficult to beat him. The athletes are too good there.

Moss is going to need that variety to keep advancing his game. He ran in the 4.6s before the draft so he doesn't have elite speed as the rush end, so he's going to have to bring some more to the table to consistently get to the quarterback.

The Broncos don't deactivate players who are showing what they want to see during the week. So the fact Crowder has been deactivated seven times makes it clear they believe they have better players against the run and that he isn't showing them enough in the rush as well.

But overall the Broncos' defensive coaches have expressed some frustration at times that not enough players have distinguished themselves in the defensive line this season, that too many haven't done enough to separate themselves from the pack.

It's why beyond the starters on the depth chart, they've used so many combinations in the rotation.

That's it and thanks.

--Jeff Legwold

Posted by at 11:18 PM | Comments (2)