Denver Broncos: Time to Pull Out All the Stops On Offense
By Carl Dumler
The Pass Game: Formations/Scheme
If there is a game where Siemian should have a career game this would be the one. The Saints have really struggled against the pass. This is why scheme wise they play a lot of zone. I think they are worried about giving up the big play so better to try and keep everything in front of them. They are a bend but don’t break type defense in the hopes of forcing a turnover or a missed play by the offense.
As I said earlier they do blitz a lot as the front-4 do not generate much pass rush on their own. So I’m sure you will see the Saints try to dial up some blitzes hoping that Siemian gets confused and throws an errant pass. Honestly I do think if we can keep from turning the ball over we stand a very good chance of winning this game. In the 4 games they have won they have forced 10 turnovers. Counter that with the 4 games they have lost they have only forced 3. They have built into their defensive scheme to be aggressive in the hopes of winning the game off a big play. So in reality they are trying to play a zone scheme to help keep big plays from happening but play an aggressive style that sometimes allows for big plays to happen.
Formation wise teams have used quite a variety to throw at the Saints. They have struggled against spread formations and yet have struggled to protect the middle of the field against tight ends. My guess is the Broncos will run a lot of 2-running back or 2-tight end type formations. They view this as the best way to get the run game going. This will also test that linebacker group that could see 3 backups starting for the Saints.
Going with some of the big formations also allows the Broncos to help do some max protection when the Saints do decide to bring the blitz. They play a lot of what I call bail out defense. What this means is when the Saints blitz the secondary bails deep willing to give up the short completions. This honestly seems a bit counter to the point of blitzing as that allows the quarterback to get rid of the football quickly. They do this again though as the blitz hasn’t gotten home at a high rate.