Denver Broncos: It’s all about improving the simple things
By Brett Chaves
Denver Broncos: Improving the Simple Things
1. Man Coverage
Man oh man. From the very get-go of the game, Denver’s secondary seemed to completely forget what man-to-man coverage was.
Let’s begin at the opening drive of the game. You can view the full play here. Derek Carr was set up in the shotgun, with six (that’s right, six) guys stacked inside the box for Denver. At this point, Carr knows blitz is coming. This also means that the Broncos secondary is forced to play man coverage in case the ball does get thrown.
In this particular scenario, Ronald Darby was lined up on the outside with Henry Ruggs II. Everyone in the NFL knows how explosive Ruggs can be with his speed, meaning it’s important to gain a good first step off of the snap.
Darby, of course, lost the coverage immediately and allowed Ruggs to get open down the middle of the field. Justin Simmons was out of range for the extra protection, meaning Ruggs waltzed into the end zone.
Darby ran into more trouble later in the game. You can view the play here.
With about ninety seconds left in the third quarter, Darby found himself isolated on the outside again with Ruggs. Ruggs managed to get a great first step on the inside cut, allowing him to escape Darby on the post-corner-post. Ruggs makes the catch and allows Vegas to score the following play.
These are perfect scenarios where Denver isn’t prepared on the jump. More preparation needs to go into pre-game designs and player knowledge. This way, nobody is caught off guard, and men such as Darby and stick to their guys the proper way.
There was one more play, in particular, I wanted to point out. You can watch it here.
On Kenyan Drake’s first score in the second quarter, Denver was completely thrown off guard in coverage. Hunter Renfrow was isolated on the left side, while Vegas ran a trio on the right. This allowed Renfow to draw away the defender and leave Drake all alone with Alexander Johnson in coverage. The mismatch of the game.
Of course, Drake won the footrace and got the easy score. No safety picked up the man either.
If Denver wants to win more football games on the defensive side of the ball, they need to do better sticking one-on-one in coverage and picking up opening guys down the stretch.