That’s how it’s done. If you needed a blueprint for Pig Warfare in the NFL, follow Pittsburgh’s performance against Denver on Monday night to the letter. That’s what happens when your franchise applies the same tactics, with the same mentality, with the same type of players, with the same type of coaches, with the same GM’s, year after year. They’ve mastered it. It’s admirable, really. Despite its annoying fans, Pittsburgh is a compelling organization. We complained for too long that Denver was nowhere near its peer in terms of a physical, tough, brawling presentation. In his 11 months on the job it seems Pincers has installed some similar planks in the platform he’s building for Denver. Nonetheless, for the second week in a row, the floor-joists bowed then snapped late in a fistfight game and produced the image of a large, strong, hearty but unseasoned heavyweight teetering then toppling to the canvas. Knocked out.
Somday soon. Not quite yet, though
We found the subsequent media coverage this week annoying. Specifically the local media. And these days, that means the Denver Post. (TV and Radio don’t count. Local TV has but micro-minutes to express even a basic thought. Add to that really really really weird people reading off what amounts to snippets and it’s pointless. Radio is for driving and though it may have more time to express itself, and though it is on perma-play in our vehicle, it’s half commercials, at best. Then these radio jokers … well, Scott and Al are cool. Evans must be destroyed … we digress.) This isn’t normally the case with us. We generally feel the Post, with its battalion of writers on the scene, does a good job. However this week:
- Woody Paige writes on Wednesday: Give Chris Simms the start at QB vs. Redskins. Then he defends the column on Thursday so it appears he wasn’t just punching the Dander Button. He might actually believe what he wrote. At 6-2, what a thoroughly ignorant suggestion. Woodrow, if you honestly think CHANGING THE QUARTERBACK IN WEEK 10 would improve the outcome of games you are losing it. The confusion, the divergence, the deluge of negative locker room fallout. Yanking Orton would be the very definition of panic. A blatant signal they are freaking out, which is what you are doing. Woody is a badass on HD and he’s a Denver guy, so we all must and do love him. But his columns this year are void of meaningful analysis. He is consistently way off. It’s basically just a space for curmudgeon gossip now.
- Everyone seems to be obsessing with the deep ball. As if this is the end all be all of Denver’s current problems. Watch these raw Wednesday interviews from denverbroncos.com and the reporters just wont leave it alone. Pincers and Orton do their job-description best to placate the questioners but to the viewer it just sounds ludicrous. (And if you don’t do so already, tune into these clips before you read the stories. They provide the discerning viewer with the raw data. All those quotes you hear and read, the ones they jam into all the silly side stories, you see the genesis in the pressers and it shows just how similar journalism can be to the game Telephone.) Dave Krieger makes some compelling “deep ball” points in his Thursday column but it’s based on the assumption that what players and coaches say in pressers is the truth. Even so, by obsessing on the deep ball after a game in which it was far from the actual problem, he transformed what is usually a succinct, sharp column into an indication of the current body temperature of the herd. Just a total whiff.
The pressroom at Dove Valley brims with media professionals as the Broncos prepare for the Redskins this week
That was basically the two-pronged chorus this week. All this overlooks the real issue, why Denver can’t run, why they can’t pass, why they can’t just “throw it up” for Brandon Marshall: There has been zero enforcement up the middle. Ben Hamilton and Casey Wiegmann are liabilities in run block or pass pro and the backs can’t pick up linebackers. As such, the entire offensive effort is doomed. Can’t run inside, can’t control the pocket. We expected to see these headlines en masse come Tuesday. Then, Pincers makes a huge move and benches Hambone on Wednesday and it’s barely a blip. Eh, we guess it got as much coverage as a yanked O-lineman usually receives. However. we interpret these failures in the middle to be the crux of the Broncos’ current state of affairs.
It’s not like we feel the media let us down. For the most part the media is a swarm of untalented but hardworking maggots, we know this. It’s just , how are these people employed, again? (10% and counting, HR people of the world … )
We have one more point of contention with the offense, one that was of course ignored by the media this week and one that, admittedly, involves a few layers of confusion: What in the wild wild world of sports is going on with the rushing attack? In general, as a whole, in its entirety. The philosophy, the personnel, the application. Even outside of the Hammy/Wigs liability, it just seems so flawed, so barely effective. It’s a cluster f*** right now, full of chocolate and clusters of f***…
- Knowshon Moreno has hit the Rookie Wall. On Monday he showed he hasn’t developed a single professional football instinct yet. For godssakes 27, just get to the marker dude. How many third and shorts (which everyone in the league now knows you can’t pick up) must you achieve on second down? He’s not running through the hole with the same power, he’s not finishing his runs with contact, and the linebackers are now a problem. All of which he did with Number One Draft Pick ease at the top of the schedule. He’s fumbled. He’s tripped. Right now he’s totally ineffective and needs to platoon with a back other than his elder mirror image.
- Which is what Correll Buckhatler is. Though loaded with instinct and veteran savvy, he too falls short of his duty when called upon to run inside. He’s 6’-0 223 pounds. An outstanding third down and platoon option, he’s awesome on the edge and in space. However, what’s happening between the tackles is an annihilation and these “types” of backs have no shot once they encounter the first defender. Pincers describes his running philosophy as “run to darkness.” Well, there is no darkness between the tackles right now, just the colors of the opposing team’s jersey. This of course begs the question: Why are 28 and 27 being asked to set the tone between the tackles when …
- Peyton freakin Hillis is on the roster? Okay, we get it, things happen on the inside that the outside will never know. Pincers made everyone with a football opinion look like an imbecile now that Jay Cutler has been exposed for what he truly is. We realize things aren’t always as they appear when interpreted through an HD screen. But c’mon, Pincers, why is your toughest runner, a proven NFL bruiser when the ball is in his hands, sitting? It came out on Thursday Hillis was dealing with a very close death in the family last week. He missed two practices and wasn’t even in Denver on Monday. However, Pittsburgh beat Denver almost the exact same way Baltimore did two weeks ago and 22 was barely near the huddle, let alone the ball, in Maryland. So it’s hard to imagine Monday would’ve been different. It’s irrational to believe Pincers put 22 in the doghouse based on early season penalties and a fumble (that was recovered). It’s also irrational to think Pincers put him on the outs based on his ties to the previous regime. And to repeat, 22 is proven. Assuming Pincers is not a petty child, we can’t find a reason why 22 isn’t getting his time in smashmouth encounters. Just doesn’t jibe and it leaves us totally confused and irritated every time Moreno wanders around the game day gridiron with fumbles falling and the first down marker always one foot away. From the outside, ignoring Hillis looks like an epic blunder and we just don’t get it.
- Lastly, what is Pincers’ overall approach to the run? (Remember his scattershot approach to the position during free agency? Uhhhh … ?) As an accomplished coordinator he obviously maintains the basic tenants of the running game’s place in an offensive attack. Furthermore, he’s clearly a true believer in the role toughness and physicality have in the team effort. But right now, in the running game, he just seems confused. Is it zone or gap, Pincers? Oh, so it’s both then. You clearly believe in your line and backs and this is evidenced by the numerous third- and fourth-and-a-foot fails. So why do you do attempt these with the lightest backs on the roster? Let’s borrow a concept we often find in two of our favorite NFL columns: Mike Lombardi at Nationalfootballpost.com, and Ted Bartlett at Milehighreport.com. Both Lombardi and Bartlett (mostly because Bartlett borrows from Lombardi, and he’ll tell you as much) preach the importance of knowing who you are, having an identity and sticking to it. For example, in a Bill Simmons podcast this week, Lombardi described the Giant’s recent woes as a lack of identity. They drifted from their primary defensive acumen by suddenly emphasizing the blitz instead of letting its very capable D-line do its job. We think the Denver running attack currently suffers the same malady: It knows what it wants, it knows who it wants to execute this, but it hasn’t really decided how to do it.
The tragic part—and the reality of this has been confirmed to us by a former NFL player and current GM candidate—is that Pincers is forcing the issue with Moreno because of his draft position. (Confirmed generally, not specifically. Duh, you say. Confirmed and suspected are different, we say.) This is happening at the expense of team success on a team that bases its success on the quality of its team approach.
"First of all, this is a big story, dude. Read the papes! This thing is huge! Basically, what happened: the President of the United States, Slick Willie, went for a kick-ass hummer on the sly...and this BITCH, Linda Tripp, totally cockblocked him! Simple as that!"
After getting spanked smashmouth-style two weeks in a row, undone by the same tactic, we suggest the following remedy: The first Denver offensive play, with Hochstein now at left guard, start with 22 at tailback and run a trap with Kris Kuper pulling into the hole, right at Albert Haynesworth. Set the tone, attack the middle, right away. Do you think 22 might play with some emotion this week? This suggestion wont happen, of course. Pincers has to prove to the world Moreno was the right move and whatever had 22 on the bench to start the season is probably still stuck in Pincers’ craw. We suppose we sound as dumb as Woody lobbying for Chris Simms in Week Ten with a 6-2 record. Despite its team record, the defense Denver faces this week is not a collection of softies. Considering the Denver defense has more than held up its end of the bargain in fielding a group of physical punchers with solid chins, we say it’s time the offense somehow someway takes the field and executes with the same emphasis.
The Hillis situation does seem fairly inexplicable. I seem to remember reading during pre-season that Pincers liked Hillis a lot, especially for his versatility (FB, TB, special teams) and toughness. It’s time to let him out of the doghouse.
I think that the boys bounce back this week at Washington.
How Woody Paige still has a job is another mystery. Perhaps he has naughty pictures of his editor or publisher?
I heard those same things in preseason, in particular Pincers commenting on 22’s hands. The crux of this entire situation is 22 is proven. How much NFL game tape does Pincers need? 22 got those first downs. He blew up those safeties. Not in practice, in games. And against tough defenses. We get it, Pincers, 27 is your boy. But at the expense of W’s? And in contrast to the team-wide physical effort? Again, something is amiss. It just doesn’t make sense.