Quote:
Originally Posted by painekiller
Problems with our coaching staff? Kubiak's insistence on going with the old Denver system of using a smaller OL will be a problem. We already are seeing the results of a smaller OC, NT can be disruptive. I want to scream everytime I read someone's complaint about Myers being pushed back in pass blocking. Go watch the Denver games from a last years of Elway. They had same trouble. BTW, Shanahan has dropped the smaller OL in Denver the last few years. He is now looking at going with a larger OL but still using a ZBS.
Another one to chew on, our defense is utilizing a smaller front 7. Every one of the guys we have in the front 7 is undersized for his position, a 305 NT and a 290 DT. But they are not being asked to penetrate on every play. Penetration disrupts offenses more than anything else you can do. So shot a gap on everyplay and have every gap covered.
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The Zone system in Denver was successful early on because it was different. Once teams had a chance to figure it out it lost some of it's effectiveness. Penetration will disrupt any scheme you can come up with though. I still think the zone system can be effective, but your right in that Kubiak will have to learn to adjust with it. I think that all offensive lineman these days are more "athletic" than they were 20 years ago so I think there are plenty of O-lineman today who could work in ZB system that don't fall into that undersized lineman mold. It goes beyond personnel though, Kubiak/Gibbs have to be willing to throw in a few wrinkles in the scheme. I actually liked that we mixed in some of Sherman's "power" scheme last year and was hoping we would at least keep an element or two of it in place. We're running the ball better than last year, but that has a lot to do with Slaton.
I've always wondered why we seem to have our DT's playing with so much two gap responsibility instead of letting them penetrate. I suppose it's in an effort to keep Demeco clean, but Okoye and Travis Johnson are both both better suited as one gap players who penetrate. I prefer to have a mammoth NT and then let the other guys on the line be the quicker penetrating types. That mammoth NT-type will never be TJ, and Okam isn't that guy yet so I they might as well turn'em loose.
I have no problem with undersized LB's....especially with the amount of coverage they have to do, but if your LB's and D-Line are both undersized then your going to have problems against the run. See Indianapolis. Right now we have all the disadvantages of an undersized front 7 without any of the advantages in the pass rushing department. One reason for that is not using the personnel we have properly IMO, but it's not the only one.