top 10 things we need to fix in the offseason

[NinjaPirateFunk]

10. offensive line
9 offensive line
8. offensive line
7. offensive line
6. offensive line
5. offensive line
4. offensive line
3. offensive line
2. offensive line
1. i forget what the last one was......

i'm obviously only kidding but i've slowly grown more and more worried about our oline over the last couple years. we're run blocking worse every year and our pass blocking hasn't been that great over much of even plummer's tenure. i know we have alot of injuries and i'm not looking to put a black eye on our good sunday, but i'm not much of a celebrater. i just look towards what can help us keep winning. and this line isn't giving me confidence. when we get a handoff, i instinctually expect a 1 yard gain or so. selvin young made alot happen on his own today. which is good. but that doesn't last.

i think about it like this-of all the cliches in football, most get turned on their ear. qbs win championships! well, dilfer won a ring. defenses win championships! well, the rams, our broncos, and the colts recently proved offenses can win rings. i think the one true constant you see in a title winning team over the past long, long time, and somehow this isn't even a cliche-offensive lines win superbowls. i struggle to remember a team who even went to the superbowl without a very good o-line in the past decade. maybe more. i can't ever remember a superbowl winner who didn't have a really good offensive line.

i think it'd be safer to assume need to upgrade at oline instead of hoping it's just injuries and screwing ourselves later. we're very talented at other positions, maybe we need to address offensive line in the first day for a change. i dunno. but we're throwing cutler and his future to the wolves covered in bbq sauce by forcing him to turn into elway. there's not many elways throughout history. we could break our most valuable new toy if we don't protect him.

let's just get some good fat blocking guys and call it cutler insurance. a warranty on our investment.

[TheJackal]

I honestly have seen very few problems with our O-line and this is with backups starting. The positions we need to be worried about are safety (age) and DT. OLB has me slightly concerned but today eased that concern. We have plenty of depth at O-line with young backups who are all promising starters for the future.

[Nick]

10. offensive line
9 offensive line
8. offensive line
7. offensive line
6. offensive line
5. offensive line
4. offensive line
3. offensive line
2. offensive line
1. i forget what the last one was......

i'm obviously only kidding but i've slowly grown more and more worried about our oline over the last couple years. we're run blocking worse every year and our pass blocking hasn't been that great over much of even plummer's tenure. i know we have alot of injuries and i'm not looking to put a black eye on our good sunday, but i'm not much of a celebrater. i just look towards what can help us keep winning. and this line isn't giving me confidence. when we get a handoff, i instinctually expect a 1 yard gain or so. selvin young made alot happen on his own today. which is good. but that doesn't last.

i think about it like this-of all the cliches in football, most get turned on their ear. qbs win championships! well, dilfer won a ring. defenses win championships! well, the rams, our broncos, and the colts recently proved offenses can win rings. i think the one true constant you see in a title winning team over the past long, long time, and somehow this isn't even a cliche-offensive lines win superbowls. i struggle to remember a team who even went to the superbowl without a very good o-line in the past decade. maybe more. i can't ever remember a superbowl winner who didn't have a really good offensive line.

i think it'd be safer to assume need to upgrade at oline instead of hoping it's just injuries and screwing ourselves later. we're very talented at other positions, maybe we need to address offensive line in the first day for a change. i dunno. but we're throwing cutler and his future to the wolves covered in bbq sauce by forcing him to turn into elway. there's not many elways throughout history. we could break our most valuable new toy if we don't protect him.

let's just get some good fat blocking guys and call it cutler insurance. a warranty on our investment.

You need to also realize the time these players actually palyed with eachother in games. Zone Blocking is not the easiest scheme in the world... also DL is not to easy. Team chemistry is a huge huge thing.

I would not say Offensive line is the #1 priority but is still and always will be a priority.

We will still be drafting or picking up offenseive lineman for our scheme. You just do not need to invest in first day picks (normally) mainly because not to many teams use a zone blocking scheme.

Falcons do, Green bay started about 2 years ago and it is slowly getting better and also because of team chemistry, Raiders also just went to this philosophy this year also.

I think the top biggest needs for us in no paticular order are Wide Receiver, OLB (our MLB and move DJ back out), Saftey, DT, and overall Depth.

Reskins biggest reason why they had top picks in draft but looked terrific on paper year in and year out after investing in free agency... Team Chemistry

[PatrickdaDookie]

Just pray we have no more OL injuries, or we might have to sign David Diaz-Infante

[Road_Apples]

All quite accurate, and I have been saying this for a while.
I wish I could have watched the game, but I was out chopping trees and the record screwed up, (or the channel they planned to put it on changed). Therefore I cannot comment on this week's win.

The O-Line is so integral to this Offense (and thus Defense) that it needs to bea the highest priority this year. We need to blitz the O-Line in the draft like we did the D-Line and secondary in past years.

[amirebram]

Dude we have 5 guys on this line who haven't played together before!

Pears is new at RT. Holland is new to the system. Meyers and Kuper are first year starters. Lepsis is the our only vet, and he was with Hamilton and Nalen for so long it will take him a while to get in synch with the other guys.

And the Broncos are top 5 in pass protection in the NFL! Cutler has been hit less than Manning this year. KC is actually one of the best in presuring the QB, so we can hardly play worse than today.

Imagine next year when we get Hamilton back (he will play Center). We will have 3 good Gaurds in Meyers, Kuper & Holland; all with starting experiance now. Pears will have a year under his belt at RT. And Harris will be ready to take over from Lepsis.

The most important factor is that they will all have played and practiced together for a whole season. Even after a few games their run blocking has improved.

[NinjaPirateFunk]

i just don't quite have the confidence i used to in the "small quick" olinemen line of thinking. even during plummer's run when we had all our guys, they were good but i noticed a slight decline in the size of holes and the pass blocking every year. i'm just a tad hesitant to tell myself it's the injuries or team cohesion/chemistry when i have this gut feeling it may be both. i think if we see a really good guard in the third maybe early 4th who is suitable for our blocking schemes, we should go for him.

[rbk_bronco]

Give the O-line a chance there young they can grow togeather, our biggest needs are oribally DT and LB, Oline and Safety, (but I think Abdullah is good for one safety spot but we should find one later on).

[WABronco]

The only spot I'm worried about is LT. Lepsis seems to be struggling a bit more than normal.

Just beef up the depth with legit young talent.

[Dream]

The Denver Broncos would agree with you that offensive tackle is a problem, unless it's a total coincidence that they're taking a good look at some of the top prospects available at the respective position for the draft.

[kmcgough25]

An offensive line unit takes a while to truly play well in the NFL. Players getting injured only slow the process. I believe there is plenty of talent up there to do well (with a new LT) in the long run.

I don't think we will know for sure though until the last few games of this year and the 1st couple next year.

[Lange]

During Plummers tenure the o-line didn't have any major problems but it was never great at opening holes or protecting the QB. Matt Lespis has doen a good job though and tries hard. Plummer you got to remember was a mobile QB and would constantly evade out of the pocket and run to avoid sacks and pocket collaspes. The o-line system was covered up with Plummer as the QB because he could move.

Though as far as the recent o-line goes i agree with people in this thread we have had our vets injures and have new guys and it will take time for them to develop together. Matt Lespsis has had some performance issues this year but its mostly working with new guys and he is doing a decent job protecting Cutler.

I have a question for you guys why is Matt struggling this year more than he has been? I mean when shanahan had a team meeting this week before the KC game he pointed out Matt and gave him a earfull why?

[Cutler2007]

I thought Pears did well at LT last year and may be a better LT than RT. As it has been mentioned, these guys are young and Olineman need about three years to season. I think if Lepsis doesn't turn it around he may lose the starting gig if not his spot on the team. I am not hating on him, but he makes a ton of $$$ (9 mil this year I believe).

It wouldn't surprise me to see us sign a cheaper vet RT in FA to start and move Pears back to LT next year and Draft an OT on day one. I think we are set at Guard and Center. Question is does Harris play G or OT and can he keep his back healthy.

All around I think we are ok on the Oline and with a year together they will improve.

[bjoli198]

Question is does Harris play G or OT and can he keep his back healthy

atleast he played some RT when Pears needed a breather (or what it was)

[BroncoMan04]

our concerns should definitly not be about o-line. The young guys played very well yesterday and will turn out all right. All they need is time to gel. Besides getting a o-lineman in the first round hasn't been that good of a pick the last couple of years. The only guys that are worth taking in the first round normally go 1-10 and hopefully we don't get that high of a draft pick. there have been plenty of lineman selected later that have panned out. I much rather try to pick up a lineman day two. We need a safety bad. Sorry for all you old Wesley haters but Greg Wesley looked good yesterday. I would much rather him be starting for us now (look at our starters now, Lynch is hurt. Ferguson is a BUM and now we have a corner starting) And don't get sold on Ian Gold just because he had one good game (and thats even if you call it good I would say decent). We need a good LB from free agency or draft, a new young stud safety and a vet LT from FA that way we don't spend time teaching new things. then get depth in the draft...