Our defensive alignment!

[KWHIT97]

Seems to be common sense to me, but I'm starting to doubt if Jack Del Rio or John Fox have any of that. If they did Omar Bolden wouldnt be on the roster, and Paris Lenon wouldnt be starting over Wesley Woodyard.

Losing Miller is a huge blow to an already bad defense, but I keep hearing we might have Wolfe and Moore back for the play-offs, this would be huge!

If we do get one or both of them back this is the defensive alignment we unquestionably should be running;

LDE - Wolfe
DT - Williams
DT - Knighton
RDE - Ayers
LOLB - Phillips
MLB - Woodyard
ROLB - Trevathan
CB - Harris
CB - DRC
S - Adams
S - Moore or Ihenacho
Nickel CB - Champ

Why is it so hard for our braintrust to figure this out? Phillips need to be standing up rushing the passer, its what he knows, its what he's good at, Ayers does a pretty good job on the right side and should be on the field imo, he has something to prove. Woodyard needs to be on the field, people can go on and on about how Lenon is a better "thumper," really? Our run D was dominant before Woody got benched, now we're getting gashed, its obvious who needs to be in there. Finally, I've never seen a player run around looking lost and making absolutely zero plays more than Omar Bolden. What do they see in this guy? If its a choice between him and Ihenacho, I choose Duke all day every day and twice on Sunday.

I'm seriously worried about this Sunday, I could see Terrell Pryor torching our defense and us losing to the lowly Raiders, this is the type of game we should be scared of, seriously!

JDR and Fox need to quit experimenting with our defense, its embarrassingly bad, Lenon and Bolden do not need to see the field, they need to put our best 11 in there and roll with it or theyre gonna cost us not only a win on Sunday but any chance in the play-offs.

The AFC is wide-open, and even though we're decimated with injuries, if we're at home throughout the play-offs there is absolutely no reason we should not make it to New York, if we dont, it'll be because of the guys running the show.

Get it together guys!!!

[crash123go]

people need to get past their hate for Omar bolden. He hasn't played bad as the coverage safety and ihenacho has been struggling so it's perfectly fair for other safety's to rotate in.

[KWHIT97]

So people need to get passed their hate for Omar bolden. He hasn't played bad as the coverage safety and ihenacho has been struggling so it's perfectly fair for other safety's to rotate in.

Are we watching the same games? I have not once seen him break up a pass or even make a tackle. I routinely see him chasing the guy he should have been covering after he catches the ball. The dude is flat out awful!!!

[adamgonzalesblu]

Are we watching the same games? I have not once seen him break up a pass or even make a tackle. I routinely see him chasing the guy he should have been covering after he catches the ball. The dude is flat out awful!!!

I know right lol

[tonray]

Well there are a lot of JDR defenders on this board..so I am sure the white knights will come to his rescue once again in ..4...3..2..1...

[notmyname]

I'm seriously worried about this Sunday, I could see Terrell Pryor torching our defense and us losing to the lowly Raiders, this is the type of game we should be scared of, seriously!

I can understand somewhat..

I thought the Texans was going to play much tougher then what was expected..I don't see it this week however I expect the Broncos to win pretty convincingly..

Only thing that I'm worried about is losing any more starters to injury

[worldsoutro]

I can understand somewhat..

I thought the Texans was going to play much tougher then what was expected..I don't see it this week however I expect the Broncos to win pretty convincingly..

Only thing that I'm worried about is losing any more starters to injury

Hopefully the pats are out before they face us because lets be honest Brady is going to easily pick apart this secondary

[rogue719]

Hmmmmm, JDR and Fox have no common sense? Let's just look at JDR for a second, just to humor you.

When he was DC for Fox in his one and only year with Carolina, his defense was one of the best in the league and helped take the team to the Super Bowl. In his 9 years as HC at Jax, his defense was in the top ten 8 years. In his two years here, last year the Broncos defense jumped from 20th in the league to 2nd.

This year, for material to work with, he's had to deal with
Champ's injury
Von's suspension
Now, Von's being put on IR.
Vickerson on IR.
Wolfe missing multiple games with injuries
Woodyard's injuries and following his injuries, just not playing up to his previous level.
Both Harris and DRC missing games with injuries
The loss of Dumervil in the Great Fax Debacle\
The inconsistent safety play of Duke Ihenacho

AND, maintaining a defensive line rotation while trying to get a new rookie DT up to speed.

Granted, all of these things come with the position, and let's remember that not every team has the kind of depth to keep playing as well as we have played.

Honestly, considering what JDR has had to deal with while putting together his defensive game plan, I'm surprised we have done as well as we have. Yes, I would LOVE for our defense to be as good as it was last year. But because of a number of things that have happened, it's not. I hate that we are giving up as many points per game as we are and at times struggling to get off the field on third down. But the bright spots are that Champ is back, Wolfe should be back for the playoffs, if we win the Division round, we should get Moore back at safety, Mincey has played well for JDR in the past and should help shore up our run D as well as getting Wolfe back.

Not sure what the problem is with Woodyard and why he's struggling, but I hope he can get it taken care of and be back to his regular playing level by the playoffs. I think Ihenacho's struggles just come from this being his first real chance to start and he's still learning as he goes through the grind of a full season as a starter. Sylvester Williams is going to struggle learning the DT position as a rookie, but he's in the rotation now and learning and hopefully his learning curve isn't as bad as it could be. I think Nate will be fine for run D but I worry about his being able to get much pass rush and figure JDR is going to have to be creative to compensate for the loss of our pass rush with Von being out. We struggled in the first six games. We will likely still have some struggles, but if the offense can play up to their current level (and we get Welker back for the playoffs) I think we can make a solid run in the playoffs.

And we still have Peyton Manning.

[JaysusCutler]

Amazing how a defense can allow 13 points and still get all this criticism. I trust the coaches to have to right guys in for what we're trying to do.

[Ehveek03]

Amazing how a defense can allow 13 points and still get all this criticism. I trust the coaches to have to right guys in for what we're trying to do.

13 points against a nasty , terrible QB In Shaub , not really impressive

[beastlyskronk]

Hmmmmm, JDR and Fox have no common sense? Let's just look at JDR for a second, just to humor you.

When he was DC for Fox in his one and only year with Carolina, his defense was one of the best in the league and helped take the team to the Super Bowl. In his 9 years as HC at Jax, his defense was in the top ten 8 years. In his two years here, last year the Broncos defense jumped from 20th in the league to 2nd.

This year, for material to work with, he's had to deal with
Champ's injury
Von's suspension
Now, Von's being put on IR.
Vickerson on IR.
Wolfe missing multiple games with injuries
Woodyard's injuries and following his injuries, just not playing up to his previous level.
Both Harris and DRC missing games with injuries
The loss of Dumervil in the Great Fax Debacle\
The inconsistent safety play of Duke Ihenacho

AND, maintaining a defensive line rotation while trying to get a new rookie DT up to speed.

Granted, all of these things come with the position, and let's remember that not every team has the kind of depth to keep playing as well as we have played.

Honestly, considering what JDR has had to deal with while putting together his defensive game plan, I'm surprised we have done as well as we have. Yes, I would LOVE for our defense to be as good as it was last year. But because of a number of things that have happened, it's not. I hate that we are giving up as many points per game as we are and at times struggling to get off the field on third down. But the bright spots are that Champ is back, Wolfe should be back for the playoffs, if we win the Division round, we should get Moore back at safety, Mincey has played well for JDR in the past and should help shore up our run D as well as getting Wolfe back.

Not sure what the problem is with Woodyard and why he's struggling, but I hope he can get it taken care of and be back to his regular playing level by the playoffs. I think Ihenacho's struggles just come from this being his first real chance to start and he's still learning as he goes through the grind of a full season as a starter. Sylvester Williams is going to struggle learning the DT position as a rookie, but he's in the rotation now and learning and hopefully his learning curve isn't as bad as it could be. I think Nate will be fine for run D but I worry about his being able to get much pass rush and figure JDR is going to have to be creative to compensate for the loss of our pass rush with Von being out. We struggled in the first six games. We will likely still have some struggles, but if the offense can play up to their current level (and we get Welker back for the playoffs) I think we can make a solid run in the playoffs.

And we still have Peyton Manning.

That isn't even mentioning that he was the lbs coach for arguably the best defense of all time with the 2000 ravens. Or that he actually played lb in the nfl

[crash123go]

Are we watching the same games? I have not once seen him break up a pass or even make a tackle. I routinely see him chasing the guy he should have been covering after he catches the ball. The dude is flat out awful!!!

Well how many times have you watched the game? Bolden is mainly used as the single high safety protecting the middle of the field. I find it funny you blame bolden for giving up a play when the corner is the player that gives up the wr deep?

Bolden is not ed reed but he has shown good instincts in zone coverage and good instincts in run support. You never see him cause half the time he is 25-30 yards off the LOS in the middle of the field. I'm actually excited about some of his plays of recent.

[Chronoless]

So people need to get passed their hate for Omar bolden. He hasn't played bad as the coverage safety and ihenacho has been struggling so it's perfectly fair for other safety's to rotate in.

Ihenacho struggles in coverage

Bolden struggles just being on the field

Amazing how a defense can allow 13 points and still get all this criticism. I trust the coaches to have to right guys in for what we're trying to do.

there is a difference between Shaub and every other QB that is going to be in the playoffs

[SammyWinder]

Completely agree about what the OP says.

Bolden should not be anywhere near the field.. Burton is better then him... Why is he even on the field, the guy looks lost and is just a cheerleader out there....

Phillips and Ayers should be on the field at the same time.. Phillips needs to be taking over Vons spot... If we don't do this, JDR truly is 'clueless"

The Woody situation... Man.. I don't even want to talk about this one again.... This completely blows my mind... And I would rather see S. Johnson start over Paris...

[SammyWinder]

Amazing how a defense can allow 13 points and still get all this criticism. I trust the coaches to have to right guys in for what we're trying to do.

If Shaub doesn't throw those picks, that game would have had a different outcome. He sucked the life out of his team, sort of like Orton used to do to us....