If I were the Broncos and start 0-4...

[Hadez]

Lazy thinking. The oline had given up 1 sack in 7 games until lock got hurt. Its not the OL its the QB.

The oline isn't amazing by any means and RT is a big big problem. But saying lock cannot develop behind this line is lazy hyperbole.

For years now our sack numbers are horrible until we get the mobile QB (Casey/Lock) and then they not horrible. That is not because the OL all the sudden is good...though I would say there were improvements. It is because we got Qbs who can create their own time when the pass protection fails.

The problem with this concept goes way back but Broncos fans should know it from the pre-Shanahan Elway days....a Qb can make their own time but against the elite rush teams....well the qb can only do so much.

That is what happened to Lock against Pitt....he made the first guy miss who came at him almost freely from the RT....but Pitt is an elite pass rush team so there was another guy who clobbered him.

We do not need a top 3 pass protection team...we do need to be average before we start talking about what the QB can do to make things better

[Chronoless]

If you given up for the year, I rather just Tank got Trevor.

[Kyousukeneko]

I still feel comfortable running with lock from what I have seencfrom him. I want Penei Sewell or Alex Leatherwood in the first. Both look like plug and play Ot. Probably can play either spot. But both will end up too ten. A bad season and getting one of these guys will be an instant upgrade over Bolles at Lt

[Ear2dastreets]

Lazy thinking. The oline had given up 1 sack in 7 games until lock got hurt. Its not the OL its the QB.

The oline isn't amazing by any means and RT is a big big problem. But saying lock cannot develop behind this line is lazy hyperbole.

I'm soooooooo glad you said this..... its an excuse for this team. Until we have 5 1st starters in this oline, people will always use this excuse.

[JvDub95]

...I would seriously look into trading the farm (including Drew Lock) to the Cowboys for Dak Prescott. Or similarly (albeit not the farm...maybe a condo?) with Matthew Stafford and Detroit.

I know this a pipe dream but in all honesty as much as I like Drew and believe he might become a good quarterback, we're just so far behind the 8-ball with competing against Kansas City that we need something to spark life into this team as well as get some semblance of respectable play from the offense. The only way to do that is to bring in an established quarterback who can be an immediate leader and has proven to be productive (i.e. Jake Plummer, Peyton Manning).

I have to 100% disagree, Dak is ok but not highest paid good. That's what it would take too. He is demanding top money and for that I say HELL NO!! If we are 0-4 and staring at a top 5 pick again then we make a run for Fields or Lawrence plain and simple

[Peerless]

Dak Prescott?

[Rich_C]

I still feel comfortable running with lock from what I have seencfrom him. I want Penei Sewell or Alex Leatherwood in the first. Both look like plug and play Ot. Probably can play either spot. But both will end up too ten. A bad season and getting one of these guys will be an instant upgrade over Bolles at Lt

I am reading and I myself have posted that we need to develop players. I completely agree. That said we only have so much cap and so few picks in the draft that we need to be careful.

After this season Bolles is a FA. That said out of all five of the lineman Bolles is not our issue this season. In fact I'd argue that he is far and away our best OL this season, thus far that is. More over he has shown real and measurable growth or as we've called it development. In order our issues are RT, OC, RG/LG.

There are very few guys who are likely just gonna be that good at the NFL level and I agree Penei Sewell is likely one of those. My only concern is that we might be focused on the wrong OT spot. Especially since we don't have a proven RT either.

[FR Tim]

The OT situation is so screwed.

Bolles looks to be finally maturing just in time to either lose him in free agency or have to pay him about $15m with the franchise tag.
With James you have 2 more years at $13m per for a guy that will not have played in two years.
And a high 1st rd pick likely invested in the Oline to replace one of them.

With a real possibility that both will need to be replaced next year. And this is not even accounting for the development or decline of the interior players or QB fiasco.

Well played Elway.

[atwaterandstir]

I am reading and I myself have posted that we need to develop players. I completely agree. That said we only have so much cap and so few picks in the draft that we need to be careful.

After this season Bolles is a FA. That said out of all five of the lineman Bolles is not our issue this season. In fact I'd argue that he is far and away our best OL this season, thus far that is. More over he has shown real and measurable growth or as we've called it development. In order our issues are RT, OC, RG/LG.

There are very few guys who are likely just gonna be that good at the NFL level and I agree Penei Sewell is likely one of those. My only concern is that we might be focused on the wrong OT spot. Especially since we don't have a proven RT either.

I have said the same thing about Bolles, it's been noticeable the lack of penalties against him. I think with the lines we have faced that is a great sign.
However, I did see that penalties are way down across the board and scoring is way up. I'm hoping he has truly taken a step and is not benefitting from the NFL guidance.

We could really hurt our team if Bolles "earns" an extension playing football that perhaps may not be refereed the same way next season.

[broncolee]

I have said the same thing about Bolles, it's been noticeable the lack of penalties against him. I think with the lines we have faced that is a great sign.
However, I did see that penalties are way down across the board and scoring is way up. I'm hoping he has truly taken a step and is not benefitting from the NFL guidance.

We could really hurt our team if Bolles "earns" an extension playing football that perhaps may not be refereed the same way next season.

I think it’s fairly obvious that teams are benefiting from a conscious effort by the league to minimize offensive penalties.

Hopefully the Broncos are smart enough to realize that when it comes time to decide who stays and who goes.

[FR Tim]

I have said the same thing about Bolles, it's been noticeable the lack of penalties against him. I think with the lines we have faced that is a great sign.
However, I did see that penalties are way down across the board and scoring is way up. I'm hoping he has truly taken a step and is not benefitting from the NFL guidance.

We could really hurt our team if Bolles "earns" an extension playing football that perhaps may not be refereed the same way next season.

Take this for what s worth but just read an article from a Bronco analyst stating Bolles has improved his technique this year. Same analyst in the off-season was contradicting the narrative that Bolles had "improved" the last several games of last season. Video review showed the same bad techniques just fewer calls.

This time he was showing how Bolles had improved technique this season so far. (Better hand punch, better footwork).

So there is hope for Bolles. Just a very good chance it will be for another team benefitting from his hard work.

The way this season is going the big draft argument will be if the Broncos should be drafting a QB or OT with the top 5 pick.

[samparnell]

I am reading and I myself have posted that we need to develop players. I completely agree. That said we only have so much cap and so few picks in the draft that we need to be careful.

After this season Bolles is a FA. That said out of all five of the lineman Bolles is not our issue this season. In fact I'd argue that he is far and away our best OL this season, thus far that is. More over he has shown real and measurable growth or as we've called it development. In order our issues are RT, OC, RG/LG.

There are very few guys who are likely just gonna be that good at the NFL level and I agree Penei Sewell is likely one of those. My only concern is that we might be focused on the wrong OT spot. Especially since we don't have a proven RT either.

The OT situation is so screwed.

Bolles looks to be finally maturing just in time to either lose him in free agency or have to pay him about $15m with the franchise tag.
With James you have 2 more years at $13m per for a guy that will not have played in two years.
And a high 1st rd pick likely invested in the Oline to replace one of them.

With a real possibility that both will need to be replaced next year. And this is not even accounting for the development or decline of the interior players or QB fiasco.

Well played Elway.

I have said the same thing about Bolles, it's been noticeable the lack of penalties against him. I think with the lines we have faced that is a great sign.
However, I did see that penalties are way down across the board and scoring is way up. I'm hoping he has truly taken a step and is not benefitting from the NFL guidance.

We could really hurt our team if Bolles "earns" an extension playing football that perhaps may not be refereed the same way next season.

Wonder what happened to the "Garrett Bolles is dumb and uncoachable" narrative?

[beastlyskronk]

I have said the same thing about Bolles, it's been noticeable the lack of penalties against him. I think with the lines we have faced that is a great sign.
However, I did see that penalties are way down across the board and scoring is way up. I'm hoping he has truly taken a step and is not benefitting from the NFL guidance.

We could really hurt our team if Bolles "earns" an extension playing football that perhaps may not be refereed the same way next season.

It’s probably a mixture of both but so far the few times I’ve keyed in on Bolles he does look a lot better. He’s no longer flailing his arms like a chicken as he gets in his set which is giving him much better hand placement and allowing him to control his blocks.

There’s still some things he needs to work on but they’re more mental such as recognizing stunts and blitzes. But that could just as well be from a lack of cohesion. I understand he’s played next to Risner for a year now but he hasn’t played at this level before so it gives Risner more flexibility in what he can do. I think Risner is kind of getting caught in no mans land because he’s used to helping Bolles and now even though Bolles doesn’t always need the help it’s almost like an instinct for him. So sometimes he’ll get caught trying to determine if he should help Cush or Bolles and not block anybody. Or he’ll go to help Bolles and Cush gets stuck on an island against a premiere interior pass rusher. Although Risner could be expecting Glasgow to help, it’s hard to say without knowing the assignments. That’s why someone needs to be making line calls. Preferably the QB because he has the best line of sight of the defense.

[beastlyskronk]

Question for Sam or anyone’s who coached the oline before really. Have you ever tried to gauge how good your C (or all linemen) peripheral vision? I’ve rarely heard it being talked about but i think it’s huge for linemen as far as recognizing defenses pre snap and even to a degree post snap.

[atwaterandstir]

Wonder what happened to the "Garrett Bolles is dumb and uncoachable" narrative?

People read, remember and in some cases make up what they want to.
I have seen plenty of people bash him for his mind numbing penalties at times, but those have been well earned.

As for me, I live in Utah so I always have an interest in our States CFB programs and players. I was happy we got Bolles and I'm pulling for him. He played HS football, JUCO football, and D1 football all here in Utah. His background wasn't great but he made a great future by working hard. I would never call that "un-coachable"