explanations needed please :-)

[axel]

I m a passionate rugby fan..there are a lot of difference with US football, but there is something it's difficult to me to understand...

I followed Broncos season for some personal reasons....How is it possible for a team to collapse as they just miss one player ??? What happened while Plummer away from the field ???....I know that the quarterback is very essential, but....

And how a team you easily beat kicks your behind 3 weeks later ?? How is it possible to have a so huge difference ???

Rugby is played with 15 players / team, anyone is essential but you couldn't see a team collapsin cos one of them is missing....

Thank for your answer..... And best wishes for the next season....

Go Broncos....

[broncosbeast]

I don't know much about rugby but I'll try to answer your question. About the Colts: There is an expression in football, "Any Given Sunday and team can win" (or something like that). Both teams executed differently in each meeting. Also, the coolts coaches probably recognized and exploited the Bronco teandancies better the second time. They also learned from their mistakes.

About Plummer: He is not only the on field leader of the team but he provides inspiration to each and every teammate. He is the intangible spark for every player on offense, defense, and special teams. Danny Kannell probably would have done better in his place had Ephraim Salaam (sp?) not been injured. Neither Kannell or Beuerlein scrambles well and that is an integral part of the Bronco offense. It was like having Griese back for a few games, only with less experience. Despite football being a team sport, some teams have players that they cannot do well without. Take the Falcons missing Mike Vick as an example. They won two games without him and three with him. When Plummer got off his couch that fateful day, the teams lost one of it's biggest playmakers and emotional leaders.

[Hoolah]

Re: explanations needed please :-)

Originally posted by axel
I m a passionate rugby fan..there are a lot of difference with US football, but there is something it's difficult to me to understand...

I followed Broncos season for some personal reasons....How is it possible for a team to collapse as they just miss one player ??? What happened while Plummer away from the field ???....I know that the quarterback is very essential, but....

And how a team you easily beat kicks your behind 3 weeks later ?? How is it possible to have a so huge difference ???

Rugby is played with 15 players / team, anyone is essential but you couldn't see a team collapsin cos one of them is missing....

Thank for your answer..... And best wishes for the next season....

Go Broncos....

As a rugby fan...(England, and I promise not to mention the World Cup...opps!). I have to say that American Football is VERY different, when I first started watching I saw the similarities first, its a territorial game, the passing, the kicking...even the same shaped ball! However, the longer I watched it for the more I became aware of the vast differences. For a start an American football team is infact 3 different teams, Offense, Defense and Special Teams. They are all on the field at different times, Rugby is one team, defending, attacking, kicking, etc, on the field for the duration of the game, come what may. I believe that Rugby players are "all-rounders", and find it easier to diversify to cover gaps. American Footballers are "Specialists", and therefore their absence can affect a team in one area...and therefore the whole game incredibley.

Although there are replacements for each member of a football team, (second string, third string, etc.), your replacements may not have had a chance to really play all season and be cold, and of course there is the reason they are a second string and not a starter. The QB is very much like the Captain of the Rugby team, in that he is the spirit and the leader. However in American football as he calls the plays, and if he is out for a game it affects the whole team with regards to attitude, style and most importantly, possible plays called, there are things that some QBs can do that certainly their back up QBs are not capable of. It changes how a game is played entirely!

Anyway, hope I've made some sense, thought I'd have a shot at explaining how I think it makes a difference, if I've made any mistakes, other football fans please correct me!, and remeber I'm still learning!...

[AsianOrange]

Do you prefer League or Union Rugby?

[TheGlue Factory]

Re: Re: explanations needed please :-)

Originally posted by Hoolah
The QB is very much like the Captain of the Rugby team, in that he is the spirit and the leader. However in American football as he calls the plays, and if he is out for a game it affects the whole team with regards to attitude, style and most importantly, possible plays called, there are things that some QBs can do that certainly their back up QBs are not capable of. It changes how a game is played entirely!

Very good comparison! Only problem I see is that the QB doesn't call the play. 9 times out of 8 the Head Coach (HC) or Offensive Coordinator (OC) is calling the play into the QB (via little radios in the helmet.) The most "choice" QB gets to call the play is to switch it at the line of scrimmage (called an Audible) to a different play (almost always picked by the HC or OC) but that only happens when the QB sees a defensive set up look like it will succeed against the original play.

[Hoolah]

Re: Re: Re: explanations needed please :-)

Originally posted by TheGlue Factory
Very good comparison! Only problem I see is that the QB doesn't call the play. 9 times out of 8 the Head Coach (HC) or Offensive Coordinator (OC) is calling the play into the QB (via little radios in the helmet.) The most "choice" QB gets to call the play is to switch it at the line of scrimmage (called an Audible) to a different play (almost always picked by the HC or OC) but that only happens when the QB sees a defensive set up look like it will succeed against the original play.

Really! (I've been giving the QB's far too much credit!!) Thanks for the input! So, I should correct myself by saying that the Head Coach or Offensive Coordinator would call different plays depending on the QB's abilities, therefore an entirely different game would ensue with an entirely different QB. i.e. Shannahan wouldn't call a play that he knows Plummer could handle but Kannell, for example, could not.

[Hoolah]

Originally posted by AsianOrange
Do you prefer League or Union Rugby?

Union, I don't know very much about League. Think it is played more in the North of England, and I'm from the South...(which will amuse you Americans by only being about 6 hours drive in the car).

[Mount-n-Groan]

I like what everybody has said here.... emotional/inspirational leaders, 3 different teams, audibles, specialists vs. all rounders etc. They're all good points to make in this case. I'm no fan of rugby and maybe it has a similar feel, but I like to look at football games as wars with each play being a battle within that war. We all know that you can win the battle(s), but lose the war (or vice versa). Bronco fans are particularly familiar with this phenomena. How many times have we blown out the team on paper (i.e. total yards), but lost the game? The saying, "On Any Given Sunday" is so fitting for American Football. A team can beat up on its opponent on offense and defense, but a couple/few special teams let downs is all it takes for that team to lose.

Just my $0.02

[Mount-n-Groan]

Originally posted by Hoolah
Union, I don't know very much about League. Think it is played more in the North of England, and I'm from the South...(which will amuse you Americans by only being about 6 hours drive in the car).

I am amused.... I'm almost 6 hours from Denver... and I'm still in Colorado!!!!

[BlueDamsel]

True that the OC or HC calls the plays & the "good QBs" can call an audible at the line--You are also forgetting different inflections and different styles of even just counting the snapoff. It might seem small, but it can really throw off the offensive line, thereby causing an offsides penalty. Also timing is usually different.

I think had we had someone better under center for those games, we wouldn't have had so many losses. I still say we should have re-signed Rolovich. Atleast he has a relationship with Lelie & maybe could have broken him out of his slump prior to the breakout-end-of-season-games he had. This is another point that was brought up--the leadership/relationship between players. At the beginning of the season, you saw that Plummer was favoring throwing to Sharpe, when there were others (EDDIE) that were open. I think it was a comfort thing. When Kanell & Beuerlein took over, they varied who they were "comfortable" with, and a lot more running plays were called. Once the opposing team realized that we were going to run the ball a lot more since we didn't have our starting QB & weren't necessarily comfortable with our passing game, they stacked the box against our running game & tried to stuff Portis.

Of course, as the season went on, it became more apparant that Kanell sucked! The one pass he threw during the blowout of SD ended up being intercepted! Figures!

[orangenblue420]

Re: explanations needed please :-)

Originally posted by axel
I m a passionate rugby fan..there are a lot of difference with US football, but there is something it's difficult to me to understand...

I followed Broncos season for some personal reasons....How is it possible for a team to collapse as they just miss one player ??? What happened while Plummer away from the field ???....I know that the quarterback is very essential, but....

And how a team you easily beat kicks your behind 3 weeks later ?? How is it possible to have a so huge difference ???

Rugby is played with 15 players / team, anyone is essential but you couldn't see a team collapsin cos one of them is missing....

Thank for your answer..... And best wishes for the next season....

Go Broncos....

go here...............

http://216.58.161.130/forums/showthr...ighlight=fixed

It will explain a lot

But then again, I seem to be of the minority opinion on this, but I believe it is the answer to at least some of your question.....

[Hoolah]

Originally posted by BeerGirl

At the beginning of the season, you saw that Plummer was favoring throwing to Sharpe, when there were others (EDDIE) that were open. I think it was a comfort thing. When Kanell & Beuerlein took over, they varied who they were "comfortable" with, and a lot more running plays were called. Once the opposing team realized that we were going to run the ball a lot more since we didn't have our starting QB & weren't necessarily comfortable with our passing game, they stacked the box against our running game & tried to stuff Portis.

This is exactly what I mean about injuries having a huge impact on a team in American football...your QB will change the entire face of the game (not just your QB btw), depending on the very things BeerGirl was talking about above. Completely changing how the team chooses to play, but not just that, it affects how the opposing team chooses to play you. They take into account (as BeerGirl said), the differences between QBs. This is not such a factor in Rugby.

[Hoolah]

Originally posted by BeerGirl

Of course, as the season went on, it became more apparant that Kanell sucked! The one pass he threw during the blowout of SD ended up being intercepted! Figures!

This is also true, and bloody hilarious!

Though of course not funny at the time!

[Jared]

Originally posted by bcollin1

Kendra...wasn't he a FB in the NFL for a while?

Ahhh...

Poor Dan Kendra. Never understood that he wasn't indestructible. I saw him take a BB out from under his left eye one weekend during high school. I was like "uhh....Dan, aren't you worried about infection?" He said" Nope". I started to hang out less with him and his friends after that. That's is just nuts. Used his own damn pocket knife. I would have been screaming bloody murder if a BB had come that close to my eye.

His girlfriend was nice though (and hot to boot). He couldn't have been all that bad.

http://www.texassports.com/mainpages.../02roster.html

She is second from the left in the back row. One of the coaches. Don't know what she is doing now.

[Jared]

Originally posted by bcollin1
Whomever she wants, from the look of her.

Let us not speak of the past....mine in particular....

Were you on vacation or something?