Burning Bronco question No. 3: The offensive line

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, February 28, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Denver Broncos
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In this bit of RealFootball365.com carved out for the Denver Broncos, we continue to slog through the will burning questions facing the team, quite probably the NFL's second-most disappointing team in 2007. Those questions include:

• What's going on in the secondary?
• Will defensive coordinator Jim Bates be fired?
• Are there addressable problems in the offensive line?
• Can free agency help?
• And what in the **** is up with the red-zone offense?

Today, the offensive line. Over the course of three "Monday Night Football" games in 2007 (19-13 OT loss at Green Bay in Week 8; 34-20 Week 11 win vs. Tennessee; embarrassing and degrading 23-3 Week 16 loss at San Diego), the most memorable highlights were produced by the booth when Jay Cutler's incredible passer rating outside the pocket was displayed.

On every occasion the stat was flashed did Tony Kornheiser go aghast and Ron Jaworski gush like Yellowstone, the latter utterly at a loss to account for the ridiculous disparity between Cutler's incredible ability to successfully improvise and his hardly mind-blowing 88.1 QB rating, good for 12th in the league.

By the time the season was closing and the Broncos' defense had been officially mailing it for weeks in ugly parallel with the steady rise of San Diego, the O-line might as well have been nonexistent, with Cutler's famed awareness tested on nearly every play in Weeks 15 through 17.

Incidentally, the running game suffered from poor line play as well: At just under 2,000 yards cumulative, the ground attack that had gained a reputation for its ability to insert turn The Unknown Runner into a 1,000-yard season, performed worse statistically than any Bronco team since Terrell Davis' disappointingly shortened last season of 2001. Surely Denver backers would agree that the running game in 2007 was in fact the worst such performance since Mike Shanahan took over the team in 1995.

So what happened on the O-line, and can it be fixed?

Ironically, the Broncos appeared to have addressed the latter half of the issue last season, signing unheralded former Saint guard Montrae Holland via free agency in March. Holland clawed his way up to starting right guard and at age 27, finally appears to be coming into his own. Holland ended up being the first decent addition to the Broncos' line via free agency since Ephraim Salaam in 2002.

Elsewhere on the line, blame that old bugaboo, injuries. Five-time Pro Bowl center Tom Nalen was put on injured reserve after the particularly brutal 41-3 beatdown administered by San Diego in Week 5. As Nalen went down, so did a Broncos inside running game that went into hibernation until easy prey from Kansas City came into town in Week 14.

Ben Hamilton, who had started on the Denver line for five consecutive seasons' (including playoffs) worth of Broncos game, got a concussion in preseason and never played a snap in 2007; the larger, sadder reality is Hamilton might never be in an NFL uniform again.

Oh, and 11-year Bronco tackle Matt Lepsis retired.

So now what? At present, you figure Nalen starts. Chris Myers was adequate by season's end, but no Nalen, who will be 37 by the time the 2008 preseason kicks off; therefore, Bronco fans will have to get used to Myers. Right now, it appears to be second-year man Ryan Harris at left tackle in lieu of Lepsis: How about a huge question mark, Denver?

Also in the mix is Erik Pears, who has to be penciled in at right tackle, and Chris Kuper. Both saw quite a bit of time in 2007 out of necessity. Greg Eslinger might be around as well, but played short of expectations after spending quality in time in the late, great NFL Europa.

Not exactly an inspiring bunch, but Shanahan could yet make this work. Unfortunately, the draft class isn't exceptionally laden with O-linemen this year, and neither is free agency. Broncos fans are certain to have sore fingers from over-crossing during draft weekend; hope that Shanahan can work some magic, Denver boys and girls.

Or perhaps the Broncos should just take the plunge and surrender a couple of draft picks for Carolina's Jordan Gross, the disheartened Panther who would be perfect in Denver.

But that's to be addressed in answer to the next burning question ...

Putting out fires throughout the year at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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