Denver’s opener marked by poor pass protection

By Robert Rousseau  |   Sunday, September 10, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Denver Broncos
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Going into their opening-day game at St. Louis, the Denver Broncos were 3.5 point favorites. There were a host of reasons why - an experienced quarterback, very talented receiving corps, solid defense and, of course, the offensive line. The Broncos' line is known as one of the NFL's best, and it has been for several years now. Unfortunately, after Denver's rather convincing 18-10 loss to the underdog Rams, one has to question a particular aspect of that unit; pass protection.

It actually wasn't all the line's doing; plenty of non-linemen got in on the pass protection debacle. Here are some cold hard examples:

1. In the first quarter, Rams DE Leonard Little went right through Broncos tackle George Foster like a knife through butter on his way to sacking Plummer.

2. Again in the first, Little threw Broncos running back Mike Bell aside like a Pop Warner player on his way to stripping Jake Plummer of the football. It was clearly a mistake in pass protection philosophy (putting a rookie running back on Little), as well as a terrible play. Regardless, the Broncos lost the ball.

3. At around 11:50 of the second quarter, Broncos right guard Cooper Carlisle double teams an interior rusher rather than sliding off onto Rams cornerback Travis Fisher. Though Fisher only puts a mild amount of pressure on Plummer, it's enough to force him into a mistake (P.S.- Plummer didn't exactly play well, either). Rams rookie Tye Hill intercepts the ball.

4. With 5:30 remaining in the second quarter, Plummer doesn't audible out of a pass play involving a naked rollout. Because of that, he rolled right into blitzing Rams cornerback Fakhir Brown, resulting in a sack.

5. At about 8:41 of the third quarter, with the Broncos in enemy territory, both Anthony Hargrove and La'Roi Glover come right up the middle to sack Jake Plummer.

And, of course, there was much more. The final results - Four Rams sacks, five Broncos turnovers (at least two that could be traced to the poor protection) and a bad loss.

Despite the Broncos' struggles, a lot of credit has to go to defensive coordinator Jim Haslett and the Rams. They sure didn't look like the defense we're used to seeing in St. Louis. Still, the Broncos didn't exactly make things hard for the underdogs. Shocking for an offense known for the opposite.

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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or ...
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