Kyle The Better-Than-Marginal: The Growing Legend of Neckbeard

Don't let the title fool you. This piece isn't just about Kyle Orton. In fact, you could say it is 90% inspired by Josh McDaniels. After all, he is the main reason behind the remarkable play of the Denver Broncos this season. It's not necessarily the success, Denver has been a winning organization for years now, but it is the way they are winning. With a dominant defense and a balanced offensive attack that commits few errors. McDaniels and D-coordinator Mike Nolan have instilled a grit that has been lacking since the days of the Orange Crush.

Nolan, the architect of the Baltimore D that was feared for so many years, arrived along with an army of NFL veterans on the defensive side. Much like the defense of McDaniels' former team, every player was handpicked for a specific role. Some Bronco veterans have shifted roles to better fit in with Nolan's defense of choice, the 3-4. Former DT Elvis Dumervil switched to OLB and has thrived, tallying 10 sacks through 7 games, good enough for second in the league. Dumervil has been the Broncos' best pass rusher since 2006 (his rookie season) but his best year was 2007 where he had 12.5 sacks and 34 total tackles. Dumervil has 24 tackles in the first 7 games.

Consider the following stats:

• The Broncos are 1st in total D this year, giving up 266.7 yards per game. Denver was 29th last season, allowing 374.6 yards per game.
• Nolan's 3-4 defense is 6th in the NFL in pass defense and 3rd in rush defense. Denver finished 2008 as the 26th ranked pass defense and the 27th ranked rush defense.
• Denver has given up 13.7 points per game, good enough for 2nd in the league this season. Last season they finished at 30th in the league, having given up 28 points per game.
• Denver has a turnover differential of +6, good enough for 6th in the league. Last season, they finished tied for dead last at -17.
• Denver has thrown 1 INT. In contrast, Detroit's quarterbacks have thrown 16. Surprisingly, Brett Favre's Vikings are second in the league, having only thrown 3 INTs.
  

The offense has contributed consistency. The 2008 Broncos were prolific on offense but short drives and turnovers often put the defense in situations they couldn't dig out of. With Orton, Denver has traded gaudy numbers for dependability. Through 7 games, Orton has thrown 1 interception, an end of the half hail mary that was picked off by Randy Moss of all people (Moss has as many INTs this season as Bronco TE Tony Scheffler). He has shown competence while running McDaniels' offense as well as the ability to know when to make a throw and when to throw the ball away. Against New England, he showed that he has the ability to sustain a game winning drive, when he picked the Pats D apart with precision throws and quality decision making. Rookie RB Knowshon Moreno and former Philly backup, Correll Buckhalter have run the ball with tenacity and have shown the ability to be decisive when hitting holes, gaining yards on every rush. Many questioned McDaniels' choice to draft a RB when he already had a gaggle of them on his squad (with Peyton Hillis returning and the signing of Correll Buckhalter, J.J. Arrington, and LaMont Jordan) but Moreno has cemented himself as one half of a dynamic running duo. The two have melded into one runner, capable of playing an entire game at 100%, wearing down opposing defenses after 3 quarters of constant pounding.

At 6-1, Denver looks good heading into their Week 9 game against Pittsburgh tonight. It's always a battle against the Steelers; Denver's heart will be tested after last week's loss to Baltimore. We'll know after tonight whether Denver truly belongs amongst the elite of the NFL. San Diego has recovered from their early season woes and if Denver loses, the Chargers will only be a game back.

I leave you with an audio clip of the pregame speech given by Brian Dawkins prior to Denver's first game against the Bengals. If you're looking for a catalyst behind Denver's defensive improvement, look no further.



-PSon

NFL happenings while I was getting my butt kicked in Florida

This past weekend was a blast and certainly deserves its own post so I'll hold off on talking about it too much. For now I give you the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the first weekend of free agent signings in the NFL. It should be noted that I am an unabashed homer.

I would first like to link to this story that came out this weekend about the 4 people (2 of them being NFL players) who went missing in the Gulf of Mexico when their boat capsized. One of the men was found clinging to the boat but the other 3 are still missing. My thoughts go out to all three men; the thought of being alone on open water is too scary to think about.

The Good

• After the Broncos hired Josh McDaniels, people in Denver knew change was imminent (not necessarily a bad thing); within two weeks, McDaniels had seemingly cut half the team so I was pretty anxious to see what the Broncos would do this weekend. On Saturday I arrived at our hotel after a brutal day in fairly intense heat and popped open my laptop to check out who the Broncos signed that day. Brian Dawkins was the first name I saw and that's really all I needed to read. The Broncos had gaping holes in the secondary and that was before they cut Dre Bly last month. They finished out the weekend with most of those holes filled (Dawkins, Renaldo Hill, Andre Goodman) and they signed LB Andra Davis and a couple of potential nose tackles as well. Former Brian Westbrook fill-in, Correll Buckhalter was also signed and should get a shot as the feature back or part of a platoon.
• Kansas City picked up Matt Cassel (and Mike Vrabel) in a trade which serves as a tell-tale sign that Tom Brady is looking like he will be ready for the 2009 season. Good for KC although it still remains to be seen whether Cassel is a great QB or just a product of the New England system.
• T.J. Houshmandzadeh to Seattle. Great pickup for Matt Hasselbeck who should experience a resurgence after an injury-filled 2008 campaign.
  

The Bad

• Dan Snyder once again shows that he is filthy rich and will throw money at anything with football skills. The Redskins kicked-off free agent season with a 7-year, $100 million offer to Haynesworth. Yes this is the same guy who stomped on CU grad Andre Gurode's head. He's a game-changing player when he's healthy and playing within his head but with a giant contract and a coach who has already been having problems with superstar players, this could spell disaster in D.C.
• Brandon Marshall was arrested again, this time in Atlanta. No word yet on why but this doesn't look good as he has already been suspended by the league for off the field behavior.
• Vonnie Holliday after being cut, "There's no loyalty in this league." True. The NFL is notoriously bad about chewing players up and spitting them out. Contracts are not guaranteed so NFL teams can cut healthy players at any time without paying out the remainder of their deal. It is truly a business, at least more so than the other 3 major U.S. sports organizations (NBA, MLB, NHL). Sadly, nothing will change though as the NFL is currently in the best shape out of the 4 partly because teams aren't ever truly locked into weighty contracts and guys are forced to play hard or they will be unceremoniously released.

The Ugly

The Jay Cutler situation in Denver. In one corner we have Jay Cutler, the Broncos' rocket-armed quarterback; centerpiece of Denver's high-octane offense. The man in the other corner is Josh McDaniels, the recently hired head coach of the Denver Broncos and former disciple of Bill Belichick. It is being alleged that McDaniels has been shopping Cutler in the past couple of weeks in an effort to attain Matt Cassel, the quarterback he tutored last year in New England. It is no secret that Cutler has been less than thrilled with the Broncos' direction this off-season. Cutler was close with fired coach Mike Shanahan as well as departed offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates and it is being reported that he asked to be traded after Bates' departure. Scary times. I love Cutler but I think he needs to grow some thicker skin. He's not the quarterback he thinks he is but with McDaniels' help he could be the best.

I leave you with a message from Brian Dawkins:



-PSon