Rams-Broncos, Rams lose, 26-27

[Vitamike]

Damn Retro nice analysis!!! You beat me to it, I was going to write up my usual analysis this morning but you pretty much covered everything I was going to. I guess I'll have to get off my butt on Sunday night and starting writing.

Have at it jacobarch, however we all kindof wait for retro to post his game analysis thread and then pick him apart.

You wanna be that guy go ahead...

Actually we just wait for retro and either post ours on his thread or make some variation to his specific notes, since he seems to cover the 'hot' topics anyway.

 

[shopson67]

I also don't really blame them for using Von Miller because they probably assume that they'll be in the playoff hunt later on in the year and want to give Miller reps. Broncos are a Super Bowl or bust team.

I don't blame them for using him, just think it was wasted snaps on their part, as they should've been getting his replacement ready for the first 6 weeks against the 1st team instead. Reps in August when Miller won't be playing until mid October are kinda pointless.

 

[demiurge]

Then seriously you did not watch many Broncos games last year if you think that was complex.

I said it wasn't vanilla. There's several levels between 'full implementation of playbook and all its concepts' and 'vanilla.'

Yes they ran no huddle which is expected as they plan on doing that a lot during the season so might as well get the players used to going that speed in an actual game

They won't be running at that level for the whole season. They kicked in and out of no huddle last year, Manning averaged 36 passes a game. He had 34 in the first half. That is abnormal. If they ran at that pace all year his arm would be spaghetti.

but the actual play calling was very vanilla in running underneath routes most of the game as that is what the Rams were giving them so just take 5 yards a play and move it down the field.

Yes, the Rams were in a vanilla zone and gave them that all day. That's what vanilla looks like.

Like I said they were trying to work a lot of different guys into the game to see how they would respond so I wouldn't expect the Broncos offense to look much like they did last night other than the way they ran the no huddle.

They had a few guys out for injury but they ran their 1st string the entire first half. That's the time period I was talking about. The Broncos came back in the 3rd quarter against the 2nd and 3rd stringers. That 3rd preseason game is considered the 'dress rehearsal' so the starters get more snaps there than any other game in the vast majority of cases.

The D did not sell out against the run.

Fairly often, yes they did.

They did spend most of the game in the base defense of 4-3 so there were usually 3 linebackers on the field but that was more because the Broncos are having to test out the linebacking core and see how it will function without Von Miller for these first six games.

Von Miller played the entire first half. The Broncos were criticized for not testing his replacements as much as they should.

Broncos let suspended Von Miller play 1st half vs. Rams

And 8 in the box isn't a question of how many LBs - they played with their safety up on a large portion of the plays except in obvious passing downs when the starters were in. Don't believe me? How about ESPN:

Observation deck: Rams-Broncos - NFC West Blog - ESPN

The first-team offense attempted just five running plays against a loaded run box and didn’t go anywhere with those tries. The Rams have seen loaded run boxes two weeks in a row and have generated almost no running threat to speak of. They’ll need to be better in that regard come the regular season but if the preseason is an indication, teams are going to make the Rams prove they can beat them in the pass game before they back off.

The Broncos last year were a top 3 team against the run in both yards per game and yards per carry so they have a very good DL to stop the run and very good linebackers that know how to flow to the ball. They didn't need to sell out to stop the run.

They ran with 8 in the box on 1st and 2nd down the majority of the time. Maybe they didn't need to, but they did. And yes, Denver has a very good team in general, and a very good front 7 on defense.

Throw in the run game probably will be the major flaw of the Rams this year.

Certainly it is our biggest question mark without Jackson. We haven't gotten much push from the interior line either, and I'm not certain that's going to change. But our pass protection looks light years better than last year. If we don't get too many injuries we should be better than we were in 2012.

I think they were more complex last week against the Seahawks than they were this week.

That could well be true. That being said, they were putting in some elements of their game plan that were different from normal in this game. I certainly don't expect Manning to average 68 passes a game. That would shatter the league record in attempts. The Rams didn't appear to be doing much game planning, nor did they make many adjustments. Which is why the underneath stuff was open all game.

The Rams did two important things - they dominated on special teams, and they got turnovers. That's why they were winning at half time when the starters were pulled.

We are allowed to be happy about that after some pretty atrocious play during the 1st two preseason games for our club.

 

[fastforward]

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/08/26/refo-stl-den-preseason-week-3/

I posted the previous 2 game reports earlier but it won't hurt to repeat them:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/08/18/refo-gb-stl-preseason-wk-2/

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/08/10/refo-rams-browns-preseason-week-1/

 

[cdumler7]

I said it wasn't vanilla. There's several levels between 'full implementation of playbook and all its concepts' and 'vanilla.'

If you consider running crossing routes and comeback routes more than vanilla then I guess you are right they ran more than vanilla playcalling because that is about all they ran all game. For the run game they either ran straight power-blocking up the middle or a zone blocking scheme on a few zone-stretch plays. Again not too complicated.

They won't be running at that level for the whole season. They kicked in and out of no huddle last year, Manning averaged 36 passes a game. He had 34 in the first half. That is abnormal. If they ran at that pace all year his arm would be spaghetti.

You are right they won't be running that fast all season long but it was a good test to see if they could do it whenever they wanted and I think they showed they could.

Yes, the Rams were in a vanilla zone and gave them that all day. That's what vanilla looks like.

And the Broncos responded by running some vanilla underneath crossing routes. I don't think the Rams have exclusive rights to the word Vanilla.

They had a few guys out for injury but they ran their 1st string the entire first half. That's the time period I was talking about. The Broncos came back in the 3rd quarter against the 2nd and 3rd stringers. That 3rd preseason game is considered the 'dress rehearsal' so the starters get more snaps there than any other game in the vast majority of cases.

No argument here. What I meant was they sat some guys like Clady other than one drive, Welker, mixed in a few different OL players, and didn't have the 2 starting TE's on offense. I would say that is seeing what some of the other guys have. On defense Champ, Ayers, and Wolfe all sat out the entire game and others were mixed in and out.

Fairly often, yes they did.

This is like your opinion. I have seen defenses that sold out for the run and the Broncos were not doing that. Why then were both safeties usually in a 2 deep zone coverage or at worst lined up to cover the TE's one on one?


Von Miller played the entire first half. The Broncos were criticized for not testing his replacements as much as they should.

See this is where people who do not follow the Broncos do not understand the whole situation with Von Miller playing in the first half. Both let me repeat that Both of the Broncos starting DE's were out this last game so they put Von at one of those, had the guy who is going to play his OLB position play, and then the guy who is going to substitute in on passing downs play the other DE position. The guys who are going to play in Von's absence were out on the field. This is again why you saying I don't understand my own team that I have not missed a game watching in 10 years and have had the All-22 pass where I can watch plays over and over again is laughable for you to tell me what my own team is trying to run and do on offense and defense.

Broncos let suspended Von Miller play 1st half vs. Rams

And 8 in the box isn't a question of how many LBs - they played with their safety up on a large portion of the plays except in obvious passing downs when the starters were in. Don't believe me? How about ESPN:

Observation deck: Rams-Broncos - NFC West Blog - ESPN

The first-team offense attempted just five running plays against a loaded run box and didn’t go anywhere with those tries. The Rams have seen loaded run boxes two weeks in a row and have generated almost no running threat to speak of. They’ll need to be better in that regard come the regular season but if the preseason is an indication, teams are going to make the Rams prove they can beat them in the pass game before they back off.

This here again was more the Broncos trying to test out the Safeties in man to man coverage with the TE's and Running Backs. This is not the true 8 in the box idea but was more for coverage and testing out who would handle those kind of coverages best. If they were sold out for the run I think they would have given up some more passing yards than they did yet nope they did just fine against the Rams passing attack.



They ran with 8 in the box on 1st and 2nd down the majority of the time. Maybe they didn't need to, but they did. And yes, Denver has a very good team in general, and a very good front 7 on defense.


Certainly it is our biggest question mark without Jackson. We haven't gotten much push from the interior line either, and I'm not certain that's going to change. But our pass protection looks light years better than last year. If we don't get too many injuries we should be better than we were in 2012.





That could well be true. That being said, they were putting in some elements of their game plan that were different from normal in this game. I certainly don't expect Manning to average 68 passes a game. That would shatter the league record in attempts. The Rams didn't appear to be doing much game planning, nor did they make many adjustments. Which is why the underneath stuff was open all game.

Passing the ball 34 times in the first half does not mean they were game-planning for this game. It means they were testing out the no huddle offense which they plan to use on every team not just the Rams in case they both make it to the Superbowl. Running the underneath routes is just Manning working with the OL and WR's on reading the defense correctly together and running the plays that will work against different formations. Manning does this to everybody not just the Rams. Don't know if you have watched many games of Manning but he does this all the time. The Rams were not a special occasion.

The Rams did two important things - they dominated on special teams, and they got turnovers. That's why they were winning at half time when the starters were pulled.

We are allowed to be happy about that after some pretty atrocious play during the 1st two preseason games for our club.

You are definitely allowed to be happy as your team played fine. I don't have a problem with that I just have a problem with the idea that you keep saying the Broncos game-planned for the Rams and didn't run a vanilla offense and defense. They most certainly did. The most complicated play they ran all night was the 4th and 2 touchdown pass where they had one underneath and one deeper receiver. Again not complicated stuff when you see man to man coverage on both it makes sense to run a play with levels.

 

[Retroram52]

O.K. I have a proposal. Since we have some pretty good post-game analyzers on this board why don't we do it this way. Instead of the three of us (fastforward, jacobarch, and myself) posting multiple analyses of the game, we can do it three ways: We can all three post our post-game analyses after the game on the same thread; we can take turns with one of us handling the duties each week; or I can step aside and let fastforward and jacobarch takeover the post-game analyses. Let me know what you guys want to do and we'll go with it. I am sure VitaMike has some suggestions along these lines. I am amendable to all three options or if someone has something better speak now or forever hold your peace.

 

[fastforward]

I'd rather have everyone say it as they see it. We all see the game slightly differently and pick up on different things. People make points for me to consider even if I don't always agree with them. I've tried not to create threads similar to those that already exist. I created a Rams - Broncos thread because there wasn't 1 and the ongoing thread was being used. It's difficult to stop people creating multiple threads.