Know Thy Enemy: Denver Broncos

One key principal of the ancient Chinese military treatise “The Art of War” is to know your enemy and yourself. Since most posts on this board are dedicated to knowing the Seahawks, we could use a thread devoted to knowing the enemy.

This week that is the Denver Broncos.

Off-season acquisitions: QB Case Keenum, DE Bradley Chubb, OT Jared Veldheer, WR Courtland Sutton, RB Royce Freeman, CB Tramaine Brock, LB/S Su'a Cravens, DL Clinton McDonald, P Marquette King

Greatest strengths:

1. Von Miller and Bradley Chubb rushing the passer from the edges. Chubb was the #1 edge rusher in the 2018 draft. Miller is one the NFL’s premier rushers. Miller’s dynamic pass rushing poses massive challenges for RT Germain Ifedi, who has struggled with speed rushers and suffered an ankle injury in the preseason. George Fant, who is new to the RT position and still fairly new to football in general, is the backup. Either way, Brian Schottenheimer and Mike Solari will need to find a way to scheme around Miller’s disruptions. TEs Nick Vannett and Will Dissly may see a lot of time lining up on the right side of the line to match up on Miller. Russell Wilson may be tasked with rolling to his left more often.

2. Case Keenum had a breakout year last season with the Minnesota Vikings (67.6% completion rate, 22 touchdowns against only seven interceptions). Pete Carroll’s defensive scheme is somewhat vulnerable to the dink and dunk style of a QB like Keenum. Then factor in that the Seahawks will have a rookie starting at WLB in Shaquem Griffin. Clean play by the LBs, particularly Shaquem and new SLB Barkevious Mingo, will be key to stop the bleeding. The Broncos are very excited about big rookie wideout Courtland Sutton paired with another big receiver in Demaryius Thomas. Aggressive play would help the Seahawks’ secondary prevent the chains from moving.

3. The Broncos defense was rated #3 against the run a season ago, and they appear to be even more stout now. This is a huge first test for RB Chris Carson and Solari’s offensive line. On the other hand, the Broncos have shown to be vulnerable to screen passes, which Schottenheimer’s offense specializes in.

4. GM John Elway continues to spend a lot of resources in the trenches. Their offensive line looks particularly strong in run blocking after the addition of Jared Veldheer and with a year of maturation for last year’s first round pick, Garrett Bolles. Rookie RB Royce Freeman had a tremendous offseason and was just named their starter.

5. Broncos corners Chris Harris and Bradley Roby are aggressive in coverage.

Good analysis! Scheming around Miller will be key as you noted, there's no way we can leave Ifedi out there to block him straight up on more than 50% of the snaps.

Nice breakdown, interesting read.

I think we will struggle, especially as we always start the season slowly

Thanks for your time, this is cool.

Great analysis. Keep these going all season long please.

Forgot to mention we passed on Royce Freeman to take Penny, and he has had an outstanding camp and was named the starter. It will be interesting to monitor that as the game and year progress.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/StoneLarry/status/1036748857789403137[/tweet]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Case Keenum 2-0 against the Seahawks?

He is 2-1. One was 9-3, so he wasn't the one who we lost to.

KitsapGuy":3edwxtwu said:

He is 2-1. One was 9-3, so he wasn't the one who we lost to.

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He beat us at Clink in 2015 and at LA in 2016. Goff started the Clink game in 2016 and every game since. Which game did he lose to us?

Just going by the ESPN Gamelog for Case. If he didn't start both in 2016, then it's their error. Or I'm reading it wrong. :shock:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/gamelog/ ... /year/2016

Looks like they were wrong

http://www.espn.com/nfl/game?gameId=400874667

This seems like a prime example to try and run a quick/hurry-up offense.

I'd like to throw in my 2 cents.
-Cravens: Placed on IR
-CJ Anderson, 1000 yd RB replaced by Freeman, who had a very good preseason.
-Our OLine has taken a lot of heat, but the Broncos gave up 52 sacks, tied for 3rd most last year.
-Veldheer struggled last year. Their LT, a rookie last year, struggled too.
-Keenam is a major upgrade, but he's not the most mobile QB. I hope the Hawks blitz like crazy ... like the Vikes game.
-Sutton has shown the ability to high point the ball and good on the go route. But, he's a rookie, needs to polish his routes.
-While, the Broncos had the 3rd best run defense, they lost to an 0-4 NYG at Mile High. NYG RB rushed for 117 YDS. Who was the OLine coach for NYG? Solari.
-The D loses Talib, but adds Chubb. He and Von Miller will really test our OLine. I don't like the match up between Ifedi vs. either one.

As noted, they've added some quality players via FA and draft. But, they were 5-11 last year. We made some major changes too, so this will be a close game. I like Russ. I like our OLine and how their Front seven struggled against Solari's blocking scheme last year.

But, I think it'll be our special teams - Dickson and Seabass - will be the difference.

To enhance the Off-Season acquisitions thoughts, we should consider the huge off-season loss of Talib.

They really haven't been able to replace him, leaving Harris without much help in the secondary. I think they will be pretty vulnerable to a deep attack, unfortunately the necessary time for that attack will be difficult to come by due to the disruptive nature of Von Miller and Chubb.

Freeman looks great, but may struggle between the tackles. Paradis looks good in the middle, but I think their guards are suspect.

Yep, we're going to see very quickly just how improved the O-line is against Denver's front with Miller and Chubb.

Hopefully Fluker can go, cause it's going to be shaky at best if Sweezy has to play having not played all preseason.

Home openers on the road are never easy, especially for this team...........but I like our chances in Denver, especially for our defense.

If we want to negate the speed rush of Miller and Chubs, best to run right at them. Let Brown and Ifedi lean on them with their size advantage.

Frozenropers":22bls76n said:

If we want to negate the speed rush of Miller and Chubs, best to run right at them. Let Brown and Ifedi lean on them with their size advantage.

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True best way to take away a great pass rush is to run the ball at them and let the back cut off the block and seal by the two TE set then have the TE chip the LB. We shall see how our game planning is for real now, should be interesting.

Idk about Chubb, but Miller is also an elite run defender.