Broncos @ Bears GDT: Preseason Week 1

[BroncoBruin]

Raymond has zero chance of making this team, might be a good audition for another team though. 

[AKRNA]

So, really curious. I couldn't watch the game but have some questions.

1) I know Bolles is an old, idiot midget with no upside (isn't that right AAA?) but how did he play? By the way AAA. I'm about 180 degrees out on your assessment of Bolles, just sayin.

2) Is Watson an upgrade at RT or are we still in a hole there?

3) Who's really  our best LG prospect?

Sounds like Paxton hasn't changed. Last year I described him as great until the ball was snapped, then panic took over. Sounds a bit the same.

Are Mckenzie and Henderson the real "quick strike" deal? What a godsend if they are.

Anyway, I may come up with other questions but that's it for now.

 

 

 

 

[BroncoSojia]

All I'll say about the QB battle is that I really wish Chad Kelly was healthy right now. Other than that, the No Fly Zone was the No Fly Zone and Deangelo Henderson impressed me. I'm going to have to go back and look at how Bolles preformed, but I didn't see him give up any pressures or sacks.

[BroncoBruin]

Didn't record the game so it's all just memory now but Bolles held up okay, better than Watson who seems intent to continue our tradition of turnstile right tackles. Garcia is no help at all to Bolles in pass pro. Bolles was mixing it up with guys in the run game, fun to ses. 

Barbre needs to get some first team reps over Garcia. That move should be made soon. 

I don't know what they can do about the defensive line. Gotsis and Kerr were really disappointing. Winn, a decent run defender, is out of the picture. This is an area where they may have to look for a player outside the roster for help. 

[BroncoBruin]

And if Barbre can't cut it, move Leary to LG (the position he's played for years( and play McGovern at RG. McGovern has as many 1st team reps under his belt as any guy on the line this summer. 

Garcia's need to play LG hurts Bolles in pass pro and moved a 36 million dollar left guard to the right side. RT looks like a lost cause and Watson is probably still our best chance there, but there are possible moves to make in the next couple weeks with the guards. Time to stop catering to Garcia's inflexibiliy when he plays like that.

[AnAngryAmerican]

I'm not going to put too much stock in one preseason game but suffice to say this team doesn't look much improved from last year. A lot of the local media's hype looks more like brown-nosing than serious reporting, but that's the world we live in. Again, it's just one preseason game with a vanilla game plan and a lot of guys who will be looking for new careers in a month but still ... damn. 

Trevor looked like Trevor, Paxton looked like Paxton. I don't know if it's the two of them, the McCoy offense or a combination of both but color me wholly unimpressed with all of the above. 

Garret Bolles looked alright, he's certainly not Ryan Clady but he's certainly not Ty Sambrailo or Donald Stephenson either. He has some upside and I've been saying since I saw him in person in two camp practices that he's better than I expected. He should be able to improve and scratch out a 6-7 year career as an average to slightly above-average LT. 

Carlos Henderson is atrocious. Two drops on a KRs. Ouch. Yeah give me Cody Latimer back there. On Latimer, he made some nice catches in traffic. A lot of us have liked him since he was drafted but he's never done anything as a WR. Part of that was that he could never get on the same page with Peyton, and I think that shattered his confidence, maybe now he's able to break out. It's a make-or-break season for him.i

Brock Olivo talks a big game and has a good pedigree having learned from Dave Toub but I was not pleased with the special teams today. Allowed a few big returns and did little in the return game except in the fourth quarter with Kalif Raymond against a bunch of college free agents. I think the coaching staff as a whole needs to do a better job. 

I DVR'd the game so I will watch with a more critical (and more sober) eye tomorrow and have some more in-depth thoughts but as of now, color me unimpressed. 

 

[elliot878]

8 hours ago, BroncoSojia said:

All I'll say about the QB battle is that I really wish Chad Kelly was healthy right now. Other than that, the No Fly Zone was the No Fly Zone and Deangelo Henderson impressed me. I'm going to have to go back and look at how Bolles preformed, but I didn't see him give up any pressures or sacks.

 

Not noticing an OL is typically a good thing lol... means they're not killing the team.

[Broncofan]

Re: Bolles & Watson, while Watson got turnstiled on the first play of the game, they only played 2 series IIRC.  So not enough to really get too worried/excited.    We did get long looks at Sambrailo/Schofield/Day to see that they have no shot to be anything more than depth, and in Day's case, he was particularly horrible.   As risky as it sounds, the OL (maybe not Paradis, but the other 4) needs to play a full 1H not just in Week 3, but Week 2, of the preseason to get them to gel for week 1 regular season. Sadly, our backup line hopefuls are not even ready to be OK vs. 2nd-team D's.

Re: run D, I'll say it again - missing out on Jaye Howard when he was signed at min-wage could really come back to haunt us - he adds nothing in pass rush D, but he was a rock for CHI's run D when he played last night.   Kerr's struggles really surprised me, he showed better in his limited film in Indy.    Gotsis is bigger, but he had trouble getting inside and lower than the T's he faced in run D.   I will say that the NT's didn't stand out one way or the other - I couldn't even tell who was playing.  Did Jarrett get a fair amount of time in, or was it the Peko & Peko show?   The other part that I noticed from our front 7 was a lot of missed tackles on run D - none of the ILB guys made a splash play, to push Davis as our 2nd starter.    Not a good sign.    @elliot878 is spot on on not getting noticed in OL as a good sign - but the same can't be said for front 7 D guys.  

I'd also echo the thoughts that our ST needs a ton of work.  Fortunately, this is probably the easiest to fix out of our 4 problems last night (OL pass pro, run D, QB & ST play) - that requires more reps in practice, and with so many new guys, people finding their roles.     C-Henderson was likely just nervous - but also showed real rawness on O, which given his small school background and issues with picking up their playbook and subpar route running, shouldn't be surprising.   The issue is if he's not even helping on returns, well, he's a fair bit away from helping.  That's fine as a late round rookie, but taking him Round 3, either you should get regular part-time slot contributions, and ideally you're getting a huge ST upgrade.  Not getting either, while rookies deserve a first year to learn, given his price in a deep draft, well, ouch.

On the bright side, gotta say again how much Edebali & Latimer really impressed, and against the first team CHI D, not just late in the game.   D-Henderson did almost all his work against 3rd teamers (same with Sloter), as did Raymond (but ST is usually against the same units), so other than Raymond's return potential, you can't project that to regular season success, but they showed up to play and flashed in their time, all you can ask.   And yeah, our first-team D was nails on pass D, and on run D, was better as a unit.  Maybe our DE/NT play was more exposed than normal as Von/Marshall/safety support wasn't there.

Now, out of all the problems last night, ST is probably the one that is easiest to fix.   OL pass pro will hopefully improve a lot with Paradis at C, and please, let's get Barbre at LG and see how that front 5 fares.   Run-D wise, man, if Kerr and Pekos x 2 / Jarrett aren't helping, and Gotsis' technique is still raw (he's clearly bigger)....harder to see a fix.    At least there's hope that Kerr & Gotsis & Jarrett are getting their reps in now, and could definitely improve with more time in scrimmage/preseason (Jarrett being a true rookie isn't surprising), but improvement is clearly needed individually.

Run-D and QB-wise, those are the 2 problems where we don't have new solutions coming in - our guys we have just have to be better.   Run-D we had shots to address talent, but didn't.   QB-wise, we are stuck with Siemian/Lynch for 2017, there's no one out there who's a viable upgrade (as tempting as it is to say the grass is greener on the other side, AJ McCarron is no better).   Time will tell if that decision haunts us in 2017-8.

[elliot878]

4 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

I'm not going to put too much stock in one preseason game but suffice to say this team doesn't look much improved from last year. A lot of the local media's hype looks more like brown-nosing than serious reporting, but that's the world we live in. Again, it's just one preseason game with a vanilla game plan and a lot of guys who will be looking for new careers in a month but still ... damn. 

Trevor looked like Trevor, Paxton looked like Paxton. I don't know if it's the two of them, the McCoy offense or a combination of both but color me wholly unimpressed with all of the above. 

Garret Bolles looked alright, he's certainly not Ryan Clady but he's certainly not Ty Sambrailo or Donald Stephenson either. He has some upside and I've been saying since I saw him in person in two camp practices that he's better than I expected. He should be able to improve and scratch out a 6-7 year career as an average to slightly above-average LT. 

Carlos Henderson is atrocious. Two drops on a KRs. Ouch. Yeah give me Cody Latimer back there. On Latimer, he made some nice catches in traffic. A lot of us have liked him since he was drafted but he's never done anything as a WR. Part of that was that he could never get on the same page with Peyton, and I think that shattered his confidence, maybe now he's able to break out. It's a make-or-break season for him.i

Brock Olivo talks a big game and has a good pedigree having learned from Dave Toub but I was not pleased with the special teams today. Allowed a few big returns and did little in the return game except in the fourth quarter with Kalif Raymond against a bunch of college free agents. I think the coaching staff as a whole needs to do a better job. 

I DVR'd the game so I will watch with a more critical (and more sober) eye tomorrow and have some more in-depth thoughts but as of now, color me unimpressed. 

 

Let's be honest, did we really think going into this season the team had any chance of impressing, hell any chance of improving was a long shot.  The front office did as close to nothing as possible to fix the teams most glaring weaknesses.  

OL was addressed with Leary, but there were 4 gaping holes on the OL.  Watson was a Stephenson level signing, a hope and a prayer, but he's never done anything in this league.  This left us handcuffed into Bolles in the first round (which I'm not mad about).  The scheme change should allow the unit to show improvement, as the majority of the bodies on the line were running a scheme under Kubiak that didn't fit their skill sets.

DL and the porous run d was addressed with an aging Domato Peko, really just a big body at this stage, and Zack Kerr who we all put our hopes in.  Guy couldn't get playing time on the Colts perennially bad DL.  He's going to come here and start and bring our run d back to legitimacy?

 

The offseason moves, or lack thereof signaled that we're entering a rebuild. If the front office were serious about competing for a championship this year they'd have paid the rental price for Sheldon Richardson.

With that said, I don't think a rebuild is the wrong move.  Cap wise last offseason the team was in a weird spot where they had money to spend, but relative to the rest of the league that money wasn't going to be well spent, as they couldn't compete with offers for the best players.  Instead Elway threw darts at guys like Peko, Kerr and Watson, who realistically were never going to solve the teams problems.  Better to build the financial war chest than get into bad long term deals.  However, as fans we'll just have to suffer through more mediocrity. 

[BroncosFan2010]

Its quite obvious that Paxton Lynch is still simply a ball of unmolded raw talent rather than a NFL caliber QB. Siemian should, and will, start this season and I have faith in him to play at a level that wont lose us many games.

D-Henderson was one of my favorite draft picks and he was tremendous. I think he is already our 2nd best RB and that his explosion should really lend him the upper hand in the 2nd string RB battle against Booker, who I will continue to tout as JAG.

Loved seeing Cody make some plays. If he has gotten his head straight, he may finally develop into the reliable #3 that we have been needing. Honestly he was a R2 so he should be at least a #2WR to validate his draft spot but #3WR is better than flameout. Love the idea of him getting it together and still providing ST ace play, that's the type of #3WR this team needs.

Watson let me down. I was hoping that he would finally put it together but he may simply be too slow to ever become a passable blocker in pass protection. He will maul in the run game so a liability in one of two facets is better than the double liabilities we had in Ty and Donald last season.

Gotsis still looks like the DE equivalent of Lynch. All talent with little translating to on-field play. For a man with his frame and power, he is on skates way, way too often. Its pretty indescribable. His awareness on field must simply be poor and he must always be a split second too late off the line, allowing the OL to initiate contact and then its just over.

Raymond is gone because we will stick with the WR return-specialist midgits we drafted, but he looked far better than Carlos and Mackenzie.

Jordan Taylor was a letdown, I thought this could be his year. He still seems like a long striding, downfield / RZ only threat that cant be counted on to move the chains. He may be better suited for a more air-attack type offense.

Bolles looked passable if not great. And passable is a compliment for a rookie LT.

Overall, not much that surprised me. I still think its going to take a random breakout year from someone like D-Henderson to get the team into the playoffs. I smell a team that's between 6-10 and 9-7 and don't hold much in terms of playoff aspirations. I don't draw that prediction solely from this preseason game, its what I have thought all offseason.

[broncos67]

A whole bunch of thoughts on last night's game (which thankfully was on NFL Network). I am keeping in mind that this was the 1st preseason game with a vanilla scheme because that always gets lost in the overreactions this time of year. That said, there will be specific themes I'll be watching for during the rest of the games to see how this season will fare.

Paxton Lynch looked atrocious. I know Broncos fans salivate over his athletic potential, but he really looks like he has no business on the field. Yes, he was playing with 2nd stringers, but also AGAINST 2nd stringers. He needs to be better than that. Compared to Trubisky, who looked decisive and calm, it's scary. I can always tell if a young QB will end up okay based on how jittery they are in the pocket. Lynch can't stand still. He looks to run immediately. Siemian didn't look fantastic but it's clear why he should start. He had that one awful running backwards throw away, but a few nice passes, including that dime to Sanders which was dropped.

We need a RT bad. Watson got blown off the ball multiple times, almost got Siemian killed, and committed a bunch of penalties. Yuck. Bolles looked better than expected, especially in the run game. Garcia is trash. I've said this for a long time. He needs to go. They need to put Leary where he belongs, and get Barbre or McGovern in the starting lineup. I hope that change gets made sooner than later.

The DL is an abject failure. This is a point I have been harping on forever and I saw nothing to change my mind in either camp reports OR the game. Derek Wolfe is a stud. The rest of the DL is filled with JAGs. I got a kick out of the Broncos fans saying that because added bulk we would somehow be better. Kerr is what he is. He's not a good player. Peko is old. Gotsis got blown off the ball repeatedly. Winn got hurt. Crick looked okay. I didn't even notice Demarcus Walker. We need to invest more into that unit, and fast. Enough bargain bin garbage.

The rookies mostly looked okay. I thought Sloter looked good. McKenzie did well. DeAngelo Henderson looked good. Bolles held his own. But my god, Carlos Henderson looks lost. I echo AAA, clearly Latimer is going to have a more prominent role. His inability to jive with Peyton, and subsequent benching/exile clearly shook his confidence, but he does have talent when he gets around the ball. 

In all, it's just one preseason game. I'm interested to see what Lynch does with the 1s. I'm trying not to take too much away from it, but man, this bargain bin approach isn't off to a good start

[Broncofan]

One guy that deserves props in looking at the 2H - DL Shakir Soto.  It was hard to see with the rest of the OL getting manhandled but he held his own and made 2-3 splash plays.   Now it was against the 2nd/3rd string O so can't project too much.  But if Winn is out with an ACL then he should at least get more looks earlier in next week's game.  

[BroncosFan2010]

One thing with Carlos Henderson that many outlined after his drafting, including myself, is that he was NOTORIOUSLY bad at digesting the playbook at Louisiana Tech. He was asked to run a High School JV type route tree and basically just free-lanced as a gadget player. So he was more athlete than football player, and we fell for that athletic potential in a moment of abject obsession over the way KC's Tyreek Hill bent us over last season. I would bet the house against him amounting to anything of note. His saving grace in my eyes was his return potential, but he seems to have buttered his hands last night, and that doesn't bode well for the future.

 

I agree with those that stress the non-dynamic play of many of our FA additions shouldn't be surprising. We made horrible, uninspiring moves in Free Agency. I thought we were two splash signings away from possibly fielding a team that could contend with Oakland for the division crown and we manages to sign a mauling OG who had the benefit of being smack dab in the middle of the best LT and OC in the game and a bunch of scrap pile flyers who wouldn't even sniff a starting spot on a true SB contender like NE.

 

[broncos67]

1 hour ago, BroncosFan2010 said:

One thing with Carlos Henderson that many outlined after his drafting, including myself, is that he was NOTORIOUSLY bad at digesting the playbook at Louisiana Tech. He was asked to run a High School JV type route tree and basically just free-lanced as a gadget player. So he was more athlete than football player, and we fell for that athletic potential in a moment of abject obsession over the way KC's Tyreek Hill bent us over last season. I would bet the house against him amounting to anything of note. His saving grace in my eyes was his return potential, but he seems to have buttered his hands last night, and that doesn't bode well for the future.

 

I agree with those that stress the non-dynamic play of many of our FA additions shouldn't be surprising. We made horrible, uninspiring moves in Free Agency. I thought we were two splash signings away from possibly fielding a team that could contend with Oakland for the division crown and we manages to sign a mauling OG who had the benefit of being smack dab in the middle of the best LT and OC in the game and a bunch of scrap pile flyers who wouldn't even sniff a starting spot on a true SB contender like NE.

 

To be fair, I don't think Leary was a bad addition, and I think he'll generally perform fine here, but he needs to be at LG next to Bolles. Garcia is a turnstile and he's just not good enough to be a starter. They need these guys up front in the best possible positions. It's actually insane to me that they moved their high-priced FA signing to a different guard spot to accommodate Max freaking Garcia. It's lunacy.

[BroncoBruin]

The run D was fine in the first quarter, so I'll reserve judgment of Peko and Crick. Are those two guys I feel comfortable giving the benefit of the doubt? Of course not. 

Also, will be nice when they can stop monkeying around with using Walker as an EDGE and send him back to the DL.