Week 14 GDT: Time to get bucked by the Broncos!

[Forge]

It's just the most basic of stats across the board obviously, but even some of their other stats are pretty close (mullens has a much higher INT rate though).  

 

But C'mon, it's kind of funny, right? 

[J-ALL-DAY]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

@J-ALL-DAY @PapaShogun

Bye Earl

Yeah, dude is so much more stout at the point of attack than Mitchell.

2 hours ago, Forge said:

I saw this as well. I looked at Sakamoto's (spelling?) twitter, and he did retweet this from Armstead, but I didn't see any explanation for it, nor did he really address it from what I can tell. I've seen some critical tweets and writings from Sakamoto, but nothing that would be considered out of the ordinary or anything. He doesn't appear to be a fan of Armstead from a player standpoint, but again, nothing crazy out of the ordinary. 

It definitely has to be something personal. It can't just be criticizing him unless he does it like every week?

I'm surprised no player has called out Cohn yet like this lol. 

[Forge]

I thought there was some pretty good stuff in here. Some the playcall names are pretty funny. Also, I think that it's cool that Sherm knew it was 1,000 for Kittle. 

[NcFinest9erFan]

so how did Solly Thomas look?

[Forge]

1 minute ago, NcFinest9erFan said:

so how did Solly Thomas look?

A couple of QB hits (well, technically three, but one was waaaaaaaaaay late and ended up a penalty lol). He certainly caused a little havoc on the interior, but he's still not closing. Basically how I viewed it was that once again he showed that the interior is by far and away his best position, but not enough there to really get me excited or anything like that. Of course, it's one game, and one game really shouldn't get me excited about a potential future moving forward, so that kind of washes out anyway. Still a work in progress - going to need to see more with regards to how we utilize him, what he does, etc. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

He had seven total pressures and two QB hits. Didn't quite get the sack but was close twice. But if he keeps putting that type of pressure every game, then the sacks will come. Either way, did better than he usually does rushing from the edge. 

So does anyone know if Day was a healthy scratch or is dealing with some sort of injury? 

[Forge]

8 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

He had seven total pressures and two QB hits. Didn't quite get the sack but was close twice. But if he keeps putting that type of pressure every game, then the sacks will come. Either way, did better than he usually does rushing from the edge. 

So does anyone know if Day was a healthy scratch or is dealing with some sort of injury? 

My understanding was that he was a healthy scratch because of game plan. He's viewed as a pass rushing interior d-lineman, and the staff felt that the Broncos would be run heavy, so his usage / utilization wasn't going to be as great and they had options who would better execute a game plan to shut down the run. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

My understanding was that he was a healthy scratch because of game plan. He's viewed as a pass rushing interior d-lineman, and the staff felt that the Broncos would be run heavy, so his usage / utilization wasn't going to be as great and they had options who would better execute a game plan to shut down the run. 

So against Seattle who also likes to run expect the same? 

[Forge]

2 hours ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

So against Seattle who also likes to run expect the same? 

I'm assuming that the report was accurate (I think I read it on an MB athletic article), since MB isn't typically one to misfire, and that the staff wasn't just talking out of both sides of their mouth. If that is the case, yeah, I don't know why you would sit day against Denver but then play him against the Seahawks given their tendencies. I suppose if you think that the only way you create pressure on Wilson at all is by getting a smaller, faster DT in there I suppose it makes more sense. 

 

**edit**

just re-read the article. MB stated that was "likely" the cause, but it appears that he was simply making a logical guess and didn't actually talk to the staff. 

[NcFinest9erFan]

 

[Chrissooner49er]

9 minutes ago, NcFinest9erFan said:

 

Looked like the OLman grabbed his right arm as Solly went by...definitely holding.

[Forge]

6 minutes ago, Chrissooner49er said:

Looked like the OLman grabbed his right arm as Solly went by...definitely holding.

Their offense and defense was doing that all game. I had never seen a defensive line hold as much as the broncos line tried to last week

[N4L]

35 minutes ago, Forge said:

Their offense and defense was doing that all game. I had never seen a defensive line hold as much as the broncos line tried to last week

makes sense to hold the OL if you are a DLman going against the outside zone stretch play to prevent them from getting outside. There were a couple of runs where I couldn't help but think if Breida was the ball carrier that they wouldn't have gone for 20. The edge was there but Wilson wasn't fast enough to get through the hole. 

 

5 hours ago, Forge said:

I thought there was some pretty good stuff in here. Some the playcall names are pretty funny. Also, I think that it's cool that Sherm knew it was 1,000 for Kittle. 

Did anyone see Kyle's presser today? He had some really good stuff about Mullens vs CJ, their draft process with regards to why they didn't draft Breida/mullens in the 7th round that year (partly because we traded a 7th to move up for CJ lol) 

He also talked about the end of the broncos game and how we gave them the ball back. He basically said all of the coaches took their headsets off, and that he will NEVER do that again lol, then he said that once he realized what was happening he yelled at nick to do a 'slow kneel' and that he needed to burn a few extra seconds, Nick waived him off like 'shut up, why are you yelling so much its fine' because he looked up at the scoreboard and saw it was 3rd down. So basically nick lost track of the downs. Then they asked 'were you aware of what Miami did earlier in the day' he said yes he was, which is odd, because that happened basically right before kick off. Not sure how he would have known. 

I freaking love our coach.

 

I have been meaning to breakdown this game but haven't had time. short version is basically:

1) Mullens is our backup next year. He showed better zip on the ball by getting his hips a lot more involved this week. He actually looked like he would be able to throw outside the numbers. he sees the field well and if nothing else is accurate with ball placement. 

2) Arik Armstead doesn't get enough credit around here, he has great hands and knows how to shed OLmen in the run game

3) Marcell Harris and DJ reed JR had the best games of their careers so far, they look to be very solid depth at a minimum, and both can play STs which is great

4) Witherspoon is finally getting his head turned around when the ball is in the air...  starting to look like he did at the end of last year, which is really great to see

5) why are we so much better at home than on the road? 

6) we should like up staley at TE and get the guy a TD before the year is over. He was pumped and Ive never seen the crowd get more juiced about a 5 yard loss lol He was a TE in college early in his career so we know he could do it

7) Solomon Thomas looked great at 5 tech and Ronald Blair needs more snaps. Seriously. Ronald Blair needs more snaps. 

8) If pettis is going to get alligator arms over the middle then he needs to at least dye his hair red lol 

[Forge]

1 hour ago, N4L said:

1) Mullens is our backup next year. He showed better zip on the ball by getting his hips a lot more involved this week. He actually looked like he would be able to throw outside the numbers. he sees the field well and if nothing else is accurate with ball placement.

I think it'll be an open competition, but there's no doubt in my mind right now that Mullens is / has been the superior quarterback. He just handles the situation better. 

1 hour ago, N4L said:

2) Arik Armstead doesn't get enough credit around here, he has great hands and knows how to shed OLmen in the run game

J and I have talked about how good he has been this season the last couple of weeks. He's probably having the best season of his career. He's been really good. I'd like to get him an extension this year, but not at 9 million per I think, which is what he's going to make on the option. 

1 hour ago, N4L said:

3) Marcell Harris and DJ reed JR had the best games of their careers so far, they look to be very solid depth at a minimum, and both can play STs which is great

Harris I want to see more on, but I think Reed is a player at the slot corner position if we give him the opportunity. Love how tenacious he is. 

1 hour ago, N4L said:

4) Witherspoon is finally getting his head turned around when the ball is in the air...  starting to look like he did at the end of last year, which is really great to see

 

He's played much better as of late. The last 3 weeks in particular. That being said, I want competition brought in for him. I don't want to hand him the starting gig going into next year. 

 

1 hour ago, N4L said:

7) Solomon Thomas looked great at 5 tech and Ronald Blair needs more snaps. Seriously. Ronald Blair needs more snaps. 

 

I don't think Thomas was playing the 5 - tech. I think he was playing an additional 3 tech spot. In the vid posted above, he's lined up on the inside shoulder of the tackle / outside shoulder of the guard, which is considered the 3 - tech. The 5 tech would be lined up on the outer shoulder of the tackle, I believe. He's basically doing the UT thing. I believe that most of his pressures came from this spot where he was taking on the guard. 

But again, the problem becomes, we have a bunch of 3 and 5 tech types. Just in these quotes alone, you've said how well Armstead is playing, how Blair needs more snaps, how well Solly played, and then we still have Buckner. All of those guys are 3 / 5 techs (well, Blair is just a 5 to be honest, but you know what i mean - just one more player in that mix). You still have Day on the roster, who is also effective in rushing the passer from the 3 tech spot (I'm not sure if it still holds true, but at one point, a few weeks ago, he was the most efficient pass rusher we had based on pressures / snaps). Then you have Street who will be back next year and is another guy that the team envisions at the 3/5 spot, and of course there is Taylor, who made the roster this year. So something has to give there. At some point, we have to decide on who we are committing to in some regard. Theoretically, you can rotate them in and out. Armstead can play the 5 on base downs, thomas on the bench, Jones / Buckner at the 1 and 3 respectively. On passing downs, armstead and jones come out, Blair takes the 5 tech spot, buck / thomas play an interior 3 tech role against the guards, then you have Bosa (or whomever) at the leo spot. It's a deep line at that point without much drop off in the rotation, but I have no idea what that ceiling is from a a pass rushing perspective. Probably would need to see more of Thomas on the inside to see if he can consistently pressure the quarterback as he did this game. Thought it was interesting though - there were points of the game where Armstead was lined up as a single gap 1 tech on run downs. 

[Forge]

Hard not to like Sherm sometimes.