Positives

[G08]

I think we might have something in David Montgomery. Even when he was flexed out at WR and ran a go route, he had a step on the corner. That's promising to me moving forward.

OL improved but I'm seeing Leno get smacked around by smaller players (blitzing corner, heavier linebacker). That makes me wonder if we'll start seeing more bull rushes against him (not positive but thought came to me as I was typing this)

Defense is elite... I feel bad for Nichols getting hurt but if that means more reps for RRH I'm all for it... curious to see how the kid can hold his ground in the run game.

Eddie Money is the goods (he said that's his favorite nickname)

[Heinz D.]

Have to add something...

I honestly think the Broncos are going to be fairly good this year. I trust Fangio as HC, and their roster has been building well for a while now. 

[soulman]

4 hours ago, Madmike90 said:

The Broncos were 17-1 in home openers heading into our game since 2001...goes to show how difficult it is for guys who are not 100% in football shape to play in that stadium...lots of negatives but the win itself is impressive.

Yup, as I posted prior to the game the best way to win in Denver is Sept. is to open an early lead and then eat up the clock with runs and short passes between the hashes.

You do not want your defense over taxed so they're too gassed to play in the 4th Q yet that's pretty much what happened.

We should have been up 13-3 at the half then played for one more score or a couple of FGs chewing up time with longer drives but so far we can't seem to sustain longer drives at all unless it's with a big play that eats up yardage but not time.

[topwop1]

6 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

Have to add something...

I honestly think the Broncos are going to be fairly good this year. I trust Fangio as HC, and their roster has been building well for a while now. 

They're not as bad as their record indicates but their o-line leaves a lot to be desired. I can see them pulling an upset in Lambeau this coming week. Fangio usually plays Green Bay tough and they will be hungry after that upsetting loss to our Bears.

[soulman]

I gotta say though that one positive I can't see yet is Nagy's play calling.  It may have been balanced but so are my tires and they didn't score many points either.

I’m still not convinced that Matt Nagy is gonna to be consistently great NFL play caller.  He had some issue with this in KC as well.  As an offensive mind he’s top self creative but as far as working those plays into game situations in a timely and strategic manner he still leaves a lot to be desired.   He's either too cute or not cute enough and that part lacks balance.

I'm very serious when I suggest that he at least give allowing Helfrich to call plays a shot so he can take in the bigger picture and strategize through out the game.  IMHO the continued screw ups with delay of game or too many men on the field penalties result from his scatter shot play calls and a lack of communication with his offense so the right "package" is on the field to match the play call.

There's an old saying that a man who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client and maybe the same should be said about NFL HCs who call their own offensive plays. There has to be a reason why very few do either.

[JAF-N72EX]

To be fair @soulman, the play-calling, preparation and the discipline improved alot in this last game IMO -- I know that's not saying much all things considered -- but a big improvement nonetheless.

I've been charting each play like you see below just to give myself a better visual idea of what Nagy is trying to do on offense and compare that from one game to the next and I saw a big difference from game 1. Mainly in his predictability, personnel, and the improvement upfront. (although I couldn't finish the Broncos game because the All-22 is messed and only showing a black screen--thx NFL for giving me what I pay for .

Against the Packers he called 93% of his plays out the shotgun and reduced that number to 70% against the Broncos. This allows more flexibility in the run game because there is only so many run plays you can call from shotgun. 

He combined this by also mixing up his situational play-calling based on field position and down and distance as well. In week 1, on 1st downs with the ball spotted from his own 10 yard line up-to mid-field he got way too pass happy. Electing to pass the ball 15 out of 18 times. This week was much more balanced. Passing the ball 9 times out of 19 and even threw in a unique personnel by using both Sowell as the TE and Larsen as the 6th eligible receiver on the OL. 

Also, in week 1, he only called 27% of his plays(17) with a base 11-personnel, which is very uncharacteristic, and elected to go with heavier sets (20's 21's) 61% of the time. This week, he went back to basics by running plays 80% of the time with a 11-personnel--much closer to last years 64% all season.

The OL was also MUCH more prepared and improved as well. After giving up 5 sacks in week 1, they held Von and Chubb to zero sacks which is extremely rare to go into Mile-High stadium and not come give up at least one sack. In fact, there have only been 3 other games since 2010 to accomplish this feat; twice in 2010 and once in 2015! 

So all in all, he did get much better job. And as you know, I am no apologist either. But I will give credit when it's due and Nagy does deserve it here, imo. It is certainly not any where near where it needs to be but like I have said before it's only week 2. All I wanted to see was some improvement after that atrocity I saw in week 1 and I came away satisfied for the most part. I just hope the arrow keeps pointing up next week and beyond.

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by JustAnotherFan

[soulman]

5 hours ago, JustAnotherFan said:

To be fair @soulman, the play-calling, preparation and the discipline improved alot in this last game IMO -- I know that's not saying much all things considered -- but a big improvement nonetheless.

My point JAF, although I realize I didn't state it very clearly, is that we aren't getting the expected results from the offense.  Given the obvious improvement in the OL over game one (game action seems to be knocking the rust off) and the talent at skill positions it's tough to draw any other logical conclusions than Nagy and Trubisky being at the core of the problem right now.

Due to his previous experience both as an OC and a Pro QB I'm willing to consider that the play calling pendulum is swinging back and forth as Nagy is searching for his happy medium of best calls for both his team and for Mitch.  That part may sort itself out in time but even so I will still have my doubts that Nagy or any NFL HC should be his offenses principal play caller vs coaching the entire game.

We all know that often a game will turn on very few plays just as it did for GB against us and as it did Sunday for us against Denver. I believe one of our biggest problems is when Nagy has dialed up a play that could be a major difference maker Mitch is simply not executing it well and in that sense we may have wasted a true game changer.  You only get so many of those per game.

I admit I don't have an exact solution to suggest but I do have to wonder once again if we're taking yet another mobile QB and forcing him into becoming too much of a disciplined pocket passer as we tried to do with Cutler?  The NFL has it's types that can function well that way but it also has it's Rodgers, and Watsons, and Jacksons, and others before them whose feet were as important as their arms. 

Is it possible we're restricting Mitch's natural instincts as a QB by expecting him to work too much from under OC and from a set pocket and taking his legs out of the equation?  Physically and athletically the kid is far better than he's shown us so far this year and his problems seem to stem from his hesitancy and lack of confidence.  He's no longer progressing at the rate he's been expected to.

So, is it possible his basic instincts are telling him one thing but his coaching is telling him to do something entirely different and that battle is going on inside him almost every down?   That would tend to cause some inner conflicts that would show up on game days.

I'll use a personal example of what I mean. I am by nature a very instinctual or intuitive musician and not at all a technical player.  I use my own experience, what I hear, and what I sense intuitively is correct both instrumentally and vocally to perform but still remain within the basic structure of the song.  If you ask me to do it "just so" and more technically I'm no longer working within my natural strengths and it will sound like it because I'm no longer working off my basic nature but rather against it.  It may work, just not as well.

So this comes back to the idea that some have suggested that Nagy needs to take the training wheels off of Mitch and allow him to use his own instincts more.  Maybe the actual problem is the reverse of what some believe in that it's Nagy who must adapt his schemes and play calling around Mitch and his strengths and not Mitch who needs to better conform to Nagy's schemes.  Just a thought.

Edited September 18, 2019 by soulman

[dll2000]

9 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

Have to add something...

I honestly think the Broncos are going to be fairly good this year. I trust Fangio as HC, and their roster has been building well for a while now. 

I disagree.  I think the Broncos are in for a long year.  Von Miller is not giving 100%.  They have no LBs and big holes in secondary, their O line is bad and Flacco is average at best.   

Their offensive skill players are young and good and they have a handful of studs on defense, but that's not enough.

Plus, we just ripped their hearts out at home.  Teams can still play above their talent early in year especially at home because they have hope still.  Once reality hits they go downhill fast.

We gave up long yardage conversations a lot, refs called some really bad roughing penalties on us that kept drives alive and our offense did nothing most of game.  All while heat and altitude beat us down.  And we still won because we have way better players at a lot of positions.  Denver is not good.  

[abstract_thought]

2 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I disagree.  I think the Broncos are in for a long year.  Von Miller is not giving 100%.  They have no LBs and big holes in secondary, their O line is bad and Flacco is average at best.   

Their offensive skill players are young and good and they have a handful of studs on defense, but that's not enough.

Plus, we just ripped their hearts out at home.  Teams can still play above their talent early in year especially at home because they have hope still.  Once reality hits they go downhill fast.

We gave up long yardage conversations a lot, refs called some really bad roughing penalties on us that kept drives alive and our offense did nothing most of game.  All while heat and altitude beat us down.  And we still won because we have way better players at a lot of positions.  Denver is not good.  

Completely agree with this. Their defense is not as good as in past years and the offense is still mediocre. Flacco isn’t the kind of QB to win behind that offensive line.

[beardown3231]

14 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Completely agree with this. Their defense is not as good as in past years and the offense is still mediocre. Flacco isn’t the kind of QB to win behind that offensive line.

Agree also. Fangio is the type of guy who you want to see get a chance at being a HC, but I could easily see him only lasting 2 years. Btw I know Elway is Elway but when will he be held accountable for all of their failures?

[topwop1]

13 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Completely agree with this. Their defense is not as good as in past years and the offense is still mediocre. Flacco isn’t the kind of QB to win behind that offensive line.

Flacco has not looked that bad in all honesty.  If not for an easy dropped TD by his receiver in week 1 and a miracle FG winning drive by the Bears then Broncos could very well be 2-0.  This is also considering that Miller and Chubb have really yet to get going.  I don't think they are as bad as we think.  Only problems are their o-line and depth in the secondary IMO.

[beardown3231]

 

[Heinz D.]

10 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Denver is not good.  

As I don't root for the Broncos, I don't feel the need to debate this. We'll revisit the topic later. 

[Uncle Buck]

 

[beardown3231]

6 hours ago, Uncle Buck said:

 

That was from a year ago