Week 7: Thoughts and Reactions.

[DMBucks22]

Well with the Packers with a bye week. Figured should just make a week 7 thread. See what games people are most interested in, looking forward to, and just talk it about.

I am definitly looking forward to the Broncos/Steelers game. Least we get to see what the Broncos look like before we play them next week. Have not really had the chance to check them out much.

I think it would be ok if the Vikings pulled out a W against Dallas for a couple of reasons, 1. My best friend is a die hard 'boys fan and I just love it when the lose. 2. If Big D loses then the Pack has a good chance to be in 1st in the conference. Just gives them some hope for a maybe hard earned, fought, win some football games down the stretch, first round bye. We can prey right. But if the Vikes lose its all good another division foe with another lose. Just increases chances of us winning the division.

[smacks1]

The games this week outside of Ind v Jax, are just awful. I'm a huge NFL fan but I think my NFL Sunday Ticket will go unused this weekend.

[MadCityBucky]

NFL is kinda boring without the Packers playing. The Broncos/Steelers should be good but with how had the Broncos running D has been it could be ugly.

The Broncos have obviously the no.1 pass defense with Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, so the Packers game plan should be interesting.

[smacks1]

NFL is kinda boring without the Packers playing. The Broncos/Steelers should be good but with how had the Broncos running D has been it could be ugly.

The Broncos have obviously the no.1 pass defense with Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, so the Packers game plan should be interesting.

I think Pass D and Run D are over rated stats to some extent. The Broncos have the number one pass d because people run the ball all day on them and therefore have no reason to pass. It is similar to the vikings who have the worst pass d because nobody can run on them and teams are forced to pass.

Denvers pass D is no better than anyone elses is in my opinion, teams just run on them. Since the Packers can not run the ball, they will put this theory to a test next monday.

I think the more appropriate stat is points allowed. Yes there are some turnover and PR & KR that are not the direct responsibility of the D. But Denver is giving up 27 PPG and that is 5th worst in the league.

[Captain Erv]

god, the Patriots are just sick.

[MadCityBucky]

It helps that the Dolphins suck but yeah the Pats are amazing.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

watching the bucs lions game. pretty ugly......really rooting for the Bucs, but it is hard with the way they are turning the ball over.
Man it would be sweet to have the division won by week 10

[bucks59]

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I think Pass D and Run D are over rated stats to some extent. The Broncos have the number one pass d because people run the ball all day on them and therefore have no reason to pass. It is similar to the vikings who have the worst pass d because nobody can run on them and teams are forced to pass.

Denvers pass D is no better than anyone elses is in my opinion, teams just run on them. Since the Packers can not run the ball, they will put this theory to a test next monday.

I think the more appropriate stat is points allowed. Yes there are some turnover and PR & KR that are not the direct responsibility of the D. But Denver is giving up 27 PPG and that is 5th worst in the league.

It is not a question of stats, its a quetion of personal. The Broncos have an excellent secondary in Champ and Bly. Champ Baily is probably the best CB in the NFL right now, and Bly is a great number 2. The reason everyone says they have a great secondary, and the reason everyone is forced to run against the Broncos, is because of those two guys.

The Bears Eagles game should be interesting. Both of those teams are only playing ok this year and the Bears season is over with a loss today and the Eagles also desperatly need some more wins.

Outside of that, the games this week suck.

[ReasonablySober]

Randy Moss is playing out of his mind.

Tom Brady is 11 for 11, 220 yards, 4 TDs. And it's only halfway through the 2nd quarter.

This is just unfair.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Brady 4-4 220 4 tds
Moss 2 catches 2 tds 85 yards

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

fake spike when your up 35-7.
pats are a-holes

[DMBucks22]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ ya they are. They just take it to you no matter what.

[Mags FTW]

The Pats D is overrated IMO.

But Brady just threw his 6th TD pass...

[DMBucks22]

That guy is unreal.

[smacks1]

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It is not a question of stats, its a quetion of personal. The Broncos have an excellent secondary in Champ and Bly. Champ Baily is probably the best CB in the NFL right now, and Bly is a great number 2. The reason everyone says they have a great secondary, and the reason everyone is forced to run against the Broncos, is because of those two guys.

The NFL is a run first league. If you can not stop the run, teams will not / do not have to pass against you. Yes, the fact they have Bly and Bailey helps their pass d, but they are number one in pass d because they are allowing 5.2 yards per carry and 186 yards a game. They are 7th worst in the league giving up 7.6 yards per attempt and teams throw only 20.6 passes a game against them. There are also only three teams in the league who allow a higher completion percentage than Denver's 67%.

Teams do not pass against them because they can run against there D. When teams do need to pass against them, the are very succesful both in comp % and yardage. They are just a bad defense which teams choose to run all over.

[Mags FTW]

The Bears continue to pull wins out of their asses.

[DMBucks22]

Thats to bad. Could of been some good things today, Cowboys won and the Bears won. Crappy.

[Flames24Rulz]

Thats to bad. Could of been some good things today, Cowboys won and the Bears won. Crappy.

Eh, Dallas winning wasn't so bad since they beat Minnesota. Detroit winning did hurt though.

Lions do play the Bears next week, so at least one of them will lose.

[bucks59]

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The NFL is a run first league. If you can not stop the run, teams will not / do not have to pass against you. Yes, the fact they have Bly and Bailey helps their pass d, but they are number one in pass d because they are allowing 5.2 yards per carry and 186 yards a game. They are 7th worst in the league giving up 7.6 yards per attempt and teams throw only 20.6 passes a game against them. There are also only three teams in the league who allow a higher completion percentage than Denver's 67%.

Teams do not pass against them because they can run against there D. When teams do need to pass against them, the are very succesful both in comp % and yardage. They are just a bad defense which teams choose to run all over.

First, I just want to say that I am not defending the Broncos rush defense, it is horendous, but I am defending their secondary.

The NFL is a rush first league, that is obviously the case as teams want to control the clock, but that doesnt negate the fact that the Broncos do in fact have a great secondary. While teams generally attempt to run the ball more, that is especially true against Denver who have two of the best corners in the NFL. Teams are obviously going to attempt to establish the run against a team that is known to have a great secondary and is known to have a weak front seven. Even if the Broncos had a better run defense, teams would still run the ball or try to run the ball more agains the Broncos. This is proven by the fact that teams have only thrown the ball 103 times agains the Broncos, which leads the league for the least amount of pass attempts (which is 30 throws ahead of the next time). Where as Denver is is 26th in the league for the amount of rush attempts against them. Teams are game planning to run against the Broncos.

While you are right and correct that Denver does have a relatively high completion percentage and yards per completion, not many recievers have had a big day against the Broncos, and the ones that have been some of the better TE's in the NFL. The Broncos have played: Buffalo, Okland, Jacksonville, Colts, and the Chargers. Against Buffalo, the leading reciever had 37 yards. Against Okland, the leading reciever was Jerry Porter with 1 catch for 48 yards. Against Jacksonville, the leading reciever was Lewis (TE) with 44 yards. Against the Colts, the leading reciever was Desmond Clark (TE), who had six catches for 76 yards. The Chargers had the best offensive attack agains the Broncos, given that Gates had over 100 yards recieving and Vincent Jackson also had 80 yards. Clark and Gates are great TE's and create a lot of matchup problems for opposing secondaries. Outside of the Chargers, no reciever has had a huge recieving day in terms of receptions. While teams can get completions to their running backs and to the check down plays, it is generally difficult to throw agains this team.

Also, three of the teams they have faced (Colts, Jacksonville, Chargers) are in the top 12 for yards per attempt. Four of the teams, the previous three teams and Buffalo, are in the top ten in completion percentage. So the one department that they are weak in is mainly because of the fact that they have also played offenses that are quite good.

Another reason that the Broncos are giving up a high completion percentage is because they have to cheat agains the run since their front seven can't stop it. This thus negatively effects their pass defense. The corners are generally on islands, and the safeties are more concerned with the run than the pass. It also makes the play action more effective agains the Broncos. The secondary always has to cheat against the rush. The Broncos also have not given up any big plays this year. The longest pass play of the season was 46 yards which is 8th best in the league.

Thus, the weak run defense, also hurts the pass defense in the stats. So even if the stats represent a poor secondary, that is definitely not the case. Any team that has Champ Baily and Bly as their corners have a good pass defense, even if those numbers are not represented in the stats.

Its also important to note that the teams they have faced thus far also have great rushing offenses or rush the ball a lot. Okland is 3rd in the NFL in yards per game, Jacksonville is 4th, the Colts are 5th, and the Chargers are 13th (which is a little deceptive because the Chargers had a slow start to their season, and have LT). While the Broncos have given up more yards per game than what teams generally average, teams are also rushing more times against the Broncos. Jacksonville had 47 rushes against the Broncos, and average 32 a game. The Colts average 28 carries a game, and ran the ball 37 times. While both the Chargers and the Raiders did not run the ball substantially more times against the Broncos than other teams, both teams also attempt 35 (Raiders) and 37 (Chargers) carries a game.

Generally, those teams also threw the ball substantially less against the Broncos than other teams. The Bills also did not have much sucess, but they are the Bills. The Broncos destroyed Oklands pass offense, but Cade McNown was the QB. The Jacksonville averages 27 passes a game, and threw the ball 20 times agains the Broncos. The Colts average 33 pass attempts a game, and threw the ball 27 times. The Chargers average 35.8 pass attempts a game, and threw the ball 18 times. Of the good teams that the Broncos faced, none of them threw as much as they normally do.

[El Duderino]

The NFL is a run first league.

The two best teams in both the AFC and NFC might not agree with that.The Patriots,Colts,Cowboys,and Packers are all passing teams first that run by trying to catch defenses of guard who are loading up to stop the pass.