Official Game Thread - Week 2 - @ Broncos

[Neophyte]

That's fair. But we are very lucky to win both of the past 2 games with his poor snapping. We literally could be 0-2 due to his mistakes alone. How long a leash does he get?

It's a valid concern, no question there.

I find it interesting that he doesn't seem to be having issues snapping for punts (or maybe I missed something?).

 

[Kel Varnsen]

The long snapping needs to be fixed. I’d like to see someone with kicking experience break this down. But I know that the whole FG operation is timing. It’s also about where the ball is put down. And when the holder has to fight to catch the ball, he’s not as precise in where he puts the ball down. This throws off the steps for the kicker, which will then push the ball one way or the other. It doesn’t take being off by much to do this. Slye’s 2 misses yesterday were very wide right. Most likely due to the timing being off or the ball not being in the right place. For Slye’s part, he has to trust his teammates and not worry about delaying then rushing the kick. I’m not absolving him of the misses, but I know this whole plays is a very precise operation. It all needs to be fixed and Way shouldn’t have to be scrambling to get the ball down so that the kick even happens. If Cheeseman and/or Slye had the yips now, then we have a much bigger problem on our hands.

 

[Chris]

Cheeseman was very reliable until this preseason. Rivera blamed his troubles as being related to the modifying of his release. Why would CC do that? Why would a successful putter change his grip? Smells Limburger-like to me.

If it ain’t broke…

 

[Neophyte]

Cheeseman was very reliable until this preseason. Rivera blamed his troubles as being related to the modifying of his release. Why would CC do that? Why would a successful putter change his grip? Smells Limburger-like to me.

If it ain’t broke…

To be fair, pro golfers seem to rework their swing on the regular, all in the name of getting better.

 

[Boone]

I don't think that's a great analogy though. He's a snapper. He has one shot to master. It's one hole, same distance, same everything, every single time. If the ball gets to the holder, it's a success. It doesn't need to be faster, prettier, farther or anything else - just there on time. I'm not sure why a longsnapper is changing his technique after a season of no issues? If I were Nate Kaczor, in an audition year, I'd be doing something in a hurry to fix this - whether that means threats, coaching him up, or replacing him.

 

[Chris]

To be fair, pro golfers seem to rework their swing on the regular, all in the name of getting better.

I was specifically referencing putting which I would put on a par with snapping. Compact and repeatable. If a pro was a particularly adept and successful putter, I doubt they would try to make a change. At the least, if they did and it was producing worse results they would quickly revert.

 

[Boone]

And we're assuming this is a technique issue (I know there has been some noise to that effect), and not a 'head' issue. You see it with kickers all the time - they have a bad couple of kicks and it gets in their head and starts snowballing. I imagine the same thing could be going on here?

 

[Henry]

Not to take anything away from what was one of the biggest road comebacks we've seen in a long time... but the question has to be asked, why did our defense struggle so mightily to put us in a position where a huge comeback was necessary in the first place?

Of course, the offense not being able to sustain drives and put points on the board is a big factor - but we should expect our offense to progress in fits and starts and have it's share of growing pains with all of the change on that side of the ball. The defense however is supposed to be the strength of the team. For 2 straight games, we've seen the D absolutely take over in the 2nd half. Why does it take desperation mode for our guys to really get it going on defense?

This has been a problem for years. There’s a reason why the team never starts 2-0. The defense is totally stacked, yet doesn’t show up for the first month of the season. Honestly, i’m encouraged by the fact that the defense looks so together this early. It’s usually late October before the front four suddenly starts dominating up front like they did in the second half yesterday.

 

[Henry]

Kudos to Henry and Knightingale for correctly calling the win margin in our Official Game Thread Poll.

Yeah, no I totally cheated.

I answered the poll after the game. I thought you knew.

 

[Boone]

I see that too Henry. The problem is, some of our games will be against much better teams than the Cardinals and Broncos. We won't be able to easily rear up late and seize control if we've put ourselves in an early deficit.

 

[Boone]

I guess, if we want to go glass half full, it's also true that if we could actually put a complete game together in all 3 phases, it might be very difficult for opponents to keep pace with US.

 

[Henry]

I see that too Henry. The problem is, some of our games will be against much better teams than the Cardinals and Broncos. We won't be able to easily rear up late and seize control if we've put ourselves in an early deficit.

I totally agree. I always wonder why our supposedly awesome defense takes so long every year to start playing to its potential. Hopefully they've ironed things out earlier this year. They start slow against the Bills and it's a rout.

 

[Neophyte]

Not to take anything away from what was one of the biggest road comebacks we've seen in a long time... but the question has to be asked, why did our defense struggle so mightily to put us in a position where a huge comeback was necessary in the first place?

Of course, the offense not being able to sustain drives and put points on the board is a big factor - but we should expect our offense to progress in fits and starts and have it's share of growing pains with all of the change on that side of the ball. The defense however is supposed to be the strength of the team. For 2 straight games, we've seen the D absolutely take over in the 2nd half. Why does it take desperation mode for our guys to really get it going on defense?

I had similar thoughts as I was watching Denver racing out to a 21-3 lead, only for the D to suddenly tighten up and I had the thought that it almost feels like the coaches don't start game planning for our opponent until the 2nd Quarter of the game. It's like JDR and his coaches aren't capable of watching game film of the opposition and determining with some level of confidence what the other team is going to do against us. There are years of tape on Sean Payton showing what he likes to do. Surely our coaches have the experience to watch that tape, then watch tape of our players, and get some kind of an idea how Payton will try to attack us.

And yet, it didn't feel like we had a clue what Denver was going to do on those first 3 drives.

 

[Chris]

And we're assuming this is a technique issue (I know there has been some noise to that effect), and not a 'head' issue. You see it with kickers all the time - they have a bad couple of kicks and it gets in their head and starts snowballing. I imagine the same thing could be going on here?

Like Om supposed in the Pod, maybe he has developed the yips.

 

[Om]

Never say that word around a golfer.

 

[DieselPwr44]

This has been a problem for years. There’s a reason why the team never starts 2-0. The defense is totally stacked, yet doesn’t show up for the first month of the season. Honestly, i’m encouraged by the fact that the defense looks so together this early. It’s usually late October before the front four suddenly starts dominating up front like they did in the second half yesterday.

No, it's literally a miracle they are playing this way after spending the preseason in mothballs.

Still worry about their ability to stop the run, especially on the edges, and taking a quarter and a half to get started. So far Cody Barton looks like me trying to get off blocks at 53. Maybe he should eat a Snickers?

 

[SilentThreat]

This is why i have no guilt regarding a 'missed' borderlin PI call on the 2 pt conversion... Russ scrambled for a first down on this play to extend the drive and it was the only reason they were close enough for the hail mary

 

[Canadian Hog]

This is why i have no guilt regarding a 'missed' borderlin PI call on the 2 pt conversion... Russ scrambled for a first down on this play to extend the drive and it was the only reason they were close enough for the hail mary


View attachment 6944

Moreover, on the play right before the Hail Mary, the Broncos threw an 8 or 9 yard out to the sidelines to set them up at midfield. The problem was the WR was so obviously out of bounds. Wilson's Hail Mary didn't even reach the endzone...it got tipped into it. Move them 8 yards back had the previous play been ruled incomplete and we aren't even discussing the fluke play.

As an aside, some of us were killing Rivera for going for two when we made it 21-9 just before halftime. Had we settled for an extra point there, Denver could have easily forced OT and then we really would have been sweating.

 

[Chris]

Now I know where Snider’s sources reside.

 

[Om]

View from the other side. Guilty pleasure.