Run defense has been run-down

Broncos are 29th with high-flying Indianapolis next

Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, September 28, 2007

ENGLEWOOD - If the Broncos are indeed judged by the company they keep, then the verdict on their run defense is not one for the scrapbook at the moment.

Especially with a trip to the RCA Dome set for Sunday and the Xbox Colts waiting inside.

"We make our lists every week, our goal list, and at the top of that list every week is stopping the run," Broncos safety John Lynch said. "And we realize the importance of it. It's right there."

At the moment, though, the Broncos are tied for 29th in the league against the run, allowing 166 rushing yards per game. And that is not where a team with playoff aspirations wants to be.

Three of the five teams that are 0-3 - Buffalo, St. Louis and Miami - also are in the league's bottom five in run defense, as is Cleveland at 1-2.

In their three games, the Broncos have surrendered 112, 200 and 186 rushing yards. Opponents have controlled the clock and tempo well enough that the Broncos needed two final-play kicks from Jason Elam to get their two wins and were shoved aside Sunday in a home loss to Jacksonville.

"The biggest thing is we haven't stopped the run," assistant head coach/defense Jim Bates said.

"That's been the biggest negative by far that we've had, and it's been a consistent thing. . . . It's a thing that's been ongoing, and until we stop the run, people are going to continue to run it at us."

And the Colts do offer a particular set of problems difficult to solve for a defense.

The Colts passing game is so proficient, their receivers so good, defenses often are forced to play with extra defensive backs, even on what ordinarily would be situations in a game where a run play usually was coming.

More defensive backs and fewer linebackers mean a defense is playing lighter across the field.

And the Broncos could be much lighter if Lynch cannot play because of a groin injury and cornerback Domonique Foxworth fills his spot.

Couple that with the fact the Colts also sport a punishing runner - Joseph Addai - in the backfield, who can often add on the yardage after contact from one of those defensive backs.

"He runs hard, from looking at it, real hard," Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil said.

Bates, who has implemented a more power-oriented scheme this season, said the team still is going through the kind of growing pains he has not seen in any of his other career stops.

"We have never had this (situation) in the past," he said.

In general, Bates' defensive playbook requires specific players to be responsible for specific gaps along the line of scrimmage. If a player gets blocked, is hesitant to the ball or misses his gap, that leaves a running lane behind.

"Even though we cut the average (per carry) down some this past week, there was just too many plays when they were getting 6, 7, 8 yards and sustaining drives . . . ," Bates said. "It's a growing process. We keep an explosive runs (chart), explosive passes, (and the Jaguars) only had two explosive runs of more than 12 yards in the game. But those 4-, 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-yard gains, that's what can frustrate you. And we've got to get it cleaned up."

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning also has shown - with no better example than the Colts' 191 rushing yards in Super Bowl XLI in February - he is more than willing to hand the ball to the running backs as he watches a team drop extra players into coverage.

During the past four seasons, the Colts have had the three highest single-season totals of run plays in Manning's career, including the high - 465 carries in 2005 - when the team finished the regular season 14-2.

"I think the last few years, they've gone to more run than in the past years," Bates said. "Addai is a strong running back; he sees daylight really well, runs hard, a punishing-type runner."

There are those in the league who believe when a defense stops the run is more important than what the totals look like at the end of the game. Colts coach Tony Dungy, who dealt with similar troubles in run defense last season, believes "a lot of it is predicated on stopping the run early."

But the Colts are coming off a championship season when, until the playoffs began, they rarely stopped the run. They surrendered at least 100 rushing yards in every game of the regular season, at least 180 yards seven times, at least 200 yards four times and 375 yards once.

But even as it became a weekly focus of criticism through the season, they also were backed by the Colts' fast-track offense, which bailed them out until the defense responded in the postseason by not surrendering 100 rushing yards in the three wins that brought them to the Super Bowl.

"No, people asking about it didn't wear on me," Dungy said. "We weren't playing up to our potential and doing things the way I thought we could. That was a little bit troubling. As we got people healthy and we got guys playing a little more comfortable, and towards the end of the year we started playing the way we were capable of."

Added Bates: "And I think we're going to get there. . . . The proof will be in how we play, but I believe we can do what's necessary. We know we have to."

Run around

The top five teams in the league in fewest rushing yards allowed:

Avg. yds. Team allowed W-L

Baltimore 61.7 2-1

Tennessee 63.3 2-1

Minnesota 67.3 1-2

Philadelphia 71.7 1-2

New England 74.0 3-0

The bottom five teams in the league in fewest rushing yards allowed:

Team Avg. yds. allowed W-L

Buffalo 177.3 0-3

Cleveland 176.3 1-2

Broncos 166.0 2-1

Miami 166.0 0-3

St. Louis 152.3 0-3

NFL average: 111.8 rushing yards allowed per game. AFC average: 116.7 rushing yards allowed per game.