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Broncos' defense wins debate with Falcons

Solid play by line, linebackers curbs Atlanta's run game

By Ray Glier, Special to the Rocky

Published November 16, 2008 at 4:38 p.m.

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Cornerback Dre Bly returns an interception in the third quarter, a key play for an injury-riddled, but effective, Broncos defense.

Photo by Darin McGregor / The Rocky

Cornerback Dre Bly returns an interception in the third quarter, a key play for an injury-riddled, but effective, Broncos defense.

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First, there was a shove at the end of the play. Then there was another push after a whistle. Then there were the threats and intimidation.

"They were talking at first," Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn said. "They were saying, 'We're going to run the ball all over you.'

"They were hitting us late after the play and I said to the ref, 'Hey calm it down,' but we didn't let it intimidate us. It didn't intimidate us at all. And then, after a while, they weren't talking much noise."

Winborn smiled.

"I was talking, though," he said.

Winborn had the last word because he and the rest of the Broncos' defense stood up to Atlanta's rock-'em, sock-'em running game in a 24-20 victory.

The Broncos entered ranked 27th in the NFL in run defense and many figured they were too light up front and too short-handed because of injuries.

But by halftime, the tone had been set. Turner, the 244-pound Falcons' feature back, had 25 yards on 12 carries and Jerious Norwood, the other Atlanta back, was staggering to the sideline because of a rib injury.

Turner finished with 81 yards and the Falcons managed 114 rushing yards. Atlanta was ranked second in the NFL with 157 rushing yards a game.

"We were offended by some of the stuff we heard, people didn't give us a chance, they didn't know what we could do," Winborn said.

What the Broncos did was get off the ball and get into Atlanta's offensive linemen. The Broncos held and shoved and pushed back and kept the Falcons linemen from getting to the second level to block Denver's fast-flowing linebackers.

"We did not allow their linemen to have a free release to our linebackers," left end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "It was a great job by the defensive line. With their offensive scheme, it slows defensive linemen down because they have a lot of pulling and arc releasing. We stressed all week, just attack them before they attack us, get into them before they get into us."

Added Winborn: "Our defensive line kept the heat off us."

Linebacker Wesley Woodyard said the Broncos were impressed by the depth of the Falcons' run scheme. It was misdirection, then power running plays, and linebackers had to make reads and stay clean to make plays.

"We came early this week, did some extra studying to get ready for them," Woodyard said. "They have a lot of run plays."

The linebacker corps had been retooled because of injuries with Woodyard, a rookie free agent, moving in as a starter, along with Spencer Larsen, a rookie from Arizona. Denver stacked its linebackers shoulder-to-shoulder inside and dared the Falcons to make plays in the passing game.

The only mistake by the run defense came in the fourth quarter when Turner ran 28 yards for a touchdown with 10:41 to play to give Atlanta a 20-17 lead. Ekuban got influenced to charge upfield when the tight end released.

"That was my play, I thought it was a bootleg and I was supposed to go down and make that play," said Ekuban, who was blocked by the fullback.

The Broncos rallied for the win and afterward in the locker room, Winborn could finish his thoughts without being interrupted. He was in on 10 tackles.

"I was under Mike Smith when I was in Jacksonville," Winborn said of the Falcons coach, a former Jaguars assistant. "Van Gorder (another Falcons coach) was there, too. I didn't get much of a chance there. They didn't see I could play. They see today."

Comments

  • November 16, 2008

    6:43 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    6_is_the_new_7 writes:

    Sure seemed like the backup L.B.'s played with alot more inspiration, yet less celebrating over one good play, than the starters. Good to see.

  • November 16, 2008

    10:03 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    deroney writes:

    Finally a defensive effort for the Broncos to be proud of ! The rookies were awesome! And the D line is finally starting to pick it up . Bring on Weird Al and his freak show!

  • November 16, 2008

    10:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    BeGiants writes:

    Huge Broncos win and also a huge Falcons loss. This sets the tone for the end of the Broncos season. Let's hope people heal up by the playoffs!BTW, saw some cool widgets at statbeast.com. Take a look!

  • November 16, 2008

    11:15 p.m.

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    Highcountry writes:

    Great linebacker play. I've liked Winborn and Woodyard since the preseason. I'd like to see them play with D.J. Larsen is also real impressive. And it's great to see Hillis break out.

  • November 16, 2008

    11:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    BigRedCelt writes:

    Yes I too thought they played with passion today. And I totally agree with the celebration thing. In games past the defense would be getting blasted and then make one play and get up posturing and posing. Kudos Broncos.Two straight games played with some passion.

    And Tatum looked pretty good for his first day out.

  • November 17, 2008

    8:43 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Broncofan_in_Boston writes:

    This sets up this coming week as potentially huge. the Broncs play the anemic raiders at home, and san diego has an Indy team on a roll. hopefully, Indy will be fired up to knock off the team that took them out of the playoffs last season.

    If we take care of our business and play good football, that should be a win. If Indy wins...

    That "could' put Denver up 3 games with 5 to go.

    I really didn't see us getting to the playoffs after the 4 losses out of 5 games. But, all of a sudden, there's some fire on this defense and Cutler has started to look for guys other than #15.

    Hey, maybe Tatum can work himself into shape and take his last chance a lot more serious. Hillis is doing good work between the tackles. The threat of a running game can open things up for the passing game. Maybe the offense will get back to a closer version of what we saw early on.

    If you watch the past few seasons, the team that gets hot towards the end of the season does pretty well.

    The Giants last year looked bad much of the year. Indy in '06 was getting gashed for 300 yards on the ground late in the season. The Steelers of '05 dropped a couple bad games to fall to 7-5 and looked done. We know what happened with them (ahem, 4 turnovers Jake).

    Hey, I'd love to be the first one to say I was wrong about this team.

  • November 17, 2008

    1:08 p.m.

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    des696 writes:

    Is it me or does Kyle Lowry remind anyone of Tony Lilly? All I see is the back of his jersey chasing runners down the field!