Broncos' Dumervil steps up sacks quest

Healing pinkie, move to left side restores versatility

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 7, 2008 at 6:06 p.m.

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Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

Elvis Dumervil reaches for Tampa Bay quarterback Brian Griese in the second quarter Sunday at Invesco Field at Mile High. The Broncos defensive end, who far and away led the team in 2007 with 121/2 sacks, got his first of the season on this play after slipping past Buccaneers right tackle Jeremy Trueblood, right. Dumervil is recovering from a fractured and dislocated right pinkie.

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For Elvis Dumervil, left was oh, so right.

And a little change of scenery shook it all loose for the Broncos' sacks leader of the previous two seasons in Sunday's 16-13 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Yeah, that worked out," Dumervil said with a grin. "It was a good move and it felt good to get going. It's going to get better and people can look at that now and it gives them a lot of work to do."

Most days in most games, Dumervil does what most front-line pass rushers do: He lines up at the defensive right end, rushing to the blind side of a right-handed quarterback.

Waiting at the intersection are the left offensive linemen, who usually are the quickest, the ones used to facing a steady week-to-week diet of speed rushers in search of sacks.

"Those (offensive linemen) are different cats - everybody's got the big reach and they can move," Dumervil said. "And they see everybody's best moves every week, so you have to come up with something."

But Sunday, the Broncos did an election year flip-flop, often putting Dumervil at the left defensive end spot, even when they went to a three-man line. There he was, across from Buccaneers right tackle Jeremy Trueblood.

At 6-foot-8, 320 pounds, Trueblood is considered, with a 40-yard dash time of 5.35 seconds before the 2006 draft, far more of a power player than one able to handle speed rushers, far more suited to the right tackle spot, where the rushers he normally would face are more run-game oriented.

The difference was clear.

"Elvis has got an unbelievable bull rush, and when those big linemen try to overset and really dig in to slow him down, he's got the speed to go around them," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.

From that defensive left side, Dumervil had his first sack of the season with a power-first move when he tossed Trueblood to the inside before he sprinted around the outside shoulder to sack Brian Griese in the second quarter.

It was a well-timed move given he had drawn a holding penalty on Trueblood on the previous play with a sprint to the outside shoulder.

On that play, Trueblood didn't have the footwork to catch up, so he dragged down Dumervil just before he would have hit Griese. Both plays came out of a three-man line for the Broncos.

Dumervil also induced two false-start penalties on Trueblood - one in the third quarter and one in the fourth. One of those penalties came when Trueblood had a tight end lined up on his outside shoulder for potential help in pass protection.

"They got smart eventually, started using a back, a tight end, to come get me a little bit, too," Dumervil said. "That's why I tried to get one early. It pretty much comes with the territory. But guys are playing hard. We're going to get that pressure."

Dumervil is an unlikely sacks leader, at least in the conventional wisdom department of NFL scouting staffs.

At 5-foot-11, his story is a well-worn one of a player many felt was too short to be effective in the NFL despite having 20 sacks in his senior season at Louisville and back-to-back seasons of at least 30 sacks as a high school player in Miami.

But the Broncos liked him as a prospect because his reach is that of a much taller player, and they believe it gives him the ability to rush with unexpected power.

"And that means he's got the leverage," Shanahan said. "Those offensive tackles that are 6-6, 6-7, not used to a guy 6-foot with a reach of a guy who's much taller.

"With that low leverage and that strength that he has, he just gets his hands on them before the tackles get their hands on him.

"So, he has first contact and he's already up and under them."

Dumervil also said Sunday's game was the first time he could use his right hand well enough to use both power moves and speed moves since he dislocated and fractured his right pinkie against Green Bay in the preseason, having surgery days later.

He has played with a cast on part of the hand this season, but Shanahan said Dumervil is ready to play with a smaller one.

"The doctors said he should get part of that cast off to play this week, at least half," Shanahan said.

"And that means I'm not just one-dimensional now," Dumervil said. "I couldn't grab before, so I was just running to the outside and (the offensive linemen) knew it and they were there. But this game I could do both, and it showed, I think. Hopefully, there's more to come."

ETC.: Broncos kicker Matt Prater will be chosen the AFC's Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance Sunday against the Buccaneers. In the Broncos' 16-13 win, Prater went 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts, including a 55-yarder that was his fourth field goal of at least 50 yards this season, one short of the team's single-season record. Prater also had four touchbacks on kickoffs, giving him 11 for the season. . . . Former Colorado State tackle Clint Oldenburg, a fifth-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2007, was one of four offensive linemen the Broncos had in for workouts at their Dove Valley complex Tuesday. Center Dan Mozes, who won the Rimington Award as the nation's best center in his senior season at West Virginia in 2006, center Trey Darilek and tackle Matt Murphy were the others. . . . After the initial reports on the magnetic resonance imaging exams on tight end Tony Scheffler (left groin) and Eddie Royal (right ankle), the two are not expected to play Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars without significant improvement this week. The Broncos likely will consider keeping Royal out of the return game when he does return. He severely sprained the ankle on a punt return Sunday after the ankle had bothered him most of the week leading to the game.

• October 7, 2008

  9:49 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Pigskin writes:

  Waiting at the intersection are the left offensive linemen, who usually are the quickest, the ones used to facing a steady week-to-week diet of speed rushers in search of sacks.
  "Those are different cats; everybody's got the big reach and they can move," Dumervil said. "And they see everybody's best moves every week, so you have to come up with something."

  Except San Diego, K.C. and New Orleans were playing back-ups at LT in all, or most of our games with them. They don't see anybody's moves every week.

• October 7, 2008

  10:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  fredman80 writes:

  hater!

• October 8, 2008

  9:35 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  R8R_H8R writes:

  Tuesdays Rky. Mtn. News reported that BOTH Ebenezer Ekuban and Elvis Dumerville had groin injuries. No mention of it since then. Did the Rocky botch that report? Or are both Defensive Ends injured?

• October 8, 2008

  10:42 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jabberwocky writes:

  the broncos will find a way to lose this weeks game against the jaguars,the injuries they have will be the primary reason they will lose,but I am glad to see the finally quit wasting a roster spot on peyton hillis,you could already easily see his bad habits of not playing hard if he wasn`t getting the ball in his hands,which was never going to happen in the NFL,Larsen will be a much better FB,simpily because he isn`t afraid to hit people.

• October 8, 2008

  10:51 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  chartguy writes:

  The 2007 draft is really beginning to look like a bust for the Broncos. Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss were supposed to be the pass rush of the future. At least they're finally playing Moss (sparingly), but he does not seem to be producing much.

• October 8, 2008

  12:03 p.m.

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  cutlerscannon13 writes:

  About the injuries, they did have a small groin injury, but nothing of significance like Royal's and Scheffler's. I think we can expect both Ekuban and Dumervil against the Jags, while neither of the young receivers are expected to play.
  As far as the 2007 draft goes... WE S-U-C-K-E-D ! ! ! These guys were supposed to be studs, and I think in the right defense Moss could have been one but hes definately more of a 3-4 OLB or DE. What about our wonderful luck with Maurice Clarett ... can you say big mistake, we could have grabbed either Marion Barber or Brandon Jacobs.
  Yet in 2006 DAMN did we get a good draft, Cutler/Marshall/Scheffler/Dumervil

  I guess we are pretty hit and miss when it comes to drafting.

• October 8, 2008

  12:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Dynamicdave writes:

  jabberwocky, please, save it for the Raiders newspaper. Peyton will be fine. He's a rookie and he was good enough to beat out Cecil Sapp. Larson has potential. Peyton will come into his own. He didn't get the ball last week because he DIDN'T PLAY. He had a death in the family. That gave Larson his chance to show something. But Denver won't lose to the Jags and I wish I was there to make a friendly money bet with you. You need to have some faith. I don't think you're a Broncos fan, by reading your comment. But if I recall, you and some others on the blog have been negative from the start of the season. Me, I'm happy Denver proves you guys wrong, each week. As I'm sure many of the other "real Broncos fans" do.

• October 8, 2008

  1:48 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ShowMe writes:

  DynamicDave...don't waste you time on the haters. I'm sure that when the Broncos win the Super Bowl (either this year or in the next few years) we'll hear how they didn't win by enough points and how lucky they are, and how the refs helped them...yada yada yada...

• October 8, 2008

  1:48 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  myshkin writes:

  And yet, Chartguy, Marcus Thomas and Ryan Harris are both starting and playing well. Four draft picks and two are starters in their second season = success.

• October 8, 2008

  6:29 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Dynamicdave writes:

  ShowMe, yeah, the haters and negative people on the blog, carry that personality with them in their everyday lives. They may not even be aware of it? As far as this weeks game, I'm curious to see how Jarvis plays at a different position? I hope he does well. If he can pull it off as an outside LB, then he could be a real threat. He has the size and the tools. Look out Jags. No upset coming to Invesco, this week.

• October 9, 2008

  1:58 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  gylizard1 writes:

  I get a feeling that this may be the week we see if Prater can make a game winning kick...my guess is he will make it..and begin the process of making us forget..for now anyway, the memory of Jason Elam. If he continues to boom his kickoffs into the end zone and make 50 yard field goals look routine, then we will know we have something special. Even if he doesn't make the clutch kick this week..it will be just one more learning experience for him, I think our kicking job is in good hands for a long time to come. Last week's solid performance is just the beginning for this exciting new member of our team.

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