Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Eight in the glare for '08: No escaping spotlight for young Broncos

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 4, 2008 at 9:37 p.m.

Text size  
The Broncos broke from training camp with a roster that included 10 rookies.

The Broncos broke from training camp with a roster that included 10 rookies.

Please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, or enable JavaScript for your browser to view the video player.

Please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, or enable JavaScript for your browser to view the video player.

Broncos quick links

Drew on the NFL
Drew Litton
Scores and statistics
Broncos inbox

Related Links

Related Stories

More Denver Broncos

More stories »

Stare at the roster or into the faces beneath the helmets and it's clear the Broncos are young. The youngest they ever have been in Mike Shanahan's tenure as coach, a marked change in the team's roster building.

They're young because the Broncos are oh, so restless.

Restless with the way things have been in back-to-back playoff misses. Restless with an offense that didn't score enough points in 2007, with a defense that allowed far too many and with the Broncos having moved well out of the public eye in most points beyond the state's border.

"I do like this squad," Shanahan said. "I like how they work, I like how they approach their jobs. But the bottom line, and they know it, is how you do now, when the lights are on."

And the lights go on for the first time since the failures of 2007 on Monday night in Oakland when the Broncos start the season in a nationally televised game against the Raiders at McAfee Coliseum.

In the glare is a season of transition for the Broncos, filled with unknowns of youth and inexperience. In the glare is what went wrong the past two years that kept the Broncos out of the postseason mix and what Shanahan said the team has done to make it right.

In the glare are eight for '08.

Cutler's time

No surprise, but there is no escape from the fact quarterback Jay Cutler's developmental curve probably will match the Broncos' fortunes this season.

The Broncos likely are one more quality draft from being in the thick of the hypercompetitive AFC race, but Cutler can raise them this time around.

"He looks stronger," Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said.

During Shanahan's career as an NFL assistant or coach, his quarterbacks have made a large leap in their third year, and most personnel executives around the league believe Cutler is ready for such a leap.

The Broncos have tried to get him to work the short to intermediate routes more, to check down when he has the chance, to eventually open things down the field. Beyond Brandon Marshall, though, the offense is waiting to see who the impact players will be.

After being tied for the AFC lead in fumbles last season - 11 - Cutler went through his three starts in the preseason with no interceptions and no fumbles.

Muscle up

The Broncos watched their postseason chances get trampled under opposing running backs during the first month of the 2007 season.

Three of the first five opponents last season rushed for at least 200 yards, four of the first five rushed for at least 180 yards and the Broncos didn't keep a team to fewer than 100 rushing yards until November.

By then, after several roster moves and a scheme change, it was far too late.

Shanahan has reverted to the scheme he's more comfortable with and replaced Jim Bates with Bob Slowik to run it. They largely have the same cast in the huddle, though, with defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson being the only major addition in the front seven.

"We'll be better because guys can play this scheme, they don't have to think all the way through it, they line up, do their jobs and execute," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said.

The Broncos won't wait long to see where they stand: In the first six weeks, they will face three of the top 10 rushing teams from last season.

The movement

The roots of significant change started to grow in the wake of the 7-9 finish last season. For what might have been the first time in his tenure, Shanahan publicly said the team had to build through the draft and get younger to compete again.

The Broncos followed that by exiting training camp with a roster that included 10 rookies, including starters Ryan Clady, Eddie Royal and Brett Kern, and almost 50 percent of the roster has players who are in their first, second or third NFL seasons.

"We do have a lot of young guys, and I'm excited to see them play," said receiver Brandon Stokley, entering his 10th season.

"They bring a lot of enthusiasm with them."

In the past, young players have struggled down the stretch with the longer NFL season. So the Broncos might have to monitor how they're doing physically as they enter November, but it's clear they like what they've seen.

Sudden impact

Last year, the Rocky polled several personnel executives around the league and asked them to rank the players on the Broncos' 2007 roster.

The only three players given "impact" player designations were Cutler, Bailey and Marshall.

So, the question on offense, beyond how the young linemen will fare, is whether the Broncos will have enough answers when defenses start loading up on Marshall.

The team knows it's coming and already has tried to prepare Marshall to keep battling through games in which he might not see the ball very often because of the way the defense is deployed.

The Broncos know Stokley will be there on third down, but somebody else is going to have to force the issue or Marshall is going to have plenty of company all season.

Heartbreaker or heartthrob?

Kiffin said when he looked at the Broncos' preseason video, Marshall was the team's best player.

Marshall's numbers last season - 102 catches, 1,325 yards and seven touchdowns - show great promise. But in his third year in the league, when most teams would begin to decide what kind of long-term deal they want to make with a player with that kind of production, he has plenty of questions marks.

His one-game suspension and off-the-field episodes are red flags for a player whose maturity was questioned by scouts before the 2006 draft.

Marshall has said, "I just want to be a good teammate, somebody they can rely on," but the proof will be in what happens from here on out.

"He's got to prove it to people," Shanahan said. "I think he knows that."

Next in line

The Broncos missed the playoffs in 2006 and defensive coordinator Larry Coyer was fired.

The Broncos missed the playoffs in 2007, and instead of being demoted to linebackers coach and having his play-calling duties taken away, Bates left the team.

That leaves Slowik, who has known Shanahan since both were on the University of Florida staff from 1980 to 1982, calling the shots on defense.

Slowik has returned the Broncos to a scheme Shanahan said he is far more "comfortable with." Bates wanted huge defensive tackles to anchor the middle of the defensive line, with players playing two gaps; Slowik has moved to a simplified, one-gap look.

Slowik also has emphasized speed, moving D.J. Williams back to weak-side linebacker - it's a pursuit position away from the tight end - and putting Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel at the safety spots.

They believe they will tackle better, defend the run better and be far quicker to the ball. But the pass rush is a question mark: The Broncos haven't had 40 sacks since 2002.

The Champ

Nine seasons played. Eight Pro Bowls.

That is Bailey's resume. Since he joined the Broncos in 2004, his 24 interceptions lead the league.

But amid the Broncos' defensive struggles in 2007 was Bailey. Without a consistent pass rush, even a cornerback with eight Pro Bowl appearances can be muted.

And some offensive coordinators believe Bailey wasn't quite as aggressive in coverage as he has been because he couldn't afford to be. The Broncos weren't solid enough to allow players to take a risk or two.

Bailey still rarely is challenged - he intercepted almost one-third of the passes thrown at him in 2006 - but quarterbacks have taken a few more shots with plenty of time to stand around and look for an open receiver.

Bailey's interception total should climb when the Broncos' ability to pressure the passer climbs.

Gap control

It's an ugly rundown:

23-3.

41-3.

48-20.

35-27.

Those are the scores of the past four meetings with the Chargers, and the Broncos have been on the very short end of each one.

San Diego has won back-to-back division titles and both times it was by at least four games in front of the Broncos. That is significant ground to cover.

And with the Chiefs having committed to rebuilding a roster that didn't age gracefully and the Raiders having lost at least 11 games in five consecutive seasons, it's the Chargers the Broncos must leap in the AFC West.

Shanahan repeatedly has called the Chargers one of "the most talented" teams in the league, and San Diego figures to be near the front of the AFC power rankings, even with Shawne Merriman's sore knee.

The Broncos have tried to get younger, they believe they have found their franchise quarterback in Cutler and they think they have more speed.

Is it all enough to compete again for a division title?

"We'll see," Shanahan said. "We'll see."

Comments

  • September 4, 2008

    11:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jvill writes:

    Great article.

  • September 5, 2008

    8:26 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DJC writes:

    Fantastic article. You should teach other Denver sports "journalists" how to write.

  • September 5, 2008

    11:16 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Exlaraiderseasonticketholder writes:

    One of the best moments in NFL History:
    http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/ph...

  • September 5, 2008

    12:40 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    bchiper writes:

    Exlaraiderseasonticketholder no wonder the Raiders aren't winning games they're stuck in 1981.

  • September 5, 2008

    2:53 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dilligaf writes:

    Exlaraiderseasonticketholder
    It was also a great achievements when Lincoln freed the slaves. But I believe that was just a couple years before.

  • September 5, 2008

    4:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    shawnraiders81 writes:

    bchiper:
    I think the last time the broncos played in a superbowl was like 1998, accuse us Raider fans of living in the past?
    Raiders = last AFC west team to get there. Not 1981, 2002.
    Can you say hypocrite......

  • September 5, 2008

    6:24 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    elviselway writes:

    Are you Raiders fans lives so empty and boring that you come here to post stuff? Seriously, take your wives out or play with your kids or something...its sad.

  • September 5, 2008

    6:26 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    shawnraiders81 writes:

    elviselway:

    Thanks for the advice Dr. Phil.

    I am at work and trying to pass some time then i will take my wife out and get my kids ready for some bronco burgers come monday night.

  • September 5, 2008

    8:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Dynamicdave writes:

    shawnraiders81, yeah, your team went to the SB....but unlike your boys, OURS, "WON" the game. Oops, yeah, how soon we forget, eh? They were not "the last AFC team to get there" as you put it. They were "the last AFC team to LOSE a SB". Tell the facts as they really are.

  • September 6, 2008

    8:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    broncodano writes:

    Get that bicycle turned around Legwold, cause when the Broncos start winning LOTS of games...

    youre gonna be backpeddaling like Bill Clinton finding out it was his WIFE in that bedroom...

    bd