Broncos report: Williams' shift yields results

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 22, 2008 at 5:07 p.m.

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Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams receives a pat on the helmet by teammate Nate Webster after one of his 16 tackles Sunday in a two-point victory against the New Orleans Saints.

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Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has looked at the Broncos defense each of the past two weeks and decided he likes the effort overall. But he also concedes, "we've got plenty of work to do."

Yet, he likes what moving linebacker D.J. Williams from the middle to one of the outside positions has done as the team tries to repair what has gone wrong so far.

Williams, who started at middle linebacker in 2007 in former defensive coordinator Jim Bates' scheme, was moved back to the weak-side position - away from the offense's tight end - during the offseason.

Williams started at the weak-side spot in his first two seasons with the Broncos, moved to the strong side - directly across from the tight end - in 2006 before moving to the middle last season.

Shanahan and new defensive coordinator Bob Slowik wanted Williams back at the weak side this season to take advantage of his quickness because, at 242 pounds, he still is one of the fastest players at the position in the league.

"It's his natural position through college," Shanahan said. "When you're a (middle) linebacker and you've never played it in your career, it does take some time to get used to it. . . . D.J. is just such a great athlete."

Williams was credited with 16 tackles Sunday, including 14 solo, and entered the game as the team's leading tackler.

Williams said Monday, as did cornerback Champ Bailey, he believed the Broncos' shortcomings on defense against the Saints were more from some "miscommunication" as the team continues to work its way through the first season in Slo- wik's scheme.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees was 39-of-48 passing for 421 yards and one touchdown. The previous week, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns against Denver.

And, combined, Brees and Rivers had only 21 incomplete passes and were sacked two times.

"All the plays we gave big yardage or a touchdown, it was miscommunication between us," Williams said. "It's not that we're getting beat physically, it's just us communicating with each other - or lack of communication."

"The thing you do know is Philip Rivers and Drew Brees are exceptional," Shanahan said. "You give them a certain look and they're going to take advantage of it."

Third is No. 1

Looking back on the Saints' 502-yard day on offense, Shanahan did specifically point to the Broncos' performance on third down against the New Orleans offense as a trouble spot, particularly in the second quarter, when Shanahan said the game could have been put away.

The Broncos, after taking a 21-3 lead early in the quarter, allowed the Saints to convert a third-and-11 and a third-and-6 on the next New Orleans possession that eventually resulted in a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-10.

On the Saints' next possession, after a Jay Cutler interception, the Saints also converted a second- and-22, then third-and-6 with two passes to add another touchdown to cut the lead to 21-17.

"We've got to get better on third downs . . . ," Shanahan said. "When it's 21-3 and game's almost over."

Overall, the Saints were 8-for-14 on third down, a 57 percent success rate. For the season, the Broncos have allowed opponents to convert 44.4 percent, 25th in the league.

Only Detroit (0-3), the New York Jets (1-2), Indianapolis (1-2), Kansas City (0-3), Houston (0-2), New England (2-1) and St. Louis (0-3) have allowed a higher percentage of conversions so far.

Big hit

Broncos rookie Spencer Larsen made what Shanahan called "the hardest hit" he has seen in his NFL coaching career.

Covering the game's opening kickoff, Larsen slammed into Usama Young, knocking the Saints cornerback backward. Broncos rookie defensive tackle Carlton Powell told Larsen on Monday he "folded that guy up like origami."

"I don't think I've ever seen anybody get hit as hard as Spencer Larsen hit one of those backs on a kickoff return," Shanahan said. "That's the hardest hit I've ever seen since I've been in the National Football League."

Injury report

Shanahan said he expected safety Marlon McCree, who suffered a stinger in the fourth quarter Sunday and left the game, to practice this week and play Sunday against the Chiefs.

"He was good (Monday)," Shanahan said.

Shanahan said he expected Boss Bailey, who has dealt with the aftereffects of a severely sprained ankle he suffered in the preseason, to practice at least some this week as well. Bailey left the game in the fourth quarter, two plays before McCree.

Taking a look

The Broncos worked out linebacker/defensive end Jason Babin last weekend.

The Seahawks released Babin last week when they acquired receiver Keary Colbert in a trade with the Broncos.

Babin was a first-round pick (No. 27 overall) by the Houston Texans in 2004. As a senior at Western Michigan in 2003, Babin had 15 sacks. He had 38 sacks in his college career, blocked three punts and forced eight fumbles.

• September 22, 2008

  6:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  BroncoFaninLA writes:

  Am I the only one who breathed a sigh of relief when the Broncos won a game with the "alternate" jerseys on? My recollection is that they tend to lose the games with the alternate and throwback jerseys with the regularity that they used to lose on Monday night games in Domes.

• September 22, 2008

  6:25 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ddawgsam writes:

  so lack of communication,it look as if no one was home to communicate with!

• September 22, 2008

  6:40 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Rutabaga writes:

  Do the defensive guys all speak English? I sometimes don't understand my friend Gangi when he calls cause he's from somewhere else. Maybe the Broncos should hire someone to tell everybody what everybody else is saying...

  Go Broncos... To The Championship and Beyond

• September 22, 2008

  8:04 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  STR8_THINKER writes:

  The boys in (predominantly) orange should be required to enroll in a 12-step program.

  "Hello, my name is Bronco and my defense s***s."

  Now that you admitted the problem, FIX it! The cause, not just the symptom. Enough of this "we just got to shore up a few things," or, "it's just a communication problem."

  Hey, here's a solution. Stop speaking Greek to one another.

• September 22, 2008

  9:07 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  cutlerscrew writes:

  any young d with a new dc is gonna need time to gel! just be glad we have the o to get us through the learning curve with a winning record....maybe even undefeated,its kinda like when our d didnt allow a td for like 4 games and the o was struggling
  just hope the whole team gets hot at the right time and we have a shot at the big dance
  i say relax and enjoy whats shaping up to be a fun season!GO BRONCOS!

• September 22, 2008

  9:22 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Pigskin writes:

  Shanahan could have had this same production from the WLB the past several years if he didn't just HAVE to have Ian Gold back.
  Moving Williams in the first place was counter-productive. You jettison a mediocre player, draft a clear upgrade, then sabotage the whole deal by bringing the mediocre player back at the expense of your stud.
  This D can communicate all it wants. It still won't make pass rushers out of our DEs, teach Paymah to cover, or turn our safeties into impact players.

• September 23, 2008

  6:49 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  STR8_THINKER writes:

  Cutlerscrew, you are correct in stating the season, so far, is shaping up to be an exciting one. However, in maintaining perspective, the defensive trends over the past three years (yes, three different d-coordinators) are decidedly not good. What's more, the current starting d-line is three-fourths of last years. BTW -- how did last year's line work out? Also, consider that the '08 Broncos aren't the only team playing with a new d-coordinator. No, my friend, the problem is not so much lack of gelling, schemes, or Mercury aligning with Venus. It's talent, pure and simple. The team appears now to have good guys (character-wise) on the field. Whether or not they can perform at a tolerable level is another issue altogether.

• September 23, 2008

  8:42 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  DeimosJB writes:

  str8 thinker, Comparing this year's defense to last year's or the year before makes no sense at all. More than 1/2 are new starters from last year (Manuel, Mcree, Bailey, Williams (new position), Webster (new position), and Robertson). When 1/2 the Defense is new, you can't compare them to last years. Another problem is youth. Days go by and young players get older. They will get more experienced. Also, it's supposedly a "simpler" scheme, but it is still a new scheme. Yes, some other teams have a new DC, but a lot of teams don't, and it is definitely a disadvantage.
  In short, the problem is not "talent, pure and simple". A stud lineman or 2 would help, sure. But the more urgent problems - the problems that we CAN actually fix - are scheme, experience, familiarity with teammates and so on. If we fix those, the talent problem will suddenly be much less of a problem.
  In the immediate future, Denver's defense is going to get very healthy against the Chiefs. That will not mean the defense is suddenly amazing, just like playing against NO and SD didn't mean the defense is crap. The defense is middle of the road, and the rest of the year is going to prove it. If our defense can stay middle of the road, and our offense can stay stellar, good things loom.

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