Coyer: Broncos' Defense Needs Urgency, Tackling
By Andrew Mason, DenverBroncos.com
(CBS4/DenverBroncos.com) ENGLEWOOD, Colo. The season began with 44 points allowed in six games. Its most recent chapter witnessed 48 points permitted -- on one afternoon.
Denver's defensive keystones are quite understandably rankled by this turn of events. To be certain, many of the points came when the San Diego Chargers had a short field because of turnovers, fourth-down stops and special teams.
But the Broncos' defenders can easily recall when such circumstances didn't keep them from putting a padlock on the end zone -- specifically, back in Week 1, when they repeatedly turned the St. Louis Rams away from the end zone, keeping the team in a game that could have easily been a rout by intermission.
"The big thing is we've shown it," defensive end Kenard Lang said. "It'd be different if we hadn't shown it at all, but we've shown it the first part of this year, and it was against some good teams, so that's what you look at and you say, 'OK, what is really happening?'"
That's a question that keeps defensive coordinator Larry Coyer busy in his office, studying and scouring tape for countless waking hours. As the world around Dove Valley dons holiday regalia and embraces the festivity of the season, Coyer digs in, watches copious amounts of footage searching not necessarily for a solution, just a way for his defense to do this week what it did over the vast majority of the season.
Just what will it take?
"I really labor with that thought," Coyer said, his voice crackling with fire over the course of an 18-minute question-and-answer session this week. "There is an urgency that has to appear between all of us. Urgency. To me, that is the No. 1 thing. That's how see it. It's an urgent deal and you've got to respond with urgency and professionalism and go get excited to play."
But it was only San Diego that shot numerous holes in the Broncos defense. The Chargers scored 11 touchdowns in their two games against Denver. Opposing offenses only scored 10 in the other 11 games combined -- and just twice in the two weeks leading up to the loss at Qualcomm Stadium.
"When you're in the midst of a losing streak, I think the initial reaction is that everything is broke," safety John Lynch said. "That's what the perception is out there. Then if you really study it, it's just fundamental things, and those are what you work on."
Still, the success at other points of the season made the numbers on the scoreboard particularly bitter to swallow.
"I think obviously everybody is stung," Coyer said. "It would be a lie not to say you're stung. But that's history now. You've got to do something about the fact that you're stung.
"It's not dwell on the fact that you're stung, it's what do we do about it? Come together, execute better, execute faster and play to win. That's how I see the situation in all of us, all of us -- urgency, urgency. We've got to get this done.
"Anything else to me would be all lies and crap."
BACK TO BASICS
The simplest remedy for Denver's defense is tackling, something that Coyer has tried to emphasize throughout not only the season, but a four-decade career in defensive coaching, as well.
"I've emphasized that my whole life," Coyer said. "If I know one thing about football on defense, you've got to tackle. There's no way defensively you can account for a missed tackle. If you miss a tackle it's like you've got 10 guys. That's what it is."
"At one point in the game, 10 people might be doing it right, but that ball always finds that one person," Lang said. "(I'm) not saying they aren't trying hard, but they might not have played that play correctly."
Being gap-sound? Coyer says his defense is there. Missed assignments are also down, he points out.
"We've had some busts, but they've been more in the missed-tackle area," Coyer said. "It's not assignments, it's that we've missed tackles at critical times. To me, that's the one element that has to stop.
"We have to tackle because you're playing against quality people and tackling is a mental situation. In the last game they ran a little cutback and (LaDainian Tomlinson) juked us and made 14, 15 yards. The next time around we knock him for a 3-yard loss. Why didn't we knock him for a 3-yard loss the first time around? I can't answer that question. That's just the facts.
"We just have to execute and tackle better and with confidence. We've got the speed and skills to do it."
But it also requires a shift in mentality.
"Sometimes what happens when you're struggling as a team, everybody maybe tries to do a little too much instead of just doing your job," Lynch said. "When that happens, it all kind of falls apart, so we've got to get back to doing the things we were capable of doing -- what we were doing earlier in the year."
That means having each defender play within his limits -- and focusing on his task.
"I think a lot of times we make it more complicated than in needs to be. It's running, tackling, catching," Domonique Foxworth said. "That's what you need to do to win, and that's what we haven't been doing."
Simplification. Easier on the mind and soul -- and, the Broncos hope, better in results.
"All of this stuff around you has a tendency to eat away at you and let emotions rule your mind," Coyer said. "You can't do that, okay> That's why the hospitals are full of heart attacks. You can't let your emotions rule your mind. You have to evaluate, be real and be honest and go forward."
And go forward with what they have.
INJURIES: NOT AN EXCUSE
Infirmities have hindered a host of Broncos defenders throughout the year. Courtney Brown, Nick Ferguson and Sam Brandon are on injured reserve; Ian Gold, Ebenezer Ekuban and Gerard Warren each had to miss at least one game; Al Wilson left the Seattle game on a cart due to a sprained neck but returned to practice less than 72 hours later.
Safety, of course, has been the hardest-hit position of all; the starter at one safety slot is a cornerback; two of the backups at the position are Steve Cargile and Quentin Harris, neither of whom was with the team as November dawned.
"But it isn't like we've lost nine guys," Coyer said. "That's not an excuse. It's not like we didn't have talent to replace those guys, so that's not the problem."
Curome Cox started one game and saw action in nickel work in the two that followed, Foxworth stepped into a starting safety slot the last two games.
"Obviously what you miss in Nick Ferguson is a pit bull. he's a great tackler, he's tough and he's experienced," Coyer said. "But to say we didn't replace him with a like quality athlete, that's not true. That would be an excuse on my part."
Foxworth was already well-respected in the Broncos' huddle. That has only increased since he moved to safety.
"I think you take your hat off to him in terms of what he's been able to do, and his versatility as a player," Lynch said. "He's really stepped in there and done a nice job, and I think he'll continue to get better, as long as he needs to play in that role, and he's still getting his corner stuff in in the nickel package.
However ...
"Each week we'll probably ask a little more out of him," Lynch said.
Which brings one to the week's injury report, as the already tweaked secondary might have to do without starting cornerback Darrent Williams; he was downgraded to questionable Thursday and has missed at least part of Wednesday's and Thursday's practices.
"We need all our bullets," Champ Bailey said. "I mean, we've got guys that can step in and play, but we know how big a part of this defense Darrent is. To lose him would definitely hurt a little bit. We've got guys that can come in and play and hopefully be as effective as he is."
The Broncos' chances of getting back into the playoff mix Sunday could rely upon just that.
