Defensive woes hard to stomach
Broncos' remedy for bad taste in mouths over skid is winning
Larry Coyer says "we're all responsible" for the drop-off.
By Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News
December 14, 2006
ENGLEWOOD - The defense this week was called perhaps too vanilla by one of his players. But Larry Coyer's defense of his scheme and his players, as expected, lacked that quality Wednesday.
The Broncos' plain-spoken defensive coordinator was more Neapolitan, replete with color and featuring a little bit of everything.
Coyer admitted he has been "laboring" with why the defense has struggled so markedly during the past month.
During the past four games, the Broncos have allowed more points than any team after a start to the season that featured historic lows.
In Coyer's mind, the key issue is having a do-or-die attitude, from top to bottom, to break free of the malaise.
"Anything else, to me, would be all lies," Coyer said.
Though Coyer wouldn't dismiss cornerback Darrent Williams' suggestion Monday that the Broncos might have become too predictable, he said it's imperative negativity not creep into the equation if the Broncos are to recover and make a run at a playoff berth.
"You can't point fingers and (say) 'This guy did this and this guy did that and I did this,' " Coyer said. "We failed to get the job done. And that's all of us. That's how I see it - we, starting with me. We've got to go forward, and we've got to do it with urgency."
Doing something accomplishes more than talking, anyway.
"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, OK? That's why hospitals are full of heart attacks. You have to be real, be honest and go forward.
"We're all responsible."
Since Nov. 19, the first of two losses to the San Diego Chargers, the Broncos have allowed 125 points. Opponents' third-down conversions have shot up to 45.1 percent. Yards allowed are up 40.9 a game, to 353.3. And the rush defense is yielding 150.8 yards a game.
There have been only five sacks during the past four games and five takeaways.
"The penthouse and the outhouse is just about 10 feet (apart)," Coyer said. "That's all it is."
Yet, the issues are nothing that winning can't cure.
"All you've got to do is overcome this stuff, and it's all gone," Coyer said.
The Broncos will play an Arizona Cardinals team Sunday (2:05 p.m., CBS 4) that slowly is climbing the stairs to somewhere between penthouse and outhouse territory, having won two straight for the first time since 2004.
Running back Edgerrin James has had two straight 115-yard games behind an offensive line that has congealed and allowed only two sacks during the past four games.
And rookie Matt Leinart is growing into his role as quarterback and team leader.
Leinart said during a conference call the Broncos defense he sees is strong, fast and attempting "to find reasons why they weren't as dominant maybe as they were the first half of the season."
As for the Broncos' scheme, Lei- nart didn't disagree with the "vanilla" rap.
"When you think of Denver, you think of a more aggressive defense, and I think they've backed off in recent games, and I'm not sure why," Leinart said.
"I mean, you can say they're vanilla or whatever. . . . But, for me, I prepare like they're going to pressure and be very aggressive, especially with a young quarterback."
Coyer reiterated a stance he has been repeating for weeks, that open-field tackling has been most problematic and having the defense carry the Broncos for the first half of the season hasn't, in his view, caught up to the team physically.
Injuries to safeties Nick Ferguson and Sam Brandon are disconcerting, Coyer said, but "it isn't like we lost nine guys. That's not an excuse."
He said the players have been more sound filling gaps than they were early in the season but must do a better job playing in space.
As far as teams catching on to what the Broncos are doing, Coyer promised he's trying "to be diverse, as much as we can."
What's missing most, perhaps, is confidence.
"I think, obviously, everybody is stung," Coyer said.
Still, "that's history now," he said.
Cornerback Champ Bailey seconded that notion.
"When it all comes down to it,
you've got to get it done," Bailey said.
While coaching plays a key role in a team's success and failure, Bailey said, "you know what the coach is going to call every week - work on it. Make sure you get your job done. And if everybody focuses on what they're going to do, things will come together. It's not that hard. If it is, then we'll find somebody who can do it.
"I don't buy into all these crazy excuses. It's stupid. The coaches don't strap up, we do.
"And when we win, people hate to give the coaches credit; when we lose, people want to blame the coaches. It's bull."
What the Broncos should be thinking about is avoiding being another flavor of the month in an ever-changing playoff landscape.
"We've got to use our talents and cut it loose and get away from this stuff, 'You've got to do this, you've got to do that,' " Coyer said. "What you've got to do is play football, and play football to win. . . . You've got to play lights out."
And overcome the rocky road they've been traveling.
