[Archimedes Owl]

Well, the Broncos have been able to run the ball with more success than any team over the last decade and they have done it with many different backs and have had success against many different defenses, so I agree that the Broncos will probably have some success against the Rams run defense just because the Broncos almost always have success with their run game, but I also don't think that your team speed hurts you. Especially against Tatum Bell who is very explosive, your team speed can only help. We have some fast and powerful linemen, but they are not that large, so your speed can help you match up against them. They actually do pretty well against larger lines.

The Broncos pass offense is pretty good as well and Plummer was asked most of last year to play a very tight game and to be very careful with the ball. People think of him as a game manager now, and that's accurate to a degree, but the year before when we let him be a bit more of a gunslinger we led the league in yards per completion, but sported a lower completion percentage and more interceptions. Last year we decided that a safer approach made more sense to minimize the mistakes, but also we had the lead in most games, so we used the passing game to keep time consuming drives going instead of to score points. (Not to say that we couldn't score points as Philly [While they were still a good team] and New England can attest.)

Anyway, The Rams really have a terrific pass offense that is as good as any in the league. Your best bet by far is to put up a huge lead against us and then to keep scoring in a shootout in which Denver can't quite keep up, but Denver does have a superb pass defense. Last year only two teams allowed a lower completion percentage and only ten teams allowed fewer yards on the occassions when the ball was actually completed.

Both sides of the ball were good in the turnover category and it helped us quite a bit.

Still, most teams underestimate our pass defense because we ranked 29th in the league in yards per game allowed, but we faced something like 50 more attempts than any other team and almost 100 more than the average team.

This led to some very scewed statistics, but that also DOES include our rush defense because we also faced fewer rushing attempts than any team. Sure, we ranked second in yards allowed per game in rushing, but we still were mediocre in yards allowed per carry. Sure, with us having the lead so often last year that stat may have been raised by some draws agaisnt our nickle defense, but I still think it's safe to say that we were not as good as our ranking suggests at run defense. We were just about average while our pass defense was elite despite our total lack of a pass rush.

Our two second year corners in Darrent Williams and Foxworth looked fantastic in coverage last year and Nick Ferguson who most people didn't even noticed pulled in five picks (And he was also used to blitz pretty often, too.) Champ is still champ and will always be Champ. And John Lynch may be slowing down a little, but too much is made of him slowing down. He really wasn't burned at all last year and still levels recievers on a regular basis.

Our linebackers are as fast as any in the league and are fantastic for linebackers in coverage.


It should be a good game. The Broncos have to hope to slow the Rams offense and The Rams have to hope to score early and often.