How does Green fit our offense? How is our o-line talent wise? Do Kubiak's actions follow his words? Will Ryans have a sophomore slump? Will last year's street free agent defensive tackles make the team? Will they start? Should we pattern our offense after Denver which has unusual schemes and players in the NFL, or should we build a more standard team first?
Are these too hard to address?
I'd like to hear opinions about many areas, and things I haven't even thought of.
instead of just ideas, you should make these seperate topics.
green fits as a sherman product which is what our offense is seemingly based on ... we played more sherman last season than kubiak. green is a more straight line runner and screen threat than our current backs. he's more apt to follow and cut behind the fullback than anyone else we have, which is why dayne worked so well behind leach since dayne IMO is a good blend of kubiak & sherman. based on last year's playcalling, we dont need a one-cut ZBS (follow your linemen, not the hole) runningbacks, we need a back who's used to the basic zbs combined with line trickery and power back sets. green does that and is familiar with the kubiak 101 playbook and everything sherman wants to do. if we focused on kubiak's ZBS, green would struggle and we'd look more towards taylor & lundy, but with sherman back that wont be the case.
our O-line is fairly talented, but poorly utilized. i'm as guilty of shuffling as capers and anyone else on this board but with my research i consider myself more informed, as you are runner so i take your disagreements here to heart. spencer as i've preached is an all time great if he comes back healthy and there is zero basis on moving him from left tackle other than the uninformed (ooh he's 330lbs, play him at guard or right tackle!). winston while improved is still a backup, but he's definitely a tackle ... right now he's our starting right tackle. black who you disapprove of is better than salaam and works for me as a backup swing tackle. pitts is wrong for the left side IMO (as i've said for 3+ years), but that's where he's been so dont mess with what (relatively) works ... we've got our left guard ... pitts' best position is right tackle if you ask me. in my ideal world, pitts starts RT with winston as our swing tackle. weary's pedigree is center, and that's where he's most suited with his first backstep and lateral movement, but i dont expect him to leave right guard. i like flanagan in the ZBS and he worked well with pitts in that scheme. as a power I center, he doesnt have the core strength and is a liability one on one for an extended time (although, he's good at blitz pickup and directing traffic). mckinney as much as i hate to admit is an asset as a part timer. we still need 2-4 players on the line ... in the "my world" mentioned, we need 2 starting guards (black can bandaid one of them, and mckinney the other). spencer - black - weary - mckinney - pitts ... flanagan backup center, winston swing tackle, salaam as a utility. wont happen, but that's what i like.
i have zero reason to doubt anything kubiak says, i'm not sure where your intent is here.
ryans wont have a sophmore slump. if anything, demeco had a freshman slump. with his play, demeco should've had much more significant stats ... at worst he'll play like he did last year. ryans has that natural football instinct and by eliminating his rookie mistakes can only get better. the worst thing that could happen to demeco is he has the same OLB's around him. with any improvement on his flanks and he'll be free'd up to be more agressive in the passing game and we've already seen how he locates the ball carrier and can break pass blocking.
with the release of payne, it's obvious that atleast 2 or 3 of last year's walkons will get significant consideration during preseason. remember though, we lost 7 defensive tackles to IR last season so i expect kubiak to put a little more stock into that competition and open an additional couple of slots on the practice squad for the d-line. malone, cochran, killings, thomas johnson, and dalton will be be working their tails off this offseason. starters as of right now are weaver and travis johnson ... that might change during camp but as long as TJ proves himself, he holds the spot. weaver is
NOT a defensive end. he's a tackle who needs to adjust to his gap. babin will be the pass rusher that's expected as long as he doesnt get shafted until mid season yet again (i said before the season that babin would lead our team in sacks, and he did so in 1/2 a season of playing time), and kalu is a strong backup. if peek doesnt get signed, i'd keep him as a backup specialist or i'd honestly consider moving orr forward in a modified 3-4 in passing downs like we did last year.
as for denver ... no. we're not remotely denver's offense. where we're similar is on defense. denver stockpiles brains and uncanny athleticism on defense and that's what we've obviously been doing. we dont have the luxury of being a denver offense but kubiak is working towards that goal. it's always a fun fact that denver developes late round linemen into probowlers ... that's all well and good, but we dont have a 15 year head start and "skill" players to trade in order to fill holes. kubiak knows damn well that if the denver scenario is going to work, it's not going to work for another decade and it's up to him to lay the foundation. his scheme is based on a compilation of sherman, kubiak, shanahan, and the talent available ... that's one hell of a hard task. we'll see with the draft if we're going to be a denver offense. a quarterback in the middle rounds, 2 offensive linemen and a defense heavy draft. proof that we're denver south is when we trade an offensive starter for defensive talent.
as for how we should build, we build around our talent and coaching. both coaches are run oriented. sherman however is a mid range passing, power I, and focuses on screen plays. kubiak is a ZBS (same as sherman to an extent), with more of a WCO one-back mindset with creative screen plays and likes to spread the field horizontally. the common denominator in both playbooks is very agile linemen and flexible tight ends. this has to be our focus on offense ... drafting legs on the offensive line. with pitts, spencer, and winston, we're doing relatively well on that path, but there's a lot of space to be filled. it's going to take time to hit that goal ... but last year's draft gave us a major head start. our biggest targets are completing that offensive line which will both lead to wins and also to offseason moves that both kubiak and smith are used to. take the tatum bell trade, and the clinton portis trades as perfect examples. coaching on offense, talent on defense. both coaches are fully aware that once the trenches are built, the possibilities 5-10 years down the road are endless.
edit: it's WAY past my bedtime and i havent had breakfast so please dont quote me ... some or all of this might be edited.
