How did you guys fix your defense?

[niel89]

I was talking to a friend of mine about denvers D and I was wondering how did you guys went from a lower ranked D to where you guys are now?

I know that Nolan came in and now runs a 3-4. Also Dawkins has really brought in a lot of great leadership. Dumervil has made the transition to OLB perfectly and is now a force off of the edge.

Who did you sign that has really made a difference? Who has made the transition really well? How did you get so much better against the run?

Thanks for your help

[Diehard]

I think there are a number of aspects:

1. The previous regime totally failed in terms of implementing a defensive system. They had no idea what they were doing, which made even our decent players (DJ, Champ, Doom, Peterson) look like crap. As McD said in one of his press conferences, there wasn't even the basic foundation of a 4-3 in place to build on... hence why they went directly to the 3-4.

2. The addition of Renaldo Hill, Brian Dawkins, Andra Davis, and hell, even Vonnie Holliday has greatly increased the leadership on the defensive side of the ball. That was something we sorely lacked before.

3. Discipline has been a big focus on defense. Players are sticking with their assignments. The freelancing ways of the past are gone (along with some of the worst offenders, e.g. Jamie Winborn and Nate Webster).

4. The current scheme is designed around making the most of player strengths. Find out what a guy is good at doing and put him in a situation where he can do it. We don't have the most glamorous defensive roster, but the guys we have play hard, know their assignments and have the necessary skills/abilities to execute them.

[Timbathia]

For all the reasons above, and also because Dawkins, Hill, Davis and Reid all tackle much better than Winborn, Webster, McCree and Manuel. Tackling is apparently an important trait when you are a linebacker or a safety.

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

adding:

it helped to go from the two worst safeties in the league to dawkins and hill.

it helped to stop signing utter garbage like boss bailey and to sign some less flashy, more reliable players. no one will mistake andra davis, for instance, for the best mlb in the league. but like diehard says, he plays his assignment and he's generally where he should be.

i'm shocked no one mentioned it, but we're actually blitzing. i can't remember the last time we heavily blitzed ANYONE with shanahan. he even said he only ever wanted 4 rushing. but he never had the talent for it. now we can bring effective pressure. this is probably the biggest reason, imo. champ doesn't have to cover a guy for 20 seconds anymore.

it helps to have an offense that can control the ball effectively. the defense spends a lot more time on the sideline.

we don't have dre bly.

I vaguely remember the last time we blitzed a lot, and as I recall it got us to the AFCCG. I'm also glad to see it come back. Every close game I watch now, though, I expect to see us playing soft prevent zones with 4 minutes left on the clock to let the other team take the lead. Thank God that era is over.

[56crash]

Mcbean seems to be a big part of our RD also . when he was hurt we lost our RD .