Patrick Turley's Blog, page 2

Broncos at Giants – Battling the Over Front

Earlier this week on a Broncos’ podcast, I mentioned one key match-up for the coming Manning Bowl: Julius Thomas vs. Justin Tuck when NY shifts into the over front:

We can expect to see Kiwi over Clady’s shoulder in the 5 technique or open end, Cullen Jenkins at the nose over Manny’s left shoulder (1 technique), Joseph in a 3 technique under tackle sitting in the B-gap on Vasquez’s right shoulder, and Justin Tuck heads up on Julius in a wide-9 technique as the closed end.

Clearly this is a match-up the Giants hope to exploit with even more regularity than a Von Miller arrest warrant, so what can Gase and Manning do to prevent NY from exploiting this match-up without blowing a timeout to substitute in a two TE set?  Check to the run!  A weakside handoff gives Denver a substantial matchup advantage as Clady matches up on Kiwanuka as he tries to control the C gap while squeezing the B, Beadles does what he does best upfield and seals the Sam-backer (Keith Rivers), and our mammoth perimeter receivers successfully block subpar corners a foot smaller.

It’s interesting to note that if Denver were still a read-option team (2011-the Tebow year), they could have Julius chip and release to the second level to seal off the will backer and run the option at—and functionally PAST—Tuck and get the one-on-one against the safety (Rolle) for 6.  The Giants can expect division rivals Philly and/or Washington to execute this if and when the front presents itself.

Offense:

Will score like crazy until proven otherwise.

Defense:

Cover 1 pressure packages primarily from the Nickel.  Expect to man up (DRC to Nicks, Harris to Cruz, Carter to Randle) with Rahim giving a single deep safety look where Denver can force fan protection (5 on 5) from the Giants and collapse the pocket.  Expect Denver to get creative with blitz packages as Wilson proved himself irrelevant in pass protection.

Free Money – Each week I’ll list several “locks” against the spread as well as my cumulative season record.

San Francisco +3

Denver -4.5

Indy -2.5

Dallas +3

Around the League:

Chip Kelly might be the karma we’ve all openly wished for.  At this rate, he’ll have Ron Mexico dead by Week 10.

Tough week to run the football.  While many will point to this as further evidence of the NFL being a “passing league”, offensive lines take time to establish the consistency and synchronicity that’s so vital in NFL rushing attacks.

Watch out for the Jaguars.  They look like a lock to make some serious noise in the post-season.

Alford watch:

Robert Alford, my favorite SELU prospect that vaulted from obscurity to the 2nd round of the NFL draft has already carved himself a massive role with the Falcons and kicked off the first game of his NFL career with a pick and two passes defensed.  Watch for him to supplant their higher pedigreed draft pick and cousin to Marcus, Desmond Trufant sometime this season.

Broncos-Ravens and Regular Season Awards

Yes, yes, my “regular” updates lasted a few weeks and then vanished.  I get it.  I think we’ve ALL been busy during the holiday season, and frankly, the Broncos haven’t played anyone worth a sentence in months anyway.  Don’t get me wrong, that trend will continue tomorrow against the Ravens, but I suppose being the playoffs and all…

ROUND TWO… FIGHT!

The AFC North is dead.  RIP to the most classless (here’s looking at you Bengals and Rapist-berger) division in football.  Joe Flacco (Translation: English for “Mark Sanchez”) captains (to use the term INSANELY loosely) a middling offense in every statistical category (16th yardage, 15th passing, 11th rushing, 10th scoring) and a crippled and aged defense living off a reputation from an era long since passed (16th yardage, 16th pass, 13th run, 20th scoring).  Let’s see how many football clichés we can cram into “analyzing” this game:

It’s the post-season so time to throw the records out the window (ding) and take it one game at a time (ding!) because this is why we play the game (ding!) as it’s going to be a slugfest (ding!) where both teams try to show who wants it more (ding!)… there’s no love lost between these teams (ding!), and this is a game of matchups (ding!), and the game of football is won in the trenches (ding!), but when push comes to shove, it’s about protecting the quarterback (ding!) and Peyton Manning makes his teammates better (ding!), so if both teams play a full sixty minutes (ding!) and the Broncos avoid costly turnovers (ding!), they will emerge victorious… and lastly, [insert any white player’s name] has a motor that won’t quit (ding!).

Count: 12.  …unless you count Ray Lewis as a walking cliché, then it’s closer to 9000.

Michael Oher’s been beaten like an impoverished, Leahy step-child all season long (I blame Sandra Bullock for making him soft, personally) and now a bottom half protect-the-QB team faces the #1 pass rush team in the NFL, and more specifically, one of the best pass rush tandems in NFL history.  This is going to force Baltimore to either keep a back in for max protect—effectively abandoning their primary strength—or keep Pitta as the line of scrimmage—effectively abandoning attacking the Denver D’s primary weakness—most amusingly, neither will work.  Flacco will go down harder than Kim Kardashian at a BET awards ceremony.

Speaking of, unless Ray “Stabby” Lewis gets back to his old tricks again (and no, preach God and pretend to be a role model all you want, no one forgot about your murder rap), this game is a double digit blow-out where Peyton may finally be accused of character issues… for sodomizing an entire football team on national television:

 

Picture

From left to right:

Peyton Manning talks

to Joe Flacco

after the game

 

 

 

 

Broncos Awards-

 

MVB:

Peyton

 

 

Runner Up:

Von Miller

MVB Offense:

Peyton—The GOAT

Demaryius—Amazing growth out of Optimus Prime as he turned in one of the best receiving seasons in Broncos history.

Clady—Finally resurging back to prominence after a couple years of looking average due to Orton and Tebow.

Beadles—A strong “most improved” candidate who’s gone from completely whiffing blocks to making contact and finishing.  Denver’s best “puller”.

Decker—Redzone terror

MVB Defense:

Miller—A year ago he was a great pass rusher.  Today he’s one of the best pass rushers in the modern NFL, a great run defender, and solid in coverage.

Woodyard—Amazing and much needed year from WWIII as he excelled in all phases of the game (lead the team in tackles, by a LARGE margin, lead the team in interceptions, and tied his predecessor’s career best pass rushing season with 5.5)

Bailey—The Beatles of the Denver D… a timeless classic.

Elvis—A monster pass rusher in his own right (11 sacks), hit a career high with 6 forced fumbles, and also creates better match-ups for Von and the interior DL and

Harris—Lead the team in picks and is the first suitable bookend to Bailey… ever.

Most Improved:

Demaryius—Last season he was taking plays off, shying away from blocks on the edge, dropping an obscene amount of balls… now he’s become one of the best in the business.

Broncos COY:

JDR—Del Rio has created a monster.  Every head coaching vacancy that fills while we’re in the postseason warms my heart because it indicates another year with Jack leading the resurrected Orange Crush.

Unsung hero:

Vickerson and Bannan. Solid year from our starting DT combo.

League awards-

MVP:

Peyton –from nail biting finishes and post-season blowout to Superbowl favorites… all courtesy of the best that ever lived.

OPOY:

Adrian Peterson –what a remarkable season coming off his ACL injury.  Was rooting for him to break the record.

DPOY:

JJ Watt—The best defensive season that I’ve ever witnessed.  JJ was a force to be reckoned with creating sheer havoc in every phase of the game.  If he can continue this level of play—and that’s a BIG if—move aside Zombie-Reggie White.

Combackplayer:

WhoGivesAShit—seriously, is anyone clamoring to be held in the same esteem as other CBP recipients: Tommy Maddox, Jon Kitna, Chad Pennington (x2), etc?

COY:

Chuck Pagano/Bruce Arians – Can anyone argue?  All the adversity and all the inspiration garnered from Pagano these two men this year as they overhauled an entire organization and lead a 2-14 team to the post-season on the back of a rookie QB?

ROY:

RGIII – Crazy year for this award… Any other season and Luck is a shoe in.  Any other season and Wilson is a shoe in.  Any other season and Alfred Morris is a shoe in.  Any other season and Doug Martin is a shoe in…

OROY:

Luck – Exceptional play contributing to a playoff season from a rebuilding team leaning heavily on the rookie.

DROY:

Jenkins – Questionable choice (I know everyone is busy screaming “Bobby Wagner!”), certainly, but the 420-friendly, character-flaw-laden Jenkins made a massive impact taking three picks for 7 during the season.

Divisional round picks: Broncos, Packers, Patriots and Seahawks (All straight-up or ATS)

And lastly… a moment of silence so we can all pay our respects, united:

Presentation Transcript

Introduction:

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and happy new year. Before I get started, I’d like to warn you that it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve performed any type of public speaking, so please be gentle. Also, my feelings don’t get hurt, so if you feel I’m doing a terrible job, feel free to leave… and I will hunt you down in the parking lot. Okay, now that I’ve inspired a great deal of confidence in you towards me for the next twenty minutes, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Patrick Turley, I am the author of “Welcome to Hell: Three and a Half Months of Marine Corps Boot Camp”—which by the way, is the greatest book you’ll ever read. If not, then you must have got one from a bad batch and should buy another to try again. That one should be better. I served five years in the United States Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq in 2004 with a security battalion in the Al Anbar province–I’ve also heard many of you are prior service military, but I’ll try not to hold that against you airmen, sailors and soldiers–Regardless, there’s nothing special about me. Well… allow me to rephrase that. Outside of these rugged, extremely handsome good looks, there’s nothing special about me.

I gave a lot of thought about what to talk to you about this morning, and when it boils down to it, there’s really nothing I can teach you. You’re all successful business men and women who have accomplished what you have because of exceptional leadership principles, innovation and much more. But while I can’t teach you anything, I think I have some interesting thing to share and hopefully even remind you of some of the specific traits and principles that helped make you a success along the way.

After all, the meek will inherit the Earth, but not today. For better or for worse, capitalism is natural selection. Capitalism is survival of the fittest. And if you don’t belong at the top, then you don’t belong.

Book:

“The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, ‘The elite of this country’. I think it is the elite of the world.” -Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy

“Devil Dogs”, “Leathernecks”, “Jarheads”, the “tip of the spear” of the United States military, but what is it that can forge ordinary men like me into the world’s most respected and elite fighting force? In a word: pain.

Discipline through pain.

Not much over a decade ago, I was living the ideal life for an early 20s male: I was in school with legions of beautiful, hormonally charged women, and supplementing that with bartending where my livelihood literally depended on flirting with women. I had closed the bar one night, and accustomed to these late nights, went home and worked on my writing with the radio on in the background. That “night” was the early morning of Sept 11th, and well, we all remember where we were and what we were doing in that moment. All too vividly.

Needless to say, I was young, bulletproof, and ready be a part of history and fight in World War 3. Fortunately the latter never came, and fortunately luck allowed me to be bulletproof, but within weeks, I had found myself at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and the very moment your bus arrives, you’re herded to yellow footprints in a screaming explosion of threats toward the fiber of your being, and saliva spittle. It’s on those footprints that you become a statistic, but in doing so, you head down a path toward so much more. There’s a lot to learn about yourself within the pits of humility, uniformity and conformity. After all, in an era of over celebrated individualism, the “conformists” have become the true individuals. Those yellow footprints lead to so much more.

“Welcome to Hell”. The title of my book… and also the first words spoken to us by our Senior Drill Instructor before he left us at the mercy (or lack thereof) of our junior drill instructors on a day that will always haunt Marines: Black Friday, and the most intimidating experience I can imagine. To maintain some modicum of class—more than I personally possess, at least—I’ll censor the language in the coming reading, but I chose this segment to illustrate the severity of the situation:

We scrambled to our feet, sprinted before our footlockers, and snapped into our position.

They explained to us that the middle of the squad bay was the “Drill Instructor Highway”, and anyone caught in that highway would, in fact, die. Then they paced up and down the two lines we formed on each side of the squad bay, waiting… waiting for someone to give in to any impulse. Waiting to catch someone. A fat kid across the way flinched, sending Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant McFadden into a dead sprint, then into a two yard slide and coming to a halt in front of the recruit.

“Oh, so we want to flinch, huh? We want to do our own thing, huh,” his eyes wandered to the name-tape on the recruit’s cammie blouse before finishing, “Bequet?”

Bequet began yelling “No, sir!” repeatedly.

“We’re on our own freaking program, aren’t we Bequet?”

Bequet accidentally yelled “No!” this time.

Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant McFadden’s eyes lit up. “No, huh? No?! We’re drinking buddies now, aren’t we Bequet?”

“No, sir!”

“Then what? Are you forking my sister?”

“No, sir!”

“You’re friggin’ nasty, Bequet. Why didn’t your mother stop feeding your fat, ugly bottom?”

“This recruit’s mother is dead, sir!”

Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant McFadden paused and gave him a nod. He turned to leave, but then looked back at Bequet. “So that’s why she barely moved when I forked her.”

This was the moment where the reality of my situation really settled in on me. I’ll remind you that the United States is a volunteer military, so this was truly a mind blowing moment. But there’s no dipping a foot in this pool until you adjust. Only diving in headfirst.

From there, we learned pain. From there we learned discipline. From there we learned an immediate obedience to orders. With no hesitation. Everything we did was “by the numbers”. Our Drill instructors would have us wash our backsides before our faces. Chug water until we vomited all over the deck. Then close the windows, put us on our hands and feet with a towel and race up and down the vomit soaked deck until the humidity had us passing out. We would attempt the impossible without any hesitation when ordered… and in that mayhem, misery and sacrifice, something beautiful happens. You see that attempting the impossible and failing didn’t kill you. You see that you even came pretty close. And you learn that your true human limitations far exceed anything you may have imagined.

For me, this stressful and influential situation was about to become a lot moreso. “The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.”-Gen. “Black Jack” Pershing, U.S. Army. From our first “Welcome to Hell” moment, everything had been left over right. From our boot laces, to our legs when we sat. It wasn’t until we had reached the rifle range when we learned that this was for much more than uniformity’s sake. One of our primary shooting positions is seated, left leg over right, providing proper bone support so you aren’t muscling the weapon. We had already spent months adjusting and growing comfortable with the position. Another example toward the value of attention to detail. We would spend another week growing comfortable with the shooting positions and other principles like slow, steady trigger squeezes, sight alignment and sight picture, stock weld, breathing, without any live ammo before finally shooting.

When the day came, I was unbelievably good… and humble too. The following excerpt from my book follows this moment and remains to this day, the most influential moment of my life:

“Turley, come here!”

The Senior was calling me over. I was proud. After all, I was sure he wanted to congratulate me on how good I was shooting on the first day. What else? The series commander and the chaplain were waiting there with him. I ran up and stood at port arms and yelled, “Good morning, gentlemen.”

Captain Wiles grabbed the M16 out of my hands. “Let me see it, Killer,” he said to me, not even giving me a chance to run a proper inspection arms before handing it off.

I was confused now.

Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Jameson looked at me. His face was stone cold. “I’ve got some bad news, Chuck.” Right then and there I knew what he was about to say. “It’s your dad, he’s dead.”

We all reach an age where life stops giving us things, and starts taking them away. And there I was, in one of the most stressful situations you can find yourself in life, now compounded with another one of the most stressful situations. Never had I felt more alone. I’d often lie awake after an exhausting day of training and feel like I was drowning. Things could never be the same again.

In life, we have no external enemies. They’re all within. Hesitation, fear, regret. They’re paralyzing. I began to rationalize leaving. It was an easy out, and who could blame me considering the circumstances? The short answer was “me”. I could blame me. I would blame me. And so, realizing this, quitting was never an option.

As humans, a part of us will always try to rationalize the path of least resistance. But “Courage is endurance for one moment more.” And that’s exactly how I dealt with it. One moment at a time. One emotion at a time. One order at a time.

True power is control over yourself. It’s knowing that no matter how painful or insurmountable the obstacle in front of you is… you can overcome it. One step at a time. Enduring one moment at a time.

The culmination of Marine Corps recruit training is known as the “Crucible”. The Marine Corps officially describes the Crucible as “The Recruits’ Final Test: For 54 straight hours, recruits’ endurance, teamwork and skills will be pushed to the limit. Through perseverance and courage, they will finish as platoons and earn the title Marine. During The Crucible, recruits face obstacles that must be negotiated as a team, day and nighttime marches, night infiltration movement, combat resupply and casualty evacuation scenarios, combat field firing as a team, minimal food and sleep, simulating combat, leadership tests, and core values training.”

The climax of this “event” is known as the Reaper… for any earlier generations of Marines, it’s former name was Mount Mother… effer. The latter is a much more apt description. You’re already past the point of exhaustion from rigorous physical strain, lack of sleep and near starvation, then you set off on an 8 mile hike with a heavy, awkward fitting pack on your back, flak jacket, helmet, rifle slung over your shoulder, and you come face to face with what’s more “sheer cliff” than “mountain”.

Now, I entered the Crucible an emotional wreck due to circumstance. But out of those same circumstances, it became a trial of self-realization. After all, this was an internal test more than anything else. Through inhuman obstacles and subhuman conditions, I gained the most valuable thing we can find in life. A mastery of ourselves. In a few short months, I had become so much more than I was before. Even the aforementioned impossible didn’t seem so difficult anymore.

Take aways for success:

So while this flies in the face of everything you’ve heard about realistic goals, set impossible goals for yourself. It’s a New Year… set one thing, just one thing, that you’d love to achieve, that you don’t have a prayer in realistically accomplishing. Make a methodical plan with a military inspired attention to detail like you would for every other goal, and then attack with every fiber of your being, every last vestige of effort, and I promise you, nothing but great things will come of it:

Even in failure, you’ll find yourself achieving and growing more than you could have imagined, and you’ll beat your own enemy within into submission. Your self-imposed fear of failure will be gone, your internally set “limitations”, vanished. Your subordinates will see your leadership by example and they will become inspired through your fearless pursuit, and focused drive.

And when things seem insurmountable because your own mind is telling you so, remind yourself, “Courage is endurance for one moment more”.

Publishing, promotion:

My goal in writing this book was to provide an insider, modern, first-person account of Marine Corps boot camp so people could get a perspective on what people sacrifice on our great nation’s behalf, and to create a nostalgia book where Marines could look back on this formative time within the comfort of hindsight.

I wrote two chapters of this book in early 2003. On a whim, I sent them to some of the best literary agents in the nation. I received an immediate response from one asking to read the rest of the manuscript because she loved my proposal and samples. Of course, I had nothing, but I accepted and asked for a week to “polish up” the manuscript. Which didn’t exist. So, I worked 18 hour days at Camp Pendleton, and then would write until I was too exhausted. Within two weeks I was done… luckily she loved my rushed manuscript, but we did give it a mutual once over before courting publishers.

An imprint of Penguin known as Plume picked it up immediately. But right before we could get into contracts, I received word that I’d be deploying to Iraq with 72 hours of notice. The contract fell through, I shipped out, miraculously returned in one piece, but couldn’t get the book back off the ground in a new fiscal year when I returned. Soon after, I lost the book entirely.

Several years later and fortunately my girlfriend is an avid reader, which drove me to look for my old manuscript once more. A friend of mine found it on an old floppy disk and within months, my story was under contract with History Publishing Company.

Many, many traits learned and imprinted within me from USMC boot camp elevated me to where I am today and made this a successful endeavor. The immunity to criticism and rejection from countless hours of being screamed at for any perceived imperfection, the attention to detail that allowed me to organize my promotional efforts to isolate what was most effective in the modern literary market, outside of the box thinking that allowed me to create new, innovative marketing techniques to streamline getting a hold of my demographic, and the dogged persistence toward the impossible where I managed to secure endorsements and back cover quotes from former USMC members, actor Jim Beaver, Pulitzer Prize, Tony and Academy Award winning writer John Patrick Shanley, and even a former Commandant, General Charles Krulak, all despite a multitude of very “un-PC” moments.

CFPF:

Now, if you have no interest in my story, firstly you’re a buffoon, but that’s fine, the world needs buffoons. However, I do need you to look into the charity my book supports, the Children of Fallen Patriots foundation. For every child left behind when a service member passes on, the CFPF provides education and counseling for these children who have sacrificed so much more than anyone ever should at a young age. I cannot imagine a nobler cause, so please, take a look at Fallenpatriots.org and consider getting involved. Every penny goes to the children.

Close:

A special thank you to Mr Billy Wagner for inviting me to come here and participate with you all. It’s been a great experience for me, and I genuinely thank you all for your time. I’ll take any questions you might have at this time.  Semper Fidelis

Brilliance in Match Ups

I want to dive right into one of the most creative plays that I can recall seeing in terms of game-planning favorable match-ups: The Dreessen TD.

Initially, the play looks standard… Peyton Manning hitting a TE in the back of the end zone for 6.  We’ve seen it a hundred times (literally).  But something caught my eye on the lineup of this play:

Curiously enough, that’s Dreessen at the top of the image lined up at split end in a single-back shotgun formation.  Now my curiosity’s piqued and I start examining the play closer.  That’s Tamme underneath in the slot.  Now I’m wondering if they’re using the formation to give Decker or Demaryius an isolated match-up at flanker.

…nope.  That’s Virgil Green.

Three Tight Ends split out wide in a shotgun?  And if all of our TE’s are playing outside… who the heck is on the LOS at TE?!?!?  Chris Clark, our swing tackle and extra goalline blocker.

So let’s summarize what we know from the formation:

-1st and goal from the 1.

-3 TE’s playing wide.

-1 OT playing in-line TE.

We’re dictating Cincy’s subpackage to field a dozen linebackers.  But why?  The reasons are two fold:

1.With Thomas Howard on the IR and Moch inactive, the Bengals were extremely thin at LB.  We’re attacking that lack of depth with our own strength of TE depth through formation.

2. Reference taking advantage of the over-aggressive front-7 I discussed in last week’s post.

Most importantly, we’re selling the Tamme screen via formation, while forcing them to honor the run threat presented by down and distance and subpackage.

So what comes next?

 

We sell the Tamme screen!  Look at Tamme hit the flat and sit in it, and more importantly, look at every LB on the Bengals roster watching and flowing to him while Dreessen quietly sneaks to the back of the end zone for an easy pitch-and-catch score.

Big credit to Mike McCoy… hands down the best positive example of his creativity that I’ve seen him put forward.

Other notes:

- Newman’s first pick comes from a solid stick on Decker as he’s coming out of his break and really disrupts timing. Decker ends up a step behind the ball and Newman follows a good jam with a good play on the ball for 6.  Newman’s second pick is a simple over-throw and solid DB ball skills.

- Payback: Decker clearly adjusted to Newman’s physical play and 1v1 manhandles him to the ball on his final TD.

- Poor blocking on the Holliday TD. 4 Bengals have an opportunity to make the tackle before the 20 and several more after.  However, all take terrible angles and clearly weren’t expecting Holliday’s unique burst and long speed.  I blame this on Cincy’s ST coach.  It was Trindon’s first KR as a Bronco, but he has tape from Houston and they should’ve prepared for the possibility of him returning kicks along with preparing for Bolden.

- Interception by Champ.  Champ reads Dalton the entire play instead of Green, Dalton has 3 seconds of protection (not bad, not great), Ayers is playing over the nose, breaks off his man and forces an early throw that falls short of Green (who does have a step on Bailey, whether by beating him or because Champ’s solely reading Dalton, who knows?) and Champ makes the easy pick that he watched from snap to his hands.

- Props to Miller for the career day.  Not only did his first sack made a large contribution to ending an early drive, and the third killed another to force a FG, but he hit the QB early and often.  Get a QB hearing footsteps in the first half, and you take him WAY off his launch point for the rest of the game.

 

Carolina match-ups?

- Denver holds better coaching, better talent, and better karma.

- Stopping SCam: Throw out edge pressure and play contain on the ends.  Let’s get Miller stunting back inside where he can take Cam heads on (we saw Miller humiliate Old Man Faine doing this vs Cincy last week).  I’m hopeful for zones to quickly close on any running lanes he may choose.

- Dwan Edwards vs Ramirez (in for the injured Kuper) is the concern for the Broncos this week, but that match-up shouldn’t be enough.

-It’ll take turnovers or over-confidence to lose this one, and I think Peyton takes care of both.  Double digit win for the Broncos.

 

Around the League:

- I definitely didn’t see Doug Martin being this good.  I wonder if he’ll come back to earth when he plays a real opponent, or if he’s here to stay.

- Chiefs and Jags picked the wrong year to be this bad… Geno and Barkley are a far cry from Luck and Griffin.

- Pete Carroll’s passion and confidence have really infected that lockerroom and have the Seahawks competing with great teams through some unconventional methods.

- Looks like All Day Adrian Peterson is dominating is healthy, yes?  He’s simply dominating on a per touch basis and set to have a career year… maybe even one for the record books if he’s still gaining more knee confidence.

 

For more Broncos discussion, check out the following podcast available at: http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/5k0h20p...

Saints and @ Bengals

Three phases, 60 minutes, preparation and execution along with every other NFL cliche… throw them out the window.  Sunday Night Football hosting the New Orleans Saints was just a solid ass-kicking.  Won’t waste much time going into themes, so here’s a few notable details to take away:

- Demaryius has a fantastic decleat block and has grown into being an extremely patient runner behind blockers (*best on the team at this)

- Von’s grown SIGNIFICANTLY vs the run.  Saw some great “stack & shed” work all night long.

- We saw some great blocking by Virgil Green.  Certainly wasn’t expecting that.

- Chris Harris is growing on the outside.  It’s hard to apply inside skills outside at the professional level, but he’s doing it exceedingly well.

- Reference back to my first post: Tony Carter continues to play like Tramon Williams.  What a gem.

- Saints played a lot of cover 2 against the most cerebral QB of all time.  Therefore they deserved to get annihilated in the seams.

- RE: Our new punt returner, “I’d say Holliday is looking like a dream vacation!”  Don’t roll your eyes… you know you smirked.

- And to supply at least one negative: We struggled with YAC in the first quarter on BOTH sides of the ball.

One thing worth covering is the complaint of pressure vs Brees.  First of all, pressure was there… it just doesn’t always manifest itself so cleanly on a stat sheet.  Secondly, it’s a symbiotic game.  Forget pressure and coverage and focus on how they work together in the course of a game.  Lastly, it’s worth noting that the threat of pressure is often as (and can be MORE) important than actual pressure.  Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil influenced the opposing game plan down to quick hits and short drops long before New Orleans even took the field.

Moving on…

AJ Green. We’ve been playing a LOT of cover 1 lately.  This week we should expect to drop that back into a 2-deep man (we can afford the two deep safety look in consideration of their poor run game) base so we can give AJ adequate attention and ensure we do our best to schematically bottle up the big play.

Hawkins – This kid is special.  If you haven’t seen him play yet, think of moves reminiscent of Dante Hall in his prime, only applied as a competent receiver.

Protect inside-out.  I don’t feel like we can afford having a back pick-up a blitz from Rey with any regularity.  Meanwhile, Clady has the athleticism to match-up with Johnson and Franklin has the power to stand up Dunlap.  Inside they’ll be bringing Peko, Still and, worst of all, Geno Atkins.  This is a big game for Beadles… he’s shown a lot of growth from 2011 to here, but to keep Peyton clean and drives alive, a lot will hinge on his execution.

They’re a hyper-talented defense that plays VERY aggressive… look for the Broncos to run screens, counter and other misdirection plays to take advantage of penetrating DL and LBs that fire gaps.  Take the occasional stuffs and 2 yard losses in stride knowing you’ll break as many in a sprint to the sidelines as you’ll line up in 3rd and longs.  Also, the opportunity for turnovers will be present.  We need to capitalize on them to put away a solid team on the road.

All in all, this is an excellent test for the Denver Broncos within an AFC that’s still sorting itself out.

 

Around the League:

- The Chiefs look worse with every glimmer.  By December the entire organization will have given up.

- Yes, I saw Peterson get beat up by Crabtree.  But let’s be honest, Crabtree will never make a catch that solid in his life again, and got similarly lucky that P2 fell on his ass for the second TD.  Regardless, a win is a win and it’s pretty amusing that Crabtree, of all people, gets the best of him this time.

- Philly is worse than I thought.  I say this because I refuse to believe Atlanta is better than I think… overrated team and QB.

- What the hell happened to Phillip Rivers a year and a half ago?  He’s gone from one of the next big things alongside Rodgers and co to a future “Where are they now?” NFLN special.

We’ve Activated Drew Brees’ Trap Card

First of all, best update title ever?  I think so.

Sunday night, when the Broncos face off against the slumping New Orleans Saints, has the makings of a prototypical trap game.  Make no mistake, these are not the same slumping Saints who let the Chiefs steal a game from them one month ago.

Why the Saints will be resurging:

The Saints are still the #1 passing offense in the league… and by a wide margin.  Compounding matters, Denver struggles against teams that excel at spreading the field and forcing poor depth to defend every yard of real estate.

Jonathan Vilma will also be caught-up enough to assemble a competitive performance.  When you consider that this may be his last chance (as his Bounty-Gate appeal may come to a head next week and place him back on the couch), there’s a likely chance he’ll be raising the level of defensive play if only through presence and confidence alone—this was a good opportunity to use the word “swag”, but I’d feel dirty all day.

Joe Vitt.  While the competitive parity within the league is certainly overstated, coaching does provide an advantage.  Joe Vitt has had 6 consecutive bye weeks looking ahead and dreaming of this game.  Vitt has a chance to become a hero in New Orleans.  Topple the mighty Peyton Manning and get a talented roster back on the right track?  More importantly, it makes a name for himself around the league and he knows it.

The inconsistent and sloppy play that has plagued the Broncos for huge chunks of games thus far this season cannot happen.  We saw what happened when the Chargers got over-confident and let the Saints back in the game… and we’re a team that has been caught sleeping for HUGE chunks of 4/6 of the games it’s played to date.  That being said….

Why the Broncos will still win:

Bushrod and Strief?  Really, Saints?  Really?  Brees and his lightning quick release have been sacked 12 times this year due to these inept buffoons.  Expect 4+ more Sunday night as Von Miller and Elvis feast on these two and either bring Drew down, or flush him into some adequate Broncos defensive tackles.  JUST WATCH THE SCREEN GUYS.

30th worst pass defense?  Spotting opposing teams the 2nd highest QB ratings in the league?  Forget all that… just LAST WEEK, New Orleans had an extra week to prepare vs the Buccaneers and still gave Josh effing Freeman easy street to 420 yards and 3 passing scores?  If Demaryius can focus on catching and holding onto the ball, look for career numbers here.

Most importantly, because I say so.

 

Around the league:

Philly hands those annoying Atlanta Falcons their first loss of the season, which puts the Chicago Bears and Smoking Jay Cutler in the driver’s seat in the tough NFC.

RGIII is not only the leading candidate for ROY, but thick in the league MVP race itself… and deservedly so.

If Charles Tillman can string together a few more seasons, he can’t be kept out of Canton.  His turnover numbers are solid (a staggering number of forced fumbles) and will end up with the most career tackles for any cornerback in league history… and they’re not from getting beat often either!

I almost wish the 49ers had someone that could catch a football on the outside so Peterson can showcase his skills, but alas, he gets an easy week.  To the Cardinals offense, and specifically Skelton, pepper your collective angus.

How Bout Them Broncos?

First of all, these updates will be coming with some regularity from this point on.  With all the upheaval within the Denver Broncos organization, I wanted to give an opportunity for stability to set and get some true measure of where the organization really is before imposing my amateur judgment.

Heading into this game, there were many questions surrounding the Broncos.  They’d beaten a hapless Oakland Raiders team and a floundering group from Pittsburgh masquerading as the Steelers, while losing to the elite tier of the NFL.  In their losses, Denver had found themselves down by large margins (27-7 at Atlanta, another 20 pt deficit vs Houston going into the fourth at 31-11, and a 31-7 deficit at New England nearing the fourth quarter).  Were these scores more indicative of the Broncos talent level than the much-closer final scores?  The affectionately termed “garbage time”–and keep in mind, garbage time isn’t solely indicative of a prevent defense, it also reflects one dimensional run-the-clock-out offensive play?  “The Broncos were not bad” seemed to be the only certainty, but when you have Peyton Manning on the payroll, “not bad” is nothing shy of unacceptable.

I found myself anxiously looking forward to the match-up against the Chargers, a very solid, but unspectacular team shy of the league’s elite, and a phenomenal measuring stick not only of our status within the AFC West, but within the league itself.  The game arrives and through two quarters we seem to have found our answer: The Broncos suck.  Special teams’ errors prevent the Broncos offense from getting any rhythm and left the defense to do what it does best: surrender yards and points to TEs and RBs and anyone willing to make a play over the middle.

My comments last week:

“Good as he is, schematically selecting Miller and playing him as we have been (which IS to maximize his abilities) often put us in a poor spot.  We have a player that is an absolute world beater within his role, but he’s not transcendent of scheme (not to say he couldn’t be, he certainly has the athletic skill set for it).  He fixes our pass rush woes in spades, but doesn’t address our linebacker woes over the middle (ie: he’s a great player, but he’s not solving issues like TE/RB coverage due to his utilization).”

Now let’s contrast that to what actually happened.  Antonio Gates had 5 first half catches for 68 yards and 2 scores leading the Chargers to a 24-0 lead.  Then something magical happens… instead of rushing Von, he’s covering… and doing it pretty well.  Gruden criticized the move, correctly pointing out that Miller’s best asset is his pass-rushing ability.  What Gruden’s lack of Broncos defense focus neglected to realize, no one else was capable of covering.  Joe Mays and Brooking can’t cover.  Mike Adams can’t fill and take on Gates in a match-up battle.  Woodyard can run with him, but can’t get his head around to make a play on the ball.

So Von it must be… situationally, at least.

When DJ Williams returns, we can cut down further on those coverage drops and get him chasing the QB more, but without telegraphing his role to opposing offensive line coaches.  With our given personnel, I want 3-3 nickel looks in long passing situations with Elvis, Vickerson and Meth-Wolfe on the line with Woodyard, DJ and Von standing up.  With moderate splits, our LBs should have some premium pass-rushing match-ups coming on a blitz–All three have shown an innate ability to get to the quarterback… let’s take advantage of it.  Let’s dictate protection schemes as opposing OC’s have to analyze tendencies to answer questions like: Who’s coming on 3rd and long?  How many are coming?

Let’s abuse the mediocre QBs-to-come in this pending soft spot in the schedule and build the Broncos into that elite crust… back where they belong.

Random Thoughts:

Jeff Triplette is useless.  Phantom PI and pseudo-”false start”s on Rivers among his most recent hits.  Hopefully the league can bench this crew under the new officiating agreement… they didn’t even meet the replacement refs standards.

Tony Carter looked exactly like Tramon Williams out there.  Really nice to see a local guy (went to High School right next to my girlfriend’s house) not only get an opportunity, but kick the door in on it.  He’s made it hard for the coaches to keep him off the field moving forward.

Manning to Stokely is timeless.  As are Manning and Stokely individually.

Welcome back Chris Kuper.  Whether it was confidence or rust, his rough start seemed to fade and he played stronger towards the end.  His is a presence that will be necessary on the OL if we want to compete with the league’s aristocracy.

Decker is his own worst enemy.  I’m not sure where his head is at, but when he gets out of his own way he’s a very good wide receiver.

Reload

First and foremost, if you haven’t at least explored contributing to the Children of Fallen Patriots, I implore you to please do so now.  Also, try and make some time to check out Least Among Saints.  Admittedly, I haven’t watched it yet, but the trailer conveys an important message and I certainly will be checking it out soon.

Secondly, if you buy my book, I’ll totally be your best friend forever.  Also, like, share and tweet this, please.

I think the release has been a pretty resounding success. In two months of availability, we’ve sold out through Amazon three times and achieved consistently high rankings in both paperback and e-book, along with top rankings in our category–we’ve seen nothing shy of 5 star reviews there either! If this were solely for my benefit, I may be content–though I’m absurdly critical toward myself, so probably not.  Regardless, it stands for much more than I, so that potential content is washed away and instead, I find myself diving back in to claw for more.  A promotional reload.

Moving forward, my goal is to work smarter and not harder. In every area of my life, I try to utilize an approach to reinvigorate any given aspect through plateaus and tepid eras. I feel like I’ve now gathered the information through trial and error that I needed to successfully apply this approach to my book promotional efforts. I’ll be looking back to determine:

1. What worked?

2. Why did it work?

3. Determine any common themes between #1 and my answers to #2.

4. Create a new plan of attack.

5. Aggressively pursue it.

6. Contrast effectiveness between repeats and analyze.

Simple in theory, but frustratingly complicated to quantify and then again in application!  Wish me luck… or, instead of wasting that effort, just help out by buying it (several please), reading it, reviewing it and telling your friends!

Also, a Happy Birthday to my brother Randy who turns almost 50 or something today.

Release Day

Eric Larson, Rebecca Skloot, Malcolm Gladwell, Jeannette Walls, Charles C. Mann, Caitlin Moran, Todd Burpo, Tina Fey, Jaycee Dugard, and the rest.

I’m coming for all of you.

It won’t be a privilege or an honor when it happens. It will simply be the realization of this book’s birthright to sit atop this list.

Why? Because this has a greater purpose… Because this isn’t just a memoir book with MY life stories in it. It’s a shared message for people who deserve to have their story told. A chance for people to take a moment and gain more perspective on what some choose to sacrifice for their and our great nation’s behalf. Instead of whining about priorities, it’s a chance to take recognition and say, “You gave a career to the Kardashians for a sex-tape, but how many of you even know the name Dakota Meyer?” Instead of second-by-second updates of the Twilight split, that’s the real story people should know. One with substance, sacrifice, and unimaginable heights of heroism. Here’s a guy who asked the Oval Office staff to call back on his lunch break because he was busy working when they called to inform him he was receiving our nation’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor. Even more than the message, we have the opportunity to make a real difference for people who need it the most. One interview and book at a time, we’re raising money and awareness for the Children of Fallen Patriots and I’d be hard pressed to imagine a more purposeful cause.

So here we are. It’s released. And quite frankly, I don’t know how to feel. It’s almost like an extended version of those adolescent moments where you get the nerve to talk to the girl you like and ask her out…. but the stressful uncertainty before she’d answer. I put myself out there… right now I’m just not certain if I’m going to get rejected or kissed under the bleachers.

I take great solace in our pre-release success. A few days ago our Amazon page started showing that there were only a limited amount of copies left (“Only 20 copies left in stock!”). Naturally I obsessively watched as the number would quickly drop to 15 and then somehow rise back to 18 as orders and new arrivals to stock chased each other in circles. Last evening we battled through the rise and got to single digits. It became a goal to sell them out before it even officially released. There was only 1 left at 11 PM with an hour to go… come 1140, that too sold. The Amazon page went from “Only 1 copy left in stock (More on the way)” to… “In Stock”? Talk about hilariously anti-climactic. I’m not sure what I was expecting anyway… maybe a giant, red stamp graphic to come down and X out the page as the announcer from Street Fighter 2′s voice comes in and says, “You win! Perfect.”‘ (Fun Fact: That’s already my second Street Fighter 2 reference on this website)

So get the word out. Carry the book with you. The cover stands out and people will ask about it. Post links on social medias. Talk about it.

And if you aren’t interested, that’s fine. But at least consider the message and looking into helping the Children of Fallen Patriots. Let’s move deeper into an election year with a more prioritized nation.

Thank you: Taylor, mom, Jaime and her lovely parents, Eric Falkner, Don Bracken, Claire Gerus, General Krulak (31st Commandant), Jim Beaver, Kamil Mackow, Ian and Liam, Anne Hawkins, and everyone else who has supported this in its infancy.

Links to a few of the completed interviews:

Action News – TV appearance

Fox News with Brian Kilmeade

Jake Pentland Show (Aug 11 in the On Demand tab)

Football

Testing