How Denver Shot Themselves in the Foot in St. Louis

The NFL consistently delivers surprising results.  One of those results was St. Louis defeating Denver 22-7.  The Broncos under Peyton Manning’s quarterbacking are one of, if not the most, feared offenses in the game.  Somehow, a Rams’ team that had allowed 251 points in the nine previous games yielded a solitary touchdown to the Broncos.  Of course, every NFL team has good and bad weeks.  Perhaps a talented Rams defense simply caught the Broncos on a down week.  Bronco fans would certainly like to explain it away in such simple terms.

The game film does not offer such an easy explanation for Denver’s struggles.  The Rams have a talented defensive line.  Chris Long has been injured but St. Louis still fields a deep and tenacious front four.  It is common knowledge that the best way to defeat Manning is to pressure him.  St. Louis only had two sacks on the day but that is a deceptive statistic.  The threat of defensive pressure on Manning created an interesting dynamic for Denver’s play calling.

In an effort to avoid the pass rush, Denver utilized short drops for Manning.  Three and even some five step drops are the textbook counter move when facing an elite pass rush.  However, the Broncos outsmarted themselves.  They used the shotgun on 61 of their 67 official plays from scrimmage.  Since the shotgun places the quarterback behind the offensive line, any type of drop moves the quarterback into an edge rusher’s target zone.  The result was numerous plays where Manning was forced to throw early because he dropped into the pressure.  Additionally, Denver ran the ball a mere ten times.  The result was a Rams secondary that expected quick passes and a front four that often had Manning dropping to their preferred rush areas.

            So what does this mean?  For the Rams, it means a favorable matchup this week with San Diego.  The Chargers feature quick passes and that plays into a current strength got the Rams.  The difference will be San Diego’s wiliness to run the play.  That should keep St. Louis’ linebackers honest, which means they will not be able to cheat towards the passes lanes as they did against Denver.

 

            Denver’s formational and play calling imbalance only feeds the concern that this is not a team built for one and done football.  Some may assume that calling more running plays will solve the problem.  That is a naïve assumption.  Running from the shotgun is generally more difficult even with an aggressive offensive line and good backs.  Looking past the injuries in the backfield, Denver’s offensive line is in a less than ideal place.  Injuries and an over reliance on Manning’s arm has sapped the offensive line of the requisite tenacity.  Denver’s coaches are aware of this.  Why else bring in Richie Incognito for a workout?  Officially, the workout was to solve a depth issue but Incognito’s documented nasty streak must have intrigued John Fox and company.

            The Rams are not going to make the playoffs.  While that is disappointing, they can look back with pride on a convincing win against a talented team.  The question is if the Rams will be able to lay claim to beating a championship team.  Based on Denver’s over reliance on the shotgun and iffy offensive line play that scenario looks unlikely.