Donx winning because their players are more cerebral?

[DaWolf]

Begs the question as to how intelligent (in a football sense) the players that Carl and Herm amassed over the last few years were. I really question it because the first thing Herm did when he took over was to make Solari the OC and he wanted to "simplify" the offense. And Gunther has never really been about cerebral defense, he's been more about aggression and punching the other team in the mouth. His defenses were never known much for their soundness as much as they were known for their aggressiveness. Makes me think that these "intelligent" players that Pioli wants here didn't really exist to a great extent, or up to now they had been coached really poorly...
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_13613757

My next question was about the halftime adjustments that have produced the Broncos' ridiculous 76-10 second-half advantage through the first six weeks. Here, McDaniels helped.

He started by saying there are no knee-jerk reactions, no overhauls to the game plan, just pointed, specific corrections and adjustments. Then he went on:

"I think one of the biggest keys to our success in the second half, not only have we been in good condition and been able to play hard for 60 minutes, but we have smart players that you can actually tell them something at halftime and not practice it and then go out there and execute it.

"Whether some other team can do that or not, I don't know, but I think that's really been a key to our success in terms of the adjustments that we have made, is that we don't need to go out there and have a walkthrough in order to make it go right.

"Whether it be defensively, offensively or in the kicking game, those guys have been able to take the information, go out there, process it and then just play. And it has worked. And it's made some big differences in the second half of games."

Since his arrival, McDaniels has talked repeatedly about collecting tough, smart, versatile players, but that's what everybody talks about. What coach doesn't want tough, smart, versatile players?

The difference is McDaniels' emphasis on the smart part. Intelligence is not a luxury in his complicated system; it's a necessity. And his team's ability to process information has turned into a big advantage so far. It helps to explain not only the second-half domination but the enormous defensive improvement.

Which was my next question. He described a holistic defensive approach in which all the coaches watch film of the upcoming opponent together and share ideas, coming up with a general strategy. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan translates the strategy into a game plan.

That makes each defensive game plan, like each offensive game plan, completely original, tailored to that week and disposable immediately afterward. This is different from most teams in the NFL, which employ similar tactics, playing to their defensive strengths, week after week.

As New England's offensive coordinator, McDaniels was known for coming up with original offensive game plans and packages each week. With the assistance of offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, he has done the same in Denver.

But McDaniels has extended that practice to the defense. When I asked him if the defensive game plan changes as much week to week as the offensive game plan, he nodded.

"Similar," he said. "Similar. It really does. Again, it's whatever we feel like we've got to do to win."

Evidently, it took Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis only about a week to figure this out. It took me a little longer.

Top to bottom, the Broncos are smarter than your average football team. They're also well- conditioned and well-coached, but it's the team intelligence that has set them apart so far.

[jidar]

I've said a hundred times that NFL coaches do not emphasize intelligence enough.
Lots of coaches given two players will pick the guy with a 1 tenth faster 40 time over a guy with 15-20 points more on the Wonderlic and that's ****ing backwards if you ask me.

Also there was an article about the Patriots emphasizing intelligence more than other teams that came out maybe 5 or 6 years ago and I always wondered why it never caught on in this supposed "copycat" league.

[B_Ambuehl]

Wait until the end of the year and pull that article up and see if it still sounds valid.

A lot of times things just happen that defy explanation and people reach for all sorts of stuff trying to explain it.

None of the players on Denvers D had ever been acused of being "overtly cerebral" elsewhere.

It's likely more an issue of having a defensive coordinator who likes to make halftime adjustment going against offensive coordinators who don't, with the addition of a considerable amount of luck.

Don't forget in '05 Denvers D started off red hot. I believe they set some type of NFL record for points allowed, but they ended up getting shredded.

I've said a hundred times that NFL coaches do not emphasize intelligence enough.
Lots of coaches given two players will pick the guy with a 1 tenth faster 40 time over a guy with 15-20 points more on the Wonderlic and that's ****ing backwards if you ask me.

I could argue that increased intelligence could be considered a negative trait for athletes. Sure, you have to be smart enough to understand plays, but high IQ types overanalyze too much and act like robots. They tend to lack instincts. A certain amount of stupid is good, and that's backed up if you look at wonderlic scores over time. It's also backed up by personality/brain typing research. The personality types of the best athletes also tend to be some of the dumbest overall, when compared to other personality types.

[chiefzilla1501]

At certain positions yes. I'd say in a 3-4, it's your safety. On offense, it's your center and QB.

We're fine from a cerebral standpoint on all three of those positions. Cassel, Niswanger, and Brown are incredibly bright. Niswanger and Brown just don't have the talent or athleticism to make plays. Cassel... we'll see--I personally think he'll do fine.

But that right there is an indictment on that argument. The guys that are getting whooped are out-physicalled and outplayed. They're not getting outsmarted.

[Thig Lyfe]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

Begs the question

No, it doesn't.

http://begthequestion.info/

[Stewie]

Herm wanted no one on the team that was smarter than he. See what we have now?

[CRANKSTER]

Not another Donko thread!

[orange]

Originally Posted by CRANKSTER

Not another Donko thread!

We control the horizontal. We control the vertical.

[Mile High Mania]

Everyone's trying to figure it out...

I don't know if they have a bunch of brainiacs or not, but I think the approach paid off. Bowlen fired Shanahan and ripped out that "very HC controlled" way of managing the team.

Bowlen took back control of his team... giving Xanders and McDaniels their roles and marching orders. McD is a very young head coach, but he surrounded himself with a veteran staff. A few people on the staff were retained, but he made the big move of bringing in Nolan.

McD realized his strength and it was offense, so if they were going to do anything different from the final years of Shanahan, they had to fix the defense... so, he brings in Nolan and they get to work.

Look at the new guys that are starting on Defense... maybe they are "cerebral", I dunno. But, I do know that they're veterans with nice track records and most of them came in without much fanfare.

Offensively, they made moves to change the QB and RB, but aside from that (as if it were minor), they left it in tact.

So, they have a very experienced staff supporting McDaniels and most of their FAs (Dawkins, Hill, Goodman, Davis, Gafney, etc) were good players with leadership ability.

I think the leadership ability (more than 'cerebral') is the key reason they're not breaking down in the 2nd half of games.

<<<<

I just hope Bowlen is ready to pay up... some key guys are due for a pay increase.

http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_13613940

"Orton is in the final year of his contract, but so is Elvis Dumervil, who leads the NFL with 10 sacks, as well as starting guards Ben Hamilton and Chris Kuper, tight end Tony Scheffler and Marshall."

[Dottefan]

Ok....to this point they played the Bengals( won on a hand from god).. the Raiders, and Cowboys, both teams that the Chiefs should of beaten..The browns, who lets face it, are worse then the Chiefs, and the Chargers , who are just a few players away from being the Chiefs... and that leaves the only impressive win that they have had all year.. The Pats, and that was when Tommy Boy still hadn't come out his shell....

So with that in mind, I have to call this article a big fat........FAIL...due to the fact that giving credit for making half time adjustments against the Browns, Cowboys, Raiders and Chargers, is like giving credit to a able minded person for getting a higher math score, then some one with dowysyndrume it just don't make sense...The only game that I will give them half a credit for is the Pats..other then that, no go..

THIS POST IS EXTREMLY BIAS...CUS I HATE THE DONKEYS.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Dottefan

Ok....to this point they played the Bengals( won on a hand from god).. the Raiders, and Cowboys, both teams that the Chiefs should of beaten..The browns, who lets face it, are worse then the Chiefs, and the Chargers , who are just a few players away from being the Chiefs... and that leaves the only impressive win that they have had all year.. The Pats, and that was when Tommy Boy still hadnt come out his shell....

So with that in mind, I have to call this article a big fat........FAIL...due to the fact that giving credit for makeing half time adjust ments against the Browns, Cowboys, Raiders and Chargers, is like giving credit to a albe minded person for getting a higher math school then some one with dowsyndrume..it just dont make sense...The only game that I will give them half a credit for is the Pats..other then that, no go..

THIS POST IS EXTREMLY BIAS...CUS I HATE THE DONKEYS.

LOL

[Dottefan]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

LOL

Damn it ....it aint funny..




lol

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl

Don't forget in '05 Denvers D started off red hot. I believe they set some type of NFL record for points allowed, but they ended up getting shredded.

Ah, yes. The year that our D was decimated by injuries because our O couldn't stay on the field.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl

Wait until the end of the year and pull that article up and see if it still sounds valid.

A lot of times things just happen that defy explanation and people reach for all sorts of stuff trying to explain it.

None of the players on Denvers D had ever been acused of being "overtly cerebral" elsewhere.

It's likely more an issue of having a defensive coordinator who likes to make halftime adjustment going against offensive coordinators who don't, with the addition of a considerable amount of luck.

Don't forget in '05 Denvers D started off red hot. I believe they set some type of NFL record for points allowed, but they ended up getting shredded.



I could argue that increased intelligence could be considered a negative trait for athletes. Sure, you have to be smart enough to understand plays, but high IQ types overanalyze too much and act like robots. They tend to lack instincts. A certain amount of stupid is good, and that's backed up if you look at wonderlic scores over time. It's also backed up by personality/brain typing research. The personality types of the best athletes also tend to be some of the dumbest overall, when compared to other personality types.

You are a true ****ing moron.

[salame]

all I know is that in the 2nd half of that san diego game their d was using tons of looks