Broncos: Grading the Linebackers from their win over Panthers

The Denver Broncos players have been receiving grades from the teams win over the Carolina Panthers. The offensive and defensive line have been done. Next up? The linebackers.

The defensive line for the Denver Broncos didn’t always do their job, which made life harder for the linebackers. In Wade Phillips scheme, gap discipline is vital, and the defensive line didn’t stay disciplined. That is how the linebackers had a harder time than they should’ve.

Normally, the linebackers are supposed to shoot the gaps to make the play. If the defensive line did their job, the linebackers are able to make the play for a a little to no gain in the run game. When the job isn’t done up front, the linebackers are then tasked to taking on blockers and trying to disengage to make the play.

With the Broncos linebackers, they are smaller, faster and athletic making them perfect for the scheme, when executed properly. If they have to take on blocks and shed them to make the play, they are limited. They make mistakes, which was made obvious when taking on the Panthers. It was also obvious they missed all of what Danny Trevathan brought to the defense.

The star of the defense, and recent member of the $100 million dollar club Von Miller was quiet all game. That didn’t keep him from having a fantastic game. After how he dominated the Superbowl on his way to the MVP of that game, the Panthers had no plans to let him dominate like that again. They did everything they could to keep that from happening.

On just about every play the Panthers were double teaming Miller, or chipping him. This opened up others to play a great game. In essence, Miller was controlling the game before the ball was ever kicked. He was in the Panthers heads, and rightfully so, forcing them to plan specifically for him.

Every game players get planned for, but it really looked like the Panthers planned for Miller and not the defense as a whole, especially towards the end of the game. Their planning for Miller worked for a short time, and then fell apart when Phillips started moving Miller around.

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Miller made his presence felt, despite a quiet game. He was consistently setting the edge in the run game, and wreaking havoc in the backfield. In the passing game, he only got one sack, but got a lot of pressure onto Newton, and Newton felt it. A 95.5 grade for Miller speaks to how effective and how great of a player he really is.

Brandon Marshall is the Broncos top inside linebacker, and he very clearly played like it. There was a wide margin between his play and the play of their #2 inside linebacker. Now, Marshall didn’t play the best game and there were many mistakes made by him when all said and done.

The mistakes he made in the run game are also on the defensive line. There were a few instances of Marshall shooting the wrong gap, or making the wrong read on the play. When he was tasked with taking on a blocker, Marshall disappeared on the field.

Where Marshall really made his mistakes came in coverage. Often he allowed too much space to his assignment, or was slow to react in his zone, allowing the Panthers to exploit his coverage. There is no doubt that Marshall, arguably the best cover linebacker from 2015 season, can’t rebound and claim that title again. A 68.2 grade is something to build on.

Next to Marshall was Todd Davis, who is just now stepping into a full-time starter role. He has started before, and played well. Now the job is his, and his alone. While his play wasn’t the best, he flashed potential that landed him the starting job.