The Broncos will run 3-4 Defense in Superbowl (Prediction)

So in the last 4 games, the Broncos have really shored up their run defense. But one weakness i've seen is their play against rushing QB's. I think Kaepernick could have rushed for 200 yds against them.

If you look at their 2 games against the Raiders, Pryor ran for 36 yds in the first game before leaving with a concussion. He also rushed for 49 the second game in week 17. Mind you he is among the best in the business at this.

RG3 only ran 3 times but one was for a 5 yd gain.

Wilson averages 5.4 yards per carry in his 2 seasons.

The Broncos have had success against the read option. They killed RG3 and then beat Oakland twice...mind you those were horrible read option teams.

But its interesting how they did it...

The Broncos use a 3-4 look against the read option and since it worked well, I can see them doing it again.

On early downs, Denver stood up Shaun Phillips and Von Miller at outside linebacker with three down linemen, putting Kevin Vickerson often over the center as the nose tackle.

Also, from ESPN:
"Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has routinely added players to the Broncos pass rush once the play is already underway and often those late additions find an open lane because the opposing offensive linemen didn’t account for them. They are most often the fifth player added to what starts out as a four-man rush and usually they have been one of the team’s linebackers."

No seeing how many times the blitz man got to Wilson last week, on 3rd down, expect to see a 4-3 with blitzes.

So how can the Hawks beat this 3-4 look on early downs?


1. Lots of weakside runs to Lynch with the full back taking on the OLB (Both our tackles have seen far better ends this season than what the Broncos have and are aggressive run blockers).

2. Against the Niners, Wilson was getting pounded that 1st half so to protect him in the 2nd, they went with a lot of 3 step drops and quick hitting slants. I expect this against the Broncos and would love to see a lot of low blocks to bring the defenders' hands down.

3. Runs between the tackles, especially in the center-guard gap, double teaming Vickerson. Vickerson is a 6'5 330 lb beast. Get two bodies on his ass and let Mike Rob take on the inside LB. We know how hard Marshawn is to bring down on first touch and by angle tacklers so I see plenty of 3-4 yard pickups running between the tackles if this is executed well. Keeping Manning off the field is key.

4. Give it to Harvin and Tate in the flat. Screen passes will not be there if they use zone blitzes so I think we will see some quick outs to challenge that pass defense.

Good post and interesting read. I think it's kinda understood now though that Wilson buys time in the pocket to throw. I feel like the coaches may have discouraged him from running to protect against injury. While I loved that about Wilson and think you should just let the pieces fall where they may, I'm sure the organization has the mindset to protect their investment, especially if they are planning on keeping him longterm. All this being said I wouldn't be surprised to see things open up a little bit in the super bowl, but I also could see nothing changing, will be interesting to watch.

They're also going to try to go from finesse to tough in a matter of two weeks. Good luck.

its the superbowl, so there are no more games left. If I'm Seattle, I let Russell take off if there's room. I noticed he hasn't been running as much.
If there's nothing open and he has room, take off for 5-7 yards and get outta bounds.

As a Broncos fan, I'm worried about Wilson's mobility.

With the Broncos defense, what are the chances that there will be nothing available down field? It will be Marshawn running and Russell passing almost at will.

We've had a lot of surprise cuts during the PCJS era but Vickerson always stands out as the one that made me go "Huh?" the hardest. Not that I'm complaining about where we're at, just always think of it when I see his name.

If the Broncos go 3-4, then it's a great thing that the Seahawks just played a hard fought game against the best 3-4 team in the league.

The Denver defense reminds me a LOT of our 2005-06 defense in that they were great when they had a lead, but in a close game they are very very vulnerable.

If the Broncos run the 3-4, then that bodes well for the Seahawks. First with Von Miller out, it don't believe they have the personnel good enough to be in an effective 3-4. Secondly, the Seahawks have faced plenty of 3-4 defenses this year. The last one being 49ers which is arguably the best 3-4 defense in the league as Hasselbeck mentioned. They know how to win against this type of defense.

3. Runs between the tackles, especially in the center-guard gap, double teaming Vickerson. Vickerson is a 6'5 330 lb beast. Get two bodies on his ass and let Mike Rob take on the inside LB. We know how hard Marshawn is to bring down on first touch and by angle tacklers so I see plenty of 3-4 yard pickups running between the tackles if this is executed well. Keeping Manning off the field is key.

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Kevin Vickerson is on IR out for the season. It's worth noting that NE with a very good offensive line could not run against Denver I don't know if the threat of Read Option plays will loosen up the middle or not.

A few things: we've seen delayed blitzes before, namely with SF and ARI. They work against our OL, but we'll scheme for that. Delayed releases into the flats with the RB tends to kill these.

Historically, teams blitz less in the SB. In our last SB, Pittsburgh was blitzing somewhere around 48% on the season and blitzed us somewhere around 21% in the SB.

Vickerson is out for Denver if I'm not mistaken. He was IR'd earlier this year.

I'd like to see how Denver has played against TE's. We could come out in jumbo packages with Bailey in a TE spot, or 2 TE sets and run on the Broncos, then turn around and throw to the TEs out of the same alignment. Also, Denver's CBs aren't anything special. Tate, Harvin or Baldwin split out wide could catch a guy napping. Tate and Harvin can make a guy pay in single coverage especially with a missed tackle.

Their LB corps is average at best. We need to exploit this somehow. I'd be surprised if they went 3-4 look against our team. We'd maul them in the run game.