The Denver Broncos defense wants to treat like-sized things equally. For example, apples to apples, oranges to oranges and the modern day quarterback to a tight end.
Coming off of a victory against the monstrous Cam Newton (6-foot-5, 245 pounds) and the Carolina Panthers, the Broncos and veteran pass-rusher Dekoda Watson have set their sights on an equally challenging task: 6-foot-4, 240 pound Andrew Luck.
“When you have a quarterback that is big, when you have a quarterback that can run, when you have a quarterback that has a strong arm, I don’t think you should categorize them as quarterbacks because you don’t necessarily look at them [like you did] back in the day like small or fragile,” Watson said as he and the defense prep for their Week 2 matchup with Luck and the Indianapolis Colts.
If the modern-day quarterback should no longer be treated like the quarterbacks of the past, then what should they be treated like?
“You have to go in there and act like [quarterbacks] are a fullback, running back or a tight end,” Watson said.
So long are the days of John Elway being the prototypical quarterback size — 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. Now a quarterback Elway’s size, like Trevor Siemian at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, is viewed merely as average in terms of stature.
“[Quarterbacks] are huge. These guys are physical. They come down here and run through you if they want to,” Watson said.
In fact, outside of DeMarcus Ware (6-foot-4, 258 pounds), both Luck and Newton are bigger than every linebacker on the Broncos roster. The Broncos defense knows that punishing a quarterback is much more difficult than it has been in the past, however, that doesn’t mean they will back down.
“[Quarterbacks] aren’t going down easily; so you have to go in there with a great mindset; with respect, not fear,” Watson said.
While the Broncos had success pressuring Newton in Week 1, they were only able to sack him three times.
Additionally, last year in the Broncos’ 27-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9 the Broncos were only able to sack Luck once, even though they hit him 11 times. Starting inside linebacker Todd Davis knows that the sack-to-hit ratio will need to be better this time around against Luck.
“When we get there we just have to make it count. It’s good to have hits on the quarterback, but its nothing like getting sacks and bringing him down. We just need to focus on when we get there, getting him down,” Davis said.
The formula to beating the Colts was pretty clear to Davis.
“[Luck’s] the driving force of the team and we know that. So if we can limit him and get him to the ground as much as we can, we’ll have a great game,” Davis said.
The best way for the Broncos defense to prepare for the physically gifted Luck may be to put practice squad tight end Henry Krieger-Coble (6-foot-4, 248 pounds) under center. After all there isn’t much of a difference between a quarterback and tight end now.
