Denver Broncos fans worried that the new NFL rule changes banning all chop blocks can take some advice from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers: Relax. According to reports coming out of the annual NFL owners meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., the Broncos are actually a model for the type of blocking that is allowed.
Andrew Mason of DenverBroncos.com joined Renaud Notaro and Big Dee White on Mile High Sports AM 1340 on Tuesday to recap the latest from the owners meetings and clear the air about what’s going on with the chop block rule.
“All chop blocks were banned – what used to be, you could chop block on certain running plays – so that was kind of a big thing,” Mason said.
That ban, which came down on Tuesday, concerned the Broncos enough that they were one of four teams to vote against the change to the rule. Historically, the zone blocking scheme employed by Gary Kubiak‘s offense. Mike Klis of 9News reported the reason for Denver’s vote was their concern over how the rule would be officiated.
Big Dee, meanwhile, had a concern that players themselves might not even know what is and isn’t legal anymore.
“One thing I’ve noticed as the rule changes have kind of come into effect,” he said, “it is – I won’t say alarming – but it is interesting how many NFL players have no idea what a chop block is.”
“Players and a lot of fans don’t know what it is,” Mason admitted. “How is this going to affect the Denver Broncos? Will it blow up their entire blocking scheme? It won’t blow up their blocking scheme – what they do is cut block. Cut blocking is one-on-one. They’re not getting rid of cut blocking.”
If the Broncos are looking for an example of what is and isn’t allowed, they need only look at their own tape.
“Mike Klis of 9News caught up with Rich McKay, the president of the Falcons and one of the heads of the competition committee,” Mason said, “and McKay said they were showing examples on video of what were good blocks – good cut blocks that are still allowed – and they were showing the Broncos in particular. Matt Paradis, for example, and blocks that will still be legal under the current rules.
“The people that are up in arms and saying it’s really going to mess up the Broncos, I don’t think it will. The thing that the Broncos will have to do is they’ll have to make sure that they don’t have plays that appear to be chop blocks, where if there appears to be an offensive lineman engaging with defensive lineman – even if there’s not contact – there might be some doubt and the ref might throw a flag. They’re going to have to be careful about those hazy situations if the refs are calling it very tightly, but most of what they’re going to do will be unaffected.”
That’s welcome news to a team that just invested big money in two offensive tackles and a running back, all of whom are designed to excel in a zone/cut blocking system.
“Really, in the grand scheme of things this was a pretty quiet [owner’s] meeting,” Mason said, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones threw some major curveballs as thing were wrapping up on Tuesday.
Listen to the podcast below for the full discussion on Jones’ controversial comments about CTE and some talk about Johnny Manziel coming to Denver instead of Dallas.
Catch Notaro & Big Dee every Monday-Thursday from 6p-8p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.