Seal-blocking key in Broncos' success

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Posted: Wednesday January 20, 1999 03:41 PM

John Elway and Terrell Davis get the headlines, but the key to the Broncos' offensive success is their simple yet revolutionary seal-blocking system.

After the ball is snapped, half of the Broncos' linemen rotate their opposing linemen sideways. Like setting a pick in basketball, this seals defenders from Davis. The other half of the Denver line allows defenders to pursue the play laterally and then uses that momentum to push would-be tacklers past the play. Davis then reads the blocking before choosing a hole.

This technique controls and traps tacklers from side to side instead of trying to overpower them head on. Teams like Jacksonville are already copying Denver's strategy. And after two Super Bowls and a 2,000-yard rushing season, you can expect seal-blocking to become as popular in the league as the zone blitz.

Another secret

Perhaps the most impressive part of the Broncos' surge to their second straight Super Bowl is the team's incredible run defense. Since losing to the New York Giants on December 13, Denver has held its last four opponents to an average of 22 yards per game on the ground, including an AFC Championship Game record low of 14 yards by the Jets.

Payback due in '99

The Miami Dolphins made some serious enemies in their own division during the playoffs this year. After beating the Buffalo Bills in a wild card game, several Dolphins made insensitive remarks about Flutie Flakes, the cereal named after Bills quarterback Doug Flutie that helps fund research for autistic children.

Then, after the team was blown out by the Broncos in the next round, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga ran a full-page ad in Denver, congratulating the Broncos and welcoming them back to Miami for Super Bowl XXXIII -- before the AFC championship game had even been played. Huizenga's ad was was posted in the Jets locker room in Mile High Stadium.

"Believe me, no one is going to forget that next year," Jets tight end Kyle Brady told me after the game.

Mutiny ahead?

Management in Jacksonville couldn't be happier with coach Tom Coughlin, who was recently given a contract extension. But some of his players feel differently. At the end of the regular season, several Jaguars complained anonymously about Coughlin's full-contact practices that continued to drain a team already wiped out by injuries. And before the Jags' wild-card game, Coughlin upset his team further when he fined two players who missed meetings because they were in a car accident. The team's performance in the second round of the playoffs -- a sloppy, undisciplined loss to the Jets -- makes you wonder if players have begun tuning out their dictator.

Celebrating early

And finally, just in case the underdog Atlanta Falcons need even more proof that they are being wildly underestimated by the rest of the league: In Denver, plans for a parade and a ceremony for the two-time World Champion Broncos are already underway.

 

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