GumboBC

Atlanta has hired Alex Gibbs to be their new offensive line coach. Gibbs has a reputation for teaching his players dirty tatics. I hated to hear he is in our division. I found a few articles on him. Let's hope none of our guys are injuried due to chop-blocking or illegal leg-whips!!

"Anytime you talk about the Denver running game, you've got to start with the offensive line," Bengals linebacker Brian Simmons said. "They do an excellent job of blocking guys and getting guys off their feet. The backs are just waiting for that one guy to get out of his gap and then they're going to find it."

The Broncos have won 22 of the last 24 games when one of their running backs has gained 100 or more yards, a streak that has been accomplished with four different ball carriers.

In years past, Denver's offensive linemen gained a reputation as being dirty players; guys who weren't afraid to illegally chop block an opponent or go directly at a defensive lineman's knees. Their techniques were defended as borderline and were rarely disciplined by the league. That's changed the past few seasons.

In a two-week stretch in 2001, tackle Matt Lepsis and guard Dan Neil each received $15,000 fines for illegal blocks. Lepsis' action broke the ankle of San Diego's Maa Tanuvasa while Neil's hit broke the leg of Patriots linebacker Bryan Cox. Last season, San Diego's Jamal Williams had his season ended prematurely when he was hit from behind by Denver guard Steve Herndon. Herndon was fined a game's pay for the hit.

Denver's offensive lineman are traditionally on the smaller side of the league average -- only one of their nine linemen this season is listed above 300 pounds -- so the blocking scheme was developed with that in mind. Some describe it as finesse -- if you can call men that big pounding into each other for 17 weeks as finesse -- but the system does save on the wear and tear an offensive line faces in a season.

"At one point, they were doing so much dirty stuff that guys were more worried about getting hurt than playing the game," said Bengals defensive end Duane Clemons, who played two games a season against Denver each of the past three seasons while a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. "It's not like it was in years past. Obviously, the fines and the other things the league has done have changed some of the ways. For the most part, they try to do the same things but I don't think it's quite as effective without that same style that they were doing maybe two or three years ago."

This one from 2002.

Rams Notebook: Broncos are still considered to be cut-blockers
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch

For the Rams' defensive line, playing the Denver Broncos means just one =
thing: watch your knees.=20

For years, Denver has had a reputation of having one of the dirtiest =
offensive lines in the National Football League. The Rams' game with =
Denver to open the 2000 season did nothing to change that reputation.=20

After the game, the Rams sent about 10 plays to the NFL office for =
review. The league office later agreed than on most or all of the plays, =
the Broncos were guilty of holding or otherwise illegal blocks. But no =
penalties were called on the plays in the game, and no fines were =
subsequently levied.=20

"It's definitely something you have to be aware of because that's what =
they're going to do," said Rams defensive lineman Brian Young, who was a =
rookie in 2000. "That's how they get the yards that they get. They =
figure if they cut you, they get you on the ground, you can't chase the =
running back.=20

"That's why this week, I think we're going to have to do something =
different. I don't think we'll be able to fire up the field as much as =
we want to."=20

Cut blocking is a term used to describe blocks below the waist. If it's =
done in front of the defender, it's legal. It may be distasteful, =
because if you go for a man's knees, you threaten his career. But it's =
legal.=20

However, if you cut block from behind a defender, that's illegal. Also =
illegal is the high-low block, in which one blocker hits the defender =
low, while another hits the defender high.=20

Looking at film in preparation for Sunday's game in Denver, Young says =
the Broncos do their share of the illegal stuff. "It's going to happen," =
he said. "Sometimes they'll call it in a game, but nine times out of 10, =
they're not. You're just going to have to play with it, and deal with it =
- play the way we can, and try to keep them off our legs."=20

After that 2000 game, former Rams defensive end Kevin Carter said the =
Broncos' three interior offensive linemen were the worst offenders. Two =
of those three players still start for Denver: center Tom Nalen and =
guard Dan Neil.=20

Heres another.

Riddle me this. If opposing players continue to complain, and the league keeps fining them, how long will it take before there is an overall crackdown on the Broncos offensive line? Right guard Dan Neil just got hit with his second fine. A whopping $52,941 for two leg whips in the game against the Raiders last week. This follows his $15,000 fine for ending Brian Cox's season. That follows a $15,000 fine to Matt Lepsis for a cut block. Oh, and I forgot to mention left guard was fined $12,500 for leg whips, too. The grand total is $127,529 to Broncos linemen this year.

There have been numerous fines over the last several years, and some missed ones as well. The one that really still bothers me, though, is the Broncos-Jaguars playoff game in January 1998. Early in the game, Jaguars defenders were complaining of the Broncos linemen having a slippery substance on their jerseys. The officials checked, and sure enough, there was. They made the players go to the sidelines and wipe off their jerseys. Isn't the damage done? Isn't the substance already soaked in? At the least, they should have made them change jerseys. At the most, they should have been ejected. It's illegal!

The continuous problems with Broncos linemen needs to be addressed. While the recent fine to Neil was the largest of its kind, its not the first of its type. Nor is it the first fine to a Broncos lineman. It's an ongoing problem, and if the league can dole out fines for dress code so easily, shouldn't the crime fit the punishment? Suspensions need to start being the fine. It won't happen, and I'm ranting here, but to watch players go down to injury because of out right cheating, something's wrong. Maybe the size of the last fine is indicating there's a problem there. We'll see.

I did like the quote from Neil's agent. "He has never been fined before this rash of fines," Marvin Demoff stated, "I can't imagine he's playing any differently than he had in the previous four years." Hey, Marvin, it's because he's never been caught.

And another.

Gibbs arrived with Shanahan in Denver nine years ago and immediately employed a successful zone- blocking scheme that was carried out by smaller, quicker linemen. He also emphasized, and helped perfect, the art of cut-blocking - which other teams call chop blocking.



[Edited on 24/5/2004 by GumboBC]