Our friends at NFL Schedule Week One has put together a piece for us dealing with the Denver Broncos.  Few teams are pegged by some to have a greater fall from grace than the team from the Mile High City.  With Baltimore coming to town for a 4PM start in week one, how will one of their key positions be in terms of health.  The Brink will now be privy to their thoughts on inner linebacker as the lynch for success on the defensive side of the ball for the Broncos.

NFL Schedule Week One : Winter Nemesis

Baltimore has a tendency to impart humility onto the Broncos when the weather turns cold.  Their brand of ball control and smash mouth football takes the ball away from Peyton Manning.  Mistakes that he made are magnified in an element he disdains.  But what happens when the summer sun still shines upon them?  As the page on the calendar for August barely turned, Manning will be fresh and effective provided that he can get the ball.  How will the defense do in taking it away from the Ravens?

Key is Inside Linebacker

Quality of player is not the question but the old issue of health going into week one.  Players coming off of injury rehab programs take a while to knock the rust off of their games and get comfortable with going full tilt on repaired parts. Danny Trevathan   was their main man but a pair of injuries forced Brandon Marshall to fill the breach.  Happy with what they saw, they imagined an increased level of production when both could be on the field at the same time.  This was to be on December 14th of last year.  Both got hurt again and pushed back to the next year.

Change in Defensive Philosophy

Denver will be going from their 4-3 to a 3-4 alignment this season.  Usually the transition to this is an easy go for inside linebacker when it comes to the learning curve.  It is a simpler formation to implement and they have been hitting the books hard.  All that in the plus column, it is still an adjustment to be made and Baltimore will prove to be a tough first test.  Rushing will still be there and Flacco saves his best usually for Denver.

Trevathan is pain free in his knee but qualms about strength in that joint might keep him back.  Brandon Marshall’s foot injury has him on the shelf for a longer period of time going into 2015.  Both will be in training camp but will not be at 100 percent when the +4 Ravens come in. Reggie Walker of the Chargers signed here to strengthen the position.  All in all, Denver will be better at this position later in the season but for Week One it will be a weakness to be exploited.  Tune in next time for more analysis from NFL Schedule Week One and America’s Bookie.