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Published on 09/04/2007 at Tue Sep 04 07:40.



Rice brings Leadership back to D-line

Posted Tue Sep 4th by

“He’s a teammate who I loved playing with and one of the great pass-rushers of all-time.” –John Lynch 9/3/07

John Lynch isn’t exaggerating – Simeon Rice has 121 career sacks. The only other active player with more would be Michael Strahan. And now, Denver’s struggling D-line will have the experience and skills of a major playmaker. Much like Champ Bailey‘s interceptions that tend to come when we need them the most, Rice seems to step up his game in the most critical moments of the game.

“The thing I always loved about Simeon is his sacks came in big times. Fourth-quarter, third downs, fourth downs. He’s just got a flair for the dramatic. When your team needs a play, he makes it.” — John Lynch 9/3/07

As important as his playmaking ability is his veteran leadership. Like John Lynch stepping in for Al Wilson‘s lose, Rice will be able to bring leadership to a D-line that has lost past locker room leaders like Gerard Warren, Kenard Lang and Ebenezer Ekuban.

“big playmaking ability and leadership will be a huge asset to our defense. I feel our young defensive ends will gain a lot from being around this player.” — Ted Sundquist 9/3/07

Line Break

Personally, I was saddened to see Lang and Warren leave town. And I actually became scared when Ekuban was lost for the year. I just felt like it left us without proven playmakers across the line (besides Elvis). And I couldn’t see us going into the playoffs without some sort of spark out of our defensive front.

This signing might, in fact, be that spark. Just like Lynch’s play raises the other safeties level of play, or Champ Bailey’s presence brought out the playmaker in our young CB’s, Simeon Rice could do the same along the D-line.

The bottom line is, today I feel better about our D-line than I have all preseason. And I’m looking forward to seeing what our D-line can become as Simeon Rice lends both his playmaking ability and leadership skills to our team’s quest for the Super Bowl!

-Jonathan Douglas
–BroncoTalk.net

  • http://broncotalk.net kmonty

    Our defensive end depth (until yesterday) read Engleberger, Dumervil, Moss and Crowder. None of those players started NFL games last year. It’s hard to feel alright about a group of players when there were reasons behind each one not starting (of course, Moss and T Crow’s reasons were obvious).

    So the bottom line – I absolutely love this move. I had just written on how the Broncos lacked leadership a few weeks ago – and just like the title of your story said, this is an immediate infusion of leadership to a defensive line that was still struggling to find an identity.

    Not to mention bringing in a guy who ranks 13th all time in sacks.

    -kmonty
    –BroncoTalk.net

  • http://www.pennington.net/ Mike Pennington

    Our pass rushing has been a tough spot for a while now, so I’m glad to see Rice sign on with us; hopefully he can contribute immediately on the field, but certainly can do so off the field.

    Nevertheless, he is typically considering a passing-down specialist. We still need to stuff the run, and I wasn’t encouraged by our 1st team preseason performance. That horse has been beat dead for weeks, so I won’t go there. Let’s just hope that our new system will gel together. Unlike some fans on these boards, I don’t mind seeing foibles in the preseason; but by game five (our game against SD) I hope we are playing solid D against both the run and pass.

  • http://broncotalk.net kmonty

    Excellent points Mike – we do play San Diego quickly on our schedule at home, which in my mind is a must-win game if we’re going to have the season I predicted we would. The learning curve for Bates’ system has been steep, but hopefully not so steep that the defense won’t have figured it out by Week 5.

    Welcome to BroncoTalk!

    –kmonty
    –BroncoTalk.net