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Published on 10/17/2008 at Fri Oct 17 09:00.
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Broncos to Make Switch at Safety

Posted Fri Oct 17th by

Calvin Lowry

Calvin LowryThe Denver Broncos are making a change at safety. Calvin Lowry, who joined the team via waivers in early September, practiced with the first team defense on Wednesday and will likely start against the New England Patriots on Monday. Starting free safety Marlon McCree would be benched.

The move isn’t quite final at this point, although many media outlets are reporting it as fact. There’s no word yet on who got the starting snaps during Thursday’s practice. Expect the official decision on a starter to come shortly before the game begins on Monday.

Lowry brings speed to the table as well as a decent 2007 campaign as an 11-game starter with the Tennessee Titans.

I’m not a fan of benching someone, even when they’re struggling, if you don’t have confidence that their backup can do a better job. That’s the case here – the move doesn’t excite me all that much. I don’t (and never will) buy into the “he can’t do any worse” argument. If anything, the move makes me wonder why the Broncos ever let Hamza Abdullah go, or why rookie Josh Barrett is still sitting on the practice squad. While I’m willing to give Lowry a fair shot, I’m not happy with the lack of depth and talent the Broncos have at the safety position.

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    I’m curious to see what Lowry can do. Lowdy did start on the Titans for awhile, and the Titans have always been a pretty good defense. I was concerned about McCree from the moment we signed him, because he was always considered the weakest link on the San Diego defense, and then he comes here and our safeties are getting burned in coverage.

    Here’s a question…is the reason that Bly has to play off or in a soft zone so much not so much because of Bly but because the safeties can’t be trusted to give him coverage help if he gets in trouble?

    The thing about the type of defense that Bly plays is that it tends to allow the play but it puts Bly in a position to make the tackle so the big play isn’t given up. Whereas, Bly’s preferred play style, man coverage, puts him in a position to make a play on the ball but it also has a higher chance of putting the receiver in a position to make a play where Bly can’t make the tackle. In that situation, the safety has to be able to make up the difference.

    McCree is pretty slow for a safety. Given the emphasis on speed on our defense, that’s a definite problem.

    And yes, I do wonder why we let Hamza go. It seems like there’s something we’re not being told there.

  • andy b.

    Yeesh. I sure HOPE there is some mysterious reason for all of this we aren’t being told. The alternative explanations are not good.

  • andy b.

    E.g., “Mike Shannahan knows nothing about defense but can’t seem to find someone who does to get the job done for him, either, resulting in a long sequence of bizarre personnel problems.”

  • ssc

    i’d rather lowry repl SS manuel, who i think is a weaker link and is more likely exposed in coverage (man against the TE, vs FS deep zone help). my understanding is that lowry can play both positions.

  • MIAbronco

    what we need to do is go bananas on defense in the draft this year

  • HogBlog

    If we agree our safety’s are weak, then we should also agree that if we’re going to make mistakes, those mistakes are better made by a rookie like Barrett. At least his mistakes would part of learning and development. For the rest, they’re as good as they’re ever going to be. By the way, I believe the same case could be made for Larsen on replacing Webster. Let the mistakes be made as part of education, not lack of talent. It a big philosophical shift, but it makes sense…

  • HogBlog

    Absolutely MIAbronco, let the defense go crazy with Cassel in the lineup. We’ve got nothing to lose, but much to be gained.

  • robtink242

    before the seasons over i hope barrett has valuable playtime

  • http://www.getyourtinton.com precisiontint

    Lowry should be faster than Mcree. To my understanding Lowry was caught in a numbers game at Ten. At this point, Atwater or Dennis Smith in their prime could not help the Broncos if there is no improvement in the pass rush.