MUNSON'S GAZETTA:On the Corner

I recently wrote that since becoming a college level program in 1968 the Broncos have always had good QB's and WR's. And very early on they started getting good DB's, particularly corners. Our first meeting with La Tech occurred in the Div II playoffs in 1973. LT had Roger Carr, the fastest white guy ever to play WR in the pros(7 or so seasons with the Baltimore Colts-also the ugliest dude on East Coast). On the other side was "Quick Six" McDaniels, and he didnt get the name because of how he talked. And following the starters was an endless stream of big,fast, well-coached backups. But we had an answer, for a time-Ron Neal who locked down Carr and allowed us to double on the other side. But Neal got hurt, and while we hung with them, Carr got a couple of td's including the winning one. As for 1973 and the game of football, Bob Griese in the Superbowl threw 11 passes, completed 8 for 69 yards, and won. 

The changes in the game starting in the early 80's had its most profound impact at corner. I am old enough to remember when  corners could be spoken of as "good against the run". You read that right; do you know what calling a corner good against the run would mean now-he hasn't played since Pop Warner(if then). In the day "letting a guy go" after 5 yards was considered a monumental screwup by a CB. Now its a rule.Not only did they not let them go , the CB pounded the WR all the way down the field.  With tightened pass interference(a '60s ref  would ignore at least 50% of what is called now) the CB has gone from being an almost overlooked player(Pat Fisher was 5' 8" and 170) to being the premier player on D(or close to it).

The pivotal game to demonstrate this was the 1984 Superbowl. The Raiders went one-on-one at the corner with Redskins WR's and shut them down. That left 9 guys to play the run and whatever was left; the game was a rout.

We have been very good through the years at getting CB's and in recent years excellent. Our dominance in the WAC in particular has been due in large part to the fact that in general we can lock down one on one with the WR  and even when we cant' we can improvise a scheme to allow us to take away their best guy and play the other one. Our quality at DB in general even allows us to limit the spreads we see, even when there are several go to guys against us(Hawaii). Yates deserves his props for this and success breeds success. Getting DB's into pros means more will look at us.

We have of course a challenge with Wilson leaving. JUCO transfer Gavins shows we can get 'em when we need 'em. I think next year may be a (brief) transition year for us-we will be good but maybe not great. I see potential in the pipeline that will surpass the lofty standards we have set.