F-Deep Success4

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Denver’s trio of dynamic receivers (along with Peyton Manning) put a lot of pressure on defenses, testing a team’s secondary depth. The openings along the defensive line will likely be filled in a similar manner. The Seahawks have drafted six defensive linemen over the past two years and have topped that with contracts to numerous undrafted free agents. When asked about the losses to the team’s defense, secondary coach Kris Richard told Seahawks.com: “It’s next man. Let’s go.” When the Steelers dominated the NFL in the 1970s, things were a bit different. Player turnover was drastically lower in the era before free agency, and the core of championship teams would often return year-after-year. The roster’s depth was staggering. The four members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame that anchored the Steel Curtain—“Mean” Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Mel Blount— played every game of their careers for the team and played pivotal roles in their Super Bowl IX, X, XIII and XIV victories. On the other side of the ball there were five more Hall of Famers: Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Franco Harris and Mike Webster. As legendary coach Chuck Noll said in his Hall of Fame induction speech, “The single most important thing we had in the Steelers of the ‘70s was the ability to work together.” In today’s game, depth is not just an issue on defense. It’s not breaking news that the NFL rules have become more and more pass friendly with each season and it has added strain on already thin rosters. The five highest passing seasons in NFL history have occurred over the past three years and seven of the eight quarterbacks to ever pass for over 5,000 yards in a season have done it since 2008. In 2013, just two NFL teams ran more running plays than passes, and the Atlanta Falcons threw the ball on over 67 percent of their plays. The Denver Broncos reached Super Bowl XLVIII with a similar cache of game-changing weapons to the Seahawks but on the offensive side of the ball. Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, Knowshon Moreno and Eric Decker helped future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning pick apart defenses and exploit their weaknesses. Manning set an NFL record with 5,477 passing yards that he spread to 11 different sets of hands. Manning’s uptempo offense and the Broncos’ deep group of skill players are perfectly suited for football’s evolving style. When they run the no-huddle, it is not uncommon for all five players, including TE Julius Thomas and RB Moreno, to be out in a STEVE NEHF/DENVER POST NEIL LEIFER/NEIL LEIFER COLLECTION Pittsburgh “Steel Curtain” defense


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