ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Like a mad scientist holed up in his lab, Mike Nolan has spent the last six months quietly trying to repair the Denver Broncos’ dismal defense that produced a measly half-dozen interceptions last season and ushered Mike Shanahan out of his job-for-life.
Nolan, the fourth Denver defensive coordinator in four years and head coach Josh McDaniels’ first hire, instituted the 3-4 alignment and helped engineer a roster makeover that will likely leave just three returning starters from last year’s finale.
Nolan is eager to fill his Sundays with trips to the stadium again.
After getting fired as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers last October, he dabbled in broadcasting but found himself anguished.
“Sunday is a hard day when you’re not coaching and you’re a coach,” Nolan said. “The week you can get by but Sundays are hard.”
He jumped at the chance to get back in the game when he was beckoned by McDaniels to join him in Denver.
His mission?
“Help him win, it really was,” Nolan said. “Other than that, there really wasn’t much talk about fixing.”
Actually, there hasn’t been much talk by any of McDaniels’ assistants, who have mostly been seen but not heard, so far.
Sequestered from the public and the press for 195 days after his hiring, Nolan finally shared his thoughts this week in his first interview since getting the job.
Nolan said Monday night — in the first public comments allowed by any of McDaniels’ assistants — that he likes the progress that’s been made so far on a defense that allowed 448 points and an astonishing 146 yards rushing per game last season, but stressed the turnaround won’t happen overnight.
“The energy has been good,” Nolan said. “The guys have worked hard. They have a lot to learn, too.”
Denver’s defense has been dissolving for years.
It began when Larry Coyer was sent packing by Shanahan after the 2006 season. His replacement, Jim Bates, was basically shunted aside midway through the 2007 season and replaced by Bob Slowik, who officially took over as coordinator last season.
For the last two seasons, the Broncos had no pass rush and couldn’t stuff the run. So, having the league’s top cornerback in Champ Bailey didn’t matter.
Last season, the Broncos’ leading interceptor was Dre’ Bly with only two. Their leading tackler was Jamie Winborn, who, like Bly, was part of McDaniels’ purge of players.
Complicating Nolan’s refurbishing efforts was a dearth of defensive linemen in this year’s draft class, although the Broncos did land Tennessee pass-rusher Robert Ayers in the middle of the first round.
Nolan and McDaniels have spent much of their time working with the hybrid defensive end/linebackers at camps as they transition to the 3-4 setup.
Nolan is a longtime practitioner of the 3-4.
“I think it’s got versatility within it,” he said. “You can go from a 3-4 to a 4-3 in one play. So if you have injury or have to game-adjust, all those things, it’s very easy to do. … It’s very difficult to make a 4-3 go the other way. Now, you’re talking about a real 300-pound guy dropping into coverage.”
Nolan is also spending every chance he gets to evaluate his no-name defensive line now that training camp is here. McDaniels favors full-pads workouts, unlike his predecessor who broke out the pads only for a goal line drill at a single practice last summer.
“You have to have physical practices,” Nolan said. “You have to address those situations that you talk about on the field and not just get into a meeting and say, ‘This is what we do right here,’ and never get onto the field and practice it. … Believe me, a lot of teams, they kind of talk a good game, and other than that they go out and run their plays and that’s kind of it.”
Nolan insisted the Broncos will be better no matter who ends up in the front-seven along with a group of graybeards in the secondary, where all four starters are in their 30s.
That’s because he expects the offense to be better.
“To be good on defense you need the whole team to be good,” Nolan said. “If you’re on the field a long time, it’s hard to be good because you get exhausted and all those things. But I imagine as a team, we’ll take care of business there.”
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