Teams who want to win a Super Bowl must win in the trenches. Winning the line of scrimmage, being able to earn those tough yards at desperate moments, separates the good teams from the great ones.
With the Denver Broncos set up to compete for a Super Bowl, talent-wise, there’s still one giant question mark in terms of an entire unit: The offensive line.
With no training camp practice on Wednesday, we can refer back to their most recent outing, Tuesday. While the practiced moved from individual drills to 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s, some of the best evaluation of the line came in those individual and 2-on-1 drills.
Halfway through the practice, it was one defensive lineman versus two offensive linemen, with many of the battles being mano-y-mano wrestling matches at Dove Valley.
Let’s take a look at how all the likely starters faired:
Louis Vasquez: Vasquez simply looks like an All-Pro, which he was voted in 2012. He’s not a loud, vocal guy, deciding to let his play do the talking. Derek Wolfe lined up over him on one snap and Vasquez man-handled him. No matter who came at him, Vasquez was there to stop them. He’s the anchor of this line and he’ll almost certainly be their most consistent blocker.
Ty Sambrailo: Sambrailo was more good than bad, with a few missteps. One of his best blocks in 1-on-1s was against Chase Vaughn, who showed off speed all day, but Sambrailo used good footwork to stay in front of him. There was a similar block by Ty against DeMarcus Ware in 11-on-11s, pushing Ware outside and around Peyton Manning, allowing the quarterback to deliver the ball to Cody Latimer for a touchdown. The rookie out of Colorado State still has room to grow – and coaches barked at him a bit Tuesday – but he’s showing he can play one of the most difficult positions in the NFL as a youngster.
Ben Garland: Garland’s play was so-so at best. Coaches were really all over him as he took the wrong technique a few times and was out of position to make some blocks. The likely starting left guard showed off his strength on two particular plays, one against Sylvester Williams who bull-rushed him but Garland stood his ground.
Gino Gradkowski: The center was similarly strong when rookie Darius Kilgo – who’s competing with Williams for the starting nose tackle position – was stonewalled on one rush. He did allow a sack, too, though as work in camp shows it’s needed for this group.
Chris Clark: Clark, who’s the No. 1 right tackle at the moment, was used and abused for most of practice. Shane Ray ran around him with ease. Then, Shaquil Barrett did the same thing. Coaches were not thrilled, to say the least. His play, at times, was downright ugly. Clark really has to step up his game in this camp while also utilizing the preseason to improve in a hurry.
Also, Michael Schofield was worked by Shane Ray on a stunt inside which included a crazy quick rip move. Schofield may have barely put a finger on the speedy rusher before a would-be sack took place.
This is no time to panic. It’s still early, only five days into training camp. But the Broncos offensive line has much work to do in terms of coming together as a cohesive unit to play sound football.
If Manning doesn’t have time to find Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and the rest of Denver’s deep receiver corps, big plays can’t happen. And if the line can’t open up holes for the running game Gary Kubiak’s offense is predicated on, the wheels could completely fall off.
The problem with the line is they’re mostly young – especially on that left side – but the flip side of that is they could possibly grow quickly over the course of the next month.
