Graham all Smiles on Reappearance in Passing Game

[lawdog93]

Broncos' Graham all smiles on reappearance in passing game
Blocking tight end spending a lot of time in the end zone
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

A smile. And there's your answer.

Tight end Daniel Graham knows he can block - opposing defensive coordinators consistently use the word "dominant" about his work there. He knows the Broncos like it when he blocks because, well, they ask him to do it a lot.

He knows the Patriots liked it when he blocked before that because they, too, asked him to do it a lot. But go ahead and ask about the touchdowns these days, ask about the four trips to the end zone in the past five games.

"It's just good to be involved with the team from the receiving standpoint instead of blocking all the time," Graham said with that smile.

"I'll do whatever they need me to do, whatever they want me to do, but to catch a few (touchdowns), it's been good for me."

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[Texecutioner]

So what the hell has happened with Sheffler? Graham isn't near as good as Sheffler. He doesn't have the hands or the play making abilities.

I guess this will be another guy that Shanahan doesn't use hardly, that could help his team.

[myshkingfh]

Scheffler has had a groin injury he's been battling for weeks. Graham, though, is the starting TE. He's pretty much always going to be on the field. Scheffler is part TE, but he's more the 3rd or 4th WR. He'll be in the game plan, but Graham is going to catch a few balls. Its not an either/or thing.

[Texecutioner]

Originally Posted by myshkingfh

Scheffler has had a groin injury he's been battling for weeks. Graham, though, is the starting TE. He's pretty much always going to be on the field. Scheffler is part TE, but he's more the 3rd or 4th WR. He'll be in the game plan, but Graham is going to catch a few balls. Its not an either/or thing.

Yeah, I guess you're right. It just seems to me going back to last year that the offense really starts going when Sheffler starts getting the ball. Just think about it. The Broncs offense started playing really well at the end of last season when Sheff started getting involved a lot. The Broncs were scoring like crazy and going up and down the field early on in the season and that was when Sheff was healthy and very involved. Then when he got hurt and was out of the lineup, the offense seemed to dwindle. The week before last when he was getting involved and had 92 yards, the Broncos had a great week and Cutler threw for over 400 yards. Last week, Sheff wasn't involved at all and they hardly could do anything.

I'm not saying that the entire offense is predicated off of Sheff being a main target or anything, but when he is making plays in games, the Broncs offense seems to be it's most consistent. You watch them even more than I do. Think about it for a second and I think you can agree. The Texans offense is sort of the same way when Owen Dainels is getting the ball a lot and we are going to him.

[lawdog93]

Sounds like his groin is much better. I expect him to be much more involved this week.

[myshkingfh]

I like Scheffler and I think he's a great guy to have on the field. He's been hurt though, he's actually been hurt a lot throughout his career. But when he's in, he definitely presents problems for opposing defenses since they can't as easily put safeties on the WRs or crowd the box.