If you saw the speed at which Denver's defensive players were moving, you wouldn't necessarily argue with today's headline.

Simply put: only one defense in the AFC was worse: The Miami Dolphins--and they finished 1-15 this season.

Here we go with our grades on defense. Our grades for the offense are in the previous blog entry which you can access by clicking here.

DEFENSIVE LINE: D
There are only two reasons why this unit does not receive an "F" (which many of you that e-mail me say they should receive):

1) Only utter and complete ineptitude could get them a failing grade and while at times this part of the defense looked like its weakest component--I still reserve a little judgment. Mainly because they deviated from their scheme after week six, too early in my opinion. They are used to playing a 3-4 defense under their defensive mastermind (pardon the irony here) Jim Bates. After giving up on his scheme and moving an eighth player into the box, they gave up on Bates. Clearly, the system wasn't working but I am one of the few individuals who lays more blame on the players than on Bates. No doubt, Bates is culpable, but if his work was magic in Green Bay and Dallas, why was it tragic here? The only answer I see is personnel. Those two teams had players that understood what they were doing. Champ Bailey, this team's best player, said the meltdown on defense should not be pinned on Bates. Will that resonate with the real "Mastermind"? That remains to be seen.

2) Elvis Dumervil is a great player. He had 12.5 sacks and, without him, this unit doesn't even cause what I would refer to as even minimal disruption. Great season for him--a nice follow-up to a strong first year in which he opened a lot of eyes. Look for him to get even better.

LINEBACKERS: D

Much like the defensive line, two reasons for this grade, and the first one is, well, I guess I would have to say...

1) The Defensive Line. If those players can't get adequate leverage, the job of the linebackers becomes more difficult. So, their performance is an overall function of how the linebackers and secondary play. A weak start by them leaves everybody else in tough spots.

2) Much like Dumervil, this group had one star, middle linebacker D.J. Williams. Only one player in the NFL had more tackles than him. He started slowly as he learned a new position, though he rarely complained and by the season's end was making plays, not to mention, as previously noted, a bunch of tackles.

SECONDARY: B

Most of the opposition the Broncos saw this past season, decided (wisely) to keep their passing game away from testing Champ Bailey. He is the only player on this squad at the moment that gets that kind of respect. His interception totals were down, but once again, almost nobody risks going in his direction, so he gets very few chances. That also, however, puts more of a onus on the other cornerback, in this particular case, Dre' Bly, to make plays, as much of the action will be coming his way. He is a gambler by nature and his prowess helped save Denver in Week 2 against Oakland. However, he cost them the game with Green Bay after watching Greg Jennings motor by him on the first play from scrimmage in the extra session. Even the normally reliable Bailey wore down in the game at Chicago, a loss this team never recovered from.

At safety, John Lynch played well but Nick Ferguson went from opening game starter to not even playing by season's end. The team found some energy with Hamza Abdullah, although they need to fill out the position here, because the question remains--how much longer will Lynch play?

OVERALL GRADE: D
The play of the secondary could have given them a little bit of a higher grade but there was a point this season where every unit, including them, wore down. Two years ago, the Broncos had a defense that was ranked number three in the League points allowed. That eventually got Larry Coyer fired. This year, they were ranked 28th in that category. That says it all.

Mike Shanahan holds his year-end review Tuesday afternoon. We will be there and offer our thoughts Wednesday morning.

-"Z"