Freezing the Linebacker

In week 4, the Broncos ran this play in the 1st quarter of their loss to the Colts. It was the second play of the Broncos second drive. Both DTs and the play-side DE are double-teamed. The HB (Travis Henry) starts to head for the B gap (between the guard and tackle), which freezes the WLB who is responsible for that gap. This hesitation gives the TE (Daniel Graham) enough time to get off his initial double team and block the WLB (Freddie Keiaho) while Henry abruptly changes direction and runs around the right end.





Aside from freezing the linebacker, the key to the success of this play was the blocking by the wide receiver (Domenik Hixon). He holds the FS in place, and then manages to block both the FS and CB long enough for Henry to squeeze by for a big gain. Henry gets tackled after 13 yards by the SS (Bob Sanders).

What reward does Hixon get for his great play? The Broncos released him two days after the game. And people wonder why wide receivers often don't put in a lot of effort to become better blockers.

Denver ran the ball effectively in the first half, racking up 160 rushing yards on 24 attempts. Unfortunately they were forced to get away from the running game in the second half as the Colts took advantage of a Cutler interception to take a 28-13 lead with 8:55 remaining in the 3rd quarter. The Colts eventually won 38-20.