Three Cheers For Wesley Woodyard

[Drek]

Originally Posted by TheReverend

Do my eyes deceive me? Have you come around on DJ being crazy overrated here?

I wouldn't say he's overrated here, except for maybe SoCal. I think most of us recognize that he's an underachiever, but he's still been a better LB than most of our other options.

My point with DJ has long been that he was the only LB we had who could cover at all, not that he was anything special. As long as that was the case we were handcuffed to having him around. This is why I was such an advocate for drafting Lavonte David instead of Brock Osweiler.

Woodyard's growth has removed that handcuff, making DJ expendable, now the FO just needs to make it happen. I don't think it will until after the season though, because there isn't a better way to spend the money or the roster spot dropping DJ will free up. But if Woodyard keeps it up it NEEDS to happen this off-season.

I still think we would have been better off cutting DJ and giving his money to Jameel McClain. Better yet, giving Mays' money to McClain instead, and spending DJ's elsewhere. But that's the past.

[Bronco Rob]

http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by Bronco Rob

http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot

done..

[Bronco Rob]

Wesley Woodyard, linebacker, Denver: Woodyard had a tremendous game as the Broncos’ defense stymied Drew Brees and New Orleans. Woodyard was all over the field as he had 13 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in the game. It was a message to D.J. Williams that he may have a hard time finding playing time when his NFL suspension is over after two more games.



http://espn.go.com/blog/afcwest/post...stock-watch-25

[broncocalijohn]

Originally Posted by Bronco Rob

Wesley Woodyard, linebacker, Denver: Woodyard had a tremendous game as the Broncos’ defense stymied Drew Brees and New Orleans. Woodyard was all over the field as he had 13 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in the game. It was a message to D.J. Williams that he may have a hard time finding playing time when his NFL suspension is over after two more games.



http://espn.go.com/blog/afcwest/post...stock-watch-25

13 sacks? Very impressive.

[2KBack]

Originally Posted by broncocalijohn

13 sacks? Very impressive.

Might be record, I'll have to check

[Bronco Rob]

This is almost getting monotonous. Another week, another player-of-the-week honor for the Broncos.

This time it was Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard who was named AFC defensive player of the week after his dominating performance in a 34-14 win Sunday night against the New Orleans Saints.

Woodyard had 13 tackles (9 solo), one sack, one interception, two passes defensed and one forced fumble. He became the first NFL player in five years (Kansas City linebacker Napoleon Harris) to record double-digit tackles, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble in a single game.


Woodyard leads the Broncos this season with 58 tackles while also posting three sacks, two interceptions, three passes defensed and one forced fumble. He joins Cleveland linebacker D’Qwell Jackson as the only two NFL players this year with at least 50 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions.

Woodyard follows quarterback Peyton Manning, who received the AFC offensive honor in Week 7, and cornerback Tracy Porter, who was honored in Week 1, as Broncos who have won a weekly award this season.





http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/...er-week/16511/

[baja]

Wesley Woodyard has been named the AFC Defensive POW for Week 8 after filling the stat sheet against New Orleans.

Woodyard piled up 13 tackles, one sack, a forced fumble, an interception, and two passes defensed in Denver's 34-14 victory. He joins Tracy Porter (Week 1), Matt Prater (Week 4), and Peyton Manning (Week 6) as Broncos to have won weekly awards this season.

.

[baja]

Broncos have won 4 player of the week awards in 8 weeks of awards (24 awards total) so with 32 teams to chose from the Broncos have won 1/6 of all the possible awards.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by baja

Broncos have won 4 player of the week awards in 8 weeks of awards (24 awards total) so with 32 teams to chose from the Broncos have won 1/6 of all the possible awards.

Even better they have done it in just 7 (seven) games so far.... unless they did sneak one in, that I missed..

[Bronco Rob]

After seasons in shadows, Broncos' Woodyard emerging as playmaker

Denver Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard has two rituals he follows before every game.

He prays three times: once before going out for warm-ups, again with his teammates and, finally, right before he takes the field for the game. He also texts five family members: his mom, Edna Rutledge; his dad, Wesley Woodyard Sr.; his older brother, Jazmon Griggs; his cousin, Derrick Kelley; and his fiancée, Veronica Whitehead.

The texts often vary, but his message to his mom usually is the same. He lets her know that he's going to make her proud.

After what Woodyard did in last Sunday night's 34-14 victory over Drew Brees and the Saints -- he had 13 tackles (9 solos), a sack, an interception, a forced fumble, two passes defended and a tackle for loss -- his family, friends, former coaches and every linebacker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame should have swelled with pride.

It was an extraordinary performance for any defensive player, much less for one who came into the NFL a little over four years ago as an undrafted rookie. This is how Woodyard explained it.

"It was one of those things where, throughout the week, you watch film and coaches put in plays and some of the things they've drawn up end up playing out the way you've been working on the whole week, and it just happens," he said. "Once you get going, you don't want to look back. You want to fly around and find that football and make something happen for your teammates."

A fifth-year player originally signed as a free agent after the 2008 draft, Woodyard has evolved from a reliably consistent special teams performer to a playmaking starting linebacker. He leads the Broncos in tackles (61) and has three sacks.

He got a taste of what it's like to start as a rookie, when he started six games because of injuries to other linebackers, but it took a couple of seasons before he started to get comfortable in the Broncos defense. Playing for three different head coaches (Mike Shanahan, Josh McDaniels and now John Fox) likely made his progress more challenging.

"But I always believed in myself that I could go out there and make plays," Woodyard said. "At the end of the day, I love the game of football. Whenever I'm out there on the field, I just play hard and I go 100 percent all the time."

Although Woodyard, 26, was considered primarily a special teams player when Fox took over as coach last year, he has changed the perceptions of both Fox and first-year defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.

Woodyard appreciates that Del Rio, the former head coach of the Jaguars, played linebacker in the NFL for 11 seasons. That adds an extra dose of credibility to his coaching philosophy. Woodyard said Del Rio is "not going to coach us up to where we're robots on the field. He wants everybody to fly around and make plays."

Del Rio has a mutual admiration for Woodyard. "He's done a good job. He's played well; he's practicing with intensity, which we like," Del Rio told Denver reporters. "He's done a good job playing for us in a role that's kind of gotten bigger than maybe he thought it would be entering the year and we thought it might be entering the year, but he's done a nice job of rising up and playing well for us."

While it took Woodyard a few years to prove he could be a starter, his leadership showed up almost from the day he arrived in Denver. This is the fourth consecutive year he has been one of the Broncos' captains. Previously, he was a four-year captain for the University of Kentucky and a captain as a senior at La Grange (Ga.) High.

Former safety Brian Dawkins, who came to Denver from Philadelphia as a free agent in 2009, mentored Woodyard and helped him develop confidence in himself.

At Kentucky, Woodyard earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors in each of his last two seasons. He played 47 games for the Wildcats, including 42 starts, and led the team in tackles in each of his last three years.

Although a couple of NFL teams called and told Woodyard they might select him, the 2008 draft came and went without him seeing his name scroll across his TV. Just when it looked discouraging, Woodyard received a call from the Broncos -- first Champ Kelly, one of its personnel men, and then head coach Mike Shanahan.

"It was just unbelievable that I got a chance to talk to coach Shanahan," Woodyard said.

"He said he had watched my film and believed I could be a guy who could come out there and make the team and contribute early. To get that vibe and that feeling from a well-respected head coach meant a lot to me."

Mixed feelings filled Woodyard on the day he made an early-morning drive from La Grange to Atlanta for his flight to Denver. He was excited but also anxious. It was dark and rainy as he drove up I-85, but finally the sun came out and Woodyard felt he was taking the right path.

"It was just a blessing that I was given a chance to play football," he recalled.

When Woodyard's contract expired last March, he had a chance to test the free-agent market. Instead, he signed a new, two-year deal with the Broncos -- "Denver came back to the table with an offer that was suitable and I agreed to it," he said -- and stay where his heart was. Woodyard said he loves everyone in Denver -- from the equipment manager to the general manager, and, of course, his teammates, many of whom called and urged him to come back to the Broncos.

"There were so many things that fell in line and made me come back," Woodyard said. "Champ [Bailey] called. He was like, 'Man, what's the holdup on your side of the deal? Come on back and play.' "

Although Woodyard had started only 16 games in his previous four seasons, he knew he would get a chance to win a spot in the lineup because weakside linebacker D.J. Williams was suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league's substance abuse policy (another three games were eventually added for another violation). To prepare for that opportunity, Woodyard took up a new genre of training.

At the suggestion of former teammate Andra Davis, Woodyard started taking boxing classes, working out at a gym owned by DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson, a former amateur boxing champion who has 22 KOs as a pro. Woodyard worked out there three times a week for about two and a half months in the spring.

"It just taught me so much, really, to build on not giving up," Woodyard said. "In boxing, it's just one-on-one in that ring, and it tests your willpower. I never had a workout that kicked my butt every day, but that did."

Perhaps Woodyard entertains thoughts of boxing one day?

"Not at all, man," he said, laughing. "That's a sport I love to train in, but I definitely don't want to get in that ring. I have a new-found respect for all boxers."

And players, coaches and fans have developed an admiration for Woodyard. The Broncos list him at 6-feet, 229 pounds -- Woodyard says he's closer to 6-1, 230 -- and some observers used to think he was undersized for linebacker.

"It's a shame that with all this technology we don't have anything that measures the size of someone's heart," Woodyard said. "The way that I'm built, I feel like I can beat anybody. And that's not being overconfident. It's just believing in myself and never wanting to quit and never knowing what giving up feels like. Believing in yourself -- that's the biggest thing."




Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz2BAmCWURA

[Bronco Rob]

Wesley Woodyard didn't get full of himself. Playing after he received his first AFC player of the week award, Woodyard had a career-high 14 tackles against the Bengals.



http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...ush?source=rss

[baja]

"Danny's our go-to guy in the nickel package," Broncos linebacker Von Miller said. "The sky's the limit for him."

Read more: Broncos' Bailey happy to see fierce pass rush from Denver's D - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...#ixzz2BVySKBXC
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

.

[Bronco Rob]

AFC West second-quarter checkpoint


Defensive player of the quarter: Denver linebacker Wesley Woodyard. I was tempted to go with fellow Denver linebacker Von Miller, who has six sacks in the past four games. But Woodyard has been tremendous in the past quarter. He has 49 tackles in the past four games, with 11 being his lowest output -- remarkable for a player who was considered a liability going into the season. Now, with D.J. Williams set to return next week from a nine-game NFL suspension, there appears to be no doubt Woodyard will remain the starting weakside linebacker ahead of Williams.



http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/po...ter-checkpoint

[Bronco Rob]

One fumble recovery, one interception, one tackle for loss, eight tackles overall. Woodyard has three sacks and two picks this season to go with his 80 tackles for the Broncos. The linebacker was averaging 12.5 tackles per game over his previous four contests.

[Bladerunner]

dude has really been balling these past few weeks...i love the way that this defense has gotten so aggressive across the board...i think it started with Von Miller actually...he is so disruptive that the offense has to start adjusting and guessing on protections, and that has really opened up the floodgates for the rest of the team...but WW in particular has really hit his stride

[Bronco Rob]

Good news in Dove Valley: the leader of the Denver Broncos in tackles Wesley Woodyard has great chances to be in the field next Sunday, when we will visit the Baltimore Ravens. Our linebacker was out of the final match because of an ankle injury and was replaced by DJ Williams and the rookie Danny Trevathan.

[Bronco Rob]

How embarrassing: Jeff Saturday, who was just benched by the Green Bay Packers, was named to the NFC Pro Bwl team as a backup center. Just goes to show that no one — not even many coaches or players — understand what an offensive lineman does.

Meanwhile, Broncos outside linebacker Wesley Woodyard — who leads one of the NFL’s best defenses with 113 tackles and also has 5 1/2 sacks and three interceptions — wasn’t even named fifth alternate, or however far back they go.



http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/...ternate/17670/