Broncos: Blitz pickup made the difference for RB Knowshon Moreno

When a fan asked John Elway about Knowshon Moreno by referring to him as "No-Show," it gave Elway the chance to explain how Moreno worked his way back to being Denver's No. 2 runner.

By Andrew Mason

Sep 5, 2012 at 4:30 am ET • 1 min read

When John Elway and director of player personnel Matt Russell spent nearly an hour answering fan questions on a team-organized teleconference of over 7,500 on Tuesday, they knew they'd get some tough questions.

But perhaps the pithiest belonged to a fan who wondered why the Broncos kept 2009 first-round pick Knowshon Moreno over Jeremiah Johnson as one of their four running backs. The fan's identification of Moreno as "No-Show," a fairly common epithet among Broncos fans on talk radio and social media, revealed his bias.

Elway didn't flinch, and explained his rationale: that Moreno's improvement in blitz pickup helped him seal his spot over Johnson, who is on the practice squad.

"With the evaluation that we had, we didn't feel like (Johnson) was quite there yet -- especially in third down," Elway said. "You've got to get better with protections, whereas Knowshon is a guy that is very good in third downs and does a great job in protections, as we saw the last couple of weeks."

Moreno, who was coming off a torn ACL that ended his 2011 season, not only made the team, but ascended back up the depth chart to No. 2 behind Willis McGahee. Moreno was buried on the depth chart throughout training camp as the fourth-team running back, but after struggling in the first two preseason games, improved and averaged 7.0 yards per carry in the exhibition finale at Arizona on Aug. 30.

"He is really starting to mature as a back," Elway said, "plus he is so invaluable on third down because of his ability not only to run routes out of the backfield on third down, but he also does a tremendous job in protections and knowing the right guy to pick up, and then having the ability to pick him up. That's one of those things that goes unsung with a running back is the ability to pick up a blitz."

As for Johnson, he played in eight regular-season games last year -- mostly after Moreno tore his ACL in Week 10 -- and has spent time on practice squads in the last two seasons. If and when he plays another regular-season game, he will lose future practice-squad eligibility.