USA TODAY International Edition
‘Baby No Fly Zone’ masks loss
Second-year safeties step up after Ward cut
DENVER Almost since the time they were drafted together last year, Denver Broncos safeties Justin Simmons and Will Parks have called themselves the “Baby No Fly Zone.”
They weren’t old enough — and certainly not experienced enough — to be part of the team’s vaunted secondary, which in 2015 started calling itself the “No Fly Zone” while leading the league’s top-rated pass defense. Yet after the surprising decision to cut veteran safety T.J. Ward at the end of the preseason, Simmons and Parks have been promoted.
Simmons has moved into the starting lineup to replace Ward, who’s since signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Parks, meanwhile, plays in the “dime” package (two nickel backs). Parks also played in the base defense during the fourth quarter Monday night against the Los Angeles Chargers after starting safety Darian Stewart left the game with a minor groin injury.
The young safeties earned mixed reviews in Denver’s 24-21 win, much as coach Vance Joseph figured they would. Simmons showed range and athleticism on several plays, such as an openfield tackle of Chargers running back Melvin Gordon and a designed blitz on quarterback Philip Rivers that reinforced to Joseph why Simmons is now the starter.
“I knew there were going to be some growing pains with Justin and Parks. With that being said, you could see the physical ability with Justin,” Joseph said Tuesday. “That part we know we’ve got with those young guys.”
Indeed, the issues the young duo — and especially Simmons — had against the Chargers were mental mistakes. Too often he and Parks appeared out of sync with Stewart and the all-pro corner duo of Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib.
Those three and nickel corner Bradley Roby took Ward’s release hardest. It isn’t that they don’t like Simmons or Parks personally or discount their potential. The Broncos veteran DBs simply loved Ward — as a player, teammate and leader. Over the course of three seasons together (two for Stewart, who signed in 2015), they built a close bond, and communication was almost never an issue.
But it was against the
Chargers.
Harris was expecting safety help from Simmons when Chargers receiver Keenan Allen scored a 5-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Then the secondary allowed L.A. speedster Travis Benjamin to run uncovered on a post route for a 38-yard touchdown just a minute later.
“My touchdown, that should never happen. The big touchdown to Benjamin, that should never happen,” Harris Jr. said. “We just got younger guys back there. They will learn as time goes, and hopefully we’ll be able to fix it next week.”
Harris told USA TODAY Sports that fixing those communication issues will take extra time collectively in the film room to ensure similar errors don’t occur Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys and in subsequent weeks.
“The mistakes, I knew it was going to happen because it was (Simmons’) first time being a fulltime starter in base and in dime,” Joseph said. “There are going to be growing pains, but I think at the end of this thing — Week 6, 7, 8, moving forward — he’s going to be good for us.”