Head Coach Josh McDaniels announced shortly after Saturday’s practice that Kyle Orton has been named the starting quarterback.
We will have more on the story this afternoon, so stay tuned to DenverBroncos.com
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Archive for June, 2009
A Different Beat
June 12th, 2009 - 3:10pm by Zach EisendrathOther posts by Zach Eisendrath
The Broncos started their third and final mini-camp on Friday, and — for parts of the day — there was an unfamiliar sound emanating from the practice field.
For the first time in recent memory at Dove Valley, music boomed throughout the speakers surrounding the practice fields. Usually the only sound coming from practice has been simulated crowd noise, but Head Coach Josh McDaniels – as he was accustomed to doing in New England – used a collection of well-known songs to help his team work on silent snap counts, hand signals and overall communication skills.
The playlist was extensive, ranging from the likes of T.I. and Jay-Z to Bruce Springsteen and Metallica. Even the Monday Night Football theme song could be heard loudly at team headquarters. Regardless of their favorite genre, players seemed happy to hear the music during warm-ups and team drills. At one point in practice, the dancing duo of Chris Baker and J’Vonne Parker demonstrated some … um … interesting dance moves during Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
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Coach McDaniels on Marshall
June 12th, 2009 - 1:18pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell
Head Coach Josh McDaniels addressed the media concerning Brandon Marshall’s absence from today’s first practice of a mandatory mini-camp. Here is a brief look at some of his comments.
On Marshall’s absence…
“That’s a personal decision that Brandon’s made, and we’ll do what the league rules allow us to do for a player that misses a mandatory activity. The rest of that is really internal. I’ve spoken to him and his agent, and that’s the decision that he’s making.”
On if Marshall will be fined…
“We’ll do what we think is the right thing to do.”
On if he knows the reason for Marshall’s absence…
“Sure, and we’re not going to go into detail. I’m not going to talk about that. That’s between the Broncos and Brandon and his agent, and when that’s resolved we’ll look forward to having him on the field.”
On whether he expects Marshall on Saturday or Sunday…
“He’ll be here today. We’re having a meeting later this afternoon, and again it’s something that we’re going to take care of and handle in house. He’ll be here later this afternoon but he was not here this morning.”
On whether Marshall is falling behind…
“Well there’s 40 practices before our first game starting in August, he’s a smart player and I’m sure he’ll be able to learn whatever he needs to learn to be able to play successfully if he’s here at training camp, so I’m not concerned about that.”
Zach Eisendrath will post the normal practice blog soon.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Three Players Waived
June 11th, 2009 - 5:15pm by Zach EisendrathOther posts by Zach Eisendrath
The Denver Broncos on Thursday waived tackle Marcus Gordon, linebacker Braxton Kelley and wide receiver Travis Shelton (pictured above), it was announced. All three players were signed by the club as rookie college free agents.
Gordon (Kentucky State University) and Shelton (Temple University) signed with the Broncos on April 27 while Kelley (University of Kentucky) joined the club on April 28.
Belize it, camp right around the corner!!
June 11th, 2009 - 4:53pm by mark_cooperOther posts by mark_cooper
See the fish above. That’s a Tarpon. I know many of you don’t care because it has nothing to do with football, but it kinda does. I’m going dinosaur hunting down in Belize before camp starts. So give me a week to tell you if they won or not….by the way…..they usually win.
The reason I mention the “BEFORE CAMP starts” comment is, this a funny time of year for me because, we are approaching the 4th of July weekend. The end of June meant you better get whatever trip or recreational activity you wanted to do all off-season out of the way because the the 4th of July was only, right around the corner.
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Cornerback Talk
June 9th, 2009 - 4:41pm by Zach EisendrathOther posts by Zach Eisendrath
Cornerbacks Andre’ Goodman and Alphonso Smith stopped by the media room following Tuesday’s practice at Dove Valley.
Goodman spoke first and shared an interesting tidbit on defensive backs coach Ed Donatell’s teaching method.
The eight-year veteran has seen his share of coaches during his days with the Lions and Dolphins, but he’s never seen one illustrate a lesson plan by using film as old as Donatell does. Let’s just say some of the highlights he uses aren’t exactly HD quality.
“He is a guy who uses a lot of archives,” Goodman said. “Like he’ll go back to film that is early 90s. You’ll see Jerry Rice or Tim Brown on the film and it’s kind of surprising.”
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Keeping You Informed
June 8th, 2009 - 2:44pm by jim_saccomanoOther posts by jim_saccomano
Recently I was reading an article in Advertising Age, in which recent surveys were cited stating that people want information, lots of it, fast, and—they do not care what the source of that info is.
Thus, it is not the model of a decade or 20 years ago, in which newspapers and radio/TV stood as the virtual only sources of news and information.
We all realize that while those mediums remain very viable, Internet sources are now often the first places people go for news, opinion, and even entertainment options.
With that in mind, and trying to stay up on technology (and that is hard to do these days), the Denver Broncos now are entering the Twitter age.
And so I thought that I should as well.
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Monday’s Practice Report
June 8th, 2009 - 1:04pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell
The last open practice of passing camp took place on Monday, and the team was in high spirits. The weather was great — sunny, but with enough breeze that it wasn’t too hot — and the energy on the field was contagious. Head Coach Josh McDaniels even bantered back and forth with some of the media as practice was starting, commenting on the bright color of one reporter’s jacket.
Without further adieu, here are some notes from Monday’s practice session.
OFFENSIVE IN THE RED ZONE
Early in practice, the offense and defense lined up for one play in the red zone. As the units got set at the line of scrimmage, Kyle Orton barked out a few commands and tried to get the defense to show its hand. After a particularly loud shout, Robert Ayers jumped slightly forward, letting Orton know he intended to blitz. He alerted the offensive line, took the snap and lofted a pass to the back corner of the end zone where Brandon Stokley snatched the ball just in front of Jack Williams.
Later in practice it was the offense that shined again in the red zone. McDaniels announced the situation — ball on the two-yard line, both teams are out of timeouts and the offense needs to score. It’s one play to decide the game, and Chris Simms was at the helm. Simms took the snap, backpedaled, avoided some pressure and fired a pass to Jabar Gaffney, who made quite a catch in the corner of the end zone even though Champ Bailey seemed to have him blanketed.
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Twitter and the Broncos
June 5th, 2009 - 11:05am by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell
Just wanted to make sure all of you are aware that the Broncos have an official Twitter page — twitter.com/denver_broncos — where we post new messages daily letting you know what’s going on in Dove Valley.
In addition, Vice President of Public Relations Jim Saccomano — many of you know him from his blog here on DenverBroncos.com — has started a Twitter page as well. You can follow him at twitter.com/broncos_sacco.
Last but not least, yours truly has a Twitter page, too. I’ll post extra tid bits from open practices or post-practice interviews and keep you updated on upcoming stories and blogs. You can check it out at twitter.com/gray_dbdotcom.
So there’s your Broncos Twitter update. Start following!
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Constantly Improving
June 4th, 2009 - 2:49pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell
Jeb Putzier and Vernon Fox stepped to the podium one after another this afternoon, and both seemed upbeat about the progress the team is making day by day.
Thursday marked the seventh day of passing camp, and the team is working extremely hard to make their mark in 2009.
“Definitely in the circumstance that we’re in — the new coaching staff, a new system — that’s imperative, and guys have taken the initiative to be here,” Fox said of the passing camp attendance. “We’re working hard to get better, getting in awesome shape, and I think you can see that on the field each and every day, that we’re gelling as a team.”
In fact, Fox — who played in 10 games in 2008, starting three — thought the team improved significantly this offseason just with some of the roster moves before offseason camps even started.
“I remember (Head) Coach (Josh McDaniels) mentioning that all the pieces that we brought in were guys that were coming from winning organizations, yet they still wanted to be part of what we have going on here,” he said. “I’ve learned something from each and every guy, and I think that if you put it together collectively, it’s something that is going to make us successful on the defensive back end. I’ve seen our ability to make plays, and I think just being more sure of ourselves and our confidence in the guy beside us is just a difference that I’ve seen from last year to this year.”
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