Head Coach Mike Shanahan doesn’t see the Broncos’ 63-yard rushing performance Sunday at Oakland as cause for panic. Certainly not when his running game — which has included carries for four different tailbacks in the last two games — still ranks fourth in the league through nine games.
“We’ve got some competition there,” Shanahan said. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons we’re in the top five (in rushing).”
It’s a competition that has seen its share of injuries. Tatum Bell has been hindered by turf-toe problems; Cedric Cobbs missed a month with an ankle sprain that had him on crutches for a few days after he incurred the injury against Kansas City in Week 2.
Bell’s injury issues — and the Sunday deactivation of Mike Bell (who is “going to play a lot for us before the season is over with,” Shanahan said) — left some playing time for Nash in his Broncos debut and his first game-time action since an impressive performance late in a preseason win over the Tennessee Titans.
“I wanted to see what Damien could do, because he’s looked good in practice from when he did play in the preseason game,” Shanahan said. “I thought we needed a guy that was healthy, a guy that was biting at the bit a little bit to get his opportunity, to kind of see what he could do in the second half of the season.
“So we’ll do things like that throughout the season, and sometimes when you have competition at certain positions, you don’t know when it’s going to occur, but chances are it will occur.”
Which is what Shanahan wants, anyhow.
“We think competition is the best thing for a guy to get the best out of people,” he said. “You have to compete in practice, you got to compete on game day and you have a chance to get better.”
Said tailback competition was officially joined Monday by Andre Hall, who was signed to Nash’s former spot on the practice squad and will make his on-field debut Wednesday. Hall will wear jersey No. 23.
Back in the offseason, we profiled Hall, who told reporters that the Broncos were one of the teams to interview him at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
“I saw a commercial with a little Chinese guy, and he says, ‘I guess I’ll go play for the Broncos. Anybody can make it over there.’ I guess he meant he could play running back,” Hall said at the time. “It seems like every year those guys get a good running back.”
In college, Hall was just that for the Bulls, gaining 1,357 yards as a junion and then 1,374 as a senior last fall. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Hall is how he gained his yardage in 2005 — against a host of defenses that stacked eight or even nine men in the box and had little reason to play the Bulls honest. USF ran the ball on 65.6 percent of their 2005 snaps, and scored all but eight of their 31 offensive touchdowns for the year on the ground.
But when Hall got the ball, he simply executed — in the way the Broncos like to see their runners do so.
“I’m a one-cut, get upfield, one-and-go guy,” Hall said at the Combine. “I like to just get it and go.”
Now, after bouncing through camps of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears, he’ll have the chance to make a go of it with the Broncos — and to have his say in the competition for carries.
Tags: Andre Hall, Cedric Cobbs, Damien Nash, Mike Bell, Running backs, Tatum Bell
Ok this is a major relief. Thank G-d Shanahna, you knew what you were doing. Great, ok because i was hoping all of it would coem out becuase i really Shanahan. Ok well now we know Mike will be playing alot and taum less. NAsh….uh i dont think ever again…Well i am happy and supriesed!
Learn how to type.
Sorry well i am excited that the Broncos are getting down to the nitty gritty. WE are using Mike and he is going to get us somewhere.
We still dont have that franchise back. If only we could fuse the two Bells, have tatum’s break out speed with Mike’s cut-and-go style and power we would be just fine. We need to get our run game back to being dominant, not just good, if we want to make any noise in the playoffs.
I agree but between the two we could make a super Bell! But we cant. So we have to pick one. And mike is our man.
I hope shanahan made him inactive so he had a rest for the chargers game
Yesteday, someone asked about the Chargers run D?
They are tough. Jamal Williams eats up the middle but the LB corp is pretty beat up. They do not give up a lot though. The injury’s have really hurt the pass rush and having Shawne “Juiced” Merriman out is huge. Palmer had all day to throw the ball last week so hopefully Jake will take his med’s this week and throw the ball to Broncos instead of the other guys. The Chargers secondary is awful so he and Javon should have a great night.
Marty Schottenheimer is a loser!!!
Me thinks someone likes Mike Bell…..that’s not you is it Mike? I like him too, but let’s go with what brung ‘em, and that’s Shanahan. I think the guy knows what he’s doing. Rotating backs seems to have over-all success. 7-2 ain’t bad.
ok ok yall sorry i agree grawson but i just think mike should get more carries
he should be our starter….
and if yall really dont beileve mike will be our man than who.?? really tatum cant(he has injuries abroad and just isnt as good as mike), nash cant…its oblivios…uh yea so who else but mike, and why?
Also yall dont think Shanahan is goign to keep mike on the team? you think he wont play next year? anythoughts about that
yes i know that, and when i didn’t see Mike Bell on the field i was angry, ithought to myself why in the heck would Shanahan do that, i mean you sit out a guy that ran nearly 140+ yards against the colts, and he already has more touchdowns than Tatum bell, put in the guy, hes going to make more touchdowns and gain some more yardage, and plus you can’t have a good team if you don’t have use good runningbacks, and if you don’t out in goodrunning backs then that puts to much of a heavy load on Jake Plummer, and we Broncos fans don’t want him to be throwing Interceptions. thats what i think!!!
i totally agree!
i think when tatum bell is healthy he is the best RB the Broncos have. However, Tatum’s problem is that he gets hurt too much and he is too inconsistent. Mike is much better for the power runs, and Damien Nash looks pretty good at halftime of the SD-Den game. I don’t think there is a reason why we need to pick one RB and stay with him, as long as we are getting yards and winning games, I don’t care who carries the ball.
I would love to see Andre Hall get a game. I was a big fan of his while he was at USF and always thought he’d be a great fit for the Broncos….. if Tatum puts the ball on the ground once more, I say put Hall in.