The 2010 season came one step closer Sunday morning with the first practice of training camp. A Dove Valley training camp record crowd of 3,103 arrived early for opening day, with some folks lining up to see the orange and blue as early as 4:45 a.m. Mind you, that’s four hours prior to the start of the session.
The first player on the field? Kyle Orton, to a loud applause from the crowd. He was followed by Matt Prater, then Tim Tebow and Daniel Graham walked out together.
U2′s “Where the Streets Have No Name” marked the official start of camp, as the air horn blew and players headed to individual drills.
With music blaring and cheers of “TEE-BOW!” “CHAMP!” and “ED-DEE!” ringing out, the team kicked things off.
The first day was dampened a bit, however, when Knowshon Moreno was carted off the field and Correll Buckhalter walked inside the facility accompanied by a trainer.
Head Coach Josh McDaniels said he didn’t have any updates on either back’s status yet.
“Certainly you don’t want to see two of your guys that you really count on at the same position come off the field on the first day of training camp,” McDaniels said. “We know that’s part of the game and that’s why you have to have people behind them. We’ll see what the timetable may be or the diagnosis. I’m not sure where that’s at or how severe any of that is. Hopefully we’ll get them out there at some point, whenever they’re healthy.”
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
During 11 on 11 drills, the first unit defense had Ronald Fields in the middle of the defensive line, flanked by Ryan McBean and Justin Bannan. Elvis Dumervil, D.J. Williams, Mario Haggan and Robert Ayers lined up at linebacker, and Champ Bailey, Andre’ Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill made up the secondary.
On offense, Tyler Polumbus was at left tackle, with Zane Beadles at left guard, J.D. Walton at center, Chris Kuper at right guard and Ryan Harris a welcome sight back at right tackle. Kyle Orton was at quarterback and Daniel Graham was at tight end, with Kolby Smith at running back with Moreno and Buckhalter out of practice. The receivers switched in and out, but Eddie Royal, Brandon Lloyd and Jabar Gaffney got the most work. Marquez Branson also subbed in as a second tight end on several plays.
DRILLS
Throughout individual drills for tight ends, Daniel Graham reiterated why he’s the leader of the pack. In one drill, the tight ends were supposed to lift a blocking sled in the air before pushing it forward. Graham pushed it so hard that at the end of his rep, the sled flipped upside down. After seeing that display, Branson took his turn, flipping the sled at the end before letting loose a “Woooo!”
The running backs practiced getting physical during their drills, attacking blocking dummies to work on initiating contact.
Typically players run through drills the exact same way, one after the other, to make sure they get the technique just right. The defensive linemen ran a drill where the only goal was to get past the blocking dummy — no matter the technique. Each lineman used a move they’ve been successful with in the past, whether it was a swim move, spin or bull rush.
PLAYMAKERS
During wide receiver versus defensive back 1-on-1s, the first matchup belonged to Eddie Royal and Champ Bailey. Bailey tipped Orton’s throw, which Royal nearly caught, but the pass fell incomplete. Later in the drill, the two faced off again. This time Royal cut his route in front of Bailey, hauling in the sharp pass from Orton. That drew a “Nice, Eddie Royal!” from the quarterback.
On the first play of 7-on-7s, Brian Dawkins tipped a pass and nearly hauled it in before it hit the ground. Immediately he dropped to the ground for 10 pushups, as he didn’t snare the interception. Afterward he jumped up with a huge fist pump to the sky, drawing a reaction from the already amped-up crowd.
Toward the end of the final offense versus defense drill, Eric Decker ran deep down the sideline with Perrish Cox in tight coverage. As the ball came toward the receiver, Cox seemed to grab a little jersey to ensure the ball fell incomplete. On the adjacent field, special teams players and coaches signaled for a flag as the two jogged back toward the huddle.
QUICK HITS
The defensive backs sported a new look — personalized towels tucked in their waist. Two of the more notable towels belonged to Dawkins — inscribed with “Weapon X,” of course — and Nate Jones, or as his towel says, “Nasty Nate.”
To say fans were excited to see the team’s newest first-round picks would be an understatement. Every catch Demaryius Thomas made and every throw Tebow made were met with raucus applause throughout practice. So when Tebow took off running during a couple offense versus defense drills, you can imagine the crowd lost it a little.
After a deep Tebow completion to a leaping Matthew Willis, the crowd gave a long ovation marked by the waving of a couple University of Florida flags. When the noise died down, however, a lone “Roll Tide!” echoed from an apparent Alabama fan in the end zone. It seems even as a Bronco his Florida fans — and rivals — will follow.
Early in practice, the three quarterbacks threw to four receivers — Gaffney, Lloyd, Royal and Brandon Stokley — while the rest of the group worked on special teams drills.
Off to the side, Lonie Paxton, Britton Colquitt and Matt Prater practiced snapping, holding and kicking field goals, respectively, through a much skinnier set of uprights.
TRAINING CAMP JUKEBOX
After U2 kicked things off, Club Bronco got hyped with Eminem’s “Not Afraid,” Jay-Z’s “Can I Get A…” and Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”
Below are more pictures from Sunday’s morning session. The team is back on the field this evening at 5:30 p.m. MDT.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: 2010, Training Camp
niiiceeeeeeee!!! lets go TEBOW!
KFS reports both Moreno and Bucky with leg injuries in the first practice, Moreno carted off the field, bring back Arrington…..
Can’t believe Moreno is already hurt, when can we expect an update?
really, that sucks!!! I wish he could stay healthy just hope its nothing serious!
Knowing McD’s policy on reporting injuries, all he will tell us is that Moreno has a lower leg injury. KFS just said that Klis reported the following:
Running back Knowshon Moreno was just carted off the field with what appears to be an injury to his right knee or ankle. After reaching the team’s headquarter doors, Moreno had to be assisted off the cart by members of the Broncos’ training staff.
Anyway, regrdless of how serious THESE injuries are, yes it is also reported Bucky had some type of leg injury this morning, this brings up to the forefront a much bigger problem that could end up being very costly: McD chose not to address the power RB position this year, not in the draft nor in free agency. A very serious overlook which I have strongly disagreed with all along, the thing this power running scheme of ours need is a power back who can endure the type of beating that we are asking of him. None of our backs fit that mold, and both our starting RB’s have had issues with injuries in the past. So here we are, and McD has only himself to blame if we turn out short at the RB position and don’t have the right body type runners to execute the power running scheme. Back at year end I said we needed a couple of 235/245 pound guys built like tanks who can handle the pounding, not just one . Even if Moreno and Bucky turn out allright, it doesn’t fully address the issue we are facing at RB, it’s like McD totally ignored it in the off season, anyway that’s how I feel about it, many things done great but this is not one of them, just saying.
gotta wonder if we will bring in westbrook. Another injury prone back. kolby smith just isnt gonna cut it.
Gray, thanks for keeping us up to date in great details, too bad the Moreno/ Bucky injury news are the headlines today.
I think if anything this has to be a big break for westbrook, if he comes here he could be starting by week 1 haha, hope not, but I do want him here! this kills me, was it just bad luck or is our off season conditioning failing us again! I really dont want to sit through a season of injuries especially because this season is so promising in the fact that we could shock the division and the league!
GET WELL SOON MORENO AND BUCKY!
That was a HUGE blow to this offense! now we need to sign a FA RB . . . maybe westbrook? GO BRONCOS!!!
Sucks that Moreno and Buckhalter both went down on day 1. Hopefully it’s nothing serious though, and they can get back out as soon as possible.
Im really worried about knowsean, this could hurt us!
Z
Yovi, I wouldn’t put that on conditioning, probably just bad luck but also maybe too much adrenaline for the first contact practice of the season, specially Moreno, he needs to channel his energy the right way to be effective, I saw him runing around with his head cut off way too many times last year.
The whole carted off thing scares the living He** out of me… This is terribad.
Cool, keep the update coming, I love it.
jeez, whats up with this running back curse the last few years? maybe this opens the door for westbrook or marshawn lynch? hope these two get better soon, nothing serious
Sheet that is not a good start for day one
Well, other than the two injuries looks like the boys had a great start to camp. I’m not gonna freak out over these injuries till I know more about it and how serious they are. We’ll probably know more by the afternoon practice. I just hope and pray they are gonna be alright and these aren’t very serious injuries. We don’t need this.
Keep the faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
INJURY REPORT – According to varius internet sources
Moreno – Torn Hamstring, questionable for season opener
Buckhalter – hospitalized with numbness on left side of body, day to day for return to camp, probable for season opener
Might have traded JJ to soon. Not good. Hope it’s not bad or nagging injurys. Hamstrings can have a mind of thier own.
GO BRONCOS
FTR
blog acting up again
A torn hamstring is nothing like a pulled hamstring, it’s a very serious injury, I hope that report is wrong.
Numbness in the side of the body for Bucky doesn’t sound as bad, could be a compressed disk squeezing nerves, maybe two/three weeks rest. Maybe sndvl can shed more light for us on these injuries, since that’s his field.
None of all this addresses McD’s lack of comittment to the RB’s stable this off season, I am sure he regrets a thing or two now, time to come up with plan B, wether these two guys are ready to go for the regular season or not, we have the proof in front of us that we are way thin at RB, plus not a single legitimate power back, let’s go shopping….
This is the difference between a slightly torn hamstring (pulled) and a fully torn one:
When you actually fully tear your hamstring it rolls all the way up your leg and it’s severely painful worse then like breaking a bone those usually take around 3-6 months depending on how bad it is and how quickly your body recovers.
A slightly torn (pulled) hamstring/hamstring strain generally take 4-6 weeks.
No Hillis, No Gerhart, yea, we feeling it now, no one can predict the future I suppose but like Bay says, a power back has always been needed for this scheme, just makes sense.Buck is injury prone so no surprise there, but Moreno is an unfortunate incident. It is what it is. No crying over spilt milk. Thought our offense would be stagnant this year and only bright spot was running game cuz I thought Moreno would have break out year. So much for that. Best of luck to Lance Ball, He is gonna be the Main Back in training camp now, He better be looking at this as fate, gives him more reps to prove his worth….
Also, we passed on Lagarette Blount, sure, might be a risk, but he was undrafted and fit the build, wouldnt have been much of a risk….
Actually they say Kolby Smith is third on the depth chart, not that it makes any difference…
So now our RB depth chart goes something like this:
#1 Kolby Smith
#2 Lance Ball
#3 Bruce Hall
#4 Tony Baker
And…that’s it.
BAYLINER, I don’t always agree with you but I also feel like we should have addressed the RB position in the off season. I am a big Moreno fan and I hope he will be ok…but would Hillis look good in a Bronco uniform right about now?
Yeah but McD still wouldn’t play him, so would be the point. And I’m reassured you don’t always agree with me, since bloggers like mashisboss keep saying I’m crazy, LOL.
so what would be the point…
It might be about time to take another look at Westbrook.
Klis now reports that Bucky suffered an upper back pull and Moreno has suffered a severe hamstring injury, it is feared that it is a torn hamstring. Hopefully not a complete tear is all we can hope for, but it sure doesn’t sound good, like FTR said hamstring injuries can be very nagging and usually re-occur when thrown back into action, only long recovery is the sure way to heal one of those, I wouldn’t put all my chickens, or hardly any for that matter into counting on Moreno to be the man carrying the main load this season. I’m afraid we’re past the let’s hope it’s a minor injury type of thing, at least for Moreno. Houston? We got a problem!
Maybe I’m a bit behind in the news, but did anybody already pick up Westbrook?
This from DP:
“According to the FAN’s D-Mac, who was sitting in the crowd right in front of the most significant event of the Broncos’ first training camp session, running back Knowshon Moreno had caught a screen pass, cut, and without contact, went down in pain with an injured right leg”.
“According to Denver Post reporter Shemar Woods, Moreno was carted off the field. As he reached the doors leading into the Broncos’ locker room, Moreno had to be helped out of the cart, then assisted by two medical personnel as he limped into the locker room”.
Broncos coach Josh McDaniels did not elaborate details on Moreno’s injury in his post-practice press gathering, in part because the team does not yet know the full extent of the injury.
Hopefully just a pull on the hamstring and not a tear, but early indications do not look good. Keep my fingers crossed for KM.
FOX 31 in Denver reports that an MRI Sunday night revealed Knowshon Moreno’s hamstring is not torn.
While it’s good news that he’ll avoid surgery, the possibility remains that Moreno’s hamstring is significantly strained, as observers heard a “pop” when he went down on the practice field Sunday. He has no timetable for return, and the secretive Broncos could conceivably milk the the injury right up until the opener. We can pretty safely expect Belichick disciple Josh McDaniels to list Moreno as “questionable, limited” on the Week 1 injury report.
No westbrook please, If we pick up anyone, it better be someone without a history of injuries, or what would be the point? Id rather stick it out with this random no names. Wheres that dude from last year. Ran Hard during preseason, I think his name was like Andre Hall or something. Man put on a show, unfortunately McDs loyaltys were with Jordan who did absolutely nothing last year. He better not look back to him….
Is Terrell Davis available?
That sounds like a conflicting report, MRI says no tear but pop heard? Anyway it sounds like it could be better than first feared, however as said earlier hamstring injuries are nagging injuries and we need help.
And Yes Westbrook is still available that I know.
TRB, I said the same thing about Westbrook on one of the previous blog, damaged goods is the last thing we need, we already have two of those, we need someone able to carry the load, at this point neither of these three can cut the mustard load wise in my opinion.
McD is smack in the middle of a monster conundrum at RB right now, he’s going to have to agressively pursue all avenues.
Let’s just go ahead and let Tebow fill in at RB for the season. Let the young pup carry the ball around 150 times this year.
http://www.nfl.com/trainingcamp/story/09000d5d8197202c/article/broncos-moreno-will-have-mri-buckhalter-expected-to-be-ok?module=HP_headlines
is the site that was stated before that he could have torn his hamstring.
Man this is where we needed a peyton hillis to step in..*COUGH COUGH KARMA* lol
Yeah you might have something there, he didn’t treat Hillis very well, did he, always end up paying the piper in life, professional football or otherwise, well, too late to feel sorry for himself, McD must resolve this riddle very soon.
Here is what USA today says about hamstring injuries and they make an excellent point that because of Moreno’s hard cuts and quick acceleration style of running this injury could have a lasting effect on him:
Moreno sound like he could have suffered a significant hamstring pull or tear. While hamstring injuries generally are better than, for instance, knee injuries, the most serious ones still can be devastating. The worst hamstring tears can sideline players for months, and running backs who rely on quick cuts and acceleration can be slow to recover.
Enough with the bad news, here is to knocking on wood and hoping the practice session that is about to start in less than an hour will bring out nothing but good results, enough bad news for a day, for TC for that matter.
A hamstring Torn, Slightly or not is a torn one. I agree with Baylin in the time frame for total recovery. If Moreno has torn it and it does sound like a sickening pop when it happens, then let’s hope 4 to 8 weeks. Anything more then that could mean IR. But I am getting way ahead of the information put out so far. Let’s wait and see. Best wishes go out to Knowshone. But we do need plan B ASAP just in case! I am still excited and pumped for camp to be started. Watch the O line rotations and see if Thomas and Decker can be a tandem. I was also glad to hear Orton got applause when stepping first out on the field. (Witch could have been a statement in it self) It s his team as of today and it will need to be taken from him.
As always like 07 says lets always say lets stay positive.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!
FTR