Here we are, back in the press box at INVESCO Field at Mile High. The stands aren’t packed like they will be come the start of the season, but there are still thousands of fans around the lower bowl of the stadium ready to watch the 2011 Broncos hit the practice field for the Summer Scrimmage.
This blog will be updated every few minutes as the action unfolds on the field, so be sure to refresh the page occasionally.
2:05 p.m. MDT: The entire team ran out onto the field just a few minutes ago to loud cheers. Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey were the last two players out of the tunnel, and both acknowledged the crowd after receiving big ovations.
2:12 p.m. MDT: The team is running through individual position drills at the moment, but as players were warming up, Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn and Tim Tebow had a little fun, lining up about 20 yards away from the field goal uprights. All three tried to throw the ball to hit the crossbar. Tebow hit it first, then on the very next attempt, Quinn lofted a rainbow pass that drilled the middle of the crossbar, and the signal caller walked away with a big smile.
2:19 p.m. MDT: At least from up here in the press box, it doesn’t look like there are many rookie haircuts making an appearance at today’s practice. Remember, last year this event was the debut for Tebow’s “Friar Tuck” look. Max Henson is taking in the action from the field, so if he sees anything different, I’ll let you all know.
2:25 p.m. MDT: Eddie Royal is the only player deep to field punts during this special teams drill. In practices at Dove Valley, other players like Cassius Vaughn and Perrish Cox have rotated in with him. Today, it’s just Royal. Just now, the receiver found a gap in the punt coverage team and showed a quick burst through it, sprinting down the middle of the field. Needless to say, it brought another big cheer from the crowd.
2:27 p.m. MDT: Looks like I spoke too soon. Syd’Quan Thompson is now in fielding Britton Colquitt’s punts. Guess they’re still rotating in, but the other players are just waiting on the sideline.
2:34 p.m. MDT: Brandon Lloyd just made a nice catch over his head in a 7-on-7 session with Orton at quarterback. The two followed up that connection with a deep scoring strike down the sideline — a 40-yarder past Andre’ Goodman in coverage. Meanwhile, the offensive and defensive lines are going through stretches with Strength and Conditioning Coach Rich Tuten.
2:39 p.m. MDT: After Orton completed all of his passes in his 7-on-7 session, Tebow entered the fold, finishing his session without any incompletions as well. His last throw was a long bullet over the middle to Matt Willis for a solid gain.
2:41 p.m. MDT: Next up, Quinn, and his first pass has the potential for a big gain to Willis McGahee out of the backfield, but the pass bounces off the running back’s fingertips. He put his hands on his helmet in disbelief that he dropped it, then essentially tackled Kyle McCarthy as the two collided after the play. Both got up and jogged back to the huddle.
2:45 p.m. MDT: After another couple more throws for Tebow, including his first incompletion, Quinn is back in again in 7-on-7s. He just threw a pass toward the sideline, but cornerback Chris Harris jumped in front of Mark Dell for the first interception of the session.
2:47 p.m. MDT: Adam Weber just came in for his first reps, and he proceeded to throw a pass into tight coverage that linebacker A.J. Jones came away with for the defense’s second interception.
3:02 p.m. MDT: The scrimmage has officially begun — the first true live period of camp, where tackling is allowed. Kyle Orton is under center as the offense gets started. The first play from scrimmage is a screen pass to Brandon Lloyd, who picks up a first down. The second play is another screen, this one taking advantage of a called blitz and allowing Knowshon Moreno to pick up about 45 yards after following some nice blocks. But the drive stalls there — Orton finds Eric Decker in the end zone but the refs rule he was out of bounds, then two plays later the quarterback scrambles out of the pocket but slides at the 3-yard line. Matt Prater trots in and knocks home a field goal for the offense. Now Orton and the offense are back at their own 35-yard line again, ready to start another drive.
3:07 p.m. MDT: On first down, Lance Ball takes a carry 11 yards for a first down after putting a juke move on Kyle McCarthy. On the ensuing first down, Orton evades pressure after a play-action fake handoff to Ball, but his pass to Ball afterward falls incomplete. On the next play, Orton fires over the middle to Eddie Royal for a big gain to the opponent’s 35-yard line. The ensuing run is blown up in the backfield by Jeremy Jarmon, however, bringing up second-and-14. Orton found Daniel Fells in coverage for a 10-yard gain, making it a manageable third-and-4 on the next play, but his pass to Decker over the middle is bobbled a little bit and broken up by Nate Jones. Now Hauschka is in to kick a field goal from the 29-yard line — and it’s good. The blue team has six points.
3:12 p.m. MDT: Now Tim Tebow is in to lead the offense from its own 35-yard line, and his first pass is over the head of Julius Thomas for an incompletion. On second down, Tebow hands off to Jeremiah Johnson, who finds a hole on the right side of the line and streaks down the sideline to the opponent’s 38-yard line. That makes it first down, and Tebow is sacked by Von MIller (or the play was blown dead — he wasn’t actually hit) for a 4-yard loss. On the next play, Elvis Dumervil streaks around his blocker for what might’ve been another sack on the second-year quarterback, but the refs don’t blow the play dead and Tebow runs to pick up 5 yards. Afterward, Elvis talked to him to let him know he had him in his grasp. So on the next play, Dumervil left no doubt, wrapping up Tebow for another sack before pounding his chest as the punt team heads onto the field. But the ball isn’t actually punted — Tebow and the offense just start back over for another drive from their own 35-yard line.
3:16 p.m. MDT: Fans should be happy to see the dynamic duo already in full swing, as Miller and Dumervil were both credited with sacks on the last drive. Speaking of which, Dumervil just notched another sack on Tebow’s second drive, forcing a 6-yard loss on second down to bring up third-and-16. Tebow proceeded to fire a pass to Matt Willis on the next play for 15 yards, bringing up fourth-and-1 — and the offense is still on the field after Tebow ran to the sideline to get the call from Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy. It’s a run on fourth down, and after a lot of scrambling, Referee Bill Leavy signals that the offense didn’t get it, and the defense celebrates the turnover on downs.
3:19 p.m. MDT: I knew the stadium looked fairly busy — turns out all the INVESCO parking lots are full, so if you’re still making your way to the end of the scrimmage, all traffic is being directed to Pepsi Center for parking.
3:22 p.m. MDT: Brady Quinn just lofted a pass down the sideline under pressure, and Dante Rosario came down with it over top of Darcel McBath for a big gain into opponent territory. The drive continues with a nice connection with D’Andre Goodwin to the 21-yard line. On the next play, Quinn tries to find a streaking Mark Dell in the end zone, but his pass is nearly intercepted before it hits the ground. After a run on second down, Quinn hits Dell on the sideline for a nice grab the rookie receiver had to reach down for, giving the offense a first-and-goal at the 3. Brandon Minor takes a carry to the 1-yard line, and the next play features three tight ends — Dan Gronkowski, Virgil Green and Dante Rosario. Quinn finds Green in the end zone for the offense’s first touchdown of the scrimmage.
3:32 p.m. MDT: It’s Adam Weber’s turn, and his drive ends with a pick by Brandon Bing, but there’s a flag on the play on the defense. Bing runs down to inside the 25-yard line, but he’s tackled hard by offensive lineman Curt Porter. Porter gets high fives, as does Bing, as Head Coach John Fox blows his whistle to bring the session to a close. The team is huddled up at the moment and there will be interviews off the field shortly. We’ll have more photos from the session in this blog soon, video highlights courtesy of Broncos TV and a top story a little later.
Keep in mind, Shannon Sharpe will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame tonight, so tune in to NFL Network — and we’ll have the Broncos legend’s speech on DenverBroncos.com either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
For more photos of today’s action see below.
-Gray Caldwell
Tags: Summer Scrimmage, Training Camp
I think what Tebow was saying in that interview was not that the BRONCOS had taken the QB job away from him, but that he recognized that Orton had come into training camp with a purpose and out played him and “taken” the job away from him … kudos to Tebow for recognizing that and owning up to it … but we all know Tebow is a character guy … time will or will not work its magic for him …
Thanks denverbroncos.com – my Twitter handle is J_E_Holcomb – I grew up in Colorado and live in Eastern KS – so I rely on you guys for the great information – Thanks so much!
rev79 –
No problem! Thanks for reading. We’ll keep bringing you everything we can each day from camp and throughout the season.
That’s why people say this organization is great “from top to bottom.” You guys are the top!
Only five days away for me to see this kind of stuff live on screen, but this time a game against another opponent so I don’t miss not watching these much at all, hard to tell much from all of that for me, no contact red jerseys and all, that will be all different come Thursday, my first real impression of what we got, now I have very little clue other than in practice Orton looks great, LOL.
7 on 7 stats make me laugh… How does the quarterback do under pressure?
Gray,
Could you put in a word for a double revers flea flicker please?
Gray, got to tell you that I apprecioate you bringing all this info to us “long distance” supporters. It is hard not being able to see what is going on in traing camp so your blogs are really important to us.
Wow Quinn seems to have an interception every practice, and he is supposedly doing better than Tebow. Second day Chris Harris has an INT. Good stuff. He might pan out. I hear he is too slow tho for CB. He is a safety/CB hybrid.
seweatherman1 –
Glad to do it. That’s the idea — giving you all as much detail (and photos) as possible to give you a feel for camp even if you can’t get here. And Al Wilson 4 Mayor, I’ll see what I can do……
Heard Lloyd just got a first down on a screen. I am keeping up both through the blog and on twitter. Thx for everything gray. Only thing better than this would be a live feed lol.
Moreno just took off for 45 yards on a screen. Nice .. I hope this means his slimmer build means he is faster. Maybe I should stop sharing twitter stuff and leave it to gray lol. TRB
Gray, you’ve been to all the practices. What’s your opinion of how the QB’s are playing? Is Orton really outshining everyone as folks are saying at the national level. I haven’t really seen any blogger say that who has actually been there.
Aww poor Orton. He tried to scramble but thats not his game lol. Good effort i suppose. Needs to lose those lead feet lol
Who pressured the pocket when Orton scrambled?
I`m looking forward to see how WR`s Matt Willis and Mark Dell does
TRB..Two words and a question: Red Zone?
TRB, good suggestion! Gray, can you set up a webcast or something to that effect?
LMAO weatherman1.
haha yea weatherman. Looks like Orton can still drive down the field but can’t finish in the redzone. Nothing but field goals. lol … but we already knew that…
I’m not liking all of these huge gains by our O! Not sounding good for the D… It’s a double edged sword.
TRB, Orton in the middle of the field, Tebow inside the 25 yard line in games. HaHa!!
Nice, Miller just got a sack!
I agree. Sounds like our D is giving up tremedous yards and the O can’t seem to get it across the line once in the red zone. Where is the improvement from last year?
MILLER TIME!!
Yep, that is the D we all want to see!
wow … Batman and Robin wreaking havoc LOVE IT. Defenses are gonna get it this year. Is tebow behind the first team OL … cuz 2nd team OL against First team front 7 would kill em lol. Come on Tebow. You can do better. TRB
It`ll be a different story this year with Doom playing back for our defense.
Like seriously doom alone makes a huge difference, not to mention miller. We had virtually no sacks last year, no pressure, and no pressure meant no INTs. Was a tough year without Doom. Doom just makes us way better this year, plus our other additional D acquisitions. Im calling it. I think we squeze into the top 10 D. At around 9/10.
Watching NFL Network’s pre induction with Irving, Meriuchi (sp?), and Eisen. Seeing a few Tebow jerseys walking around behind them.
I have to agree with you TRB. This is a lot different D than we have seen this past year. This is SWEET!
Don`t count out MLB Nate Irvin, he`s going to open some eyes, he`s a heavey hitter.
Brady might be the first one to get a TD lol
ooops, Irvin a heavy hitter. Yah.
Off subject…there is strong Bronco support out in Canton right now for Shannon as evidenced on NFLN.
Glad to know Bronco fans are still far spread and loyal. I mean I know we are but the support being shown to sharpe … awsome
There is one thing that can not be taken away from him. He earned, and deserves, every bit of it.
way to go quinn. I find it funny that the guys with the lease mobility didn’t get sacked as much as tebow. But like they say, scrambling mobility and pocket mobility are 2 different things.
Oh man! Quinn makes the first TD. What a rush!
So who is Dumervil beating everytime? Clady?
so Orton puts up 6 points (2 FGs) and Tebow puts up no points and Quinn gets the first TD … pass to virgil green. nice … 3 TE set. That is crazy with the kind of TEs we got. you dont know if it will be a run or pass. I love it.
Sorry about no live feed, guys. But Chris Hall of Broncos TV is on the field filming the action, so we’ll have highlights up after the scrimmage.
Ace thats what I was trying to find out. Whether Tebow was still behind the first team OL because Orton didnt get sacked and neither did Quinn. Maybe they just blitzed Tebow more because they know his weakness is getting the ball out quick and making quick decisions. In a real game, he probably wouldn’t be sacked but in a non contact game. It was a sack.
We`ll be looking forward to see it Gray and thanks.
good job quinn but i really want to see tebow get some
Just wondering because it would be hard for me to see clady getting beat like that , but if he did then Doom must really be strong this year.
Our D is going to be better by leaps and bounds compared to last year.
I hope that it isn’t only 2 to 3 mins of highlights. Maybe something like 4 or 5 mins would be nice…lol
Gray,
Thanks for bringing it – looking forward to pics/vids later.
God Bless – looking forward to watching some Football this fall!
Thanks Gray, for the Updates.