Justin Bannan’s most recent memory of the Titans’ LP Field was a happy one.
Two seasons ago, Bannan celebrated a road playoff win as his former squad, the Baltimore Ravens, used a last-minute Matt Stover field goal to advance to the AFC Championship game.
But most visitors have not been so fortunate.
The Titans have won nearly 65 percent of their 90 regular season home games since opening the stadium in 1999. Every game — preseason, regular season and playoff — has been sold out since the Titans moved in, creating one of the league’s top home field advantages.
“It’s a tough place to play,” Bannan said. “Obviously, we have to gear up for a 60-minute game, and I know we are. If we’re going to take it, it’s going to come down to the end.”
It’s also an atmosphere not many Broncos are familiar with. The team has played just once at LP Field — a Christmas night loss to the Titans in 2004. Only Champ Bailey and D.J. Williams remain from the squad that dropped a 37-16 decision that night.
But Head Coach Josh McDaniels said he’s very aware of the test the atmosphere will provide for his offense, in particular.
Last season, visitors to LP Field committed 18 false start penalties — tied for the most in the league with Houston’s Reliant Stadium. During the past three seasons, opposing teams have committed 49 false starts — tied with Minnesota’s Metrodome, where the Broncos visited this preseason, for the NFL’s highest total in that span.
“It is a big home-field advantage,” McDaniels said. “I have been there a few times. It is certainly not easy, but we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Other players who have gotten a taste of the gameday atmosphere include Kevin Vickerson, who played for the Titans from 2007 to 2009, and Britton Colquitt, a Knoxville, Tenn.,-native who first experienced the Titans’ home atmosphere as a fan several years ago.
That day Colquitt’s family made the trip to see then-Titans kicker Gary Anderson, who was a former teammate of his father, Craig. Even though the Titans fell to the Colts in the game, the crowd left an impression on the punter.
“It was a great time,” Colquitt said. “The fans were really into it. They like to pride themselves on helping their team out. That’s one of those things that we have to be prepared for, and I know we will be.”
The Broncos dropped their first road contest of the season at Jacksonville in Week 1 and hope to snap a three-game road losing streak dating back to last season.
With trips to Baltimore, Arizona, each of their AFC West rivals and a neutral site clash with San Francisco in London still coming this season, Bannan said the team has to be ready for different challenges from each road game on the schedule.
The defensive lineman said the Broncos have the focus to handle whatever difficulties the schedulemakers have presented — starting Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
“I think you just have to block all that out and concentrate on the game,” Bannan said. “If you start thinking or worrying about it, then it’s going to affect you in a weird way — maybe subconsciously. My advice is ‘Who cares? Let’s just go down there and play football.’”
Fullback Spencer Larsen (ankle), running back Knowshon Moreno (hamstring), linebacker Wesley Woodyard (hamstring) and defensive lineman Jamal Williams (non-injury) did not practice on Thursday. Cornerback Andre’ Goodman (quadricep) and offensive lineman Ryan Harris (ankle) were limited during the workout. After missing Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury, safety Brian Dawkins returned to full participation.
For the Titans, defensive tackle Tony Brown (knee), defensive end Jacob Ford (knee) and cornerback Jason McCourty (forearm) did not practice.
- Eric Detweiler, DenverBroncos.com
Below are some photos from today’s workout:
Tags: 2010, Britton Colquitt, Denver Broncos, Justin Bannan, Tennessee Titans, Week 4
Im sure Baylin will have a field day with another picture of Maroney taking off upfield lol.
Didnt like the Maroney pick at first and im still iffy about it, but with Moreno hurt Buckhalter likely to get hurt and andre brown coming off an injury. Glad we got him. Like I said was a fan of him as a rookie, just think he has underperformed in his career and I dont think going from one patriots team to another patriots team thats not really about running the ball will help. But time will tell. At the end, a bigger back woulda still been the ideal choice.
Tenessee doesnt have a passing game, and passing defense is our strength. They do however have a mean running and screen game, so if we can focus all our energy on that. Dont see why we cant win. CJ WILL break some huge plays, all we can do is hope to stop him befor ehe gets to the endzone. I like out chances in this one. I say broncos 30 Titans 17
LMAO, here we go again, Maroney CAN go upfield in practice, take it to the game baby.
Funny, I thought they would make a big deal of it here, anyway here is what Lindsay Jones is reporting from today’s practice:
The Broncos could have their starting offensive line intact for the first time this season for Sunday’s game at Tennessee.
Coach Josh McDaniels said Thursday that right tackle Ryan Harris fared well in his return to practice on Wednesday and that the team is hopeful Harris will be able to make his regular season debut against the Titans.
“He practiced the entire practice, and he’ll be out there today,” McDaniels said. “He didn’t have any ill effects from yesterday.”
YYEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, that’s good news!!!
The Titans injury list looks too small.
FINALLY!!!!
A COMPLETE offensive line
We are in the midst of our toughest schedule stretch and I believe we all knew getting thru the Colts, Titans, Ravens and Jets would be no cakewalk. I believe if we pick up at least one win in the next three we can be 4-4 at the bye week and I have said before if we can be 4-4 at the half way point I believe we can still go 10-6. I see our offensive line coming together with some valuable experience gained for the fill-ins. That should help to improve our running game and hopefully sometime we have all our backs healthly. Our receiving group is turning out to be awesome and we have four excellent receivers. Our defensive line is improved and improving and our secondary is well above average. Eliminate some turnovers, get healthy and keep getting experience and I expect our second half of the season to be quite good. Of course I am a believer of the program and think we are on the correct track for future success. With that said I think we squeak this one out with a 23-20 score. Go TEAM Broncos!
bay, it’s funny that you always give credit to the DP writers when you post something of theirs but they never credit you when they use you stuff…lol..
Gotta have more class than they do. Heck, everybody knows we work for free and aren’t syndicated, they’re out here like vultures and there isn’t a thing anyone of us can do about it. Notice I always take the time to give them proper credit too, all we get is we are a bunch of non sense bloggers, at least if you listen to Woody, but we all know better. Hi Woody, hi Klis, hi Lindsay, hi Legwold, hi everyone at the post, how you doin? LOL.
I suppose its spilt milk but Hillis is showingAGAIN why we should never have let him go. Jabroni PFFT even Stephen Hawkins wheelchair could `take off up field’ in practice.
Broncos to put the beat down on the Titans!!
@ Baylino LOL
The Titans in Tennessee….. wow, my guess is thats a tough row to hoe… they have two big T’s in there name… If you want to win you have to fight fire with fire.. We need our weapon with two big T’s in his name to come in on red zone and pass for touch downs. Nobody would ever guess that josh would have TTebow pass on 4th and goal from the one…
Probably just Jersey Dreaming… We’ll see what happens but I still think we are count down to three games of losses and the the Miracle of Tebow will happen on October 24! could be the next time we see the Broncos win?
ILMSDB!!!
oh, almost forgot…
Sorry to say, but gotta be 4 real….
Broncos 13
Titans 34
ILMSDB!!!!W or L!!!
OC going radical. Usually you go radical on the plus side, could it be the Tebow demotion is eating at your Bonco faith, just jiving with you I know how you feel about all that stuff since I read all the posts, anyhow that is a bit of a shocking score, by 3 TD’s.
My guess, we won’t see Tebow time until London. No way Orton gets benched before we even start division play. We lose to Oakland at home this year…. It will be a scary Halloween indeed!
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!
Man, I can’t even fathow losing to the Raiders again at home this year, that would really be a major blow, losing the next three would be tough enough but nothing like losing the first division game at home, you’re are trying to scare us all already? It’s working…
Hey all!!! Another good day!!!
So looking forward to this weekend everything ready to go. Great news bout the offensive line!!!
Like to see Knowshon show up for practice he is not good or ewpierienced enough to sit out!! IMOP
I think we got a good shot this weekend looking fairly healthy time to see the whole team execute going back to knowshon especialy with the anemic run game I just don’t get it???
We are failing to execute and falling short on continuity???
Enough complaining. Our run D has been sound so we should see how it goes.
Gotta stop there screen game from picking up third down conversions.
Looking forward to it will think bout it and post score later
Team work!!! Mistake free football and we are outa there with a win!!!!!
Go Broncos!!!!!
On my season record prediction, I have us losing the next three (at Titans, at Baltimore and the Jets) and winning the following three (Raiders, SF at Wembley and KC), that would be ok with me.
Ha with the way Orton is playing he will take us to a superbowl before Tebow ever gets a chance to start!
Hey big Ben, what’s shaking, I’m going to do a re-post for the ones who haven’t predicted scores yet and don’t have much time for research to maybe help them out a bit, take it or leave it, LOL:
The Titans beat the Raiders 38-13 in week 1. Simple answers there, 202 yards on the ground, and, well, it’s the Raiders.
They lost 11-19 to the Steelers in week 2. The key there was as big as the nose on my face, the Steelers stopped the run allowing only 46 yards.
They won their last game against the Giants 29-10. A little more complex there, but still things worthy to consider. Eerily like us last week, Eli Manning had big numbers, 34 of 48 for 386 yds but no TD and 2 INT, and they even added 107 yds on the ground, way more than our 67 yd per game average I believe so far this year. And Young was only 10 of 16 for 118 yds, with the key there being the running game for the second time with 161 yds.
So, real simple, you stop their running game, it seems you come out of there with a win, of course with Chris Johnson it seems so trivial, but there is nothing like in depth. The other thing that sticks out, the Titans are built like the Colts, probably a division thing, they let you walk up and down the field all day, like Eli Manning did, yet they don’t let you get in the end zone, only 10 points by the Giants. Sounds familiar?
But the Giants had a couple of turnovers. I can see us winning this game handily, but I can also see us getting crushed. It all depends on how well we limit the run game.
Yovi21…
The way Orton is playing will take us within 20 yards of the SB…. then… four and out….
He’s solid between the 20′s though… If he were an airline pilot he could fly you really fast from Chicago to Denver But could never get you from NY to LA…
It’s not all Orts’ fault though, he has played well… His coach has really bad stubborness and problems surrounding himself with players and coaches he can trust and delegate responsibilites to without alienating himself from them if they don’t always perform up to his expectations….
I’m pretty sure Orton and McDaniels will go down with the ship together…. i hear a faint ticking and tocking in the distance…… darn it sndvl…!
Baylin I agree with your season prediction with one exception. I think we’ll find a win somewhere among the Titans, Ravens, and Jets – most likely against the Jets. Their offense is looking good, I admit, but I think our secondary can exploit young Sanchez. Especially on our turf! Then it’s on to that three game winning streak you were talking about! Also you write a blog? How do I where do I subscribe? GO BRONCOS!
Yovi, it’s interesting what you say about Orton. Last year I didn’t think he could throw down the field (did anybody?) this year he’s leading the league in pass completions of 25 yards or more. Right now he’s not looking great in the red zone. If he could transorm that aspect of his game the way that he has with the deep ball, and we get one of these powerbacks everyone’s talking about, we could be maybe be a championship caliber team. I’m personally rooting for Tebow to take the job in the next year or too. I’d love to see him succeed.
I need to slow down and proof read haha. I’m just so excited to be here. Go Broncos!
OC your pessimism now amuses me!!! LOL
I’m a MCD fan give his stubborness a chance and I think you will see good things he has a football mind and cares about both sides of the ball.
He probalbly does get in his own way but give him time i tell ya!!!
Hey bay wat up thanx for the shout out.
Always good info
My pick 20 to 17 DENVER
MISTAKE FREE FOOTBALL AND EXECUTE ON TWO READY BREAK!!!!!
GO BRONCOS
Get used to it benbronco9… till Tebow is our starter, OC will be in a somewhat “bad mood”. lol Just being ornery OC, but we all know its true.
Very glad to see Dawkins back on the practice field. We don’t need an injured Weapon X. We need to get back into the dominating state we were against Seattle. Moreno will be out Sunday so we got Maroney, Bucky and maybe Brown… I don’t care who is in there, just hold onto the ball & run! Fight for the yards. Next big issue, red zone offense. Do something creative & smart for once to get those 6 points. Our red zone offense was just flat embarrassing against Indy. If you’re gonna throw the ball, make it catchable. If you’re gonna run it, you better find a gap and make a push for it. And no matter what team we play, a top priority should be to stop the run. Other than that, I’m loving what I’ve been seeing from our defense. More solid than our offense right now. Keep it up and there’s always room for improvements.
Keep the faith Bronco Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
Its funny, people have us beating the chiefs but funny enough, out of all the teams they you guys have us losing to b4 the chiefs. NONE of them are undefeated but the chiefs are lol. Even colts werent. But KC coulda just lucked out, they are probably the 2010 version of the 09 broncos. Only time will tell
TRB, I’m really hoping the the Chiefs are the ’09 Broncos. They have some very talented players, but they’re talented YOUNG players who will be easier to coach against in November. If we can’t beat ‘em at home we’re not gonna be ‘em at all. And if we can’t beat ‘em at all our snowball’s chance of winning the AFC West is going to turn into no chance. We’ll be playing our best football against those guys because the boys understand that they have to. I expect our season to go a lot like our games: we’ll be in it until the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, even if only by a thread.
3-10. Since we started 6-0. KC is 4-0, dating back to last year. Solid coaching is my opinion.
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10! Toughen up in Tennessee
I’m confused. McD said that Harris had a full practice. Injury report says Limited Practice. ??????
my prediction
denver 31
titians 28
go broncos
B&R, this IS THE blog, heck with how much I write here I don’t know how I would have time to eat drink and sleep if I wrote anywhere else!
TRB, my next six games prediction listed was made PRIOR to the season, and even so some teams might be hot or not now, it usually even itself out, bottom line I see is us being 4-5 after the first KC game, however we get there is up for debate, but we need to beat KC at home because we sure as heck will have a much more difficult time doing it in KC in December!
Talking about the Chiefs, this is my THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
What is the MAJOR DIFFERENCE between us and the Chiefs?
I mean the Chiefs hired a good OC coming off a superbowl appearance in Haley from the Cardinlas.
Bowlen hires a good OC coming out of one of the best team in the league in McD.
And I think that’s where all ressemblance ends, and that’s where the major difference comes in:
Bowlen decided to promote young Xanders in house to the all so important post of general manager.
The Chiefs decide to hire top notch and well groomed VP of player personel from N-E Scott Pioli as their general manager. That IS the major difference.
And you can start seeing why now, in two years they have had very good drafts, including an incredible one this year. Even so they started out poorly last year, you can see that with having chosen good players in the draft they are on a strong rebuilding pace with youth all over, the best way in the NFL today to build a long lasting good team. And all of that because of Pioli.
On the other hand, so far Xanders and McD have done poorly in the draft, at least last year, of course this year still needs some legs to pass judgement on, but from what has transpired on the field so far, the rookies of 2010 have brought wins to KC to where ours have not, and that’s the bottom line. What we are doing so far is opposite of KC, rebuilding mainly with has been FA’s, a sure way not to rebuild at good team for years to come, and the reason is Pioli vs. Xanders.
Now of course the verdict is still wide open in this young season as far as the Chiefs being all world and us being mediocre, but it is undeniable to me that the Chiefs have chosen the correct more sensible approach, bringing in a highly qualified man for GM, that way a lot of the load immediately comes off the shoulders of the HC. As in our case McD has a hand in EVERYTHING and it is making it very hard for him to do ANYTHING real well. It’s like the man vs. woman syndrome, I can do only one thing at the time, but I do a heck of a job on it. My wife can do all kinds of things all at once but none of them real well, LOL.
Anyhow, don’t anybody be surprised if this year we end up having the surprise team of the year in our division and they end up winning it. And if they do that’s because they went at it the right way starting rebuilding at the very top. Bowlen missed the boat on that one, I thought so back then and I still do now. A great GM manager is not a luxury, it is a necessity, no disrespect to Xanders but he is still wet behind the ears for that GM position.
Maybe next time we bring in a new coach we should start out with the GM, just saying.
Baylin….GREAT ARTICLE.I agree totally with what you’re trying to say bro!!
Champ on CJ:”He’s a guy where you can’t just hit him and think he’s going to go down.He breaks a lot of tackles and makes people look stupid all the time”.
At 5’11-191 lbs CJ is as tough as they come,never seen a RB at his size break so many tackles,we better bring our runD,as well as they’ve been playing I think we can win,as OI predicted earlier in the week Broncos win 20-17.
BFE
Did you guys catch the McDaniels interview on 104.3the fan.com? It was interesting to hear his explanation of the Peyton Hillis departure. I think the coach’s system requires a versatile, quick, pass catching type of back that can also pound it in at the goal line. McDaniels thought he was getting one with Moreno. Maybe so, if he can stay healthy. Stupid hamstring!
Tennessee is overconfident after their NYG victory; I say Broncos win 24 to 17. I am excited to see the development of Parrish Cox after the Indy game screw-ups. I think he has real potential.
Bay- you have an interesting take on Xanders vs Pioli. I think it is a little early to start hailing the Chiefs. How is the “verdict wide open” and yet it is “undeniable to you they have chosen more wisely”? I am sure that there are a lot that goes on behind the scenes that will only be discovered and dissected years down the road. And ultimately the scoreboard will tell the tale.
Here’s to the Broncos singing their own victory song in the Music City!!!
Hey fellow Broncos fanatics!
Here’s my prediction….tough game coming up but I believe our boys pull out a tight one 24-21.
GO BRONCOS!
Hometeam, because I’m trying to be nice…
WHY DID WE GET RID OF PEYTON HILLIS?!?!?!?!?! He is a maniacle beast and i loved him in Denver. Now he is running around Cleveland like nobody’s business and we are plagued with RB injuries. That trade forced us to make the trade for Maroney and although i like Brady Quinn as our backup (no Tim Tebow is not our backup, he is our Wild “Horse” QB) i would love to bring Hillis back
Niiiccce Bay, Niiiccce Bay……
BAYLINORCRUSH…of course KC’s rookies look amazing. They drafted flashy, skill-position players. Arenas, McCluster and that TE who i still dk. We drafted DT, who had a very good game against the Seahawks, Tim Tebow, who is yet to be groomed into the NFL style, and lineman. The only lineman i ever hear about are amazing LTs, someone who screws up or any lineman for the Cowboys.
This is all about the long run. They have guys who not many people deal with. But Devin Hester, Joshua Cribbs and (until recently) Leon Washington were kept at bay pretty well the last couple years in the return game. You may say they havent played as much as returners but they still PR or KR some and every opportunity counts. McCluster is quick but once someone stops him, everyone will know how to stop him. No one is unstoppable. And the TE…they just didnt account for him and he hasnt played against people that actually considered him a threat at the time.
Plain and simple IMO
You must mean OT because I don’t remember drafting DT, anyway the rest of your post is confusing as well so if you want to make a point I would recommend trying it again, sorry you’re losing me. I may be plain and simple in your head, but you need to put it that way on paper.
It may be plain and simple…
But I am plain and simple, haha.
He means Demaryius Thomas
(CONTINUED)
We drafted Demaryius Thomas to be our #1 receiver going into the future, Eric Decker as a future role guy and extremely solid offensive lineman for years to come. Think of it like this…
Clady – Lepsis,
Beadles – Hamilton/Schlereth,
Walton – Nalen,
Kuper – Neil,
Harris – Foster
…the right side of this offense line my be better than past years but no promises yet.
Also, Syd’Quan Thompson is a spark in the return game, Cox is developing into Champ’s replacement, Darcel McBath from last year’s draft is getting some playing time in relief of Dawkins, Bruton is in progress being Renaldo Hill, Ayers is starting to step it up this year and when Knowson is back, well we have all seen sparks of what he can do.
Some “experts” may say we are rebuilding but i beg to differ. With some more time together this team can build of its 6-0 start last year and become a competitor for years to come. 3-0 last year, 1-2 this year…its all a matter of time
Awesome, Goody and Harris are set to play. Heck Ya!!!!! Hey BFE, are you going to the game? If you are, that would be one heck of a party. Sure hope we pull off an upset. But like Baylinocrush said either way you win. Rather cool. Rock On.
Bronco Boy, I see your point, in that McDaniels drafted players for the long term and KC has some flashy quick guys that will be stopped shortly.
I do not agree that this is the goal though. McDaniels has said repeatedly that he wants to win now. He most likely is trying to create depth at certain positions that are weaknesses. Alot of us were very concerned about both our O-line and our D-line at the end of last year. He and Xanders has done alot to make improvements there. Our D-line is a patchwork quilt that still needs to become a unit that works together. I really think we would be 3-0 if Elvis did not get injured.
I think it has been pointed out that one position he failed to do something about this year is running back. My opinion is that he truly believed in Moreno and has held onto the hope that he will produce. Morneo’s injures may convince McDaniels otherwise by week 6. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a trade for a Marshawn Lynch type of back.
007…I would love to see Lynch become a Bronco,but what are we doing???
Are we going to keep signing RBs until we find one that works???
I can remember not to long ago we could put any RB in the backfield and they could get over 1000 yds,but sigh those days are gone……..
BFE