Last week against the Chiefs, the linebacker corps contributed four sacks, a forced fumble and a touchdown to the winning effort. On Wednesday, the unit potentially became even deeper.
For the first time in more than a month, Robert Ayers stepped onto the practice field. Before suffering a foot injury in Week 5 at Baltimore, the second-year linebacker had tallied 1.5 sacks and earned a game ball from Head Coach Josh McDaniels after the win at Tennessee for his run-stuffing performance against Chris Johnson.
McDaniels said the team will take their time evaluating Ayers as the week goes on.
“We have a lot of different things we are going to consider,” McDaniels said. “Not only is he just starting back to practice, but his stamina, his overall ability to play, how many snaps is the big question for us, and how he does and how he reacts once he is back on the field.”
While Ayers works his way back into game shape, the linebackers will continue their game of musical chairs within the front seven.
When the coaching staff decided to bump Mario Haggan to the outside last week, Joe Mays started on the inside and notched seven tackles.
Haggan sacked Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel three times, raising his career sack total to six. Haggan’s bookend, Jason Hunter, picked up a sack of his own and scored a touchdown when he scooped a fumble forced by Haggan and sprinted 75 yards untouched.
“We have some flexibility there,” McDaniels said. “We are probably going to see more than one combination of that in the game I would imagine because I don’t anticipate staying with one grouping for 70 plays.”
Even if Ayers is able to play on Monday night in San Diego, his level of stamina is unknown. After such a productive game, Haggan could see more time for Ayers on the edge, where he spent the majority of his time last year.
Learning two positions comes with the territory for the veteran, and it’s just one way he’s earned his head coach’s respect.
“It’s not easy, and it’s a credit to him because we have made him learn that basically all year,” McDaniels said. “He is very unselfish. He still played a huge role in the kicking game on Sunday, but that is Mario and that’s why he is such a valuable person and a valuable player for our team.”
On Monday Night Football, Haggan might not be the only one pulling double duty.
“We are probably going to put a few guys in different spots, make them double learn this week because we have to,” McDaniels said.
ONE MORE ‘BACKER
David Veikune’s resolve landed him in Denver. The linebacker found a team after tryouts with the Dolphins, Eagles, Texans and Titans.
On Wednesday the team added a new dimension to the front seven by signing Veikune and releasing Jarvis Moss. A second-year player, Veikune played in 10 games for the Browns last season. After being waived by Cleveland, he never lost hope that he would find a new club.
“I always had a good outlook,” he said. “I think a big part of this game is being able to fight through adversity, and I definitely pushed through everything and stayed motivated and it helped me out.”
He said he played inside linebacker in Cleveland, but he doesn’t know what plans Defensive Coordinator Don Martindale has for him. At his first practice on Wednesday, he did his best to keep up.
“They’re throwing as much as they can at me, and I’m just trying to learn it as fast as I can,” he said.
McDaniels expressed gratitude for Moss’ work while he was with the organization and wished him the best of luck down the road.
“He has been a great kid for us. He has done everything we have asked him to do,” McDaniels said. “It just hasn’t been a perfect fit.”
-Gabe Hiatt, DenverBroncos.com
Below are pictures from Wednesday’s practice:
Tags: 2010, David Veikune, Denver Broncos, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Jason Hunter, Joe Mays, Mario Haggan, Robert Ayers
yea dropping rivers is key to winning this game, I love seeing it and hope to see lots of it on Monday.
as for the permanent orange, not so much and at $80-$200 a shot for jerseys just not really wanting to spend more $$ even if I wanted to whose jersey would I pick that I know would be on the team for more than a year? McD seems to treat his players as temps and I already have my #7 (orange), #84 Sharpe, #30 Davis, and yes #15 Tebow hoping he will be around for a few years, and personally I just like the dark blue
Well yeah picking the Chargers to win this week is definitely going with the odds…
Bay, got a kick out of no risk of overdosing on fun. lol. Good stuff.
And Bay, I also think it’s funny like someone mentioned earlier that you are mentioning playoffs, even if its just harmless speculation. If you have even a glimmer of hope then there’s definitely hope for the rest of us lol.
I mean the line is at around 10 point favorite for the Chargers now.
88, that’s one very positive way to look at things, no arguments from me there, haha.
And yeah I may be overdosing on beer by the end of the season, but probably not on fun, I wonder if there is a betting line on that? LOL.
I hear you on that. I’m still taking a realist stance on this team, but I think having a little hope that things might turn around can be healthy. It’s the only thing that keeps me watching the games.
If things start going south again, I might beat you to the six pack.
The real issue in this game is what we are up against, not to take the wind out of anyone’s sail, but those are the facts as BFE mentioned some of them yesterday:
The Chargers rate as follow IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE:
On D:
2nd overall (yards allowed)
3rd against the pass
4th against the run
On O:
1st overall
1st in passing
16th in rushing
So there is only one weakness on O and D, their running game, if you can call it a weakness as they rate 16th there, or right in the middle of the pack.
One thing is absolutely certain, if not for their ST being one of the worst unit in the league, these guys would be running away with the division right now. The real bummer for us is they said they tried to fix their ST problems during this bye week, so our hands will be full and any smack talk about how badly we are going to stomp them would be purely originating from the bias heart of some Bronco fans. In short this will be bigger test than the KC game, just saying, that many stats don’t lie, this is far from being like a 4-5 team, don’t anyone kid themselves. Their record is an aberration at this point. It will take as good a game as we had last week to have any shot, plain and simple.
MANIAC-Those guys are right about half the time. Last week they went from 9-5 to 6-8. I have a weekly pool and went 8-6 so that makes me as smart as them. The odds makers have the Chargers as 10 point favorites. But we know the Broncos are going to win and I say the Broncos 34-24
Yeah, there’s not one area on San Diego’s roster that doesn’t have a wealth of talent. That’s what scares me. We played really soft coverage last week, and I know that was part of the plan especially with the lead, but the secondary has to be a lot more physical this week. Naanee, Floyd, Crayton, Davis, Ajirotutu—they are all massive receivers who can gash a secondary if you don’t play them tight. They’re fast and not easy to tackle.
Should be a crazy test for the defense.
LMAO
S.D. is going to be a tough game. This will be a good contest. There is hope. Once again, just do not give up.
Oh, I’m not giving up. But last week I think Champ was getting cheerleaders phone numbers while Dwayne Bowe was running his routes. He can’t do that this week, not against this quarterback. That’s all I’m saying.
Naanee, Floyd, and Gates are all questionable. Gates says he`s 50-50 on playing Monday night. we`ll see.
lets hope he doesn’t, just him being out will lift a huge weight off our defenses shoulders…the key to this game will be getting pressure on Rivers, surprising right. well go out there and keep the momentum rolling. for the first time this year I was extremely impressed by how we played!
GO BRONCOS!!!
sndvl…..I guess I was wrong about Orton locking in on Lloyd,didn’t realize we had 3 WRs that has over 40 receptions..WOW!!!
I guess it just seems to me Lloyd is catching more,I don’t know why,but I wasn’t knocking Orton in any way,just like to see Thomas and Decker get more touches,after all we have a #1 and a #3 invested in them,just saying.
strandoftds…a 50/50 Gates is better than 90% of the other TEs in the NFL.
If we can pressure Rivers we have a chance. Come on D, lets get some hurries, batted balls, and some sacks.
Ya BFE, I don`t think it`s looking good for Gates.
I hope if we get an early lead Monday night we don’t go into prevent mode,I hate the prevent Defense.ATTACK,ATTACK,ATTACK!!!!!!!
If he`s on the field regardless, watch out.
Yeah I’d love to see Rivers get sacked 3 or 4 times and a couple of ints.
mhm88..I think everybody is assuming Champ isn’t trying,but I think the prevent Defense is the reason he was playing off so much,and he wasn’t getting much Safety support either,I hate the prevent Defense.ATTACK FOR 60 MINUTES,AND DON’T LET UP.
Prevent D, prevents you from winning.
Champ is still the best in the business.
Yeah if we hadn’t had such a big lead last week,I don’t know if we would have won.I’ve seen a lot of games lost because of the prevent,it sucks!
Champ is the best CB the Broncos have ever had,and one of the best of all time in the NFL,and he is still on top of his game.I don’t see why he isn’t already signed,no excuses!!!!!!
If I’m not badly mistaken,Champ is the only starting CB in the NFL last year that didn’t give up a TD.Revis can’t even say that!!!!!
You won`t hear that on the NFL Network.
Yeah there’s no doubt Champ is a legend. I love him as much as anybody. But I’ve never seen him giving a 8-12 yard cushion on just about every pass play throughout the game. It started early, that’s what bugged me. But I guess if that was the plan I can’t complain. At least we won. I just don’t agree with that philosophy but oh well.
They`ll only talk about Revis and the raiders CB who I do have alot of respect for but don`t even know how to spell his name.
I saw that also.
I think Charles Woodson is better than both Revis and Asomugha. He and Champ don’t get enough credit usually.
He is a fine CB though, Ya.
I think it`s because Champ`s getting older. They want to talk about the YOUNG BUCKS.
Orton named offensive player of the week. Nice.
C’mon, Broncos – I live out here, and if you don’t play a good game I’ll never hear the end of it … problem is, this am they still had 2000 tickets to sell by tomorrow pm or the game will be blacked out locally … can’t believe they’d let a Monday Night game be blacked out – what an embarassment that would be … anyhow, last years win out here on Monday night was great, because I was in a motel room in Phoenix at the World Softball Championships with 6 Charger fans … Eddie Royal went wild – so I didn’t have to hear all that parochial crap … but – this year is a different year, and to win it will take 60 minutes of smash-mouth football … how many times do the Chargers start off slowly, then come on in a rush at the end … two years ago they beat KC w/ 2 TDs in the last few minutes, or the Broncos would have been in the playoffs, and Shanahan would probably still be here … this year they did the same to Tennessee and Houston – games they could have lost but didn’t … so – my pick for this game … hmmmmmmmmm … guess I’ll go with Broncos 29 – Chargers 27 … got that Bay??? … (I can’t bring myself to pick against them, although it will be a real struggle to win this one) …
Got it.