COIN TOSS: After a Flyover at the end of the National Anthem, the captains for the Broncos and Jaguars are at midfield for the coin toss. Denver calls heads — and it’s heads. The Broncos have elected to receive the opening kickoff.

Q1 15:00: Perrish Cox is back deep to receive. He takes it out to the Denver 21-yard line. Now the offensive starters are on the field.. At quarterback, Kyle Orton steps up to the line of scrimmage. The offensive line is Ryan Clady, Stanley Daniels, J.D. Walton, Chris Kuper and Zane Beadles. Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Lloyd are out wide. Spencer Larsen and Knowshon Moreno are in the backfield. Daniel Graham is at tight end.

Q1 14:03: After a 28-yard pass from Orton to Graham and a 10-yard run by Moreno, Tim Tebow checks into the game in the shotgun. Orton runs out wide right. The rookie picks up a yard on a run before exiting the game. On second-and-9 at the Jacksonville 40-yard line, Orton finds Royal for a gain of 13 up the middle of the field, giving Denver another first down.

Q1 12:30: Orton dumps off a pass to Graham for a quick 8-yard pickup, giving Denver a second-and-2 at the Jaguars’ 19-yard line. Moreno takes a carry on the following play to pick up a yard. Now third-and-1, Orton lines up under center as the crowd stands on its feet. Moreno takes a carry and dives for the first down — but holding is called on Beadles, making it third-and-11. After the penalty, the offense breaks the huddle and Orton lines up in the shotgun. He looks to his left and tries to avoid pressure — but he’s sacked by Aaron Kampman. With the ball at the 36-yard line, Britton Colquitt is in to punt. Rashean Mathis fields the kick at the 8-yard line with a fair catch.

Q1 10:24: The starting defense consists of Ryan McBean, Jamal Williams and Justin Bannan on the line, with Robert Ayers, Mario Haggan, D.J. Williams and Jason Hunter at linebacker. The secondary is Champ Bailey, Andre’ Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill.

Q1 10:18: First down brings a fake handoff to Maurice Jones-Drew before David Garrard tries to find Mike Sims-Walker in the middle of the field. The Jaguars receiver is met with a hard hit by Dawkins, jarring the ball loose for an incompletion. On second down, Jones-Drew takes a carry for five yards, setting up third-and-5 at the Jacksonville 13-yard line. Garrard lofts a pass past Bailey to Mike Thomas for 23 yards and a first down.

Q1 8:45: After a 2-yard run by Jones-Drew, the running back picks up a big gain, but a holding call on the offense negates the play, making it second-and-18 at the 28-yard line. Garrard can’t find anyone open downfield on the next play, so he scrambles to his right for a gain of 5 approximately to the original line of scrimmage. On third-and-9, the Jaguars quarterback drops back in the shotgun and tries to find Rashad Jennings out of the backfield, but the pass flies over his head out of bounds. On fourth down, Adam Podlesh is in to punt, with Cox back deep to receive. The kick flies out of bounds at the the Denver 7-yard line — it was a 56-yard punt.

Q1 7:23: On first down deep in his own territory, Orton tries to connect with Gaffney near the sideline, but the pass falls incomplete. The crowd in Jacksonville is on its feet on second down, with Orton in the shotgun. The quarterback finds Lloyd for a quick first down at the 20-yard line, silencing the cheers for the moment. On the ensuing first down, Moreno takes a carry forward for about 4 yards. On second down, Orton hands off to Correll Buckhalter, who picks up 3 more yards, setting up third-and-3 at the 27-yard line. The ensuing play brings a pass from Orton toward Gaffney — and it’s nearly intercepted by Mathis, but the ball falls to the turf to bring up fourth down. Colquitt booms his kick to the waiting Thomas, who is taken down at the Jacksonville 26-yard line after the 51-yard punt.

Q1 5:13: On first down, Garrard pitches to Jones-Drew, who tries to reverse field before being taken down by Dawkins after a gain of just a yard. On second down, Garrard drips back and fires a pass far over the head of his receiver for an incompletion — but there’s a flag on the play for pass interference on the defense, giving Jacksonville a first down at its own 42-yard line. The ensuing first down brings a quick pass from Garrard to Thomas, who gains 4 yards.

Q1 3:52: Jones-Drew finds the sideline on second down, picking up 18 yards to set up first-and-10 at the Denver 37-yard line. Rashad Jennings takes the handoff on the ensuing play, picking up 5 yards. On second down, Garrard is sacked by Robert Ayers — his first career sack. Jacksonville calls its first team timeout after the play.

Q1 2:00: With Champ Bailey in tight coverage, Garrard tries to squeeze a deep pass to John Matthews, but it falls incomplete and brings out Podlesh to punt. Eddie Royal lets it fly over his head and it nearly bounces into the end zone before being saved by a Jacksonville special teamer at the 4-yard line, where Denver will take over.

Q1 1:44: There’s a giant gap of empty seats at about the 50-yard line, but the end zones are packed full at EverBank Field, and the crowd is getting rowdy as Orton and the offense take over. The first play is a handoff to Moreno, who picks up 3 yards. Second down brings a screen pass to Gaffney, who picks up the first down after an 11-yard gain. The final play of the first quarter is another Moreno run, but the second-year player is brought down for a loss of a yard. D’Anthony Batiste is in the game at left tackle.

Q2 15:00: On second-and-11, Orton stands comfortably in the backfield before firing a pass to Royal, who breaks a handful of tackles and gets a block to pick up 23 yards. On the ensuing first down, Tebow jogs back onto the field. The rookie picks up a yard on first down. On second, Orton is back under center, and he gets a quick pass out to Royal for 6 yards. On third down, Denver is called for delay of game, forcing a third-and-8 at the Denver 42-yard line. Orton lets loose a pass that was deflected as he’s hit — but the ball falls into the waiting hands of Royal for a first down just past midfield.

Q2 11:35: On the ensuing first down, Moreno takes a carry for 3 yards. On second down, Orton fakes a handoff to Moreno before dropping off a quick pass to the running back for a 4-yard gain. On third-and-3, Buckhalter takes a toss near the first-down marker — but it’s fourth-and-1. The offense stays on the field as the Jacksonville crowd is on its feet. At the Jaguars 38-yard line, Jacksonville calls its second timeout before the play. When play resumes, Buckhalter takes a carry and picks up the first down.

Q2 8:54: The next play brings a pass to Spencer Larsen for 4 yards — his first career reception — bringing up second-and-6 at the Jacksonville 32-yard line. Buckhalter takes a carry forward for a first down, but fumbles, and the ball is recovered by the Jaguars at the 24-yard line.

Q2 8:16: On first down for the Jaguars, Garrard narrowly gets off a pass to Jones-Drew, who picks up 8 yards. Second down brings a handoff to Jones-Drew, who powers forward for the first down. On first-and-10 at the Jacksonville 34-yard line, Jason Hunter bursts through the line to bring down Jones-Drew behind the line of scrimmage. In the end, it’s ruled to be a loss of a yard. Second-and-11 brings a pass from Garrard to Jennings, who is wrapped up immediately by D.J. Williams after a gain of four. On third down, Garrard lines up in the shotgun and finds Zach Miller short of the first-down marker. Podlesh is in to punt yet again. Cox is back to receive. The rookie calls for a fair catch at the 27-yard line after a 30-yard punt. Clady is back in at left tackle.

Q2 4:51: On first down, Orton fakes a handoff before attempting a screen pass — the pass falls incomplete, however. On second down, Orton lines up in the shotgun and lofts a deep pass to Gaffney, who makes the catch out of bounds. On third down, Orton is sacked by rookie Tyson Alualu. That brings out Colquitt for a punt. Thomas is back to receive for Jacksonville — he finds a lot of room due to a couple punishing blocks, but a block in the back penalty places the ball back at the Jacksonville 40-yard line.

Q2 3:59: On first down, Ayers sniffs out a play and tackles Garrard after a gain of just one yard. It looked like it was an option play — or just a broken play. Regardless, the second-year linebacker made the stop. On second down, Jones-Drew takes a pitch 7 yards to set up third-and-2 at the 48-yard line. Garrard hands off to Jones-Drew, who is brought down just short of first down — but on fourth-and-1 in their own territory, the Jacksonville offense is still on the field. Before the play, the clock runs down to the two-minute warning.

Q2 2:00: On fourth-and-1 at the Jacksonville 49-yard line, Jones-Drew takes the carry for a first down. The ensuing first down brings a pass from Garrard to Thomas down to about the 21-yard line with the clock still running. On the next first down, Garrard finds Marcedes Lewis for a touchdown. Brian Dawkins is down after the play, but he’s walking to the bench under his own power. Justin Bannan is walking to the bench flanked by trainers as well. Josh Scobee is in for the extra point, and it’s up and in with 50 seconds remaining in the half.

JAGUARS 7, BRONCOS 0

Q2 0:40: Cox returns the ball out to the 26-yard line, where the Denver offense takes over. Orton is in the shotgun. He drops back and fires deep between the coverage to Lloyd, who slides down after making the catch, and Denver quickly calls its first timeout of the half with 32 seconds remaining. The 41-yard connection puts the ball at the Jacksonville 33-yard line. The ensuing first down brings a pass from Orton to Royal, who leaps up to get the ball inside the 10-yard line. Denver calls its second timeout after the 25-yard gain to the 8-yard line. It’s first-and-goal with 25 seconds remaining.

Q2 0:25: The next play brings a pass from Orton toward Graham in the end zone, and the pass is nearly picked off, but it falls incomplete to bring up second-and-goal. Orton is in the shotgun, and the quarterback finds Gaffney in the back of the end zone for the team’s first score of the 2010 season. The score caps off the four-play, 74-yard drive, and Matt Prater’s extra point ties the game at seven with 16 seconds remaining in the first half.

BRONCOS 7, JAGUARS 7

Q2 0:10: Montell Owens fields Prater’s kickoff and takes it out to the 32-yard line. With 10 seconds remaining in the first half, Garrard takes a knee to bring the game to halftime. See you in the second half blog.

-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com

Tags: First Half Blog, Jacksonville Jaguars, Week 1

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