Two interceptions. Seven passes defensed. Six tackles for a loss. Three sacks.
The Broncos defense used all of those plays to keep the team in position for its come-from-behind, 12-7 victory over the Bengals in last Sunday’s opener.
While the players made the plays on the field, captain Brian Dawkins believes the secret to their success came from a proven leader upstairs in the coaches booth: defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
“It’s an attitude, so to speak, that he wants us to play with,” Dawkins said. “We have the guys that are capable of doing that if we know our jobs. If we are not thinking on the field, then we have the talent, the aggressiveness, to get the job done.”
With several playoff appearances to his own credit, Dawkins said much of that confidence comes from Nolan’s wealth of experience coaching top-flight teams.
“He is just someone who has had so much success in the past,” Dawkins said. “When you have that, guys are going to buy into it faster, I believe.”
BARRETT BACK AT PRACTICE
Josh Barrett returned to the practice field on Wednesday at Dove Valley. After missing the Bengals game with a shoulder injury, the safety was in his normal blue threads as a limited participant.
STACKING UP WITH THE REST
With kickoff weekend coming to a close, the NFL released a breakdown on Wednesday of heights, weights and ages on all 32 rosters. How did Denver stack up?
The Broncos have more players under 200 pounds than any other team in the AFC West. The Raiders and Chiefs each have eight on their rosters, while the Chargers have an AFC conference-low six cruiserweights. Only the Bears (12), Bengals (13) and Eagles (14) have more sub-200-pound faces on their rosters.
Denver sports the oldest AFC West roster by a hair, with an average age of 26.72 years. The Chargers came in a close second at 26.58 years, followed by the Raiders at 26.47 years. The Chiefs tied with the Colts for the youngest roster in the AFC at 25.89 years. The oldest team in the AFC was the New England Patriots at 27.19 years, while the Redskins have the oldest roster in the NFL at 27.60 years.
As for beef up front, the Broncos have 11 players who sport size of over 300 pounds. That tied them for sixth place in the AFC, with seven other teams. The NFC East proved to be the bulkiest division, with the Cowboys (16) and Giants (15) finishing first and second in the league.
Here are some more photos from the session:
–Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Brian Dawkins, Cleveland Browns, Mike Nolan, Week 2
The only way Marshall should stay if he preforms, and even then, a tough decision. But after Sunday’s game, he looks like he doesn’t even care anymore.
Good point baylinorcrush. I won’t be expecting them to make a dramatic improvement but will certainly be looking for better execution. As you mentioned, this is a complex O with lots of adjustments and reads that need to be picked up prior to the snap. Orton did state, he saw alot of things out there, in last game. He is a student right now with this new system and will grow more comfortable with each game.
Whoa..Ben totally new do.
I dont think we have to worry about going through D coachs like shanny did if McD is like Bill he’ll keep them till they prove their no good or picked up to be a head coach.
Hey gang, sorry to be away for so long. I have some extremely personal matters I’m attending to. I will eventually get this behind me, but until then, my time is limited. Miss the blogging, but what can you do, you know?
socalbigbroncofan, try relaxing on the Orton thing. I’ve read several posts were the bloggers are griping about Orton. Did he have a stellar game? Of course not. but did he lack zip on the ball and have a poor spiral becuase he is a poor QB? O course not. HE HAD AN INJURY ON HIS THROWING FINGER & WAS WEARING A GLOVE! Man, if some of you would actually just read a paper (or Internet), then you would see that there were injuries, etc.. They interviewed Elway on ESPN and he even said that the injury obviously affected his play. I’m not trying to defend Orton just because I like him, I’m doing it because I look at things for what they are, not for what gives me a reason to complain about a player when the facts are clearly there, yet, I will “just ignore them.” Stop trying to find reasons to bash Orton when you KNOW there were other facts to the player/situation that prevented him from doing his best. It aggravates my hemorrhoids.
for those who saw that Orton struggled because of the injury, thank you. Glad SOMEONE was watching the game and doing their homework.
On a side note, I put a $100 on Denver to win (Bungles were favored by 4 1/2) so I near doubled my money. I’ll “let it ride” this week against the Cleveland Clowns.
Yeah, Orton’s injury affected his play – it made him BETTER!
DDave, good to see you here, people have been wondering about your silence, hope whatever is keeping you away will work out for you. By the way, I always knew you had something up your you know what, I just didn’t know what it was… LOL.
Lol yea Baylin, Its just a game, nothing personal at all
. Enjoy your posts and some other logical bloggers as well lol. We will probably never see eye to eye on Marshall but hopefully he shapes up well enough for you to still not like him but accept his presences <—-doubtful lol. Survived through the releases of many broncos I liked…I’m quite sure ill survive his absence as well if it were ever to come to that. I guess i am just quite partial to the position of WR…would be my position of choice…got the build for it too lol
Hope everything goes well with what you dealing with DD. I was one of those wondering what was up with your sudden abscence.
Say it ain’t so Ben, say it ain’t so….
Maybe Ben has himself a lady friend…
Ben is diffidently taking on the personality of the head coach, gotta love it!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BRONCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSS!!!
just saw that champ and dawkins haven’t practiced on wed. r they ok??
I hear Marshall finally spoke to the press today to avoid a fine….altho he said nothing lol. From the mood of the article and what they wrote, seems like he is quite mellow, which is surprising to see from a guy was always joking like when he interupted cutlers interview last year and from all the “smiling pics” we see from practice lol.
I have no doubt he is gonna perform but he is not gonna perform at his peak because i guess he is unhappy. My stance has always been make him happy with a new contract so we can get the best out of him, or trade him for whatever. I always held out hope for him cuz if it were me, in such a situation when so many are down on me, my reaction is usually to prove em wrong and blow their mind. If he dwells on not getting his way, nothing will change, he wont perform at his peak and this season will move REALLY slow for him lol.
I will say one thing. at least he gave the media nothing but he could have given them nothing with a smile (reassures people u are over it) lol
Anyway as always, THE SEASON IS OURS FOR THE TAKEN
GO BRONCOS
dbroncos6
I’ve heard nothing to make me think otherwise.
Heres hopeing for 4 more sacks and a few INT against the Browns
Marshall is an amazing wide receiver and I guarantee he scores a touchdown this weekend against the Browns. Go Broncos! And Buckhalter is awesome , he will rumble for at least 80yds and a score too
Wheres Brandon Lloyd?
I don’t doubt any of that weebsy. He will do his talking on the field like they say and Broncos will come out on top agaisnt the browns. Vikings are good but they arent that amazing. Be effective on the ground, manage the pass and let the defense do what they do best. I say 2-0 broncos win 20 – 10
WEEBSY, Lloyd was on the inactive list last game, nothing wrong with him, they just carried 5 WR’s, probably will do the same Sunday as the Browns are strong in the secondary, so we might take our chances in the passing game with the short passes to the TE’s and the RB’s. Still hoping to see a heavy dose of Buckhalter and Hillis as the Browns showed a weakness defending the run against the Vikings. Bring Moreno up to speed slowly so he doesn’t get hurt because the NFL game is still going way too fast for his eyes.
If I were Marshall, I would continue to give the media nothing to write about. The NFL has their rules, he’s complying with them, he doesn’t have to say anything about how’s he’s feeling, how his teammates are treating him or what he had to do to gain their trust. Just go out, play ball and help the Broncs WIN!!!
I really hope Marshall gets his act together on Sunday and really plays well.
I haven’t been on for a while because of school. I had a big scrap with my football coach who didn’t make me play QB, so now I’m kicked out of the team. To think all the dreams I had of playing in the NFL were squashed in one practice! As for the broncos, I couldn’t really watch the game last week properly because in the back of my mind I was always feeling dissapointed. I’m happy about the defense and our overall performance.
There should be thursday night football all season… week is too long.
Go Lulu!
Go DD!
Go Broncooos!
hey cutlersucks8, easy man! Isn’t there a chance to fix things with your coach?
I love Orton. He has class. I’m waiting for the first orton/Marshall touchdown. Things will calm down, then. My kids flew out for the Browns game. Go Broncos!!! We got this!!!!
All wins are good wins. And I’d like to think that Stokley was in the right place at the right time because the offensive play that was called put Stokley that close to Marshall, kinda like a hail mary. LOL
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!