The calendar may say June 12, but the weather outside at Dove Valley had many thinking it was still early March. Rain, cold temperatures, dark skies and the occassional rumble of thunder marked the middle day of a mandatory three-day minicamp at Dove Valley.
As the practice opened in a steady rain, members of the equipment staff tried to keep the footballs dry by stuffing them inside their jackets. During the opening defensive drill stations, one of the exercises tested the players’ mettle in the messy conditions by forcing them to grab the slippery ball out of the air as if it was tipped or scoop fumbles off the slick grass.
Despite less than ideal conditions, the team still got in a full workout.
4th AND GOAL
After a spirited red zone 7-on-7 drill, McDaniels decided to stoke the competitive fire between his units a bit more by declaring they would run the next few plays as 4th-and-goal scenarios from the five-yard line. The ensuing plays proved some of the most intense and loud plays of the day.
On the first play, Kyle Orton hit Demaryius Thomas for a quick score on a slant pattern. Head Coach Josh McDaniels celebrated the play, much to defensive coordinator Don Martindale’s chagrin.
On the second play, Andre’ Goodman broke up an Orton pass for Kenny McKinley.
Then, Brady Quinn took his turn, hitting Jabar Gaffney for a touchdown in the back of the end zone after buying some time in the pocket.
After a defensive timeout, Tim Tebow zipped a pass to Matthew Willis in traffic for a score. The rookie punctuated the throw with a fist-pump, but Martindale wasn’t as enthused. “Oh, we sacked him six times on that one, but ok, touchdown,” Martindale said, earning a playful shove from Willis.
The defense got the last laugh in the drill when Orton couldn’t hook up with Gaffney in the back of the end zone on the drill’s final play.
NOTABLE PLAYS
On Brady Quinn’s first snap of 7-on-7 drills, he pump faked and showed off his arm strength with a bomb toward Willis. However, Alphonso Smith recovered in time to knock the ball out of the second-year receiver’s grasp more than 40 yards down field.
Knowshon Moreno continues to impress with his work in the receiving game during 7-on-7 drills. He’s also having fun with his success by orchestrating some of the biggest celebrations. He punctuated one long catch by high-stepping toward McDaniels, who was standing behind the play, for a big high-five. After a touchdown catch during red zone drills, the second-year running back purposefully stalked through the back of the end zone and handed the ball to a reporter.
Thomas continues to be a favorite target of the quarterbacks. He nearly came up with several highlight-reel grabs in traffic, but on one play that got the offense excited, the Georgia Tech-product snuck behind the defense and Orton found him wide open down the sideline. Lineman Seth Olsen, standing behind the play with the extra offensive players, signaled it a touchdown.
The play of the day came during the closing two-minute drill. After McDaniels set the scenario as 2nd-and-10 from the 15-yard line with 26 seconds to go, Orton lofted a pass for Willis in the back of the end zone. Willis leaped and grabbed the pass between two defenders for the score before being mobbed by a pack of offensive players.
QUOTABLES
During 7-on-7 drills, Tebow tried to hook up with fellow first-rounder Thomas down the left sideline but Thomas got tangled with Goodman for an apparent defensive pass interference. The offense pleaded for a call. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale made light of the play, coyly saying, “We’ll decline it.”
After some recent success, the defense failed to come up with any interceptions during any offense-defense drills. The closest was when Orton tossed a pass into the flat during 7-on-7 drills that hit off Jarvis Moss’ hands. Moss popped up and spiked the ball in frustration, while his defensive teammates razzed him. On the dreary day, Moss decided not to wear the darkened face shield he normally sports. After that play, Bruton pointed that out, saying, “He doesn’t have his visor on. He should’ve seen that [pass].”
QUICK HITS
At the beginning of practice, Matt Prater worked on onside kicks under the watchful eye of special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Later during kick coverage drills, he tried out a few more onside kicks.
The first team kickoff coverage unit consisted of Nate Jones, David Bruton, Wesley Woodyard, Spencer Larsen, Alphonso Smith, Willis, Josh Barrett, Kevin Alexander, Nick Greisen and Darcel McBath.
For the second consecutive day, Moss, Kevin Alexander and Perrish Cox saw extensive action with the first-team defense. During several first-team plays during 11-on-11 drills, Cox stood behind the action with secondary coach Ed Donatell to get a different angle of the play before substituting in.
After practice ended, several young players stuck around for an extra round of 7-on-7 drills with Tebow under center. Kyle McCarthy came up with an interception on a tipped ball deep down field.
At the end of practice, the kicking unit went through a series of fake field goals to prepare the kick block unit for a variety of trick plays.
Below are some photos of this morning’s practice.
- Eric Detweiler, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Andre' Goodman, Don "Wink" Martindale, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Justin Bannan, Korey Bosworth, Kyle McCarthy, Lonie Paxton
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Agreed, that’s why I said so far.
DP klis reports that our number 1 strength is our secondary from what he has been seeing and he says theres a noticable improvement in phonzy so i hoping it shows come game time….
Just seeing the Paxton pic above with the caption “the rain isn’t bothering Lonie Paxton”, at 5.3 mil for 5 years, the second highest paid long snapper in the league, the rain wouldn’t bother me either, LOL.
I think this draft was solid and I think last year was ok at best! Moreno wasn’t flashy but he will get better this year and we will see if he was a solid pick, as for Ayers and Phonsy, they will have to impress me. I’m not too hopeful they will be “greats” in this league, but if they work hard they can be pretty good!
As for Orton, I think people need to give him a chance. You are so quick to call him a bad QB but if you look at his time in Denver with all the chaos and the new system and coach, he was still the only Denver QB with a 90 plus passer rating in 10 games since Elway! I know he isn’t our future, but mark my words “he will be a good QB for the next team he’s with”
P.S. bay I’m sorry I brought up stokes after you! I must’ve missed that post!
Yovi, no problem at all, it was just so identical I thought it was funny enough to mention, i.e. the echo thing, LOL.
Dang, there are a bunch of Debbie Downers here. And a lot of people called me NEGATIVE? lol
What is so bad about Orton being named the starter?
- A full year in this system
- Career highs after that first year
- A better understanding what to expect
- A bargain price (at least from the front office P.O.V)
- Veteran leadership
- Respect of teamates
- Beefed up O-line
Glad to know its not a popularity contest. And that McD does have some sense. Now I do understand he was named the starter going into training camp, but that also means its HIS job to lose.
-It is what it is-
GO BRONCOS 2K10!!!!!!!!!!
BTW Yovi, OC really, really, really doesn’t like Orton, so you have to take his posts regarding Orton with a grain of salt, it gets kind of funny over time, Sndvl defending Orton and OC slamming him, LOL.
Just on cue, sndvl comes to the rescue of his boy Orton, LMAO!!!!
What kind of QB competition has one guy getting most of the reps? I think this charade that McD is calling a QB competition needs to be fair and competent.
Of course Orton is going to be the starter if he is getting the majority of the snaps.. McDuh!!!
Alright McCoach, if you’re going to call it a fair race than let all three guys get equal time and reps!!! Otherwise this is just a big friggin Joke of a QB competition!!!! joomg ( just one old mans gripe…)
Agree 100% bro!!!!!!
haha bay I see what you mean! thank you! But OC, IMO I think Mcd has a plan for Tebow and he is our future but I also think Mcd wants to win this year and understands that Orton gives us the best shot to do just that! the reps will come in time but Tebow and Quinn will need to work for them! and if you remember there were a few “opportunity” practices where Orton wasn’t even present, It’s Ortons job to lose and I’m confident the best man will win!
Yovi21,
The problem with Orton is that he does real well in practice when the plays work out just as scripted but have a blitzing LB smash him into the gound like the Baltimore Ravens did to him last year and then Orton gets scared, tunnel vision, slow feet, won’t tuck the ball and run, throws out of bounds at the first sign of pressure… He is no winner. You didn’t notice that last year when he blew the KC game with 2 pick-6′s? Maybe Ørton is an ACE in the class but he’s a DUCE on the grass. jomho
I agree with Alfred Williams “the Broncos could have been playoff contenders last year if they had a better QB”.
ILMSDB!!
First, bay, you’re big man, too, dude. Always a honor.
Second, I’m beginning to think It’s just me, but what I got from McD’s words was that Orton is the starter. So, he’s #1. Period. End of “controversy”. And what he says about “if someone else plays better than the starter, he will play”, applies to every position. If Cox or Thompson play better than Champ or Goody, they will start. If Moss plays better than Doom, he will start. If Bruton plays better than Dawkins, he will start… and there aren’t CBs controversies, or Safety controversies, right?
Do you really imagine one of those situations happening? Not me. We know Champ, Goody, Dawkins and Doom are the starters, and unless an injury happens, that’s how it will be on regular season… so why should it be different with Orton, even when McD has said that he’s the starter, and again, and again, and again?… “Because if he was ok with Orton, why did he bring Quinn and Tebow’”
Well, I think he’s very “ok” with Champ and Goody, and he drafted Smith last year and two more CBs this year. So? He said Doom deserves his contract and drafted a OLB this year. So?
The truth is the MEDIA is responsible for this “Broncos QB Controversy”, and they just simply won’t let it fade away so easily, because Tebow is involved and Tebow is ratting. So they make Tebow news (even when he’s not anymore) to make sure people keep following them.
My 2 cents.
SIGN DOOM!
OC,
I can see what you mean! I wasn’t impressed with the way orton handled pressure last year he was brought down way to easy! I also think these QB’s will get an equal number of pre-season snaps and those will be important! no position is safe and while Orton wont be the starter in the future if he can play well enough to win games for us now, why would we want to rush Tebow on to the field? dont get me wrong though, I want Tebow ASAP but I just want him to be able to succeed while he is the starter!