It was a historical night for the Broncos at INVESCO Field at Mile High. With 76 players suiting up in full pads, a record practice crowd of 13,402 fans filled the stadium seats to watch the two-hour session. Here are some quick hits from the under-the-lights outing in Denver.
ROLL CALL: Not practicing were Brandon Marshall, Brian Dawkins, and Rulon Davis. After practicing in the morning with an orange jersey for players recovering from injury, Nic Clemons was back out on the field in the same threads.
POSITIONING: On offense, the first-team line that experienced much success a year ago was back on its home turf. Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris manned the tackle positions, with Ben Hamilton and Chris Kuper at guard and Casey Wiegmann at center. Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordan split the majority of the carries at running back. Peyton Hillis also saw time as the lone setback, shifting between that and his customary fullback spot. Tony Scheffler and Daniel Graham lined up in a multitude of spots on two tight-end sets, and the Broncos even employed some three tight-end looks, where rookie Richard Quinn got in on the action.
The first-team defense was led by Ryan McBean, Ronald Fields and Kenny Peterson up front. Elvis Dumervil, Andra Davis, D.J. Williams, and Darrell Reid completed the rest of the front seven, while Champ Bailey, Andre’ Goodman, Renaldo Hill and rookie David Bruton rounded out the secondary. Nickel packages included faces like Jack Williams, Wesley Woodyard and Robert Ayers with the rest of the first-teamers.
DRILLS: Linebackers coach Don Martindale tested his players’ pads early. He ran a drill where each Bronco had to fight off one block from a teammate, before wrapping up another teammate heading downfield.
The defensive backs worked with secondary coach Ed Donatell and defensive assistant Jay Rodgers on deep interceptions. Donatell acted as a receiver, while Rodgers threw the passes to the cornerbacks to help them with their timing.
Quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Chris Simms worked on three-receiver sets against an empty defensive backfield. Jabar Gaffney, Eddie Royal and Brandon Stokley ran the drill with Orton. Graham filled the tight end spot and the tandem of Buckhalter and Jordan rotated out of the backfield. Each player worked on running their routes and signalin when they reached an open spot.
Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer ran the team through punting drills, with Brett Kern and Britton Colquitt splitting the punting duties and Royal and Alphonso Smith taking turns on the returns. It seems to be focused mainly on blocking for the punt.
PLAYMAKERS: It was a banner evening for Goodman in his INVESCO Field debut in orange and blue. As the team began its 20-minute period of situational football, Goodman lined up alongside Gaffney. With Orton facing a 1st-and-10 at his own 16-yard line, he dropped back to pass, but his pocket quickly broke down. Escaping trouble, he thought Gaffney had found a seam deep down the middle of the field. Goodman turned on his speed, creeping up Gaffney’s outside shoulder and skying high to grab the interception.
Three plays later, Goodman struck again. With Orton facing a 3rd-and-10 at his own 35, Royal ran a curl route to the left sideline. Goodman made his read and snatched the ball away again, rumbling 54 yards for a touchdown.
Stokley shined on offense, recording a 9-yard touchdown reception in a red zone offense set. He had 10-plus catches on the night, leaving his tracks over the middle of the field, while peppering the sidelines as well.
The Broncos pass rush made its presence felt. Both Fields and Davis snagged a piece of Orton’s orange jersey before the quarterback could get the ball off, drawing a whistle from the referees for a “makeshift” sack. On a late blitz, Reid pressured Simms up the middle, causing a rushed throw and subsequent incompletion.
In kickoff returns, Tony Carter won the rookie battle over Nate Swift, forcing a fumble on one of Swift’s attempts. Fellow rookies Smith and Kenny McKinley each were able to find seams, showing off their speed on a pair of long runbacks.
SITUATIONAL SUCCESS: Head Coach Josh McDaniels promised a practice that would include real game situations and delivered. Here’s a rundown of some of the real-feel scores that the players faced on the field, and fans could follow along with from their seats.
Blue 17, White 17 – 7:00 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 White at the 50-yard line
White 20, Blue 17 – 3:45 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 White at its own 30-yard line
Blue 14, White 13 – 2:00 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 White at its own 30-yard line
Blue 24, White 20 – 2:00 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 White at its own 25-yard line
QUICK HITS: Adding to the stadium setting was the presence of headsets — worn by McDaniels and his coaches from the beginning of the 20-minute situational football period to the end of the session.
On their third and final day with the Broncos in Denver, referee Ed Hochuli and his crew helped the players grow more comfortable with game situations before next Friday’s preseason opener in San Francisco.
The crew also kept a watchful eye on new NFL guidelines. A prime example was on kickoff returns, where the referees made sure the new wedge rule was being followed. Starting this season, no more than two receiving players may intentionally line up shoulder-to-shoulder, within two yards of each other, to set up the blocks.
In addition to watching the action live, fans were able to rely on the ThunderVision if they missed any of those playmakers in action. The replays captured some of the biggest plays on display, highlighting Goodman’s pair of picks and Stokley’s catches in traffic.
DAILY JUKEBOX: While it only lasted through the 15-minute warm-up period, fans were serenaded to the sound of another Broncos playlist. Some of the tunes included:
Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow”
T.I’s “Live Your Life”
Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”
Young Jeezy’s “Put On”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “The Waiting”
Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”
QUOTABLE: “The fans came out. I mean, that was beautiful. Definitely great atmosphere. I can’t wait to play a live game in this stadium. If this many fans come out for a training camp practice I can’t imagine how it is going to be during a game.”
-Darrell Reid on the atmosphere at practice
The team will hold one practice on Friday starting at 1:15 p.m. MDT and will then enjoy a Saturday off.
Here are pictures from tonight’s session.
– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Fans, INVESCO Field at Mile High, Training Camp
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I thought it was awesome as hell when everyone in the stadium erupted with eddie chants in the end. Was craaaaazy.
For Orton i guess time will tell, i was hearing it all night from people all around me that hes just a mess up, hes a bum, and will drag us into the ground. Though he didnt have a good practice i still have hope for him. And if something happens, i have alot of faith in chris simms also.
For all of the 100% against orton fans out there, did you see some of his games last year? I dont know if any of you saw the Alanta game where he drove his team in the clutch to score with only like 15 seconds left **Though they still lost on a freak pass and clutch field goal by jason** Even though hes not showing it, and is kind of worrying me i keep reminding my self what all of you have said about the defense knowing the plays etc. And i thank you. You have no idea how crazy my stomache was twisting in fear of us having a great D this year but a bad O from being second in the league lol.
Cutler deserved more money, i will agree about that, but he brought a horrible childish attitude to a proffesional bussiness, which does not fly. Id rather rebuild this team full of winners, not losers.
For the booing, what the media doesnt understand was that yea there was idiots out there booing to throw the players down, but there were others booing at the “plays” or if some one **ie matt prater** completly shanked something. THe media also didnt post that the fans cheered for the same people who were booed almost right after when they did something decent or good. Still though, it is pretty harsh to boo your team, even in practice..Thats silly stuff man X.X
Lets Go Broncos 9-7 for the division! Lets Get Better!
Oh i also found this off NFL.com,
Orton replied after being asked about the booing
“Fans can cheer. They can boo,” Orton said. “We’ve got good fans, and they’re passionate about their football, that’s for sure.”
I mean come on, he could have ran his mouth off….Hell he could have even said some other bs or a 2 word reply, yet thats what the start of a leader is…
.
Also any one else hear about the Chirss Simms story and how he almost died leading his team to victory with a ruptured spleen. Dang man >.>
Yeah I saw lots Bears game last year and on espn as well. He made a lot of highlights handing the ball off to Matt Forte. Can we try out the defensive assistant Jay Rogers? I heard he has a rocket arm like Cutler. But on a positive note I am really excited about our d this year
Sigh, look im worried just as much as you are about orton..Ok its hard to swallow what happend with the whole Cutler situation, but like many posts above **on the other page** i think Orton and this whole team deserve a shot to prove themselvs first…Becuase honestly if we start winning i dont care, and i dont think any one else will. Lets face it, Cutler and alot of our team choked last year bad. I dont think we can be much more of an embarrisment than that..(Im sorry but being the first team in history to give up a 3 game lead, with only needing to win one game to seal it and abd cant beat teams with a under par record. No dice)Our defense got a huge uplift, and we got a slew of tallent on the Offense, including moreno. Yes it is possible to say we could pull a lions, but i doubt that will happen.
ITs hard to face it, even in the darkness of not knowing whats going to happen, but lets face it what else do we have to lose? Seriously now, all we have is to go up now, and even if Orton does good or bad, im pretty confident well get a franchise QB in the draft next year…Or maybe even we possibly have one waiting
Cutler didn’t choke, when you ask a guy to throw the ball 50 times a game interceptions happen. But that’s what we r used to right? We always had playmakers at qb. Lets face it Orton is just a game manager, maybe he doesn’t have to more than that with our high powered offense. I am just getting sick of people saying Orton is a upgrade from Cutler. Well lets see what McD does because all the pressure is on him stepping in the shoes of Shanahan.
one more thing in the interview about fans booing him, what could Orton say? He doesn’t want to lose the couple dozens of fans he has for now.
Yea, but he stayed strong in there in the idea of how he could have said something different.
And believe me in not saying orton is a upgrade from cutler…If Cutler would have grown up i think we could have been a deep playoff team and even superbowl team in the next 2 years or so…But it didnt happen that way, and now were stuck in a situation that we fans are freaking out about. Well seeing how were the ones up this late arguing about this lol. ITs going to be tough, but 8-8 will be a surprising positive turn around. I think we can do better though judging on the players and hit 9-7.
But i must go!! it was nice broncofan take it easy.
Go BrOnCoS!!
Broncofan387, I don’t think Orton is an upgrade over Cutler, but I also know he’s not a “bum,” as you said. It took away credibility of your post when you started bashing Orton. I don’t know if you are one who likes to dwell in the past, but “newsflash,” Jay is gone, move on already. Calling Orton a “bum” was not only incorrect, but confusing? Hard to take you serious when you bash someone who has yet to play a down for the team in regular season? You call him a bum but have nothing to support that statement except your emotions? I’m willing to bet you were one of the “fans” booing him? If you weren’t there, but could be, you probably would have been one of them. Give the guy a fair chance to play 1st, then form an opinion, but right now it’s based off of pure, illogical emotion.
Everyone calm down about Orton bc he will be fine and I’ll tell ya why. At Saints camp here in New Orleans the Defense has been picking off Drew Brees passes left and right. The same Drew Brees who almost broke Marinos record last season. I’m not saying Kyle is on Drews level but our Defense was just like the Saints D last season.
That’s great that our D is makeing plays bc when our QB isn’t on his A game then the D will have to step up. Stepping up was something they did little of last year. Camp isn’t over and we have preseason games to play so let him make his mistakes and learn from them now.
One last thing…. Our QB’s are still trying to build that connection with the WR’s, RB’s, and TE’s.
Anyone who has ever played the game of football knows that your own defense has the upper hand in a scrimmage situation. You are already familiar with your own offense and the play’s they run. It’s easy to figure out your own offense when you practice against them. The real test comes when the Broncos offense plays against another team. Kyle Orton is a game manager, I agree. But I believe he is smart enough to play in the NFL and given the talent around him, I guarantee he will have more success with this team than he did with the Bears. Maybe Orton is not an upgrade over Cutler, but for Orton the Broncos is an upgrade over Chicago, at least he has receivers that can catch the ball here in Denver. Orton is no Bum, talk to any bears fan and they will tell you the same thing. Maybe everyone needs to stop looking for the next Elway and accept a QB who can manage the offense right to the end zone. There was only one Elway, we all miss him, Cutler was not even the next Elway, he has no class, only the rocket arm and a horrible attitude. Orton is here, support him and support the Broncos, give the changes a chance, looks as though the team has a new attitude, see what happens. GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!
Bashing? Calling him a bum isn’t bashing, its the truth right now. I don’t know if you ever played sports but when you r the new guy on the team you have to earn respect.
But u r right in saying we should give him a chance. I am just not used to seeing a game managent style of play from past qbs. You know Elway,Plummer, and Cutler. Didn’t mention Griese because he really is a bum. I loved watching the Broncos playaction plays from those guys.
From what I read Orton was trying to be a Jake Delholme against the Cardnals in Thu practice trying make plays when he is not a playmaker, he is just a manager. I do think he will hold things down until we find a better option tho. You r probably going to laugh at this too dynamicdave but I wish we would draft Tebow next year!!!
P.s. If I was at practice last night yea would of booed Orton with the most of the 13,000 that showed up, I guess that’s about 13,000 bandwagon jumpers, huh?
Bronco-Blaze – Good call on Orton’s response. That’s classy. Besides once we start winning some games every bit of criticism will disappear!
I didn’t see it anywhere within the blog, but I wanted to update you all – Brian Dawkins will be out for 2 weeks as he just had surgery on his right hand (which he broke on Tuesday).
Get better Brian!!!
Like Chris Simms said, the defense has an advantage against the offense in these scrimmages. The defense becomes very familiar with what the offense does day in and day out and is able to jump routes, etc. I am not all that worried concerning a couple of Kyle Orton interceptions and poor throws in a scrimmage especially considering the Broncos haven’t even had a preseason game yet.
Furthermore, Denver is going to run the ball a lot more than they did last season and much more than the Josh McDaniels-New England Patriots record setting offense did in 2007.
Orton is not Cutler. Everyone seems to be upset about it. Look, plain and simple Cutler was a Pro Bowler, Orton a game manager. You basically are a game manager when all you do is had the ball off. Orton will have his chance to prove to us fans his worth. He has a awesome O-line, a good core of WRs, and hopefully we will have a descent running game. Plus our D in my opinion has improved since last season. So you add all those things up and Orton has a chace to be an upper echelon player. Let’s just wait and see what happens this season.
Tim Tebow isn’t the type of QB that we need. I still think that McDaniels is grooming Brandstater into the QB of the future, unless Orton proves him wrong.
Go Broncos!!!!!!
broncs55…where did you find that at? I had heard the same thing…do you have a link? later bro
This is the link about brian dawkins and his broken hand. We talked a lot about it in the other blogs.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2009/08/06/dawkins-has-broken-hand/
i miss plummer…but im stoked on orton…who cares if he threw some picks…its not like hes been throwing to those defenders non stop all week running the SAME scheme…who freaking cares…we’re still gonna be better than last year…and we have one less selfish player to deal with now…now get back to those TPS reports!
One really good thing I noticed is that the D-line has been getting a good pass rush and some sacks and stops in the backfield. This is really encouraging for the defense to be doing so well with this as we all know we have an outstanding O-line. And this is carrying over into the secondary as evidenced by the interceptions. I’m not worried about Orton as I know he and the coaches will look at the mistakes he has made and he will improve on them. Those of you who don’t believe (Broncofan387) will soon see. If mistakes aren’t made, how can there be any improvement? Orton also made several good plays, he and Stokley were hooking up all over the field, and he had some TD passes also and is doing very well in the red zone, which was a place where Cutler almost always faded. To all the fans booing him at last nights practice, don’t you think that is a little unfair as he has yet to play a down in the regular season yet? Orton deserves our 100% support as true, loyal fans should do.
With Confidence and Support for Orton!
GO BRONCOS!
who heard cutler on the radio in chicago? saying that chicago fans are better than Denver fans! we better give him hell when he plays in our house
we will see first preseason game and if he suck and not just a little good then nfl.com will have fun with it so for god sake orton dont suck in a game let the world know u are good and with all these weapon he need to retired
I guess that’s why the media asked Orton which fans were better. Orton’s answer was a neutral one.
Here’s a link to what Cutler said about Denver fans.
http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-nfl-headlines/102816-bears-qb-jay-cutler-disses-bronco-fans.html
i cant say i blame cutler with his comments about denver, denver has a history or loveing qbs 1 minute and then dumping and bashing them the next, i remember when plummer came here o he was the greatest 2 play here since elway, and then the d let down in the afc championship and jake had a rough season next all of a sudden we dump him for jay, and every1 loves jay, then jaymakes and few bad plays and the d lets down again and we dump him for a guy who just doesnt have the talent of jake or jay. im not saying plummer and cutler didnt make bad plays but the saying defense wins chamionships didnt get made up for no reason case and point the steelers,. just my opinion, i do hope orton does well enough to make the play offs but i dont believe he will i think hes a stop gap till toms ready or maybe next years draft gives us something better
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/08/07/lamont-jordan-gets-sued-for-gambling-debts/
It’s like that with any fan base though. Look at the Packers, they loved Favre, once he was no longer on their team they hated him. It really isn’t that big of a deal. Plus the Bears fans will love anyone that isn’t Rex Grossman.
“Denver, am I looking forward to it? No. Just the whole hoopla that’s going to come along with it,” he said. “I’m excited to go back and see some of the guys there. I’ve got some really good friends back there, and get back to Denver and see if my house is still standing. Other than that, that’s about all I’m excited about Denver.”
You don’t have to worry about that house no more playa!
I hope that everyone boos jay cutler as soon as he lands in denver….i will
Jay, you can’t really be that stupid! I mean making comments like that about Denver fans and then putting it in their heads about doing something to your house? You never know what people might do after being insulted like that. What a f-ing idiot!
finally changed my handle…..former cutler6101…………bout time….
Good move The_Ink! lol!
You’re smart not to pick a player’s name this time!
I got a theory on the negative fans on this blog. They react that way cuz they are afraid the team will not do good, and they can tell their friends i told u we were gonan suck. And if the team is winning, they will say I knew it, i just didnt say it cuz u wouldnt believe me. Screw that. Believe. Have faith and enjoy BRONCOS football, and if we fall, we fall together. Spartans, attack.
I wholeheartedly agree with Torain ATV In my heart I have some doubts but in front of friends and family the Broncos are SB 44 champions
thanks cutlersucks
i just wanted to say cutlersucks. lol.
I’ll say it too! Cutler sucks!
thanks guys…….no I will not do that again….we need to sign moreno and that is were the_ink comes in……..he needs to ink that contract…………all comes down to the ink
Torain ATV fan, the bandwagon fans who boo at their players, complain, whine, cry and then change their story later in the season, are the same type of people like Randy Quaid portrayed in Major League 1 and 2. EXACTLY like that. People like that are annoying. I’d rather listen to Freddie Kruger run his claws across a chalkboard.
I actually think the team may surprise all of us. We should have a better than average D and a good running game. And as far as Orton goes, he might just shine bright with a good offensive line and a good core of receivers. After this dismal offseason I’m stoked to the bone about what might happen this season. cutlersucks! lol! love it!
Broncos rock!
Agreed DD.
Cutlersucks8….waste of time man u shouldnt have wasted yo name even mentioning that punk now everytime we read ur blogs we have to be reminded of that foo…i mean hes gone why hold it over our heads just put him in the past we all know he succs..yo name could have easily been dawkinsfan8 or somethin but hey its yo decision…..Cutler is still mourning the trade bkuz he always brings us up in every interview and comparing us to chicago which is stupid….I hate the fact that we even still discuss this foo on our blogs….anymore discussions about that player i wont take part of n i hope u all do the same he is in the past lets keep him there
So I sure hope they weren’t wainting on Crabtree to sign…looks like he may holdout. Moreno hurry and sign so you can get out there and play.
Here’s what I think his contract will look like..5 yr, $28.5 million with $13 million garunteed.
i say 23million, 13 guaranteed
wow the broncos still havent signed Knowshon. this is getting retarded is he holding out like Crabtree or something
Fans can cheer or boo. We as fans play with emotions. One play we want to kiss a player and the next we want to kill him. That’s part of our game as fans.
Good for the D, which was all the complaining during all the offseason. Now they show some good stuff and unfaithful people turns for a new target to complain about.
Saying Orton is a bum is the same BS that saying he’s an upgrade from Cutler. One as open as the other. No one can know at this moment.
Truth is this system needs as priority (#1) game managing, and not rocket arms. Nice to have, but not #1.
But we can say now… Cutlersucks!! and have fun!!
Go Broncooos!
NastyNate, reports “say” that Moreno is “close” to signing. Problem with that is that it’s one of those “sources said” deals. I put about 50%-60% accuracy to those. My sources say that he will eventually sign but that we won’t know exactly when, for how much, or for sure if it’s even a certainty?
Moreno’s deal should have been done yesterday. Crabtree needs stop this.
I wanna see some more pics of how Fields does against double from our o-line, I heard he got a “sack” at the scrimage.
Moreno is only hurting himself. He will already miss this weeks games. He won’t know the O and his assignments. Right now he wants to make a lot of money to be dead weight. We got Torain. Keep that in mind, Knowshon, while you’re displaying the “all about Knowshon and the hell with the fans and Denver” attitude. Guess I’ve just wasted my money on a jersey of his that I purchased? Should have got a Royal jersey instead. I like his way of thinking. He is about football, not “just” the money. They say, “I just want to take care of my family” garbage. Try the 9-5 middle class job. You’ve had it cushy so far. College and now multi-million dollar deals. But you want to haggle over $600K or so difference, compared to some other players salary from some other team? People would kill to make just the $600K in a lifetime. You are not starting your career out in Denver in a positive note. It won’t be much longer when we would just as soon not have you in Denver. Your holdout becomes a cancer, maybe not to the team, but to the fans. We don’t dig prima-donna’s who put themselves above the rest of the team. Your holdout is doing just that. Sign already and let the fans breath easier.
broncotalk.net is reporting that moreno might sign this evening. Oh and I can’t believe dawkins broke his hand…was really wanting to see him in the first preseason game because you know nolan had some blitz packages for dawkins and ayers to destroy San Fran because of them firing him