When the Denver Broncos take the field in Miami on Sunday, they will play with five active receivers who each have no more than four years of NFL experience.
The Broncos traded their most senior receiver, Brandon Lloyd, Monday, but Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway spoke about his excitement for the young group of receivers to take the main stage on DenverBroncos.com’s live audio show ‘Elway Live‘ Tuesday.
“We felt it was an opportunity for us to get another draft pick and build, and also with the young guys we have at wide receiver, that they’ll be able to pick up the slack and continue to grow,” Elway said.
With receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eddie Royal, as well as tight end Julius Thomas, returning to practice in the last week, the Broncos are poised to have a relatively clean injury report heading into Sunday’s game.
Elway believes the bye last week came at a great time as it allowed players time to heal and prepare for the second half of the season.
“Coming back off this bye week, we should have everybody back,” Elway said. “We should be as healthy as we’ve been all year, including the receiving corps. We’re exciting about getting going again, and hopefully we can start the second half of the season, the next 11 games, and start winning some of those games.”
To listen to the rest of the ‘Elway Live’ show, in which Elway discusses the impact he thinks Demaryius Thomas will have, the potential of practice squad players, Tim Tebow’s first start, the matchup against Miami and the acquisition of safety Rafael Bush, click here.
-Kenny Legan
Tags: Elway Live, receivers, Week 7
No, Bush is just a backup’s backup, and I don’t see how he would get any play even if Dawk is out, was just saying Dawk being banged up they felt they had to bring in another body is all.
lol still yet to see a predicted denver loss this week im kinda liking how everyone seems to feel the same
Yeah Brian, I liked it coming from a football player, pretty refreshing and fairly good quality writing, looks like the guy has a new career in front of him.
Well randy, that’s probably a smart way to keep off the WOS.
lol unless theres that one negative person who predicts the loss and makes everyone look dumb.. i sure hope not i have been looking forward to this game all season and hope for a win
Yeah, that guy could end up the vilain or the genius, no middle groungd though, not very good odds to get some points, other than negative.
Good article baylin!
Especially like the paragraph of that SuN DeViL!!!!
Even Carnage thought Broncos would win this one, so it’s hard for me to think of who would pick the Dolphins in this one. It would be a first, never ever has a score prediction contest gone with all bloggers predicting us to win that I can remember.
Don’t get me wrong I love the Broncos, but I just think we’re playing a worse team than us this week. I’ll still be quite disappointed if we lose this week.
No, my bad, it did happen once, the Raider game at our house last year, everyone picked us to win, the one we lost 14-59, now that’s unbelievable, could it be a bad omen for this one?
Good article and good writing.
The only thing I would question is his comment, “not even God knows”. Interesting theology!
I was duly depressed when I recently joined this blog, and all of my entries were negative, mostly on Orton, but on Fox as well.
I don’t know now how to eval Fox. I tend to think that he is incredibly loyal to his starters and his QB in particular. That can be a hazard, but it builds confidence in the locker room and can be a huge asset. I prefer character guys playing tight as a team – to super studs giving performances.
My estimation is that Tebow is a guy to build a locker room around – and besides – he is entertaining to watch even if we lose.
Here’s to better Bronco Football!
It’s a new season.
I’m going through my records and obviously they are better than my memory, same thing with the game at Arizona last year, no one picked us to lose that one and we did to the tune of 13-43. I might just go with the loss Sunday and get me an easy 7 points, LOL.
daddybronc:
Dolphins Rush Defense: 14th overall
Dolphins Pass Defense: 19th overall
They’re not weak against the rush by any means, so it will be a good test for our O-line to get the ground game going.
They did a good job last night of shutting down Shonn Greene and LT.
im half tempted to make my wife make a blog account a pick a loss just so that theere is no bad omen of all bloggers predicting a win lol..
BTW i started blogging here and it got kind of addicting now i blog here, a pitbull site, and sometimes on denverpost lol
db..you make a good point,Tebow is entertaining to watch even if we lose!
I remember when we had another QB,that was entertaining to watch,win or lose,not even comparing the two in any way,but it does make watching football fun again!
No doubt that at QB we’re going from boring to fun, how that translates into wins remains to be seen, but at least we’ll have fun finding out.
Gone are the dreary QB days.
The following is from ESPN Page 2 w/ Gregg Easterbrook. It is also one of the reasons I am praying more than anything that we drafted pure gold with Julius Thomas.
Quarterbacks, left tackles, pass-rushers — they’re a dime a dozen. I want my team to win. Lend me a tight end!
The more football your columnist observes, the more TMQ becomes convinced the tight end is the essence of the modern game. Or at least, the essence of cracking a modern defense. Consider:
• Seven of the league’s top 10 tight ends play for winning teams. Is that simply because good teams produce good stats? Only three of the league’s top 10 rushers play for winning teams.
• Sunday, the winning touchdowns in the New England-Dallas, San Francisco-Detroit and Oakland-Cleveland games were scored by tight ends. Victors in the Chicago-Minnesota and Philadelphia-Washington contests got scores by tight ends; victors in the Bucs-Saints and Giants-Bills games got big plays by tight ends.
• Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez is four catches shy of grabbing the second-most receptions of all time. Assuming that happens, Gonzalez, a tight end, will have caught more passes than Marvin Harrison, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Terrell Owens, Isaac Bruce, Hines Ward, Randy Moss and Andre Reed — all wide receivers.
• Four of the five most recent Super Bowl winners (the Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints) featured the tight end. The fifth, the Green Bay Packers, featured the tight end until the starter was injured. The Indianapolis Colts reached the Super Bowl twice in four seasons with tight end Dallas Clark in the lineup, then stumbled the following season with Clark out injured.
• The Buffalo Bills had the fewest tight end receptions in the NFL in 2010, finishing 4-12 with the 28th-ranked scoring offense. This season Buffalo added tight end Scott Chandler, who is tied for second in touchdowns at his position. The Bills are winning and trail only the defending champions Packers in scoring.
• Bill Belichick has spent 10 draft picks on tight ends in his 11 years running the New England Patriots, including two first-round draft choices. New England is the NFL’s highest-scoring team through that period. During the same period, the hapless Miami Dolphins have spent just three draft choices on tight ends, the highest a fourth-rounder. New England’s winning two-minute drive against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday included three catches for 35 yards by tight ends.
Why are tight ends so important to modern football? Because defenses don’t know what they are going to do. Wide receivers almost always run patterns; wide receiver behavior is predictable. Tight end behavior is not. Assume a tight end is blocking on the play and you could end up with an uncovered receiver when it turns out that he was simulating a block, then running a pattern.
Tight ends tend to be taller than wide receivers. With linemen getting bigger all the time, a tall target is one the quarterback can see.
Tight ends also are important because often they are covered by linebackers. Defenses have responded to the spread offense by fielding more nickel and dime looks. Against a nickel or dime, the wide receivers always are covered by defensive backs. But even against a nickel or dime, the tight end still may draw linebacker coverage, a matchup that favors the offense.
So lend me a tight end! And as defenses continue to focus on stopping the many wideouts of the fashionable spread offense, look for more tight ends running posts, goes and post-corners — the sort of routes that defensive coordinators don’t expect the tight end to run.
Should I be the lone desenter? Short week for Miami, who’s going to throw the ball, who’s going to catch the non-thrown ball (Marshall…), and who’s going to run the ball? Man, that sounds like a favorable match-up, except we’ve never won in Miami… Hum. I’ll stew on it.
Denver 17 Miami 16
Prater hits game winner as time expires, thanks to Tebow last second drive
.
Tebow 1 rush TD, 1 Pass TD, 2 int’s
709 – I like your diatribe.
I think it is the short pass over the middle that has replaced the run as the key to winning in the NFL. Doesn’t make a difference what position the receiver is playing. That’s the reason Tebow footwork needs to improve. He has got to get feet planted, after quick steps,hard throw, tight spiral fitting into tight spaces. Add that trick with Julius, no-shawn, Royal, over the middle – it’ll open everything else up.
I was really hoping to see Eron Riley activated from the practice squad… Looks like Dawk might be hurting, has anyone seen his status this week?
before Brandon left 1 thing he said was that Demaryus Thomas is looking incredible….very good sign if he can stay on the field.
No one uses more 3 tight end sets than the Pats.
I always thought Tight Ends were awesome and more essential than let on. They need to know how to block like a lineman and run and catch like a reciever. Put 3 out there and its a nightmare … are they here to block for the run … or are they here to catch. U just gotta have the right TEs
And Bay, did carnage pick us beating the dolphins pre or post Tebow?
TRB
ps: no practice today? practice on monday but not on teusday … a break? interesting.
Your handle fits you dude!
Also we are 0-7 against the dolphins in Miami … yikes … lets see if TT and gang can get us our first victory.
TRB
@turtle
The faiders are up to something we need to watch.
Just me.
FTR
I dont think the Radiers have a draft pick next year except what they get for Nmadi and Gallery in compensatory picks, they def went all in with Palmer.
There are a lot of reasons to pick the Broncos this week …
* We’re coming off a BYE, they’ve got a short week after MNF on the road
* Their short week gives them less time to prepare for Tebow
* Who the heck is going to score for them
* Who the heck is going to pass for them
* Bronco’s excitement level should be very high
* We’re nearly back to full strength
* We’re probably a better team
But …
* Our record in Florida is awful
* Heat and humidity could be unbearable, even in October
* It’s a road game
* A couple of key injuries could stop us cold
So …
I still predict …
Denver 20 – Miami 13
Go get’em Broncos!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE ME SOME DENVER BRONCOS!!!!!!!
I’m just going to grab this one out of my True Blue Feelers and put the Big Orange spin on it and say…. Broncos win this thing!!!
Broncos 34
Dolphins 27
ILMSDB!!!!!!
Hey FTR is alive!!!
Good to hear from you bro!
Leave it to the Raiders … they’ll take a chance on just about anybody … did Al leave this one in his will???
I think they’ve mortgaged the future for this one year … they only have 5th and 6th round choices left for next year …
They could make the playoffs this year, and if they win a playoff game, they lose a 1st rounder in 2013 …otherwise it’s a 2nd rounder … that’s a hellava price to pay for a guy who quit on his team … but if he has success, and they DO make the playoffs, they will consider it well worth it … then the next 10 years will look a lot like the last 10 years … I’m sure they feel they will sweep the division games like they did last year, but that may not be so easy … if the Chargers win the division, the Raiders might not make wild card … but there are so many bad teams right now, maybe they will … I suppose that’s what they’re counting on … anyway, I hope they fall on their a**es … Raider fans are exstatic right now – here’s hoping they have to crawl right back into their holes!!!!
I was gonna wait,but since everybody is healthy,I’ll go ahead and predict the score:
Broncos 27
Dolphins 13\
Tebow gets 2 TDs passing and 1 rushing!!!
*13
I just hope that Sunday isn’t a trap game. We need to go in there and win, and we need to win convincingly. I would be more than disappointed if we didn’t leave Miami with a win. I know our record of playing at Miami is awful, but it can all change this weekend, and it is basically a home game for Tebow. I am super anxious though.
Denver – 24
Miami – 14
And a lot of people seem to be adding an additional prediction of how Tebow performs. I say he completes 55% of his passes, throws 2 TDs and throws 1 INT. And I believe he rushes one in as well. It’s kind of like his trademark lol.
I hope they play the run against Miami like they did the Titans, if not I could see Thomas gashing us pretty good, hopefully since Moore is playing they will make him try to beat us
Thx BFE92.
FTR
.
well since everyone else is.. even tho i already predicted 27-20 my reasoning
1 passing td 1 rushing td each for tebow and WM
the score will be 20 20 in the fourth tebow will score a late TD
Miami will have like 3 minutes to score on us and our D will stop em cold..
hahaha
oo yea and he throws a int and fumbles a ball but the fumble is recovered by a bronco
Since it is the hot topic, I’ll leave my thoughs on the raiders trade. I’m not convinced if even Al Davis would’ve made that trade(for that cost), I mean, how many players in the league are worth two 1st rounders?? Adrian Peterson, Aaron Rodgers, A younger Tom Brady… I believe this would be the most idiotic move ever made, at least in my life time!! The guy has not even been active for several months, but everyone knows that… When we traded Cutler(coming off a pro-bowl season) we did get a good deal, but not as good as the one the bengals got!!! He was not even playing for them!! If we look into Palmer’s career numbers(46-51 record as starter, 83.6 QB rating, severe elbow and knee injuries and he is like 32 years old)he is probably worth a 3rd and a 5th round at best… This trade was insane!!
On 2006, the ravens acquired QB Steve McNair for a 4th round pick, on 2008 Green Bay sent QB Brett Favre to the Jets for a 4th rounder, and more recent, the Eagles shipped QB Donovan McNabb to the Redskins for a 2nd and a condicional 3rd round pick. In all of these cases, those QBs had less serious injuries than Palmer’s had, and they have a better “resume” than Carlson’s…
Sure he is an upgrade from Campbell/Boller, but it’s just to much of a price they will pay! If there is no SB by the end of next season for “dorkland”, this will doom the organization for several years! “MARK MY WORDS”!! LOL!!!
Prediction: Broncos 24- Dolphins 16
Go TT!!! Go Broncos!!!
Holly smokes batman, I figured I would get on today and blog and there would be a couple new blogs and like 300 posts lol. But 7 to 8 new blogs in one day is just plain astonishing. Where do I even start to catch up on all this hmmm. Carson Palmer to the raiders for potentially their only first round this year and next years is just absurd, but works in our favor, so I am not upset about it at all. In reference to the Miami game I know it could be a trap game and hope Miami brings it, as tebow performs best when
the pressure is on. I am not going to make any guarantee’s, like previously posted, and don’t want to break any of bay’s rules, but I firmly believe that Denver will win by at least a touchdown. I do see having two passing touchdowns, 1 rushing TD, and one INT. Man I’m telling don’t go to work or anything when it comes to blogging, or you straight up will be left behind lol. Well glad everyone is optimistic and let’s party on boys, been awhile since the broncos have been an exciting team, I am stoked, Go Broncos!!!!!
We are a far better team than the dolphins. So Tebow is going to get us our first win in Miami ever. Let the rollercoaster begin. All aboard the Tim Tebow last train to mile high.
Official score prediction
Denver 30 – 7 Miami
I think we win Sunday.
DEN 33 – MIA 17
I think that admin has thrown in the towel for this season. And they are going to do their best suck for Luck theme. I hope we win 6 games with Tebow and we can’t draft luck. At least I wot have to watch orton anymore. I hope he doesn’t ever play in the NFL again.
I’m not sure about that arch, one thing bloggers have not touched on with a ten foot pole is Orton is only one injury away from starting again, and the way Tebow plays all out it’s not that far fetched a scenario at all, not trying to bum anyone out, but that’s a strong possibility, having the displeasure to see Orton start again…
And 4Eva, go ahead and guarantee all you want, at your own risk, I might want to collect on that guarantee if you’re wrong, haha.
TRB, Carnage said Broncos would beat the Dolphins just a couple days ago, so with Tebow, to answer your question.
This is hilarious:
NFL power rankings: Inactivity serves Broncos well
The bye week was kind to the Broncos. Despite not having played this past weekend, Denver climbed three spots from 27th to 24th in this week’s power rankings.
Interesting to see Legwold definitely not sold on the Lloyd trade even so he uses the diplomacy required to keep him in good terms with the team for access reasons by not saying it straight out:
The Broncos gave two for Monday’s trade of Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to the Rams: Demaryius Thomas, a former first-round draft pick, is close to returning to the lineup, and the emergence of Eric Decker has been striking.
Still, the departure of Lloyd will be difficult for the Broncos to overcome.
Some will say that Lloyd, 30, was expendable because he didn’t have a touchdown reception in the Broncos’ 1-4 start and because he will be a free agent next year.
But the top cornerbacks who would have covered Lloyd had he stayed with the Broncos now will be covering someone else on the Denver roster. Decker’s success has come, at least in part, because Lloyd usually was the wideout who had the opponent’s top cornerback covering him.
Thomas, 23, said this week that the Broncos are ready for him to be their down-the-field threat. That was Lloyd’s role before Monday’s trade, which netted a draft pick from the Rams.
“They need somebody to step up,” Thomas said of the Broncos.
Injuries have limited Thomas to 10 games (two starts) in his NFL career. He is big and physical at 6-foot-3 and 229 pounds. And before his Achilles tendon surgery, the former Georgia Tech star had the speed to get open down field.
But Lloyd was a big part of the big plays in Denver’s passing game. This year, he produced five of the Broncos’ 14 completions of at least 20 yards. Last year, when the Denver offense was more explosive, he had 20 of the Broncos’ 58 completions of at least 20 yards and 11 of their 19 completions of at least 30 yards.
The Broncos say they traded Lloyd because wide receiver is “a position of strength.” Now they get to prove it, with help from Thomas and Decker.
Broncos 24
other team 17
GO GET EM’ BOYS!
Bay with them benching Orton wouldn’t you think it would go to Quinn because Orton has proven what he is in Denver…. Quinn hasn’t quite yet. I heard FOXs’ interview on 104. yesterday he said Orton has been the most professional during this… But I wonder if he’s become a holy man praying for an injury every night.
There is no doubt the main thing I will be very excited to see on Sunday is the energy level.
Most of us have commented on this several times but aside from the play calling and the x’s & o’s….I can’t wait to see what that “hype” is gonna look like.
How many times have you heard a media cut from a player in the locker room that says, “He just makes you wanna compete with him!”
Really looking forward to it! I’m rooting for you Mr. Tebow and ALL the Broncos!
GO GET EM’ BOYS!