Veteran defensive backs Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins are well aware of the current AFC West standings.
They know the 3-5 Broncos are a game out of first-place with the other three teams tied with identical 4-4 records.
But looking ahead is not something their concerned with.
Instead, Denver’s defensive leaders are solely focused on Sunday’s pivotal road game in Kansas City.
“The thing about playing in this league – you’ve got to take it one week at a time,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to take care of what’s in front of us and not worry about what’s down the road. We’ll let that kind of take care of itself.
“Just got to take care of our business as we go.”
Dawkins doesn’t want his teammates thinking about too much else when they take the field Sunday. He stressed the importance of having fun and playing with passion as the team heads into a critical matchup vs. the Chiefs in Week 10.
“We’ve just got to go play football, have fun doing it, not make the mistakes we made early on that cost us to lose some ball games,” Dawkins said. “Hopefully we’re mature enough and know the system good enough now that we can go out and play full tilt, full speed, have a good time playing football.”
According to Dawkins, a relaxed mind brings out the best in a player and he’s looking forward to having some fun with his teammates as they look for a victory at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday.
“You make a conscious effort to stop thinking so much so you can have fun,” Dawkins explained. “Over thinking things takes the fun out of football.
“You can’t play an emotional game without emotion,” he added. “That’s something that hopefully we’ll continue to do, is play with emotion and have a good time.”
Below are some photos from today’s practice.
Tags: Brian Dawkins, Champ Bailey, Week 10
Good Night Broncos Country (I like Sam Adams Winter Lager)!!!!
Notes : Broncos safety Rahim Moore practiced for the second consecutive day after recovering from a concussion he sustained at Oakland last week when he ran into a teammate. “I thought I died for a second,” Moore said.
Well 2-6, let’s hope you’re ‘reborn’ in KC
(AP contributing)
Legwold talking about the all so important front office:
From talking to people throughout the league, it’s clear the jury is still out on the Broncos’ football regime — Elway as executive vice president of football operations, general manager Brian Xanders and head coach John Fox.
The root of any skepticism, when skepticism is expressed, is many longtime football folks just wonder how much Elway wants to do his new job since most players of his stature wouldn’t dream of doing it. There are always questions regarding Xanders’ involvement with the personnel decisions before Elway was hired.
It’s just people are unaccustomed to an accomplished, Super Bowl-winning quarterback, let alone a Hall of Famer at the position, working in personnel for an NFL team. There is little precedent for it, and most in the league don’t know what to make of it.
Xanders was the team’s general manager when Josh McDaniels was the head coach, as well as the team’s top decision-maker in personnel. The team’s system didn’t work in those two years and the Broncos’ roster, and record, are proof of that.
Since he left, McDaniels has told associates in the league he had to make the decisions because no one else in the organization would, Xanders included. That it is stark contrast to the picture the Broncos have outlined since McDaniels’ firing.
Also, many in the league don’t believe the Broncos have handled their situation at quarterback as well as they could have, and the question about whether Tim Tebow is the long-term answer at quarterbacks is “hanging over” (their words) the team.
There is no question the team has to figure out its long-term plan at quarterback and consistently strengthen its performance in the draft.
With the quarterback class of the 2012 draft considered to be stronger than many of the previous ones and projected to be stronger than many that follow, the Broncos’ decision about a quarterback takes on even greater importance.
Questioning Elway’s desire is stupid, the man is made of iron will and will give everything to the job he humanly can.
How can anyone take McD at his word?
But other than the main points of that article, the need to make better personnel decision and making up their mind on a QB, are dead on.
And I’ll say today as long as our personnel evaluator is Xanders we will do average to poorly in that regard and I have absolutely no doubt that Elway will make the correct decision with the QB of the future, whoever he may be.
So the botttom line is what I have spent considerable time saying here in the past, we need a major upgrade in general management, no way in my mind Xanders can produce a roster that will get us back to the top on a consistent basis.
But other than that…
Working from home today.. Good point bay, do you know what experience Xanders has? I get the feeling that he doesn’t have much of a resume, but I could be wrong..
Although, maybe it’s a case of having ‘too many cooks in the kitchen”.. Fox and Elway are both pretty opinionated, maybe they like a GM that goes with the flow…
I wasn’t aware that Mr. Stoneface (Fox) had opinions at all!
i would not believe any thing McDisaster says
The bottom line is that Mr. Bowlen signed off on every trade and never put his foot down . No way 90% of the nfl owners would of stoud by and watch the total dismantling of the #2 offense in the nfl and the giving away of draft picks like candy on halloween to draft no talent player and not draft needs .
Mc Daniels had on the the lowest salary cap teams (3rd i believe) instead of Vilma he took davis who would be released before the season was over.don’t even get me started on the waisted draft pics
Just wanted to share a quick post from a fellow Bronco fan on another forum open to all NFL teams. I haven’t check his numbers but in the short term raise a mile high salute to his arguement! Just a fun read was all. LOL!
Go GET EM’ BOYS!
Yeah ….when the Tebow haters open their mouth to bash Tebow all they prove is that they are first class bigots who can’t separate Tebow from his beliefs …14 sacks (most in the league) BUUUUUTTTTTTT he also has a 80.1 passer rating with an average of 153 yards passing per game and 1 interception (4 over his entire career). 536 total yards this year, on par with Darren McFadden who only has 614 yards (1190 years over his short career, of which 4 or more games he didn’t even start), 6 passing touchdowns this year (in 2 1/2 GAMES!!) 1 touchdown rushing with an average of a little over 7 YARDS PER RUSH, that’s a better average than even DARREN MCFADDEN and DeMarco Murray! (with 11 passing and 7 rushing touchdowns over his entire career)! In ~6 games he has a better average in the Red Zone than Aron Rogers! He has more touchdowns than he has fumbles and interceptions COMBINED!! No …there’s no possible way Tim Tebow will make it in this league …he’s only on the road to becoming the greatest quarterback in NFL history …just like he was in college.
McDufus lies,and I for one am so happy that little troll is gone!!!!
bay,thanks for the info as always bro!!!
Broncfalls…..nice post dude!!!!
Broncos news and my Java in the mornings…….ahhhhh!!!!
bay you made your score prediction yet???
When does the official injury report come out???,will there be photos of todays practice????
Bay the post on the front office is pretty good. I believe that Elway will make the right decisions in the long run. I also believe Xanders is a joke and needs to be gone. I am not sure how he pick out his clothes to wear every day. Probably has someone do that for him. As far as McD…I am not even going there because he isn’t worth wasting any breath over.
We all know that the situation at qb was not handled in the manner that it should have been, and no, there is no way that we will ever know where we would be record wise for this year if TT would have been the starter as was first announced. What we do know is that the powers to be decided to do what they did and we are where we are now, hopefully to be getting better as each week goes by.
How about that game last night? I think we are watching the demise of the Chargers/Philip Rivers…at least for this season. Hopefully for good.
BFE: The chefs are healthy with only 3 players on the weekly tracker. Wooyard is the only Broncos player listed as DNP yesterday.
I’m not sure if anyone here brought this up already, but the NY Jets went to 2 AFC Championship games in a row with a sub par QB.. Their recipe was running the ball, while limiting turnovers with a low pass attempt offense and controlling the clock.. Of course, they had a good to great defense to go along with that offense..
My point is, I hope that EFX will continue to draft heavy on defense and build our team that way. In this league with great QB’s, you can try to get you’re own (good luck), or you can build a defense to stop those QB’s.. My vote in the latter… Go Broncos!!!
*my vote is the latter
tnalen66,
The way I see this is Mr. B might sign off on all of these decisions, but a man in his position over such a large organization, has to have faith in the decisions being made by persons in those specific areas. Now, as I stated above, Xanders is and has demonstrated that he is incapable of making these decisions so something clearly needs to be done about this. My guess is that with Elway being placed in the position he is currently in will be looking to improve in Xanders’ position or…simply not let Xanders make such foolish moves without signing off on them himself.
Thanks R8R H8R.
weatherman and bay,I agree with you guys,the first thing on Elway’s to do list should be finding a new GM,one that can evaluate talent!!!!
aXe the Xman!!!!!!!!!
You are all wrong (or shall I say rushing judgement) on Xanders.
We can excuse the McDidnt error..,
This season he has been part of a great draft class. With 5 rookies starting or providing major contributions. The FA class includes Willis M, Daniel Fells, Wilhite, Chris Harris and Ty Warren (bummer injury). He made the trade for Bunkley. Was able to resign Vickerson (another bummer injury), Marcus Thomas and restructuring Dawkins contract. He also facilitated the trade of Brandon Lloyd, which should net us an extra 5th round draft pick. (in 3 games he has 6,6 & 5 catches. Needs 30).
I think he has done a fair job. Considering our front office model discussed earlier.
Which correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t it similar to what Ozzie Newsome is doing in Baltimore? (thought he is a HOFer)
GO BRONCOS!!!
sndvl…..if you can prove Xman made all those personnel decisions by himself,I will rebuke my statement and give him another chance!
Lol BFE…obviously Xman didn’t make ALL those decisions. I’m sure the John’s had input.
But unlike when hoodie jr was here, we don’t have to worry about just one person making THOSE decisions….and Xanders does get credit. After all, he is the GM when all the moves I mentioned were made.
Great game last night raidrhadr. Pleased with the outcome!
Every division win counts twice as Richard Seymour mentioned.
Let’s hope we can get in the mix with a win over the Chiefs.
Not expecting playoffs but it sure would be more interesting to see what shakes out.
I hope our defense scares the crap out of Sanchez when we play them. I laughed so hard at him when he jumped like a sissy.
Fascinating game coming up in Arrowhead, to be sure. On offense, the Chiefs will be looking to dictate the game, by forcing the defense into desired coverage. Kansas City Chief Head Coach Todd Haley is his own mind, but, it helps limit the words I use in this post to simply compare what I would expect offensively from the Chiefs to classic New England Patriot offensive game scheme. The problem with Brady, is that you can have the right coverage called, and he will still make his plays — the Patriots like to have the big receiver, including a tight end, who can take the ball even when it is contested by one or two defensive backs. And, since the play is invariably deep, if the right coverage isn’t called, it will result in a score. It makes Brady a very demoralizing opponent — the effect is of being able to score at will. Broncos will have to show different defensive coverage deep, because deep passes to the middle to attack the center seam will be called without hesitation, if the opponent feels that the Denver defense can be predicted. Short passes, and the ground game, will be used to either influence the coverage, or, at the least, to reveal deep scheme preferences of the deep secondary. Speaking of New England, the KC Defensive Coordinator is Coach Romeo Crennel, who has made incredible contributions to every team he has touched, including Cleveland, both NY Jets and Giants, and, of course, the New England Patriots. One of his signature imprints he achieved with the New England Patriots was the team’s record not only for interceptions, but, for interceptions returned for TDs. To illustrate, an opening offensive series by KC might go pass deep middle, run wide, pass wide, pass. A successful defensive series against this call might go Cover 4, a blitz which supports against the run, (Dallas type blitz out of 3-4 to stop wide run), Cover 8, and, Blitz. What I am getting at, is that no defensive coverage is going to call an opening series, Cover 4, Run Blitz Package, Cover 8, Pass Blitz Package — you’re going to call what is most flexible for you, and assures the maximum, “security” — for Denver, what I assume is a 2 Man, or, to offer more protection against the run, a 2 Man Fan — which is exactly what offenses like offenses run by Brady attack.
I am hoping to see the continued development of the Tebow package on Broncos offense. It is my feeling that not having an off season with Tebow as starter is seriously limiting at this point.
All of the defenses obviously had Kyle Orton’ number. He was easy to read, and opposing teams had 5 shutdowns for every play attempted. This was the dilemma Shanny found himself in that had fans calling for his head. I’m thinking that all Tebow needs is limited success with the run options, and the run and shoot package, to open up both long and short yardage pass plays. As always, execution is the key.
So far – Tebow, Moreno, and McGahee have demonstrated the ability to be the best actors – fakes- in pro football. When you fool the cameras and the announcers booth – you have done well. These plays will will be expected and therefore limited in KC. Some success at them is necessary for continued development of a very diverse offensive look.