Here we are back in the press box at INVESCO Field at Mile High. It certainly feels like the season is almost here — and that the offseason flew by.
Fans have been pouring into the stadium since the gates opened at about 4:45, and Matt Prater, Britton Colquitt and Lonie Paxton are already on the field warming up for the night practice.
At the end of session, Floyd Little’s acceptance speech from the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony will be broadcast on the giant Thundervision screen. In the meantime, the players will don No. 44 decals, one of which is featured in the corner of the picture at the top of this blog.
We’ll have a live blog of the practice, so starting at about 6 p.m. MDT, keep refreshing this page for updates.
5:48 p.m. MDT: Head Coach Josh McDaniels just entered the field to a loud ovation.
5:52 p.m. MDT: All three quarterbacks have made their way onto the field, and the crowd got excited once again as their faces were shown on the Thundervision screen.
Speaking of thunder, there is a lightning warning for the area — hopefully it stays away and practice goes forward without any delays. We’ll keep you updated.
More and more players have made their way onto the field — mostly on the offensive side of the ball. The defense is apparently going for a fashionably late entrance.
5:57 p.m. MDT: Looks like rookie haircuts have made their way to Dove Valley. Riar Geer was just on the big screen without his helmet on — he’s got some sleek zebra stripes. Oh, there’s another on the screen — Zane Beadles is missing a nice stripe down the middle of his head.
6:01 p.m. MDT: Robert Ayers elicited a loud cheer from the crowd as he made his way onto the field. The team has started special teams drills, with Perrish Cox, Cassius Vaughn and Alphonso Smith splitting return duties.
6:11 p.m. MDT: Yep, as the players have their helmets off for a stretching session, you can see there are plenty of rookie haircuts. Tim Tebow might have it worst — he’s got a Friar Tuck thing going, with the top of his head shaved but the rest left intact. The front of Eric Olsen’s head is shaved, but his long hair is still there in the back. Kind of like a really intense version of a mullet.
6:17 p.m. MDT: Kyle Orton and quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels are throwing deep passes to linebackers and defensive backs, while Brady Quinn and Tim Tebow are passing to wide receivers, tight ends and running backs.
6:21 p.m. MDT: The attendance has been announced as more than 14,000 fans — a record crowd for a Broncos practice.
6:25 p.m. MDT: With Knowshon Moreno, Correll Buckhalter, LenDale White and Spencer Larsen sitting out tonight’s practice, there are just three running backs working with position coach Eric Studesville. Lance Ball, Bruce Hall and Toney Baker will get plenty of reps this evening.
6:37 p.m. MDT: 7-on-7 has started. Kyle Orton is in the shotgun, and finds a diving Brandon Lloyd in the middle of the field in front of a fast-closing Champ Bailey. Now Brady Quinn is in and immediately finds Marquez Branson for a completion. Now it’s Tim Tebow’s turn — looks like each quarterback is taking one rep at a time. The rookie just found Brandon Stokley for a completion after firing a pass between the hands of Alphonso Smith who missed the interception.
6:40 p.m. MDT: Quinn is back in for his second rep, and he squeezed the ball in tight coverage past Nick Greisen for a completion to Eddie Royal. The quarterbacks have been on top of things to start the drill. Kyle Orton is back under center with Matthew Willis, Royal and Demaryius Thomas out wide. He went for a quick dump-off to Daniel Graham.
6:42 p.m. MDT: There still hasn’t been an incompletion in the first set of 7-on-7s, as Orton just found Jabar Gaffney for a reception, and followed it up with a deep completion to Graham.
6:44 p.m. MDT: Tebow just threw the first incompletion of the drill, looking toward Lance Ball. Now it’s Quinn’s turn, and he connected with Royal, who sprinted between defenders after the catch for a touchdown.
6:46 p.m. MDT: Tebow just lofted a pass to Demaryius Thomas in the back of the end zone, but referees signaled that the rookie receiver didn’t get both feet in bounds for the touchdown. Orton followed that up by squeezing a pass between defenders for another touchdown to Royal.
6:54 p.m. MDT: The team just started a live goal-line drill. Marquez Branson is in at fullback, and the handoff goes to Lance Ball, who is stopped at the 1-yard line. On second down, Ball is stopped at the line of scrimmage for no gain. Third down will bring another running play, as no receivers are out wide. The defense holds yet again, so the offense’s drive comes to an end.
6:56 p.m. MDT: Brady Quinn is now in the game, and he hands off to Toney Baker, who is stopped short of the goal line. Eric Decker limps toward the sideline after the play.
The crowd at INVESCO is doing the wave.
7:00 p.m. MDT: There are now more than 20,000 fans at INVESCO Field at Mile High, with more filing in as practice continues.
7:02 p.m. MDT: The offense and defense are now facing off in 11-on-11 situations. Orton connected with Brandon Lloyd’s back shoulder for a long completion on first down, but the next play is second-and-5, just so the teams can get a feel for what plays would be called in different situations. Next up is a third-and-1 play, which is a first-down run by Ball before the back was stopped by Brian Dawkins.
7:04 p.m. MDT: Now it’s Tebow’s turn under center, and the first play of the drive is a designed quarterback run. In fact, that was the only play of the drive, as Orton jogs back into the huddle.
7:08 p.m. MDT: Quinn’s first play in the huddle was a fake handoff to Bruce Hall, followed by a deep bomb to Lloyd, who made a leaping catch before launching the ball all the way back to the line of scrimmage in celebration. It earned the receiver a high five from Orton on the sideline.
7:21 p.m. MDT: Baker just took a handoff from Tebow for a big rush down to the 10-yard line. The following play was a deep bomb from the rookie down the sideline to Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown, bringing the entire offense sprinting to the end zone for a celebratory huddle.
7:26 p.m. MDT: As practice continues, Floyd Little’s enshrinement speech is about to begin.
7:34 p.m. MDT: Robert Ayers just battled past his blocker into the backfield for a sack. Well, a hypothetical sack, at least. No one is hitting the quarterback, of course.
7:40 p.m. MDT: Practice is about to come to an end, and the offense just practiced a Hail Mary situation — and Orton completed the bomb to Lloyd in the end zone. In real time, Floyd Little just finished his enshrinement speech. It will be played on the big screen at the conclusion of practice.
I’m headed down to the field for interviews. Look for a top story on the day’s events in a little while.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Well deserved
Well I got my answer to my question from the previous blog, they will show Floyd’s acceptance speech on a big screen after the practice, good show. Stay healthy!
tt looks great
the qb doing great
Sounds great
Gray, good play by play calling, can we get more pics?
Nice job Gray, keep up the good work for us fans not blessed to live in the hometown as our Broncos.
Go Broncos!!!
HAHAHA, I have got to see a picture of Tebow with that haircut. You guys need to get pics of all the rookies and their new ‘dos!!
Sounds like they are having a good practice with a good turnout of fans. 6,000 more than last year, very nice!! Wish I was there. Can’t wait to see Little’s speech, gonna make me shed a few tears. lol
Keep the faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
who grabbed the first pick?
Let’s go Tebow! Let’s turn it up a notch!
dcftcollins, It doesn’t sound as if he’s doing great? What do you see different?
Quinn seems as if he’s really turning a corner in his career in this offense. Good for him.
Gray, you there? nothing since 7:08?
Oh man. What gives w/ Decker limping off? Great!
been hitting F5 many time now…..lol
hope it nothing serious on decker..
blog is lagging
offense doing great!!!!!!
Dude, that is soooo wrong!!! That haircut just aged Tebow by 20 years. Poor thing. lol Thanks for the pics Gray and the update for this practice!
Floyd Little has never looked so good than he does now giving his speech. This is so cool… glad to be alive to see this!!
Keep the faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
D.Thomas hops in apparent pain after catching TD from Orton in double coverage. Trainers looking at lower left leg.
Did Decker hurt the same foot the he broke last year?
Any word on Decker’s condition?
eddieroyal, You got it mixed up the deep bomb was from Tebow to Thomas! Wow, Tim is having his best practice yet on the biggest stage yet in front of a large crowd. I know it’s only TC. The kid is improving every practice though and that’s a great sign!
Little gave a great speech
“I’ve given you the best I’ve got. And I’m a better person for it.” -Floyd Little HOF Speach 2010.
wow, I’m really inspired by Floyd Little’s speech! Best speech of the night, yes!
The real bad news, as if we needed any, is that both injuries to Decker and Thomas are on their left foot/ankle area and the foot injuries both are recovering from are on their left feet also. It’s really heartbreaking and since these two guys are recovering from feet injuries, is it the pure bad luck once again that both are hurting the same areas of their bodies, or is it that they were thrown into the fire prematurely, there comes a time when one must seriously ask themselves how long can we blame all this on bad luck. The organization needs to take a good look at themselves and get to the bottom of this, this is crazy, sorry these last two injuries make it hard for me to keep buying the pure bad luck theory. I’m all for buying into everything the Broncos do is right because that’s what a good fan does, but gimme a break, this is absolutely absurd.
Yeah whats with all these injuries, you would think its tackle football and not flag football.
Funny guy…
LOL. Thought you would enjoy that Baylin.
All joking aside I dont know its anyones fault, but if so that person should be fired.
Sometimes bad luck does find you. Just like when we went through what was it Bay 7 or 9 RBs. That was under shanny’s camp. maybe the trainers arent doing a good job, I dont know, but I wish no more injuries for us.
The way things are going, and we haven’t played a preseason game yet, with this kind of luck, since that’s what this website and this team wants to call it, I don’t care what you call it, we will have absolutely zero chance at being competitive this season, I mean you can only be so deep at every position, we are slowly losing all our depth, practice squad players we bring in are certainly not going to be a factor, we need to get a handle on this injury thing and quit blaming it all on bad luck is all I’m saying, the season is becoming at stake here, this is more serious that they are letting us know, because of course they want the fans to believe into our season chances regardless of anything, but I’m deeply shocked by what is happening, that’s all.
Posting to view comments.
Yeah KFS, in 2007 we were down to our 7th starting back and the troublesome thing was that the majority of them were out with pulled hammy or pulled groins, lots of pulled groins I remember clearly. In my view that had a direct correlation to conditioning and physical preparation for the game, so this not an isolated happening, I rather think that last year better than average season injury wise was the anomality, not the other way around. Just my opinion and I gotta speak my mind, I think this cannot be swept under the rug, McD has to give it his full attention, not just brush it off as bad luck, what would he stand to lose, it can’t possibly get any worse. If there is a problem he’ll find it only if he investigates.
Deify, you probably don’t want to see these yet new injuries comments…
Yeah saw the Decker injury, surprised PFT’s Mike Florio hasn’t written an article about it. It’s all about “Friar Tebow.”
At the Broncos current injury rate, it won’t matter if there is an NFL labor agreement because the Broncos won’t have any healthy players left from the 2010 roster and will need scabs to continue in 2011 anyways…. kddn..lol
So do we blame tuten and greek? Im not saying your wrong or that I disagree Bay. Just not sure. Clady and moreno injured themselves. Moreno was not even hit, so maybe he didnt stretch right. Broken hand to me has nothing to do with conditioning. Bucky always gets hurt, I dont blame trainers there. Elvis injured himself on a 1-1 drill. Lendale probably trying to impress, tried to hard on Day 2.
Not just Decker, Demaryius Thomas too.
We still dont know severity of injuries yet. So lets pray nothing serious.
for those having problems with the site..
I deleted the link from my favorites and then searched (Denver Broncos Official site) reloaded and saved back into my favorites again and Viola! Presto! Everything has been fine since… try it and let me know how it goes… Also the blog isn’t refreshing on it’s own so you have to hit the refresh button to see new posts… anyways… Bronc On!
KFS, this is not up to you or me to figure out what to do, we don’t have any access to any of what’s going on, the only one responsible to overview all that is McD, he is the man who has everything to do with what goes on on the field and all I’m saying is he needs to start looking into this issue very seriously, instead of brushing it off as bad luck, and if after careful consideration he sees nothing wrong so be it. But 2008 and this year injuries plus the fact that we haven’t finished strong in games or at season end for the last 4 seasons tells me there is a conditioning problem, it’s very plain and simple in my mind, whether it’s Tuten or others or the whole philosophy of the conditioning program which obviously McD must approve of, it’s not working, we have gotten the crap beat out of us late in season with players running record #s against us and having nothing but lame effort running the ball ourselves, how could anyone say conditioning has nothing to do with that?
I can understand conditioning hurting us late in the season if not conditioned well. But at the beggining of the year we are dropping like flies this year.
If like many say this is all bad luck, then I better start praying with you guys, because, really, that’s all we got if we blame it all on bad luck. Kind of like resigning ourselves to our injury destiny… Sorry, not my style, I would move mountains to see if there was anything I could do to figure out a problem before I kneel and pray about it. Not saying that’s what you do KFS, I was talking in general terms.
Anyway, better luck tomorrow, LOL.
dont worry Bay. i do pray our players stay healthy. also if we could pinpoint whose to blame fire them. But I dont like to nlame anyone I cant prove is guilty. Just saying, thats how I do things. I hate bitching about what we cant control. Not saying u do that Bay, Just saying in general.
well c ya guys tommorow. Good night my fellow Broncos.
Correct, it’s not our job to find out if there is a problem and who may be responsible for it, It’s McD’s and McD’s only, he gets paid, we don’t. Take it easy bud, gonna catch some zzzzzzz’s.
It’s about time Floyd Little got in!! It’s a well deserved honor for one of the greatest to ever wear the Orange and Blue…Congrats Floyd!! As for this year’s team, even though the injury bug seems to be biting us early and hard, I still have faith in this team and I honestly believe without a shadow of a doubt, the Denver Broncos WILL be a force in our division, we WILL have a winning record and above all we WILL end this playoff drought this year!! Regardless of what the “experts”(and I use that term loosely) say about this team. Half of those wanna be know-it-alls have NEVER played any type of oraganized sports let alone Pro Football, so what do they know. They said McDaniels would fail after Cutler….he didn’t. They said we wouldn’t win any more than 3 games last year…..we did. They said Orton wouldn’t do anything in this offense….he had a career year. So, I will let ESPN and the main stream media continue to spew that filth and hatred of the Broncos and watch my Bronco Boyz do what they do best……GO BRONCOS!!!!
GO BRONCOS
lol..tebow’s haircut was the worst ive seen..i thought they’ll be givin him the brandstater look..but wow..thats a new worst for me..good job for the person responsible for that haircut for being creative..