Last week Defensive Coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale needed to devise a gameplan without a pair of starters in the secondary with a combined 25 years of experience.
The defensive coordinator acknowledged it’s not easy to replace Brian Dawkins or Andre’ Goodman, but being able to plug in improving rookies Perrish Cox and Syd’Quan Thompson — who came up with his first career interception in the 24-20 loss — made the process a lot easier.
“There’s a lot of young players that we feel are very good football players and they need to step up and play, and they have done that,” Martindale said.
Martindale’s message about the team’s promising youngsters mirrored the one that Head Coach Josh McDaniels delivered about an hour earlier.
Ten rookies saw action, including three who started, against the Jets and contributed in all three phases of the game. Different situations have forced rookies into increased playing time in several positions across the lineup, but the staff has confidence that the experience can only help going forward.
“The more they practice with our first-team offense, defense or special teams, the more the play in the games against really good competition, the better they’re going to be,” McDaniels said. “They’re going to make some mistakes — all of them have. But, I think what we see is the more they play, the fewer mistakes they make.”
Thompson particularly shined. In just the third game he’s been active this season, the seventh-rounder saw his most extensive action on defense, playing often as an extra defensive back.
Thompson, who returned an interception for a touchdown in preseason, made his biggest play of the regular season when he jumped in front of a Mark Sanchez pass for the interception just before halftime and set up a Matt Prater field goal.
After Eddie Royal left the game with injury, McDaniels trusted Thompson to step back deep for a pair of punts, both of which he fair caught.
“You have to earn the trust of the coaching staff to be put back there in a plus-50 (yards) situation when the other team is punting in a close game,” McDaniels said. “So, I think that tells you how we feel about Syd’Quan.”
That performance earned his head coach’s praise, but Thompson said he remains focused on getting better heading into his first AFC West clash on Sunday against the Raiders.
“You learn from mistakes and the good from the last game,” Thompson said Wednesday. “We just want to come out this week and be able to get better at what we’re already good at and get better at what we didn’t do so good at.”
That’s an attitude that McDaniels can appreciate from all his rookies — including J.D. Walton, Zane Beadles and Cox, who have each started at least three games this season.
Whether it was Tim Tebow taking several snaps at quarterback for the first time in weeks, Demaryius Thomas’ third-quarter touchdown catch or Kevin Alexander and Kyle McCarthy contributing on special teams in their NFL debuts, the head coach expressed excitement about his youngsters’ play.
While injuries have given many of those players more opportunities than expected to contribute so far, their progress through six weeks of regular season play has proved a pleasant biproduct.
“Hopefully that means that in November and December, we’re going to have players that are still rookies,” McDaniels said, “but they’re not playing quite like rookies.”
Champ Bailey, Brandon Lloyd and Kevin Vickerson returned to practice on Thursday after missing Wednesday’s session.
Bailey (ribs) and Vickerson (groin) participated on a limited basis, while Lloyd (non-injury) is no longer listed on the report.
Robert Ayers (foot), Brian Dawkins (knee), Andre’ Goodman (quadricep), Darcel McBath (ankle), Eddie Royal (groin) and Wesley Woodyard (hamstring) missed practice for the second straight day. Jamal Williams (non-injury) was also held out of the workout.
For the Raiders, four players did not practice — DT John Henderson, LB Thomas Howard, TE Brandon Myers and WR Chaz Schilens. RB Michael Bennett, S Tyvon Branch, QB Jason Campbell, LB Travis Goethel, QB Bruce Gradkowski and RB Darren McFadden were limited in the session.
- Eric Detweiler, DenverBroncos.com
Below are some photos from Thursday’s workout:
Tags: 2010, Defensive Coordinator Don Martindale, Denver Broncos, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Perrish Cox, Syd'Quan Thompson
Wink is a great DC,and I’m glad the Rookies are getting a chance to show what they got,but we need to get healthy fast if we are going to make a run at the playoffs,glad to see Champ smile,that made my day.
BFE
The NFL says that James Harrison’s hit on Massaqoui was illegal and fined him $75,000,but are selling photos of the hit between $15.95-$249.95,?????????? Now that’s just not right in my book,man that stinks.
http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/nfl_selling_photos_of_james_harrisons_illegal_hit_on_mohamed_massaquoi/3447401
I was greatly appreciative of Syd’Quan’s presence…. I think that kind of loss will linger, and We should be hugely on the rebound here. Hopefully We’re progressing quicker than even optimists like me could ever dream to hope….. If so, Oakland and it’s fans should be worried. ( ;
Should of cropped out Lonnie Paxton, he’s in my “dog house” this week.
Uh oh, baylin is going to be dissapionted. No picture of Brady Q.. LOL
BFE92 those pictures were pulled off the market yesterday and the NFL issued an apology and said that the photographer uploaded the pictures to the site automatically.
Then they should fire the photographer,because it was inexcusable.
Big D…LMAO
If the NFL was selling them,that don’t make it alright just because they appologized for it,it’s wrong and they made money from it,are they going to give the money back???
There was also a DVD that NFLShop was selling called Moment of Impact which was a compilation’s of the biggest hits, I can’t find it on the NFLShop so I’m wondering if they pulled that off the market too since Mark Schlereth had a whole rant about it on ESPN saying it should be called the NHL (National Hypocrite League)
Yeah, no pics of Brady today, what a travesty!
anybody else wanna see a tebow pass? it’d throw every body off. maybe one of those jump passes at the goal line for a score?
pdp1408, there was a play when Tebow was in and the CB was playing pretty far off of Orton I thought for sure there would be a Tebow to Orton connection for the first.
But yeah I like to see a Tebow pass at the goaline.
I don’t think Orton is going to strike fear into too many DB’s in the league when he lines up at WR. LOL
I’ll take that remark as being passive aggressive Big D 44.
Orton will catch a TD this weekend, just wait! haha
Great to see Lloyd was out for non injury reasons and Bailey and Vickerson back in limited participation, we need both those guys bad.
Killerkod, that’s exactly what one of my soprts bar buddy told me we would see last week, at one point both of you guys are bound to be correct, maybe, haha.
IM GOING TO THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope McD and staff are looking at those numbers. 7 first quarter points scored. 49 fourth quarter points allowed.
Maybe it’s the Halloween season. Might be the upcoming full moon. More so my personal contempt for the Raiders. Broncos win 49-7
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!!
I agree with you guys,I’d like to see Tebow throw a pass to anybody.
Out of curiosity how many rushing yards do you think we’ll have this week? Also do you think it will be spread out like it was last week or more concentrated on Moreno and Buckhalter?
I `d sure like to see Moreno rush for 100 yards. That would be a kick. My prediction, Bronco`s win 27-13.
For my broncos I would like to see more moreno cuz he is the best back we have, hands down. For fantasy I want them to keep sharing the ball cuz I just traded moreno today and dont wanna look like I lost out in the trade lol.
I am hoping for a hundred yard game for Moreno. I mean seriously. We gotta have at least 1 player having 100 yards on the ground in one game. Lord knows we had 4 WR in like the first 4 games breaking the century mark.
What a joke. NFL Network has JOHN ELWAY at #23 as the top 100 players of all time. He should be in the top 10 ever. NFL Network is a flippen joke. One of the most elusive QB`s with a cannon of an arm, all the intangables of a QB, RB, and FB you name it, all rapped in one AWESOME package. The best QB ever. They got no clue whatsoever.
Broncos win. 27-13
Well kinda caught Giants fever this week everyone in town is wathching the games!!!
Back to my favorite the Broncos!!!
Glad to see Vickerson in practice glad to see Baily practiceing too. He is a gamer this year hasn’t always been but this is a contract year and there are alot of young rookies that see that and will tend to do the same thing. Good for him and good for the team.
So Baylin you going to the game with OC? that would be cool.
You guys ever met before?
Kinda not excited that Royal is out that will give us a chance to see Decker but I realy think Royal is our most reliable reciever on third down.
I am really hopeing the Broncos can match last weeks intensity and realy haul off and Nock the Faiders. If we can stop ther run game ther is no way the faiders can win!!!
Denver23
Faiders 13
Go Broncos mistake free football for 60 minutes
is royal out for sure? I think the Broncos win 35-13
Was really great to see Squid get some play time. Not fun having to see him in there knowing we were without some key players but on the bright side it gave him a chance to play and he showed everyone, yet again, why he will be a big playmaker for us in the future. I want to see more punt/kick returns from him though. He’s got the speed and agility for it. We used him for that stuff in pre season, why not now? I think he’ll have another big game.
This team will have a big game. Despite the Raiders being our biggest, most hated rival and no we should never underestimate any of our rivals… we will still win this game. They’ve won their fair share of games at our house, we’ve won plenty at theirs. Goes to show, anything is possible, even when you play at home. But this Broncos team will fight for this win.
Have faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
TRB…strandofts…I agree with you guys I too would like to see Moreno gain 100 yards(for the 1st time) but I’ll settle for sharing yardage with Buck and Tebow,whatever it takes to win as a team.
You can’t hit the QB
You can’t touch the WRs
Now you can’t hit the ball carrier. To hard that is
I hope we hit the visitors. Hard. Repeatedly
Another thrilling Raider gam4e. Broncos 23 – 17 in OT.
Everyone seams to like us scoring 23 points so far. I’m going to up the prediction and say we crush the raiders with five touchdowns and a filed goal, 38-10.
Go Broncos/Wildhorses!!
Two good insight articles at the DP this morning, one on Cox the other on Demaryius, both guys being very aware of their shortcomings, humbling to see, and showing how both hold great promises for us, good to have them both on our team. Same can be said of Syd’Quan, the guy who I never understood why he was inactive the first few games since he was so good in pre season, it took players to get hurt for McD to bring him in, so I guess injuries are good when McD is your coach, otherwise he still would be inactive, better late than never… Anyhow, with Royal hurt they say the return duties will go to Syd Sunday, way more than the two fair catches last week, and if Bailey has problems with his ribs, Syd will also play corner, that I hope we don’t have to see. That would leave McD with finding a way to use Decker’s skills, I hate to see a guy like him sitting on the sidelines after being so productive in pre season. If Royal can’t go would be the way for Decker to be on the field, one day we’ll see him and I’ll be saying once again better late than never.
This coach can drive me nuts at times, it’s like he doesn’t ever really get it on live play whether it’s play calling or talent recognition and playing the players who give you the best shot, it takes a bunch of slow mo replays and by gosh yeah, he finally gets it. I fail to see the genius in that, isn’t a genius one who sees things before others? We saw we needed a power back ot two, he waited until August to get LenDale, we knew we were weak at LB’s, he waited until mid Summer to bring any in and by then it was slim picking, we knew Syd was good enough to help us on the field, he was kept inactive, basically same treatment of Tebow even if mainly active only played one game before last week, everyone knew what the team would do on short yardage because the formations used were so run of the mill it telegraphed the intent to opposing D’s and we could never get those short yards until last week when he finally mixed it up, same exact thing in the red zone, anyhow a plethora of such simple and obvious stuff that you wonder how in the world can a HC in this league miss those things for so long? Stubborness and stuck in his ways seems to be the major culprit, and maybe it’s just lacking the correct instincts to see right here and there what’s really going on, like being too cerebral about things and losing sight of the simple things, or maybe it’s doing things his way just to prove a point that can’t be made, either way I’m glad he seems to be coming around baby steps by baby steps, thank you McD, even so you test my patience to no end, you have giving me a sliver of hope in the last game.
My thought for the day is I must give the guy THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, for a little while longer anyway, beating the Raiders soundly Sunday would obviously buy us all more time but a loss and we will soon all be running out of time.
GO BRONCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey whats up I say we beat them trashy Raiders 31-17.
A loss and a “new directions” campaign will come into effect!!!
sndvl…I agree 100%,and we all know which direction that is!!!!
McDaniels sure is lucky to have so many great head coaches watching his games and offering advice.
Broncos win big. 38-6.
Obviously there is more to Goodys quad injury than McD has let onto. 4 games and likely a 5th this week. I would venture to say he won’t suit up for tea time in London. With the bye week following. 3 extra weeks to heal up.
Man we are so banged up. Devastating injuries too. Not your garden variety here. I’ve tried to wrap my head around it, but I’m at a loss.
So, if we were at a “crossroads” last week, what’s that make this week. The fork in the road? The path less traveled? Hopefully it plays out like the single lane country road and were in the 18 wheeler, playing chicken with their versa!
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!!
Got a plane to catch. Enjoy the game Broncos Country!
Yeah, and all of it free of charge, if only he paid attention he would be right on the ball, not weeks or months behind, haha.
Broncos Win ==> 28 – 20
whew….uhhhh 17-14 Broncos…i think everyone predicting us to score all those points don’t watch the Raider D or our O too often…close game it will be
broncos 34-10
Hopefully you get suprised VA and we dominate the Raiders. It could very well be a very close game. But I tend to think we will keep improving on the game we played against the Jets. If that is the case we should dominate.
I LOVE ME SOME DENVER BRONCOS…
I hear you Big D…but I (in the minority) do not feel we played very well against the Jets. I also think if you listen to or look at the game film, it was a lot more of what the Jets did not do than what we did. I agree we were competitive that game. I also believe it was a lot closer than a lot of people thought. That being said…I think the team that I will not mention….plays very tough physical ball, and we have a hard time with that.So I dunno. I will be in front of teh tube, drinking cold Woodchuck hoping for the best.
Woodchuck? Is that the cider beer? Anyhow, I will be watching as well. And I agree, the Raiders are not that bad and if we underestimate them it will be a long day for the Broncos.
Ya, I bet we`ll see more of Syd`Qaun now. Heck I`d like to see him more on punt returns. With Royal hurt, that means more playing time for Decker. Maybe Decker will go deep up the middle for a TD.
Huge blow to the Colts, Dallas Clark put on IR.
It seems as if Royal is getting a little better and might have a light practice today, still a long shot from being ready to play if all you have is one limited practice all week so Decker will most likely have his first real contribution in the slot Sunday, both Vickerson and Bailey are on track to play Sunday. I’m fine with all that part of the report by Lindsay, however I’m not liking to hear that Thomas will most likely be back to returning duties Sunday, I guess nothing learned on that front…
As reported by Klis, it’s real good to see that McD’s team is catching on quickly to our hatred of the Raiders:
“There’s definitely some hatred — in the right sense of the word — from some of the people that are here, no question about it,” McDaniels said at his Friday morning press conference. “Now, there’s some guys that are learning to hate them. I think that’s the best way to say it.
“That doesn’t mean you disrespect anybody. And we have a tremendous amount of respect for them and what they do, the way they play. There’s a line you don’t cross there.
“But I think in terms of our desire to beat the Raiders, to win a division game against the Raiders and understanding the rivalry, the history, I think that’s clearly there. And the guys who aren’t quite up to speed are catching up pretty quickly.”
Woooha!