With four starters in the secondary with at least nine years of NFL experience, there’s not much the veteran unit hasn’t seen on the football field.
That’s good news for safety Kyle McCarthy and the three other rookies who have emerged in supporting roles throughout the season.
“It’s huge,” said McCarthy, who has played all six games since being promoted from the practice squad on Oct. 16. “It gives you a sense of calm knowing they’re out there with you and if you have a question they can help you out.”
McCarthy along with rookie cornerbacks Perrish Cox, Cassius Vaughn and Syd’Quan Thompson have all seen time on defense this season, showcasing an ability to adapt to the pro game quickly. They all are playing roles on special teams with many practicing at multiple defensive positions, putting an added emphasis on being prepared each Sunday.
With Brian Dawkins and Andre’ Goodman each missing time this season, including Sunday’s game against Kansas City, the group has been forced into greater roles at times this season, but Head Coach Josh McDaniels said the young players wouldn’t be given the responsibility if they didn’t earn it.
McDaniels said the defensive backs wouldn’t be in a position to contribute so much so soon if they weren’t mentally strong — a trait he attributed to the fact that they each started at least 24 games in their college careers in BCS programs.
That experience helped give the group many of the tools they needed to compete right away in the NFL, but they’ve found success through hard work.
McCarthy said the rookies have honed their approach to fitting in with the unit by watching second-year safeties Darcel McBath and David Bruton, learning the best path to succes from from being able to contribute in as many ways as possible.
“These guys listen,” Defensive Coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale said. “They respect what the others have done in this league and it’s really helped their progress.”
That attitude has turned into production on Sundays.
With Goodman out, Cox, a fifth-round pick in April’s draft, could start his eighth game of the season on Sunday. He’s tied for the team lead with 10 passes defensed. Thompson has worked in at a variety of spots in the secondary, including safety, and made his first career interception in Week 6. Vaughn and McCarthy have each contributed on special teams and worked in on defense when needed.
The influx of new talent at the back end of the Broncos’ defense may make for an interesting dynamic in position meetings with such a mix of experience and youth, but it’s a situation that the head coach believes has benefitted everyone involved.
“It’s like fathers and sons playing out there and they get a kick out of that,” McDaniels said. “I think that’s great for the young guys, in terms of learning how to be a pro, learning how to study, learning how to prepare and then also being able to get the communication from some of those older guys when they’re on the field with them.”
SANTA ORTON
Kyle Orton will appear as a celebrity Santa Claus on Monday at the JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek (150 Clayton Lane, Denver, CO 80206). The quarterback will don the red suit to benefit the Champa House/Denver Rescue Mission. The event lasts from 6-7:30 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at https://www.denvermagazine.com/celebritysanta for $10 each with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Champa House, which is a program of the Denver Rescue Mission. Limited VIP packages are available for $100.
Earlier this week, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said Darcel McBath (quadricep) could be available for Sunday’s game in Kansas City. The second-year safety practiced on a limited basis on Thursday working towards that goal.
Brian Dawkins (knee), André Goodman (hip) and Demaryius Thomas (ankle) remained out of action for a second straight practice and will miss Sunday’s game, according to McDaniels.
For the Chiefs, cornerback Jackie Bates (knee) did not practice. Cornerback Brandon Flowers (hamstring), safety Kendrick Lewis and guard Ryan Lilja (foot) were limited in practice. Safety Jon McGraw (head) fully participated in the workout.
- Eric Detweiler, DenverBroncos.com
Below are some photos from Thursday’s workout:
Tags: Defensive Coordinator Don Martindale, Denver Broncos, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Kyle McCarthy, Week 13
Seriously.. I dreamed that somehow we got a new Coach and Peyton Hillis was back with us..
Lets win the last one at home and knock out S.D. That would do just fine.
I wonder if McD is playing for the best draft position now. Maybe that is his next excuse.
Wouldn`t of that been a sad game if it would have been a thur. night game. lol
Problem there is SD beat our A team with their B and even C team. They will probably be healthier by then. I still pick them to win the West, and if they have to beat us to do so watch out!
Another 42-10 blowout. Hahaha. Just kidding.
He really doesn’t have the luxury to play for a high draft pick since Bowlen said he would be evaluated in the next five games, I truly believe the guy is now playing for his job.
He is for sure playing for his job.
Well they say that every cloud has a silver lining so you think McD will be done if we lose our last 5 games?
Like Woody said today at the DP, we have to finish at least 7-9 for him to retain his job and I think we would have to win at least two of the three division game, and all that is a tall order so I believe McD is now on a very short leash. But to answer your question I think that there is hardly any doubt that if we lose all 5 he is done.
The “incident” has changed everything,
This is what Woody said, sorry for the repeat from last blog:
A week ago there was nothing you, I or anybody else could say to get Josh fired. Then, lo and behold, I returned Saturday morning from Lincoln, Neb., and something had been said by the NFL and the Broncos. Everybody knows what happened. On a national conference call with NFL executives, I asked Joe Ellis, COO of the Broncos, if what happened was a fireable offense, and he said: “It is not. No.”
But not so fast there, Joe.
There are billowing clouds of smoke hanging over Dove Valley, and the situation has changed dramatically since that last mailbag. Because of what happened with McSpygate, combined with the Broncos’ results this season and what went on in McDaniels’ first year — if you add it all now — there is a very strong chance that the coach could be fired.
I think he keeps his job with victories over Kansas City, Arizona, Houston and Oakland, and it might take a victory at home over San Diego, as well. An 8-8 record would allow Pat Bowlen, Ellis and McDaniels to say there was vast improvement down the stretch. A 7-9 finish might allow the Broncos’ hierarchy to save face and McDaniels to save himself. Losses to K.C., the Raiders and the Chargers, and it’s over.
The only place where I differ from him is I think we can lose one of the division games and he might still be ok if he wins the other 4, but either way it’s a very tough mountain to climb, specially that the three division teams will play for their lifes except maybe for Oakland by then, all we will do is play spoilers….
Prediction, if we lose all 5 of our remaining games, we`ll be at pick #3 in the draft. Carolina, Cinncinatti, and then Denver. Just a guess.
I hope Orton can borrow a good fake beard because he’ll never pass as Santa Clause with his neckbeard.LOL……J/K.
If losing all of our remaining games is what it will take to get rid of McD,well then byjosh…….GO KC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SORRY BRONCOS……
FIRE MCD!!!!!!!!!!!!
BFE ~ LOL I’ll buy that for a dollar!
as much as i want mcd gone i still want our team to win. watchin game right now i hope tebow is as good as vick has been lately.
BFE92
Iam with you Bro!! But $ is the problem! We pay They play!
FTR
@socalbigbroncofan
Vick should never been alowed back in to the NFL!!!!!
FTR
I agree with you FTR, about Vick.
Haha!!!!!!!! Ole’ Neckbeard. I’d take my son. Guess we’ll have to settle for Bass Pro Shop!
I would love to see Syd get a chance returning punts! Cox is definitely getting a trial by fire! He has the chance to be special. I hope he’s paying attention to Champ!
42-27 KC
Watching the Texans…man I got Nostalgic for the broncos of the past. Between Kubiak and Dennison … our OC and OL coach for most of the shannahan era, they have turned Houston into Denver South. The way they play the zone block on the oline is reminicent of the bronco days when we could plug anyone in. Which leads me to believe while foster is good. He is a product of that system. They got our OC and our Oline Coach who is now THIER OC. And just like that they go to top notch runners. Zone blocking rules…
TRB…I hear ya bro….I watched Foster play at UT,and he was pretty good,but nowhere near the caliber that he is now,which leads me to believe it’s in the zone blocking,it fits him very well,as his stats reflect.I know Moreno would excel big time in the same system,if we had an Oline like we used to Moreno would be GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!
Zone blocking…ah the memories! With McD though? hey I can hope for a ‘better late then never’ moment!
guys dreaming bout the good ol zone blocking. I wish we still had it too, maybe McDaniels could fit it in, at least on running plays, but his is a New England offense, and too bad for us while Orton isn’t bad, he also isn’t Tom Brady. and sadly I too want the coach gone, but I don’t want to lose to division rivals either, so I’m kind of torn.
Ha I just read something on the MHR that made me start thinking. It was talking about how we should bring in John Elway into a position, Terrell Davis as a RB coach, and Rod Smith as a WR coach. I would just be smitten if we did that haha and on top of that it was talking about how we should bring in Wade Phillips to be our D coordinator, bad HC but I bet he could get the 3-4 going here, I mean at this point it can’t get much worse than what we have.(on D that is) well its all just a dream as of now, but who knows, maybe someday the Broncos can load that kind of talent (not to mention experience) onto our coaching staff.
looking forward to better days, GO BRONCOS!!!
It’s easy to say let’s lose coz we’re in a losing season and why not lose to get rid of the coach but what about the players… I still believe we’ve got Legit players that want to win and I want to see some bloody wins whether mcdaniels leaves or not.
MUST WIN GAME AT ARROWHEAD!
I thought I would go there since Mike Rice missed out on the opportunity this week. For the bloggers who have been here long enough you may remember last year when on a blog of Mike right before the SD home game some of us talked about how that was a must win game to which Mike rebutted because in his view the must win game term is to be strictly applied to a game that gets you out of the running MATHEMATICALLY, and then hell broke loose, LOL, and it turned into the endless argument of what is a must win game all week and the opinions were as opposite as can get from Brian who claimed adamantly that every game is a must win game to all the mathematicians out there who stuck to their numbers game.
Well, I got good news for you all, this week is a must win game regardless of how you look at it, no reason for any one to argue about this one, and if we lose it will have been the last one this year, because we would be done, out, finished, kaput, dead in the water, playing for spoilers and playing for next year, leaving us hoping we could all just wake up from this nightmare and still be fighting for the playoffs in the last four games.
Rejoice mathematicians everywhere, this is your time, the numbers don’t lie:
If we lose after tomorrow the Chiefs go to 8-4 and even if they lose their last four games they end up 8-8 and we would go to 3-9 and even if we win the last four we would end up 7-9, so it would the end of the road, the dreaded dead end.
What about playing your first true mathematician’s must win game with 5 games to go! A little early maybe?
How about a game of gigantic proportions for both the team and McD, one fighting for it’s playoff life, the other one for his head coaching life!
It doesn’t get any more meaningful than that, does it? If anything this game will have it all on the line for us Bronco faithful and if that isn’t enough to motivate us to win this one, nothing will, this is where the rubber hits the pavement, where the men stick out from the boys, where we fans come out of it feeling glorious or beaten down, this is what a must win game is all about.
Considering the odds have us a 9 point underdog, it is played at KC in December where it is historically real bad for us other than last year and the Chiefs are desperately trying to stay one game ahead of the Chargers since they play them again later in SD, I thought no way I would miss this: Most likely the only shot at writing something up about this year’s must win game.
It would in all likely hood be too little too late to wait until next week to talk about another one.
Rather the next big must win game will probably be sometime next year.
We better win otherwise it’s like the shortest season I can ever remember other than the strike shortened 9 game 1982 season, and my memories go back to the early seventies…
A loss at Arrowhead and we would definitely not be getting our money’s worth this year, maybe Mr. Bowlen would do something about that?
Orton 8k, thanks for the video link, those kids are cute, wished the video was a little cleaner with kids on it, but that’s just me, however the video is a good barometer of how far the fan base will go to show their dislike of McD and I ditto that, if everyone voices their anti McD opinions like that Mr. B will have to eventually pay attention and do something about it, keep up the good work Bronco fans who don’t like McD, spread the word. I do my part and I don’t let anyone sway me from it, haha.
where is everyone?
Like you said yesterday, they don’t last, LOL.
Seriously though, it’s Friday, it’s usually always slow on Fridays.
GO BRONCOS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this really a Pro Broncos blog?
BFE…I don’t care how awful the coach is…he is till a Bronco! How can you root for the Chiefs on here?!! That makes me sick.
Where is Elway07 when you need some positive energy?
Baylin, a must win this weekend?…Yes for a lot of reasons….. a well written post. Not as venomous as a many of yours lately. For someone who posts every 15 minutes, it would be great to read less negative crap.
Although we can’t control who gets played on Sundays, I agree with many on here who are calling to see more from our youngsters. Keep Orton healthy for a pre-draft trade in the off-season.
Go Broncos!!!! Stomp some red this Sunday!!
Man Bay and BFE yall have people out for your blood huh?! I guess many of our fellow bloggers won’t be sending yall Christmas cards!! Hahahaha
Soo last year I asked a question on the ask a bronco videos for the week and was selected as one of the people whos question was asked.. Def a highlight of being a Broncos Fan!!! Well a new highlight at the age of 29 I am attending my first broncos game… Its at Arrowhead however… But I am sooo excited!!! Just have to say thanks to my Girlfriend Kellsie!!! Not a fan of football, but she is going with me and I bought her a jersey for the occasion all the same!!! lol Thanks Love!
That’s why you are here buddy, do your positive stuff every 15 minutes if you wish it would be just fine and you will hear no complaints from me and probably anyone else for that matter, even a realist like BFE, he is a good man and he allows each to speak his own thoughts here and speaks to that effect often.
I think that’s what’s truly important here, good balanced discussions about the state of affairs with our Broncos, so what if some of us would like us to lose the rest of the way so McD gets fired, that’s just an honest opinion worthy of consideration if one believes McD is sending us down in a precipice like I do. We want to stop the hurt as quickly as we possibly can. To each his own, no one is hurting anybody as far as I know.
As I always say, for the ones who don’t like it here, in the fan zone on this website there is an “orange colored glasses” blog where they moderate all comments very strictly and only positive comments about our team are allowed. This is not it! Wrong blog, both sides have their voices here, and thank god for that, it always boggles the mind that you guys waste your time telling us stuff like that here when you could be over there and swimming in Bronco nirvana.
Us realists don’t give the optimist trouble if they do nothing but praise and laud our Broncos regardless of how bad we stink up the joint, why don’t you guys return the favor sometimes? You think it’s easy to see people who say we will be fine, just wait and see, when all we see is that huge precipice we are falling into getting bigger and bigger all the time? Put yourself on the other side of the fence for a minute and realize how unfair your way of thinking is, just saying.
Mellow, at my age you don’t really get Christmas cards anymore, just maybe underwear and socks if you’re lucky, LOL.
Hahaha @ Bay, I hear ya!
BTW, hometeam, glad you liked my must win game piece, at least it wasn’t in vain.
Good for you wild man, enjoy!
So if a miracle were to happen and the Broncos won the last five games would anyone of those who want McD gone change their mind? Just wondering?
If we win three of the last five does anyone believe McD would be back?
Just curious to what some of you think, not what sports writers say.
I already answered that twice so I will leave the stage to someone else.
If by some miracle, we win the last 5, sure McD stays!
The proverbial odds are against us I’m afraid. 3 straight road games. Houston and Kubes return to Mile-High (I believe his first), and what we used to be! Yikes! Even Derek “I take this game seriously” Anderson and his Cardinals…may be fighting for their playoff lives. Yikes
Maybe 6-10 he stays. Thats if we can beat the three remaining division opponents! Away game at KC. The finger rematch!?! Call it the first nail. The final game of the season. Presumably against the Chargers A-Team. Yikes!!! Not to mention the pasting we suffered at the hands of the arch rivals, at home. No indication we will stop them. Or their TE. Or RBs. Or QB. Which ever one is starting.
Point I’m trying to make, we are up against it. I would not be surprised if we finish 3-13. 4-12 is more likely. Anything other than that would be a shock. That Im not happy to admit. I predicted an 11-5 season. Even with my disdain for McD.
I think its safe to say we will undergo an offseason of ‘change we can believe in’….
If McD turns it around. Then another season he gets. I have to imagine, IF he gets the third chance, anything less then a playoff berth and hes gone.
THATS ALOT OF PRESSURE!!!
danso – He is playing every game to make a stand to come back next year, so we’ll see. Mr B. will be evaluating the situation.
If we can’t beat our division rivals, that should be a stronger indicator.
So now I’m wasting my time?…just kidding, I know what you meant.
I think it is funny how the negative, pessimistic, glass is broke and leaking all over the floor people always say they just are being realistic.
To me, a realistic point that needs to be made is: if McDaniels gets fired, who is there to replace him that is going to be better? There are no guarantees. The realistic truth is that it could be worse with someone else. The one question that non of us has the answer to is, “Is McDaniels learning from his mistakes?”.
Anyway, I understand all the hating on McDaniels, totally. I think people in general forget that these are fellow human beings that are being bashed.
Go Broncos!!!!!
Why are we negative and pessimistic, but can’t be realistic?
McD only has his self to blame for the Broncos current state. He told us we were never rebuilding! Said he was here to win now. All the decisions he’s made has led us to the tipping point were at right now. It’s the environment he has created. His inconsistency. One week he’s fist pumping and jovial. Next he’s talking trash to opponents. The next week he’s berating players on the side line. Following it up with a stoic, head in the play sheet manner.
The biggest clue, in my opinion, is the fan base. There are those who like him. And those who don’t. Split. Right down the middle. Well more so now then ever, public opinion is heavily weighted to one side.
To be honest, the most support I’ve ever seen or heard for McD has come on THIS blog. Lol.
You are forgetting McD has no people skills, he owns a doghouse, he has shown no respect to speak off in his endless personel snaffus.
And to me thinking that someone could actually do worse than McD, who has inflicted more damage on our franchise in the shortest time of anyone, IS being negative.
Anyhow different strokes for different folks is what makes the world go round…
Oh the humanity!
I’m human to… No, really, I’m not kidding……
I had to endure Black Sunday in person….. It almost killed me!
Thanks Josh!……. Now my koolaid is leaking onto the floor!
BRONCOS 28 – CHIEFS 27… GO YOU MIGHTY BRONCOS!!!
I do not think McD is a Bronco.
He is a professional coach who is a Patriot through and through and has brought all their systems to the Broncos.
All TRUE Broncos fans want a team that plays the Bronco way and as discussed earlier a zone blocking O Line always worked for us, as did a 4-3 defence. Sometimes better than others but it was always that way when we were successful.
Just because we are realists who recognise McD’s inadequacies as a Head Coach does not mean we should temper our criticism. In fact when you get right down to it we actually are far more pro-Bronco than those who want to keep a losing coach.
Far better to go through more pain now in order to get a winning coach than to waste the next few years pandering to McD’s juvenile behaviour and abhorrent arrogance, and losing far more games than we need to. If you want years in the wilderness stick with the loser who has wrecked our team. Anybody who is not blind can see the evidence, and Bay always says it so eloquently.