The return of defensive tackle Marcus Thomas could not have come at a more opportune time for the Denver Broncos.
Thomas, who played Sunday for the first time this season after suffering an injury in training camp, had an immediate impact on the field. He was third on the team with eight tackles against the San Diego Chargers, which led all defensive linemen.
“It was just good to be back finally,” Thomas said. “It was my first game back, everybody’s already ahead of me, just knowing the plays and the speed of the game — it’s a lot easier for them. So I just had to get back in that game, the flow, game speed. I felt pretty good.”
However, even with his success Sunday, Thomas and the coaching staff know that he still can improve on his solid game.
“He’s got some catching up to do — both what to do and how to do it — because with the D-line, you’re fighting so close to you, you have to be able to do well early in the down otherwise it could be over,” Head Coach John Fox said. “There are some ‘what to dos’ and obviously ‘how to dos’ that he needs to practice, and this has been a good couple of days for him, too.”
Thomas will now be leaned on more heavily with the loss of fellow defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson. The Broncos placed Vickerson on injured reserve this week after he tore ligaments in his ankle during the Chargers game.
“I feel bad it happened with Vick because he’s a great player,” Thomas said. “I just hope that the coaches continue with the same trust in me as they did with him.”
Thomas is welcoming the bye this week, as it allows him to get healthy and ingrained in the team’s plans and scheme so that he can come out in Miami fully healed and caught up to speed.
“I’m still trying to get healthy myself and get back right,” Thomas said. “With the bye week, I have time to heal my injuries even more. So, it’s good.”
-Kenny Legan
Tags: Kevin Vickerson, Marcus Thomas
one …one one handed catch for a First down if it was a TD I could see it . that’s the best hes done so far this season in your estimation ? That’s not much to hang your hat on!
as for the experts they were down on wrong way Elway 2 if you remember no chance to ever amount to much. Denver overpaid for him yada yada. There wrong as often if not more than their right.At least the bozos on tv and radio if they had any real talent in picking players they wouldn’t be in the studio they would be on an NFL teams payroll just saying.
Maybe not but he did miss a game. I can’t remember much before that, but the O-line wasn’t giving Orton any pocket to pass from first couple of games. O-line has been completely dominated until 1st half against G-bay. I still can’t figure all the swatted passes. That looked like Orton sabotaging himself. Was wondering if he got a bonus to throw the season – suck for Luck – etc. Anyway the criticism was against Orton not getting Lloyd the ball. Not a Lloyd problem. Lloyds good – he’ll keep on showing up in the highlights as long as he gets a strong arm QB.
That was funny – i NEED A ‘LIKE ‘ button.
Philly, Dallas, NYG, NE, NYJ, PIT, SD, OAK, NO, SF, DET, GB
Carnage, Did you just say Giants, NE, Jets, SD, OAK and San Fran have better recieving corps than us? Wow. Who do the Giants have … Nicks is like the only guys, maningham is a bum and victor cruz is rising. NE wrs suck so bad thier TEs do all the work. Without Brady thier passing offense is shot. Jets … plaxico burress and Santonio holmes come to mind … that is it are u kidding me. SD … dude all they really go is VJ and Malcolm floyd is decent. Oakland has fast receivers most of which can’t catch. And san fran really? really? Braylon edwards shows up sometimes, Crabtree is absent 90 percent of the time and Josh Morgan just got hurt for the season … if u think these guys got a better corps than us … u are sorely mistaking … I would take ours over theirs anytime. We had unfortunate injuries and due to a coaching decision moved the wrong person up from practice squad and royal got hurt in that game.
As far as Tron and Bay Bay … Only comparison made was that they both went to georgia tech … bog 6’3 and above with 4.3 speed and about the same weight. That was all. All Thomas is is potential … which is pointless if he cannot stay healthy. The one spot we can sacrifice a player is WR and not truely suffer. Right now i think we have one of the best corps, lost Lloyd will drop us but we will still be fine. IMO … just like that was urs.
TRB
Don’t take my comments on Brandon as he sucks i like him .Overrated a lil but i’m just saying its the right move for the team long term .(if its done right ) we have wr’s we need everything else .
Yea – I remember how bad Elway was in the beginning – until the “Drive” He changed the way I evaluate football from then on. They say they all have passion, drive, the will to win at this level – I don’t buy it.
Show me a guy who overcomes the scoreboard, injury, fan boo bears, and still wills his team into the endzone – that’s my guy!
Trb – have you ever read anything from Carnage that made sense? I can’t figure what games he watches. Possibly a soccer fan.
Yea give me a QB with hart that can take the hit and criticism with a smile .Rally his team when they have seemingly no chance .Have the love of the fans and not publicly embarrass you . sounds like someone but i cant put my finger on it …………… o’yea if we only had that tebow kid Wait we do !
horses – I need my ‘like’ button again!
LET ME BE VERY CLEAR ON WHO I AM SPEAKING TO SO THIS WILL NOT GET MISINTERPRETED….THIS IS FOR TRB AND DADDYBRONC….
Let’s deal with a fact TRB in reality…not a make believe FAN WORLD but in REALITY each of those teams has better receivers than the Broncos, said it and meant it.
FACT: Burress starts on this team over our guys, Nix starts, Manningham, Cruz all play on this team above our guys. VJAX top 10 in the league, and Floyd is better than our guys. Fact Heyward-Bey is playing better than any of our receivers, Murphy has put up numbers that none of our guys have. Fact, Welker, Branch and even on a down year Ocho is better….as part of the receiving crew so are Gonzalez and Gonkowski…..Crabtree is better than Thomas…so is Edwards, and they also have Vernon Davis…these are FACTS….Royal has done NOTHING since Cutler left, Deker has had TWO…count them TWO good games….have you WATCHED any Bronco games, and seen our receivers NOT get open. When was the last time we had an uncovered receiver breaking down the field. Who is our speed guy. THOMAS DOESN’T EVEN PLAY!!!!! For us to be “better than 80% of the league” is simply not possible when I gave you 12 that were better off the top of my head. Baltimore is better, Arizona is better, the FALCONS, better, the COLTS better, the TEXANS better…and then a few other teams are about even with us. Don’t try to convince yourself that you are right. and because the two of you agree with each other does’nt make you any righter. I stand on my stuff with facts. WE HAVE NO BIG PLAY RECEIVER. There are bodies at receiver YES, but the talent is not there. FACT. So please, I will respect your right to an opinion and I will if I see one give a dissenting view, but I am not a “run with the pack” person, I call it as I see it. you can disagree with me, but do not take the time to insult me. That sirs/mams (because I am unaware of gender) is not the road I nor you wanna go down.
LET ME BE VERY CLEAR ON WHO I AM SPEAKING TO SO THIS WILL NOT GET MISINTERPRETED….THIS IS FOR TRB AND DADDYBRONC….
Let’s deal with a fact TRB in reality…not a make believe FAN WORLD but in REALITY each of those teams has better receivers than the Broncos, said it and meant it.
FACT: Burress starts on this team over our guys, Nix starts, Manningham, Cruz all play on this team above our guys. VJAX top 10 in the league, and Floyd is better than our guys. Fact Heyward-Bey is playing better than any of our receivers, Murphy has put up numbers that none of our guys have. Fact, Welker, Branch and even on a down year Ocho is better….as part of the receiving crew so are Gonzalez and Gonkowski…..Crabtree is better than Thomas…so is Edwards, and they also have Vernon Davis…these are FACTS….Royal has done NOTHING since Cutler left, Deker has had TWO…count them TWO good games….have you WATCHED any Bronco games, and seen our receivers NOT get open. When was the last time we had an uncovered receiver breaking down the field. Who is our speed guy. THOMAS DOESN’T EVEN PLAY!!!!! For us to be “better than 80% of the league” is simply not possible when I gave you 12 that were better off the top of my head. Baltimore is better, Arizona is better, the FALCONS, better, the COLTS better, the TEXANS better…and then a few other teams are about even with us. Don’t try to convince yourself that you are right. and because the two of you agree with each other does’nt make you any righter. I stand on my stuff with facts. WE HAVE NO BIG PLAY RECEIVER. There are bodies at receiver YES, but the talent is not there. FACT. So please, I will respect your right to an opinion and I will if I see one give a dissenting view, but I am not a “run with the pack” person, I call it as I see it. you can disagree with me, but do not take the time to insult me. That sirs/mams (because I am unaware of gender) is not the road I nor you wanna go down.
Carnage – I apologize for my insult – I was trying to be funny. I’ll give you your opinion. You can have it. I still wish you would watch games instead of stat sheets, for your sake – the games are a great deal more entertaining.
It seems you eval receivers by their numbers exclusively, and you fail to take into account the other factors that don’t show up in the stats – like – Plax is the drop king of receivers. If he actually catches a ball – yes he can turn it up field, but he drops many critical catches, and he’s all about himself not a team player. Ocho is equally worthless. Both of these guys degrade their teams and the core they run with.
Welker on the otherhand – now that’s what I’m talking about. There is a guy who in spite of his size is a top notch receiver. Welker by himself is responsible for much of Brady’s success and vice versa. Welker is also almost singly responsible for the success of the rest of the Patriot receiving core. Take Welker out of the picture and the rest of the receivers are covered. Brady takes too much time in the pocket. Patriots lose.
Broncos have two guys capable of being quick pass – screen play receivers like Welker- Knowshawn and Royal. Use them right and it’ll open up the rest of the receiving core, limit the rush, and give great ops for the run game. Those two are capable of making the OLINE of Denver look good. It is the short quick screen pass play that has changed football in recent years to a passing format over being a run based game like it used to be. (Tebow quick drops are the KEY!) Orton wasn’t mobile enough and Royal wasn’t there but don’t tell me Royal doesn’t have the talent. Stick to your facts if you will, I’m a game analyst – not a stat sheet analyst. If the short pass game doesn’t open up with Royal in there it will be on Tebow or the Bronco play callers. (I’ll eat my words if Royal goes through another one of those phases where he drops all but the most difficult passes.)
It is on this basis – because it is not Lloyd’s fault that Orton’s passes are all getting swatted away at scrimmage – that I can watch the acrobatics of Lloyd and put him with the great receivers. I hope Lloyd gets signed by Panthers as Cam will get Lloyd the time to get downfield. I also realize the receiving stats are not the whole picture. Lloyd doesn’t block down-field – this makes him a liability for the Broncos – now. Lloyd is a bit of a whiner and he was stupid enough to go public with his preference for Orton. These things put him into the almost worthless category and make him a liability to the Broncs. But I don’t recall another receiver ‘ever” that is as consistently acrobatically able to go up and get the ball, as Lloyd. If that were the only thing a receiver did is to catch the ball – I think Lloyd would be my top all time receiver. Unfortunately many receivers are faster – better blockers, better route runners so Lloyd will never be that HOF WR that I wish he was.
Carnage – you have to begin to see more than ‘yards per catch’ and TD’s. You have to eval based on ability, potential, and character. The ability to see these things is how we build a team.
UMMMM….. not sure ware you get you FACTS but Decker is listed as a top 15 reciver on NFL.com #s wise and above Burress Heyward-Bey becuse you think it does naot make it A FACT .
Whatever carnage … we will just agree to disagree
what has burress done this yea r.. really nothign … same goes for holmes. Which year are u living in .. murphy has doen virtually nothing this year. And heyward bay has had 2 … count em … 2 good games.
Victor Cruz has had 2 good games on ly 2 as well … and maningham is nothing in my book … fact remains i would rather have our guys … and we have depth if u count lloyd … I said without lloyd we will be fine but with lloyd I believe that our corps is better than most of the league … the 80 percent number was not mine … i just dissagreed with some of the teams u listed. And I don’t believe I ever insulted u. All Arizona has is Fitz and all Houston has is AJ … thier rest are just ok … u making these teams back up receivers sound like they are way fantastic than ours … they are just there. And ravens … really? All the got is Boldin and he barely done much this year and Torey smith had 1 count it 1 good game. Are u kidding me. Brady makes the pass game in New England … ocho has done nothing, branch has done nothing … all they have is welker and some great TEs
Lets just leave it as we dissagree .. i know u are not one to go with the pack but in my opinion .. i respectfully dissagree with ur assesment of our recievers and your overwhelming confidence in other teams recievers. TRB
Btw … when i talk about receiving corps, im not including TEs … just talking strictly recievers and I do not agree Crabtree is better … he has been injured almost as much as DT. and Braylon Buterfingers … I would put Brandon Lloyd over him everytime … IMO. TRB
Receivers in the nfl come and go all the time. U have your greats[rice,largent,smith.r., moss] but most of the time they come and go. have u ever heard of s willams[buff] before this year and he could be gone next year.
Vision without glasses…
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