On a day when Head Coach Josh McDaniels named Kyle Orton the starter at quarterback, there was plenty to report from practice.
The music continued during Saturday’s session, kicking off with a little U2 when the media arrived as the team stretched. The playlist today ranged from The Roots to Gavin DeGraw to Run DMC. In addition, one of the strangest transitions you’ll ever hear — Kenny Chesney’s “Summertime” was followed immediately by The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” Clearly the Broncos have an eclectic taste in music.
Now here are a few snippets from Saturday’s practice.
MAKING PLAYS
Last season, the Broncos defense didn’t cause many turnovers. So the coaching staff has clearly made it a point to work on that statistic this offseason.
During Saturday’s practice, one defensive back would line up five yards behind a receiver while another lined up about 15 yards ahead. Defensive backs coach Ed Donatell blew the whistle and threw the ball to the receiver, who took off. The trailing DB chased down the receiver, who was being held up by the DB who lined up in front, and practiced punching the ball out to cause a fumble.
It’s all about teaching that if you’re not the first man to the tackle, try to strip the ball.
SWARMING DEFENSE
The defense was everywhere today. From Lou Green diving to break up a pass before it reached Brandon Stokley to Andra Davis snagging an interception after a pass bounced of a helmet, most of the breaks in today’s practice went the defense’s way.
That’s not to say the defense wasn’t making its own breaks. Jack Williams also had an interception, Alphonso Smith batted a ball at the line of scrimmage, found it in the air and grabbed the pick, and Robert Ayers had an interception he returned for a touchdown before being mobbed by the defense.
A few breaks fell the way of the offense, however. Josh Barrett had an interception in his hands that slipped through his fingers — and Eddie Royal quickly dove and grabbed the ball before it hit the ground. In another instance, a ball was batted into the air, but rookie Kenny McKinley swooped in to grab it and head upfield before the defense could capitalize.
QUICK HITS
Here are some pictures from the session:
For more pictures, check out Saturday’s photo gallery.
You can check out a few more tidbits from practice on Twitter, and we will have more on Orton being named the starter in a top story this afternoon.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Knowshon Moreno, Minicamp
You gotta love it. I hope the D takes everything they are learning and get a chance to apply it in real game situations.
Cool orton go the job, i was liking the other guys also though. But i know orton wont let us down.
I love these reports! Good to know that Moreno and Ayers are working with the 1st teams!
So if Moreno also got some reps with the 1st team, with that and the pic of Simms handing him the ball seems as he is yet to pencil his name fully in front!
Can’t wait to see him on the field and we have plenty of good backs to choose from depending on the situation just would prefer him getting majority of the reps rather than “some” as they said.
I like Orton being named too, gonna light a fire under his seat to keep it and Simms seat to try and take it. Either way we’ll have a good starter and backup.
Good to hear Ayers is getting some reps in with the first team too, really thought Doom would beat him out but I guess we’ll see. Great competition all over the board! EXCITING!
Also anyone else seem to smile a little more and be a little more pleased hearing that Barret had an INT but slipped through, I mean could have been better but improvement starts somewhere! NOT TO MENTION Moss making two plays!? Both of those are what I enjoyed the most hearing!
Hold onto the ball offense, I know its just the coaches but if they can poke it out so can the opposing defense each week!
Maintain your gaps defense, might not be the explosive offense from last year but keep up the good work and earn a new name BLUECRUSH!
Keep the faith fans, no winners for the season are decided in June, let alone before our team is really knocked out of the hunt!
hmmm
mcdaniels already got rid of the best qaurterback. he better not do the same with marshall!!! JUST GIVE HIM A NEW CONTRACT!!! HE DESERVES IT!!!!
I say wait till the end of next year to give him the big bucks if he earns them. if he has some more off field problems and his hip injury harshly affects him then he wn’t get a new contract. McDaniels wants team players and Marshall has not shown that.
meisner, mac is the coach. xanders is the man in charge of contracts now.
b-marshall deserves a new contract……………..true.
the Broncos deserve a w/r with some ethics……true.
here and now, why did marshall go to bowlen rather than mac? MONEY!!! he can’t talk money with mac, (see cutler) he is only the coach. bowlen took back the team when shanny left.
meisner, what texark-fan said…. You and others continue to blame McD about the Marshall drama? IT’S NOT McD’S CALL! Truthfully, it’s in Marshall’s court. Bowlen probably told him the truth of the situation (this is all speculation, of course). “You’re a great talent but very unreliable. You need to get this Watley thing behind you, rehab your hip and show us that you can earn your money.” I mean, what’s so hard to understand? I’m not saying that’s what Bowlen said, but I’m willing to bet that it had hints of that in it, but probably in a more diplomatic way.
Thanks for the day 2 post!!!!
Lot of information in there, definitely makes me wish I could watch some!!! Thanks for the updates!
I must point out that I appreciate the improvements this site has made (since oh, about… April-ish) as far as updates/staying current/ being able to read more about Our team here than on MSM sites!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!
meisner please allow me to let you see the light. How many playoffs have the Broncos been to the last three years with Cutler and Marshall?
I hate using the Patriots as an analogy, but football, as the Patriots and Josh McDaniels have proven, is won by a complete roster, not by any Pro Bowl players.
Brady the 5th rounder won with a bunch of small WRs in the early 2000s. Last year a college 3rd stringer helped them win 11 games. Why? Because the entire roster and coaching scheme meshed perfectly.
Teams and schemes win games, not individuals. Look at the Cowboys and their dynamic QB/WR duo the last few years. Who cares about what individuals are or are not present. The scheme is what matters, and only time will show if McDaniels brought the right parts from New England.
I can’t see the Broncos doing worse than 8-8, even without Marshall, which is what they’ve been doing the last few years anyways.
Right now, even though Marshall is innocent of wrongdoing, he’s a slave to the situations he’s been in. Thus, if he continues to remain petulant, he has no chance to get a new contract especially if he screws up off the field. Come on Brandon, be part of a great team. We need your dynamic athleticism. Otherwise, I like the defense’s chances of having an improved season.
Naming the starting QB early is a great move. That allows Orton to concentrate soley on learning the plays and not having the onus of the starting off your sholders allows you concentrate more on whats at hand.
I got semi reading this blog lol. Its super-califriggin-awesome!!!
Marshall is a 50/50 call and should view himself as expendable. Dang Cutler made that mistake thinking he was irreplaceable but McDaniels came in and said this about the team and not individuals and their egos.
If we lose BM than its his own fault, yes I will be guttered but this team has no room for prima-donnas AKA T.O’s
Its all about the TEAM!
I’m just going to say Brandon drop way to many easy passes last year & even in the pro bowl he drop 2 easy touchdown passes. He needs to proved that he can make 95% of his catches… and the off the field issue’s, he must improve
Well speakin of Brandon, isn’t Stockley kickin some serious tail out there. Just thought I’d throw that in.
I say give Brandon a new incentive clause riddled contract. Look, the guy has been suspended once, as far as I can remember, and most charges against him have been dropped. It’s not like he’s makin it rain every weekend, or he has been convicted of battering his girl. He does need to grow up a bit, but throw some stuff in the contract about discipline, and staying out of trouble, and we’re good to go. We need this guy on our offense. He’s a top 10 WR maybe a top 5, and being paid like the top 60th WR in the NFL. And, he says our medical stuff screwed up on diagnosing his hip injury. I know he’s gonna come back and play at the level he has been for the past couple of years. SIGN HIM! HE HAS EARNED IT! Too many of us FANS have bought into them damn Outside the Lines reports. They left alot of info out of those programs. Bottom line: He’s not perfect, but he’s a damn good WR, and has earned his spot among the NFL’s elite. Now pay him like one and don’t screw it up like we did with the Cutler debacle. Because having the worst defense last year was more than enough heartache for all of us!
Chris Simms is the definiton of a class act. Im glad he is our back up with that attitude the guy is thankful for the opportunity to compete. I think these two QB’s being that close and pushing each other is exactly what we need. Keep it up Simms you are appreciated!!!!
eeerockski, giving Brandon what he wants is a bit premature. He is coming off hip surgery and is a question mark. He is still facing a possible suspension if convicted on the latest Watley case (which is unlikely, but still a possibility). He has also been caught telling what turns out to be untruths about his feelings about the team (just like Cutler did). He said he is excited, etc., then pulls his latest stunt by not showing up at the meetings. Selfish jerk is what he is. Talking from the side of his mouth. Yes, he is a talent, but there is no “I” in team! He needs to learn that. He’s turning into a prima donna.
I don’t claim to know much about business, but if I owned the Denver Broncos, I would not restructure Marshall’s contract until I knew for sure that he was going to be a team player with good work ethic and good morals both on and off the field. Also I would be concerned his hip was healthy enough to play at the level he has in the past. His holding out and not attending mandatory mini-camp has not helped his case of getting a new contract, I’m sure. A good team player would be there even if they could not practice to learn the offensive scheme.
I agree with both you guys for the most part. But they said the same thing last year after his McDonalds bag incident, and I’d say he came out playing pretty strong (19 catches, 100+ yds, 1 or 2 TD’s in his first game back). I live and die watching our team every week, and am emotionally invested in this team, for better or for worse. The guy is a beast, and if we let this one get away like we did Jay, that’ll be worse than anything Shanahan did in his entire career with Denver. Brandon isn’t gonna sink into obscurity because of this injury. If anything, why are we not questioning our organizations misdiagnosis of his injury? Nobody seems to be taking that into consideration. I agree he may be getting big headed, but sometimes that’s what a big, overgrown manbeast needs to do to dominate on the field. He is no Jerry Rice, or even Eddie Royal. He’s a brawler on the field, and he knows it. My bottom line is that I don’t want them to take the same hard ass approach they took with Cutler because I feel we got the short end of the stick with that one. Even though Ayers, A. Smith and Orton may turn out to be good, it wasn’t our qb that needed to be changed in the first place.
Compare Marshall to Rod Smith and that tells you everything. Somebody with natural talent can often lose their way, but a top professional who works hard and looks after business like Rod Smith is what we want, enter Eddie Royal.
George Bush, exactly.
eeerockski, you need to come to terms about the Cutler deal. Did McD error in handling the Cutler/Cassel thing? Yes. Did Cutler error by not answering his phone? Yes. It works both ways. You can’t blame McD for Cutlers childish antics. He decided he didn’t want to be here. I believe Bowlen over Cutler. Cutler was having a fit. That’s on him. Marshall is talking out of the side of his mouth. He said he is excited about the upcoming season yet doesn’t show up for the meetings. Sorry, but that’s “double talk”. My motto is “say what you mean and mean what you say.” Marshall is not doing that. The ball is in his court. Casey wants a raise but shows up for practice. I would give him his raise before Brandon at this point. I truly believe that the thing that’s holding up Wiegmanns deal is that he has been talking retirement and there would be a matter of ‘how many years he has left in him” and “how much money does he want guaranteed?” Let’s say that he agrees to 2 more years. He asks for a large guarantee of payment then only plays 1 year? Denver gets hosed. See what I mean? Don’t be so sure that the players should always get what they ask for. Lots of intangibles.
I like the incentive ridden contract idea! Whip up a contract that severely fines Marshall for arrests, missed games, penalties on the field, dropped balls, etc. and watch the look on his face. Imagine a $5 million dollar year reduced to under a million because of somebody who couldn’t pull their act together. That would suck for the Broncos and us fans, but it would be amusing to see Marshall’s reaction.
These reports are great, and keeps me so in tune with how practice is going, and who is making strides to do well this season. It good to see Torain do some drills, and Moreno is showing so playmaking ability much like Westbrook. I think Orton will do wel lwith the weapons he has this year. I know I can’t say the same for Cutler and his Bears.
Has anybody noticed that Tom Nalen is not listed on the roster? Not a big deal, as I think he should retire and get his knee(s) replaces ASAP, but interesting that not one word has been said about him.