Dark clouds were in the distance as the Broncos hit the practice field for the team’s afternoon special teams session. The mercury was a little lower at Dove Valley with temperatures in the low 60s and a slight wind gust helped to carry punts a few yards further and it just so happened that punting is what the team focused on throughout practice.
ATTENDANCE REPORT: Peyton Hillis remained on the sidelines nursing his hamstring injury…Hamza Abdullah was in uniform but wasn’t wearing a helmet, shoulder pads or cleats… The teams typical special teams unit was on the field. Two players of note practicing were Selvin Young and Domonnique Foxworth, on occassion both of these players have received the special teams session off.
POSTURING FOR POSITION: Joining Eddie Royal, Marquay McDaniel and Glenn Martinez at punt returner during practice was Christian Morton.
Punters Sam Paulescu and Brett Kern rotated the punting duties throughout the drills.
FOCAL POINTS: The team concetrated its efforts on punting and punt returning throughout practice.
Both Paulescu and Kern were able to boom long high punts near the endzone but often the kickoff team didn’t pursue to down the ball making it hard to differentiate between a touchback or what could have been a pinned punt.
The team did spend some of practice working on blocking and scooping the punt and also worked on its pursuit and formations.
TAKE AWAYS: Kern had an impressive boot that landed at the 4-yard line and came to rest at the 7-yard line.
Andre Hall was able to pin a punt deep, within the 5-yard line, on a pursuit.
Matt Prater and Kern practiced on the opposite practice field whilePaulescu was taking some of his reps with the rest of the special teamers.
Kern kicked near his own 40-yard line and Prater fielded his punts yelling back to him his yardage. Kern was able to to place his kicks between the 15 and the 5.
Those are the highlights from a stormy yet refreshingly cool afternoon at Dove Valley, check back tomorrow for more updates.
-Jake Grilley, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Andre Hall, Brett Kern, Eddie Royal, Jake Grilley, Matt Prater, Peyton Hillis, Sam Paulescu, Special Teams, Uncategorized
So we lose our top target for the first 2 games, at least, now what? Does this mean that Shanny and the gang have to keep an extra wideout for the first 2 weeks? Is Nalens injury something that could end his career? Is Ryan looking good at RT now that he’s had a week to adjust and get some time under his belt?
did eddie royal return any punts or kicks yet in camp?
could we see quick 6 taking on some returning duties?
reffering to royal i mean for tds sorry could be misunderstood
is royal going to start the first two games? If so I’m excited about that…. But still disappointed that marshall won’t be
I’m wondering if the ruling can be appealed and, if it can, do you think the Broncos will try to appeal? If they do appeal it, what effect could that have? Could it possibly delay the final ruling so that BM could play against the Raiders and the Chargers? These are just the questions I’m wondering about. The commisioners ruling seems a little harsh considering Marshawn Lynch didn’t get suspended and he took a plea deal to a friggin’ hit and run incident. It’s a very harsh ruling when you consider that the first two games of the season are against division teams. Anyway, whatever the outcome, I hope the other WRs step up and fill the gap the best they can. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity for Eddie Royal to show his stuff.
baileythebronco, just to answer your question, yes Royal has been getting reps with the kickoff return AND punt return team in training camp. From what I read, it sounds like he looks very impressive.
I’;m sure that I’m in the vast minority, but Marshall is lucky it’s only 2 or 3 games. He had three major contict episodes in less than 1 year. Hopefully, the Brocos will be smart and not appeal and get it over with. The bad part of all this is, assuming that the suspension starts with the first regular season game, that the Broncos will lose every game he’s gone. The first game is away on a Monday night. Without Marshall, the advantage goes to the Raiders. To beat the Chargers at home would have taken a perfect game with everyone operating at their peak. No Marshall, no chance. I’m don’t think ther Broncos have ever won two consecutive games at Arrowhead. A major accomplishment with Marshall, impossible without him.
Having been a season tickeet holder for over 40 years,. I’m not giving up on the Broncos, but this is the reality that I see.
Someone please give status on Torain. I’ve heard he got “dinged” and I’ve heard he may have fractured his elbow.
hrdnokd-
Coach Shanahan said that Torain broke a bone in his elbow and will miss 6-8 weeks. He said that he will also get MRI to see if there is any damage to the ligaments. The blog is about to go up with more info…
oldsouthstander: You have been a season ticket holder for over 40 years? If this is true, you would recognize that the broncos (and any football team at that) done live and die with one player (unless its a QB). YEs, this will be a huge loss, however, the staff has been planning on this, i.e. Parker, Colbert, Jackson. We obviously needed to add some depth after last year, but if you think Shanny and the crew haven’t been preparing for this you are sorely mistaken. Nobody is afraid of Arrowhead anymore, especially Jay Cutler, and even more so when the queefs dont have a QB. Concerning the Raiders on monday night, if the D shows up and stops the raiders run, we wont need marshall, of course it would be extremely great to have him, but I am positive we can win without him. That is, if we can convert in the red zone. Again, the team isn’t rolling over without B Marsh, CHANCE! I obviously am not in the vast majority, I personally think the NFL should take into consideration charges that were dropped. I am not justifying what he did or arguing that he was not at fault, however any woman can get any man arrested. Making the charges stick and convicting the individual is and should be the determining factor. I agree with what Navy_Bronco said, Marshawn Lynch? Hit and Run? B Marsh did drive drunk, and as we all know this can be extremely dangerous to oneself and others, what did he blow though? or did he blow? Hitting and running shows a whole hell of a lot more character flaw, then having blown a .081, which as you all may know isnt drunk! You can blow that the next morning, after a broncos monday night game. I am rambling, sorry for those i might have offended with the alcoholic driving comment, I dont condone driving drunk at ALL!!! GO BRONCOS!
I think he got hit hard, yeah he was arrested, but all of it came from the same woman and all charges were dropped from what I’ve read. Sorry, but the Raiders suck, they still don’t have anyone other than Al running the show and who the hell knows if the Michelin Man, AKA Russell, can even play. Oakland is a very winable game and San Diego is too. He’ll be back for the KC game and they still don’t have their qb situation figure out. I think Jay C has the arm to make a lot of wide outs look good and I think Stokley will be a good fill in for the time being. Watch for it, Eddie Royal on a deep play action pass against San Diego to go up early.
He did get hit hard, now that he got this (3-2 games), in my opinion his DUI trial shouldn’t have any repercussion. Water under the bridge.. If CZAR Goodell, spent half the time he does fondling the packers and Brett Fagvre, and actually investigated each players personal situation, we might have a justifiable suspension. As you said it was one women and she is supposedly out of the picture. I have had my experiences with a nut bar girlfriend, it was emotionally and physically draining, I sympathize for anyone in a foul/hurtful relationship. And yeah the michelin man hasn’t done anything, we should be more concerned with our D and O lines than anything.. If you asked me those were our largest weakness’s last year.. JEAH!!!!
Appealing this wouldn’t work, first of all. Does anyone think Goodell would let another Bronco win an appeal after the Travis Henry fiasco last year? Secondly it would remove that “the commissioner would consider dropping the suspension to 2 games” thing. I agree that it’s crap that Marshawn Lynch gets no punishment for his hit and run, but it kind of fits with Goodell’s M.O.. His whole thing seems to be repeat offenses. He’s not so focused on the severity of the offense, but if someone consistently keeps getting in trouble (even for little, little things) then he brings down the hammer. As for the impact of this suspension… I still think the Broncos beat the Raiders, and I still think they lose to the Chargers. I could be wrong about either of those, but I don’t think losing Marshall changes the outcome of either game.