In the closing seconds of his first regular season game with the Broncos, Head Coach Josh McDaniels had no idea how everything would pan out.
He did have an idea of what he could control: the play calls in the huddle.
“We knew what we were going to do,” McDaniels said. “We knew exactly what calls we were going to make. We didn’t, obviously, know the result, but we knew what we were going to call.”
That confidence stems from McDaniels’ commitment to situational football. Early on in training camp, the Broncos were subject to not only wearing pads, but a bevy of situational drills.
At the team’s open night practice at INVESCO Field at Mile High on August 6, mock situations included the following: Blue 14, White 13 - 2:00 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 White at its own 30-yard line.
Last Sunday’s situation in Cincinnati was markedly similar, but with even greater difficulty. Bengals 7, Broncos 6 - 0:38 left in the 4th quarter, 1st-and-10 Denver at its own 13-yard line.
The goal in both cases was for preparation to win out come crunch time — which happened when Brandon Stokley’s 87-yard touchdown catch gave the Broncos the win.
“There is always something that you haven’t thought of, but you try to make sure that you are as prepared as possible,” McDaniels said. “Most importantly, you try to make sure that the players are as prepared as possible, going through as many situations as you can put them through on the field so that they feel comfortable when something is called in a big situation. They can feel like they have actually run it before.”
INJURY UPDATE:
On the Broncos side, Russ Hochstein did not participate in Friday’s session. The cause was not injury related. On the Browns side, running back Jamal Lewis and defensive lineman Shaun Rogers both went from limited participants on Thursday to full participants on Friday. Each is listed as probable for Sunday’s 2:15 p.m. kickoff.
Here are some more photos from today’s practice.
–Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
It’s too early to tell, but from what I saw Sunday, The Chargers are definitely overrated. I think they might go the way of LT as a whole, meaning falling off the top of our division growing old. Their window is closing soon, it might be this year and hopefully we can jump in there.
Meanwhile both KC and the Raiders seem to have a chance at getting better this year, maybe we’ll all end up beating eachother up within the division and have 4 real close records for the title at year end. That would’t surprise me. If that’s the case, 8-8 could very well win it again like last year, which by the way has always been my pick for our record this year. So, yeah, we could win the division.
Little Darren Sproles had a great game vs. the Raiders. He has become more of their go to guy lately. He’s tough to catch once he gets into open space. LT is out this weekend vs. the Ravens. Hope the Raven take to them!
I’m feeling 10-6, but maybe I’m an optimist. It’s been great chatting tonight baylinocrush. I’ve got to put my 17 month old to bed and hang out with the wife. Have a great night all.
BO BRONCOS
rbf1, If I remember correctly Sproles was their go to guy a lot last year when LT was out and he ended up dishing out something like over 300 yds against us in one game on the ground and ST.
Baylnorcrush,
I humbly concede my arrogance and apologise for calling you “son”.
I’m into Rock more than Metal though. 21 yrs and goin at music - guitar.
Talking about a game like that last year reminds me how much I didn’t like last year. It was an awful season, much worse than the record showed. Three weeks to go, win a game you’re champs, we lost them all, we’re chumps. Thank god we have a different team now.
OC, no problem whatsoever, they’re so many kids and young men blogging out here, we tend to forget we’re dealing with grown adults at time. Yes, I’m a grown adult, I like that, not an old man, a grown adult. LOL.
good blogging with you guys, night.
That’s right baylin, Sproles did a number on us last year here in Denver. We won that game thanks to Ed! Sproles is continuing where he left off last year. LT seems to be fazing out somewhat. Understand he took a pay cut this year to remain with the Chargers. I’ve got to get up early for my son’s football game tomorrow.
Good night Bronco Fans.
Situational drills, never thought of it as ingenious, thought it was a staple in the NFL but i guess i was wrong. Glad to see we are working on that. Knowing how to handle situation and actually being in it before makes life easier. especially when you were learning it nothing was really on the line…..If only life could be that way lol.
Love what im seeing in these pics. Minus the glove on Ortons hands, if he is still not hundred percent please dont strain it. Saw the last pass to be marsh, definitely wasn’t a spiral and lacked a bit of zip. Since he is the one we are running with, cant wait till he is 100%. Also after the big play i saw Stokely and Bmarsh really pumped. Looked like he was having fun out there. I always know Bmarsh on the field even if I dont see his number/name/face. He always has those white patches on him. Like his signature look or something. Can any football knowledgable peopel tell me what thats for?
Glad our inactive/injury list is empty. We are gonna need a healthy team to succeed this year. Sheffler in the slot = deadly. Great hands, great speed for a TE and big frame. Brandon Lloyd passing? Do I smell a hint of trickery in the air? Glad to see The Beast out there participating. Should be on the first team in no time. Own the ground. Manage the Game, let the D do their thing and we are 2-0 come Sunday night. 20-10 is my prediction. See you at kick off bronco nation
THE SEASON IS OURS FOR THE TAKING
GO BRONCOS!!!
Nice job, McDaniels, keep up the good work preparing the team for whatever might happen. It’s time to go 2-0. GO BRONCOS!!!
Its good to see mike bell getting another shot on the saints.
TRB I was told the white patches prevent rug burn and getting scratched up but im not 100% on that.
Yea it’s called turf tape I think. But it is basically the same as the forearm shiver arm sleeves people where. Basically just for looks and no real purpose behind it.
I can’t wait. I can’t really say if it should be close or not, but just a couple of scans.
1. vikings beat cleveland with AP sitting on the sideline most of the half
2. broncos beat cleveland last year, and i think we are a better team
3. Cleveland’s only real improvement was joshua cribbs’ sudden appearance
If the latest Mangini story fiasco is really true (He fined a player $1701 for taking a $3 bottle of water from a hotel mini-bar and failing to pay for it) is true, we may have a team in greater turmoil that the Raiders. If the whole story is true,this is just the lastest of a string of petty, morale destroying moves Mangini has made as Browns head coach. Nice to have a team imploding while you’re playing them.
Chargers are gonna suck! Denver will win the AFC west. I’m acutually looking past this game against Cleveland, and every time I do that we lose like last year week 4 against KC. I’ll try not to just in case of a jinx LOL.
The Chargers definitely don’t look as sharp as usual. They’re going to need to overhaul their roster in the next couple of years with a youth movement. The problem is, we’ll be getting new secondary around that time; all of our starters there are 30+! Our interior offensive line, with the exception of Kuper, is getting a bit old, too. But linemen usually retire later than other positions. I think that this year and next year we’ll be decent, but the year after we’ll have made all our roster moves we wanted and will explode onto the scene.
I disagree footballMANIAC. Our secondary of the future is being groomed behind the veterans right now. Alphonso Smith is going to be our replacement for Bailey. At safety, we have McBath, Bruton, and Josh Barrett who are all young and very talented. Instead of being thrown into the fire, they are learning from the likes of Dawkins and Bailey. Jack Williams and Josh Bell are the two guys that will need to step up and fill in for Goodman in the future. If not, free agency and draft shouldn’t be too hard to find a capable replacement. I really like our secondary of the future though.
I do agree that 3 years from now we will be ready to make a serious run though. Somehow grab Colt Mccoy in the draft and we will be all set
I simulated our game against Cleveland on the Madden 10 yesterday evening. We won 30-10. Let’s see if Madden knows it’s stuff.
Atwater4Hof, you do you that McCoy is short for a NFL QB, ‘5″11 or 6 feet.
I like what I have seen from brandstater, and I believe he is our future.
We could afford to us a number 1 pick at another position, I think.
I’ve said it before….I love this team! I doubt we draft a QB in the 1st round next year too. Brandstater will get a shot next year.
if denver ends up with a winning record this year,and with our 2 first round picks for next season, we could be the favorites to win our division for years to come. I”m tired of all the haters and more because i have to hear them every sunday, when i”m trying to watch my game, onces a charger and the other a raider. but i believe in our team and if mcdaniels plans out this kinds of outcomes, we are headed in the right directions.
60 minutes of football go broncos!!!
I can’t wait for the game tomorrow. We will be there in the Club seats! Shannon Sharpe induction and season home opener, too cool! I believe we can get the W. I am driving from western Colorado and wrote on my car “Bake The Brownies!” “Go Broncos” on my Broncos Blue Subaru!
LET’S GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
first time in Denver, really impressed by it all, nothing to say about the team, just excited for the game tomorrow
I’m hungry for some brownies.
BROWNS GOING DOWN!!!!!!!!!
MANNY01….we do not have 2 first round picks next year. We traded ours to seattle to move up in the second round this year to grab Alphonso Smith. We only have the Bears first rounder next year, so our only hope at a high first rounder is the Bears sucking.
Yea, c’mon bro… You should have known that…
Im not going to comment on where i think this team is until i see us play real competition. I mean cmon we luckd out with out first 3 games..bengals, browns, raiders! haha
but im not saying nothing until i see us aginst a good opponent…patriots,cowboys,giants, chargers{even though their OVERRATED] the defending champs steelers then ill say where i think were at. because everybody is already saying we have a better team then last year and were going to win the division were great this and that all this after one game! and against the bengals! haha
CMON
Go Broncos!!!
hope to be 2-0
and thanks and much respect to shannon sharpe one of the greatest to ever wear a bronco jersey
OG bronco4life. That’s not true Colt Mcoy is 6′2 or 6′3. He’d be good but I’d rather have Jevean Snead or Jimmy Clausen
How about Carlos Dunlap. 6′6 290 runs A 4.7 40. great 5 technique 3-4 end