UPDATED WITH TRANSACTION AT 2:05 P.M. MDT
With a game against the Seattle Seahawks tomorrow, Friday was essentially a “football Saturday” for the Broncos — meaning the practice was a quick walkthrough in preparation for the contest.
With that said, there weren’t a ton of “playmakers” to report from the session in shorts and shells.
ROLL CALL
Brandon Lloyd and Kyle Orton were back participating in practice after missing the end of Thursday’s practice due to a team decision and personal issue, respectively.
Head Coach John Fox confirmed after Thursday’s session that Orton left yesterday’s session early for the birth of his first child.
The newest member of the Broncos family is Olivia Taylor Orton (7 pounds, 18 inches), born at 3 a.m. today.
“That first child is exciting for everybody — man or woman,” Fox said. “It’s a neat thing. He’s very fortunate that everything went well and everybody is healthy.”
David Bruton was back on the field stretching with the team, but did some conditioning sprints for the most part while the rest of the defensive backs ran through drills.
Perrish Cox had an excused absence from practice.
QUICK HITS
FOX ON SATURDAY
Fox addressed a number of questions after practice, including whether Bruton will suit up on Saturday and how the quarterback rotation will look throughout the game.
Both will be “a game-time decision,” he said.
He said the third game of the preseason is an evaluation period, just like every other contest.
“At the end of the day, we’re just looking for improvement as a football team,” he said, adding that a win is still one of the objectives. “It’s always important to win. This game is only fun when you win. Whether it’s preseason or the regular season or playoff season, we’re always trying to win.”
TRANSACTION UPDATE
The team on Friday reached an injury settlement with tight end Richard Quinn. He has been waived from injured reserve.
He played 29 career games (4 starts) in his first two NFL seasons, seeing time on both offense and special teams.
USA FOOTBALL MONTH
The Broncos’ continued support for youth football will be evident in Sports Authority Field at Mile High tomorrow night through USA Football Month, a national campaign taking place throughout the NFL preseason. USA Football, the official youth football development partner of the Broncos and the NFL, serves America’s football community through coaching education, player skill development and player health initiatives. USA Football, the Broncos and the league’s other 31 teams award $1 million in football equipment grants to youth and high school football programs annually. Banners bearing logos of both the Broncos and USA Football will be displayed tomorrow night. USA Football’s logo also will be stenciled on the field to promote youth and amateur football.
More photos from Friday’s practice are below.
-Gray Caldwell
Tags: Preseason Week 3
Ya trb but the whole scenario is unlikely (ok impossible), so I expect none of it can be taken too seriously. I just am tired of the qb mess every year since elways retirement so ill call that an extravagant day dream & in my daydreams I make the rules!! I grew up watching the broncos have greatness at qb & really, really, really want that again. But I love my broncos no matter what so I’ll vent and complain & invent never-gonna-happen scenarios but then be right there cheering em on on game day til the day I die.here’s to a great year for orton and the broncos
Here’s what Chris Harris at espn has to say about two Bronco players who made his list.
“Ten Super-Deep Sleepers to watch”
#3 – WR Eric Decker #87
Decker suffered a Lisfranc (foot) fracture his senior year at the University of Minnesota, or he might’ve been as high as a first-round pick in the 2010 draft. As it was, Decker lasted until the third round and was essentially “redshirted” his rookie season. Now healthy, the 6-3, 220-pounder appears to be a natural flanker, a possession receiver who doesn’t have great deep speed but can really jump and has superb hands. Decker also aced the Wonderlic a couple of years back, generating an image as a heady player and a coach’s favorite. Brandon Lloyd comes first in Denver’s offense, but Decker looks like a strong bet to play in three-receiver sets, with Eddie Royal running out of the slot. Whether new coach John Fox is willing to throw enough to allow more than one Broncos receiver to be a fantasy factor is an open question, but odds are that Decker will finish third or fourth in targets among Denver pass-catchers. If the team is significantly better than many believe, I can see the kid tickling high single digits in touchdowns.
#8 – TE Julius Thomas #80
Thomas is an inheritor of the redefinition Antonio Gates has given the tight end position. Another former basketball player without tons of football experience, Thomas is part of an ultra-crowded depth chart in Denver, where Daniel Fells, Dante Rosario, Virgil Green and Dan Gronkowski are also around. Fells might be the favorite to start Week 1, but Thomas is more intriguing. When they were drafted this spring, Green was considered the favorite to have an immediate receiving impact while Thomas was more of a project, but those roles have clearly been reversed in training camp. Thomas has been a regular in two-tight-end sets for a couple of weeks, and also got some time in the slot (or, more accurately, in the “wingback” role in Denver’s version of single-wing), from which he looked deadly running down the seam. Fells looks like the starter but doesn’t feel exciting from a fantasy perspective. If things click for Thomas early, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him take over the pass-catching role in John Fox’s new Broncos offense.
Looking forward to tonights’ game!!!
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!
By the way I’m not exactly a big orton fan like a few others are. I have no problem with them tho & I just think he is our best chance by far to win this year, and man I am ready to win. Tebow could be great one day I just don’t think so based on what I see. But believe me I’m no expert. Some may hope we don’t do so well this year so we get a high draft pick & get one of the other qb’s if not luck but I don’t know if I can take another losing season again.
Here’s my take on Tebow. Why is it now or never like a lot of the experts are saying. Just look at Aaron Rodgers. He sat for 4 years before being anointed the starting qb. So why can’t we do the same thing with Tebow? Let’s just let him sit for a couple of years and give him a chance to learn the pro style offense. If we just give up on him this early, I think that would end up biting us in our butts, because once he does learn the game at this level he is gonna be one heck of a qb. So at least for this year and maybe next year too, let’s start Orton, (who I have always liked), and let Tebow learn, and bring him in in certain packages i.e. goal line/red zone.
Sounds good to me melo. But I personally put the chances tebow ever becomes a great full time starting NFL qb at 45%. your scenario works however and tebow will always be some kind of contributor no matter what, because there’s no doubt he’s special.
Hello everyone. It’s been about 6 months since I’ve logged on but I thought I would share my impressions of the team as I see it so far.
Near the end of last season I was one of the many fans who jumped on board the Tebow bandwagon and thought Orton should be shown the door. But as I watch these preseason games it is clear that Orton is by far the better QB right now. Remember, as much as we all love Timmy he was a McD draft pick. Most of us hated every personnel move that McD made but everyone seemed to love drafting Tebow. The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to believe that even that was a bad decision by McD. Obviously it’s way too early to say for sure what’s going to happen but at this point I don’t see Tebow succeeding unfortunately. He’s a fine person that’s for sure, but I’m just not seeing the greatness as a football player that I thought I saw last year. Plus, coach Fox went to a Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme as his QB, and we all know that he was not much more than a game manager. In my opinion Orton is much better than Delhomme ever was. If Kyle can stay healthy and Fox & Co. continue to improve the defense and the running game I definitely believe Orton can have the same kind of impact that Delhomme did in Carolina.
That brings me to the defense. I love the aggressive playcalling by Dennis Allen. I wasn’t sure Von Miller was the right choice with our first round pick, but I think I was dead wrong about that. He has Derrick Thomas written all over him. With him on one side and Dumervil on the other and Ayers moving inside on passing downs as Bay and others have mentioned, our pass rush looks lethal. The thing I like most about the D is they seem to be playing for one another. After that big hit by Rahim Moore last week I loved how veterans such as Champ, DJ, and Dawk were quick to come to his defense and make sure that Bills receiver Stevie Johnson didn’t try anything. You know a rookie like Moore has to love that the older guys have his back no matter what. I’m not a big fan of fighting normally but it’s great to see a defensive unit that looks out for each other. To me that’s the kind of attitude it takes to create a successful D.
Sorry for being so long winded, but I had several thoughts I wanted to touch on. I won’t make a playoff prediction or anything bold like that right now, but it is obvious to me that coach Fox has this team headed in the right direction. Can’t wait for Monday night against the Raiders!
Ravens cut an offensive and defensive tackle that may be worth the look if only to bolster our depth. Oniel Cousins was a 3rd round pick out of UTEP who appeared in 25 games and started 4 at OT. DT Cornell Banks was also cut.
Cornell Banks was an Undrafted FA out of Fresno State. He’s listed at 6-3 and between 310 & 325.
Congrats to Kyle Orton on being a new Dad. There is nothing better in the world. Maybe that’s why he’s had such good confidence in not letting all the media hoopla bother him. In the big picture of things, he’s had something more important and meaningful going on.
Thanks Bay for letting us in on some of how you always know so much that is up to date – via using twitter. I’ll add Shefter to my account so I can follow better. For those of you who don’t use twitter, sometimes it’s meaningless, but other times, it’s very good when people are kind of giving you a “play by play” of what’s happening at an event that you can’t see or be present at or letting in you in on future events well before the general public is informed about them.
I also agree with Bay’s 11:03 post that it’s realistically going to be difficult for the Broncos to make the playoffs this year and that San Diego is still the team to beat in the AFC West. But because there were no off-season practices and on any given day, any team can beat another team, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. But I do agree with Bay that the Broncos would probably need to win the division to get into the playoffs because based on past history, wild card teams usually come out of other divisions.
In general, I think the psychological effect of how the first few games go is really important for the players – and the fans. Success breeds success. If the Broncos are 4-1 at the bye week, they will have some real confidence. But the team and the fans need to keep a focus on winning the division, not necessarily the overall win/loss record early in the season. Like Bay says, I think the most likely way into the plays for an AFC west team is to win the division. The overall win/loss record may not have to be that impressive to do that. The general idea would be to hope the team wins the division and improves over the course of the season to a point where that if the make the playoffs, they will have improved a lot and be able to compete with any team by that point.
Sorry for my typical long post. I just don’t have the time to post frequently. I can’t wait for the game tonight!
wasn’t that barthalomew(not sure on spelling) kid suppose to be pretty good?
You’re welcome Jester.
And Hi 88, long time no see.
do we know how badly Bunkley is hurt?
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