In Champ Bailey’s mind, it is no accident that the Broncos have looked like a cohesive unit week in and week out six games into the regular season.
No mystery as to why guys are always on the same page. No mistake as to why the team is able to make quick in-game adjustments.
The 11-year pro attributes much of how the team performs on the field to one thing: an intense level of preparation.
“We practice like it’s a game,” Bailey said. “We just know how to prepare. I think you win the game during the week. You don’t win it on Sunday. If you don’t go in there with the right mindset and the right preparation, you’re going to lose.”
In an effort to get in the most effective preparation possible prior to Sunday’s Week 8 matchup with the Ravens, the Broncos have moved both their Wednesday and Thursday practices to an indoor facility down the road from their Dove Valley headquarters.
Eager to continue the success they established before the bye week, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said it hasn’t been hard to motivate his team to practice inside the small space. In fact, McDaniels said this week’s practice sessions have not lacked intensity.
“(It was) probably as loud of a practice as we have had in awhile, and I mean there was a lot of (pads) popping, a lot of banging going on,” McDaniels said.
The Broncos have made six strong impressions on Sundays. But it seems as if the team gets the big picture, and is focused on making another strong showing against the Ravens.
“They know what we know, which is we are 6-0, we haven’t accomplished anything and we have got a heck of a challenge in front of us this week,” McDaniels said. “I think they are excited to play this game. It is a really good team we are going to get ready for, and they have got a lot of work to put in today, tomorrow and Saturday and continue to prepare all the way through the game.”
QUICKLY:
On Thursday morning it was announced that the Broncos had selected Bailey as their Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award recipient for the second year in a row.
By winning the award, the eight-time Pro Bowler was recognized for his leadership both on the field and in the community.
Bailey said he was surprised, but appreciative of receiving the prestigious honor for the second time in as many seasons.
“I didn’t expect to win it again,” Bailey said. “It’s a great honor. I pretty much represent a lot of the guys in this locker room that do a lot of great things in the community. That’s one thing I pride myself on, is giving back. Hopefully that rubs off on a lot of guys in the locker room, around the league, and people in the community.”
After sitting out practice on Wednesday, Ronald Fields (hamstring) was a limited participant in Thursday’s session. Brian Dawkins (hamstring) was also listed as a limited participant. Spencer Larsen (shoulder) participated in full.
For the Ravens, T Jared Gaither (neck) did not partcipate in Thursday’s practice session, while LB Tavares Gooden (head) was a limited participant. S Ed Reed, QB Joe Flacco (ankle), LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder), WR David Tyree (hamstring) and K Steven Hauschka (right ankle) participated in full.
– Zach Eisendrath, DenverBroncos.com
Here are a few pictures from the onset of Thursday’s practice session, including a few shots as the players arrived at the indoor facility.
Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Champ Bailey, Walter Payton Man of the Year, Week 8
Congrats Champ!!!
Looks like Dawk and Champ are having a serious chat…
They’re discussing “D-Back” matters, by the way I see it. Did you guys know Champ Bailey’s real first name is supposedly Ronaldo? Maybe it’s one of those fake hypes on wikipedia.
lol
Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey are awesome. It’s so great to have such great talent on the Broncos. To all the Broncos, thanks for giving your 100% each week. Sincerely, a lifelong fan.
champs real name is Roland.
yep…the bailey brothers are ronald, roland and rodney(ronald, champ, boss)
Well… this will be the first game in November. And thursday night football is closer, which I’m thankful. Today is thursday and no football ’till sunday.
This game will be very very tough. And I think it will be decided in the running game. Stop the run in D and gain all that you can running in O. They have a very good run defense, so it’s up to our 1-2 orange punch to soft them down.
No prediction, but a close 4-6 point spread difference, Broncos get the W.
Go Broncooos!
A hard question:
Brian Dawkins or Ray Lewis?
It’s a tough decision, but I’d have to go with Dawkins considering our roster and the fact that we already have solid LBs. Without considering a roster, though, it’s an impossible decision.
One factor to consider with this week’s game is that the Broncos are basically running the same offense as the Patriots. Seeing as the Patriots won (albeit narrowly), I’m hopeful for this game. It will be a different kind of test than we’ve experienced, though. The Ravens are a different type of team.
6 and 0 and we are still 4 point underdogs…. I for one love it!!!!
Make the chip on the shoulder big enough to fit Rice’s helmet in it!
I also will not make predictions, however I think it will be a great game either way.
This is Broncos Country!!!!
Let me hear it!!!!!!
footballMANIAC, there is nothing hard about that question….
Ray Lewis should be in jail for murder. It saddens me that every one has forgot about that.
Also our D is far better than the Pats!!!
This is Broncos Country!!!!
losers… champs real name is suck-@$$
who are you?
If you guys are registered with the Denver Post, in the Broncos premium section, you got to read the “Dead money” article. It is totally eye opening as far as what kind of team Xanders and McD have put together with a total dollar amount of 29 million dollars of dead money, the largest such amount of any team in the NFL. And what Jim Harbaugh (Ravens coach) thinks about it among other things, great article by Mike Klis.
It’s obviously a troll from back East. Philly/Philadelphia/Baltimore is next door.
He’s just a D-Bag who’s mad his team ins’t winning their division.
This is Broncos Country!!!
how in the world does phillyfanofusa keep getting on here
It’s a free country, he is using is freedom of speech right just to annoy us, I will not pay him anymore attention, that’s what he is after.
Completely agree with Wildman347 about Ray Lewis,
there is no contest. Dawkins is a professional on and off the field, a great man of faith and knows how to show his passion and skills at the proper times.
go broncs
Phillyphlemfusty,
Champs REAL name is “CHAMPION” BAILY!
The only loser is you. Are you mad because we got your best player? The heart and soul of the Philly D was B-Dawk.
The X Factor is a BRONCO! Get over it!
OC, I believe you are onto something here, he just can’t stomach to see Dawkins in a blue and orange uni. Why they let him go, and for that little money we had to pay him, had to be one of the dumbest move as far a player release ever.
Bay,
Does Shanny’s $7 million a year count against that dead money?
Or is that just REALLY DEAD! Like Halloweenish AL Davis Cript Keeper Kind of DEAD?
Oh they’re envious they lost their man to us. Oh well.. he knew it was time to move on…. some dips just can’t let go. Get over it Troll !!
Sorry guys I don’t know what the heck happened here, obviously it didn’t select the part I edited to copy and paste. Maybe someone can deleted… LOL, Sorry, but ILMAO…
It hurts, I’m laughing so hard, definitely the longest post I’ve ever written, LOL.
This one was for the Philly dude, take that!
Congratulations to Champ Bailey! He is a total class act.
Bummer Baylinor – was looking forward to reading it. Sounds like a great article. I may venture over and register for Broncos premium here in a few.
Not to change subjects, but have u guys heard anything about Jarvis Moss? I know he’s on the roster but don’t believe he’s been activated. No reason I guess since the other hybrid LB’s are doing great. Ayers, Elvis, Andra Davis and DJ.
Shanny’s 7 mil does not count agaist the cap. Only players. I think that 7 mil is for this year only. Congrats to CHAMP!! GOOO BBRRROOONNNCCCOOSSSS!!!
rbf1, here I try again
Not even federal prison in Yazoo City, Miss., can shackle Travis Henry from becoming part of the NFL’s feel-good story that is the 2009 Broncos.
Henry has long been removed from the Broncos’ roster, but he still is a strong presence on their books. The former running back and current convicted drug dealer counts $3.6 million against the team’s $128 million salary cap budget this year.
“He’s on somebody else’s roster right now,” cornerback Champ Bailey said with a chuckle. “I learn something about the salary cap every year. I can understand it counting maybe for the following year, but this far down the road? The system is crazy.”
Imagine, Josh McDaniels’ first day on the job as Broncos coach and finding out 3 percent of his salary cap payroll would be allocated to a guy wearing a jumpsuit in Yazoo.
The absurdity doesn’t end with Henry, who will celebrate his 31st birthday today as an inmate.
In listing the most stunning aspects about the 6-0 record the Broncos will take into their game Sunday at Baltimore, the efficient play of quarterback Kyle Orton, dramatic defensive transformation and attitude U-turn of receiver Brandon Marshall are often cited.
Nothing may be more amazing than this: The Broncos lead the NFL with $29.6 million in “dead money.”
Dead money does not necessarily mean a team continues to pay cold, hard cash to players it no longer employs. The Broncos have long stopped writing enormous checks to Henry.
But oftentimes, prorated bonuses that become part of the NFL’s salary cap formula serve as a reminder of costly past mistakes.
Most of the Broncos’ dead money is allocated to players who essentially are dead to the NFL — 11 of the 16 most expensive players on their “dead money” payroll are no longer in the league.
And some people claim McDaniels inherited more talent than did the first-year coaches in Kansas City, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland and Tampa Bay?
“There’s nothing you can do about those situations,” McDaniels said. “You understand what you’re dealing with, and you move on. We never one time thought of it as a limitation in terms of putting together the most competitive team we could possibly have.”
All that dead money conversely means no team has done more with less than the Broncos. Essentially, the Broncos built their undefeated 61-man roster (including the eight-man practice squad) on $92.4 million in salary cap dollars.
Not bad, considering some teams had roughly the full $128 million salary cap at their disposal.
“Put it this way: If they were 1-5 or 0-6 instead of 6-0,” said one NFL agent, “they would be using all that dead money as a valid excuse.”
Teams with the next four highest amounts of dead money — Oakland, St. Louis, Detroit and Kansas City — are a combined 4-23.
The two teams with the least amount of dead money — Minnesota and Green Bay — are a combined 10-3.
So how did the Broncos become such a stirring exception?
“It tells you they have a lot of quality players on rookie contracts,” former NFL general manager Charley Casserly said.
“And they picked up some veterans in the offseason for not high-dollar amounts.”
Within the first five days of free agency — as the Jay Cutler saga exploded to cast an ominous cloud over the Broncos’ 2009 expectations, as the New York Giants gave a $42 million contract to
(Korene Gallegos)Chris Canty, as the Washington Redskins gave $41 million guaranteed to Albert Haynesworth — McDaniels and general manager Brian Xanders signed 12 free-agent players for a combined $36.62 million in guaranteed money.
All but two of those players — backup quarterback Chris Simms and running back J.J. Arrington, who was signed to a conditional contract based on a physical he eventually did not pass — have made a significant on-field impact this season.
Among the Broncos’ initial free-agent group, Casserly said the Broncos found their greatest value in defensive backs Andre Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill.
Those three players in the secondary replaced Dre Bly, Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree.
Not only did the Broncos considerably upgrade those three positions in terms of performance, but the $7.55 million in combined cap salaries of Goodman, Dawkins and Hill is 20 percent less than Bly’s $9.45 million cap figure alone.
“It’s easy to sit here and say now I understood what they were doing, but I think we did understand what they were doing,” Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “A lot of people in football did. Obviously the quarterback thing, they made a decision there and Josh knows what kind of situation he wanted to have there, and he knew exactly what he was looking for and got that done.
“And then the defensive side is what’s really impressive. They went out and brought in a bunch of guys that, for whatever reason, they were available. I think they really selected carefully for the specific things they could do, and they’ve done such a great job of molding them together.”
JMoss has played some special teams.
This one is the right article, please do not delete. Excuse my earlier faux pas…
There is a list of each one of our ex-player’s dead money amount in the article, but you’ll have to go there to check it out because that’s why everything screwed up the first time when I tried to copy the list and the article.
Great article baylinor -Xman and McDaniels have done well especially when you look at the numbers of Blys cap figure vs. the $7.55 mil.
Thx tnalen66 – Just haven’t seen him or heard his name called. I know he has not lived up to original billing. Was always pulling for this guy to contribute.
How come all these guys from the DP are posting here?!?!?!? LOL. I hope no one will be to bummed out to go through all these DP posts, it was unintentional, they were actually the bloggers response to the Klis article, so it’s not all wasted time.
Nice job Champ, you make me proud to rock my orange #24 jersey every game day. Keep up the good work guys, let’s go 7-0. GO BRONCOS!!!
Man, I hate bye weeks(as a fan). Can’t wait until sunday.
lol i bet that that philly guy was that marrion the barbarian guy from the week against the cow pokies X.X
go broncos lets kick some raven a$$ 7 and 0 baby lets go
give kyle orton the key to the city
Hey Philly fan how bout them Yanks last night!!!! Also I’m not sure why you would name yourself Philly if you’re a Baltimore Raven fan. That doesn’t make sense. Anyway, Go Broncos.
http://www.illuminategym.com
Thank God bye week is over!
Lets get to our picks shall we. Broncos offense is starting to click on all cylinders and this week won’t be any different. Look for Buck and Knowshon to hit the lanes to the outside in our 4 wide reciever sets. This will keep Ed Reed honest to the run and open the moderate to deep pass ( yes I said deep pass ) for Orton. Ravens small cb’s have a terrible time against BIG recievers so look for Marshall, Scheffler (lined up wide), and Graham to be a big part in this scheme.
On Defense: Champ has to be locked and loaded on Mason (great route runner) as the Ravens like to pass to set up the run. DL and linbackers have to remain in their gaps, get pressure on Flacco, and keep a spy ( Dawkins ) on Rice out of the backfield and the screen. Unlike previous years, the Ravens have an offense (Flacco, Rice, Heap, Mason) to go with their defense.
Intangables: Broncos need to get the ball going on offense in the first quarter( this will be the key) and don’t let up. Defense needs to get to Flacco early and often to throw his timing off. His off line is banged up ( Gaither LT is questionable with a neck injury). Flacco is listed at 6′ 6″ so he shouldn’t be hard to find. (can you hear me Elvis? lol). Ravens started out strong 3-0 and were considered by many to go far in the playoffs this year. Since then they have gone 0-3 against some very good teams Cincy, NE, and Vikes and have lost by a combined points total of only 11.
Logic has me picking a very close game but, logic goes out the window this week. Broncos roll to 7-0 by the score 34-17
Regards,
Coach
Someone asked the question Dawkins or Lewis…I’m going to say Dawkins for a few reasons:1) His leadership, Lewis has it too, but Dawkins just really has it 2) His smarts, he plays smart, Lewis does to but that big hit on Ochocinoc while questionable, helped cost the Ravens a win 3) Suplex, was it against the Redskins one season he frickin’ suplexed a guy, awesome. YouTube it.
PhilllyPoneywhatsyourname, you’re just mad that Philly let Dakwins go. I’m sorry about JJ he was probably one of the best DC but when they let Dawkins go that was something that really hurt you.
Beat the Ravens..Go Bronocs!!!!
Coachemup, we think alike this week, you probably read my posts, so short and sweet, outside with the run and long with the pass and watch out for Mason. Can I be your assistant coach/ LOL.
OK, here is my prediction for the game…
21 – 10 denver. Final answer! Mark it down!
our defense dominates them for most of the game!
Go Broncos
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS”
final answer, hahaha. Got it.
sweet! thanks
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Marion the Barbarian and Phillyphanofusa are one and the same. Also it could be a Bronco fan just doing that kind of thing to get a rise out of some other fans.
I went to the Chicago Bears web site the other day to put in a little comment about Cutler, but the only place you can chat with the other fans is I think it’s called fan fare but it costs about $40.00 for new members and I didn’t think it was worth it.
So I went onto NFL.COM and put in(this just in, Chicago Bears have just contacted the Denver Broncos Organization to see if we’d release Orton so they could him up off waivers. I thought it was funny, but I only got one response. The guy said,”You can still keep Orton, with him and the o-line we’d[Bears] be 0-6 right now). LOL
It would be interesting to go back 4 or 5 months in the blogs to see which guys were bashing McD. and Bowlen for the Cutler trade and now are saying that they made an excellent choice. I remember 1 person who said that Denver was going to be at the bottom of the division and the Lions would have competition for the # 1 pick. Now where does he stand?
Let’s go Broncos and keep them eating their words.
oops! I forgot the word pick in my little joke.
tjnartw, the place to go have fun watch the Bronco fans giving it to the Bear fans, is chicagotribune.com, you don’t even have to register to post, so many Bronco fans have already been on and have said all you’d want to say anyway, you can just sit and read.
What I do after every game we play is I google, by example Balimore newspapers, and bam here you go, go onto the main paper website, click sports section, any article about the game and all the bloggers comments on the article. All for free and no need to register. Enjoy.
tjnartw: Right on, that dude is probably the same person. I don’t know if it would be an actual Broncos fan, I can’t even bring myself to say those words, let along post them on a Broncos blog.
Come on sunday!!
Go Broncooos!