They had seen pictures. They had heard a variety of different reviews.
On Friday, the Broncos got a first look at themselves in their 1960 retro uniforms.
Head Coach Josh McDaniels had the players practice in the new colors, getting them accustomed to the threads before Sunday’s Legacy Game against the Patriots. The full ensemble included the yellow jerseys, vertically striped yellow and brown socks, brown pants a brown helmet with numbers instead of a logo.
Ronald Fields was one of the first Broncos to try on the new look and his reactions were mixed.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore,” Fields laughed. “I thought our colors were blue, man. What’s up with this brown?”
Looking at the vertically striped socks, Matt Prater said the uniforms would add something fun to Sunday’s game against the Patriots.
“They’re pretty flashy,” Prater said of the socks. “I feel like a bumble bee in them but it’s different and it shouldn’t affect the game too much. You just play the game the same way and look a little different this time.”
SENDING A STRONG MESSAGE
Head Coach Josh McDaniels is six months shy of his 34th birthday.
As the second youngest head coach in the NFL, his age has at times sparked awe amongst some. For McDaniels, there is less value attached to his age and more value attached to the message he is delivering to his players.
“I learned a long time ago in this league that if you are telling them something that is going to help them win, help the team win, help them play better than what they have played before — that everyone of them in that room will listen to you,” he said.
Winning only helps establish that principle. Through four games, McDaniels has placed himself in a pair of exclusive classes. He and Red Miller are the only two coaches in Broncos history to start their career with a 4-0 record. Miller went 6-0 in 1977, leading Denver to a 12-2 record and an AFC Championship.
McDaniels is also only one of six rookie head coaches in the NFL to go 4-0 since the 2000 season. That group includes current Colts coach Jim Caldwell, who has Indianapolis standing as the only other AFC team besides Denver with a 4-0 start.
Caldwell turned 54 in January, demonstrating that two decades of separation in the age column does not equal separation on the football field.
“If you can lead and you can communicate and you understand the game and how the National Football League works and you can prepare your team and get them ready to play good football and win, who is to say what that age is?” McDaniels said. “I certainly am not going to put an age restriction on that. Somebody certainly could be much younger than I and be as ready as I am to go as I am or somebody else, for that matter.”
ROYAL RAPPORT
After setting Broncos rookie records with 91 catches and 980 yards a year ago, Eddie Royal has drawn one thing from opposing defenses — attention.
That attention has not stopped Royal and Kyle Orton from forming a great relationship in a complicated offense.
“We have worked extremely hard, and Eddie is one of those guys that stays after practice every day to run routes and make sure he is doing everything that I want him to do,” Orton said. “He has worked hard. We would love to get him the ball more. Maybe this will be the week.”
Four games into the 2009 season, Royal has eight catches for 58 yards. He’s added 84 yards on punt returns and 64 yards on kickoff returns, hurdling him over the 200 all-purpose yards mark.
While Orton said that defenses have had their eye on the speedster, he does not see that eye winning out in the long run.
“They have done a great job of making sure they know where he is at and relating to him and trying to take him away,” Orton said. “But Eddie is the type of guy that can beat double-coverage. He can beat single-coverage. Whatever they do, he should have an answer for him.”
INJURY UPDATE
There was one change to the Broncos’ Week 5 Injury Report on Friday. After not participating in Wednesday or Thursday’s practice, Brian Dawkins was a limited participant on Friday. He is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Patriots. There were no changes on the Patriots side, but running back Fred Taylor is listed as out for Sunday’s game.
– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Boston Patriots, Eddie Royal, Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton, Matt Prater, Ronald Fields, Week 5
I kinda like the yellow and brown look. lol. Hopefully it will be enough to beat the Patriots.
I LOVE IT!!! lol….This will be a fun one…Maybe Marshall alson being in stariting line up will free up Royal. I pray this is really his week. We’ve lost a factor with him being locked down all year. Love them retro socks prater lol….Glad Bdawk is back out….the Yellow and Brown is so Hilarious but we can pull it off lol
I agree, TRB. I hope Royal will have a break out game this week. He’s really good when he’s single-covered. By the way, TRB, do you know who our return man is? It varies week to week, I think. Do you know? I thought that Phonzie or Royal was the kick returner.
Its usually always Royal. Once in a while Phonzie and Mckinley get a shot. More Mickinley than Phonzie now a days tho but for the msot time…always Royal I believe
Thanks TRB. I think we need more Phonzie and McKinnley instead of royal, so he can stay rested for offense.
I wasn’t feeling these colors at first, however I think it will be kind of fun to watch them play in brown and yellow. They aren’t the coolest uniforms, but at least they are better than the ones the Eagles wore a few years ago. Man, you know Dawkins is a stud when he can look mean in those colors.
Let’s bring in these colors like the old days and beat the Pats again.
So, just trying to stir up some debate, what does everyone think will be our biggest advantage and biggest disadvantage against the Patriots?
Here’s mine:
Biggest advantage- Either our run defense against their second string running back or our recievers against their secondary. I can’t decide which is a bigger advantage.
Biggest disadvantage- Trying to cover Wes Welker. He’s their slot, so it won’t usually be Champ or Goodman covering him. I think he’ll probably be our biggest problem.
Biggest advantage – our socks… The Pats will be hypnotized with them (Brady will see them a lot because he’ll spend much time at ground level! Right Doom?)
Biggest disadvantage – our socks… we will be also hypnotized.
Crap! Have you seen how Gaffney twirled his socks?? I really thought I had a problem with my optic!
!sooocnorB oG
Looks to me like Kyle might not play with a glove this week. That’s is he does like the photo is showing. He might be healed now. Also Eddie need to get those yellow gloves too.
All hail THE hORSEMEN. We back together again. Also the other fans. LOL
whoa!! look at Gaffney’s socks…is it customed-spiraled??..
He has a bigger pair than usual. So he could twist it up to look like that. They not made that way. lol
Maybe our uniforms will be an advantage. The Patriots will see them and immediately vomit upon such a horrific sight. The Broncos will be immune to this effect, as we have gotten over it after practicing in them.
Thats real creative Gaffney…now those look hypnotizing lol.
Biggest Advantage: Our Recievers. Too many good ones to cover.(gotta still watch out for Merriwheather tho)
Disadvantage: A non presseured Brady and Wes welker….gonna be tough keeping him in check but from what ive seen recently we dont mind giving up 3 yards cuz we swarm quick. Dawkins will be stalking welker….he might catch it but can he hold on to it? lol
A gloveless Orton…lets hope his throwing gets better. His been inaccurate (stats say different but we know from watching), lacking zip, and put recievers in danger after the catch. NE has only gotten 1 int all year….lets keep it that way Orton. Let the streak continue….Im almost supersticious….almost want him to keep wearing gloves…its good luck but his passing should be better without glove.
Wow, that last picture man… way too funny!! It’s one thing to see a picture of one player wearing those socks but when you have them all grouped together like that… MY EYES!!!! I’m gonna be seeing yellow and brown vertical stripes for weeks! Getting dizzy looking at those socks… I really do think they will be to our advantage. They’ll turn out to be a distraction to the Pats.
Will be a fun game in many ways, can hardly wait!!
Keep the faith Bronco Country…
GO BRONCOS!!!!
Another advantage…we shut down the run forcing teams to be one dimentional and our pass rush is good which forces sacks and errors (INT and Incompletes). I benched Brady in My league. Thats a vote of confidence lol
Of all the combinations, I like Marshall the most (not adding more colors!), with brown under and yellow gloves.
Pratter’s blue underpants look really bad.
Go Broncooos!
Same WhiteBronco….we dont need any color clashes lol. Marshalls looks like what it woulda looked like long ago and it looks surprisingly good. Like Bdawks too…..but white is a real neutral color thats why he can get away with it lol.
Yeah, our run defense definately gives us a huge advantage. It’s much better than that of the Patriots and they probably won’t be able to stuff our running game. I’m just afraid that even if we make them go completely one-dimensional, we still won’t be able to stop their passing game; they have great depth at reciever and you know Brady can find the open man if he has enough time! If Dumervil can do his thing, awesome. And hopefully our offense can warm up faster than it did against the Cowboys- we need to score more than once in the first half to keep in the game. I’m confident that the Broncos can win, but they need to bring their A-game and even then it will be a challenge.
I hear ya MANIAC. I’m gonna say….We win 20-13
I think the uniforms’ colors don’t look so bad because the uniforms are of today’s style, it makes a huge difference, think of men playing tennis or basketball in today’s shorts or shorts of the 70′s. Regardless of the colors, the 70′s shorts make you look like fools (Disco Fools! LOL). If these uniforms had the style of the 60′s on top of the colors, we’d be rolling on the ground laughing so hard, we’d never catch a single play of the game. No, seriously, that would unbearable. This is ok.
It… is…. BEAUTIFUL!!
Good Point Baylin. I thought of that as well….the fit is different, material different, quality used to print, design, make, w/e…more advanced. Even the Browns look good so we shoulda known. The padding changes the way it looks too…and helmet style to yup. good observation
TRB, I finally got mine, we win 16-13. And on my yearly predictions I picked us to lose this one for the first loss of the season. Scary part, I’m 4-0 on my first 4 picks, so I need to have been wrong on this one. Anyway, obviously I’m going out on a limb here.
Hey Guys and Gals’
This is the style of uniform that won the very first AFC game ever played. May the Broncos win another one in the yellow and brown!
Go Broncos!
Orton throwing w/o the gloves..hope he got his zip back…but the extra large paddings, TOO VINTAGE!!..lol
those jerseys are horrible..lol…its not gonna feel like im watching the Broncos…wish we could see the broncos in thye old uniforms with the D on the helmet..good ol orange and blue….and i think alphonso smith could cover welker with his stop and go speed, and jack can cover edelman(welker jr)…I live in new england,so i really need th broncos to win…pppplllleeaasseeeeee…..lol..go broncos, and good luck..
NO GLOVES!! LET’S GO ORTON – show the Patsissys how it’s done in the cold! Go Broncos!
What can be said other than its clear why the uniforms were changed to the Orange and Blue. Its nice to see the original look again, but I wouldn’t be upset if it was another 50 years until they were those again.
Battle of the Hoodies! I’ve been looking forward for this one since I saw the schedule for the first time. The Broncos are in for a good solid challenge with this Patriot team. They are possibly the most (statistically speaking) complete team we play all year. The most interesting thing about New England is that they don’t have to be more talented to win. They play team football and will outwork other teams that allow them to. This will be a good test for the Broncos. Denver matches up really well against New England Offensively and Defensively. I would give our Defense the advantage, but am unsure how banged up Dawkins is. If he is healthy enough to play then I think he will be the difference maker. However, whoever is playing in the backfield is going to have their hands full with Moss and Welker. But I think Champ wants revenge for last years match-up that ended with him being injured and Moss with his hands in the air. Should be a good one as always. I really hope our front 7 can exploit the suffering Patriot O-line. They aren’t as weak as some teams we’ve faced, but I don’t think they are better than Dallas or Cincinnati either.
I think our Offense is better slightly than their Defense. The running game is consistently effective and the passing game is getting better each day. With the glove off it will be interesting to see how much better, if at all, Orton’s throws are. I think this game will be decided on two factors. First is if we can pressure Brady, and second is whether our rushing can establish itself without Bucky in the lineup. I think the Broncos are more than up for the challenge and wouldn’t be surprised if they run away with this one. I really think they are that good.
Go Broncos!
Allsportsguru-
I agree with you on most of what you said except that I think Dawkins is more of a factor in the run game than the pass. I think we’d be in more trouble than you think if we can’t make Brady throw quickly. Their recievers are just too quick to cover for more than 2-3 seconds. So, yes, I think that our pass rush will definitely be a factor towards whether we win or lose. Also, I’m not sure you give New England the credit they deserve. While they aren’t what they were in 2007, they still are a really good team. They’ve only lost a few guys since 2007 and they’re getting older, but they are still a force to be reckoned with. I think we can win, but only if we play excellent, turnover-free football.
Denver has the edge over the Pats. McD knows Belichek’s book better than the other way around. Also, McD knows Brady’s tendencies. It will still be a close game, more than likely, but Denver has the advantage. Lets hope they can use that in their favor.
lets go kick some patriat ass broncos yellow jerseys and all
Eddie’s work ethic and intensity, even when he doesn’t get the ball, surmise precisely why he’s my favorite Bronco. I know he’ll do well for us Sunday as the Patriots suffer another loss. I was just showing my mom pictures of the brown and yellow threads and she says the orange and blue are much better. While I agree, when you have this team on the field, the results can be nothing but propitious and beautiful for Broncos fans. Let’s go 5-0 guys. GO BRONCOS!!!
LOL Well I have to say that Brian Dawkiins actually looks really good in the yellow jersey. I just think it will be a little funny to see eleven guys out there with brown pants and striped socks.
The socks were already burned one time before, I hope this won’t be bad luck!! lol.
I look for the Broncos offense to to get the ball rolling this week with the likes of Orton,Moreno,and Royal. Ball control should be the emphasis in this one so look for the Broncos to pound the rock up the middle and with some short screens to take time off the clock and to keep Brady off the field. I believe the patriots won’t be in press coverage on Brandon Marshall but will roll coverage to his side of the field with two or even three defenders. This should open up lanes in the medium and long range to Sheffler, Gafney and Eddie Royal. “Kyle, you need to hit your man in stride!!”
On Defense: Doom, Doom and more Doom!!The Broncos need to contain the running backs and keep a constant pressure on Brady. Tom Brady is one of the best all time at reading coverages so don’t try to do too much. We need to keep everything in front of us with a bend but don’t break mentality. Randy Moss and Champ Bailey should be a great matchup to watch but Welker is a machine in the slot and he is just starting to get his feet underneath him so don’t let him breath.
If we eliminate penalties,convert on third down,short yardage, and goalline, Broncos will be 5-0.
If we lose we can always blame the uniforms!! lol.
Forget that, Broncos win 24-16
Regards
Coach
Looking forward to this weekends game. Lot’s of festivities going on at Invesco. Bronco Barn gave out throw back yellow t-shirts last weekend. If you wear them this weekend, you get in for half price (Bronco Barn).
Another good matchup this weekend. This one will be especially interesting to see McDaniels go against Belichek. Didn’t realize Belichek got his start with Ted Marchibroda and the Baltimore Colts of the mid-70′s. (Bert Jones/Lydell Mitchell era). Last time I saw the Patrtiots was back in playoffs in ’05/06, when Bailey had the int against Brady to turn the game around. Recently, NY Jets were able to get quite a bit of pressure on Brady a few weeks back and came a away with a W.
Go DEFENSE!! On O, let’s see if we can get Moreno free at 2nd level this week.
Patriots RB Fred Taylor will have ankle surgery. Pats still have Morris, Maroney, Faulk and the other kid…(forget his name).
DD – read your article on Knowshon Moreno over at Fan Huddle – nice job!
Attached a link on Elvis.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=garber_greg&id=4546254
Well…sigh. I wish I could predict tuchdowns and fireworks and a glorious victory for our Broncos. I just don’t see how the young and inspired student is going to defeat his greatest mentor? Maybe by using SURPRISE advances in football technology…….? i.e. (sprint option)!!!
How is Orton just going to get accurate all of the sudden? Now he’ll be passing in cold weather….uugh, I’m not that impressed with Orton. Sorry, but looking at the wide open recievers he couldn’t get the ball to last week just makes me shy away from believing we’ll see any kind of offensive explosions anytime soon.
Alas……My Bronco heart won’t let me pick a loss for us, so somewhere along the course I’m sure to double bogey on one of these games. It’s fun to make good confessions for us anyway………
This cold weather game all comes down to defense. Belichick knows everything there is to know about McD but he’s not that familiar with Nolan. The Broncos will have an edge here. Bronco defense buries the Pats in the brown and yellow dirt of Invesco field at Mile High. Patriots 10
With Buck’n-Bronco-Halter in the stable healing, there is a question mark as to weither a combo of Moreno/Jordan can get the same production? With a QB who only hits the reciever about 50% of the time, now facing inclement conditions, the Broncos will need the running game to be the “moneymaker” on sunday.
If Hillis can get into the game in the third quarter? We should see the RHINO, downhill-bullrushing to get into the ZONE for one TD. Add two FG’s, thanks to Bronco special teams and defense getting a turnover.
Broncos 13
Patriots 10
STONE COLD MILE HIGH SHOT IN THE DARK!!!
I still say if we can get 3 more turnovers and 5 more sacks plus getting preasure on brady”hitting” him almost every play with out geting flagged for touching him we can win the game 10-3 are O is good but I dont think we will score a lot.
Orange _Crusher you do know that Orton was wearing a glove to help protect a dislocated finger on his throwing hand . Would you be willing to dislocate your finger on your throwing hand to show us how it has no effect whatsover on a persons throwing accuracy ?
Orton played at Purdue and then in Chicago and you dont think he can play in bad weather ?
If we can stay away from the penalties and turnovers we will win
i gotta say u r deadon with ur analysis of this game coachemup. i do not like kyle orton all that much but with a mcdaniels designed offense i believe even i could play qb here. he makes a qb’s job so much easier. its amazing to watch. we are gonna be really good for a really long time. mcdaniels was born to be a coach and he will be great. but if orton “hits em in stride” as u say we’ll score enough to win imo. bmarsh is gonna get going and open things up for royal and sheffler while doing it. i’m not overly impressed with new englands secondary and knowshon will keep em just honest enough for our passing game will get us a win.
of course the dealbreaker as many of u noted is the penalties and turnovers. turnovers havent been much of an issue but penalties certainly have. if we commit penatles like last week and decide to turn the ball over a cupla times we will lose. i say 21-17 broncos. brady may be good for a cupla touchdowns to pullem ahead early but we grind it out late because of our coaching. yes i say we’ll outcoach them. we got some good coaches bronco fans and i hope you all appreciate em. i said from the moment shanny was fired we were in good hands with bowlen doin the hiring. and i was right.
KO8,
Glove, no-glove, dislocated finger, hangnail, whatever the reason is irrelevant to me. The guy needs to DO HIS JOB and get the ball to the open playmakers or step aside and let someone else try to be the play manager.
When the “play maker” is open, the “play manager” cannot throw the ball to the ground two feet in front of him. If the guy has a problem getting that done, for any reason, the Coach needs to put someone in there who CAN get it done. Putting the BEST players on the field is paramount.
I know we are winning and am not trying to be a downer. I want Bronco triumph, like all here. I just want to see a QB who gets the ball out (quickly and accurately). Then, the rest of our tallented offense will get a chance to do something great and give me hope and excitement.
In this Sundays game it will all come down to which “play manager” gets the ball to the “play makers”. Who do you think will do a better job, Orton or Brady?
I would trade Orton for Brady if Tom would come and play for the Broncos….lol…? I wonder if there would ever be a chance of that happening………I jest!
OC, coachemup, IMO you both make some very good points about your vision of tomorrow’s game.
OC, agreed with you that this sets up to be just like last week, a defensive battle, also agree Orton has a ways to go before he can put a game way out of reach, specially that so far we have performed very poorly in first halves which makes it impossible to jump on opponents so I like your pick, you might get me this week…
Coachemup, IMO no doubt you are correct that we need to run the rock and the clock to keep Brady off the field as long as possible. Running will be at a premium this week and if Bucky was ready to play, this would be a much easier pick for me. I guess they won’t have Taylor, so it evens things out. I still believe that out running game is worth at least 50 yards more than theirs, mainly because of our great O line and their average one. It will be hard for them to get over 50 yds on the ground where I could see us get one and a quarter. More than anything I believe this will be the main factor deciding the game. The O line had their bad game last week with all the penalties, I believe they will have that behind them and put out a great game and open up lanes for our RB’s, whoever they are. Who knows Walker might even get in there.
Allsportsguru, It looks like Dawkins is beat up not a lot more than week to week beat up in the NFL, and looks ready to play.
I think with our 3-4 D we will be able to apply a lot of pressure on Brady who is still concerned about his knee and will show he can be nervous back there just like in the Jets game. That is an aspect of his game, being nervous, that was never in his head prior to his injury, a year off will make you reevaluate in a hurry. Also the fact that we should be able to control their running game will allow us to pin our ears back some. On the other hand I think the N-E new 4-3 D will have a much tougher time rushing our QB, because we should be able to run against them so they’ll have to respect that. As weird as it may sound, I don’t see either Brady or Orton making a huge difference today, I see a TD on each side and a battle of field goals for a 16-13 win. Like OC, I am putting myself out on a limb here, because I picked us to lose this one in my yearly predictions.
Allsportsguru, I hope you’re right when you say that we might be able to run away with this one, but I will definitely have to see that before I can believe it. Orton still hasn’t gotten to the level of putting teams away. It is a great thing that our D has started the season so hot, it has given time to our O to progress while not being put under the pressure to win the game on their own, but that window frame is narrowing by the minute, and starting this Sunday going into the next month, we will need a lot more O to keep our record unblemished.
Well, the thing the patriots have on defense that very few teams have is that the LB’s and safety’s are fast enough to fly all over the field. Phili and NE are the very few teams with that ability.
In my opinion the biggest factor in this one will be if we can eliminate penalties. If we eliminate penalties then maybe our O can get going and the Broncos WILL win.
Brady to Welker is undoubtedly their biggest threat
Our biggest advantage is our ability to run the ball and stop the run.
Look for Moreno to have a huge day 25+ carries and 130 yds and a TD.
add Orton throwing a TD and Prater nailing a couple and the Broncos win
20-16
man, those are uniforms are just plain awful!!!!! Some of you guys are being nice cus it’s our Broncos. But these uniforms are hideous. The guys look like terds with corn. I really hope these uniforms don’t affect our play. Couldn’t we wear the 60′s orange throwback? That’s close enough to 50 years ago. The league is ridiculous sometimes. Dumervil is who I thought he was. I’ve been drafting him in my IDP fantasy football leagues the last three years, and now this year he made me look like a genius.
Lookin’ good, boys! I still love the orange and blue, but it’ll be awesome to see the different colors out on the field…they’re still Broncos colors
Go Broncos!!! Let’s go 5-0!
It’s so cool how all the players have thier number on their helmet!!!!! Sorry, had to throw that in there
And no, I’m not just being nice. It’s a historical Broncos uniform and it looks cool to me 
I Love the Uniforms!!!! They are pretty spiffy. Hopfully we can pull off the upset this week and improve to 5-0. If Champ can shut down Moss like he did last year until he got hurt then that will definatley improve our chances to win. Come on DOOM we need another big game from you and our resurgent Defence. Hopefully Moreno will get his first 100 yard game and have a couple of scores, that would be cool. Come on Broncos we need this win, go out and play with the same intensity as you guys have the first four weeks and you will earn it.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!
Lets give credit where credit is due!
Kyle Orton will not throw a pea through a battleship but thats not why we got him here in the first place. He is showing toughness playing with a dislocated finger, standing tall in the pocket and hitting his recievers when we need it the most. First and foremost he is a WINNER (26-12 as a starter) and definately is getting respect from his fellow teammates. That is why they voted for him as captain. I believe his accuracy will come along after he sheds the glove and gets more comfortable in this very complicated system. This could very well be his breakout week and it wouldn’t hurt if SOME OF the fans at the game wouldn’t boo everytime he steps on the field. John Elway didn’t complete every pass he threw and believe it or not the Great Tom Brady won’t complete every pass this week either. If we can win good, bad or ugly, I don’t care! a win is a win.
Also, the players have bought into McDaniels system lock, stock, and barrel. We eliminate the penalties and turnovers and WE WIN THE GAME!
Regards,
Coach
Interesting, so far I got 10 score predictions from you guys and none of them has us winning by more than 10 points. A lot more respect for the Pats D than you had for the Dallas D last week when people were predicting up to a 24 point win, or is it that after you saw how close and low scoring last week’s game turned out, you’re not quite as confident anymore in our O’s ability to put up big points? Probably a little of both, with emphasis on the latter I would imagine.