Mason's Morsels

UPDATED AT 2:06 P.M. MDT

With Brandon Marshall and Rod Smith on the physically-unable-to-perform list and Brandon Stokley only practicing once per day, the roster of receivers is a little shorter than the Broncos would like. For the second half of Monday’s practice, their corps of healthy wideouts dropped by one as Domenik Hixon was consigned to the sidelines with an ice pack and a wrap covering his right shoulder.

“I just came out and tried to make a play and landed on my shoulder,” Hixon said. “That’s football. You’re going to get banged up and everything.”

Head Coach Mike Shanahan called the injury “slight.”

“First-degree shoulder separation — at least that was (Head Athletic Trainer) Steve’s (Antonopulos) first thought,” he said. “We’ll get an MRI on it to be sure. He doesn’t think it’s too serious, but I’ll let you know further after the MRI.”

But as Hixon left the field, he did so with optimism.

“I plan to be out on the field for the second practice,” he said.

David Kircus filled in for Hixon on the first team for the remainder of practice, and turned in some of the more crowd-pleasing catches of the day — and a spin move that left some of the first-team secondary flailing. Nick Ferguson gave chase to Kircus, but could not catch the wideout before he crossed the goal line.

“David shows flashes,” Shanahan said. “He’s a little inconsistent. He drops the ball a few too many times, but he does come up with the big play. That consistency dictates whether or not you get a chance to play come game time. But David does show flashes and hopefully that consistency will improve and if it does improve he will have a chance to be on the football team.”

NOTES FROM THE MORNING:

ATTENDANCE REPORT: Linebacker Ian Gold missed practice with back spasms that popped up Tuesday. “He should be back tomorrow,” Shanahan said … Offensive tackle Adam Meadows and wide receiver Brandon Stokley did not practice during the morning session, but are on a one-session-a-day protocol and will practice this afternoon … Colorado Rockies pitcher Rodrigo Lopez took in the practice, as did former Redskins and Texans general manager Charley Casserly.

POINTS OF EMPHASIS: The Broncos closed practice by working on the two-minute drill, giving the offense the football at midfield with a two-point deficit and 60 seconds on the clock … The special-teams segment focused on kickoff returns, with half of the time for the drill used for pooch kickoffs, one of which was dropped by Kircus.

WHO’S WHERE? With Hixon injured during the second half of practice and Stokley sitting out, the remaining wideouts moved up, and Brian Clark was the No. 3 receiver … Louis Green took over for Ian Gold at weakside linebacker and was ubiquitous, covering the field well and posting several stops … Nate Webster was back with the first team at strongside linebacker … The first-team defensive line remained unchanged: ends Ebenezer Ekuban and John Engelberger; tackles Gerard Warren and Sam Adams. Ekuban and Warren were the tackles in the dime package, flanked by Jarvis Moss and Elvis Dumervil … With Hixon injured, Quincy Morgan and Mike Bell took turns fielding kickoffs, although Kircus and Glenn Martinez each fielded some of the pooch kicks. Morgan’s blocking escort was Kyle Johnson, while Bell’s was Troy Fleming … The first-team kickoff return unit included safeties Steve Cargile and Hamza Abdullah, running back Cecil Sapp, linebackers Warrick Holdman and D.D. Lewis, tight ends Nate Jackson and Chad Mustard, defensive end Tim Crowder and offensive lineman Chris Myers … Lewis was the only linebacker in the second-team dime package during the “move-the-ball” work at the end of practice .. Rookie safety Roderick Rogers saw a couple of plays of action with the second-team base defense late in practice.

STANDOUT PLAYS: Rookie kicker Brandon Pace capped a successful two-minute drill for the second-team offense against the No. 1 defense with a 53-yard field goal. Earlier that drive, Patrick Ramsey found Marquay McDaniel for 16 yards on a slant to move the offense into scoring range … Ebenezer Ekuban swatted down a Jay Cutler pass for Quincy Morgan at the line of scrimmage during team drills … Champ Bailey had an interception during seven-on-seven work, grabbing a tipped pass … Wesly Mallard recovered a snap that Patrick Ramsey fumbled late in nine-on-seven work.


ONE-ON ONE: Fade routes and short goal-line slants were the order of the day when the receivers faced off with the cornerbacks … Dré Bly opened his work in the one-on-ones by jumping all over a pass intended for David Kircus. Later, however, Kircus managed to make a a grab of a lobbed Ramsey pass in spite of Bly’s tugs at the the receiver’s jersey … Jeff Shoate showed some aggressiveness in his one-on-one work, breaking up a pass for Hixon and nearly knocking another toss out of Clark’s hands … Prior to getting injured, Hixon made a spectacular catch in the back left corner of the end zone … Javon Walker made one play where he outleapt Bailey on a fade, then later froze Bly with a double move to get open.

And, as promised … photos:






Afternoon practice coming up; report to follow. Until then, vaya con Dios.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Training Camp, Domenik Hixon, David Kircus, Mike Shanahan, Javon Walker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.