Mason's Morsels

At a walk-through practice in August, the story isn’t so much what the team does, but who will play in the following day’s preseason game.

So it was for the Broncos as they broke apart from the host Dallas Cowboys for a final on-field session that saw them run at half-speed — with neither pads nor helmets.

“Well, we had two good days of two-a-days. We had pads on both morning and afternoon. We got a lot done, so it’s been a good trip,” Head Coach Mike Shanahan said. “Today’s a little bit different — a day for recovery time before you actually play the game, but we got a lot done in a short amount of time.”

After the one hour of on-field work Friday afternoon, Shanahan confirmed that Javon Walker, Brandon Marshall, Matt Lepsis and Tony Scheffler all would play Saturday night. The news, however, was not so good for tackle Adam Meadows and defensive end Tim Crowder, both of whom were injured during Thursday afternoon’s practice.

“(Meadows) has got a bad calf strain. I’m guessing that’s a couple of weeks,” Shanahan said. “Crowder will not play; he was on crutches today. Greek (Head Athletic Trainer Steve Antonopulos) thinks there’s a chance he could play next week, so that’s a positive sign.”

The Broncos’ general plan of play distribution for Saturday’s game remains unchanged from their protocol for the second preseason game over the last several years, with the first-teamers expected to see between 20-25 plays of action, taking them into the second quarter before ceding proceedings to the second and third units.

However, it is expected that the Cowboys will play their No. 1 unit a little longer than Denver will.

“To be honest with you, it’s always a good test for some of our younger guys,” Shanahan said. “You get a chance to see them against their starters, and we’ll get a chance to get good evaluation if that’s the case.”

But there’s been plenty of evaluation in the previous three days, which were more productive than the last week of camp typically can be.

“The third week is normally the toughest week of training camp, because guys get tired of hitting each other,” Shanahan said. “But you come here and everybody’s ready to go, and it’s one of the benefits of going to another NFL camp.”

MUSTARD AT RIGHT TACKLE: With injuries riddling the Broncos’ complement of tackles, Shanahan said he had “no choice” but to move Chad Mustard from tight end to tackle.

Meadows’ injury Thursday became the fourth to strike the unit; he joins Ryan Harris and Jacob Rogers as tackles who will miss Saturday’s game, while Lepsis has recovered enough from his groin strain last week to take part. “Any time you have four tackles go down, he’s got to play there,” Shanahan said. “But Chad’s a guy that has played both positions — he hasn’t played (tackle) for a while, but he’ll play half the game (Saturday) at right tackle.”

Mustard worked at tackle during the first part of organized team activities in 2006 before moving to tight end, where he had remained until this week.

WHO’S WHERE: Nate Webster worked with the first team at strongside linebacker … Amon Gordon and Sam Adams lined up with the first team at defensive tackle, while John Engelberger and Ebenezer Ekuban remained at defensive end … The first-team offensive line included left tackle Matt Lepsis, left guard Chris Myers, center Tom Nalen, right guard Montrae Holland and right tackle Erik Pears … Brandon Marshall continued to work with the first unit at wide receiver.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Thursday night, I wasn’t feeling too well, so I lay down for about an hour hoping that a little rest would reinvigorate me. It did, so having missed the dinner offered here at the hotel, I hit the road trolling for some food.

En route, I fiddled with the radio, becoming truly amazed at the number of Spanish-language FM radio stations available here, a tally which seemed to match the amount of English-language outlets on the dial. On one station, I heard the disc jockey make the following utterances:

“If the plural of ‘mouse’ is ‘mice,’ then why isn’t the plural of ‘house’ ‘hice?’”

“A teacher has ‘taught,’ but a preacher has not ‘praught.’”

“You play at a recital, but you recite a play.”

At this point, our host immediately transitioned into fluent Spanish, with which he intoned the upcoming song — also in Spanish.

Is there a point? Not really, except to illustrate that the English language is one odd duck.

With that, we’re done with the practices from Valley Ranch … until Saturday, vaya con Dios.

“All ready!”

Those two words were Darrent Williams’ mantra, they are now the Broncos’ rallying cry as they remember their fallen teammate, and they were the words with which the Broncos closed out their final joint session with the Dallas Cowboys as Williams’ mother, Rosalind, and other family members spoke to the team just before they boarded their waiting buses and returned to their headquarters hotel.

There, meetings and the tedium of camp and preseason game preparation awaited. But as the Broncos left Valley Ranch on Thursday, they did so uplifted by the presence of a woman who, in the eyes of Shanahan, the coaching staff and their players, remains very much a part of the team, just as her son was for an all-too-brief span of two seasons.

“She is,” Head Coach Mike Shanahan said. “She’s going to be with us for a long time, for many things. We’ve embraced the memory of Darrent and Damien (Nash), as well. To have her out here obviously made it a very special day.”

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Countless beads of sweat dangled and dropped from Jarvis Moss’ face as he left the practice field at Dallas Cowboys headquarters on Thursday morning. After all, just because you’re local and used to the stifling conditions doesn’t mean it won’t leave you soggy and in need of a shower.

But when Moss walks onto the Texas Stadium turf for Saturday night’s game, he’ll do so with a large contingent of his nearest and dearest looking on — about 30 strong.

But they won’t all be in matching No. 94 jerseys. Moss is a rookie; it takes time to get everyone outfitted. “My brother and little sister got a jersey, but that’s about all right now,” he said.

Moss was drained late Thursday morning, but happy nonetheless. His knee made it through a second straight day of practice, and his gallop was returning to normal after he favored the left knee he injured during practice on Aug. 6.

“(The knee) is actually doing really good. I’m really excited about that,” Moss said. “My legs the past few days have been back under me and it’s showing. I’m out there competing and that’s just a really good feeling for me especially since I’ve got family and friends coming to the game. Just feeling a little healthier and ready to go.”

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My favorite picture of the day, one that underscores the oddness of the week — the star quarterback, running for a bus after nearly all of his teammates have already left.

When practice ends at Valley Ranch, the Broncos can’t wait to leave.

But, it’s not that there’s something wrong with the Cowboys’ facility. Far from it, actually; the place is gorgeous, and given the prominence of the Cowboys franchise, and the number of great teams to practice their trade there (although the discrepancy between Broncos and Cowboys Hall of Famers remains a blight on Canton’s shrine), Valley Ranch almost “seems like hallowed ground,” as team photographer Eric Lars Bakke and I noted upon arriving there this morning.

But in spite of the history, the pristine facilities and the availability of water, the Broncos don’t delay in departing, mainly because they stink — literally.

When they left the field following their two joint practices with the Cowboys on Wednesday, the vast majority of players — and many of the coaches, trainers and other support personnel — were drenched in sweat. Ebenezer Ekuban said Wednesday morning that he felt like he lost 10 pounds during the practice.

That means that even a stumbling sloth like myself probably dropped five, which is definitely not a bad thing. If I put myself on the Texas Sweat Diet, I’d be a flyweight in four months.

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The Valley Ranch practice fields were finely manicured as dawn broke over north Texas; the playing surface looked more like a putting green or a pool table than a place where 160 players were about to wallop each other for over an hour.

But it didn’t take long for the Broncos and Dallas Cowboys to dig in, get to work and begin chewing up the field during a 90-minute session in conditions that became more stifling with each passing second.

“I think I lost 10 pounds today, it’s that hot,” defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said, “but we’ll get used to it. By Saturday we’ll be ready.”

Defensive end Tim Crowder — who saw action throughout the practice after suffering a shoulder stinger Monday night — was equally prepared after growing up in the state and attending the University of Texas the past four years.

“I told (teammates) it was going to be bad,” he said. “I watched the news last night and they said it was going to be 103 degrees and I said, ‘Man, get ready for it.’ Luckily I’m used to it so it really didn’t bother me that bad.”

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Warm greetings from seat 8C of United Airlines Flight 478, a San Francisco-to-Dallas-Fort Worth jaunt that will bring me to what will become the temporary epicenter of Broncos Country, at least for the next few days as the Broncos and Cowboys duel in preseason practices.

*** WARNING ***

I’m traipsing into self-indulgence here. If you want to get to the Broncos-centric content without following on my detour, please skip forward seven paragraphs. Really … I won’t be offended.

For now, though, with a fossil-rock-and-country iPod playlist that includes Jimmy Buffett, The Pretenders, Human League, Johnny Cash, George Strait, and Genesis in the ears, I am strangely content and as relaxed as one can be with three different windows bearing three different pieces of content open on my desktop.

Yes, this is relaxing for me. I’m never more content than when I have familiar music coming through the headphones and a couple of thousand words ahead of me.

Many everyday aspects of life that are easy and natural absolutely confound me. I get too flustered when something shakes up my coccoon. I often look at myself privately and wonder, “Am I really cut out for this — for simply making it through life?”

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Training camp couldn’t seem much further away right now as I sit here at a table in a hotel room hard by San Francisco International Airport and a long Jay Cutler pass from the western shore of San Francisco Bay. For one thing, it was 68 degrees when our plane landed — at 5:20 in the afternoon, with three hours of daylight still left. The dry heat in which the Broncos practiced throughout the last two weeks is just a memory, although after Monday night’s game it will be replaced by the stew-thick humidity-abetted heat of north Texas.

But before we move on to game day, some final thoughts on the stars of the camp that was:

RB Travis Henry: General Manager Ted Sundquist said upon signing him that he was brought in to bring “authority” to the Broncos’ running game. He showed that daily.

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This was the Broncos’ shortest training camp. It saw two afternoon practices canceled entirely. But if camp went so fast, then why am I so tired?

The answer? Because training camp means turning one’s entire focus to what transpires on the field and inside the headquarters building. In by 8 a.m. for an 8:30 practice, out somewhere between 10:30 p.m. and midnight. Training camp requires a total commitment from everyone in the building, from the head coach to the youngest ballboy.

And even though few training camps ever last longer than two weeks, the players were generally glad it was over after Saturday morning’s well-attended practice.

“This is about the drag of football,” tight end Daniel Graham said. “It’s about the drudge, you know you have to get through it, but we made it through and we’re looking forward to this first game.”

So now, the crowds that descended upon practices — a Dove Valley-record 33,071, for an average of 1,438 persession — are gone for another year. The trees and knolls bracketing the west practice field now belong to the rabbits, hawks and raccoons once again. As I type, I can see sprinklers soaking the west practice field where nearly all of the camp action took place. I keep hearing the words “last day” in my head, as though I’m in Logan’s Run, and not at Dove Valley.

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Clear skies greeted the Broncos as they took the field for their final training-camp practice, but a cloudy, unknown outlook stands in front of linebacker Warrick Holdman after he and the Broncos learned that he will be out for at least three months following the spinal-cord concussion he suffered nine days ago.

“Right now it’s a little hard to say what we are going to do,” Head Coach Mike Shanahan said. “We’re talking to his agent, we’re talking to his doctors.”

Holdman will be re-evaluated after three months, but the news was nonetheless frustrating for Holdman, considering that he hoped to have returned to the field at some point this week.

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There’s probably more than a few NFL wide receivers and running backs who wish that Bill Walsh had never met John Lynch. Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans, however, were glad the two crossed paths in the early months of 1992 when Walsh returned to The Farm for a second stint as head coach.

By 1992, Lynch had a pretty solid minor-league career. He threw the first pitch in the history of the Florida Marlins’ organization — for the Class A Erie Sailors on June 15, 1992 — and was on a path that could have taken him into the major leagues in the near future, perhaps by the September call-ups in 1993.

But Walsh convinced Lynch — who’d only moved from quarterback to safety months earlier — to return for his senior season and eventually eschew baseball for football.

“And who knows if I would have made it in baseball?” Lynch asked.

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