Tough going in D.C.

November 15th, 2009 - 5:48pm by mark_cooper

I got all the snow blown and the rest shoveled in time for the game. Maybe we’d have been better playing here this week. A snow bowl would have been great for the ski country. I don’t know about you all but I’m in shoveling shape.

Tough going in Washington. I enjoyed the running game and was impressed that we were getting that back on track and the blah blah blah about going vertical was taken care of early…simple. It’s easy to run a go route when you set it up with the run when you have guys like Royal and Marshall around.

The defense was dominated at the line of scrimmage and injuries are mounting. We talked about it earlier in the year and may be looking it right in the face now. Simms was rusty as we should expect and he’ll get a lot of work this week in preparation for the Bolts. I still like him but he took a lot of criticism after the game on the radio.

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Broncos at Redskins: Second Half Live Blog

November 15th, 2009 - 12:40pm by Gray Caldwell

15:00: The Redskins will receive the ball to start the second half. Matt Prater boots the kickoff through the back of the end zone for a touchback — Washington returner Rock Cartwright signaled that the kick was good — it apparently went through the uprights.

Q3 14:49: The Redskins open the quarter with a screen pass from Jason Campbell to Fred Davis — a 10-yard pickup and a first down. The next play brings a handoff to Ladell Betts, and he is dropped by Brian Dawkins for no gain. There is an injured Bronco on the play — it’s hard to tell who it is at the moment.

Q3 14:14: It’s D.J. Williams, but he jogs off the field followed by trainers. Wesley Woodyard looks to be in the game in his stead. Campbell takes the next snap in the shotgun and gets the pass out quickly to Santana Moss, but he is brought down quickly by Andre’ Goodman after a gain of three yards. That sets up 3rd-and-7 for the Redskins at their own 33-yard line.

Q3 13:18: Darrell Reid and Elvis Dumervil combine to bring down Campbell for the sack on third down. Eddie Royal calls for a fair catch on the ensuing punt, and the Broncos offense will take over at their own 28-yard line.

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Broncos at Redskins: First Half Live Blog

November 15th, 2009 - 11:00am by Gray Caldwell

COIN TOSS: The captains are at midfield, and the Broncos call heads. It is heads, and the Broncos elect to receive. Kickoff is on the way.

Q1 15:00: Deep to receive for the Broncos is Eddie Royal — Kenny McKinley is back as well. The kick is off and Royal receives it at the 3-yard line. He fakes a pitch to McKinley then sprints toward the right sideline, finding some space and breaking a couple tackles to the 33-yard line.

Q1 14:53: The starting offense is on the field, led by Kyle Orton at quarterback. Knowshon Moreno is in the backfield at running back and Spencer Larsen is in at fullback. Brandon Marshall is out wide at receiver. Daniel Graham and Tony Scheffler are at tight end, and the starting offensive line is Ryan Clady, Russ Hochstein, Casey Wiegmann, Chris Kuper and Tyler Polumbus.

Q1 14:03: The first play of the game is a handoff to Moreno, who bursts up the right side of the line for a 28-yard gain.

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Broncos at Redskins: Pregame Blog

November 15th, 2009 - 9:16am by Gray Caldwell

We escaped Denver before the snow really set in — and now it’s about a 40-degree difference here in sunny Washington, D.C.

Speaking of weather, here’s the official weather report for today’s game against the Redskins:

Broncos at Redskins Weather Report

11:29 a.m. EST: Kyle Sonneman has just headed down to the field to snag some pictures of warmups from Chris Gentilviso. Not too many Broncos on the field at the moment — a few have gone back into the locker room — but Eddie Royal is on the field running routes, and David Bruton and Darcel McBath are throwing the ball back and forth.

Brandon Marshall is pacing the field listening to music, and D.J. Williams is getting loose as well.

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Barrett, McBean Out Against Washington

November 14th, 2009 - 8:08pm by Chris Gentilviso

A pair of changes were announced to the Broncos’ Week 10 Injury Report on Saturday.

Previously listed as doubtful and questionable, respectively, Josh Barrett (hamstring) and Ryan McBean (knee) were both downgraded to out for Sunday’s contest against the Redskins at FedEx Field.

For the full injury report, click here.

Welcome To The Second Half

November 14th, 2009 - 10:51am by mike_rice

The big picture shows the Broncos are 6-2 at the halfway point of the season. There probably aren’t too many people who predicted that before the regular season began.

At the same time, the last two losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh showed that the Broncos have work to do. But what NFL team doesn’t have to get better?

There are plenty of unknowns as the second half of the season begins in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. I’m determined to enjoy the process of watching things unfold each week.

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Becoming a Champion Corner

November 13th, 2009 - 1:51pm by Chris Gentilviso

To Head Coach Josh McDaniels, the best cornerbacks in the game are ones who can juggle two simultaneous tasks.

In his mind, becoming a great interceptor requires spotting when the quarterback releases the ball, while following the covered receiver on his route progression.

One of the players who most helped McDaniels recognize that skill is his current corner — Champ Bailey.

“If you can’t see the quarterback, sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you are covering because you don’t know when the ball is coming,” McDaniels said. “But he has that ability to do both. I have a great appreciation for it now that I am here.”

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Changing of the Guard

November 12th, 2009 - 3:26pm by Zach Eisendrath

In his press conference on Thursday, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said there will be a change in the offensive line, with Russ Hochstein replacing Ben Hamilton.

McDaniels said he made the move in hopes of doing “what is best for our team.”

“If there is something we feel like may give us a better opportunity to have success, wherever it may be, then we would not be opposed to doing anything,” McDaniels said. “We’re going to see how that goes and evaluate it ongoing. This is not an anointment of anybody or anything tremendously negative about Ben Hamilton. We’re just going to see if this makes the situation any better, and if it does, great.”

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Getting the Ground Game Going

November 11th, 2009 - 3:37pm by Chris Gentilviso

Entering last Monday’s contest with the Steelers, the Broncos were aware of the potent run defense on the Pittsburgh sideline.

That awareness did not translate into results on the field, as Denver finished with a season-low 27 yards on the ground.  Pittsburgh’s front seven maintained its No. 1 tag, squelching any chance for a balanced attack from the home team.

“We’d love to get balance,” Kyle Orton said. “It’s tough when you have 20 yards rushing or whatever we had. It’s tough. Saying that, there’s games where it’s going to happen and you’ve got to rely on the passing game.”

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A Little Perspective

November 11th, 2009 - 9:26am by jim_saccomano

Perspective is one of those things that everybody claims to have, but which frequently seems lacking as soon as something goes against form, or what we deem form to be.

The Broncos are 6-2, and we could make a laundry list of things that have not gone right the past two weeks, of things that need to be improved dramatically, or a little.

OK, fine, no disagreement there.

But let’s consider:

We knew we had a schedule, and that it consisted of 16 games. This is something we all knew, as well as knowing that we would not play all 16 games at once, but instead playing them the very traditional one at a time. Everything is one at a time. Every single thing.

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