Posts Tagged ‘Passing Camp’

Cornerback Talk

June 9th, 2009 - 4:41pm by Zach EisendrathOther posts by Zach Eisendrath

Cornerbacks Andre’ Goodman and Alphonso Smith stopped by the media room following Tuesday’s practice at Dove Valley.

Goodman spoke first and shared an interesting tidbit on defensive backs coach Ed Donatell’s teaching method.

The eight-year veteran has seen his share of coaches during his days with the Lions and Dolphins, but he’s never seen one illustrate a lesson plan by using film as old as Donatell does. Let’s just say some of the highlights he uses aren’t exactly HD quality.

“He is a guy who uses a lot of archives,” Goodman said. “Like he’ll go back to film that is early 90s. You’ll see Jerry Rice or Tim Brown on the film and it’s kind of surprising.”

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Monday’s Practice Report

June 8th, 2009 - 1:04pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

The last open practice of passing camp took place on Monday, and the team was in high spirits. The weather was great — sunny, but with enough breeze that it wasn’t too hot — and the energy on the field was contagious. Head Coach Josh McDaniels even bantered back and forth with some of the media as practice was starting, commenting on the bright color of one reporter’s jacket.

Without further adieu, here are some notes from Monday’s practice session.

OFFENSIVE IN THE RED ZONE

Early in practice, the offense and defense lined up for one play in the red zone. As the units got set at the line of scrimmage, Kyle Orton barked out a few commands and tried to get the defense to show its hand. After a particularly loud shout, Robert Ayers jumped slightly forward, letting Orton know he intended to blitz. He alerted the offensive line, took the snap and lofted a pass to the back corner of the end zone where Brandon Stokley snatched the ball just in front of Jack Williams.

Later in practice it was the offense that shined again in the red zone. McDaniels announced the situation — ball on the two-yard line, both teams are out of timeouts and the offense needs to score. It’s one play to decide the game, and Chris Simms was at the helm. Simms took the snap, backpedaled, avoided some pressure and fired a pass to Jabar Gaffney, who made quite a catch in the corner of the end zone even though Champ Bailey seemed to have him blanketed.

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Constantly Improving

June 4th, 2009 - 2:49pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

Jeb Putzier and Vernon Fox stepped to the podium one after another this afternoon, and both seemed upbeat about the progress the team is making day by day.

Thursday marked the seventh day of passing camp, and the team is working extremely hard to make their mark in 2009.

“Definitely in the circumstance that we’re in — the new coaching staff, a new system — that’s imperative, and guys have taken the initiative to be here,” Fox said of the passing camp attendance. “We’re working hard to get better, getting in awesome shape, and I think you can see that on the field each and every day, that we’re gelling as a team.”

In fact, Fox — who played in 10 games in 2008, starting three — thought the team improved significantly this offseason just with some of the roster moves before offseason camps even started.

“I remember (Head) Coach (Josh McDaniels) mentioning that all the pieces that we brought in were guys that were coming from winning organizations, yet they still wanted to be part of what we have going on here,” he said. “I’ve learned something from each and every guy, and I think that if you put it together collectively, it’s something that is going to make us successful on the defensive back end. I’ve seen our ability to make plays, and I think just being more sure of ourselves and our confidence in the guy beside us is just a difference that I’ve seen from last year to this year.”

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Wednesday’s Practice Report

June 3rd, 2009 - 1:36pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

Wednesday was the second open practice of passing camp, and there was plenty of action on the field to report. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the happenings at practice.

“WE WANT DANIEL”

The defense made it known from the start of practice that they were out to stop Daniel Graham from making any plays today.

Wesley Woodyard explained:

“Daniel’s a competitor, man. He’s one of the guys who always comes out here and brings his best every day. We like to go after the best, and he’s one of the best.”

So about halfway through an offense vs. defense drill, Alphonso Smith made an acrobatic pass breakup that prevented a Graham touchdown. That got the defense fired up, and the sideline started chanting “We want Daniel!” As usual, Woodyard was one of the most vocal taunters.

A few plays later, Graham headed back into the huddle — and immediately caught a touchdown.

“He told me, ‘Be careful what you wish for,’” Woodyard said with a laugh. “Then the next play he got in and scored and tossed me the ball.”

Graham said it’s all in good fun, and he likes that guys are competing.

“At this point that’s what it’s all about,” Woodyard said. “Having fun.”

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Thursday’s Practice Recap

May 28th, 2009 - 2:44pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

The team reached day number three of passing camp on Thursday, and the practice was open to the media. Here are a few quick hits from today’s session.

POSTURING FOR POSITION

  • You can’t read too much into a depth chart during passing camp, but it looked like the first team defense consisted of Ryan McBean, Ronald Fields and Kenny Peterson on the line, Darrell Reid and Elvis Dumervil at outside linebacker, Andra Davis and D.J. Williams at the inside linebacker spots, Champ Bailey and Andre’ Goodman at cornerback and Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill at safety.
  • Spencer Larsen spent some time both in the backfield and with the linebackers.
  • LaMont Jordan decided to try out a new position as the team was switching between drills — he pulled Brett Kern aside and set up as the long snapper. It looks like Jordan will stick with the running back position, because let’s just say the snap didn’t hit its target.

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    Expect No Less

    May 27th, 2009 - 3:43pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

    Renaldo Hill spoke with the media after practice today, and he talked a little about how the team is coming together already this offseason.

    It’s a tough undertaking to step into a locker room filled with a lot of new names, but everyone is bonding and getting to know one another quickly.

    “That’s big about the offseason, because we’re pretty much around each other all day every day,” he said. “It gives us a chance to get to know one another. You might not get the names in the first couple weeks, but eventually you get around to knowing everyone and knowing everyone’s personality. That’s the good part about it — knowing who you’re going to be around helps you that much more on the football field.”

    And Hill knows who he’s going to be around in the defensive secondary — former teammate and playmaker Andre’ Goodman, future Hall-of-Famers Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins and three 2009 NFL Draft picks, among others. The hope is that going into this year that unit can create more plays to help the team win games.

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    Barrett and Prater Kick Off Camp

    May 26th, 2009 - 3:55pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by Gray Caldwell

    The team kicked off the first day of 11 days of passing camp on Tuesday, and Matt Prater and Josh Barrett spoke with the media afterward. Here are the highlights of their press sessions.

    BARRETT

    The second-year safety said this stretch of camps is a little different than the first two mini-camps. The main difference is it feels like they’re starting to be able to play football a little more smoothly instead of learning something new at every turn.

    “It’s definitely a more comfortable stage to be in,” he said. “You’re picking up things a lot quicker, there’s not as much lag time between when you learn something and then when you’re able to apply it on the field. So having that, it’s helpful.”

    But Barrett said there’s certainly still learning going on. For him and the other defensive backs in particular, some of that learning has come from Brian Dawkins.

    “I just try to take in little things,” Barrett said. “You don’t even have to ask questions, but through his actions, through his demeanor you can pretty much pick up on a lot of stuff.”

    One of the things the secondary is learning about is bringing a game-time work ethic to practice. Barrett said the defensive secondary talks every day about how unacceptable the number of takeaways was last year. Now they’re taking steps to make sure they force more turnovers and make more game-changing plays in 2009.

    “We’ve got drills that are just for stripping the ball, just for working on what we call low-impact angles, where you’re not going to be the guy maybe to make the first hit, but you might be the first guy to be able to get a shot at the ball to get the ball loose,” he explained. “So certain things like that, aggressiveness like that is what we really need to work on.”

    Prater’s talking points are after the jump.

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    Passing Camp News

    May 26th, 2009 - 12:51pm by Kyle SonnemanOther posts by Kyle Sonneman

    The team’s first two mini-camps are behind them, and now there’s only one more stretch of camps before a long break, then training camp.

    Starting today the team is taking part in an 11-day passing camp. The camp will be held from May 26-29, June 2-5 and 8-10. During that stretch, there will be three completely open practices, where we will bring you pictures from the sessions, Broncos TV packages and blog notebooks from practice. Those dates are Thursday, May 28; Wednesday, June 3; and Monday, June 8. Also on those days Head Coach Josh McDaniels will speak to the media coming off the practice field.

    DenverBroncos.com will have stories posted up every day after practice, as typically two players per day will step to the podium in the media room. We will have video, audio and stories from their press conferences.

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