Posts Tagged ‘Rod Smith’

Smith Back on the Practice Field

October 24th, 2007 - 1:55pm by AndrewOther posts by Andrew


When you’re a team captain and you haven’t practiced in nearly 10 months, you get your own cheering section upon your return. Rod Smith’s just happened to be the defensive backfield.

The cornerbacks and safeties froze their own warmups early Wednesday afternoon, turned to the adjacent field, watched as the veteran wide receiver successfully leapt skyward for a pass and promptly broke up in a cacophony of hoots, hollers, and a chant that sounded more like a heartfelt ode from the South Stands than a bunch of teammates clowning around.

“We love Rod! We love Rod!”

Sure, it might have been half-joking, but the underlying sentiment was all heart. The Broncos’ longtime leader was back on the field, and even though he remained a vocal presence in the locker room and on the sidelines throughout his convalescence and rehabilitation from hip surgery, he was nevertheless missed in the practice-time milieu, where his teaching and leadership was typically most evident.

“It’s awesome,” John Lynch said. “He’s one of the great teammates I’ve ever been around. I’m glad he was around and stayed vocal and a leader when he was hurt, because he’s kind of the pulse of this team; the heart and soul, whatever you want to call it.

“It’s a comforting feeling when he’s around, but whenever he’s back on the field — I don’t know whether it’s this week or whenever, that place will erupt, and it’s going to be awesome.”

Smith is still listed on the physically unable to perform list, and the Broncos now have three weeks to decide whether to move him to the 53-man roster or place him on injured reserve, which would end his season.

Those, however, were concerns for future days. For this one, the Broncos were simply giddy to have their captain back.

Davis’ Big Day: It’s Here Too Soon

September 23rd, 2007 - 11:42am by AndrewOther posts by Andrew


Somehow, it seems like this day is here a bit too early.

Not because the opponent is the Jacksonville Jaguars; these fellows are overdue for a visit to INVESCO Field at Mile High, having not visited Denver for any reason since Jason Elam’s 63-yard field goal in October 1998. (That was 10 girlfriends ago. Cripes, it’s been a while.)

No, it’s because Terrell Davis is going into the Ring of Fame. Not because he doesn’t deserve to enter in his first year of eligibility; perhaps no one deserves it more. But as I was thinking about Davis’ induction on Friday, I said, “His career should have been winding to a glorious close by now.”

You hate to think about the what-ifs regarding Davis. For Hall of Fame purposes, you can only judge his career around what was. Actual yardage builds résumé not speculative fiction. Nevertheless, it still seems odd that Davis is five years into his retirement from the field, while guys who arrived before him like Tom Nalen and Rod Smith are still with the team, playing and rehabbing on.

Smith, in particular, finds himself in a similar spot as Davis did earlier in the decade. The two have kept in touch during the years that have passed since Davis walked away from the sport, but the one-time teammates seem closer now than they did when both were in the starting lineup.

“I’m kind of in a parallel situation right now, and I’m trying to fight through a lot of things,” Smith said. “You can’t really talk yourself into it; you’ve got to let your body tell you what the truth is. The experience he went through is one for me to go through, as well. I can always call him.”

Smith can … and does.

“We’ve got some business deals together,” Smith said, “but the thing is, I can always go and relate to that guy. You know, there ain’t a lot of guys you can call for advice. He’s one of those guys you can call for anything. He’ll be there for you.”

While Davis’ rehabilitation work didn’t extend his career beyond eight seasons, it did allow him to come back and contribute in 2000 and 2001, although he remained hindered by the knee. It is the fact that Davis did come back to the field which buoys Smith now.

“One thing I did pick up from him is the fact that it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” Smith said. “You’ve got to go out there and grind it out. Your body will let you know, and his body let him know.”

Today, Broncos fans, officials and former teammates will let Davis know just what he means to the organization’s history. It’s just a shame this day comes now, and not several years later after a 13,000-yard career.

Another Ring for T.D.

September 20th, 2007 - 1:05am by mike_riceOther posts by mike_rice

Thanks to all of you who responded to the last post. As always, I appreciate hearing from you.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to post anything after the Jacksonville game. I’ll give it my best shot but I’ll be taking a little time off and then I’ll be back for the game against Indianapolis.

The Jacksonville game will be special for a reason unrelated to this year’s team: Former Broncos running back Terrell Davis will be inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame. I have some thoughts on that. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back soon!

Mike
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It is hallowed ground reserved for the greatest of Broncos. Its membership is a who’s who of Broncos legends.

Sunday, the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame welcomes another member: Running back Terrell Davis.

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The Darrent Williams Teen Center Fundraiser and other Random Thoughts

September 18th, 2007 - 3:12pm by domonique_foxworthOther posts by domonique_foxworth

Let’s blog…

Another great win, a heart-stopping win. It was a really exciting game, but it was tough for me because I was not allowed to play, unfortunately. It’s really difficult because I just felt like a glorified fan, because I was right on the sideline. I was signaling in the defenses for the secondary and trying to give tips to the players on what I saw and advise the referees as politely as possible whenever they missed calls or made what I thought were mistakes on flags. So I was really into the game, and when it got down to crunch time, it was really hard to be on the sideline watching when you’re used to playing.

Like I said last week, I’d never missed a game in my entire life. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. But it was a great win. It was really exciting. It was a great way to start this coming week.

Tuesday we all went down to the site of the Darrent Williams Teen Center, which is currently the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club in Montbello, and we had a little fundraiser. There were a lot of TV stations there, and the radio station 850 KOA broadcasted live from the location from 5-9:30 a.m. for the morning show, if anybody caught that. We were on a lot of the morning TV shows trying to raise money and point people in the direction of PositivePlaceDenver.org, which is a Web site where there are some items we are auctioning. If you want to make any type of donation you can go there, so if anybody wants to be a part of building the Darrent Williams Teen Center, we’re only a few thousand dollars away and we’d appreciate any help that you guys are willing to offer.

You can bid on some really cool items, like a few sideline passes for this coming game, go in the locker room before and after the game with us, and some Darrent Williams signed footballs. I know Rod Smith is going after those footballs, so you might have some competition there, but there’s a few of them, so we’ll see.

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Smith Placed on Regular Season PUP List

August 28th, 2007 - 5:10pm by AndrewOther posts by Andrew

The Broncos announced their first round of cuts late Thursday afternoon, but the biggest news of the afternoon came with concurrent word that Rod Smith will start the season on the physically-unable-to-perform list.

Smith, who underwent hip surgery six months ago, has been in rehabilitation ever since. He was seen running following training-camp practices; however, he only began running in late July after being confined to working out in a pool in previous months.

Placement on the PUP list buys him and the Broncos 12 weeks before making a determination whether to move him to the 53-man roster or place him on injured reserve.

A player must remain sidelined as PUP for the first six weeks of the regular season. Smith then is eligible to practice for three weeks before a final decision is made — but the Broncos do not have to make that choice until three weeks after the initial six-week PUP stint concludes.

This means the Broncos actually have until Week 12 to determine whether Smith could play before being faced with the choice of moving him to the 53-man roster or injured reserve.

The latter option, of course, would end his season.

Last year, Domenik Hixon was designated as PUP after a protracted recovery from a fractured metatarsal bone; he would end up practicing for three weeks — as is permitted when placed on the PUP list — before moving to injured reserve.

The cuts were as expected based upon which players were absent from practice Tuesday, as reported earlier this afternoon.

Running back Cedric Cobbs … punter/kickoff specialist Paul Ernster … fullback Troy Fleming … safety Quentin Harris … tight end Teyo Johnson … wide receiver David Kircus … defensive end Kenard Lang … kicker Brandon Pace … wide receiver David Terrell … defensive tackle Demetrin Veal.

The Broncos also announced that Johnson, who played for the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europa this spring, will be placed on injured reserve if he clears waivers. Fellow NFL Europa allocations Doug Neinhuis and Lamont Reid — neither of whom saw a snap of practice time this summer — were placed on the reserve/NFL Europa list for injuries they incurred during their spring overseas. Nienhuis injured his knee, while Reid suffered a pectoral-muscle injury.

Preseason Doesn’t Count, But it Matters

August 21st, 2007 - 4:47pm by domonique_foxworthOther posts by domonique_foxworth

Well, I’ll start by thanking everybody. Week after week we set a new record. We’ve reached 53 responses, which eclipsed last week’s 48. I read them all, as usual, and I appreciate the support.

I guess a good place to start is probably the Dallas game. It was pretty funny — well, not funny.  Funny’s not the word. But after practice on Monday I went down to the Boys and Girls Club just to hang out a little bit, and that’s supposed to be a safe place, but it really is not for me.

All the kids had a lot of jokes and questions like, “So why’d you guys lose?” and questions that I can’t answer. I slipped on one play and a couple of guys asked me, “Why’d you slip?” I really don’t know what to answer to that. There’s really no good answer. It’s a pretty simple, yet complicated question. I slipped because it was slippery.

But it was good to see them, and as far as the game goes, it was really disappointing. We can make a thousand excuses, but you don’t get to this level making excuses and you can’t win as many games and go as far as we want this team to go making excuses.

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Home From San Francisco, Now We’re Off to Dallas

August 14th, 2007 - 11:24am by domonique_foxworthOther posts by domonique_foxworth

First, I just want to acknowledge the soldiers that have responded to the blog and let them know that our prayers are with them and we all appreciate what they are doing in all parts of the world.

It’s pretty cool to have the blog and the Internet. I guess I kind of make myself sound old, but I’m still amazed by the Internet sometimes and the fact that people can check out my blog from places like Japan and then respond to it. But anyway, just wanted to let them know that I read their responses and I appreciate their support and definitely know that we’re behind them.

Right now it’s probably going to be a rocky blog because I’m extremely tired. We had quite a last couple hours. We played the game in San Francisco and were able to win, which is always good, and did some promising things, and we left from there to the airport and got back to Denver at about 1:30, and I got back to my house around 2:30.

Then I unpacked my suitcase and repacked it for the next day’s trip, and now I’m here doing the blog at about 9-ish, because we have meetings coming up at 11, and from there we’re going to head to Dallas for a week and play them this coming Saturday.

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Preseason Football Very Big for Some

August 10th, 2007 - 8:57am by jim_saccomanoOther posts by jim_saccomano

Because the National Football League is the dominant spectator sport in the nation, the number one sport in popularity according to fans in every Gallup or Harris poll taken since 1968, everyone wants to get right onto the regular season, and there is a common theme that preseason football does not matter and/or is not very interesting.

As is always the case, however, it all depends on your point of view.

Every team has veteran players who do not need too many reps, don’t want too many, and won’t be given too many over these next four games.

However, for every player of that ilk, there is at least one, more likely two or three who are dependent on every single play of camp and games to try and impress.

Remember, the camera is always on; the coaches see every play of every practice, over and over.

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Training Camp Day 3: Afternoon Session

July 31st, 2007 - 9:07pm by AndrewOther posts by Andrew

Rod Smith
As the sun’s presence over Dove Valley began to fade late Tuesday afternoon, a ray of light shone upon the Broncos’ practice fields.

Two rays of light, actually — in the form of Rod Smith and Tony Scheffler running up and down the east practice field as their teammates finished off a post-practice dose of special-teams work.

Both, of course, remain on the physically-unable to perform list, but their jaunts represented tangible progress, and the first public sign of progress in their respective rehabilitation work.

Meanwhile, back on the field, the practice was as much defined by who wasn’t on the field as who was there.

NOTES FROM THE AFTERNOON:

ATTENDANCE REPORT: The shoulder injury Domenik Hixon incurred did indeed keep him out. “Hopefully he can go tomorrow or if not the next couple of days,” Head Coach Mike Shanahan said … Ian Gold’s back spasms sidelined him … Brandon Stokley and Adam Meadows both practiced after sitting out the morning session … Players who kept a one-a-day schedule and sat out Tuesday included cornerback Champ Bailey, safeties John Lynch and Nick Ferguson, offensive linemen Tom Nalen and Matt Lepsis, defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban, defensive tackle Sam Adams and tight end Stephen Alexander … Lamont Reid and Doug Nienhuis and the three players on the physically-unable-to-perform list also continued to sit out … Javon Walker was in uniform, but did not take part in the team segments of practice.

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It’s Amazing What They Call Sports These Days

July 10th, 2007 - 12:43pm by domonique_foxworthOther posts by domonique_foxworth

Fourth of July was a good time. I actually went to a party at the Sculptured House — some people call it the Space House. It’s this fancy, real big architectural wonder in Golden. It’s pretty cool. The house is amazing — fancy and I got the history and stuff. But the best part was the fireworks. Because we were up in Golden we could see the whole city and we could pick out each little area’s fireworks, which was pretty cool. It was fun to see that — good way to celebrate.

We had to come in and work out on Thursday. Nothing important happened on Thursday.

Friday I had a meeting. I think it’s about time that I start to get out and get a little experience in the business world, so I had a meeting looking at possibly buying a real estate brokerage. I took the Harvard Business class, and a couple of things I took it away from that was just to get experience. That’s the best way to learn. And don’t be upset if you get burned because it happens to everybody early in the business. But if you’ve watched me play I really don’t get burned that often, so…

I love that. That was good. I’ll give the people a second to laugh.

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