Denver Broncos vs. Dallas Cowboys: Fourth Quarter

Phelps won his 8th Gold Medal or 7th?

It's good to finally hear Keary Colbert's name.

Alright, Patrick Ramsey's a bum, leaving Glenn Martinez open like that. Hope that he's okay.

Are we seeing elements of Bob Slowik's, "Bend but don't break," defense? It's possible, haven't really seen a blitz or even eight men in the box yet this game. So it's hard to tell, during the season, I expect to see much more blitzing, especially from the corners and safeties though.

Please let Darrell Hackney come into the game with eight minutes left.

I think I jinxed Clifford Russell, Glen Martinez made a smart play downing the botched kick off.

No Darrell Hackney.

Brett Kern just redefined, "Booming," a punt.

Good to see Spencer Larsen having a presence this game on special teams.

Forgot to say that I like Jordan Beck this game on defense too, injuries are getting him many more reps.

Don't know what to think of Tyrone Poole in his first game back with Denver. Biggest hit I've seen him make came against Jarvis Moss so far.

Spencer Larsen laced Richard Bartel, good hit.

Jack Williams saved the game! Haha, should have been a pick six though.

Oh sure, now Darrell Hackney comes in.

Matt Prater goes 3 of 4 again this game.

Denver wins! 23-13.

Preseason Football: Denver @ Houston: Observations

Please accept my sincerest apologies for being absent. Unless you'd like to field some questions on The Iliad, let's get to the first Bronco game of '08.

Quarterbacks:

Jay Cutler: 8-10-0, 60 yds, 1 att, 15 yds TD.
Patrick Ramsey: 8-13-2, 49 yds.
Darrell Hackney:5-8-0, 68 yds, 1 att, 16 yds.

Had Jay Cutler played the whole game, Denver victory. What do you want in a backup? A game manager or a guy who can make plays? Darrell Hackney is making a case for the latter. In the event Patrick Ramsey disappears from the roster, he might be going on a secret mission for the CIA; into Iran to overthrow the Ayatollah (who is always wide open).

Running Backs:

Andre Hall: 8 att, 45 yds, 5.6 avg., 1 rec, 0 yds
Anthony Alridge: 3 att, 20 yds, 6.7 avg, F (FR by Polumbus) 3 rec, 21 yds
Micheal Pittman: 6 att, 18 yds, 3 avg, 1 rec, 5 yds
Selvin Young: 4 att, 7 yds, 2 rec, 21 yds.

This would appear to be the committee. Their success is symbiotic with the offensive line which is brand new. Selvin Young and Andre Hall both ran behind 1st team offensive although I didn't notice if Hall was up against Houston's first-team defense the whole time. Ian predicted the emergence of Andre Hall [editors note: fist pump]. Anthony Alridge is super fast and Michael Pittman is tough inside and a capable receiver. Peyton Hillis needs to get well soon. Selvin Young needs to step up.

Wide Receivers & Tight Ends:

Tony Scheffler: 4 rec, 61 yds
Darrell Jackson: 3 rec, 18 yds
Eddie Royal: 2 rec, 13 yds
Nate Jackson: 1 rec, 11 yds
Samie Parker: 1 rec, 10 yds
Brandon Marshall: 2 rec, 8 yds
Daniel Graham: 1 rec, 7 yds

A wide receiver who didn't catch a pass, but made a big play was Cliff Russell who drew pass interference at the +3 giving the Broncos a scoring opportunity in the 4th quarter. He is still very fast as he was at Utah. Eddie Royal looked good. Tony Scheffler is a big part of the passing game as he has always proven to be. Darrell Jackson wasn't used effectively which is a coaching flaw, not his. Keary Colbert drew a pass interference penalty, too, but was otherwise ineffective. It's a good group of receivers who can give Jay Cutler a variety of players to whom to throw.

Offensive Line:

The starting line which played the first half has essentially two rookie tackles (i.e., the Ryans). Houston's upstart defensive lineman Mario Williams pushed Ryan Clady around which was a good experience for Clady. Ryan Harris drew four penalties only two of which he deserved. The illegal formation one could have as easily been given to the other Ryan or the guards. One holding call was a bogus flag thrown by a guy on the sideline who was seeing things. The false start and one holding were deserved. Not too bad; nothing that can't be fixed. In the event Montrae Holland returns and starts and Chris Kuper returns to right tackle, Ryan Harris is definitely the #6 offensive lineman. Casey Wiegmann did a good job as did Ben Hamilton. These guys need chemistry and that will only come with playing together. Stay tuned for what happens with Tom Nalen whose injuries are nagging him to the extent he is sidelined. Depth is good.

Special Teams:

Matt Prater was 3 of 4 on field goal attempts. His kickoffs mostly came down at the +5 to the goal line. Sam Paulescu's one punt was fielded 52 yards from the LOS and was returned. Brett Kern's one punt was fielded 42 yards from the line of scrimmage with more hang time and wasn't returned. Both held for extra points and field goal attempts. Eddie Royal had two kick off returns for 47 yds, Clifford Russell had one for 27, Anthony Aldridge one for 24 and Andre Hall one for 20. Glenn Martinez fielded one punt for two yards. The leading special teams tackler was Wesley Woodyard with three including the stop on Matt Turk who tried to advance a punt attempt for a first down and came up one yard short; ball over to Denver on downs-big play. Clifford Russell had two special teams tackles, and Michael Pittman forced a fumble which Cecil Sapp recovered.

Defense:

The only sack was shared by linebacker Jordan Beck and defensive tackle Steven Harris. There were no picks. Boss Bailey injured his bad ankle and his backup, Louis Green, injured his neck and suffered a concussion. The Broncos are extremely lucky to have Jamie Winborn who switched from DJ Williams backup to first team strong side linebacker and did a great job. That put Jordan Beck as DJ Williams backup where he played as weak side linebacker during the second half. Nate Webster had one tackle and two assists and a flying helmet. Niko Koutouvides and Spencer Larsen each had four assists. The most outstanding starter was Domonique Foxworth with three solo and two assists including a 5 yd tackle for loss. He is making his case. The defense was without DeWayne Robertson and Champ Bailey and very quickly lost Boss and Louis. The interior defensive line played well with Kenny Peterson logging two solos and Marcus Thomas had one. The defensive ends need to step up. I expect some shuffling/experimenting there. Ebenezer Ekuban had two solos and two assists and an offsides penalty.

The second teamers in the second half produced the leading tacklers:
Josh Barrett: 7 solo and 6 assists
Jordan Beck: 5 solo, 3 assists, 1/2 sack
Wesley Woodyard: 5 solo, 1 assist
LaMont Reid and Christian Morton had 4 solos each with the latter including a 7 yd sack.

Josh Barrett's detractors have described him as looking like Tarzan and playing like Jane. If so, Jane had a hearty meal of roast Texan Saturday night which was fresh-kill. He was in the box, often lining up over the TE in a 9 tech on the line of scrimmage. Having heard nothing about Wesley Woodyard from training camp reports, he suddenly exploded during the game making big plays on special teams and defense. On running plays these two totally attack the line of scrimmage. Josh Barrett came down the line of scrimmage several times and I didn't even notice him until he was the last guy to get up from the bottom of the pile. I had to pause the DVR and advance it one click at a time just to figure out where he came from. Wesley Woodyard and Josh Barrett also have great speed for guys their size. They seem to work well with Spencer Larsen and Jordan Beck. The linebacker depth and Jim Ryan's great coaching was very much in need and it all came through.

I expect to see more from the Broncos in next week's game with the Dallas Cowboys besides the vanilla O & D which they showed ... except not during practice ... with Dallas, that is.

CBS Channel 4 in Denver gets a C+/B- and an A for effort. The box guys need binoculars ... or bifocals. The director needs more monitors and helpers and to stop showing graphics instead of THE PLAY WE'RE MISSING. Also, how about more replays? But, hey, thanks for broadcasting the game. Do it again ... please?

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Denver Broncos Training Camp Day 8 (Morning) Report

I may have jinxed our gentle giants in Dove Valley and I'm sorry. Starting free safety Hamza Abdullah (groin) and strong side linebacker Boss Bailey (knee) were both added to the list of inactives today, which includes: Tom Nalen (knee), Peyton Hillis (hamstring), Chad Mustard (hamstring), Michael Pittman (too many reps) and Montrae Holland (TFTP).

The good news?:

Brandon Marshall is Magic!

Seriously, Marshall hasn't even caught the ball and the referee is already calling a touchdown. He's so sure of his skill that he doesn't even stand up to catch anymore. Just sits in the end zone and waits. It's a sign, what Marshall is trying to illustrate with this metaphor is that even "sitting" he will be effective. He's telling fans that it's okay, look at the young boy just below the ball, he understands.

Tom Nalen's MRI was negative, which is great news to everyone, except center Casey Wiegmann, who has been filling in for the injured Nalen on the first-team offense.

I proposed this a couple of days ago (maybe even the first day of camp), what do you guys think of this for a front five: Clady, Hamilton, Nalen, Wiegmann and Kuper? Just a through, of course if missing this many reps in training camp does not affect Montrae Holland then of course swap him and Wiegmann. I love Ryan Harris and I'm assuming the coaches do too, because of the amount of first-team reps he is getting at right tackle. However, if Chris Kuper doesn't have to play right guard and the Denver staff can put him on the outside, they probably will. He's playing like a programmed machine, broken hand and all.

Nate Webster is still at middle linebacker on the first-team. As I stated yesterday, as far as I can tell it's two day rotation, Webster plays two days on first-team, then Niko Koutouvides plays two days on first-team. Who's better? Hmm... Webster's certainly more exciting to watch play, while Koutouvides seems to be the more intelligent player. They both come from good NFL pedigrees as far as previous experience, however Webster was an animal for Denver last season. Can he be trusted in pass coverage? Not as much as I would trust Koutouvides in pass coverage and here in lies the problem for Denver's coaching staff. Preseason will sort out the situation, hopefully. Let's not forgot about rookie Spencer Larsen either, while he's most likely going to go head-to-head with Jordan Beck for special teams thriller, Larsen provides nice insurance to Webster and Koutouvides.

Dre Bly's a man on a mission:

Can you imagine the results of the above picture in an actual game? Backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey would most likely have spinal fluid coming out of his nose from the hit he's about to receive. The week old battle between Bly and Domonique Foxworth is only going to get hotter. Only Denver will benefit from this competition, with both Bly and Foxworth playing to beat each other out. Foxworth is in a contract year and fans seemed to have shifted favoring Foxworth over Bly, where as their were rumblings to trade Foxworth for a fourth rounder prior to the draft. I'm hoping that the three along with rookie Jack Williams and Karl Paymah can link to form the iron curtain coverage that any team needs to force an offense to become one dimensional.

With Hamza Abdullah out, rookie Josh Barrett was given an opportunity to shine and he did, nabbing a sack during eleven-on-elevens. Roderick Rogers, whom I haven't brought up as much as I should have in the days since John Lynch evacuated, also picked off a ball today. If I'm the coach, I don't know who stays and who goes, either way, there are going to be some very talented players in a lot of the positions who won't be making the team unfortunately.

On the defensive line, Josh Mallard is continuing reps with the first team. At one point in practice the defensive line consisted of nearly all draft picks from 2007, as Jarvis Moss, Marcus Thomas and Tim Crowder front ended Denver's second-team defense.

Photo credit: Kyle Sonneman © DenverBroncos.com

Linebackers & Special Teams

Since the demise of Al Wilson, this position has been in need of help. At the conclusion of '07, the only definite was DJ Williams, but exactly where he should be in the LB Corps was under debate (not to be confused with salmon eggs & nightcrawlers). At MLB, DJ had 170 TT in '07, almost double that of SLB, Nate Webster, with 100. Nate was surrounded by players with high tackle numbers: Champ Bailey (81); John Lynch (62); John Engelberger (59) and Nick Ferguson (56). Is it possible they (especially the DBs) were picking up a few he should have? I always thought it was a bad sign when the DBs were making a large number of tackles.

DJ is now at WLB where many feel he will dominate. Boss Bailey was brought in at SLB not only replacing Webster, but bumping him to MLB due to the excellence of Jamie Winborn. The void at MLB has Niko Koutouvides (FA/Seattle), Spencer Larsen (6th round/Arizona) and Nate Webster as candidates. In the recent mini camps, Webster worked with 1st team D, but none of it was w/hats & pads. Many expect Webster to compete with Koutouvides to be the starter. Some have predicted that Webster making the team will be trouble for Jordan Beck.

This reminds me of those predicting Travis Henry (who?) would start at RB in the season opener. I'm over 300 miles from Englewood (GO PIRATES! I student taught there) and have no access to practices. I'm not Jim Ryan, in whom I have great confidence. It's presumptuous to boldly predict who will and won't make the team. Having said all that, you expect something, don't you? Of course!

My take is that if Larsen plays ST well and looks promising in the middle, he makes the team. Ditto for DJ, Boss, Koutouvides and Winborn. Also listed as a LB is Wesley Woodyard (CFA Kentucky). Wearing #59 it seems that he is , for the moment, a LB. He could be a candidate for SS/Monster/Rover to follow in the cleat marks of John Lynch. Let's wait until we see if his number changes or if he is listed as a S. He's a strong, young defensive player who has a chance to impress on ST just as Larsen does.

Special Teams! Yeah, how did that go in '07? Not well from my perspective. I see a slew of young, fresh legs headed toward TC who have the chance to impress with ST play. Speaking of ST, who was leading ST tackler in '07? Jamie Winborn. Who was #2? Jordan Beck by only one stick. Are we counting on our fingers yet? That's right. Including Wesley Woodyard and Louis Green, whom we haven't mentioned (3rd in ST tackles, one behind Beck) the Broncos have nine LBs going into camp. Beck, who went to a pretty tough school academically (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), is 25 years old and has a pretty impressive set of wheels for a LB. His ST play in '07 is still in the mind's eye for me. Wasn't he a 3rd round pick of the Falcons in '05?

I can't see into the future as Homer's immortal gods, but methinks a pattern is developing. The Broncos are on a serious youth movement. ST needs some headhunters, too. Young guys are good at ST. If Nate Webster doesn't start at MLB and if Larsen (MLB) makes the team ... I don't know if Nate will survive the last cut. From backup LB to starting MLB to starting SLB to fighting for MLB doesn't sound very settled (kinda like his helmet). How many LBs will Denver keep? My guess is six (two each of WLB, MLB and SLB) and the backups better be ST aces. Green at 28 years old seems to have a better chance of making the roster than Webster (30) although he seems pressed, too.

Let us not forget that Spencer Larsen was in the process of learning FB as well as MLB which must mean he knows how to block (as well as having brains). How many ST do you think he'll be on? All of them. It's a gut feeling on my part, but I think Woodyard will move to SS. Let's observe his ST performance closely during preseason.

Nate Webster is nothing if not an all-out totally enthusiastic football player. However, if he doesn't beat out Koutouvides, he'd better beg for the chance to shine on ST. Niko was ST captain in Seattle so you'd expect him to be on at least one. That reminds me of something I haven't seen much of lately, and that is talk of the truly fierce competition for position combined with ST implications. Morituri te salutamus. Let the games begin.