McDaniels vs Belichik

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBt9z9y42K8

Updates 4:30pm

Denver Post:

Mike Klis sums up the first official day of Broncos training camp.  Ryan Torain and Brandon Marshall impressed.

DenverBroncos.com:

Day 1 of training camp’s first practice summary and photos.

MileHighReport:

A bevvy of quotes on the first day of camp from Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton and Brian Dawkins.

Denver Post:

Champ Bailey claims he is losing sleep over not winning a Super Bowl.  Normally a player who leads by example, Champ gets rather vocal in this article and he intends to let players know what it means to him if he senses a lack of effort which he felt at times during last season. If there aren’t improvements this year in Denver, I think the Broncos might do themselves and Champ well by pulling a Ray Bourque type trade after season’s end.

Mark Kiszla picks what he feels is the best Denver Broncos jersey number to invest in, and the winner is…

Knowshon Moreno’s contract as the 12th overall draft pick might give the Broncos fits due to the Raiders signing of seventh pick Darrius Heyward-Bey at an increase of 20 percent guaranteed money over last year’s seventh pick.

Mike Klis analyzes 10 questions as the Broncos open training camp.

CBS4Denver:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels will implement a somewhat tougher training camp schedule than his predecessor Mike Shanahan. Not only will the players practice in pads much more frequently, he is also doing away with letting certain veterans skip the afternoon practices in two-a-days.

The Broncos released safety Herana-Daze Jones and signed tight end Jeb Putzier. Putzier was a pretty sure handed receiver for Jake Plummer in the Broncos 2004-2005 seasons.

The Rocky Mountain News has a few words with the returning Jeb Putzier, and posts some injury updates:

Champ Bailey is practicing but will not run full speed until Saturday.

Linebacker D.J. Williams has returned to practice after missing 5 games with a sprained knee and will be evaluated under a watchful eye.

Running back Selvin Young has started to practice fully, but Mike Shanahan states Young’s conditioning or “football shape” is a concern after missing so many games.

Safety Marlon McCree is set to return. Receiver Brandon Stokley should play Sunday.

Spencer Larsen didn’t practice yesterday with a groin injury. Linebacker Mario Haggan practiced after a knee injury last Sunday.

RMN also points out Jay Cutler needs only 321 yards to reach 4,000 passing yards.

Yahoo Sports serves up an AP article focusing on the emergence of undrafted Linebacker Wesley Woodyard. Our own Horvil Tiki awarded Woodyard a Tiki Torch award for excellence in execution during last Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.

DenverBroncos.com has the transcripts of Jay Cutler and Mike Shanahan’s Wednesday press conference.

After losing Ryan Torain, Andre Hall, Michael Pittman and since Selvin Young is banged up, running back Tatum Bell returns to the Broncos. Traded to the Lions by Denver as part of the Dre Bly trade, Bell was released by Detroit in early September. As a Bronco, Bell had great break-away open field speed but seemed to have trouble breaking tackles and fumbled in a few key situations. Denver also picks up free-agent running back Alex Haynes. Haynes is 5′ 10″ 230 lbs and played his first season in Carolina last year where he saw only a few actual carries. He was waived by Baltimore in August.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports Champ Bailey will test his groin injury today to get a feel for whether he can play against Atlanta this Sunday.

RMN has a write-up on kickers Jason Elam and Matt Prater and the transition from the Elam era in Denver.

Our own Horvil Tiki has some encouraging words for the Broncos backup linebackers in the comments section of Lindsay H. Jones latest article. (Denver Post)

The Mile High Report links to voting for Eddie Royal (Pepsi Rookie of the Week) and Jay Cutler (Fedex Player of the Week)

As you may know the site was hacked and after a few days finally I am able to get the admin accounts back into the site and all seems well (so far) I appreciate, and I’m sure Horvil does as well, your patience and thanks to some of you for firing back at that guy “PP” whatever that stands for. Hopefully they are satisfied with the attack and will leave the site alone, we’re taking every measure to bolster the site’s security.

Now for some quick Broncos notes:

Three Broncos players were hit with fines from last Monday’s horrible event. The article mentions wide receiver Chad Jackson and safety Chris Crocker may be new additions to the Broncos roster. The Post’s Mike Klis puts forth what he believes are some Broncos keys to success for after the bye week. Last Monday was the first time in a long time I actually decided not to watch the second half of the Broncos game after 10 minutes or so in. Talking with Horvil about it, he thinks there should have been more fines which I’m sure will come up in his belated analysis.

RMN’s Bernie Lincicome wonders who the real Jay Cutler is due to Cutler’s recent less than stellar performances in light of his almost flawless start to the season.

Andrew Joynt writing for CBS4Denver seems optimistic that the Broncos will make the playoffs citing weak AFC west opponents.

It’s old news, and it’s painful, but just because we weren’t able to get to it, Boss Bailey and Patrick Ramsey out for the season while Champ Bailey will sit at least a month with a groin injury.

Frank Schwab of the Colorado Springs Gazette looks at the current injury situation in Denver and mentions Brandon Stokely looks to be recovering well after his concussion.

Lastly, John Elway lays the smack down on the Raiders organization claiming JaMarcus Russell needs to get out of Oakland if he wants to find any success in the NFL.

It looks to be an exciting year for Denver fans as the 2008 Broncos seem like a team on a positive rebound from a 7-9 season that featured key injuries, a sputtering red zone offense and a new but ineffective defensive scheme in which the players did not look comfortable with from the get go.

Its true that winning games in the preseason doesn’t really matter (unless you’re Horvil), but the way the team is playing, the starters in particular, is certainly telling. The Broncos offense has looked impressive in its ability to move the chains and score often with Jay Cutler at the helm. In his third season, Cutler is really beginning to live up to his potential as one of the game’s elite quarterbacks. He is mobile, he can make every throw and is a “student of the game” according to Mike Shanahan.

The offensive line, while not the dominating force of the late 90′s Broncos, looks solid and will improve with rookies Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris who is basically a rookie since he was injured last year. Ben Hamilton seems to be fine after his awful concussion last year and center Tom Nalen… well… while I wish Nalen, being the perennial Pro Bowler he is, I wish he could contribute as much as possible this year, but I feel Casey Wiegman may end up being one of the most necessary free agent pickups in the offseason next to Marlon McCree and Boss Bailey. Going into this preseason, I expected Clady to be where he is, good enough to start but not great, not yet at least so no surprise there but Ryan Harris really caught me by surprise. I remember the Broncos were high on him last year and viewing him in the preaseason, he’s big and athletic and I believe Shanahan’s claim that Clady and Harris will be a very good pair of tackles for years to come.

The Broncos will enter this season with a bevy of receivers for Cutler to utilize. The emergence of rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal is huge, if he stays consistent and improves the Broncos will add to an already strong cast of receiving targets with the likes of Darrell Jackson, Brandon Stokely, Tony Scheffler, sure-handed Nate Jackson, Daniel Graham and of course Brandon Marshall who’s rise to stardom is right on par with Cutler. The Broncos running backs Selvin Young, Michael Pittman even catch well, in addition to rookie fullback Peyton Hillis.

The running back situation is an interesting one since Andre Hall has played so well and run with such fierce determination. If Selvin Young’s offseason conditioning and bulking up doesn’t pay dividends and he falls short of his goal as an every-down-back the rotation is in pretty good hands with Hall and the veteran Pittman. Andre Hall even seems like he could take over Selvin Young’s starting position if Young were to falter. Ryan Torain is a bit of an X factor, I have heard praise from coaches and fans who watched him in college yet have seen nothing of him on the field to form an opinion as of yet. If he comes back from his elbow injury in October and plays really well, thats yet another weapon in a very capable offense.

On the defensive side of the ball the Broncos seem to have shored up against the run but continue to serve up an anemic pass rush. As Horvil points out often, the lack of pass rush provides the opposing quarterback with enough time to read those second, third and fourth receivers or better yet, halt his aim until the cornerbacks -no matter how talented- are beaten. So much falls on the shoulders of Jarvis Moss to be the guy Broncos fans hope he will be, the sack specialist who can be counted on for at least 8 sacks or so. The more the merrier really. As it stands I feel John Engelberger is a great backup, a decent guy to have in the rotation, but not a force to be reckoned with. The Broncos need to upgrade the starting defensive end position opposite Dumervil. Until then, I feel this team will be hard pressed to make any havoc in the playoffs without a lot of luck and creative blitzing.

The defensive line seems to hold its ground and even get some penetration this preseason. Last year’s line seemed to get manhandled and oft beaten at the point of attack. One player in particular I’ve noticed playing well is Dewayne Robertson. He doesn’t seem to get pushed around and I’ve witnessed him on many occasions keeping his position at the line of scrimmage and riding the offensive lineman parallel to the line to get in on the running play. While perhaps unspectacular this is a much better showing than getting blown off the ball or being eaten up completely by the offensive linemen.

The defense seems to be an adequate one with few big names besides Champ Bailey, Dre Bly, Elvis Dumervil and D.J. Williams. Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel may not be all-world but they do seem to be very consistent and McCree in particular just seems to have that knack for constantly being around the ball. The linebackers are improved with D.J. Williams, Nate Webster (playing at his best with heavy competition) and the quickness and athleticism of Boss Bailey who hopefully can stay on the field. The defense seems adequate in just about every way besides cornerback which is certainly above average. The real exception I feel is the Broncos have shown me nothing thus far that the glaring issue of a terrible pass rush won’t continue on this way. It hasn’t been addressed much besides trumpeting a “waiting period” for Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder to finally emerge.

If the Broncos offense manages to put up 24+ points a game, I don’t think you need an all world defense. However, I think you do need a pass rush to prevent the opposing team from keeping things close with quick strikes through the air and shootouts that often boil down to a “whoever has possession last wins” type scenario.

Special teams looks surprisingly good to me after consistently lousy play last year which amounted to horrible field position more times than not. The loss of Jason Elam doesn’t sting so bad with Matt Prater playing pretty well and the punter battle was… as epic as a punter battle can be to say the least. There are some good young players like Wesley Woodyard and Niko Koutovides to help control the return lanes as well.

I predict the Broncos will reach the playoffs on a 10-6 or 11-5 record, nothing more, nothing less. Barring injuries I think it’s a pretty easy conclusion. They have an excellent and potentially explosive offense, an adequate defense and a somewhat lighter than usual schedule. I feel the Broncos will reach the playoffs but will be eliminated in the first or second game especially due to their Achilles heel: no or little pass rush. It seems like this one piece of the puzzle that eludes the team. The playoffs are the time when a pass rush is critical, and if not much changes and no one emerges, I think the Broncos will be left wanting.