Dream
07-31-2007, 11:55 AM
They're having some trouble getting this on the front page of the Mane, so I'll post it here. Remember, give these guys some shouts over on their message board. Updates coming, the board is really slow over there. . . but please, SUPPORT OUR MANERS! :D
First one is courtesy of SoCalBronco!
7/31 AM Report: Rookies Thomas, Crowder impress in drills, little injuries continue to plague Broncos
Summary: The Broncos took to the field Tuesday morning in their third day of training camp practice. Wide Receiver Domenik Hixon suffered a first degree shoulder seperation during practice and LB Ian Gold was held out of practice with back spasms. Thankfully, both injuries are considered minor. On the field, Travis Henry continues to stand out as does the pass defense in general. Rookies Marcus Thomas and Tim Crowder stood out in drills.
QUARTERBACKS
Jay Cutler did not match his outstanding prior two days of practice. He had some balls flutter out of bounds on sideline routes and overshot a couple deep routes. He also did not quite have the outstanding accuracy that he displayed the last two days, having some balls deflected in the middle of the field. He had many good throws too ofcourse, showing very good velocity in connecting with David Kircus and had a really nice throw to Domenik Hixon which was dropped. I would give him a B- for the morning practice. Backup QB Patrick Ramsey was a little bit better than he was the last two days and had a really nice pass to Stephen Alexander on a middle post, which was unfortunately dropped. Overall however, Ramsey still struggled with accuracy and pocket presence. The quarterbacks worked on a number of bubble screens and jailbreak screens today.
RUNNING BACKS
As expected, Travis Henry continues to lead the pack among the running backs. He continues to show good power and actually had a nice burst of speed today on outside run plays, beating the defense to the corner on a few occasions. He has really gotten into a good groove now that he has gotten used to the tendencies of his offensive line. Mike Bell rebounded to have a solid, but not spectacular day, showing good elusiveness in traffic, but did not show the explosiveness in hitting the hole that he did on the initial day of practice (Sunday). Cecil Sapp had a quiet day as did the other backups with the exception of one Andre Hall run.
WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS
After practice, Coach Shanahan revealed that Domenik Hixon had suffered a slight shoulder separation and would have an MRI. Hixon had a notable drop in practice before he got hurt. The receivers and tight ends today had a hard time getting open and when they did they were not very sure handed. Virtually everyone dropped at least one ball, with Stephen Alexander dropping three. Dan Graham also had a quiet day in the passing game. The team really needs Tony Scheffler to come back as soon as possible as well as Brandon Marshall. The tight ends have posed very little of a intermediate or downfield threat to the back seven so far, especially today. Javon Walker and David Kircus did have their moments though. Kircus had a really nice juke on Dre Bly in space on a jailbreak screen, while Walker had a very impressive downfield reception. Brandon Stokley was given the morning off.
OFFENSIVE LINE
I paid a good deal more attention to the line drills today to get a good look at our linemen. Rookie Mark Fenton struggled, especially against Marcus Thomas, and Chris Kuper had a tough morning, getting beat by Kennedy once and also Tim Crowder. I thought Ryan Harris got a little better today which was promising. He got the better of Dumervil on a couple of occasions and Lepsis absolutely stoned Dumervil as well. Myers had trouble with Thomas among others. Backup Jacob Rogers was not too bad which was promising. I also liked what I saw from Montrae Holland today, he got the better of Ekuban and some others. Khan observed that Pears was also doing better when he focused on him, which is good to see as he had been struggling the last few days (especially against Moss). Greg Eslinger continues to get overpowered even by second and third teamers such as Antwon Burton.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Jim Bates went out of his way to praise Tim Crowder today for his leverage and positioning during the drills. He beat more than a few of the offensive linemen today in drills, although I did not notice him too much in the live 9 on 9 and 11 on 11 action. Marcus Thomas also impressed in drills with his power and also some of his moves when for example, he abused Chris Myers. He also had some impact in the live situations chasing down runners and getting some push. Jarvis Moss got owned a few times in the run game in 9 on 9 action, one time specifically by Alexander but in the drills he was a little bit better after getting some coaching by Bates among others. I am telling you folks I think Engleberger is going to make it. He seems to be a goods fit for this system and does a really nice job containing versus the run. I did not see any of the tackles distinguishing themselves too much today although Adams continues to holds the point well, Kennedy was ok in drills and McKinley finally made an appearance.
LINEBACKERS
The backers were very good in pass coverage today. There were several occasions where the QB had to just start running because nothing was there. I did not really notice any of them getting into the offensive backfield too much however, a few of them had stuffs at or slightly past the line, including DD Lewis, DJ, Holdman and Webster. The starting linebacking trio with Ian out consisted of Louis Green at WILL, DJ at MIKE and Webster at SAM. The competition at SAM takes a new turn every day with different players getting 1st team reps. So far, I like DD Lewis the best, but Holdman has done a good job taking on blocks (but isnt too quick). Webster has made some plays also when he has gotten in there. I noticed that Green was getting handled when the linemen got to him on the second level.
SECONDARY
Very strong again. Bly ripped a ball out of a receiver’s hands and Bailey scooped up the fumble and took off. Both of them continue to be very hard to get open against. Paymah looked very good in man coverage again. For two or three consecutive plays, I focused exclusively on him and he really held Hixon up at the line very well (before he got hurt) and did well on jams against Martinez and Morgan. Foxworth had a good practice, which he needed. He had at least one pass deflection. Steve Cargile really stood out as a pass defender as did Jeff Shoate which was surprising. Shoate almost intercepted Cutler when he was slightly behind on throwing a middle post down the field. Shoate also had a couple other pass deflections. Ferguson remains very, very quiet at this camp.
First one is courtesy of SoCalBronco!
7/31 AM Report: Rookies Thomas, Crowder impress in drills, little injuries continue to plague Broncos
Summary: The Broncos took to the field Tuesday morning in their third day of training camp practice. Wide Receiver Domenik Hixon suffered a first degree shoulder seperation during practice and LB Ian Gold was held out of practice with back spasms. Thankfully, both injuries are considered minor. On the field, Travis Henry continues to stand out as does the pass defense in general. Rookies Marcus Thomas and Tim Crowder stood out in drills.
QUARTERBACKS
Jay Cutler did not match his outstanding prior two days of practice. He had some balls flutter out of bounds on sideline routes and overshot a couple deep routes. He also did not quite have the outstanding accuracy that he displayed the last two days, having some balls deflected in the middle of the field. He had many good throws too ofcourse, showing very good velocity in connecting with David Kircus and had a really nice throw to Domenik Hixon which was dropped. I would give him a B- for the morning practice. Backup QB Patrick Ramsey was a little bit better than he was the last two days and had a really nice pass to Stephen Alexander on a middle post, which was unfortunately dropped. Overall however, Ramsey still struggled with accuracy and pocket presence. The quarterbacks worked on a number of bubble screens and jailbreak screens today.
RUNNING BACKS
As expected, Travis Henry continues to lead the pack among the running backs. He continues to show good power and actually had a nice burst of speed today on outside run plays, beating the defense to the corner on a few occasions. He has really gotten into a good groove now that he has gotten used to the tendencies of his offensive line. Mike Bell rebounded to have a solid, but not spectacular day, showing good elusiveness in traffic, but did not show the explosiveness in hitting the hole that he did on the initial day of practice (Sunday). Cecil Sapp had a quiet day as did the other backups with the exception of one Andre Hall run.
WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS
After practice, Coach Shanahan revealed that Domenik Hixon had suffered a slight shoulder separation and would have an MRI. Hixon had a notable drop in practice before he got hurt. The receivers and tight ends today had a hard time getting open and when they did they were not very sure handed. Virtually everyone dropped at least one ball, with Stephen Alexander dropping three. Dan Graham also had a quiet day in the passing game. The team really needs Tony Scheffler to come back as soon as possible as well as Brandon Marshall. The tight ends have posed very little of a intermediate or downfield threat to the back seven so far, especially today. Javon Walker and David Kircus did have their moments though. Kircus had a really nice juke on Dre Bly in space on a jailbreak screen, while Walker had a very impressive downfield reception. Brandon Stokley was given the morning off.
OFFENSIVE LINE
I paid a good deal more attention to the line drills today to get a good look at our linemen. Rookie Mark Fenton struggled, especially against Marcus Thomas, and Chris Kuper had a tough morning, getting beat by Kennedy once and also Tim Crowder. I thought Ryan Harris got a little better today which was promising. He got the better of Dumervil on a couple of occasions and Lepsis absolutely stoned Dumervil as well. Myers had trouble with Thomas among others. Backup Jacob Rogers was not too bad which was promising. I also liked what I saw from Montrae Holland today, he got the better of Ekuban and some others. Khan observed that Pears was also doing better when he focused on him, which is good to see as he had been struggling the last few days (especially against Moss). Greg Eslinger continues to get overpowered even by second and third teamers such as Antwon Burton.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Jim Bates went out of his way to praise Tim Crowder today for his leverage and positioning during the drills. He beat more than a few of the offensive linemen today in drills, although I did not notice him too much in the live 9 on 9 and 11 on 11 action. Marcus Thomas also impressed in drills with his power and also some of his moves when for example, he abused Chris Myers. He also had some impact in the live situations chasing down runners and getting some push. Jarvis Moss got owned a few times in the run game in 9 on 9 action, one time specifically by Alexander but in the drills he was a little bit better after getting some coaching by Bates among others. I am telling you folks I think Engleberger is going to make it. He seems to be a goods fit for this system and does a really nice job containing versus the run. I did not see any of the tackles distinguishing themselves too much today although Adams continues to holds the point well, Kennedy was ok in drills and McKinley finally made an appearance.
LINEBACKERS
The backers were very good in pass coverage today. There were several occasions where the QB had to just start running because nothing was there. I did not really notice any of them getting into the offensive backfield too much however, a few of them had stuffs at or slightly past the line, including DD Lewis, DJ, Holdman and Webster. The starting linebacking trio with Ian out consisted of Louis Green at WILL, DJ at MIKE and Webster at SAM. The competition at SAM takes a new turn every day with different players getting 1st team reps. So far, I like DD Lewis the best, but Holdman has done a good job taking on blocks (but isnt too quick). Webster has made some plays also when he has gotten in there. I noticed that Green was getting handled when the linemen got to him on the second level.
SECONDARY
Very strong again. Bly ripped a ball out of a receiver’s hands and Bailey scooped up the fumble and took off. Both of them continue to be very hard to get open against. Paymah looked very good in man coverage again. For two or three consecutive plays, I focused exclusively on him and he really held Hixon up at the line very well (before he got hurt) and did well on jams against Martinez and Morgan. Foxworth had a good practice, which he needed. He had at least one pass deflection. Steve Cargile really stood out as a pass defender as did Jeff Shoate which was surprising. Shoate almost intercepted Cutler when he was slightly behind on throwing a middle post down the field. Shoate also had a couple other pass deflections. Ferguson remains very, very quiet at this camp.