This is Kirks's report formthis morning, which needed to be reposted. Thanks!I
I arrive at Dove Valley just before 7 O'clock and there is already a line of fans at the gate. It figures that I'm not the only one starving for football. At 7:45, the gates open and we filter in to the complex. It seems hot already and I am glad I remembered the SPF 30. Right around 8:35, Orton emerges from the main building and begins to warm up his arm with some soft toss with one of the ball boys. 5 minutes later, the anointed one makes his presence known and the crowd that is stuffed like sardines, gets pretty loud and cheers for Tim Tebow. There is a serious crush going on here and I am concerned that there are more Tebow fans than there are Bronco fans. DeMaryius Thomas and Eric Decker join the QB's and then Brady Quinn comes out to another round of applause, somewhat subdued compared to Tebow's welcome, but resounding nonetheless.
A little Hip Hop tune "It's My Time" starts to play over the PA system as Richard Quinn, Nathan Overbay and Riar Geer warm up at the 10 yard line, practicing their first step into motion from a 3 point stance. Another Hip Hop song comes on and Lonie Paxton is long snapping. Quinn and Orton take a break and watch on as Tebow continues throwing. Patrick Honeycutt joins the crowd of players assembling to watch Lonie work. J.D, Walton is snapping to Kyle Orton, Russ Hochstein to Brady Quinn, and Dustin Fry is snapping for Tebow. Nick Greisen is long snapping to Prater which makes me think that he is the backup to Paxton. HORN.
They take about five more reps--by the way, Tebow is still throwing--to Royal now, and the HORN blows.
The team lines up at the Goal line to start the "Hop, Skip, and Jump" warmups. U2's "Streets Have No Name" blares across the air. A few times out to the 20 yard line and back. Then the players run sideways while twisting to left and right, out to the 30 now, and then back to the Goal. Paul Duncan and Eric Olsen look huge. Brian Dawkins comes over and hugs Kyle Orton. Another song plays and the warmups continue a few more minutes, and I notice a player wearing #96 who isn't listed. I assume it is the newly acquired Joe Mays. HORN.
The Team disperses out every 5 yards and spreads out for the stretching interval. Strength and Conditioning Coach Rich Tuten calls out the cadence as Josh McDaniels twirls his whistle and watches on. Ron Fields call for some more tape on his left ankle. Robert Ayers, Justin Bannan, Chris Baker, Jarvis Green, Ben Garland, Brandon Stokely, Kyle Orton, Jabar Gaffney, and Knowshon Moreno are stretching in front of me. I have a pretty good view at the 41 yard line, which is a good place to sit. It keeps the Scissor Lift with the All-Seeing Eye from my view of the far field. As the stretching ends, McDaniels comes over and shakes hands with Justin Bannan. This conjures up a vision of David and Goliath.
They disperse and the Linemen gp off to on to one end and the Receivers and Running Backs run the pylons with the ball while ball boys and Assistants try to slap the ball away as "Eye of the Tiger" plays. HORN
The Running Backs practice running through the hole whilr the Receivers run up and back slalom routes and catch passes from a coach. The quarterbacks take snaps from a ball boy and throw outs to a stationary assistant. They alternate shotgun and under center type snaps while practicing 3 step and them 5 step drops as they move to the longer throws. The Offensive linemen are practicing their initial move off the snap and hitting a held blocking pads. Brady Quinn has a few passes that sail. Tebow throws some ropes but Orton's spiral is tighter. HORN.
The Running Backs Wide Receivers and Tight Ends join in with the Quarterbacks with Spencer Larsen at Fullback. The Receivers run skinny post patterns. DeMaryius Thomas looks big and fast. Correll Buckhalter runs through a hole and it looks like he still has speed. HORN.
The Linebackers are working the outside pass rush on another part of the field. I am sitting at the 41 yard line and the Quarterbacks and wide Receivers are working together directly in front of me. DeMaryius Thomas shows a nice burst off the line of scrimmage and makes crisp cuts. He looks as advertised. Eric Decker is cutting fine on his repaired foot. A couple of passes sail at the same time. There are two QB's working at once. One with a line of Receivers to the left and the other to the right. Alric Arnett, Jabar Gaffney, DeMaryius Thomas and Brandon Lloyd are running routes right in front of me while Eddie Royal, Eric Decker, Matthew Willis, Patrick Honeycutt, Kenny McKinley and Brandon Stokely are on the far side. The three QB's rotate in the two spots. Passes are being thrown a little behind the Receivers, but since it is only the first practice I am not too concerned. It's nice to see some football even if it is only practice. HORN.
1st Team 7 on 7's. Short Yardage running is the drill. The Defense has Robert Ayers, Justin Bannan, Ronald Fields, Chris Baker, Elvis Dumervil and D.J. Williams. Knowshon Moreno bursts through the line and I see J.D. Walton and Daniel Graham double-team Justin Bannan to the ground. The Offense is using (from right to left) Ryan Harris, Chris Kuper, J.D. Walton, Zane Beadles, and Tyler Polumbus. Correll Buckhalter runs off the right side and Kuper lays a clashing block on D.J. Williams. The next play the Defense stuffs Buckhalter near the line of scrimmage. Substitutions are made and I see Kevin Alexander, Nick Greisen, LeKevin Smith, Chris Baker, Jarvis Green and Jarvis Moss. Lance Ball blasts through a hole. Kolby Smith bounces one outside to the right side for a good gain. The next play, D.J. blows through the line to hit Buckhalter in the backfield. Kolby Smith takes it around the left side and then Bruce Hall runs up the middle for short yardage. HORN.
Punt protection drills again. The Defensive "Scout teamers wear red socks over their helmets so the "Eye in the Sky" can identify who is blocking who. Spencer Larsen and then Akin Ayodele receive "Attaboys" from Coach Priefer. Eric Decker works at the Personal Protector position and makes the calls. They run a few reps and then the HORN sounds.
The Defense moves over to the far field and the Offensive Linemen move over to the end of the near field. The Quarterbacks, Receivers, Tight Ends and Backs set up their drill in front of me again. Orton completes a pass to Richard Quinn and the a long pass to McKinley that Kenny has to speed up to catch. Brady Quinn steps in and tosses a short pass to Knowshon Moreno. He then hits Brandon Lloyd on a skinny post. Tim Tebow throws a swing pass to Buckhalter, then a nice crisp pass to Jabar Gaffney. Then Tebow throws a lazy long pass that floats it's way to Matthew Willis. HORN.
The Defense returns for some more 7 on 7's. This time it is Linebackers and Defensive Backs vs. Tight Ends, Wide Receivers and Running Backs. Brian Dawkins misses intercepting the first pass and promptly hits the ground and does push-ups to the delight of the crowd. Orton hits Royal on a square in. Then a bubble screen to Knowshon that is cleared out by the Wide Receivers running deep routes. Matthew Willis beats Nate Jones on a deep pass from Orton. Brady Quinn comes in towards DeMaryius Thomas that the rookie can't quite reach back for. It appeared like Thomas was running an up pattern and Quinn was throwing the out. Quinn to Buckhalter on a short pass. Knowshon takes a swing pass and grabs his right Hamstring after contact. I was hoping for a cramp, but he had to be carted off the field. Reports are that it IS a Hamstring injury but it is not a tear. We shall see what happens, but that is not good news since much is expected of Moreno this season. Tebow throws a swing pass to Marquez Branson and then hooks yp with Willis on a nice deep ball. Matthew Willis beat Nate Jones again. Tebow looks pass and pulls the ball down and runs with it. The crowd is ecstatic, but since nobody is going to hit the Quarterback I am not impressed. My thought is that he is holding the ball too long. HORN.
11 on 11's. 1st Team Offense vs. 2nd Team Defense. Orton's first pass goes through to no one. Eddie Royal runs an end around on the next play. Tebow runs around the left side and I shake my head. Kolby Smith runs off right tackle. Orton hits Lloyd on a pass. Lance Ball gets a carry. Tim Tebow makes another run off right tackle. Marquez Branson misses a pass from Tebow. Lance Ball shows a few moves off right tackle and Orton hits Royal on a 25 yard pass. HORN.
They switch sides and 2nd team Offense starts against the 1st Team Defense. Lance Ball is stuffed at the line. On the next play Polumbus loses his block (the pass rusher knocked his hands away so he couldn't lock up). Mario Haggan breaks up a pass. Brady Quinn hits Matthew Willis for a nice reception. Toney Baker takes a toss and bulldozes for hard yardage. Another run play occurs as I try to take a picture. Tebow connects with Nathan Overbay. On the next play, Tebow almost gets sacked because he is holding the ball too long. He spins out and throws the ball away into the crowd.Another play and he holds on to the ball again and misses a pass. Next play he makes a nice pass to Alric Arnett, but the Receiver can't hold on. HORN.
They switch sides once more and Kyle passes to Brandon Lloyd that gets shut down by Champ Bailey. The crowd cheers the Champ. Lance Ball takes a swing pass and Ronald Fields and D.J. Williams are there. Fields throws down the young Running Back.The next play is a broken one since Orton gets tagged as a "hit" and he throws to Kolby Smith. Tebow runs another Quarterback Draw (I'm not liking this). Kyle hits Daniel Graham on a reverse screen. As he runs downfield, Renaldo Hill strips the ball out of bounds and Graham takes a lap. Bruce Hall gets a carry and then Brady Quinn throws long to Eric Decker. Perrish Cox interferes with him and the crowd calls a flag. Tebow runs another Draw and weaves through players that are not going to tackle the kid. Bruce Hall gets some tough yards on a short run. The Defense has had enough apparently, as the whole unit meets Kolby Smith at the line of scrimmage on the next play. Orton fires a rocket to Richard Quinn. Tebow lead Gaffney too much on the next rep. HORN.
In the final stanza, the Field Goal Unit gets some work in. Britton Colquitt holds for Matt Prater at the 32 yard line and they start out with a "time running out scenario" where the Unit runs onto the fielsd and sets up. After that, they run around 5 more Field Goal tries. I can't tell from my angle very well, but it looks like Matt missed at least one. Not by much though. The whistle blows and the Team gathers on the side of the field for sideline to sideline wind sprints. Then the players gather around Josh McDaniels and he addresses them. They break huddle and the QB's and Receivers strip of their shells and helmets and cool down with a few short route passes. Eric Decker picks up a pair of pads and DeMaryius picks up a set too. Thomas offers a set to Tebow but he is already carrying his own (as far as I can tell) and declines.
Autograph time. Rookie Running backs today. Bruce Hall, Toney Baker, Lance Ball and Kolby Smith sign autographs. Eric Decker comes over for 10 or 15 autograpghs and the HORN sounds and he has to run to a meeting.
My take: Chris Kuper looks good and is the only sure thing on the Offensive Line. Matthew Willis had a noticeably good practice. Tyler Polumbus did not. Tim Tebow looks like a rookie. I give him very good marks for sticking to his business and not even acknowledging the crowd with a smile while he was working. He may have smiled when he made his grand appearance but I was trying to take pictures. Knowshon's injury has me concerned and it was reported that Correll Buckhalter's legs were numb.
I will have to wait to post the pictures I took because I need to hurry up and post so I can make it back to the evening practice. If there are typos, I apologize.
Go Broncos!