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***Courtesy of the Denver Broncos PR Staff***
HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS
On the status of QB Tim Tebow
"(He’s) in there getting rehab just like the rest of them. Whenever he is ready to go, he will be back out here on the field."
On Tebow’s status for Saturday’s game
"There’s a chance that a lot of those guys that aren’t out here won’t play. We are just going to see in the next 24 to 36 hours how all of them respond to the treatment they are getting, and we’ll make the best decision hopefully for the team going forward. We are not going to worry about trying to hurry anybody back for this game, but if they’re healthy and we feel like it’s not a risk then we’ll go ahead and play them."
On Tebow’s physical style of play
"He wasn’t in a position the other night to do anything other than what he did. Had he not tried to get it in on the last play of the game, I’m sure that would have been a bigger story. No, if it’s the first quarter and you get a first down on a scramble, yeah you try to preserve your body. I think that’s the smartest thing to do. He hasn’t been in that situation yet, so to judge him on what happened the other night in terms of being reckless I would say is very unfair. I think what he did the other night I hope all of our guys would have done – no matter who it was. Yeah, it’s part of his game, but I’m sure he’ll learn either the easy way or the hard way that you want to try to stay in this league as long as you can and we’ll help him do that."
On if opposing players might go after Tebow more than most players
"They should probably be careful if they do that. I think the other guy got knocked out. You know, he’s a big guy. He’s 245 pounds. He can take care of himself. I mean, I don’t think anybody is trying to hit anybody any harder. I mean, I hope everybody is trying to play hard, tough (and) physical football no matter who is in there at quarterback. If they get a chance to hit the passer, they are going to hit the passer no matter if it’s (QB) Kyle (Orton), (QB) Brady (Quinn) or Tim or any other quarterback. I doubt that there’s much of a difference."
On what he has seen from QB Brady Quinn this week in practice
"He’s done fine. I think, again, that was his first opportunity to play a different opponent in our system and I think hopefully we’ll all see a lot of progress by a lot of different people – a lot of different players. I think it takes 11 people on every play to do the right thing. Certainly, the quarterback is a big part of that, but I think the whole comfort level of playing in a game against a different team in our system, I think this is the second go-around for a lot of guys and I think Brady is looking forward to playing on Saturday night."
On if the team is where he expected to be at this point in camp
"I think that our team has come along and progressed the way we hoped they would in terms of certain situations. There are a lot of things we adjusted in the offseason we wanted to be better at and we still have a long way to go before we start the regular season. Our goal is to be ready to play well early in the year and start the year off with the big things being positives for us. There are certainly things we did better the other night and there’s certain things we’ve done well in training camp; but we are really focused on trying to get things that we didn’t do well up to speed and up to par. I think that would probably start with our coverage teams. You know, we weren’t very good the other night and that’s why we’ve been working so hard on it here the last three days. Overall, I think our team understands how we want to play now and I think they have the same mindset that we want them to have – which is to play tough and physical and be smart (and) understand the situations and try to win games late if they are close."
On if it is good or bad to have fans out at camp
"No, I think it’s great. I think it’s awesome. It’s a great atmosphere. This is the second year, obviously, that I’ve been here and the people treat us so well. To have them be excited about us practicing, you know, whatever period it may be, their enthusiasm kind of spreads through the team and the team likes that. I think the energy – it’s always a letdown when you come out there the day after you stop training camp and there’s no people here. You know, you make a nice play and it’s quiet. Sometimes the players – it takes them a day or two to get back into that flow of we’ve got to get ourselves ready for practice. There’s no energy from other people that we’re going to be able to use, so it’s been great for two years and we look forward to playing Saturday night in front of our home fans."
On if the running game has progressed more this week
"The running game has progressed, I think, where we would hope it would be at this point. We just focused on something different in that first game. We felt like Cincinnati would be a great test, a great challenge for us in the passing game. Not that they wouldn’t have been a challenge in the running game, we just wanted to take that opportunity to kind of take a look at some of the different things in the passing game. This week will be a little different I would imagine, but you take certain things that you want to try and get out of those preseason games and you try to focus on them and I think we did. Hopefully, we’ll find a new set of things to focus on this week."
On players improving in their second year in a system
"I think each player is different and unique. I would hope that they know more and they can play faster in their second year in the system. I think that’s probably true for a lot of our players. I think I’ve seen that in a lot of our players, regardless of the position. When we watched the film the other night, you saw a lot of player playing in their first game that looked like they were still thinking, and then you saw a lot of players in that first game that weren’t thinking and there’s a huge difference. I think that’s just the natural progression of playing in this league and realizing that everything happens fast, it goes quickly, and if you are not ready to go and you don’t know what to do you play slower than everybody else. I think we’ve seen a lot of our young players come in and it’s exciting for us to see where that ultimately will take us."
WIDE RECEIVER ERIC DECKER
On preparing for Saturday’s game with a short week of practice
"I’m trying to do as much as I can. Obviously while I was out, I was staying in the playbook and trying to go over it mentally, trying to get extra reps just walking through it, hearing the calls, lining up — just seeing in my head what I need to do. Obviously you can’t replace on-the-field experience so I’m trying to get as many reps as I can now in the next couple days to prepare myself for Saturday."
On finding the rhythm he was in before the injury
"Right, that’s the biggest thing — you’ve got to get that trust of the quarterbacks and running good routes and catching the football and blocking in the run game is part of my job and I’ve just got to get back to doing that."
On whether it was difficult watching the first preseason game and not being with the team
"It was, you know, I was (at the team’s facility) for 10 hours of the day and it was fun to see them come out strong and play really well right away and a lot of guys got some playing time. Obviously I’d rather be on the field than in the training room and that’s what I’m working towards."
On his expectations for the game vs. Detroit on Saturday
"You know, I’m going to let that kind of play itself out. I’m real excited — first NFL preseason game. I’m going to do everything I can to get out there and play the best that I can on all phases — special teams, offensively and when I get an opportunity to make a play, I expect myself to make the play."
On whether he’s looking forward to the atmosphere at INVESCO Field at Mile High
"Right, we had, I think, 20,000 at our scrimmage and that was quite a crowd... to play in front of a crowd like that is always exciting. Denver is great place to play football. I love it here and we’ve got to do our job and play well and give them something to cheer about."
On returning to the field after a layoff
"Yeah, get out there and get that first hit, get myself acquainted to the NFL and all the veterans talk about the tempo, the speed of the game, and that’s something you can’t replace either. Getting back on the field, getting that experience, seeing what it’s really like and preparing yourself for the season — that’s what the preseason is all about."
QUARTERBACK BRADY QUINN
On whether he’s looking forward to getting more reps in the second preseason game
"I think every time is a good time to put everything you’re learning into game action and play and everything. Every opportunity you get is a good opportunity."
On whether getting more snaps would be a good thing for him
"More snaps are always good. It doesn’t matter where they come or wherever they’re at, (getting) more snaps is always good."
On whether it was hard to adjust to working in a new system for his first live game action
"No, I think it’s just a matter of coming down, doing my job, executing better, making better decisions."
On practicing against four-man fronts in preparation for Detroit
"I think in some ways it makes things easier here and there — on identifications for us as a quarterback — but there also comes some problems as well with that but really, it’s just an adjustment that we’re going have to make and take into Detroit but again we’re going to have to worry about when it comes to the season against some of the teams we’re going to play."
On other opponents who also play a 4-3 base defense as Detroit does
"Exactly, you’ve got to be versatile; you’ve got to be able to adjust. At this point — and that’s the great thing — when teams are able to go back and forth between both, you’ve really got to be on top of your game. I think that’s what it tests us and challenges us to do as quarterbacks."
On the end of training camp
"(Laughing) I mean, we look forward to things — like being able to sleep at home and getting some rest — I know that much."
On whether the team is where it needs to be at the end training camp
"I’m a perfectionist, I get greedy, I want more — I want perfection with everything we do. I think we’ve worked hard, done a good job getting there but there are always some things we can work on too."