Day 6 begins with Van Hagar's "Right Now" as I claim the same vantage point as yesterday, the 45 yard line. It is hot already and I apply a generous amount of sunscreen. "Dancin Machine" plays as the Tight Ends are the first players to enter the field. Spencer Larsen, Akin Ayodele and Brady Quinn follow. Special Teams Assistant Coach Keith Burns is at the 30 yard line carrying a handful of those red socks that go on the helmets of the Scout Teamers. The two new Receivers, Patrick Carter and Britt Davis are wearing numbers 16 and 17 respectively, and I see Britt Davis stroll over and talk to Coach Burns until the HORN.
Punt Receiving Unit vs. the Scouts. Nate Jones, David Bruton, Darcel McBath, Jarvis Moss, Wesley Woodyard, Mario Haggan, Nick Greisen, DeMaryius Thomas and Matthew Willis. Perrish Cox takes reps at punt returner. Coach Priefer explains his play calls and makes adjustments. This segment lasts 5 minutes. HORN.
The segment clock is reset to 10 minutes as the Defense heads for the far field and the Offense takes on the Scouts in the Red Zone. Lance Ball gets many carries in i and 2 back sets with Spencer Larsen leading the way. LenDale White gets a carry. The O-Line is made up of Ryan Harris, Chris Kuper, JD Walton, Zane Beadles and D'Anthony Batiste. I get my first glimpse of Jamal Williams over on the far field and resolve to keep an eye on him today. The Offense walks through more play installations. HORN.
The clock resets to 12 minutes. Music plays and I notice the Referees are here again this morning. The players assemble at the Goal line on the far field and go through there jogging warmups. That turns into the stretching routine. If you have followed my reports, you know the drill. Again, the individual position drills are next. There is a new wrinkle in today's position drills. The Quarterbacks are being harassed by two ball boys with the hand held blocking pads to simulate a collapsing pocket, and to show Tim Tebow he needs to make quicker decisions. A little ways away, the Wide Receivers are subjected to the same thing, right after the catch. The coach tells them to break through the contact. HORN.
The clock resets to 6 minutes and the positional drills continue. The ball boy moves out to a set position to receive passes from the Quarterbacks. Kyle Orton repositions him out another 12 yards and they resume drills. On the far field, the Defensive Backs run through their backpedal and swivel to deep coverage drills. HORN.
The clock resets to 6 minutes. It looks like Champ Bailey, Brian Dawkins, Jabar Gaffney, Brandon Stokely and Justin Bannan have this practice off. Bailey's reps are taken by Perrish Cox and there has already been a rotation on the Defensive Line so that just means more reps for everyone. I spot Chauncey Bills,Billi's">Billups taking in practice on the sideline. The Offensive line is busy working on Run Drive-blocking and meanwhile, the Quarterbacks and Running Backs run through pass drills. HORN.
New Receiver Britt Davis misses 3 passes and catches two. Patrick Carter catches 3 and then one pass gets thrown behind him. Kyle Orton makes a bad throw. Matthew Willis makes a grab. Tebow sails one over the head of everyone. HORN.
7 on 7's, 1st Teams running drill. The Defense has Jamal Williams, Jarvis Moss at ROLB, LeKevin Smith, Ryan McBean, Nick Greisen, Mario Haggan, and Wesley Woodyard. Robert Ayers and Ronald Fields rotate in. Tebow is the QB for this segment. Lance Ball gains 2 yards on a carry and I see Zane Beadles getting in the dirt with Jamal Williams (I'm liking this). Josh calls a re-huddle when the Offense looks confused coming out to the line of scrimmage. LenDale White runs THROUGH the line, including Mario Haggan, for 8 or 9 yards. Lance Ball has a carry around the left side for a nice gain. Jamal Williams is plugging the line and causing a big pile up nearly every play. He rotates in and out every 3 or 4 snaps it seems like, and that leads me to believe he (and the team) is pacing himself. On the ensuing play, the Defense causes a fumble at the line and I see a helmet go flying. Nick Greisen and Marcus Thomas get a hit on LenDale White and he bounces off the pair. Toney Baker makes a run up the middle for a couple yards. Jarvis Moss has a Tackle For Loss and Wink shows delight. Then LenDale White one cuts his way through the line and accelerates through the second level. That one could have gone the distance, unless maybe Dawkins was the last man (Very nice run). Toney Baker gains a tough yard, and then Joe Mays and Kevin Alexander meet LenDale White at the line for no gain. HORN.
The clock resets to 3 minutes and it is time for a Special Teams segment. This time it is cover pursuit where two players run toward the Punt Returner to make the tackle and the Returner tries to elude them. The would be pursuers start from 30 yards away and a ball is lobbed to the return man to simulate the punt. There is an emphasis on stripping the ball and Josh McDaniels is animated enough to drop an F-Bomb. HORN.
The clock resets to 10 minutes this time and 11 on 11's begin. Kyle Orton completes passes to Eddie Royal and Marquez Branson. Jamal and JD Walton battle to a tie on the next play as Orton sails it too high for Eric Decker. The next play is a reverse WR screen to Matthew Willis that turns into a very nice play because the blocking is there and Willis weaves his way down the field. Orton passes to LenDale White in the flat. The next play is a Flea Flicker. Devin Bishop gets pressure, and Orton throws a high floater that falls short of Eddie Royal. Syd'Quan Thompson is there to break up the play. Kyle hits DeMaryius Thomas deep over the middle, then passes to Willis on the WR screen. Matthew makes David Bruton miss. Orton again goes deep to DeMaryius Thomas who reaches up and grabs the ball before David Bruton can claim it. Matthew Willis makes a nice grab at the sideline that the referee calls a catch (Willis is standing out again). Tebow throws a high pass to DeMaryius Thomas and Bay Bay goes up and gets it. (I see a future filled with this type of play). On the next play, Tebow floats a pass high and leads Eddie Royal too much. Then Tebow connects with Decker (good play). Then has to throw away the ball into the ground when a double fake play action doesn't develop quick enough. HORN.
The units switch sides and continue. Zane Beadles takes care of Jamal Williams on a run by Bruce Hall. The pads resound with a loud crunch. Kyle Orton passes to Nathan Overbay and the young Tight End tries to make a one-handed catch and fails (I think the ball was on target on that play). Brady Quinn hooks up with Eric Decker and LenDale White gets through the line and runs for 10 yards. The 1st Team Defense goes against the 2nd Team Offense. Jarvis Moss has the sack on Brady Quinn, but Quinn goes ahead and throws it up deep. DeMaryius Thomas goes up and claims it for the touchdown. Russ Hochstein is taking snaps at Center, and battles Jamal Williams. This segment emphasizes the run and Tebow is seeing a lot of reps this morning. Nathan Overbay is confused and the Offense has to re-huddle. Tebow throws up a Duck past Eric Decker and the coverage. Ronald Fields tackles LenDale White after a 3 yard gain. Tebow fires a pass behind Bruce Hall. I notice Robert Ayers is at the ROLB position and Jarvis Moss is on the left. Tebow throws behind Wide Receiver number 16. HORN.
The clock resets to 8 minutes and the Punt Return Unit comes on the field. Alphonso Smith, Matthew Willis, Nate Jones, Jammie Kirlew, Spencer Larsen, Mario Haggan, Nick Greisen, Wesley Woodyard, Darcel McBath, DeMaryius Thomas are on the field. Perrish Cox and Syd'Quan Thompson are the punt returners. Jammie Kirlew catches a fake punt in the backfield. Coach Priefer calls a return play that I recognize and the unit runs it successfully. Priefer seems pretty satisfied with the results in this session. HORN.
The clock sets at 3 minutes and they run 11 on 11's with the Chain Gang and referees. Bruce Hall runs for a few yards. LenDale White pushes the pile for 2 yards and Nate Websters helmet makes an appearance. Chris Kuper is dinged up on the play. It looks like an ankle. He limps off to the sideline for a few minutes before returning to the locker room with a limp. Meanwhile, Toney Baker runs for no gain. In a 2 back set, LenDale White dives for 2 yards. HORN.
The clock is reset to 9 minutes and I hear Hip Hop music designed to simulate crowd noise (I've never seen Defensive Linemen dance to crowd noise though). The ball is placed on the 18 yard line. It's time for more Red Zone drills. Daniel Graham gets a reception over the middle. Lance Ball gets hit at the line by Wesley Woodyard and bowled over by LeKevin Smith. Orton throws in the end zone for Brandon Lloyd and David Bruton nearly picks it off and breaks up the play. LenDale White runs a cut back for 2 yards. Brady Quinn misses Matthew Willis low. Then we see a Quinn to Quinn connection. Now I see LenDale White walking off to the locker room. There is at least 15 more minutes of practice scheduled and I cannot see anything wrong with him. Brady Quinn hits DeMaryius Thomas in the end zone for a touchdown. Kyle passes into the endzone incomplete. The intended receiver is out of my line of sight so I miss the end of the play. Spencer Larsen is stuffed at the line on the next play. HORN.
Goal line drill. Lance Ball carries the ball while Larsen leads the way and then Lance has 3 or 4 carries as the single back. Toney Baker gets another rep. HORN.
The Special Teams practice a Free kick after a Safety. Syd'Quan Thompson is back to take the Punt. Then an Onside kick is run. Matthew Willis muffs the recovery for the kicking team, but the Scout team doesn't finish the play. 2 minute drill. The O-Line is made up by D'Anthony Batiste, Zane Beadles, JD Walton, Stanley Daniels and Ryan Harris. Kyle Orton passes complete to Brandon Lloyd to start the drill. Orton then completes a pass to Eddie Royal. Kyle is working the hard count and draws Robert Ayers offsides to the immediate disdain of Coach McDaniels (F-Bomb). The Field Goal Unit rushes on to the field for a last second Field Goal Attempt, only to run a fake. The Offense is back on the field and from the 18 yard line, Kyle hits Lloyd for a touchdown. Again from the 18, Daniel Graham over the middle for a touchdown. Orton misses Lloyd in the end zone. Kyle is pressured to throw the ball away, and then passes complete to DeMaryius Thomas at the sideline. Bay Bay is limping slightly but shakes it off. Kyle hits Royal on a deep completion. Matthew Willis makes another sideline catch keeping his feet inbounds. Orton to Daniel Graham and the Field Goal Unit comes out and runs fake variations. HORN.
Time for full field sprints to end the practice. They end up running the length of the field, up and back two and a half times. Tebow beats everyone to each end and Brady Quinn is right there by him. As the linemen take their turn, Ben Garland shows that he can out run the other players too. After that the team huddles at midfield and it's time for the autograph session. The Running Backs are featured this morning. Bruce Hall, Lance Ball, Spencer Larsen and Toney Baker. Matthew Willis also signs autographs at the other end of the field. I manage to get Spencer Larsen and Lance Ball's signatures. It looks like a few more prizes for the Draftivus.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Less passes are being dropped, which I like to see. There are still passes that are behind some of the receivers, but the floaters and sailed passes are dwindling. Lance Ball is getting the majority of touches at Running Back even though LenDale White had his share in this morning's practice. Lendale didn't do too bad either. DeMaryius Thomas and Matthew Willis stood out. Jarvis Moss had a couple more plays. Perrish Cox took the majority of return reps today as well as Champ Bailey's reps, and Syd'Quan Thompson had some chances at the return spot as well. Eddie Royal did not take any reps as the return man. Jamal Williams looked like the plugger he is advertised as and Zane Beadles, J.D. Walton and Russ Hochstein got to wage war with him today. David Bruton didn't have an outstanding day, but he was right in the middle of the action all morning. I hope Chris Kuper and LenDale White are okay. The Broncos can afford White being out since he has a suspension looming, but if anymore linemen get injured, Broncos country is going to panic. On the bright side, I am heading back to attend the evening practice, so you can anticipate another report soon.
Go Broncos!