My Week at Summer Camp – Day Three, Part Two

Note: This week, after realizing that planned (and desperately needed) vacation time coincided with the opening week of Bronco training camp, I decided to head down to Dove Valley for several days this week. I will be providing nightly updates on what we have learned about your 2008 Denver Broncos.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

We are back with our final posting from Bronco training camp. After attending the morning session and taking a lunch break we picked up Turner’s son Jacob and headed back for the afternoon session.

o        We are immediately struck by the differences between the morning sessions and the afternoon session. First (and most important) the grassy berm where we are herded is in the shade, making it feel probably 15 degrees cooler than this morning. Second, the players seem ready for a nice siesta in the shade too. The shoulder pads from this morning are gone and the players are in jerseys and shorts. Looks like Darrell Jackson is safe from getting blasted again.

o        The other thing that we notice is that there are a group of guys who are apparently learning the proper technique for calling a fair catch. Seriously, they are practicing waving their arms while a ball is in the air on the way to them. I don’t know about you, but I learned this highly complex skill about my sophomore year of high school.

o        The punt drill does provide some entertainment in that Jacob has found a new favorite Bronco during the drill. That’s right, Jacob is now a huge fan of the Jugs machine sending the balls skyward.

o        As the players stretch even more casually than in the morning session (if that’s possible), we notice Champ Bailey hanging out in a grey t-shirt talking to Dre Bly while Dre chews on sunflower seeds. Champ is on the sidelines and Dre thinks he is hanging out in the Rockies dugout. Yes, this is going to be a tense practice.

o        Thanks to their status as long-time veterans and Pro-Bowlers both Champ and John Lynch are excused from practice. In fact, I don’t even remember seeing Lynch, hmmm.

o        Well, here you go. For the second time in a week we are posting some breaking news at profootballblogger. That’s right, John Lynch has left Bronco training camp. Apparently unsatisfied with being a part-time starter (the part time when the other team isn’t expected to pass), Lynch is debating about hanging up the cleats.

§         It is hard to have anything but admiration for Lynch. He was the consummate professional; a smart, tough player who made every team he played on better. With the Broncos losing Rod Smith and (possibly) Lynch in the span of one week, there is a huge gaping hole in this team at the position of ‘leader’. It is time for D.J. Williams, Champ Bailey and Jay Cutler to take over or a 0-3 start (a distinct possibility if you ask me) could end this team.

o        Back to the actual action on the field….oh wait, even during practice there wasn’t much action on the field.

o        After stretching, the offense heads to the far field (a perennial PR gripe of mine. Why wouldn’t you have the offense near fans? Turner hypothesizes it is to keep Cutler away from the groupies stalking him from the berm). We are left to watch the defense do walk-throughs against a scout offense.

§         As riveting as this sounds, let me tell you, it isn’t. Basically the players line up in their positions and get yelled at by their coach. The ball is then snapped by the scout team and everyone takes about 5 half-jog, half-walking steps to where the would go based on the play run. We watched this for an hour. Thank goodness for the shade, this would have been torture in the sun.

§         The only thing I learned is that Jarvis Moss is even skinnier than he appears in pads (seriously, he might be less built than LeBron James) and he could be the starting defensive end this year. Even if he is a pass rush specialist, if I am an offense I would just run straight at him every time he comes in and let my tackle barrel over him, regardless of down and distance.

§         The only thing Turner learned was that his boy Larry Birdine playing an offensive lineman through the whole practice didn’t get him much closer to making the team as a defensive lineman.

·         Though the CFL scout sitting near us may have been very impressed. Pack your mukluks Larry.

·         Seriously, how sad is that? The man is a professional football scout and he couldn’t get a better seat than about 10 feet from us?

§         The only things that Jacob learned was that Diet Coke tastes good and makes you feel happy and that none of these guys throw as well as the jugs machine.  

o        The highlight of the practice, for me at least, was when the punt team came out and practiced their blocking assignments. Seriously, this was fascinating. I guess I never really spent a lot (or any) time thinking about it but the up-backs really have to read how the receiving team is going to rush and dictate out the blocking assignments. As with everything in the NFL, these calls are very complex and in code. I spent much of the practice trying to decipher how the code words aligned with the rush patterns. I failed. I guess, I can scrap that job with the New England Patriots.

§         At least I have CFL scouting to fall back on.

o        After the riveting punt practice interlude (a phrase I would have been 94.3% sure that I would never type), we returned to the defensive walk-throughs. Thankfully at this point, Jacob had grown a little tired of the walk-throughs and challenged me to tic-tac-toe. Much like Joshua learned, there are no winners in Tic-Tac-Toe.

o        Suddenly after a short hour and twenty minutes the defense came together, gave a team “Broncos” and headed to the locker room. That was apparently the end of my week at camp with the Broncos. Not exactly going out with a bang.

So, that’s it for me. I hope this has been as fun and informative for you as it has been for me. And you didn’t have to risk skin cancer. Anyway, I am taking the next week off and getting away to enjoy the best thing about living in the west (outside of 10 am college football of course) – the wilderness.

Have a good week and I will check in right around the time we get to see these Broncos play another team. If they are playing at 25% speed in no pads, I would put my money on the Broncos.

There is a chance that we could have a guest poster or two in my absence. Remember, even if something is posted under the name ‘David’ it isn’t me unless I use the secret password: ‘new England clam chowder’.

My Week at Summer Camp – Day Three

Note: This week, after realizing that planned (and desperately needed) vacation time coincided with the opening week of Bronco training camp, I decided to head down to Dove Valley for several days this week. I will be providing nightly updates on what we have learned about your 2008 Denver Broncos.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Welcome back to our exclusive outside-the-ropes, back-row view of Denver Broncos Training Camp. Joined by our Hierarchy of Hate and Roundtable compatriot Turner, we decided to suck it up and go to both ends of the Broncos two-a-days today. As this will be my final day in Dove Valley this week, I decided to break this one into two posts. Today will be the morning session, tomorrow come back for the afternoon session. On to the sights and sounds of Dove Valley:

• On the way in, we check out the mini-Bronco store to see if there are any jerseys we should pick up for Turner’s son who will be joining us this afternoon, figuring maybe he is our ticket to getting a ball and meeting some players. Unfortunately the sale rack is about 90% Travis Henry jerseys (along with an assortment of Javon Walker and Simeon Rice jerseys – wonder why these are on sale?). While there are plenty of basements in the greater Boulder area where a Henry jersey would be highly sought, we both agree it probably isn’t the best jersey for a four year old.
• As we take our spots on the grassy berm (not to be confused with the grassy knoll in Dallas where nothing occurred in 1963), we are entertained by the local ‘security’ in charge of keeping the wild crowd under control. This mostly consists of asking people to put away their phones and keeping them out of the ‘VIP Lounge’. I have high hopes that the ‘Lounge’ has a bar at the back and some waitresses in Bronco cheerleaders to take your order. Alas it is just a square area on the berm at mid-field roped off by red and white striped rope.
  • After a long day we have begun to feel close with the two rope minders, one we called Big Jake and the other whose name we learn is T.J. Big Jake looks disturbingly like the white guy from that Red Stripe commercial who learns to dance and T.J. is a dead-ringer for Boyd Tinsley, Dave Matthews’ violin player (who coincidentally is not on their current tour…hmmm.). Big Jake spends most of the day talking to a blond with big hair in the VIP section. Turner and I are convinced she is there in a desperate attempt to become Mrs. Jay Cutler.
  • For the record, we don’t think she is alone in this goal among the crowd.
• The first highlight from the action on the field is Darrell Jackson getting absolutely blown up on a short pass in the flats. This is noteworthy first because he is a Gator (it is still surprisingly satisfying even in a Bronco uniform) and second with all players in shoulder pads and shorts hitting typically is a nice smack on the shoulders and that is about it. Poor Darrell is the exception, not only does he go airborne but his helmet goes flying! The crowd eats it up, momentarily forgetting that he is probably going to start opposite Brandon Marshall this season.
  • I wish I could tell you who hit him but I have had this problem all week that I get Jamie Winborn (#51) and Nate Webster (#58) confused constantly. Part of it is their similar size (5’11” – 6’0”, 230 lbs) and part of it is the similar roles they have played for the Broncos in recent years: back-up linebackers occasionally seeing defensive plays while being special teams stalwarts. That is pretty much all it takes to confuse me, especially on my third straight morning slowly baking in the sun.
• Speaking of Brandon Marshall, I can’t stress enough how big of a year he could have this season.

NOTE: After the suspension of course. Which brings up an interesting question: what round is he drafted in fantasy leagues with the suspension looming? Here is what Turner and I agree: no suspension – 3^rd round, 2-game suspension – 5^th round, 4 game suspension - 6^th - 7^th round. Interested to hear any other fantasy perspectives).

o       It is amazing how much Cutler looks for Marshall, it was practically a running joke for Turner and I. Every time Marshall split out left, you could almost see the third string corner on the left side deflate, knowing that the pass was coming his way and he was pretty much powerless to stop it.

o       Cutler averaged about 29 passes per game last year. If I had to break down how those 29 passes will be distributed this year (post suspension), I would guess:

o       5 passes – running back out of the backfield (Torain, Young, A.A.)

o       5 passes – tight ends (Sheffler, Graham, N. Jackson)

o       4 passes – slot and other wide receivers (D. Jackson, Stokley, Royal)

o       14 passes – Marshall

o       0 passes – Keary Colbert

o       1 pass – cutest girl in the bar after the game

o       We had several scrimmages again. This time the goal line play was replaced with a four minute drill. Unfortunately, the results were very similar. Lots of (simulated) time for Cutler on his back side.

o       It is never good when your offense faces a 3^rd and 16 in what is supposed to be a hurry up drill.

o       It is even worse when said offense decides to run the ball on that 3^rd and 16.

o       Unless that 4-minute drill was actually held with the offense holding 10 point lead. This point was never clearly articulated to the crowd.

o       To be fair, the offense did sustain a nice long drive at one point after the clocks were turned off. So they have that going for them. One drive for every 5 hours of practice.

o       To separate the four minute drill from the next scrimmage we had our first glimpse of punt coverage (and – spoiler alert! - it won’t be our last). It would be easy to dismiss this as time filler but after the show the offense has put on, the punter could be a highly critical role for the Broncos this year.

o       That is about it for the morning session, other than one unfortunate incident when Turner was taken down by T.J. and Big Jake when he tried to storm the field and have Larry Birdine, the sole Sooner in camp, sign his bare chest. But we don’t want to get into that. It is best for everyone if we try to forget that sight.

We will be back tomorrow to wrap up our time with the Broncos and re-cap today’s afternoon session. I will choose to skip over our lunch when we dominated one of those network trivia games. Krusty, Fred and EHomer had no idea that JTDMac would interrupt their usual game with absolute and total domination.

My Week at Summer Camp – Day Two

Note: This week, after realizing that planned (and desperately needed) vacation time coincided with the opening week of Bronco training camp, I decided to head down to Dove Valley for several days this week. I will be providing nightly updates on what we have learned about your 2008 Denver Broncos. Note #2: Given that I recently celebrated a 33^rd birthday and have been ‘with’ the Broncos longer than some of these players have been alive (Ryan Clady, born: September 6, 1986) I have accepted Mike Shanahan’s offer to long time veterans to only participate in one of the two-a-day practices each day.

Monday, July 28, 2008

• Back for morning number two and it is just as hot and crowded as Sunday morning. What is with that? Don’t these people have anything better to do with their Mondays? Huh? What’s that? Why I am sacrificing for you dear reader that’s why. I am a giver.
• Let’s go back to the running backs
  • I said yesterday that Ryan Torain wasn’t overly impressive; however I will say that today he looked much better. He was quicker to the line, made a single cut and hit the hole. In fact, after Ryan broke off a long run, a starry-eyed optimist could even imagine him as a taller Terrell Davis. Thankfully, I am not a starry-eyed optimist so I saw it as a nice run on the 4^th day of training camp…by a guy with skills to make us forget Travis Henry, Mike Bell, Tatum Bell, Quentin Griffin, Reuben Droughns and Olandis Gary. Damn, that kool-aid tasted really good after a hot day in the sun.
  • My boy A.A., Anthony Alridge, looked good again, cutting back against the grain and busting down the sideline for another long run.
• There was one overriding story in my mind today and that was the match-up of the offense and defense, and the defense’s domination.
  • Let’s start with two interceptions – one for each of Domonique Foxworth and Champ Bailey when they were both able to jump curl routes (which in fairness was practically all the offense ran).
  • When he wasn’t throwing picks, Cutler was running for his life. He would have been on his back on almost every drop back if the defense was allowed to hit the quarterback. The only entertainment was the half of the crowd that thought he had successfully avoided the rush and cheered wildly when he chucked it down field. These poor fans are going to be in for serious disappointment in that first game “How is Jay not getting away from this rush like in training camp? This Raider defense must be really good!”
  • Beside the two long runs above, there was only one highlight for the offense – a long pass to Brandon Marshall on the first play of a #1 offense vs. #2 defense scrimmage. Just a little glimpse of what we can look forward to after Marshall returns from his suspension to begin the season for all of his off-season fun. Sorry fantasy players, I forgot to mention that little fact when telling you how good Marshall looked yesterday. A clever ploy to get you to draft Marshall three rounds too early, or mere stupidity? Guess you will never know.
  • So the real question is: what does the defense’s domination tell us? My guess, not much. We all thought the Broncos had a great defense last year, until they got lit up in the first two pre-season games. So, all we know is that right now the Bronco defense is better than the Bronco offense. Who knows how they stack up against actual other teams.
• That’s it for today. Tomorrow we will be joined by Turner and will actually be sucking it up and sweating through both ends of the two-a-days.

My Week at Summer Camp – Day One

Note: This week, after realizing that planned (and desperately needed) vacation time coincided with the opening week of Bronco training camp, I decided to head down to Dove Valley for several days this week. I will be providing nightly updates on what we have learned about your 2008 Denver Broncos. Note #2: Given that I recently celebrated a 33^rd birthday and have been ‘with’ the Broncos longer than some of these players have been alive (Ryan Clady, born: September 6, 1986) I have accepted Mike Shanahan’s offer to long time veterans to only participate in one of the two-a-day practices each day.

Sunday, July 27th

o       I arrive at Dove Valley 30 minutes early with my Denver Post sports section and a Propel and find a spot high on the tree-lined berm lining the side of the practice field. Despite, expectations that temperatures will reach nearly 100 today, the place is packed. Clearly, I am not the only one that is already over baseball and looking forward to football.

o       As the first drops of sweat say hello, I realize that morning workouts may be a tactical error. I am facing due east into the rising sun and there is nowhere to hide.

o       I am about to begin whining about the folly of drowning in my own pool of sweat while watching 80 enormous humans sort-of, kind-of stretch when a Bronco official comes over and asks a young girl sitting in front of me wearing a Jay Cutler jersey (one of the Jessica Simpson pink ones for the record) if she would like to receive a ball from Jay. She agrees and to a round of applause from the crowd she walks across the field, meets Jay, shakes hands with him and while handing her the ball in his hands, he introduces her to Patrick Ramsey. A Vandy guy and a Tulane guy? There is about a 97.6% chance that girl is marrying a guy who wears a ratty old ball cap, khakis and a polo some day.

o        For the record, big props to the Broncos for making training camp as fan friendly as possible. They now allow you to bring in a personal drink, hand you a roster as you walk in so you know who you are looking at, open up for autographs (not to mention the above little girl). They also sell drinks right on the premises and a bottle of water only costs a buck! If this was Rockies training camp there is no way that water costs anything less than $4.

o       On to the actual play on the field. I have decided to pick a few positions and focus on them each day. Today: running backs, wide receivers and secondary

o       The Running back battle is probably the most interesting position battle in Bronco camp this year.

o        Selvin Young enters as the favorite and didn’t do anything to dissuade that opinion. He played well if not spectacularly. Outside of one move that absolutely embarrassed some poor second string DB and even elicited hoots and hollers from teammates. Those are always fun.

o        Further down the list of possible starters is Ryan Torain, probably the most anticipated 5^th round pick in Bronco history. Ryan looks very impressive in person – he is big and tall (6’1”, 225 lbs) and looks like he should be a star. I have to admit, after hearing about him since mini-camps he was a little underwhelming

§         I’m not sure whether it is his size but he doesn’t look like he is running real hard a lot of the time. He did put one ankle-breaker on a DB but for the most part he seemed to jog up into the line and get swallowed up by the linebackers and linemen.

o        On the other hand, my first sleeper of camp is Anthony Alridge, an undrafted free agent signed out of Houston. He is small (5’8”, 185 lbs) but extremely quick (reportedly a 4.3 40-yard dash). Not only did he look like he was going full speed, there were several times they sent him on a sweep around the corner and he flew past the defense.

§         One of the guys sitting near me, hopes that they can use him as a Glyn Milburn type, a third down specialist, too small to play every down. I have two problems with this. First, clearly this guy is not familiar with a man named Warrick Dunn (5’9”, 180 lbs, 10,181 career rushing yards). Second, while I appreciate the Milburn comparison (if for no other reason than its relative obscurity), can’t we aim a little higher for Alridge? Milburn accounted for less than 700 yards rushing and 1,050 yards receiving in his three years with the Broncos (2 of which occurred in the Wade Philips, so we can’t hold that against him). If we are going to compare him to smaller guys who are much more valuable in point-per-reception leagues….umm…I mean who are dual threats, let’s hope Alridge can play more like W.D. or Brian Westbrook (5’8”, 200 lbs.)

§         Not only was A.A. (as I call him) showing game when he was handed the ball he also got up in front during stretches and got both the crowd and players to start a rhythmic clap and boo the Chargers. Clearly, this guy is ready to play the role of Tulo in an unlikely Bronco up-rising in 2008!

·         Before Turner pulls a groin jumping to write a comment mocking my homerism, I don’t actually expect an unlikely Bronco uprising in 2008.

·         However a few more days in the sun with these guys and I may be convinced/sun stroked into believing it.

o       At the wide receiver position, there were two big off season storylines: the Jerry Springer-esque life of Brandon Marshall and the endless line of re-treads brought in by Shanahan to complement B-Marsh (as someone who I bludgeoned repeatedly calls Marshall).

o        First, just in time for all of those fantasy football drafts, I am happy to report that Marshall showed no signs of any lingering effects from the cut he took to his arm. He looked great today, catching everything and using his size to absolutely abuse Champ Bailey in one-on-one goal line battles.

o        On to the second question, I can tell you who I think will be the one left standing in this game of wide receiver musical chairs. That would be one Keary Colbert formerly of the Carolina Panthers and USC Trojans. Colbert did not have his best day today. He couldn’t get open, seemed to be tentative on where to go and when the ball got to him, he couldn’t catch it.

§         Besides the bad play, he wore long pants during practice, showing a remarkable lack of common sense.

o        One of the other receivers in is Darrell Jackson (or D-Jack to those that despise his underachieving ways in Seattle and San Francisco). I can’t say whether he will become that other receiver, but I will say he has the kickingest beard in camp.

o        I am also withholding opinion on second round pick Eddie Royal. At a minimum I will say he could be a great addition as a slot receiver replacing Brandon Stokley after his inevitable injury.

o        In the secondary much of the focus has been on whether John Lynch’s role will be reduced to mostly running downs with the arrival of Marlon McCree from the Chargers. Well, they may have forgotten about someone as Roderick Rogers was the defensive star today with two tipped ball interceptions.

§         My other sleeper of the draft also made his presence known in the secondary today. Free Agent Christian Morton, looked great both in the one-on-one goal line drills and in the broader seven-on-seven and full team drills.

o        Of course all of these opinions were based on one 2 hour practice. I am sure that by the time the regular season starts these will look almost as bad as that whole ‘the-Giants-are-a-joke thing’ from last year. 

The Dawn of a New Day

Thursday, July 26

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Super Dave’s ProFootball Blogger. A column I plan to update regularly each week throughout the season to talk about the greatest sport in the world: football (not to be confused with ‘futbol’ – the beautiful game – as it is known here in the newly aware home country of David Beckham).

It is only appropriate that we debut right on the eve of training camp kicking off (and after all of that Harry Potter hype has finally settled down). There hasn’t been a high temperature less than 90 in Denver for a month and the first (real) college or pro game kicks off in a short 5 weeks, so if you aren’t in a football state of mind…well then I can’t help you.

As is contractually required in our 24-hour-media, sensationalized-story obsessed world I must start with the Michael Vick controversy. I will leave much of the hyperventilating to the usual self-righteous suspects that populate ESPN’s talking head TV shows and make just 2 comments:

1 – Why are we still surprised when a guy who is one of the greatest in the world at a sport in which you must have a willingness to turn off your brain and allow your incredible athletic gifts to do brutal acts is unable to leave that persona completely on the field? I am not condoning dog fighting, I think it is possibly the most disgusting thing I have heard of an athlete doing (full disclosure: last weekend I was accurately quoted as saying that Where the Red Fern Grows is the saddest book I have ever read, so clearly I am softie) but how can professional journalists who have devoted their lives to covering athletes be shocked…I say shocked…to find out they do more than knitting and bridge in their off-hours?

2 – How has Michael Vick been in the league for 7 years or so and not learned anything yet? His teammates include Warrick Dunn, one of the all-time great guys (and old friend of us here at Pro Football Blogger), United Way spokesman and seemingly good guy Keith Brooking and 51 other upstanding citizens yet he still can’t see the foolishness of his off-the-field activities. At some point, someone is so clueless that their outstanding athletic ability isn’t worth the hassle.

With that out of the way, now we can move on to the main point of this post. I want to discuss one of the saddest developments in the NFL over the last several years not involving jail time or Terrell Owens’ abs: the trend among teams of abandoning a small college for training camp and instead simply running camp out of their everyday training facility.

One of my favorite quirky traditions of pro football was the annual news footage of all of these millionaires rolling up in their tricked out cars to some dorm, pulling their duffel bags of clothes, TV’s, Playstations and pillows (why do they always have pillows?) out of the back and moving in like a new class of freshman.

My count shows 13 of the 32 teams hosting training camp at their regular practice facilities or home stadium complexes. In 1996, NFL.com reports only 7 teams held practice at their regular facilities. At this rate, we could be left with only a handful of teams going back to school in a decade.

Do you think it is a coincidence that of the 7 teams that have played in the last 4 Super Bowls, only 2 conduct training camp at their home locations? I doubt it. To me it seems logical that a team which has gotten away from their daily lives and truly lived with their teammates for a month would grow tighter as a unit, which has almost as much impact on success as talent does.

This would seem even more important today, with all of the…umm, let’s say ‘distractions’ that seem to follow players when they are away from practice. I would think, a month of late night Playstation sessions away from a player’s entourage would be just the thing to get re-focused on the season.

As with just about every decision in the NFL (and the rest of the US) I assume this evolution comes down to money. After spending millions building the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Centre, why should Pat Bowlen pay more to the University of Northern Colorado (the Broncos’ former training camp home) to use their facilities for a month?

Sure, a more tight-knit team could win you a few more games, but until we have a ‘Moneyball’-style book that sheds a light on the importance of a true training camp (I would welcome an advance for this from any forward thinking sports-book publisher), then we are going to have fewer and fewer teams leaving their plush home digs to spend a month at some small liberal arts school.

Of course, Cincinnati is one of the teams that still goes to a small college (Georgetown College in Kentucky), so maybe it doesn’t make as much difference as I think in the behavior of players.