It was quite an eventful day seven for the Denver Broncos despite an afternoon practice where no starter was seen wearing pads of any sort.

After what appeared to be a pregame practice early in the day, the Denver Broncos arrived to Invesco Field at Mile High to the eyes of 13,400-plus fans, the most of any practice in franchise history.

While the practice was full of surprises, there is some other breaking news that must be shared prior to recapping the festivities.

Bronco fans received a bit of bad news when they learned that newly acquired safety Brian Dawkins had broken his hand.

The Denver Post is reporting that the broken bone in Dawkins’ hand will not keep him out of the season opener against Cincinnati, but that there is a good chance he will be held out of the whole preseason.

On the brighter side of things, rookie running back Knowshon Moreno is reportedly close to signing a five-year deal with the Broncos worth roughly $12.5 million in guaranteed money.

Unfortunately for Moreno, his seven-day holdout ends with him as the fifth or sixth running back on Denver’s depth chart. He will need to get back on head coach Josh McDaniels’ good graces, and fast, if he wants playing time, and I believe he will.

On to the practice notes.

As many may have heard by now, quarterback Kyle Orton was “booed” during practice.  The reports of his being booed because of interceptions thrown to Andre Goodman are completely false. 

Orton was trying to hook up with Jabar Gaffney on a deep out route, and overthrew him.  On the following play, Orton hit Gaffney, who dropped the pass.  A couple of plays after that, Eddie Royal dropped a perfect pass from Orton across the middle.

Both receivers were also booed.

Matt Prater was also booed after missing his first two field goal attempts, but he proceeded to make three in a row after that.

Let me address the Orton picks by saying this: The interceptions should not be attributed to poor play on the part of our new quarterback, but excellent plays by the defensive unit. 

The first pick was a jumped route by Goodman who came out of nowhere to steal a sure touchdown from Jabar Gaffney. Goodman turned the pick into a touchdown of his own.

The second pick was the result of the Broncos’ pass rush, which got to Orton and hit his arm as he threw. The hobbling pass fell straight into Goodman’s arms.

Other than that, Orton found the open receiver roughly seven times out of 10.  His favorite targets appeared to be Brandon Stokley and Tony Scheffler, but Eddie Royal had his share of touches as well.

Chris Simms and Orton continued to give the fans a good look at new receiver Brandon Lloyd, who has made a significant impact in training camp and possibly has earned a roster spot.

There were also reports that safety Josh Barrett was lining up as a middle linebacker in practice, and it appeared that those reports were true tonight. On multiple occasions, Barrett was identified by Simms as the “mike”, or mike linebacker.

The Broncos’ pass rush was in full form tonight as Ronald Fields. Andra Davis, and Darrell Reid all found their way to either Kyle Orton or Chris Simms for a sack.

One area where Broncos fans seemed to be very impressed was in special teams, particularly when Alphonso Smith and Kenny McKinley took reps as kick returners and both showed their great speed with some long run backs.

The team was without Brandon Marshall, Dawkins, and Rulon Davis for tonight’s practice session, but all figure to be back for the regular season, if not sooner.

Either way, Denver fans who complain about the assessments of Jamie Dukes and other mainstream media outlets for “bashing” the Broncos should realize that they are adding fuel to the fire by booing their quarterback during practice.

While it is the only measurement we have at the moment, take these practices for what they are—practice. The poor passes Orton made tonight came at a time when the defense knew he was passing, and the offense was without its top receiver.

There is no excuse for poor play, but if Orton is already being written off after getting booed for missing a couple of passes during practice, we better throw every other NFL quarterback under the bus.

Broncos fans were just having a good time at practice, booing for what they did not like, and giving a thunderous applause for what they did like.

What I am trying to convey here is that there is no need to worry about this one practice.  Orton has looked fine in the other sessions, and we have not even played a preseason game yet.

 

 

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