Wednesday, August 15, 2007

DMN: Football news Broncos Invade Valley Ranch I

Broncos Invade Valley Ranch I

It appears there might have already been a miscommunication between the two teams. The Cowboys, perhaps trying to shed their suddenly soft image, are in full pads. The Broncos are wearing shorts and shoulder pads.

We've got a pretty good media contingent here for a 9 a.m. practice. Our Denver brethren made the trip, and ESPN and FOX has cameras out here.

I'll start the updates once the Broncos and Cowboys begin competing with each other. Excuse me for a few minutes while I track down a Broncos roster.

9:26 -- Have some horrible news to report. Broncos OT Jacob Rogers, the biggest draft bust in the Tuna's tenure here, is not practicing because of a right knee injury. ... Teams still doing position drills on separate fields.

9:30 -- Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo aren't out here. Wade Phillips doesn't want the starting tackles, who both missed some of training camp while recovering from knee surgery, to practice twice in a day.

9:33 -- We've got inside run drills and WR vs. DB 1-on-1 on both fields. Will file occasional reports and come back with meatier stuff after practice. ... Julius Jones didn't went untouched into the secondary on the first snap. ... Javon Walker caught a crossing route in front of Terence Newman.

9:44 -- Didn't watch much of inside run drills, which were on other end of field behind a wall of players, but saw Bigg Davis pancake LB Ian Gold on a counter. Seemed like Julius Jones had room to run every time I looked down there. ... Couldn't see much at all of Cowboys' D vs. Broncos' O inside run. ... A couple young Cowboys WRs had the highlights of the one-on-one stuff. Miles Austin beat Domonique Foxworthy bad on a double-move to catch a deep ball from Tony Romo. Damarius Bilbo made a spectacular, leaping, one-handed catch on a deep ball over a spare CB who won't make the Broncos roster. ... Aaron Glenn bit on a double-move against David Kircus and got beat deep. ... Javon Walker was a handful for the Cowboys' DBs, but Nate Jones did break up a pass to Walker on a comeback route. ... Only saw one rep for T.O. He ran an out route, and Richard Bartel's pass was picked off by Foxworth.

9:50 -- Clearing up some confusion: Broncos still in shorts, Cowboys remain in full pads. All contact is above the waist, with no tackling. ... Now working on punt, with nothing happening on the other field. .... Jerheme Urban, working as a gunner in an attempt to do anything he can to make the team, got knocked about five yards out of bounds.

9:55 -- Isaiah Stanback, also working as a gunner, never got more than 10 yards downfield. He got knocked into the ground by Domonique Foxworthy when Stanback tried to release inside. ... Stanback also had trouble beating a Foxworthy jam in 1-on-1 drills. Matt Moore just had to throw the hook route to a spot and hope Stanback would be there. It sailed incomplete.

10:11 -- Just had 7-on-7 work. Tony Romo didn't throw the ball downfield, opting to dink and dunk instead. T.O. caught a drag and Witten a slant on which they would have had room to run. ... Only saw T.O. line up against Champ Bailey once. T.O. ran a skinny post. Bailey had pretty good coverage, and Romo threw a check-down to Lousaka Polite. T.O. might have been able to use his body to shield Bailey if Romo threw it inside. That might have been what T.O. told Romo afterward. ... Back with more in a few minutes.

10:17 -- Calvin "Lucky" Watkins reports that T.O. did torch Champ Bailey with a double-move during 1-on-1s. Bailey's knees buckled, letting T.O. get behind him on a deep ball from Tony Romo. ... Anthony Henry got beat bad by a WR named Brian Clark on a post route. ... FS Pat Watkins had a pass go through his hands, off his helmet and into the hands of a Bronco WR. "Gimme 20, Pat!" somebody hollered, doubling the number of pushups DBs usually do after dropping a pick.

10:20 -- Got scrimmage action on both fields, but I can't see Cowboys D vs. Broncos O because of a wall of players. ... Bigg Davis is beating up DT Sam Adams in a battle of behemoth UT and A&M alums. ... TE Tony Curtis made a nice catch in traffic on a seam route from Brad Johnson. ... Patrick Crayton got good separation to catch a flag route from Tony Romo. Great touch on the pass. ... Will try to get Todd Archer to fill me in on the action on the other field later.

10:25 -- T.O. snatched a ball that looked like Domonique Foxworth might pick off. (I'll stop confusing the Broncos CB with the redneck comic now.) ... I got a glimpse of Travis Henry sprinting through a crease off left-tackle. Bradie James might have made the tackle after about 4 yards, but he didn't have a good angle to make a hit.

10:31 -- Practice over. Will huddle up with Todd Archer and Calvin "Lucky" Watkins to hear what they saw and get back to you in a while.

Posted by Tim MacMahon at 10:30 AM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (24)