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Skinny
09-17-2007, 04:15 PM
September 17th, 2007
By Andrew Mason

It’s the day after the game, and Head Coach Mike Shanahan has watched the tape of Denver’s 23-20 overtime win over the Oakland Raiders.

On the offensive production:
“You look at why you didn’t put up more points. It’s pretty easy. We had two opportunities down there with touchdowns called back. One we overcame, one we didn’t … If you move the football like we did, eventually, points are going to come. … If you’re averaging 400-something yards a game — and normally 375 leads (the league), you’re doing pretty good … We’ve got some work to do, but on the positive side, we’re doing some good things.”

On Travis Henry:
“He hasn’t really exceeded my expectations because when I looked at him at Tennessee last year, you could see him do that pretty consistently … You’re just hoping that he can hang onto the football … and that as the game goes on he can stay halfway fresh.”

Speaks of Selvin Young spelling Henry from time to time; believes that can help Henry stay fresh.

On Brandon Marshall:
“The thing I noticed is how he dominated in the running game … He’s doing a great job in run support.”

“Some guys shy away from blocking; that’s just their nature. Then you have some guys that love contact. He was a free safety for a year at Central Florida; he’s a hitter; he doesn’t shy away from contact as you saw a week earlier against Buffalo … You can see he enjoys it, and it really helps your running back get some big yards.”

Can the offense be as good as past Broncos offenses that were among the league’s elite? “That’s what we’re hoping for,” Shanahan said, subsequently reciting all the changes the offensive lineup went through this offseason.

Says Javon Walker is playing with a lot more confidence now that he’s another year removed from the torn ACL suffered in 2005.

On receivers going over the middle:
“If you don’t go over the middle, you won’t be in the National Football League very long — certainly not on this team.”

Says Daniel Graham “had one of the best tight end demonstrations I’ve seen in a long time.” Graham seemed to be everywhere on run plays and in downfield blocking for his fellow pass-catchers.

Talks about Selvin Young, says he’s “like a third- or fourth-year guy; nothing seems to faze him … I can see him as a starter. He is a starter in this league.”

On calling the timeout on Janikowski’s kick:
“I watched him kick before the game started and he was making them from 70 yards … just a gut (feeling to call the timeout.”

On Travis Henry’s ankle:
“I think he’s okay. I think it was worse last week than this week.” … Also says that there is no news on Ben Hamilton’s recovery from a concussion.

Says he has no concerns about Jason Elam’s three missed field goals in the last two weeks.

Says that if the coaches could not call timeout from the sideline — as is now permitted this year — one of the players would have called it on the field. “Obviously with the current rules it’s very easy for me to tell the official we’re going to call timeout right before (the snap).” … “We’ve done it before the same way.”

The split-second decisions in the end-game situation “comes from time. You’ve screwed it up so many times eventually you’re going to get it right … You still screw up enough to where you second-guess yourself, so it doesn’t always work out.”

“We’ve got to get a lot better stopping the run … We can get better. That’s what’s encouraging. It’s not like guys are getting beat … (but) we weren’t at the top of our game in run defense. We were at the top of our game in pass defense; that’s obvious.”

Said he was “surprised” by how thoroughly New England defeated San Diego on Sunday night. “(The Patriots) have got some weapons on offense.”

Said that Stephen Alexander is back on the team, and that the team has already released Chad Mustard. “Hopefully nobody signs him and we have that luxury (of bringing back Mustard).”

Said that he hopes rookie offensive tackle Ryan Harris will be available to practice next week.

“Let’s not get carried away,” Shanahan said, answering a question about the defense struggling to adjust to the new scheme. “How many points did we give up?”

Admitted that he “really didn’t” think the Raiders would play Josh McCown, who was injured during their season opener against Detroit.

And … we’re done.

http://blog.denverbroncos.com/mason/

Tned
09-17-2007, 04:16 PM
Thanks for posting. I just watched the press conference on FSRM, but I could not hear most of the questions, so you hear the response and are kind of guessing what he is responding to. This puts it in context, as the questions/topic is listed first.

broncosinindy
09-17-2007, 09:29 PM
I had a feeling the Raiders would play Mcnown.

Shanny blows by on the run d issues. wish we could get more indepth on what he thinks could be the problem. (lol like he is going to tell us)

What happened to Simeon Rice i didnthear his name called often. How did he look?

TXBRONC
09-17-2007, 10:07 PM
Thanks for brings this here Skinny.