Lonestar
06-12-2009, 09:41 PM
By Gray Caldwell
DenverBroncos.com
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- For as tough as Head Coach Josh McDaniels' offensive system can be to learn for a quarterback, the Broncos signal callers can rest a little easier after Friday's practice.
Part of the challenge is how much has been put on their plates at once. Now there's nothing new to put on the plate.
"Pretty much everything is in, so they know that," McDaniels said. "We're kind of at the tip of the iceberg here, so everything else will hopefully just continue to get better, streamline it towards training camp the next two days here."
But even though they've been taught everything, there's still a long way to go in the execution department.
There are good days and bad days, and Orton said that's exactly what OTAs like this weekend's mini-camp are for.
"No question, and that's how it should be -- putting in the work and making improvements," Kyle Orton said. "The big thing is just when you do make mistakes -- mistakes are going to happen, they're throwing a lot at us -- correct them for the next day."
One of the focal points from here on out is working on situational football. Several times throughout practice, McDaniels will set up a scenario for the offense and defense to digest. For example, in Friday's practice he announced that the offense was down four points at the opponent's 16-yard line with 10 seconds left on the clock. Another time the offense was at its own 30-yard line with 1:40 left on the clock down two points.
During today's session, speakers even boomed out music to simulate crowd noise and force the signal callers to rely on hand signals to get plays across.
"With the crowd noise and trying to get everything directed in the right way, that makes things hard," Chris Simms said. "The quarterback has to be focused really to get everyone on the same page."
The situational football, focusing on scenarios or working solely on red zone offense, for example, helps the quarterbacks grasp the concepts of the offense. They also have to continue memorizing the terminology and working on timing with the receivers, which Eddie Royal said on Monday is getting better every day.
McDaniels said the work ethic of the team's quarterbacks is what has made the installation of a new offense that much smoother.
"I know I couldn't ask anything more from two guys in terms of what they're putting in off the field and in the meeting room," he said of Orton and Simms. "They're working extremely hard and they're competing with other very well, so I think they're making each other better and it's making the Broncos better."
http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=334&storyID=9090
DenverBroncos.com
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- For as tough as Head Coach Josh McDaniels' offensive system can be to learn for a quarterback, the Broncos signal callers can rest a little easier after Friday's practice.
Part of the challenge is how much has been put on their plates at once. Now there's nothing new to put on the plate.
"Pretty much everything is in, so they know that," McDaniels said. "We're kind of at the tip of the iceberg here, so everything else will hopefully just continue to get better, streamline it towards training camp the next two days here."
But even though they've been taught everything, there's still a long way to go in the execution department.
There are good days and bad days, and Orton said that's exactly what OTAs like this weekend's mini-camp are for.
"No question, and that's how it should be -- putting in the work and making improvements," Kyle Orton said. "The big thing is just when you do make mistakes -- mistakes are going to happen, they're throwing a lot at us -- correct them for the next day."
One of the focal points from here on out is working on situational football. Several times throughout practice, McDaniels will set up a scenario for the offense and defense to digest. For example, in Friday's practice he announced that the offense was down four points at the opponent's 16-yard line with 10 seconds left on the clock. Another time the offense was at its own 30-yard line with 1:40 left on the clock down two points.
During today's session, speakers even boomed out music to simulate crowd noise and force the signal callers to rely on hand signals to get plays across.
"With the crowd noise and trying to get everything directed in the right way, that makes things hard," Chris Simms said. "The quarterback has to be focused really to get everyone on the same page."
The situational football, focusing on scenarios or working solely on red zone offense, for example, helps the quarterbacks grasp the concepts of the offense. They also have to continue memorizing the terminology and working on timing with the receivers, which Eddie Royal said on Monday is getting better every day.
McDaniels said the work ethic of the team's quarterbacks is what has made the installation of a new offense that much smoother.
"I know I couldn't ask anything more from two guys in terms of what they're putting in off the field and in the meeting room," he said of Orton and Simms. "They're working extremely hard and they're competing with other very well, so I think they're making each other better and it's making the Broncos better."
http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=334&storyID=9090