Rice’s First Practice: ‘He Did Well’
September 5th, 2007 by Andrew Mason
The newest Bronco was also the last one to leave the practice field Wednesday.
Some 20 minutes after his teammates had retreated to the locker room and adjourned to the weight room, defensive end Simeon Rice continued to work, running sprints around the perimeter of the south practice field.
Rice began his post-practice regimen by working on his one-on-one pass-rush moves against practice-squad offensive lineman Cliff Washburn, with defensive line coach Jacob Burney watching and offering guidance nearby. After nearly 10 minutes of that work while his teammates ambled towards the headquarters buidling, Rice began to run.
All that came after two hours of work in practice that pleased Head Coach Mike Shanahan.
“He did well,” Shanahan said, joking that Rice had 18 sacks during the afternoon session. “It’s going to take him a while to get used to our defense and feel comfortable with the system. He’s working right now to get some pass-rushing techniques in and get a little extra work.”
Shanahan expects that Rice will be able to play “15-20 plays” on Sunday, “but I’m not really sure yet until he actually practices and we get him in for a couple of days. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“We’ll soon find out,” Rice said. “Walking around the street, I feel fantastic. This calls upon a little more of an intense situation. For myself, I think I’m okay, I think I’m adequate to play, but we’ll soon find out.”
Shanahan also noted that Rice’s shoulder “was in pretty good shape.”
And even though Rice admitted Wednesday that he is “damaged,” his arrival in Denver felt more like a dawn than a part of the sunset.
“It’s a shot in the arm — a B-12 shot,” he said. “It’s good for me. I feel like a rookie again.”
http://blog.denverbroncos.com/mason/
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Watchthemiddle
