TRAINING CAMP: DAY 5

NOTES AND NEWS FROM DAY FIVE OF TRAINING CAMP:

Day Five is in the books, and it came with quite a scare. Warrick Holdman collided with teammate Mike Bell near the sideline early in the morning session. He suffered what is being called a ‘spinal cord concussion’ from the collision.

“He went numb for about 30 or 40 seconds out there and he got his feeling back — which is a good sign. I don’t know for sure, but normally when somebody gets that feeling back, it’s usually positive.”

— Mike Shanahan 8/2/07

While it’s a good sign, the team took no chances and Holdman was strapped to a back board, loaded into an ambulance and taken to Sky Ridge Medical Center. He will remain there over night for observation.

The eerie part of this report is how familiar it is to the one that followed the Seattle game when Al Wilson was injured. As both LB’s Al Wilson and John Mobley had their careers end due to this type of injury, it makes everyone involved concerned about Holdman tonight.

On a lighter side, Travis Henry may be the leading contender for the #1 RB spot, but that doesn’t mean he’s above the law. Today he was punished with running laps for jumping offsides during practice. And that’s not the first time our RB star has done laps after a camp session. The first time was because he wasn’t standing in the right place.

“They see it as you’ve got to pay attention to the little things. I respect that.” — Travis Henry 8/2/07

…well, you’ve been warned — No getting out of line boys and girls, or you’ll answer to Coach Shanahan! :)

ATTENDANCE:

In addition to Holdman leaving the field on a stretcher, here are the other camp injuries…

WR Marquay McDaniel was held out again due to his hamstring injury. Chad Mustard was out with a right hamstring injury. Glenn Martinez was also out again with a right thigh injury. Marcus Thomas joined the group on the sideline today due to a left calf injury. Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler, Rod Smith, Lamont Reid and Doug Niehuis were all still out. Sam Adams did not practice today because of a right knee injury but Shanahan said it was a part of the plan for Adams to sit out.

“He’s all right. It’s a game plan that we have—we’re going to make sure he’s in shape. We know he can play the game. When he played the first couple practices, he’s been very impressive but we don’t want to overdo it as well.”

— Mike Shanahan 8/2/07

OFFENSIVE LINE UPS: THURSDAY

Wide Outs:
Walker and Brandon Stokley ran with the 1st Team.
Tight Ends:
No real change from the last few days.
Running Backs:
Again, no change. Travis Henry with Cecil Sapp running second. Mike Bell, Andre Hall and Young following behind.
O-line:
1st Team O-line was unchanged: LT Matt Lepsis, LG Ben Hamilton, C Tom Nalen, RG Chris Kuper and RT Erik Pears.

DEFENSIVE LINE UPS: THURSDAY

D-line:
* 1st Team D-line stayed the same as the last couple of days with Jimmy Kennedy work in Sam Adams spot: DE’s Ebenezer Ekuban and John Engelberger, DT’s Gerard Warren and Jimmy Kennedy.

DIME PACKAGE NOTE: Unchanged from yesterday: Ekuban and Warren were the tackles with ends Jarvis Moss and Elvis Dumervil.

Linebackers:
* 1st Team LB’s were: D.D. Lewis took his turn at SAM today, D.J. Williams still impressing at MIKE and Ian Gold at WILL.

Secondary:
No changes here as CB’s Champ Bailey and Dre’ Bly and Safeties Nick Ferguson and John Lynch played on the 1st Team. Foxworth was their Nickel back and Cox joined the 1st Team during work on the Dime Package.

SPECIAL TEAMS LINE UPS: THURSDAY

Kick-Off Return Team:
Returners consisted of WR’s Quincy Morgan, David Kircus and Domenik Hixon each fielded some kicks during the afternoon session. Both Brandon Pace and Todd Sauerbrun got reps kicked off.

We have reports from both Kaylore and SoCal from Orange Mane, so I’ll dive right into the highlights from those…

RUNNING BACKS:
According to our friends at the Mane, the Defense was very stout today. It shut down the run well and that led to a general lack of RB production.

“Henry had a few nice runs when he just bowled over people. Henry also has surprising speed for a power back. On an outside toss play (rare to see in the Denver offense) when Ekuban had the angle on him and he just sped by to the sideline, showing a very good burst.”

— SoCal 8/2/07

With Sapp and Bell working against the 1st Team Defenses, they struggled with our best defensive effort so far.
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss both had solid days, but both of these DE’s tend to struggle in run defense. Dumervil had a couple of practice sacks. Of course, during camp the defense is not allowed to truly sack the QB. They just touch him for a ‘sack credit’. Of note, that doesn’t end the play and the offense is allowed to complete the play. This allows more reps for the QB’s, WR’s and TE’s.

DT Antwon Burton impressed SoCal today by really getting good penitration into the backfield on passing plays. Ekuban had some problems maintaining containment against the run. but the rest of the line (including John Engelberger who continues to be a beast in camp) worked so well together that it maintained his dominance all morning.

LINEBACKERS:
Both of the guys really like what they saw today from our LB’s. All the linebackers have been making plays and DJ Williams has especially been active. Even with the injury to Holdman, the unit was outstanding today.

“D.J. Williams had a superb practice, with a big time tackle for a loss which got him props from Jim Bates and a tap on the helmet. He also had a very nice hit right in the hole. I did not see it, but Kaylore (at a different angle) also saw him force a fumble. He continues to do a good job covering the backs in man to man coverage.”

— SoCal 8/2/07

T.J. Hollowell seems to be a favorite of Jim Bates as he goes out of his way to give him compliments and encouragement. Although he has struggled this week, he seemed to be better today.

OFFENSIVE LINE:
As mentioned above the O-line had trouble today in the running game. Ryan Harris did seem to have another good practice — in fact he actually hit Dumervil hard enough to knock him off his path.
WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS:

The guys mentioned that Quincy Morgan had a good practice today – getting the best of Dre Bly a couple of times. David Kircus and Brian Clark had a few good deep catchs, while Hixon had a rather off day.

As for TE’s, Nate Jackson came up with a few good catches but Graham still struggled to get separation.

“Backup LB Louis Green got props from Jim Bates when he stuck on Graham on an intermediate route and swatted away a pass. The other linebackers also had a fairly good success rate bottling him up.”

— SoCal 8/2/07

QUARTERBACKS:
Jay Cutler had a mediocre day, although he still shows signs of improving on reads and footwork.

“Among his highlights were a nice basic cross route that threaded between the zones to Dan Graham at 12 yards and a deep ball to Quincy Morgan and a well timed deep square out to Hixon that the defender (who was playing tight) could not do anything about. It was nice to see him rifle it in there to Morgan but he probably should not have thrown the pass into double coverage. He had some other decent completions but at times overthrew some passes too.”

— SoCal 8/2/07

Patrick Ramsey had a great day, however. He has finally gotten his feet under him and his head adjusted to the Bronco’s system it seems.

“Patrick Ramsey is playing much better and has settled down in the pocket quite a bit. His throws are much more accurate than they were and he’s starting to find his timing. He still has a ways to go before he gets up to anywhere near where Jay is, but at the speed he is progressing I feel much better with him as the backup.”

— Kaylore 8/2/07

SECONDARY:
The big story here is that Bly suffered some cramps in the middle of practice. He was sidelined for a while and it effected his game a bit. Foxworth was outstanding today according to SoCal.

“He deflected several balls, rarely allowed the receiver to get decent separation and also showed a physical side to his game.”

— SoCal 8/2/07

Steve Cargile and Hamza Abdullah both had good days.