McNuggets: D.J. Williams, others discuss Broncos practice

Denver Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams, head coach Josh McDaniels, and quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn discussed Broncos training camp after Tuesday’s morning session.

HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

On the play of OL Zane Beadles and OL J.D. Walton

“They were, I thought, physical, they really did some good things in the running game. They also learned some lessons we figured they’d learn – Cincinnati moves their front a lot more than we do and they dropped their head a little bit and lost their man a couple times – and same thing in the protections, we got picked off a little bit a few times there in the second and third quarter that we need to work – we were out here working on today. Overall, I thought they played well. They played well, they held up early in the game against some different things (Cincinnati) did. They also got tired, which is why we wanted to go ahead and get that out of the way and let them play a bunch and they both stayed in there pretty much the entire game. We just were hopeful that when we go to Jacksonville, it’s not going to be the first time they’re going to play four quarters.” 

On OL Chris Kuper’s return to the practice field

“Well, we’re in shells so it’s not like we did a whole lot of banging around today but it’s great to have “Kupe” back, he did a great job of pushing through his rehab and he’s ready to go so it always brings back some continuity when you can get a guy like that up front and hopefully we’ll continue to meld together and I think it’s great when he can get in there and work with J.D. (Walton) – obviously is a rookie and making the calls and exchanging information before the ball is snapped is important.”

On whether he saw issues with the special-teams coverage against Cincinnati

“You bet. That’s what we were doing today and we’ll do it this afternoon. We kind of learned a hard lesson – when you over-pursue or you don’t break down in coverage in this league, the returners are too talented, too good, too fast, too quick and we gave up way too many yards in the return game. We were down there and we were down there fast, we just didn’t do a good job of tackling, we didn’t do a good job of breaking down in space and surrounding the returner. (Special-teams coverage) is a big point of emphasis this week against Detroit.”

On LB D.J. Williams’ status

“I think he’s close – you won’t see him (at practice) this afternoon but he’s good enough to come out here and practice. We were running around at full speed in seven-on-sevens and all that so it’s great to have him back too because he obviously brings so much to our defense and the communication inside so it was good to see him back and hopefully we’ll stay with that program – mostly a one-a-day kind of thing as we go and make sure that we’re taking care of things the right way.”

On whether he’s expecting any of the injured running backs to return

“At some point (laughing). When they’re healthy, when they’re ready to go – again, they’re all on different schedules and their rehabs are different and unique, the injuries aren’t the same and their bodies are responding to it a little differently. As soon as they’re all ready, believe me, those three are dying to be out here on the field and as soon as they can be – they hate the training room right now and hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

On the reason for bringing in QBs Brady Quinn and Tim Tebow during the offseason

“Competition. We felt like there were certain spots on our roster last year that we didn’t have enough in-house competition to help push each of those players that were in those starting roles to continue to improve. It’s one thing when you hear a coach yelling at you all day long about doing this right or doing that right, it’s another thing when you can see, ‘There are some other guys at my spot and they do some good things too.’ We added depth in the defensive line, did the same thing in the secondary, we were aggressive in terms of receivers – brought in a couple guys in the draft, re-signed (WR) Brandon Lloyd. Same thing on the offensive line, so there really wasn’t a spot that we didn’t try to address in terms of adding competition because we just thought that would make our players better and (QB) Kyle (Orton) has been the perfect example of what we hoped to get out of a lot of our players which is, he’s come out, he’s had a great training camp, he answered a challenge, he’s responded perfectly to a competitive situation – that’s all it is – and he’s been a very solid leader and set a great example for the team.”

On how much higher QB Kyle Orton can take his game

“He can go higher, I know that for sure. He’s playing very smart right now, he’s very accurate – there’s nothing really that we’re not doing offensively that I’ve ever done in the past that he’s incapable of doing and running at a high level but there is still more to do. I know he thinks that, I know we think that as a staff, which is exciting for us and we’re going to try to push him as far as we can go before opening day and then continue to push through the season.”

On the wide receiver group

“Different receivers this year – very unique, I think. I think our defensive backs would say the same thing. (Jabar) Gaffney is crisp, efficient, a veteran, he’s got a lot of savvy. (Brandon) Lloyd is smooth, has great body control, sneaky fast, good hands. Eddie (Royal) is obviously playing extremely well right now in the slot. He brings a level of quickness in there and to our secondary it’s a changeup for them and then you look at (Demaryius) Thomas and (Eric) Decker and (Matthew) Willis, who is a sub-4.3 (40-yard dash) guy. We’ve got big, we’ve got small, we’ve got quick, we’ve got fast, we’ve got all of the above and they’re versatile too because they’re not just playing one position. We feel great about that, I know it’s fun to watch when you don’t really care where the ball goes, you don’t know where it’s going to go when the ball is snapped and the other thing that you don’t really know is you don’t know exactly how the defense is going to play you because when you have a sure-fire guy that they’re going to say, ‘You know, we have to do a lot of things to take this guy away,’ usually you know what’s going to happen and then you can try to game plan certain things away from it but we think when we snap the ball, there are five guys in the passing game that have a chance to get it and they’ve all shown up this training camp.”

On whether it helped to get TE Marquez Branson extensive playing time at different positions against Cincinnati

“It helped a bunch, I think it helped him a lot because he’s had some ups and downs during training camp. We put him in the backfield, he showed a high level of toughness – he was a lead blocker on certain things. He caught balls in the passing game, he protected so there are a lot of things he needs to do better – he’s a young player that we’re excited about, he’s got a lot of ability. He can do things in the running game in terms of helping us there, he can also spread out and catch balls so he’s going to play as much as he can possibly play in this preseason because we think it’s the best thing for him, it’s the best thing for our team.”

On whether he expects OL Zane Beadles and OL J.D. Walton to play the entire game against Detroit

“Probably not this week – and maybe not the rest of the preseason but we wanted to definitely go in there and take a shot at that early and let them understand – and that’s why there were about 15 people yelling at Walton during the sprints today because he was pretty gassed at the end of the game and it isn’t going to be any easier in Jacksonville at 1 p.m. on September 12, so we actually got some cooler weather, relatively speaking, in Cincinnati and we wanted to make sure that they understand that there is a different level, there’s a different speed, there’s a different tempo, plus there is a difference in terms of endurance and it was good for them to get that out of the way.”

QUARTERBACK KYLE ORTON

On his thoughts on Sunday’s game after watching film

“Yeah, pretty much what I saw, you know — I saw the field well and didn’t force too many things, got the ball down in the right situations and had a couple of good throw-aways, which is always good coming out of a preseason game.”

On whether the Broncos will be throwing the ball down field more than last season

“That’s a team effort, you know? We’ve got to protect it, we’ve got to get open down there, we’ve got to make the plays. Long foul balls really don’t help anybody, so we’re always about taking what the defense gives us and that includes deep balls if that’s what they want to give us.”

On if he is seeing any blitz packages in the preseason

“I think that’s changing, you know, I think this idea of you are going hide what you do and all that stuff for the regular season is getting a little bit outdated. I know offensively we’re not going to show everything but we did a lot of things and I think it’s more important to get used to executing what you want to do during the season. I think defenses are taking the same approach.”

On why teams don’t blitz the starting quarterbacks in the preseason

“I don’t know. You will have to ask the defensive coordinator that.”

On the young offensive line and how they performed on Sunday

“It thought they played well and obviously they need to get in there and see what it’s all about and do it for four quarters. I thought it was good that they were able to go the whole game. For the most part, the inside of the pocket was cleaned out the whole day. They did a nice job.”

On the youth of the offensive line

“No, that’s not my job. My job is to play quarterback and it’s Coach’s job to put the best guys out there and right now they are the best guys we’ve got.”

On teammate QB Brady Quinn’s progression with the new offense

“It’s a tough offense to learn — no question about it. The more you are into it, the better it gets and he’s just at the starting point right now.”

On how comfortable he is with the offense

“I am feeling great with it right now, and I think everybody is as well, so right now we are kind of in the race like everybody else is to correct the mistakes and improve as fast as we can until we play Detroit.”

On the receivers

“I think it’s great. All these guys communicate well. I think it’s a selfless group. They don’t mind taking one for the team to let one of their guys get open behind them and hopefully this offense is one where we’ve got five or six guys catching four or five balls and everybody is getting involved.”

QUARTERBACK BRADY QUINN

On facing blitzes from the Bengals’ second-team defense

“You have to know they’re going to come. Obviously, depending on where you’re at in the game there might be situations they need to bring pressure to either come back or force something or make something happen for their team.”

On reacting rather as opposed to thinking during games

“I feel pretty comfortable with things right now. I think, again, it’s a matter of going out there, doing my job and executing when it comes game time.”

On how he approaches competing for the back-up job

“I think the biggest thing is you have to control the things you do out there. As a teammate, obviously, you want to help out your other teammates. If (QB Tim Tebow is) doing something, you want to try to help him out — try to give him some advice, too. We’re all working toward the same goal.”

On adjusting to the offense along with QB Tim Tebow

“I think it can be good. Again, I’m somewhat familiar with the terminology and so-forth. So, it’s something that having a little experience in the NFL I can give him some advice here and there.”

On Tebow’s rushing touchdown against Cincinnati

“It was a great play. Again, last play of the game like that, especially when you’re trying to make something happen, that’s kind of the play you have to make. He knew that obviously, and he did a great job running it in.”

On whether Tebow should have slid

“You can’t slide. It’s the last play of the game. If he slid, he probably wouldn’t have made it in. In that situation, he did a great job of getting the ball in there.”

On what stood out from watching himself on film from Sunday’s game

“Just some decision making. I think I rushed a couple decisions and a couple throws here and there. I think it just takes a little time — still getting acclimated to the wide receivers and things like that. Other than that, things are never as bad as they look on film and they’re never as good as they look.”

On if he will excuse his mistakes because it’s still early in the season

“I don’t want to say that. Again, it is what it is. You’ve just got to try to move on and get better each day.”

LINEBACKER D.J. WILLIAMS

On how practice felt

“It felt alright. I haven’t been out there in awhile so I’ve still got some kinks to get out. I’ve still got to get in better shape.”

On when he expects to go full speed

“I don’t know yet. I’m just taking it day by day.”

On playing vs. Detroit on Saturday

“I don’t think that’s my decision.”

On whether it felt better getting rid of the orange non-contact jersey he’d been wearing

“Not really. Even when I had the orange jersey on, there was still a little contact. The orange jersey just alerts guys that there’s no extra pulling or any strenuous things.”

On the changes on the defense

“I’m excited. To lose (LB) Elvis (Dumervil) was a big blow to this defense, but you know we’ve got a lot of new guys and a lot of guys playing new positions and doing new things. The coordinator, (Defensive Coordinator Don “Wink”) Martindale, he’s drawing up some great stuff. I think we’re going to be pretty successful.”

On staying at the same linebacker position as last seaosn

“I like it. I Like it a lot. The more you play one position, the more you play with the same amount of guys, you get better chemistry.”

On adjusting the scheme without LB Elvis Dumervil

“We’re not going to change our scheme at all. We’re going to keep our scheme the same and do the same thing. Guys are just going to have to step up. We have a lot of young outside linebackers, and they’re going to have to do it by committee.”

On working next to new linebackers

“The guys that are put next to me are physical guys. Playing next to someone like that is only going to help my performance.”

On the new defensive linemen

“I like the size. I’m back there in my little comfort zone. I’ve got three 400-pounders in front of me, hogs playing down hill.”

On if he wondered what the team would get out of DL Jamal Williams

“Not at all. The six years that I’ve been here, and the five years that I’ve played against him, I saw how our offense played against him and I knew what kind of player he was.”