Denvr_Sports_Insider's Blog

Day five of Broncos camp was pretty run of the mill today.  From my observation, the team focused on short field plays-and did so with less exuberance in comparison to my last visit.  Perhaps their decreased enthusiasm worked to zap my energy, and made the sun all the more noticeable.  It felt like I could have read War and Peace between anything long.

But I digress. 

To the notes:

First I noticed jersey number 38-Anthony Alridge. The 5 foot 9, 185 pound free agent rookie out of Houston had a good breaking run along the flanks today that drew the cheers of the crowd.   At one point, backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey was delayed off a low snap, and still delivered a quick lob which Alridge snared with ease.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not ready to mistake this guy for Ladanian Tomlinson, but Alridge was definitely solid.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to figure out why defensive tackle Marcus Thomas is the only one who needs to aerate his stomach on the defensive line.  Thomas frequently curses all of us with the sight of his mid-section in between plays.  Of course I say “curses all of us” jokingly, nevertheless, I remain mad I forgot to ask him about his belly dance.

My next thought was that the speed of practice seemed noticeably slower today.  I'm really hoping that “malaise” doesn't transfer to the regular season.  New linebacker Boss Bailey said in interviews Saturday that he feels the team has had a lot of carryover from OTA's, but I definitely did not sense an abundance of that in their collective spirits Tuesday.  As a trackster, I'm use to practice moving at a torture pace with no recovery time.

So, move it! Move it!

One blogger from my last Broncos2008 blog entry asked me to make note of Keary Colbert today.  Well I wish I had some spectacular impressions to relate, but once again all I can say is that Colbert did his job.  He caught balls, left most of them off the ground, and kept it moving.  But since I've been at camp, he's done nothing to warrant inducting him into the training camp Hall of Fame. That’s neither a criticism nor a compliment.  If this counts for something though, Colbert is a nice person.

Continuing on…

The new safety Marlon McCree, who last played for the San Diego Chargers (boooooooooooo's audible from Invesco), got a pick today.  Also, Brandon Marshall (surprise, surprise) had a nifty one-handed catch at the beginning of practice that required the arm stretch of a yoga diva and he also scored a touchdown off a quick dump pass near the end of practice as well. 

Did I mention Ryan Spilborghs was at practice today.  Very cool.

Back to the Broncos.

Ryan Torain is also looking more confident.  He already told me he wants to improve his hole recognition and reaction time.  I saw a concerted effort to accomplish that today, especially with the extra reps he received after (gasp) starting running back Selvin Young suffered a thigh bruise in practice today. Young was retreating after several plays with a noticeable limp, and at one point either asked, or was called off the field.  Although Young didn't acknowledge it, I noticed him sitting his turn out on several reps in an effort to allow time to dissipate the pain.  Fox 31 sports cameras caught it all on tape, and we were the only ones to talk to Young about it after practice.  Nothing major, but certainly noteworthy.

Click on the video to view for yourselves.