During the second day of Broncos three-day mandatory veteran mini camp, head coach Gary Kubiak, offensive coordinator Rick Dennison and quarterback Peyton Manning all took the podium and discussed everything from the challenges of an aging QB to recent happenings on the O-line and all the particulars that come with it.
Here’s some things to keep in mind:
Kubiak: “I think anybody who is able to play that long, they know exactly where they’re at physically and they know what it takes to play. I go back to during the offseason and the conversations, I know he (QB Peyton Manning) visited with three or four people that he does continuously every year to find out exactly where he’s at physically and those type of things. So I think those guys have a beat on it…”
Manning: “You always try to use your experience as a teacher. I’ve always tried to learn something from every repetition and situation—defense, the best way to counter it. Hopefully you’ve got a pretty good storage file up there in your mind and in your memory that you can use to figure out kind of what works and kind of what you should do to adjust to different things.”
Kubiak: “…I think [G] Shelly [Smith] is pushing [G Ben] Garland and [C/G] Max [Garcia] is a young guy that’s come in and played really, really well. The tackle situation, I think we know who our three guys are right now that are battling and we’re trying to get the other ones going…”
Dennison: “…We’ve had Shelley before; we had him in Houston and then we lost him. I know he’s kind of kicked around to a couple different places besides that. We know what he is because he’s a CSU guy and we’ve been around him before. He’s athletic, he knows what to do and he’s developed…”
Manning: [On G Ben Garland] “…It doesn’t take you long to work out with or be on the field with him to realize what an intense and hard worker he is. I think that’s paid a lot of dividends for him. He’s improved. He’s competing for a job right now.”
Kubiak: [On T Ty Sambrailo]“First off, you didn’t know you were going to see this much of him this early and through our situation now we’ve seen a lot. He has been very impressive for a young man to go out to that spot and handle what he’s handled…If anything, with [T] Ryan [Clady] getting injured and it happening so early, I think it has been beneficial to Ty because when he gets through with next week he’s almost been through a training camp other than hitting. Mentally—those types of things—he’s practically been through a training camp.”
Dennison: [On T Chris Clark] “We’ve got tackles right now. We’re just using him right there because it’s the spring and we can move him around. Obviously whoever is not playing, has got to play both, right or left… The best five will play on Sunday when we get to September.”
Manning: “We’ve had some disappointing injuries these OTAs. I’m not going to lie, losing [TE] Jeff [Heuerman], and then [T] Ryan [Clady], everything that he’s overcome, getting back from his previous injury, I was disappointed for him…but it does give you time to find a way to make the adjustments whatever it is—playing there and everybody else has to step up. We’ve still got a lot of time during training camp to get a lot of reps and form that kind of chemistry that you’re trying to form.”
Kubiak: “…Everybody is moving pretty good this time of year. Everybody is physical at this time of year. But once you put the pads on and you get beat down a little bit and the wear and tear takes over, how do you continue to play? How consistent are you? That you’ve got to find out.”
Dennison: “It’s the Denver Broncos 2015 offense; I don’t claim any fame to it because we’re combining it. We’re going out there and running plays. I think trying to make the defense cover the entire field—run and pass—that’s the big issue, that’s the big key that we’re trying to get done. The emphasis is, ‘Hey, let’s make them defend everything.’ And whatever they don’t defend that’s what we’ll take advantage of.”
Manning: [On new offensive scheme] “I don’t talk about those kind of things. Other people may do. I don’t talk about it. What we do scheme-wise and what we do, I think that’s kind of between us… I think it’s still a part of the process. There are different phases. We’re kind of in the offseason phase here, and then training camp is important. The repetitions that you get hopefully shows some improvement from OTAs into training camp.”
With new comers Kubiak and Dennsion, the Broncos new-look offense is obviously still a work in progress. While Manning wasn’t quick to give out any information on their schemes, he appears to be excited about the work they are putting in.
In any sorts, training camp is set to begin mid-July for rookies and first-year players, seven days prior to the club’s earliest permissible mandatory reporting date for veteran players of July 22.
Mike Tolbert, a Mile High Sports intern and student at MSU-Denver contributed to this report