Broncos fans who witnessed Brett Favre’s surgical dissection of the Broncos defense last season might have believed Favre had snuck back into the Packers’ huddle wearing Rodgers’ No. 12 during Green Bay’s 27-24 win in a preseason game Friday night at Invesco Field.
Read Full Article at Rocky Mountain News Stories: Broncos/NFL
Aaron Rodgers went from pathetic one week to just about perfect the next.
Brett Favre’s replacement as Green Bay quarterback bounced back from a bad game at San Francisco to complete 18 of 22 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown in the Packers’ 27-24 win over Denver on Friday night.
Rodgers led four scoring drives in his five possessions and was 16-for-19 for 178 yards against the Broncos’ starters, including a 10-yard touchdown to Donald Driver on the game’s opening drive.
The news that center Tom Nalen will undergo an arthroscopic procedure today on the left knee that has bothered him throughout the summer makes it more likely Casey Wiegmann will be in the lineup for the Broncos’ Sept. 8 opener.
Read Full Article at Rocky Mountain News Stories: Broncos/NFL
INVESCO FIELD — Let’s take a quick look at some first-half stats, shall we?
- Broncos’ running backs have combined for 91 yards — 42 for Selvin Young, 41 for Andre Hall. That whole “Running Back By Committee” deal looks pretty good right about now.
- Brandon Marshall has two catches for 71 yards, including that circus catch on the 49-yard TD. No other WR caught a pass. (TE Nate Jackson caught two, including the other TD).
- Green Bay had just 31 yards rushing — an average of 2.6 yards per carry.
- Aaron Rodgers was 16-for-19 for 178 yards. Cutler was 6-for-13 for 115 yards.
- Marquand Manuel hurt his right arm on the opening kickoff of the second half. Trainers held the arm still as Manuel walked off.
- Cutler is done for the night. Patrick Ramsey leading the offense to start the second half.
- Rodgers, however, is back for more.
- The Broncos’ 2nd-team defense: DT Kenny Peterson and Nic Clemons; DE Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder; LBs: Niko Koutouvides, Louis Green and Wesley Woodyard; CBs: Domonique Foxworth and Karl Paymeh; Safeties Josh Barrett and Roderick Rogers. Jack Williams is the nickel DB.
- Injury update on Manuel: he hurt his thumb and will not return.
- Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler are standing together on the sideline, both finished for the night. Marshall spent the TV timeout talking to a field judge, it looked like he was asking the official questions. Also, he’s wearing some sweet baby blue-and-white high top sneakers. They are very shiny. Cutler is snacking on sunflower seeds.
- Paul Carrington — getting more reps at DE in the second-half ahead of Moss — was slow to get up, but was able to walk off the field with a slight limp. Trainers are helping him stretch on the sideline. The official word is that he has a strained left calf and will not return.
- Andre Hall is getting more work. He just replaced Pittman on a first-and-goal at the 6 yard line.
- Broncos couldn’t score after that 1st-and-goal. A fourth-down pass from Patrick Ramsey to Clifford Russell was in-com-plete.
- Something’s up with Sam Paulescu. Brett Kern made both of Denver’s punts so far, and he was doing most of the practice holds for Matt Prater on the sideline. Paulescu has just now started working with Prater a bit. We’ll see if he gets the next chance to punt.
- Elvis Dumervil is back on the sideline is street clothes. His right hand is in a soft cast. That narrows down the possibilities of which injured finger it is from 8 to 4.
- Friend of the Blog, Mr. DC, checking in via text message from somewhere in Texas: KOA is still running an ad that features John Lynch pitching for a credit union.
- Time to go down on the field and then into the locker room for interviews. We’ll come back for a few postgame thoughts when it’s all over. See you then!
INVESCO FIELD — We’ll be blogging live periodically — trying to abide by those silly NFL rules — throughout the game.
- Ugly first series for the Broncos defense. UG-LY. That’s the only word for it. Pass defense and run defense — both of which were pretty good last week — seem to have disappeared. 7-0 Packers. Aaron Rodgers already has 69 passing yards. Brett who?
- The Broncos’ highlight so far? Matt Prater boomed the kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. To quote my beat-partner Mike Klis: “Sign him up!”
- Prater made a 40-yard field goal to cut the Packers’ lead to 7-3. Prater had missed his first attempts in each of the first two preseason game. This is what we call “progress.”
- WR Keary Colbert took several reps with the first-team offense. No catches, yet, though.
- Nic Clemons and Kenny Peterson replace Marcus Thomas and Dewayne Robertson at DT on third downs. That’s good news for Clemons, who is trying to make his first roster since 2005.
- End of the first quarter. Best play of the quarter for the Broncos so far was Elvis Dumervil’s sack of Aaron Rodgers for an eight yard loss. Also notable? The way teammate Marcus Thomas then tackles Dumervil to celebrate. After 15 minutes: 7-3 Green Bay.
- Rookie FB Peyton Hillis getting looks with the first-team offense. I’d say its a safe bet that his roster spot is secure. Especially after he bullied his way for a big first down.
- Michael Pittman sighting. He’s getting a look as the short-yardage back.
- Heck of a series for the Broncos’ running backs and offensive line: 55 yards rushing (combined for Selvin Young, Andre Hall and Michael Pitmann) on that 99+ yard drive.
- But it is Nate Jackson who gets the touchdown catch. He launches the ball into the south stands to celebrate. As aside: I really like those flames that they shoot off above the jumbotron after scores. More fire, please.
- The Broncos continue to experiment with their defensive line rotation: Paul Carrington has replaced Jarvis Moss on third-down.
- Dumervil has left the game to get an X-Ray on his finger. According to the Broncos’ PR staff, his return is questionable. Tim Crowder is now in at end on third-down.
- Pretty jubilant celebration after Cutler’s TD pass to Marshall. Marshall slaps a bunch of high-fives with fans in the south stands, and then tosses his gloves. Cutler leaps on top of RG Chris Kuper. Broncos regain lead at 17-10.
- Mason Crosby makes a field goal in the final seconds of the half: 17-13 Broncos. We expect the starters to play into the third-quarter, at least for a series or two.
INVESCO FIELD — A couple of quick pregame notes from here at what soon will be Obamaville.
The following Broncos are out of uniform:
- RBs Anthony Alridge and Ryan Torain. No surprised here. Torain dislocated his elbow a couple of weeks ago, and Alridge didn’t take reps in practice after straining his hamstring. Wonder how Alridge’s chances of making the squad will be affected by him missing this game.
- WR Taylor Jacobs. He’s still having headaches after a hard hit in practice earlier this week.
- C Tom Nalen. He had surgery to “clean up” his knee (Mike Shanahan’s words, not mine). His status over the next couple of weeks will be one of the more interested storylines we’ll be following.
- TE Daniel Graham. He tweaked his hamstring against Dallas last week. Tony Scheffler will start in his place.
- LB Boss Bailey. Missing his second straight game after suffering a high ankle sprain against Houston. Jamie Winborn starting at SLB instead.
- DE Ebenezer Ekuban. He’s been out of practice this week with back spasms.
- S Hamza Abdullah was on the list of “players not expected to participate” that was handed out pregame. But he is in full uniform on the sidelines, but he did not start. Stay tuned. Marquand Manuel started at SS.
The Broncos first offense put 17 points on the board in the first half but the Packers came away from Invesco Field at Mile High with a 27-24 preseason win. Defenseman Elvis Dumervil and safety Marquand Manuel suffered hand injuries during the game.
Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos August 22, 2008
Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn answers questions posed by fans in this weekly segment at DenverBroncos.com.
After putting up some offensive fireworks throughout the game, the Broncos came out with a narrow loss Friday night.