The Denver Broncos on Tuesday placed center Tom Nalen on injured reserve with a left knee injury, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced.

A 15-year veteran, Nalen ranks second in Broncos history in career starts (188) while his 194 career games played in a Denver uniform represent the third-highest total in club annals. He entered the league with the Broncos as a seventh-round selection (218th overall) in the 1994 NFL Draft from Boston College.

Nalen, whose five Pro Bowl selections (1997-2000, '03) are the most by a Broncos offensive lineman in franchise history, was a key member of Denver's back-to-back Super Bowl teams in 1997 and '98. He helped Denver post the most rushing yards (29,131) and individual 100-yard rushing games (93) in the NFL from 1995-2007 in addition to tying for the league lead in individual 1,000-yard rushing seasons (11) during that time.

An honorable mention All-American as a senior at Boston College, Nalen attended Foxboro High School in Foxboro, Mass., and was born on May 13, 1971

The Broncos also announced they signed free-agent safety Vernon Fox and waived safety Hamza Abdullah, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced.

The club also on Tuesday released wide receiver Travis Wilson from its practice squad.

Fox (5-foot-10, 203 pounds) is in his seventh NFL season and joins the Broncos after spending the previous two years with Washington, which released him on Aug. 25. He also has played for Detroit (2004-05) and San Diego (2002-03) after entering the NFL with the Chargers in 2002 as a college free agent from Fresno State University.

In 86 career games (11 starts), Fox has totaled 90 tackles (69 solo), two interceptions (21 yds.) and eight pass breakups. He also owns 73 tackles on special teams along with one blocked punt for his career.

Last season with Washington, Fox appeared in 14 games (0 starts) and tied for third on the club with 16 special-teams stops while adding two defensive tackles. He started a career-high six games and appeared in all 16 contests for the Redskins in 2006, recording personal bests in defensive tackles (42) and special-teams tackles (26).

Fox saw time in 14 games in each of his two years with the Lions from 2004-05. During his first two professional seasons with the Chargers from 2002-03, he appeared in a total of 28 games (5 starts) and had 45 tackles along with one interception.

A two-time first-team All-Western Athletic Conference selection at Fresno State, Fox attended Cimarron Memorial High School in Las Vegas and was born on Oct. 9, 1979

       @       

  Dallas Cowboys      @          Denver Broncos

August 16th, 2008 - 7:00pm MST
Invesco Field @ Mile High
Denver, CO

   To Follow The Week From The Cowboy's Perpective, Check Out Blogging The Boys! 

Welcome to an exhibition version of MHR Game Prep! How does this work? Simple. I'll be providing the game preps for you this year, but the pre-season will be a little different.

In the pre-season, it is hard to gauge what will happen. Neither team plays for the win, but instead calls in plays and substitutions designed to test out potential starters. Because the game is competitive on an individual level (but not so much at the team level), it is very difficult to provide a match up for the game. There's no telling who will play and for how long, nor what kind of program will be run under coaches wanting to call "vanilla" plays.

So what we will do is provide a game prep based on the concept that the game counts, is a part of the regular season, and that the starters are playing four quarters. Call it a preseason practice for the "game prep" author to get up to speed if you will. By reading the articles in the preseason as if they were regular games, the predictive value is worthless, but the value in gauging the strengths and weaknesses of our players and system should provide some good insight on what to expect this year.

The big treat (I hope) is that students of the reloading season series "MHR University" will be able to recognize the terms and concepts in the game preps, and watch the game of football with a trained and discerning eye. If you missed the series, no worries mate! Just click the links in the story to read up on the terms.

Read on...

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The Broncos released their initial Depth Chart of 2008, in preparations of their game against the Houston Texans on Saturday Night.  See Below -

There were a couple surprise in my opinion. 

It does make me wonder just how effective a defensive line can be with John Engleberger as a starter at end, and what the hell has happened to Tim Crowder to be listed as the 3rd string LDE.

Another slight surprise is Michael Pittman who comes in listed as the 3rd string FB, while not being listed at all as a HB.

Not a surprise to me was the meteoric rise of Eddie Royal who sits behind Brandon Marshall at WR.  If the reports we hear are true and Marshall is suspended, that would put Royal in line to start Week 1 in Oakland.

Also of little surprise is Nate Webster starting at MLB.  It was obvious to me that Webster was the better player and deserved to get the nod over Niko Koutouvides.

Things are likely to change over the next month, but it sure is fun to talk about stuff on the field, isn't it?!?

BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

On LB Boss Bailey's absence from practice --
"His knee was a little inflamed today so we kept him off."

On his confidence in this year's team --
"What I said is you have to be a little bit lucky, fortunate and healthy. Like I said, in the two Super Bowl years we lost 10 starters (games) one year and we lost 15 starters (games) the next year. Last year we lost 72. I've got some high expectations for this team and hopefully we will get there."

On S Hamza Abdullah's health --
"Same thing, a little tight; his groin was a little sore. We kept him off the last two periods. He practiced everything except the last two."

On Gary Zimmerman being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame --
"It's a great tribute to Gary and this organization. Obviously the first Super Bowl we won he was a big part of that. Like I said, he's a guy we never had to worry about making a play. You don't say that very often in the National Football League, especially at that left tackle position. I gave an illustration of this one where his shoulders popped and he refused to come out until John (Elway) did. That gives you an idea of how tough he was as well. We will be down there (in Canton, Ohio) with about nine or 10 coaches that were with Gary. We are looking forward to it."

On status of C Tom Nalen's return to practice --
"I don't know. Tom is such a tough guy. When he's feels like he's ready to go, he'll go. When that will be, I really don't know. He's smart; when you get older, you understand what you can do and what you can't do. There is a difference between being injured and being hurt. Tom knows the difference. So when he can play he'll be back in the lineup."

On the importance of signing C Casey Wiegmann --
"That's the reason we signed him. Not only was he a veteran player, (but) we thought he was kind of the nuts and bolts of the offensive line at Kansas City all these years. I don't how many snaps he made in a row. He was a guy that held that offensive line together a lot of years. He did a very respectable job at Kansas City. Having him on our football team and playing the way he has is a plus for us."

On his impressions one week into training camp --
"Obviously we talk about a lot of things. The main thing is we just want to get better every day. There is not just one thing in training camp. What we are trying to do is get better every day as a team and focus on the now. Don't worry about what happened in the past and just worry about what's happening in the future. If guys go out there with that mindset, then you have a chance to play a little football."

On G Montrae Holland's return --
"I don't know. I'll tell you when his weight is down. His weight is not down right now. When his weight does go down to the weight that we wanted, then he'll be out there practicing."

On how Holland will fit in the lineup --
"Anytime you give guys an opportunity to get in front of you, it's never good. I'll answer that question when he comes back."

On T Ryan Harris and G Chris Kuper's performance --
"They are doing a good job. Not much experience there, but playing very well. I'm hoping we have one of the better offensive lines we've had in a long time."

On the Canadian Football League scouts at practice --

"What they do is evaluate our players, just like we evaluate college players. If somebody is cut at the end, they have a pecking order too, just like we do through free agency and what we do in college. If the guy is not picked up, and they think he might help their football team, we want them out here. We feel like all these guys are working their rear ends off. If for some reason they don't make it with us, they have an opportunity in Canada to play as well."

Shanny readies for practice

My first practice and my goal was to take in as much as possible.  It was great to see the Orange and Blue close up and get a real feel for just how fast, how big, and how powerful alot of these men are.  I have read through the comments and will try and touch on as much as possible.  I focused on the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, wanting to see how the team looked when simulating game action.  As the week/weekend moves on I will focus on different parts.

There is hope, with the off-day following on Sunday, that the team may go full-pads on Saturday morning.  I certainly hope that is the case.

Here are some of my musings, in no real order....

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Is Hamza the top Safety in Denver?

[Editor's Note: John Lynch has left the Broncos to weigh his options.  While that changes the fact the Lynch should be listed here, I will leave him for now since Styg's breakdown fit Lynch's proposed role perfectly.]

If you are a fan of defense, particularly if you are into the nuances of the safety position, it is probably safe to say that Denver has been disappointing for years. Its not completely the talent, of course, since no one would argue that Lynch was less than a future Hall of Famer. And it isn't the selection or marketplace, since great safeties have been cropping up fairly regularly around the league, and Denver has had plenty of fair opportunities to go after them.

The thing is, they just haven't.

While not completely ignoring the position, the Broncos have certainly not placed any kind of tremendous priority on it, with the most notable moves in recent history being the signing of Lynch and the recent pickup of Josh Barrett in the draft. And while Lynch was a good pickup, I'm sure that there is no lesson in "NFL GMing 101" that says how wise it is to sign a player recovering from a serious neck injury and going into the second decade of his career. The Broncos put their money on Lynch the person, not Lynch the player, and the bet turned out to be a good one. But guys like Lynch are few and far between. Similarly, Barrett may be one of the best pure talents out of the draft to don Broncos' blue and orange in years, but he slipped to the seventh round for a reason, and the jury is still out.

2008 looks to be the year of the NOW for the safety position. Whether any of the players on the roster will have impacts that resonate deeply for the Broncos for years to come will be an intriguing, and LONG struggle to witness, promising to be one of the final positions to get straightened out in the offseason, and continuing on throughout the regular season as well. Each player brings unique assets and questions to the struggle, and they each bring a dynamic that could make 2008 the beginning of the road, or the end of the road for any of them. Lets take a look at who they are, and what they bring.

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Notes and Highlights

From DenverBroncos.com

-Injuries-

It looks like hydration will continue to be an issue as players are battling tight muscles. Pittman was the latest addition to the inactives as he sat out with a hamstring injury with Hillis and Mustard.

-Nickel Packages-

The team is looking at different nickel packages, including a Moss/Mallard/Ekuban/DOOM line, DJ and Boss doing the 'backing, and Bly, Champ, Foxy, Hamza and McCree doing the covering. The front six in particular with this group looks fast. It has been mentioned in several places that guys are knocking down passes on the defensive line, something we haven't talked about much when we consider the virtues of guys like Moss, Mallard, and Ekuban. And for a "short" guy, DOOM has a knack for getting his hands up too, swatting 7 last year...

-Eddie Royal-

Speaking of Royal, Wednesday seemed to be his coming-out party. He has made great plays before, but this morning he made several grabs including one where he layed out to catch a laser from Cutler in between Jack Williams and Roderick Rogers. During 7 on 7 drills, he also got away from Bly and made a long over-the-shoulder catch for a nice gain, and later caught another bomb for a touchdown.

You really have to love a guy who is laying out in practice to get his chances. I haven't heard anything negative about Royal in a week's worth of practices, and better still, he seems to be catching everything that comes his way. Nothing gives a coach or a quarterback more confidence in what you might be able to do on gameday. Royal is getting it done.

-Josh Barrett-

Rookie Josh Barrett made a big play during 7-on-7 drills. Tony Scheffler made a great grab in traffic and starting running up the sidelines, but Barrett ran at him and stripped away the ball. Not only did he cause the fumble but he recovered it as well and ran to the opposite sideline before the entire offense chased him out of bounds.

A look at the safety position will go up later tonight, so any news on the position seems particularly relevant. This is one of the ultimate roles of a safety, to turn the tide of a game just when it seems the opponent has the upper hand. A knock against Barrett was always that he never put the whole package together like a Laron Landry type of player. Plays like this show us that he is on the right track.

-MLB Battle-

During 11-on-11 drills, Niko Koutouvides had a big stop lined up when a run came up the middle of the line. Then he realized it was Cutler on a keeper, and he quickly slowed up and let his quarterback go with a light tap.

Not a huge piece of news, but a heads up call by Niko not to lay into Cutler. A huge component of the MLB's game is keeping his head on straight amongst the fury, and we know from the past that Webster can't even keep his helmet on straight. This competition looks stiff, with Webster perhaps having an edge in regards to comfort level with the team, and Niko with more focus, and they both have showed up prepared. Stay tuned.

-Aggressiveness-

Speaking of tackles, Abdullah got a light rebuke from Head Coach Mike Shanahan when he wrapped up Selvin Young and actually tackled him on a run play. Abdullah fell back into good graces later in practice when he lept to snag the second interception of the day.

I like what I'm reading, when I'm reading that our defense is being aggressive. Admittedly what he did wasn't allowed, but I like to think that these guys are really starting to get into the heat of battle, and that they might be turning the intensity up a bit. That is just what this team needs, and small moments like this have the potential to build into the fiery competition it is going to take to forge a competitor out of these guys.

Speaking of Hamza, here is a nice interview and article that talks a little bit about how he is faring in the battle for the starting Strong Safety spot. It makes a great prep for tonight's edition of "Breaking down the Roster" where we will be talking about Safeties. I volunteered to give my thoughts on the position while Guru was en route to Mecca, so I hope everyone will check back in to see how I think these guys stack up.

“The Quest” for me must begin with the defense.  2007 was the worst defense statistically the Broncos have fielded in a long time. At least when it comes to the most important stat, Points Allowed.  The Broncos gave up 409 points last season, only the 1-15 Miami Dolphins gave up more points in the AFC. 

In short, this defense was an embarrassment to the organization and its fans.  I want to believe that our veterans have a quiet determination and swagger this offseason that they didn’t display at the beginning of last season.  Okay, so the veterans are saying all the right things again this year.  What does that mean?  Nothing actually.  They are professionals and any company/organization wishes to portray a united front to the public.  What we need to do is to compare this year’s projected starters with last years dismal group.  And as a group, 2007 was quite dismal.

NOTE: I saw that HT had already posted a similar post over the weekend.  They say great minds think alike!   I had started writing this while I was in Lake Tahoe, no where near a computer.  Since I was already almost finished with this post I decided to go ahead and post it.  So I apologize if this comes off as redundant.  HT's post on positional comparisons is located here.

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