Josh McDaniels’ Plan For First Preseason Game

The Denver Broncos have started making some specific game plans for their first preseason game against the Begnals on Sunday. However, the planning will not be as intensive as a regular season game would be. Before practice, Josh McDaniels said,

“It’s not going to be a big game plan thing for us, but I want them to be more familiar with our process more than anything else. We’re going to continue to still work on some things that have nothing to do with the Bengals.”

The Bengals already have one preseason game under their belt, and the Broncos have yet to run their plays against another team. Many different guys will get reps on Sunday, but Coach McDaniels doesn’t have it worked out to a science.

“We’re not going to put a set number on the first group. It will probably fall in the neighborhood of 20-25 plays. I think all of it will depend on how things are going, or what’s going on, how long we’ve been out there in the first quarter as opposed to the second quarter,” McDaniels said.

There will be some players who won’t make the trip for various reasons. One of the main reason a player won’t play and according to McDaniels, health is a major factor.

“We certainly still have a few more days left to figure out who’s going to play, who’s going to dress, and who’s going to make the trip based on health, which will also impact how long some guys play. All three quarterbacks will definitely play in the game.”

All eyes will be on the Broncos quarterback situation. A good or bad pass will be put under the microscope as will the QB in question. Last preseason, Kyle Orton didn’t perform as well as he had hoped. However, McDaniels believes that Orton has had a very good camp.

“His play has been steady. I think very impressive at times, and most days very consistent in terms of him knowing the offense so well now that he can operate everything we want him to do. He’s communicating so much better now with the other players on the offense before the ball’s snapped, which helps answer a lot of problems before they actually occur.

When you’re initially thrusted into a system that is the thing that takes the longest to improve upon and last year I don’t think we were at that point in the preseason. This year, he’s signaling routes, he’s changing protections, he’s answering a lot of problems with tools that he has and the things he has available to him, and I think that’s really a big thing for our offense in general. He’s eliminated most every bad play we could get into, which is great. He’s made a lot of big throws down the field. We’re being a little bit more aggressive in some areas and he’s really done that well. He’s effecient, he’s been aggressive, he’s done a great job in the two-minute offense. We’ve scored a lot of points in the two minues so far, which certainly isn’t great for our defense, but one side’s got to win…We’re very pleased with where we’re at there.”

Yesterday, Kyle Orton said that he thinks he’s throwing the ball the best he ever has. McDaniels responded to that observation saying,

“I would agree with him. He’s on time, he’s accurate, he’s always been accurate, he’s stronger this year than he was last year, which is showing up on some of the intermediate routes that are tight against tight coverage. He’s throwing against Champ [Bailey], Andre [Goodman] Renaldo [Hill], Dawk [Brian Dawkins], and Nate Jones. He’s throwing against the first team defense most of the time.”

As Josh McDaniels wrapped up his 9-minute long session with the media, he looked jazzed to finally go up against another team and see what works and what doesn’t. Adjustments are made year-round in the NFL and this period is the breeding ground for changes to be made.

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