COURTESY OF DENVER BRONCOS MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
On OLB Von Miller, OLB Bradley Chubb and G Graham Glasgow not practicing today
“Von just had basically a vet day today. I gave him the day off. Chubb’s the same. He’s getting better. He’ll be back out there soon. [Glasgow]’s getting better. I think we’ll see him next week out there.”
On WR KJ Hamler, CB Michael Ojemudia and S Alijah Holder returning to practice today
“They went through practice on a limited basis, did some individual. It’s kind of the natural progression, see how they did today and evaluate it for tomorrow and Friday.”
On if he has finalized a plan for another stadium practice
“We’re going Friday night—7:30 will be kickoff. It will be a similar format to what we did last week, give our guys a chance to get down there, see the lights with our first game being under the lights especially for some of these receivers and guys that haven’t been there just to get a feel for that and another good feel for the stadium.”
On if CB Essang Bassey is in the mix to make the team after getting increased reps in practice
“I just decided today—actually last night but didn’t tell him—as soon as we started the teamwork and first drills for him to take the reps with the first nickel [defense] as the nickel. It was more of a test for him. It wasn’t a move or anything just to see how he reacted and how he would do in there.”
On what he wants QB Drew Lock to focus on before the opener
“Just to keep mastering his position within the offense—I think it’ll become time now to where we need to talk to him, see what he’s most comfortable with and what he’s not comfortable with because the game is approaching as we all know. We have to tailor it to him at the same point with him pushing through stuff that we think is important that maybe he doesn’t feel as comfortable with now.”
On what the keys are for rookie tight ends adjusting to the NFL
“Playing tight end most times in the NFL is way different than playing tight end in college football. Number one, they’re asked to block more both in the run and some occasional pass blocking. That’s a big adjustment there. That takes a mindset and a commitment to technique. Two, running routes and being a receiver against NFL coverages. The coverage systems in the NFL are much more sophisticated than they see in college on a consistent basis. Guys covering them are better than they’ve gone against on a consistent basis. It is a big adjustment because they’re involved in the run game, they’re involved in the pass game both as a receiver and an occasional blocker. There is a lot to learn there, kind of the equivalent of the inside linebacker on defense.”
On if he is trying to simulate what would happen in a game or seeing how a player reacts when telling a player like Bassey to take first team reps in practice
“Both, you’re right because that’s how it could happen in a game. You could be going five, six, seven weeks as a backup and you’re ready to go but you never get in there. Then it just happens that fast, so you have to be ready to go. That’s part of it. Two is to give him a chance to work with the ones, put him in there, let him feel it, let the other players feel him in there. I just wanted to see how it would go and whether he would pee his pants or go out there and be like he’s been.”
On his reaction to Bassey’s performance today
“I thought he did pretty damn well.”
On what he thought of the Denver Nuggets’ win against the Utah Jazz in Game 7 last night
“I didn’t see the game because the game was during our meetings, but obviously I saw the highlights. It was a great win for the Nuggets. It’s a big win for the Nuggets. They’re in the Elite Eight now, paralleling it to the NCAA tournament, especially coming back from down 3-1. That’s what has to happen. Your best players have to pull you through those situations. Obviously [Nuggets Guard Jamal] Murray did it in the previous two games and [Nuggets Forward Nikola] Jokic did it last night. Hopefully they’ll get to the Final Four. I think they have a chance. I’m very happy for [Nuggets Head Coach] Mike [Malone] and that crew.”
On if he feels more confident now that they will be able to complete the season than he did before training camp
“Yeah, I do feel more confident. Early on—June, July—I wasn’t confident. I wasn’t pessimistic. I was like everyone else, let’s just go a day at a time. I know as of last Saturday there was one guy. One guy—that’s 32 teams with 80 players. Do the math. That’s like 2,700 players getting tested every day. To have one guy on that list, that’s amazing. We’re not living in a bubble. These guys are going home at night. I do feel good about it. Since then, I do think a couple other ones have showed up positive around the league. Let’s call it four. Four out of 2,700 is amazing. Yeah, I do feel very confident. I’m happy about it. These guys’ careers aren’t interrupted. Their pay isn’t interrupted. Yeah, we wish we had fans. Hopefully the progress will still keep being made and we’ll have the fans back in there sooner rather than later.”
On what his approach is to addressing the team when things don’t go well such as the Rockies loss against the Giants last night
“I think you always have to—I think it’s different, baseball and football. Although baseball is a little bit more similar with 60 games. On a normal year, our one game equals 10 of theirs. When we lose a game, it’s like them being on a 10-game losing streak. When you get blown out like that I think you have to analyze why it happened, correct the correctables, show them where the mistakes were made and then move on to the next opponent as best you can realizing that the psyche of your team could be damaged more so in football than in baseball. I didn’t see any of that game. I don’t know if they started having position players pitch late in the game, stuff like that to where—it’s a tough loss. Nobody likes to go through it. I feel for [Rockies Manager] Buddy [Black]. He’s a hell of a manager. They’ll get it going.”
On what he has learned about the team from how they are operating in this different environment that he maybe wouldn’t learn in a normal year
“I think they’ve accepted the challenge that we all need to feel the urgency and have the focus to make the most of this shortened camp and be ready for the regular season as much as we can be. I’m sure every team in the league, coaches in particular, feel a little but unprepared in certain areas, wish they had more time to develop the team, cover more situations, develop all your different phases of the game and the situations that come up and evaluate your players with preseason games. These guys, as I have and everybody else has accepted it, you can’t change what you can’t change and just move on.”
On what he is looking to see from OLB Jerry Attaochu’s pass rushing
“The same. He’s just hopefully—he came in midstream, the fifth week of the season last year and did a nice job for us. We expect him to be even better this year especially with Bradley’s situation—he may not be able to take the full load right off the bat. We need both him and [OLB] Malik Reed and everybody else at that position to chip in. Jerry’s a very important player for us.”
