Jason Elam, gone. Todd Sauerbrun, gone.
High expectations for the Broncos, all present and accounted for.
One way or another, Scott O’Brien has to turn the Broncos’ kicking game into a strength, not a weakness. And he’ll have to do it without Elam, the greatest kicker in franchise history, and Sauerbrun, one of the best punters in recent NFL history.
For all the questions surrounding the Broncos, one thing seems safe to say. Come the fourth quarter of many of their games, the outcome will be hanging in the balance. It’s then, with the game on the line, when the kicking game will be crucial.
“That’s all we talk about,” said O’Brien, the Broncos’ special-teams coordinators.
Well, not exactly. O’Brien is doing a lot of teaching, too. He doesn’t have a choice, given all the inexperience among the Broncos’ kicking corps.
He has one kicker and two punters in training camp. The kicker, Matt Prater, has made one out of four field-goal attempts in an NFL uniform. The punters, Sam Paulescu and Brett Kern, have one game of NFL experience between them.
“Physically, these guys have a lot of ability,” said O’Brien. “It’s the mental approach. The veterans know what it takes and how to do it. The young guys, you’ve got to train them. So it’s basically been 24-7 teaching.”
The coaches like what they’ve seen of all three. Prater made 11 out of 11, including a 68-yarder, in practice the other day. And Kern, who had the second-highest gross average in college football last year, has turned the punting competition into a “wide open” affair, says O’Brien.
So how will the three kick when the games begin? That’s what O’Brien is anxious to see. Kicking in practice is one thing. He wants to see how they handle things in front of a packed stadium, with a rush pouring in on them.
“We’ve got that first game at Houston to see what we have,” he said. “Hopefully, when it’s all said and done, our guys will come out of this as guys we can count on for a long time. We’ll see. Saturday night is the first test.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
