ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Knowshon Moreno says his recovery from a pulled right hamstring is going well and he’s “ready for whatever the coaches need me to do” Sunday at Jacksonville.
Moreno missed all the preseason and his next hit will be his first since his rookie season. He returned to practice late last week but didn’t really test it thoroughly until this week.
“It feels good,” he said. “It feels good to be out there with my team and start running again, testing the hamstring out. I feel good so we’ll see what happens this weekend.”
Moreno, who also missed much of last year’s preseason with an injury, said he didn’t think he’d be affected by not getting any carries in the preseason.
“I just want to get back out there. Basically, that’s what it all really comes down to,” Moreno said. “Get back out there, get my wind back, get out there and see how the game is flowing and make the best of it.”
Coach Josh McDaniels is expecting big things from Moreno this season.
“I think, again, it is hard to say from practice, but I know from the spring everything was so much slower for him—the defense, the reads, the blitzes, the blitz pickup, the route running—we felt like he was ahead of everybody else whereas last year as a rookie those are things you kind of feel like you’ve got to catch up to the speed of the game,” McDaniels said. “I think the speed of the game, he definitely had good control on that when he was out there. Certainly missing the last month or so here obviously can’t help.
“You know, you start where you were, but I think that out there yesterday in practice he’s getting back into the flow and hopefully the next three days will be the same thing. But I think the overall speed and rhythm of the game has really slowed down for him.”
With Moreno and Correll Buckhalter—who had three carries for 3 yards in the preseason—missing most so much time, Lance Ball, a second-year pro who has been cut four times before being signed to the Broncos’ practice squad last November, capitalized on his carries to earn a roster spot.
Ball, who led the Broncos with 119 yards on 23 preseason carries, called it the “chance of a lifetime” to prove he could play in the NFL.
“I’ve always had confidence in myself that I could play in this league,” said Ball, who’s had stops in Indianapolis, St. Louis and Tennessee. “It was just about hanging in there and getting an opportunity and showing the coaches that I can make plays.”
If Moreno or Buckhalter are limited either by their stamina or the heat and humidity Sunday, Ball is ready to play his first NFL game since gaining 13 yards on his only NFL rush, with the Colts in 2008, when he also caught one pass for 5 yards.
“Coach says stay alive, you could be in there, just be ready to play,” Ball said.
Ball is about the only Broncos tailback who will take any sort of rhythm into the opener.
“Definitely, it’s unfortunate Buck and Knowshon went down, but that gave me an opportunity to be more well-rounded with the offense and be more comfortable,” Ball said. “Getting more reps that I probably would have gotten definitely helped me out in understanding the offense.
“I think I’m totally ready,” Ball said. “The last game I really didn’t play that much, so I had some good resting time and I’m ready to go.”
Ball sat out practice Tuesday but participated in Wednesday’s workouts, as did newcomer Andre Brown, who is recovering from a turf toe injury he sustained before being cut by the New York Giants last weekend.
Safety Darcel McBath and right tackle Ryan Harris remained sidelined.
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TOP PICK’S PROGNOSIS: While the debate rages over when quarterback Tim Tebow will be able to make a contribution, there’s another first-rounder’s status that is equally intriguing to the coaching staff.
Top draft pick Demaryius Thomas returned to practice this week after missing most of camp following his left foot injury in a scrimmage on Aug. 7.
“He did fine,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “You know, we are going to be smart with what we try to do with him early, but he was out there the whole time and I think he is just going to fight through the normal soreness that you have to fight through as you come back off of something that has bothered you.
“When your job is to run, like the receiver’s job is, it makes it a little tougher. We are just going to see how he does and take his progress day-by-day, make our decision at the end of the week and then hopefully every day is a better day for him.”
Thomas was just starting to show the kind of impact he could make when he got hurt and he didn’t play a single snap in the preseason.
“I wish for his sake that he had an opportunity to play in some of those preseason games,” McDaniels said. “I think that’s important for any rookie, but we have to deal with the situation that we have and if he is ready to go and when he is ready to go we will be excited to have him out there.”
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HOT AND HUMID: The Broncos will go from Denver’s mild weather to the heat and humidity in Jacksonville.
“I might as well go step in the sauna somewhere and just start running around the steam room, try and act like it’s part of the game right here,” said defensive lineman Jamal Williams.
How much weight might the 348-pounder lose Sunday?
“Maybe 40,” Williams said. “I’m not really worried about the weather. It’s football when it all comes down to it.”
Pass-rusher Robert Ayers, who weighs 274 and played at the University of Tennessee, is used to playing in hot, muggy weather.
“You’ve just got to hydrate throughout the week and be mentally ready,” Ayers said. “You’re going to get tired, you’re going to be breathing hard. It’s going to be hard. It’s definitely mental, but it’s physical, too: when that heat gets on you and it’s hard to breathe, you’ve got to suck it up and go.
Ayers laughed at Williams’ saying he might lose 40 pounds Sunday.
“If I lose 40 pounds, I might be a receiver, so I hope I don’t do that,” Ayers said.
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CALLING ALL CAPTAINS: The Broncos named seven captains on Wednesday: cornerback Champ Bailey, safety Brian Dawkins, tight end Daniel Graham, right guard Chris Kuper, quarterback Kyle Orton and linebackers D.J. Williams and Wesley Woodyard.
Kuper is the longest-tenured player on Denver’s offensive line. He’s allowed six sacks in 42 career starts, 31 at right guard and 11 at left guard, according to STATS LLC.
