ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—One of the multiple lineup questions that greeted the Denver Broncos this season didn’t figure to include right tackle.
But Sunday afternoon, it will be rookie Zane Beadles set to start a second straight week at the position against the Oakland Raiders while projected first-team fixture Ryan Harris again watches from the sideline.
Harris was one of the team’s rising stars, starting 24 straight games from 2008-09 before a severe toe injury sidelined him for the last half of last season. Surgery repaired that malady, and while several Denver offensive linemen missed time in the offseason with various injuries, Harris was in the lineup daily at his old spot.
That was until a high ankle sprain early in the final preseason game wrecked Harris’ seamless summer.
It postponed his season debut until Oct. 3 at Tennessee. But he went to the bench again after a poor showing in the Baltimore game and it’s been Beadles’ gig since.
Asked whether Harris’ absence is health-related or performance-based, coach Josh McDaniels responded that “it’s a combination of things,” while calling it a competitive situation that includes both players getting first-team practice snaps.
McDaniels added that in last week’s 24-20 loss to the New York Jets, Beadles had room for improvement but “played tough in there and did a decent job in pass protection against a team that really gives you a lot of different looks and brings different types of pressure.”
Harris, who had yielded just one sack last season before landing on injured reserve Dec. 9, declined comment.
Beadles isn’t getting caught up in the numbers game.
“I try not to focus on anything outside of my play, and if I get the opportunity to go in and play, I’m going to go in and do my best,” Beadles said. “I’m sure Ryan’s doing the same thing.”
Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy lauded Beadles for his professionalism and ability to absorb information from the veteran linemen.
“We tried to correct a few things early on when he first got here, and he’s gradually making improvements from week to week, and that all comes from experience,” McCoy said. “The speed of the game is a little bit different from what it is in college. With every game he plays here, the better he should be.”
Beadles, a second-round draft pick out of the University of Utah, said he’s concentrated on making daily improvement and that he feels he’s done a better job playing more consistently. And he agrees with McCoy that the game is slowing down for him as time passes.
“I think it’s just having seen things, being out there and taking reps and, ‘OK, I’ve seen this before and this is what happened,'” he said. “You react quicker the more and more you see it. I think that’s the biggest thing as far as the speed of the game goes is just having gotten reps and being out there more and more.”
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DAWKINS REACTS
Broncos safety Brian Dawkins, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the all-decade team in the 2000s, has built his reputation on hard hits and making opposing receivers think twice before crossing the middle.
He’s even been fined several times for some of those collisions.
Dawkins calls the NFL’s crackdown this week on illegal hits “ridiculous.”
He said the fine system was good just the way it was.
“Guys got fined for different things and a progression happened. Before this anomaly happened last weekend, the system was in place to deal with what they’re talking about already,” he said. “I don’t understand the attempt to in essence control parts that are moving. It’s impossible.”
Dawkins, Denver’s union representative, is all for the safety of players but believes the latest crackdown is too far-reaching.
“A couple of inches on some of the hits I’ve had in the past, if the receiver ducks his head it’s a helmet-to-helmet hit and my intention is not to hit him in the helmet but his body. And to expect a defender to be able to do his job—and my job is to dislodge the receiver from the ball. That’s my end point. If he ducks down in a millisecond, he gets hit in the head.”
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GETTING HIS KICKS
Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas expressed no fear before taking over kickoff return duties in the Oct. 10 game in Baltimore.
One concussion later via a vicious hit in which he was sandwiched by two defenders, Thomas learned a couple valuable lessons.
“Just know they hit hard,” he said with a laugh. “And keep your head on a swivel.”
Thomas was kept off kickoff returns last week because the coaches wanted to limit his snaps, coming off the concussion. But both McDaniels and Thomas said there’s no trepidation moving the receiver back into the return role now.
“I told my special teams coach I wanted to go back out there the first day once I got back. so there’s no hesitation,” Thomas said.
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ET CETERA Dawkins (knee), CB Andre Goodman (quad); S Darcel McBath (ankle), OLB Robert Ayers (foot) and LB Wesley Woodyard (hamstring) didn’t practice all week and are out Sunday. Denver has lost the last two home games vs. Oakland after winning 11 of the previous 13. Rookies have been part of five of Denver’s nine takeaways this season. CBs Perrish Cox and Syd’Quan Thompson both have interceptions. Cox also has forced a fumble, and CB Cassius Vaughn has two fumble recoveries.
