Howe: Danny seems good to go vs. Denver

shmessy said:

Do you actually think they are not practicing on Thanskgiving on a short week?

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Are they?

Skree said:

Are they?

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They are pro athletes, I dont see a reason why they shouldn't.

Hope we sign someone like Chris Matthews, but it seems doubtful on such a short week.

Can't go into Sunday with just LaFell and Harper healthy.

Amendola and Martin are both injured and Slater isn't an offensive player, as we all well know.

If there's a week where injuries finally bite us and supplement a loss, this is the week. Depleted WR corp, OLine nicked up, away game in a stadium that's known to cause trouble for this coach/QB, and a solid opposing defensive line and secondary.

Sunday will be a battle of wills it seems, Peyton or no Peyton.

bbobbo said:

brown maybe, although he was also being impeded by incognito (#64). don't really see it on ninkovich:

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Brown's definitely being held. Another fail for the refs.

KontradictioN said:

What about the run blocking this season has given you any hope that the running game can get it done against a good run defense?

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Denver's running D is worse than ours. I think our D is underrated.

Team Stats: Pats - Broncos
Rush Yards Allowed: 88.8 - 93.7

Cannon and Vollmer had not played for several weeks so they were rusty and the Bills DL is good. I think they will pick it up this week and settle on a OL that works. If Keshawn Martin can play, I would rest Dola.
Even with all our injuries our O is way better than the anemic Denver O.

shmessy said:

Mike ReissVerified account‏@MikeReiss
Photo: WR Danny Amendola (knee) arrives for today's walkthrough.

10:34 AM - 25 Nov 2015

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Holy cow, Dola's left leg looks shorter than his right one! His left foot can't even touch the ground. Don't see how he can be ready by Sunday.

anditsgood said:

Dobson was suppose to he the stretch the field/take the top off , type of receiver for tom.

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He has brought stretchers on to the field.

venecol said:

Holy cow, Dola's left leg looks shorter than his right one! His left foot can't even touch the ground. Don't see how he can be ready by Sunday.

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Looks like some type of bulk on the left knee, although we obviously don't know if it's a brace, a wrap, or just a big ice pack.

I could be wrong, of course, but it does appear that there's something on that side. Not necessarily unusual, just making the observation.

EDIT: Sorry, I see that @BradyFTW! had already pointed this out on the previous page.

Todd Bradley said:

Hope we sign someone like Chris Matthews, but it seems doubtful on such a short week.

Can't go into Sunday with just LaFell and Harper healthy.

Amendola and Martin are both injured and Slater isn't an offensive player, as we all well know.

If there's a week where injuries finally bite us and supplement a loss, this is the week. Depleted WR corp, OLine nicked up, away game in a stadium that's known to cause trouble for this coach/QB, and a solid opposing defensive line and secondary.

Sunday will be a battle of wills it seems, Peyton or no Peyton.

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I'm pretty sure that the Ravens got to him first, and that was the afternoon of the MNF game so it doesn't even appear to be in a move to block or anything. I think they just took a chance on him, and he may actually fit into their offense next year with Jump Ball Joe at QB.

It would be difficult to imagine any outsider coming in and being able to produce on any level whatsoever, unless it were maybe a guy like Austin Collie, who is somewhat familiar with our offense. All of the interviews and reports that I read from 2013 definitely back up the notion that this is a complicated scheme (not suggesting that all NFL schemes aren't complicated on some level). Collie claims that he basically spent like 18 hours a day at the facility, working with McDaniels and Brady, whether that be through film study, practice, or both. He said that this took about a good month before he really knew what he was doing, and even then he really didn't produce worth a damn.

Just to give an idea, here are Collie's numbers from that period in 2013, starting in the 6th game when we signed him:

2 catches, 24 yards
1 catch, 10 yards
INACTIVE
INACTIVE
(released--brought back about a month later)
1 catch, 4 yards
2 catches, 25 yards
INACTIVE
1 catch, 15 yards (postseason)

His best game was the AFCCG debacle where we really weren't ever that close, and had an insanely depleted group of WR options. In that game we went down pretty significantly, and he made a couple/few grabs in "garbage time" as we finally cut the lead from 17 down to 10 late in the game.

That all said, they did work out 3 outsiders today, so they still need bodies on some level, and/or possibly just realize that Amendola may not play on Sunday (just speculating). One of the guys was literally my size at 5'9" and 175 lbs, if that tells you anything. Josh Boyce must really have sucked pretty badly during his time here...although that's not exactly a news flash.

robertweathers said:

Ware is an average player now as he is wearing down. He wore down this time last year as well.

Miller is the major concern.

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I think the combination of the two is still very concerning. Ware even at 75% is still a formidable foe, and he had the same amount of sacks in weeks 8 & 9 as he did in weeks 1 & 2, so I don't know if we're quite at the point where he's totally out of gas just yet.

supafly said:

I think the combination of the two is still very concerning. Ware even at 75% is still a formidable foe, and he had the same amount of sacks in weeks 8 & 9 as he did in weeks 1 & 2, so I don't know if we're quite at the point where he's totally out of gas just yet.

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If anything, he hasnt played, his tank will be refueled, on the contrary, he hasn't played, and may not be in football shape.

It's all about motivation in these scenarios, I think history for him very recently says he's on the down end of his season, let's all hope that he just plain misses the game. He's still an all-time great type player, and those guys can have exceptional games at any point in their careers, even when they're truly toast.

strngplyr said:

If anything, he hasnt played, his tank will be refueled, on the contrary, he hasn't played, and may not be in football shape.

It's all about motivation in these scenarios, I think history for him very recently says he's on the down end of his season, let's all hope that he just plain misses the game. He's still an all-time great type player, and those guys can have exceptional games at any point in their careers, even when they're truly toast.

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I think you make an excellent point about players on borrowed time who can still make an impact, whether that be from pressure and disruption, or just the fact that the OL has to account for them.

I do believe we may be writing Ware off a bit early though. He had sacks in week 8 and week 9, and has been part of a pretty decent pass rushing tandem all year long. While he's missed the past two weeks, I'm not sure where all of the "he's washed up now" talk is coming from. Chances are that he's more than capable of putting pressure on our OL.

supafly said:

I think the combination of the two is still very concerning. Ware even at 75% is still a formidable foe, and he had the same amount of sacks in weeks 8 & 9 as he did in weeks 1 & 2, so I don't know if we're quite at the point where he's totally out of gas just yet.

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I think he has a back injury as well?

robertweathers said:

I think he has a back injury as well?

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Ware did not practice with a back injury (see report below). I see the Broncos defense as formidable nevertheless, especially against a depleted Patriots offense.

DENVER BRONCOS (8-2)
OUT
No Players Listed. Read

DID NOT PARTICIPATE
QB Peyton Manning - Foot
G Evan Mathis - Ankle
OLB DeMarcus Ware - Back

LIMITED PARTICIPATION
TE Owen Daniels - Knee
WR Emmanuel Sanders - Ankle/Finger
DE Vance Walker - Shoulder

FULL PARTICIPATION
TE Virgil Green - Finger
T Ryan Harris - Knee
C Matt Paradis - Finger
T Michael Schofield - Finger
DE Antonio Smith - Hip

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KontradictioN said:

What about the run blocking this season has given you any hope that the running game can get it done against a good run defense?

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I didn't say that it could or couldn't get it done. All I said was that I'd rather try that and use the backup WRs than take a chance with Amendola.

I'm concerned with Amendola trying to do what Amendola does on an unstable knee. It's asking for trouble. I hope an accurate and realistic assessment of the knee's condition can be done and not just depend on 'Dola's say-so that he's good to go.

supafly said:

I think you make an excellent point about players on borrowed time who can still make an impact, whether that be from pressure and disruption, or just the fact that the OL has to account for them.

I do believe we may be writing Ware off a bit early though. He had sacks in week 8 and week 9, and has been part of a pretty decent pass rushing tandem all year long. While he's missed the past two weeks, I'm not sure where all of the "he's washed up now" talk is coming from. Chances are that he's more than capable of putting pressure on our OL.

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Turns out we're worrying over nothing, Ware does NOT expect to go. Great news for us:

Troy RenckVerified account‏@TroyRenck
#broncos DeMarcus Ware told me that he doesn't expect to play this Sunday. Needs more time

luuked said:

They are pro athletes, I dont see a reason why they shouldn't.

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I understand. Does anyone know if they do practice on Thanksgiving day? I thought they didn't and that would give Danny an extra day to rest.

Skree said:

I understand. Does anyone know if they do practice on Thanksgiving day? I thought they didn't and that would give Danny an extra day to rest.

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i thought they practiced in the morning, home early (by 2ish) going off memory. I think this is for those that played on monday

Todd Bradley said:

Hope we sign someone like Chris Matthews, but it seems doubtful on such a short week.

Can't go into Sunday with just LaFell and Harper healthy.

Amendola and Martin are both injured and Slater isn't an offensive player, as we all well know.

If there's a week where injuries finally bite us and supplement a loss, this is the week. Depleted WR corp, OLine nicked up, away game in a stadium that's known to cause trouble for this coach/QB, and a solid opposing defensive line and secondary.

Sunday will be a battle of wills it seems, Peyton or no Peyton.

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I know some posters here are thinking about his Super Bowl performance, but this is a guy who could not pick up the Mickey Mouse passing concepts they run up in Seattle, despite being there for over a year to my knowledge, and was subsequently cut.

Now, you expect him to come here and learn the vastly more intricate Erhardt-Perkins system with enough time to contribute for the stretch run??

I just don't see it...

The game Sunday was always going to be tough, even with our offense at full strength. It has the makings of a defensive showdown, IMO.