BRON NCOS HEA AD COACH DENVER B GARY KUB BRONCOS BIAK Vs. SAN FR RANCISCO 49ERS

DENVER BRONCOS vs. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS Sportss Authority Field at Mile High ● Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015

BRONCOS HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK

On if he is concerned about the offense at this point “There are a lot of things that concern you on a regular basis. The biggest thing offensively is we don't have a lot to show for some of the good things that are going on. You hold the ball for 20 minutes in the first half, you're over 50 percent on thiird downs, you think you'd be scoring some points. That's the thing that's disscouraging. I had us in a couple of tough situations that I've got to do a better job of with our quarterback. They're things that we can fix. Now there needs to be a sense of urgency. We've got a couple weeks yet to get some things cleaned up. We'll get there. We'll just keep working. I've got confidence in the people doing it and the guys coaching it and we'll get there.”

On QB Peyton Manning seeing exotic looks when sacked “No, we saw a lot of pressure. They brought a lot during the week in practice and then in the game. We should benefit from that in the long haul. A couple of tough situations, you get caught under center on a couple of tough blitzes, but that's on us as coaches, starting with me to make sure we're out of that situation or get a chance to get out of that situation. I look at myself on things like that. Like I said, we're doing a lot of good stuff. We moved the ball. I think we had two double‐digit type play drives and kept the defense off the field, but just didn't have anything to show for it [and] had a turnover in the end zone. A lot of things to be encouraged about, but yet a sense of urgency to fix the things that aren't right.”

On how comfortable Manning looks in the new offense “I think he's fine. We went back to some no‐huddle stuff. Obviously, those are things that he's extremely comfortable with. Under center, two of the sacks, actually, all three of them, happened with him coming out under center. I feel pretty confident from a coaching standpoint we can go fix those things. We're going to continue to do a lot of things offensively and we just have to do some of them a lot better than we did tonight.”

On if the amount of snaps Manning has taken under center in the preseason is what should be expected in the regular season “I don't know. I think it all depends. Obviously, I think I've said this to you guys before, when you're back there all the time, there are some tendencies from a run game standpoint. What you do and obviously when you're under center, some of those tendencies go away. Like I said, we're going to continue to do both. I think we're going to run the ball well. I don't have anything in front of me, but I think we continue to run the ball pretty effectively. We have to make some big plays off of that. If you''re going to do that, you're usually going to do that under center, selling the run and doing those type of things.”

On the performance of the defense throughout the preseason “They've been very consistent. Like I said tonight, the good thing was I thiink they only played nine minutes in the first half, so we kept them off the field. [OLB] Von [Miller] and [OLB] Demarcus [Ware], I think they both had a sack. We've been very consistent there. We're deep there. We have some really tough cuts here coming in tthe next couple weeks.”

On if he pulled Miller and Ware in the game after their sacks “Yeah, that's kind of what happened. [Defensive Coordinator] Wade [Phillips] said something to me on the headset. Our goal was to get our starters 30 to 40 plays in the game, to get them some good work. I think offensively we played 41 plays in the first half. I don't know what we played defensively. There was a point there, I think in the second quarter, I said, 'You get those two out and let everybody continue to play.' We got a little banged up and I think we're okay. I don't think we have anything serious going on.”

On why RB Montee Ball did not play until late in the game “I think 40 [RB Juwan Thompson] got maybe seven or eight carries. He got all of the late caries in the game. There's nothing Montee's done. It's hard to get four guys carries in a game. He continues to work hard. Special teams is a big factor with him and Juwan as far as playing on a regular basis. We'll see. I'm fine with Montee. I wish there would be more. I promise you they'll probably be plenty to go around on Thursday.”

On if the punt return job is still open “I'm concerned the way we're handling the ball. That's the biggest thing. I like our ability to make plays back there. I think [S] Omar [Bolden] can make some big plays, but we haven't handled the ball very well. We've put the ball on the ground the first punt return, if I'm correct, and fumbled another one. Obviously, we've got to settle down there. [WR] Emmanuel's [Sanders] very capable and could be a great, great punt returner. We have to get him back. Obviously, protecting the ball is of the utmost importance.”

On if CB Chris Harris Jr. is close to playing “Yeah, if it were regular season, he would have played. He was slower and came back the next day. It was going to have to be one of those all‐in deals or it was a no, and so the answer was no. He's fine.”

On Sanders' hamstring injury “He worked today. He came to the stadium. He ran routes for about a half hour. [He] was very positive.. Had it have been a regular season game, I think Emmanuel would have been very close to playing or pushed to play, but we're right on schedule to where we want to be. He should be back on the field this week.”

On when G Evan Mathis will be ready to play “Evan's ready to go. He will be back on the field Monday with the team. He worked out with the coaches today. He will get another workout in tomorrow. He's a good‐looking guy. We're looking forward to putting him to work.”

On if he will make any roster cuts before the deadline “Probably not. We have a quick turnaround here tomorrow. We've got a lot to do to get ready to play Thursday. It'll probably happen Monday morning.”

BRONCOS QUARTERBACK PEYTON MANNING

On how comfortable he is in the offense “I think we get a little bit more comfortable each day, each week. Obviously a lot of new players in there, with some different things that we’re doing. Then when you go against some different defenses, you learn something new. So I think the key is just trying to improve and take something each time you go against a different defense or a different blitz or whatever it may be, and kind of file it away and learn from it. I think that’s important. I think that will be important throughout the season as well.”

On going under center “I’m pretty comfortable doing that. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I’ve been in the shotgun a little bit more as of late, but I’ve definitely played under center for a lot of my career, so I feel pretty good doing that.”

©2015 Denver Broncos Football Club. All rights reserved. The individual quotes cited in this document may be used for the purpose of news reporting and other fair uses as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Duplication or posting of this quote sheet, in its entirety, or any other use of this material which is not a fair use as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the Denver Broncos Football Club. On the up‐tempo offense “It’s whatever’s coming in from the sideline. We talked about that during the week, about mixing some huddling and some no‐ huddling, and that’s what we did tonight. We moved the ball well out of both scenarios, just didn’t score touchdowns. Some good things out of it, but we obviously have to do a better job in the red zone and better throwing by me. I’ve overthrown [WR] Demaryius [Thomas], really, twice. Once on the interception and I missed him another time and it would have been a touchdown. So some plays that we would like to have made, but some good things that I think we can build on. We’ve just got to do a better job of finishing down the red zone.”

On the offense’s progress “I think it’s important for us to improve through the season, and like I said, would we like to be a finely‐tuned machine going into Week 1? Sure. With some newness, some different players and some different things that we’re doing, that’s what we’re working toward. Certainly, I think the key is for us to improve through the season. Now, we’re not making excuses. You can still win games as you’re still kind of finding your identity and figuring out the things that you can hang your hat on. We’ve got some starters out, potentially. [WR] Emmanuel [Sanders] and obviously we’ve got good competition there with [G] Evan [Mathis] and [G] Max [Garcia], and whatever rotation ends up at the offensive line, so we’re still very much kind of figuring out who we are and what we’re going to be as far as the things we can really hang our hat on. And I think we’ll develop those throughout the season. I still think we can win games as we’re developing kind of that identity.”

On Denver’s second scoring drive “Yeah, I thought we still had a chance to make it. I don’t know. [WR] Cody [Latimer] said the guy—I don’t know if he got his elbow as he was about to catch it. They brought the house. They brought everybody. As a matter of fact, I think nobody was even covering [TE] Owen [Daniels] on the play. I wish I would have looked there, but I was kind of keyed in on going to Cody, so you know gave him a chance to make a play. It’s obviously one we’d like to be able to finish off with. They’re bringing eight guys, and we’re blocking with—I’m trying to think—they brought maybe seven, we’re blocking with five, so somebody’s going to be free. So you’d like to be able to finish with a touchdown, but we just didn’t do it on that play.”

On the joint practices affecting the game “I don’t know necessarily. We made some plays in practice that we didn’t necessarily work on throughout the game, and we saved some stuff for the game. San Francisco did some different things in tonight’s game they didn’t do in practice. So there’s a little bit of familiarity there to it, yeah, but I thought that they did a good job. On some certain plays they got us on a couple of blitzes that put us in long third down situations, and they obviously did a good job in the red zone of stopping us. I still think that we could have done a better job ourselves. I think we had some mistakes on our part, and I thought I could have made some better plays down there to get us into the end zone. But I thought the work was good during the week. I thought it was beneficial, especially when we got some new players that haven’t seen some of the defenses that San Francisco plays. So the more we can see, as we’re getting ready for the season opener, the better off it is.”

On decisions about the offense “This is the Broncos’ offense. I don’t know about how much negotiation is going on, but I think they’re all trying to put us in the best situations for us to move the ball and getting down the field. And it’s our job to do that. I thought we got some good opportunities tonight and made some good plays and did a pretty good job on third down. I thought [RB] C.J. [Anderson] and [RB] Ronnie [Hillman] had some good runs. I thought the guys up front did a good job. I thought [LB] [NaVorro] Bowman made some pretty good blitzes. You’ve got to give them credit on those plays, and I thought the guys up front did a good job. We’re still kind of developing that chemistry and that identity, and I think that’ll continue to be developed during the season, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

On playing enough in the preseason “Yeah, I think you always want to be in there. There’s probably not a player in the locker room who probably wouldn’t tell you they want to be in there all the time. I had good work tonight, saw some different situations. And with the work in practice this week, I think paid off as well. Seeing some different defenses and kind of figuring some things out. So we can use these next two weeks certainly to improve and get ready and certainly got a tough test with Baltimore coming in here in a couple of weeks, and we’ve got two weeks to get ready.”

©2015 Denver Broncos Football Club. All rights reserved. The individual quotes cited in this document may be used for the purpose of news reporting and other fair uses as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Duplication or posting of this quote sheet, in its entirety, or any other use of this material which is not a fair use as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the Denver Broncos Football Club. On the defense “They’re certainly playing well so far this preseason, and they’re looking to improve as well. They have high expectations and they had like zero passing yards in the first half. I don’t know if I’ve seen that in quite some time, so I think they have high expectations, but they want to get better as well, which I think our offense can feed off of them. Those guys were making some plays tonight, and they’ve been making a lot of plays in training camp as well. It’s been good for us going against them throughout training camp. Going against the linebackers, our guys up front trying to block their front and trying to go up against their secondaries—it’s been a good test. I think that will make us better as well throughout the season.”

BRONCOS RUNNING BACK C.J. ANDERSON

On getting around the quarterback “Peyton [Manning] is 6’5’ and Brock [Osweiler] is 6’8, they’re tough to get around. Usually we get better at seeing it. It is something we’ll get better on and find the answers for.”

On a making a couple of long runs “Reading my keys, making my keys and making the right cut. The o‐line did a great job. Being decisive and get my pads down. It felt good to get out there, move a little and break a couple of tackles and get back to myself to get ready for Week 1.”

On the biggest improvement the offense needs to make to be ready for Week 1 “We just need to score. We’re doing everything we want to do, but in Houston we had four possessions and zero points. Today we had possessions and are moving the ball, but had a turnover here, penalty there. We’re just killing ourselves. It’s not like the defense is beating us. We’re beating ourselves up. It’s something we need to work on.”

On the frustration of not finishing drives “Super frustrating. You go out there and you put a good drive together and you move the ball well, and we're just not finishing, That's just something we've got to go work on. We'll go back and look at the tape, we'll get better and we'll definitely be finishing Week 1. I can promise you that.”

On whether he's seeing improvement in the offensive line “Every day. They're working every day, and you can see it. The holes are just ‐‐ they're looking like college, to be honest. The holes are tremendous. There are some plays that they're going to lose because they get paid on the other side of the ball, too, but we're working really hard and we're happy and proud about it, and we're just going to keep grinding on it.”

On whether the offense will click when WR Emmanuel Sanders gets back “I believe so. I think when Emmanuel gets back, he's just another playmaker and another weapon in our offense. I think when he gets back, it opens up the run game more, and then I also believe his catching ability and his speed helps take the top off the defense tremendously. It will be great when he's back.”

BRONCOS TIGHT END OWEN DANIELS

On the low‐scoring offensive game “We wanted more points than we scored. We put some good drives and a decent amount of yards but the game is about scoring points. We’ve got to clean some things up, down in the red zone obviously, but we feel good about moving the ball. So we’ll continue to work these next two weeks and get everything ready to go.”

On offense’s timing “I don’t think there is a lot of concern. We’ve got to make good use of our time the next couple weeks. I think people are used to seeing a lot more points on this offense. But I don’t think there’s need to hit the panic button. We’re getting yards and we had a lot better day in third down situations. That’s an improvement from last week and we just have to get ready for Week 1.”

On mistakes on offensive side of the ball “You're supposed to catch everything and the ball is supposed to be perfect every time, but in reality, we know that's not going to happen. It's football. People make good plays, but we'll get it down. That's why we're here. We're professionals. We're here to make plays, so we'll get it down.”

On whether the mistakes were a miscommunication “We communicate during the play. Since we huddle up now, in the huddle, 'What did you see on this,' or, 'We should have done this.’ We'll get it down.”

BRONCOS INSIDE LINEBACKER BRANDON MARSHALL

On if the players enjoy playing in the new style of defense “It's a blast out there. [Defensive Coordinator] Wade [Phillips] is doing a great job. We've got great players on defense, great scheme, great defensive coordinator, so everything's working in my favor right now.”

On how he prepares for the first regular‐season game in two weeks “Just study, relax, get my body right for the first game and I think we'll be good.”

On what the defense hopes to improve on “There are little things we can improve on. We let [49ers QB Colin] Kaepernick get 50 yards rushing and that's something that we want to limit during the season with those rushing quarterbacks and the [Seahawks QB] Russell Wilson's of the world. We gave up a couple runs and stuff like that. Overall, I think we've done a hell of a job. We just have to work on the little things.”

On if the defense has focused specifically on not allowing touchdowns in the preseason “We haven't. We're just focused on having fun and playing the defense and going out there and executing. We haven't really focused on not giving up a touchdown. Those are the facts, and we haven't, which is a testament to the hard work that we've put in.”

BRONCOS OUTSIDE LINEBACKER VON MILLER

On how the defense is able to translate practice to games easily “We just go out there and we play. I don’t know if there’s a secret to it. I enjoy going to practice with all of those guys, I’m sure that they feel the same way and the game is magnified by 100. I think that it’s just a representation of what type of [Head] Coach (Gary Kubiak) we have, first off, and our Defensive Coordinator (Wade Phillips). It’s easy to go to work when you have a guy like that. It’s all about football; it’s all about being great and staying in the moment. It’s easy to come to work and go to work with a guy like Wade Phillips.”

On OLB DeMarcus Ware’s safety “That’s what it’s all about. To be a great defense, you have to make great plays and that was a great play by DeMarcus. During the regular season, we have to get a whole bunch of those. That’s where our mindset is. Preseason, it’s been good, we got a lot of work in and still have another game next week, but we’ll be ready to go for the regular season.”

On how good the defensive unit can be this season “I don’t know. We have a good defensive coordinator in Coach Phillips. He’s first class. I think our play is just a representation of the kind of guy that he is. I enjoy going to work and being around him all the time.”

On the difference between the third and fourth quarter “I think the difference between the third and fourth quarter is just getting in a rhythm. Coming in cold in the third quarter, it takes a little bit to get your juices flowing and what not. Once we did that, I think we did some good things. But, really the offensively line played lights out tonight. They did some really good things for us pass protection [and the] run game. The (running) backs did a great job, especially on check downs. I think I hit the backs a couple times. Obviously the receivers made plays when they needed to. We did some really, really good things tonight, but obviously there are some things we need to clean up and we will before Baltimore.”

On feeling more comfortable in the offensive scheme “It’s not necessarily the scheme; I don’t want to compare the schemes. The one thing I do know about [Head] coach [Gary] Kubiak’s offense is I really like it. I’m getting more and more comfortable each time we go out on the field and play with this system. I think the biggest thing tonight is that it was our third preseason game, a little more comfortable and more game reps. We did some good things tonight.”

On the importance of playing in preseason “To me, it doesn’t matter whether it is regular season or preseason. I treat everything the same exact way. Any time you can get game reps, there is nothing better for you as a quarterback. I just keep getting more and more.”

On feeling better with his running ability “I do like the keepers that we do in this offense. It keeps defenses honest and it’s a great compliment to our run game. I think coach did a great job calling plays tonight, and we got into a good flow.”

On the running game having a good night “The offensive line did a tremendous job tonight, especially when we needed them. Third and short, that final drive to march down the field, they all did a great job. My hat off to those guys; those guys really carried that offense in the second half.”

On the significance of scoring a touchdown at the end of the game “It’s huge. Any time offensively you can get into the end zone, it’s big. That’s what we’re coming out here to do is score as many points as possible. To finish a drive in the end zone, that’s our goal every time.”

On the emotion he showed on the final scoring drive “A win’s a win and they’re hard to come by in the National Football League. That’s one thing that I’ve learned. Like I just told the rest of the guys, whether it’s preseason or regular season, I treat every game the same. I just couldn’t be more happy with this group to go out there tonight and find a way to get the win. Heck yeah I was excited. It’s a big deal to get the win at home.”

On the growth he has seen in the team through the preseason “I think that the biggest thing is whenever we’re making mistakes in games, we go in the next day, we learn from them and we’re not repeating them. I think that’s the biggest thing as an offense. No one is perfect. You’re going to go out there, you’re going to make mistakes, but the key is, do you learn from them and if you do, do you repeat them? We’re not doing that right now. We’re cleaning things up and we’re getting better each week.”

On his excitement to start again on Thursday “I can’t wait for Thursday night. It’s another great opportunity to go out there and play football here in Denver. Any time that you can do that, it’s exciting. [I’m] very excited for Thursday night, but we need to start with tomorrow as far as cleaning up this game. There are some mistakes that we made, and we’ll clean those up and get ready for Arizona.”

On getting more comfortable “I think I'm just becoming more comfortable. With each week that has gone by, I've gotten better with my technique, I've gotten better with what my coach says that I need to work on and I'm slowly, but surely, incorporating that into my game plan and how I play. I think today, I was just able to show some more steps that I've been taking. It's a continuous process, I want to continue what I've been doing and just be better than I was before.”

On how the big plays by OLBs Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware gave him energy “The energy that those two bring just shows why they're such great pros. As a young guy, I see that and instantly it tells me that I need to raise my energy level. It's very invigorating and I love to come out and compete. That's one thing that I always look to. Being a competitor and seeing what they do, I want to be on that level. Like, Shane, you have got to go, you got to make these plays and you have got to do what the great ones do if you want to be remembered. I want to make my name worth something. It's just a day‐by‐day process.”

On the end of the preseason “The preseason is coming to an end and this was the last time, we realized, that we'll have 90 guys on this roster. The core of the team is really about to form. We have to be prepared this season and everybody has to be at their best level to compete against everybody and to get to our goal, which is, obviously, we want to win a Super Bowl. We have to keep working.”

BRONCOS WIDE RECEIVER JORDAN TAYLOR

On the third preseason game being a big deal “There's been pressure all camp, every preseason game – especially for a free‐agent rookie. But coming in tonight, you can't put any more pressure on you; you've just got to go out and play confident and know you know your stuff, and just go out and try to do what the team needs you to do. I didn't try to put any extra pressure on myself; I just tried to relax and go out there and play.”

On the confidence he played with and where it came from “I think it was just all the preseason leading to this. Obviously we practiced against San Francisco all week, but they threw a bunch of looks at us during the game that we didn't see in practice, so really it was just getting in a groove and on point with the offense and having to spend a long time doing that. It's been a process.”

BRONCOS INSIDE LINEBACKER DANNY TREVATHAN

On if he played with the same intensity he played with before his injury “I feel like I did, but I wish I had had a little bit more intensity playing a little longer. But it's preseason, just to get that little juice flowing and get that little contact out the way, it felt good for me to get ready to go into the regular season.”

On how he enjoys playing in this style of defense “This is linebacker heaven. This is defensive heaven right here. This is the defense you want to play in when you don't want to think. You want to have fun and you want to go out there and knock some heads, get loud and get the crowd pumped. This is the type of defense you want to be in right here.”

On if Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips simplified the defense “He's just an old‐school coach and he kicked it to us real. He told us to just go out there and play ball. Don't worry about anything. Just play ball, know what you're doing, be fundamentally sound and just play ball. It's going to work out for good. We have the pieces to the defense. For us to go out there and showcase this, it's just showing that we're working towards our goal to be the best defense in the league.”

On the defensive performance “Actually, when you sort of think about it, defenses win championships. That's what we're trying to do, is be consistent and not just playing six games like we did last year well. We're trying to play well throughout the whole season because that's what it's going to take.”

On if the defense can keep things close if the offense struggles “I wouldn't say keep things close. I'd say we just have to stay consistent. The offense is going to do what they need to do and they're going to put more points on the board during the season, but we have to do what we do. We have to keep the other offenses scoring low points.”

On how he feels about the defense heading into the regular season “I feel good about the defense with the way that we've been playing the last few games, but we have to go in now, critique ourselves and how can get better for the first game against Baltimore.”

49ERS HEAD COACH JIM TOMSULA

On injuries from tonight’s game “Update on the injuries—[DT] Quinton Dial was cramping and took an IV. [CB] Dontae Johnson got the wind knocked out of him. [S] L.J. McCray got a little banged up, but he went back in.”

Opening Statement “Today, what probably bother me the most were the 12 penalties. We have to get that under control, and that is on us. On that last drive, we get a hands to the face call, an offsides call and then a pass interference that lead to seven points. Then offensively, we start with a first‐and‐15 and on the kick return we push ourselves from the 11 to the six. We have to get that cleaned up.”

On offensive line struggles “O‐line wise, we have a little bit of a struggle up front, but things will become more clear in the next couple days. I’m not going to coach the guys in the paper. Obviously I will handle these things in the next day or two.”

On the first team struggles “Obviously we wanted to get right out the shoot. We were working a set of plays with [QB] Kap’s [Colin Kaepernick] group. We wanted to get a nice drive put together and we didn’t do that. I have great confidence in the group. I like the running game that we have right now.”

On LB NaVorro Bowman playing entire first half ”I just wanted to read him out there and he was just having a blast so we kept him out there. I had him playing around 10 snaps, but he had a great look in his eyes. It was good for him.

On interior pass rush “It was good plays by us and we were able to win the man‐on‐man battles. I was happy with what we were doing.”

On CB Kenneth Acker “He did pretty well [Acker]. Kenneth is talented and young, so you have talented and young. With young guys there is a certain road you are going to travel. In the NFL, when you hit the ground with the ball it doesn’t mean that you are down.”

On trying to go heavy on the run game “We would have done that early on in the game. We were absolutely trying to evaluate.”

On RB Jarryd Hayne “Well Jarryd obviously has himself in the conversation. I don’t want to sit here and make statements, but Jarryd has himself in the conversation. Special teams value is very high when you are talking about the last few spots on the team.”

On third wide receiver battle “I thought we had a couple of guys that did some decent things.”

49ERS LINEBACKER NAVARRO BOWMAN

On taking more reps as the season opener approaches “I’m going to have to in about two weeks. So, I just wanted to see if the knee could stay loose and stay ready. I did a couple three and outs and [played a few] different series, and it responded well.”

On improving blitzing techniques moving forward “I leave that up to the coaches. I just out there executing the plays that are called. I’m just trying to help my team win. It’s not anything I’m suggesting or anything like that. When my number is called, I have to go make a play.“

On not wearing his knee brace during the game “I took that chance and I felt great. I’ve been practicing without it. I just want to keep crossing those hurdles and keep taking the next step. It was fun.”

49ERS RUNNING BACK JARRYD HAYNE

On whether he was happy with his performance “I think it was alright. I got fewer reps (than in the previous two games). I just have to keep trying to get better.”

On whether he was flattered that the Broncos seemed to be kicking the ball away from him in the return game “Not really. I think it was just part of the strategy. That’s what preseason is about, working on strategy.”

On whether it was frustrating not getting much playing time “No because we knew it was coming. It’s part of the situation at the moment. That’s one of those things that when you get an opportunity, you try to make it count.”

49ERS QUARTERBACK COLIN KAEPERNICK

On what the Broncos defense was doing to disrupt the offense “They had the right coverage call for what we had up. It was something where we kind of got stuck, our running back got hung up and we didn’t get a chance to move the ball.”

On whether he is concerned with the offensive line “There’s not any concern on this team. That’s what the preseason is for, is to work those things out and see who we have in different positions. So, that’s what we’re doing and we’re working to make sure we’re ready for the regular season.”

On making plays in the open field “It always feels good to be in the open field; I feel like that’s where I have ability to make some plays. That was an example of our offensive line doing a great job to open up the rushing lane for me. They pushed protection, or the rush, wide which allowed me to step up. That’s why those plays were able to be made.”

On making his first start “I definitely had to calm my nerves since I was making my first start at this level. I just had to get calmed down and get my feet under me.”

On how important it was to get all those first team snaps all week against the Broncos starters “It was great. It was great for all of us and it was great for me going against that defense and a great front seven. You really learn from your mistakes and try to make positive plays. This whole week was tremendous.”

On whether he thinks he did enough to win a starting job. “It’s not up to me. There’s still plenty of competition going on and (the coaches) are still trying to find out which combination works best. I’m doing the best I can to try to win a job.”