I then asked team G.M. Rick Smith isf that was a bead of nervous sweat I saw running down his forehead ...and he explained,"No ..that's what we all want .... we all want to get to the playoffs ....that's our goal."

Head coach Gary Kubiak welcomed quite a number of new faces to camp. First round pick Duane Brown ...who plays offensive tackle .... was immediately placed in the first team rotation. Other draft picks had mixed performances. Running back Steve Slaton ... is a speedster out of West Virginia ... who's expected to be a speedy 3rd down back ...but the first time he got open on a swing-pass play ..... he promptly dropped the ball. Slaton said afterwards,"Yeh ..I was just trying to get my feet wet a little. Hopefully that'll be my first and last drop of the year."

The team's other 3rd round pick .... cornerback Antwaun Molden out of Eastern Kentucky .... looked fast. I didn't see rookie safetiy Dominique Barber much .... but linebacker Xavier Adibi has a very muscular upper body and looks very mobile. he definately looks quicker ...to play the outside ... than 2nd year player Zac Diles. But Diles is ahead of him on the depth chart now. Adibi ..also by the way ...cramped up this morning with about 30 minutes left in practice ...but after getting fluids ...he was back on the field ...and finished. The other rookie draft pick is Frank Okam ...the big defensive tackle out of Texas. Okam ...is a load ... at 6-5, 320 ....but I have to tell you he looked like he was moving in quicksand compared to the other veteran defensive players.

As for the veterans ...Ahman Green ...looked very good as he comes back from his knee injury. Mario Williams was a demon going through D-Line drilis....... and Matt Schaub looked like okay as he comes back from his injury. Cornerback Dunta Robinson was jogging around the field ...but is still not expected to be able to play until around mid-season. New running back Chris Brown ...the former Titan ...looked big as he was hitting the line with his "upright" running style. And speaking of big ....kicker Kris Brown apparantly has been inspired punter Matt Turk. Turk is an incredible physical speciman ...he has muscles on muscles ...well Kris now has bigger biceps than I've ever seen him with.....I guess he didn't want to be "outgunned." 16 year veteran Jeff Zgonina still wins the prize for most muscles .....the big defensive lineman weighs 276 but it's mostly muscle tissue. All in all ....the team looks in great shape ....and Kubiak feels like the improved off-season conditioning will lead to fewer injuries once the season starts.
We all hope he's right.