Broncos report: Dumervil, Manuel need hand surgery

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 22, 2008 at 8:47 p.m.

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Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler gets hit by the Packers Aaron Kampman in the first quarter Friday.

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The Broncos came away from Friday night's preseason loss to the Packers with a few more players sporting a few more bandages and now are faced with the prospect of hoping two defensive starters can be ready for the regular-season opener in Oakland.

Safety Marquand Manuel and defensive end Elvis Dumervil are scheduled to have surgery this morning. Manuel fractured his right thumb playing special teams in the second half while Dumervil dislocated and fractured a finger on his right hand in the first half.

"Man, I'm fine. It's one of those freak things that happen," Manuel said. "I was trying to make a block on kickoff return and the guy spun away from me, and rotated this way and fell. It was a freak accident.

"I just told them to snap it into place. It didn't hurt. It was one of those things where you know you broke it, but I was fine."

Dumervil said there was "no way" he would miss the Sept. 8 game in Oakland.

For both players, the determining factor for playing against the Raiders will be if the surgical incisions are healed enough to allow them to play. If so, the injured areas can be protected and the two would be on the field against the Raiders.

Backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey suffered an injured right arm - he had several scrapes near his elbow - after taking a big hit and was having difficulty gripping the ball.

"I think, right now, I'm going to be fine," Ramsey said. "I just couldn't hang onto the ball, grip it, to throw like I would have needed to. If it doesn't get any worse I should be OK, or at least I feel that way right now."

Ramsey will be evaluated more today.

Defensive end Paul Carrington also left the game with a calf injury and was wearing a wrap on his leg as he left the stadium.

Making strides

At one point, Domonique Foxworth appeared to be running away in his battle with Karl Paymah for the starting nickel-back job.

But Paymah has come on of late, perhaps turning the corner during the joint workouts with the Dallas Cowboys, and was in three-cornerback sets extensively Friday with the first unit instead of Foxworth.

"It's about what you can do now. And it's not always the best player that plays, it's who's playing the best," said Paymah, adding he felt "flat" Friday. "We're both talented. And they're going to go with whoever's quickest and strongest. That's what we've got to realize."

Paymah admitted he started camp slowly, adapting to the new defensive scheme but has been more comfortable in recent weeks.

"It's more mental," he said. "We've got new stuff we have to pick up real quick. But once you get into the swing of things and start to learn the defense, then you're just out there reacting and being an athlete and everything slows down."

Not the Marshall plan

The 49-yard TD reception by Brandon Marshall in the second quarter came after batting the ball twice in the air, then gathering it in with his right hand.

"When you make plays like that you don't really even know what's going on. You kind of black out a little bit," he said. "The only thing going through my head was, 'Catch the ball. Catch the ball. Get in the end zone.' "

Marshall was in single press coverage with Packers cornerback Tramon Williams in the first quarter, but quarterback Jay Cutler didn't look the receiver's way. But Marshall drew a 31-yard interference penalty on the snap preceding his score.

"We didn't miss it the second time," he said.

Wait and see on Nalen

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan characterized center Tom Nalen's surgery on his left knee this past week "a success."

"(He had) loose bodies in there, they cleaned it out," Shanahan said. "They felt very positive with the clean out. We'll just have to wait and see how long it takes."

We're gelling

One of the more surprising statistics in three preseason games is that the first-team offensive line didn't allow a sack, since no lineman finished last season in the position he's currently playing.

"Having a mobile quarterback definitely helps," right tackle Ryan Harris said. "But we definitely take the positives out of it."

Numbers game

9points accounted for by former University of Colorado kicker Mason Crosby. The second-year Packers kicker connected on field goals of 44 and 46 yards and converted all three of his extra- point attempts.

Etc.

* Rosters league-wide have to be to 75 players by Tuesday, so the Broncos will have to release five players to get under that mark. Team officials will discuss the roster moves in-house this weekend and Monday morning are expected to inform the players who will be released. Rosters then have to be to 53 players for the regular season by Saturday, Aug. 30.

* Matt Prater finally made his first field goal, a 40-yard attempt to cap Denver's 12-play, opening drive. The Broncos kicker had made three attempts in both of Denver's previous preseason games. But on both occasions he'd misfired on his opening try - a 30-yarder wide right at Houston and a 49-yarder vs. Dallas that sailed wide left.

* In perhaps his final audition for the starting middle linebacker job, Nate Webster had three tackles, including one for loss, in two quarters. He didn't play in nickel sets. "I think I did good, but there's always room to get better," said Webster, who's in competition with Niko Koutouvides. "I missed a couple tackles. I'm tough on myself. As a defense, that's one area we could improve on is tackling. We left a couple tackles out there that should have been made."

* The Broncos held out linebacker Boss Bailey (right ankle), tight end Daniel Graham (hamstring) and running back Anthony Alridge (hamstring) because of injuries.

• August 23, 2008

  10:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  myerda00 writes:

  Injuries will kill every team. NFL will have to look at only having 80 (90 before) players available for pre-season because of so many injuries league-wide.
  Dumervil and Manuel are defensive keys so keep your fingers crossed.
  OL looked really good again. Tape shows that Kuper and Wiegmann graded out great. Backups did OK. Holland is a question.
  Defense played vanilla, I did not see one LB blitz. Nate Webster was OK but missed tackles and was out of position on too many plays.
  WR's are set with Marshall, Royal, Stokley. Who are the other two? IMO they keep four TE's. Graham, Jackson, Scheffler, and Leach (LS), unless someone else can long snap.
  To get to the 53 man squad will be tough.

• August 23, 2008

  4:12 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  smuchris writes:

  I had to read this a few times to understand. It was written very poorly.

  "Matt Prater finally made his first field goal, a 40-yard attempt to cap Denver's 12-play, opening drive. The Broncos kicker had made three attempts in both of Denver's previous preseason games. But on both occasions he'd misfired on his opening try - a 30-yarder wide right at Houston and a 49-yarder vs. Dallas that sailed wide left."

  Jeff, you might want to say Matt Prater finally made his first FG on his "first attempt of the game". I am assuming that is what you meant. Bronco fans are already panicking about losing Elam. Prater is having a good preseason. Give him some due respect and alleviate some worries.

• August 23, 2008

  9:07 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Dynamicdave writes:

  myerda00, I think Denver will cut a couple of WR's. WR Parker has been quiet, so he may not make the squad. I think you are correct about the tight ends. They all have value. However, they would probably cut TE Brett Pierce. They will probably cut a couple of defensive players. Maybe DE Wally Dada. T Larry Birdine? Of course, this is all pure speculation on my part, as I don't know what goes on in the coaches decision making. It's just we don't see them in the starting line-up. That's usually a bad sign.

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