Five Observations: Aug. 10 Practice

Jamal Williams and Robert Ayers share a fist-pound before practice Tuesday. With Elvis Dumervil out indefinitely after Tuesday's surgery, the Broncos need Williams' gap-clogging, blocker-occupying presence more than ever. (PHOTO: MAXDENVER.COM)

1. At times last week, the Broncos didn’t have a pure nose tackle to use in practice, with Jamal Williams on the physically-unable-to-perform list and Ronald Fields and Chris Baker both nursing injuries. Tuesday’s practice marked the first time the Broncos had all three of their nose tackles available in training camp. Predictably, Williams was the strongest of the trio; on multiple occasions he freed inside linebackers Wesley Woodyard and Akin Ayodele to stuff run plays.

“Oh, man, that’s a big help,” Woodyard said. “We’ve got other guys that have great motors, but Jamal is a big key up there.”

2. D.J. Williams and Brian Dawkins both wore the orange no-contact jerseys, but Dawkins was the considerably more active of the two, taking part throughout the team periods of practice while Williams was on the sideline. Williams, who was on the field for the first time since Aug. 1, also didn’t take part in post-practice windspirints.

With Williams limited in his work, Ayodele and Woodyard continued to receive the bulk of the first-team work at inside linebacker, while Mario Haggan continued his work at left outside linebacker.

3. While Demaryius Thomas sat out with a left foot injury, the big-play void was filled by Matthew Willis and Brandon Stokley. Willis grabbed a deep pass up the left sideline from Tim Tebow, beating rookies Perrish Cox and Cassius Vaughn, while Stokley propelled the first-team offense to victory in a two-minute period, accounting for all 50 yards on a drive with a pair of catches, including a 31-yard touchdown from Kyle Orton.

4. None of the Broncos’ three experienced running backs practiced Tuesday, as Knowhon Moreno, Correll Buckhalter and LenDale White all sat out. Lance Ball and Bruce Hall continued to work as the top two backs, and both had their moments; Ball is at his best catching passes out of the backfield, while Hall did a nice job on one run reading the line and cutting right behind a Zane Beadles block after all lanes were closed to the left.

Reinforcements are apparently on the way; multiple reports — including the Twitter feed of Raiders running back Michael Bush — have the Broncos signing ex-Oakland back Justin Fargas, pending a physical. The Broncos know well the best of the ex-Raider’s game; two of his five career 100-yard days came at their expense, including Fargas’s most recent 100-yard day, a 107-yard effort at Invesco Field in 2008.

5. It’s easy to notice how a tight end fares in the passing game, and more difficult to see how he does blocking. And while tight end Richard Quinn struggled with drops earlier in training camp, he’s become a more reliable target in recent days and turned in some solid run-blocking work during a nine-on-seven period, taking out Robert Ayers on one play and delivering the day’s hardest hit with a thumping block that pushed another linebacker two yards back.

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