McDaniels give Broncos rest of week off

ENGLEWOOD – Josh McDaniels works his players pretty hard, but eased way off this week.

The Denver Broncos players had some quick film study Wednesday morning, then they were given the rest of the bye week off.

“They’re gone,” McDaniels said at his press conference early this afternoon.

Previous coach Mike Shanahan usually had an easy week for his players over the bye, but usually with at least one quick practice. The Broncos are 6-0, which was probably one reason for the light week. McDaniels wants his players to be fresh for the rest of the season.

“I didn’t feel like it was in our best interest to go out there and do a lot of practice this week, and we didn’t,” McDaniels said.

The coaches will do some self-evaluation to make sure they haven’t been predictable, then they’ll get some days off at the end of the week.

There are some things for the Broncos to work on. McDaniels said he wanted the team to start games better, get better in short yardage and he wasn’t happy the special teams allowed a punt return for a touchdown Monday. But that will wait until after the bye.

“We have a lot of little things we’d like to do better, and some big things,” McDaniels said.

McDaniels also reiterated that he isn’t satisfied with a 6-0 start, although it has given the Broncos a three-and-a-half game lead in the AFC West.

“It’s just a good start,” McDaniels said. “We don’t have any accomplishments yet.”