Broncos rookie RB Moreno injures leg
Knowshon Moreno looked pretty good in his first NFL game, until he limped towards the locker room with a leg injury.
The Broncos rookie, who was the 12th overall pick of the draft, showed a good burst up the middle when he picked up 9 yards on his first carry Friday at San Francisco. He didn’t play until the second quarter.
Moreno hurt himself sometime in the second quarter while picking up 18 yards on three carries. He didn’t play in the second half. Moreno held out the first week of training camp, finally signing a week ago.
The whole sink
Broncos coach Josh McDaniels is taking the preseason seriously. His starters — aside from cornerback Champ Bailey and center Casey Wiegmann, who came out early in the second quarter — played the entire first half.
McDaniels also used a lot of his playbook, even though many coaches keep it simple in the early preseason games. In Denver’s first drive alone they used empty backfield looks with both running backs split wide, a split-back set, four-receiver sets and a jumbo package with tight ends Daniel Graham and Richard Quinn among their formations.
Odds and ends
The captains in the preseason opener were Bailey, linebackers D.J. Williams and Mario Haggan, defensive end Kenny Peterson, guard Ben Hamilton and Graham. … Cornerback Alphonso Smith replaced Bailey with the starters in the first half. Smith had a good night returning punts and kickoffs as well, with a 27-yard kickoff return and a 27-yard punt return in the first half.
