Coach says Broncos will practice outdoors in any conditions

ENGLEWOOD – In recent years, when weather turned poor, the Denver Broncos drove about a mile down the street to an indoor facility for practice.

The Broncos won’t need that indoor bubble anymore. Coach Josh McDaniels had his team practice outside Thursday despite wet conditions and cold temperatures, and said no matter how bad the weather gets, his team will be outside for practice.

“If we play in it, I hope we practice it,” McDaniels said. “If it’s wet, damp, raining, snowing, whatever, we’re going to be outside.”

Sunday’s forecast from the Weather Channel calls for rain and snow showers with a high temperature of 47 degrees. McDaniels said he thinks having a warm, dry practice isn’t conducive to being prepared for Sunday’s game.

“We’ve got to get ready to play in it,” McDaniels said. “You can’t tell guys we’re going to practice inside in a bubble all week and then when we go out play in the snow on Sunday make sure you do all the things you’re supposed to do when the weather is bad: stay on your feet, field the ball, throw it in the wet and all that. You’ve got to practice that.”

McDaniels said players need to practice cutting on a wet field, throwing a wet ball, and also need a chance to practice special teams outside in poor conditions. A major reason former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan wanted to practice inside is he thought practice would be sloppy in bad weather, but McDaniels isn’t concerned with that.

“I don’t think it’s going to deteriorate practice just because we’re throwing in the rain today,” McDaniels said.

Quarterback Kyle Orton grew up in Iowa, went to college at Purdue in Indiana and played his first few NFL years in Chicago, so he is used to playing in poor conditions.

“I have played in it numerous times,” Orton said. “I don’t mind playing in bad-weather games. We will play in anything that comes.”