Running back Chris Taylor is unlikely for Sunday's game with a deep thigh bruise.
After Thursday's practice, head coach Gary Kubiak provided injury updates on the team.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the secondary) "Will (Demps) did not practice again today, so that's a set back. I said to you all yesterday that I didn't want to get ahead of myself. I thought he might be ready to play. It looks like I am a little ahead of myself at this point, but we'll see tomorrow. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Right now, we're going to rotate those guys and Eugene (Wilson) is ready to play also."
(on how RB Ahman Green looks) "He's fine. He should be ready to go, unless something happens between today and tomorrow. He should be ready to go and he'll back up Steve (Slaton) and hopefully get some effective carries for us."
(on if he expects RB Chris Taylor to be active for the game) "As of today, it doesn't look good. He did not practice today either. He's got a serious thigh bruise that was drained and as of right now, it doesn't look very good."
(on LB DeMeco Ryans' injury) "Well, we don't have any doubt that he'll be ready to play. He took a little bit of stuff without his pads today. He'll practice a little bit more tomorrow. You're not going to keep him off the field. At least every body else has got the work if he can't go."
{QUOTE}(on working with noise with the first team defense) "Well, because it's almost just the opposite of what you normally do. When you play on the road, offensively you're always going to deal with noise. At home, you're defense deals with noise because you're crowd is gunned up on third downs and those types of things. So we worked them all day today with the noise on in the nickel situation so they can communicate in the no huddle and be ready to make their calls."
(on if they have practiced with noise with the defense before) "Yeah, we've done it in the past. You may not do it as much for other football teams, but because this one is on the line of scrimmage so much you're going to have to do it."
(on the snapping situation and if a field goal snap at Jacksonville was low) "Yeah, it was not a good snap. The hold that Matt (Turk) made and Kris (Brown) kicked with dead laces from 48 yards. Not many kickers will look that ball down the middle and say, 'I'm going to kick a 48-yard field goal here.' But our guy is tough-minded. He (Bryan Pittman) has struggled. He is the best one for us to have out there, but he has struggled sometimes in some field goal situations. He's been good during the week; he's worked hard. But obviously it needs to improve."
(on how much work RB Ahman Green will get in the game) "I don't know. 20 (Steve Slaton) is a hard guy to get off the field right now. We thought we were going to split time with him and Chris (Taylor), but he won't come off the field, and that's a good thing. So he'll do whatever he feels like he can handle, 20, and then Ahman (Green) will take the rest of it. Obviously, it will be good for our team if we can get him going."
(on if he named the captains today) "Captains? No, we only name one other every Friday. So, we have our five and then we name one other every Friday."
LB DeMeco Ryans
(on the snow ball effect when things go badly and guys don't do what they are supposed to) "I think guys are in position. Guys know their assignments. We are in the right position but it just comes to a point where playmakers have to step up and make big plays."
(on if making big plays would make a big difference) "Yeah, if we knock a few balls out, get the quarterback on the ground, it's a whole different story."
(on the emotion of playing at home) "It's great. To be back home, to be in front of your home town crowd, get that true home field advantage, we're definitely looking forward to it. Being on the road for three straight weeks is tough. When all you have is those guys there on the sideline with you, that's what we were going into battle with, that's all we had trying to cheer each other on. Especially for our defense, when we step out on the field, we definitely need our crowd to give Peyton a hard time so he can't communicate with his guys. That's going to be our 12th man out there; we definitely need it."
(on if the team acknowledges that they can help the city heal after the hurricane) "Yeah, we acknowledge that a lot. I talked to the guys about it. We need some wins to make everyone sort of feel good. When football is on, it kind of takes your mind away from what's going on with the hurricane and everything. It gives people kind of a vacation, a getaway. Just get back to football; it's a sense of getting back to normalcy. So, with that, with us being the home town team, and for us to go out and play ball on Sundays and win games, it's going to make everybody around town feel a lot better."
(on the heightened sense of urgency after dropping three in a row) "It's very urgent right now. We've dropped three in a row and it's definitely an urgent situation right now. It's something that we have to get done this week."
(on what comes to mind when he watches Colts QB Peyton Manning on film) "He's a big time playmaker, a big time quarterback. (Colts QB) Peyton (Manning), he's the face of the NFL. He's the guy you talk about when you talk about being the best quarterback in this league. He's the guy that's gotten it done for such a long time and continues to make things happen with his arm."
(on if Colts QB Peyton Manning seems any lesser of a quarterback after their 1-2 start) "He's still pretty accurate. You can't deny him that. He's still a good quarterback. He's still running the show, he controls the offense. I always say, he's like an offensive coordinator out there on the field. He reads his coverages and then he puts his guys and makes them run the right routes to beat the coverages that you're in."
(on if he can duplicate the formula they had when they beat the Colts two years ago) "We're going to try our best to duplicate what we did my first year here and see if that formula still works and come up with a win."
(on what it's going to take to win this game) "It just takes our guys to focus in and we have to believe and have faith in each other. Just step up and man up and play ball against these guys. Don't be passive; we have to be aggressive against these guys. Get our hands on the receivers. We have to tackle well against the running back. If we can get some hits on Peyton, that would be great. If we could shake him up, get some hits on him, put him on the ground. You see him on the ground a lot you know we're doing a good job."
(on how much that could affect Peyton if he can feel his presence) "It's going to affect him a lot, He hates getting hit. So if we can get back there and get Mario (Williams) and those guys to lay heavy on him, lay some hits on him, it's going to affect him a lot."
DT Jeff Zgonina
(on the coaches saying they are in position to make plays but they aren't being made) "Oh, yeah. We have to make plays. We are missing tackles and making mistakes. We just have to find a way to make those plays. It's snowballing the wrong way right now and we have to get it snowballing the right way."
(on if there is a specific reason why there are problems in the redzone) "Well, it's a shorter field first of all. If you make a mistake there, it can cost you points. So, it's more under a microscope."
(on how significant it would be to get pressure on Colts QB Peyton Manning) "Oh, yeah. If you just let him (Colts QB Peyton Manning) sit there and not disrupt him, he'll pick you apart. I don't care who is out there. Peyton, he's a heck of a quarterback and you have to keep him moving around dancing on his feet. You have to keep hitting so he knows the rush is coming so he gets rid of the ball faster."
(on why this team has not been able to get as much pressure on the quarterbacks as they'd like) "I don't know, to be honest with you. It's a big problem for us right now. We're trying a lot of different things. We're close. We just have to get there faster. Once again, when it starts happening it's going to happen in flurries. You know how that goes, you go through slumps and right now we're in a little slump."
(on if it is scheme, technique, mindset or bad luck) "I think it's everything. It's not like we're not trying. We're trying hard; we're getting a lot of good effort. The breaks haven't gone our way right now."
(on how much that wears on him) "Big time, because then we have to talk to you guys about it. I'd rather not talk about it. You hear the coaches harp about it. You want to have success when you go out there and right now we haven't found the success that we want."
(on if it's a different kind of mindset going against the Colts) "Yeah. We have to get our best pass rushers out there and in my mind I think I am one. But, let's look at it realistically: no I'm not. I like to play the run. So, we'll have our better pass rushers out there and try to go after (Colts QB) Peyton (Manning)."
