Van Pelt’s work far from done

[PatsWin2002]

Publish Date: 9/1/2005
Van Pelt’s work far from done
Second-year QB gets starting call on Friday

By Pat Graham
The Daily Times-Call

ENGLEWOOD — The moment the football left Bradlee Van Pelt’s hand, he knew it was short.

The Denver Broncos’ backup quarterback knew he didn’t lead tight end Wesley Duke enough on a deep route and Duke had to slow down to catch the football.

Van Pelt slapped his hands together in disgust, and motioned Duke back to the line of scrimmage.

“Let’s try that again,” Van Pelt said.

Bending down on one knee, Duke shook his head no. He was too exhausted.

“I can’t run anymore,” Duke said. “I’m going to go in.”

Van Pelt looked around for another receiver. However, being that practice had ended 25 minutes prior, there was none in sight. So Van Pelt worked on his footwork a little bit, asked a ball

boy to run some routes and then trotted off the field.

Truth is, Van Pelt would stay out there all day if you let him. That’s what anxiety will do for you.

Since being anointed as quarterback Jake Plummer’s backup, Van Pelt has doubled his work rate, which is quite remarkable being that it was already at a high level.

“That’s Bradlee,” former Colorado State teammate and current Denver fullback Cecil Sapp said. “He always feels like he can do more.”

Fear drives him. He’s not sure he’s ready to be a backup in this league. There’s still so much to learn, and so little time. He’ll receive a baptism by fire Friday as he takes a majority of the snaps against Arizona.

“I’ll be nervous for a little while,” said Van Pelt, who threw for 6,165 yards and 37 touchdowns in 38 games for the Rams. “It’s a fact of life; I have to accept it and realize it’s something I’ve got to work through. I’m not totally comfortable out there yet.”

The Broncos have faith in him. That’s why they cut Plummer’s longtime understudy Danny Kanell earlier this week. Van Pelt felt bad that his break came at a friend’s expense.

“You feel sorry, but you can’t get too caught up in that because for me it’s an opportunity that I have to take and run with,” Van Pelt said. “I’ve got to make the most of this.”

Van Pelt is Van Pelt’s toughest critic. Every little mistake he makes eats at him. When he sees imperfections as he watches game film with coaches and fellow quarterbacks, he’ll grimace.

“It’s hard to watch film because it’s like, ‘I’m better than that. What’s limiting me?’" Van Pelt said.

That’s a rhetorical question because he knows the answer — himself. There’s a learning curve in the quarterback business, and there are no shortcuts.

“I have patience and I am being patient, but it’s hard,” Van Pelt said. “I just want to go out there and be the best I can be.”

Being the best he can be won’t be easy to attain for Van Pelt. He’s got high expectations in himself. After all three preseason games, Van Pelt was asked to critique himself. He kept giving himself lower and lower grades.

The whole thing (there's quite a bit more):
http://www.longmontfyi.com/sports-story.asp?id=3437

[ludo21]

Awesome!! i cant wait to see BVP live on Friday, should be a fun game to see how he plays starting out. Thansk for the article patswin!!

[Sodak]

This guy is the anti-MoC. He understands what it takes to succeed.

[2KBack]

I know he is being hyped a lot right now, so I'm reserving long term judgement, but the more I read about this kid, the more I like him. He has all the physical tools, if he adopts this kind of work ethic for his career, he may not be Mr. Irrelevant too long.

[bloodsunday]

Originally Posted by 2KBack

I know he is being hyped a lot right now, so I'm reserving long term judgement, but the more I read about this kid, the more I like him. He has all the physical tools, if he adopts this kind of work ethic for his career, he may not be Mr. Irrelevant too long.

I think he has yet to prove he has one tool -- a consistently accurate arm. Outside of that, the only thing keeping him from being a starter in this league is experience. He has clearly embraced the game. Has has the physical tools (size, speed, and strength) and has a bunch of intangibles that coaches and players love (leadership, poise, a bit of ****.iness). But he has to prove he's no Jarious Jackson and complete passes at a much higher rate.

[2KBack]

Originally Posted by bloodsunday

I think he has yet to prove he has one tool -- a consistently accurate arm. Outside of that, the only thing keeping him from being a starter in this league is experience. He has clearly embraced the game. Has has the physical tools (size, speed, and strength) and has a bunch of intangibles that coaches and players love (leadership, poise, a bit of corkiness). But he has to prove he's no Jarious Jackson and complete passes at a much higher rate.

Yeah, his accuracy does leave something to be desired. I've always considered accuracy as a learned skill though, so as long as he realizes he needs to work at it, he should improve. I hope he continues to develop, he's almost tailor made for this offense.

[Kaylore]

Making the squad as the backup will be huge for Brad because he will get a ton of reps, work with team on the new gameplan each week, and acclimate to the possition. The change in performance from last year to this year still shocked me. He's a whole different player. He has a long ways to go but its nice to seem him making progress.

[DBroncos4life]

I still say he looks like Rob Johnson.

[Tom G]

Originally Posted by bloodsunday

I think he has yet to prove he has one tool -- a consistently accurate arm. Outside of that, the only thing keeping him from being a starter in this league is experience. He has clearly embraced the game. Has has the physical tools (size, speed, and strength) and has a bunch of intangibles that coaches and players love (leadership, poise, a bit of corkiness). But he has to prove he's no Jarious Jackson and complete passes at a much higher rate.

Well said.

I went out early to the Colt game to watch BVPs warmups to get a feel for his accuracy and arm strength. I was not impressed. Love his attitude and athleticism, but unless he develops accuracy, he will just be a tease like J. Jackson was.

Of course, just throwing a pretty pass does not a QB make. Freihauf was the best looking Bronco passer during the warm ups and he is now cut (PS maybe?). And one of my unfavorite Bronco QBs of all time, Steve Tensi, was the best looking warmup QB I ever saw.

Comments have been made that BVP has greatly improved his accuracy this past year, so maybe it's something that can be learned. Let's hope so, because he has a long way to go. But if he can increase his accuracy while understudying Jake, the Broncos may have themselves an NFL QB.

IF!!