Kubiak's Corner: Sambrailo has earned the right to start

The Broncos are back to work after their Week 7 bye and are shifting their focus to prepare for the 6-0 Green Bay Packers.

Multiple players returned to the practice field from injury in hoping they can go for this primetime matchup of undefeated teams. Ty Sambrailo and DeMarcus Ware practiced today in their first step of making it back onto the field.

“Everybody is on the field going at it today full speed,” Kubiak said of his offensive line. “Everybody is back. Everybody took the full practice and Ty is full speed, so a big test coming for him this week when we put the pads on our normal Thursday. We’re pretty much full speed back to work today.” Ware returning this week would be timely for Denver as fellow linebacker Shane Ray recovers from a sprained MCL injury. 

Ryan Harris has filled in well for the injured Sambrailo, but according to Gary Kubiak  the rookie out of Colorado State will get his job back as soon as his ready and Harris will likely swing back to right tackle.

“I think if Ty is ready to go, he is our starter. I think he’s earned that right to do that,” Kubiak explained. “Now whether he would be ready to go back and play a bunch of plays, that’s something we’ll have to determine as we look throughout the course of the week. It’s a big week of practice for him.”

As for Ware, Kubiak told us that he looks back to the same DeMarcus we saw for the first five weeks when he led the team in sacks (4.5).

“He looked good,” said Kubiak. “I watched him specifically in individual drills today. He looked like his old self moving around. I know the extra time this week will do him so good. It was good to have him back.”

With plenty of rest during the bye week, Kubiak expects quarterback Peyton Manning will practice more than he usually would for a Wednesday as he typically gets that day off for rest.

The Packers look like the cream of the crop in the NFC and look to be a daunting test for this team. Kubiak knows how important preparation is this week.

“We have a lot of work to do to prepare for them,” the Broncos head coach said. “Today was just about getting back to work. We had good energy today, we competed against each other today and we’re going to move on to Green Bay on Wednesday.

“We know what we’re facing. I don’t have any doubt that we’ll be ready to play emotionally with the type of game that we’re in, but we need to make sure that we keep doing the work to play, too,” Kubiak continued. “That’s the most important thing.”