Did you watch the Broncos?

COACH KELLY: Last night and this morning.

What did you think?

COACH KELLY: Outstanding performance.  Offensively very difficult when you see your quarterback playing at that level right now.  He's got a lot of weapons.  You got [Wes] Welker, [Demaryius] Thomas, [Eric] Decker, wherever you want to put them in.  Three really good running backs.

It's a tough challenge for us this week.

Have you ever seen anybody that goes against the blitz better than Peyton Manning does?

COACH KELLY:  No.  Probably him and [Tom] Brady are the two best I've ever seen.  We were fortunate we got a chance to practice against Tom here, see him a little bit in the preseason.  Now we get a chance to see Peyton up close and personal.  You're talking about two of the all‑time greats.  It will be a great challenge for us.

What's the process like during the week with you and your assistants…Do you share ideas on the fly?

COACH KELLY:  We met as a staff all day yesterday.  It was a unique situation.  The last game is usually on Sunday, but because of the Monday night game.  We had to wait to get the last game in.  We'd already broken down their other games, pre‑season games, their first two games.

Both sides of the ball, special teams met all day yesterday putting together a game plan.  We'll get some work today on the field, some openers, things like that.

The bulk of our practice will always be Wednesday and Thursday, just like it is on a typical NFL week.

You played three games in 11 days.  Now you've had three or four days off.  Was it good to get a break to evaluate?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, I mean, that's just the way the schedule laid itself out.  We knew it going in.  We had a plan going in what we were going to do.  We knew they needed a little bit of a break because you were playing three games in 11 days.  They were off over the weekend and on Monday, and back together today.

Not having to practice, did that give you more time?

COACH KELLY:  We had the same thing planned.  We were in all day Saturday as a staff.  Worked a little bit on Saturday.  Then Sunday off because there was nothing we could do.  We didn't have that final game in until Monday.  We were back in all day yesterday.

Just your typical evaluate, get ready for your next game. Have you found it's as much mental as physical when you play in a high-altitude area like Denver, with the pace you wish to play, does that make it any different for you than any other team?

COACH KELLY:  I think what makes a difference when you play at altitude is who you play against.  We played against the University of Colorado a couple years ago, it wasn't a big deal.  You play against the Broncos, it's a big deal.

It's an anaerobic sport.  It doesn't affect you the way you think.  We're not going there to run a marathon.  I think a lot of it is mental and it's not as big a deal as people make it out to be.

Their defense is playing pretty well.  What have you seen out of watching the film on Dominique Rodgers‑Cromartie, who was here last year but you chose not to re-sign?

COACH KELLY:  Doing a good job in covering.  Really close to receivers.  I think he gives them the ability to play some man coverage.  They're not a zero blitz, leave those guys out on islands.  There's always a free safety.  They have great help. He's done a great job of matching receivers and playing them in real tight man coverage.

In what ways do you think this offense is missing Jeremy Maclin?

COACH KELLY:  I don't really think of it that way.  He's not here.  [Joking] We're missing [Harold] Carmichael, too.  The guys that aren't here, we don't look at our things and say if this guy wasn't here, if that guy wasn't there. Jeremy hasn't been here since camp.  It is unfortunate, he's training his tail off every day.  I see him every day in here.

We never look at it if we had Jeremy Maclin, it's a different situation.  I don't think it's productive to think about it that way.  It's not going to change.  Mac isn't coming back till next year.

Outside of DeSean Jackson, the secondary targets, how do you think they're establishing themselves in the offense?

COACH KELLY:  I think they're doing a good job.  It just depends how people decide they want to play their plays and cover you.  I thought Riley [Cooper] made a huge catch for us in the red zone situation against the Chargers.  It really just depends how you're going to try to deploy yourself and match up to us.

Is there a way in your offense for there to be more chip blocking to help out certain tackles?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, we do that.  Watch the film, study it.  We do that.  Brent [Celek] is in there a lot chipping in some of our protections.  When Brent isn't a primary receiver, he's not the first guy down the field.  He's looking to chip on his way out.

Is that something you have to do to help out guys like Lane Johnson?

COACH KELLY: We've done that.  If you watch tape, you can take a look at it.

Are there situations where you prefer the opposing defense being in nickel coverage, is there a way for you to deploy Zach Ertz more?

COACH KELLY: Just depends who you're playing.  It's a philosophical question.  Some teams match you 100% of the time.  Such match by down and distance.  It really just depends who you're playing.

Will there be any different starters on your defense?

COACH KELLY:  Right now, no. Not that you don't want to score every time you get the ball, but do you take more chances, do you have to, when you know you're playing a team that's going to put a lot of points on the board like the Broncos?

COACH KELLY:  Do you take more chances?

Knowing you're going to have to score more than you normally would?

COACH KELLY:  We always consider who we're playing and what we're doing when we're making our decisions.  I think you're asking, 'Do you go for it on fourth down and some of those situations?'  You always have to factor in the opponent.

You also have to factor in your defense.  There's a lot of things that go into it.  I never look at it as a pure statistical thing.  The statistics say 62% of the time you're going to convert, so you got to go with that number.

It's where you're putting them, are you going to put that guy back out on the field?  I know [New England head coach Bill] Belichick had one a couple of years ago when he went for it on fourth down in his own territory because he didn't want to give the ball back to Peyton Manning.  Didn't get it.  His thought process was if he's going to punt it, he's going to march the field anyway.  I think sometimes you definitely have to take your opponent into consideration when you make those decisions.

A lot of the yards against you guys are underneath stuff so far.  Do you see the problem as more not getting off blocks and wrapping up tackles than it is coverage?

COACH KELLY:  I can't answer you in one answer.  I think you just can't do that.  You can't say it's this.  If it was just this, then we would work on that and fix that.

It's a combination.  We got people into third‑and‑long the other night, they threw a nice downfield screen.  On third‑and‑17 they made blocks and made a play.  Other times we're a step away, we're there, the ball is on the back shoulder instead of the front shoulder.  Great location pass by Alex [Smith].  We just miss tipping it.

It depends on the particular situation on that particular play to give you an answer.  You can't look at it and in one sentence say it was this.  If it was just this and one sentence was the answer, we would work on that and fix it.

How important is it to have a good pass‑rush on Manning?

COACH KELLY:  Not that important (smiling).  I mean, we actually didn't even think of that.

But the one thing with Peyton that you realize is that you can't just do one thing against him.  He's such a great mind at the quarterback position.  You may say this blitz beat him, but if you beat him the first time on the blitz, he's going to come back and beat you on the blitz.

You have to try to give him different looks.  But you have to make sure your disguise isn't a liability, that you're so far away from your work that you can't get to your work.

Yeah, we fooled him because he didn't see the blitz coming, but we're not close enough to the receiver to now be in coverage.  There's that cat‑and‑mouse game going on.  You're talking about playing against one of the all‑time greats.

Your quarterback has taken a lot of hits, do you think you need to keep more guys in more frequently?

COACH KELLY:  If you look at it, there's guys we had seven guys in protection and Mike [Vick] got sacked.  They run around our left tackle.  It depends, again, on each individual situation.  You can look at it, there's times where Lane [Johnson] gave up the sack, thought the guard was with him.  The guard wasn't with him on the inside.  There's not one answer that is the answer.

On everybody you can go back, on this particular play, if we had done this, that's great.  But you can't do that.  You can't go back.  Do we keep a tight end in protection, do we use seven‑man protection?  Yeah, we do use that.

Is Vick holding onto the ball for too long?

COACH KELLY: I just answered that question.  It depends on which one you're talking about.  There could have been a sack where Mike held the ball too long.  There could also be a sack on seven‑man protection and he thinks he is picked up and he gets hit at the top of his drop.

Do you see Vick holding onto the ball too long developing as a pattern?

COACH KELLY:  No, I don't see that as a pattern.  That's a good question.

How has Mike's overall decision making been on the read option plays?

COACH KELLY:  Good.

What is a good kind of percentage?  Obviously you want him to make the right decision 100% of the time.  Is there a level he'll get to later in the season as he does it more?

COACH KELLY: I don't know where you're going with that question.  I think Mike has done a really good job in our zone read game.

I know the one perception out there is we don't run as much zone-read as everybody thinks.  There are a lot of times where Mike is handing off the ball and carrying out a fake and people think it is a zone-read play.  It's just one play that's called.  He was supposed to give the ball 100% of the time and gave the ball 100% of the time. Every time Mike is in the shotgun and hands off doesn't mean it's a zone-read play.

Does there have to be an unblocked defender for it to be a zone-read play?

COACH KELLY:  Depends on how the defenses are played.  Sometimes there's never an unblocked defender because you only have five guys in the box.  We can block five‑on‑five.  That's not a zone-read play.  That's a give‑the‑ball situation, carry out a good fake and see if you can take somebody from the secondary out of the play.

How healthy are Patrick Chung, Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy?

COACH KELLY:  Vick and McCoy are fine.  They are 100%.  Pat won't practice today.  We'll see where he is.  Everybody is practicing except for Chung.

When you go back and look at Manning who has a long history on film, what Bill [Davis] does, how far back do you go?  Do you focus on teams that play similarly to you defensively or do you simply look at his most recent body of work?

COACH KELLY:  We've gotten just to the Broncos' tape.  It's a different system.  There's some carryover from the Colts.  You really got to see how they're deploying him.  Even more importantly, they didn't have Wes Welker last year.  How different is the offense this year with Wes as a receiver as opposed to last year?

You're still going to see very recent.

Are you interested at looking at games where he does well as where he doesn't do well?

COACH KELLY:  Games he doesn't do well -- not many of them.  You can get through them pretty quickly.

Peyton's comment was it's nice of the NFL to give the Eagles 10 days and the Broncos only six.  Is that a nice thing to have?

COACH KELLY:  Scheduling.  When do we go play?  We go play in a parking lot, we go play in a parking lot.  We don't care.  We played three games in 11 days.  We don't control the schedule.  We only carry about what we can control. Chung still in a sling?

COACH KELLY:  He's not in a sling.  He's not going to practice today.  I'm a day‑to‑day guy.  I know he's not practicing today.  If he practices tomorrow, I'll make sure I tell you before he starts. How different is it to plan for the Broncos with Wes Welker?

COACH KELLY:  It's not radically different.  You're also talking about one of the all‑time great receivers.  His ability to control the middle of the field, create such mismatch problems for you.  Challenges you from a personnel standpoint.  You're talking about a linebacker on him, which at times is a big mismatch just because of Wes' athletic ability.

To have that type of guy that can play between the two outside guys, between [Eric] Decker and Demaryius [Thomas], it makes it difficult just because the way he understands coverage.  There's a lot of times when you think, hey, that's pretty good defense, but he still comes up with a big play on him. You've struggled throwing it on third down.  What do you see when you look at that?

COACH KELLY:  Third down in general?  Short, long, medium?  We break it down specifically.

He's 7‑20 overall.

COACH KELLY:  A lot of it ends up being third‑and‑long.  The distances on third‑and‑long and the completion percentages on third‑and‑long are going to be different than third‑and‑short.