Schlereth: ‘Glad’ Broncos offense mixed it up, even if ‘manufactured’

The Denver Broncos offense mixed it up with the defense for the first time during training camp on Monday after taking exception to linebacker Zaire Anderson shoving running back Stevan Ridley out of bounds.

The small scuffle occurred, however, a day after safety T.J. Ward blasted wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders during the first day in pads.

On Monday morning, before practice, “Schlereth & Evans” co-host Mark Schlereth called out the offense for not getting into it with the defense after the big hit laid on its wide receiver.

“When Emmanuel Sanders got lit up by T.J. Ward, and nobody did anything — and I put the coaches in this too — had that happened to us back in the day, Mike Shanahan would have blown the whistle, brought us all up, and said, ‘Hey, we protect each other guys. This can’t happen,’” Schlereth reiterated Tuesday.

“He would have either stopped it before the fight happened or there would have been a fight. One of the two would have happened.”

But Schlereth lauded the offense — specifically Ty Sambrailo, who started the fracas — for sticking up for Ridley on Monday, even if the reaction may have been a bit “manufactured.”

“I’m glad that somebody said something and that our guys responded at the appropriate time, and hopefully they come together a little bit,” Schlereth said. “I know it was manufactured, but somebody’s got to do something. Somebody’s got to say something, you know?”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.