After the Hall of Fame game on Thursday, the Denver Broncos decided to cancel Saturday’s practice to give the players two days off to rest and recover. The expectation after giving an extra day off is that Sunday’s practice would be high energy and high focus, which, as a spectator, seemed to be the case.
Denver’s next preseason game is against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday at 8 p.m. MT. The starters will get a little more action than the Hall of Fame game, but fans can only expect a couple series max for the starters. The Broncos have a strange preseason schedule, as they don’t play a single Sunday preseason game.
Aug. 4 was a 9:15 a.m. start time for camp, the weather reached a boiling 88 degrees without a cloud in sight, and fans all around were complaining about the heat. The players got a nice dose of conditioning in the high heat, in addition to the altitude.
Notes from today’s practice:
Thursday the Broncos won the Hall of Fame game and, seemingly as a reward, there was music at training camp during warm-ups and stretching, allowing the players to dance and get loose.
Todd Davis, Bryce Callahan, Aaron Wallace, Bug Howard, Jake Butt, Billy Winn, and Joseph Jones didn’t practice, the latter two of which were injured in the Thursday’s game.
After stretching, they split into punt team and punt coverage and non-special teams players split up.
Colby Wadman was dropping kicks inside the 10 almost every kick and looks really refined and precise.
In the 3rd and goal drills (from the 10-yard line), the defense routinely won the back end zone corner fade jump ball drill.
Courtland Sutton burned Devante Bausby on a goal-line 1-on-1 for a TD, great route resulting in plenty of time for the QB to hit him in the hands.
Bill Kollar and Mike Munchak were yelling and coaching the Oline and Dline intensely right in front of the fans, there were colorful language and some clear frustration from the coaches.
Alexander Johnson ran with the first-team defense at inside linebacker next to Josey Jewell, and he looks huge back there.
Sutton got a TD on a slant route on the first play of team period.
Emmanuel Sanders ran full contact in the team period and made some catches. He looked good, made some sharp cuts and made some players miss with his elusiveness.
Langley had a nice route and TD catch but Joe Flacco would have been sacked on the play if it was in a game situation.
Courtland Sutton had a nice touchdown catch over Isaac Yiadom on a 50/50 ball at the goal line, keeping his feet in bounds and fighting through Yiadom jabbing at his hands!
Dymonte Thomas had a nice break-up over the middle to a TE, the whole defense was happy for him and celebrated it.
Justin Hollins picked off Drew Lock. Lock had an open receiver but didn’t throw in time, and Hollins slid in to snag the interception.
During 7-on-7 reps, Flacco missed Trinity Benson by a half-inch on a 40-yard, downfield, would-be touchdown.
The next play, Steven Dunbar Jr. dropped another would-be touchdown on a perfectly placed 40-yard deep ball.
Chris Harris Jr. got an interception in 7-on-7’s on a tipped ball over the middle.
Courtland Sutton caught another TD over the middle on 7-on-7 from Flacco.
Steven Dunbar Jr. caught a nicely placed ball over the middle for a TD from Flacco.
A too many men on the field penalty from the first-team offense in the second team period frustrated the coaches.
Justin Simmons made a nice play for an interception on first-team offense vs defense drills on a ball that should have been caught but instead turned into a tipped ball drill.
Emmanuel Sanders got a TD in the team period, showing some swift feet and hard cuts.
Joe Flacco places a beautiful ball when the offensive line holds up and gives time.
Noah Fant was a little quiet today, but that’s because Courtland Sutton was looking like the best player in camp, Sutton demanded all eyes on him this day in practice.
The offense seemed to hold up against the defense more today, which is promising. Both offense and defense made a good handful of plays and it looks competitive on the field.
