Broncos Training Camp Observations: No pressure, no diamonds

 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Under a 100-degree sun, without a cloud in the sky, the Denver Broncos took the field for their second of 19 training camp practices on Friday morning.

As was the case on Thursday, and is usually the case during the early days in camp, the defense won the day, making the offense feel even more heat than was already out there.

As always, BSN Denver was on hand for the entirety of the practice, here’s what we saw.

Pressure Points

Standing tall on the podium after practice, Broncos right guard Ron Leary had an honest moment.

“We’re really tired of y’all bashing us, so we just want to be good, man,” he told a large contingent of media. “We want to try to change the narrative of the line around here.”

While it’s known that practices are tougher on the offensive lineman before the pads come on, even Leary would likely admit that Friday was not the type of day they were looking for.

Starting quarterback Joe Flacco found himself under pressure repeatedly throughout the day, forcing him to leave the pocket often and keeping him from airing out a long ball all day. Each and every time he turned his eyes deep, pressure forced him to leave the pocket or check the ball down.

Interestingly enough, while most concerns about the line are about the left side, featuring highly-criticized tackle Garett Bolles, a good portion of the duress on Flacco came from the right side of the line.

At one point, Von Miller posted back-to-back sacks, beating Ja’Wuan James outside on one play before setting himself up to duck back inside on the next. Later, it was Derek Wolfe who got inside and blew up a play. No matter who it was coming from, though, the quarterbacks were rarely comfortable.

Leary admitted after practice that he and James were having communication issues, but he assured the right tackle it was nothing to worry about.

“I was like, ‘Ja’Wuan, we’ve only been together four practices.’ We have a long time to gel and come up with our code words and things where defense doesn’t know what’s going on.”

We’ll keep a close eye on the line when the pads come on Sunday.

Man on the Run

Pressure creates diamonds, right? And on Friday, we became aware of a rare diamond.

Despite pressure constantly bearing down on him, Joe Flacco made quite a few plays on the move, and looked very impressive delivering the ball while rolling both ways.

On the second play of the team period (11-on-11), pressure off of the right side forced him to scramble to his left, getting almost to the sideline before he turned his hips and uncorked a laser into the hands of DaeSean Hamilton. Hamilton snagged the ball and tapped his toes for what would have been a first down.

Later, while rolling to his right, Flacco—buying his own time—looked to the sideline and put one up for Courtland Sutton, who elevated over a defender to make the grab and tap his toes for a 20-yard gain.

Throughout the day, Flacco consistently delivered accurate balls while on the run, diplaying a mobility and an ability to throw on the move that most wouldn’t expect to see.

It brings up an interesting quote from Kyle Shanahan back in 2017, who of course, was a mentor to new Broncos offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello.

“We run a lot of bootlegs and things like that,” he said. “Usually, the most success I’ve had with quarterbacks who can do that are the ones who aren’t mobile, because I only want to run bootlegs and stuff if people aren’t playing them and when you have a mobile guy, they’re playing them. When you don’t, they play the run, and then you get slow quarterbacks out on the edge, and they can throw all day. Not because they’re just super athletes with their legs, but they’re good enough to throw on the move, and you can use them.”

Reading that quote, mixed with what we saw on Friday, may give you a better idea of why the Broncos thought Joe Flacco would be such a great fit for Scangarello.

Young Guns Flashing

If the Broncos offense is going to click this year, they’re going to need some young players to step up big time.

In Thursday’s practice, while Phillip Lindsay looked like he’s ready to carry his share of the load, Courtland Sutton struggled, and Noah Fant was simply quiet.

On the BSN Broncos Podcast, we talked about how important it was for Sutton to avoid two bad days in a row, and he did just that. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound receiver made multiple plays down the field on the day, going up in the air for some and down to the ground for others. Most importantly, he didn’t have any drops.

“Definitely,” he said when asked if it felt like a bounce-back day. “You can’t dwell on it. You have to stack and clear and move on to the next day, or it will beat you up twice.”

As for Fant, he was far more involved in the passing game, catching balls from each of the top three quarterbacks on the roster while amassing a large number of reps.

His best play of the day came on a 15-yard in, where he beat his defender on the break, hauled in the pass away from his body, and boxed out another defender trying to break up the pass, staying up despite the contact.

When Fant gets rolling, he is going to be tough to bring down.

One more young guy who continues to stand out is rookie receiver Juwann Winfree. The University of Colorado product has been lauded for his hands and sharp route-running ability, and over the first two practices, he has put both on display, showing he belongs while getting a small share of reps with the first team.

In each of the practices, he has hauled in a downfield pass from Flacco while going to the ground.

Friday was a good sign for the development of the young guns.

Other Notes

• With Todd Davis out for 3-4 weeks, Alexander Johnson got the first shot at the first-team reps at inside linebacker.
  • Fangio said after practice that he’ll rotate all of the reserve backers in Davis’ absence.
• Despite it being 100 damn degrees, Vic Fangio, perpetual sweatshirt wearer, said, “It doesn’t feel hot to me. It really doesn’t.”
  • What the hell?
• Backup quarterback Kevin Hogan threw three interceptions on the day. One to De’Vante Bausby, one to Su’a Cravens and one to Joe Jones.
  • Asked about it being a rough day for Hogan, Fangio asked with a smirk, “Why can’t you look at those as good plays by the defense?”
• Back with the team after getting cut last year, running back David Williams looked a bit quicker than when we last saw him.
• The play of the day came on the very last rep of practice, as QB Brett Rypien aired out a long ball for Khalfani Muhammad who was covered well by Alexander Johnson. Despite his small stature Muhammad elevated for the ball and brought it down in the endzone.