QB Scoreboard: The Denver Broncos beat up the Green Bay Packers on the final day of training camp

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos Training Camp went out with a bang.

The Green Bay Packers visited Denver for a a joint practice on Friday ahead of the preseason game between the Broncos and the Packers on Sunday.

The practice will be the main event this week, as the Packers won’t play most of their starters during the game. That means Bo Nix will lead the Broncos’ starters against the Packers’ backups.

While the Packers entered Denver as Super Bowl hopefuls and the Broncos are projected to be one of the three worst teams in the NFL by the sports books, it was the home team that won the practice.

The two teams didn’t have a traditional scrimmage, but they held several competitive periods. Practice ended with a series of two-minute drills, and the Broncos won all five.

Here’s what you need to know from practice…

Quarterback Scoreboard

Friday’s practice was tough to follow.

Typically the Broncos give each group—the starters, the backups and the third-stringers—four snaps per segment. In other words, if the team ran seven-on-sevens and two team periods, each quarterback would get 12 plays.

Friday’s practice was designed with input from the Packers, so that structure changed. The result was a strange schedule.

The starters would get a handful of reps, then the backups would get a couple, then the starters would come back and then the third-stringers.

Plus, the Broncos’ offense was playing against the Packers’ defense on one field, while the Denver defense and Green Bay offense played on the other. There were two practices happening at once.

Bo Nix got a lot of work.

Jarrett Stidham got a decent amount of work.

Zach Wilson didn’t get to play much.

The final period was a two-minute drill. Both Stidham and Nix got a chance at it.

Here’s the situation: The offense has the ball at its own 40-yard line. There’s 1:10 left in the game. The defense leads 24-21. Neither team has a timeout.

Here’s how the quarterbacks fared…

Bo Nix: A

Nix started his drive with a 12-yard strike to Tim Patrick over the middle of the field.

Then he hit Courtland Sutton to get to the 33-yard line.

Then he hit Samaje Perine running a downfield route for a 16-yard gain.

None of the three receivers were able to get out of bounds. That meant the Nix had to spike the ball after the third completion.

With the ball on the 17-yard line and 19 seconds remaining on the clock, the drill ended. It’s unclear if the drive was called off because head coach Sean Payton would have opted to kick the field and send the game to overtime, or if the coaches predetermined that the drill would end if the offense made it into the red zone.

“We didn’t finish the drill—which was fine—and we started with the next group,” Payton said. “It was good work.”

Nix threw strikes all day. He hit Josh Reynolds for a short touchdown. He hit Phillip Dorsett at the goal line in a tight window on a slant from 12 yards out. He found Michael Bandy over the middle for a four-yard touchdown a couple of plays later… if Rashan Gary didn’t get to him before he threw the pass.

Nix had a couple of misses, but he was sharp for most of the day, including a 25-yard strike to Sutton over the middle of the field.

Jarrett Stidham: B+

Stidham’s two-minute drill started with a stick to Marvin Mims on the boundary that moved the sticks.

On the next play, Stidham found David Sills over the middle for another first down and spiked the ball.

The Broncos had the ball 30 yards from the end zone with 42 seconds to go, but Frank Crum false started, which set up a 2nd & 15.

Stidham hit Dorsett four a four-yard gain, which started the clock. The Broncos had to rush into a 3rd & 11.

Stidham hit Adam Trautman up the seam for a 26-yard gain. The offense had to spike the ball.

Once again, the drill ended once the offense hit the red zone. The ball was at the five-yard line and 10 seconds remained on the clock, which means the offense could have tried of a game-winning touchdown before settling for a tying field goal.

Stidham wasn’t as sharp in the rest of practice. He nearly threw an interception to safety Anthony Johnson Jr. in seven-on-sevens. In team drills, he had Thomas Yassmin open for 15 yards on the sideline, but Stidham overthrew the ball. He overthrew a ball to the sideline on 3rd & 7, too. Later on Stidham left a ball behind David Sills in the back of the end zone from less than 10 yards out. Sills probably should have caught it anyway.

Stidham’s day prior to the two-minute drill wasn’t all bad, of course. There were plenty of positives like when he hit Courtland Sutton on a slant for a four-yard touchdown.

Zach Wilson: B

As noted above, Wilson didn’t get many opportunities in Friday.

He stepped up and delivered a good ball to Lucas Krull in the middle of the field. He converted a 3rd & 4 to Troy Franklin.

With the third-stringers gaining the majority of the snaps on Sunday, the Broncos and Packers didn’t feel the need to give them extended work on Friday.

Final GPAs
Average of daily grades.

Jarrett Stidham: 2.92 (B)
Bo Nix: 2.71 (B-)
Zach Wilson: 2.28 (C+)

Denver’s Defense Wins

While the Broncos’ offense only got two tries at the two-minute drill, the Packers’ offense got three.

Why? Because they had extra time after the drives ended so quickly.

Jordan Love led the Packers’ starting offense against the Broncos’ starting defense. He hit Josh Jacobs for a one-yard gain in the flat, and the running back got out of bounds to stop the clock.

On 2nd & 9, Love tried for Romeo Doubs on the sideline, but Riley Moss was in good coverage and almost picked the pass off.

On 3rd & 9, Love threw a ball to Jayden Reed up the seam past Ja’Quan McMillian, but he overthrew the ball and PJ Locke almost picked it off.

On 4th & 9, Love tested Pat Surtain II on the boundary. Love wanted Doubs, but Surtain broke the pass up and ended the series. It was Surtain’s third breakup of the day.

Sean Clifford was next up with second-teamer.

Clifford scrambled out of bounds for a loss on the first play.

He threw a ball to the sideline that bounced off of JL Skinner‘s hands on the second play.

On the third play, he tried Reese Taylor deep down the middle of the field and Taylor picked him off.

With so much time to spare, the starters took the field again.

The Packers found their way across midfield to the 43-yard line but faced a 3rd & 4. The Broncos collapsed the pocket for a sack, which I credited to Jonah Elliss. Elliss provided pressure on the next play and the fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

That’s a hell of a showing from the Broncos’ defense.

Fights!

Okay, fight might be too strong of wording, but tempers were raised on Friday.

During full-team drills, Nik Bonitto rushed the edge and beat Zach Tom. He hit Love’s arm as the quarterback was throwing, which meant Loved lobbed a popup into the middle of the defense, which Alex Singleton intercepted.

Touching the quarterback is a no-no, so pushing and shoving ensued and the benches cleared. For what it’s worth, Love said after practice that he though Bonitto pushed Tom into the quarterback, not that Bonitto hit the quarterback himself.

Another heated moment came in punt drills.

I didn’t see how Packer long snapper Matt Orzech wound up on top of Devon Key—I’d imagine a pancake block—but Orzech refused to get off the Bronco and once again pushing and shoving ensued. On the next play, Orzech snapped the ball over his punter’s head for a safety.

Earlier on during punt drills, Ja’Quan McMillian got the sidelines fired up when he locked up Packers rookie gunner Kalen King for an extended period of time in front of the Broncos’ sideline.

Jaire Alexander gave Courtland Sutton a shove on his way back to the huddle after he dunked the ball over the goalpost as part of his touchdown celebration.

Notes

• Tim Patrick caught at least three third-down conversions on Friday. He’s had a quiet camp, but he was unstoppable in the middle of the field.
  
  
• Riley Moss was called for pass interference deep downfield. I’d estimate it was a 35-yard penalty.
  
  
• Mike McGlinchey had a pancake in team drills.
  
  
• Javonte Williams looked solid, although it’s tough to tell when there’s no tackling. He popped a couple of defenders. Alex Singleton gave Josh Jacobs a big pop in the hole, too.