Training Camp Takes: Offense makes late push after Alexander Johnson and the defense dominate

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After shaking up the schedule on Monday, the Broncos were back to a full-padded practice on Tuesday.

And it was a good one. In fact, the practice even got the approval of Vic Fangio.

“I like to see good competitive practice. I think we had that today. Guys were crisp,” the head coach said after practice. “They were competing, a lot of good, not over the top trash talking going on which I think really brought the level up at practice. I was even tempted there at one point to make one of the dills live because I think they were ready for it, but I didn’t. I thought it was a really good practice from an effort standpoint and competitive standpoint.”

With an off day in sight, the Broncos brought the heat on Tuesday. But one side of the ball won the day.

Here’s everything you need to know from Tuesday’s practice.

DEFENSE DOMINATES, OFFENSE PUNCHES BACK

The NFL’s highest-paid defense lived up to their billing on Tuesday.

Denver’s offense started practice by trying to build momentum on the ground. The defense didn’t want anything to do with it as they stuffed running lanes. Alexander Johnson was a key part of this as he was consistently in the backfield, even having what would have been a five-yard tackle for a loss on Phillip Lindsay.

When Pat Shurmur’s group turned to the air, their luck wasn’t much better. After Courtland Sutton made a fantastic catch in the middle of a field on a ball thrown behind him from Drew Lock, the passing game failed to find success until the very end of practice.

Through nearly four series, Lock had two completions outside of screen passes — the Sutton catch and a short pass to Jerry Jeudy. The offensive woes weren’t just on one player, either. The mistakes included overthrows, a batted pass by the defensive front seven, multiple drops and poor decisions by Lock.

Scrambling to his right, the gunslinger somehow overshot DaeSean Hamilton throwing off his back foot and across his body as the third-year receiver was open down the left sideline. Lock was just off connecting downtown with Fred Brown, although Von Miller likely would have had a sack before the pass.

And, just before it slightly turnaround for the offense, Lock avoided disaster as Justin Simmons wasn’t able to hang on to what would have been a 95-yard pick-six as the safety jumped a quick throw to the right flat.

But the Q responded to the adversity well. On the very next play, Lock had the play of the day. Scrambling to his left in the red zone, Lock found a wide-open Jeudy hugging the left sideline. Drew ripped the ball to the rookie. With his feet an inch inbounds, Jeudy instantly secured the ball before the momentum of the dart carried him out. Touchdown.

Immediately after, still in the red zone, Lock connected with Jake Butt on the right hash in the front of the end zone.

After a second failed trick play of practice, Lock connected with Jeudy in the middle of the field for a gain of 20 yards. The practice came full circle as the final play of the day from the first-team unit was a sack.

JEUDY’S COMEBACK

For the first time with the Broncos, Denver’s first-round pick battled adversity. And he responded magnificently.

After getting a step on Bryce Callahan off the line of scrimmage, Lock tossed a deep ball to Jeudy at the front of the end zone. Jeudy wasn’t able to hold on despite the ball hitting him in stride. Instead of a big-time touchdown, it was an incompletion.

On the very next play, Lock showed confidence in the rookie, hitting him for a short gain.

But then Jeudy had his second drop of practice. With tight coverage in the middle of the field, Lock ripped a laser to Jeudy, getting the ball to his receiver in a tight window. Again, Jeudy couldn’t hold on.

For the first time in camp, Jeudy had two sizeable drops. Instead of getting down on himself and chalking up the practice to just a bad day, he showed resilience and bounced back.

In the following series, the Alabama receiver had the toe-tapping touchdown catch in the end zone, as detailed above. Jeudy capped off practice by hauling in the final completion from Lock as he plucked a pass out of the air 20 yards downfield.

Despite how good he’s been through the first 10 practices, the 15th-overall pick will inevitably make mistakes and face adversity throughout his rookie season. On Tuesday, he displayed his resilience and ability to bounce back from mistakes quickly, a very encouraging sign for a 21-year old.

DNVR STOCK REPORT

Trending Up

• Lloyd Cushenberry: The rookie received all of the first-team reps at center during Tuesday’s practice. In fact, after practice, Fangio said he’ll receive more reps with the first team this week than he did last week. As the battle for the starting center position continues, Cushenberry appears to be trending in the right direction.
• DaeSean Hamilton: The third-year receiver has stepped up nicely with the absence of Tim Patrick. Hamilton was a reliable target on Tuesday and made a spectacular catch (read below).
• Alexander Johnson: Denver’s huge inside linebacker made his presence felt all over the field during practice. Along with blowing up run plays, the 255-pound backer had smothering coverage on running backs and got in the backfield on a blitz.

Trending Down

• Drew Lock: For the first time in camp, the second-year quarterback made far too many bad decisions. During 7-on-7s, Lock and Diontae Spencer were not on the same page, which resulted in P.J. Locke picking off Drew as the pass went off Spencer’s hands. Lock had multiple other passes that went off defensive back’s hands, which could have easily been intercepted. Since this type of practice hasn’t been the norm for Lock, there’s no reason to freak out over one bad practice.

INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NOTES

• Mike Purcell did not practice for a second straight day with calf tightness. There’s a “50-50” chance he returns to practice on Thursday, according to Fangio.
• Tim Patrick, De’Vante Bausby and Alijah Holder did not practice for a second straight day with soft tissue injuries. All three were working with trainers on the side during Tuesday’s practice. Fangio said there’s a “good chance” Partick and Bausby practice on Thursday.
• Malik Carney also did not practice for the second day in a row as he’s dealing with an illness, which is not COVID-19.
• Todd Davis missed practice due to a calf injury. Davis has made “great strides” in his recovery the last couple of days, Fangio said after practice. The head coach added, “I’m hopeful he’ll be back practicing at some point well before the week of the opener.”
• Michale Ojemudia missed another practice with a quad injury. Fangio alluded that the rookie cornerback will be out a “while.”
• K.J. Hamler continues to be sidelined by a hamstring injury. He’ll miss several more weeks.
• Juwann Winfree again worked on the side during practice with a groin injury.
• Austin Fort will be out a total of four-to-eight weeks after having an arthroscopic procedure on his knee.
• Justin Strnad did not practice and will miss the rest of the season with wrist surgery.

PLAY OF THE DAY

Jerry Jeudy’s toe-tapping touchdown stole the show on Tuesday, as detailed above, but DaeSean Hamilton had two plays worthy of being mentioned.

On 3rd-and-8 from midfield, as pressure was beating down on Jeff Driskel, Denver’s backup quarterback lobbed a ball down the left sideline. Hamilton had a step on the cornerback and bobbled the ball three or four times before securely bringing it in as he trotted into the end zone. As Hamilton waltzed in for six, the starting offense, which was on the sideline, went crazy.

Near the very end of practice, Hamilton made an acrobatic catch 30 yards downfield as he caught a ball 10 feet in the air before immediately turning upfield and heading for the end zone.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• During the individual portion of practice, Vic Fangio spent his time directly coaching the outside linebackers.
• Royce Freeman spent the majority of his day working with the second-team offense with Melvin Gordon back. In Gordon’s absence, Freeman had a significant role with the first-team offense.
• Sam Martin displayed his rare ability to punt the ball to the right as he booted punts to the right sideline over and over again in practice. On Sunday, Tom McMahon said only three punters in the league can kick the ball to the right, with Denver’s new punter being one of them.
• After practice, Nick Vannett had incredibly high praise for fellow tight end Albert Okwuegbunam. The veteran said the rookie could be “one of the best tight ends in the league” if he continues to keep building his game.
• The Broncos will have Wednesday off before returning to practice on Thursday.