ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Packers running back Josh Jacobs is entering his sixth season in the NFL and said he’s never been part of a joint practice that didn’t feature a fight until Friday.
There were a couple heated encounters and one mini-scuffle when the Packers thought Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto hit quarterback Jordan Love’s arm — Love said after practice that he thought Bonitto pushed right tackle Zach Tom into him in a case of friendly fire to pop the ball up before it was intercepted — but Friday’s joint session was a relatively peaceful one.
Here’s a rundown of what I saw from the Packers offense against the Broncos defense with a couple special teams notes included. Broncos writer Nick Kosmider has you covered below with everything he saw from Denver’s offense against Green Bay’s defense.
First 11-on-11 period
After a mundane 7-on-7 period to start the morning, the Packers found early success against Denver’s defense. Jacobs had what looked like would’ve been a big run around the right edge on the second play of the period, though it’s always hard to tell from the side of the formation what would really happen in the run game without live tackling.
On his first throw of the day in 11-on-11, Love slipped after faking a handoff but still hit wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks for a sizable gain. Broncos inside linebacker Alex Singleton then popped Jacobs on a run up the middle, the first of two times that happened to Packers running backs during the period.
Backup quarterback Sean Clifford hit a big completion to wideout Malik Heath, but it was negated by a false start, the first of at least three by the offense as a whole (two by the backup offense). Love then hit tight end Luke Musgrave wide open on a crosser before the Packers quarterback was reminded of why cornerback Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II is one of the best in the game when he had a great pass breakup against receiver Romeo Doubs on what looked like a comeback route.
Love’s deep connection with wide receiver Christian Watson has been up and down during camp and it was again on Friday. His first bomb of the day to Watson fell far ahead of him but drew a flag against cornerback Riley Moss. Not long after, tight end Tyler Davis looked like he wanted to mix it up with the Broncos after the play, but rookie offensive lineman Jacob Monk held him back.
During rookie quarterback Michael Pratt’s turn, he short-hopped a throw down the right side to a wide-open Bo Melton.
Different energy level out here this morning … pic.twitter.com/MOV51yzo9h
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) August 16, 2024
Second 11-on-11 period
Wicks made a couple nice contested catches over the middle. Right tackle Kadeem Telfort pancaked Bonitto and Melton had a nice sideline grab for a decent gain on a throw from Pratt.
During the first semi-skirmish of practice, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and head coach Matt LaFleur got stuck in the middle when the Packers sideline emptied after players thought Bonitto hit Love (the ball popped up and Singleton intercepted it).
“I was going to throw and Zach Tom got pushed and hit my shoulder,” Love said. “I don’t think it was anything with the D-line or anything like that. Just friendly fire … I think a lot of guys didn’t really see it and know what happened. We make it a big point to stay away from the quarterback, so they might’ve thought the D-lineman hit my arm or something like that, which I don’t think happened.”
Love stayed in and executed a nice cross-field, misdirection screen pass to Jacobs, who had plenty of room to run after the catch behind the block of Davis.
Special teams
- Wide receiver Jayden Reed fumbled a punt return but recovered himself.
- Cornerback Robert Rochell was flagged for running into returner Marvin Mims Jr.
- Long snapper Matt Orzech and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie had to be pulled away from a fracas during a punt drill.
- On the very next play, Orzech snapped the ball over punter Daniel Whelan’s head and out of the back of the end zone.
- Each of Green Bay’s three kickers took two field goals later in practice during a designated kicking period, with Anders Carlson hitting from 45 and 53 yards, Greg Joseph hitting from 46 and 52 and Alex Hale hitting from 47 and getting blocked from 51, though refs flagged the Broncos for offsides.
Broncos defense takes over
Starting just outside the red zone and then later in the low red zone during a scripted period, the Packers’ offense didn’t find much success. Moss covered Wicks well in the back-right corner and the ball sailed incomplete. Love threw incomplete for Doubs on the left side on a 10-yard pass. Cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian had a nice pass breakup on a pass from Love to Reed over the middle just short of the goal line. The backup offense committed another pre-snap penalty, though it was unclear from our distant vantage point what exactly the refs called. Aside from a touchdown pass from Love to Musgrave in the right flat off play action after Musgrave got wide open after selling his block, Green Bay struggled during the period.
“I think it was really good,” Musgrave said of his day. “Got to see a different defense. They play a little bit different style of defense. It was great to get some reps at that. They’re a great team. They got some great backers and I felt really good about it.”
On the last play of the drill, Love found Watson for a touchdown but safety P.J. Locke would’ve sacked him or at least forced a throwaway.
During the next drill on a full field, Surtain had his second impressive pass breakup of practice on a pass over the middle to Melton. Singleton stuffed a checkdown to running back Emanuel Wilson. McMillian had solid coverage on Love’s underthrown deep ball to Watson to force an incompletion, to which one Broncos coach urged Love to stop throwing McMillian’s way.
Perhaps the most impressive play from Green Bay’s offense during the last couple of periods in which it struggled was a dart deep over the middle from Pratt to wide receiver Dimitri Stanley, who made a nice catch and probably would’ve lost his head in a game.
The two-minute drills were a disaster for the Packers’ offense. The starting offense went twice and the backup offense once and each resulted in a turnover, twice on downs and once via interception.
Each time, they started at their own 40-yard line with 1:10 remaining, no timeouts left and trailing by three. Green Bay’s starting offense managed 1 yard on its first go, with Love completing a short pass to Jacobs and then throwing three straight incompletions. Moss and Locke probably should’ve had interceptions on the first two, when the former jumped an out to Doubs near the left sideline and the latter was under a ball thrown high for Reed down the middle. To force the turnover on downs, Surtain had yet another great pass breakup on the right sideline to prevent an acrobatic Doubs catch.
“Pat Surtain is a really good player,” Love said. “That always stands out, a really good DB like him. He’s kind of the heart and soul of that defense. He’s a lockdown corner over there.”
Clifford at least earned a first down with a completion to Heath, but he should’ve been picked off two plays later by safety JL Skinner on a pass intended for wide receiver Jalen Wayne and then was on the ensuing third-and-9 when he underthrew Stanley deep down the middle and was picked off by cornerback Reese Taylor.
The starting offense got another crack, but it didn’t go much better. Love hit Musgrave for a catch-and-run first down up the left sideline on the first play, but the next four plays went short completion to Musgrave, short completion to Doubs, Bonitto sack against right tackle Kadeem Telfort, filling in for Tom, and incompletion for another turnover on downs.
Asked after practice about the Broncos defense giving them fits, Jacobs said, “I’m not gonna say what I wanna say.”
He continued…
“But um, it’s the Broncos, man. Obviously, they got a new head coach and obviously I like him as a person and as a coach. I know him. Seeing them out here, I can tell that they got a different type of energy out here in the sense of just like a little bit of juice. But at the end of the day, whenever I’m going against anybody, I like me, so I’m gonna pick me any time.”
Jacobs was then asked what he would’ve said if he said what he wanted to say.
“I’m only here so I don’t get fined,” he said before walking off with a smile.
Josh Jacobs signing a croc pic.twitter.com/GRv4SO7iEc
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 16, 2024
Broncos offense vs. Packers defense
Packers defensive line flashes early
The practice began with first- and second-down work, and the Packers’ defensive line made life difficult for Denver’s offense throughout the period.
Veteran defensive end Preston Smith forced rookie quarterback Bo Nix off his spot on a second-down play with quick interior pressure. Then, defensive end Lukas Van Ness had back-to-back plus plays when he stuffed running back Samaje Perine in the backfield and followed by spoiling a second-and-short play with pressure on Jarrett Stidham. Defensive end Kingsley Enagbare thwarted a run play in the backfield during the same period and later forced Nix to throw the ball away on third-and-long. Later, during a red-zone period, Enagbare appeared to draw a holding call while working against Broncos tackle Alex Palczewski.
The second team period began in similar fashion. Defensive end Rashan Gary registered what would have likely been a sack on Stidham. He then swam through the middle of Denver’s offensive line to stop running back Jaleel McLaughlin at the line of scrimmage.
Then, the Broncos quarterbacks began to find their footing.
Nix’s chemistry with top target growing
On a third-and-10 play during the second team period, Nix found himself a clean pocket, giving him time to pump fake before firing to Courtland Sutton in the middle of the field for about 25 yards. Nix threaded the throw between two Packers defenders, another example of his growing connection with Denver’s veteran receiver.
Sutton did not participate in the Broncos’ offseason program as he negotiated a reworked contract with the team, but it hasn’t kept him from having a strong impact in camp. His work in the middle of the field has been particularly notable for a team that didn’t utilize that area efficiently enough last season.
“We have great (dialogue) going back and forth,” Nix said of Sutton last week. “He does a good job of, when he sees something he tells me, and then I can do the same. So I feel very comfortable when he’s out there.”
How that connection continues to evolve will be an intriguing subplot when Nix starts in Sunday’s preseason game.
Red-zone highlights
The throw of the day on the Broncos side came from Nix during a series that began with a first down at the 12-yard line. After a quick run fake at the line of scrimmage, he buried a slant into the chest of veteran receiver Phillip Dorsett at the front of the goal line. Nix fit the ball in against physical coverage from cornerback LJ Davis. He also had an 18-yard throw to Tim Patrick earlier in the red zone period. The Broncos committed a couple of illegal shift penalties during the red-zone period, but head coach Sean Payton and Nix both said they were pleased with how the offensive operation ran overall.
“I think it was up-and-down a little bit today,” Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “I think we started off fast and then … the elements hit us a little bit. Kind of got up and down. Once we got our second wind, kind of started picking up … But happy about the work that we got in. I think we definitely got better from this day.”
Reps were flying fast, the only breaks coming for brief special team periods and a couple of ultimately harmless skirmishes, testing focus.
“It was definitely different playing against a different team at practice, but I like it,” Nix said. “Everything ran very smoothly, and guys were getting in and out of the huddle and playing sharp football on both sides. It was very clean and a good day of practice.”
Stidham also had a touchdown during the red-zone period when he hit Sutton on a 4-yard slant. Zach Wilson, running the third-team offense, had only three plays during the period, but one of them was an impressive throw to rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin for a first down.
The red-zone work largely focused on the passing game, but there was a notable exception. Javonte Williams took a delayed handoff from Stidham, quickly built up speed as he hit a hole in the middle of the line and then delivered a thud to a Packers safety.
Matt LaFleur says the Packers had a team dinner at Shanahan’s Steakhouse in Denver last night and will go to Topgolf tonight. pic.twitter.com/VeXcnyRs9m
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 16, 2024
Nix, Stidham manage 2-minute situation
Both offenses ran a late game-drill Friday with the same situation: Trailing by three in the fourth quarter, 1 minute, 10 seconds on the clock, no time outs, ball on their own 40-yard line.
Both Nix and Stidham guided their units into reasonable field-goal range before the drills were cut short. Nix did it by completing three straight passes, including a well-thrown ball to Sutton on the sideline. Stidham nearly mirrored that throw with one of his own to wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, setting up a would-be field-goal attempt to tie the game.
The Broncos have cycled through a handful of two-minute-type situations during the last week, periods that often include pauses for in-the-moment teaching from Payton. The head coach will also change up the situation on a whim, at times, testing focus. An example: During Thursday’s practice, on the first play of a late-game drill that began at the opponent’s 47-yard line, Stidham fit a ball up the sideline to wide receiver David Sills for a 47-yard touchdown, one of the veteran quarterback’s best throws of camp. Just as Stidham finished gleefully running up the field to celebrate, Payton remixed the drill on the fly, setting up a new situation at the 11-yard line.
“Yeah, I really wish he would have called it up (to end practice) after that first (touchdown),” Stidham quipped Friday. “No, whenever they put you in a situation like that, sometimes you have to adjust on the fly, like you saw yesterday. It really tests you in a lot of ways and it’s a lot of fun. A lot of good comes out of it.”
Stark contrast for Broncos in joint practices
Just before their final preseason game in 2023, the Broncos welcomed the Rams in for a joint workout — and were summarily thrashed. The Broncos didn’t execute, didn’t bring the requisite energy for the practice. There was no doubt the Rams had won the day.
It was a different story Friday. Whether the Broncos put subjective points on the board was almost beside the point. The practice had a different feel than last year’s workout, and Payton suggested that’s indicative of where his team is at this point.
“Listen, are we further along today than we were a year ago? I think so, yeah,” Payton said. “These are these litmus tests we get to see … in a practice like this.”
Other Broncos notes
• Payton said the Broncos currently have 60 or 61 players who are in the mix for the team’s 53-man roster at this stage in training camp.
“There’s probably nine or 10 spots I’m still looking at and George (Paton) is looking at and that we’re discussing,” Payton said. “We’ve got another game here (Sunday). It’s the second preseason game, so we still have a lot of time.”
• Rookie wide receiver Devaughn Vele did not practice Friday after leaving Thursday’s practice early. Though Payton did not specify the type of injury Vele suffered, he said one of the team’s training camp stars “will be fine, and there’s a chance he could even play Sunday.”
• Safety Brandon Jones and cornerback Levi Wallace, both of whom are nursing hamstring injuries, did not practice against the Packers. Cornerback Art Green remained sideline as he recovers from a concussion.
(Top photo: David Zalubowski / AP Photo)
