At Broncos training camp, two-minute drill starts badly, ends with long Wilson TD pass
Aug 5, 2023, 3:29 PM | Updated: 3:29 pm
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — At Broncos training camp Saturday, the two-minute drill period revealed the good and bad of Sean Payton’s offense once again.
For starters, once again, the offense dug itself into a chasm with penalties. A Lloyd Cushenberry holding penalty and a Garett Bolles false start sent the first-team offense careening backwards to open two-minute work for a second-consecutive day.
But once again, given a second chance, the No. 1 offense maximized it. This time, needing a touchdown after starting from its 41-yard line with 51 seconds left, it cashed in, with Russell Wilson first moving the chains on a third-and-3 pass to Marquez Callaway, then hitting a wide-open Jerry Jeudy down the right sideline for a 47-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining.
Jeudy got behind Damarri Mathis, and had plenty of separation. Wilson’s pass held up in the air a bit, giving the second-year cornerback a chance to catch up. But Jeudy adjusted and made the grab, eliciting the loudest cheer of the day from the sold-out crowd on hand.
That was the last play of Saturday’s practice, and it gave the offense a chance to enter its off-day with momentum.
“It was more encouraging than the way the two-minute drill started,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “Again, we had penalty, penalty. We’re working through some of that. I’ve said this repeatedly: There are kind of ebbs and flows to some of these drills. The first set of two-minute reps were, need a field goal and the last was, need a touchdown.”
The No. 1 offense failed when it sought a field goal.
But Jarrett Stidham and the second-team offense succeeded. Powered by a series of short passes — mostly to Tony Jones Jr. — the No. 2 offense dinked and dunked its way downfield. The drive stalled at the defense’s 24-yard line before Elliott Fry entered and hit a 42-yard field goal.
It capped a good day for Fry, who went 7-of-8 during a field-goal period earlier in the session.
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