Jarrett Stidham enjoys a good day back with the first team

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Jarrett Stidham seemed to channel his inner Lee Corso on Thursday, saying, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Working with the No. 1 offense, Stidham had one of the best throws of training camp as the day’s training-camp practice wound through its final moments, hitting wide receiver David Sills deep down the right flank in a “move-the-ball,” two-minute period.

Stidham stepped into the throw, made possible by Greg Dulcich successfully blocking Baron Browning off the edge. Sills caught the pass and raced for the end zone, apparently scoring before it was ruled down at the defense’s 11-yad line.

The quarterback exulted, any building frustration over the state of the competition melting away as he raced downfield and into position. But with the play not ruled a touchdown — although it potentially would have been under game conditions — the offense had to settle in for first-and-10, 11 yards from the end zone. It never made it and turned the ball over on downs.

Nevertheless, the pass was a moment where Stidham’s work came to fruition.

Of course, Stidham’s work in the preseason opener saw his play undone by penalties and a dropped pass — all factors that were beyond his control.

“All quarterbacks are ultimately measured by scoring points,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday when asked a question about Bo Nix. But it would be unwise to measure the Aug. 11 performance of Jarrett Stidham based on points by the offense; were it not for even Tim Patrick’s taunting penalty, the sixth-year veteran QB would have had the offense in the end zone.

Whether Stidham starts in Week 1 is likely beyond his control, too. But on Thursday, for a brief, shining moment, he did his part to show what he can still do in Sean Payton’s offense.

Jarrett Stidham got a bit of a bad break on his first seven-on-seven repetition. Working from the defense’s 24-yard line, Stidham located Jaleel McLaughlin streaking toward the end zone. The pass was a bit high, but catchable, and bounced off the running back’s hands and fell incomplete. But two plays later, Stidham hit David Sills in the end zone for a touchdown after Sills broke off his route.

In the subsequent team period, Stidham completed both of his passes for short gains before he cranked it up during the final period of practice.

Bo Nix got the better of matters during the two-minute drill period at the end of practice, driving the second-team offense to a touchdown in a situation in which it was down by 5 points in the final moments of the fourth quarter with no timeouts.

Nix’s first pass of that period was nearly intercepted by Cody Barton. His second play resulted in a sack, but offsides was called. But consecutive completions to Jalen Virgil and Michael Bandy pulled Nix and the offense into goal-to-go, from which point Nix hit Phillip Dorsett for 5 yards before locating Bandy again for the 2-yard score with 36 seconds remaining.

It was the second Nix-to-Bandy touchdown of the day. Earlier, he found Bandy for a 16-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone, firing a bullet that the receiver snared.

Wilson had another solid day, but didn’t get a chance in the move-the-ball period. He did find the end zone on a 5-yard floater to Troy Franklin in the back of the end zone during a seven-on-sevne red-zone period that saw him complete three of his four attempts.