Broncos camp wrap: Defense dominates the day

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — “Defense won the day,” Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga was only too happy to inform the gathered media awaiting the post-practice press conferences on Tuesday, and he wasn’t being falsely boastful.

On the team’s second full-pad day of training camp, Vance Joseph’s unit showed its prowess against both the run and pass. Completions were hard to find as the edge rushers — without the injured Nik Bonitto, who limped off during the nine-on-seven period — showed no ill effects from losing the two-time Pro Bowler, with Jonathon Cooper and Que Robinson each recording pressures that could have been sacks in game conditions.

It’s trial by fire for the Broncos offense on a daily basis.

“Yeah, I know our defense is definitely top in the league,” wide receiver Jaylen Waddle said.

The belief is that this work will help the Broncos offense be ready for challenges that ought not to be as stern as the one they face on a daily basis right now.

“Just having that back and forth with that, front to the back end to the linebackers, it just make us play true,” Waddle said. “So, we try to go out there, give them good looks, compete real hard against them.

“And yeah, man, that defense — our defense — it’s hard to get a yard on, I can tell you that.”

DEFENSE CAME UP BIG AT THE END OF THE BRONCOS PRACTICE

The two-hour session didn’t conclude with a move-the-ball period, as some days do. But it did put the Broncos offense and defense into a game-simulation condition: three downs to move the chains for the offense.

For Sean Payton, the rationale for this was simple: The offense was slow at the start of games and possessions last year, and this drill represents an opportunity to begin remedying that malady.

“I think there’s an overriding goal of look, I think we can start faster in general,” Payton said.

“If you looked at last season, we played better — I think — in the second half of a lot of games than maybe the first. And the reality of it is, when a series starts, the first down is a big play for, for the offense. Now you’re in a drive. You can’t call it a drive if you don’t get your first first down.”

The No. 1 offense failed to move the chains in its opportunity at the end of practice — and that series was marred by a scuffle that began when Ja’Quan McMillian shoved Evan Engram after an errant Bo Nix pass fell incomplete. Engram shoved back, and other players quickly jumped in. The fiery moment was quickly doused, but Payton had another teaching point.

“”We have this little skirmish on the sidelines which, which is silly,” Payton said. “You got to get on to the next play.”

But one thing bothered Payton more than anything else about the tussle: other Broncos players getting involved.

“I just don’t want to see the third person, the bystander who decides he’s going to be tough,” Payton said.

For more, watch the embedded video.

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