The Denver Broncos had a chance to get a large volume of reps on film in Thursday’s joint practice against the Arizona Cardinals ahead of Saturday’s game. Bo Nix had his sharpest day of training camp as the passing game was sharp, despite the run game not having much success against the Cardinals’ big defensive front.

These reps were important, especially since Nix and a handful of Broncos starters will not play in Saturday’s game.

Denver Broncos’ QB Bo Nix has sharp day vs. Cardinals, starters won’t play Saturday

There have been a lot of different viewpoints on the type of training camp that Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix has had. He’s had a lot of good plays and he’s had some plays he’d like back, but ultimately nothing that should have any fan worried or concerned.

Thursday’s practice saw Nix and the Broncos offense face off against the Arizona Cardinals’ stout defensive front, which runs a 4-3 scheme, different compared to the San Francisco 49ers’ 4-2-5 look they faced last week.

Let’s highlight Nix’s sharp day, which started with 7-on-7.

Nix completed seven of his eight passing attempts in the period, finding Adam Trautman for a medium gain on the first play, followed by a 10+ yard catch and run from Lucas Krull. In a manufactured 3rd and 8, Nix fired a shot to rookie wide receiver Pat Bryant, who caught it across the middle of the field for 15+ yards. Nix would then go on to complete passes to Evan Engram, Krull, and Bryant again, and then to Courtland Sutton to end the 7-on-7 period.

Denver’s first team period of the day saw some highs and lows from the offense as a whole.

J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey each got touches early on, but the Cardinals’ defensive line, led by Josh Sweat and veteran Calais Campbell, stuffed several plays in the backfield. Jaleel McLaughlin, in this period, had a crisp cutback inside where he picked up an easy ten yards. Sweat then beat Mike McGlinchey several plays later for what would have been a sack on Nix in a real game, followed by Zaven Collins sniffing out a play to Marvin Mims, beating McGlinchey, who seemingly had a rough day from our observation.

Nix helped the offense get out of that first team period with a nice connection to Devaughn Vele for 10+ yards, finding a soft spot against the Cardinals’ defense.

In the Broncos’ second team period of the day, Nix’s spark began. He found Marvin Mims for a 15+ yard gain on the first play from scrimmage, followed by a quick shot to a wide-open Devaughn Vele, who caught the ball at about 20 yards depth downfield and got significant yards after the catch. He then found Mims again wide open across the middle for a 20+ yard completion, before his final throw of the period to Sutton was incomplete.

Denver then got into a red zone period, where Nix connected with Sutton and Mims, before ending the period with a dime to Sutton for a touchdown, perfectly placed high, in front, and outside.

Nix’s day didn’t end there. In Denver’s fourth team period of the day, he found Sutton for a 10+yard gain, then Mims down the left sideline for 10+. He attempted to go deep to Mims on one play, but Marvin wasn’t able to secure it fully. Facing a third down look, Nix dialed up a throw to Trent Sherfield Sr., who got both feet in bounds for a 15+ yard gain, before ultimately throwing a 10+yard touchdown pass to Evan Engram. Some reports said Engram was called for an offensive pass interference, but I did not see that signaled by the officials initially, and didn’t see a flag, unless they came in late because the offense moved to the next play quickly.

In the final period of the day, which saw the Broncos trailing by three points with 1:10 seconds and no timeouts in an end of game simulation, Nix’s first pass to Sutton fell incomplete, but he went right back to him on the next play for a first down catch, followed by Nix sidestepping the Cardinals pass rush and finding Troy Franklin for a nine-yard gain, just one yard shy of a first down. Bo then fired two back-to-back passes to Sutton for gains of 10+ yards, and ultimately a 16-yard completion to Michael Bandy, where Nix and the offense rushed to clock the ball with two seconds remaining, which would have set up a game-tying field goal in a real game to send to overtime.

Those were the highlights of the passing attack on Thursday, but it seemed like the run blocking was an area the offensive line struggled. Obviously, losing Garett Bolles early on in practice impacted that, but McGlinchey seemingly had a rough day and expressed frustration after a few plays.

I asked Sean Payton after practice about the team finding consistency in the run game, which is hard to do in practice without there being the element of going to the ground.

“Here’s the thing,” Payton said. “You haven’t seen it yet because in every drill there’s an early whistle. We stay up on the backs. You saw a little last week. When it’s tackled, you’ll see more. I would say we’re much further along just in the looks. So it’s hard to appreciate when you’re working a thud up, touch up tempo. What’s really hard is being the coach of the drill, saying second-and-7, it’s hard to kind of spot the ball when it’s not tackled. I think you’ll see it. We’ve seen it.”

Denver’s starters will not play on Saturday, with the exception of a few players Payton views as part of the ‘Phase One’ group, but Bo Nix, Sutton, the offensive line, and key receivers (Sutton, Mims) won’t likely play, but will get snaps vs. the New Orleans Saints in the team’s final preseason game.

Denver Broncos news and notes

  • OLB Nik Bonitto had a minor procedure, according to Payton, to remove a bone spur or calcium buildup that was causing pain in his foot. It was minimally invasive and only required three to five stitches, which should alleviate the issue for Bonitto. He’s expected to be back at practice next week and will likely get some snaps against the New Orleans Saints next Saturday.
  • FB Michael Burton (hamstring) left practice.
  • FB/TE Nate Adkins (ankle) had a tight-rope surgical procedure, according to Payton. He’ll miss some time going into the regular season, but should be back.
  • CB Reese Taylor (hamstring) did not practice.
  • ILB Dre Greenlaw (quad) was fully dressed in pads and did quick work in individual drills, but did not participate in team drills and should see an increase in workload next week, according to Payton.