After eight days of training camp, the Denver Broncos are going to be one step closer to game ready when the first scrimmage of the season takes place on Saturday.
According to Head Coach Vance Joseph, Saturday’s scrimmage will be as close as the Broncos will get to live action before they head to Chicago to take on the Bears on Thursday, Aug. 10 for the preseason opener.
“We’re going to call it,” Joseph said after Friday’s training camp practice. “We’re going to play ball. Most of our periods you guys have seen have all been calling periods.”
Saturday’s scrimmage will be, within reason, as real as football gets. In a way, it will be a dress rehearsal for the first dress rehearsal of the season. According to Joseph, there are a few reasons why he wants Saturday to operate as much like a game as possible.
“For two reasons, my belief as a coach is it’s a reaction game for the coaches and players,” Joseph explained on Friday. “I want it to be as real every day. And for a first time coordinator in [Defensive Coordinator] Joe Woods, having a chance to call the defenses every day without having it scripted, that’s big for Joe. It will be game-like with officials, call it, get what you earn, first-down, second-down – whatever you earn, you’ll get tomorrow. It’s going to be a full football scrimmage.”
It would be an injustice to say that training camp isn’t “real” football, but the idea of a game-like scrimmage that brings “real” football a little closer has the Broncos excited.
“It’s a chance to go out there and do unscripted football, which is rare to get during camp,” defensive end Derek Wolfe said on Friday. “You don’t really get that until you play in a preseason game. When you’re out there, the offense is trying to scheme up against you. It’s playing football instead of them actually knowing the plays and us knowing the plays that they’re running. It’s actually playing football. I’m looking forward to it.”
While some of the more established veterans on the team know that tomorrow doesn’t decide their fate, they know that Saturday’s scrimmage brings forth a big opportunity for some of the guys on the bubble to show what they can do.
“It definitely matters, especially for those young guys trying to make the team and trying to help us with games,” safety Darian Stewart said on Friday. “It definitely matters, so those guys just have to go out with the mindset like it’s a game and just compete.”
While tomorrow’s scrimmage may feel like a game, keeping people healthy is still Joseph’s number one priority. As a result, the scrimmage won’t be full contact.
“Not to the ground,” Joseph said. “Not to the ground at all. Maybe the third [team] a little bit. I haven’t decided yet. The first group, for sure not. It’s going to be more thud.”
