“Seamless” transition from inside to outside
Did not practice: LB Todd Davis (calf, ninth consecutive missed practice), WR River Cracraft (oblique, eighth), TE Jake Butt (knee, seventh), WR DeaSean Hamilton (hamstring, fourth), RT Ja’Wuan James (lower leg, third), TE Bug Howard (ankle, third), OL Jake Rodgers (calf, third) and CB Bryce Callahan (foot, first). *Cracraft went through some individual drills, but no team work. *OLB Dekoda Watson (lower leg) went through team stretch but was a spectator during defense/specialteams drills.
*Coach Vic Fangio, on Butt: “You get concerned. Jake keeps having these little potholes. He starts feeling good, moves a little, does something and then it doesn’t feel so good. … The important thing is keeping his spirits up.” During 11-on-11 work, rookie WR Juwann Winfree made a sliding catch down the left sideline. QB Joe Flacco placed the pass so only Winfree could get to it.
During 7-on-7, he read the running back going to the flat and then the eyes of QB Drew Lock to make the interception.
The secondyear player is hitting his stride. He had several fine catches during practice.
The rookie thirdround pick went 0-2 in a pass rush drill against C Connor McGovern.
TE Noah Fant and WR Tim Patrick dropped passes by QB Joe Flacco. *The practice was scheduled to be open for fans, but the gates were closed because of weather. At 2 p.m., the Broncos started practice inside before moving outside 45 minutes later. “These guys are seamless,” coach Vic Fangio said. “We started inside and when we came back out, we picked right back up where we were.”
*The Broncos ran 77 snaps of 11-on11. The workout concluded with QB Drew Lock taking a knee in the “victory” formation. *Quarterback snaps (11-on-11): Joe Flacco 31, Kevin Hogan 13, Lock 22 and Brett Rypien 11.
*WR Emmanuel Sanders (Achilles) made his first 11-on-11 appearance of camp and caught a pass from Flacco. “Hopefully you’re going to see him do a little more each and every day,” Fangio said. “When we get back into training camp mode (next Sunday), hopefully you’ll see him play 3-5 more plays than (Monday).” *The 11-on-11 work appeared to be cleaner than the 12-penalty mess Saturday. We charted the offense with three false starts before the final period. On Flacco’s move-theball series (2:48 remaining, trailing by three points, at his 31-yard line), there were penalties on three consecutive plays. “The two penalties were planned by me — I told them to do that,” said Fangio, not revealing his rationale. “Some of them looked like penalties but were actually clean plays — the center snapped the ball before he was supposed to. They’re bad plays, but not penalties. The quarterback is going to get clobbered.”
*C Connor McGovern’s shotgun snaps hit a rough patch late in practice when he delivered a groundball to Flacco (aborted play). “He may play a little bit (Thursday),” Fangio said of McGovern. “Most of the snap issues we’ve had have been in the shotgun, and he was excellent (on Saturday), which was good to see.” *To start pass rush/protection drills, OLB Bradley Chubb used his power to push LT Garett Bolles backward and then onto his rear end. *Lock’s second period of 11-on-11 started with a dropped snap from under center.
*Minus Bryce Callahan (foot) and momentarily Chris Harris (who went to the locker room), Isaac Yiadom and De’Vante Bausby were the firstteam cornerbacks. *Working against the third-team offense, OLB Von Miller jumped offside to start a series. Two plays later, S Justin Simmons dropped an interception against Rypien. A Hogan series during that period: Incompletion, sack and sack.
*Flacco was 4-of-4 during a team period with completions to TE Noah Fant, TE Troy Fumagalli, WR Tim Patrick and WR Courtland Sutton. *A Lock possession late in practice: Scramble, sack, completion, sack and completion to Patrick. Can’t throw the football if you don’t have time. Practice 9:15-noon (open to fans).