ENGLEWOOD, Colorado — Jarrett Stidham appeared to channel his inner Lee Corso on Thursday when he said, “Not so fast, my friend.”
Working with the No. 1 offense, Stidham made one of the best throws of the entire training camp in the final minutes of training camp, hitting wide receiver David Sills deep on the right flank during a two-minute “move-the-ball” phase.
Stidham threw the ball, made possible by Greg Dulcich’s successful sideline blocking of Baron Browning. Sills caught the pass and ran into the end zone, where he appeared to score before the ball was ruled down at the defense’s 11-yard line.
The quarterback celebrated, his frustration with the state of the competition melting away as he ran down the field and into position. But since the play was not ruled a touchdown — although it might have been one under game conditions — the offense had to set up for first and 10, 11 yards from the end zone. They never made it, losing the ball on a tackle attempt.
Still, the pass was a moment when Stidham’s work bore fruit.
Of course, Stidham’s performance in the season opener was undone by penalties and a dropped pass – all factors beyond his control.
“All quarterbacks are ultimately judged by their points,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday when asked about Bo Nix. But it would be unwise to judge Jarrett Stidham’s performance on Aug. 11 by the offensive’s points; had it not been for Tim Patrick’s taunting penalty, the veteran sixth-year quarterback would have carried the offense into the end zone.
Whether Stidham starts in Week 1 is also likely out of his control. But for a brief, shining moment on Thursday, he did his part to show what he can still do in Sean Payton’s offense.
Jarrett Stidham had some bad luck on his first seven-on-seven rep. From the defense’s 24-yard line, Stidham spotted Jaleel McLaughlin heading toward the end zone. The pass was a little high but catchable, bounced off the running back’s hands and was incomplete. But two plays later, Stidham found David Sills in the end zone for a touchdown after Sills veered off his route.
In the team phase that followed, Stidham completed both of his passes for short gains before going full throttle in the final phase of training.
Bo Nix had the upper hand during the two-minute drill at the end of practice, helping the second team offense score a touchdown despite being down by 5 points in the final moments of the fourth quarter with no timeouts.
Nix’s first pass of the game was nearly intercepted by Cody Barton. His second play ended in a sack, but was called offside. But consecutive passes to Jalen Virgil and Michael Bandy put Nix and the offense in goal-to-go, from where Nix hit Phillip Dorsett for 5 yards before finding Bandy again for the 2-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left.
It was Nix’s second touchdown to Bandy of the day. Earlier, he found Bandy in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown and fired a ball that the receiver caught.
Wilson had another solid day but didn’t get a chance in the move-the-ball phase. He found the end zone with a 5-yard floater to Troy Franklin in the back of the end zone during a seven-on-seven red zone period in which he completed three of his four attempts.
