The dogs days of training camp wear on. Players are sore. The sun is hot. The coaches yell. It starts to feel like Groundhog Day. If you've been out there watching Broncos practice, you may have noticed it. Nothing seems to happen. Sure, there are a few big plays here and there, but it's not what we're used to seeing on Sundays.
Fact is, it's not because the players aren't trying. They're working their butts off. There are just too many variables that prevent plays from really opening up. Too much control. Too much many governors on the switches.
Number one, practice is scripted. Aside from "move the ball" periods, every play of every practice is planned in advance by the coaches. Literally, the plays are on a script and the coaches and players have those scripts in their possession before the practice begins, so they know what's coming.
And it's not just the offensive play that is scripted. The defense that the offense will see is also scripted, and vice versa, chosen by the coaches in order to see certain looks that they want to work on. Coaches are in the huddle giving last-minute instructions, and then they're in the ear of the player immediately after the play. Hard to do anything truly special when the effort is so tightly controlled. And in my six years in the NFL, no opposing team ever gave us their script the night before the game.
Secondly, most coaches stress the idea that, although this is football — it's violent and we know it — we must protect each other. Protect each other, because we are all on the same team. We are going to need one another when the season begins. So don't take advantage of a vulnerable teammate. The coaches see on film when you are in a position to make the play. You don't have to make it. They know you will on Sundays. And so, many of the dynamic plays like big hits, sacks, fumbles, broken tackles and diving catches simply don't get made for the sake of protecting one another and trying to stay as healthy as possible in a game with a 100 percent injury rate.
Third — and this one matters more than you think — everyone knows each other too well to get beat. I know your moves. You know mine. I know your audibles. I know your snap count. I know your line calls. I know your coverages. I know your blitzes. I know your technique on a swim move. I know what you call a slant route. I know your hand signals. I know what your stance looks like when it's a run play. I know what plays you guys run on Day 3 of install and I know this is Day 3, and you won't get me with that out and up. At this point in the process, the Broncos players know each other inside and out, and training camp practices reflect that.
Which is why we all appreciate what we saw in the joint practice against the Packers. None of the above apply, at least not to the extent that they do when it's Broncos vs. Broncos. Sure, the coaches collaborated on a practice script. Sure, it wasn't full-go tackling to the ground on every play. But I will not need you next month, because you are not on my team. In fact, you were wearing green and you were standing on my field puffing out your chest. That makes me ready for a fight. That's where you begin to learn more about your teammates and who you can trust when things get salty. That's where you start to come together as a group and where leaders emerge.
In the years I played for the Broncos, we had joint practices against the Houston Texans and several times against the Cowboys. I can't remember a year when there wasn't a fight or two. I vividly recall a Cowboys offensive lineman ripping off Nate Webster's helmet and swinging it in the melee. The energy level is turned way up. The trash talk gets louder. The hits get harder. The stakes get higher. I don't know you, and you don't know me. Finally, something closer to football out on the practice field. Some players rise to the occasion, some shrink and disappear into the backdrop — and the right 53 men for the job will start to become more and more obvious.
Friday's joint practice is one more vital step in building the team you want, full of players with the toughness and character you desire. Players who take a foreign adversary on their turf as a challenge to be met with force. Players who rise to the occasion. Players who will take the field on Sept. 8 in Seattle expecting to come home with a victory.
No matter how the joint practice went — there are always some good things and some bad things — there is something unifying about its immediate aftermath. As the Broncos walked back into the locker room, removing pads and tape and sitting down in their lockers, their exhaustion was not caused by battling each other, but by facing a different team, which is what real football is all about.
About the Author:
Former NFL wide receiver and tight end Nate Jackson played six seasons for the Broncos and is the author of the New York Times Best Selling book "Slow Getting Up."
