ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Is Russ about to run again?
Sure looks like it. On the first official day of training camp – official meaning fans were in attendance – Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson may have run more on the first day than he did all of last year’s training camp.
Back then, Wilson had visions of a long, Tom Brady-like career from the pocket. But what the 2022 season taught Wilson was, like Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid, he’s better when he’s moving. Hits or no hits, Wilson is a superior two-way quarterback – running and passing. He is not a precision, one-way passer from the pocket. He can pass from the pocket. But the pocket pass can be best set up by the threat of his run.
“I’m going to try and get moving for you,’’ Wilson said with a half-smile before cutting off the scrambling theme with, “It’s going to be a great year. It’s going to be a great year.”
On Friday at the Broncos’ training center, Wilson took off scrambling at least four times. He ran so much, one time he ran all the way downfield for a 70-yard touchdown, running past the cheering fans seated on the other side of the left sideline, continuing to run to the end zone even though the defense let up around midfield.
Never mind defensive lineman Zach Allen may have one-hand tapped Wilson’s back behind the line of scrimmage, which in a non-contact practice would have meant a sack.
But the coaches didn’t blow the play dead and Wilson carried on for the long scoring run.
“There’s nothing better than seeing the fans out here,’’ Wilson said. “You learn, watching a lot of great players play and watching guys finish, through the end zone. As a leader you always want to finish. It doesn’t matter if its 80 yards, 20 yards, 75 yards no matter what it is, you always try to finish through.”
Wilson ran so much he once took off running during a 7 on 7 drill. Unless they’re named Tim Tebow, quarterbacks ordinarily aren’t supposed to run during 7 on 7 drills. Payton doesn’t mind, though.
“You want to play it like a game,’’ Payton said of 7 on 7. “That’s what we’re trying to simulate. It’s hard to practice the spontaneous momentous that happen in a game. If you break down a whole game, two-thirds of it happens in the pocket, the way it’s supposed to. A third of it there’s a movement adjustment, there’s pressure, there’s all kinds of things that can take place and so I’m comfortable when I see him climbing (the pocket) and taking off because one of those plays was like a 30-yard gain and how else do you practice that?
“And the same way with the scramble drill when we’re out of the pocket you begin working on that all the time. And I think it’s one of the things he does well. In the framework of a play is when something breaks down and he flushes, a lot of times good things happen.’’
Besides scrambling Russ, a couple other trends to the Broncos’ offense were a ton of pass completions within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage – and a quick paced tempo where coaches are constantly yelling, “Hurry up, hurry up,” and offensive players break from the huddle on a short sprint to the snap.
“We’re emphasizing it,’’ Payton said. “It’s up and down, in and out, on and off. Up and down, in and out, on and off.
“It can be draining for the receivers who were just down the field in a four-play script. But you see us talking about tempo all the time. ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ It’s a way for the offense to pressure the defense a little bit. We’re not talking about hurry-up or no-huddle. We just want the tempo to be such that it’s really, really fast.’’
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