ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos 13th day of training camp is in the books. The biggest fight of training camp broke out. Here are my raw notes released minutes after practice wrapped up.
THE LEAD UP
—The fight, which broke out near the end of practice, had quite a build up to it
—During a 9-on-7 run period, a scuffle broke out between the offensive and defensive lines along with Justin Joly. It was quickly deescalated
—Over the next few team periods, the offense and defense got very spirited and the practice became the most electric of camp
—On two different plays, linebackers, including Alex Singleton, would have blown up opposing offensive skill position players while catching a pass if it were a game. That caused the defense to go wild in celebration
—Then, the offense got their turn. In the tight red zone, Bo Nix threw a pass to the middle of the field. The ball was tipped and went right through Ja’Quan McMillian‘s hands and right to Troy Franklin for a touchdown. Nix ran over to Franklin in celebration, where he spiked the ball
—A few plays later, Nix hit a wide-open Courtland Sutton in the end zone for a touchdown. Sutton invited all of the offensive players over the celebrate. As Nix got there, Sutton loaded up and spiked the ball as hard as possible
—Both sides of the ball were as energetic as possible and riled up
—Then, during the next team period, Nik Bonitto, Malcolm Roach and Jonathon Cooper collapsed Nix’s pocket so much that Bo got knocked over. The golden rule in practice is to not let the quarterback go down
—Denver‘s quarterback got up extremely heated and threw the ball in the direction of where Bonitto pressured from and where Roach was celebrating the sack
—Plays later, the biggest fight of camp broke out
THE FIGHT
—Nix dropped back and threw an interception to Singleton. As Denver’s captain took off for the end zone, a massive pile up quickly developed on the opposite end of the field
—The pile up quickly became a number of bodies deep, with offensive and defensive lineman in the thick of it
—Bonitto was near the top of the huge pile when Nix came over to the pile, grabbed his leg and began pulling him off
—Nix continued to carry Bonitto away from the pile by one leg, as the outside linebacker jumped on his free leg
—Once Bonitto got both legs back, he was immediately held back by multiple teammates as he attempted to get the quarterback
—Both players were held back until tempers calmed, which took a few minutes
—As the pile was separated, Calvin Throckmorton—Denver’s only fully healthy center—emerged from the bottom of it without his helmet and blood on his face
—Throckmorton was treated by trainers before walking into the locker room for more treatment
THE AFTERMATH
—Sean Payton did not talk to the media after practice as he was not scheduled to before practice started
—Vance Joseph stated his defense plays aggressive, but there is a line that cannot be crossed, especially when it comes to the quarterback. Joseph stated the defense can’t get anywhere near Nix
—Denver’s franchise quarterback also talked after practice.
—Nix was in quite a different mood than he was during the fight, saying he “loved” the fight
—Nix continued, “I love it. It’s football. It’s getting me ready for the games coming up. It’s a physical practice out there played by physical people. It got intense and we were just really enjoying it. Sometimes in the dog days of summer, practice gets long and the intensity runs high.”