Broncos' Training Camp Scrimmage Will be Broadcast on Saturday Evening
In lieu of the canceled preseason games, the Denver Broncos are going to do hold a practice on Saturday evening at Empower Field at Mile High. The Broncos have partnered with 9NEWS and KOA NewsRadio to air the team's stadium session.
Following Friday's practice, head coach Vic Fangio explained why the Broncos are holding this stadium practice session and what fans who tune in on television can expect to see.
"We're going to try and make it as game-like as we can," Fangio said on Friday. "We're going to come out and go through pre-game warmups, just like we would for a real game. We're going to time it out, just like we would for a real game. We're going to go in after pre-game warmups. We're going to come out at the same time we kind of would for a real game. We're going to have a kick-off. We're going to put the ball at different places on the field to start series and drives. We're going to incorporate kicks in there, whether it be a PAT [point-after try], a field goal, or a punt. And then we're actually, at some point, we're going to go in—like at halftime—there's going to be a 10-minute delay. We're not going to go the full 12 [minutes]."
Playing an NFL game for 30 minutes, only to go to the locker room and cool down for 12 minutes, and then come back out to take the field for the final 30 minutes, might seem like a small thing but there are little wrinkles and practical nuances that hold value to the Broncos, especially for the rookies who've yet to step foot on an NFL field yet.
"We'll be in there for 10 minutes, come back out, let them get loose like they would have to in a real game and kick it off for the second half and repeat that same sequence," Fangio said. "[We'll] put the ball in different spots to try and hit all the situations. I'll control the down-and-distance a lot just to make sure we hit some situations that way. But we're going to try to make it as game-like as we can."
It's going to look very similar to the Broncos' traditional stadium scrimmage held each summer during training camp where fans have always been allowed to attend. Due to the pandemic, for now, at least, fans will not be allowed at the stadium which is why the partnership with 9NEWS is crucial for fans to get a look at how the Broncos are shaping up.
9NEWS will broadcast the session, along with highlights, on KTVD-20 (Comcast channel 5 and Xfinity channel 657) from 7-9 p.m. Ex-NFL player Chad Brown and Rod Mackey will provide some color commentary and analysis of the events as they unfold on the field, while 9NEWS' Broncos Insider Mike Klis will update the show with interviews with Coach Fangio and players.
With the preseason being canceled, this going to be as close to game-like conditions as the Broncos can create before the regular-season opener on September 14 on Monday Night Football. Coach Fangio explained in-depth the utility of holding the event.
"I think it's valuable from a lot of different, small areas," Fangio said. "One, we've got guys who've never been in that stadium. That's going to be good for them. Even the guys that have been in the stadium, it's always good to go back down and be in your stadium. It's good to intermix the kicking-game plays as they would happen in a game. We do that during a practice during the season with field goals but we're going to try and do it with everybody."
Something as rudimentary as subbing in and out of games is usually fine-tuned during the preseason so this stadium session will give the Broncos the chance to work through that process and also experience what it'll be like to play in and hear artificial crowd noise.
"So, the substitution process with guys going in and out will be good to practice," Fangio said. "I'm not sure what the crowd-noise rules are, I'm hearing different things, but whatever they are, we're going to have the crowd noise in there that we're going to be allowed to use for stadiums that have no fans. So, obviously, we're doing it so that our offense will experience it in the stadiums that we're playing in with no fans and the defense will be able to experience the noise we'll use at home games. So there's a lot of little crumbs that I think make it worthwhile.'
If the Broncos inch closer to the season-opener and feel like they need another dress rehearsal of sorts, they're not opposed to holding another stadium session.
"If we feel we need to go down there and do it again to some degree before Tennessee [Week 1], we'll do it again," Fangio said.
On KOA NewsRadio (850 AM/94.1 FM), the Broncos’ radio team of Dave Logan, Rick Lewis, and Susie Wargin will handle the broadcast with Team Insider Brandon Krisztal providing some live coverage of the practice starting at 3:15 p.m.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHudde.
