The Broncos, like every team, will be using the preseason to get ready for the regular season. New Broncos coach Sean Payton has specific things he wants to see his players do, and not do, in the looming trio of games that don’t count.
When it comes to playing offense, Payton wants the team getting to the line of scrimmage with plenty of time on the play clock. That was a major issue last year for the Broncos, under prior management.
Toward that end, Payton had a play clock at practice on Monday.
“Part of the reason today for the clock, the 40-second clock, is just the sense of urgency of in and out, up and down, on and off,” Payton told reporters. “The tempo we have been stressing — there is a lot we are giving the quarterbacks at times. Obviously, if you get to the line of scrimmage with 15 seconds [remaining], there is a lot you can do. If you get to the line of scrimmage with six seconds [remaining], there is not a whole lot you can do. Just working through the mechanics of all of that.”
Payton also is working the team through the mechanics of behavior during a preseason game, both while on the field and off it.
"[You want to see guys who are playing full speed, they know what to do and you are able to evaluate them versus a different scheme,” Payton said. “We’ve been seeing the same offense or defense, so now we get to see a different opponent. Hopefully, mental errors are reduced. It’s a game always with mistakes, so I keep talking to them about getting onto the next play. That’s important.
“It’s probably just as easy to answer the question as to what I don’t want to see. I don’t want to see 10 guys on the field. I don’t want to see uniforms off after we’re done playing [with] sunglasses on and Gilligan hats on and interviews during the game. That’s what I don’t want to see, but we will communicate all of that.”
So he wants a simulation of what will happen when the real games begin, and when the Broncos try desperately to improve on last year’s massive disappointment.