Horse Tracks: Vance Joseph looking forward to joint practices with Chicago Bears

Good morning, Broncos Country.

The Chicago Bears are looking forward to the opportunity of having joint practices with the Denver Broncos the next two days in preparation for Saturday’s game — and it’s safe to say the feeling is mutual.

Through the course of OTA’s and training camp, each team has gotten familiar with what is going on with their squad internally. But sometimes a change of pace is most welcomed and both franchises are anxious at the prospect of having the opportunity to practice against one another. Head Coach Vance Joseph is excited to have his team compete against the Bears today and Thursday. Moreover he knows it will be beneficial for the players involved, as well as the evaluation process of them.

“Obviously, schematically, it’s a different scheme. You watch our defense now versus our offense, our defense has seen these plays for almost three weeks now. It’s easy for them,” stated Joseph. “To see a different scheme, to play against a different body type, that’s going to be huge for our team as far as schematics and for evaluation of our team. It’s going to be huge,” he added.

While the joint practices will give each team a great opportunity to game plan for Saturday as well as evaluate their players, there is one thing Joseph and Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy are hoping to avoid in the sessions: fights — which have been a common occurrence across the league during training camp and preseason.

“We’ve talked several times about the structure of practice, obviously, and the temperament of practice. We want to have great work in the next two days. Obviously you watch the news, a bunch of fighting is occurring in most practices, remarked Joseph. “We don’t want that. Let’s get good work on both sides of the ball, be good professionals and not fight. It’s as simple as that—not fight.”

It’ll be great to see how the Broncos fare against the Bears in the joint practice sessions and be able to see if any past training camp trends continue through the next few days. Will Chad Kelly perform strongly against the Bears’ second unit? Will rookie wide receiver Courtland Sutton continue to impress and give Chicago’s defensive backs fits? How will the Broncos’ young pass rushers fair against the opposing offensive line? These are just some things to look out for the next few days — and feel free to share what you are looking forward to most out of these joint practices in the comments section.

As always, thank you for reading and here is today’s offering of Horse Tracks.

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