ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Not all end-of-half or end-of-game scenarios are created equally.
As Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton laid out after Friday’s practice, there’s dozens — if not hundreds — of potential scenarios that a team can face in the final moments of a half or a game. And when a team finds itself in one of those scenarios, the approach can change based on whether the offense or defense is under pressure.
“If I said it’s the end of the game and there’s 38 seconds [and] they need a touchdown, [it’s] advantage defense,” Payton said.
On Friday, the Broncos faced what Payton described as a far more neutral scenario: Trailing by six points, 1:48 to play, two timeouts and the ball at the offense’s own 25-yard line.
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“We can get off the field defensively and right away flip the script, [and then] we’re in two minute,” Payton said. “We can be three-and-out, and [they’re] in two-minute. It’s understanding the situation, and we’ve got a litany more [to practice].”
Payton and the Broncos’ focus on Friday was also specifically tailored to the first half, which created a different approach than an end-of-game scenario.
“Every half ends with someone in the two-minute drill, and most of the games end in the two-minute drill,” Payton said. “There’s so many situations — today, we just did end of the half. So when you do end of game, they want to hear ‘Need three [points]’ [or] ‘need seven [points].’ There’s a goal in mind. End of half, not so much so. You’re thinking field goal initially, and then maybe if you get down there a little earlier, you might get aggressive.”
In the first true move-the-ball periods of training camp, quarterbacks Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham each had a chance to lead their groups to points to end the first half.
Nix, who led the first-team offense on Friday, methodically led the Broncos down the field and moved the ball to the opposing 20-yard line. Using a series of quick completions and his legs to scramble for needed yardage, Nix adeptly managed the clock and pushed the Broncos into field-goal range. While an offensive penalty briefly pushed Denver out of field-goal range, Nix and the offense rebounded with completions to Tim Patrick and Samaje Perine to get back in range and earn points. During the drive, Nix also took a shot at the end zone, and he nearly connected with Courtland Sutton for a deep touchdown pass.
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In Stidham’s attempt, he used a pair of chunk plays to move his group down the field. He first found Brandon Johnson for a moderate gain before going right back to Johnson for a gain of about 30 yards. As Nix did, Stidham also showed his ability to avoid pressure and scramble for yardage that pushed the Broncos into field-goal range.
When asked what traits quarterbacks must possess to be successful in two-minute action, Payton pointed to a multitude of factors.
“I think they’re fast processors,” Payton said. “I do think, again, the pocket gets muddied, they don’t get stuck with sacks. They understand how to manage the clock. Throwing the ball away’s fine. It stops the clock and we get to the next play. In a two-minute drill, the average amount of times you actually go to the line of scrimmage and call another play without a huddle is just a little over two times. Often times in a hurry-up drill, most of the time, the clock has stopped and you’re back in the huddle. Someone got out of bounds or it’s incomplete and then periodically you’re right on the ball. Today, we’re on the ball a lot just to get them comfortable with that. But [you want] someone that has got good presence and is able to really manage the clock [and] understand what I’m thinking. I can always manage the timeouts. I’m right with the officials.
“… I mean, look, our league’s seen a number of great quarterbacks and we’ve always debated it, but these guys at some point will call the two-minute, and then occasionally you can beep in and say ‘Heads up for a shot here.’ You’re kind of the copilot, if you will. Early on with these guys, we’re in their ear and we’re giving them the play. That’s something, I think, you build that as you get more comfortable with it.”
As the Broncos look to get more comfortable in those situations, Payton also still sees room to improve despite the favorable results for the offense on Friday.
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“We had three penalties in the first wave,” Payton said. “We’re off the field defensively, but we have a neutral zone infraction, which all of a sudden extends [the drive]. Not only does it extend it, it stops the clock too. That’s a three-point penalty, essentially. But then we’re in field-goal range, we get an offensive foul that take us out — so [there’s] a lot of stuff for us to coach on, relative to that situation.”
… The Broncos re-huddled on several occasions during the practice, and Payton said the emphasis on attention to detail was an intentional focus heading into Friday’s session.
“[I] just really wanted to harp on all the details today,” Payton said. “Even as a staff, [I] just met with them [and said] ‘I want to be on [them] about everything.’ Today was that like stone-in-the-shoe day coaching. It’s part of the discipline of playing. Fortifying the right 53, it’s not just physically the talent. It’s the mental toughness, the fortitude, all those other things. Can you be challenged? Can you be coached hard? How do you react? That was part of today.”
… Wide receiver Courtland Sutton and cornerback Pat Surtain II continued their entertaining training camp matchup on Friday, and Sutton earned held the upper-hand on one particular team period rep. As Sutton ran a post, Surtain provided incredibly tight coverage — and yet Nix found a way to sneak the ball into a tight window, and Sutton held on for an impressive 15-yard grab.
… Outside linebacker Baron Browning continued his disruptive play in the backfield, as he showed his speed and chased the quarterback down from the backside of the defense for a would-be sack.
The Denver Broncos hit the fifth day of a six straight day stretch of training camp today. All eyes remain on the quarterbacks and specifically, Bo Nix. There was near universal praise for his play on Thursday outside of one contrarian from the local media. He certainly seems to be coming along quickly and his first preseason game should tell us all where he’s at in the scheme of things as a rookie.
Head Coach Sean Payton noted yesterday that the quarterback position is certainly not decided by any stretch, although the rotation has not been consistent. It seems as though it is quickly coming down to a battle between Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham.
“It’s not etched in stone,” Payton said. “We talked about it in the beginning of the week. It’s hard to rotate three [quarterbacks] through the first group. All three of them I thought had a good day today. We’ll see how Saturday goes. Saturday we’re going to have a little bit more of a different type of practice. It’s not going to be a scrimmage, but there are going to be like three phases, special teams mixed in, move the ball if you will. We haven’t met on that relative to the reps and the rotation. Sunday then, we’ll map out the plan for the week leading up to Indianapolis, so that’s kind of where we’re at.”
Saturday seems like it could be a pretty eventful day for training camp news, so keep note of that heading into the weekend. We’re less than 10 days away from the first preseason game too. Time is flying!
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Broncos training camp Day 9 live updates
The Broncos have announced the signing of tight end Hunter Kampmoyer. They waived defensive tackle Brandon Matterson in a corresponding roster move.
Field flips again and Wilson is in for Nix. Finds Krull out-breaking on first play. Then it’s Javonte in the flat on the next rep. Hurries to the line and looks for Dorsett on a stop route. Dorsett has to dive for the worm-burner that bounces off the turf in front of him
On Nix’s third rep he keeps a read option but the defense suffocates the ikat immediately. Fourth rep is an RPO of sorts. Nix unloads the pass SUPERRRR quick to Bandy in stride. That definitely translates from the Oregon tape
WELD COUNTY, Colo. – It was one of Colorado’s darkest days, yet when asked, most Coloradans will say they never heard of it.
It was an act of terror in the skies just a few miles north of Denver that killed dozens of people and quickly faded from the headlines, but forever burned into the Weld County community.
It was just after 7 p.m. on November 1, 1955.
United Airlines Flight 629 – a 4-engine DC 6 passenger aircraft – loaded with crew, passengers, cargo and fuel for the hop from Denver to Portland, Oregon, quickly departed Stapleton Airport to the northwest.
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A few minutes later, Stapleton tower controllers noticed a bright flash in the sky and witnesses near Longmont heard and saw the huge explosion in the night sky.There was little anyone could do as the wreckage rained down onto the Weld County beet fields.
FBI
A photo taken above the Weld County beet fields shows what was left of United Flight 629’s tail.
Keith Cunningham, the Longmont police chief rushed every available officer and firefighter to the fields along with ambulances.
Just a few minutes later, a patrolman radioed: “No ambulances are necessary,” the Rocky Mountain News reported,
Conrad Hopp was just a teenager. He was sitting down for a meal in his home on a farm just east of Longmont.”And then we hear this loud explosion that shook all the windows in the house,” Hopp said. “We looked outside, and we could hear the roar of the engines — that’s how you knew it was a plane — and the ball of the fire coming through the air.”
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He jumped up from the supper table into history.
“By the time we got to my car we lost sight of the plane behind the barn,” he said.
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Conrad Hopps
Nearby, Martha Hopp, Conrad’s girlfriend and also just a teen, was also sitting down for supper.
“I ran outside and I remember all the roads were white with lights,” Martha remembered. “Everybody was already out on the roads doing the same thing.”
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It wasn’t just unformed first responders rushing to the scene, but everyday ordinary citizens who took to the roads to do anything they could to save victims.
“18-year-olds encountering bodies, baseball teams dropping what they were doing. The American Legion was running coffee, and then there was Johnson’s Corner, all this activity going on,” said Marian Poeppelmeyer, who lost her dad on Flight 629. “I understand there were more than 200 people on the field, from eyewitnesses I’ve been able to meet.”
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In 2022, Marian Hobgood Poeppelmeyer visits the Longmont beet field where her father died along with 43 others onboard United Airlines Flight 629 in 1955.
Martha remembers by the time she reached the road and saw all the headlights there was debris everywhere.
“So we drove the truck around each body so that it could be found easily,” said Martha.
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Conrad was doing the same.
“So we could drive around and then signal so someone could stay by the body and then we’d look for another one, ” he said. “I don’t think I probably went to bed for two days. We were busy even the next day looking for bodies, we didn’t find them all that night.”
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Martha Hopps
Conrad, just barely 18-year-old, would carry that trauma well into his adult life.
“Finding a body was fairly simple but later on to try and pick that body up and put it in a body bag, that was the tough part.”
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While the Weld County community was responding and processing the mayhem, aviation investigators, the FBI and local law enforcement were trying to piece together how a state-of-the-art, widely used passenger plane could suddenly explode into pieces.It wouldn’t take the FBI long to piece it all together.
Their suspect quickly came into focus. An announcer – in a vintage Denver7 news clip – painted the picture.
“John Gilbert Graham, you remember him? He planted a bomb in a suitcase carried by his mother on the United Airliner.”
Denver District Attorney’s Office
The 44 victims of the United Air Lines Flight 629.
It had never happened before in the United States.
As part of the investigation, every piece of baggage carried on board by a United Flight 629 passenger was scrutinized,
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The FBI focused on the destroyed luggage of Daisie E. King, a 54-year-old Denver woman.
King, according to the FBI, was carrying several items with her on the plane that were recovered.Those items included personal letters, a checkbook, an address list, two keys for safe deposit boxes and newspaper clippings about her family, including her 23-year-old son, John “Jack” Gilbert Graham.
Graham had been charged with forgery several years earlier and was placed on a “most wanted” list by the Denver County District Attorney, that newspaper clipping showed.
FBI
Wreckage of Flight 629
The investigation focused on King and the fraught relationship with her son.
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Graham, the FBI learned, was to receive an inheritance but the mother and son had argued for years. He had lived with other family members through the years and left home at 16.
While Graham returned to Denver to help run his mother’s drive-in restaurant, they still “fought like cats and dogs,” according to the FBI.
On the day of Flight 629’s demise, Jack Graham was planning to give his mother an early Christmas present, believed to be a set of small tools. He had apparently searched all day for the special gift, a neighbor later told investigators.
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The suspect in Denver7 News courtroom footage from 1956.
Graham, his wife recalled to the FBI, brought the package into the house and carried it to the basement, where his mother had been packing her luggage.
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King finished packing, and the family loaded into Graham’s 1951 Plymouth and headed across town to the airport.
He later admitted to the explosion of Flight 629. He said he built a time bomb, with 25 sticks of dynamite and placed it into his mother’s luggage.
Justice was swift. Just 14 months after the terror and a quick trial, Graham was executed.
Rocky Mountain News via Denver Public Library
John Graham, center, was sentenced to death for blowing up United Air Lines Flight 629, killing his mother, right, and 43 other people on board.
The dark headlines began to fade into history.
Marian Poeppelmeyer, who never got to know her father, adds that during tragedies, too much focus lands on the perpetrator and not the victims.
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Through the power of faith she found healing to write a book about her traumatic journey. Over the last 2 years, Marian has bonded with the Hopps’ and other Weld County citizens who tried to save anyone they could.
The explosion of United Airlines Flight 629 was one of the first attacks on a commercial airliner in the United States. Murdered were 44 people – a five-person crew and 39 passengers including a 13-month-old boy.
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Marian holds her father’s watch
But nearly 69 years later, driving through Longmont or the roads surrounding those Weld County beet fields there’s no sign or monument marking the deadliest act of mass murder in Colorado history.
“It’s important to me because nothing has ever been done for the passengers who lost their lives and nothing has been done for the families whose lives were totally shattered by what happened on November 1, 1955,” Marian said through tears.
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Visiting those beet fields where her dad died has been a healing step but she dreams of the day when there’s a place to also honor not only the victims but the heroic citizens and first responders.
“’I’ve encountered people here who have never known the history. And why? Because it got shoved underneath and became quiet. It was too traumatic for this area. How do you even speak of it?” she added.
Denver7
Marian’s father pictured with her mother.
Marian, who lives out of state, first traveled to Weld County a couple of years ago to visit the scene and met Becky Tesore, a local resident. The two quickly bonded over shared faith and Tesore felt called to serve and help in any way for the future of a Flight 629 memorial.
“I was at a publishers conference and this lady came up to me and said, Becky, you live in Weld County, I need a place to stay – and it was Marian Poeppelmeyer,” said Tesore. “And she had her book at the conference, ‘Finding My Father’ – which is a great book on healing – I just love it. And so we got to know each other.”
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The two grew a greater movement in the community attracting fellow citizens who felt called to serve and right a wrong. “I would say 99.5% of the people do not know about Flight 629,” Tesore said. “It kind of shocks them and it pulls them in, and they’re like, I’m so glad I now know and then I give them our website, which is like flight629memorial.org.’
Denver7
Becky Tesore, Vice President of the Flight 629 Memorial Committee
Together, Marian and Becky drove hundreds of miles around the area going to appointments, speaking to local groups and inspiring others to believe in a tribute to the victims, families and heroes of United Flight 629.
A group of local citizens formed the Flight 629 Memorial and Unsung Heroes Across America Committee of which Tesore serves as Vice President. The memorial board’s president, Greg Raymer, has worked hard on a weekend concert event at Rialto Theater in Loveland to help raise money.
The first fundraising event is a concert at the theater on Saturday, August 3, 2024 runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and features Christine Alice and the Canyon Echos. The group hopes to raise money from the event and further share the story of Flight 629.
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“Tickets are $25 until the day of and then we’ll be back at $30,” said Becky. Tickets can be purchased at this link and they say every dollar helps so that the history of Flight 629 can finally be properly honored – for today and future generations.
“They weren’t taught they weren’t talking about it. One of our members Conrad Hopps said he didn’t tell his kids till years later, so he is so thankful that he’s getting healed of it.” added Becky. “And we don’t want this generation to pass away without seeing the results of what they did that night by going out. Many were traumatized by the events that they saw.”
In the video player below, Watch Marian Poeppelmeyer share her journey of healing through trauma
The bombing of United Airlines 629 and a journey to forgiveness
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As fundraising efforts ramp up, including the launch of a Flight 629 GoFundMe page, Becky and the committee are working toward an important date.
“The mission is to try and have a memorial or ribbon cutting by November 1, 2025 as that will be the 70th year. We are really going to try and get the memorial up,” Becky said. “And we have seen God do amazing things in the process of this journey, so we’re still believing for it.”
She says the committee needs $26,000 to order material for the memorial.
Marian is returning to Colorado over several days in August to speak at local community centers about her father’s tragedy and her healing journey. She’ll share her story on Monday, August 12 between 2 and 4 p.m. at the Carbon Valley Parks and Recreation Center in Firestone.
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The night a Denver man blew up his mother’s flight
She’ll also be at the Carbon Valley Public Library on Wednesday, August 14 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.She has appearances scheduled in Greeley and Longmont, all of which are detailed on her Facebook page.
“It took great courage to do what 18-year-olds did, what teenagers did and what fathers and mothers did on the field that night,” said Marian.
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And while the future site and logistics of the memorial are still a work in progress, all are on the same path to create a space where those who through the years suffered trauma, like so many first responders and citizen heroes do, have a place to remember what happened in those beet fields, honor the lives cut short and find the gift of healing.
“It’s not just about me, my dad is about 43 other families that were involved,” Marian reflected. “And it’s about the history and legacy of Weld County.”
Watch the full video special report in the video player below:
A mission to build a memorial honoring the bombing of Flight 629 in Colorado
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Two former Denver Broncos players found news homes on Thursday.
Former Broncos defensive lineman Mike Purcell signed with the New England Patriots, and ex-Denver wide receiver Marquez Callaway signed with the New Orleans Saints.
Purcell, 33, played for the Broncos from 2019-2023, totaling 166 tackles, 14 quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks in 65 games (37 starts). He played 462 snaps on defense last season. Denver signed defensive lineman Malcolm Roach during free agency and acquired John Franklin-Myers in a trade with the New York Jets this spring, beefing up their defensive line.
Callaway, 26, went to training camp with the Broncos last summer after spending the first three years of his career with the Saints. He spent time with the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans after being cut by Denver last year. Callaway was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this week and has now returned to the Saints for the third time in his career.
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There are now four ex-Broncos players who remain unsigned free agents: safety Justin Simmons, cornerback K’Waun Williams, offensive tackle Cam Fleming and running back Dwayne Washington.
Broncos unsigned free agents
DB Justin Simmons (30)
CB K’Waun Williams (32)
OT Cam Fleming (31)
RB Dwayne Washington (30)
The most notable unsigned former Denver player is Simmons, a four-time All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowler. We’ll see if Simmons lands with a new team before the regular season begins in September.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25557677/2072351604.jpg "MrBeast blames terrible Beast Games conditions on the CrowdStrike outage")
