Russell Wilson, Broncos offense gaining steam in training camp

Adam Trautman made perhaps the play of training camp so far for the Broncos offense on Wednesday morning.

Going over the middle in the red zone and diving for a tight-window throw from Russell Wilson, Trautman snared the ball with his left hand and pulled it in among heavy traffic.

The catch itself was eye-popping.

The throw might be even more instructive about where Denver’s offense and its quarterback are making progress as the second of three preseason games approaches.

Wilson made plays in the passing game during the preseason opener over the middle of the field, an area that he’s been less productive in over the course of his career, and he did it again Wednesday.

To Trautman, he fired a ball into a spot on time and came away with a touchdown for it.

“The guy’s back was turned and I just kind of whistled it in there and he made a great catch,” Wilson said after practice.

The best indicators are clearly in-game situations — Denver’s No. 1 offense started slow Friday night at Arizona, but had 13 plays for 97 yards and a touchdown over its final two series — but the sense of rhythm and timing has grown steadily over the course of training camp, too.

Wilson and the top offense have had a run of good practices, though it’s worth noting that they’ve done so largely with safety Justin Simmons, nickel K’Waun Williams and others out in recent days due to injury.

Even still, Trautman is excited about Wilson’s play.

“He’s been excellent and he’s only got better every single day,” the former New Orleans tight end said. “More comfortable with the offense or whatever the case may be. More control. And I think everyone’s starting to see it out here, too.”

Wilson senses the same thing.

“We have the consistency of just coming out to the field and using the walk-throughs, using the practices, we’re using those to really get our minds going before practice,” he said. “It’s about 50 plays or however many it is. … It’s kind of like that 10,000 hour thing. More and more reps. As many reps as we can get. We’ve got a lot of reps this offseason together, here at practice and also off the field as well. All the film study that we’re doing together is really helping as well.

“But we’ve got a lot of talented guys, man. They can make a lot of great plays.”

After a catastrophic 2022, the Broncos offense is going to have to prove it this fall. After Wilson was sacked 55 times in 15 games, the fact that he got hit six times in 14 drop-backs against Arizona is notable even if it’s not cause for panic.

As the preseason moves closer to the Sept. 10 opener against Las Vegas, nobody’s complaining about good days.

“We made some plays,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Wednesday. “It’s important in practice, sometimes you’re running a play against a poor look, sometimes you’re running it against a perfect look. Just really focus on the execution and not feeling like the world is ending if it wasn’t the best day and not feeling like you’ve arrived if it’s a good day.