Davis Webb turned back toward the Broncos\u2019 sideline in the final minute of the first half on Saturday and saw players and coaches lined up for high fives and fist bumps.<\/p>\n
On a night when Denver\u2019s backups dominated Arizona\u2019s in a 27-7 preseason win, several Broncos had good nights.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Jarrett Stidham was razor sharp for a second straight week.<\/p>\n
Second-year receiver Troy Franklin caught two touchdowns, including one on a perfectly thrown ball from Stidham in the back corner of the end zone with 47 seconds left in the first half that polished off a breezy two-minute drill.<\/p>\n
Few, if any, had a better night than Webb.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Broncos quarterbacks coach and offensive passing game coordinator called plays in an NFL game for the first time.<\/p>\n
Preseason game? Hardly any starters in the mix? No matter. Not to Webb.<\/p>\n
Head coach Sean Payton, of course, calls plays for Denver in the regular season but will delegate the duty to offensive assistants at times during the preseason. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi called Denver\u2019s first preseason game against San Francisco, for example, and senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael is one of the few who\u2019s stepped in for Payton in a regular-season game.<\/p>\n
Payton gave Webb his first crack at the job and threw down a bit of a challenge during the practice week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had thrown a couple of call sheets or stat sheets from my first time and highlighted a few things and said, \u2018see if you can beat this,\u2019\u201d Payton said after the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos steamrolled to 562 offensive yards and averaged 7.8 per snap.<\/p>\n
Stidham engineered a four-play, 97-yard scoring blitz to open the game, led Denver to points on four of his first five drives and then orchestrated the touchdown drive in a two-minute scenario late in the first half.<\/p>\n
During that march, he said he \u201ckind of knew where Davis was going with some of those play calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great because we have so many conversations in our quarterback room with him and me and Bo and Sam (Ehlinger), really just talking about, \u2018OK, in a two-minute situation, against this certain defense, what do we like? What do we not like?\u2019\u201d Stidham said. \u201cSo you\u2019re able to kind of pick up on things before they happen a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payton gave Webb a game ball in the locker room after the win. He largely stood near Webb on the sideline with the play sheet at his side or behind his back. He\u2019d occasionally lean over and talk with Webb, but the veteran head coach said he let his young assistant call the whole game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said this to (CEO and owner Greg Penner) earlier, if you had Pete call a game, Davis, Joe, myself, whoever, you\u2019re going to get so many different combinations on that call sheet,\u201d Payton said. \u201cYou\u2019ll get the emphasis in the run. We wanted to run the ball well tonight, but I thought (Webb) was \u2014 the biggest thing is getting on to the next play as soon as you\u2019ve called that play.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I thought he was fast, efficient, had a lot of energy. The players responded. I thought he did a great job. It\u2019s no different than a player that has a real good game, like, I can do this at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb\u2019s considered a fast-riser in the industry and somebody who could one day soon be coordinating an offense or even find himself in charge of a team.<\/p>\n
Stidham\u2019s going into his third season with Webb and has seen his positional work up close since Webb jumped from playing to coaching after Payton got hired in Denver.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight was a big deal for him,\u201d Stidham said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a coach and you want to be a play-caller in this league, when you get your first opportunity, it\u2019s a big deal. So, honestly, super proud of him, super happy for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an incredible coach, and he\u2019s going to be an incredible coach for a very long time in this league. I\u2019ve been fortunate to be around some of the greats, and Davis, he\u2019s amazing. I can\u2019t speak highly enough of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nature of the preseason is that there\u2019s not nearly as much opponent-specific prep work as there is during the regular season. As such, Stidham said he didn\u2019t exactly know what to expect with a new voice in the headset.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really only did practice (Friday) with him calling it in the headset and stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cBut just seeing how he flowed within the game, it was really fun. He\u2019s got a bright future for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n