Broncos practiced Philly Special ‘a couple of times,’ never at full speed last week

The Broncos practiced their ‘Philly Special’ a few times last week, but not at full speed, according to QB Drew Lock.

Facing a fourth-and-goal situation from the two-yard line against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur called a “Philly Special,” a trick play that has a wide receiver throw the ball to the quarterback.

Mike Boone, the team’s third-string running back, took the ball from quarterback Drew Lock and ran left, giving a pitch to Kendall Hinton, the team’s fourth-string wide receiver. Hinton then looked to pass to Lock, who was open, but there was too much pressure in Hinton’s face for him to get off a timely, accurate throw.

Lock managed to catch Hinton’s pass, but he was tackled well short of the goal line and Denver turned the ball over on downs.

“I thought, from my perspective, Hinton did a heck of a job just being able to get the ball out,” Lock said after the game. “When they’re bringing two guys off that edge, they had a good call against it.

“We were hoping just to have an end and act like a zone read and pull it off. We had a couple of guys coming off the edge, hoping we would get it out, and try to punch it in after we catch it. Good call by them. Good defense by them.”

Lock said the team practiced the play “a couple of times” last week leading up to the game, but because the Broncos had a COVID-19 outbreak that sidelined 12 players, Denver did not have any full-speed practices.

“Never full speed this week; we didn’t really have practice,” Lock said. “We worked on it a couple times, hit it a couple of times.”

Lock injured his right shoulder earlier in the game and left for one series to get a shot before returning. After returning, the Broncos ran a quarterback sneak with Lock to pick up a first down and then later called a pass play to Lock that resulted in another hit on the quarterback.

Those kind of decisions from Denver’s offensive staff help explain why Shurmur is expected to be on the hot seat when Black Monday arrives next week.

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