It’s not much of a shock to learn that the finer details of football have risen in importance ever since head coach Nathaniel Hackett and quarterback Russell Wilson walked through the door of Denver Broncos HQ.
Both men are driven to get things on point so that the new offense can run like clockwork, and for Wilson in particular, small nuances like how the ball’s laces are positioned after the snap from the center really count.
“When ‘Russ’ is under center, he likes to have the laces,” center Lloyd Cushenberry III detailed after practice on Saturday. “There’s a certain way that I have to hold the ball to get him the laces right away so he doesn’t have to waste time to find them before he throws it.”
The highly-touted push to claim Cushenberry’s starting job at center hasn't really materialized during training camp, mostly due to the former LSU man's do-it-all attitude. Consequently, it’s made the little things, like getting the laces in the right position for his quarterback, no big deal whatsoever for the 24-year-old snapper.
The hard yards Cushenberry put in before training camp has gone a long way toward creating the essential chemistry that’s required between pivot and signal-caller.
“I feel like it’s been very important for us to continue to build that chemistry, even though we’ve been working together since March. It’s been good to have that consistency between us two,” Cushenberry said. ”Today, we sprinkled in [C] Luke [Wattenberg] in there with the ones a little bit because you never know what will happen and he has to be ready. I think we’ve been doing a good job of that.”
Wilson is pushing his guys to be detail freaks, and obsessed with winning. The Broncos have started to find a lot more rhythm on offense in recent days consequently.
Cushenberry admitted that working so closely with Wilson is all-consuming, but the framework that he and Wilson laid down during the veteran QB's offseason private sessions in San Diego has been massively valuable.
“It’s a 24-hour job. It’s all about winning and all about football. We go out there, it’s about comradery and being with the guys, but the main thing is about putting in work,” Cushenberry said. “On the field for two hours to in the classroom for another two hours, then back on the field in the evening. It’s our own little minicamp. I’m glad he invited me out because it helped get the chemistry between us.”
Cushenberry has the center job sown up, it seems. And that bond with Wilson grows stronger by the day.
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