Isaiah McKenzie caught the second-quarter punt against Minnesota on Saturday night, stutter-stepped, went backward, stutter-stepped some more, and then eventually cut up field.
Seconds passed, and 78-yards later, McKenzie found the end zone.
Broncos’ special teams coordinator Tom McMahon looked on from the sideline proud of McKenzie’s athletic achievement — but also for his football smarts. That stop-and-go return style? All by design.
“Yeah, especially when a ball is kicked to the side you’re trying to return it to,” McMahon said. “You have to let those guys get back. If the ball is kicked away, you’ll see a lot of guys go flat right away, so I thought he handled that pretty well in terms of giving us a chance to get back to it.