P.J. Locke sees the opposing punt return unit break its huddle and come toward the line of scrimmage.

He’s looking at the front, identifying his man, calling it out and hearing his fellow punt unit teammates doing the same.

He’s alert for any pre-snap motion that might be in the repertoire of Buffalo. Or Kansas City. Or Minnesota.

The ball gets snapped and… nothing happens.

Well, something does. The three-dimensional projection in front of him reloads and the group moves on to the next look.

This is part of the way the Broncos learned their playbook this summer and it’s part of the way they stay sharp, halfway between the practice field and the meeting room, out in The Shed.

It’s an area adjacent to Denver’s weight room, in a separate building from the actual Centura Health Training Center.

Sometimes just seeing the film of a potential pressure or a unique alignment during a special teams meeting isn’t enough. In The Shed, they can split the difference using a program called GoArmy Edge.

The man running the show: A former Army captain himself, Broncos special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica.

Kotwica, 48, served in the Army and flew Apache attack helicopters before he got into coaching, completing multiple foreign tours and seeing combat in Iraq.

Sports so often elicit war-related language, but of course they are not the same. Kotwica, in a chat with The Post on the eve of Veteran’s Day, said he carried lessons learned from his service into coaching.

“What resonates and has always resonated with me is the team-building element of either of those industries, whether in the military or in professional athletics,” he said. “What I mean by that is you’re taking a group of people from various backgrounds, various ethnicities, various parts of the country and you’re bringing them together into this melting pot to execute a mission or to achieve a common goal.

“When I was in Iraq and we were in support when we went into Taji, we had not only within our own unit people that were of various backgrounds, but now we were working with various services and various countries. So it’s neat when you bring those individuals together for a common goal and that’s what this is about.”

Another commonality, one even more ubiquitous in society: Efficiency is critical.

That’s where GoArmy Edge comes into the picture. Kotwica was introduced to the application — first built as a recruiting tool for the Army — years ago and has used it at several stops along his coaching career.

The Broncos have multiple projector screens stitched together on a wall that allows for an entire unit to line up in front of it. A three-dimensional opponent lines up on the screen and the Broncos then can talk through alignment, assignment and how to react to different pre-snap movements.

“It allows us a walk-through space where maybe it’s raining outside or we want to get indoors, we can do that,” Kotwica said. “Hey, we don’t need 16 guys to do punt protection off a card. We just push it up on the screen.”

If this all sounds weird or a bit gimmicky, take it from Denver players: It’s not.

“It’s actually pretty cool,” Locke, a fourth-year safety, said. “You can make it so you can see all the types of rushes and schemes that your opponents are doing. … It’ll bring some kind of rusher in from a vice on the gunner. They’ll bring one in, go right back out.”

It’s become part of a recipe for success on special teams.

“The first half of the season’s been very productive for us,” Kotwica said. “We’re No. 1 on punt return average and No. 1 on kick return average. That’s very good. And also in the coverage aspect, we’re No. 3 in punt coverage and No. 3 in kickoff coverage. The best part is we’ve made some plays that have helped us win games.”

The Broncos defense uses GoArmy Edge, too. It’s a way, Locke said, to work through how the Broncos want to handle an opponent’s formations, motions and shifts. Alignment and assignment on your feet. All as part of meeting time rather than practice time.

“Without going on the field, especially when it’s cold outside, we can just go out there,” Locke said. “I feel like that thing has been a game-changer for us just on the strength of getting out of the classroom and taking those reps out in The Shed.”

Kotwica said he also likes to use it to get young players reps when they often don’t get any real ones during regular-season practices.

“Player development is often a buzzword or a term that we hear, but OK, yeah, we’re developing our players. How? How are we developing players?” he said. “Physically, that’s the weight room and nutrition. Mentally, them knowing what to do. And so this goes into that.

“On the special teams specifically, the biggest phase you get concerned about with a younger player is the punt phase. Because the (severity) of a blocked punt, we know that. So when the head coach comes to me and says, ‘is Jordan ready to play?’ We can reaffirm that and say that we’ve got him extra reps on the simulation.”

Locke said he learned from veteran teammate Kareem Jackson the importance of feeling movements, even if they’re not at full speed. Getting into a rhythm. Giving your body a chance to do the things you’ll actually do on the field, even if it’s at walk-through speed.

Kotwica agrees, and that’s among the benefits of working out in The Shed.

“Educationally and teaching-wise, the data and the science will teach you that if you can move — not just seeing it, but moving and executing your responsibility — it resonates a lot more,” he said.

Number to know

1. That’s how many rushing touchdowns the Broncos have through the first eight games this season. Yeah, for real. Rookie Jaleel McLaughlin scored on a five-yard toss play against Washington in Week 2 as part of Denver’s fast start that day. That’s it. After Minnesota got its second of the season in Week 8 on a run by new quarterback Joshua Dobbs, every other team in the NFL now has at least two. Six teams besides Denver have three or fewer.

Hindsight is 20/20

During a football season that goes wrong, gets wily, happens out of order or otherwise defies expectations, sometimes there are also obvious truths. Before the year, one of those for the Broncos was this: Look at the schedule. They need a fast start.

Now that Denver’s put two straight wins on the board, it’s even clearer. That 0-3 start, particularly opening losses to Las Vegas and Washington and a Week 5 loss to the New York Jets, are going to hamper this team’s playoff chances all season. A win in any of those three — but particularly one of the AFC opponents — would make all of this feel much different. Instead, the Broncos, for all the good vibes, still enter Week 10 tied for 14th with Tennessee and better than only New England in their conference. Part of the good news: They’ve got most of the teams between them and the playoff field (Buffalo, Los Angeles twice, Vegas again, Cleveland and Houston) still on the schedule. The bad news: They’ve already eaten up most of their margin for error.

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.