ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Not long ago – a mere Peyton Manning’s playing days ago – the most common question leading into the second-to-last preseason game was whether the starters would play one series into the second half.
Today, the preseason probe is whether the starters will play at all.
“Times have changed,’’ Broncos general manager George Paton said this week in a sit-down interview with 9NEWS in preview of his team’s preseason game Saturday (11 a.m., Channel 20) against the Bills in Buffalo. “That’s for sure. We try to get the work in practice.
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“Every coach is different, every team is different. We didn’t play our starters week 1, we’ll see about week 2. But we are getting a lot of work in with our practices. We had that scrimmage with the (Cowboys last week), two great heavy practices this week. So we feel good about where we’re at.’’
That wasn’t the preseason philosophy as recently as the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 season of 2015. Manning had at least 21 pass attempts in one preseason game in each of his four seasons in Denver. In one 2013 preseason game against the St. Louis Rams, Manning completed an astonishing 25 of 34 passes for 254 yards in one half. It was a classic harbinger as Manning set all the NFL single-season records that year with 5,477 passing yards and 55 touchdown passes in 16 games – marks that still stand as the league moves into its second year of an expanded 17-game schedule.
In the final preseason game in Manning’s Hall of Fame career in 2015, he completed 13 of 21 passes, was intercepted once and was sacked three times by the San Francisco 49ers, twice by hard-hitting linebacker NaVorro Bowman. Can you imagine your franchise quarterback getting sacked three times in a preseason game today?
Maybe, Vic Fangio could. Last year, the Broncos’ head coach had his starters play about a quarter to a quarter-and-a-half in all three preseason games even though none of Denver’s three opponents – Minnesota, Seattle and the Los Angeles Rams – played their top players. The Broncos predictably won all three preseason games and then started the regular season 3-0.
Before finishing 4-10.
“You can’t play scared,’’ Paton said. “The start of the games you really don’t worry about it. Practice, sometimes, you have to worry a little bit. But again you can’t play scared. These guys need the work, they need the development. So it’s just part of the game, injuries.”
Indeed, although the Broncos only played four starters in the preseason opener against Dallas, one of them suffered a serious injury as inside linebacker Jonas Griffith dislocated his elbow and will likely miss the season opener at Seattle.
Say this for Paton: He gives his head coaches rope to play the preseason as they deem fit. While Fangio believed in preseason work, his replacement this season, Nathaniel Hackett, didn’t play his best players in preseason game No. 1 against Dallas and he’s not expected to play quarterback Russell Wilson and company against the Bills.
The movement of a team not playing its top players during the preseason was gradual at first – the Chargers didn’t play star running back LaDainian Tomlinson in his later years – then dramatically shifted when Sean McVay became the Los Angeles Rams’ head coach in 2017. McVay doesn’t play his top 25 or so players in any preseason game and when his Rams went to the Super Bowl following the 2018 season and won it all in 2021, the copycat league had a trend to follow.
There are still some holdouts. The Chiefs’ Andy Reid plays Patrick Mahomes and his starters in multiple preseason games and the Bills’ Sean McDermott is going to play his star quarterback, Josh Allen, against the Broncos.
Hackett, though, will counter with backup QB Josh Johnson. Brett Rypien will again play the second half as the backup quarterback position moves to stage 2 with Johnson firmly in the lead.
“Ryp did some good things in the last game,’’ Paton said. “There’s still a competition there. But Josh is a guy we fell in love with watching the tape. And then once you get to meet him and the leadership and everything he’s all about, we love the guy.”
In the first preseason game last weekend against the Cowboys, Johnson and two undrafted rookie receivers – Jalen Virgil and Brandon Johnson – stood out. Virgil didn’t have great statistical production at Tennessee-Martin but has legit NFL speed.
“He’s got the trait we’re all looking for – speed,’’ Paton said. “And as you can see he can make plays on the ball. So he’s had a real nice camp. Brandon Johnson has had a real nice camp. We signed those guys I think when I was having the presser with you guys after the draft. That’s how important free agency is after the draft, you get players like this, some diamonds in the rough.’’
As Billy Turner comes along slowly from offseason knee surgery, the Broncos will play both Calvin Anderson and Cam Fleming at right tackle against the Bills with the increasing possibility one will start in the regular-season opener Sept. 12 at Seattle.
“Again, trying to protect some of these players from themselves,’’ Paton said. “Billy wants to go. He’s rarin’ to go. We have time. We have three weeks or more till our first game. We do have time. It’s a really good battle with Cal and Fleming so we feel good with where we’re at. We’re going to have depth there.”
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