Denver Broncos: Assessing Brett Rypien’s first career start
The Denver Broncos finally have a win in the 2020 season.
It didn’t come easily, but the Broncos have improved to 1-3 on the season following a 37-28 win over the New York Jets on Thursday night. Brett Rypien made his first career start at quarterback and he had some really big moments to go along with some really bad moments.
In the process, the Broncos avoided an 0-4 start, something that has happened just four times in franchise history.
Rypien had to respond after watching Jets quarterback Sam Darnold score on a 46-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
On the night, Rypien completed 19 of 31 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions.
On his first touchdown pass, a 48-yard bomb to Jerry Jeudy, the ball was underthrown and probably should have been intercepted by Pierre Desir, but Jeudy climbed the ladder and brought the ball in before shaking free of Desir and walking into the end zone.
His second touchdown pass, a 7-yard strike to Tim Patrick, was a terrific throw, probably the best ball he threw all night.
His interceptions were all terrible. Like really bad.
The first was picked off by Desir on a ball that Rypien was trying to throw away but Desir managed to pull the ball in and keep both feet in bounds to create a turnover. Rypien needed to throw the ball further out of bounds to prevent that from happening.
In the fourth quarter, he nearly handed the Jets the game. The Broncos held a 27-16 lead and seemed to be in control until Rypien threw two picks in four attempts. Desir returned one of those for a touchdown and just a couple of plays later, Brian Poole got another one.
Poole’s interception led to a field goal and a 28-27 lead. It looked like the Jets were going to pull out the victory and this article likely would have taken on a much different tone.
But Rypien was able to lead his team down the field to get another field goal and moments later, Melvin Gordon sealed the win with a 43-yard touchdown run. The best part about that play was seeing Rypien charging down the field to throw the block that sprung Gordon to the end zone.
More from Predominantly Orange
- Denver Broncos need to prioritize having CEO head coach
- Broncos chances of landing Sean Payton dwindling, but not gone
- Denver Broncos dream coaching staff for DeMeco Ryans
- Denver Broncos: “Sleeper” David Shaw checks every box
- The Broncos’ coaching search likely has not gone to plan
During a postgame interview, Rypien was asked by NFL Network analyst and former wide receiver Steve Smith if this game loved up to all the dreams he had as a child. Rypien responded by saying that he would have liked it to be without any turnovers.
It was far from a perfect performance, but winning usually seems to cure all.
During the game, Rypien played with poise and showed the kind of confidence you want in a quarterback. Though he did make some poor decisions, he wasn’t shy about throwing the ball ad looking to make plays.
Fortunately for him, the interceptions did not cost the team. Rypien became the first quarterback since 1997 to throw three interceptions in his first career start and still get the win.
The block at the end to help Gordon score brings his overall grade up as well. So if thiswas a report card, for Rypien’s first career start, he gets a garde of…
Grade: C+