Denver Broncos schedule 2021: Top 3 revenge games on tap

1. Week 1: @ New York Giants (2:25 MT, FOX)

This season-opener is a big one for a number of reasons.

First of all, the Denver Broncos need to get off to a hot start in 2021 after starting poorly the past couple of years. The Broncos might have made the playoffs in 2019 if they had been able to win some close games early on in the season that they should have won.

Although the New York Giants are a competent NFL franchise with plenty of talent, they are a team that it’s not unreasonable at this point to think the Denver Broncos could go in and beat if both teams are at full strength.

Daniel Jones has struggled in his first two NFL seasons, and going up against a Vic Fangio defense will be no small task.

The “revenge” factor in this game will be with Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. Shurmur was fired by the Giants after just two seasons on the job in favor of Joe Judge. Shortly after the Giants fired Shurmur, the Denver Broncos scooped him up.

It was a trying first season in Denver for Shurmur, but he had his moments of brilliance mixed with moments of head-scratching and frankly predictable play-calling.

Opening up the season against the team he was most recently fired from should be motivation enough for Shurmur to call one of his best games and show the Giants organization why they saw a head coach in him in the first place.

It’s not only a “revenge” game for Shurmur against New York, but it’s also really just a revenge game in general against the somewhat unfair expectations that were placed upon him and the entire offensive unit last year given all of the circumstances facing the team.

Shurmur had to come up with game plans for four different starting quarterbacks last year in Denver, including one with Kendall Hinton — a practice squad wide receiver — taking snaps as the QB.

Hopefully, Shurmur will have a fully healthy arsenal of weapons at his disposal to put on a display against the Giants offensively.