We have reached halftime in the Denver Broncos’ season opener against the New York Giants and the Broncos hold a 10-7 lead.
The Broncos gained that lead on Teddy Bridgewater’s first touchdown pass as the team’s starting quarterback when he hit Tim Patrick on a short, 2-yard touchdown pass just before the final gun sounded in the first half.
Trailing 7-3 and facing a 4th-and-2 from the Giants’ 49-yard line, Bridgewater hit Courtland Sutton for a gain of 14 yards to give the Broncos a fresh set of downs. It was a gutsy call as the Giants would have had great field position and they still had two timeouts remaining.
At the very least, they likely would have set up a field goal try.
Instead, Bridgewater led the Broncos down the field to set up the touchdown, which came on a well designed play.
After faking the handoff to Melvin Gordon, Bridgewater took off as though he was going to run an option but then threw a dart to Patrick who took it into the end zone.
Teddy Bridgewater has looked great in the first half
To this point, it has been an uneventful, defensive battle at MetLife Stadium but the Broncos have looked like the better team to this point.
At the half, Bridgewater 19 of 22 passes for 171 yards with the touchdown. He has stood cool in the pocket and his experience has shown as he has had to make some difficult throws. Perhaps his play in the first half has calmed some concerns from the Denver fanbase over the decision to start him over Drew Lock.
Keep checking back here at Predominantly Orange as we will have full post-game coverage following the conclusion of this Week 1 battle.