Denver Broncos: Teddy Bridgewater leads top 5 stars of week one

The Denver Broncos won their first game of the 2021 season. Teddy Bridgewater leads the top five stars of the week for the Broncos.

The Denver Broncos are back into the September win column for the first time since the 2018 season. After starting off his head coaching tenure in Denver with an ugly 0-7 record in the month of September, Vic Fangio finally got off the proverbial schneid.

The Broncos beat the New York Giants decisively to the tune of 27-13, a score that was only that close after a Daniel Jones garbage time rushing touchdown as time expired.

The Denver Broncos have not had this convincing of a season-opening win since Peyton Manning threw seven touchdowns against the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.

After spending the last nine months speculating about what the team might look like, how things could come together, and all the different things that could happen, we all finally got the chance to see some actual football with actual consequences on the win-loss record.

It was glorious.

Which Denver Broncos players stood out the most in this one?

Denver Broncos top 5 stars in win vs. Giants

1. Teddy Bridgewater, QB

What an outstanding debut for Teddy Bridgewater to open the 2021 season.

Completing nearly 78 percent of his passes, Bridgewater was efficient — as advertised — but he gets so unfairly painted as a drifting journeyman who is only capable of playing well under perfect circumstances.

I think Sunday’s effort against the Giants showed us that Bridgewater can work both in and out of structure.

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It’s safe to say that all if not most of Broncos Country underestimated Teddy Bridgewater going into this game.

In the words of the great Michael Scott, maybe next time we will “estimate” him.

It’s hard to say that the expectations Broncos Country put on Bridgewater after a full season as the starter in Carolina last year were unfair. Although Bridgewater dealt with an injury last season, he didn’t post great numbers and failed to live up to a big-money contract.

This game from Bridgewater was the best he’s played since the Panthers nearly upset the Kansas City Chiefs on the road last year.

If he keeps playing like this, the Denver Broncos are going to win a lot of games.

2. Von Miller, EDGE

Von Miller is back.

How great was it to see Miller back? And not only was Von Miller back, it was like he never left.

This was a vintage Von Miller performance with the Denver Broncos.

Miller finished this game against the New York Giants with three tackles, all of which were a massive tackle for loss on Kadarius Toney and two sacks on Daniel Jones.

Not a bad return to action for the captain and a living legend for the Denver Broncos.

Even without Bradley Chubb on the opposite side of the field, Miller was fantastic and made a huge impact on this game.

He not only impacted this game, but he impacted the history books as well. Miller’s two sacks propelled him into the top 25 all-time in that category.

Although Arizona Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones is creeping up on Miller on the active sack leader list after five sacks in one game over the weekend, Von got a pair of his own and his presence is a major game-changer for the Denver Broncos.

3. Dre’Mont Jones, DL

Dre’Mont Jones didn’t make a huge impact on the box score, but you’d better believe he impacted this game against the Giants in a massive way.

He finished with two tackles and a tackle for loss, but Jones was disruptive all game.

Jones was in on one of Von Miller’s sacks, he had a substantial impact on the run game, and it’s surprising to see that Pro Football Reference doesn’t credit him with any pressures on the quarterback.

Again, his impact goes beyond the box score.

Although Jones was flagged for a 15-yard penalty in this game for some unnecessary extracurricular activity, he’s clearly taken a step forward as a run defender and just looks more comfortable out there.

Playing 40 snaps in this game, Jones was the most active of the Denver Broncos defensive linemen and that was a pretty huge boost in terms of percentage (66 percent) than he played on average last season (52 percent).

As the season progresses, sacks and tackles for loss will undoubtedly come in bunches for Dre’Mont Jones, who had a really nice start to the 2021 season.

4. Tim Patrick, WR

How can we talk about this game without talking about the great job that Tim Patrick did throughout?

Obviously, Patrick caught himself a touchdown in the first half, the first touchdown of the Denver Broncos’ 2021 season.

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How huge was Timmy P in this game?

He caught this touchdown pass as the seconds ticked off the clock to end the first half. This play was a huge momentum shifter for the entire game, in my opinion.

He caught a huge pass on 4th-and-7 earlier in the game and his other two catches were a third-down conversion and a big 16-yard play to set up his touchdown catch.

If Jerry Jeudy is to miss significant time with an ankle injury, Patrick’s role in the offense will once again be elevated. His value to the team has now been proven time and time again, and you can see why the Denver Broncos have been stingy about trading him.

Will they be less stingy about extending him?

We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.

For the time being, Patrick will just keep on making big plays in clutch situations. He wasn’t even involved in the second half, so there’s obviously room for him to be even more impactful.

5. Vic Fangio, head coach

Vic Fangio has been criticized, and rightfully so in many instances, for game management in his first couple of seasons on the job as head coach.

Fangio has made curious use (or lack thereof) of his timeouts and he’s had some really uninspiring decisions of whether or not to go for key fourth-down plays in critical win or lose types of situations.

Fangio made the decision to go for three fourth-down plays in this game when not even fans sitting at home were calling for it. He went for a 4th-and-7 when he was in or very close to Brandon McManus field goal range, for crying out loud.

Do you think the third-year head coach is tired of losing? Not just in September, but Vic Fangio is obviously impatient when it comes to winning games and he’ll clearly do whatever it takes.

He may not make those same decisions all year, but I’ll tell you why I absolutely love the decisions he made.

Look no further than Teddy Bridgewater’s near-78 percent completion percentage.

What are the odds of converting any given play, whether it’s 2nd-and-7 or 4th-and-7, if your quarterback completes almost 78 percent of his passes? They’re going to be pretty high.

If your QB is dealing like that, why would you not go for it on 4th-and-7? 4th-and-2? 4th-and-3?

The numbers are in your favor at that point, and Fangio was obviously willing to trust Teddy Bridgwater in that situation to convert.

Would he have done the same for Drew Lock? Who knows? All I know is there’s a massive difference for this particular head coach when the QB is completing 60 percent or less of his throws and when the QB is completing nearly 78 percent of his throws.

Right?

It was good to see this from Fangio, who even admitted himself in the preseason that he might not go for these kinds of plays in a regular season game. You have to have confidence in your QB, but you also have to have confidence in your defense.

We saw Fangio put faith in both during a real game with real consequences after wondering in the preseason whether he would really have the stones to do it.

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He proved in this one that he sure does.