The Denver Broncos have a legitimate shot to win their next three games and get to 6-2 on the season. Their three upcoming QB matchups may not be intimidating. With Derek Carr set to miss a few games with an oblique injury, the next three quarterbacks the Broncos are projected to play include Justin Herbert in Week 6, Jake Haener in Week 7, and Andy Dalton in Week 8.
Jake Haener is the backup for the New Orleans Saints and could make his second career NFL start at home against a top-2 defense in the NFL. But before that, the Broncos must turn their focus to Justin Herbert and the LA Chargers, who are 2-2 and coming off of their bye week.
Two of Broncos next three opponents using backup quarterbacks
LA raced out to a 2-0 start with wins against the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers, but dropped their next two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers are a well-coached team, but they lack notable roster talent on either side of the ball.
They were also bitten by the injury bug, so that could still be impacting them even off of the bye week.
In his career, Justin Herbert has gone just 3-4 against the Denver Broncos while throwing 10 touchdowns against six interceptions for a lousy 86.3 passer rating. Sure, the Chargers could come into Mile High and beat Denver, but all the momentum will be with the Broncos. Herbert has also failed to reach 200 yards passing in a game this year, as LA has ran the snot out of the ball.
Jake Haener has attempted eight passes in the regular season of his NFL career, completing just two of them for 17 yards. Even with this game being at home for the Saints, I struggle to see how New Orleans would be able to consistently move the ball against this fierce Broncos' defense. And then in Week 8, Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers come to town, and to Dalton's credit, he's been solid this year.
He took over in Week 3, as second-year QB Bryce Young was sent to the bench. This is actually not ideal for Denver, as Dalton is still capable, so they likely won't get to tee-off on the poor QB play from Bryce Young. Unless something notable happens before Week 8, the Broncos will be playing Andy Dalton.
Dalton has started three games for Carolina this year, going 1-2 in those starts with five touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 90.7 passer rating. He's been modestly efficient. However, Carolina ranks just 29th in scoring offense and actually ranks 32nd in scoring defense. I'm not trying to get ahead of myself here, but the Denver Broncos' next three games are against quarterbacks who have either hardly played this year or have been pedestrian at best.
The time is now.