The Denver Broncos actually won a game in September.
Now, for the first time since 2018, they’ll look to start a season 2-0. That’s also the last time they won a game in the NFL’s opening month.
The main reason the Broncos are 1-0 and have some confidence heading into Week 2? Starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The 28-year-old was every bit of the Steady Teddy that Broncos Country has heard about. He was calm, effective and unwavering in how he played and led Denver’s offense.
Now comes the task of building on the 27-13 win over the New York Giants when the Broncos head to Florida to take on Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1) at 11 a.m. MT on Sunday.
Before we get to the odds, one quick betting note about Bridgewater to store in your mind for the rest of the season: He’s now 22-3 against the spread in 25 career road starts after the Giants game.
Will Bridgewater add to that on Sunday against the Jaguars?
Broncos at Jaguars odds
For Bridgewater to build on that fascinating anecdote, he and his cohorts have some work to do.
After opening as a -2.5-point favorite, the Broncos betting odds have taken a significant jump. Denver is now a big favorite over the Jaguars.
Given how the Broncos looked against New York, and how Jacksonville looked in its 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans, that’s not much of a surprise.
One aspect that could help Lawrence and the Jaguars is they’ll play at home. This is the first opportunity for the Duval faithful to see Lawrence in a regular season game, so there will no doubt be excitement.
And it’s a cliche, but the NFL is still a week-to-week league and it’s hard to win on the road.
The Broncos will have to play even better to leave Jacksonville undefeated.
One of the popular NFL betting choices to place wagers on is the over/under. As it stands now, that number is for Sunday’s game.
How Denver gets the win
First and foremost on the agenda for the Broncos is to make life miserable for Lawrence.
Aside from how Bridgewater played, seeing Von Miller back on the field was a wonderful sight. What made that even better is he looked like Von Miller. There were some minor issues for Denver’s defense against the Giants, but to play like that on the road and in that environment was a great first step.
Now the Broncos need to add that against Jacksonville. Consistent pressure on Lawrence that makes him uncomfortable and rushes his throws is huge. Denver also needs to shutdown the Jaguars rushing game in order to make them one dimensional on offense.
If that happens, Miller and the defense can hit, pressure and sack the rookie QB all afternoon.
As for Bridgewater and the Broncos offense, they must repeat what they did in New Jersey. No, it wasn’t perfect, but if Denver scores 27 points (or near that) and is that efficient on third and fourth down, they’ll win a lot of games this season.
Control time of possession
When you look at the last four seasons, the lack of point production has been a huge reason why they’ve lost so many games.
The other aspect that needs to carry over to this Sunday is time of possession. The Broncos held the ball for a little over 35 minutes against New York.
So not only did Bridgewater lead an efficient and effective offense that scored points, it kept the opposing offense on the sideline. That’s a recipe for winning football, especially on the road.
After one game, Denver is not a Super Bowl contender. Heck, the Broncos aren’t even a playoff team.
But the foundation is there to bring winning football back to the Mile High City. And it starts with Steady Teddy.
