The first string defense looked good. The front three has been much better than I dared hope. We lack depth — no surprise there — but if the second and third stringers improve (great coaching so far) as much as the starters have that situation will get better, too. But until then time of possession will be needed to keep the starters rested.

The knock on him in college was his sometimes deer in the headlights reaction to pressure — from what little I was able to get on him. He’s not immobile, in the sense of lacking mobility, but he needs work on evading pressure. I’d love to see Elway come back and teach the duck under, curl he used to evade oncoming pass rushers. I struggle to find the proper words to describe Elway’s maneuver but he used to such great success and so regularly that it belongs in the QB’s textbook.

Brandstater has demonstrated his ability to learn; a problem he had (can’t remember what) in his Shrine (?) bowl appearance was fixed by the time he appeared at the combine. I just didn’t expect him to have to prove himself so soon.