Broncos’ quarterbacks led NFL in being pressured in first preseason game

According to Warren Sharp, the stats for all the quarterbacks who played in the first preseason game shows that the Denver Broncos had the roughest protection of the group. The list is quite long, but it doesn’t take long to see the Broncos’ quarterbacks on the list.

First up was Russell Wilson who was pressured an astounding 64% of his dropbacks and right there in third worst was Jarrett Stidham who was pressured in 59% of his dropbacks. The only quarterback who didn’t have to worry about pressure on Friday night was Ben DiNucci who was 64 more spots down the list from Stidham at 11% pressure rate.

The offensive line is the primary area of concern most of us came out with after that first game. The starting unit basically killed two promising scoring drives that resulted in missed field goals and only really started to hold up against the Arizona Cardinals’ second string there on that last drive in the first half that ended in a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy.

It is clearly an issue that Sean Payton and his coaching staff need to figure out. They have about four weeks to work out the kinks there along the offensive line, but even the reserve unit struggled so there isn’t likely a player on the bench that could come in and start either. They whole unit needs to get better or this offense is going to struggle again in 2023.