The National Football League closes out their first full week of preseason action today with a pair of contests. The first, with a 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time start, finds the Indianapolis Colts hosting the Denver Broncos. Three hours later, the Los Angeles Rams host the Dallas Cowboys.
The Broncos were installed as a favorite in today’s game when the line was first posted, but later in the week the Colts shifted to the favorite roll with the announcement that Anthony Richardson would see some playing time for the home team.
Richardson was off to a solid rookie season last year before his campaign was sidelined by injuries. The quarterback’s season was first interrupted by a concussion that had him miss the Colts Week Three contest and then his first pro season ended abruptly with a grade three AC Joint sprain suffered against the Tennessee Titans in fifth week action.
Still, his brief play in his first year, after being the fourth overall selection in the 2023 draft, gave the Colts high hopes that their next franchise quarterback had arrived. His probable starting role in Sunday’s preseason opener had the betting public turn tail from the favored Broncos and back the homestanding Colts.
While Richardson is scheduled to start this game for head coach Shane Steichen, he is likely to play no more than one or two series of downs. That amount of play does not warrant a four-point shift in the point spread, making a wager on Indianapolis a high-risk proposition.
The Broncos are starting their second season under head coach Sean Payton, who had won a Super Bowl in his previous tenure with the New Orleans Saints. Two years ago, the Broncos had brought in one-time Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl winning quarterback Russell Wilson, he was thought to be the answer in the Mile High City to vault the Broncos back to the playoffs who welcomed him with an already highly regarded defense.
Ever see the wheels come off a truck on the road?
That is exactly what happened to Denver in Wilson’s first season with the Broncos. He was downright horrible, the defense underperformed, and first-year head coach Nathanial Hackett was saddled with most of the blame for the Broncos fall and was fired before the end of his initial season.
The addition of Payton last year had the promise of revitalizing Wilson’s career and move the Broncos up in the standings.
Didn’t happen, and this time the Broncos identified Wilson as the reason for failure and shipped the veteran to Pittsburgh this off-season while acquiring what they hope will be their quarterback of the future, Bo Nix. The Broncos spent their first pick, the 12th overall selection, to grab Nix in this year’s draft.
While Wilson had a couple horrible seasons in Denver that seemed to erase his past success in the league, one should not forget his brilliant early career beginning in 2012 which included a Super Bowl win in 2013, and a second Super Bowl appearance in 2014. That success, achieved in Seattle with the Seahawks, was under head coach Pete Carroll. In a surprise move, the Seahawks ended their 14 years with Carroll as their head coach earlier this year. Wilson has moved onto the Pittsburgh Steelers and will battle Chicago Bears castoff Justin Fields for the starting spot on Mike Tomlin’s squad.
A lot to sort out for a number of teams with just three preseason scrimmages on the schedule to determine which players stay, which ones go, and who starts the season behind center and the other positions of the field.