Jerry Jeudy Explains What Changes Have Led to his Breakout of Late in Broncos' Offense
Another week, another inconsistent and uneven performance from Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos' offense. Only this time, Lock and company didn't have the complement of their own defense carrying the water.
In a game in which Vic Fangio's defense was exploited early and often by veteran quarterback Matt Ryan, the Broncos needed the offense to step up early and help take some of the pressure off. Alas, it didn't happen, although Lock and company did finally turn it on in the fourth quarter with yet another furious 21-point watershed.
One of the positives to take away from the Broncos' 34-27 loss to the Atlanta Falcons was the emergence of rookie wideout Jerry Jeudy and the burgeoning chemistry he's establishing with Lock. Lock, and maybe offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, seems to finally have realized that when Jeudy gets targeted, good things happen.
Lock targeted Jeudy 14 times in Week 9 and it paid big dividends for the offense. Jeudy hauled in seven receptions, including a touchdown, and his 125 yards was the sixth-most in Broncos history by a rookie in a single game. It was the second straight game in which the rookie first-rounder garnered double-digit targets.
Jeudy credits the dynamic connection he's established with Lock as a result of the intense efforts the duo has put in during practice since Week 7's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs wherein the rookie wideout only caught two passes.
"Every day at practice we're just going harder and harder and harder, and it's translated to the game," Jeudy said post-game in Atlanta.
Something has also shifted philosophically. Schematically. What changed for the Broncos' offensive brain trust? Lock clued us in post-game in Atlanta.
"Jerry is hitting his stride. He's asserting himself in that wide receiver room and in the NFL," Lock said Sunday afternoon. "Pat's going to take a second look at him. Maybe earlier in the year, yeah, he runs some pretty crisp and some pretty clean routes, but Jerry is getting physical. He's doing his job extremely well right now and he's playing really, really hard." Post-game, Coach Fangio said that Jeudy has been "practicing better" in explanation for the 24 targets, 11 receptions, and nearly 200 receiving yards Jeudy has produced in the last two games.
What does "practicing better" really mean? Jeudy articulated the answer.
"Just my energy, my leadership and the way I go about my business," Jeudy said post-game. "I'm just tired of losing. I just want to do everything I can to make the team better as a whole. Going out there in practice every day, I remind myself I want to get better and get better in that offense. Everything I do, I'll do at 100-percent."
With Tim Patrick missing last week's action, the Broncos' rookie first-rounder has palpably stepped up and as Lock said, has asserted himself more as a leader and as a factor in the offense. Patrick had a solid Week 9 in his return to action himself, catching four passes for 29 yards and a touchdown, but Lock's focus as a passer seems to have turned to Jeudy — and fellow rookie KJ Hamler.
Hamler was targeted 10 times in Atlanta, catching six for a career-high 82 receiving yards, while also chipping in a 15-yard rush. Combined, Jeudy and Hamler produced 215 of Denver's 405 yards from scrimmage.
The task now for Coach Shurmur and Lock, is figuring out how to extract that production from the Broncos' top-two draft picks this year through a full 60 minutes, as Jeudy himself echoed post-game.
"I feel like we're getting better each week," Jeudy said. "We're playing together. I feel like just as a unit, we've just got to start out faster. We play well in the second half, but we can't start out like that. We've got to play well throughout the whole game. That's it."
The onus of starting faster and performing consistently, though, falls on the play-caller and triggerman more so than the rookie receivers. For now, one silver lining the Broncos can hang their hat on, despite notching their fifth loss of the season, is the increasingly electric chemistry between their young signal-caller and 2020 first-round pick.
One step forward, two steps back for the Broncos. This offense clearly has the horses, especially when you throw in Noah Fant, Phillip Lindsay, and Melvin Gordon, but it's not coming out consistently in the wash.
The remedy? It might not be what fans want to hear but the Broncos' extremely young offense simply needs more time on task, working together with Shurmur as the offensive coordinator divines how to make the most of this explosive arsenal of weapons he has at his disposal.
That process could be accelerated if Lock could step his game up, especially in the first half of games.
"I’m confident in what I can do with the football, which for some reason, we get to see a lot of in the second half and not the first," Lock said after the loss in Atlanta. "We have to figure out a way to get that done. We have to change something during the week. Not just myself but everybody—extra film and 10 minutes from everybody. An extra 10 minutes on the field—it has to be something. We’re going to go back and watch it and do some brainstorming. We’ll figure it out.”
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
