Football Outsiders Predicts Teddy Bridgewater to Lead Broncos to Wild Card Berth
Every Denver Broncos fan is hoping the team gets back to the playoffs this year. After missing the postseason in each of the past five seasons, fans don't want to see the Broncos make it six.
One website has become more bullish on the Broncos' playoff prospects, though. Football Outsiders released its DVOA projections for 2021 and has the Broncos ranked 14th overall with 9.3 projected wins.
Football Outsiders expects the Broncos to be one of the Wild Card teams in the AFC, joining the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and Tennessee Titans winning their respective divisions.
The main reason FO has the Broncos making the playoffs is that Teddy Bridgewater was named the starting quarterback.
Denver improves because they named Teddy Bridgewater the starting quarterback.
While some fans have higher hopes for a playoff trip with Bridgewater under center, others are skeptical, especially when they look at his body of work with the Carolina Panthers last year.
A quick check of Football Outsiders' DVOA for 2020 shows that the Panthers were ranked 21st overall and 17th in offensive DVOA. It also showed the Panthers played the second-toughest schedule, based on their 2020 opponents.
DVOA had the Broncos (ranked 29th in overall DVOA and 30th in offensive DVOA) playing the fifth-toughest schedule in 2020 but a difference comes between the respective defenses Denver and Carolina faced.
In 2020, Football Outsiders had the Panthers' offense facing the sixth-toughest slew of defenses, with the Broncos facing the 20th-toughest. That's quite a difference.
Of course, what matters is what happens on the football field and it's up to Bridgewater to show that he can guide the Broncos to the playoffs. If he does that, fans will be happy. If not, change will be coming after the season.
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