Fangio hints at Broncos' plan for Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew

The Denver Broncos will take on the 1-2 Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Jaguars will arrive at Mile High with a rookie quarterback making just his third career start.

Gardner Minshew isn't playing like a rookie, though. We're talking about a young signal-caller who enters Week 4 with a completion percentage of 73.9 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 5-to-1.

“What stands out about him is how well he’s done since he’s came in there," Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said on Wednesday. "He came in there I believe on the 12th play of their opener. He’s been in there since and he’s really done a good job of operating this offense. Very quick decision-maker, sees the field well, just another guy—quarterback being the most important position there is, but it seems to be the hardest position to evaluate. This guy going in the sixth-round, he should have gone much higher than that.”

Conventional wisdom says that teams drawing a rookie QB on the schedule would be wise to throw the kitchen sink at them. Pressure, pressure, pressure.

However, Fangio isn't exactly a conventional football thinker. He might have a different plan for Gardner Minshew on Sunday. Just because Minshew is a rookie doesn't mean Fangio will approach the matchup any differently.

“Not really," Fangio said. "There’s a common thought out there that you get after rookie quarterbacks. Sometimes that’s the wrong thing to do because you make it easier for them. They see pressure and it makes it easier for them to decide where to throw the ball. This guy’s really good at his decision making. I think it’s just a good mix of everything.”

No doubt, Minshew has been near surgeon-like in his distribution of the football. His ball-placement has belied his relative inexperience. Watching him play, he does not look like a rookie out there, beleaguered and overwhelmed.

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The Broncos are going to need to bring pressure. But that's why Von Miller and Bradley Chubb were drafted in the top-5 and bring in the big bucks.

“It just has to be a team effort starting with the defense, the offense and special teams," Fangio said. "So many of these games take over the personality of the game and has an effect on all three phases. When I watch him play, I don’t see a rookie. This guy is very excellent [at] making decisions.”

The Broncos could be without three defensive starters on Sunday. Despite Garnder Minshew being a rookie, the Broncos can't really approach this matchup expecting to see a QB who's out of his depth.

As Fangio said, it'll take a complete team effort to beat this Jaguars team, who, similarly to Denver, are better than their record reflects. While it's encouraging that Fangio is not underestimating his young opponent, at the same time, one would hope that he's not over-thinking it.

Bottom line, if Miller and Chubb can find a way to break out of their funk and affect the QB, Minshew will struggle just like any NFL signal-caller. The Broncos haven't registered a single sack or takeaway yet, so maybe — just maybe the law of averages is on their side.

I'd like to think that Minshew is walking into a buzzsaw. But Miller and Chubb haven't shown themselves to be that dangerous weapon, bristling with menace. Yet.

I spoke with Minshew at the NFL Scouting Combine this past February. He's a cool customer, very poised and self-confident. But he's not impervious to the vagaries of a truly aggressive and potent pass rush.

If the Broncos are going to send the Jaguars home 1-3, bottom line, Miller and Chubb are going to have to play lights out and get after Minshew and Jacksonville's porous offensive line, reminding everyone exactly who they are.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.