New York Jets Hurry to Prep for Surprise Denver Broncos QB Brett Rypien on a Short Week

Not only do the New York Jets face the Denver Broncos on a short week, they now have to prepare for a quarterback they know very little about.

Brett Rypien was named the Broncos starter for Week 4 at MetLife Stadium, meaning that any preparation that the Jets had done for quarterbacks Drew Lock or Jeff Driskel leading up to this game is thrown out the door.

In his NFL debut in a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Rypien was 8-of-9 for 53 yards with an interception on the Broncos final offensive play of the game. He was signed off the Broncos practice squad earlier this year.

“We’ve had a year and two training camps with Brett, and we think he deserves a chance to see what he can do here as the starter,” said Broncos head coach Vic Fangio on Tuesday.

“Other than the last throw on Sunday—which was a bad throw and a bad read—he played pretty good in there, so we want to see if that can continue.”

Lock, the Broncos incumbent starting quarterback, is out with a shoulder injury. His backup Driskel had a rough performance in Sunday’s loss, going 17-of-36 for 176 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The Broncos going with Rypien, who was cut the past two years by the Broncos after preseason, is a mixed bag. The Jets have limited tape on Rypien, consisting of last Sunday and his performances in preseason games the past two years.

“He’s very smart, the thing that we took out of watching him play in that last ballgame here, is his understanding of more than just his position,” Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said on Tuesday.

“And that’s what good quarterbacks do, good quarterbacks understand the scope and sequence of what everybody does. And he was able to change protections quite a bit in this last game. And then the other thing that, you know he only played 15 plays in this last ballgame, but we’ve also dissected and taken a look at all 91 snaps he played last year in the preseason too, and that’s our job, we should be doing that. The confidence that they have in him, I think [Broncos offensive coordinator] Pat Shurmur has done a very good job whenever he’s had, on taking young quarterbacks and design certain things for young quarterbacks.”

But while the Jets don’t know much about the rookie, Rypien he is still considered a rookie, making his first NFL start and doing so on the road. For Williams, it is surely a recipe that will lead to plenty of blitzes and exotic looks designed to confuse and rattle Rypien.

And while the Jets are preparing for somewhat of a surprise starting quarterback in Week 4, the Broncos on the flip side are having to assimilate their rookie into their offense and get him ready for his first professional start.

All on four days notice. With travel across the country no less.

“Everything is expedited when you play on Thursday night. The schedule is very abbreviated. We try to work on things that we’ve worked on in the past and plays that we think are going to work well against the Jets. They’re going to be a tough opponent on defense,” Shurmur said. “I’ve played against a Gregg Williams-style defense in the past and they like to bring pressure. Everything is compressed. You work longer, you work later, and you try to put a plan together.”

The Broncos rookie is the nephew of Mark Rypien, a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback who MVP of Super Bowl XXVI when with the Washington Football Team.