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When does Garett Bolles start paying off this contract? The $ 68 million, including $ 38 million, guaranteed until 2024? When does performance correspond to faith? The investment?
It doesn’t matter who starts behind the Broncos’ center in Pittsburgh – Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, Urban Meyer’s lawyer – if Week 5 Bolles is Week 4 Bolles. Because they will run for their lives against Blitzburg. From the jump.
“He has to be better,” coach Vic Fangio said earlier this week, in a neutral tone, when asked about Bolles, the Broncos’ big left tackle. “He should be critical of himself. He didn’t play well enough (against Baltimore).
Fairly well in …
“Mainly, the protection of the passes. ”
Wait a minute. Wasn’t that corner turned? Last fall, out of 15 games, Bolles wasn’t just Denver’s most improved offensive player – he was arguably the most valuable player too.
During a lousy pandemic fall of 2020, the former first-round pick offered one of the best individual recovery stories in the Front Range, if not the NFL. No need to draw penalty flags anymore. No more jokes about how the Broncos’ new fight song was “HOLDING, OFFENSE, NO. 72. ”
Fast forward a season, and… yuck.
Bolles has given up four sacks in the first four games of the season, according to Post reporter Ryan O’Halloran. He had accused Bolles of allowing a mere half-bag – that’s it – more than 15 appearances in 2020.
The rest of The Post’s mapping isn’t much nicer:
Bolles 2020: 15 games, 9 knockdowns, 0 pressures, 9.5 “disturbances”.
Bolles 2021: 4 matches, 1 knockdown, 3 pressures, 8 “disturbances”.
So no, your eyes don’t lie.
And neither did Bolles last Sunday when he said this:
“I think (the loss) comes down to little things. Especially me. I didn’t play too well. I feel like this loss is for me, being the leader of the offensive line. I was not doing my job 100% the way I needed to (to) make Teddy (Bridgewater) comfortable.
They can’t afford less than 100. Not now. Not after the Ravens’ stampede hit Bridgewater all over Empower Field for two quarters, then out of the game with a concussion. Not after Baltimore had five sacks and 11 quarterback hits.
And not with a Steelers defense trying to save face – and reverse a 1-3 start – in front of a Pittsburgh crowd braying for blood. A lot.
“He’s an exceptional player,” Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said on Thursday when asked about Bolles. “And when you can admit that there are things you can do better to help us win, I think (that’s) a good thing, because this thing is a journey. As we go, unfortunately there are bumps in the road. You have to overcome this bump and try to be better. And that’s where we are now and where he is.
If Bolles went out for lunch, so too is this offense. Lock is hopeless when under pressure, a point to which even the most staunch Drew stans have been forced to concede. While Bridgewater has been more elusive under duress than advertised, he’s not Patrick Mahomes, either.
They need a clean pocket. They need to help. They need protection from people like TJ Watt. In essentially two and a half games this season – the Pittsburgh ace passing thrower left a Week 2 loss to Las Vegas at mid-tilt – JJ’s little brother has 5.0 sacks and 8 hits from the quarterback .
Week 6: Raiders’ Maxx Crosby (2.0 sacks, three tackles for loss).
Week 7: Myles Garrett of the Browns (6.0 sacks).
Week 8: Ride Washington Snyders Sweat (3.0 bags).
When opposing defenses watch the Broncos game movie, they should be biting their nails. After Baltimore, they crack their collective joints, waiting their turn to eat.
“Some days I’m going to have good days and other days I’m going to have bad days,” Bolles said last Sunday. “(Against the Ravens) I was punched in the face. I have to take my licks, get off the mat, come back next week, figure out what happened when I got knocked out and get up again. This is the kind of player that I am. I’ll get up, fix my things and keep moving.
Recovery is a you-know-what. The same goes for Heinz Field if your quarterback spends the afternoon riding his keister.
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