Denver Broncos Quinn Meinerz is an All-Pro, but he played awful football in the AFC Championship Game.
Meinerz allowed a sack of Jarrett Stidham and six pressures per Pro Football Focus.
When Denver needed their protector to play great, he shrunk under the bright lights.
Denver Broncos Quinn Meinerz embarrassed by Christian Barmore in AFC Championship
Quinn Meinerz is an All-Pro and he’s up for the NFL’s new Protector of the Year Award.
Unfortunately, when the Broncos needed him to protect Stidham in the AFC Championship Game, he was completely embarrassed by Christian Barmore of the New England Patriots.
The first giant mistake Meinerz made was late in the first half. The Broncos had the ball at their own 45 yard line and were looking to put points on the board before going into the locker room.
But Barmore rushed to his left and set Meinerz up; the New England tackle then surged to his right and Meinerz had no chance of blocking him. Barmore got to Stidham nearly untouched, sacking the Broncos backup for a 9-yard loss.
The play is in Barmore’s own post on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Barmore wasn’t the only one getting past Meinerz; the defensive tackle had 2 pressures while Denver’s All-Pro guard gave up 6 total pressures all day.
But, he did have some choice words for Meinerz after the game.
“First-team All-Pro. Our coach tells us all the time that All-Pro don’t mean (expletive),” Barmore said after the win. “Our coaches tell us every time that they’re All-Pros, so they’re the targets. That’s the mission. He’s a helluva player, but this is for us.”
Pro Football Focus not kind to Meinerz
According to Pro Football Focus, Meinerz’s pass blocking (27.7 grade) was the worst of the game on the Broncos outside of running back RJ Harvey. That pass blocking grade was the second-worst of his five-year career, and only one game in his rookie season was worse.
His overall 53.4 grade in the AFC Championship Game was the worst of this season, with the Divisional Round game vs. the Bills his third-worst. The last time he received a grade so low was Week 1 of the 2024 season (46.4).
These low grades are a reversal of what we’ve seen from PFF the last few years. Meinerz has improved steadily every year. He was a 67.4 overall in 2021, his rookie season, and during his back-to-back All-Pro seasons he graded out at 87.3 and 88.9, respectively. In fact, he was the highest-graded guard in the league this year.
One more embarrassing mistake came from Meinerz in the AFC Championship Game, though.
He was the one who allowed the field goal block late in the fourth quarter.
You can see at 0:15 that Meinerz allowed Leonard Taylor III to push him backwards and then jump high to get a hand on the ball.
Meinerz moving forward
What does his terrible play in the championship game mean?
Hopefully, and likely, little.
Meinerz is still arguably the best guard in the NFL today. He’s going to bounce back in 2026, and hopefully he’ll use this bad game as extra motivation.
It’s also possible all the trash talk from Barmore will help the Broncos and Patriots become a rivalry once again.
Denver faces New England in Foxborough next year.
