The 12th Man
On Sunday, the Denver Broncos will march out a new starting quarterback for the first time since 2012, when Peyton Manning joined the team as a free agent. It marks the longest stretch of time since the turn of the century that the Broncos have had the same starting quarterback – 62 games, including playoffs.
With that in mind, would you believe that Brock Osweiler will be the 12th quarterback to start a game for Denver in the 21st century? Can you name them all? Don’t worry if you can’t; we’re about to run through all of them.
Of the remaining 11, only Brian Griese doesn’t make it onto this week’s “Power Rankings,” which looks at the first start in a Broncos uniform for 10 different quarterbacks. (Griese’s first start was in 1999.)
Will Brock go the way of Jay Cutler in his first start? Danny Kanell? Tim Tebow? Chris Simms? Manning? We’ll know soon. In the meantime, enjoy this look back at the best and worst first starts for these Broncos quarterbacks.
Editor’s Note: All scores, stats and drive info provided by pro-football-reference.com, a Mile High Sports syndication partner. Rankings are based on each quarterback’s individual performance, not the outcome of the game.
