Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy had perhaps his most frustrating game in the NFL on Sunday.
The 2020 first-round draft pick had five drops against the LA Chargers, including two late in the first half that would’ve helped the Broncos get points on the board before the break.
“Sometimes drops happen,” Jeudy said. “It just happened too many times today. That’s unacceptable.”
Jeudy’s five drops matched his total output from the first 15 weeks of the season. The college star out of Alabama, who simply responded with “never” when asked if he’s ever had a performance like this, has just two touchdowns compared to 10 drops.
“I’ve just got to make plays,” Jeudy said. “Nobody stopped me. I was open. I’ve just got to finish. I beat myself today.”
Training 13-0 at the break, the Broncos fought back in the second half in an attempt at another late fourth-quarter comeback. After tying the score 16-16 with just under three minutes remaining, Denver gave up the winning field goal with less than a minute left on the clock. The Broncos’ three-point loss comes nearly two months after Denver stormed back to defeat the Chargers 31-30 on a Nov. 1 game in Week 8.
The drops from Jeudy late in the second quarter could’ve helped the Broncos go 2-0 against the Chargers. But despite the negativity surrounding the young player for his poor performance, Broncos coach Vic Fangio believes Jeudy could learn from this moving forward.
“He’s got to come back from it,” Fangio said. “It could be a defining moment in his career. He’s got to come back, have a great week of practice, catch a bunch of balls, and then show up on Sunday when the balls are thrown to him, he’ll catch it.”
Jeudy and the Broncos will get one more chance this season to rebound. Denver hosts the Las Vegas Raiders next week in its season finale.
