The defending Super Bowl champs got off on the right foot, with Mark Sanchez finding holes all throughout the Bears defense and lofting a strike to a wide open Demaryius Thomas as Bryce Callahan badly misplayed his coverage of Thomas. The Denver Broncos acquired Mark Sanchez via trade and drafted Paxton Lynch after seeing Peyton Manning retire, and Brock Osweiler leave for the Houston Texans in free agency.
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Mark Sanchez has been ahead of Trevor Siemian since Denver began training camp, but they’ve been alternating snaps. Cutler hit Jeffery for a 12-yard gain on Chicago’s first play from scrimmage, which ended up being the longest gain of the night for the starters.
Both Sanchez and Siemian were sharp in the workout and threw the ball well. Sacks have become more rare, and his confidence and resilience appear to be rising, evidenced by a 14-of-17 stretch Tuesday that followed an interception on his first pass. Kubiak has previously said he could see Talib back for the Broncos’ third preseason game, August 27 vs. the Los Angeles Rams.
Denver’s defense continued its dominant play of previous year while many of their Super Bowl defensive playmakers looked on. “I think this is the game to look at all of those young players”, Kubiak said. If Thursday night was any indication, National Football League offenses might be in for another rough year when facing Wade Phillips’ guys. “It was good for me to do that because I’ve got to get the trust of my teammates”.
The Chicago Bears have some new pieces this year as well, but one big question is the status of Kevin White, the 2015 first-round pick that missed all of last season with an injury.
“I’ve got the highest expectations on myself”, he said.
Denver is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games, while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 on grass and 4-1 in their last 5 overall. “I’m just going to play those starters a certain amount of reps, so whoever goes first will get with those guys. They’ve been pretty solid, so we just have to keep moving forward”. Lynch is listed as the No. 3 quarterback. Jerrell Freeman lauds the defensive end’s unselfishness and willingness to occupy blockers. Kubiak recently said that he’s nearly back to 100 percent, though and he’s expected to play against the Bears.
The Bears are still Jay Cutler’s team, and we are unlikely to see Cutler or any of the Bears starters beyond the first quarter.
“One of them will go first, one of them will go second, Paxton will play the majority of the second half”, Kubiak said.
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“We’re clicking”, Ward said.
