FOXBOROUGH - Anfernee Jennings is one of the few players remaining on the Patriots roster who had crossover with Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham from his time in New England. His synopsis of the most talked-about man going into this game was short and sweet.
“Good quarterback,” he said. “Obviously, someone we have to prepare for and we can’t overlook.”
Go ahead. Let me know where you get a better scouting report online. I’ll hang up and listen. But seriously, for whatever reason, the Pats are treading lightly around what the veteran backup, now in his third spot, can do and what they remember from past experiences.
“This is a brand new team, a brand new defense I’m a part of,” Robert Spillane said when asked about his experience playing against Stidham. “A brand new offense that we're going to be going up against. So those past memories are long ago, and we're just going to focus on what they've been doing as an offense and go from there.”
“I’m not too familiar with him,” K’Lavon Chaisson admitted. “I haven’t played him. I played him in college (Chaisson at LSU, Stidham at Auburn). Just watching the film on him and seeing how he played in preseason games. I think he can make any throw he wants with a clean pocket. He’s got great mechanics and a great release time.”
Preseason is not the real thing. How many times have we seen that in our backyard? The list of players who were August warriors who didn’t even make this, or any other team, is long and easily forgettable. So would you look at Stidham’s 30-of-38 performance this summer and think ‘He’s got it’?
The reality is that it’s been 749 days since Stidham threw a pass in a game that anyone cared about. Yes, that’s how long it’s been, and that number will grow by several prior to kickoff. Otherwise, he’s been collecting dust as the #2 in Denver, first behind Russell Wilson, and over the last two years, watching Bo Nix run the show. But with Nix suffering an unfortunate ankle injury late in the Broncos’ Divisional round win over the Bills, Stidham’s time has come.
So who is he and what is he all about? Sean Payton’s actions, like Josh McDaniels’ before, show you that those two smart offensive minds believe there’s something there. One of McDaniels’ first acts as head coach of the Raiders was to trade for Stidham. Once he arrived in the Mile High City, Payton took a similar approach, inking the former 4th-round pick to a healthy 2-year contract worth $12 million (and giving him another deal this offseason). Yet, other than a couple of games with the Raiders (after McDaniels benched Derek Carr), Stidham’s never been given - or earned - the right to be the guy.
Yet Payton has often said that
