It didn’t figure to be pretty. So, the fact that the Denver Broncos’ loss to the New Orleans Saints was pretty ugly was predictable.
One has to feel for Kendall Hinton, who was thrust into the job as starting QB after the Broncos’ quarterback quartet was shelved by COVID-19 implications.
Vic Fangio: "I was disappointed on several levels, that our QBs put us in that position, that our QBs put the league in that position. We count on them to be the leaders of our team, the leaders of our offense, and those guys made a mistake."
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) November 30, 2020
Hinton completed one pass, for 13 yards to Noah Fant, nine attempts. He threw two interceptions.
There was a game today.
The final score is what it is.
Undrafted rookie WIDE RECEIVER @Kendall_Hinton2 came off the practice squad, had zero practice reps and competed in his first NFL game as the Broncos’ QUARTERBACK—an unprecedented situation.
He deserves all the respect. pic.twitter.com/C4UpkPTZBQ— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 29, 2020
The last time a team had fewer completions than interceptions was Sept. 20, 1998, when Ryan Leaf was 1-for-15 with two picks as the San Diego Chargers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-7.
The Broncos did manage 100 yards on the ground, though it took 33 carries to get to triple digits. The average yards per play in the 31-3 loss was 2.6.
Denver ran 43 plays and had 12 drives. It notched six first downs, all but one coming on the ground.
Denver was 1-for-10 on third down and had the ball for a shade more than 24 minutes.