For Jarrett Stidham, ball security will be crucial

Jarrett Stidham had some dynamic moments in his first two career starts to close last season. Then playing for the Las Vegas Raiders, Stidham displayed some promise — and some downfield touch — even though the Raiders lost a pair of games to playoff-bound teams to conclude that season.

The competition appears considerably more benign this week for the third career start of Jarrett Stidham. Battered by injuries and already looking toward the future after sacking head coach Brandon Staley a fortnight ago, the Los Angeles Chargers don’t appear poised to offer the same kind of resistance as he faced last year — even though the Chargers played one of their best games of the season in their 24-22 loss to Buffalo last week.

He has a believer in Broncos coach Sean Payton.

“We feel like this guy has a lot of traits that you’re looking for,” Payton said Friday. “I’d say the thing he does very well for his size is he has very good feet. It’s fluid. In the pocket, he processes well.”

What’s more …

“I think he has a presence about him,” Payton added regarding Stidham.

And now he’s had several months to acclimate and adjust to Payton’s scheme. So, how has he grown in that time?

“It’s getting acclimated to new terminology, different than what was in New England or Vegas because that was probably the same,” Payton said. “All of that has been smooth.”

The New England Patriots drafted Jarrett Stidham. Then he went to Las Vegas with former Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels after the ex-Broncos head coach began his second NFL head-coaching stint. It was as ill-fated as the first.

And one thing that went askew was losing Stidham in free agency. The Raiders expected him to return. But the Broncos jumped in. And now they’ll find out whether the hopes regarding his “presence” come to fruition.

But one thing he’ll have to do is reverse his turnover trend from last year.

17.3

That refers to his ball-loss rate last year — as in, the ball comes out via interception or fumble once every 17.3 QB plays (passing attempts, rushing attempts and times sacked). That is eighth-worst among the 72 quarterbacks with at least 100 total plays to their name over the last two seasons.

Meanwhile, the Chargers generated 3 takeaways last week against Buffalo. This is significant because of Stidham’s ball-security issues last year, when he had three interceptions and three fumbles — with one fumble being lost to the opposition.

If Stidham is to show growth, it must be in ball security. That sort of ball-loss rate is, obviously, unsustainable.

7-5

The record of actual quarterbacks — thus, not including the Phillip Lindsay-Kendall Hinton no-quarterback game — in their first starts as Broncos since Brock Osweiler made his first-ever start for Denver in a November 2015 win at Chicago.

1

Number of 100-yard rushing or receiving games generated by Broncos players this year. And none of them have come in the last 13 games.

One must venture all the way back to Week 2 for the last 100-yard game — and that belonged to wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr., who isn’t expected to play Sunday after landing on the injury report Thursday due to a hamstring problem.

As for 100-yard rushing games … you have go to back to Week 18 of last season, when Latavius Murray popped for 103 yards during the Los Angeles Chargers’ last previous visit to Empower Field at Mile High.

That 15-game drought is the longest for the Broncos in 30 years, since a 28-game skein without a 100-yard rusher from the 12th game of the 1991 season through the sixth game in 1993. That 28-game stretch included a pair of playoff contests. Rod Bernstine snapped the streak with a 101-yard effort in a 23-20 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders on Oct. 18, 1993.