“Next man up” is often heard when an NFL player suffers an injury, but Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey knows things aren’t quite that simple for his team this week.
McGlinchey called quarterback Bo Nix’s fractured ankle “incredibly heartbreaking” and noted that it is not “just another test” for the team to try to handle heading into the AFC Championship Game. While McGlinchey avoided downplaying the significance of the injury, he made it clear that he’s not throwing in the towel against the Patriots.
McGlinchey said there is “utmost confidence” in Jarrett Stidham’s ability to do the job despite the fact that Stidham hasn’t thrown a regular season pass since 2023.
“He’s been waiting for this moment for the entirety of his career,” McGlinchey said, via the team’s website. “He’s more prepared than anybody would be in this situation, and he can ball. He flat out can play quarterback. We’ve seen it every single day at practice. We’ve seen it in training camp. We’ve seen it in the preseason. I have no doubts that he’s going to go out there and play his butt off. I think our team is in a perfect position with Stiddy moving forward. We’re lucky to have him, and we’re lucky our team and our coaching staff and our front office invests in every situation that can possibly come up on a football field, because not everybody has a quarterback waiting in the wings as talented as Jarrett.”
There will likely be a lot of similar sentiments about Stidham expressed in Denver this week, but it is uncharted waters to turn to a player with so little playing time to start at such an important position in a moment like this. Pulling it off would be a story for the ages and would make it hard to believe there’s anything the Broncos can’t accomplish this season.
