Alliance... » However, there have been a few bright spots along

Broncos Country hasn’t had a whole lot to cheer about so far this season as our team sits at 3-6 going into a bye week DeMarcus Ware Jersey , and likely yet another season of missing the playoffs. the way, mainly coming in the form of young players stepping up their game. Jeff Heuerman’s performance against the Houston Texans last week certainly fits that bill.Heuerman, also known as ‘the other Jeff’, went off for 10 catches on 11 targets for 83 yards and a touchdown, with the majority of his yards coming after the catch as he showcased excellent open field elusiveness. This was one of the best performances by a Denver tight end since Peyton Manning and Julius Thomas set the league on fire in 2013 - 2014, and has been a key missing piece of this Broncos offense. What was even more encouraging, was not only Heuerman individually stepping up his game, but the coaching staff’s clear plan to get him more involved with Demaryius Thomas no longer in Denver.Heuerman was moved all around in nearly every alignment imaginable on Sunday. He was split out wide as a Z-receiver on a key 3rd down pass play to clear out the zone for Courtland Sutton.Here, he starts out wide and is motioned into the slot underneath Sanders’ tight split.He even came out of the backfield on this 3rd and short catch and run.Play #1He also found success from a traditional tight end alignment off of play action.Here, Denver fakes outside zone right and everyone goes that direction, except for Keenum and Heuerman.He gets a chip on JJ Watt on his way out to further sell the run.Now he’s wide open with plenty of room to run. Keenum hits him a little low and late, but Heuerman is able to bounce off tacklers for a nice gain.This is the kind of thing we saw multiple times on Sunday and was a great move by the coaching staff. This not only got Keenum in his comfort zone and got Heuerman involved, but also helped combat the Texans fierce pass rush.Play #2Another thing I really liked was Denver’s coaching staff taking advantage of matchups. This is something the Vikings did will Kyle Rudolph quite often last year with good success. The Texans played a lot of man coverage, and would shadow Heuerman with a linebacker. So Denver split him out wide and let him work 1-on-1 against the 250 lb Bernardrick McKinney on the outside.Keenum does a nice job identifying the matchup pre-snap and throws with great anticipation here before Heuerman even breaks off his route.Great back shoulder throw from Keenum, and nice catch here by the tight end.Play #3Saved the best for last.The Texans are in a cover-2 at the goal line, and Denver is going to run to both Sanders and Sutton to the left to widen the safety and nickel corner, isolating the MLB, McKinney again.You can see the safety drift to Sanders in the slot, and the nickel corner is focused on the QB.Keenum once again throws with great anticipation and puts it in the perfect spot, away from the linebacker.Heuerman hang in there for an incredible catch, and Denver gets the score.I wrote last week how Denver’s passing game had been failing in the red zone and on 3rd downs this year. This week, they converted 100% of their red zone trips Dre’Mont Jones Jersey 2019 , and converted some key 3rd downs propelled by Heuerman and Keenum’s connection, plus great scheming to correctly utilize him.Look for more of this as the season progresses, and the offense continues to try new things and find it’s rhythm. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP)Case Keenum is joining his fifth team in five years and the Denver Broncos are turning to their fifth quarterback since Peyton Manning retired 24 months ago.General manager John Elway called Keenum ”a great fit for us” after the sixth-year pro parlayed a breakout year in Minnesota into a two-year, $36 million deal with Denver.”Along with that experience,” Elway said, ”his leadership and competitiveness are what you look for in a quarterback.”Elway, by the way, isn’t done looking at quarterbacks.Elway and coach Vance Joseph were in Norman, Oklahoma, checking out Baker Mayfield’s pro day when free agency opened Wednesday. Then they were headed for Los Angeles to watch Josh Rosen’s pro day at UCLA on Thursday.Also, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press the Broncos were in negotiations Wednesday to trade QB Trevor Siemian to Minnesota, where the Vikings are pursuing free agent Kirk Cousins to be their starter.The Broncos were busy when free agency opened, keeping linebacker Todd Davis (three years, $15 million); adding cornerback Tramaine Brock (one year, $4 million); finalizing Aqib Talib’s trade to the Los Angeles Rams; and trying to move Siemian, who won the starting QB job in Denver each of the last two years.Keenum is expected to sign his deal Thursday, giving the 30-year-old journeyman the big payday that’s long eluded him and taking the pressure off Elway to use the fifth overall pick in the draft next month on a quarterback.It’s no guarantee, however, that Elway won’t still use that pick on a QB.Besides Mayfield and Rosen, other high-profile fixes for franchises with quarterback quandaries such as Denver’s include Wyoming’s Josh Allen, USC’s Sam Darnold, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph.Coming off a career-changing season Cheap Dre’Mont Jones Jersey , Keenum was widely considered the second-most attractive veteran QB on the market behind Cousins. And he is a player the Broncos know well because Gary Kubiak, now the Broncos’ senior personnel adviser, had him for two seasons while Kubiak was head coach of the Houston Texans.”Case is perfect for our team, both as a player and as a person,” said Joseph, who also worked for the Texans. ”He’s playing the best football of his career right now and has gotten better with every opportunity he’s had. Being around him in Houston, Case is a tremendous person and teammate with strong leadership skills and a terrific work ethic. He’ll be great in our locker room.”Keenum, who made $2 million last year, went 11-3 in place of an injured Sam Bradford, leading the Vikings to the NFC championship game.He threw for more than 3,500 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His signature moment was that last-second 61-yard touchdown toss to Stefon Diggs that stunned the Saints 29-24 in the playoffs.The Broncos haven’t been back to the playoffs since Manning retired following Denver’s 24-10 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 two years ago.They’ve cycled through Mark Sanchez, Siemian, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch, while going a combined 14-18.The Broncos, coming off a 5-11 season, were considered an early front-runner to land Cousins. Minnesota, however, had a sparkling stadium, new state-of-the-art training facility, stacked roster and coaching stability to offer him, while the Broncos’ main magnet was Von Miller.Even though he issued a public plea for Cousins to join him in Denver, Miller is welcoming Keenum to town .”Looks/Feels right to me!” Miller said in an Instagram post on Tuesday. ”We got what we were looking for! Franchise QB that’s the perfect fit for DENVER! (at)johnelway with the deep 3 pointer! Like always! Leeettttss Goooo!!! (at)casekeenum7 (at)casekeenum7 Time for me to hold up my end of the deal now!”Notes: The Broncos placed second-round tenders on two restricted free agents: C Matt Paradis and OLB Shaq Barrett. They declined to offer a tender to WR Bennie Fowler III.—