ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In 20 years, when Jerry Jeudy's NFL career is (likely) over and he reminisces on his first game, he won't think about his first catch, being at his home stadium or his productive debut.
Instead, he'll reflect a pair of plays that were less than stellar.
"The two drops," Jeudy said Wednesday, when asked what he'll remember most.
The first came early in the second half on third-and-3. Jeudy's release gave him instant separation, but he couldn't haul in the pass on a post to the center of the field.
The more costly error, though, came on first-and-10 with just over four minutes to play and the Broncos clinging to a one-point lead. Jeudy again found separation and likely would've had a first down inside the Titans' 30-yard line. Instead, the Broncos had to punt three plays later.
"Drops happen," Jeudy said. "Those are the plays I make usually. When that happened, I was too much focused on running than catching the ball. That's the only thing that happened. I got my eyes off of the ball, and it was a drop."
The 15th-overall pick in April's NFL Draft said he understands the magnitude of the plays and will aim to use the mistakes as motivation to not drop any more passes.
"Like I said, those critical drops, one on third down and one that could have changed the momentum of the game — I felt like I failed my team on those two plays," Jeudy said. "Me learning from that, just going out here and practicing and really focus on catching the ball and focus on the little details of catching the ball is really going to help me. Those two drops will probably help me on not dropping passes for the whole season."
While Jeudy has focused in on his mistakes, his teammates aren't worried about the drops lingering into future weeks.
"The thing is, that's not a Jerry Jeudy thing to [have] happen," quarterback Drew Lock said. "He'll say the same thing. Those were unacceptable to him, and to me, it's nothing that we should really take our time on more than we already have addressed it. We talked about it. He apologized, he was upset, he was hurt. But that would be like missing layups in basketball. 'Yeah, OK, I missed a couple. That's not going to happen again.' You don't go address a guy about missing layups. That's not a thing you do. And that's nothing that we would overly address with Jerry. Yeah, he made some drops, but let's go out here next week, let's keep getting better. That's not Jerry Jeudy. That's not a Jerry Jeudy thing to do."
Jeudy's rookie debut was otherwise impressive, as he caught
'I WISH I COULD HAVE MADE MORE PLAYS'
In Bradley Chubb's first game back from an ACL injury, he played 73 percent of the team's defensive snaps, was on the field for 14 of Tennessee's 16 third-down attempts and totaled two quarterback hits.
That wasn't enough for the former fifth-overall pick, who said he was "not very effective."
"I feel like I was just getting into the groove of things," Chubb said. "I wish I could have made more plays. At the end of the day, I just can't force things. I have to let it come to me and just try and make as many plays as I can this week."
Chubb said he felt comfortable on the field and wasn't thinking about his knee, which is encouraging news. He added that his knee still feels good, and he was a full participant in Wednesday's practice.
He declined to a put a timetable, though, on when he'll return to the level of play that he showed in 2018 when he set a franchise rookie sack record.
"I can't really put a day on that or a time on that," Chubb said. I just have to go out there and play football. My main thing is just doing what I can to help this team win whether that be rushing the passer, dropping in coverage or whatever it takes. I'm just going to do that. I just can't put a day or a time on when I'm going to feel 100 percent. I'm feeling pretty good now, and I'm going to go out there and continue to do what I've been doing."
