ENGLEWOOD, Colo. For the second consecutive season, quarterback Jarrett Stidham will finish his year starting a Week 18 game on the grass of Allegiant Stadium. <\/p>\n
But after starting for the Raiders in last season's finale, he'll face them on Sunday in a Broncos uniform with plenty on the line. A victory in Las Vegas would give Denver its first winning season since 2016 and Stidham his first road win as an NFL starter. <\/p>\n
After Wednesday's practice, Stidham said he's excited for the matchup and noted that he spent plenty of time battling against the Raiders in practice last season. <\/p>\n
\"Obviously, [I'm] excited,\" Stidham said. \"I spent a year there and made a lot of relationships with a lot of people. But I'm here now, so I'm looking forward to playing against those guys. I did it in practice, obviously, all last year. I'm just excited to get back in there on the opposing sideline and try and score some points and hopefully win.\" <\/p>\n
Head Coach Sean Payton said part of this week's preparation has included working with Stidham on silent snap-counts, though Stidham's experience at Allegiant Stadium provides some familiarity. <\/p>\n
\"Obviously, he's familiar with this stadium we're going to,\" Payton said. \"You go through the crowd noise. I would say today's the first day where we're in shotgun with him on a silent snap count. There are little nuances that obviously are more cadence-driven, and we'll work through that.\" <\/p>\n
In his two starts with the Raiders, Stidham completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 584 yards and four touchdowns against the 49ers and Chiefs. Payton said the All-22 tape of Stidham's performance against San Francisco \"opened a lot of people's eyes,\" and months after his Las Vegas finale, Stidham signed with the Raiders' AFC West rival. <\/p>\n
Even with the impact that his starts as a Raider made on the arc of his career, Stidham said he doesn't view the upcoming Week 18 game as an audition for a future starting role. <\/p>\n
\"I'm not looking at it as an audition or anything like that,\" Stidham said. \"I have a certain job to do, certain thing to do on each and every play, and ultimately, we've got to go out and win. That's what I'm focused on doing my job [is] to help those other 10 guys on offense move the ball and score points. That's how I'm looking at it.\" <\/p>\n
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Broncos Notebook: QB Jarrett Stidham 'excited to be back' in Las Vegas, eager to help Broncos earn win vs. former team - DenverBroncos.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ENGLEWOOD, Colo. For the second consecutive season, quarterback Jarrett Stidham will finish his year starting a Week 18 game on the grass of Allegiant Stadium. Continue reading