"It was his time": Brandon Allen's Broncos debut put him in elite company

DENVER — In the last eight seasons in the Mile High City, seven quarterbacks have made their Broncos debut under center.

Peyton Manning was the first of that bunch in 2012, followed by Brock Osweiler in 2015, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch in 2016, Case Keenum in 2018, Joe Flacco at the start of this season, and, of course, Brandon Allen on Sunday.

Among those seven, the player with the best debut in Orange & Blue?

You guessed it. Peyton Manning, of course. Don’t be silly.

Next on the list? Well, also probably the next-most predictable with Osweiler’s debut in 2015 against the Chicago Bears when he put up a 127.1 passer rating.

However, the best Broncos debut from a quarterback, not a crucial piece of the Super Bowl 50 championship team was, in fact, Brandon Freaking Allen.

“Everybody has their time. And this was his time,” Phillip Lindsay said about his starting quarterback after the Broncos beat the Browns 24-19.

On Sunday against Cleveland, the unheard of and unnoticed Allen had a glistening 125.6 passer rating—only 3.6 points behind Manning’s magnificent debut against the Steelers in 2012. And, to be fair, Allen’s wasn’t just his first start as a Bronco, like No. 18’s, it was his first start ever in the NFL.

In fact, Allen’s first-ever snap in the NFL was the first snap on Sunday—a two-yard run by Phillip Lindsay. The No. 2 was prevalent in No. 2’s debut.

Allen’s first completion went for a gain of two to Courtland Sutton. His first first down came on his second run of the game as he scampered for 11 to midfield. He finished the game with, yep, two touchdowns.

But the two most important numbers were 24 and zero.

In his debut, Brandon Allen was able to do something the Broncos’ offense has yet to do this season—score more than 21 points in a victory. The 24 points Allen’s offense was able to put on the board was the most in a Broncos win since Week 13 in 2018.

Not only did Allen have zero turnovers himself, but it was also the first time all season the Broncos had multiple touchdown passes without an interception. In fact, Allen’s two touchdowns were more than Flacco had in the entire month of October.

“He did well. I thought he ran the offense well, showed a little mobility, made some good throws, missed a few too,” Vic Fangio said after the game, evaluating his young quarterback. “We’re not ready to put him in Canton yet, but overall pleased with the way he played.”

Potentially the most incredible part about Allen’s debut didn’t lie in the numbers. Allen’s worst pass, according to himself, was his first career touchdown.

“I made a pretty terrible pass,” Allen said honestly about his 50-50 ball on the right side of the end zone to Courtland Sutton. “I made some dicey throws that Courtland bailed me out on.”

Fangio disagreed with his quarterback.

“I thought his throw to the slant in the red zone was a worse throw than that,” he said with a smirk.

But Allen’s teammates had his back, from the moment they found out he was going to be the starter all the way to celebrating with him after he was awarded the game ball in the winning locker room on Sunday evening.

“I feel like when Lil Wayne found Drake,” Von Miller said after the game, taking credit for having faith in Allen leading up to his debut. “Brandon Allen and Noah Fant, those are the guys right there.”

Allen, or Drake in Von’s eyes, wanted to give his game ball to the entire team as he praised every level of both sides of the ball for helping him find success.

“It feels good,” Allen said calmly after collecting his first NFL win. “I hope to win a few more.”

As Denver enters their bye week riding high on the back of Brandon, he looks to be set to be Denver’s starting quarterback against the Vikings in Minnesota in Week 11.

After all, he is the only current starting quarterback in the NFL who is undefeated in his career.