Getty Denver linebacker Jonathan Cooper (left) congratulates lineman Dre'Mont Jones after a play against the Detroit Lions during a game in Denver on Dec. 12, 2021.
Garett Bolles played in five prime time games when he was a rookie for the Denver Broncos in 2017. Six years later, Bolles is more than ready to return to the spotlight, and he’ll get his chance in 2022.
The Broncos schedule features five prime time games again this season, as the team and learned on May 12 with the NFL schedule release. Those five prime time appearances are Monday Night Football at Seattle in Week 1, Sunday Night Football vs. San Francisco in Week 3, Thursday Night Football vs. Indianapolis in Week 5, Monday Night Football at the Chargers in Week 6, and Sunday Night Football vs. the Chiefs in Week 14.
Bolles reacted to that showcase schedule during his interview on KOA Colorado with Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Allbright.
“Super stoked,” Bolles said when asked about playing in front of a national audience.
“My rookie year we had a lot of prime time games,” he added, “so it’s been a minute since I played this many prime time games, and I’m really looking forward to all the great talent I’m about to face.”
KOA EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | #Broncos OT @gbolles72 tells @redwardsradio & @AllbrightNFL that he’s “super stoked” for the Broncos to showcase on more national TV games this year. 😎
Watch more exclusive KOA content on our TikTok ➡️ t.co/dBgU6meww0
In Bolles’ rookie campaign in 2017, Denver also opened on Monday Night Football, beating the Los Angeles Chargers, 24-21. The team’s other prime time appearances that season were on Sunday Night Football at the New York Giants (23-10 loss), Monday Night Football at Kansas City (29-19 loss), Sunday Night Football against New England (41-16 loss) and Thursday night football at the Colts (25-13 win).
New quarterback Russell Wilson, an obvious reason for Denver’s return to the national stage, reacted to the schedule with this Tweet.
Competition Already Underway in AFC West
Like Bolles said, he and the rest of the Broncos will be playing against plenty of “great talent” in their upcoming schedule. The team already faced some competition from one of their AFC West foes, the Chargers, when it comes to schedule promotion.
The Chargers released their schedule with an anime video, and even Denver defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones had to give it up for their efforts.
“I still don’t mess with y’all and it’s #BroncosCountry 4L but this s*** is raw as hell I can’t lie,” Jones wrote in the retweet.
The video is definitely worth a watch:
Should we REALLY make our schedule release video an anime?
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The Broncos went in a different direction, but the team’s schedule release video is creative in its own right.
It opens with a shot of the Denver practice facility, the UCHealth Training Center, dated May 12, 3:18 p.m. And then we see Peyton Manning wearing a name tag and explaining that it’s the last day of his internship, and he has to show the new guy the ropes.
The new guy, of course, is Wilson, who has his own name tag and bargain-basement wardrobe. Wilson admits he has a lot to learn, takes a prank phone call, practices Manning’s famous “Omaha” call and even does some beekeeping.
Unfortunately, Wilson drops the ball when it comes to the schedule. Luckily, there’s another Denver quarterback in the building to pick up the slack.
Media Predictions for the Broncos Following the Schedule Release
For a more serious look at the schedule, Tim Lynch from Mile High Report made game-by-game predictions in this article with a short synopsis on each contest. He has the Broncos going 13-3 with the only losses coming Week 4 at the Raiders, Week 13 at the Ravens and Week 16 at the Rams on Christmas Day.
Jeff Legwold of ESPN makes some predictions with caveats. Legwold writes that for the Broncos to go over their Caesars Sportsbook win total over/under line of 10, Denver will, “likely have to break the losing streak to the Chiefs, win most, or all, of their home games and be in a position to break a six-year playoff drought” in this story. And he writes that if Wilson stays healthy, the Broncos will finish with a winning record in the AFC West (something they haven’t done since 2015) in this story.
Four Denver Post writers gave their Broncos predictions and some explanations in this article. Three of them called for 11-6, and one went with 10-7.