Saturday, October 3, 2020

Grading the Week: How weird are things at Colorado State? The football program is interviewing itself

We’re three days into October, and the Broncos already have more wins (1) than they did in all of September.

Keep it up, Vic Fangio, and we just might be able to avoid yet another top draft pick. Who needs Trevor Lawrence when you can have Blake Bortles?

CSU football — Inc.

How weird are things up in FoCo?

Well, the Colorado State football team is back at practice — and interviewing itself.

Yes, the program that recently had a coronavirus outbreak and is now the subject an independent investigation for two — count ’em, two — alleged improprieties (COVID-19 protocols and abusive behavior) is now holding press conferences … without any members of the press.

After receiving transcripts of one of these “interviews,” The Denver Post contacted the university to see if we might be able to ask a few questions of new head coach Steve Addazio and his players.

Nope, just the Daz and his Dudes, we were told, until the investigation is complete.

Let’s hope that happens before the team’s Oct. 24 season opener against New Mexico.

Otherwise that’s going to make for one odd postgame presser.

Brett Rypien — C

If we’re being honest, the first touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy probably should’ve been picked off.

And the three interceptions the second-year Broncos quarterback actually did throw (one a pick-six) in Thursday night’s 37-28 win over the hapless New York Jets were Bad (yes, with a capital “B”).

But the positives that Rypien showed in his first NFL start — the decisiveness, the third-down production, that threading-the-needle TD pass to Tim Patrick in the red zone — were enough to convince the Grading the Week staff he could be a serviceable Broncos backup for a long time to come.

If that is what Rypien looked like in practice, it’s a wonder he was behind Jeff Driskel on the depth chart.

All that being said, wouldn’t it be more fun if it was Blake Bortles delivering all those highs and lows?

The answer is “yes.”

DJ LeMahieu — A+

Remember when DJ was a Coors Field creation? Oh, how long ago that seems.

The former Rockies infielder has done just fine in his two seasons away from the thin air of Colorado, transforming into a superstar with the New York Yankees in the Bronx.

In fact, LeMahieu made history this week when he claimed the AL batting title with a .364 average, becoming the first player in baseball’s modern history to claim batting crowns in both the American and National leagues. (For those who forgot, LeMahieu was the NL batting champion in 2016 with a .348 average.)

Now, he and the Bronx Bombers are headed to the ALDS, thanks in no small part to LeMahieu’s game-winning hit in Game 2 of their wild card series against Cleveland.

To think, the Rockies might have been able to keep him in LoDo if they just matched the two-year, $16 million deal LeMahieu received from the Yankees. Instead, that money went to Daniel Murphy.

Which reminds us: Jeff Bridich, F.

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