Keeler: Chamber pot Jeudy twitters update an excellent activity, yet his hands don't support it up. And it's bring in John Elway and Drew Lock look like chumps.

Hey, at least he got his conditioning in.

“Sometimes, drops happen,” Jerry Jeudy, the Broncos’ young wideout, said Sunday after Denver’s 19-16 loss at the Los Angeles Chargers, the longest day for No. 10 in what’s already been a long rookie season. “I’m watching the ball come in. I just dropped it. And I’ve just got to focus on the next play. It just happened too many times (Sunday). That’s unacceptable.”

Dang straight. We ran out of excuses five losses ago, kid. Week 1 drops? Rookie jitters. Week 4 drops? Youth. Week 10 drops? Hitting the wall. Week 12 drops? OK, the narrative’s in pencil.

Week 16 drops?

That narrative’s in ink now.

Only one guy can change it.

“(I told him), ‘You have to let it go,’” Broncos quarterback Drew Lock said of his young wideout. “’You have to go out there because, you never know when there’s 30 seconds left, and you might be able to have the ball in your hands to win the game, and then all those drops are forgotten about.’”

With 30 seconds to go, Jeudy, poetically, had the ball in his hands. On target No. 15 of the afternoon, Lock spotted No. 10 coming open across the middle of the field on second-and-10 with 35 seconds left, Broncos down three. Firing from his own 25, Lock dropped a dime in front of two closing L.A. defenders near the Chargers 30.

Jeudy dropped that one, too.

“I looked it in,” the Broncos receiver stressed. “I was looking, in slow motion, I looked it in. I just couldn’t bring it in.”

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Among NFL wideouts with at least 60 targets going in to Week 16, only two had a catch rate — catches divided by targets — of less than 50%: The Bengals’ A.J. Green (47.3% on 91 targets) and Jeudy (45.1% on 91 targets).

Green’s earned his stripes. Jeudy’s digging himself a hole. And a rep. Even if he faced the music after the game, Broncos fans have heard enough of this tune already: 15 targets against the Chargers, six receptions (catch rate: 40%), 61 receiving yards, five drops. Five.

If you want the ball, kid, you sure got a funny way of showing it.

“I can’t dwell on this, really,” said Jeudy, who raised eyebrows a few weeks ago for posting a Twitter comment — At least I got my conditioning in — after getting just four targets during a loss at Kansas City. “Just focus on the little details that I need to focus on to get better and work on my craft.”

Less time with the thumbs, kid. More time on the hands.

You want to talk trash on social media? Start catching at least half the balls thrown your way first.

“(The ball) most definitely came to me,” Jeudy said. “Like I said, I’ve got to make the play. Ain’t nobody (stopping) me. I’m open. I’ve just got to finish. I beat myself today.”

A guy who runs great routes but can’t catch the ball is a pitcher with a 100 mph fastball who can’t throw strikes. A point guard who can dribble the rock with both hands blindfolded but can’t make a free throw to save his life.

Jeudy is the player who gets quarterbacks roasted on talk radio, then benched. The kind who get coaches fired. Not here, mind you. But in normal towns with normal franchises with normal front offices and normal ownership set-ups where there’s standards at the top and accountability at the bottom.

He’s a John Elway problem, now. One of many. NFL scouts warned us that Lock was Captain Streaky coming out of college, and that the cold streaks can kill. They also said that if Jeudy had a flaw, any flaw, it was inconsistent hands.

Put the two together, and you get Sunday, an offense where nothing in the passing game seems to click at the same time. Tim Patrick is one of those feel-good stories you root for. But when he’s the most reliable option Lock has in a pinch, what does that say about the No. 15 pick in the 2020 draft?

Jeudy’s not the only reason why the Broncos limped to a 10th defeat. That said, if he snares one in the end zone during the first quarter and a rainbow near the L.A. 30 in the fourth, that’s a nine-point swing, potentially, in a game Denver lost by a field goal.

It’s the simple math that hurts the most.

And the timing that kills you.

In the SEC, the difference is the number of stars behind your name in the recruiting rankings. In the NFL, the difference is the space between your ears.

Jeudy doesn’t turn 22 until next April. The ceiling’s still there, even if we’ve spent too much of the last two months scraping the floor. Broncomaniacs will remind you of Courtland Sutton’s up-and-down rookie year of 2018 and Fant’s roller-coaster debut campaign last fall.

Sutton’s catch rate two years ago: 50%.

Fant’s catch rate in 2019: 60.6%.

Justin Jefferson’s catch rate going into Week 16: 69.9%.

CeeDee Lamb’s catch rate: 66.7%.

Henry Ruggs III’s catch rate: 57.5%.

Jeudy’s catch rate: 45.1%.

Sometimes, drops happen. To everybody.

“It’s all about how you respond, how you get back up,” Lock said. “And I know Jerry has been so good to this point that this might be one of the first times he’s struggled.”

Smart NFL cookies will tell you that wideouts can have the longest learning curve out of any offensive position. Some guys jump on the express lane right away. Jeudy’s stuck on the local, crawling to the final exit.

“(Sunday) could be a defining moment in his career,” coach Vic Fangio said.

That train’s up in the air now.

Only one guy can catch it.

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