Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BIGGEST KEY: Denver Broncos Must DOMINATE Packers with RJ Harvey, Ground Game
Episode Date: December 12, 2025As the Denver Broncos face off against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, can RJ Harvey and Marvin Mims Jr. spark a much-needed resurgence in the ground game and stretch the Packers’ defense? Cody Ro...ark and Sayre Bedinger break down the Broncos' open roster spot and whether or not Ben Powers will fill it. Plus, the importance of controlling time of possession, and the pivotal role of Dre Greenlaw in shutting down Jordan Love’s short passing attack. Plus, the crew previews matchups to watch—will Pat Surtain II lock down Christian Watson, and can Sean Payton finally unlock Marvin Mims Jr.’s big-play potential? Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to join -- https://lockedonbroncos.supercast.com/Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout. FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Mint MobileTurn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint. Shop Mint Unlimited Plans at http://MINTMOBILE.com/LOCKEDONNFL.Disclaimer: Limited time offer. Upfront payment of: $45 for 3-mo., $90 for 6-mo., or $180 for 12-mo. plan required ($15/mo. equivalent). Taxes & fees Initial plan term only. 35GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, & coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Sunday showdown between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers is almost here.
And for the Broncos, the biggest key, we'll be running the football against this Packers defense.
You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.
Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Happy Friday, Broncos, welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos,
your daily Denver Broncos podcast.
Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
The Lockdown Podcast Network is now the number one sports podcast network in the country.
All thanks to all you.
Every dayers out there in Broncos country.
Thanks for tuning in however you choose to do so,
making us your first listen of the day.
I'm Cody Roar, credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports.
Join, as always by Sarah Bedinger,
the longtime site expert of their predominantly orange.com.
We got a lot to break down here on our final game preview of Sunday's
matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers.
We'll go through the Broncos having an open spot on the active roster.
How might they feel that ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Packers?
We'll go through several key options for you.
tell you why RJ Harvey and Marvin Mims are key players to watch if Denver's hoping to win here on Sunday.
Tell you why the run game is going to be important for the Broncos to sustain drives and ultimately take time away from Jordan Love and at Packers Offense here on today's episode of the show.
Sarah, let's get into it, my friend. Obviously, the Broncos have one more practice here this afternoon.
We'll be out there.
But so far, healthy throughout the week. Denver made an interesting move on Thursday after practice.
They wave veteran tight-in Mercedes-Lewis, and that now opened up a spot here on the active roster.
And I think everybody's wondering right now, what is Denver going to do with that flexibility?
And I'm curious for your thoughts, because as it stands today, before Friday's practice,
it's trending more and more likely that wide receiver Pat Bryant is not going to play here this week.
Yeah, I'm really interested to see what the Broncos do here, Cody, because obviously Ben Powers returned to the practice field.
this week. They opened up his window. So it kind of seems like he may be the most logical fit,
although at the same time, look, there's a number of other players on the practice squad or on
injured reserve who could make some sense for this team. Now, Ben Powers to me is the low-hanging
fruit here. You open up that roster spot. I think it was kind of procedural to get Mercedes-Lewis
onto the practice squad and make sure you have all that figured out. So if the goal is to get
Mercedes onto the practice squad, Cody.
That leads me to believe that this could be a practice squad promotion.
And maybe just because we know this news just came out,
maybe Sam Ellinger go,
you go ahead and give him that promotion for another week because I know they've been
kind of given him those game checks and things like that.
So maybe that's the move.
I don't know.
I mean, what are your thoughts here?
Because I think it seems too,
too easy that it's Ben Powers, right?
Because why cut Mercedes-Lewis with the hopes of bringing him back to the practice
squad?
when you have a full practice squad at this point.
Yeah, and here's the challenge, too.
I mean, Denver's done some fluctuating, you know, with Marko S. Cox a little bit.
They brought him on and off the practice squad.
He's kind of been this move around piece.
I'm very curious.
Like, to me, I think it's going to be Ben Powers.
And the reason why is like, okay, his 21 day window is open at some point within the 21 days,
I do know they plan on bringing him back.
So you're going to have to make a roster move if you do have 53 players on your active as is.
So that spot is already open.
he's been doing more. He did more on Thursday when we were there watching practice.
And I really enjoy just seeing like him kind of get back to it.
Like he's moving around well.
I think the biggest question is like how can he continue to, you know,
strengthen the bicep when you get cut open and you have to have surgery.
It's a lot about strengthening it.
But it's different when you go back from, okay, lifting weights to I'm back on the football
field where I'm engaging tight within the frame.
Sometimes I'm stretching out like, how does his bicep hold up with that?
There's that.
I think some people have floated out, obviously, with Pat Bryant, trending towards not playing here in Sunday's game.
There's been a lot of talk about could the Broncos promote a wide receiver?
Well, you have Elijah Moore, who you signed a couple of weeks ago here on the practice squad.
You have A.T. Perry.
And if Brian can't go, could the Broncos rely on that?
I don't think that's going to be the move.
It doesn't make sense right now for them to bring a practice squad wide receiver to the 53 because, at least with guys like Elijah Moore, A.T. Perry, you still have three game day elevations available that gives you.
flexibility. So you could essentially say, hey, we're going to promote Elijah Moore from the
practice squad to the game day roster for Sunday's game. Boom. There we go. Now after that,
you have two more utilizations of that versus just bringing him on to the 53. I just don't see
that being the case. And then obviously, Denver this past week, they added running back
sincere McCormick, former Las Vegas Raiders running back to the practice squad. Bigger bulkier back,
but Denver doesn't need to do that because they can also elevate him from the practice squad.
So, Sarah, it is either Ben Powers or I agree with you. It could be Sam.
Ellinger in a sense of getting him paid.
There's a reason that he decided to stay because the Indianapolis Colts,
who now have Philip Rivers as a quarterback this week, folks.
Yes, Philip Rivers, filthy Phil.
Ellinger had interest from the Colts.
The Colts wanted him to come back and he said,
nah, I'm going to stay here in Denver.
The grass is greener in the Mile High City.
I find it to be interesting.
I do too.
I was trying to do Cody while you were saying that about Philip Rivers.
I was trying to do my best Philip Rivers face.
You know, he's got all, if you Google Philip Rivers' name,
you know, you're going to find all the face.
basis. But I think another name that's been floated out too is Jordan Turner, the linebacker,
who's out of promotions as well. So I think the Broncos do have some options here. And I think that,
you know, with Garrett Wallow getting claimed off waivers, I was looking through some of the
team's practice photos from the last couple weeks. It's kind of weird that, you know,
Garrett Wallow pops up in a practice photo from just last week. And now he's like already been with
the 49ers for a handful of days. So maybe that's the move there in terms of the roster gymnastics that
are being played right now. So we'll kind of see, but I know maybe fans don't know this.
Nate Adkins was not on injured reserve. So that's not the, that's not the situation here for
the Broncos, he's having to promote Nate Adkins. So I think that it's really a matter of,
okay, you got to maybe a flexible spot for a week. This is an opportunity to give Sam
Ellinger a regular season, 53-man roster game check, or maybe you reward Jordan Turner for the work
that he's done on his promotions. So you got opportunities to do that. We know,
John Peyton loves to do that, but I wouldn't be surprised either way, Cody, if Elijah Moore does get called up.
Because, I mean, this is a guy who had eight catches for 111 yards against the Broncos about a year ago at this time.
So he's the most proven guy on their practice squad, I think out of any player that they have, other than Mercedes-Lewis when he comes back to the practice squad.
So to me, it's kind of a no-brainer week to get Elijah Moore's feet wet.
I know you have other players that you want to get involved in the offense, which will continue to talk about.
out today as you know, you teased Marvin Mims being a player to watch.
I think that's going to be a big deal.
But Elijah Moore kind of makes sense for this week.
If you want to get another body and give the Packers somebody else that they really have to account for.
Yeah.
And Denver's got good flexibility right now, too.
I even think about this.
Well, I forget he's on the 53 man roster, Sarah, but even Jared Christian, the offensive tackle.
The Broncos have to make another move to bring up a spot.
He's the most likely guy to kind of be released or waived at that point.
you know with Mercedes Lewis the fact that he's out of practice squad elevations but they want to bring him back to the practice squad that's more of a veteran leadership presence type of role for him but also in the event like said ned adkins is coming back from a knee how he responds you know returning to the field i think will be very very important to monitor here so it's kind of like a hey we have this breaking case of emergency thing whereas if you do suffer an injury at the position and you have to put someone on iR hopefully that's not the case right but you do have a backup plan in a veteran
like Mercedes. I like what we saw from him last week against the Raiders and Max
Crosby, kind of being that big move around piece. So the fact that he's kind of this procedural
move for the Broncos on Thursday was a little bit of a surprise to me, considering that Denver's
going to have to go against that defensive line. And obviously, Micah Parsons, who you want to
try to attribute as much size to be able to negate his impact as much as you can. But overall,
Denver's got flexibility with their choices here. And we'll find out here, obviously,
for Friday's practice. And look, Bronco's country stay posted. Once we get to
final injury report. If Pat Bryant plays or not, you can get a little quick bonus episode,
Lockdown Broncos here today once we have all that information here. But coming up next,
Broncos country, we're going to get into our players to watch. And I'm going to tell you why
RJ Harvey is going to have a big game this week against the Packers. And Sarah's going to tell you
why Marvin Mims could be the equalizer this week. You get that here on today's episode of the show.
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Booz.com. It's got to be another big week for running back, RJ Harvey, but also will Sean
Peyton deliver on his promise to get Marvin Mims Jr. more involved in the offense.
We're talking players to watch both on offense and on defense. So I guess you're going
to have to stay tuned here to find out who Cody and I picked for the defensive side of the ball.
But Broncos Country quickly want to say thank you to every single one of you out there that makes
Locked on Broncos your first listen of the day every single day right here on the Lockdown
podcast network, the number one sports podcast network.
know what? Cody and I know you guys, we're diehard Broncos fans, right? We want to have all day
access every single day. So if you haven't done so already, join the everydayer club.
Man, Cody and I, we have some great stuff for you, bonus episodes of the show, all 22
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We're going to make it worth your while.
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If you haven't done that already, go ahead and do that today.
Cody, let's talk about players to watch because RJ Harvey,
he's been on a tear as of weight.
It's funny because I think that the perception from Broncos country was like,
it's kind of been a up and down rookie year from RJ Harvey,
Harvey, right? We've seen the explosive plays. We've seen the touchdowns, but we haven't necessarily
seen the elongated success running the football. We finally saw that last week. But I thought it was
great. I saw a little post from somebody on Twitter. I don't even remember who it was, but they had a
picture of RJ Harvey, not a Broncos fan. And they just said, this is, this is my 2025 fantasy football
league winner. So the perception of RJ Harvey is very different from the outside looking in. Fantasy
players are like, dude, this guy won me my league this year or could.
And Broncos fans are like, is he really an RB1?
Tell me why you have him as your offensive player to watch this week.
Yeah, look, I think that he's starting to get more comfortable and getting more in rhythm.
Since taking over for J.K. Dobbins, look, it's, it's tough.
Like the Broncos run game was, I think, effective when they had a system in place with J.K.
And then RJ coming in in his role, I really believe that those two guys together, it was a dynamic duo.
So when J.K. goes down, it's like, all right, now you have.
have to accelerate RJ Harvey's learning curve a little bit. You're going to have to throw a little bit
more at him, which he has tackled really well. I will say this. You know, watching him at practice,
coach Lou Iiani has done such a tremendous job working with this group of guys because it's like,
all right, hey, you lose a veteran guy who's got so much experience and knowledge inside that room.
So how do you adjust? RJ has picked it up very quickly from people inside the building that I've
talked to. They say they believe that we have yet to see just the best version of RJ. But every week,
they're saying, hey, we're getting a little bit more.
We're getting a little bit more here.
And I'll say maybe a notable improvement has been from watching the film,
his past protection, right?
That was one of the things, hey, as a rookie, like, how do you navigate learning how to do this
or how to get better at this?
It's more reps, more experience.
And he's done a really, really good job stepping in, picking up agab blitzes or backside.
Like, I think his communication, his eyes and those situations have been big.
But what we've seen, I think over the course of the last few weeks,
with the Broncos having this north-south downhill approach versus just, hey,
we're going to just focus on trying to get him to the outside.
RJ has seen the blocks open up inside.
I mean, for all the everydayers out there to have the all access,
we even did a breakdown on the 22 of RJ Harvey's in between the tackle runs where
he's running for 15 yards on first down.
He's running for eight yards on first down, six yards on first down.
This is the formula this week against the Green Bay Packers.
You want to try to counter Micah Parsons?
You know what you do to do that?
to where he's not getting after Bo Nix.
You run the football.
So for me, can RJ continue to stack?
He's nine touchdowns for him this season altogether, five on the ground, four in the air.
Can he add even more to his repertoire this weekend?
That's why RJ is my player to watch against Green Bay.
I love it.
And I think he can add to that number this weekend, Cody.
I think he will add to that number.
I think Sean Payton is very motivated to make that, you know, make fetch happen with
RJ Harvey Harvey.
He wants to give him the Joker wings.
And I think he's going to.
I think this season is going to prove.
that RJ can be running back one going forward.
But we have the same questions every single year for the first three years of
Marvin Mims Jr's career.
We talked about it earlier this week on the show as Sean Peyton brought it up himself
at his Monday media availability talking about we need to get Marvin Mims Jr.
The ball more, especially after watching that punt return touchdown against the Raiders.
Sean was like, hey, the staff, we just got done watching it.
We're trying to figure out ways to get this guy the ball.
It feels like the Broncos have this sort of epiphany or whatever you want to call
every year with Marvin Mims.
And we're sitting here all year saying, why is he not getting the ball more?
Why are they not giving him more looks?
I was watching some of the All-22 stuff as well, Cody.
And I noticed that on a particular play, Marvin Mims had a wide open.
And I know the Broncos, they wanted to kind of beat the Raiders with the short passing game,
take what the defense gives you, things like that.
But I think on one particular play, it was in or close to the red zone.
Marvin was wide open.
on a, I don't know if it was like a, you know, slot fade or what it was,
but he was playing from the slot and he was going towards the left corner of the end zone
wide open if the Broncos wanted to try and hit it.
And they just did not go for it, which is totally fine.
I think they picked up the first down anyway.
But the point being, Marvin Mim's involvement this week,
I think we're going to see a concerted effort to get him the football and push the ball vertically,
which the Broncos really haven't done a lot of this season.
And especially if Pat Bryant is unable to go this week, you need to be able to spread that out to somebody else, right?
Like, look, Troy Franklin, we know he's going to get his targets.
Cortland Sutton's going to see a lot of attention from this Packers defense.
And I'm sure he's going to get his targets as well.
But if they try to take him away, this is really where you need other guys to step up.
Now, so much of Denver's wide receiver core, I feel like as we've seen in the last handful of weeks,
their personnel in the way they rotate them in, specifically even a tight end is all matchup contingent.
Like what personnel are the Broncos facing?
like Sean talks about this all the time.
The personnel on the field gives him an indicator as to like what personnel he's going to bring on the field, what he wants to do from a game planning, a matchup standpoint, versus them just going out there and say, hey, Marvin, we know you're the fastest guy on the field, go beat this guy.
I wish it was that easy, right?
And certainly I think if you talk to Marvin, you talk to even Sean himself, he'll even say the same exact thing there.
So I'm curious to see what matchups the Broncos try to exploit here in the passing game against the Packers.
And when you have a guy like Micah Parsons trying to get after you, you got guys like.
where Sean Gary on the D-line.
It's very, very interesting to see the approach.
So we'll figure that out here, obviously, on Sunday.
Let's go to the defensive side of the ball.
Sarah, I'm going to go with Pat Sertan here because I think that the Broncos matchup
defensively against this Packers offense, all the wide receivers that they have,
I couldn't think in my head is like, is PS2 going to go against Christian Watson
primarily or is he going to guard Romeo Dow's?
Because I think, what was it, 20, 23th?
It was Sean's first year.
PS2 lined up against Dowbs for.
a majority of the game, got some reps on Watson, but now I think that room is significantly
better than what it was in 2023.
I think it's better now.
Christian Watson, in my opinion, is probably the most dangerous guy there.
So I think PS2, him trying to lock up, obviously one of Jordan loves favorite targets
is probably going to be the biggest key for me in terms of a matchup standpoint.
Defensively, who do you got?
I've got Dre Greenlaw, Cody.
And because of what you said, I think that underneath coverage and playing the short intermediate
passing game is going to be critical because Christian Walker,
Watson is such a threat and could carry Pat Sartan deep down the field for a good chunk of this game.
Your other defensive players are going to have to be on point when it comes to that underneath coverage
and making sure that the Packers aren't taking advantage of the fact that Pat Certan is running with Christian Watson.
Drey Greenlaw and I guess an honorable mention, Tala Noah Hufanga, those guys have had some epic battles with the Packers over the past handful of years, right?
I mean, especially in the playoffs, they've kind of been at each other's throats a little bit.
I think the 49ers had kind of been the Packers' Cryptonite.
And maybe Drey-Law is the boogeyman for this Packers' offense, right?
So we know because Vance Joseph said it,
that he's still on a bit of a pitch count here, which is totally fine.
But let's see Drey Greenlaw really maximize those snaps this week.
I think he's going to make a game-changing play against the Packers here in Week 15.
I like that.
In Broncos Country, make sure you send in your players to watch on offense and defense.
You want to throw a special teams when in there?
Certainly you can, but make sure you let's know you're on today's episode show.
But coming on next Broncos country, as we jump on the fourth quarter of today's episode of the show,
we are going to tell you why the Broncos have to key in.
If they want to win on Sunday, the run game has to be the important focal point.
Plus, they're also going to have to figure out how to force Jordan Love to throw an inaccurate pass,
which is a tough challenge.
But the Broncos, they'll be ready for it.
We'll break it all down here on today's episode of the show.
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If the Denver Broncos are going to win on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers,
the run game is going to be the key here.
And we talked about RJ Harvey as one of these players to watch,
but the overall totality of Bow Nix using his legs,
RJ Harvey on the ground and the contributions from guys like Julio McLaughlin
and Tyler Biday, Adam Prentice, too.
We're going to throw him in there, are going to be important if the Broncos hope to win.
Thanks once again, Brockos country for two and again making us your first listen.
However, you choose to do so.
We appreciate you so much.
Sarah, let's get into our keys to victory here for Denver.
I think offensively one of the bigger ones as I talked about is the run game has to continue to roll here.
I felt like the last couple of weeks against the commanders, felt like it was pretty solid, really against the Raiders.
It's what controlled the time of possession, right?
This is the formula, in my opinion.
You want to keep a quarterback like Jordan Love, who will talk about here in a minute off the field.
Well, you do it by sustaining long drives.
I mean, once again, Denver last week, three drives of double digit plays and nearly 10 minutes time of possession to finish the game with 30.
nine minutes TOP is dominating fashion and it neutralized.
I would say a little bit of what Max Crosby wanted to do.
Well, guess who the Packers have on the defensive side of all?
They got Micah Parsons.
So Denver has to find a way to run the football effectively or else it plays into the hands
of the Packers being able to send Michael Parsons in that pass rush after Bow next.
It absolutely does.
I mean, Cody, I've been graduated from college since 2012,
but I'm pretty sure I still remember this thing called correlation and causation
or correlation equals causation or whatever you want to call it.
Somebody in the comments can call me out if I'm wrong about this.
But I want to point something out that the Packers, when they give up a lot of rushing yards,
they do not do well in the games that they play.
So in the first six games of the season, get this,
they allowed 100 or more yards rushing in just one game.
And it happened to be their tie against the Dallas Cowboys when they gave up 40 points.
In the last seven games that they've played, Cody,
They have only not given up 100 plus rushing yards in one game.
That was a win against the Minnesota Vikings.
Otherwise, in a loss to the Panthers, they gave up 163 rushing yards.
In a near disaster against the New York Giants that required some pretty incredible throws to get the job done,
they gave up over 100 rushing yards.
And for the Broncos, on the opposite side of things, do you want to know something really interesting?
The most dominating games the Broncos have had offensively this season,
And what games come to mind?
The Cincinnati Bengals game, 28 to 3, right?
The Dallas Cowboys game, 44 to 24.
And obviously, this Raiders game that we just played, which was 24 to 7 before a couple of garbage time points by the Raiders there.
Do you want to guess which games the Broncos have had their most rushing yards this season?
I'll give you a quick guess.
You can look it up yourself.
It's those three games.
So it's correlation equals causation, right?
When we talk about the running game being such a big factor against the past.
Packers here and they have been more susceptible giving up runs.
They gave up 138 yards to the Bears.
Going into that Bears game, they had given up the fifth most rushing yards for first
downs in terms of defenses in the NFL for a three-game stretch.
So the Packers, they've been susceptible on the run, even though their run game or run defense
right now is ranked in the side of the top 10.
They've been more susceptible in this kind of second half of the season so far.
I feel like based on last week, right, Sean Payton said the first time the
Broncos play the rangers. He came out of the game saying we had an awful game plan, right? And the
second time around that they played them and against Max Crosby, you know, for that, they were trying
to account for them. I don't know if folks saw the inside the NFL, like sound bites there, but
Sean was going up to Max Crosby talked about. We have, you know, we had this in to try to
counter you. And like, can you do that with Michael Parsons? I think so. But I also think you have to
have some respect there for linebackers like Quay Walker, Rashon Gary on the defensive line.
I think they have safeties that come up and play well, not only against the, you know,
pass, but also against the run. So for me, this is going to require the Broncos best effort,
big on big, got to win some one-on-ones. You got to win your double teams. And I do feel like
over the course of the last couple of weeks, Sarah, the offensive line for Denver has gotten
better. And I'd say in terms of consistency. And maybe this is just mainly highlighting Luke
Wattenberg. I don't know if getting paid was what did it for him, but Luke Wattenberg, as of late,
has been playing really well. I know he's been on the subject of some criticism, you know,
especially from us, like, you know, in terms of his snaps or like missing a block,
but I feel like as of late, we've started to see a little bit more consistency from him.
Maybe the payday was the motivator here.
But the Broncos, they have a stable of horses at the running back position.
And I imagine trying to control the time of possession and sustain drives is the key
that Sean Payton's probably going to try to use this week against the Green Day Packers.
I think a big part of that, too, is trying to keep Jordan Love off the field, right?
Not to say that Jordan Love is this, you know, superhero quarterback that's just, you know,
unbelievable. You got to figure out, you know, he can't touch the field or else it's over.
Like, you don't get that vibe. Jordan Love is a very good quarterback. Let me be very, very clear about that.
But he's had some up and downs this season, but he's still playing at a high level.
We've talked about all the wide receivers that they have. Certainly, we'll find out if Josh Jacobs is playing this week.
We'll get that officially on Friday. But for me, it's keeping him off the field, Sarah, because he is efficient.
His passer rating is very good. His completion percentage is very good.
But I wanted to dive a little bit deeper in some of the numbers.
numbers here, according to our friends over there at True Media.
Jordan Love, when you look at some of the charts, the heat maps, he thrives throwing to his
right side.
So Denver's defensive left side, his right side.
I got some numbers that give us his completion percentage in these areas and maybe where
they may try to attack behind the line of scrimmage, right?
He, uh, inside the numbers, when throwing to the right side, inside the numbers behind
the line of scrimmages, be zero to five yards, 92.6% completion percentage.
outside the numbers behind the line of scrimmage, 83.3%.
But where things get tricky, and this is where the accuracy factor comes in,
and this is what makes Jordan Love dangerous, from zero to 10 yards, right?
Inside the numbers, which is, once again, I'd say inside the numbers next to the hash in this little tight area,
where usually your slot will line up there.
90% completion percentage from 0 to 10 yards inside the numbers, outside the numbers,
83.9%.
So if anything, you can expect that the tax, the,
Packers are going to take some shots down field, but a lot of Jordan loves game is trying to
attack those inside windows there in the passing game. I think that's going to be big.
From 10 to 20 yards inside the numbers, 71.4% completion percentage, which is very good.
Like, I don't want, like we were talking about 90s just a second ago, but from 10 to 20 yards,
a 71.4 completion percentage inside the numbers is very, very good. Outside the numbers,
even better, 75%. So he will attack almost every blade of grass, every different window you can
think of. That's why I think the Broncos past rush has to get home this week and you can't
have any coverage miscommunications because Jordan Love certainly will make you pay for it.
He will. And you provided us the hard numbers to prove that. Let me provide some of the intangibles,
right? Jordan Love has this thing, Cody, over the last three seasons now, where during the
Toyotathon promotion that Toyota puts on, apparently I got some inside info on this.
apparently during Toyota Thon, Jordan Love is absolutely unstoppable and the numbers back it up, right?
It's even to the point that he's started, I think he was wearing a Toyota jacket the other day.
He's embracing it.
The Packers fan base is embracing it.
So you got to have the, if there's an unstoppable force, you got to have an immovable object when it comes to the intangible factors in the game.
If Toyota Thon is in the Packers favor, then the Mile High Magic has to be Mile High Magicing for the Denver Broncos on Sunday where they've obviously won 10 straight.
games, right? And Sean Peyton has talked about it multiple times. He has found how big of an asset
the noise is in that stadium. When the Broncos are playing good football, that fan base gets
obscenely loud. And it does affect the other team. And it's the altitude. It's the noise.
It's the inability to communicate when you've called multiple plays. You get up to the line of
scrimmage. Your guys can't hear you. They don't know exactly what's going on. Miscommunication,
missed kicks, all the sort of weird, you know, Bermuda triangle type stuff.
that happens when teams come to the mile high city.
If Toyotathon is in Jordan Love's favor, the mile high magic, that being in the Broncos favor,
that has to be the immovable object in this case, Cody.
So we've got the tangibles, the data that proves, hey, Jordan loves probably playing MVP caliber
football at this point in the season.
But the Broncos, I mean, when you come to Denver, as Aaron Rogers found out 10 years ago,
and so many things have been paralleling that 2015 season, as Aaron Rogers found out, I mean,
shoot, not even Toyotathon going to be able to help you when you come to the Mile High City.
So hopefully that Mile High Magic does its thing on Sunday.
Can the Broncos defense dial all the way back to 2015 and pull out a similar game plan against the Packers this week?
By getting after, Jordan Love, intercepting passes is going to be key here if Denver is going to walk away from Sunday's game with a victory.
It's the best game in my opinion that's on the schedule this week around the entire NFL.
It's a shame this isn't a primetime game, but you know what?
We'll take the afternoon prime time slot there on CBS.
Broncos country.
One thing you can get is you're going to get Sarah and myself on a post game show.
Plus, you get the Broncos squad show as well with us reacting to the outcome of Sunday's game.
Make sure you check out the everyday or all access program.
If you haven't done so already, once again, you're going to get all 22 film reviews.
If that's something that you want more of, you still get the daily free show here,
Lockdown Broncos every day.
But if you want more, Lockdown Broncos exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else,
make sure you be becoming every day or join the Every Day.
day or club lockdown broncos.supercass.com. It's also on our show notes below,
but Broncos country, we will see you after the game on Sunday.
Lock in and no pack no.
