Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CRUCIAL: Denver Broncos Three Biggest CONCERNS Going into NFL Playoffs

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are set to go deep in the NFL playoffs, but there are three things that they must adjust if they want to make it to Santa Clara. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the country here is the Denver Broncos are going to be able to sit back this week. and watch everybody else in the wildcard round beat up on each other.

Starting point is 00:00:38 It gives the Broncos an idea on some things that they're going to have to fix here. As they go into the playoffs, we're going to highlight some of the three biggest concerns going into the postseason that could hurt the Broncos if they can't figure it out. We'll talk about the Broncos running game and the consistency of that needing to be better here going forward and how the personnel can be a big part of that in the postseason. Plus, the Red Zone cannot be the Friend Zone here for the Broncos. They'll have to get the Red Zone production into a spot that they needed to be in order to operate and to go a little bit further. And on top of that, the Broncos have to continue their trend of finding ways to take the football away a little bit more and avoiding penalties. We'll highlight that and much more here on today's episode of the show. Brought to you by our friends over there at FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Before tip off, check the FanDual app and see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time. I'm Cody Rourke, credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Beninger, site expert, predominantly orange.com. We want to say thank you to all the every dayers out there. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. Sir, yesterday's episode show for anybody that didn't catch it, we talked about three reasons that Broncos fans and the team should be confident going into the postseason. Today's a little bit different in terms of, hey, here are three things the Broncos have to

Starting point is 00:01:52 absolutely get better at or else they're going to maybe run into some problems, come to division around here. I think one of the bigger things that we're going to start off with is the run game here for Denver. How can it be more consistent going forward? That's a great question. And you never bring up a problem without a solution, right? That's the key right there is you can, everybody could talk about problems,

Starting point is 00:02:14 but it's those who bring solutions to those problems, Cody. That's what we're going to do here today. So I think that when it comes to the Broncos running game, what's become obvious over the last three weeks is that Joliel McLaughlin needs more run, right? I mean, he hasn't gotten a ton of carries, but he's been extremely productive with the carries that he has gotten. Obviously, we didn't see Jalil for a large portion of this season until J.K. Dobbins went down with injury. And it was kind of clear that Tyler Badegh was only going to be that third down sort of back. But Jalil might be running the ball the best out of any back the Broncos have right now, which is both slightly concerning and, you know, encouraging at least, you know, as we get into the postseason here, because at least you have somebody.

Starting point is 00:02:57 who's running that way. He's averaging over five yards of carry. He's got almost 120 rushing yards on just 18 rushing attempts over the last three games combined. So what I see with Jalil McLaughlin is somebody who's running with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. I think after the way this season started, Cody, when he was inactive for so many games, I know you talked about it. He's kind of just putting his head down. He's working the same way, waiting for his opportunity.

Starting point is 00:03:24 I think Jalil is going to be key to the Broncos sort of squire. washing this concern about the running game in the postseason. And I think it's just about Sean Payton finding more ways to get him on the field, right? More touches. Look, five carries over 40-something yards this past week against the Chargers. The thing I like about Jililin, you see this when you certainly watch the tape of him, he is so patient, right? He takes the hand off, you know, he'll stretch it out if there's that, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:48 based on the Broncos blocking scheme, he'll see if he can get to the outside. If not, he sees exactly where the cutback is. He's very patient behind his blockers. And I think we see that. Like his ability to just get north-south is what the Broncos needs there. Because we were at a time years ago, we were saying, hey, can the Broncos just find a way to fall forward for three or four yards, right? Remember trying to get two yards used to be a tough task until the Broncos was brought in

Starting point is 00:04:12 Zach Streep and Sean Payton. Now all of a sudden it's like, hey, Denver's got to find a way. Like they've been using a bycommittee approach since Peyton has kind of come in here. And obviously, the loss of J.K. Dobbins is pretty big. And there's obviously a chance he could be back. the Broncos making the AFC championship, but JK hasn't played in a long time, Sarah. And like that's the thing.

Starting point is 00:04:31 It's like, how do you temper your expectations? Like, is there a risk associated with, hey, if JK does come back, let's say, let's say he even came back for the divisional round, which I'm not saying that's going to have. I don't think that's going to be the case, but he hasn't played in so long. How do you get a guy back into the mix

Starting point is 00:04:45 where he was so productive for you when he hasn't necessarily had the game action as of late, right? And you think about what Sean Payton has said too about guys coming back from injury. We saw it with Ben Powers, Alex Paucheschi. You rotated those guys in a little bit. I think our biggest thing that we've talked about this year with the run game is that the rotation at times sometimes seems to get away from Sean at that point. I think R.J. Harvey should be the primary back right now, 100%.

Starting point is 00:05:12 But I think you should vary it up a little bit, right? Because of Julele McLaughlin, let's say he has two straight carries where he's getting five or six yards. Don't pull him out on that next play and then put in a new running back. I understand you want to keep guys fresh. ride the hot hand. Jalilil's condition for it. Jalilal can handle that responsibility. I just think that right now,

Starting point is 00:05:31 the rotation of that room, I think is impacting the overall consistency of the run game. That's how I'm feeling about it. I'm not sure how you feel about it. Yeah, I think that's been a problem all season, right? And you and I have talked about that with frustrations where the offense is having inconsistency issues. It's like, well, one way to maybe fix that would be to stop with all the different

Starting point is 00:05:52 personnel groupings and go with a little bit more. tempo, keep the same group out there on the field for stretches of time. That's just not how Sean Payton's been operating. So I don't know if we'd just be screaming to the void in that case. Our good friend Luca Evans, Cody, I know you and Luca are in those media scrums every day at practice and at the games in the press box and things like that. He pointed out a very interesting stat, I thought. On runs outside the tackles, R.J. Harvey is 48th out of 49 qualifying running backs at

Starting point is 00:06:23 three yards per carry. That's a concern to me. And so here's what I want to ask you. Can the Broncos fix that right now? Is that a long-term deal sort of thing with RJ Harvey? Or is it just a tell that when he's out there? I mean, I don't know what's the, how do you fix that? I mean, that's 48 out of 49 over the course of a season running outside the tackles for a guy

Starting point is 00:06:46 that you said, hey, we feel like he has maybe the best vision of any back in this draft. And he's not getting those yards when he goes. goes outside the tackle box, is that a blocking issue? Is it something the Broncos can turn the corner in the postseason? Or is this something that we're going to have to wait until 2026 to see if they can correct it in the offseason? I think it's maybe a little bit of both, right, in terms of the blocking department,

Starting point is 00:07:09 because so much of it depends on the defensive front that you're going to face. And I asked Sean Payton that back in training camp or even, I think it was after the first preseason game when it came to the run game and obviously their outside zone scheme there. And they said, well, it depends on the front we get. If they come out in a certain front, like it makes it harder for us to do certain things. I think that's where the balance of do you want to let a defense dictate what you can do or do you want to impose your will a little bit. Now, when RJ's in the game,

Starting point is 00:07:32 here's my thought as a defensive coach when I watch the film. I have a film and I'm like, man, they're just going to try to get him to the outside. And what have we seen? We've seen a lot of stretch plays. We've seen a lot of toss plays to RJ. And certainly a lot of it is, I think when RJ's in the game, defenses are trying to take away that outside run because he does have that explosive speed and that explosive gameplay ability that could bust something open down the sideline. Whereas I think Jalilil, people used to view Jalil that way. But now we're seeing since Jilil has been in, he's hitting the inside runs and he's

Starting point is 00:08:04 getting four or five, six yards, right? You have to in today's game, I feel like, Sarah, you can't just be an outside run team. You have to find a way to make a inside. And there have been times where RJ, I think to start the game against the Chargers, I felt like RJ was doing a really good job going in. inside and same thing with Bo Nix, but it wasn't consistent enough down the stretch. I think throughout the game as it kind of developed after that first drive here. So just finding a way for RJ just to continue to improve on the inside run game.

Starting point is 00:08:33 And if Denver can master that, Sarah, and if they can start hitting those inside runs consistently, now the outside runs are going to be there because the defense is going to pinch in a little bit. They're going to try to tighten up. And then that opens up everything in your offensive playbook. But to your point, I think so much of that is, hey, if you haven't established this and you're trying to do different things and your personnel groupings are always changing. I think it is going to be hard to establish rhythm. So I hope that this is something that the Broncos just say,

Starting point is 00:08:58 you know what, we're going to show something entirely different here in the playoffs that teams haven't really seen from us. Maybe that's the game of the coaching side, but we'll have to see. Yeah, I'm excited to find out because ultimately, I do think a lot of things can turn on a dime in the postseason, right? I don't think that's necessarily just,

Starting point is 00:09:15 hey, what you've been all season long is what you're going to be in the playoffs. I think teams approach. match up differently. I think they do kind of sort of try to keep stuff in the bag for situations like this to catch defenses off guard. I mean, the Broncos did keep it super vanilla against the charters. And I think the same thing could be said of the Kansas City game as well. Not that they weren't trying to win those games by a lot of points. Like Evan Ingram said after the game on Sunday, they want to dominate every single game. But I do think they've kept it super vanilla for the last handful of games. You see that in the things that they're executing, the concepts that they're,

Starting point is 00:09:50 you know, executing out there, Cody. So I do believe that this Broncos offense might have some additional wrinkles, especially for the running game, hopefully, you know, going into the postseason. And that wrinkle might not necessarily just be bringing back J.K. Dobbins. I think schematically and in terms of the way that they execute, it's got to turn that corner for them to make a deep playoff run. Well said, my friend. And look, another area of the Broncos have to get better at on both sides of the ball here has to be the red zone. The Broncos offense, they've been friend zone too many times. They can fix that in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:10:23 We'll talk about how they can do that here on today's episode of the show. Today's lockdown Broncos is brought to our friends over there at the ultimate QB football legend app. Hey guys, draft pick positioning across the NFL is set. And so many teams are looking for their franchise quarterback. But if you've ever wished to become a pro QB getting drafted first over by the Broncos, whatever your favorite team may be, well, guess what? Now you can because there is a mobile game.

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Starting point is 00:12:35 So they've got to get back to what was working for them early in the season. Just be yourself Broncos in this playoff run. But Broncos country, as we talk about this red zone, production as of late, how the Broncos can turn that around as well as maybe another concern or two that we have going into the postseason. We want to say thank you to every single one of you out there that makes Lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day every single day. And if you're not already, Cody and I want to invite you to become an everyday member, an all access club member. One of the best things I think you're going to get and that you're going to love from being an

Starting point is 00:13:09 everyday or all access member is the fact that you get ad free episodes of the show, right? Who doesn't want that who doesn't want to have to not you know click and skip the ad sometimes cody i get that too i love doing that for the podcast that i love listening to so you get that if you're an everyday or all access member sign up for that check out the show notes today cody uh let's talk about red zone production i i can't help but think anytime you ever say the friend zoned in the red zone phrase i always think of one of my favorite movies of all time just friends ryan reynolds just just beautiful slapstick humor in that movie i think about sims Simply dusty, I think about so many different things.

Starting point is 00:13:48 But, you know, the underlying message in that film is that you didn't need all the bells and whistles in order to get the girl, right? What he needed was to be himself. That's what, that's what Jamie Palomino loved about him in the first place. So the Broncos, they were at one point, one of the top 10 teams in the NFL in red zone production, red zone efficiency, capitalizing when they get down in the red area. They've just got to get back to being themselves, right? when it comes to producing in the red zone and not trying to get too cute with it.

Starting point is 00:14:20 Yeah, look, and I think that's one of those things that we've seen, kind of how defenses evolved playing Denver throughout the year. I mean, I think this last week against the Chargers, there's a great example, right? The Broncos, they get into the red zone. There's one play where Bo Nix, you know, he snaps the ball. He has time, right? But he's scanning the field.

Starting point is 00:14:38 It ends up being the play where he ends up getting sacked, right? But it was almost like, wait, is like Bo frozen or something? he literally had just had such a clean pocket and he's scanning the field trying to see his open guys but the chargers are playing zone on the five yard line essentially through the end zone and he's got three or four different route concepts and nobody is open just because of the fact

Starting point is 00:14:57 of how the chargers were playing in terms of zone. Usually when you get in the goal line, you get goal line man quite a bit and Denver didn't get that against the chargers this past week and it ultimately led to Bob being sacked. But you know one cure to maybe the red zone blues a little bit and if you can just find a way to him, pose your will on the ground a little bit, right? Like if RJ's in, you know he's a threat to catch the

Starting point is 00:15:18 ball. You also know he's a threat to run the ball. But why not see a little bit more Jolillo McLaughlin in the red zone? I mean, Sarah, what do we see last year when he was in in the red zone? Jolilil McLaughlin, that's primarily where he scored his touchdowns because he can make guys missing space. He can catch the ball effectively here. I just think that the Broncos, when they get into the red zone, they've become a little too pass happy. And look, you have to be able to throw in the red zone. But people don't realize. Like, they're like, oh, yeah, you. You only have five yards sometimes or two yards to be able to get in and score. When you're dropping back in the passing game, the field condenses quite a bit when you're in the red zone.

Starting point is 00:15:53 So it is tougher. You don't have as many open spots to throw guys. Yeah, you might want to get a one-on-one like, hey, we're going to see if Cortland Sutton can win a jump ball against this guy. But you have to get the coverage look from that from the defense. And simply, defenses have not been doing that against Denver. So I think getting the run game going kind of what we talked about earlier in terms of Denver's first concern, if the run game can just be a little bit better in the red zone, everything else opens up, right?

Starting point is 00:16:16 Because right now teams say, hey, Denver's not going to run it well in the red zone. We're going to tighten up. We're going to pinch. We want them to throw. And teams are kind of challenging them to do that. Yeah, they definitely are. And I think that there's got to be that balance, like you said.

Starting point is 00:16:30 And it's involving players, but it's also just kind of like I said, getting back to the basics, getting back to being yourself. Like you said, when you get down into that red zone, shoot, impose your will. the best part of this Broncos offense is the offensive line, which a lot of people would say that it is. Shoot, let those guys just drive people backwards, right? If it's first and goal from the seven,

Starting point is 00:16:53 why not try running it twice before you throw it? I mean, that's what I would do, Cody. If you can run it twice, I mean, and you're averaging four yards to carry from seven yards out or whatever it might be, there you go. That's your, that's your formula right there. So I was trying to find, too, I want to know who is the, who are the players that are cashing in for the Broncos in the red zone, because off the top of my head, I would have to guess that it's going to be, Cortland Sutton is going to be one of their top guys. Obviously, RJ Harvey, we know, has been a red zone monster for this team. But then I kind of feel like, don't you think it's sort of like the one-offs, like the Nate Adkins touchdowns or the gadget Marvin Mims touchdowns or, you know, those sorts

Starting point is 00:17:35 of things like where Sean Payton kind of dips into the bag of tricks for those red Garrett Bowles. Yeah, we're giving targets to Garrett Bowles. So I kind of feel like that's, that's where the Broncos have, you know, that double-edged sword in the red zone is. They have those play calls that if you hit them, man, it looks like a genius call. But then if you don't, it's like, why didn't you just run the ball, right? I think that's my biggest tension right now with the red zone. And that's without any data to back it up. It's just kind of remembering back on the season. When things work, you're like, oh, that was a great concept, great play call, great execution. And then when they don't, we're all sitting here frustrated. Why didn't the

Starting point is 00:18:15 Broncos just try to run the ball? That's been maybe the biggest thing this year for the red zone in terms of maybe the fall off here since the buy. Yeah. And look, I would even go with the point of, you know, you mentioned running it. Like, I'm okay with them throwing it. Let's say it's first and goal. Okay, throw it on first and go. Run it on second and goal. You know, depending on where you get, then it opens up. You could run and you could pass on third. goal depending on the situation. But hopefully you can just score when you get in those goal-to-go situations. That's kind of been an area that's kind of frozen up a little bit here for the Broncos. You know, ultimately they've settled for three points, which, you know, the points are great.

Starting point is 00:18:46 You want to have one more point, the imposing team in every game so you can hold on and win. But touchdowns, I think in the postseason, being able to score six rather than three, I think that's going to be so important here once you get into the playoffs because that's where you start to create separation, right? You don't want to be in these neck and neck tight games where you have this pressure. It's like, man, we just can't, we can't score touchdowns. We have to hope that, you know, or we get into enough positions where our field goal kicker can lead us all the way down or maybe we can score on defense.

Starting point is 00:19:15 You don't want to get into that type of situation come the postseason. So hopefully the Broncos can find a way to play their better brand of football there. And I would even say, too, the red zone defense, that's in other areas. We're talking about red zone. You want them to buckle down and be better. I feel like the last couple of weeks, they have certainly gotten better against the chargers. They certainly got better in this regard here.

Starting point is 00:19:35 But that's maybe one stride is, you know, get ready for the postseason. Like, hey, now we're going to see that back to dominant brand of football. The Broncos defense is playing there, especially in the red zone, especially on third down. Can they get back to being that number one unit that we saw, you know, through a good portion of this season? I think that we could see that. And I do think that the offense, I think the red zone is going to be a huge area emphasis that Sean's going to work on here in practice. And when they know who their opponent is, it might make things better in terms of scheming up against who they could play, obviously going forward in the divisional round here.

Starting point is 00:20:05 So we'll see how things plan out here for the Broncos. But Broncos country, one more concern going in the postseason. The Broncos got off to a good start against the Chargers, but can they continue to find a way to take the football away come the postseason? We'll discuss that and more. Today's lockdown Broncos is brought to you by our friends over there at FanDoo. And Fridays, folks, they're already feeling different during basketball season. But Fan Duel is making them even better because every Friday night before the games tip off,

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Starting point is 00:21:02 So before tip off, check the Fandu app and see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern. A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA happy hour only on Fandu, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. The Broncos have to find a way to generate more takeaways in the postseason if they hope to get back to Santa Clara. And they got up to a little bit of a good start here in Week 18. I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the everyday. out there. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. We appreciate you so much here. Sarah, as we talk about maybe the third concern here going into the postseason. And really, I think as we talk about these concerns, these are just things I think we have collectively identified. And I'm sure Broncos country agrees, hey, they got to be better in this area if they want to make a far run, right? Not saying they have to be perfect,

Starting point is 00:21:55 but they just have to have a little bit more, you know, room for improvement here. I think Sunday's game against the Chargers, one thing you and I've talked about for the last couple, couple weeks, and Sean Payton certainly highlighted it before the Chargers game was, we need to find a way to change the turnover margin. We have to generate more takeaways because historically, if you have a negative turnover margin or takeaway margin, those teams don't win the Super Bowl. The Broncos have a chance to kind of get that going. I felt like Sunday's game against the Chargers was a great start. You get a pick six from Jayquam Macmillan. You get a strip sack from Nick Benito. That's exactly what the Broncos need more of here when the postseason

Starting point is 00:22:30 happens. I tell you, Sarah, maybe a little bit of an early prediction that Riley Moss playoff pick six is going to hit. It's going to hit something sweet. We've been hoping for that all year, right? We've been manifesting ever since Riley's been getting called for all these penalties and kind of just, I mean, really having to bounce back mentally as much as anything else, right? I mean, how difficult is that for a player to come back from when so much is out of your control? But you're right, that pick six from Riley Moss in the playoffs is going to hit big time. And look, I mean, he got his hands on the ball against the Chargers. Alex Singleton might have had a pick six fall through his hand.

Starting point is 00:23:05 So when they say turnovers come in bunches, boy, I think that's going to be abundantly true for this Denver Broncos team. I really do, Cody. And we've been talking about it all year. Before that Chargers game, the defense had only forced 11 takeaways all season long. Vance Joseph talked about the fact that he's not going to have his guys going out there chasing takeaways in the name of, you know, not playing disciplined or being overly aggressive. to the point that it hurts your team. I get that. You want to stick with what's worked for you.

Starting point is 00:23:33 You want to be stout on third downs. You want to be stout in the red zone. That's maybe even arguably more important over the long haul of a season. When you're talking about one score games that the Broncos have been in, it's so important for the team to hold teams to field goals instead of touchdown. So I get that. But in the playoffs, those game changing turnovers. And Sean Payton said it, if you get a pick six or if you get a defensive touchdown specifically,

Starting point is 00:23:57 you are an 88% winner in the NFL. That is a crazy high percentage. To think that a defensive touchdown puts you in that good of a position to be able to win games. I mean, I'm not saying you got to go out there and chase it every single week, but what I am saying is if the Broncos can have more of that, and I know that's a big if because that's tough for any team to do, that is going to take this team to the Super Bowl. And look, win it all.

Starting point is 00:24:25 That's what won it all against Carolina, right? That defensive touchdown. Von Miller strips the ball out. Malik Jackson falls on it in the end zone. And ultimately, that was something the Carolina Panthers couldn't recover from. We need that from this Denver Broncos defense to impose their will like that in the postseason. You summarized it perfectly, man. And I can tell you this as a former player, as a former coach, scoring on defense in any game, right?

Starting point is 00:24:49 Even if it's a close game to start, that does something. Like, it puts this pressure on the other team. And it's not necessarily one. that you can you can necessarily see but internally it's like wow like we just turn the football over the defense just scored now they press a little bit more right you force them to maybe have some nerves to them like that's just the natural aspect of the game i felt like what you just said about super bowl 50 i mean that that summarizes it perfectly here sarah about how that really changed the landscape of the entire game because i mean that's one of those drives where let's say

Starting point is 00:25:19 cam new another the panthers were to drive downfield and score on that like that changes the dynamic of the game. Now you might be poised for a little bit of a shootout. You don't want to be involved in those shootouts in the NFL playoffs. But that right there just changed something in Cam Newton, who was the most dominant player in the NFL that year where it was almost like Von Miller became his kryptonite, so to speak, right? And we saw him press a little bit more. We saw the Broncos defense tighten up even more after that because they wanted to put a chokehold on it. With how aggressive Vance Joseph's defense is and how much we know that, that is exactly what the Broncos need to figure out how to do here in the postseason.

Starting point is 00:25:56 So I'm with you. Like that pick six was huge for this past week against the Chargers. You want to find a way to maybe get a scoop and score. You want to get a strip sack. Like remember even last year, Denver's defense, they had a couple of plays like that where they were able to generate either a scoop and score or, you know, pick six, you name it. That's what has to be the formula here going for.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Not saying like, hey, if you don't force, you know, if you force a takeaway, that's great, right? If you somehow score it amplifies your chances of winning. but just being able to get an extra possession where it could be at midfield, right? Where your positioning might change. That's where the points factor comes into play here. Field position is so crucial, right? And we talked about this, I think in the buildup to last week's shows,

Starting point is 00:26:37 hey, you could get a sack and you could get a stop on third down, but then the punter pins you inside the five-yard line. That puts more pressure on you as a team versus, hey, you get a strip sack. The Broncos can recover it. Now you have a better chance. Now, I will say, Nick Benito had that strip. sack, the Broncos on the ensuing drive offensively had minus two yards and had to settle for a field goal. So there is that where the offense certainly has to take advantage of that.

Starting point is 00:27:01 And we didn't see them do that necessarily after the strip sack, but, and that pick six was huge. So I'm with you. And then penalties. Penalties are going to have to be something and that needs to obviously reduce here. Now, I'm glad, me saying that it's not always in the control of the Broncos, right? Like we can talk about subjective, bad pass interference calls. I do wonder, how come Denver doesn't get the holding calls when their pass horses getting after the quarterback as much as maybe some other teams do? Or for the fact that, you know, the Broncos are penalized in terms of the past interference department, but opposing DBs can be more physical with the Broncos, wide receivers across the field. To me, that's something that's going to be out of their control, unfortunately.

Starting point is 00:27:40 Yeah, it's been very unbalanced, I feel like for the majority of this season. And I know that folks like to say, well, bad calls or non calls go both ways throughout the course of a game. And there is some truth to that. But I think a great example is that game against Kansas City where their first penalty didn't come until that Chris Jones off sides that was undeniable late in the game. That was their only penalty in that entire game. And so when you're battling two opponents in the game,

Starting point is 00:28:07 that's very, very difficult for a team to overcome. It's like you have no margin for error whatsoever. You have to keep the other team out of the end zone. And you have to, you know, overcome the fact that the other, teams getting free first downs, you know, here and there because of penalties that may or may not be legit. And so, yeah, I think that the last thing we want to be doing here in the playoffs is coming out of a game complaining about the officiating and saying, man, if only the, the officials had called this, then the Broncos this. Or if only this had not been called,

Starting point is 00:28:39 then the Broncos might have been able to fill in the blank, right? That's, that's the hypotheticals that we don't want to get into. And that's why the Broncos need to take care of their business. And there is some of it that's out of their control. You're absolutely right. But take care of what you can control, playing clean, doing what it takes to make sure that you're sort of above reproach when it comes to the idea of getting penalized. And, you know, like Riley Moss, for instance,

Starting point is 00:29:05 is the biggest probably question mark in this area going into the playoffs. Teams, whoever the Broncos playing the divisional round, I think you can take it to the bank. They're going to throw the ball at number 21 down the field early in the game. So the Broncos have to be ready. for teams to try and exploit the fact that they've been highly penalized all year long. And I felt like Riley has been so good in the last three games in terms of not being, you know, that there hasn't been this like, oh, there's their typical bad call.

Starting point is 00:29:32 Like, you know, you're in that position anyways. You know, I think Riley's done a terrific job of kind of just tuning all that out and just going out there and playing ball. And we've seen Pastor Tan called for some interesting, you know, PI calls as well as a late or, you know, defensive holding, so to speak. So that's just one of those things. you can never control the officiating and hopefully, hopefully, I mean, you don't want to come into any game saying,

Starting point is 00:29:53 ah, the officiating was so bad. This is why the Broncos lost. Certainly, I think NFL officiating across the board league-wide for all 32 teams this season. I think it's been terrible. So it's not like this is just a Broncos problem. I think this is just a league-wide problem all across the board here. But Broncos country, we talked about our three biggest concerns for the Broncos going to the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:30:12 Do you agree with us? Is there another concern that you have that maybe we missed? Make sure you let us know here on today's episode of the show. But that'll wrap up today's episode. Broncos' country. We appreciate you. Tomorrow's episode of the show for all you every dayers. We're going to highlight the Broncos' 2026 opponents.

Starting point is 00:30:26 We know who they're going to play. We know exactly how tough the schedule will be for them. We don't know exactly when and where. But we know the who that Denver will play next season. You'll get that on tomorrow's episode of the show. And make sure if you haven't done so already, join the Every Dayer Club. All the All Access Tier, you get an ad-free version of the show. You get all 22 film breakdowns.

Starting point is 00:30:45 You get exclusive shows like the Broncos Coffee Talk, or Sarah and I, we sit down a little bit different than what you get here on your free version of Lockedon Broncos exclusive content behind the scenes, locker room interviews and more. Becoming every year today. Check it out Lockdownbroncos.com or in the show notes down below. Plus you get one-on-one texting with Sarah and I as well. We appreciate you so much. We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CRUCIAL: Denver Broncos Three Biggest CONCERNS Going into NFL Playoffs

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