Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos BATTLE Chargers for TOP SPOT in AFC West

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are tied for second in the AFC West, and Sunday showdown against the Chargers has massive stakes. We'll break you down and much more here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Week three in the stakes have never been higher for the Denver Broncos as they face a tough matchup on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Welcome into another episode, Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the, Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Thank you to all the everydayers first listeners out there in Broncos country. Thank you for making the show exactly what it is, making us part of your day. However, you choose to do so. If you're not yet in every day or become one, I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert of their predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:00:54 And we've got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show. We're going to go through a little bit of a state of the AFC West and why the Broncos, they face a stiff test this Sunday against the Chargers. We'll take a look inside the division. Plus, is it Drey Greenlaw watch here this week? Will Drake Greenlaw make his debut on Sunday against L.A.? Plus, we'll go through why it's important that the Broncos defense avoids giving up the big plays to Justin Herbert and that Chargers offense this week,

Starting point is 00:01:19 just a week after they gave up nothing but big plays to the Indianapolis Colts. All on today's episode show brought to you by friends over there at Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights. And this week's moving the game forward. Mazda moved and be moved. Speaking of needing to move and be moved,

Starting point is 00:01:41 the Broncos, Sarah, have to move the Los Angeles Chargers off the pedestal that they are on right now, 2 and O after they took care of business against the Raiders on Monday night football. And I think for the Broncos, the biggest thing this week, avoiding letting the chargers go 3 and O in AFC West divisional play to start off the year. The stakes, they're massively high this week. They really are. What a weird deal for the Chargers to be able to start off the year with three straight AFC West matchups. I don't think I've seen that before, Cody. I can't recall anyways if that ever did happen, but it would be a huge advantage.

Starting point is 00:02:16 You're right for the Chargers to start off the year, three and O against AFC West opponents. And the Broncos, obviously, they've got a little bitterness towards the Chargers after last year. The Chargers almost spoiled Denver's playoff hopes. So got to carry that chip on your shoulder into this matchup where, remember last year in Los Angeles, Broncos had a big lead, 11 point lead in the first half. And then Chargers kind of came back right before the end of the half. And the Broncos got that 11 point lead back in the second half. And it just didn't, they couldn't close out that game. Where have we heard that before?

Starting point is 00:02:46 I guess we talked about that right after the Colts game. Couldn't close it out. So closing games and finding ways to win and learning how not to lose is really part of the equation for the Broncos right now. And we know that's been a problem for the Chargers as well, right? they've had really big issues finishing games, but they're trying to change that culture. The Broncos are trying to change that culture.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And it really does feel like these two teams have a chance to kick down the door on the Kansas City Chiefs here in 2025. Well, right now the Broncos, they are tied for second in the AFC West with the Raiders. Both teams sitting at one in one after two weeks of play. And who would have thought the Kansas City Chiefs, oh and two to start the year. What a great start for Kansas City. And obviously, look, early on in the season, a lot can change.

Starting point is 00:03:33 You know, you're hoping to find some bounce here. The Chargers, they're hoping to sustain the start. They've got the Broncos. They're looking to kickstart a little bit against the Chargers this week to try to elevate and like knock them off that pedestal a little bit. But, man, what an interesting start to this division after we just did our divisional preview just a few weeks ago before the season even began. I didn't think anyone saw Kansas City being 0 in 2.

Starting point is 00:03:56 But you know what? We'll take it. We like it. And we hope the Broncos can find a way. way to beat the Chargers here. At that point, too, it would put them, obviously Denver would put them at two and one. It would put the Chargers at two and one. And then by virtue, essentially, Denver would overtake the top spot in the AFS because of

Starting point is 00:04:12 that head to head there against them. Though I'm still thinking in my head, is it because that the Chargers have a 2 and O AFC conference? They still stay maybe at first in the division. That might still be the case here. But regardless, I think the stakes this week for the Broncos are relatively high. let's go through and talk about what we've seen from the AFC West so far through two weeks of play. Let's start off with the Chargers because that's the opponent that Denver plays this week.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Sarah, you know, offensively, Herbert looks very, very good this year. I was a little surprised that we haven't seen that run game with Najee Harris and Omari and Hanton as much of a focal point for Harbaugh and this Chargers team as maybe we thought before the season even began. I found that to be a little interesting. Yeah, they're kind of missing J.K. Daven's a little bit, aren't they? the running game has not really taken off. And to your point, Cody, this game is for the top spot in the AFC West because 1 and 0 in the AFC West for the Denver Broncos would be better than 2 and 1 in terms of winning percentage.

Starting point is 00:05:10 So this is for first place in the AFC West early on in the season. And I think the Broncos can really find a way to treat this game with that kind of, hey, it's not the end of the season. We've obviously got games after this, but this game is for first place. Like we can take control of first place in the division. and kind of just start running with that, right? And so let's keep the stakes as high as they possibly can be for this game. And you're right, the Chargers have struggled with what we've come to know as sort of their bread and butter.

Starting point is 00:05:39 We've seen Justin Herbert do a lot more passing the ball. And of course, he's very good at that. And he's got a lot of targets that are making plays for him. Kenan Allen back making plays once again. Quentin Johnston, who I think the Chargers were about ready to write off after his first couple of seasons in the NFL. He's out there making big plays and their defense. is still good. So even if they're not running the ball, you kind of figure that could almost come on at any point in time, especially with the Broncos giving up 6.6 charts per carry to Jonathan

Starting point is 00:06:08 Taylor here in week two. The Chargers might look to exploit that a little bit and get their rookie running back going. But you can't also help but think about this little revenge game for J.K. Dobbins. They brought in two guys to replace him, right? And didn't think he was good enough to keep around. So maybe that maybe that's another spark for this Denver Broncos team going on the road here in week three. Any spark you could find you might as well take it and use it to your advantage here. You know, defensively, the Chargers, I think we're going to be monitoring Kalil Mack this week. He obviously left with what looked like a really, really painful injury, looked like a dislocated elbow, but I'm not going to confirm whether or not that's the injury, but we'll see if he plays this week.

Starting point is 00:06:44 But I think that their defense is very underrated. They play a lot of zone. They play a lot of cover three, a lot of cover two and some quarters coverage. Their safeties break on the football. And I know that was a little bit of a problem in that first matchup that they had against the Broncos Jerobo Nick sailed the pass intended for Marvin Mims. Safety jumped it and made a play Alohi Gilman's, obviously a player to watch, Twoy, twoy, Pallotu is obviously another player there on that defensive line. And we'll see about Mac, as we mentioned,

Starting point is 00:07:09 but Diane Henley at linebacker, the Broncos, they're gonna have their hands full this week. This will be a nice test, especially after the offense for Denver, had what I felt like was a pretty good game against the Colts there, some stuff to clean up, but overall, a lot of great stuff to build off of ultimately in that game. The Raiders, they look terrible. They look rough, which is obviously a nice development here in the AFC West,

Starting point is 00:07:30 but granted it is early on the season, but Gino Smith, he is who we thought he was. Exactly. I mean, he's got four interceptions in the first two weeks right now. And just really ultimately, when you look at throws that were downfield in that Chargers game, it felt like he was constantly putting the ball in harm's way when he wasn't checking it down or when he wasn't going underneath to one of the tight ends. And I mean, that's not a, it's not a hate thing with Gino Smith or the Raiders. even. I mean, we're kind of just looking at this from the vantage point of we thought going into the year, the Raiders made one of the most substantial quarterback upgrades in the NFL. I think we're all

Starting point is 00:08:05 kind of surprised to see Gino dropping off the way that he has here in these first two weeks. I know we had a decent game against the Patriots in week one, but they also didn't have their best corner and are breaking in almost a ton of new pieces there. So it's really just a matter of this division right now looking like it's there for the taking. That is the bottom line going into this game against the Chargers. And that's where I think the urgency needs to come from for the Denver Broncos. And speaking of the state of the AFC West, Cody, we also all get to be Russell Wilson fans again here in week three because him and the Giants are taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. And the Giants, they just put up a pretty darn good offensive performance against the Dallas Cowboys there in week two. I know Russ,

Starting point is 00:08:47 you know, he heaved one up and ill-advised throw late in that game to lose an overtime ultimately. man, I think he had like 450 passing yards or something crazy like that and three touchdowns. So the way the Chiefs have played, I mean, Russ might be able to go cook against them this week. What a development that would be if they started off 0 and 3 and they lost the Russ and the Giants here in week three. That would be a fun development to kind of see transpire here. But yes, the West is up for grabs. The Broncos have a chance to jump in a first this week here with a win against the Los Angeles Chargers. And if the Broncos are going to win against L.A., heck, having Dre Greenland?

Starting point is 00:09:22 not back this week would be a huge development. Will we see the Broncos coveted free agent linebacker make his debut? We'll discuss what that may look like this week here on today's episode of the show. This episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds. They move culture.

Starting point is 00:09:46 And they keep moving the game forward. And speaking of moving the game forward, this week's moment that moved the game forward for the Denver Broncos. Well, it belongs to Troy Franklin, who absolutely dominated the first half in their loss, unfortunately, against the Indianapolis Colts. But you know what? You got to find those nuggets of hope. You got to find those glimmers of hope from a loss like that to prove that you can keep moving forward. We needed to see the offense step up for the Broncos in week two. And that's exactly what they did to keep this thing moving forward. And when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a

Starting point is 00:10:22 vehicle. Mazda move and B-moved. Today's show is also brought to you by Game Time. The NFL season, it's back. And honestly, there's nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans and cheering on your team. But let's be honest, getting tickets, it can be a huge hassle between cues, login screens, and prices jumping at checkout. It is frustrating. That's why I use Game Time. It's the app that gives the advantage back to the fans. In Game Time, it's fast, it's easy, and it's backed by the Game Time guarantee. You will always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So the price you see is the price you pay. I pulled up game time. Just a couple of taps.

Starting point is 00:11:05 I saw amazing deals. I'm talking about your favorite NFL games as low as $100. The app, it's super simple to use. And my favorite feature is that you can see the exact view from your seat before you buy. So download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL, for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that's promo code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-FL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download game time today.

Starting point is 00:11:37 Everybody's excited for the debut of Dre Greenlaw, but when is it going to happen? Well, we're hopeful that it could be sooner rather than later, and we'll find out more this week, Broncos Country. And look, there's no better time than now for Dre Greenlaw to come back. After watching what happened against the Colts, the Broncos need help at linebacker more than just about anything on this team heading into week three. Maybe the savior is coming to the field this week.

Starting point is 00:12:00 We're going to discuss that on today's episode, locked on Broncos. But Broncos country, just like Cody said earlier, we appreciate every single one of you for making this part of your day. If you're not already in every day or become one today, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about Dre Greenlaw, because I know earlier in the week you had mentioned kind of a theory about what his timeline could be based on what we saw last week in which he was upgraded to a limited

Starting point is 00:12:26 participant late in the week in practice. Now, that could mean that they're ramping him up to play this week. It could mean that they're just trying to get him reacclimated to practice. What is your take on this? How soon can Dre Greenlaw come back? Because ultimately, it feels like it can't be soon enough at this point. I mean, the Broncos are hoping that it's going to be this week against the Chargers. Now, as I mentioned a little bit in our post game, obviously, as we reflect,

Starting point is 00:12:51 on the aftermath of the Colts game and how the defense had played, Drey Greenlaw would be a welcome addition back to inside linebacker here. But what does that look like? And I floated out the possibility there that he could be a limited participant all week long here and still essentially not play against the Chargers, where they give him an additional week next week to maybe go from limited to full participation, hopefully all week long and then play on Monday night football. Granted, that's not going to be against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:13:18 That's going to be against Jake Browning's Cincinnati Bengals. who once again, they still have a ton of weapons that you have to worry about offensively and you have to really be on your peas and cues because Browning has been in that system. No, he's not Joe Burrow, but still going to be a tough test on Monday night here for this Broncos team. So it's not necessarily about rushing Dre back as well, which I think is the key. But here is the kicker. And this is where I think a lot of people have been frustrated is, okay, well, when is he going to be back? Well, if the Broncos haven't placed him on short-term injured reserve, Sarah, that means he's going to be back sooner

Starting point is 00:13:50 rather than later, but you also have to be smart with it. You know, for example, I'll go back prior to week one. We had that bonus practice where Dre was on the field practicing, and then Wednesday, he was on the side field, right? So we assumed that a setback had occurred initially in that Monday practice that we only had to see a little bit of. We didn't get to see the full portion of that. So that was something to monitor.

Starting point is 00:14:13 You throw them out on full go and practice. You don't want to have another setback in practice. You have to be smart with it. But also at the same time, it goes back to what Sean has. had said that he's going to be on a pitch count to start the season. Well, we didn't get to see that initially there in week one. So is he going to be a pitch count essentially here if he does make his debut against the charters?

Starting point is 00:14:31 I'm curious, your thoughts on that. Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if that's the case, right? Because obviously you want him around, like we said for a long time, not just a quick, good time, right? You want him around to help this team make a playoff push. And ultimately, the Broncos can't make the playoffs on Sunday. But I do think, Cody, I do think that they treat this game a little bit like it does have playoff implications. I think you have to because ultimately you could get to week 15, week 16, you could be sitting there with your head in your hands thinking, man, if we had just beat the Chargers back in week three.

Starting point is 00:15:05 I know that you don't want to sacrifice Dre Greenlaw on the altar of just one regular season victory. But I do think that when it comes to, you know, like they say in the off season a lot of times, hey, if we had a game Sunday, day he'd play. You know, that's, that I think is the mentality that you've got to take at this point to say if he's remotely ready to play, you don't want to risk further injury. But if he can play on a pitch count, if he can be affected, because what we saw against the Colts was over pursuit, bad tackling, bad coverage, bad angles, like you, you name it.

Starting point is 00:15:39 We saw it from the linebackers against the Indianapolis Colts. Thankfully, Justin Sternod has made a couple of splash plays in the first two weeks. other than that, this linebacker position has been exactly what you and I talked about all offseason, a major concern, a huge liability, an issue beyond even your best case scenario, because the best case scenario is that you get the majority of a season out of Dre Greenlaw, not even 17. I don't think anyone was saying, hey, we're going to get 17 games. I don't think that was ever a realistic possibility given the past couple of years. And here we are, the Broncos didn't have a good plan in place.

Starting point is 00:16:15 They didn't draft anybody after Dre got hurt. They didn't really sign anybody after Drew Sanders got hurt. And they banked way too much on Alex Singleton, who's going to be 32 later this year, coming back from the ACL injury and looking fresh. He has not looked good out there. So I don't like the plan the team took here. And so I think it's forced you into this corner of having to play Dre Greenlaw, even if you're a little uncomfortable with it.

Starting point is 00:16:39 And yeah, I mean, ultimately, if Drake can play, play him. I think that's the number one goal. And look, the Broncos, they're going to practice here today for the first time since Sunday's loss against the Colts. I'll be out there. We'll provide you with an update here on lockdown Broncos as to the level of participation status here of Dre. I do think it is a good sign, though, that last Friday he was with the team stretch, was doing individual drill, didn't quite upgrade to team yet, but that means that he's close.

Starting point is 00:17:03 He's ramping up, which means that Dre is coming soon, which should be good news here for the Broncos. And I'll even throw this out there as well. If Dre plays this week, Sarah, part of me is wondering, do you start Sternod and do you start Greenlaw next to one another. And then do you maybe rotate in? If Dre is going to be on a pitch count, do you rotate Singleton in with Dre or do you rotate Singleton in with

Starting point is 00:17:24 Sternard? I think that's another interesting question. Yeah, I would say absolutely it should be Sternod out there with Dre Greenlaw, because Sternaud has actually made a couple of plays in the first two weeks of the season. I don't mean to, I don't want to continually bag on Singleton. I know that it's tough, I'm sure coming, but you know this, Cote coming back from an ACL. And so I don't want. want to take anything away from that or the type of dude that he is or the captain and leader that

Starting point is 00:17:48 he is in the locker room. I realize he means more to this team than just, we're not just talking about a game of Madden, you know, where you swap somebody in. This is a real life and he's a real guy. But at the same time, there are also real stakes to these games. And we just saw the team give up 473 yards to the Colts. And a direct reason for that was the play of your linebacker. So I absolutely think that Singleton's got to take a step back. And, you know, that paves the way for Greenlaw and Sternaud to be out there. I think Greenlaw being out there even helps Sternad and what he does well be that much better because Greenlaw, if he's at, if he's able to play at the level that we know he's capable of,

Starting point is 00:18:26 shoot, I mean, Sternad's going to be free to go out there and attack the line of scrimmage, do what he does best and make those plays behind the line. So I think absolutely it has to be those two guys in the starting lineup. Well, and Sean even said as well on his Monday Zoom conference call with us, he talked about how concerning it was or what the Broncos were giving up defensively. on first down the 9.8 yards per play. But he said, two weeks and low, we've also allowed the opposing team to go down and score points.

Starting point is 00:18:51 He said, that's a concerning trend. And so if that concerning trend that he mentioned that is bothersome to him is relative to the inside linebacker position, Singleton's play specifically here, then I imagine that you could see a little bit of a shorter leash on Singleton. And maybe it won't hurt to rotate Alex in from time to time as he goes to work his way back. But teams are picking on him right now. And that's been an obvious sign so far.

Starting point is 00:19:14 the first two weeks. And it's also on Vance Joseph, I think to put all these guys in a position to succeed. So we'll see how things look here, week three, with all the weapons and with Herbert being a guy who loves to attack the middle of the field. That is something we're going to watch here coming into Sunday's game against the charges. And speaking of Sunday's game here, one of the biggest keys for the Broncos is avoiding giving up the big plays to that team, first down, second down, third down. But more importantly, this is a team that loves the big, big explosive play. Can the Broncos defense avoid that? We'll take a look at some of the key numbers that define this matchup here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:19:51 This episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to by Fanduel. The NFL season is here, and Fanduel is making sure that you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using the Fanduel app because it fits however you like to bet, whether it's player props, building a same game. game parlay or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It's super quick. It's easy and it's the

Starting point is 00:20:19 best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. And speaking of Sunday, the Denver Broncos, their early 2.5 point underdogs on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers. So you can check that action out as well as a number of other interesting player props in this game. Are you ready to play? Download the Fandual app now by visiting Fandual.com to get started. That's Fandual.com to place your first $5 bet. Big plays are the recipe to avoid this week here if you are the Denver Broncos defense. And hopefully if you're the Broncos offense, you can find a way to capitalize on it. We're going to take a look at some of the bigger numbers here, according to our friends over there at True Media. Real quick, I want to say thanks once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the every dayers for tuning in making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:21:01 However, you choose to do so here. Sarah, I think it's no surprise what we've talked about all week long is being a key that the Broncos have to avoid this week. It's the big play. It's the stuff that plagued them in Sundays lost to the cold. especially on the defensive side of the ball when you allow 470 plus when you do that and you play a team like the Charters who are clicking on all cylinders with Justin Herbert

Starting point is 00:21:23 and their passing game, that's kind of scary to look at considering what Justin Herbert, Ladmanconki and those guys have done to Denver in the past here. I wanted to get into some numbers here because we talk about big plays. We can look at it in contrast between both of these offenses and also maybe a reflection here on the Broncos defense. According to our friends over there at True Media,

Starting point is 00:21:43 you look at the Chargers here, they've had 24 plays of 10 plus yards, right? That's a lot. The Broncos in comparison offensively have had 22 plays of 10 plus yards. But what stands out to me are the bigger plays, the super explosives, the 20 plus yard plays. The charges have had seven. Denver in comparisons had five, but a lot of those have come through the air here for the charters, including one completion of over 50 plus yards.

Starting point is 00:22:10 We saw that on Monday night football. To me, that is a little bit of a concern here. here. And it all goes back to what we talked about in the Broncos playing this man blitz scheme, primarily what we learn from our friends of next gen stats against Daniel Jones and the Colts. When you're sending, when you're playing man coverage and you're sending pressure and it's not getting home, you're putting your defensive backs. You're putting your cover guys at a disadvantage because pressure and blitzes are predicated on we need to get home because it's a gamble because you can't expect your cover guys to cover for more than four and a half seconds. This is where the gamble is going to be this week, especially with how the chargers like to play things off. offensively with attacking vertical and freeing up guys like Ladd-McConkie coming underneath the formation.

Starting point is 00:22:50 The big play is going to be the key here this week for this Broncos team. Yeah, because we've seen through the first couple of weeks, a lot of bend don't break mentality from this team, right? Obviously, you see what the Chargers have done in exploiting teams deep down the field. Obviously, their guys are making a lot of those big plays for them. They are winning in terms of just Justin Herbert making accurate throws. They have receivers that are making tough kids. And they've got guys that can beat you in a variety of different ways.

Starting point is 00:23:18 So I wonder, Cody, are we going to see the Broncos go with a much more conservative approach with the blitzes? Because that's Ben Vance Joseph's calling card, obviously. When you go up against a team like the Chargers, are you going to really be reliant on guys like Nick Benito, Zach Allen, Jonathan Cooper, those guys up front to win their matchups, especially with no, you know, the left tackle for the Chargers is Rashon Slater. He's not playing, obviously. he had the Patelor tendon injury earlier this offseason. So you're going up against an offensive line that doesn't have arguably their best player,

Starting point is 00:23:51 although they've reloaded plenty. They've got plenty of talented guys there still. Those guys are going to have to get home early. And the coverage is going to have to hold up on the back end. And that's where I think, man, we talked about Dre Greenlaw coming back. How important is the linebacker position if you are going to drop seven guys into coverage for the majority of this game? You've got to have somebody that can not only make. plays if they try to go underneath in the passing game, but also somebody that can get after

Starting point is 00:24:17 Justin Herbert if he's able to escape the pressure and get out on the move. Well, let's now shift our focus here to both defenses for Denver and for obviously the charters. I think through two weeks of play, yes, you look at Denver's week two performance. That definitely impacts their statistics negatively. I think Nick Benito leading the NFL right now in overall pressures in comparison where he has more pressures, I believe, than the Carolina. And like then four or five other teams, Nick Benito solely, two weeks has more pressures, which is crazy. Love that for Nick here.

Starting point is 00:24:48 But I tell the tape on the two defenses here, according to our friends over there at True Media. Right now, the Chargers rank is a seventh ranked defense in the NFL, allowing only 282 yards per game. They average 4.6 yards per play allowed, whereas Denver, and this is based on what you saw from week two, that jumped up to 5.0 yards per play. I think the bigger thing here that we have to look at for this game is that Denver defensively and how they play. I think they're good on third down.

Starting point is 00:25:16 You look at their third down numbers, but they haven't allowed a single fourth down conversion this year, whereas the Chargers, they've been susceptible to giving up some plays here on third down, also on fourth down as well. This is where I'm going to go back and forth and saying like, you know, obviously with how the Chargers play, zone, right? Bownicks in the offense, once again, they're going to have to find where to pick and choose their battles, especially in a zone defense.

Starting point is 00:25:40 you can kind of keep Cortland Sutton contain a little bit because you're playing a corner who's probably going to be outside leverage, a safety over the top, and then you might spy an inside linebacker. I think that the Chargers so far from what I've seen on film the last two weeks, they love to drop their inside linebackers back, especially Henley. He can be one of those spies in the middle of the field there. So that's where your other guys have to come in like the Marvin Mims, the Troy Franklin, obviously, as we saw his big game against the Colts. But it's going to have to be more than just Troy. you're going to need other guys to step up in this game specifically against this Chargers defense. That is pretty good with Derwin-Janes. Tony Jefferson has turned back the hands of time, it seems like, for them as well.

Starting point is 00:26:17 This is going to be a massive key here for the Broncos this week. Yeah, absolutely. We need to see a big Evan Ingram game, don't we? I mean, Evan spurned the Chargers to sign with the Denver Broncos. And so this would be a perfect time for him to break out, as we've talked about earlier this week. It seems kind of like whatever the hope and vision and plan for him this season was, has yet to really come to fruition in any sort of way. So this would be the perfect week for that to obviously happen,

Starting point is 00:26:42 as opposed to the last two weeks where we haven't seen it. So we need to see it ASAP, and this is the perfect time for him to do that and be that piece for Sean Payton's offense. I couldn't help noticing too, Cody, looking at those numbers there. The Chargers, they have not allowed a single goal to go to be scored by their opposing teams here in the first two weeks. The Raiders and the Chiefs, obviously, there's 16.7% red zone efficiency there. I mean, that's exactly what you want, man.

Starting point is 00:27:10 That is you're tight in the red zone. You're tight in goal to go situations. You're forcing teams to take field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. I mean, you want to talk about bend don't break. That's the definition right there. I mean, if teams are even getting into the red zone or into goal to go situations in the first place against a team like the Chargers. So they're limiting the big plays downfield and they are preventing teams from scoring when they do. So the Broncos have to take advantage whenever they do get those.

Starting point is 00:27:36 chances. And this is a week where I'm hoping the Broncos come out and establish the run. I think the charges at least through two weeks of play, right? They tackle well. Of course, Ashton Gentie broke a couple on Monday night football, a couple of 10-yard runs for him. But, you know, it really was kind of this bend, but don't break mentality. Can the Broncos get them to break a little bit? Marvin, I think, is going to be a key piece in this game. The last time they played, obviously Sean used Marvin in the backfield a little bit more. We remember there was that little swing route that he threw to him where he almost took it for a touchdown and the Derwin James recovered.

Starting point is 00:28:06 knocked him out of bounds. But we saw the run game in this last matchup, at least in that first half on Thursday night football for the Broncos against L.A., the run game, it was going. Granted, this running back room looks entirely different right now. I loved what we saw against the Colts here and how the Broncos just initiate a little bit more gap scheme, where it's, hey, J.K. Dobbins, we're going to hit it. We're going to go A gap, B gap. There were some inside zone stuff that they ran that was obviously able to spring him free. And then, you know, the outside zone stuff. They tried to get a little bit with RJ Harvey. Those lanes didn't necessarily open up for him. So can you get a little bit more downhill this week based on how aggressive this Chargers defense

Starting point is 00:28:42 plays with obviously Jesse Minter calling the plays there? They adjusted one in the second half on Thursday night football, whereas the Broncos didn't and they kind of made things difficult for them. So can this Broncos team showcase a level of growth that we didn't see from them last year? The response to obviously the loss this past week, I think is going to be a big measure of where we see this team. Can they avoid those big explosives that we? We saw early on. That's something I'm looking forward to seeing how this team responds this week here. In Broncos, we appreciate you as always for tuning in, rocking with this year on Lockedon Broncos.

Starting point is 00:29:13 For all you every dayers out there, tomorrow's episode show, you know what it is. It is crossover Thursday where we sit down with a host of Lockdown Chargers and we preview Sunday's matchup. Every angle you need to know, the biggest stories, the key matchups and all that. You're going to get that on tomorrow's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Broncos Country. We'll see you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos BATTLE Chargers for TOP SPOT in AFC West

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.