Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Can Upset The Kansas City Chiefs On Sunday

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Chiefs are on a huge winning streak. They haven't lost since they played the Raiders last year. The last time they played the Broncos, they had a huge winning streak against the Broncos, and the Broncos beat them. Which one is going to continue going this week on Locked on Chiefs and Locked on Broncos crossover? You are Locked on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day.

Hey, Chiefs, welcome back for another episode Locked on Chiefs, your daily podcast. covering the KSA Chiefs, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for always making Locked-on Chiefs and Locked-on Broncos, your first listens of the day. Don't forget we're free and available on all platforms, including YouTube as well. You can find me over at Chief's Corner. We got Sayer-Bedinger here from Locked-on Broncos. We have a lot to talk about getting into this matchup, huge matchup in the AFC West, in something that I thought was going to be a little bit different this year.

I did not expect the Broncos to be where they are right now in the division. but it's going very well for them. We'll get to that in just a second. Crossover Thursday is presented by prize picks. Download the app and use code locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Sayer, how's it going? It's going great, Chris. It's good to be back with the Broncos and the Chiefs.

I have been bragging for almost over a full year now at this point that the Broncos are 1 and 0 in their last one matchups against the Kansas City Chief. So, you know, you mentioned the streak. Small victories. Yeah, right. It was a great moment for the Broncos for Sean Payton to get that win last year. But you know what? It's a completely new look team this time around. Actually, really for both teams, a lot of different faces for these two squads here. And I love that the matchup, the first matchup between these two teams is kind of coming at the midseason mark, given these guys, you know, both sides a chance to kind of get things going here at the start of this season.

Yeah, it's going to be crazy. You're right. It is a lot of different. faces. Obviously, Russell Wilson isn't going to give me any more of you now with Bo Nix. Kansas City, they have been through the injury ringer, lost, you know, Rishie Rice. DeAndre Hopkins is now their new wide receiver one. Lots of different things that are going into this. But what is the storyline coming out of the Broncos or coming out for the Broncos this week? Yeah. Offensively, it's definitely going to be, can the Broncos finish what they start, right? Because against the Baltimore Ravens, that was really what kind of buried them. At one point against the Ravens, the score was 17 to 10.

Next time Bo Nix takes the field, it's 31 to 10. So there was really nothing the offense could do, even though they were having some success moving the ball. There was a few missed opportunities that they had. A couple of fourth down plays, one in which Bo Nix overthrew his old Oregon teammate, Troy Franklin could have had a touchdown, didn't have a touchdown. Instead, give the Ravens an extra possession. Another fourth down play, Javante Williams, unfortunately, doesn't reach for the first down.

You give the Ravens another possession there. When you're going down, you have a great drive. You get within five yards of the end zone. And you just all of a sudden have a comedy of errors. A guy runs out of bounds, stops the clock, a fullback dive. That was kind of haphazard. And then Garrett Bowles were they holding penalty, wiping a touchdown off the board, forcing you to kick a field goal.

So those types of things that, like the Broncos, they don't have the same type of margin for error that teams like the Ravens and chiefs do. And so they have to do those things offensively to be able to go into Kansas City and pull off what would be the upset of the week, according to our friends over at Fanduil. Yeah, and you look at that and you look at what the Broncos have to do offensively, and that's one of the big things we're going to be watching going in this game. How does Kansas City's defense go up against this Broncos rejuvenated offense to an extent?

They played very well. Bonex has continued to show promise as a young QB. Don't be wrong. There are some rookie mistakes. There are some things that he's going to need to work on, but that's kind of what you expect going into the season. So he's got to grow into that role. But obviously, to me, the bigger question for this matchup for me is,

what is the Broncos defense going to look like? Because for most of the season, we have seen this Broncos defense be pretty much shut down against a lot of offenses. And then they really struggled last week against the Ravens. Yeah, which was a huge surprise, although the Ravens kind of a jug or not offensively at this point. think they've had, I don't know how many games of over 500 yards of offense, but you certainly didn't expect Lamar Jackson to finish the game with a perfect quarterback rating, given the fact that the Broncos have, you know, one of the highest pass rush win rates in the entire NFL,

Vance Joseph Blitzes more than anybody in the NFL, and that secondary is really good. And so for them to kind of fall on their faces like they did against the Ravens was really a wake-up call, I think, for everybody on that unit. And it's, I mean, it's just uncharacteristic. of who they've been. And it was kind of just getting away from the game plan. I know that like, okay, yeah, Lamar Jackson. He's great against the blitz. Patrick Mahomes, those guys are great against the blitz.

But when a guy's putting up 158.3 quarterback rating and you're not blitzing, you might want to try something different there or maybe go back to what's been working for you the entire season. So it's really going to be how does this unit defensively respond against another elite quarterback and somebody who, I mean, quite frankly, just as good in every way. I mean, when it comes to making plays out of the pocket, I know he's not as fast as Lamar Jackson, but Patrick Mahomes can make plays out of the pocket and just absolutely kill you in that way.

So that defense for Denver is going to have to make sure that pass rush finds a way to get home, unlike what happened against the Ravens. Well, and the big thing that stood out to me is watching, you know, you're getting ready to go into halftime and the Broncos are in a pretty good position at that point, at least to where you feel like they can, you know, come back and make it a game in the second half a little bit more. And then all of a sudden you have Zay Flowers gets away for, what was it, a 50-yard-plus touchdown?

And in a situation where he's running through, what, six different defenders and two of your defenders took each other out? Like, it's small mistakes like that. And I don't really know. I'm not trying to think, trying not to take anything away from Zay Flowers, but that was kind of unforced errors on the Broncos part. and that's not what you're used to seeing. At least that's not what I've seen for the Broncos defense so far this season.

No, certainly not. They've been very good on the back end, especially when it comes to the tackling department. I mean, when guys are catching the ball, Riley Moss hasn't allowed much yards after the catch. Jaquant McMillan not allowing a ton of yards after catch. Certainly Pat Sertan, if anybody's catching the ball in his, you know, vicinity, they're not going very far.

And so it was completely uncharacteristic. Part of that was, honestly, Devin Key, a replacement safety for PJ Locke, who's been injured and out the last couple of weeks, kind of caught him out of position on a handful of plays there when the Ravens were able to take shots downfield. A huge reason why after that Zay Flowers catch, I mean, Lamar Jackson was at 17.3 yards per attempt in the first half. It was insanity.

So Devin Key probably not going to be put in that position again this week. PJ Locke was back at practice after suffering an injury a couple of weeks back. So we'll see if he's back on the field this weekend, but that would be a huge boost for the Denver secondary, especially in terms of their communication and not having those kinds of lapses on the back end. And it's interesting that you mentioned Devon Key. I forgot that he was in Denver. He actually started in Kansas City and was with Kansas City.

His first, his rookie year as an undrafted free agent played really well. The first couple of games thought he was going to be a guy that they ended up keeping. They cut him, Denver picked him up, and obviously had a little bit of a rough game, but he's still playing in the NFL, and he's not drafted free agent. So that's saying a lot about that. When we get back, we're going to talk a little bit more

about this Chief's offense, the Chief's defense. What's the storyline there right after this? Pre-alcohol probiotic drink by Zbiotics is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame your rough next day.

Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to take Z-biotics your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Here's how to use it. Step one, you drink you the pre-alcohol. For best results, make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night. Step two, drink responsibly. Pace yourself, hydrate, and get a good night's sleep.

Step three, enjoy tomorrow. Wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. Go to zbiotics.com slash locked on NFL to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use locked on NFL at checkout. Zbiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money. No questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com slash locked on NFL and use the code locked on NFL at

checkout for 15% off. Now when you look at this matchup for Kansas City and you look at the matchup for the, you know, the different Broncos, their defense versus this chiefs. offense. Lots of things over the last couple of years. Travis Kelsey obviously knows this defense very well. He's played against it a ton. But you look at the other guys that are going to be playing against them. That's really going to be the storyline. Kansas City's offense continues to find ways to win with guys that really haven't had a ton of experience in their offense. Kreme Hunt had experience years ago in Kansas City, but he's back. He's having a big experience. He's having a good

experience right now. But I kind of mentioned it earlier, DeAndre Hopkins is now their wide receiver one. He wasn't here last time that they played the Broncos. He's only been here two games. And obviously after his game against the Buccaneers, you can see what he can do in this offense. But Xavier Worthy is a rookie. No, Rishie Rice. You just don't have the same receiving court and you don't have the same offensive weapons. But one of the things you mentioned that I think is going to be a huge key in this game is the Denver Broncos have to find a way to get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. And they need to find a way to do it. without necessarily blitzing because he is fantastic against the blitz.

And the way that you're going to be able to beat Mahomes is if you can do it, going at the tackles, the interior of this offensive line is the strength of the offensive line. And they've been running behind it just as well they've been passing behind it. And that is going to be a challenge for the defensive front for the Denver Broncos in this game. They've been really good all year long, whether it's bringing four, whether it's looking like you're going to send the house

and dropping all but two or three guys into coverage. I mean, they've figured things out. ways to disguise their blitzes, ways to disguise their coverage, and getting home with four guys has kind of been a hallmark for them this year. They've been able to do it with Zach Allen on the interior defensive line. DJ Jones, John Franklin Myers has been a huge pickup for that defensive front. Nick Benito off the edge, Jonathan Cooper, he's been, he just got a contract extension. He's been doing really well.

And you just traded the guy away. Just traded Baron Browning away, which was bittersweet because we all wanted to see Barron really succeed in Denver. He's great athlete, tremendous athlete, but wasn't contributing at a high enough level and Jonah Ellis has played well. Dondre Tillman, who I think we'll probably see back in the rotation, an undrafted rookie who played at the UFL level the last three years. He's got two and a half sacks this season as a rotational guy. So they've got players and it's just a matter of, okay, now you've got to figure out how to get home because they try it against Lamar Jackson. They got back there. But Lamar, you know, he kind of just plays on rookie mode all.

the time. He's kind of just sidestepping guys. You guys know, you see him twice a year at this point. He just makes it look so easy out there. So, and, and the homes is a similar way. You know, he may do more incredible things with the left-handed passes and things like that. But man, he's out there and he's tough to bring down. He sees the field, even when he's got defenders draped on him. So you got to make sure when your guys are getting home, like they finish the job. Yeah. And it's always interesting to me to watch a team trade away a pass rusher. and it's more interesting to watch the Broncos do it because I think the Broncos were five and three

before they played the Baltimore Ravens. Now they're five and four. I think we could probably both agree. They probably don't have a path to winning the division, but they definitely have a path to making the playoffs. And to trade away a premium position like a past pressure when you're in a playoff chase is interesting in my perspective. Yeah, I think the biggest reason for that

is that Barron was losing snaps to the other guys, Jonah Ellis, and now it will be Dondre Tillman coming back. Drew Sanders, a third round pick from the 2023 class, just returned to practice on Wednesday, suffered an Achilles injury back in April. And so with Barron, it was really about, okay, what's the long-term outlook here? Like this guy, he's not playing as many snaps in Denver, and he's in a contract year. So the Broncos really did right by Barron, who zero quarterback hits, zero sacks this season, needed something to kind of jumpstart, get a lot of snaps, get out there, get stuff on tape to be able to maximize his value in free agency. So it was really a due right by the player because Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper,

Jonah Ellis, those guys ain't giving up snaps. And now you've got Tillman coming back, Drew Sanders coming back. I think the Broncos feel really good about that edge group. And that's why they felt like they could trade from a position of depth to get that extra day three pick. Yeah, and it's going to be interesting to see what they do next year with that day three pick. You know, we look at this chief's offense.

We kind of talked about it a little bit already. One of the big things that I think is going to be a huge key in this game for this offense is third down. Their third down offense has been fantastic the past two weeks. Red zone offense has been great for the past two weeks as well. I think that that's a huge key going in this game. But if we flip it over to the other side of the ball and we start talking about the chief defense, the story of the entire season has been that the defense has been carrying this team.

And that really is played out in just about every game that they've had this until this last week where they play the Buccaneers who are struggling because they don't have Mike Evans or Chris Godwin. And yet the Buccaneers still put up, I think, the most points the Chiefs have given up outside maybe the Ravens this year. And that's a situation where they're going to be going up against a Broncos team. And Bo Nix is going to be seeing a Steve Spagnolo defense for the first time. Spagnolo has done very well against rookie quarterbacks in his tenure, generally as a

defense coordinator. So I think that that's going to play in a Kansas City's favor a little bit, but it is going to be a very intriguing matchup to see can they get him down, can they force him to make mistakes, and can they get pressure on him? Yeah, it is going to be fun to see because Bo has one of the best sack rates of any quarterback in the league this year. And that's both due to the offensive line playing well and also his kind of just innate ability to avoid getting sacked. He's very athletic. He's another one of those guys that kind of drive a defense. of coordinator nuts with his scrambling ability, his ability to get outside the pocket and make plays. So I know that was kind of a little bit lost with Russell Wilson, not that he wasn't able to make plays outside the pocket when he was with the Broncos.

But it's not the same as it was when or as it is now with Bo Nix in the mix because Bo is, I mean, I think he's legitimately clocked around 21 miles per hour on the end game GPS. And so he's got the speed. He's got the athletic ability. And he's making better throws on the run lately. When they get into scramble drill, it's really working well for him. So I know he was kind of known for the quick passing game. Get rid of the ball quickly. Get it out to your receivers.

Let them do work after the catch at Oregon. But it's been vastly different with the Denver Broncos. He's throwing the ball deep. I think he's second most in the NFL in terms of plays that go 20 plus yards beyond the line of scrimmage. And so it's been interesting to see his ascension in that way. But yes, going up against a coordinator like Steve Spagnolo, who Sean Payton noted on Wednesday. The guy brings pressure not just on third down, but he'll bring pressure on first and second down. He'll keep you on your toes, especially for a rookie quarterback, going to be a great

challenge for him this week against the Chiefs. Well, and one of the things that you talked about when we were talking about the Chief's offense versus the Broncos defense was how they bring pressure, not necessarily just splitting, but how they bring pressure. And that goes the same for Kansas City, because when you mention it's not just third down that he brings pressure, it's he will send corners and safeties and linebackers on first and second down sometimes. I mean, you never know where the pressure is going to come from. Sometimes you'll see defense of linemen dropping back to cover a passing lane. And it can be very frustrating watching because sometimes that's just a really easy mismatch

and it's easily found. But the thing that the chiefs have done so well with Spagnolo here is he disguises blitzes so well. He disguises what he's going to do on defense. I'm going to be very curious to see how Bo Nex is able to pick. that up. You do bring up a great comment about Bo Nix throwing the ball deep on a regular basis and trying to take shot plays, which is kind of funny to me because if you think about it, Patrick Mahomes hasn't been doing that a ton this year. And you would think that he would be doing it a lot more

than a guy that's coming in as a rookie is doing it. And that doesn't seem to be the case at all. But Kansas City has been very good at shutting down deep passing. And they have not allowed a lot of explosive plays on defense. I think that that's a huge thing that's going to play into this game. It really is because the Broncos have hit on quite a few of these, like the deep crossing routes, the daggers, the things like that, where you have guys coming, you know, just the deep in-routes, things like that. The Broncos have hit a lot of those. The slot fades. Those are working, you know, back shoulder play to Cortland Sutton worked really well a couple of times against the Baltimore Ravens. So they've found these different avenues to get there. The interesting thing is, is I

we haven't seen it really from Troy Franklin or Marvin Mims, like the guys that you would think, like, oh, that's probably going to be one of their better big play receivers. That's something that we're still waiting for here into the second half. Like, we're waiting for that Oregon connection between Bo Nix and Troy Franklin. We're waiting for the second year breakthrough from Marvin Mims, who seems to have hit a sophomore slump, if anything. So I'll be fascinated to see what Sean Payton does. I know it's like the second half of the season.

it doesn't necessarily matter to them. This is going week to week for these players and coaches. But it will be interesting to see now that the trade deadline has passed, the Broncos didn't add anybody. Do they try to get those guys more involved, considering that's not really on tape, and try to use that to their advantage against a coordinator like Spagnolo,

who's going to try to disguise coverage and disguise pressure? It's going to be fascinating. I'm really looking forward to this matchup. Like I said, before when we started first talking about this show, I was not expecting the Broncos to really be a contender this season. Bo Nex has played my expectations at this point. So I'm going to be very fascinated to be able to watch him for a full game, go up against a good defense in Kansas City.

And then vice versa, see what Kansas City, who struggled on offense at times is able to get done against these Broncos. We have a lot more to talk about. We're going to get in some key matchups and things that are going to really make this game, make or break this game right after this. Today's show is brought to you by Fanduel. Hey, get ready to tackle the NFN. NFL action with Fandul America's number one sportsbook.

Because right now, new customers, you can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandual Sportsbook app gives you everything that you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. and for this Broncos Chiefs matchup on Sunday, man, the Broncos once again for the second straight week, they are the biggest underdog in the NFL. I know Fanduil may have, they may have given them a little too much credit last week as they lost by 31 points. They were only nine and a half point underdogs last week, but they're eight and a half point underdogs against the chiefs this week.

So you might want to check that out. Just visit Fandual.com to join today. Again, you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's Fanduel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Today's show is also brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is the best place to get real money sports action.

With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks, they make daily fantasy sports accessible to everyone. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash. So run your game all season long on prize picks. And you know what you could do? You can win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as few as four correct picks. And prize picks is the best way to get action on sports in over 30 states, including California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Prize picks puts their members first. So all withdrawals, they're fast, they're safe, they're secure. And when your picks hit, you can get your

money in as quick as 15 minutes. So sign up today and get a 15. $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. And price picks, they also offer weekly promotions that can lead to big payouts like Taco Tuesday, where each Tuesday price picks will discount, select player projections up to 25% to provide even more value for your lineup.

So you think somebody like Justin Jefferson can get more than 83.5 receiving yards in a given game or Lamar Jackson can pass for more. more than one and a half touchdowns, maybe a safe bet there based on what we saw last week with his 158.3 perfect quarterback rating. Price picks is the best way to win real money this football season. And if you know which players are going to go off and which players aren't, you can make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season long. So download the app today and use the code locked on NFL to get $50 instantly after

you play your first $5 lineup. Again, download the app today and use code. Code Locked on NFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. It's funny because when you and I talked before this show started, I think you mentioned how the Chiefs are negative 4 in Takeaway. And one of the things you also said you want to talk about with this show is winning the turnover battle.

And that has been a key for the Chiefs the entire season is they need to try to find a way to win the turnover battle. This is the first week that they're going to be coming off a game where Mahomes didn't turn the ball over. They still lost a turnover battle because Kelsey had a fumble and they didn't get a takeaway. But this is the first week that Mahomes hasn't thrown an interception. It's crazy to think about that going into week nine, sorry, I guess this is week 10, playing your ninth game, but that's where Kansas City has been. What have you seen from the Broncos so far this season? Well, the Broncos have done a good job of creating havoc for the opposing quarterback and setting themselves up really well to cause turnovers. I mean, we saw it against Carolina.

We saw it against the New Orleans Saints. I mean, we've seen it against quarterbacks that, you know, they may not be the best quarterbacks in the league, obviously, but also against Baker Mayfield. They baited him into a really bad throw early in that game and that helped them go up 14 to nothing. So you see the Broncos with their pressure package and what they're able to do to kind of frazzle. quarterbacks happened against Aaron Rogers. They can get turnovers a variety of different ways. They can create turnovers, obviously, by getting that instant pressure, causing a rush throw, or they can, you know, hit the quarterback and knock the ball out.

So it's not like they're the Green Bay Packers averaging two or three turnovers a week right now at this point. But the Broncos, that is a strong suit of theirs, is getting to the quarterback, rushing his decision-making process or popping that ball loose. They've been able to do that at times this season. Yeah, and the question is going to be used. can Kansas City on defense force Bo Nix into bad decisions? Bo Nix has six interceptions this season.

Obviously not near as many as Patrick Mahomes has had, but that's still quite a few interceptions this early into the season versus only eight touchdown. So that's going to be something to watch there as well. Can you keep that turnover or the TD to turnover ratio a little bit higher? I'm going to be very curious to see if they can force him because one of the things that we talked about in the last segment with the Chief's defense is Spagnolo is sending pressure and you have no idea where it's going to be coming from.

If he is able to force them to throw the ball earlier than he wants to or, you know, force him to hold onto the ball for a split second longer than he wants to, the pass rush is starting to get home for Kansas City. That could play a big favor into the Chief's defense being able to help get this win against the Broncos. Yeah, it could. What they need to do to try to get him to make those poor throws is to make sure that he, he's not able to set his feet properly. That's where Bo has gotten himself into some trouble is when he doesn't properly set his feet.

He's done a good job of feeling out the pressure and making throws under pressure. But when he doesn't set his feet, the base obviously being off, it forces the throw to either be behind or too low or too high. Those are the two interceptions that he's thrown since the first two weeks of the season. He had two picks against the Seattle Seahawks. A couple of, both of those were pretty bad. And he had two picks against the Pittsburgh Steelers. but since that time, the interception that he threw against the chargers,

I was tipped up in the air by Marvin Mims. The interception that he just threw last week was completely the fault of Lil Jordan Humphrey, who should have caught the pass. So obviously the quarterback, not always at fault for interceptions, as we know, with Patrick Mahomes having, you know, his receivers sometimes, they let the ball hit them in the hands, and obviously it pops up in the air. So that's the biggest thing there, the distinction of, is he making bad throws at times? absolutely. Is he putting the ball in harm's way consistently? That's a different discussion because

Beau's not really putting the ball in harms way very often, which is interesting. And I'll be fascinated to see how the chiefs try to force him into doing just that because that's been a strength of his dating back to his time at Oregon as well. So that, like you mentioned, the turnover battle forcing these quarterbacks to make poor decisions. There's no Justin Simmons in Denver anymore. So who's going to pick off Patrick Mahomes this time? I don't know who will do it. He's been the guy the last handful of years. I'm hoping nobody will be the answer that I'll be giving right now.

But what I would say is the thing that you mentioned is if he can set his feet. The one thing that plays in the Kansas advantage is they probably have the best defensive tackle in the NFL who's going to create havoc in the middle of the offensive line. It is going to cause him to be moving around in the pocket more than just setting his feet getting ready to throw. So Chris Jones, I think, is going to have a huge impact in this game because he is going, he always disrupts offenses and their timing. That is going to be a huge key. If he can continue to do that and you start to see situations where they bring in a brand new pass rusher in Joshua Ushay this past week, is he going to be a guy that can maybe start getting around the edge and putting pressure from the backside, that would be something that would really help out, especially with Carl Loftus actually being limited in practice today. that could be huge for the Chiefs. When you look at this game, Kansas City heading in, 8-0, Broncos are 5 and 4.

How are you feeling about this game and how you think it's going to turn out? I feel really good, honestly, about it, Chris. I know the Broncos are coming off a blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but a loss like that can really help you refocus. And of course, it's entirely possible that the Broncos go to Kansas City and get blown out. Once again, they're one of the youngest teams in the league, got a rookie quarterback going up against the undefeated back-to-back Super Bowl champion. So nothing would surprise me.

But this team has been playing really hard and they do a lot of things really well. When they play at their best, we've seen the Broncos, they've been up there among the best in the league in terms of overall point differential. The game against the Ravens, knock that back down to earth, obviously. But when they've been playing well, they've played really well on both sides of the ball.

And so I think anything is possible in this game. My biggest keys, like we mentioned, The turnover battle, obviously, you always want to win the turnover battle in the NFL. Capitalizing when you cross midfield, we talked about that earlier, how the Broncos, they didn't capitalize when they got past midfield against the Ravens. You can't give away extra possessions to a team like the Chiefs, and you've got to score seven when you have the opportunity as opposed to three. And then no self-inflicted errors.

I mean, you could point back to a comedy of errors that happened against the Baltimore Ravens, starting with the interception. We just talked about little Jordan Humphrey, he pops the ball up in the air. You give Lamar Jackson a short field to work with. And the Broncos stopped him, but that's not the point. The point is that you gave him a short field to work with. And you can't do that against these teams. Let them steal possessions if you want to win a game like this.

So the Broncos, can they go to Kansas City and get a win? It's going to be fun to see. I think they can. And I told you before the show. And for all of your listeners, Chris, I do, I manifest a win for the Broncos no matter what. So realism, you could throw that out the window. Fan duel, you can throw the eight and a half points out the window. I've got the Broncos going in and getting a win in this game because I'd rather be right about predicting a win than right about predicting a loss.

So I'll go with manifesting a win in this game, even though I do acknowledge that it's going to be very tough because the ball bounces the Chief's way. It just does. They have a built-in margin for error that is unlike anything that I've ever seen against whoever they play. It doesn't matter if it's the if it's the Super Bowl, if it's a week-to-week game, Kansas City Chiefs have the biggest built-in margin for error that I can ever recall for an NFL team. And that's just because they're just good in every way. And I appreciate you saying that. The thing I would argue is I don't know that the ball has been bouncing Kansas City way every time this year.

I think that it has in certain instances. Obviously, there have been some times where it's bounced against Kansas City, but they've still found ways to overcome it. And that's really what we talked about last segment with the Chief's offense is it may not look pretty. but they find a way to get things done. I mean, they're down there, you know, number one running back, they're down their top two wide receivers, top three wide receivers the past couple of weeks until, you know, obviously DeAndre Hopkins probably jumps up

to being one of those guys now. But, you know, Juju was a top three wide receiver for the team before they traded for Hopkins. He's probably still out this week. So you look at what they're able to do on offense. They've had to change everything that they planned on this season. They had a huge plan for Hollywood Brown. It hasn't panned out, obviously,

because he hasn't played a snap for him this year, other than the very first snap in the preseason. That's the only snap he's played for this team. And then you look at what happened to Rishi Rice. He's been out since week four. That's something that they've had to overcome. Worthy is playing okay, but he's not playing. He's not obviously lighting the world on fire.

But offensively, Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes. And as long as they give him the ability to sit back in the pocket and at least look around at the field for two or three, three seconds can city is always going to have a pretty good chance to win the one thing i will say is you made a great point when you're in a situation where you get across midfield they've got to put it in the end zone and i say that specifically because one of the things that really i could not believe and one of our you know actually james from locked on bucks actually said this after the game he called his coach a coward for not going for two to try to win before they went to overtime

And my whole point with that is, is that you have to have the mindset of if you're going to beat this Chief's team, you have to be aggressive. I'm not saying you have to be overly aggressive. But in that situation, you have 30 seconds left in the game. That's a situation where you say, okay, we just went and scored a touchdown. Is it more or is it more or less a good idea to go for it to and try to keep the ball out of Mojom's hands to win the game? Like, that's really what it comes down to. you said it yourself, he finds a way to get things done. And that's what he's been doing and they continue to win.

I think Kansas City finds a way to win this game. I'm going to be curious to see if it's close. The game against the Bucks was supposed to be a nine and a half point game. I believe it ended up being six in overtime. I think that the weather should be better this week. But Kansas City has been able to run the ball. That's been something that has made their offense a lot more effective. What I want to see is I want to see Kansas State's defense play better this

week. I think they get the win. I think they moved to 9 and 0. And then we're going to be talking about the Chiefs and the Bills, which is going to be the game of the week after this. I can't wait for that game. I always love watching the Chiefs go up against the other powerhouses and the AFC. It's going to be interesting to see because the big storyline for the Broncos as of that last game against the Ravens was can you hang in big games like this against good teams? Like, all right, you're five and three. We had the same record as the Ravens going into that game. that's cool and that's cute and all, but can you actually play with these teams? That's something that they're still working at,

proving that they can do. And so this is a great test for them. Win or lose, blowout, close game. It doesn't matter. We hope the Broncos can keep it close, obviously closer than that Ravens game. I know you guys over there, you don't necessarily care about it being a close game,

but for the Broncos side of things like, can you prove that you belong in big games like this? Because you show it against the Ravens, a lot of people, you know, hey, we don't, we don't belong in this game, that's got to change against this Kansas City team. I disagree with you. I do care. I don't want it to be close.

And it's not that I don't like the Broncos. It's just I'm very tired of watching the Chiefs play close game after close game after close game after close game. I want to not have my heart rate be, you know, and my stress level be at level nine. You guys get the Raiders soon. You can do it against the Raiders. Take your blowout win against the Raiders. So we'll see about this one here.

Even against the Raiders, it wasn't. I mean, it was a blowout for the most part. They scored points at the very end. I'm not saying it has to be a blowout, but I would like to see a two-score game going in the fourth quarter. I'd feel a lot better about that. But it's a big question because this Broncos defense is fantastic. But I will say this.

If you go back and watch how the season started, Mahomes wasn't on the same page with his offense and wasn't on the same page with his wide receivers, he has looked markedly better the past couple of weeks. especially against the Raiders two weeks ago and against this Bucks team that they just played. If he continues that trend, this is going to be another big game for him. And I think that we're going to see a fun chief's offense. What do all of you think?

Let us know in the comments. Sayre, it's always been fun. I always enjoyed having these crossover episodes. Don't really like the Broncos never really have, but it's always fun to talk to you and get your perspective on how this game is going to go. Anything else you want to shout out? Oh, I love it, man. I'm looking forward to it.

It should be a fun game on Sunday.