Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Defense Could Feast vs. Colts Inefficient Passing Attack

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos defense could feast against Anthony Richardson and the Colts inefficient passing attack if they can shut down some other things. We'll highlight in preview some of the bigger matchups and numbers from the Broncos Colts matchup on Sunday here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Locked-on podcast network where you know it is your team every day. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from All High Sports.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Join, as always by Sarah Bedinger's site expert over there, predominantly orange.com writer over there at NFL spends on one. I want to give a special thank you once again to everybody in Broncos country. All the everydayers, all the first listeners, you make the show exactly what it is. So make sure you subscribe or follow so you never miss out every single day all year long on your favorite team. That is the Denver Broncos. And here's what you can expect on today's episode of, the show. We'll wrap things up by talking about some of the more defining numbers from Sunday's

Starting point is 00:01:09 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts as we all deem it as a must win here for Denver. We'll talk about the Broncos defense against the Indianapolis Colts offense and Anthony Richardson, but we're going to kick things off by really talking about Bo Nix and the Broncos offense and how they can maybe attack the Indianapolis Colts defense that is kind of boom or bust in a lot of different areas here. And you're going to get that on today's episode show, which is brought to our friends over there at Fandul. Start the season with big return on Fandu, new customers. can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets.

Starting point is 00:01:38 If you win your first $5 bet, visit fandu.com to get started. Sarah, let's kick things off here on today's show here, highlighting this matchup, as we all know, we've been calling this a must win here for Denver. This is essentially a playoff game for both teams. You know, for Denver win, your playoff chances go up. You lose, they drop significantly, and then we talk about tiebreakers and conference records, and then it gets a little bit of muddy here for the Broncos. but Bo Nix, the Broncos offense after having a week off,

Starting point is 00:02:06 looking at this Colts defense, they've got really talented players across the board, but their production this season has kind of been, as I mentioned, a little bit of boom or bust, hit or miss at times. Yeah, absolutely. And that's kind of evidence by the fact that they, you know, they're 18th in the NFL and points allowed per game,

Starting point is 00:02:23 22.9 points allowed per game. Net yards allowed, Cody, 29th in the NFL at 379. But the, the defense, is going to give up a lot of yardage. Like against New England, they allowed over 200 rushing yards. And they're really one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. So, hey, if the Broncos are looking for a little bit of a get right situation in the

Starting point is 00:02:47 running game, scheme some things up. You took the extra time during the buy week to really draw up these plays or whatever Sean Payton and them have been doing. I'm sure they, you know, in between rounds of golf wherever he went or whatever, you know, you drop the running game a little bit there because the Colts have given up a lot of yards on the ground, a lot of sustained drives when you look at the numbers and really break it down. So that's an area, Cody, right now where this team, I mean, they just, they, they give up a lot of third downs. They're one of the worst four teams in the NFL at over 45%

Starting point is 00:03:20 conversion rate defensively when you talk about third down. So this Colts team and the defense in particular, you don't want to downplay it obviously because it's like you said, it's boom or bus. There could be a week where this defense just absolutely goes off. You know what I'm saying? They have the playmakers, but the Broncos need to find a way to take advantage of their clear weaknesses. Well, and it's hard. When you look at it, you can look at some of the things, the areas you mentioned the rushing yards that they allow, that is perceived as an area of weakness, but let's take a look at the scouting report too and looking at their top defenders this season. You look at DeForest Buckner. We all, we've always known DeForest Buckner to be a force here in the

Starting point is 00:03:58 NFL. He's second on their team right now in sacks at five and a half. Quitty pay, he's leading a team with six sacks on the season right now. So you've got DeForest Buckner, you got Zaire Franklin, who's their leading tackler. He's got 135 tackles so far this season. Kenny Moore inside the nickel. And also we mentioned quitty pay, Julian Blackman, Nick Cross, the cornerback, Jalen Jones. Their defense has talented players. So part of me is wondering, is it a scheme issue here for the Colts? But here's the one thing I think we have to pay attention to here. They are also coming off of a buy. So they've had a chance themselves to kind of hit the pause button, say,

Starting point is 00:04:35 hey, what was the story for us to the first 13 weeks? What adjustments are we going to make? And I think that's going to make things a little bit more interesting going into this matchup, because it really is, you never know. Like, you could see an entirely different team. You can see entirely different approach here from this Colts team. So so much that is going to be on coaching, I feel like, this week. what type of adjustments did the Indianapolis Colts make there?

Starting point is 00:04:59 What adjustments have the Broncos made? I know Sean Payton. He wasn't golfing during the bi-week. He saves that for the off-season. But, yeah, it's going to be an interesting matchup. And to your point, as you look at it as well, like you talked about the Colts defense and what they're allowing right now. I think one storyline we have to see here, okay, they're 15th right now.

Starting point is 00:05:17 They're tied for 15th in the NFL in terms of sacks so far on the season. They've gotten to quarterbacks that many times. We talked about Quitty Pay and obviously DeFerzbochner leading the way there. You mentioned the third down numbers there. I think this is where the Broncos, which is interesting, when you look at the weekly release packet, it's nice to see the Broncos offense not have a single area on their offensive rankings where it's bottom 10 in the NFL. When it's not in the red, that's a good sign there. But they don't have a lot of green.

Starting point is 00:05:44 They got a lot of black text there. It's like black, bold text. So there's no green in a lot of areas, and there's certainly no red. So you're in the middle there. So it's a middle of the pack offense right now. Denver right now averaging 23.5 points per game. It's 14th in the NFL. We talk about net yards per game, 320, 209 of that is coming through the air with

Starting point is 00:06:03 Bo Nix, 21st ranked passing offense in the NFL. The Broncos have the 20th ranked rushing offense. When you factor into that, like Bo being a big product of that or a couple of big runs by the Broncos, breaking it off, you know, in the second half against the Cleveland Browns, it certainly impacts that. I think third down, once again, is going to be another interesting area here for this team. they've been efficient. They've been trending.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Like after the beginning part of the season, where third down was their biggest problem, and Red Zone was a little bit of an issue for them. These are actually where they're kind of middle of the pack. They're the 18th ranked third down offense right now. That is grown, I think specifically with the connection between Cortland Sutton and Bo Nix. And then in the Red Zone, they're 15th rank right now. So for me, it's maximizing your opportunities here if you are the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:06:46 And a little bit later on, we'll talk about some how these defining numbers might influence this matchup and certain keys Denver is going to have to play off of here. But man, I think this has the makings of what I think could be a little bit of a slug fest at Empowerfield at Mile High this week. You know, ideally you want the Broncos offense to hum and to get going. But the Colts, like I said, they're well-resded defensively. Zaire Franklin, he's all over the place. When you watch the Colts play anywhere the football is, he's there. He's kind of like the Alex Singleton in terms of that, except I think that he's extremely athletic, more athletic than Alex Singleton.

Starting point is 00:07:19 and he's a guy that can obviously, I think, impact your flow and rhythm there, but which Colts defense is going to show up here against the Broncos? And specifically, what Broncos offense is going to show up against the Colts. I think that is the big question here. Right, because we know, we saw. I mean, we were all watching the Colts play the Patriots the last time they were out there, and we were all saying they're hoping, like, man, the Patriots, it feels like they can close this game out.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Like, they did everything that they needed to do offensively to win that game. But then the Colts, you come storming back with Anthony Richardson, right? And so even rushing for over 200 yards from the Patriots vantage point in that last game, it ended up not mattering because they ended up losing the game anyway. So you have to be very, very effective and efficient offensively against a team that has a quarterback who, man, he can launch the ball downfield. They can run the ball and those sorts of things. I know we'll get into breaking down their offense as well.

Starting point is 00:08:14 But for the Broncos side of things, Cody, on offense, like they have to be efficient. running the ball, extending drives, making sure that you are dictating the pace of this game. I know that it's really the same story every single week, isn't it? But the quicker you can get out to a lead, the quicker you put the ball into the opposing quarterback's hands and put all the pressure on him as opposed to saying, hey, you just go out there, play a little bit more loose, hand the ball off to Jonathan Taylor. The Denver offense has to force the issue in this game in terms of, hey, we're going to come out and we're going to be effective and efficient right away.

Starting point is 00:08:50 No more of this garbage of, you know, we don't want Will Wutst win in special teams player of the week. We want touchdowns here. You don't get special teams player of the week for kicking extra points. You want them out there scoring touchdowns. And that was what really almost cost them the game against the Cleveland Browns, Cody is you get into the red zone. You get into that tight scoring range.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And then all of a sudden your offense stalls or you have a bad penalty. That's where the Broncos have to stop. you know, in this playoff front. That's where they have to stop making major mistakes. So how is it in the Broncos defense? How could they potentially feast against the Colts, inefficient passing attack that does have explosive capability? We'll highlight that and much more here on today's episode,

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Starting point is 00:10:26 they know that we sent you don't wait start earning rewards today with bill rewards the Indianapolis Colts don't have the most efficient passing attack in the NFL but they are capable of the explosive play and they can run the ball a little bit here so what do the Denver Broncos have to do defensively against Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor, and the host of playmakers that the Colts have as well as, you know, what are the Broncos going to do to force the issue in this game to make sure that they make the playoffs and not just get into the playoffs somehow or miss entirely. This is a huge game, Broncos Country. And you know what? We can't thank you enough for rocking with us every single day here at Lockdown Broncos as we approach the postseason.

Starting point is 00:11:12 Maybe Broncos Country. We'll see what happens here. Like Cody said before, hey, the playoff chances, they increase substantially with a win and things get pretty iffy with a loss. So the Broncos have to find a way to limit Anthony Richardson and his teammates there offensively.

Starting point is 00:11:29 But if you haven't already done so, Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for hitting subscribe. Wherever you listen to the show, as well as on YouTube, all you every day is out there. Mile High salute to all of you. Cody, let's talk.

Starting point is 00:11:42 about this matchup with Anthony Richardson. Obviously, the Denver Broncos defense coming off of its worst game, probably of the season, I would say. And I know that a lot of times you come off a game like this and you're like, man, if the Broncos defense plays like that, really to me, this past game against Cleveland was such an outlier because Levi Wallace was getting picked on all game long. It wasn't indicative of bad team defense necessarily. it was indicative of the Browns finding a guy who, I mean, he couldn't figure it out out there.

Starting point is 00:12:17 And they just exploited it over and over again. So there are corrections that have to be made. But let's talk about why the Broncos could feast against Anthony Richardson here in week 15 if they can return to their pre-Cleveland form. Yeah, well, look, a lot of it too is when you look at Anthony Richardson, he's not a very accurate passer in the short of the intermediate game. he you know 46% completion percentage on the year from him they do take a lot of shots down field and they connect on them quite a bit i mean you talk about the talented wide receivers that they have we'll see if josh downs plays this week but they've got josh downs they've got alec pierce they've got michael pitman junior who's the third leading receiver so far on the team this year

Starting point is 00:12:59 and when i look at Denver is at you definitely factoring okay who is patrick sartan the second going to be following in this week who is jacquamac miller going to be lining up primarily inside the nickel. And who is going to be the other cornerback opposite of PS2 this week? And I think that's going to be a storyline. We're going to follow. We may not know until Sunday. Obviously, if we get wind of it early on,

Starting point is 00:13:20 or, you know, Sean Payton says, we're going to have practice here on Wednesday afternoon and be there. We'll see what Sean has to say about that. But you look at the scouting report, it's like, all right, you look at Anthony Richardson and his struggles in terms of accuracy and the consistency factor there. you can't just overlook that though because of the numbers he has the opportunity and the capabilities i believe to turn it on at any moment and all you need is a couple of rhythm throws but really what the colts

Starting point is 00:13:48 need and what their bread and butter has kind of been i mean they've got a strong rushing attack between what anthony richston can do with his legs and obviously jonathan taylor in the backfield who leads the way for them over 800 yards rushing five touchdowns on the year for him the thing is is they take those shots downfield they're not afraid to do it and they're not afraid to do it and they hit on them quite a bit. And I think to me, that's exactly the issue Denver dealt with against the Cleveland Browns and Jerry Judy. I think we all forget too. There was one play where luckily James Winston overshot Jerry Judy on one play that Wallace had or Jerry might have had 300 yards receiving in that game. That's kind of scary when you think about this Colts offense that has

Starting point is 00:14:24 had time to sit back and say, hey, we've got the Broncos film. We're resting up. Hopefully we get some guys back healthy. But now we're looking to make a little bit of a run because really the Broncos are the toughest team that's remaining here on the Colts schedule in these final three games. To me, it's huge. If I'm not mistaken, I think they play the Giants once, I think they play the Titans, and I think they play the Jaguars to close out their season. That's a cakewalk. And if they beat Denver, Denver, I think, is going to be out of the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Denver loses this game. They still have a chance, but I think with the Colts schedule that's remaining, I just don't see it unless Baltimore or somehow Los Angeles goes on a little bit of a slide. That's why I think this is a must-win game. limit the explosive plays there from Anthony Richardson and obviously their passing gaming. And look, you look at the tight end position. I know that's an area of concern that Colts fans have expressed this year. Mo Ali Cox is still a sizable option. And Denver

Starting point is 00:15:16 struggled against David Nizoku, who has similar size and look and go up and make those contested catches. So to me, there's so much we have to watch for here this week. And really, I think the Colts offense, the numbers, they don't, they don't paint the full picture here. No, because their personnel is really tremendous. You know, when you look at their target share this season, Cody. I mean, it's rare to see a team that's top four guys in terms of targets are all wide receivers. The Colts have invested so heavily in that position with Michael Pitman, Jr., Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, and then A.D. Mitchell, who consistently gets forgotten, I think, in terms of just the ability that he brings to the table, obviously a star ride receiver

Starting point is 00:15:59 at Texas, big time size, downfield ability. When you look at that, that play. making department for the Indianapolis Colts. You've got three guys among four, four players on your roster who are averaging over 11 yards per reception with more than 40 targets. Like that's, there's got to be very few teams around the league that have that, especially when they're all four wide receivers.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Like I was kind of assuming, Cody, based on Anthony Richardson's struggles, like, okay, I'm going to pull up the numbers here for the Colts. and Jonathan Taylor is going to be one of their top two or three guys in terms of targets. Jonathan Taylor is fifth on the Indianapolis Colts in overall targets.

Starting point is 00:16:42 And it's not because he hasn't played. I mean, he's only played 10 games compared to 13 for some of the other guys. But he's got 23 targets in 10 games, Cody. That's not like they're not just dumping the ball off to Jonathan Taylor because they don't have a short to intermediate passing game. Like they hit these pass plays, like you said. And that opens up things for Jonathan Taylor. if Anthony Richardson misses a few or even if the receivers drop a few, it opens up the running game for the Colts. And so the Broncos have to find ways to make sure those passes either

Starting point is 00:17:17 hit the ground or they go the other way when Richardson launches it deep. We're all going to be curious to see who gets to start opposite of PS2 this week. And I think another question too is like, who does PS2 face? When you look at like, okay, who's producing the most of them at receiver? Right now they're leading receiver is Alec Pearson. The thing I think that stands out the most about Pierce is his yard per catch average. I think if I'm not mistaken, I saw something on here where I think it's 22 point something. Let's see here. It's 22.244 yards per catch, 645 yards on the year, five touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:17:49 And obviously, I think a part of that production has elevated a little bit more because of the injury to downs. Michael Pittman Jr., as we've got on those very explosive can make some tremendous plays, especially yards after the catch. So who do, like if you had to choose today, who would you match PS2? up in this situation if in fact you're going to say, hey, we're going to try to put our best guy on their best guy and follow him on. Who is that guy? Because these three receivers are very, very good. I think that honestly, you can make the argument, you would take any of these receivers on Denver as the number two option behind Cortland Sutton. No doubt. There's no question about it.

Starting point is 00:18:21 I was kind of hoping that Alec Pierce might be available when the Colts were kind of, you know, a sinking ship before they hired Shane Steichen. But I really do believe, Cody, that this is one of those games to where I don't know if you can stick Pat Sertan on any one guy. It might be as the game goes along, you're kind of watching, okay, who are they really going after? And is it working for them? Because if it's working, we need to make an adjustment. My brain says you go to Alec Pierce because the guy's averaging, like you said, over 22 yards

Starting point is 00:18:52 to catch insanity to see that from a guy who gets a high volume of the targets. But at the same time, you know, Michael Pittman Jr. is kind of the He's kind of the guy in their wide receiver room that's like, hey, we can target him on any third down and know that if we put the ball in his general vicinity, like he's going to come down with it. So it may be a situational thing, too, where you're like, hey, third downs, we're going past your 10 on Michael Pittman Jr. On early downs, we're watching for them to try to take shots downfield. So we're putting PS2 on Alec Pierce. I think there could be a little bit of mixing and matching going on there. I can see that happening and specifically because of those boom,

Starting point is 00:19:32 bus play capabilities that the Colts have, unless they're very confident like, hey, if in fact Chris Abrams, drain is going to play in this game is going to start over Levi-Wallis, I wonder what they're going to try because also you're asking a rookie to do a lot. I don't think the moment's too big for a guy like Abrams drain, but it is a tough test considering that this receiving core is significantly better

Starting point is 00:19:51 than the Cleveland Browns receiving core and it's not even close. When you talk about impact, you talk about players. But there's going to be some other. numbers that we're going to dive into, especially how can the Broncos defense be more efficient in the early downs against the Colts? That will define the outcome of this game. We'll highlight some of the defining numbers and much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to my friends over there at Ice Shaker. Listen up, Lockdown Broncos

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Starting point is 00:21:48 Mountain Time on CBS. We have you covered all throughout the week here locked on Broncos for that. Thanks once again, all the everydayers and first listeners in Broncos country for two into the show here. Sarah, you know, we talked about obviously a little bit of the tail of the tape. We looked at the numbers from the Colts offense to Colts defense, how it stacks up against Denver. I think this week, one of the more important keys and the more important numbers, we'll have to seize yards per play, but specifically on early downs, Denver has had a little bit of regression on first and second down in terms of some chunk plays that had been allowed. Certainly that was

Starting point is 00:22:21 on display against the Cleveland Browns. To me, this is going to be a big area here. How can Denver create manageable situations, especially if the coach try to open it up in the passing game here on first down and try to take some shots. Like Denver, obviously in that first half against Cleveland, they were six of 10 on third down. They ended up finishing the game, holding the Browns to 9 of 19 on third down. So much better in the second half. But that wasn't the problem. It was first and second down.

Starting point is 00:22:48 That was the issue for them. And unfortunately, they don't track those metrics there for the NFL. So Denver early down situation here defensively, they're going to have to be big, Sarah. Yeah, they are. Obviously, it starts with stopping Jonathan Taylor in that Colts running game, of course. But at the same time, against Cleveland, what was really killing the Broncos defense is the fact that James Winston was recognizing, like, hey, they're in this type of coverage. Here's Levi Wallace. I'm going right at him.

Starting point is 00:23:14 And they were able to pick up big chunks that way. Even when the Broncos forced third and long against the Colts, they were able to pick it up. Why? Because the pass rush wasn't consistently getting home. I know that the Broncos eventually did get to James, and they did eventually get pressure on him that caused some huge plays in that game. But man, how many third downs were we sitting there,

Starting point is 00:23:34 Cody saying, man, where's this pass rush at? Like, why are these guys not getting a hand out? He's got way too much time to throw out there. He's got too much time to scan the field. Just felt a little too easy for him.

Starting point is 00:23:45 So it's a bounce back game in such a big way for this Denver Broncos defense. Like everything that they did against Cleveland defensively, other than the big plays that went the other way. I'm like, do the opposite of that, right? I mean, make sure you're following around the hot hand at receiver.

Starting point is 00:24:02 Make sure you're not giving up because Cleveland went into that game a couple Mondays ago. They were 32nd in the NFL and third down conversion rate. And the Broncos made it look like, man, they were making it easy against the Denver defense. So that stuff can't happen against the Indianapolis Colts. And like we've mentioned,

Starting point is 00:24:20 they're short to intermediate passing game is not the best in the NFL. So what you need to do is you need to force that issue right there. You need to force the ball out of Anthony Richardson's hands quickly so that he can't have time to launch the ball downfield or scramble around and make plays in scramble drill deep downfield, things like that. Make him get rid of the ball quickly and hope that your guys can make the play on the ball. Yeah, look, I think getting pressure on Richardson this week is going to be,

Starting point is 00:24:48 you know, the biggest challenge and tasks there. I mean, when you look at the Colts in terms of what they've, Ben, they're seventh right now and sacks allowed on the year. They haven't allowed a lot this year. I think part of that is because of how big Anthony Richardson is. You know, he can escape some pressure and maybe fall forward past the line of scrimmage there. He's a big body guy. He's going to be hard to bring down.

Starting point is 00:25:07 But for Denver defensively, what they've seen a little bit more of this, something that Zach Allen told us on Monday when we checked in with him on a conference call, he said, we are now seeing more max protection. We're seeing extra chip protection. You know, there was one play where I saw, it wasn't Zach Allen. I think it was Nick Benito on one play against the Cleveland Browns had a tight end chip him,

Starting point is 00:25:31 had a running back Jerome Ford come up and chip him, and then you had to work against the offensive tackle after that. So Denver's pass rush is seeing a lot of extra chip looks here from opposing teams. How do you counter that? That to me is the question. I'm curious to see. And I think that's going to be a huge approach here from the Colts so they can specifically maybe get anti-

Starting point is 00:25:51 and Richardson going in the run game. I think if you're in any short yardage situations here, you got to watch out. Obviously, Jonathan Taylor, got to account from the run game. But primarily, I think short yardage, teams are going to say like, okay, you're going to prepare to stop Jonathan Taylor. That's where Anthony Richardson comes in with his legs and his mobility and his big body frame.

Starting point is 00:26:10 He's a mobile quarterback, not to the extent that he's super fast, he's big and he's going to be hard to bring down. So that short yarder situation, watch some quarterback design runs right there. That is the biggest threat. think the Broncos defensive you're going to face here in those situations. And I think we've got to make things very, very clear. The Colts run defense is awful. The Broncos run offense has been awful this year.

Starting point is 00:26:33 Denver's offense has to find a way to not be awful in the run department against an awful run d. And I think one example we saw, I thought Denver did a great job against the New Orleans Saints, who at one point I think were the 32nd ranked run defense going into that matchup. Denver took advantage of it. This is another opportunity for them to get the run game going. And I think the biggest question here, are we going to see the change from Sean Payton? Now that the biweek has happened, are we going to see a change in who gets carries and touches and what those roles may look like?

Starting point is 00:27:01 That's something I'm looking forward to seeing, maybe formulate a little bit here going into Sunday's game. Yeah, 100%. We need to see. I think you mentioned it or somebody mentioned it before, Cody, about Javante Williams taking on the Samajai P. Ryan role from last year, where, hey, we really kind of see him come into the game during two-minute drill or doing. like when the offense is trying to hurry up. When you're trying to run your regular offense, I think the top two guys have to be Audric Estimei and Jalil McLaughlin.

Starting point is 00:27:28 When we look back at the previous four games, the Denver Broncos have had, I can't reiterate this enough. In three of those games, Giovante Williams had a combined 13 carries for zero yards. The one game that he had, you know, really a good game was against Atlanta, 59 yards and a touchdown there.

Starting point is 00:27:46 But other than that, 23 of his last 29 games, Cody. I mean, we're talking about less than four yards per carry in 23 of 29 games dating back to last season. It's just not sustainable. And so I would say, hey, when you get into those situations where you know you're going to be throwing, Javante can do what he does best, pass protect, get out of the backfield and make a play in the passing game potentially, do those kinds of things because he is not bringing the juice in the running game. Now, of course, on Sunday, he could come out there and have 150 rushing yards and make me look stupid here.

Starting point is 00:28:19 But you know what I would say during the byweek is the ideal time to say, Adrick Estime, he's going to carry the full load with Jalil McLaughlin spelling him and Javante coming in during those obvious passing downs. It's going to be interesting to see what the Broncos end up doing because ultimately it could determine their playoff fate. Well, I want to use an example in the AFC West. Look at what the Indiana, not the Indianapolis, it's the Kansas City Chiefs recently did, right? When Isaiah Pacheco got hurt, they went to Kareem Hunt who saw what, times 25, 26 carries in a game.

Starting point is 00:28:52 And then now that Pacheco is back, Pacheco is getting the primary workload. I think in the last couple of games, I think Kareem Hunt has only had a handful of carries and overall touches. And then you get Samajai Piron with a couple of touches per game. You know, and that I think is where you see a team shift. Like, hey, we know this is our strength. We know what works.

Starting point is 00:29:12 We know what doesn't work. To me, I think that's where the Broncos have to kind of just bite it and say, hey, we've been trying this all season long. It hasn't worked. If we're going to make the postseason, we need to find a way to get the run game going. And we need to get this young guy who he keeps saying. We want to get more touches to get him the ball and see it through.

Starting point is 00:29:29 And I think that's going to be a huge key here for the Broncos going forward here. But Broncos country, Denver's got their first practice of the week here this afternoon on Wednesday. And then they'll practice Thursday and Friday before Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts. What you can expect, if you're an everyday listener outside of this show, you're going to get an NFL squad show where it's, AFC teams and NFC teams sat down to talk about the NFL playoff format. And on top of that, you're going to get a crossover Thursday with Sair and locked on Colts. And then we're going to get our final game previews, bold predictions, key matchups that will define the outcome of the game.

Starting point is 00:30:02 We're going to get all of that and much more on the next couple episodes here. Locked on Broncos. Broncos country. We'll see you then.

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