Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Facing URGENCY To Correct Issues After Colts Loss

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are in a race to improve and correct the issues that plagued them late against the Indianapolis Colts. We'll talk about that and more from the South stands 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. The Denver Broncos are back at the team facility on Monday to get the nasty taste of Sunday's loss out of their mouse. And there is a race to improve here, as Sean Payton told us, in his month. Monday conference call. Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know it's your team every day. Thanks to all the every dayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:00:47 However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet never dare become one. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. And on today's episode of the show, a bonus episode for everyone in Broncos country, we're going to go through Aftermath Monday here following the Broncos loss to the Colts on Sunday. We'll go through why the Broncos are in a race to improve. starts with the defensive side of the ball after where they allowed a massive output to Daniel Jones and the Colts plus can Sean Payton's young team figure out how to bounce back after a gut-wrenching performance on Sunday. We'll go through all that here on today's episode of the show. Let's dive deep into it here. Let's open things up here. Broncos head coach Sean Payton had a conference

Starting point is 00:01:26 call on Monday. We always call it Aftermath Monday following any time that the Broncos play. Win, loss, you name it. We hear from Sean. We hear from a handful of players. here. Ultimately, when we look back at Sunday's game, the Broncos defense was definitely the sore subject of the entire game. I think even in the aftermath, the post-24-hour rule, you look back, and there are a lot of concerns about how the defense played giving up over 470 yards to Daniel Jones and that Indianapolis Colts offense. I came away after doing it in all-22 film breakdown on Mile High Sports. I came away with the impression this Colts team is a lot better than people are giving them credit for or thought that they were going to be before the season.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Their offensive line seems to be clicking on all cylinders right now. And Daniel Jones has playmakers around him where he was getting the ball out of his hands quickly. We got a chance to catch up with Broncos' defensive end. And obviously, Zach Allen, you know, one of the guys who's just such an impact player here on the defense. We caught up with him in terms of the pass rush in terms of them not being able to get after Daniel Jones as much on Sunday. Only one sack by the Broncos defense is Zach Allen worried at all? Yeah, I mean, I think when you watch the film, you know, a lot of block-up shots, which, you know, teams are probably not going to just let us, you know, just rush four and they're only going to protect us with five. A lot of teams are going to do that.

Starting point is 00:02:43 And, yeah, I mean, you know, ball was out quick. I made the hill throws. And, yeah, I'm not worried about the pass rush. You know, I think, obviously, we won't special with six sacks. But, you know, it's, I would love for it to be like that every week, but that's just not the case. But I think when you watch the film, there are some guys are still rushing well. It's just, you know, ball out quick stuff like that. So there's a lot of things that go into sacks and, you know, we'll, you know, we'll be fine.

Starting point is 00:03:13 I'm not worried about this group. And yeah, I'm not necessarily worried about the pass rush either. And I think Zach makes a lot of great points right there. I still, once again, got to go back to giving credit to the Indianapolis Colts offensive line, what they were able to do. Let's go into some next gen stats from Sunday's game here that really kind of paint the picture about Daniel Jones, his efficiency, and more importantly, the Broncos trying to get pressure on him here. According to NFL Next Gen stats, Daniel Jones was blitz on a career high, 71.1% of his dropbacks on Sunday and completed 16 of his 25 attempts while facing five or more pass rushers for 265 yards and a touchdown,

Starting point is 00:03:50 which was the fourth most passing yards against the Blitz in any game in the NFL Next Gen Stats era since 2016. Jones attempted 10 passes into tight windows, completing six of them for 100 yards. So he was blitzed on 71.1% of his dropbacks. The Broncos really wanted to try to get after Daniel Jones. As we mentioned in our keys to victory coming into the game last week, you have to find a way to get after him. Denver was not able to do that because of how quickly he was able to get the ball

Starting point is 00:04:19 out of his hands and he was accurate. He knew exactly where he was going. That's frustrating right there. but also this statistic from NFL next gen stats is also mind boggling as well because the Broncos, they deployed man blitzes. So they played man coverage while sending it blitz on 52.6% of their pass snaps in coverage on Sunday. The second highest rate by any team since the start of last season, and they allowed the most passing yards against man blitz,

Starting point is 00:04:47 206 yards specifically on Sunday of any team since at least 2016. So for Vance Joseph, a high variation of, of we want to send pressure and we're going to play man-to-man coverage. Well, when pressure is not getting home, that makes it so tough on your cornerbacks. It makes it tough on everybody else. And the Colts were so effective against it. This is going to be something that Justin Herbert and the Chargers look to capitalize on as well. Let's also take a look at it right here.

Starting point is 00:05:12 The Broncos have utilized the highest man blitz rate, 24.7 percent since 2024 began, but they generated the ninth lowest pressure rate, 39.4 percent and allowed the third highest completion percentage of 64.3% on a minimum of five plays on such plays in that time frame. So what we've seen, and I think this goes back to last year and the big explosive plays giving up, the Broncos playing man coverage, sending pressure, it's not getting home in time, and teams are trying to protect against that by getting the ball out quickly. That is problematic and more importantly, it was problematic for what had happened in terms of first down efficiency by the Colts where the Broncos defense allowed 9.8 yards per play on first down.

Starting point is 00:05:56 That really handcuffs you defensively from a personnel standpoint. That's not a trend that you want to continue. And that's why I think there's this race. There's this urgency here to improve. And that's something that Sean Payton got into. But let's also talk about this as well. Zach Allen, a leader of this team talked about how the team and how he is a veteran can help the team bounce back after a tough loss like Sundays.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Yeah, no, I mean, we got a good group. I mean, last year, you know, we had a couple tough losses that you saw. We bounced back and won those games after. So it's a mature group. And, yeah, guys handled it the right way today. So we're, you know, we're on to the chargers now. And, you know, we saw the mistakes and corrected them. And, you know, hopefully we don't make them again.

Starting point is 00:06:40 And I've made note of this, too. I see this team. I see that they have this professional demeanor about them. You know, guys are very much all about improving. And that's what you want. There are some locker rooms where guys take film rooms or like the day after a game when you're in film and you're going through everything that went right and went wrong. When guys make a mistake, they get defensive about it.

Starting point is 00:06:59 I don't think that there are many guys like that inside this Broncos locker room. And that's a good sign here. And so hopefully you can carry over these improvements against the chargers, which Zach Allen also talked with us about just the respect that the team has for them. And they're excited for a matchup against their divisional rival here this Sunday. Yeah, no, we, like I said, we watched the film earlier. You know, we'll get those corrections made. Just, you know, follow our assignments, follow our reads.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And then, yeah, you know, watch Chargers game tonight and, you know, really start game planning Wednesday for it. So, you know, we know, you know, the kind of challenges they bring. You know, they're a hell of a team we saw last year. You know, they started off really hot this year. So it's going to be a challenge and we got a lot of respect for them. So, but we're excited for the challenge. Justin Herbert and that Chargers team are going to be a tough matchup here for this Broncos team going into next week.

Starting point is 00:07:51 And look, there is a sense of urgency, as I would say here early on in the season as Sean Payton will tell you here in a little bit later, a race to improve early on, especially with these conference matchups and division matchups on the road. You have to come up big here when it matters most. And that's going to be a big test here for the Broncos on Sunday. But Broncos country coming up next, we're going to hear from Broncos head coach Sean Payton who talked about the teams need to be able to bounce back. from a tough loss like this against the Indianapolis Colts. You'll hear that. And you'll hear Sean Payton's thoughts on how the Broncos struggled on defense here on today's episode of the show.

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Starting point is 00:11:10 and bounce back quickly against the Los Angeles Charters in week three. But before you can get to week three, you have to go through and you have to find ways to improve. And certainly the Broncos defense is one of those areas as we highlighted on early on in the show, some of the staggering numbers that Daniel Jones had against this defense despite the pressure rate. But more importantly, the biggest thing that stood out to Sean Peyton was how the Broncos defense played on first down, allowing 9.8 yards per playing on top of that, allowing teams to score for two weeks in a row in their opening possession, Sean Payton expressed his concern.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Well, look, the average 9.8 yards on first down. They obviously came out prowing to run. We busted some fire zone coverages. You know, late in the game, we did a better job of peeling on the running back in certain looks. But early in the game, you know, we've got we've got the runner coming out of the backfield uncovered. It's the second week in the row that we've allowed points on the first drive of a game.

Starting point is 00:12:11 that's concerning. And this is something that's going to have to get fixed because as I mentioned earlier, what we learned from next gen stats, if you're going to pressure and send guys on a blitz to try to get after quarterbacks, if that's not happening, you have to adjust your game plan. And so I think that conversation will obviously happen between he and Vance Joseph to defensive staffs.

Starting point is 00:12:29 I think position specific guys as well, including inside linebacker. That is an area that got attacked a little bit here in Sunday's game. So a lot to improve on. But I think those numbers on first down, 9.8. eight yards per play. That's almost like expecting that you're never going to get a stop. I mean, that right there is ridiculous efficiency.

Starting point is 00:12:49 And that's something I think the Broncos offensively should strive for. The Broncos offense was not the issue really in this game. Yes, they had some mistakes. They had some issues of their own, but they did everything that they can to make sure that the team should have been in position to win this game. 28 points scored on the road, efficiency all across the board. The defense suffered a massive letdown here in this game on Sunday. And that's one thing that Sean talked about. But when you have a letdown and you have a type of game like this where everything kind of goes against you late, you have all these mistakes that set you back and then you lose on a heartbreaker that was a last second field goal,

Starting point is 00:13:23 the Broncos have been in this position before last year against the Kansas City Chiefs, has Sean and his experience of being a coach? And obviously a tenured coach at that, how can he use his experience to help this young team that he still has, still young folks, despite the strides that they make, how can he teach them and how can he utilize his experiences to help these guys bounce back? So many of them happen in our league because the games are so close. You know, they're often one in two-minute drills. And so I think of that coming in in the morning. I think of that. I'll think of that Tuesday before Wednesday's team meeting.

Starting point is 00:14:03 You know, how to shed one that doesn't affect another. but I think both correct. It's a long season. And today's the day, though, that, man, we really got to not miss out on the opportunity to correct and not miss out on the opportunity to recognize maybe why. And then later in the week, the refocus on an important division game. You have to find a way to correct these issues and you can't let them build up from turning into one game to the next. And I think that's a great point there, especially what Bo Nick said in his press conference on Sunday is you can't let one loss turn into two because the schedule gets definitively tougher here for the Broncos going down the stretch here because even though that Joe Burrough is going to be out quite some time, the Bengals are still going to be a dangerous team. Jake Browning has been in that system for quite some time.

Starting point is 00:14:56 You don't want to look too far ahead to Monday night football. You know how tough of a team the Los Angeles charges are and you have to get that nasty taste out of your mouth on the road against them, a team that swept the Broncos last season. season. So the stakes are higher and then it just gets tough for there. The Philadelphia Eagles and you got to go to London and you got to come back and face two teams that just had one of the high scoring shooters. We've seen a recent memory in the NFL between the Giants and the Cowboys. So the Broncos had to find a way to stop the bleeding here early on and not let this grow into something that could clot up for them and cause issues down the road. Broncos country, that'll wrap up today's bonus episode of the show here on the lockdown podcast network where you know

Starting point is 00:15:34 it's your team every day. We appreciate you so much for tuning in. If you love to show if your brand new viewer or listener. Do us a favorite Broncos country. Hit this subscribe button. Share this podcast with someone that you know who's a Broncos fan that may not know about us. Help us continue to grow this awesome community that we have. Tomorrow's episode is going to be a little bit more mailbag-centric. Sarah Bedinger, myself.

Starting point is 00:15:52 We're going to sit down. We're going to talk a lot about where is Evan Ingram? Sean Peyton brought him in to be the Joker. But why isn't Sean using it? We'll discuss all that. And more on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Facing URGENCY To Correct Issues After Colts Loss

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