Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Must EXTINGUISH Indianapolis Colts, Daniel Jones' Hot Start

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

The Denver Broncos must extinguish the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones hot start in Week 2. How can Riley Moss, Nik Bonitto, Justin Strnad and others make an impact against the Colts on Sunday? Plus, can Bo Nix bounce back and will the run game with RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins take off and why must the Broncos offense be efficient against the Colts zone defense? Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025. DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. UpsideDon’t let this offer drive on by, download the free Upside app now using my limited time promo code TOUCHDOWN for a limited time 25 cent per gallon bonus! Offers vary by user and location, Go to upside.com for terms and conditions.Click Here to download the app: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2F Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Draft now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Denver Broncos have the tough task on their hand of reverting Daniel Jones back to default. We'll tell you how they could do it 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. Denver Broncos are bracing for Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colton. They'll have to try to find a way to revert Daniel Jones back to the default guy he was with the New York Giants. Welcome to a brand new episode of Lockdown Broncos, Your Daily. Denver Broncos podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, where you know Broncos country,

it's your team every day. A special shout out to all the everydayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet, never dare become one here today. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. Today's episode of shows brought to you by our 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 move and be moved. And exactly, we're going to be moved by talking about a lot of key things that if the Broncos are going to win on Sunday, they got to do this. We'll talk about why Riley Moss, Talanoa, Hufanga,

and several players on the Broncos defense are our players to watch here this week. We'll also go through and look at Bo Nix and the Broncos running backs being big catalyst for the reason they could win this game and what we need to see from them. But we're also going to go through our keys to Vos. victory and why the Broncos must hit that revert to default button here on Daniel Jones after an impressive week one that he had against the Miami Dolphins. Get all on the show here today. Sarah, my friend, let's jump into our players to watch.

I think we should probably start off on the defensive side of the ball here. I know everyone's looking for the offense. We'll talk about that here in a minute. But defensively, the Broncos, this is a unique matchup this week with all the playmakers that the Indianapolis Colts have. Who are your players that you have your eye on here in Sunday's game? Let's start off with a guy who was just an honorable mention player to watch last year. Justin Sternad, the linebacker, had five tackles against the Tennessee Titans, a pair of

quarterback hits, a sack, a tackle for loss, a partridge in a pear tree. Cody, Justin Sternad filled in very well for Dre Greenlaw, who, although there was optimism maybe early in the week based on what Sean Peyton had said at his Monday media availability, it doesn't seem like we're going to see Dreanlaw quite yet. So another healthy dose most likely of Justin. Sternad here in week two. Feel like he showed his playmaking ability big time. Jaday Barron had the fumble recovery at the end of the game,

showed some really good stuff, and we're able to go watch and dissect the film of this game, really effective when the Broncos brought him out there in that dime package. And you're going to need that against the Indianapolis Colts, right? So I've got those two guys, Justin Sernad, Jade, Barron. And then, of course, my final one, Jonah Ellis. He built off that great preseason that he had with a sack. in week one on quarterback Cam Ward, believing that he's going to continue to be a huge piece

of this past rush formula going forward. Well, and I like your picks too because I think it's going to be a big game here. Just as they're not, I mean, the Broncos linebacker is going to have their work cut out for them with the physical offensive line that we know the Colts certainly have led by Quentin Nelson, but Jonathan Taylor, you always have to worry about him. If they're going to try to get numbers on your nose tackles to work up to your second level, Justin Sternard is going to probably have a chance to have a high volume of plays inside the trenches there. And we'll see if that comes to fruition.

I like your pick of Jadae Barron as well because he played a little bit in the dime last week and who did he end up covering sometimes? It was Gunner Helm for the Tennessee Titans. Could we see Barron maybe matched up on Warren a little bit? I'll be curious about that because it really just depends on how is Vance Joseph trying to figure out what this matchup situation is going to be with all the receivers that the Colts have. I'm curious about where Zaday is going to fit and who he's going to match up against specifically. I thought he did a good job in the red zone goal line specifically against Tennessee. He took away Cam Ward's option on that Nick Benito sack that he had there.

So big plays by him early on. And of course, Jonah Ellis, who put the Tennessee Titans last week out of field goal range after they started in great field position. Jonah has had a heck of an offseason. I'm excited to see what he can do when he gets on the field in that rotation behind Cooper and Bonito. So Sarah, great players to watch here. I think all those guys are going to be under the spotlight as well. I'm going to go with my players to watch here. And we're going to start off first and foremost.

I think with Riley Moss, he's going to be the one guy I'm going to highlight here, specifically just because we don't know who Pat's tan is going to play. I imagine Pat's going to match up on Michael Pittman, but this might mean that Riley might see a matchup against Alec Pierce. It could be a Donnie Mitchell a little bit. Though I think Mitchell is going to probably be playing the slot a lot more. So Pierce could be the guy that Riley Moss sees some time begins. And look, obviously he's a speed guy.

Riley's got really good speed. I like the ability for him to match up right there. And we'll see how many times that the Colts and Daniel Jones looked to target away from Sartan, whether it be going against the nickel, or whether it goes against Riley Moss. I thought Moss stepped up last week in a big way, made some fantastic plays down the field in coverage against the Tennessee Titans, secondary receiver there.

So that's going to be something we watch. I think player number two defensively. Why don't we go with the guy who's the tone setter here? Tala Noah Hufanga. his first game, he was everything as advertised here for the Broncos defense, four tackles in the first Korean, and finishing the game with 11 tackles total. But anywhere the football was, he was there.

And more importantly, he knows when it go out there and try to make a play on the football. He forced the fumble there that Brandon Jones recovered. He's going to be big this week, I think specifically when we talk about maybe covering against Tyler Warren at times, or if they try to hand the ball off to Warren, could Hufanga be that equalizer there that sticks him in the backfield? Same exact thing. I think that when we look at Jonathan Taylor, his ability as a runner, you want all of your guys to be able to swarm around a ball carrier like that. Hufanga could be the guy that comes out and dislodges the football here once again.

He's my other watch. And then I'm going to go with the pass rusherser as well. I'm going to go with Nick Benito. The man was on fire in week one. Obviously, I think the very first play had a TFL in the backfield on a run that was designed to go away from him. The energy bringer, the tone setter right there off the edge. That's what you want to see with Benito. but also we talk about the nine pressures he had,

according to NFL next-gen stats on 22 rushing attempts. That is sicko mode right there. So can we see Nick Benito get more pressure here on Daniel Jones? We'll talk about our keys to victory later and why Daniel Jones may try to counteract Nick Benito and vice versa. We'll go through all of that. But Nick is my player to watch as well defensively off the edge.

Yeah, I love those picks. And I'll start with Riley Moss, just kind of vamping on that for a bit. Obviously, the Titans, they tested him a lot. and in a lot of different ways. And he made a lot of plays on the ball. So I know that was something that he was focused on this offseason is, hey, you know the ball is going to come your way.

Can you make a play on the ball? Can you go out there and actually take it away? So maybe that's something that we see this week is Riley. Obviously, he was able to break up some passes, some 50-50 balls deep down field. He maybe could take one away this week. I'll be looking forward to that. And then, of course, Nick Benito, how do you build on a performance in which you were just absolutely dominant, right?

I mean, you just, nobody could block him. And that's exactly what you want to continue to see going forward, but has it set an unrealistic standard in a way for what Benito is capable of doing. I hope that we can see him go out there. I mean, the production, freakish. Obviously, three quarterback hits led the team. A pair of tackles for loss led the team, had the sack, had, you know, he did everything. So can you do that type of thing again?

Then obviously, Hufanga, like you said, the tone setter, always around the football. He's going to be instrumental, Cody, at the time. The Broncos do want to go to those dime looks being able to defend against the run because obviously if you are in the dime, you only got one linebacker out there on the field. So Hufanga kind of almost and Brandon Jones as well kind of have to serve as those other guys that can come up and be physical in run support when you do go to those dime looks. I'll be curious to see how Vance Joseph balances his personnel looks, right? You know, sometimes you'll see him come out in base.

And a lot of teams now play base nickel defense with just five defensive backs. is this week where you could see the big nickel essentially. You could put a bigger body safety in there. You could even play in the big nickel. You could play Hufanga as your big nickel player if you wanted to and then maybe bring in another safety. Or you could even bounce one of your corners back to the safety position, which that would probably be Jada Baron.

But ideally, I'd say, why not just bring in PJ Locke at that standpoint? And PJ could even play the big nickel if you need them to. So I'm curious to see how the Broncos will try to counteract. A lot of the personnel that the Indianapolis culture try to throw out them. but those are our defensive players that we have our eyes on. Broncos country, make sure you let us know which defensive players you have your eye on in Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Coming up next, Sarah and I, we're going to dive through our offensive players to watch. We're going to tell you why success starts and ends with R.J. Harvey and J.K. Dobbins. We'll get to that and much more here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode is brought to you by our friends over there at DoorDash. It's almost the weekend. And time to look back at Crown this week's MVP on Who Delivered,

powered by DoorDash, just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash streaks, saving more every time that you ordered these players delivered when it mattered most. Let's break it down. For the Denver Broncos, R.J. Harvey delivered in a big way in Sunday's week one win against the Tennessee Titans. His 50-yard run helped wear down the Titans defense, and it gashed them when they had a one-point lead in the fourth quarter and it allowed J.K. Dobbins to rattle off a 19-yard touchdown that would help the Broncos

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Broncos country. We're breaking down offensive players to watch in week two as the Broncos take on the Indianapolis Colts. but quickly want to say thank you to all of you, everyday listeners of the show. We appreciate you for making us part of your day, however you choose to do so. If you haven't already,

hit subscribe wherever you listen as well as on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about your offensive players to watch here. I think you and I are kind of in agreement. After what we saw late last week against the Tennessee Titans, really want to see an emphasis on the running game. I know Sean Payton said as well early in his press conferences this week, man,

he's got to be better about calling those running plays early on. and getting these guys involved. So you and I do have a bit of a theme here in terms of our players to watch, but let's start off offensively for you. I know you teased it. Why is RJ Harvey kind of at the top of your list here of guys to watch in week two? Yeah, you mentioned it. The run game is crucial here.

And for RJ Harvey, man, he was the accelerator. The Energizer Bunny in that fourth quarter, his 50-yard run gave the Broncos offense life that they desperately needed in what was a one-point game at that point. The Broncos had a one-point lead before, obviously, a 50-yard run, then followed up by J.K. Dobbins, 19-yard touchdown run. RJ was the benefactor of it. Now, look, I think so much of the conversation this season and the off-season has been about the Broncos outside zone scheme.

I think we also should clarify this to Broncos fans is that you may come into a game saying, hey, the outside zone isn't going to work against a specific team. But for Sean Payton, he'll run outside zone, he'll run inside zone. And the difference between that, I mean, when you talk about a zone blocking scheme, it's all about getting to a specific spot, right? It's ideally and hoping that you're running back can see and make a cut, right? But it's the offensive line. You got to get to a landmark, you got to stay and sustain a block.

You got to look for your running back to find the hole and they hit it there. That's the difference between zone, whereas a gap scheme is more so, hey, we want to run it in the A gap. That's our spot. We're going to the A gap. We're going to the B gap. We're going to get to the outside. So the Broncos, they involve a lot of that, outside zone, inside zone. I think maybe this week we could see a little more.

gap where it's just RJ Harvey, A gap, we're going to open it up for you and we're going to try to get to the second level, get downhill, get five or six yards if you can. The Broncos had some runs like that. RJ is going to be a very big part of that this week here, Sarah. My second player to watch here, I'm going to stick with Troy Franklin for the second week in a row. Last week he had six targets overall for the Broncos.

And I felt like he did a really good job here of catching passes underneath. You know, the Broncos did some boot action stuff to him, but his yard after the catchability was something that we saw in week one. We didn't necessarily see the downfield stuff. Maybe that opens up a little bit this week, but I would expect a little bit more bread and butter because of what the Colts play defensively. We'll dive into the data on that.

I think this could be a big week here for Troy Franklin once again, where we could see a high volume of targets for him. But I think effectiveness is what we're going to see. Troy is going to be a guy. I think that Bo goes to quite a bit this week here. And then my third player to watch Evan Ingram, obviously has made it through the week of practice with the calf injury. I think a little bit more of a bone bruise

than it was anything muscular. So that's obviously good news. Was moving around great in Thursday's practice. Broncos practice here on Friday, and he's expected to be a full participant for the second consecutive day. He should not be limited. I would love to see the Broncos and Sean Payton. Go to him a little bit more.

Last week, we saw him, they went to him a couple of times. But he wasn't, there wasn't a large volume. There wasn't this emphasis of, hey, we brought in Evan Ingram. Let's get him the football. I want to see that this week against the Indianapolis Colts. He's your joker. Find a way to use him. because the other team that has a Joker and the Colts,

they're going to find a way to get Tyler Warren the football. I mean, he had a large volume of targets there in week one. Do the same thing here with Evan Ingram. Well, numbers help paint the story there a little bit, right? Tyler Warren had nine targets and a rushing attempt for the Colts in week one. Evan Ingram had four targets. So the Broncos obviously have to get him more involved and to even paint that picture further. Tyler Bade had six targets compared to Evan Ingram's four.

Wow. You've got to make sure that, yeah, Evan is the one that's getting the priority there. I mean, I know that they tried to get in the ball a couple of times and, you know, manufacture those touches. One of those plays was nearly picked off by Ammani Hooker, who in case anybody's thinking the Titans don't have good players defensively, I believe he just got a big time contract extension to stick around there as well,

right after that game, incidentally. So Broncos do need to get Evan Ingram more involved. I love your picks there, Cody. I think Troy Franklin. Let's see how Sean Payton does in terms of setting up the, the Colts with what he did last week. Now, you've given some looks on tape. How are you going to go ahead now and exploit maybe what they think is coming by giving them

something completely different? Like you mentioned, the downfield looks for Troy Franklin. And then the running backs. That's where I want to start off as well. I love your selection of RJ Harvey. I went with J.K. Dobbins as one of my top players to watch as well. The Broncos last week, they're running backs. The two new guys, the overhaul the position.

They had 87 yards after contact, according to pro football. reference last week. And that is awesome. That's exactly what we want to say. I know 50 plus came from RJ Harvey. He had a big run in which he was contacted before he broke free there. So a big chunk of that did come on one run. But we also saw yards after contact from J.K. Dobbins on his touchdown run and 19 yards out. So you need that from these guys. And you want to see like I saw the cameras. I don't know if you saw this during the game or the replay, Cody, but you see J.K. Dobbins doing the old Ezekiel Elliott like feed me sort of thing during the game. These guys are confident and they want to be the ones that dictate the pace of the game.

151 rushing yards from this team last week. Let's see if they can even improve on that. My number two player to watch and I guess there's the number one player to watch offensively every week, but we won't mention him every week is Bo Nix. Obviously three turnovers last week, the pair of interceptions, there's dirty hands on every interception, right? But last year against the Colts, like we've mentioned, a number of times, he also had three interceptions last year.

And it was not a great showing for him against this Colts defense. I realize there's new personnel. It's Lu Ana Rumo calling plays as opposed to Gus Bradley. I think obviously it's different and it's different personnel, different environment. But Bo has to be better about taking care of the ball and taking what the defense gives him. I love his confidence. He said like Tallanoa Hufanga was wearing the Bo Nix T-shirt, right? He's like, I would have probably not worn that shirt after the game that I had.

he's aware of what's going on. It's not like he's being flippant or apathetic towards his performance. He understands he has to be better. I think he will be. The other is the interior offensive line. Way too much pressure being given up by these guys. Luke Wattenberg got absolutely wrecked on that fourth and short play in which the Broncos were trying to pick up a quarterback sneak.

He got bowled over a couple of other times during the game. It feels like we've been talking about Ben Power since the preseason Cody. I don't know. I'm not really confident in those two guys in particular on the the offensive line. So they need to bounce back in the big way. And we'll see how maybe they can compliment one another as well. Look, I think if one guy struggles, look, I go back to Lloyd Cushenberry's rookie season. Remember, guard play next to him was rough. He struggled and it made the guard struggle. And it made vice versa. Like it trickled down the

offensive line. I haven't been worried about Quinn or Mike McGlinchie or Garrett Bulls, but you could definitely say the left side interior has been a target spot for opposing defenses dating back to what we've seen in the NFL preseason, what we've seen. far here in week one. You look at the personnel. De Forest Buckner, he's obviously going to be a guy you have to watch out for. Samson, Ebukam as well, who had three quarterback hits last week for the Colts defense and a sack.

And you got Zaire Franklin at the inside linebacker. The guy is an absolute missile. He's very athletic. You got guys like Kenny Moore. They'll bring some safeties here. The offensive line, I think just the communication is going to be part of it. And I think as well, we saw some play clock issues for the Broncos where they're not getting a snap off till one second.

Sarah, the defense is looking directly behind the QB. They see the play clock right behind them too. So when they see it at one, it helps them time their snaps. So can the Broncos get up to the line of scrimmage and with these guys, the Interior O'Linex's, the J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey's, the Bo Nix's. Can they get the playoff where it's like 10 seconds or 13 seconds instead of it being final second, boom, because then it makes it easier for the defense. I think that'll be a very big key here if the Broncos hope to have success offensively

here this week. There is a sense of urgency. I'll say the energy at practice has been good this week. They've been locked in on that side of the ball. And the challenge that the Colts defense is going to present to them is something that they have struggled with early on here through week one of the NFL season. We're going to go through our keys to victory and how the Broncos can get Daniel Jones to revert back to the New York Giants version of himself.

You'll get that more 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, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week's moment that moved the game forward was Nick Benito coming up big for the Denver Broncos nine pressures on 22 quarterback rushes a sack. His impact helped the Broncos defense, Fluster Cam Ward, and his rookie debut,

welcoming him to the National Football League. 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 Mazda vehicle. Mazda move and be moved. It's time to hand out our keys to victory that the Denver Broncos is going to be successful on Sunday against the Colts in week two to improve to 2 and O, not only to start the season, but in conference play where everything matters down the end stretch of the season. When we talk about tiebreakers, this is an area the Broncos struggle with last year. Can this be a benefit for the initial?

Well, 2&O star would certainly be just that. Thanks to all the everydayers first listeners in Broncos country once again for making us. a big part of your day every single day. Sarah, let's get into our keys to victory here. Let's start off with your side of the ball. The Broncos are going to leave Lucas Oil Stadium with a victory. What is it that they have to do? Yeah, I think offensively you want to play a mistake-free football, right?

I mean, and every phase of the game, he want to play mistake-free football. Of course, last week was an embarrassment for the Broncos in terms of you had three turnovers offensively. You had a muffed punt. and then you had the two failed conversions on fourth down. I mean, it just simply doesn't lend itself towards any sort of long-term success. That's why I think a lot of fans this week are concerned about the long-term outlook for the team

is because they did effectively turn the ball over six times. I mean, I know there weren't six giveaways, but six turnovers if, you know, and then also obviously the situation before halftime. So it really comes down to can you play a mistake-free football and force the issue. That's my second key. Force the issue on defense. You want to obviously win the turnover

battle every single week, but forcing the issue on defense means making Daniel Jones make snap decisions with the football, forcing them to have mental errors, drops like we saw against the Tennessee Titans. You have to dictate this entire game. You have to get into their head. You have to be the one that's pushing back the line of scrimmage. Force the issue on defense. And then special teams or the third key is really adjusting your strategy after week one. I thought Sean Payton made an interesting point, Cody, in terms of the kickoff rules and how it plays into field position immediately. And obviously, this applies after halftime as well.

But think about it this way. And this is what he talked about. You start off by kicking the ball off. If you get the ball at the 35-yard line on a touchback, effectively, you've already won the field position battle in the first half because you could gain nothing and punt in the other teams inside the 15. they're starting with bad field position. You started with good.

So it could adjust whether or not teams take the ball to start games as opposed to deferring to the second half. Be interested to find out what kind of differences they have in terms of strategy, as well as kicking the ball in play at the end of half situation. Yeah. Also with how good Denver's defense has been, is that the gamble that special teams and Rizzi says, like, you know, hey, we love our defense. Let's try to pin them back further. Whereas if you were going to just try to kick it out of bounds, they want to take the touchback,

you know, do you have confidence? Is that just like, yeah, we're okay with you taking the ball at the 35. We believe in our defense. That, I think, is going to play an interesting role in those discussions and things like that, but the coverage teams have to be better. I love the fact that the return is back in the game, though. That's a very, very sweet subject for me here, Sarah. In terms of my keys to victory here, let's start off with the Broncos offense. I think that efficiency against the Indianapolis Colts zone defense is going to have to be a key. It was an issue for Bow Nix against the Colts last year, though, as you mentioned, a different defensive coordinator. However,

However, Lou Anoruma, if we look at the data, according to our friends over there at True Media, in week one, the Indianapolis Colts defense against the dolphins on 46 coverage plays. They played 76.1 percent of their defensive snaps in zone coverage, and that's a variation of cover two, cover three. Some quarters coverage where they're protecting deep, but primarily cover two, cover three, and cover six, which is a variation of cover two and cover three. So they're really all about maybe disguising and passing off vertical routes, having a cornerback sit underneath. And what also I think is important to point out here, third down,

right? This is obviously going to be the money down here for the Broncos offensively. According to true media, the Colts played cover two and cover three, 21.3 percent on third down. So they're going to try to play the sticks, force you, they're going to drop six or seven defenders back. They're going to force you to throw the ball short. And then they trust their linebacker, safeties, and cover guys to rally and tackle to force the stops there. So where can you find your spots against zone coverage? This is going to be big for Bo Nix and the offense. You know what helps running the football?

It opens things up a little bit. So we'll see if that comes to fruition. Defensively, I've said it all show long. You have to find a way to make Daniel Jones revert back into his old self. However, Daniel Jones against the Blitz set a new career high this past week against the Miami Dolphins. He was 11 of 17 on 18 blitzes last week. 11 of 17 for a buck 47, a 92 passer rating. and an average time to throw of 2.38 seconds.

So for him against the Dolphins rush and blitz, he was getting the ball out of his hands quickly. We know the Broncos. They love to blitz. They love to send a lot of pressure. He's going to try to do the same exact thing. And that's where I kind of think it kind of plays into, can you tighten up your coverage a little bit?

I want to go to Broncos cornerback Riley Moss who talked about Daniel Jones this past week when we caught up with him in the locker room. He's pretty dialed, I would say. You know, we have to be good on our end in terms of eliminating and big, big plays, staying on top of routes and eliminating that. And then early, you know, try and eliminate the run game as well, make them pass it. That's going to be a big key here, Sarah, for the Broncos defensively this week.

And it kind of plays into their hands a little bit. They want to dictate what Daniel Jones in the offense says. You don't want Daniel Jones and them to dictate it as well. We know the Broncos, they had a little bit of a struggle last year. They were almost a Jonathan Taylor fumble away from being down three possessions there late in the third quarter. That changed everything. My third and final key to victory, though, as we talk about right here, it's win the turnover battle.

Last week was a very rare anomaly. The Broncos, they lost the turnover battle, but they still won. Teams last week who won the turnover battle or eight and one overall. That one was the Denver Broncos. So you don't want this to be a trend. You want to obviously protect the football offensively, and you want to take it away defensively. But I don't think the Broncos this week,

if they got put in the same situation where they're turning the football over and they lose the turnover battle, they give up the field position they did like they did against Tennessee. I don't think this would be a week where you necessarily translate that into yet another win, even though you lose the turnover battle. You can't do this against some of the better teams here in the National Football League. No, you can't. And you can't sustain any sort of success when you are losing the giveaway, takeaway battle.

I mean, it just doesn't work out. Like you mentioned, it was a complete anomaly this weekend. Thankfully, the Broncos were playing at home. Thankfully, they were playing against a rookie quarterback. Thankfully, his receivers dropped a lot of passes. Thankfully, they also had some timely stops. I mean, there was a lot of, you know, what, look, we point back to a number of things you can say it's lucky. I don't think the Broncos were, you know, luckier than they were good last week.

I think that would diminish the defensive performance, right? But at the same time, you can't rely on those things happening every single week. I know we joked about it in 2023, where they were turning the ball over, what, six times a game or something like that for a stretch of time. And we kept on saying week after week, hey, eventually that's not going to happen. You're going to have to win a game some other way. And eventually it did. And it cost them the playoffs that year. So when you're talking about this team sustaining success going forward, those six

giveaways by the offense slash muffed punt and then the seventh where you're gifting three points before the half, that kind of stuff is not sustainable. And that they know that. That's why we say they have to play mistake-free football and force the issue against Daniel Jones, who Cody, he came into the league in 2019, first round pick of the Giants. He's had 73 turnovers in that time. I mean, and he didn't have one in week one. So I guess you could say he's due. Now, yeah, for Daniel, we hope that for him, he's turned the proverbial corner that he

can revive his career. I don't like the way things went down for him with the Giants. I don't think they put enough around him there. But this week, when he's playing the Broncos, he's got to suck. He's got to be bad out there. We want him to be bad. We want him to be the 73 turnovers guy. If you go throughout the course of the season and you lose to Daniel Jones,

what does that say about you? You lost to Daniel Jones? I mean, no offense to the guy. I do hope he's turned the corner. I hope he can have a Sam Donald-like resurgence, make a bunch of money this offseason. But against the Broncos, he's got to look like the guy that we've seen for the last six years.

Yeah, I'm curious to see how the Broncos approach, how they play him, especially in third-down situations, third and short, he'll do a QB keeper. He'll do a QB draw. He can get to the outside.

He's very much a wet- weapon with his leg still. That's been a big factor throughout his career. And, you know, he's a guy who can obviously get the ball to his hands quickly. So you have to factor in what he can do, Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, Michael Pittman. I mean, the weapons that they have in Indianapolis, it's crazy. And you know what? It's a hostile territory for the Broncos. Can they go out there in Indianapolis? Can I find a way to get a big AFC win? That's going to be a big key here this week. Broncos country, feel free to send in your keys to victory. Give us three as you watch today's show here. Lockdown Broncos. With that said, that'll wrap up today's episode.

Broncos Country, Sarah and I, we will be back with you following the Broncos game on Sunday against the Colts. Hopefully, we can have another Victory Monday episode here with a 2-0 Broncos start. You get us for the post-game coverage and more here on the locked on Broncos podcast. Broncos Country. We'll see you then.