Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Prepare to Take On Chiefs With or Without Star Players

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

The Denver Broncos and head coach Sean Payton are preparing for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs whether it's against starters or backups. Which starters might Denver have to prepare for even if the Chiefs play their backups? Can the Broncos defense get after Carson Wentz and avoid giving up the plays they've allowed lately? Plus, Payton reflected on whether or not he should have gone for two points against the Cincinnati Bengals and their coverage. 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!PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL 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. FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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 are preparing to play the Kansas City Chief starters or their backups. Corny head coach Sean Payton, it doesn't matter. We'll tell you why we agree with that 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. Hey, what's happy to Broncos country. Welcome into another episode of Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day where you know you're going to get daily

objective coverage of all things, Orange, Blue, the best coverage analysis and more that you're going to get every single day all year long. Thanks so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos Country. Thanks for making us your first listen. You make the show exactly what it is. I'm Cody Work, Broncos Beat Reporter for Mile High Sports. Join, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert, predominantly orange.com. And here's what you can expect on today's episode of the show.

Broncos Country. We're going to take a look and wrap things up today by looking at the state of the AFC. We're going to look at the playoffs scenarios, not only for Denver, but for a couple of the teams that are right behind them that are trying to climb up to upend Denver, who's currently still in that seven seed as it currently stands. We also go back, Sean Payton met with the media on Monday, and he addressed maybe his thoughts on the two-point conversion decision that he made or didn't make there, and also the Broncos past coverage.

But we're going to kick things off on today's episode of show by talking about this Chiefs game that's coming up on Sunday 2.25 p.m. Mountain Time kickoff, Jim Nance, Tony Romo on the call and the Broncos. They're preparing for the Chiefs, whether it's the starters, whether it's the backups to Sean Payton. It doesn't matter. And it really doesn't, obviously, because you want to make sure you just go out and take care of business in this game. Either way, the Broncos have proven earlier this year that they can play with the Kansas City Chiefs starters. And we've seen that. So although right now the confidence isn't overly high in Broncos country,

Cody, we've seen this Denver team have Kansas City kind of a fish in a barrel there with a 35-yard field goal attempt to potentially win the game in Kansas City. Now, obviously, that kick was blocked. And we can't say the Broncos have already beaten the Kansas City Chiefs this season. But oddly enough, might have played into Denver's favor here as the Chiefs may rest starters. Now that they've already locked everything up heading into week 18, if they had a second loss, might have something to play for at this point. So that, I don't know, I guess maybe you could kind of look at it that way, a little bit, a little stroke of good fortune for the Broncos in that way.

But all the reports do seem to indicate Cody that the chiefs will bench starters, although Andy Reid himself, he said he hasn't addressed the team about this yet. So he wasn't going to be saying anything definitively as of Monday. But I think at this point, we've heard enough rumors to the contrary. Like Patrick Mahomes likely not playing it. And even I've heard some stuff, Cody, where like I think it was Peter Schrager or Adam Shefter, one of those two guys said that we can maybe even expect to see a little bit of Chris, a lot of Coon, the practice squad quarterback.

I don't know how you say his last name, but there's a potential that he gets called up and play some snaps in this game as well. I feel like it would be very interesting to see how it all formulates because, look, it's not like the preseason, you know, have 90 players on the sidelines. So I think while key starters will rest, there will still be some starters for Kansas City on offense and on defense that we'll be playing. I just think that when we take a look at it, maybe on offense, Patrick Mahomes, probably Isaiah Pacheco.

Travis Kelsey, does DeAndre Hopkins or Hollywood Brown play in this game? Do those guys kind of come out there defensively? George Carl Loftus. You look at Chris Jones, Trent McDuffie. Do those guys play in this game? What about Nick Bolton at the inside linebacker position? Like, you can't rest every starter because you don't have enough guys on the roster to be able to do that.

And, you know, especially without going in and testing the back end of your death, some starters are going to have to play. So regardless, the Bronzer. They do not care. Sean Payton doesn't care about that. We met with him on Monday, and we kind of talked about it. He addressed maybe the team's approach this week when there is a scenario where a team who may have the first round by clinched. They have the number one seat clenched where they may rest starters in what they believe for those guys to be a meaningless week 18 game for the Broncos.

Not meaningless. Everything's on the line here this week. Here's what Sean Payton had to say. I don't know that it changes the game plan because I don't know that. don't know that it changes the game plan because the scheme's still the same, but they have to approach it. Like, you're seeing starters at these positions. Obviously, NFL rosters are, you know, it's not like you have a college roster and I've been in this position before on the other side of it. So I think you're looking at the scheme relative to the game plan and then planning on,

planning on seeing the player that you're watching on film. And if someone else is in that spot, then so be it. Kind of sounds like Sean might be a little under the weather there, Cody, obviously as the Broncos approach week 18, you want to have all hands on deck. And that includes your head coach who has some adjustments to be made. But of course, we know that in a situation like this, like he said, he's been on the other side of situations like this, as well as in this position. And I think having a head coach that's able to prepare a team for any eventuality is huge for the Denver Broncos. For this young team to know, like, hey, you might be going up against Mahomes and Kelsey and all of them for

a drive, a quarter, an entire game. But also, you've got to take care of business, no matter who shows up out there. This is on us to go out and make the plays. And I think Sean talked about that too when he said he likes the grid of this team. He thinks they're going to respond well because, well, we've seen that happen over the course of this season.

Pretty much every time this team loses a game or two, they do go on a little bit of a winning streak there. So hopefully they respond in a similar way here after the losses against the Chargers and the Bengals. Yeah, and I think it's great that you made point about the resiliency and the grid of this team Look, I've seen it.

I've been in the locker room with these guys after, you know, a loss where it is dead silent. Like you hear a pin drop on the floor in the locker room. And then the next week it's, hey, we come out here. We take care of business. It is a week-to-week league, as we always say. And unfortunately, for two weeks, the Broncos haven't been playing their best brand of football. They haven't been, especially on the defensive side of the ball. But they're close.

They're in games. They've got to find a way to finish. They couldn't do it against the charters. They couldn't do it against the Bengals. And that definitely matriculated, I think, into two losses at this point. But, you know, I think as this team goes through and prepares, you know, Sean said something along the lines of, you know, prepare for the scheme relative to what they do. And if the player happens to be different, so be it, I still have a hard time thinking that Carson Wentz is going to play a very similar style of football that Patrick Mahomes does at that point. The thing with Wentz is that he is a former quarterback who's got starting experience in the league.

He's athletic. I think he's in a system that probably benefits him well there in Kansas City. So even though it's like, oh, Carson Wentz, you know, career backup now at this point, he's still a guy that can hurt you. And so I'm very curious to see maybe how the game plan might change, knowing that, hey, he could get some snaps and how does the offense run with Carson in the mix? Part of me wonders if it's going to be a little bit of a quick passing approach here by the Chiefs offense, which the defense is going to have to be ready for.

They are rally and tackle. And I think that does play into Denver's favor a little bit because I think you'll see the chiefs get into some second in long third and long situations. And they may have to push the ball down field a little bit. But I think this game is where it's all about field position. If your offense for Denver is still struggling a little bit, hey, pin this Chief's team back as deep as you possibly can. Because with backups going against starters, potentially,

of course, we don't know this definitively just yet. But the idea of backups going up against starters, you want to give those guys as long of a field as possible. It gives you a little bit more margin for error as a defense. because like you said, and like everybody's been saying, the Chiefs, they're still pros, even their backups. I mean, like Sean said, it's not a college roster. This isn't a situation where the walk-ons and the red shirts and the gray shirts are getting a chance to get some experience. So these are guys who can legitimately play. Even guys on Kansas City's practice squad, like they can probably play, obviously. So I think there's a chance here that the Broncos can, you don't want to overlook the situation that you're in.

You want to go out and you want to be the aggressor. How many times we talked about, that this season. Go out, be the aggressor, be the one that kind of puts the foot on the throat a little bit. You dictate, you dictate time of possession, you dictate pace of the game, you dictate, okay, we're going to get out to an early seven-nothing lead. We're going to make sure we get stops defensively after we get scores offensively. Like, be in that sort of situation because that's what good teams will do in this sort of situation. You know, I kept thinking about it as well, like from a schematic standpoint, Steve Spagnolo defensively isn't going to change how he's going to call a game to.

So what can we expect to see maybe on second down, third down? Remember, third down, double A gap blitzes from the inside linebackers. They did a lot of that in that first matchup in Kansas City and set the Broncos back on two occasions, Bo Nix getting sacked for big losses there. You're going to have to a game plan for that. Also, I think we look at it for Kansas City's offense. If Isaiah Pacheco doesn't play, well, you're going to see plenty of Kareem Hunt, who produced relatively well for the Chief's offense when Isaiah Pacheco was out with an injury.

And then some Ajip Ryan will probably play in this game unless they want to rest those guys and maybe call up a practice squad running back. I don't know who's on their roster right now, but that's something we'll look at as the week kind of formulates here. This isn't going to be a cakewalk here for the Broncos. I know the lines have them at what, nine and a half, 10 point favorites in this game, but it's also kind of dangerous because we don't know what Broncos team is going to show up. We don't know what Kansas City team is going to show up as well.

So a little bit of a mystery that we'll be following along with here all throughout the entire week. We'll keep you covered here locked on Broncos. We'll give you updates from practice. You get a crossover show as well. But regardless, win, win, win. That's got to be the mentality here for this Broncos team this week, regardless of who they play. And that's the approach that they are taking. We also continue to catch up with Sean Payton on his weekly Monday press conference. And he addressed some of the things as to whether or not he second guessed himself on the decision to go for two or to not go for two. And he also touched on the Broncos coverage and some of issues in the secondary. We'll break that down and much more here on today's episode,

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That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos have to win against the Kansas City Chiefs in week, Week 18 to make sure that they're not after the season looking back at the chance to gain two yards to potentially make the playoffs. How much is Sean Payton already second guessing that decision or thinking about it or dwelling on it? Well, he mentioned that to the media on a Monday conference call. And Cody and I are going to break down what he said and kind of talk about that situation one more time before we go on with the previewing of this Kansas City Chiefs game in week 18. But Broncos country, thanks so much for making lockdown Broncos, your first listen of the day.

day every single day. We appreciate all you every dayers out there, as well as all of those of you that subscribe to the show and don't miss a single episode. We see you in the comment section. We feel the love on Twitter X threads wherever you may be. Appreciate all of you so much for doing that. Cody, let's talk about what Sean Peyton had to say regarding this because I think it's valid when we talk about the fact that, man, after this season is over, the last thing we want to be doing is looking back at this Bengals game and thinking, man, if they had gone, on for two and gotten it. You just never know what could happen,

even if they didn't get it. At least we would know that they went for it, right? They tried. They were the aggressor, as we just mentioned in the previous segment. That's the last thing you want to be thinking about after week 18, if you do end up somehow losing to Kansas City. And I think obviously Sean Peyton has now had time to dwell on that.

Yeah, and look, obviously, you know, after the game, you and I didn't shy away from, you know, giving Sean Payton some criticism for the decision not to go for two, but also for some of the conservative play calling that we saw there in overtime, some of the decision makings that we saw late in the fourth quarter.

You know, we talked about that. And it's crazy how some people misconstrue what we say is if we want to have fired. Like, absolutely not. What Sean Payton has done to change the culture for Denver has been incredible. He's not, like, incapable of being on the receiving end of criticism. Like that's our job as media is to, hey, criticize things and also highlight the good that he's done. But never are you going to get us on here calling for him to be fired. So the people that are insinuating that we've ever said.

that. Go back and listen. The comprehension is super important. We've never said that. Sean has done a terrific job, but he's also got his faults, right? And I think that's something that you can acknowledge. You can acknowledge the good. You can acknowledge the bad for some reason that doesn't get talked about enough. And so I think as a coach to insert, this is something I always thought about. I was a defensive coordinator, right?

So some of the things I always thought of 24 hours, 48 hours after a game, never really right after a game, never thought about this. But you go back and you watch the film and you see how things go. sometimes as a coach you second guess yourself and you're like okay based on this situation should I have done this instead should I've called this place should I have approached it this way that that's no different than what Sean Payton has experienced now after the game Sean said it felt really comfortable in my gut with the decision that we made to kick the extra point and to go into overtime there but you know at some point you know you do have questions

here's what Sean Payton had to say on whether or not he questioned after the fact whether or not he should have went for two oh certainly um you go through it all the time, you know, relative to what the call would have been based on the outcome, you know, you, you always second guess or you always do that as a head coach. And so I know I kind of felt I trusted my gut at the moment, but, but yeah, I think that's normal to do that. Cody, I was watching the commanders and Falcons play on Sunday night football. A really great game. Ended up being an awesome battle between a couple of rookie quarterbacks and something that was said on the broadcast by Chris Collinsworth. I know that not everything.

thing he says is regarded in the here's a guy. Here's a guy. But he said something as the commanders, I believe it was third and goal with the game on the line essentially there in overtime. And he said from two yards out, he was like, all right, here's what you do on this third and goal. You draw up your best, or you call your best two point play, the play that, hey, for the season, this is it right here.

Like we've practiced this play all year. And situationally speaking, we know that dating back to training. camp and dating back to OTAs. The Broncos have been installing and have probably a favorite two point conversion play on their menu. And I guarantee you there is one. And so that's where I think as if you're Sean Payton, you have to be kicking yourself a little bit because we know like there's the angel on the one shoulder that's like analytics, analytics play for overtime. Give yourself a chance. Give your defense a chance. And then there's the demon on the other shoulder that's like, go for two. You know, like you use your best.

two point play do it right now go for the season go for broke and i know that you want to listen to the conservative in that situation because well you have a chance to tie here and things like that but this might be an instance where you got to go for broke right find your what's your best two point play on the menu the play that you practice every single week that you're like man i i know when we run this we're going to get two points like do the broncos not have that and did they not have that conviction for a play caller like sean peyton that surprises me well and i think for Sean like you know Sean Sean's been calling the place here in Denver for the last two years.

I know Vic Lamberti, Joe Lombardi is the offensive coordinator. But, you know, for Sean, like sometimes when you get in the flow of the game and it's going, and this is where I can attest as a former coach. And you certainly, like, it's easy for us to sit in the stands or at home and to criticize in a moment, which that's what we do. That's human nature. That's what fans do.

That's what we do at times. But when you're in the position, it's understandable that, you know, sometimes you just get in the flow and you just think, hey, this is going to be the good play. This is what we should do in the situation. And then because of the heat of the moment, the game, the flow of it, whatever may be. And think about the momentum at that point, too. And this is where I feel like I would have lane, you and I both agreed, leaning to go for two. You throw a fourth and one, kind of like a little bit of a lob up there, hoping that someone's going to come down with it. Marvin Mims makes a terrific play with eight seconds left. And it's like, all right. At that point, I've been like, momentum tells me,

hey, we just deflated the Bengals a little bit because we just marched down the field. and them let's go for two and let's win this game. And then, you know, when we criticize Sean for that and some of the other things, fans are like, well, if he would have went for two and didn't get it, what would you guys say? Like, I like the aggressive approach. It's not always going to work. There's no guarantees in football, but you want to see the aggressive approach at the right times versus a conservative approach at the wrong times. That's just simply where I operate. And I'm certain it's different for everybody. But that's kind of where we're at here. For me, I just think that knowing how the past defense was playing, you know, in this game, like 499 yards.

Like you had two 100-yard receivers. You had a Mike Gaseki almost get 100 yards receiving as well. Just the flow, knowing how that was going, just didn't sit well with me as well. So here's what Sean Payton also had to say about Denver's pass coverage and maybe their approach here, you know, from that Cincinnati game. I think the difference is clearly we saw one of the better passing teams in Cincinnati. And so you've got to give them credit relative to their execution. It was different than maybe the week prior where we had dropped some coverage. It's a handful, you know, just trying to decide how you want to, how you want to handle those guys, and then the tight end and the runner as well,

just relative to throwing the ball. I mean, to be fair, you watch the game back, Cody, and you see a lot of, like, the contested catches and you see things. Like it wasn't like the Bengals were just running wide open all game long. It was they were, they were creating, you know, those openings like Riley Moss,

if he turns around his head on the one, uh, back shoulder throw in the right corner of the end zone, if he, if he just turns his head around, but he didn't know the, the ball was even coming because T. Higgins didn't let on like the ball was coming until,

bam, it's right there, you know, he had no idea. So hard as play to cover in football. So tough. It's so tough. And then you get the situation with the,

you know, the overtime, the touchdown catch right there. And I mean, yeah, Riley Moss got picked on in this game. But I mean, Pat Sertan had a good game in coverage. And the Broncos made a number of other plays in coverage. It was just like good scheme and good execution by Joe Burroughs the best quarterback in the NFL right now. And it took him overtime and a couple of extra possessions in overtime to get the win.

So, I mean, maybe you hang your hat on that a little bit. But it did feel a lot different than the Brown's game or even I want to say the Chargers game. for sure because those games felt like just total lapses. Like, why is this guy running wide open? I feel like, man, it's not, you're not going to face Joe Burrow every single week. No, thankfully, that's, hopefully that is not the case, man. The AFC North is brutal, you know, I feel for all the other teams you've got to play them. I will say this, I feel like the one lapse in coverage that I felt like they really had.

It was late. I can't remember if it was the fourth quarter if it was overtime, but Jemar Chase is running wide open underneath and you got a linebacker in coverage. You got Cody Barton in coverage against him. I didn't understand that one. And there were several, like Dan Roloski did a film breakdown. There were several miscommunications by Denver's defense once again. And that's on coaching.

That's on Vance Joseph to get this thing sorted out. And look, you can't make those mistakes against Kansas City. You can't overlook DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown. If these guys don't play, you can't overlook Xavier Worthy and some of the other guys that they have there, McColl Hardman. This is going to be a tough game here for the Broncos. They've got to come prepared this week. They've got to get some of the cover stuff right.

One thing we are going to talk about, though, Broncos country as we look at it. We're going to take a look at the state of the AFC. What are all the playoffs scenarios this week for the Broncos? We know a win gets them in. But if they don't win, what goes on around them that could either put them in the playoffs or could put them out of the playoffs? Plain as simple as that. We'll break it down as more here on today's episode of the show.

Week 18 of the NFL regular season is here. Wow, the season has gone by really quickly. The Broncos are in a position here once again this week where a win, puts them in the postseason, a loss almost guarantees that they may miss, but there's some other circumstances on the back end that could play out to where Denver still finds a way to get in. We'll break down the state of the AFC and we'll look at the playoff scenarios this week on today's episode of the show here.

I want to say thanks once again, all the everydayers and first listeners out there in Broncos country. We appreciate you. Sarah, look, I think the playoff picture, you've got six playoff spots locked in right now across the entire AFC, the chiefs at the one seed, the bills at the two seed, the Ravens at the three seed right now because they, you know, I think there's going to be a lot of question about obviously their matchup this week and obviously whether or not the Steelers beat the Bengals.

There's a lot watching that one. The Texans are going to be the four seed regardless because they're in the worst division there. You know, in terms of all the other playoff teams and division winners, they're in the worst one there. So they're going to stay at the four seed with the nine and seven record that they currently have. Steelers right now in the wildcard fifth seat and then the charters at the six seat. They've got the playoff spots locked up. So you have six teams in.

That last spot is up for grab between the Broncos, the Dolphins, and the Cincinnati Bengals. It is. And like we've said for three weeks now on this show, the Broncos win. They're in the most enviable position out of all of these teams. Don't need help. Like you talked about, the Bengals, they need to win against the Steelers, which is easier said than done. The Steelers are kind of due for another win. And they obviously don't want to be dropping down the playoff standings anymore because I believe, Cody, that the Chargers can jump them here.

uh in the playoff order i think they both have 10 wins so if they if the steelers lose this weekend and the chargers win they got the raiders right yeah so hey i mean i'm just saying just floating it out there that it's possible that the steelers could once again get jumped and that would lead to them being the six seed which would result in a quick road trip back to baltimore which they don't want i'm i'm certain of that every i think the steelers and the chargers both will be playing desperation mode for a road trip to Houston, which feels like the most favorable matchup for anybody. I think Houston is the worst team that will make the playoffs in either conference this year. So that's what you're fighting for to get that number five seed in the AFC,

and we're going to see the Chargers and Steelers going at it. But obviously, the Bengals will have a little something to say about that. And we'll know by the time our heads hit the pillows on Saturday night, whether or not the Bengals will be a threat to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. because on Sunday the Broncos, they don't get to necessarily sit back and relax, you know, up until they play,

right? They have to, I believe the dolphins are playing in the late window as well, which means that that game will be going on at the same time as Denver's game. Unless, correct me if I'm wrong on that, Cody, because I don't remember the schedule is just,

so they're both in the afternoon. So you won't, it's not like the Broncos are going to go into this game against Kansas City knowing, hey, it doesn't matter if we win or if we lose. I think that they're going to have to, you know,

play it, play it aggressively regardless. Yeah, and look, the Dolphins, they're playing the New York Jets, which at this point, we all know, like that, that team is falling apart, like big time at this point. I mean, they just got Maliwopped by the Buffalo Bills blown out dramatic fashion in that game, which means like if Denver wins, they're going to be in, they're going to be the seventh seat. They're going to travel to Buffalo take on Josh Allen and the bills, which that's not the draw. I feel like that's probably the worst draw you could have. Like, if you had to choose between Buffalo and Baltimore, I think you'd,

probably want to play Baltimore again, but you never know, the NFL playoffs, crazier things have happened there. So let's take a look at some of these scenarios here. Obviously, if Broncos win puts them in, plain and simple, that's what you're aiming for. You don't want to rely on help from other people to get in. Shout out to former Bronco Drew Locke, eliminating the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, accounting for five total touchdown. So when you need Drew Locke to come up big for one moment, they found a way to do it for

the New York Giants against the Colts and Joe Flacko. That was an interesting development over the weekend. But the dolphins, they need to win against the Jets. Plus, they need a Broncos loss against Kansas City. And then at that point, the Bengals game does not affect the dolphins if they win and the Broncos lose. So the dolphins win, the Broncos lose. Dolphins get in to that final spot in the playoffs, which seeing how their season's played out, that would be a wild turn of events here.

Yeah, they would probably overtake Houston as the worst team in the postseason. And I don't know what's the injury. status right now of Tua Tua Tua, if he's going to play in week 18 or not, because Cody, I mean, I think obviously the Jets, what's weird about the Jets is that they've got all their guys out there, like Rogers is out there, DeVante's out there, Wilson, Brees Hall, sauce Gardner, like Will McDonald, all those guys are out there. So if the Jets are going up against the dolphins led by Tyler Huntley, I mean, that's a situation that you feel kind of good about the Jets, potentially pulling off the upset at this point.

And I think that that's kind of just a weird thing to say. But if Tua plays, obviously, I think the Jets are going to be kind of down in the dumps there. If he doesn't play, it kind of becomes interesting. And the Bengals Steelers game being on Saturday, I don't know. For some reason, Cody, I feel way more relaxed about that, just because I would hate it if that was after the Broncos game for whatever reason. That would be so much pressure. And you and I talked about this off the air. last night when we were doing the show

like, please NFL do not schedule the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Like, please do not do that to us. It's brutal. I know some fans would love to have the Band-Aid just ripped off as quickly as possible here, but it plays into the Broncos

and the NFL's advantage to have their game last. So the Bengals, if they can win on Saturday night, that gives the NFL almost 24 hours to be able to milk that storyline that the Bengals could still get in while also preserving the Broncos and dolphins play off chances. So scheduling-wise makes a lot of sense.

Glad the Broncos are playing Sunday. And look, the ASC right now, I just feel like if the Broncos get in, that's, that is the ball don't lie sort of thing. That's how it should be at this point. If the Broncos don't get in, and that would just be, it would be so rough. But hopefully if they don't get in,

it would be the Bengals and not the dolphins for the sake of entertainment. Yeah, no 100%. So let's take a look. What do the Cincinnati Bengals need to have happen in order to make it of the postseason? the Bengals obviously need a win against the Steelers on Saturday night. Plus they need the Broncos to lose to Kansas City. Plus they need Miami to lose or tie with the New York Jets.

So a lot more has to go right for the Bengals in this situation and order for them to get in versus them just winning. But here's also the thing as well, Sarah, and I'll say I think Cincinnati's going to beat Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh has gotten a little bit of a free fall defensively. T.J. Watt hasn't had as much of an impact as late. And granted, they had to play, you know, several amounts of games within a short time span. Same like Kansas City.

But Kansas City found a way to rise above that there. To me, though, I think Cincinnati's probably going to be the most dangerous team right now. And so in order to negate that, Broncos just got to go out there and they got to win. But obviously for the Bengals, they're going to make it in. They need to win. They need to also have some help in order to get into the postseason from the standpoint in which they are at there. But I do see them beating Pittsburgh, which, you know, on the Pittsburgh side of things, it changes a lot of the storylines.

You know, four or five weeks ago, it was different in terms of the conversations about the Steelers, Russell Wilson, Mike Tomlin, and now, I mean, you look on social media, it is entirely different in a negative way in those regards for those guys there. Yeah, because what were they? They were eight and two,

and then now they're 10 and 6. So it hasn't been the most prosperous couple of months here for Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers. And obviously, they're still a good team. They still got players. I think they're a very different team when George Pickens is able to play.

I know he's kind of all over the map in terms of a bit of an enigma as a guy and a locker room presence there. But at the same time, when he's on the field, man, I mean, he's tough to stop. And he's one of those guys who you feel like he's a better receiver than Russ has been a passer this year. With all due respect to the way that, I mean, Russ is putting the ball there. Pickens has made some of the craziest catches I think we've seen all season long. So if he's going to be able to play, that changes the dynamic for Pittsburgh as well because they can run the ball and that defense can kind of go off at any point in time. Like I said earlier, it kind of feels like they're due after losing, I believe now, three games in a row. Oh, win and you're in here for the Denver Broncos.

And look, that's going to be the biggest case. And that means that there's going to be preparation all week long for Kansas City. So for all you every day is out there in Broncos country who make lockdown Broncos your first listen. here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode of the show. Sarah and I, we're going to sit down and we're going to highlight things that we would like to see from the Broncos offense this week. We're going to talk about what we like to see from the Broncos defense this week, things they need to adjust on. And then also from the coaching staff, things that we would like to see them adjust or improve on this week. You're going to get that.

And then you're going to get a crossover Thursday episode with Locked-on Chiefs as well on. Then Friday will be our final big game preview. The stakes have never been higher. Week 18 of the NFL regular season is here. kickoff slated for 225 p.m. Mountain Time on CBS, Jim Nance, Tony Romo on the call. One thing is for certain you're going to get something here from Sarah Bedinger and myself every day here. Lockdown Broncos. We'll see you tomorrow.