Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix Is The Franchise
Episode Date: January 7, 2025After his regular season performance, Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix is the franchise and he showcased that in his rookie season. As the Broncos prepare for a playoff matchup against the Buffalo Bills, how ...did Nix showcase he was the Broncos future? Some of our other mailbag questions include whether or not Sean Payton and the Broncos offense will commit to the run game vs. Buffalo and how Denver can exploit the Bills. 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!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert—who’s ready to take your taxes off your plate, so you can focus on your day. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. 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 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.
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After the Denver Broncos have secured their first postseason birth in nine seasons.
Broncos country asked us in our Monday mailback is Bo Nix, truly a franchise quarterback.
We'll tell you why he is and much more 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 lockdown podcast network, your team every day.
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Thanks for making us your first listen of the day.
However, you choose to do so for the best Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more.
Lockdown Broncos has got you covered.
I'm Cody Rourke Broncos beat reporter for Mile High Sports.
Join, as always, by Sarah Beninger, site expert of their predominantly orange.com.
We got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show.
We asked Broncos country to send in their mailbag.
Questions will wrap up by analyzing how the Broncos can realistically beat the Buffalo
Bills and Sunday's playoff matchup.
We'll talk about where the Broncos stay committed or try to stay committed to get in the run game going against that Bill's defense.
We're going to open things up, I think, with a very important one considering the circumstances of the Broncos making the postseason is Bo Nex truly a franchise quarterback.
That's something that somebody in Broncos country sent in.
They wanted to know our thoughts on it, and we're happy to share here on today's episode of the show, which is brought you
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Sarah, my friend, I love opening up the mailbag here to Broncos country.
Every week, we'll do this on Mondays.
We'll put the prompt out on social media.
So if you ever want to get involved, make sure on social media follows at CoityWork
NFL at Sarah Bedinger at Locked on Broncos.
This question comes in from Kit Kat on Twitter.
And they asked the question, is Bo Nix, a first.
franchise quarterback. Do you guys think he is the one for years to come?
We're not seeing another Mac Jones episode, already. And if so, what does Bo have to work on in
the off season to get better? What moves need to be done to support Bo going forward?
There's a lot of questions in there in one, Sarah. I'm going to answer the first part of this,
not even close to anywhere near Mac Jones. And now I'm going to let you take the rest here.
Yeah, it's a bird. It's a plane. It's a cosplaying quarterback. It's checkdown merchant. It's
Kenny Pickett 2.0. No, wait.
No, that's actually Bo Nix flying through the sky into the playoffs right there.
Cody, we've heard every single name in the book, biggest reach of the draft,
six quarterback on the board, going to be the worst quarterback of this class.
He's too old.
He's already reached the ceiling.
This, that, and the other from a bunch of non-ball knowers out there.
Everybody that was, you know, even remotely kind of paying attention going into the NFL
draft process could see with an objective eye, Bo Nix would be a,
good fit for Sean Payton. You and I discussed it many times. We put it in our final mock draft
for the Broncos of finding a way to get Bo Nix into the mix here. And I think he's been better than
advertised. He's been better than anyone could have expected. Let's play a, let's play a little,
it's like a game of guess who. You ever played that game where you have questions and you
knock down the faces or whatever? Let's play a game and say, what are the reasons not to have
Bo Nix be considered a franchise quarterback at this point.
Are there any things that we could even knock down?
Tremendous leader, awesome talent, just charismatic as all get out.
Huge numbers posted in his rookie year, borderline record setting numbers for rookie
quarterbacks.
I mean, Cody, you go through the whole list of things.
And I can't think of any reason why he would not be considered a franchise quarterback.
Yeah, I think the question that we all had going into this season, regardless,
was can the Broncos figure out if Bo Nix is going to be their guy for the foreseeable future?
I think they answered that relatively quickly.
Now, according to the people that said those things, like really a lot of those takes about
people calling him Kenny Pickett 2.0, you know, what is it?
Mac Jones, things like that.
Like people came up with these comparisons said, okay, the Broncos really after their
0 and 2 start where Bo had zero touchdowns to four interceptions.
To think that he finished the season with 29 passing touchdowns, 12 total interceptions
since that onset there from how he started.
And we've highlighted this, how different of a quarterback he looks,
how comfortable he looks,
and what he's doing on a week-to-week basis to improve has been incredible.
And for a large portion of the season, there was progression.
We didn't really see any regression from Bo.
I'd say maybe the only game this year where we saw maybe a little bit of a regression
or like a look of it was against the Colts in terms of his struggles there,
the three interceptions.
But he went out there and he also threw three touchdowns to kind of offset
that. So with Bo, he's just a guy who's continuously looking for ways to improve.
I mean, we talk about how he can attack almost every angle of the field, which has been a fun
development to watch. He can use his legs to impact you in any way, shape, or form.
Bo Nix is the Broncos franchise quarterback. And internally, they believe that.
Players in that locker, I can't tell you who I talk to, but I talked to a couple of players
in the locker after the game. I said, hey, said, Bo was slinging it. I said, you think he's the,
he's the guy. And a lot of these guys said, yeah, he's the guy. He showed that.
way early on. He said, we believe he can take us to places we never seen. These are some
veterans that have been on this team for quite some time. I'm excited about where this team is heading.
And I think a lot of that excitement really has a lot to do with Bo Nix. I think Broncos country
feels the same exact way. You don't surpass Baker Mayfield for the second most passing touchdown
by a rookie in NFL history or you don't come two games shy of tying Justin Herbert's record
that he had set without being a good quarterback. So I don't feel like you could be a checkdown
merchant. I don't think he could be a cosplayer.
in the pocket of some of these people have said,
especially these national outlets that have lied about the Broncos all season long.
I can't take them serious anymore.
It's just watch and let it play out.
And that's what's happened with Bo Nix.
It's played out.
He's proven he's the guy.
And I think to have this question answered in his rookie seasons there,
incredible.
It is.
And it feels good,
doesn't it?
For everyone in Broncos country.
And this has been the perfect year,
the perfect year to not let your opinions be formulated by,
the opinions of somebody else. It can be easy to not trust your eyes and what you're seeing
out there when when people are sitting on the internet and saying, well, you know,
Bo Nix doesn't have the best EPA or ADOT or X, Y, Z or whatever you want to call it.
He doesn't have the best this, that, or the other when it comes to advanced metrics, right?
And so, well, okay, I guess what I saw this weekend wasn't really that good because all these
guys were telling me that Russell Wilson wasn't good either. And they were right. And so now I have to
believe them that Bo Nix isn't going to be good.
I'm not saying that everybody in Broncos country is, you know, the sheep mentality.
But what I am saying is that these people have been given such loud voices who are telling
us that Bo is, you know, a Mac Jones 2.0, Kenny Pickett 2.0.
It's just a, it's just a mirage.
It's not legit.
It's a, he's a product of the offense, which is funny because these same people, you know,
they rag on Sean Payton for not for being overrated as a head coach.
Kind of funny how that all works.
but Cody look to me like areas that he can improve can we see better timing on the deep shot
can we see a little bit more in terms of stepping up in the pocket and taking what the defense
gives him when he has a clean pocket to work with and I know people say he bales out of the pocket
too quickly valid critique of his game this year he's also made some big plays like the marfin mims
game tying touchdown against the Bengals by bailing out of that pocket and so I just think there's
situations that call for, you know, okay, yes, let's be critical of Bo Nix.
But to have picked apart one of the best seasons for a rookie quarterback in NFL history,
it's crazy stuff that we've been seeing on the internet these days.
Oh, man, everybody, like I said, everybody's got a mic these days.
Everybody's got, you know, that's the power of social media.
It's just who you choose to amplify, I think, is a very, very important thing because
there are people who don't attend practices.
They don't attend games.
They're not plugged in.
They're just reading what everybody else is.
talking about what everyone's reporting about.
Like I said, you should,
you should have heard an answer.
A Broncos offensive coach gave me.
I talked about it off the record.
I can't tell you who it was,
but I said something along the lines of,
it's like, what do you think of EPA?
And then they just went,
they kind of gave like a scoff and they smirked and laughed
and just shook their head at the same time.
They don't believe in that crap.
It's just, like I said,
the content mill churning things out.
But, you know, I agree.
Like for Bo to make the strides he's made here in his rookie season,
I know everyone's going to be looking.
Is there going to be a sophomore slump?
Is there going to be very well possible, right?
The NFL, it's hard to play in the NFL.
Now, you could even ask Patrick Mahomes, who had a rough year?
Like Patrick, Mahomes didn't have a great year this year.
And people are going to say, well, he didn't have many people around him.
What did Bo Nicks have around him in terms of talent and playmakers that maybe some of these other guys who underperformed at the position had some better circumstances or situations like environment matters,
coaching matters, front office structure matters.
And there's some teams out there that don't have that.
The Broncos, they're in a good spot right now with who they have and specifically a quarterback,
but it's about identifying like, hey, we know this player is good at this.
Let's build around that.
And then let's start to sharpen some of the areas where he can improve around him.
Like that's a big emphasis here in terms of player development.
And that's been a big emphasis by the Broncos, not just with the quarterback position,
but with other positions on this roster.
So there's still a lot he can work on.
And obviously, sir, you outline some of those.
You want to maybe see the Broncos nail a couple of those deep shots a little bit more next season.
You know, timing on certain aspects there.
You know, in the Bengals game, we can say right before half, like Bo just pressed a little too much.
Hopefully he doesn't have to press too much in his sophomore season here in the NFL.
But for what he's been able to achieve, anyone trying to knock that at that point, you should never take serious.
Bo has done a tremendous job.
He's a big reason why the Broncos are in that position.
And he's a reason that those guys in that locker room believe that the Broncos can do some damage with him under center.
So to answer your question, yes, Bo Nix is the Broncos franchise quarterback.
Now, with the playoffs coming up, we're continuing our mailbag series here on today's show.
Broncos country wants to know, and this was several people, too.
Will the Broncos stay committed to the run game in the playoffs?
We'll tell you why that's going to be the reason they either win or lose in Sunday's game against Buffalo.
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If the Denver Broncos can run the ball against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon,
they might stand a chance of pulling off an upset in the game in which they are eight and a half point underdogs.
Cody and I are going to break down why staying committed to the running game is exactly the key to success for this Broncos offense in the playoffs.
And Broncos country, we are in the playoffs.
So thanks so much for rocking with us every single day.
You know we got you off season, preseason, regular season, and now the postseason here at Lock.
on Bronco. So hit subscribe if you haven't done so already. We appreciate all of you every dayers
out there that make us your first listen of the day every single day. Cody, this one was sent in
by our good pal, JK47 on Twitter. And look, I think that, you know, it's, it's a great question
because we haven't seen a true commitment to the running game. I don't think for most of this season.
But here's a question. I'm going to pose it to you. Will we continue to see Denver commit to the
run game like they did against KC.
We saw Giovante break out in the passing game.
Great note there.
And Adrick Estimate is that bruiser we need against tighter defenses in the playoffs.
Plus, the passing game benefited from aggressive play action and run action too.
I think it's some great callouts there from New Type, JK47.
And obviously, we want to see this team commit to the running game.
And Sean Payton is making a concerted effort to get all three of these guys involved in the
offense, can they stay committed? And what does that mean for them going into this game against
the Bills? Well, I think it's crucial for them. They have to commit to the run game or else they're
not going to beat Buffalo. I mean, you can't expect Bo Nix to go into Buffalo and throw 46, 47 times
and expect to beat a team like that Bill's team that has the defense of the guy with guys like
Matt Milano. I mean, they have a good secondary now. Von Miller looks like he's really kind of
been saving it this season for the postseason. And he reached his incentives over the weekend
against the New England Patriots.
So for me, it's, it's going to be a challenge here.
And certainly, like going on the road, to be able to run the ball is going to be paramount here,
especially in cold weather.
Like, it's expected to be, I think, low 20s at the time of kickoff.
There is a chance.
I think Friday or Saturday could snow quite a bit.
So maybe you're dealing with some remnants of that.
Maybe some snow on Sunday.
We'll see how it all plays out.
You know, weather these days is so hard to predict at this point.
But the cold weather is definitely going to be a factor.
and there it's at dreaded 11 a.m.
Mountain time kickoff, East Coast time zone game here for the Broncos.
And they've had their historic struggles in that department,
but they're facing probably their toughest opponent just yet.
Like Cincinnati a few weeks ago was their toughest most explosive offense.
Josh Allen and this Bill's team, in my opinion right now,
are going to be the toughest team that they have faced all year.
When we talk about their offense, how they're operating behind Josh Allen,
and that defense that has guys like Von Mellon,
or Greg Rousseau.
For me, you have to run the ball here.
And look, I'll maybe share a little bit of like caution here or like maybe some hesitation.
It's like if you take away Bo Nix and his 47 yards they add on seven carries in terms of
scrambling to be able to create plays with his legs, the Broncos, a rushing output actually
translates, I think, to 3.2 yards per carry between Audrake estimated Jaliel McLaughlin,
Javante Williams.
So you want to be able to find a way to break some off.
I'm sitting there.
I don't know about you.
I was watching the Sunday night game.
the Lions versus the Minnesota Vikings.
And I just kept watching Jemir Gibbs just get to the outside and break off big run after big run,
break off seven, eight yard runs inside.
I'm thinking, okay, how come the Broncos can't do that?
I think a lot of it probably has something to do with the scheme in terms of how it's blocked,
but it's like the holes are going to be there.
It's just can the tailback see them in time?
I think the Broncos should commit to the run game.
Sarah, will they commit to it if it's not working?
That's the key.
That's what scares me this week.
Yeah, it's against a team like the Buffalo Bills.
The reason why you want to commit to the run is because,
well, you have a quick strike offense
over on the other sideline with Buffalo, right?
Buffalo can score from any point on the field.
You go up 14 to nothing even on Buffalo.
They could be back tying the game in a matter of just a couple of minutes
because they get one stop.
That's the Patriots a few weeks ago.
Exactly.
I mean, it's that quick for them.
I mean, shoot, ask the loss.
Angeles Rams too, right? Because I think the Rams were crushing the Buffalo Bills. And then all of a sudden, it's like, wait a second, how did they get back into this game? I mean, they can score at any time. Josh Allen. He's that dude out there. And so you want to be able to run the ball because of what we saw against Kansas City, where the Broncos dominated time of possession. It felt like Carson Wentz in that offense. They weren't even on the field. Now, this is a different beast entirely. You may not be able to to have two straight three and outs to open the game.
But if you can have 11 minute or 10 minutes scoring drive at some point,
that really tips the scales into your favor.
And the only way that's going to happen is if you are effectively running the ball,
because some of the Broncos best passing concepts,
as JK-47 mentioned, they come off play action and run action.
You've got to be running the ball effectively to be able to run that stuff.
And Buffalo this season, Cody, it's not like they've been terrible against the run by any means.
I mean, 12th and rushing yards allowed.
They are 19th with four and a half yards per carry allowed.
And they do, you know, they are bottom 10 in the NFL in length of drives.
Like they'll allow long drives.
They will allow extended drives.
So that may play into Denver's favor, but they're 11th in scoring defense,
which means that teams don't often get into the end zone when they get about a coin flips chance.
When you get against the bills here.
So running the ball is crucial.
We say it's not cliche.
You have to be able to do it in the playoffs.
Well, and like I said, when I played defense, too, the number one thing was,
if we were stopping the run, I was like, okay, if they try to fill a play action look,
we're not going to bite on it because it's like they haven't been able to run the ball.
They're not going to be able to run the ball on us.
And so it made it easier for us to just kind of play our coverage on the back end and really
just kind of keep things in front of us, allow us to be aggressive at times.
And so no threat of a run game.
And we've seen this.
I think the Bengals game when the Broncos went away from it in that first half, right,
after they had their first drive, you certainly saw like, oh,
Like if the Broncos can't have a threat or like there's no presence of a threat of the run game,
this is how defenses are going to play them.
And certainly Buffalo's personnel defensively, it's going to be tough.
It might be, Sarah, the best personnel of the Broncos have faced defensively all season long.
And so that's going to be a challenge in and of itself,
but even more monumental type of story if the Broncos can find a way to do that.
Because the key is this, if you can run the football right and you can open up things in the play action game
and you can keep Josh Allen off the field, you can milk time off the club,
off the clock and end that with touchdowns rather than just field goals, your chances of
winning go up significantly.
And that's not possible if you don't have at least a little bit of a threat of a run game.
100%.
And having this be a one score game late into the game is going to be crucial.
If you become one dimensional too early, I mean, you run the risk of what happened in
Baltimore, right?
I mean, that's exactly why that happened.
That's exactly why the Broncos got blown out in that game.
is the only game that they've been blown out all season long.
And they just got one dimensional a little too quick,
had to pull out the bag of tricks at the past play to Bo Nix,
right, obviously.
And that stuff is fun.
But at the same time,
you went from being down,
what,
17 to 10 to all of a sudden it's 31 to 10 before Bo Nix even steps on the field again
after that touchdown.
So,
I mean,
it's really tough to be able to do anything against these elite teams,
especially on the road,
if you don't have balance offensively.
So, man, here we go.
Adric Estime, Jaliel McLaughlin, and Javante Williams,
even Bo Nix running the ball.
You're going to have to make some plays against this Buffalo defense.
Well, the Broncos preparation for Buffalo has already began.
They'll practice this week,
but the film work and everything else has already started to take place in Dove Valley.
One Broncos listener in our mailbag asked the question,
how can the Broncos realistically exploit the Buffalo bills?
We'll tell you how the offense and Bonics can counteract Von Miller
and how Denver can attack their defense
and how the Broncos defense can eliminate some of the big plays
from Josh Allen, James Cook, and even Amari Cooper.
We'll break all that down here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.
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The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here.
We want to say thanks once again to everyone in Broncos country.
All the everydayers out there.
Thanks for making us your first listen.
The playoff push is officially here for this Broncos team.
So if you're not listening every single day,
make sure you bump that up because we're going to have you covered with everything
that you need leading up to kickoff in Sunday's playoff game,
including the post game report.
Can the Broncos shock the world and beat the Buffalo bills?
It's certainly something that we,
hope is on the menu here. Sarah, let's get to our final mailbag question of today's episode
of show and always appreciate Broncos Country for sending in their questions. Every Monday,
we'll do this. We'll have a chance to have your questions feature. We should choose the three
best ones or three ones to have a theme amongst themselves with other listeners. But this question
does come in now from Michael Pryor. The question comes in. The bills are undefeated at home this
season, what can the Broncos do to exploit the bill's defense offensively and should we run a
QB spy on Josh Allen from Denver's defensive standpoint? Sarah, you want to open this on up first
and then I'll share my thoughts? Yeah, let's start off with the point about Josh Allen and the
quarterback spy. I think you have to have somebody accounting for his ability to get away from
the first rusher. Now, does that always mean a quarterback spy? I don't necessarily know. I mean,
I guess if that's what they call it, like, for example, against the
Kansas City Chiefs, Cody.
We saw Jonathan Cooper had an initial rush, and then he kind of just, like, stood around
the line of scrimmage and watched and waited.
And it wasn't like he wasn't, you know, he was engaged.
He wasn't disengaged from the play, but he was kind of acting as a quarterback spy
after initially kind of doing a little bit of a pass rush there.
So, I mean, whatever you want to call that, I think you have to account for it.
I think obviously you can't get too deep when you're trying to get that arc to the
quarterback, your rushers can't over-pursue or things like that, or Josh Allen will take off.
And like we saw against the Bengals, I mean, what, third and 14 or something stupid like that?
I mean, how many third and longs were converted because of his running ability?
Joe Burroughs.
Fourth downs.
I mean, Josh.
He beat the chiefs this year on a fourth down play.
He's just that good.
He can do that stuff.
So you do have to account for him.
You have to have some guys like Benito with Speed, Cooper, Drew Sanders, been playing more than I even
thought when he came back.
So he could be an option, but Jonah Ellis has done that kind of stuff as well.
Cody, I think it's got to be a group effort when it comes to taking this guy down,
not just the first pass rush, the initial pass rush, but the secondary pass rush as well.
Yeah, that's going to be key.
And what you were talking about in terms of Jonathan Cooper, he's playing like he's got read
action responsibilities, right?
So for example, if, you know, depending on where the strength is, if the running back is to his side
and you have a quarterback who it's, we'll call it gun left from the defensive perspective,
but it's to the quarterback's right.
If you fake that hand off there, Josh Allen or any quarterback for the matter is reading
whether or not Jonathan Cooper is going to crash down the line of scrimmage or if he's going
to attack straight up.
If he's going to crash down, then the quarterback usually pulls it to get to the outside.
If the pass searcher comes straight up field, usually you can then hand the ball off to
your tailback and maybe you can cut inside and get skinny and get positive yards.
You have to worry about that here, but Josh,
And the first thing I thought about it was like, okay,
hey, Debra had a plan for how they're going to try to play Lamar Jackson this year, right?
Try to eliminate him with his legs.
What did he do?
He carved them up with his arm.
And certainly the bills have a ton of personnel, even some former Broncos personnel.
They got KJ. Hamler.
They got Jalen Virgil.
They've got, obviously, you know, Keon Coleman, who's having a terrific rookie season.
They got a Marie Cooper.
You know, they have good tight end plate.
And then, you know, hey, James Cook is still a threat there.
He was a thorn of the Broncos side of 2020.
But for me, I'm looking at how the race.
Evans attack the Broncos defense and specifically how the Indianapolis Colts with Anthony Richardson with his legs attack the Broncos defense. And you think about, okay, now combine that threat into one guy with size and power, but also the ability to run. Josh Allen is the most dynamic threat that the Broncos will have faced this season defensively from a quarterback standpoint. And that to me is a little scary with, okay, hey, how do you game playing that? Because you have to stop James Cook. He can go off for 200 on you. He's already done that against Denver. But you also have to stop.
Josh Allen. And that is so hard. That's why this matchup is the second seed versus the seventh seed.
And Denver's got a young team. This could be an opportunity for them to rise to the occasion.
And certainly we've seen Denver play capable football. You mentioned only being blown out once this
season. Every other game has really kind of been a one score game for them. So if you can keep it
close and you can get the bills to make a mistake, I like how it can maybe play out here for the
Broncos. But in terms of, you know, Bo Nicks, what can Bo Nixon the offense do against
that Buffalo Bill's defense? We talked about a little bit earlier about being able to
run the football. But Sarah, when you're talking about guys like Greg Rousseau, you're talking about
Vaughn Miller, guys who can absolutely wreck the game plan. You have to find a way to get the ball
to your hands quickly, right? A quick passing game. What did we used to complain about in the postgame
shows, you know, when Von Miller was still in Denver about when they would face the Raiders?
What did Derek Carr do so well to neutralize Denver's pass rush? Got the ball out of his
hands quickly. What did we see Joe Burrow do this past weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers?
He got the ball out of his hands quickly. That's going to have to be a big key here for Boe Nixon,
in the Broncos offense.
100%.
And the bills have been susceptible
through the air.
Now you see a good team like this
in terms of statistically speaking.
You kind of got to really dig into these numbers
because, well, teams have to throw
against the Buffalo bills because they're typically
playing from behind.
But they are 24th and yards allowed,
24th and past touchdowns allowed.
And that's over the course of the entire season.
I think you have an opportunity there to do some damage.
And so, man, it's one of those things.
things that, okay, yes, we want to commit to the running game, but also how important it is
to get the running game going to start doing the play action and run action stuff, because Denver
has been making play. I mean, Marvin Mims getting the ball on those quick passes, he's been
making plays. Cortland Sutton's been making plays lately. DeVon Bailey, we finally saw come back to
life against the chiefs this past weekend. So you're getting guys involved. And that's what the
Broncos do best as well. They don't have the same level of personnel as Buffalo, but they get
everybody involved, which makes them tough to defend.
That's why they were a top 10 scoring offense in the NFL this past season.
And that's credit to how Bo Nix sees the field.
So that's where they can really make this Buffalo defense susceptible is they've been so
good, pass protecting, getting rid of the ball quickly, neutralizing pass rush.
How many games this year's Bo Nicks have without even being sacked a single time or being
sacked only one, maybe two times?
I mean, there's a lot of examples of that this season.
And so Buffalo, they've got their hands cut out for them as well,
or their work cut out for them as well,
because this Denver offense,
although it doesn't have the dynamic presence in terms of,
oh,
we got to account for this guy every play like James Cook.
Like that guy's been amazing this season.
And the Broncos don't have a guy like that,
but they have a lot of different players that can really break your back
over the course of a game.
Yeah.
And look, I even think, too, is this the time?
Is this the game where you might bust out of,
few things that you haven't shown on film all season long to maybe try to counteract something
that the Buffalo Bills do either defensively or they're very aggressive.
And defensively, can you do something that, you know, the bills haven't seen that type of
look thrown at them this season or the defense for Denver hasn't quite shown now.
I'm very curious to see how creative Denver's coaching staff can be this week.
This is a huge game.
We're very excited for.
I know Broncos country is as well.
And look, while the odds had the Broncos as heavy road under.
dogs. I think there's a puncher's chance.
And look, Tony Romo, after the game on Sunday in Kansas City was walking by
front of us, we're getting ready to go in the locker.
He says, he was talking to Jim Nance.
And he says, he didn't say Jim, like, you know, because it's not like they're doing
the commentary of the broadcast, but he was just talking to Jim, just Jim's walking
alongside him.
He says, I think Denver can be a team that's going to, that could shock the bills here
in the postseason.
Ironically enough, they're going to be on the call here once again on Sunday, the CBS
18 for the Denver Broncos young.
youngest roster right now in the NFL.
Very promising developments here.
Some great questions sent in from Broncos country here.
I think those are some ways that the Broncos can exploit the Buffalo bills.
Offense defensively, Sarah and I have shared our thoughts.
And Broncos country, we want to hear from you, as always, your thoughts.
Maybe something that you feel like the Broncos can or should do against Buffalo here on Sunday.
Make sure you drop it in down below wherever you're listening to your podcast.
For all you, every dayers, here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode of the show.
We heard from Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
his team. But more importantly, also talked about the new development in which Vance Joseph
has received some interest from the New York Jets about their vacant head coaching job.
And why Sean believes Vance will be a head coach again.
What does this mean for the Broncos and what could they do behind that if that does in fact
happen in the off season? We'll look at that much more on tomorrow's brand new episode,
Lockdown Broncos.
