Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Troy Franklin is the WEAPON to EXPLOIT Chargers Defense

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos can take advantage of the Chargers stingy defense, and Troy Franklin could be a big key why. We'll break it all down 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. What's up, Broncos country? Happy Friday. Welcome into another episode, Locked on Broncos,

Starting point is 00:00:27 your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, we know it's your team every day. Thank you so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. I'm Cody Roark. Broncos reported for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, a site expert over there, predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:00:44 And we got a lot to break down on today's episode of the show in our final game preview. We'll go through how the Broncos offense can exploit some matchups with this stingy Chargers defense, and why Troy Franklin and J.K. Dobbins could be the two catalyst to make that happen. Plus, we'll also talk about how the Broncos defense can go back to eliminating those big plays from opposing offenses and all the charges seemingly take advantage of some of those big play opportunities. How can the Broncos counterpunch?

Starting point is 00:01:11 That's going to be something we'll break down here on today's show as well, as well as going through the Broncos will win in week three if they do this and they could lose if they do that. We'll go through and share all of our thoughts on today's episode of show brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app here. Sarah, happy Friday, my friend.

Starting point is 00:01:33 It's a game preview here, and I tell you what, I'm excited to dive into this matchup a little bit deeper in terms of some of the numbers that we learned from our friends over there at True Media. Big game here. We all know that the Chargers defense through two weeks has been very stingy. They haven't allowed a lot of big plays to happen. They've taken the football away quite a bit. And the Broncos, they have to have arguably the best offensive performance here this week.

Starting point is 00:01:56 Absolutely. I mean, we saw against the Indianapolis Colts that perfection was essentially required of the Denver Broncos offense because the defense really couldn't stop anything. And so, yeah, that's the expectation for this offense at this point, isn't it? It's to go out there and cash in on every opportunity. Of course, going up against the Los Angeles Chargers, that's going to be a lot easier said than done. I've seen a lot of funny like smear campaigns, Cody, on Twitter and stuff like that from

Starting point is 00:02:23 Chargers fans who are trying to, you know, make it so that other teams don't want to hire Jesse Mentor away. They're trying to say these negative things that are. just totally out of bounds and not true. It's just funny to see, you know, what fans will do to keep certain assistance that they like or players that they like in their city. But in reality, the chargers, they are very good on both sides of the ball. We've seen that against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Starting point is 00:02:45 We've seen it against the Las Vegas Raiders. And now here they get their home opener against a third straight AFC West opponent. And they're trying to make a statement in this game, Cody. But, you know, what the Broncos have guys on the other side that are going to be trying to do the exact same. Yeah. And I think when we dive. I have into this matchup here offensively, things that can define it.

Starting point is 00:03:03 I think let's start off here with Broncos wide receiver Troy Franklin. I think for Troy, obviously, he's coming off of an impressive game last week, eight catches on nine targets, 89 yards and one touchdown. But I think Troy Franklin against the coverage dynamic of the Los Angeles Chargers defense is going to be interesting. Let's go into some numbers here, according to our friends over there at True Media. The Chargers, they run from a personnel standpoint. They run a lot of nickel.

Starting point is 00:03:29 57.7% of their defensive snaps. They're in nickel personnel, which means that there's five defensive backs. 34.1% is the next highest personnel package, and that's dime. So they run a lot of heavy defensive back personnel. And that's because they're going to play Derwin James a little bit everywhere. He's that defensive chess piece there for Minter. And in order to counteract that, right, because they have an aggressive nature, well, they'll blitz, but they also just want to drop back in the zone and prevent some of your concepts from being able to develop there.

Starting point is 00:03:59 coverage-wise here, and this is where I think this plays into Troy Franklin's specialty here. The charters defensively, they play cover 3, 30.9% of the time, which means that you have the two corners playing the deep thirds, the middle safety playing the deep third. Everybody else, you have flat defenders, middle hooks covered. And then you look at the next percentage, quarters coverage, which is essentially, you know, deep quarters. You know, so it's corner safety, safety, corner, preventing the deep ball from happening. You even call it cover four. and then 19.5% cover two. This is where Cher, I think, can come into the mixture

Starting point is 00:04:32 because so far through the first handful of weeks, the Broncos, they've faced a lot of cover three. They faced a lot of zone here. But Troy Franklin has had a lot of success against cover three defenses. Five catches on seven targets for Troy for 88 yards, 17.6 yards per catch and three first downs. He could be the go-to player here this week for the Broncos. But I'm also thinking, Sarah, if the Chargers know that,

Starting point is 00:04:55 If they're seeing Troy Franklin here being, you know, having the success he is against cover three, this could be the opportunity for guys like Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims, to reintroduce themselves into the game plan here. 100%. I think the Broncos know after the first two weeks, they've got a plethora of options at receiver that they can go to. It's just a matter of are they going to be able to go to any of them consistently, right? Over the first two weeks, Troy Franklin has been that number one guy, essentially in terms of, I mean, go-to threat.

Starting point is 00:05:23 He had four catches in the first week. eight catches in the second week. So in terms of overall volume coming his direction, Troy is really at the top of the list for this team right now. And he's continually been building that trust with quarterback Joe Nix since the off-season program. And he's been building that confidence on his own as well, really showing that,

Starting point is 00:05:43 hey, he might be back to that form that we saw at Oregon. So it is going to be on other receivers like Cortland Sutton, like, excuse me, Marvin Mims, like Pat Bryant, the rookie who we saw get more involved in week, those guys are going to be have to be on point as well. And like you mentioned,

Starting point is 00:06:00 the reason why we're highlighting Troy Franklin here is because the Chargers number one coverage that they use is cover three. And Troy has had his most success this year against cover three. So the Broncos, they're going to want to exploit that. The Chargers, they're going to know that. So maybe initially it's going to be, hey, can you beat it? Can you prove that you can beat it?

Starting point is 00:06:20 And maybe after that the Broncos make their adjustments. But it's these playmakers that are showing up each one. week in spurts in spots like Marvin Mimps, a touchdown on the first drive. Cortland Sutton in week one, we saw a number of big plays. Pat Bryant, we've seen a couple of nice plays. Can those guys start to stack together a little bit more consistency? Well, and when you face zone defense too, sometimes your routes will have to change. Like as you mentioned, when you get a certain look or you get a certain defender in a spot, you might have to settle and sit a little bit, which might allow Bow Nix to be able to get the

Starting point is 00:06:51 ball to his hands quickly to a receiver. But that's where those guys all have to be on the page. I also think as well, J.K. Dobbins against his former team, Sarah, could have an opportunity to have success this week against the Chargers run defense, right? I think when you look at the numbers according to our friends over there at True Media, it stands out here. The Chargers run defense, they're allowing 4.6 yards per carry here early on. The biggest yard, I mean, run that they've allowed so far was, I think, a 15-yarder to Ashton Gentie on Monday night football. But the numbers here, and if this is where the Broncos down-to-down efficiency is going to come into play, the Chargers defense, they allow 36.1% of their opponent percentage of rushes that result in a first down, right?

Starting point is 00:07:32 So 36% of any run attempts that the opposing team facing the Chargers defense has, it usually results in a first down. The staggering number here, 85.7% opponent third down rush conversion percentage, which means that, hey, if it's a third down, third and short situation here, the Chargers defense has allowed them to convert for a first down in the run game on 85. point seven percent of those snaps. J.K. Dobbins and the Broncos run game got going last week. This is an opportunity not only for Jake to get some revenge here, but for the Broncos to really get this run game going the way that they want to. I think this is the best run game the Chargers will have faced so far this season.

Starting point is 00:08:11 I really do, Cody. I don't think the Kansas City Chiefs have that great of a running game. And I think that the Las Vegas Raiders, they're still kind of trying to figure things out with a new offense, obviously a new quarterback, a new running back. it's early in the season for them. So it's not like they're a well-oiled machine. What we have seen from the Denver Broncos in the first two weeks, though, is 151 yards rushing in week one. And then we saw J.K. Dobbins have his best game so far.

Starting point is 00:08:36 I know it's only been two-game sample, but he was really effective against the Indianapolis Colts. And the Chargers, although they've got the fewest rushing attempts against, they are number one in that category. Teams aren't running against them, the Chiefs and the Raiders specifically. they're 24th, like you mentioned, in yards per attempt allowed at 4.6. And so that statistic right there, as well as what you mentioned about the fact that, okay, when teams are running against them, 36.1% of the time. So every third run or less, essentially, it's a first down. Every 86% almost of third down rush attempts are going for a first down.

Starting point is 00:09:12 So if you can get this Chargers defense into third and short situations, they've proven to be extremely susceptible against, the run. And for a guy like J.K. Dobbins, who excels at creating yardage after contact. And not only does he excel at creating yardage after contact, but the guy's going to have a little chip on his shoulder here going into this game. I know he downplayed that. But look, when he gets out there on the field, you can't tell me he's not going to be wanting to crack those lightning bolts that he sees trying to tackle him. I think J.K. is going to have a big game against the charters, his former team. And this is where I'm calling it, Cody.

Starting point is 00:09:45 2022 was the last time the Broncos had a hundred yard rusher. I believe that was a game against the Chargers for Latavius Murray. This game against the Chargers, J.K. Dobbins, going to go for over 100 yards against his former team and finally break that ugly streak for the Denver Broncos. Oh, I like it. I like the prediction here. Let's manifest it into existence.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And on top of the two, the reason that I think the Chargers defense doesn't have a lot of runs against them is because they've led in games. And so you've seen, obviously, the Raiders, they became a little pass happy. The Chiefs had to pass a little bit more because you're trailing in those games. You have to abandon the run game. So the key for the Broncos, don't fall behind,

Starting point is 00:10:22 and you have a chance to keep this thing going here. But Broncos country, one of the biggest matchups of the week, happens to be the Broncos best pass rusher against the chargers, best pass protector. It'll determine the matchup. It'll determine the outcome of this game here on Sunday. We'll preview Nick Benito versus Joe off. Next, here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Today's episode Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at DoorDash. It's almost the weekend. It's time to look back and crown this week's MVP on who delivered, powered by DoorDash, just like you can win every Saturday, with DoorDash streak, saving more time. Every time you order, these players delivered when it mattered most, let's break it down. We're going to go for the Denver Broncos.

Starting point is 00:10:57 We're going to go to Troy Franklin as the player who delivered in a big way this week, especially against the Colts where he had eight catches on nine targets, 89 yards and a touchdown, including the Troy Franklin Drive that saw him hauling several passes, including a 42-yard pass late in that second quarter against Indianapolis here. We saw Troy Franklin come through, no hesitation. That's been a trend all off. season long. And just like Troy delivered for the Broncos on Sunday, DoorDash delivers your Saturdays with DoorDash streaks. You save every Saturday that you order. Stack it up all season,

Starting point is 00:11:29 and you can save up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive fuel your game day only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period is through November 18th. Today's show is also brought to you by friends over there at Fandul, America's number one sportsbook in the Broncos. They have a high stakes matchup this week against the Chargers on Sunday. stakes in terms of taking over the division lead here. And right now over there at Fanduil, the Broncos, they are two and a half point road underdogs here. So you can get in on the money line if you think that the Broncos are going to win on the road. And Fandu is making sure for the NFL season that you're ready for kickoff where they can't miss offer. Because right now,

Starting point is 00:12:07 new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app, including on all your NFL action. So are you ready to play? Download the Fandu app now by visiting Fanduil.com to get started. That's Fanduil.com to place your first $5 bet. Get your popcorn ready Broncos fans because Nick Benito versus Joe Alt, it's going to be must-see TV here in week three. And of course, the entire Denver Broncos front, which we know they can get after the quarterback. They're going up against the Chargers offensive line and Justin Herbert, who Justin doesn't take a ton of sacks out there. So the Broncos are going to have to be on their game after watching Daniel Jones carve them up in week three. We're going to be breaking down some defensive matchups here as the Broncos look to bounce back against the chargers after a dismal effort in week two.

Starting point is 00:12:54 But Broncos country, before we dive into those numbers together, I want to say thank you so much for every single one of you making us part of your day, however you choose to do so. If you're not already an everyday listener, like Cody said before, become one today. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube where Cody closing in on 20K. That's pretty cool. So let's talk about Nick Benito here in this game. I think obviously he's become sort of the superstar of this Denver Broncos. I know there's a lot of stars on this Denver defense, but Nick Bonito, as we called for last year, we were looking for a Batman off the edge in the pass rush department.

Starting point is 00:13:30 He is Batman. He is the guy. He's the alpha. He's the pro bowler. He's the big contract player. And he's proving it early on this season. I mean, he's leading the NFL right now and overall pressures. And I always think it's interesting too because you have NFL next gen stats, which says that

Starting point is 00:13:46 Benito leads the NFL and pressures with 15 through two weeks of play, which is crazy because ideally that's more pressures than some teams certainly have on the season through due two games played here. But the thing with Nick is that in two weeks of play, eight of his 15 pressures had been deemed as quick pressures, which means that that's happening under 2.5 seconds. So we talk about the getoff, the bend that he has. Certainly that is a huge key here and a 35.7% pressure rate through just two games of play here. This is why I think this is going to be the matchup that determines this game ultimately here,

Starting point is 00:14:20 because we know Justin Herbert can get the ball of his hands. But, man, Joe Alt is doing a tremendous job filling in in Roshan Slater's spot, protecting Herbert, keeping him upright because he's not allowing a lot of pressure at all. Let's go through the numbers here, according to our friends over there at True Media. Joe Alt has played 117 snaps offensively so far this season. He's only allowed one pressure, and that pressure came on third down. So could that be a potential money down here? Joe All is a true technician.

Starting point is 00:14:47 I think when you look at how he plays the game, I know I've watched the tape of the last two weeks. It's hard to make a move on him. So really for Nick Benito, I think it's about studying like, can you use that speed? Can you maybe get Joe All to over commit? Even just once and can it be a game changing one? That's going to be huge here.

Starting point is 00:15:05 I think when we look at how this game could ultimately go. It really is. I mean, and the fact that he's playing, I mean, I know he's played left tackle before. But he played his entire rookie season on the right side and is kind of making the emergency switch to the left side, even in two games. I mean, going up against the Charger or the, excuse me, the Raiders and the Chiefs to allow

Starting point is 00:15:26 one pressure on 117 snaps. I mean, you got to just tip your cap to the guy at that point. I mean, it's pure dominance from what he's doing out there. So I would be shocked if we didn't see a lot of Nick Benito kind of moving around to the other side, right? Obviously, you want to get after Trey Pipkins now because the charges are dealing with the fact that, hey, we don't have Roshan Slater for this entire season. And based on what we know about Ryan Clayty suffering the same injury way back when, I know medicine has advanced, but you just

Starting point is 00:15:55 wish that, you wish him well in that, but I don't know what's going to come of it. You want to pick on that other guy. That's what you want to do. If you're Nick Benito, if you're this Denver Broncos defense, Vance Joseph, that's what you're going to have to do. But I want to see Nick Benito go up against Joe Al, Cody. I want to see what Jonah Ellis can do. I want to see what these secondary rushers can do because we know Nick is going to figure out a way to get pressure on the quarterback. What can these other guys do to try to get past Joe Alt? Is anybody going to be able to do it? I think it's obviously it starts with Nick Benito, but for the Broncos, that's your most efficient, effective pass rusher. You don't want to be saying, hey, we're going to put

Starting point is 00:16:32 best on best the entire game and just put Nick Benito up against Joe Alt. You want to move him to the other side and exploit what you can and allow these other guys like Jonathan Cooper, Jonah Ellis, Dondray Tillman, everybody else is going to have to figure out a way to at least get something by Joe Alt in this game. And that's going to come on the defensive line as well in terms of John Franklin Myers, maybe wherever he's lined up, can he command a double team to free up? But I imagine here's exactly what the charges will probably do. They'll probably put Tyler Conklin at one point to Nick Benito's side.

Starting point is 00:17:05 They may move him around a little bit, but they also have a tank of a fullback. that they use. And even though that they bring the fullback in, they're showing like a heavy run look personnel, they're going play action. They're going passing game still. They've been, you know, it's a run first offense, but they've been very past heavy so far through the first two weeks. And in order to maybe kind of counteract that, I guarantee you, they will motion him or they'll have him lined up offset underneath the formation. They'll bring him back underneath there. They'll probably try to get him to kick out Nick Benito or to try to seal him to get something free on the outside or just extra protection there for Justin Herbert. So that's where.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Sarah, it's like, okay, this matchup specifically between Nick and Alt, it's going to be fun to watch. But that's where everybody else has to be on their P's and Q's and they got to bring their best A game as well. I think from a pass-rass-rass standpoint, the Broncos are better than the Chiefs and what we saw on the Raiders so far. So I think this will be a challenge here for this Chargers offense this week compared to what they've faced so far. But still a dangerous challenge at that. Now let's get to our second matchup here. I think obviously the Broncos secondary against this Chargers receiving court. It's much more balanced this year than it was last year.

Starting point is 00:18:09 And it all goes down to this. Avoid the big play. Now, there was one big play given up by a corner. It was Riley Moss on the 44-yard catch to Alec Pierce. That was really the only big play that the Broncos' corners and safeties gave up here. But the chargers are a team that loves to capitalize on big plays, especially when they can catch you in a certain coverage. Let's go back to Monday night football here.

Starting point is 00:18:30 I've got it pulled up the big play. Quentin Johnston, who obviously Vance Joseph talked about. I mean, the play that they ran. here. It was 50 plus yards down field. It was a post corner. Justin Herbert found him, but this came out of 11 personnel, Sarah. And according to our friends over there at True Media, the

Starting point is 00:18:46 chargers have had seven plays of 20 plus yards, right? Big plays in the passing game. Four of those seven plays have come out of 11 personnel, which means one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers. This is going to be a key here because they will catch you a man, they'll catch you against zone.

Starting point is 00:19:02 And this is why that pressure is going to be paramount here. But let's take a look at those big plays when you look at it. And overall, in two games played, the Broncos defense, they've allowed 20 plus plays of 10 plus yards. That's not ideal. You want to obviously correct that. They've allowed five offensive plays of 20 plus yards.

Starting point is 00:19:20 And they've only allowed one offensive play of 50 plus yards. While the Chargers, they've had one play on offense of 50 plus yards. And it was that touchdown. And we were just talking about to Quentin Johnston on Monday night football. Sayre, what is the key here for being able to? to take the top off of, you know, that explosive past game element that Justin Herbert and this Charter's team possesses. Yeah, I think it's the Broncos winning in man coverage, unlike what they did against the Indianapolis Colts, right? Where Danny Dimes was dropping dimes out there. And Justin Herbert can do the exact same thing.

Starting point is 00:19:53 You know, what you see on here is a lot of, I mean, it's an early sample size. So the Broncos had a ton of success defending against these types of plays against the Tennessee Titans. Remember, the Titans had like 133 or 136 yards of offense in that game. So by the end of that, the Broncos were kind of number one in probably just about every statistical category defensively. But now things start to kind of, okay, you're drifting more towards the median here in terms of all those plays that you gave up against the Colts, which included that huge run by Jonathan Taylor, which included multiple plays from obviously Tyler Warren.

Starting point is 00:20:29 We saw Alec Pierce make some big plays. Josh Downs, Michael Pittman Jr. So pretty much everybody got their hands involved there. And I think it really came down to the Broncos getting beat in those man-to-man matchups, where they didn't make plays on the football. Now, I think obviously maybe the more staggering issue was the coverage of the linebackers. You watched Tyler Warren's highlights. By the way, two guys for the Colts won weekly awards last week.

Starting point is 00:20:56 Tyler Warren was the AFC offensive rookie of the week. And Jonathan Taylor was the AFC offensive player. of the week. That's what should be fueling this Broncos defense. And I think the fault of that really relies on the linebackers. And the way that the Broncos played things in coverage that way, it just ultimately wasn't good enough. They're going to need more help from Tallano, Hufanga, and Brennan Jones, even at that second level for those guys maybe cheating up a little bit. And Vance Joseph did say that a lot of that, he says he's got to put those guys in a better position to succeed. And it was interesting because the Broncos played a lot of single high

Starting point is 00:21:29 safety this past week against the Colts. And that was because they were, they operationally, they run a lot of RPO stuff there with Daniel Jones. So that was one way that they were trying to negate it is by bringing Talanoa, who Fonger, Brandon Jones down in the box or closer in coverage on a guide. So you have to, I think, give those guys a chance as a play caller. And we'll see if Fance Joseph can make those necessary adjustments this week and can put these guys in positions to succeed versus putting them out in no man's land. Because if the Blitz isn't getting home, it's tough to ask your coverage guys on the back end to uphold it for longer than four and a half seconds. It's a tough task, especially against Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers,

Starting point is 00:22:05 who will be the toughest test that this team has faced yet. But Broncos country, coming up next, we're going to go through keys to victory what the Broncos need to do to win and what they must avoid if they don't want to lose on the road here. We'll break it all down on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. This episode is brought to you by Square. Your favorite neighborhood spots run on Square because there are certain businesses that truly make the neighborhood feel like home, whether it's a local sports bar packed on game days, the coffee shop that knows your order by heart, or the corner deli that's been serving your community for decades.

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Starting point is 00:22:50 especially close to game day as well. Square is a proud partner of more than four million neighborhood businesses around the world. You can go to square.com slash go-locked on NFL to learn. and more. But before you do, go support your favorite neighborhood spot. You'll be happy you did. Square, see you in the neighborhood. As we jump on the fourth core action on today's episode of the show, we're going to dive into Keys to Victor. We're going to look at what the Broncos must do if they want to win here on Sunday to take the top spot inside the AFC West and what they must avoid in order to lose this game. You don't want that to happen. You don't want to be in a position now where you are one and two and you have a

Starting point is 00:23:25 tough schedule coming up on Monday night football against the Bengals. You have the Eagles. You have the Jets on the road. in London and then you face the Cowboys and the Giants. It's just a position you don't want to find yourself in it. So we're saying that this is a must win game here for the Denver Broncos. So Sarah, I'm going to ask you the question. If the Broncos are going to win here in week number three, what is it that they must do? Well, if the Broncos are going to win in week three,

Starting point is 00:23:48 they've got to cash in on their red zone opportunities. It's just simply put, I mean, you've referenced a number of times the stuff that we've been looking at through true media. I think one of the things that really was staggering to me, just in terms of the overall statistics is the Chargers efficiency in the Red Zone right now. I mean, they are absolutely lights out when it comes to playing in the Red Zone defensively, Cody, 16.7% of opportunities have been converted into touchdowns against this Chargers defense. And that's going up against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Starting point is 00:24:19 I mean, obviously, the Chiefs are not nearly what they've been in the past. But shoot, I mean, that's Patrick Mahomes and the boys out there. And then you've got the Raiders with Gino Smith, who they were extremely. extremely effective in week one, or week, yeah, week one against the Patriots. And here we are. And it's two weeks into the season. The charter's given up 16.7% in the red zone. I mean, that's wild.

Starting point is 00:24:41 That's a really, really good number for them. And that's where the Broncos, they were outstanding against the Indianapolis Colts. I know it wasn't 100% conversion rate. But what we do know is that for the first, what, four possessions that they had, I mean, man, they were punching the ball in. They scored 28 points pretty darn quickly in that. that game. So they've got to be similarly efficient here in week three against the Chargers if they want to win this game. Yeah, and you have to hope that the defense. If

Starting point is 00:25:06 the Broncos do that if you find a way to put up 28 points on the road again, you have to hope that the defense finds a way to get at least a few stops, key stops in crucial situations. Don't allow Justin Herbert in that team to score. And I think the Broncos will win this game, Sarah, if they can sack Justin Herbert at least three times. I always think that's been the key. Anytime we look back at the Broncos beating the Chargers, Justin Herbert hasn't necessarily had the cleanest pocket. He hasn't had time to really kind of establish himself and go through his progressions. And we're talking about matchups that the Broncos have had against Keenan Allen, Mike Williams led chargers at that at one point in time here. But we're talking about guys here like Pat Sertan

Starting point is 00:25:43 has been a part of teams that have beaten the chargers here in key situations, been part of teams that have swept the chargers in more recent years. But they're evolving. They're getting, they're getting playmakers around. And I think for this game specifically, if you can speed up the clock there of Justin Herbert, then that certainly helps your defense there. If you can find a way to get at least three sacks on Herbert in this game, that can lead to stops, maybe potentially on crucial third down situations, all these things can add up at the end of the game. I think that's going to be one of the bigger keys here if the Broncos are going to win.

Starting point is 00:26:15 I want to ask you this question. What is something that the Broncos must avoid? Like the Broncos will lose this game if what comes to fruition. All the Broncos are going to lose this game if they lose the turnover battle. I mean, we don't really, I don't think that's any sort of groundbreaking news by any point. But you know what? The Broncos are kind of worse than other teams when it comes to even just being straight up, you know, hey, if the turnover battle is the same.

Starting point is 00:26:42 If it's giveaways, you know, two to two or something like that, even in that case, the Broncos are not very good. And we've seen this Broncos team in one score games the last two years. They are two and seven in one score games, which means that their margin for error is still such that they can't afford to lose the turnover battle at this point. I mean, at least not in the ways that we've seen, like you miss a field goal against the Colts. You obviously had the other, the interception by Bo Nix.

Starting point is 00:27:08 And so I just, I know that you have the two turnovers on downs from the Colts, but when you're giving up 470 plus yards of offense the other way, even when the Colts were kicking a bunch of field goals, like, that's just too much. It wears down too much over the course of a game. You cannot have that. So you've got to have more takeaways than giveaways if you want to avoid losing. this game instead of, as opposed to what we want to say the team do, go take the bull by the horns

Starting point is 00:27:31 and win it, right? You want to see them instead of playing not to lose, play to win, go take the ball away. But the Broncos, they have to stop with these self-inflicted wounds offensively in order to get out of their own way before we see them actually go win a game instead of avoid losing a game. Agreed completely. And week one was a little bit of an anomaly. The Broncos lost the turnover battle, but still found a way to win. I think that what, NFL teams that won the turnover battle overall In week one, we're eight and one. The Broncos were the one exception to that rule here. So that was something you and I discussed is that can't be a consistent trend.

Starting point is 00:28:05 And certainly there have been inopportune turnovers or possessions that have kind of shot the momentum in the leg for the Broncos here offensively. Find a way to get that going. Penalties were another one essentially here last week. So avoid the penalties. Be in control, I think, of your emotions. Obviously, if you were in between the tackles here, I thought Thursday, I don't know if you saw the Thursday night game. I feel like between obviously two rivals, two division rivals, the bills and the Dolphins, it was a really chippy game.

Starting point is 00:28:31 We saw a lot of flags for extracurricular stuff flying in. So don't get caught up into that trap because we know the chargers, they'll jaw a little bit. They got a chip on their shoulder. That's going to be their mentality here. I agree with you there, Sarah. The Broncos will lose this game if the defense gives up at least three plays of 15 plus yards. We're talking about continuing the trend of allowing the explosives to occur. This cannot be the case here on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:28:54 Try to put a cap on that. I think if you were the Broncos defensively. And so much of it, I think pre-snap comes from communication, making sure that, hey, if you have a coverage called and you get, they, they shift into a formation here, which the Chargers, they use a lot of personnel. But primarily as we talked about, four of those seven plays that they've had of 20 plus yards, big plays this season, the Chargers offensively,

Starting point is 00:29:15 they've come out of 11 personnel. So Broncos countries, you're watching the game, keep an eye. Do they have one running back in? Do they have one tight end? And do they have three receivers? three receivers. That is what we call 11 personnel. Sometimes they'll go with, you know, 21 personnel where they have two backs and one tied in as one. It's that big fullback. Once again, he's a tank. He's going to be someone that you have to keep an eye because I remember

Starting point is 00:29:36 the second half, he actually impacted the Broncos in a negative way on Thursday night last year. So stay tuned to these keys here as the game is developing on. Limit the explosives here. I want to go through and do one more thing here before Clause of today's game preview. Sear, give me one player you expect is going to have a big game here for the Broncos, whether they'd be on offense or whether that be on defense. I'm going to say Marvin Nims, Cody. I feel like something's been kind of bubbling beneath the surface. I know he had a really good game against the Chargers late last year, or at least made

Starting point is 00:30:06 some big plays against the Chargers late last season. And I feel like the touchdown that he had in week one is going to be that launching off point for the Broncos realizing, hey, we've really got to get this guy involved. I imagine the offensive staff, Sean Payton, they saw. the way that he was open there. They saw the hands. They saw the playmaking ability. They've got to be thinking to themselves.

Starting point is 00:30:26 All right, we can't go another half a season without getting this guy, the ball more often. We've got to get Marvin involved. And against a defense like the Chargers, it's going to be aggressive attacking the line. Man, Marvin could be a huge weapon out in space once again. So just like last year against the Chargers,

Starting point is 00:30:41 I'm calling for Marvin Mims to have a big game. What do you say? I'm going to go with the Broncos running back duo here. I think J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey, both guys will have a rushing touchdown in this game. Obviously for RJ, you want to get him going a little bit. Hasn't quite been the start that he's necessarily kind of aimed for, but he hasn't had the larger volume of work either. I think this is a game where maybe Sean Peyton leans a little bit.

Starting point is 00:31:02 If the run game is working on JK against his former team and RJ as the smashing dash duo, both guys, I'm going to predict it here, have a touchdown against the charges. Broncos country, make sure you send us your keys to Victor and also your players that you have your eye on here in Sunday's AFC West Division of matchup. The Broncos win. They overtake first place inside of the division. There is a lot at stake here, a limit the big place here. With that said, Broncos Country, Sarah and I,

Starting point is 00:31:27 we'll see you right after the game for a locked on Broncos post-game report. Hopefully, a victory Monday coming your way here in Broncos country. We'll see you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Troy Franklin is the WEAPON to EXPLOIT Chargers Defense

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