Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills: Can Bo Nix and Sean Payton shock Josh Allen?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Bills, Broncos, playoffs. There is no tomorrow. We're going to get you ready for it. Today, I'm a locked on podcast network. You are locked on NFL crossover, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Welcome into this crossover Thursday episode of locked on bills and locked on Broncos. We are proud members of the locked on podcast network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:33 And we're thankful for our everydayers. those of you who make us your first listen and never miss a single episode. Today's episode is brought to you by prize picks. Download the app and use code Lockdown NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. I'm Joe Marino, host of Lockdown Bills, joined by Sarah Bettinger, the host of Lockdown Broncos. We're here to get you ready for the super wild card round matchup between the Bills and Broncos in Orchard Park Sunday afternoon. We'll give you the path to victory for both sides.

Starting point is 00:01:06 We'll talk Bill's storylines, but I want to start with the Broncos storyline. Sarah, let's get right into it. I'm sure Broncos country is excited. Denver breaks its nine-year playoff drought. Now, listen, I know about a 17-year playoff drought. So not quite, not quite the same, but nine years, welcome back to the postseason. Denver's got an A-list head coach. They've got a great defense.

Starting point is 00:01:29 They got a bright rookie quarterback and Bo Nix. I want to start with Nix. how would you sum up his rookie campaign? Where has he impressed? Where are the biggest areas that you're looking for when it comes to growth? I think to sum up his rookie campaign, Joe, I'd have to say just awesome. I mean, Bo Nix has been more than anything that anybody really expected going into the season. I think maybe some Oregon Ducks fans, maybe some people who loves him at Auburn thought,

Starting point is 00:01:55 oh, yeah, he's going to light it up at the NFL level. But not many people that I talked to thought he was going to light it up at the NFL level. and he's surpassed all expectations. The most impressive aspect of it has just been poised. I mean, you see the growth from those first two games where, man, it was so easy for people to kind of start making jokes about, Sean Payton got this one wrong with Bo Nix. Obviously, he can't hang at the NFL level, zero touchdowns,

Starting point is 00:02:21 four interceptions in the first two games. The offense, you know, obviously struggling a lot. But the poise and the growth that he showed in terms of his ability to operate the offense, to spread the ball around to different receivers, to hit throws at every level, using his legs to make plays on the ground. I think there's no question that he's been in that offensive rookie of the year conversation all year long after those first two games, right? I mean, he turned it on week three in Tampa Bay, maybe the most unlikely of places to do it

Starting point is 00:02:52 based on that time of year. That's one of the last places you really want to be playing and have to come out of an 0 and 2 hole against a good offense. but Bo Nix led this team all year long, and this entire Broncos roster has really responded well to him. Yeah, obviously very impressive. And it's hard to quickly change narratives, right? Everyone wants to have the hot take right away,

Starting point is 00:03:14 define everyone's career immediately, but, you know, players improve. I think both sides of these fan bases have enjoyed a lot of good player development for their teams. And Bo Nix, yeah, like you mentioned, a couple of rough starts to begin, but that didn't define his rookie season, obviously got himself, you know, right into that conversation with Jaden Daniels to be the,

Starting point is 00:03:34 the rookie of the year. How about growth areas? I think it's, you watch Bo Nix. You see, you know, a playmaker, right? An instinctive guy. I think the offense is well suited for him. I think there's a good mix of, hey, screens and let's get the ball out. Let's move the pocket.

Starting point is 00:03:49 But then also plenty of, hey, go make plays. And he does. And so there's a lot of good with Bo Nix. Where are you looking for the growth when it comes to him? Well, I think moving past. this season. It's really going to be working on, can we get the timing down on some of these deep shots? I mean, ironically, the one guy he's had trouble connecting with this year has been Troy Franklin, his old Oregon teammate. And we've seen a number of mistimes deep balls between those guys,

Starting point is 00:04:15 but over the course of the year, I mean, there's been some fantastic ones like we saw this past weekend or a couple of weeks against Cincinnati and even before that against Cleveland, the Marvin Mims play. So we've seen some big time hits. Can those be more consistent throughout the course of the year. I think there's times where Bo likes to kind of jump out of the pocket before stepping up into it, because the Broncos past protection has been awesome this season. And so to step up into a clean pocket to trust your O line and to hit some of these passing concepts that Sean Peyton has drawn up. Now, has he done bad at that all year? Absolutely not. But there are times when you watch back and you're like, man, he maybe left a little meat on the bone here or a little

Starting point is 00:04:55 meat on the bone there. And nobody's going to be more critical than him, which has been nice. to hear after games. He's come out and said, I should have, I should have hit these two plays to Franklin or I should have hit this past play that I threw an interception or things like that. So accountability's been there, but there are areas for sure that he can grow. Yeah, sounds like just reps, right? And obviously a great opportunity to finish his rookie season and be in the playoffs. I mean, no better way to get game experience than games like this. So it'd be a great opportunity for him. How about this Denver offense? It's gotten better. The first 10 games of the season, they average 19.7 points per game.

Starting point is 00:05:30 The last 7, 32.6. That's a healthy sample size. I know people want to poo-poo at it because they didn't play all the greatest defenses in the world. I got news. Bill's defense isn't that good either. What did you see here? A quarterback that's grown throughout the course of the season,

Starting point is 00:05:46 what's factoring into how this offense has just become so much more productive here in the second half of the year? Well, I think it does start with. with Bo Nix. I mean, like you mentioned earlier, kind of just out there making plays. And running the offense, it's been, I know we say that and it's like, well, what does I even mean? Well, a lot of times folks want to look at the passing chart for Bo Nix that gets put out every week from next gen stats or whatever and be like, oh yeah, look at all these passes near the line of scrimmage. The reason why that's happening is because the Broncos haven't run the ball very well this year.

Starting point is 00:06:18 And so they're utilizing the short passing game as kind of an extension of that running game to try to get something going after the catch. We saw that again when they played the Chargers, Jesse Minter's defense. They got an 11 point lead early in that game, largely because they had their best game of the year in terms of yak, getting yards after the catch, not Jesse Minter's like, hey, you're not going to throw the ball deep on us. We've seen you do that a handful of times this season. So you're going to have to get everything in front, and that's exactly what they did.

Starting point is 00:06:45 So the adjustments there throughout the course of the season, whatever teams have been throwing at this offense, they seem to have been able to. counter, which is something that you kind of would expect with Sean Payton, but the consistency of the scoring. I mean, I didn't know the stat that you just brought up until you sent it to me, but when we were talking about this show beforehand, that's pretty, that's pretty amazing. I mean, considering where they were the first two games and then that Jets game where I think 10 to 9 final score, that was week four, week five, something like that. So to go from where they were at the beginning of the year to finishing with a top 10 overall scoring offense,

Starting point is 00:07:21 it's pretty crazy. Sarah, let's go on a Vance Joseph journey and I hope that you can help me here. And I know that Denver fans have been through an absolute journey with Vance Joseph, former head coach now defensive coordinator, which that's just got to be a little bit weird. But obviously it's working because this defense is really, really good. So Vance Joseph, I followed his career for a long time, obviously spending time in the AFC East with Miami. And then he just keeps getting opportunities. But what I would say is that like, metricly, his defenses haven't been good until this year. And I'm like, oh, that's what everybody's seeing in Vance Joseph.

Starting point is 00:07:52 He's really maximized what he has on, on this defensive roster. So what's going on here? What's up with this defense? How is Vance Joseph really gotten everything out of it? And then just make, maybe you can apply that to this matchup on Sunday against Josh Allen and company. It's really been the pass rush. Everything feeding off the pass rush.

Starting point is 00:08:12 Plus you've got a pretty good player out there in Pat Sartan at the cornerback position that makes life easier on your pass rush as well. just to know that, man, we can send extra. And Vance Joseph blitzed more than most defensive coordinators this year. So I think that's been his calling card this year is having a front four that can get home easily, pretty consistently with Jonathan Cooper, Nick Benito, Zach Allen, and then whoever's out there between John Franklin Myers, Malcolm Roach, DJ Jones, those guys are able to get home with four. But then the way that they're able to get after the quarterback with five, six guys,

Starting point is 00:08:46 sending defensive backs on blitzes, sending Cody Barton, Justin Sternod from up the A gap. They've done so much of that throughout the course of the year. And I think that's the biggest issue they've given opposing offenses. And maybe for the bills this year in this game in particular is to say, okay, our blitz package, you've seen it on tape. It's all out there. Vance Joseph acknowledged that a couple weeks ago. All of our tape is out there, warts and all.

Starting point is 00:09:12 So now what do you do with that? When we put Justin Sternod, Cody Barton, in the A gap, and then we drop. all but three guys. What do you do with that and how do you adjust? That's been a huge advantage for him this year is just confusing the opposing quarterbacks as much as possible, although it hasn't always worked out, little feasts or famine at times. Let me sneak one more in here about the Denver defense. It's been great. Dominant defense this year. There's been some letdown games, including a recent stretch later in the season. When it's not clicking, what is at the root of that? And like what concerns do you have going up against Buffalo on Sunday with Denver's defense?

Starting point is 00:09:49 There were two primary reasons for the letdowns late in the season defensively. The first one being the injury to Riley Moss, which caused the Levi-Wallis game against Cleveland. Levi-Wallis. Levi-Wallis, you all know Levi-Wallis. And so giving up almost 500 yards to James Winston, that caused the Broncos to throw Chris Abrams drain in the mix. And then against the Chargers, they just had so many lapses in coverage. Sean Payton saying five or six free runners at times against Justin Herbert who's going to feast on that kind of stuff. So you had lapses and coverage communication between the safeties and linebackers.

Starting point is 00:10:24 You had the Riley Moss injury. And I think all of those things contributed. Plus, you go up against the buzz saw that is Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase. Those guys are going to get theirs and have theirs on any given weekend in the NFL season. So that's been the tough part down the stretch this season. And then the big play has occasionally burned the Broncos, as we saw against, I mean, the Colts almost got off to a 27 lead in that game. The big play has been a bit of an Achilles heel at times for the Broncos this year, too.

Starting point is 00:10:53 All right. That's the big stuff with Denver. We're talking bills on the other side of it. Folks, be sure to stick with us. I love going to events, whether it's sports, music, comedy, theater. One of my favorite memories this past year was attending a concert, the energy, the excitement. It was unforgettable. Now, game time has made it.

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Starting point is 00:12:05 Joe Marino, Lockdown Bill, Sarah Bettinger, Lockdown Broncos. We talked Broncos in the first segment. It's time to talk Bill. Sare. What do you want to get into? Joe, I've been watching a lot of this Bill's team this year, of course, selfishly, a bit of a fantasy interest with James Cook leading me to the championship. Shout out to him.

Starting point is 00:12:24 Big time stuff. Love to see it. But the biggest difference, I think, from the last time that you and I chatted about Bill's Broncos last year, the bills are one of those teams. And they're the fewest giveaways in the entire NFL this year, which is a bit abnormal. I think for Josh Allen and what he's, I mean, obviously the guy makes plays. The guys put up numbers, plenty of numbers.

Starting point is 00:12:46 But I think just along with that come the interceptions and the fumbles and things like that. And we saw that in abundance the last time these two teams played. So to me, my biggest question for you is like, what's been the biggest difference this year as opposed to years past where Josh is taking so much better care of the football? And the offense in general has really limited terms. turnover is better than anybody else in the league. Yeah, I think Joe Brady deserves a lot of credit for this taking over after that Denver game last year. That featured quite a few blunders.

Starting point is 00:13:18 James Cook fumbled on the first snap of the game, Gabe Davis with a drop pass that went right into Justin Simmons's hands. Deonté Hardy runs a bad route and Josh throws a pick. I mean, that was a game that was emblematic of a lot of the issues that plagued the bills offensively for a while. And Joe Brady's infusion on this scheme has really helped. But I'll really get specific here. And Stefan Diggs gave the Buffalo Bills the greatest four-year stretch of receiver production the organization's ever seen. The bills are a better team and they're a better offense because they don't have them. And what it really comes down to is Josh Allen has freedom to operate.

Starting point is 00:13:55 It's no longer worrying about 14 and how many targets he's going to get. And if he's happy and how he's reacting to everything, Josh Allen has the freedom to go out there and just run the offense. read the defense, go to the smart right place with the football. And that's been huge. And I'll double down. It's not just the departure of Stefan Diggs that has made this offense better. It's also Gabe Davis. There's been an absolute lie out there that people believe that Gabe Davis is a legitimate

Starting point is 00:14:19 number two receiver in the NFL. And the bills tried to validate that for three years. And it's just not who he is. He's not a volume guy. He doesn't separate quickly. He doesn't give you yards after catch. He's a guy that has size and ball skills down the field that you can launch it to. That's not a volume receiver, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:14:34 And I think those guys being gone and leaning into this, everybody eats mentality where, you know, no disrespect to Patrick Sotain, he's the best corner in the NFL. He's somewhat minimized in a game like this because the bills don't have a number one receiver. Who are you going to take away? It doesn't matter, right? And I think that's what it comes down to is this offense isn't about any one player that's not Josh Allen. He has freedom to operate. They're versatile with their skill sets. And Joe Brady has really organized this in a way that allows Josh Allen to just go out there and execute.

Starting point is 00:15:04 not worry about making sure that Gabe Davis is validated as a number two or making sure that Stefan Diggs gets his production and Josh Allen can just do the smart right thing with the football. I couldn't agree with you more. And I've enjoyed watching that aspect of Josh Allen's game and the evolution of that. And to continue to give Joe Brady some of his flowers here, I think specifically leaning into this James Cook storyline as he's had just an incredible season for the bills. statistically speaking, very similar numbers to what we saw last year, other than the huge spike in overall touchdown. So I don't know. I kind of teeter between like,

Starting point is 00:15:41 do you go back and look at some of the stuff that we saw from, you know, Joe Brady when he was at LSU, Joe Burrow spreading the ball around to everybody, everybody eats mentality? What's been the source of the huge spike in terms of the usage of James Cook when it comes to punching the ball in and scoring the football more this year than last year, obviously? Man, imagine Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase on the same receiver core, man.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Joe Burrow throwing in the ball in college. In college, come on. Yeah, that's why 2019 LSU is the best college football team I've ever seen. James Cook, man, he's had a great season. And what I think it really comes down to, like you said, the production's similar. In fact, the volume stats were better last year. The touchdown productions off the charts.

Starting point is 00:16:23 If Jemir Gibbs didn't go out and have three touchdowns in that last game, James Cook scored the most touchdowns in the NFL this season. And I think the reason for that is James Cook got. better. And that's what it really comes down to. Cook had a good season last year, a lot of opportunity, a lot of volume. But I thought there was three areas in particular where he struggled. First of all, short yardage and contact balance. And let's face it, he's never going to be a grinder. He's never going to be, you know, that type of Terrell Davis after contact, right? Travis Henry, there's a mutual Bill's Broncos running. He's not that, right? He's 511, 195 pounds. That's not what he's going to be.

Starting point is 00:16:57 But he's been better after contact because I think his vision has really, really, really. improved and his ability to set up tacklers and use his lateral quickness. He's been really, I mean, I think he put on a little bit of weight in terms of muscle, and that's helped him a lot through contact. It's made him a much better short yardage option. And I think his time on task has led to better decisions with the football. He sees it a lot better. Number two is he's really cleaned up the fumbles. Fumbles were an issue for him last year. You saw that in the Denver game. He fumbled on the first play. He got benched, actually came back and had a really good game. he fumbled again and got it back. But the bills had 192 rushing yards in that meeting last year

Starting point is 00:17:33 against Denver as they were kind of up and down with their run defense at times last season. The bills kind of got the better of that. And, you know, that was through James Cook kind of being benched for a decent part of that game, but also drops. He dropped a punch of a bunch of passes last year. And that's cleaned up as well. And so I think that's led to a more confident player that goes out and he's been able to hit a lot of home runs. He's been able to win in short yardage. And while he's the lead back, it's also a shared backfield with Ty Johnson and Ray Davis. And I think they all work together.

Starting point is 00:18:01 They maximize their opportunities. And the bills have been pretty good running the football this year. They absolutely have. And it's been fun to watch those guys emerge as well. Defensively for this Buffalo Bills team, this will be my last question for you, Joe. And I'll let you kind of vamp on this as you will. I know that the Broncos have struggled this year

Starting point is 00:18:19 against the best teams that they've faced off against when it comes to, you know, teams with winning records, things like that. It's been a big storyline. I look at the Buffalo Bills this year. 28 points in the first game of the year against Kyler Murray, 35 versus Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, 23 against Houston and C.J. Stroud, obviously, then you go down the lineup. The Rams and Matt Stafford, 44 points allowed, 42 the next week to the Detroit Lions. And obviously, they faced off against some great teams this year, some great quarterbacks. So going through this gauntlet of the AFC. I mean, I think everybody's expectation is going to be the bills. They should be getting to the AFC championship game at worst. Offensively, are you confident in that? What is this team's week to week calling card? And how does that, again, like you said earlier,

Starting point is 00:19:05 how does that apply to you think to this game against Denver? Very, very, very, very concerned about the defense there. And you pointed out a lot of the games this year that, you know, they gave up a high amount of points. They've been terrible on third downs this season. Situationally, they've not played well. I think their pass rush has been very, very disappointing. So, yeah, that's all a major concern.

Starting point is 00:19:25 And it's been the concern. The bills have been a great football team. for a number of years. They're the only team that's not named the Chiefs that have won at least one playoff game each of the last four seasons. Their win percentage really since 2020 has been when you talk about sports in general, like I think they're number two in terms of win percentage. It's been a very, very good football team. But the reason that they haven't gotten over the hump when it comes to going to the Super Bowl or, you know, they went to the NFC championship game once and lost to the Chiefs has been defense. It just has not been good enough,

Starting point is 00:19:53 even when they've been metrically great in the regular season. That point. off elimination game three times against Mahomes, once against Joe Burrow. The defense has been terrible. And this year, their regular scenes in defense is probably worse than it's ever been. And so, yeah, am I concerned about it in the playoffs? Absolutely. This defensive line is average at best. They got a couple of good players.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Greg Rousseau is a stud. Ed Oliver can be a stud. He's kind of very inconsistent. Von Miller has his moments, but there's not dudes out there. They're going to go out there and win one-on-one battles like you see in Denver with guys like Nick Benito with guys like Cooper, Jonathan Cooper and John Franklin Myers and Zach Allen. They don't, the bills don't have a deep group of guys like that. And they like to win with organic rush. They don't blitz very often. They don't stunt. They rely on this organic rush.

Starting point is 00:20:42 And it just has not been good enough. And yeah, I'm concerned that it won't be good enough in the postseason. Their third down defense has fallen apart lately. And partly because they just don't have a very effective pass rush. And sometimes they can be a little loose in coverage and give up conversion. So this story of the Buffalo Bill's defense team this year, how far they go is relying on this defense. Josh Allen's going to be great. Josh Allen's been great in the postseason every year. I mean, he's arguably been the best

Starting point is 00:21:08 postseason quarterback in NFL history. Most yards, most touchdowns per game amongst quarterbacks that have had 10 starts or more in the postseason. This isn't a Josh Allen thing. He's been unbelievable. His defenses let him down. And the concern is, well, when's that going to be this year? Is it Denver? They're going to play Baltimore next week? Is it the AFC championship? game like what at one point is a defense going to, you know, not be able to pull

Starting point is 00:21:30 pull its weight. And I'm concerned about that in a big way. Is it this week against Denver? That's been the good thing is they've kind of had a good wildcard game. Then when they get up against, you know, Mahomes or Burrow, it falls apart. So that's going to be the story of this Bill's run. How good can this defense can be? And quite frankly, it's been the worst. It's been during the regular season. And that doesn't give me a lot of confidence that it's not going to get in the way of another postseason run. All right. Folks, we're going to get into the path to victory for both sides of the equation here in just a moment. Be sure to stick with us.

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Starting point is 00:22:57 Make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. I'm Joe Marino from Lockdown Bills, joined by Sarah Bettinger of Lockdown Broncos, here to get you ready for Bill's Broncos, super wild card weekend. And of course, this episode is presented by prize picks. Download the app.

Starting point is 00:23:17 Use code Lockdown NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Sarah, it's time for Path to Victory here. And I just talked about a lot of concerns for the bills on the defensive side of the football. All that being said, the bills are favorites in this game. If you go to our friends over at Fanduel, they have the bills as an eight and a half point favorite. For Denver to come into Buffalo and really ruin the season for the Buffalo bills. And then you get a chance to go play the Chiefs if they win. That's the guaranteed thing.

Starting point is 00:23:47 You get that date. We all remember that 14 to 16 block field goal situation. Now, if we don't really wake 18, that didn't mean anything. But what's it going to take to get that third matchup against Kansas City for Denver? Well, I always think it's so easy to say, well, you got to win the turnover battle. You got to convert on third downs. You got to do this, that, and the other. So let's get super specific here, all right?

Starting point is 00:24:08 So number one key to victory for the Denver Broncos is let Marvin Mims stay hot. Let Marvin Mims cook out there, baby. He's been the key for this offense since the trade deadline, have to keep him involved, have to continue getting him opportunities to create big plays for your offense, because he's the one guy that's been creating those big plays over the last two months. Number two key, you have to manage the game well. If you're Sean Payton, there can't be any situations where everybody is wondering, why did he not call a time out here?

Starting point is 00:24:38 Why did he not do this? Why was he throwing in this situation and not running in this situation? Why do we abandon the run in this situation? I mean, X, Y, Z, you can go back over the course of the season. Sean Payton has done a tremendous, tremendous job. But at times, the game management, the flow of the game. game. There's been some questionable decisions there. And then number three, I think you're going to need two interceptions in this game in order to win. Now, again, we talked about it before.

Starting point is 00:25:04 Josh Allen, fewest interceptions we've seen of his career, lowest interception percent, fewest giveaways of any team in the NFL. If you're the Denver Broncos, you want to go on the road and upset the Buffalo bills in the postseason. I think you're getting need two picks in this game at least in order to give your offense, those extra possessions, and turn the tide. momentum-wise to get this one. So keep Marvin Mims hot, manage the game well if you're Sean Peyton and the number three, get at least two interceptions. And I think then the Broncos could book their trip to Kansas City for the second

Starting point is 00:25:35 round of the playoffs. Man, I love Marvin Mims. It's been a journey. I love them coming out of Oklahoma. I had a high grade on him. And then it's just felt like he's such an afterthought. And any time he touched the ball, it's like, my goodness, this guy looks like he's an absolute monster.

Starting point is 00:25:50 And we've seen that really kind of crank up. Good return guy, too, over 16. yards per punt return over 27 yards per kick return for his career. He hasn't taken him to the house yet. I think there's only a matter of time there on the return stuff. Good player, good player. He's the explosive guy. When I start thinking about Denver, you know, Sutton's obviously the dude, right?

Starting point is 00:26:09 They throw the ball to him a ton. But the one that I get nervous about is Mims. He's a playing manager. All pro. Back to back all pro. Crazy enough. He's right. And just imagine if they get some more.

Starting point is 00:26:19 He's a good route runner. He's got good hands. Yeah, it's only a matter of time before that guy becomes. comes really, you know, a household name on the receiving side of things. All right, for the bills to avoid everything that you just talked about. And let me say this. If the Denver Broncos win this game, go beat the Chiefs. I mean, come on now.

Starting point is 00:26:36 Go beat the Chiefs. We know Denver would want to do that. But the bills, you know, we're clinging to all we can here. The bills have been to the Super Bowl four years in a row. The only team that's ever done that. Well, this would be three for the Chiefs. We need that to restart. So go Broncos if the bills don't get that opportunity.

Starting point is 00:26:51 my keys for Buffalo to beat Denver on Sunday afternoon. Number one is pass rush. Every playoff elimination game that I've watched with the bills, and there's been more than I want to admit here over the last several years, their pass rush doesn't show up. They have two sacks in those four elimination games since 2020. And I don't have a lot of confidence. And so how in the pass rush,

Starting point is 00:27:16 how can Sean McDermott and Bobby Babbage maximize what they have? Well, like you mentioned, Denver's pass blocking has been terrific all season long. Veteran offensive line plus starter and bowls, maybe the best guard in the league in minors. McGlenshey, Powers is a nice free agent signing. Wattenberg's really emerged as a center there. I don't think the bills can go into this game and just say, hey, our four versus your five, let's go beat them and get to Bo Nix. I don't think that's going to work.

Starting point is 00:27:41 They've got to come up with the right pass rush plan, whether that is sim pressures, blitzing, stunts, all kinds of, you got to do whatever it takes here to affect Bow, Knicks because you look at his metrics, they're great across the board. Like every quarterback, the metrics go down when they're pressured. You got to get pressure on this guy. And it's hard to do it with the way that this team protects. And also how they schematically, I think, take advantage of some things with the screen game, with the play action game, moving the pocket. So they help their protection with scheme and they have good players. So the bill's got to have the right rush plan here. And that's going to help all the third down woes that I talked about

Starting point is 00:28:16 earlier. Number two is I think you have to have an all of the above approach on offense. The way that this offense is built is everybody eats. You have a bunch of different guys that you can throw the football too. Tight ends, backs, receivers, inside, outside guys. You know, Pat Certain's going to take somebody off the menu. Okay. There's other players that you can go to. You're built for this. This isn't, okay, you're going to Kansas City. They got Lageria Sneed. He's taking away Stefan Diggs. You better figure it out. There's, that doesn't matter in a game like this. You have to be able to go out there and take advantage of exactly the team that you've built, that they can't take away that one thing because there's not one thing to take away. And I think

Starting point is 00:28:55 whether that's short passes, the play action game, the screen game, the bills have been opportunistic there. They have a very, very multiple run scheme. Josh Allen's involvement in the run game, you know, he's like 32 yards away from becoming the all-time leader and playoff rushing yards for quarterback. There's no tomorrow. This is the time where you empty it all out there and do what you're designed to do offensively against a great Denver defense. And then number three is you got to stay good in the red zone. Denver, unbelievable red zone defense. They only allow a touchdown 47% of the time, less than half the time.

Starting point is 00:29:29 They're not giving up touchdowns. We watched Joe Burrow. I mean, those red zone possessions were unbelievable in that game. And Buffalo has been great in red zone offense. 72% they score. Josh Allen, probably the best red zone quarterback in the NFL. can you stay good there where Denver's good. And I think there's a lot of matchups of like good on good.

Starting point is 00:29:48 When you think about the bills pass protection, they've been really good. Josh Allen, the least sack quarterback in the NFL against obviously the team that not only from a raw volume perspective have the most sacks, but as a percentage of place, you know, 9% of the time they get a sack, highest pressure rate there. It's good on good in a lot of different areas in this game. But I think in the red zone, you got to score.

Starting point is 00:30:10 Because you've seen this, man. When you watch football and that team's moving the. ball, but they settle for three. Threes don't add up like sevens. You got to get sevens instead of threes because that's going to keep the game close. If you can get capitalized when you move the ball and stay good in the red zone, this hasn't been an issue. But you wonder at a game like this where Denver's been so good in the red zone, can you

Starting point is 00:30:30 maintain that efficiency that you've shown all season long? You do those things, then you get a chance probably to host of Baltimore Ravens next week. And those are the things that exactly have kept the Broncos in games against good teams. like you mentioned, they're eight and a half point underdogs in this game, which I find interesting because they've only lost one game by more than one score this entire season. It was against the Baltimore Ravens. So going to be fascinating.

Starting point is 00:30:54 I think it's got a chance to go either way, blowout or close game. One way or the other, Joe, I think there's some intangible storylines that are fascinating as well, like Josh Allen, the guy, the one who got away. John Elway's biggest mistake is on self-proclaimed biggest mistake. now the Broncos facing off against him in their final return to the playoffs after Super Bowl 50. And of course, speaking of Super Bowl 50, I can't not mention Von Miller. And I love the Instagram post that he put out there with the memes that he had, you know, the Vic and Oz from the Penguin.

Starting point is 00:31:27 It's just great stuff. How fitting that the Broncos returned to the playoffs for the first time in nine years since Super Bowl 50. They would be going up against Von Miller, who might be in his swan song. I don't know. It could be. I mean, maybe he plays another year or two. but very interesting intangible storylines here as well. Yeah, the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, Sean McDermott.

Starting point is 00:31:48 So it's funny. The last time Denver was the Super Bowl, we see them beat the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl. Shout out Cam Newton. Great job recovering that fumble. I'll never forget that. But Von Miller was Super MVP. I mean, that is crazy to think about this. Two teams that have had long droughts, again, we'll win the suck Olympics here.

Starting point is 00:32:06 The bills with 17 years without the playoffs there. but Denver like a team that, I mean, I'm almost 40 years old. Denver's for like the first 30 years in my life, always good, always good. You know, even like different iterations of the team, always good. So it's been really strange. I think you look at some of that ownership transition and you wonder how much that plays into it. But it feels like they're on a great path, a great ownership, young quarterback, defense looks good.

Starting point is 00:32:31 Sean Payton's obviously on a Hall of Fame path, Super Bowl winning coach. And so one thing we can agree on, No chiefs. No more Chiefs. No more Chiefs. Get them out of here. Get him out of there. All right, Sarah, this has been a lot of fun. Great conversation. Looking forward to the game. And folks, there's plenty of more coverage coming your way, both on Lockdown Broncos,

Starting point is 00:32:52 locked on bills before and after the game. Make sure you're paying attention to both podcasts. Check out Sarah and his work, Cody Rourke and him do a great job over on Lockdown Broncos. Enjoy the game, folks. As always, we kindly ask that you share, subscribe, rate and review. Have a great rest of your day. And we'll look forward to catching up with you again real soon.

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