Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - REFOCUS: Broncos Must Stay Hot vs. Commanders After the Bye

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

The Denver Broncos must stay hot after the bye week and take care of business on the road against the Washington Commanders. 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!  PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.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. FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This Sunday night, we have two teams coming out of their biweeks looking to get healthy, also looking to get better, which one comes out on top on Sunday night of football. We're going to tell you that right now. You are locked on NFL crossover. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. This is locked on commanders. This is locked on Broncos.

This, of course, is the locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in the world. Thanks to fans just like you. I am David Harrison of Locked on commanders. He is Sarah Bendinger of Lock on Broncos. We appreciate you coming through for today's episode. Crossover Thursday is presented by Price Picks. Download the Price Picks app today. Use the code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

Coming up on today's episode, we're going to tell you the three keys to each side of this weekend Sunday night football matchup, getting a win. We're going to go over the biggest matchups of the game. But we're going to start it all off with the biggest stories, which Sayer coming out of the buy week, right? No matter if it's week four, week six, week 12, coming out of your biweek like the Broncos and the commanders are this weekend. The key is always getting a little bit healthier. And we know both sides have some significant injuries to talk about. But there's also other storylines going on.

So what's going on out there in Denver, the top team in the AFC West right now? Yeah, that's it right there. For the first time since Peyton Manning was the quarterback of this team, I think you have a legitimate shot at winning the division. Right. And that's the biggest thing coming out of. of this by is figuring out a way to make that happen because 2023 the Broncos in Sean Payton's first year had a shot to make the playoffs they got beat in Denver by Bailey Zappy and the Patriots right in 2024 they had a chance to not

necessarily win the division Kansas City only had one loss most of last year up until the final week of the season but you had a chance to seal your playoff destiny early with a win against the Bengals or a win against the Chargers they just couldn't do it so can you close a season in the same way that you've done all throughout this eight game winning streak, finding ways to win games, finding ways to close games. Can you go out there and actually take the AFC West from the Kansas City Chiefs? That is the biggest story coming out of the buy for the Broncos. Yeah.

I mean, you know, it kind of reminds me and I'm dating myself a little bit here, but I'm old enough to remember watching live when Steve Young took the proverbial monkey off of his back, which was Joe Montana and having to replace the legend and all those things. When you break down that history of the Broncos' recent playoff efforts, like not being able to beat the teams that maybe you should be able to beat to be that playoff contender and get that better seating or whatever it is. And let's just be real about it. With the Broncos coming in, the way that they're coming in, the Washington Commanders coming in,

three and eight, riding a six game losing streak. Like this is a game that Denver Broncos should be able to win. You look at what the offense can do in Denver against a very porous, we'll put it nicely, porous Washington Commander's defense. And then that Broncos defense that has people just terrified of no matter what quarterback is going to be back there for the Washington commanders. Can you keep them healthy for the entirety of this game? And so even with some of the injury concerns and all those things, this Denver Broncos team,

it looks like a team on paper that should be able to come into Northwest Stadium on Sunday night and get a dub, but like you just chronicled, there has been some history there of them, not necessarily delivering there. And truthfully, I have some experience covering Sean Payton, covered the Buccaneers for a long time in the NFC South. So obviously I covered Sean Payton again with the New Orleans Saints. And there was a little bit of a history there with that as well. Even as dominant as they were in that division,

there were just games here and there where you're like, man, they should go in there and just kind of roll that team and they would just drop the ball for whatever reason. For the Washington commanders, as much as this season has gotten out of hand and kind of out of control from what they wanted to be, those returning players really are the storyline here. Now, quarterback Jaden Daniels is going to be the biggest name talked about all week.

But as far as this game is concerned, nobody's expecting him to play. So as much as we love Jaden, we're really going to kind of put him aside for this conversation. where we are going to focus is safety Will Harris and wide receiver Terry McClearn because of the four players that have the opportunity to come back this weekend, the other two being receiver Noah Brown and defensive end Drake Jackson. I think those two guys, one, have the highest probability of actually playing this weekend and two will have the biggest impact if they make an appearance in this game, especially is there with Pat Certain potentially maybe even likely not playing. Yeah, that's going to be the other big thing to watch. you and I were talking before the show and kind of just saying,

hey, what's the biggest storylines for this game? And it's like, oh, we want to find out what is the status of Pat Sertan, right? Because the Broncos didn't put him on injured reserve. We assumed for this reason to have him play in this game.

Now, make assumptions at the time of an injury or when somebody throws out a, you know, an obligatory timeline that they have to give out for something. And you say, okay, what's four weeks from here? Well,

this is the four weeks period. This seems to be where they would say, all right, this is the game we had planned on having him come back. It's right after the buy. That we don't know at this point. And Sean Payton ain't going to tell anybody, right? But regardless, I mean, those corners have played well in his absence. Jaudey Barron, the first round pick, playing outside in the base formation.

Riley Moss, obviously been a player that I'm sure we'll talk about coming up on today's show. And then obviously Chris Abrams, Drane, a second year guy who's played really well also. When they go into nickel and dime, he plays on the outside. So those guys have done well. And Pat is obviously the reigning defensive player of the year. It's kind of wild to think that you have enough depth to sustain when he's out, even against some top wide receiver duos that the Broncos have faced. Yeah, it's even more wild, man.

I mean, it wasn't a year ago where there was, you know, maybe a little bit of rumor, maybe not as much in and around Denver, but like, Sartan might be available. And like, I remember there were people around these parts. Like, Adam Peters, go get you, Pat Sartan, like absolutely make that move happen. And it's just kind of wild to think that that would even, be a possibility, but here we are. And, you know, obviously, like you said, that fourth game,

I remember when he got hurt. And listen, it just kind of shows the state of the Washington commanders, right? We're in the middle of covering a game. You can probably tell how that game was going because our conversation of the press box really wasn't on the game in front of us, but it was like, well, if they put him on IR, then we're not going to be able to see Sturtain play. And, you know, you love to see the greats play. But obviously, you look at that and say, you know, that's an opportunity.

Maybe the Washington commanders can steal a winner, get a little bit of an advantage there against the team that wouldn't normally have that advantage and when they don't put him on IR, same thing with Jaden. That fourth game that Jaden would miss on IR, Minnesota Vikings next week, which is why I pretty much think that's when he's going to come back. Again, next week's crossover. We'll talk more about that with Luke, with Luke Braun of Lockdown Vikings. So for this game, the other big story going on around here,

say is that Dan Quinn coming in second time as a head coach in the NFL, specifically said, I don't want to be a coordinator. I've done that before. I want to be an executive head coach. I want to have a different guy running that for me and I'll oversee everything. hasn't gone well. I mean, 27th ranked rush defense, even worse past defense, giving up explosives all over the yard, a lot of penalties, just not doing a lot of good things on defense. So he decides to take over the play calling. We go to Spain against the Miami

Dolphins, the defense looks better. They look more disciplined in position, certainly gave up yards still. They gave up some big plays as well. They're not just going to completely unravel all those things in one shot. But the biggest thing was in the red zone, the Washington mayor's defense really able to kind of stand pat and kind of hold the Miami Dolphins for some field goals, do those kinds of things. So that's going to be the kind of the key here. They can keep that Denver Broncos offense from scoring touchdowns,

you know, not just the stars, but also guys like Troy Franklin, who I know is taking a step forward that you guys were just talking about this week on your squad show because I tuned in. It was really fun, actually. It was really good show. Yeah. But that's going to be the key is, you know,

that Ben don't break defense for the Washington commanders, Dan Quinn, you know, getting a second week of being a play caller against that Denver Broncos offense. And that's an area that the Broncos have struggled the past handful of weeks. That's an area that we've emphasized on our shows at lockdown Broncos. Hey, in the second half coming out of the buy, whatever you want to call it, the Broncos have to find a way to be better in the red zone because over their last three games, they were just two for nine in those opportunities.

And that's why you have a tight game on Thursday night against the Raiders. That's why you only put up 18 points against the Texans. And against the Kansas City Chiefs, you're kind of scraping and calling in a game that you had opportunities, had a turnover even set you up inside the 15. So those opportunities are there. And it's all that offensive execution for Denver. That's been kind of the underlying theme of like, what are we doing here?

You talked about how there were some games that you covered when you were covering the Bucks beat there and you go up against Sean Payton. You're like, this Saints team should be doing way better than they're doing out there. Those are kind of the things that we're still talking about with Denver in their offense coming out of the buy. Now, Chiefs game, great game for the offense. I know they didn't put up 40 points or anything,

but the offense executed well. They were balanced. They played all four quarters. Best maybe we've seen this season. So going forward, can you fix some of those mistakes that you've made in the past and be that team that kind of steps on the gas when you need to? Absolutely.

So on paper, the Denver Broncos look like they should be able to win, even with the biggest storylines going on around this team. Nothing that fully tilts the scales. But of course, we know these games aren't playing on paper. For any given Sunday, any player can be taking advantage of or take advantage of someone else. And that is where young Riley Moss is going to come into this conversation for me.

Coming up next on today's crossover Thursday episode, Locked on Broncos, Locktown Commanders, part of the Locktown Podcast Network, or team every day. And today's crossover Thursday episode of Locked on Broncos and Locked On Commanders, brought to you in part by Fandul. The NBA is back and there's no better place to get in on all the basketball action than on Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. You can also get in on your end. NBA, your NHL action, really any sports action you want to.

And even if you miss the start of the game, if you miss tip off, you're joining up in the second quarter, whatever it is, you see that there's one player who's just got the hot hand. You want to ride that hot hand, make a little bit of money on the side. Fanduel has live bets on everything from who's going to score next to fourth quarter comebacks. You can even stack your bets to get some same game parlays. I love those same game parlays. My everydayers know that you can do the same thing in your football games, in your basketball games, and in other sports as well. It keeps every game exciting,

especially when your favorite team is making that late push or if your favorite team is not in action, maybe it makes that game a little bit more exciting for you when you don't have a rooting interest. Right now, Fandul is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So to Fandul.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.

Thank you for making a lockdown Broncos, Lockdown Commanders, your first listen of the day today. And every day to the everyday, for each channel. We thank you for making every single episode part of your scheduled watching or listening program. We thank you for coming through yet again for today's episode. All of you make the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the world. So we greatly appreciate all of you. And say this weekend, man, I'm hoping that the Washington commanders can appreciate them. Some Riley Moss. Look, I like Riley Moss a lot. I think he's got a lot of potential.

I think he's got a really good career ahead of them. But it is hard to ignore 11 penalties, 178 yards. Most of them defensive pass interference or holding penalties. Listen, Noah Brown, widerseer for the Washington commanders. He's had his 21-day window to return off of injured reserve opened up this week. I don't believe he's going to come back. Typically, commanders, they open up that window. Usually it's week two or three when they actually come back. But Noah Brown is really good at a couple of things.

One of those things, drawing penalties. So here's what I need to have happened this weekend or this week. Trailing Burks, former first round draft deck of the Tennessee Titans, on the Washington Mayer's roster right now. Had to miss the game in Spain due to a thumb injury. Should be back for this game. Big body, got a lot of length. Noah Brown knows how to draw those flags, man.

I need Noah Brown and Trailing Berks attached at the hip. I need Noah giving Traylin every single tip he's got in his bag. Because even if Terry McLaurin can't go this weekend for whatever reason, I think that Riley Moss is going to see more trailing Berks and he's going to see Debo Samuel. And I need Traylin. Look, man, you're three and eight. I don't care if they're cheap. I don't care if it's a weak flag.

You got to go get it. You got to create the opportunity. Throw some back shoulders, tell trailing, turn around, look for that ball, try to get some flags on young Riley Moss. Because I know Sean Payne is what saying, say it a lot of some of its techniques. Some of it's, you know, disagreeing on calls, obviously. From your, from your foxhole, man, what are you seeing with Riley Moss and how the Washington mayors might be able to take advantage of that matchup?

Well, I have to put aside my black and gold bias here for a second because I, I'm a Hawkeyes guy at heart, right? and Riley Moss is my guy, right? He's a walk-on who earns a scholarship and just pick six after pick six as a hawkeye. So I love the guy. I think that what he's discovering is, okay, he's fast.

He's faster than I think anybody really anticipated coming out of Iowa even because of they play so much zone defense there. And he's just, he's real quick. He thinks he's the fastest guy on the team. That can get him into trouble at times because he is so fast, he's able to keep up with these guys. for example, Xavier Worthy against the Kansas City Chiefs last week,

ran right with him down the right side of the field on a go route and was step for step with Xavier Worthy is one of the fastest guys in the league. All of a sudden, Pat Mahomes underthrows a ball. And Riley Moss is grabbing the jersey to keep worthy from going back after the ball. It's those types of things. It's like, okay, what can you figure out at the top of these routes, Riley, to not have these penalties? Because fair or not, I mean, they're getting called.

He's got more penalties than any other defensive player in the NFL. You have to make the adjustment on your end. So that's what teams have attacked. Jake Browning of the Bengals went after Riley Moss right to start that game. The Broncos won 28 to 3, but Riley Moss gave up some plays early on. So that's another thing we're looking for out of this by is how does he adjust? And you mentioned Traylon Berks, man, he took a visit to Denver too. He might want to show them what they're missing a little bit in this game

because they obviously didn't make a compelling enough offer to bring him in. when they had the opportunity. So I'd be shocked any game, whether Pat Sertan's out there or not, if the opposing team isn't chucking the ball at Riley Moss deep down the field just to see what happens. Because at this point, it's been a positive outcome.

He had over 90 yards of penalties against the Chiefs. Yeah. I'm not going to claim to know the Broncos scheme, certainly not better than you, but I know that from the snap counts, typically Riley Moss lines up right side corner, that left side wide receiver is Terry McLaurin, when he is in the game.

And I can tell you that in his first game back, unfortunately the same game, he aggravated his quad injury that cost him the rest of these games. Terry McClorn had a pretty good day against Kansas City Chief Secondary. So Riley Moss, if that trend holds true and he sees number 17, I would expect Marcus Marriota to go there early and often. And McLaren will definitely be looking for a big day against the young corner.

So we'll see what he can do. But look, it's also an opportunity right. Any given Sunday, it's also an opportunity for Riley Moss on a big stage kind of show. Listen, I do have that potential and I can be that guy. The way you described him, though, honestly, reminds me a lot of Marshawn Lattimore, which kind of makes sense. I mean, Sean Payton, you know, there's a connection there stylistically.

And Marciaun was never the best technical cornerback. He always won with athleticism and then just had that dog to compete in him. However, as age, injuries and honestly, the rules of the game have kind of caught up to Marchon's brand of football. He has lost some of this. So Riley absolutely going to have to polish up some of those technical abilities like you were talking about. So on the Broncos side, though, man, I mean, I don't know. like are we going to go easy button and go past rush here? I mean, where do you want to go with Denver's key matchup against the Washington

Reenders again? Yeah, I think that's, that is one of them for sure. I know, you know, I didn't necessarily touch on this, but I really am interested to see the continued wrinkle that Drey Greenlaw adds to this defensive unit, right? Because he's only played two games this season. I was suspended in between those two games. It's really been nice, the early returns on Dreanlaw.

and he's been had to, Vance Joseph has had to, like, hold him off the field. He did an interview with Peter Schrager, and he's talking about the acquisition of Greenlaw, and he's like, Dre is out there begging for more snaps against Kansas City. And he's just, he's hungry to prove that he's one of the best linebackers, if not the best in the league. And quite honestly, like, we're all interested to find that out as well. I mean, we know he's a tackling machine. We know he's tough and physical. How big of an impact can you actually make on the game?

We wanted an upgrade at linebacker. I think we got an absolute dog out there in Greenlaw, but we just, we got to see it. So I'm excited for that aspect. He's healthy. He's playing well when he's out there. But the snap count has been limited. So what is that matchup going to look like, him being an X factor in the middle of that defense? No, you know, I love that you brought that up, actually, because I think it follows right in line with kind of my next biggest matchup for the commanders.

For one, Dre is going to get his opportunity in the run game because they've been using a lot more, Chris Rodriguez, Jr., who's more of your between the guards, between the tackle. type of runner, powerful, just kind of gets downhill quick and likes to, you know, thud other guys. So Drazen have an opportunity to make an impact there. Jacori-Kroski-Marrett can do a little bit of wiggle and all this stuff. They don't really have the receiving back, unfortunately, for the commanders to challenge, you to try to match up on a linebacker, maybe get them in coverage and get an advantage there. So I don't know how much you'll see there. But if there is a weakness that I've tried to scout out against this Denver Broncos defense for the commander's offense,

it is that over the middle part of the field in the passing game. Right now, the number Broncos defense ranks 24. in the league allowing just under nine yards per pass attempt on short middle passes. That's where Zachertz lives. That's where he's lived his entire career. That's what's going to potentially get him sent to the Hall of Fame. I don't know. That's a debate for a later time.

This year, Zacherts hasn't had the greatest season. He's had some drops. He's had some penalties that are a little uncharacteristic. But whether it's Jane in, which we don't think it will be or Marcus Marriota, Zacherts is going to be a big part of it. Also, Debo Samuel can do some things over the middle of the fields. Maybe they get Zacherts going up a seam to try to draw some attention, bring Debo Samuel underneath, however they want to try to do that.

How do you think Dre might be able to help the middle part of that defense? And does that ranking, because stat scouting can be dangerous, right? Sayer, does that ranking fit what you've seen in this Broncos defense? Yeah, absolutely. They've actually kind of adjusted in season the way that they're dealing with that. And it's been Jada Baron as kind of the tight end guy, which it's not 100% of the time, right? I mean, obviously Travis Kelsey had a nice game this past or two weekends ago against the Broncos. all when he was matched up against Jada Bear and he had two catches for, I think it was like

13 yards or something like that. And Jadet actually had a pick six wiped off the board from a Riley Moss penalty. Go figure. So I think that it's one of those things that they're still adjusting. But Alex Singleton, who will be back this week after a testicular cancer diagnosis, he's cancer free now, had that removed. And he'll be back early in the season. He was a major problem in that area, not getting to the right spot in zone,

not being able to match up with the athleticism of the opposing, you know, tight ends or running backs or what have you. But he's kind of cleaned that up. So it's not necessarily the Broncos, hey, they're dominant against the middle of the field right now, but they've kind of adjusted in different ways with different personnel out there to kind of a tone for what they saw early in the season. Absolutely. And of course, for commanders fans, you're not aware the Denver Broncos have 49 sacks this season.

So protecting whichever quarterback is. back there is obviously going to be a key to this game. Speaking of the keys, we've got three keys on either side of this matchup to determine which team gets a win in week 13. Last game before we hit December football, man, then things turned up a notch. We'll do that right now on crossover Thursday. Locked on Broncos, locked on commanders,

part of the Lockedon podcast network, your team every day. Final segment here, crossover Thursday, locked on Broncos, locked on commanders. Three keys to this matchups there this weekend. What are the Broncos have to do to get the win in Northwest Stadium. Well, we kind of alluded to it earlier, but I think number one is take advantage of your red zone opportunities.

The last three games, two of nine in the red zone for the Denver Broncos, got to turn those opportunities into touchdowns. Number two key for this Broncos team is obviously do what you do best. Get after the quarterback. Make him make bad decisions with the football. That's what you mentioned it. 49 sacks so far this season. This defense is very aware of that.

And they're very aware of the all-time NFL sack record as a team being within their reach. So they are going for that. And there's a number of different players that are obviously part of getting there and they can all get the job done. They've got eight or nine guys that legitimately can beat one-on-one matchups. And so that's what you do best. Go out and keep doing it. And then situationally, right, third downs on both sides of the ball. You want to beat the commanders on their home field, create extra opportunities for your offense by getting off the field quickly as the Denver defense. And then for the Broncos offense, you've got to extend drives. You've got to keep their offense off the field.

If you are only getting field goals, at least control time of possession. So those are my big three things right there for the Broncos. And a little bonus here, right? Before the Broncos played the bills in the playoffs last season, Vaughn Miller posted on Instagram, you know, the meme of the guy who's crying. He's, you know, he's pointing towards, you know, he knows he's got to do what he's got to do, right? He knew the bills were winning that game before it happened.

You got to get back at Vaughn, right? You got to get back at Vaughn in this game and, you know, kind of put him in his place a little bit. Yeah, yeah. I would tell you, Von, you know, Denver still has a very, very warm spot in Vaughn Miller's heart to this day, getting to talk to him a little bit this year in the locker room. So the three keys for the Washington commanders, we talked about it, right? You got to go after Riley Moss. You got to try to get as many free yards as you can. Riley's given up 20 first downs this NFL season. So it's not just quantity. It's also quality of the penalties that he's committing. So, you know, challenge him deep, do all those things. That's going to be the hard part because

of that pressure that the number broncos defense can generate can you get the ball deep can you get the routes to go down there because you can't expect the officials to just bail you out either and just throw a random deep ball over someone's head and try to get a cheap flag it might work once but it's probably not going to happen all night long so the key there as well try to exploit that middle of the field the number broncos have adjusted guess what cliff kingsbury is your job to adjust right back and try to find a way to get that middle of the field open win the left end battle so the Denver Broncos are incredibly efficient running to their left end, a little over eight yards per carry.

Second best in the National Football League, the Washington commanders have been a little bit better at defending that side versus the other side. So if the Denver Broncos try to lean on their strength versus your weakness, you got to try to make and pay for it. And then finally say, run the ball, run the ball. No Cliff Kingsbury comes from the Church of Air Raid.

He's done a better job recent weeks of doing this, getting Chris Rodriguez involved. The thing I don't necessarily like is as innovative as Cliff Kingsbury he's supposed to be reputation-wise. He's become very kind of compartmentalized. It's Chris Rodriguez for a couple of drives. Then it's Jacori-Crosky-Marrett. Then it's Jeremy McHickles.

Man, mix them up. You got three dudes. They bring three different flavors. Mix them up. Put two of them on the field at the same time. Keep the Denver Broncos guessing. Make them actually pay attention to who the back is in the backfield and make adjustments off of that as well.

The say, I think that if the commanders can get Will Harris, you know, it's funny that we haven't talked a lot about Will Harris in this episode because he is arguably one of the most underrated players. on this commander's defense. Unfortunately, he got injured early in the season. If he can come back this year or this week and Terry McLaurin come back this week, I think the commander is going to actually put up a good fight against his Denver Broncos team. For the Denver Broncos, however, I mean, just talk about the key, like how critical, I should

say, not key, but how critical is it that they get this win, especially when considering they got the Vegas Raiders next week, another game, they should win on paper pretty easily. Yeah, we saw the Patriots get to 10 wins, which obviously that puts the Broncos behind them as of right now in terms of that AFC playoff seating. And that's something that Sean Payton talked about coming out of the buy, his first media availability, he's saying, hey, like we get to play for seating right now. And that is a rare position for this team to be in.

But that's why you bring in the Dre Greenlaws. That's why you bring in the Talanoa Hufongas, all these guys who have actually played in these games, who have gotten to that point, who have reached the Super Bowl, right, to know what it's like to get there and what it takes to get there. So this is how you close out the season. season and that health factor for both of these teams, getting guys back.

Look, Broncos country isn't going to complain if Jaden Daniels, Terry McLaren, don't play in this game. But at the same time, you want to obviously prove that you can beat the best in order to get to that point, right? You want to prove if you're Riley Moss. Hey, I can go one on one with Terry McLaurin. I know he's first game coming back from injury, but you got to prove yourself. And that's what this Broncos team is they've got to do right now.

They've got to prove themselves. you beat the Chiefs, great, you beat the Eagles earlier this season. Awesome. Can you win these types of games where they're favored by six and a half points? Like you mentioned at the show open, you should win this game. Can you win the games that you should win when the pressure is on you to keep up with the Patriots, to keep up with the Colts and all these other teams right now in the AFC? Don't fall behind.

Don't do what you did last season. All right. That's going to do it for today's episode. I think everybody's looking forward to hopefully a competitive Sunday night football game. to wrap up the weekend of football action after Thanksgiving and everything else. Truthfully, there's a good amount of commanders fans that would love to see the commanders compete, but fall a little bit short against the Denver Broncos this weekend

and secure a little bit of that draft positioning. Of course, both teams are going to do their best to try to win this game. We like you all to do your best. Check out Locked on NFL next twice per day. You're getting the national view of the league and the Broncos and the commanders, specifically among every other thing. You got a morning app episode and after an episode locked on NFL on YouTube or are listening to this episode of Lockdown Broncos, Lockdown Commanders. We thank you for coming through every day.

There's a special thank you goes to you for coming through for yet another episode. We've each got one more episode at least coming on each of these channels. So make sure you come through for that. But for now, Sarah Bettinger, I'm David Harrison. We both thank you for coming through for this crossover Thursday episode of Lockdown Broncos, Lockdown Commanders, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.