Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - RELENTLESS: Denver Broncos Defense Embraces HARD TO KILL Mentality vs. Los Angeles Rams

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos defense may give up a big play here or there, but they have a short memory and they are hard to kill. 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, Cody Warwick. Sarah Beninger here, two of the longest tenure voices in Broncos country, bringing you another episode of the show as we focus on the aftermath of the Broncos defense from Sunday night football. We'll tell you why the Broncos embody the mentality that they are hard to kill and that they have a short member. They can bounce back from anything. Plus, we're going to highlight with Justin Sternat.

Starting point is 00:00:42 He's playing under the radar here for the Broncos defense. And today Barron saw a little bit more of an extended look in Sunday's game. And we'll highlight the biggest area. The Broncos defense must improve going forward. Get all that here on today's episode of the show brought to you by our friends over there at Kaushi for limited time. Download Kaushi news code locked on to get $25 when you trade $25. Kaushi trade what's next. Sarah, I tell you, going back in Washington, all 22 of the Broncos defense against the Rams,

Starting point is 00:01:07 it truly was a tell of two halves because in the first half, it seemed like the Rams. They would capitalize on a couple of big five to six-yard runs from Kyron Williams and Blake Corum, and then they'd open things up by hitting Devante Adams, or they would hit a tight end on the outside here. Denver dialed it up in the second half and changed everything, Sarah. To the point, I want to point out a number real quick from NFL NextGen stats, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say here. But the Broncos in the first half generated a pressure rate on Matthew Stafford on 23.5% of his dropbacks in the first half.

Starting point is 00:01:38 In the second half, that number went all the way up to 57.7% of Stafford's dropbacks to the point that against pressure, Stafford finished with five completions for 61 yards on 18 pass attempts, taking four sacks and throwing a pick six. When he had a clean pocket, he was efficient 25 of 35 for 329, two touchdowns, and an interception. pressure burst pipes in Sunday's game. Yeah, we talked about it with the Broncos offense, right? I mean, pressure makes diamonds or burst pipes. Well, the Broncos offense, they made diamonds. And for the Rams, it unfortunately for them burst the pipes, right?

Starting point is 00:02:13 And I wonder who talked about that leading up to the game, Cody, who talked about the interior pressure being such an important factor in the game. Interesting, very interesting development there. Make sure you watch all the shorts on YouTube, Broncos country. But definitely feel like this was a sort of, you know, know, chess match that you understand, like, it's going to come down to the wire. When you're playing a chess match against another great chess player, and I, I honestly, Cody, I'll admit this, I don't even know how to play chess, but I understand the concept, right?

Starting point is 00:02:43 So when you're playing against somebody else who's really good at chess, you've got to be thinking four or five moves ahead. You've got to be using one move to set up a move that you might use an hour later in your chess match. And that's exactly what we saw the Broncos doing. When they had opportunities to get Matthew Stafford off his spot in this game, they did that. And they made big plays in huge moments and momentum shifting plays, not just, oh, well, that was a nice sack to hold them to a field goal instead of a, you know, instead of getting a touchdown, which they did. But it was more so of, hey, you're disguising coverage to the point that Tala Noah Hufanga, he's going to get a pick six at a key moment in this game to turn the tide.

Starting point is 00:03:23 it was all encompassing starting with that interior pressure at just the right times. Like it was exactly as you painted that picture in the video that you did last week, Cody, about Zach Allen, Malcolm Roach, Inoumo O'azirike, DJ Jones, all these guys getting interior pressure and really causing the type of havoc at the right times to make the Rams pipe burst in this game. Well, Zach Allen was a big creator of that. He generated six pressures according to next-gen stats and a sack on 38-packed. pass rushes, including two pressures on 15 pass rush attempts against double teams. He beat a double team, obviously in this game that allowed him to get a sacked because

Starting point is 00:04:02 both of those interior guys, I think it was Warren McClendon and Kevin Dotson. Each of those guys have allowed a pressure late below 6% dating back to last season. And Allen also total all of his pressure and five quarterback hits from lining up a defensive tackle in the interior. That's his third time with at least five in one game since 2025, which there's only one other player in the NFL that has done so in that span. And I believe that is Miles Garrett, if I'm not mistaken. So that that's important here. That's what we talked about deciding it, because you can mitigate outside pressure because you can bring extra guys to Chip Nick Benito or

Starting point is 00:04:36 Jonah Ellis, right? That's what the 13 personnel grouping for the Rams certainly did. They tried to mitigate what those guys could do on the outside. And that's why it was imperative that they won on the interior. And I just like how they responded to because think about this as well. going into the first half, you're down 16-0. You've allowed 247 yards going at a halftime. Denver couldn't get off the field on third down. They gave up a really bad penalty on third down on one play, but the Rams were five of nine going into halftime.

Starting point is 00:05:02 After running, 46 offensive plays, it felt like Denver's defense couldn't get into a rhythm, couldn't get anything going, but it's just a couple of plays here and there by the offense. It's the defense making a big play, getting a big stop, the crowd getting back into the game. That fueled them, and that's exactly what Nick Benito had to say after Sunday's game.

Starting point is 00:05:22 It's amazing. Being able to fight back the way we did. I mean, that crowd in the fourth quarter, it was electric and amazing. It kind of ignited us today and be able to go down and come back and win that game. So it was great for sure. You know, a point in this game where the crowd really got back into it, Cody, was the beginning of the second half. Remember, the Broncos got the opening kickoff coming out of halftime and they went three

Starting point is 00:05:45 and out. It was really disappointing, really an ugly possession to come out. out of the gates in the second half when you needed to show some signs of life. What happened right after the Broncos went three and out, right? Jeremy Croshoff. They pin the Rams deep. And the defense comes out and gets the three and out itself. And with the Rams pinned deep,

Starting point is 00:06:05 they had to punt, which set up a big return, which set up the Broncos with their shortest field of the night, et cetera, et cetera. We saw what happened from there. So you kind of trace this comeback back to the origin point. Right after the game,

Starting point is 00:06:19 game, Cody, what we talked about was, remember the return by Colby Katzis, but if you go a few plays before that, it was actually the three and out by this Denver defense and the crowd getting back into it at that point. That really was the spark for this come from behind victory to be able to happen. So the defense buckling down at, I mean, 16 to nothing, that's a tough deficit to overcome. It's tough to put your, you know, heels down and really say, hey, we're not going to just lay down and let you continue to kick us while we're down. That three and out after the Broncos first possession of the second half. That was as big of a sequence as any over the course of this game.

Starting point is 00:06:56 You know, and I think it was well, Denver defensively, they adjusted pretty well, in my opinion. I think on third down in the second half because they went into what we talked about it. They were five of nine in the first half going into it. The Rams finished this game on third down, Sarah. I'm looking at the numbers right here. Eight of 17, right? So they only got three more first down conversions the rest of the game. And Denver's defense was money in the second.

Starting point is 00:07:19 second half and actually kind of fueled the Broncos because Denver ended up going seven or 13 on third down offensively. I felt like in the second half, it was much more complimentary football here. And let's talk about even the matchup two between Patrick Sartan, the second and Devante Adams. I mean, in the first half, it was a little rough. Like, Devante Adams was getting the best of PS2. They faced off in the first half on 27 different matchups and coverage. And Devante hauled in four of his five catches targets for 71 yards, which is the most yards that Patrick Sartan, the second, has ever allowed in coverage in any half of his career. But in the second half, Adams lined up against Sartan on 18 matchups in coverage,

Starting point is 00:07:55 and he caught just one of five targets for six yards in that game. And on five routes against other Broncos defenders in coverage, Adams caught two of three targets for 60 yards, including one of those, which was like a 50-yard catch-and-run that was almost like deflating. And then all of a sudden, here comes Tala Noah Hufanga with the pick six. Like Denver, they gave up the explosives. They gave up big plays. Riley Moss after the pick six gave up a touchdown.

Starting point is 00:08:20 One thing that Riley said after fact, and we'll have a larger conversation when we talk about where the Broncos defense can improve going forward. But Riley, and it's not just him, it's multiple other defenders that have told me that as a defense, they believe that they have a hard to kill mentality. 100%. You know, like I could sit there and sulk like I just gave up a touchdown,

Starting point is 00:08:37 but what's that going to do? I could give up another one. Like screw that. It already happened. I can't change it. Let's go back out. Let's try to make a play. We'll figure it out tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:08:44 but, you know, quick memory, hard to kill. The short memory has to be essential when you play games like the Broncos have been, right? When you give up a big play, you've got to go out there like, I mean, there's still a chance to win because there was, right? That you had to go out there and you had to erase that from memory quickly. The Broncos mentality is kind of like Captain America, right? He's like, I could do this all day. You know, you take one punch and you just come right back into the fight. And that's what you have to do.

Starting point is 00:09:11 So this defense has proven its resilience. they've proven situational awareness and they've proven that they can bounce back even after some of their worst plays in the course of a game. Yeah, and I like that mentality because you have to have it. I think at this point it's a superpower of the defense to be able to shake something off an explosive play

Starting point is 00:09:29 and not panic and not press. That's what impresses me about this defense. And I wonder where it comes from. I wonder how much of it is coaching, how much of it is like the makeup and the character of the defense. That might be a question I asked Vance Joseph this week when we get a chance to talk to him at the podium. But you know what?

Starting point is 00:09:44 There's a lot of conversation about the Broncos defense. Tala O'Houfong is a big game. But guys like Justin Sternat and Jad A. Barron, they're not getting enough conversation. We're going to talk about what they did as they continue to fly under the radar after Sunday night's game against the Rams. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at ORA. Folks, most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers collect details about you from public records and the Internet. And then they package and sell that information often without your.

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Starting point is 00:11:50 or even difficulty keeping weight off, take control of your health today with game day men's health. Book your complimentary test and consult at gameday men's health.com. A couple of underrated players played key roles for the Denver Broncos and their come from behind victory against the Los Angeles Rams. What does it mean going forward, though, for this Broncos defense? Well, it could mean big things when it comes to players like Jada Barron. Justin Sternad. And it's Justin Sternad that I want to talk about first, Cody, because going into this game, we expected the Los Angeles Rams to run a ton of 13 personnel, heavy personnel, three tight ends on

Starting point is 00:12:23 the field. And they don't just have those guys out there to block. They get those guys involved in the passing game. We saw Tyler Higbee, insane game. Some of some crazy catches from Tyler Higby in this game. Terrence Ferguson, very athletic option, Davis Allen even getting involved. They haven't even utilized Max Claire, the tight-in. We talked about a lot leading up to this draft. But, man, Justin Sternad had to step up big in this game. A couple of one-on-one situations. When you watch back this game,

Starting point is 00:12:51 some of the plays that he made loom large over the outcome overall. Yeah, and I felt like Sternad, he shined. I felt like he was the best linebacker for the Broncos on Sunday night football. And obviously, there were times where Denver's dropping back playing zone. They have to play, man. I thought Sternad is specifically on some of those out and ups, those switch releases that you get from the tight ends. I thought he responded well, not only against Higby, who's still bawling,

Starting point is 00:13:14 not only against Parkinson, but also against Terrence Ferguson from time to time. Justin Sternad kind of shining. You mentioned 13 personnel. We talked about that as kind of one of those big storylines leading up to this game is, hey, the Rams, they're a heavy 13 personnel type of team. How are they going to approach this game against the Broncos? Well, I have the numbers here, according to our friends over there at True Media. The Rams offense played 82 total offensive snaps,

Starting point is 00:13:36 31 plays out of 13 personnel for the Rams specifically on Sunday night football, 50 plays out of 11. And once again, a reminder for those who don't know what 13 personnel is, it's one running back, three tight ends. And man, I think the Rams did a great job in terms of moving guys around because it's not like they're just crowding three tight ends at the end of the line of scrimmage. There's times where they're splitting out a tight end out wide as the outside receiver. They'll have Devante Adams or another receiver out there. They'll have a guy in the backfield that's kind of like this underround.

Starting point is 00:14:06 move around wing type of guy. The way the Rams do it is very unique. And so for Justin Sternad specifically to be able to key in and know, hey, I've got a match up here. And I know they're going to try to test us downfield. I thought Sternad played excellent in coverage for the Broncos at linebacker. On the flip side of it, watching film, it did seem like the Rams tried to match Alex Singleton up against tight ends.

Starting point is 00:14:27 And they also tried to match him up against running backs out of the backfield. And I didn't feel like Singleton had as great of a game. I felt like they picked on him a little bit. which that's going to lead into maybe one of our next topics coming up here about some of the concerns defensively. And granted, here's the thing. You and I, everybody else, we don't know the specific calls. We're just looking at what is the result?

Starting point is 00:14:48 What did the Rams do? And at times where they did isolate singleton and coverage, Matthew Stafford and the Rams took advantage of it. But Sternad on the other side, bright spot at linebacker in terms of coverage. Yeah, most definitely. And that traces back to the last couple of years, I would say. I mean, we talked about it going into the season. Justin Sernad hasn't been a full-time starter going into a season, really ever, right?

Starting point is 00:15:11 I mean, he hasn't gotten into any training camp besides this year, assuming like, hey, I'm in the starting role. He's always been an injury replacement or something else. And so for him, it's gradually getting acclimated, I think, to this role. I know he played it a lot last year, but he's only started basically half the year each of the last two years. So I'm excited to see how he builds off of this, Cody, and you're right, We will have more to discuss when it comes to Alex Singleton coming up here today. But before we get to that, I want to bring up Jada Baron because that was another thing we touched on early last week when we were discussing this matchup and saying, hey, like Singleton hasn't really proven himself in coverage against these tight ends and these running backs.

Starting point is 00:15:52 You might need this to be the Jada Barron game because he had only played six snaps going into week three. Well, he played 24 snaps against the Rams. So clearly the Broncos agreed with you and I that, hey, Jaday's got to play. First round pick in 2025. Dude's got to be out there on the field. And he was not only out there on the field, but he was making some plays. He had a critical tackle for loss in this game. I believe it was on one of the Rams punts from when they were deep in their own territory as well.

Starting point is 00:16:23 So he made some plays in this game, Cody, and looked like he was out there. When he's playing with confidence, man, he does look like a first round pick. I loved what we saw from him. And I know he's kind of been chomping at the bit to be able to get in there and make some plays defensively or even just have an opportunity. Vance Joseph told us last week specifically that even in the limited action that Jaday has had this year, there were a couple times Debra went into dime against Kansas City. He tackled well. Like he's in position.

Starting point is 00:16:49 He's doing the right things. And there were certain times, obviously, in Sunday night's game against the Rams where I like the strategy in certain long field situations where they were having Pat Sertan kind of play off. right it was almost like it was cover three but they were having a jammer up top there and that was jade jamming devante adams at the line of scrimmish playing anything underneath i thought he tackled where then there was that third i think it was third and 13 where stafford of them like the broncos did a great job of taking away the deep coverage stafford had to throw it short to an outlet and he just came up and had just had a great form tackle for a tfl for more yards lost behind the line of scrimbage and then denver once again filled position with the punt part of me is wondering too and I got to go back

Starting point is 00:17:30 but I felt like it was at that juncture where that penalty on the Rams when they punted it and Denver had them repunt it in a flip-field position I think it was that place specifically so it was the snowball of hey the Broncos have some rhythm so jadee been biting his time chomping at the bit and I felt like he made the most of his opportunities on Sunday night football and so much of it will be contingent upon like what different schemes come out in but Denver found a way to get him on the field in this game and I liked what I saw from the second year player which

Starting point is 00:17:58 I feel like a lot of people was not getting many snaps. He's a bust. Jaday continues to prove in the limited sample size that he plays, that he could be an impact player. And that's what the Broncos need from him, right? If he's not going to be playing on the outside and starting on this defense, you've got to maximize every single snap when you're out there. And so what we want is more snaps.

Starting point is 00:18:20 That's what we talked about last week. Six snaps in two games for a first round pick from last year. Unless you're a quarterback, you should be. out there on the field playing. And I know that the Broncos have a great cornerback room, but we read some stuff and heard some stuff from Mike Cliss last week, talking about, hey, if the Broncos had the number 20 pick to do it all over again,

Starting point is 00:18:40 they might go with another player. I'm paraphrasing what he said there, but he essentially said, you know, to the effect that. So the disappointment has been there. And I think that's not just from the fan base. So Jaude going out and playing well in this game against the Rams.

Starting point is 00:18:54 Maybe that gets Vance Joseph's brain, you know, churning a little bit again. of how can we get this guy involved? How can we use him as a matchup player? How can we utilize his physicality? Another thing we haven't really seen much, blitzes from guys like Jadae and Jekwon Macmillan.

Starting point is 00:19:08 Saw plenty of it from Talanoa, Hufanga, plenty of it from the linebackers, but not as much as we saw in the last couple of years from those slot dbs. Maybe that's another wrinkle that we could see thrown in as the Broncos go up. I mean, just one juggernaut after another, right? Bring on the 49ers. Yeah, here they are.

Starting point is 00:19:25 I mean, this is that we talked about the first six weeks being a Gotlet. Right now, they're two and one through three games. And once again, if you're 500 or above 500 after this stretch, that right there is going to be important. Big test coming up on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Let us know your thoughts on Justin Sernad and Jaday Barron, what you saw from them and they're under the radar roles that aren't getting talked enough about and the aftermath of Sunday night football. But coming up next, Sarah and I, we're going to dive deep into the biggest areas the Broncos defense must improve. And that is coverage at the linebacker position specifically with Alex Singleton. And Riley Moss gave up a couple of

Starting point is 00:19:57 a big place here. We'll talk about how he can bounce back as well going forward. Here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. I'm Jake Lisco from the Lockdown Bengals podcast here to tell you today about Fabletics because they're launching a new apparel collection with the NFL's number one receiver. You know that's Una. You know that's Jamar Chase. And whether it's performance gear or everyday appellatex has you covered from workouts

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Starting point is 00:22:07 Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kowshi.com slash regulatory. Bad tackling explosive plays early on. The Broncos defense has a lot of areas they can be even better at as the season goes on. We'll tell you all about it here on today's episode show. all the everydayers out there in Broncos country for tuning in, making us your first listen here in the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day,

Starting point is 00:22:30 also the number one sports podcast network in the country. We appreciate you so much. Sarah, we talked a little bit about it when we were talking about Justin Sternad shining in coverage, whereas I think we saw specifically on Sunday night football. The Rams went after Riley Moss a few times. They got him on an out and up for a touchdown. It was a little bit backbreaking.

Starting point is 00:22:49 We heard obviously Riley's response to that. He shook it off and he's got to go out there and make him the next play. He had some past breakups in that final drive there. I felt like were good from him. But then you see moments and instances where they try to get Alex Sintleton one-on-one against the linebacker, and they exploited that quite a bit for some big gains in space. This seems to be a little bit of a problem here early on. Not so much Riley Moss.

Starting point is 00:23:11 Riley Moss's numbers through the first couple of weeks are great. Sunday night football giving up the touchdown was not great by Riley. He did have a penalty that was a pretty bad one in this game as well. But the bigger concern for me, where are you out on this? Is it Riley Moss or is it Alex Singleton where it seems like he's just kind of being picked on in coverage? It's by far Alex Singleton to me, Cody, and it has been, right? We talked about this dating all the way back to January, February, the whole offseason, wondering how are the Broncos going to upgrade linebacker?

Starting point is 00:23:41 Because remember, it was just over a year ago that they told us by signing Dre Greenlaw and Free Agency, our linebackers are not good enough. And that's exactly what that was the message that was. We need to go make a big splash edition. So to bring back to incumbents this offseason and not draft anybody until the last pick of the draft, well, that indicated something completely different, that they were just kind of settling for a guy who knew the defense really well. And with all due respect to Singleton, because he has come up with some big plays in his

Starting point is 00:24:13 history with the team. There's no doubt. But you have an example late in this game where Sean McVeigh isolates him in man coverage on Kyron Williams, and he gives Kyron an option route, right? He can either go run out to the sideline, or he can run that option to the middle, the, whatever that, that angle route is, right? And he runs the angle route and Singleton gets caught behind the Broncos corner on that side of the field. I think it was Pat Sertan, but it was just blatantly obvious during the course of the game. It was like, man, man, any opportunity that the Broncos give them

Starting point is 00:24:47 in man coverage, when they indicate man coverage, they're sort of. circling number 49, and they are trying to find him, whether it's throwing at him into his coverage, whether it's throwing over his head because he's not, that's part of the problem as well, Cody. Even when he's in zone coverage, he's not getting to a correct landmark. And I don't know, I don't play linebacker at the NFL level. Obviously, I'm just a guy watching the games. But when you get to the right landmarks in zone coverage, in theory, you should be in position to swat at the ball or you should be in a position to be able to react quickly enough to say, hey, this is my zone. Nothing's getting behind me at the very least.

Starting point is 00:25:29 That's happening far too often when he's dropping into zone. So I'm just seeing all sorts of issues where teams are circling number 49 and they're exploiting him in coverage. Well, right now, too, if you look at NFL Next Gen stats, according to an NFL pro, you know, in the Rams game specifically, it says as the nearest defender, he gave up five catches on six targets for 43 yards and now allowed a pass rating in 96.5 against the Jaguars, four catches on six targets for 71 yards and a 106.9 rating. And then obviously, week one against Kansas City, four catches on five targets for 59 yards

Starting point is 00:26:02 and a passer rating of 115.8. So, I mean, I think in today's NFL, it's tough to play linebacker, but man, I'm watching guys like Fred Warner. I'm watching, you know, guys on the Baltimore Ravens. I'm watching a handful of young guys. We're watching Jacob Rodriguez in Miami have success. And to me, I'm thinking of it. I'm like, you know, is it so much that the, for Singleton is he, he's one of the smartest guys on the field, Sarah. And look, I think sometimes when you are one of the smartest guys on the field and there's so many moving pieces, like you can tell there might be a little bit of paralysis by analysis, you know, at that standpoint where, you know, he's, the Broncos are in zone, but they are, they're matching certain routes to get to a certain depth. And he's got to figure out, where's my guy at?

Starting point is 00:26:46 But then sometimes it's, I got to locate the quarterback. I think you have to worry about that more with a mobile quarterback. Matthew Stafford, not mobile, though I will say he had more rushing yards against Denver than he had all of 2025, which not necessarily a great statistic there, but that's because they're trying to take everybody away coverage-wise. But defenses seem to be still going after number 49 specifically. And I don't know what the counter is here from the Broncos and for Vance Joseph to not necessarily put them in an island sometimes.

Starting point is 00:27:14 Though I'd say with the success and the results that we're seeing from Denver's defense, you're wrapping up that pressure because you have to against a guy like Stafford, that's a risk and a gamble you might have to be willing to take. But in my opinion, a solution might be maybe some more dime, maybe some more, maybe you go big nickel and you have a guy play a little bit of that linebacker where you have Jada Baron play dime linebacker instead of the slot. I mean, you could get creative with it, but that's an area that this team has to improve on here. And I also think another thing too, and we're going to hear from Riley Moss here in a second.

Starting point is 00:27:44 The Broncos defense, I feel like, has yet to. play a full game this season compared to what we saw last year. And that is something that Riley himself made mention of. You know, I think we just got to get started faster. And I think that's just, you know, momentum, a big play, a turnover, something, you know, to get it going our way. But, you know, we play a full game. I mean, it's going to be really exciting. And, you know, we got to get it figured out. We're all looking forward to that day, Cody. We're all looking forward to the full game. I saw our friend Andrew Mason pointed out. out on Twitter that game one, the Broncos scored 10 points against Kansas City.

Starting point is 00:28:20 Game two, they score 20 against Jacksonville. Game three, they score 30 against the Rams. Game four, I mean, we might be looking at 40 points from this Broncos team coming up if the trend holds. So I'm looking forward to that complete game. But to Riley's point, yeah, I mean, that's the scary thing about this team is that they're capable of so much more. And they're already two and one after facing this gauntlet of Kansas City, Jacksonville,

Starting point is 00:28:44 and the Los Angeles Rams. I mean, that that does count for something, right? Yeah. And so to your point, I think there has to be a shuffling of the strategy here to get better results, which we've seen in certain areas, right? I mean, took them to a week eight last year to get their fourth takeaway, took them to the third game this year to get their fourth takeaway. So they're achieving the goal of creating more takeaways.

Starting point is 00:29:04 That is abundantly clear. But how much worse could it really be if you go to the dime when a guy like Alex Singleton isn't exactly racking up TFLs or quarterback hits, right? I mean, if you go lighter at the second level, is it going to be that much worse of a result than what you're getting right now? Because he's spending so much time before the snap, getting all these players lined up and in the right spot. But then he himself is often found out of position or kind of caught with his,

Starting point is 00:29:32 you know, he's caught in a precarious position in coverage. So it's just a frustrating thing that you want to see this team thrive and you want to see them get the right combination. But the question is, what is that combination? Well, the Broncos are going to face a little bit of a different test this week with San Francisco because they don't play in 13 personnel. Zero snaps to this season according to true media. However, their primary personnel package, they're a little multifaceted. They play 11 personnel. What was it in their last game that they just played against the Cardinals, 16 overall snaps on 50, I mean, 50 offensive snaps, 16 total plays and 11 personnel.

Starting point is 00:30:09 They are a primary 21 and 11 personnel team. They were in 21 personnel, which is two backs, one tight end against the Cardinals, 24 of their 50 snaps. So the Broncos are going to have to deal with a little bit more two-back stuff and some hybrid tight-in guys. I know they're banged up a little bit, but I guarantee you, Kyle Shanahan and them, they're coming into this matchup and they're going to try to take advantage of the middle of the field a little bit, especially with George Kittle was coming off of a two-touchdown performance. The Broncos defense needs to answer in a big time way here. Broncos country that will wrap up today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:30:44 Tomorrow's episode, Sarah and I are going to take a little bit of an early preview here at what the Broncos have to do against the San Francisco 49ers. We'll look at personnel groupings like 21 and 22 personnel. Denver's counters to that and matchups to watch a little bit early on here on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.

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