Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - TAKE OVER: Denver Broncos Aim To CREATE AFC West SEPARATION on Sunday vs. Commanders

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are healthy going into Sunday's game against the Washington commanders, and it's another opportunity for them to take a little bit of a bigger step forward inside the AFC West. We'll take a look at that and much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday, Broncos country. Welcome me to another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Now the number one sports podcast network in the country. All thanks to all you every dayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning again, making us your first list. However, you choose to do so, I'm Cody Rohr, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. George is always by Sir Bedinger, the longtime site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. We got a lot to break down here on today's episode shows. It's our final preview for the Broncos against the Washington commanders. We'll take a look at the final storylines, players to watch, everything that you need to know.

Starting point is 00:01:01 Plus, we'll also highlight how Pat Sertan, Alex Singleton, returning, to the phrase going to be important here for the Broncos in Sunday's matchup and how they have an opportunity to get a little bit more separation inside the AFCUS. We'll discuss that. Plus, we'll go through why players like Jullo McLaughlin, Pat Bryant, and even Marvin Mims are players to watch here in Sunday's game against the commanders in prime time action. Then we'll go through our keys to victory and why the Broncos defense must create more takeaways, especially here in the second half stretch beginning in week 13. You'll get all that on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:01:31 Brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. And right now new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use all throughout the entire app. Sarah, happy post Thanksgiving day, my friend. This morning, I heated up some leftover ham, turkey, mac and cheese, stuffing and mashed potatoes. And, you know, we have a chance to sit here and do a show. It was a good Thanksgiving. I hope you had a good one, brother.

Starting point is 00:01:55 And excited to talk Broncos football with you. I was at practice on Thanksgiving Day. And looks like the vibes. are high here in the mile high city. Pat Sartan, Alex Singleton, all ready to rock and roll for Sunday's game. That's going to be big here when they take on the commanders in primetime action. It really is, Cody. You know, I'm still recovering from the flight of pies that I ate on Thursday. You know, my wife cooking it up, apple pie, French silk pie. We bought a pumpkin pie. You got to do it right. You know what I'm saying? So I'm with you on that. The food coma is real, but the excitement of

Starting point is 00:02:29 the Broncos coming back this week is also very real, especially, after watching the Kansas City Chiefs get beat by the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Look, I'm not going to sit here and say that I was wearing a star on my head yesterday or anything like that. I don't have a CD Lamb jersey hanging around in my closet, but I was big time rooting for the Dallas Cowboys. I know everyone in Broncos country was. And as we saw that game unfold, man, it really gave us a clear indicator that the AFC West is there for the taking. and how much more important does this game against the commanders now become because of the way that things have unfolded, right?

Starting point is 00:03:07 I mean, obviously, Kansas City got back on track against the Colts a little bit, and then they falter on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, this is the Broncos chance. This is their opportunity. Do not screw this up. This is what we're, I don't want to, I don't even want to put it that way, right? I mean, you can't approach these games with a don't screw this up mentality. You have to approach these games with a put the foot on the gas mentality.

Starting point is 00:03:30 right. It's like you're up by, you know, you're up by 13 points and it's the early third quarter or the middle of the third quarter and you got to, you got the ball, right? You've got the ball. You just got to turn over. This is like your chance to put this game away. That's what it feels like right now, Cody, in the AFC as a whole, not even just the AFC West. Yeah. And look, I think even though the Broncos and the commanders game, it's a non-conference, it's an AFC versus NFC showdown. You got to get that W, right? 10 wins, very, very important. The more separation I think that you can create from not only the Chiefs, but also the Chargers.

Starting point is 00:04:08 And look, the Chargers are going to begin their stretch of games that they're going to be playing along here as well. And you have to help the day off so you can come up big at times for the Broncos, especially they do have one more matchup against Kansas City here. Any chance you get to bury Kansas City, do it, pour the dirt on it, pull the plug from the life support. Like, it's funny seeing just the narratives change and just the Chiefs fan base become such whiny, entitled babies over the fact that, oh, you know, they didn't get a couple

Starting point is 00:04:34 of calls that went their way. The whole NFL has seen the Chiefs over the last five or six years benefit from some sort of suspect or shady call here or there at the worst time. So I don't think the world has any sympathy for Chiefs fans. So as Steve Smith said, ice up son. That was, I mean, obviously you want to see the Broncos take advantage of this. Like, you know, and look, I will tell you this being around the facility, talking to guys in the locker room this week, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:04:58 they're not really looking too far ahead, right? They're not looking back at what happened a couple of weeks ago when they beat the chiefs. They're focused on this week. And I think that that's been a great shift in the team culture over the last, I'd say year and a half. I mean, once you have an influx of new guys, and last year, you know, Bo Nix was at training camp in a quarterback competition. When Bo won the job and became the guy, like the culture began to transform a little bit inside the locker room.

Starting point is 00:05:22 And now you just see it where guys, it's, hey, we're focused on the commanders. We don't care about the Ravers next week. We got to focus on the commanders. We can't overlook them. So I would say that this team, they're very much in a position where they know where they're at right now. They know the goals that they want to achieve, which is to win the West and also have a home playoff game.

Starting point is 00:05:39 They want to have home field advantage as a possibility. And they understand that there are some things that could get in the way of them doing at and they have to avoid those. I'd say that the team focus right now is exactly where it needs to be. And now coming into this week against the commanders, you're going to get Pat Sertan back. He was a full participant in Thursdays. practice. He'll likely be a full participant here on Friday. I had a chance to talk with him briefly on Wednesday. We talked about Thanksgiving, but he said he's feeling good.

Starting point is 00:06:03 And obviously out there watching him in practice, he's looking good as well. Alex Singleton's been a full goal all week long. I'd say really the only question here, Sarah, Jonah Ellis, limited for two straight days. We'll see how he is on Friday, but that hamstring injury, I would not be surprised if he doesn't play in this game here on Sunday. It can't all be the best possible news for the Broncos, right? Cody, I mean, there is still the reality. that, hey, they're dealing with a couple of injuries that are going to take some more time, which, you know, that's part of it, right? I mean, Ben Powers also working off to the side field with Drew Sanders as well.

Starting point is 00:06:35 So there's there's guys that not everybody is going to come back against the commanders. But I think when we kind of circled this game a handful of weeks ago, this was the Pat Sartan game. That's what this was all about, right? It's saying, all right, if you're not going to put him on injured reserve, this was about as soon as we could have expected him to come back. wanted him back for that Chief's game. And I'm sure he wanted to be out there, Cody. I know you get a chance to chat with Pat every now and again. But this realistically was always going to be the earliest that he could come back.

Starting point is 00:07:07 And you and I have keys to victory later in this game. I think Pat plays directly into a couple of things that we want to talk about because this Broncos team desperately needs that dog mentality when the ball is in the air. They need that playmaking mentality when the ball is in the air. And Pat has to set that tone. right? I mean, when he comes back, it's not just going to be, all right, you've got number two out there again. So you're playing 10 on 10. We need Pat to make an impact on this game and really turn things around in terms of one of the bigger narratives for this team this season. And does he do that by just taking away one side of the field where that side's not going to get thrown to?

Starting point is 00:07:45 I'm very curious. But also with the return of Pat, my question is, what does it do in the rotation for guys like Chris Abrams drain, Jaday Barron? Do we see those guys still mix in a little bit? We know Jada will inside the dime package. But what about Chris Abrams Drain who has been playing pretty well? I'm very curious. I mean, Sean Payton talked about it earlier this week. He really highlighted Jada's growth, really saying that, you know, he's been impressive, you know, inside the slot. And then when Pat goes down, it's hard to replace a player like Pat.

Starting point is 00:08:15 But he said that's also why you kind of draft to your strengths a little bit for situations like that. I felt like the Broncos, we all saw it last year, how one. injury to the secondary impacted them for a four or five game stretch last year. And now it's like, I don't think that's been the case. Like we all thought like, hey, how are the Broncos going to live life without PS2? And it's like, what we're fixing to find out. And look, Denver did a really, really good job with Chris Abram's train, Jada Baron, J-Quann Macmillan, Riley Moss, all those guys stepped up and produced without

Starting point is 00:08:43 PS2, which was nice to see. So that's something I'm curious about here. You know, Sarah, your thoughts, uh, in terms of like the final wrapping up of the Thanksgiving slate of games here. I always think it's interesting to see the goalposts move a little bit, right? Because the Broncos, they dominated the Dallas Cowboys. And people are like, well, you know, I remember when Denver did that, Chiefs fans. And I just remember everybody in general was like, well, it's just the Dallas Cowboys.

Starting point is 00:09:09 But in our opinion, we're like, yeah, you did what you should have done. Interesting enough, I saw your tweet there that, you know, the Broncos were the only team that, you know, forced Dak to essentially kind of get pulled from the game because it was too far out of reach. I found that to be nice. That was, I think, the whipped cream on top of the pumpkin pie. You know, if we were talking about Thursday, slate games of Thanksgiving. Yeah, I mean, chasing Dak Prescott and the Cowboys starters out of a game is not for everybody, right? I mean, that's something that's reserved for only the truly elite teams in the league right now. But all kidding aside, right? I mean, what are people saying? I mean, oh, it took a down year for the

Starting point is 00:09:48 chiefs and the Ravens and the Bengals all at the same time for the Broncos to find. finally make headway in the AFC. And I mean, it's almost like nobody else is playing well this year. That's kind of the way it's being treated. So I think that, look, there's no asterisk next to anything.

Starting point is 00:10:02 The Broncos have beaten the reigning AFC and NFC Super Bowl champions, right? They've obviously taken care of business for eight straight games. The Houston Texans are one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. The Broncos beat them on their field, right? I don't care what it looked like.

Starting point is 00:10:18 And look, that's the thing right now is that I think too many people care what it looks like. We talked about this on our squad show late last or early this week, Cody, it feels like late last week at this point. But earlier this week, we talked about who's the best team in the AFC. The Broncos are the most complete team in the AFC. Like we've seen the Patriots, you know, kind of luckily avoid giving what is it called when you're like, hey, we're escaping victory from the clutches of defeat or whatever that phrase is. Somebody in the comments can correct me. But they've essentially escaped giving away wins this season.

Starting point is 00:10:54 They've gotten off to leads and they've kind of watched them bleed away, even against the Bengals. Like, you watched the Patriots and Bengals last week. You're telling me that's the best team in the AFC or the best team in the NFL right now. I mean, I know that the Broncos haven't looked pretty every single week. And I'm not trying to start an argument here. It doesn't really matter. But yeah, you're right.

Starting point is 00:11:13 It's funny how the goalposts always move when the Broncos are good, which I think that's kind of part of the gig. and so maybe we should be embracing that a little bit. Might as well, my friend here. But Broncos country coming up next, we're going to go through. We're going to tell you why Julip McLaughlin, Pats are Tann, Pat Bryant. Those are some of the key players to watch here on Sunday's game against the Washington commanders. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fan Duel.

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Starting point is 00:12:06 So Broncos country, you can check out some of the interesting player props they've got over there at Fandul for this Broncos versus commanders game. Of course, we talked about people coming back healthy, maybe a little something on PS2 for this game. or maybe you feel like Bo Nix is going to stay hot in this game. You can check all of that out. Right now, Fandual is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

Starting point is 00:12:29 So head to Fandual.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Jalil McLaughlin is going to play a big role coming out of the buy as well as we think Pat Bryant. I'm going to tell you exactly why that is. Cody's going to tell you about why he thinks Jalil Loflin is a big time player to watch in this game. Plus, plenty more on today's episode of Locked-on Broncos. Once again, especially this time of year, we want to express our gratitude to every single one of you that

Starting point is 00:12:59 makes Lockedon Broncos your first listen of the day, every single day, part of the Lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. And Cody, we got players to watch. We got a game to talk about. Last week, we were talking about what are we going to sit back and eat while we're watching Red Zone channel. This week, we got players to watch once again. Let's hear it from you. I know we tease a little bit, Jilil McLaughlin. Do you want to start there? Do you want to start on defense? Let's get your players to watch for this week's game. Yeah, let's start on offense. I always feel like for us in the second half, we have maintained the stance here to the offense. We want to see them just surge here in the second half stretch to go into the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:13:36 So I'm going to start off here with Jalil McLaughlin here. And obviously, I think Sean Payton has talked about it this week in the buildup for the commander's game. Joe Lombardi talked to us about it on Thanksgiving day, really just about the dynamic of Jilil. And it seems like, Like at least what they're saying is that Jalilu is going to be in line for a lot of touches. And for what Sean Payton said, for him, the importance is developing that rhythm and flow in the run game. And he identified Jolululim McLaughlin as a guy that, hey, he can generate that flow and rhythm. Joe Lombardi referenced, hey, you know, we pull on the tape from 2023, you know, with him, you look at the Chicago game that the Broncos played on the road there.

Starting point is 00:14:11 And he's averaging like 10 yards of carry at that point. We know obviously Jolil, the last couple of seasons has had a pretty good output. but he's been the most effective rusher for Denver. But now, without J.K. Dobbins, who's shot in Peyton, interestingly enough, who doesn't talk about injuries, said earlier this week, there's a chance maybe he returns toward the end of the season, which I think would be wild, but we'll keep an eye on that. But Jalil is the rhythm guy that the Broncos are going to lean on a little bit

Starting point is 00:14:33 to get that run game going. And Sarah, it doesn't have to be anything crazy, like a big 50-yard run. No, if Jilil, let's say it's first and 10, and Jolil comes in, and he springs forward. Let's say he gets north-south for about three or four yards. You'll take that. you'll take that every single time because now you can open things up on second down. You know, then you can generate.

Starting point is 00:14:51 If you get a first down on your first carry like the Broncos did against the Colts, remember the plan Sean Payton said was, hey, for JK, we want to get him the ball. We want to run it three times to get a first down. Well, the Broncos ran it one time for a first down. And then all of a sudden, the run game had some rhythm against Indy back. And I think that was a week two, if I'm not mistaken. So for me, it's just, hey, get Jalil in rhythm a little bit.

Starting point is 00:15:12 I talked to him this week, man. This guy, his spirits are high. He's been chomping at the bit to get out there on the field. I think he's going to be in line for a big game, especially in a game where there could be rainy conditions. You want to lean on that run game a little bit more. This could be Jullo's game where we start to see that come to fruition. Where are you going on the offensive side of the ball?

Starting point is 00:15:30 Yeah, I've got Pat Bryant as my offensive player to watch. And I love the pick of Jolil McLaughlin. I just think, you know, that running game getting going is going to set everything else up. But like you mentioned, the rainy conditions, maybe my pick of Pat Bryant is more so a post-by player to watch than just specifically one game where the weather might play a factor. But I do think that Pat Bryant is going to be a factor in this game and going forward. Cody, over, I guess dating back to the New York Giants game, okay?

Starting point is 00:15:58 Pat Bryant has at least four targets in three of those five games. He has at least three targets in four of the five games. And so what are we seeing from Pat Bryant? We're seeing him get consistently involved in the passing game. You block, you're going to get the rock. That's his philosophy, right? or if you don't block, you won't get the rock. So the inverse of that is also true then, right?

Starting point is 00:16:19 If you do block, you are going to get the rock. And the Broncos have proven that to be the case with Pat Bryant. I just feel like he's got such great hands. He's got such a great feel for finding soft spots in the defense. He's good after the catch. We're seeing that more and more. So I think the Broncos are going to make a concerted effort to get him more chances with the ball in his hands because as we've seen with Troy Franklin's huge uptick in targets,

Starting point is 00:16:45 There's targets to go around. There's plenty of opportunities to go around. I think Pat Bryant's going to get quite a few more of those here going forward. I'm going to go to the defensive side of the ball now. Easy button, low hanging fruit. Pat Sartan here, Sarah, the Broncos, certainly they have missed him, but they have done a really good job of managing without him. Now he's back into the equation.

Starting point is 00:17:05 How does it change the dynamic of the defense? Can Vance Joseph? And here's the thing like, Vance ran a lot of man. He also ran a lot of zone when Pat was out. But now it's like, can you run predominantly? man at this point now when you have a guy like PS2 back into the mix here. Who's he going to match up with specifically? I think that's going to really be the key.

Starting point is 00:17:23 Terry McLaurin has been hampered a little bit by an injury. I know you and David talked about that in the crossover a little bit, but Terry himself says he's feeling a lot better than he did initially a couple of weeks ago when he tried to play overseas. So we'll see if that matchup there, PS2 versus scary Terry should be prime time television. Well, the game is on prime time, but that matchup is worth watching here for the entire world to see. So Pat and his return, Terry filling a little bit more full speed, or is it Pat against Debo,

Starting point is 00:17:49 which I find to be interesting because Debo lines up everywhere, outside slot in the backfield. He's kind of that do-it-all guy that we saw a little bit in San Francisco, though the commander's production offensively isn't necessarily what it used to be. So for me, PS2 is my guy to watch. You want to see how he does in his first action back here. Seems like he's going to be full go. So is he going to be the eraser? I think he will.

Starting point is 00:18:11 I think so, too. I really do. I think that if he's going to play, you know, what he's going to go out there and do what he does, right? It's not going to be no half-hearted nothing. I mean, we know what Pat Sertan brings to the table. I've got Nick Benito on the defensive side of the ball. Cody, one and a half sacks over the last month plus, right? I mean, it hasn't necessarily been ice cold from Nick Benito because he makes impact on the game without necessarily getting sacks.

Starting point is 00:18:37 But his one and a half sacks against the Raiders, those are the only sacks that he has. since the New York Jets game over in London. So I think that he's going to be coming out of the buy week with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because he's four sacks away from matching his career high of 13 and a half, which was last season. So I think he can get it done, right? I think he can go out there.

Starting point is 00:19:00 Actually, last season, Cody, he had 24 quarterback hits as well. He's already got 21 this season. So he's well on his way to dominating the numbers that he had last year. I'm not saying like you go to the biweek and you refocus and all of a sudden you're going to get sacks. Like we know that sacks coming bunches just like turnovers, but I think Nick Benito is going to show up in a big way in this game for the Denver Broncos. He's got a lot of juice behind him here this week. Just a lot of energy out on the practice field.

Starting point is 00:19:28 You know, always great catching up with Nick inside the locker room. He's, I think we're going to see a really, really big second half search from him here, which his first half surge was incredible. But as you mentioned, impacting the stat sheet in other ways. Let's go a special team sheet. I felt like this would be a nice one to throw in here. I'm going to throw Devin Key into the mix, man. He's leading the Broncos and special teams tackles this season. Anytime there's a big special teams play where there's a big run stopped,

Starting point is 00:19:51 essentially or a big return prevented. It's always number 26. He's coming up. He's making big time plays on the football. I'm going to go with Devin Key. If you had to give someone a special teams player to watch in this game, who are you going with, Sarah? Well, I've got Marvin Mims, right?

Starting point is 00:20:04 Because we finally got to see him back last game. And the impact that he made was absolutely humong. I mean, when you talk about punt returns, or you talk about the threat that he poses to a defense, I mean, Marvin Mims is that guy that the Broncos need to look to to absolutely change the game, set them up with great field position, which we know that he can do. I think this is a game where you remember the commander's game a couple years ago, Marvin Mims early in his rookie season, right? I remember that game as being one of those games that he made a huge impact.

Starting point is 00:20:36 And so I'm not saying, hey, how can we forget that stupid game as the dumbest game? one of the dumbest game. Brandon Johnson catches a touchdown and you can't convert to two points. I mean, give me a break. But Marvin Mims had a good game. And I think that, you know, what, let's let's let history repeat itself against the commanders. Once again, Marvin has a big game. I like that. I like that. Put that in New York. Broncos country. Make sure you share your players to watch here with us here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos. But coming up next, we'll wrap up the show by talking about the keys to victory. And we'll tell you, while the Broncos creating some takeaways here on the road are going to be important for them to leave Washington, D.C.,

Starting point is 00:21:10 with a W. You get all that here on today's episode of the show. Takeaways are going to be key for the Broncos here in the second half stretch, especially if they hope to make a deep playoff push. It's something that Sean Payton highlighted. But as they prepare for the Washington commanders without Jaden Daniels, that's also going to be a big key against a savvy veteran player like Marcus Mariotta, who doesn't turn the ball over much and can create opportunities with his legs. We'll go through our keys to Victor on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:21:37 Sarah, let's start off with you. Let's go to the offensive side first as we break down our keys. when it comes to the Broncos offense, keys to victory, what in your opinion do they have to do in order to leave Sunday night football with a victory here in week 13? You've got to make plays when the ball comes your way, right? I mean, we talked about it during the buy. The Broncos obviously struggled with dropped passes in the first 11 games of the season.

Starting point is 00:21:59 And that doesn't necessarily magically just go away when you come out of the by week. But shoot, I mean, it could. It could magically just go away. Let's have one of those. I love those stats that get posted online. Cody, that's like in the last X number of games, the Broncos have had, you know, zero drops. Like those are the types of graphics that I like. That's the type of stats that I like.

Starting point is 00:22:20 It's the type of analytics that I like. Zero dropped passes over at least the next one game. It's like the sign that you put up in a, you know, the warehouse or whatever. That's like we've had X many days without an accident in this warehouse or whatever. That's what we want to see. We want to start the streak now for the Broncos. Don't drop passes. Make plays when they come your way.

Starting point is 00:22:40 We know the rainy conditions are going to be present and potentially some snowy conditions as well. The Broncos have been working all week long on kind of a wet ball drill essentially for everybody to be able to lock it in, secure it, bring it in tight to the chest. I guarantee you if it's rainy, John Payton is going to say no long sleeves. That's the number of thing like the long like Nike or underarmor sleeves, you know, the guys where that are like, you know, look good, feel good, play good. If you're trying to secure stuff, that's what usually dislodges the football when you're trying to. trying to bring it all the way in. So Sean is going to be probably emphasizing there, make sure that, you know, everything is skin and not necessarily the, you know, the sleek sleeves that you're going to be getting here, the shooter sleeves that the guys wear.

Starting point is 00:23:23 So I think that's a great key, obviously. For me, I think it's just going to be the run-pass balance there. I need that to be in balance this week, right? For the last three games, the Broncos have played, Bo Nix has thrown 15 plus times in the first half, while the Broncos, the running backs have only had six total rushing attempts in the first half. I feel like it's crazy in general to go into any game where in the first half alone, you only run the ball six total times. And when you spread that out amongst multiple backs, that's not a good sign. So my hope is that the by week allowed Sean Payton, the staff to kind of sit back and say,

Starting point is 00:23:55 hey, we got to run the football more. It's going to take pressure off a boat. It's going to open things up for our offense. And more importantly, it's going to help us keep our defense off the field because then we can milk the clock a little bit, give them time to rest and recover versus going three and out. They're right back on the field and they're putting some tough positions. So it's just about playing complimentary football. And in my opinion, the way to do that, having a good and healthy run past balance going forward.

Starting point is 00:24:19 I need it all to be in balance. I like that pick too because I think that teams a lot of times when you watch what the Broncos are getting, you know, what they're facing defensively is teams daring them to throw out the football a little bit. That's what I feel like we saw against Kansas City. And they're like, all right, you know what? If you can beat us through the air, we'll take that. And then Bo Nix is like, all right, then I'll beat you through the air. So that's where you get that balance. That's where we see, you know, the stats don't look impressive.

Starting point is 00:24:47 But we saw the running game get a little bit going against Kansas City, at least in terms of making conversions and things like that. But ultimately it comes down to avoiding those negative plays, especially on first down. If you can run the ball well on first down, I feel like you give your offense the opportunity at that balance. that you're talking about, Cody. I think my other keys to victory for this game, they're going to be creating turnovers,

Starting point is 00:25:09 creating extra possessions for the offense. I know you and I actually both have that on our kind of keys to victory list because it is a big time topic for the Broncos right now. They didn't force a lot of turnovers in the first 11 games of the season. If turnover's coming bunches, let's see that happen. But I'll let you talk a little bit more about that and I'll get to my third key right now,

Starting point is 00:25:29 which is to break the commander's spirit, right? They are on a six-game losing streak. Jaden Daniels isn't going to be back for this game. They're potentially going to start packing things in after this week. If they lose another game, I mean, you really have to seriously consider shutting Jaden Daniels down for the year. Don't let him go out there and get hurt in a wasted season or a loss season and re-evaluating your roster.

Starting point is 00:25:54 The Broncos need to do their part to push the commanders over the brink in that regard, right? you want to break their spirit. That's what you don't play down to your competition. That's what I'm saying. Don't play down to the competition. Put the foot on the gas, pedal to the medal, and beat the you know what out of them on Sunday night football in front of everybody.

Starting point is 00:26:14 I think that's a good key. And look, you want to be able to do that. Imagine being that team that rises to the occasion, right? And I feel like at times this year, Sarah, I think this is a fair critique or observation of Denver. It seems like when they've played good teams,

Starting point is 00:26:27 they rise up to the occasion, right? When they play bad teams, they play down to the level of play that we usually see from those bad themes. And look, Denver still finding ways to win those games, which is great. But we talk about it all the time. It's not a sustainable strategy here going forward. So I'm with you here. Look, the commanders are coming off the buy.

Starting point is 00:26:45 It doesn't matter. The Broncos should be more than enough to fluster and to beat. I mean, this honestly, in my opinion, sir, it should not be a close game. The Broncos should win this by a couple of scores. But we'll see what we get there. And I think part of that, my defensive key to kind of tie into your takeaway part, I just think it's important for the Broncos in this game to come up with at least two takeaways, right?

Starting point is 00:27:05 Whether it be an interception and a strip sack, like we haven't seen a lot of strip sacks. The Broncos, they lead the NFL in sacks by a wide margin with 49, but they only, they don't have a lot of strip sacks. They don't have a lot of forced takeaways. One of the, I think, several force fumbles that they have, one of them came on special teams from Jonah Ellis against the Chargers in week three. So for me, I'm looking at where Denver is at right now. It's like, all right, the defense is playing as good as they are.

Starting point is 00:27:30 If they can find a way to start generating more takeaways and beginning in this game here, I'm going to predict it now, one interception at least forced and one strip sack or one forced fumble here for the Broncos. Two plus takeaways in this game. That's going to be my defensive key to victory. I am ready for the Riley Moss pick six that I ordered, Cody. I've been sitting at the table. The waiter already came by. I already said what I wanted to drink.

Starting point is 00:27:56 I ordered the Riley Moss pick six. Like, let's, let's have it come out now. We've been sitting here for a long time. Did you forget my order? Did you, did you, like, not write it down or what? No, I think, look, that's, we need like the, the, I know Vance Joseph talked about it. They come in bunches. This is a game where, hey, it would be nice to see them actually come in bunches, right?

Starting point is 00:28:19 Wouldn't it? I mean, that's what we want for this Broncos defense because I kind of feel like it's going to be a snowball effect. Like if they start, let's say they get three turnovers in this game or at least two, like you're mentioning. I just feel like going forward, that ball is going to be like a magnet to these defenders. We've been all, we've been waiting for the Tala Noah Hufanga turnover. I mean, it's been a minute since Brandon Jones had him an interception. And he seemingly have one of those every other game last year. Pat Sartan, no picks this year.

Starting point is 00:28:47 Riley Moss, no picks this year. Jada Baron just had a pick six wiped off the board by a penalty called. I mean, look, we need these guys to start getting there, is a little bit. Nick Benito, where's the strip sacks? Like, Zach Allen, give me a strip sack. Jonathan Cooper, these guys, they can do it. It's in them.

Starting point is 00:29:05 And I think we're going to see it here against the commanders who have had at least two turnovers in each of their last six games, except for against Detroit. Very, very interesting stat line right there. And look, I think you mentioned about them just going on a run. What was in 2022? Was it the start of the Chicago? Was it the Chicago Bears game that was the start of that turnover run

Starting point is 00:29:23 that they certainly had there that led to a five-game win streak? Yep, I think it was. Wow. All right. Well, hey, can this happen here? Because now this upcoming stretch of games for the Broncos, it's going to be crucial, Sarah. There's a lot at stake here.

Starting point is 00:29:36 The Broncos have a chance to cement their destiny here this season. They have a chance to win the AFC West. And it's going to be all up to them. Nobody else. That's how you want it. You want to put it in your hands, not in anybody else is here. And that all begins with a game here on Sunday night football against the Washington commanders in Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:29:51 You know, Sarah Bedinger, myself. We're going to have you cover with the post game show. We're going to have a live squad show as well following the commanders game. You're going to get all that here on the Lockdown Broncos podcast. Broncos country, enjoy your weekend. We'll see you Sunday after the game.

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