Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - TRUTH: Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix In Slump, Not Finished Product

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

The Denver Broncos face questions this week as QB Bo Nix battles a two-game slump—can he regain his confidence sooner rather than later? Is the offense’s inconsistency a sign of deeper issues, or simply growing pains for a young signal caller? With J.K. Dobbins dealing with a foot injury and Sean Payton’s complex play-calling sparking debate, Broncos Country has reason for concern despite the team’s 8-2 record. Cody Roark breaks down Bo Nix’s shaken confidence, mechanical setbacks, and how defensive schemes are neutralizing top targets like Courtland Sutton. Also discussed, Sean Payton’s responsibility in offensive balance, the potential absence of J.K. Dobbins against the Kansas City Chiefs, and whether simplified schemes could reignite Denver’s offensive attack. The conversation spotlights social media’s impact on quarterback development, critical rushing trends, and what needs to change for the Broncos to avoid a one-and-done playoff fate. 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!  BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at https://BetterHelp.com/lockedon. RipplingGet Rippling FREE for 6 months. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details: https://app.rippling.com/legal/promoterms Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order. 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.

Yes, it's true. Denver Broncos quarterback, Bo Nix, is in a slump, but he's not a finished product. We'll break it all down here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome to another episode of Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. now the number one sports podcast network in the world. Thank you so much, the everydayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen. Wherever you're at in Broncos country, we appreciate you so much.

I'm Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. I cover the team in person in Dove Valley on the daily. You get my written work over there at Milehighsports.com. Plus you get me here daily on the podcast. We've got a lot to break down here, Broncos Country. The Broncos after Thursday night's game, they have a lot of questions, and there's a lot of concerns from the fan base. but let's take a level-headed approach to the Bo Knicks conversation.

We'll go through and we'll talk about Bo Nicks going through a slump right now over the course of the last two games. Certainly not the premier season he was looking for, but it's not as bad as you believe it is. Plus, we'll also go through how Sean Payton can help Boe and the Broncos' offense be better on a week-to-week basis. And could the Broncos be without J.K. Dobbins this week here as the team prepares for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's now dealing with an injury in the aftermath of Thursday night football. You're going to get all that here on today's episode of the show brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. Where right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app.

Let's have a serious discussion here, Broncos country, because Thursday night football, as we recap, we did the Broncos squad show, we did our post game show. There was a lot of aftermath and instant reaction from what we saw there, especially with the Broncos offense. And over the weekend, I try to unplug a little bit, but it's hard for me on social media sometimes. Try to unplug. But the conversation around Bow Nicks on social media is one of the most tiring things I think we're dealing with right now with an eight and two football team. It's got the best record right now in the game.

And yes, the offense is struggling. And yes, the last two weeks of that product have been bad. And yes, the offense this season has been up and down and inconsistent. but it's not all as bad as everybody is making it out to believe. Now, what sours me on this whole conversation regarding Bo Nix, and let's just be very honest here, Broncos country, for both sides, there's people that don't like Bo Nix in this fan base, and it's very clear. And I want to say, okay, if you feel that way, you're entitled to it, fine.

But stay on that side. If he has success, don't come back and say, oh, I'm so happy to be right. And then there's the reality that right now, Bo Nix and his sophomore year in the NFL, he's going through a slump. But also this slump isn't necessarily as bad as the world is making it out to believe when you look at his overall production. Bo himself, there's a lot of things. I think when you watch the tape about him are concerning from what we are seeing and how it's impacting the offense. But as always, as we must demonstrate, this is a team game, 11 on 11.

And yes, the quarterback of the offensive side of the ball is the primary guy who's going to absorb most of the blame. But Bo's issues and Bo struggles are on Bo. There's also dirty hands on Sean Payton. There's dirty hands on the personnel and the pieces around. It's an all multifaceted thing. And we live in a world right now because of social media where we can't have honest conversations. I can honestly and objectively provide criticism on Bo Nix and still want him to succeed.

That doesn't mean that I'm being negative. That doesn't mean that I'm hating on Bo. I'm giving valid criticism. Bo is a coachable guy. He's a coach's son. he's not going to listen to me. Why? Why would he? He's got coaches.

Bow has played the position for quite a long time. He's struggling right now, folks. I think the number one thing we see with Bo that's relative to this slump that we're seeing. And really, I would say the slump is in the last two games when we talk about efficiency and effectiveness here. His confidence, I think going back and watching the All-22 against the Raiders, one thing stood out to me clear as Dave. His confidence is completely shaken right now. And it's almost like he's seeing ghosts in a sense.

And because his confidence is shaken, I also think that's impacting his mechanics. No, I will say, you know, that is, that's normal in the game of football. When you, we're not confident, sometimes in other areas, that confidence or lack thereof tends to show up in other areas. So, for example, I think from a mechanical standpoint, bow with his confidence being shaking, his footwork, which last year was kind of an issue at times. I thought as the season progressed during his rookie year, he actually got better with his footwork. staying in the pocket. Now it's to the point where his mechanics have taken a step back. His footwork has taken a step back. There's times where he does dial into his receivers a little too long, but I also think that that narrative is a little overblown because I'm also watching

Bo, example after example throughout the course of this season on my film breakdowns that I've done of him, he's also using his eyes to still manipulate the defense, right? He'll be looking one way and then he'll turn and he'll fire like he looks off a safety, tries to pull a safety in other direction, and fires the other way. Like Bo is doing some of these things that are good, but also the bad stuff is impacting the flow of the offense, right? His completion percentage in the last two games against the Houston Texans, which we knew going into that game,

it was the number one defense in terms of overall yards allowed, the scoring defense right there, 48.6% completion percentage for him in that game. That's not where you want it to be. We can all acknowledge that. Against the Las Vegas Raiders, the volume there, I think it was 16 of 28, 57.1% completes your percentage. Anything I think 55% are higher, you're fine with. But the issue is

him launching an interception deep down field. And one of those other interceptions that he had was a pass that I felt like was a little too high, but it ended up getting tipped right to that safety there. You're going to live with that. Despite all of that, I think for Bo, there's times where he's dropping back. And I think he's anticipating pressure is going to be there when it's not. that to me is a sign of issues up here in the mental where he's overthinking things. He's sensing things that certainly aren't there or maybe he's trying to anticipate.

He's still one of the least sack quarterbacks right now in the National Football League. But here's the bright side, Broncos country. Okay, this Broncos team is sitting at 8 and 2, right? And I think that everyone will take them winning games right now, but also can acknowledge that the offense and Beau specifically, if they're going to go far, if they're going to ever reach their goal of winning a playoff game at home,

or even going to a Super Bowl or competing and contending for a championship, the offense has to be better. That's being objective here. But also, let's go into the reality of the NFL right now. Bo Nix, 18 touchdowns on the year passing, eight interceptions. Certainly you want the interception number to cut down, but he's under 10 interceptions right now. And yes, you're halfway through the season.

I think last year, what he finished with 11 or 12, so you want to avoid going into that. I think Bo has been trying some things this year that as he's trying to evolve as a quarterback, you have to learn what you can and can't get away with still. But 18 touchdowns, 18 exceptions, plus on top of that, he's got three rushing touchdowns. Right now, he's third in the NFL in touchdowns,

and he's completing on the season, 60.9% of his passes. That's pretty good still. Now, it's not where you want to be, and I think people will look at the numbers, though I'd say he's definitely up there too in terms of, why, I think he's seventh or eighth right now in the NFL and passing yards.

When you look at the discrepancy, it's like 200 to 300-yard differential between he and the other guys ahead of him right now. So what is the issue here with this Broncos offense? I think the reality is Bo is struggling, right? And the offense is playing rough. And there's all these different things happening with the offense, with Bo himself from the mechanical stuff that we said, the processing stuff that we're seeing.

And it's leading to this frustration in the eyes of Broncos country because, yes, the standard is high here. You want your quarterback to play better. This is a two-game slump in a row. And I think that is kind of snowballed and compartmentalized into a little bit of fear. I think there's questions from Broncos country. Certainly, I think it's fair to have questions where you say, is Bo the guy? I still think Bo is the guy.

I think he's in a slump. But I think we also need to remember, Bo Nix is not a finished product, folks. And miss me with that argument that, oh, well, you know, he was 25 coming out of college. He was 26. He can't develop anymore. Stop that. I hate this casual conversation because you're just pulling that because you saw it on Twitter and you're trying to apply the reality.

When I think you can look at examples of Baker Mayfield, you can look at examples of Jared Goff. You can look at examples of Matthew Stafford. And look, Stafford, I think, is a little bit of a different outlier because Stafford has always really been good. I think when you look at Baker Mayfield and I think you look at, you know, maybe even guys like Sam Darnel, we'll throw his name to this conversation, how they looked when they were younger, right? Certainly there were some highs and then there were a stretch of lows.

but now all of a sudden, Baker is leading to Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You look at Sam Darnold. I mean, in Minnesota, he led a resurgence, led them one of the best records in the NFL last season, and now he's in Seattle, and they're lighting it up, and they're doing a fantastic job with him. Environment matters so much for these quarterbacks, but also understanding that these QBs,

just because they go through a stretch of struggles, doesn't mean that's who they are, and that's who they'll always be, and that they're a finished product. If that were the case, Baker Mayfield would be out of the NFL right now, Sam Darnold would be out of the NFL right now, and maybe even a handful of other guys. What I'm trying to say is Twitter and social media have made it so difficult to even enjoy the process, right?

Players, quarterback specifically, are no longer allowed to develop. There's no level of patience from a lot of fan base. And look, granted, what we see on, I think, Twitter is not necessarily representative of the majority of how people feel. I think that there's been a lot of level-headed conversation here. But then you have too many people that aren't as qualified with microphones going, out there on spreading nonsense because, oh, look at his EPA, his DVOA, his ADOT, like all this nonsense. Nobody cares about these flowcharts from all these acronym bros on social media. The reality is quarterback play is not necessarily compounded into how you look on an X and Y

axis necessarily. Watch the tape. Watch guys go through the struggles. Watch them make good plays. What's the context of how the defense is playing against them? When you look at Cortland Sutton is the number one guy here for both. Nix, how are defense is playing Cortland Sutton? Well, if you've been paying attention, that relationship and that chemistry, certainly they want to get that going, but Troy Franklin has led the team in targets because teams are double cover in Cortland and they're bracketing him on almost every key passing down situation that you can think of. So that factors into the context of maybe where Bo is at.

I'm going to continue to go on a rant here, folks. We still have a lot to talk about. I'll talk about this a little bit more in-depth about social media and how it's ruined quarterback development and patience, and it makes a fan base uneasy. We'll also talk about how Sean Payton himself can help out Bo Nix. You'll get that here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's show is brought to you by friends over there at Peloton. Look, folks, it's time to break through the busy time of the year with a brand new Peloton cross-training, Tread Plus that's powered by Peloton IQ.

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That's rippling.com slash locked on NFL for six months free terms and conditions apply. Broncos head coach Sean Payton can do a better job of putting Bow Nix in the offense and more favorable positions. And by reducing some of the language, maybe it can help bone nicks process things a lot quicker. We'll go through all out here on today's episode of the show real quick. I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the everydayers out there for helping make the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network in the world.

It's all because all the amazing listeners like you that take time out of your day to listen to us, to watch us, wherever you get your podcast. We have a lot of really great stuff coming up here at the Lockdown podcast network here in the next month or so. So stay tuned for exciting details about that. But we're excited to be on this journey with you here, Broncos Country. Let's continue our conversation. I was going on a little bit of a rant.

about social media and what we're seeing here. And certainly it has accelerated the lack of patience, I think that fans have when it comes to quarterback play. And I think as the game is going on, and certainly this is just part of being a fan, I feel like. In Broncos country, feel free to chime in. Tell me if I'm right, tell me if I'm wrong. But as the game is going on and you see bad things happen,

certainly it influences that emotion of negativity. And okay, this wasn't good. This is bad. I think it's perfectly fair, Broncos country, to have questions and some uncertainty from your own lens about is Bo Nix a franchise quarterback. My own personal belief, I think Bo is and can be a franchise quarterback. I just think he's going through a slump right now and he's struggling.

And you want to see him get out of that. You want to see him find his confidence here again. It doesn't mean that his career is over and that just because he's on this two-game slump. And of course, his second year in the NFL hasn't necessarily been the best, but it hasn't been the worst. It hasn't been as bad as everyone is making it out to be. There are things around that Bo himself can do better. I think we can all talk about that from the mechanics,

trusting your guys around you in terms of your protection and obviously trusting that your playmakers are going to go out there and make plays, even though that has been a little bit of an issue for them here. But how can Sean Payton, the head coach, the orchestrator of this offense, the guy who selected Bow Nix and the NFL draft, and contrary to the reports that are being put out there

by Colin Coward of the Broncos could draft the quarterback next year, stop it. Sean Payton is not going to just hit the eject button here on the Boe next thing. He likes Bo. Bo likes him. Yes, at times you could tell that the two are frustrated with one another. but it's not just one person's fault. There are dirty hands on the entire operation.

And I think we have to make that crystal clear because we live in a time where social media says, oh, we just got to blame this one person. We've got to just blame this guy. He's the sole reason. Bo Nix is the reason. Sean Payton is the reason. Penalties are the reason and personnel around Bo Nix

in some of the instances where they're not doing the right things or they're not running the right routes or they're stopping when they should be going. These things are leading to issues with the Broncos offense. But here's how Sean, I think, help Bo Knicks out. The Broncos run game, if you look at it from a statistical standpoint in the league right now, they're a top five rushing unit in terms of yards per game. Okay, that's great. But I also think so many people look at that and they're like, well, yeah, you know,

we're complaining about the run game here, but it's a top five rushing unit. We're not complaining about the results of the run game. We are complaining about the frequency in which the run game is being used. I think the number one thing you need in today's game, especially with how defenses try to play you, you have to have good balance between your run and pass. looks because if teams are knowing you're going to pass it. I mean, honestly, in passing down situations, you can say, okay, third and long, second in five, second and seven, okay, the ideal anticipation from a tendency standpoint is, okay, they're probably going to throw it in this situation here. But also, when you bring in certain personnel and it gives away that you're

going to be passing, that right there is a coaching thing. The Broncos run game for the last two weeks, Broncos country, you can look at the Houston game. Bo, Nick, had what, I think 15 plus passing attempts in the first half against the Texans, and they had six total rushing attempts going into halftime, and what, four of those, I think were JK, two of those were RJ Harvey. What do we see on Thursday night football? 15 plus passing attempts for Bo Nix in the first half, how many three and outs did we see in that first half compared to just six total rushing attempts by the Broncos? And so when the run game is working early on, Sean Payton does have a tendency to kind of go away from that to start airing it out a little bit.

And look, so much of this, too, is maybe some stuff that we don't know. There's times where Bo Nix is going up. He's lining up under center and he's going, kill, kill, kill. They may be killing a run play, checking into a pass. We don't know. Or they may be in a pass play and they check to a run and it goes nowhere, right? But the thing is, I feel like whenever there's a one yard or a two yard run, it feels like Sean Payton seemingly says, okay, we got one or two yards on this play.

Okay, the run game is not working. and then they go to trying to air it out. They try to go with the play action, the bootleg stuff, and it's not simply working. The balance between the Broncos offense in terms of run and pass is definitely a concern here. And I would say, especially in the first half, we talk about them getting off the slow starts to three quarters.

That is on coaching. And it's also on players to execute on both sides of that. I'm not just trying to pin this solely on Sean Payton. But them having a top five rushing offense in yards per game is misleading because Denver doesn't stick with the run. And you cannot dispute that. You can go pull up the NFL film on NFL Pro, and you can watch it for yourself if you don't believe me. Two weeks in a row, I'm just saying the Broncos offense has just kind of developed this concerning trend of we're going to pass the football a little bit more.

And then when your quarterback is struggling with his confidence and some of his mechanics and then personnel is impacting things or you're having penalties and you're going backwards, it makes everything difficult not only for the QB but for the play caller as well. Now, also, I think another issue is that the Broncos are. And I think there's value into using a lot of personnel. You have to switch guys in and out quite a bit. You can't just stay in your base stuff the entire time. But what we caught on Thursday night football was a hot mic from Bo Nix saying an expletive word about getting the personnel in.

There's times, and I've seen this all season in Broncos country. If you're at the games, pay attention to this when you come out to the next home game. Watch after the Broncos run a play. Watch how long. Pay attention to the play clock. and then pay attention to when the sideline personnel is coming in to go through and get into the huddle. And at times the Broncos are breaking the huddle. They're breaking it with 12 seconds left on the play clock.

And sometimes by the time the ball is snapped, there's about maybe three seconds there. So you don't really get a full tell on how to read the whole field there if you're a quarterback in passing situations. I think that you need a lot of personnel. You need to rotate guys. But is it too often in which that's happening where maybe you stick with the one drive where you're in 12 personnel or 13 personnel, you know, in certain situations where you want to run the football,

depending on what side of the field you're on. Can you stick with that? Or do you stick an 11 personnel from time to time and try to air things out or run out a shotgun, run under center? I mean, the approach to the play calling is definitely influenced a little bit by who's in from a personnel standpoint. But the number one thing I think that Sean can do for Boe and for this offense in general, can you simplify things?

This is a complicated offense. And I don't think anyone's shying away from it. And when I say by simplifying it, I don't mean to dumb it down. Bow Nix is very, very smart folks. I don't think if you're paying attention on the draft process, what he's able to process is a lot in terms of the Broncos gave him a bunch of material before the pre-draft workout and they sent it over for him to study. He nailed all of it, knew all of it, could draw it up on the whiteboard the next day,

you know, in a short turnaround. They gave it to him, what, at 6 p.m. at night. And then they had to be in meetings at 5 a.m. 6 a.m. there to go over it on the whiteboard. And then they went out and they translated that into throwing. So I don't want to hear this thing. Okay, Bo is just simply can't process it. Bo is one of the smartest guys out there at the quarterback position.

But when your mechanics and your confidence are shaken, you see that. And that's not just with Bo. You see that with a lot of different quarterbacks here, folks. I think that's something we have to just kind of highlight and put out there. Simplify the approach here. You know, make it simple to where you're dialing certain things back. The Broncos, I think, need to come out. And Sean Payton needs to do this.

You need to identify the 10 to 15. things that you do really, really well, right? The bread and butter, the foundation of your offense. And then you can start sprinkling in stuff. It just seems like the Broncos are trying to get too creative and fancy. If you don't believe me, third and one, the Broncos on a drive where they were running the football very well on Thursday night football against the Raiders. Then they decide, Beau, to call a trick play where Bo is going to throw it to Cortland

and Cortland's going to try to throw it to a running back or a tight end that's running the wheel route on the backside. When you have one yard, you can get it with J.K. Dobbins. That's the number one thing. like JK was rattling the rock and getting things going and then you take it away from him. I just think that right there is also another thing that sets this Broncos offense backwards. And if this trend continues, the Broncos are going to be a one and done team when it comes to the playoffs. There's a big game this week against Kansas City, a chance to make a statement.

Hopefully this mini buy helps them reset a little bit. I think that's definitely one thing that could factor into maybe what we talk about this week is Denver prepares for a big time AFCS matchup against Kansas City here. but they also could be doing so without J.K. Dobbins, who's got a foot injury after Thursday night football. We'll talk about what that may look like if JK can't go this week. We'll break that all down and more here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode of the show is brought to you, my friends, over there at Fandulul, America's number one sportsbook, and the NBA season is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandul,

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Locked on Devere in store to get 15% off your first order or check them out online at shop duer.com slash locked on Denver for 15% off that shopdoor.com slash locked on Denver. J.K. Dobbins has been a little bit of the heart and soul here of a struggling Broncos offense this season. He's been a positive development after signing in the off season right before training camp and the Broncos are hoping that they can have him for Sunday's game. against the Kansas City Chiefs. Once again, Broncos Country, thank you so much for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network in the entire world. And thanks for making lockdown Broncos your first listen. We're very excited about what's coming ahead and so grateful

to have all you every dares along for the ride here. Let's go through obviously some news that we're going to monitor to start this week here as the Broncos are going to be looking at J.K. Dobbins and his status going into the Kansas City matchup this week. Now, obviously on Thursday night football, J.K. was hip-drop tackled by Tyree Wilson of the Raiders. And initially he came up limping after the play. He missed a handful of snaps, but then on that final drive, he had six carries for 25 yards to help the Broncos run off the clock and seal the victory, picking up a couple of key first downs. J.K. has been so important here to what Denver wants to do. And look, we caught up with JK after the game. And he

acknowledged the frustration about the Broncos' offense, the issues that they've had. And he said, look, we're going to get it right. But he also said that he's fine. He's feeling good. next day following Thursday night football, he did put a tweet out there, an expletive lace tweet that talked about his frustrations with officials either not calling the hip drop tackle or figuring out a way to ban it because he did get rolled up on. And I imagine, you know, after the game, you still have your adrenaline going a little bit. You might be sore, but nothing. If you've ever played football, nothing is worse than the day after a football game where

you feel everything. Every muscle is aching and screaming muscles you didn't even know you had. And if you got rolled up on or. banged up, you're going to feel that the most, especially with it getting colder here in Denver. So, JK tweeted that out, and obviously he's got a foot injury. NFL networks Tom Pelliserro put something out that he's awaiting a second opinion. So all of a sudden, we all see that and we're like, wait, what does this mean for the Broncos offense here? J.K. is so important because he really is the guy who is having the most success running the football.

They're not really trying to run it as much with R.J. Harvey. Don't even get me started on the Tyler Biday conversation. We're going to have that here in a minute. But if J.K. Dobbins is unable to go this week against Kansas. City. That makes the issues the Broncos offense that they've had, it makes them a little bit more concerning going into this game against Kansas City who's coming off of a buy who, Andy Reid, we know how good of a record he has coming out of the buy week here. The Broncos, they get a little bit of a mini buy week. Yes, we understand that, but it's a little different

compared to what obviously Denver has gotten here. And you want to come into this matchup, best on best. I think we can all acknowledge that. But injuries are part of the game here. So if JK is limited this week, we're going to be monitoring his status. How does the Broncos approach change at the running back position? We could see Joe Lille McLaughlin activated. But even if JK does play, should we have a larger conversation here about Tyler Badegh? And I want to have this conversation. I like Tyler Badee a lot.

But this is also a coaching problem as well. Have you ever noticed they don't really hand the football off to Tyler Bade? He doesn't get a lot of carries. And look, obviously, he's going to get a couple of targets per game. I think he struggled with drops this season out of the backfield. He certainly hasn't been there. There's been times where Bonex hasn't thrown him the greatest passes out of the backfield either, but drops have been an issue for a bidet.

Yes, he's in and passing situations because of his past protection ability, but teams know because he's not getting the football. He's not carrying the football in a game. Anytime number 28 comes into the game and they're looking at him, they're saying, hey, it's a passing play. When that tendency creeps up and it has and it is glaring and it is an ugly tendency, everybody knows what the Broncos are doing. They're throwing the football when Bade is in the game.

Unless they do an end-around handoff to a Troy Franklin or Marvin Mims, but when they see that motion and they see Badee in the backfield, they know it's either a pass or it's going to one of those other guys. So the fact that he's not impacting the game as a rusher is problematic. And R.J. Harvey has not been really given the football quite a bit on some of the runs, I think that we've seen J.K. get, whereas I think with R.J., they want to try to get him to the outside because of his explosiveness. Certainly I understand that,

but we've got to see more in between the tackles inside the A gap runs here, just straight downhill, pound the rock here with some RJ Harvey. We talk about helping out Bo Nix in this offense. You do that by having a run game. And when Bo was drafted, the number of the thing that Sean said in the press conference, the number of the thing you can do to help out a young quarterback is by having a really good defense,

which the Broncos, they have the best defense right now in the NFL. They are damn good. And they're doing it without paths or 10. as well for these last couple of weeks. And you have to have a strong run game. Statistically, the Broncos have a good run game. But the balance, as we talked about earlier, simply is not existent. It's more leaning towards we're going to air it out and we're going to run it from here

and there. I mean, the Broncos are erring out so much. Everyone's expecting that. And then all of a sudden, you get some chunk runs and then the run game gets going. And certainly Quinn Miners came out of the game for a little bit on Thursday night. Maybe that impacted things. But the tendencies that this team has developed, they are bad. their bad tendencies.

And when you're looking at it from a defensive coordinator perspective, the way that my mind thinks is a former defensive player and a defensive coordinator himself, I'm looking at all this and I'm saying, this is what I would do against the Broncos offense. I'm looking at the personnel that's coming in and I'm saying to myself, okay, this, they're telling us what they're doing based on who's in, the down and distance, the hash that they're certainly on. All these things are charted and documented by defensive coaches.

And it makes it easier to game plan against. Tyler Badee coming in, you have to have this conversation. Look, I understand he's going to bring value as a return guy on special teams, though. I think he's had some mistakes in terms of making the wrong decision to return from time. Certainly, RJ Harvey's had some rough decisions on special teams so far this year in the return game as well. But pass protection. I get that.

I'm not saying Jalilin McLaughlin's going to come in and change the game here for the Broncos offense at the running back position. But why not change it up to where it's like, all right, hey, instead of, and this was a tendency to. when they activated Jalilil against the Jailil came in. What, I think he had one carry in the game, but then it was a third down situation. Jalil was in, and you know what the defense did? They keyed in the saying, hey, this is probably going to go to number 38

because they did like this fake handoff on the jet motion. Then they did this boot action trying to screenplay it to Jalil, and it got blown up. Like, that is a coaching thing right there because you've created this tendency on third down and based on who's in the game. It's like, wait a minute, why is he in the game at this situation? The Broncos could eliminate this issue. by going series to series.

J.K. Dobbins, one series, R.J. Harvey, the next series. J.K. Dobbins, one series, R.J. Harvey, the next series. That's what you got to do. And you got to live with those guys. J.K. is good in past protection. But you've got to live with R.J. Harvey developing in this area because it's important to get those reps and those experiences so you can be better at it. Even if he struggles from time to time or is inconsistent with it.

You have to commit to that or else your offensive struggle is going to continue here collectively. So this week, we're going to monitor Tyler Badey, We've got a conference call here with Sean Payton. Maybe we'll get an update. Sean typically doesn't give us injury updates. But what did he see on the tape? We'll go through all of that Broncos country on tomorrow's episode of the show for all you every dayers out there.

Thanks for making lockdown Broncos your first listening. Thanks for making locked on the number one sports podcast network in the world. We couldn't have done it without you. And we got some really exciting things coming up in store down the line. But with that said, Broncos country tomorrow will go through the aftermath of Sean Peyton's press conference. Plus we'll take a look at the state of the AFC after week number 10. in a week 11.

The stakes are high and the Broncos. They're going to have a brand new field surface in for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chief. You get a little bit of an inside look at that. On tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.