Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - UNDERDOG: Denver Broncos Can Land HEAVYWEIGHT Blow vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are road underdogs, but they're ready to deliver a heavyweight punch to the defending Super Bowl champion. Philadelphia Eagles. We go through our final game preview and 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. Hey, Broncos country, happy Friday. Welcome into another episode of Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast network where you know it's your team every day. day. Thank you so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. I'm Cody Rourke. Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Beninger site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. We got a lot to break down in our final game preview here on today's episode of show. Can J.K. Dobbins, Riley Moss, and a handful of other guys, Luke Wattenberg, can they go on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and deliver a heavyweight blow to the defending Super Bowl?

Starting point is 00:01:05 champs. We'll take a look at them and our players to watch. Plus, we're going to tell you why A.J. Brown versus Patrick Sertand the second is must CTV. That'll be our key highlight matchup that will follow alongside Broncos pass rush for Nick Benito. What's he going to bring to the table this week against that Eagles offensive line? Plus, we'll tell you why the Broncos run game and stopping. The Eagles run game led by Sequin Barkley are going to be the biggest keys to victory. You'll get all of that here on today's episode of show. Brought to you by friends over there at Mazin. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every.

Starting point is 00:01:35 move count pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. Mazda move and be moved. I want to say thank you once again for listening to Lockedon Broncos. And it's just a reminder you can follow our show and you can hear new episodes ad free daily on Amazon music. Sarah, my friend, I don't know if you ever seen the movie Hustle and Flow, but a wise man by the name of DJ once said, it ain't about the size of the dog and the fight.

Starting point is 00:02:02 It's about the size of the fight and the dog. and can the Broncos go on and become road dogs this week against the defending Super Bowl champions? Well, if they are, several players are going to come under focus in our player's spotlight. 100%. I've got three specific guys, all of them on offense that I'm keeping an eye on this week, Cody. I'll start with Luke Wattenberg, the center,

Starting point is 00:02:23 coming off of one of the worst games that we've seen from him. I know that he's struggled with high snaps in the past, but Sean Peyton has kind of been effusive in his praise of Luke Wattenberg in the way that he's played. to me it feels like Luke has a little bit of a bounce back opportunity here against the Philadelphia Eagles. And look, it ain't going to be easy for him because he's going up against Jalen Carter there on the interior defensive line. The best player on that Eagles defense as of right now. So he gets a tough draw.

Starting point is 00:02:49 He's going to need some help from his friends, but he's got to be a lot better with all the penalties that we saw last week, high snaps, things like that. Luke's going to be in focus here this week. And then of course, Bo Nix and Cortland Sutton, Cody. I know that when Vic Fangio was Denver's head coach, we kind of talked a little bit about the fact that he struggled with mobile quarterbacks. Maybe we see Bo out on the run a little bit more in this game to try and kind of break down

Starting point is 00:03:12 whatever Vic is throwing at him schematically. We can't work in the confines of the offense. Sometimes you've got to make plays off script. So we'll see if Bo can make some plays off script in this one. And then Cortland Sutton going up against Quinnion Mitchell, the Eagles best cornerback and one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Cortland's been playing great this season. Top five in the NFL in yards,

Starting point is 00:03:33 touchdowns since 2023. Man, he's been way better than I think a lot of Broncos fans think. And so how does he do against one of the corners in the NFL? That's really not giving up much. I saw Quineon Mitchell against Emeka Egbuka. Last week, Cody, wasn't giving him an inch. Cortland Sutton's not necessarily known for his ability to separate,

Starting point is 00:03:51 but his ability to make big plays. We'll see what he can do against one of the best young corners in the game today. I'm curious to see if Sutton will use his size to box out. Obviously, a player like Quinyon Mitchell, who's very athletic, has really great ball skills there, smart, understands route concepts and splits, tendencies. You know, he's been in the film all week long. And Pats or Tan even listed Quinyon is one of his top five corners right now in the NFL. So definitely something to keep an eye on. And that's going to bring more attention, I think, to other guys there as well, right? So if Cortland and Sean Payton said this earlier this

Starting point is 00:04:22 week, Cortland is seeing a lot more bracket coverage. And this has kind of been the trend really since week one. This dates back to even last year. This is really where you need those other guys in your receiving room, maybe even your tight end room to step up and make some plays. Or heck, maybe even get the run game going. I like your picks there. I'm curious for Bo Nix as well, going on the road in a hostile environment. He's been able to do this before. Like dating back to college, I remember at Oregon, they went to Utah an early morning game and they just mollywopped the entire Utah youths there. So, you know, he's no stranger. I think we've seen that loud environments, Post-onel environments, I don't think necessarily bother Bo.

Starting point is 00:04:59 Philly is about as rowdy as it's going to get. So that's going to be a nice test here for the Broncos quarterback here. And I'm curiously a Luke Wattenberg response as well. Sarah, I'm going to start things off by going with my guy, J.K. Dobbins. I'm highlighting him here because he was the catalyst to get the Broncos run game going last week. I think this season we've seen him be the consistent guy who can find those creases, good vision, patient behind his blocks. I think that's going to matter here big time this week.

Starting point is 00:05:25 against the Philadelphia Eagles defense that is allowing an average of over 4.3 yards per rush so far. They're allowing 113 yards on the ground per game. And as we saw against Tampa Bay, they are susceptible to letting off some big chunk runs. I think the biggest run they allowed this season so far, I think it was a 49-yard run against them defensively, which is not normally known against the Vic Fangio defense. When you factor in that D-line, you factor in Zach Bond, Jihad Campbell, and those athletic linebackers that they got there in Philly, you know, that's good.

Starting point is 00:05:56 If you can find a way to rattle off some of these chunk explosives, like J.K. has been able to do the last handful of weeks. I like that. I mean, Sarah, last week against the Bengals on Monday night, he had four runs of 10 plus yards in that game. We'll take that. If you can do that against the Eagles defense, we will take that every single day.

Starting point is 00:06:13 I know Broncos country will as well. So JK is going to follow under the microscope a little bit. You talked about Cortland Sutton. We talked about the bracket coverage. That's why I've got Troy Franklin here for, yet another week. And you can tell when you watch film here that teams, not only are they taking away Cortland Sutton,

Starting point is 00:06:28 but in key passing situations, they're allocating resources, whether they're playing a spy, whether they're playing, you know, zone or man. They're dropping an extra guy back, whether it's a linebacker or whether it's a safety who's eyeing Troy Franklin on potential crossing routes

Starting point is 00:06:42 in those down-to-down situations. Troy knows he's seeing a lot more extra attention, but he's confident in his ability. And obviously, you know, when the ball comes his way this week, maybe a chance for redemption after a couple of missed opportunities for him on Monday night football. I've got my eyes on Troy here. And then last but not least, I'm going to keep my eye here on Riley Moss. Look, we're going to highlight a heavyweight matchup between PS2 and AJ Brown here later on today's show.

Starting point is 00:07:07 But Riley Moss, I think, deserves praise because this is the guy who has the most unfair microscope on him. I feel like in all of the national football league, you talk about the coverage he has. You talk about the separation. He doesn't give up. Like he doesn't allow much separation. at all. And people get mad that, you know, if there's a tightly contested catch that someone's made, like, oh, Riley's cooked. Riley is a dog. And I will continue to die on this hill, Sarah. Riley, I don't know if he's going to match up against Devante Smith, but like with some of the

Starting point is 00:07:35 struggles that this Eagles offense is having, this could very well be another game where we see a ton of targets going Riley's way. Can he make Jalen Hurts pay? Jalen has yet to throw an interception this season. Can Riley Moss find a way to create a takeaway like he did against Justin Herbert in the Los Angeles Chargers? I really like those stats and trends, Cody. When a team has yet to lose, when they have yet to throw an interception, you kind of just feel like, hey, they're due at some point. So why not us?

Starting point is 00:08:00 Right. That's, and I don't think the Broncos are, I think they're getting kind of unfairly painted as being so bad that it's, it's almost like, uh, hey, you know, you're not going into Philadelphia and expecting anything. I think this team does expect to win. I think they do. I think they feel like they're as good as Philadelphia. And we'll get a litmus test, won't we? We'll see.

Starting point is 00:08:21 We'll find out. I think they've made enough mistakes to maybe warrant the skepticism. But at the same time, you know, you look at the guys that you mentioned. I'll be banking on Troy Franklin as well this week. Cody, my fantasy team has more injuries than the 49ers themselves. And so I've got Troy Franklin in the starting lineup. So I need Troy to come through big. And I think he's another guy that can do that because against the team like the Eagles,

Starting point is 00:08:42 what do you need to have? You need yards after contact and you need yards after the catch. You need to be able to take advantage of what they give you and not let them just constantly be the ones forcing the issue in every area, right? You're going to want to stay away from the middle of the field a little bit because you've got those two linebackers, Campbell and Bond, who can play well in coverage. You've got smart defensive backs. You've got Cooper DeGine, who's obviously lurks around the field.

Starting point is 00:09:08 Troy Franklin is going to be expected to make plays after the catch in this game. He's going to get opportunities. What's he going to do with those opportunities? I can't wait to find out. So love your picks. And I feel like maybe Franklin is that guy. hey you know what you're going up against the eagles let's see the ducks fly when everybody's expecting the eagles to fly now you got me fired up i wish the organ ducks are playing this week my goodness we have to wait till next week make sure you check out locked on ducks if you're a ducks fan just like me here but sarah great points here in brocco's country we want to hear your players that you have your eye on who are your players to watch in sundays matchup against the philadelphia eagles make sure you let us know here on today's episode of the show but coming up next we're going to dive into the two key matchups that we believe will define the the outcome of Sunday's game.

Starting point is 00:09:51 PS2 versus Adrian Brown. Nick Benito versus Jordan Milada. What does that mean? How can the Broncos take advantage of these matchups to win on the road? We'll tell you how here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends

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Starting point is 00:10:49 locked on NFL to learn more. But before you do, go support your favorite neighborhood spot. You'll be happy you did. Square. See you in the neighborhood. This episode is brought to you by Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board.

Starting point is 00:11:06 They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. And this week's moment that move the game forward is J.K. Dobbins, 17-yard run, up the left sideline in the fourth quarter of Monday night football, led by blocks by Cortland Sutton and Nate Atkins. Dobbins 17-yard run helped the Broncos snap a 37 game streak where they didn't have a 100-yard rusher in. J.K. Dobbins has snapped at, and now he's become a fan favorite in the Mile High City. Just like Dobbins follows his blocks. When you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning.

Starting point is 00:11:36 And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda move and be moved. The best on best matchups in Broncos versus Eagles here in week five, that is going to be must-see TV alone. best games of the week, Broncos country, but there are always matchups within the matchups that determine the outcome. We're going to break down a couple of those here on today's episode of the show. And first want to say thank you to every single one of you that makes Lockdown Broncos, your first listen of the day. Every single day, we appreciate you so much for hitting subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about the matchups within the

Starting point is 00:12:11 matchups. Of course, anytime the Broncos go up against a team with a top flight wide receiver, we're always looking at, is Pat Sertan going to be covering that number one wide receiver? And there's been some serious drama between the Eagles and A.J. Brown lately, more trade rumors popping up. I know this isn't the first time for either of those things to happen. But it seems like the timing is kind of poor because A.J's got to go up against the reigning defensive player of the year. Do you think the Eagles are going to force feed him? Let's dive into these numbers just a little bit here to see what he's going up against. Yeah, no, I think that there's going to be a concerted effort this week.

Starting point is 00:12:49 Nick Siriani obviously is going to try to maybe calm the nerves of his star wide receiver. You know, they can say that there's not a lot of drama that, you know, it wasn't meant as a subliminal shot towards anybody. But there's some frustration on AJ Brown. And I think a lot of it has to do with the early down situation, Sarah. So let's take a look at the tail of the tape here for the Broncos defensively. A.J. Brown on first down this season, he's only been targeted four times. He's got one catch for eight yards on third.

Starting point is 00:13:15 35 total routes, according to our friends over there at True Media. But first down, like first down, you know what I want to do? I want to go out there and try to target my best receiver here. I understand you of Saquan Barkley, but my goodness, maybe that's a little bit of his frustration. But then as we see, second down, one thing that the Eagles like to do, he's been targeted 13 times. He's got seven catches for 67 yards and one touchdown on second down. So that's obviously one of those situations you got to pay attention to because if they're

Starting point is 00:13:42 running the ball on first down, trying to get four or five yards for Seekon, and then you're trying to deliver a shot or you're trying to go to AJ Brown. I could see that being a formula that works. And so that's something that the Broncos are going to have to take advantage of here. But I'll say another thing. When you look at Pat Sertan this season, he's only allowed 11 catches on 17 total targets. And 85.9 passer rating went targeting, which, I mean, when you factor in passer rating, it can be skewed a little bit.

Starting point is 00:14:07 But 11 catches only 122 yards allowed to four games. That is going to be key here. And I think the money down that we have to pay attention to, Sarah, is third down. A.J. Brown, 10 targets, six catches, 76 yards, four first downs on 37 routes. AJ Brown has not had a lot of success this season. That's where his frustration has been rooting. And obviously, for Jalen Hertz targeting him, when looking AJ Brown's way, he's got a 78.1 pass rating when looking Brown's way. So maybe that's why the frustration is kind of boiling over there.

Starting point is 00:14:39 I think that this is going to be the heavyweight matchup of the week when you talk about best on best wide receiver one versus cornerback one this one the stakes they're massively high my friend they are and i wouldn't be surprised if nick seriani puts in a call to his old pal shane stuyken remember in week two daniel jones and the colts like they did not shy away from targeting pat ser tan and they got all their different receivers involved in that game so i wouldn't be shocked if the eagles use that film especially considering their connection to shane stuyken and say hey what can we apply from what the Colts did in this game because obviously you want to keep your star wide receiver happy. But also you're going up against a player who can literally change the game at any point in time if you

Starting point is 00:15:24 even miss by an inch with Pat's or 10. So you have to be careful. You have to be calculated and measured, but it has been done before. Right. And I know that Pat doesn't give up much. He does not. And so that Colts game probably ticked him off quite a bit as well. So he's been playing with a chip on his shoulder. He doesn't want to give up anything, especially in these kinds of matchups. So, yeah, I think that's a great highlight there, especially when you look at true media's data there. You can really see why A.J. Brown may be frustrated this year. And at the end of the day, right, it's about winning games. The Eagles are undefeated.

Starting point is 00:16:00 Not everybody on that team. Not everybody in the NFL, though, is the same way of Jalen Hertz, where they don't care if they have, you know, negative passing yards in a game. They don't care if they have, if they have to run for 150 or whatever it takes in order to win. I mean, these guys, this is their livelihood, right? So they want to produce. And wide receivers always want the ball. So I get that. And I think it's a tough week for AJ to be having that kind of drama off the field.

Starting point is 00:16:27 And I'm sure he's going to want to put his best foot forward against a guy like PS2 to prove that he is one of the premier receivers in the league. But another matchup that I love in this game, Cody, we talk about best on best, How about Jordan Myelada going up against Nick Benito? The success story of Myelada is crazy. The fact that he went from being a guy who was not even a thought on anybody's mind going into the draft, really, to being arguably the best left tackle in the league, captain on the Eagles, so consistent. And we see that here. Six total pressures allowed this season, according to our friends at True Media,

Starting point is 00:17:03 only two on second down and only four on third down. So when you talk about, you know, how many passing rep or past protection reps that he's had this season, the success rate in terms of the pressure allowed, I mean, that's huge. And it's going to be huge for the Eagles in this game, especially if the Broncos can force them into third and long situations where we've seen Nick Benito. I mean, the majority of his pressures, they're coming on second and third down. It's not a vast majority. It's only 11 out of 21. But man, when it comes to obvious passing situations, Nick Benito is a dominant. player. And first down, if you're throwing the ball, Nick is going to get to you as well. So it really

Starting point is 00:17:41 doesn't matter, Cody, what situationally the Broncos are in, although we know that number on second down, three pressures on second downs this season. We know that that's down because the Broncos have struggled on first downs this year. They have. They've given up way too much on first down. And that doesn't allow your best players. Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper, Zach Allen, doesn't allow them to really pin their ears back. So that's going to be something to watch in this game. best on best. How many one-on-one matchups can Nick Bonito win against Jordan Milata? And then on the other side, obviously, too, Jonathan Cooper against Lane Johnson. You got the two pass rushers with some of the fastest getoffs this season in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:18:19 I don't know what the busing with the boys, dudes are watching out there. But the Broncos pass rush hasn't been because of their pass coverage. Yes, they've got good pass coverage. But that pass rush has been dominant. They've been quick in terms of getting off the line of scrimmage. So I wouldn't be surprised here if they try to get Jalen Hertz involved in the quick passing game a little more. The challenge with going up against a guy like Hertz is that if you are rushing him and you get too far upfield, we know that he can dip it down underneath and keep running. He's a big physical guy to bring down.

Starting point is 00:18:45 So this is going to be a tough test here for the Broncos. I like this. Best on best, arguably of one of the best defensive lines in the NFL against one of the best offensive lines in all of football, a Super Bowl winning offensive line at that. This is going to be a fun matchup. And these two matchups that we talked about, PS2 versus AJ Brown, Milata versus Benito, these will determine the outcome of this game. And yes, there's some matchups too for the Denver Broncos offense against the Eagles defense. But I feel like these are probably the two most important matchups going into this game. Is there an honorable mention that we could throw out there as another matchup to watch here? Yeah, we alluded to the Cortland Sutton versus Quignan Mitchell. I think

Starting point is 00:19:24 Cody, that's going to be huge because Sutton's been pretty underrated, honestly. I think that even for me, I think he's been really, really good, especially against the Bengals. I know the Bengals don't have the best defense in the NFL. And we know that Quignan Mitchell doesn't really give much up these days. And so whatever attention, on both sides of the ball, it almost feels like this game is bound to be sort of a 10 on 10 situation, isn't it? Which is why, you know, we highlight Bow Nix, his ability to make plays off the script, to extend drives,

Starting point is 00:19:54 to be able to play when, hey, the play breaks down or you're getting rushed from the interior. You've got to get outside the pocket. Can you make accurate throws on the run? Can you make smart decisions when you're under pressure? I think those are some situations that we have to keep an eye on in this game because, man, you talk about two of the best corners in the NFL. Playing 10 on 10 is a very realistic possibility here in this game. Well, we're fixing to find out Sunday morning, 11 a.m.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Mountain Time kickoff here. And if the Broncos are going to win, not only are they going to have to run the ball, but they're going to have to figure out how to stop the run as well with Sequan Barkley. Sarah and I, we're going to dive deep into our keys to victory here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. I'm Cody Roark from Lockdown Brocko's, and this episode is brought to you by Peloton. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton, cross-training, tread plus powered by Peloton IQ. This is Pelotan's most advanced equipment yet, giving you real-time guidance and endless ways to move,

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Starting point is 00:21:23 making sure every rep is safer and smarter. So let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at one peloton.com. If the Broncos are going to come away with a big time victory on the road on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, they'll have to do all of these things in order to do just how we're in that deep into our keys of victory. Here we're locked on Broncos. Once again, I want to say thank you so much to all of our everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first list.

Starting point is 00:21:54 If you love the show, if you're a brand new viewer or listener, make sure you hit that subscribe or that follow button. So you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. every single day all year long. Sarah, my friend, let's get into our keys to victory. I know these are the cliches that the Broncos do this. They'll win. But there are some tangible things as we always dive into here that if they do these things,

Starting point is 00:22:13 it will amplify their chances of upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in a hostile environment before they have to head to London. Let's start off with you, my friend. Let's get into your keys to victory. What do the Broncos have to do in order to win here on Sunday? I've got some simple stuff for the Broncos to do. Easier said than done, though. Number one, no turnovers.

Starting point is 00:22:33 Number two, let's take some shots offensively. And number three, red zone dominance. And that's on both sides of the ball. So when you talk about no turnovers, that's an obvious key to victory every single week, isn't it, Cody, where you don't want to be reckless with the football. But at the same time, it plays into number two. I think really it's, they're tied at the hip, okay?

Starting point is 00:22:53 They're attached at the hip. No turnovers and taking shots. You still have to take shots against a defense like this. You cannot play timid on the road. You have to play to win. You can't play not to lose. So you still have to, what's the Broncos identity? They're one of the top 10 teams since the beginning of the 20, 23 season in terms of big plays.

Starting point is 00:23:12 10 plus yards, 20 plus yards. The Broncos can bust off chunks and they've got guys to make the place. Cortland, Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, now J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey. Now you got Evan Ingram who's still yet to get involved in the big play department. You've got all these guys who can do it. So go ahead and do it. But be calculated with those risks, right? And then red zone dominance.

Starting point is 00:23:33 Once you get down there, man, you might as well cash in, right? You might as well, you might as well score a touchdown instead of kicking field goals. I should have put an honorable mention. Screw these penalties, Cody. I'm done with the penalties. Be done with the penalties, Broncos. That's your fourth honorable mention key. But yeah, those are my things right there.

Starting point is 00:23:50 Don't turn the ball over. Don't be stupid with the ball. Don't be reckless with the ball. But still take shots. Keep your identity. That's your identity. Your identity is that you can flip the game. You can flip field position with a big play.

Starting point is 00:24:03 Hit those big plays, Bo Nix. Hit those plays Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, catch the dang ball. That's what you got to do in a game like this on the road in order to beat a team like the Eagles. Well, when you were talking right there about the explosive plays, you ever see Stomp the Yard? Absolutely, yeah. Good man, my man. I say, I'm glad that you saw that. But I was thinking like, you know, when they're sitting there, they're talking about like their routine, they're going through it.

Starting point is 00:24:25 right before they win. They're like TNT. They go explosive, explosive, that's what I thought about. My mind, sometimes we go on detours. My mind wanders off

Starting point is 00:24:34 to different pop cultural references that we'll make here. I agree with you there. Sarah, I mean, those are the simple things here. And I like that we saw Bowenicks taking some shots down the field.

Starting point is 00:24:43 It didn't matter if it was against the Cincinnati Bengals. You want to see that aggressiveness. And that was a thing. What do you say after that charge game? I'm going to keep slinging it. Well, he was slinging it on Monday night football. Don't be afraid to sling it at times against this.

Starting point is 00:24:55 Eagles defense. You've got to take calculated risks here. Obviously with the amount of zone that this defense will run. I mean, Vic Fangio loves to just send a lot of four-man rushes. Can the Broncos uphold and can Bo Nix get the ball out quickly, find the soft spots in that zone defense at times? And then when you get a couple of men looks, can you take advantage of it? That I think is going to be very big here for the Broncos this week. My keys to victory, Sarah. Let's open things up here, number one for the second game in our run game success. If you can run the ball effectively against this Eagles team, which some teams have been able to do this year, you have a great chance of winning this game because coming into it, the Eagles are allowing a buck 13 on the ground

Starting point is 00:25:34 so far through four games. They're allowing teams to rush on average, 4.3 yards per rush this year. We mentioned the explosive that they gave up earlier in this year, 49-yard run. The Broncos have seemingly figured out their identity here with the run game with J.K. Dobbins, with R.J. Harvey. And it seems like a two-back system is something that Sean Pate might be leaning on a little bit more going forward. He said that the players, JK and RJ were excited about it. He said, I'm excited about it.

Starting point is 00:26:00 I'd like to see a lot more of that, which means that maybe you might phase out Tyler Badey and just focus on these two guys who showcased on Monday night. If you give them a clearly defined workload, and you don't create this tendency when one guy's coming in versus the other, you might be able to break some things off here. And I think that the alternating series with these guys, I love that approach here.

Starting point is 00:26:21 36 snaps for JK on Monday night. 33 for RJ. for RJ, find a way to keep that train rolling here on Sunday against this Eagles team. I think the run game is going to be very, very big here. And I want to put something out in the universe. We're putting it out there, blowing the magic dust out there saying, you know what, there is going to be a big time special teams play this week. And I think Marvin Mims, whether it's a return touchdown or whether it's a 40 plus yard

Starting point is 00:26:46 return by Marvin, I'm putting into the universe here. That is going to be needed if the Bronco is going to go on the road. and kind of suck the wind out of that arena there. Nothing quiets a crowd more than a big time special teams play and nothing energizes a team more than a road team making off a big play on special teams. That's going to be big here. And my third and final key here for the Broncos, I think the biggest key about all of this is going to boil down to protecting the football.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Kind of what you mentioned there. The Eagles this season, they have five takeaways through three games, Sarah. And this is where I think you absolutely have to protect it. I was watching the game last week against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay had a few drives where it was promising. And then there was a fumble. There was a takeaway. And it was like,

Starting point is 00:27:27 oh, it was the most backbreaking thing when you have momentum. And that was Tampa Bay at home. Tampa Bay wasn't in Philly playing this game. It was at home. We've seen even on Thursday night football, turnovers can be costly. Kiron Williams fumbled the ball at the one yard line and a chance where they could have had a kind of walk off touchdown there.

Starting point is 00:27:46 The game wouldn't have had to go to overtime on Thursday night if he just held onto the ball and was able to get through there. So turnovers, they're backbreaking. And when you have those types of negative plays against a team like the Philadelphia Eagles, Sarah, they will make you pay with it. Because if you have a drive there, you lose that momentum and all of a sudden they get the ball. And let's say Sequon starts ripping off a couple of big runs. Then all of a sudden your defense has got to figure out how to stop the bleeding. Right.

Starting point is 00:28:10 So don't put the defense in bad situations, protect the football, especially on the special team side as well. No muffs. You don't want to have that happen this week. No fair catch interference type of issues there. I think that's going to be paramount ball security, being able to get after this Philly team. And I think stopping the run here with Sequan Barkley, that's going to be paramount here. I feel good about the Broncos chances. You know, Sarah, like going in the locker room this week, you know, we heard Adam Trotman talking about like a measuring stick game earlier on the week, where it wasn't like you're trying to measure yourself against this team.

Starting point is 00:28:41 You're just trying to prove yourself like, hey, like we belong. Nick Bineau is like, nah, this ain't a measuring stick game. We're going to go try to win that thing. So mixed messages inside the Broncos locker room. but a lot of confidence. And I'd say that these guys have been locked in, especially for a short week. Big opportunity here on Sunday, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:28:57 Huge opportunity, Cody. And to your point about the special team stuff, does anybody out there know who has allowed the second most return yards in punt returns this season? Does anybody know who's seventh worst in the NFL in average yards per return? That would be the Philadelphia Eagles this season, Cody. I know they've punted a lot because they have more three and outs than most teams, if not all teams, this year.

Starting point is 00:29:20 but their punt coverage has not been great either. The second most punt return yards allowed, I got to think Marvin Mims is salivating, and the idea of your second point becoming a thing this week is probably a really realistic thing. So I like that one, and I agree with you. The Broncos, Cody, they lost,

Starting point is 00:29:40 they got blown out against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs last year. Everybody's saying, hey, the Broncos, they ain't ready yet. They got blown out when they went to Baltimore to play the Ravens. they ain't ready for that type of team yet. They ain't ready for Lamar Jackson. They're not ready for Josh Allen. You go to Kansas City and you finally put your best foot forward and you prove you're still little brother.

Starting point is 00:30:00 You get a little wedgy at the end of the game. Your brother rips the carpet out from underneath your feet and you chip your teeth on the ground in the process. You're still little brother, the Denver Broncos. I mean, you beat the bucks early last season. You got on a little bit of a roll there, but you're little brother right now. And you've got to prove to Big Brother

Starting point is 00:30:17 that little brother is not going to take no more beating. right you're not going to take your brothers bull crap in a game like this and i think that's the that's the storyline for me to watch is that the broncos you've been little brother long enough with bow knicks at the quarterback position it's time for you to prove that what people are saying what sean peyton is saying what you're even believing in the locker room that you are an elite team okay so go out there against a team like the eagles where you're your your underdogs obviously but you're also not going to be predicted to win by anybody else besides maybe Broncos fans and Adam Rank over there at NFL.com. This is a game that you have to prove that you are one of the best

Starting point is 00:30:55 teams in the NFL. Let the league know that you're for real. Get the taste of those Colts and Chargers games out of your mouth. This is your chance to do it. 100%. Like I said at the beginning, you know, the Philadelphia Eagles, they're the heavyweight champions. Broncos, they're the underdog. Time to deliver that heavyweight punch to the defending champions to see if you can knock them down here early on in the season. With that said, Broncos Country, that'll wrap up today's episode of the show. The next time you're going to hear from Sarah and I,

Starting point is 00:31:22 we're going to give you the complete recap of Sunday's game. Hopefully, a Victory Monday podcast is on your way, following the Broncos Eagles matchup on Sunday. 11 a.m. Mountain Time kickoff. You get all that here on Lockdown Broncos, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know it's your team every day.

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