Denver Broncos Defense DEALT INJURY BLOW Ahead of Titans Matchup

Denver Broncos Defense DEALT INJURY BLOW Ahead of Titans Matchup

The Denver Broncos defense is banged up ahead of their season opener to just days away from the Tennessee Titans. We’ll discuss that more here on today’s episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. With kickoff just a couple of days away, the Denver Broncos receive some not so good news regarding their defensive depth as injuries have continued to hit them. We’ll break it all down here on today’s brand new episode, Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We know it’s your team every day. A special shout out to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. If you’re not yet an everyday, become one today. Here I’m Cody Ror, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bettinger. site expert over there, predominantly Orange.com. And just a few days away from kickoff, the Broncos defense dealing with the injury bug a little bit, including a major hit to their depth on the defensive line. We’ll talk about that, who could be up next. Plus, we’ll go through and talk about why Courtland Sutton and Quinn Miners are two players that we have our eyes on here in Sunday’s matchup against the Tennessee Titans as we focus on our players to watch. And if the Broncos are going to win this game against Tennessee, they got to establish that ground dominance on both sides of the ball. We’ll break it all down on today’s episode of the show. Sir, not so good news. Obviously, we’ve been on Dre Green Law watch all week long. Observe practice this week for Wednesday and Thursday. We did not see him on the field. He was on the side field. We’ve got practice here today in Dov Valley. I’ll be there. We’ll see if he maybe upgrades a little bit, moves from the sidefield to team stretch individual. If that’s the case, then that would be limited participation at the least, which could be good news there. but unlikely that we see Malcolm Roach here for Friday’s practice after he suffered an injury yesterday. Yeah, the grade two calf strain for Malcolm Roach obviously an important part of the defensive line. Somebody that George Payton earlier in the offseason said was maybe their their biggest or best or most important signing that they made last off season, which says a lot because they got a couple of really good players. Malcolm Roach have become a key piece of this defensive line, Cody, but it sounds like he could miss at least a month, four to six, maybe four to eight weeks. We’ll see if he lands on short-term IR. I know the Broncos kept seven defensive linemen on their 53man roster, and this is a big reason why we’re seeing now the war on attrition. It starts before even week one. You and I talked about that weird, I don’t know, I guess mojo in the week leading up to that Titans game. remember back in 2020 or 2021, whatever it was, when Von Miller got hurt and Courtland Sutton had the shoulder injury and all these sorts of weird things. Like, it’s just a weird deal here that the Broncos are dealing with this, but at the same time, you’ve got guys like Inoma Uzar who he got shouted out by some of his teammates on the defensive line for how well he plays in that middle of the defense where we know that Malcolm Roach is very effective. So, might be counted on to step up in a much bigger role than expected here this week. And I think it’s something we’re going to have to continue to monitor here because I do think the Broncos have to mole between short-term IR from Malcolm. The thing with calves, you have to be very careful with it. It’s always tricky because usually what happens when you have a calf injury, I mean, usually it kind of boils up and leads to a potential for an Achilles as we’ve seen historically with NBA players like Kevin Durant being an example of that, Jamal Murray, other guys along the lines. I know Kobe Bryant when he tore his Achilles he had a lot of calf tightness leading up to that. We saw it with Aaron Rogers initially as well just a couple of years ago here. So you have to be smart in your approach because grade two is essentially a mild tear and orthopedic surgeons usually kind of go along the lines of saying it’s like a four to six week recovery that could have some intensive rehabilitation to it. You have to be careful with it because it isn’t a soft tissue part of your you know muscle fibers there that connects everything in your lower leg. What do we know about defensive linemen, defensive tackles like Malcolm Roach? They excel when they can plant that back foot, anchor down, and allow their linebackers to fill the other gaps because they’re hard to move back. Malcolm Roach is a hard guy to move back and so you need him to have that power behind that foot. So, I I’m very curious to see what the Broncos official approach will be with this injury, but obviously a massive blow here to their defensive depth. You mentioned, you know, part of me is wondering, is this going to be an opportunity for the Broncos to elevate from the practice squad, at least from a game day elevation standpoint, Jordan Miller, who’s a nose tackle, who had a tremendous offseason and training camp? My question is, do the Broncos view Uazarque as a guy that they feel like can step into Roach’s role behind DJ Jones and play at the same exact level? That’s the question right now. Yeah, it’s going to be fascinating to see the roster gymnastics and maybe, you know, we talked in the offseason about how Shawn Payeyton felt like Zack Allen was playing too many snaps. Does this now kind of shift the way that they have to do things to keep other guys on the field? Because Malcolm is one of those guys that they’re planning on rotating in consistently and giving other guys a breather. I know they don’t all necessarily play the same position, but when you’ve got so many defensive linemen that can rotate in, obviously you can trust different combinations of guys out there. So yes, role specific be fascinating to see if it’s Uazarque or Jordan Miller or what the case ends up being. But we know that DJ Jones, even though he just got a deal worth 13 million per season this off season, he does not even play 50% of the snaps. So he’s not out there on a full-time basis. He does come off the field consistently and it’s to keep him fresh and it’s because he’s effective on those early downs. So, the Broncos need to make sure that they’re keeping him at his best. Whatever they need to do, whether that’s bringing up another body off the practice squad or putting that pressure onto Wazerque, saying, “Hey, we need you to step up in this way. You showed it throughout the offseason. It was good enough to keep you on the 53man roster. Now, we need you to perform up to that level immediately.” It is a little concerning considering the Broncos early stretch of the schedule, right? Four to six weeks, let’s say. It’s the, you know, the latter there for Malcolm Roach in terms of his absence potentially that I mean that’s past the Philadelphia game at that point. And so to me that’s a little challenging. You know, you’re you’re facing some teams that love to run the football and what was an area last year, you know, your depth, you wanted it was a strong suit and it was a strong suit here this off seasonason, but one of your major depth pieces takes a major major hit here. And I’m also curious too to see what they decide to do. If Drake Greenlaw doesn’t play here on Sunday, I imagine it would be Alex Singleton, Justin Sternod, who probably get the start here for the Broncos, which makes the decision around Karen Reed very interesting. Do they elevate Lavel Bailey and play him over Reed, or is Karen Reed going to play, you know, some snaps here as an undrafted rookie right away? Typically, we see a lot of these guys as game day inactives early on, even if they make the 53man roster, but because of the position the Broncos are in with the injury to Dre Greenaw, the idea that Alex Singleton could also be in a pitch count. I I’m I’m a little concerned, I will say, here going into Sunday just because of this injury factor. Yeah, I think this is a big reason why the Broncos kept Garrett Wallow, who has played some NFL action on the practice squad, right? Obviously, you got to keep Lavel Bailey. Obviously, you kept Jordan Turner who won a try out job earlier this off season, but yeah, you brought in Garrett Wallow in in training camp, right? And you believe that this guy can contribute because he has in the past. And so, I think that’s another player to watch for a game day elevation here. And that linebacker position, as you and I have discussed, it’s one of those where we feel like the team kept three guys on the practice squad to do exactly this, to shuffle up and down, knowing that even if Dre was going to play in week one, which we still don’t know for sure, but even if he was, it was going to be on a pitch count. So, you need those extra bodies because Dre is not going to go out there and play special teams. So, you need these guys to to be active. And I think that we could see two inside line. Well, I don’t know if it’ll be two though, Cody, because obviously you got the fullback position as well here. I it’ll be interesting to see which one gets picked. If it’s Lavel Bailey, Garrett Wallow, or Jordan Turner. I would guess I I I mean, Lavel seems like the lowhanging fruit, but I think this is kind of why they kept Garrett Wallow in the first place. Yeah, I feel like if anything, it would be Wallow and Lavell that get elevated here for this game specifically, considering the the little bit of a hole the Broncos are in. And, you know, Broncos country wherever you’re at, knock on wood. Hopefully everyone can get healthy. The Broncos can avoid an injury bug and and hopefully it’s just a little hiccup ahead of week one here. But definitely something to monitor going forward here as the Broncos prepare for their week one season opener against the Tennessee Titans and rookie quarterback Cam Ward here. But Broncos country, we still got a lot to break down here on today’s episode show. We’re going to get through our players to watch. We’re going to tell you why Courtland Sutton and Quinn Miners are going to be two important pieces on the offensive side of the ball that we have our eye on specifically against the Tennessee Titans. You’ll get all that here on today’s episode of the show. Today’s episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by our friends over there at Prize Picks, the daily fantasy app where making the right call can actually pay off. You and I make decisions every single day, but on Prize Picks, being right means cashing in. With football back, Prize Picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on the action. 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If you haven’t already done so, take a couple seconds, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcast and on YouTube. And Cody, let’s talk about our players to watch. I’m excited to break this down a little bit because for much of the off season, we’re spending a lot of time talking about the roster deep cuts. We’re talking about guys who could end up making the case for the 53man roster. Players to watch in the preseason is just significantly different than players to watch in the regular season because now we’re actually going to be talking about the guys that we maybe didn’t spend a lot of time talking about in the months of July and August. So, let’s let’s start with you. Let’s start with your three players to watch here in week one against Tennessee. Yeah, first off, I’m going to highlight it by talking about Patrick Certan the second. You know, I no reasoning needed. Patan versus Calvin Ridley. You want your best corner to follow the best receiver there for that team. This is going to be a big matchup here for the Broncos. And obviously Tennessee has some other receiving options as well. I mean, does Vance Joseph feel comfortable keeping guys on one side or is this going to be maybe we want to travel and place him on assignment? We know that the Titans talked about maybe moving Calvin Ridley around. I think Pat Sertan should follow in this instance if that is the case, which means outside, inside. How does it change the game plan for Vance Joseph defensively? This is going to be fun, especially with the reigning NFL defensive player of the year. And then I’ve got Troy Franklin as another player that I have my eye on here. Obviously, because of the fact we’ve seen him have such an impressive training camp and preseason, but now we get an extended look at his role here with Bo Knicks and Shawn Payeyton and the offense. I think he’s going to be heavily featured here early on in this game. Look for Troy to make a big play for the Broncos early. But then let’s get to the kind of the highlight guy right here. I’m gonna go with Quinn Miners, sir. And the reason I go with Quinn is the highlight guy here is because he’s facing off against Jeffrey Simmons. And look, Jeffrey Simmons had some very interesting comments early on the week. Kind of taking a shot at Bon Knicks by saying he’s a first read quarterback. If his first read’s not there, he’s going to take off. And you know who I think is going to have a problem with that? Quinn Miners. And look, Jeffrey Simmons is a fantastic player, but this matchup right here, Quinn, I think is going to look come out and try to establish some dominance here early on. Can the Broncos take it to Jeffrey Simmons and prove that Bo Nicks isn’t that? Shawn Peyton said he disagreed with Simmons statement and I think Quinn Miners and offensive line are going to have something to say about that as well. Those are my three key players. How do you feel about that? And obviously, I’ll get into yours here in a second. I love that. I think that those three players are going to be instrumental in this game. Obviously, I think the highlight of Quinn Miners is a huge matchup and one that could end up dictating overall just the the pace of this game that could dictate kind of uh who’s who’s winning at the line of scrimmage. You know, you want to be the team that really initiates in in terms of winning and really dominating up front. Quinn Miners against Jeffrey Simmons, that’s must see TV. I’m excited to see some of the all 22 breakdowns of that after the game and everything because those two guys are at the top of their game. But my top three guys to watch in this game, Cody, we’ll start off with number one here, Courtland Sutton. I think that Sutton getting that contract extension in the offseason puts more pressure on him than really we’ve seen in recent years. I know that he had, you know, contract situations in the past, but this is a deal now where he’s basically been made a Bronco for life essentially, right? With the four-year deal, 92 million, the Broncos rejecting trade offers over the past couple of years for Sutton. like he’s he’s got to be that guy that we saw against the Saints in the preseason where you just feel like anytime you throw him the ball, man, he’s coming down with it. So really excited to see what Courtland Sutton can do. And then keeping in theme with guys who got the bag, all three of my players to watch are players who have been paid recently. So Nick Bonito and Zack Allen, of course, I think Nick Bonito and Zack Allen, Cody, those two guys right there can make life uh miserable for Cam Ward in this game against the Tennessee Titans. And that’s what we want to see. We always talk about that in our game previews is make the opposing quarterback miserable. Thankfully, the Broncos proved us right most of last year, right? They led the NFL in sacks. Can you get off to a blazing hot start against a team that’s breaking in a new starter at left tackle, breaking in a rookie quarterback who I mean, if you want to talk about Bo Nicks being on his first read, what is Cam Ward going to have to be in a hostile environment like this where he’s going up against a pass rush that just led the NFL in sacks, right? I mean, if that first read is not there, you better believe guys like Riley Moss, Jaquin McMillan, they’re going to be breaking on the ball. So, it’s going to be up to Zack Allen, Nick Bonito, and the other players on that defensive front to really make sure that Cam Ward is making quick decisions with the football. And I’m curious as well to see too. I like your picks because I I I like the idea of the big bad guys going out there and and obviously having big games here to help solidify that. But, you know, I think for me, the two guys that you mentioned that excite me the most there is going to be Bonito and Allen here, just because we’re going to see them on the same side. And I think if you’re Cam War, if you’re the Titans, you’re like trying to figure out how are we going to run the football here with Pard. Where are we going to run to? Okay. Well, are we going to run to the two guys who just got paid mega money here by the Broncos? I mean, you can’t avoid them. They’re going to have to obviously try to do that if you’re Tennessee. But I I like the Broncos chances. I like those two guys on the same side being able to disrupt and cause havoc. Zack Allen, we know, can get in the back field with ease with TFLs against the run game. His pressure on the interior is very quick to obviously get there. Then you got Bonito who’s just been an absolute force. We talk about pressure. We talk about edge contain. I’m I’m super excited to see these two guys get after the rookie QB here on Sunday. It’s going to be a big challenge here for Denver, too, because look, I think everybody’s talking about and I think you guys did a great job of highlighting this in the crossover. You can’t overlook that that the fact that the Titans picked number one overall last year. They are a different team. They’ve made some tangible upgrades around Cam Ward here. I’m also very curious to see maybe how Zach does going against former Bronco Lloyd Cusheenberry from time to time. I know that obviously it would mean that he would have to rotate in. He’s not going to line up on Lloyd Cushenberry. That’s where DJ Jones is going to be, but if the Broncos stunt with some of the packages that they did last year, there’s going to be times where Zack Allen might be crossing face of Lloyd Cushingberry. I kind of can’t wait to see if that’s part of the game plan here for Denver. I can’t wait as well. Well, I mean, with Vance Joseph, the way that he was kind of in his bag last year, calling different blitz packages and really exotic looks throwing out, I mean, what’s he going to throw at a rookie quarterback? This is where you kind of just say, “Let’s go empty the clip out there and see what he can do with it.” Because ultimately, you’re not going to trust that he’s going to respond correctly. You’re going to trust that your defensive backs are going to be able to be aggressive because of the way that you’re, you know, sending different players on the blitz. That’s where Justin Sternad was most effective. So, I guess in that way, you know, with Justin being potential that he’s going to play a lot in this game, right, Cody, maybe he’s kind of an honorary player to watch here because he was sent on blitzes more than pretty much any linebacker on the team last year. And that was with not even starting on a full-time basis throughout the course of a season. So, if he’s playing in this game, man, he has a chance to really make his mark attacking the line of scrimmage and being ultraaggressive. I feel like he could be kind of that honorary guy because I think Vance is going to be absolutely sending the house at Cam Ward in this game, forcing him to make either you’re going to your first read and you’re going to make a mistake or you’re going to get off your first read right away and you’re not going to have time to make the right decision after that. I feel like I’ I’d prefer the Broncos and Joseph to Blitz Stern and Green Law more though more so than they I think they would Alex Singleton. I think Alex is probably better playing off in space versus Blitzen because I don’t think we’ve seen Singleton really get home too much once sent on a blitz in terms of pressures or sacks. Stern, I mean, we we talk about like every game last year there was one or, you know, if he’s not getting a a a sack on a blitz, every game he’s having a key TFL, a key stop on third down or second down that’s like, oh wow, it’s behind the backfield. Great great job by Sternard. Great great call by Vance Joseph to send him. We’ve seen him get that stick and and he’s got a lot more confidence to him this year. I’ve had a chance to talk to him this week. He’s excited here for week one and you know he believes it’s a great opportunity for the team to go out there and carry over a lot of the momentum what they feel like they’ve built together here in training camp and they want to unleash it here against the Titans. I I’m with you there. I think we’re going to keep our eye here on Stern. I think things are trending. I’m going to head out to practice here in just a little bit. We’ll see if Green Law’s back out there, but I think it’s safe to say if he doesn’t participate today, he’s not playing on Sunday. So, Broncos country prepare for Sternard, Alex Singleton, and handful of other linebackers to get their opportunities to get on the field here on Sunday against Cam Ward and the Titans here. But Broncos country, if Denver’s going to come away with a victory against the Titans, not only do they need to dominate the trenches and stop the ground game of Tennessee, the Broncos ground game offensively has to be a major focus. We’ll highlight that and our keys to victory here on today’s episode of the show. Today’s episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at Door Dash. And it’s almost the weekend, so it’s time to look back and crown this week’s MVP on who delivered. Powered by Door Dash, just like you can win every Saturday with Door Dash Streaks, saving more time every time that you order. These players delivered when it mattered most. So, let’s break it down. For the Broncos, Nick Bonito coming off the heels of a massive contract extension. Bonito delivered in a big way. That’s what got him paid. And when the pressure was on all throughout last season, Bonito came through. No hesitation, no delay. And if you’ve been watching week after week, Bonito’s rise, it wasn’t a fluke. Nick Bonito is on a streak. And just like Nick Bonito delivered for the Denver Broncos, Door Dash delivers your Saturdays with Door Dash streaks. You save every Saturday you order. Stack it up all season and you could save up to $250, including $100 in Door Dash credits. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your game day only with Door Dash. Terms apply. Promo period is through November 18th. So check it out today at Door Dash. If you want to win in the NFL, you got to fluster a rookie quarterback, create turnovers, and more importantly, dominate on the ground. Can the Broncos carry the trend of what they did in the preseason over into the regular season? We’re going to get into our keys to victory here on today’s episode of the show. Want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the every dares for tuning in, making us your first listen. Sarah, let’s get into our keys to victory here. I want to start off with yours first and foremost here. If Denver is going to come away with a victory at home on Sunday, AFC conference matchup against the Titans, what do they have to do? Well, I want to see number one, I want to see the defensive backs be aggressive with Cam Ward’s first read. So, wherever he’s going, I want to see these guys absolutely attacking the football. Take some chances. I know you don’t necessarily want to give up big play after big play, but at the same time, go out there and try to make plays on the ball because it is going to be loud. they are going to try to get him some first read stuff to get him in a rhythm. So, as a, you know, as a Broncos defense, you’ve got to be kind of like a batter that’s going and facing a pitcher who’s known for throwing first pitch strikes, right? You want to attack when the pitcher is attacking the zone. You want to go ahead take your hacks right away. So, that’s what I want to see this Broncos defensive backfield do. And I think their aggressiveness can really help out, Cody. Number two key to victory here is early down dominance defensively. Of course, you want to dominate on the run so you can create or against the run so that you can create long down and distance on second and third down. That’s crucial in the NFL today. And then number three is this idea that first down efficiency on offense, the opposite. So what you want the Titans to do on their side of the ball, you want to do the opposite. You want to get ahead of the sticks, create second and short, third and short situations for yourself to elongate and extend drives here and really keep the pressure on that defense because ultimately the Titans are not a deep team. They have talent, but they’re not a deep team. You’ve got to rotate guys in and out. Ultimately, if you’re extending drives, you’re exposing a lack of depth on the other side. That’s where the Broncos really need to be effective is on first down and make sure that they’re staying ahead of the sticks, second and short, third and short all throughout this game. Well, to touch on your first key to victory about the aggressive reads on Cam Wards, obviously his first read there. The thing I think we saw on the Thursday opener against the Cowboys and the Eagles was when teams went man coverage, both the Cowboys and the Eagles. And granted, we could talk about those defenses some other day or you can check out those locked on podcast wherever you get your podcast to recap that. We saw Dak Prescott and Jaylen Herz take advantage by using their legs. Cam Ward is a big quarterback. He can avoid contact. He can run through it. So, you have to wrap him up, but he can also extend plays with his legs. And when you talk about some of the receivers that the, you know, this Titans team has and Calvin Ridley and you talk about even Tyler Lockett scramble drill, like the versatility, these guys can run all over the field. That right there is what you have to prepare for, especially if your coverage is good at first and then Cam is able to get outside the pocket and make play. So, the Broncos are going to have to obviously account for this this week in this game. I felt like that’s a very interesting point to kind of go with your first key to victory here. And I’m also in agreeance with you as well. I mean, you want to dominate early. You want to have Cam Ward facing a long field to where it’s like second and 15 or let’s say it’s third and 12. We already know at Empire Field of Mile High, the stadium, it shakes. The crowd rocks. That makes it very difficult here to hear if you’re an opposing quarter of whether you’re a veteran, whether you’re a rookie. But also in that same light there, let’s say you have them backed up on third and long, it’s so loud. Maybe they don’t hear the play call or maybe they’re not paying attention to the clock. Delay of game penalty. Okay, now you back it up even further. This plays into the advantage here of the Denver Broncos. I I like your keys to victory. I think they’re very important here for Sunday’s game against the Titans. Sarah, I’m going to go to my keys to victory here. I think first and foremost where we’re going to start off with with this Broncos team. I always like to go through this is what my coach always told me. We lived by this philosophy. I carried it over as a coach. When you’re plus three in the turnover differential, you are going to have a strong 90% chance of winning most of the time. If you are plus three there, which means you’re creating takeaways, you’re not turning the football over, you have a great chance of winning the game, right? Sounds cliche, but it is so important here. And I’d be curious to find out if there’s a stat out there that says when the Broncos force or when they turnover margin three nothing or even like positive two, what is their record here? I think if you look at most teams around the NFL, a positive turnover margin, I think is a huge, huge benefit to where you’re at. You talk about this defense. Yes, of course, we have questions about Dre Green Law and his health going into this game. But you have guys that are more than capable of getting after the quarterback, strip sacking the QB, jumping routes, forcing interceptions, forcing fumbles. This is where I want to see this aggressive Broncos defense come into play. My second key to victory as we transition here is going to be set the tone on the ground, right? Ground control here. The Broncos, they ran for over a hundred yards in each of their preseason games. They dominated on the ground defensively, controlled the time of possession here. This is the formula. And will we see this new Broncos run game finally unlock itself a little bit against the tough test of Tavandre Sweat, Sebastian Joseph Day, Jeffrey Simmons. Going to be a tough test, but maybe R.J. Harvey switching from number 37 to number 12 might unlock something here for the Broncos offense. But yes, you want to have collectively between JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey. We’ll see if it’s Tyler Bedet, Jil Mclofflin. You want to have collectively 120 yards on the ground here. That’s a good formula because then it means your extended drives keeping it alive and it amplifies your chances of winning this game. My third key to victory here, I think when you look at it, field position dominance is going to be crucial here. And I’m not even just talking about the kickoff game. I’m talking about the punt game or even in the return game. This is almost every phase of special teams that you can imagine here. You know, the Broncos are obviously, I think we saw a little bit on Thursday night, some teams experimenting with trying those low kicks on kickoff to get it in the landing zone to force a return to maybe the two or three yardd line and then your coverage team converges. I’ll see what Darren Rizzy is going to do this week, but this is going to be a big game for Jeremy Cross Shaw. Hopefully the Broncos aren’t punting much, but if he punts, can he pin the Titans deep into their own field territory? That’s going to be a major key here. And I also think as well when the Broncos have an opportunity to get a big return, can Marvin Mims flip the field position for the Broncos offense? Can the kick return game with these new roles, can they force it to where Marvin can maybe bring the team out to the 40 yard line, maybe past the 50 yard line? Field position advantage is going to be so crucial to setting the tone for the start of this season. 100%. And especially when you think about last year’s team, right? I mean, last year’s Broncos needed that good field position start in order to really have the success that we saw offensively because, as you and I have mentioned a lot, like they were among the league leaders in three and outs offensively last year. So having a defense that did force turnovers and get you the ball back quickly and especially teams that could set you up with good field position, that really all contributed significantly to the Broncos getting extra possessions, extra opportunities to really go out there and become a top 10 scoring offense. So, if they can this year be a more efficient offensive operation, as you mentioned, with the running game and having over 120 yards on the ground, if they can do that in combination with dominating field position, man, Cody, this this could be a special special year where the Broncos rank in the top five both offensively and defensively. But again, we don’t want to get into the regular season counting our chickens before they hatch. We want to see this team hit the ground running. I was just kind of daydreaming a little bit as you were talking about this plus three turnover differential. Daydreaming about a potential 1 and0 start for the Broncos. How much different is that gonna feel for this fan base compared to what we’ve experienced the last two seasons where last year it was the disappointment of going into Seattle Bo’s debut kind of getting embarrassed a little bit in certain ways and you know having a rough go offensively and then the year before that you start off with the failed onside kick you lose to the Raiders in the season opener right I mean everything just left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth and kind of forced everybody to reset okay should I even be optimistic about this team. Should I be excited about how different would a 1 and 0 start, especially potentially a dominant victory in week one? How different would that have Broncos country feeling going into week two? I’m excited about the possibility. When was the last time the Broncos won their season opener? Was it Was it 2021 with with Teddy Bridgewwater? Teddy. Yep. Teddy Bridgewwater. Wow. It’s been a while there, Broncos, since that that’s happened. Because then I think after that, the next time that they won a season opener, I think it was 2018 against the Seattle Seahawks, it was Philip Lindsay’s debut at the Mile High City with Case Keenum at the quarterback position. So, can the Broncos start off hot at home against an AFC conference opponent? That is our hope. Uh, one last thing here, Sarah, in Broncos country, feel free to chime in, too, as you’re tuning into this episode. What is your biggest worry about this game? What is one thing that has you kind of like red flagged as things could go wrong if this happens? Yeah, I mean that’s the what is that? I mean there’s so many different things, right? It could be injury related. It could be shoot. If the offense struggles, Cody, if the offense is not humming, if the running game is not there, if the offensive line is getting whooped, that would really concern me. That would have me feeling that would have me feeling like I’ve been bamboozled all off season, right? I mean, short of injury, let’s talk let’s just say it’s it has nothing to do with injuries. I think if none of the new additions come through this week, I mean, we’re talking Evan Ingram, we’re talking obviously Dre Greenlaw is up for question. Taleno Huanga, big investment, RJ Harvey, Jade Baron, like what happens if none of those guys make a big enough impact on the game to to justify the investments the Broncos made. I mean, that’s not what we want to see, but it would certainly send this fan base into a bit of a frenzy. I definitely think there would be some week one overreactions if that was the case. If they did get off to a slow start, I know that’s the theme Sean says. we want to get off to a fast start. The team has to have that sense of urgency, you know, and also maybe another factor to watch as well, like if the run game doesn’t get going here in week one or if it doesn’t get going throughout the season, is is it safe to say that maybe it is the offensive line that maybe there are questions about? You know, we saw Javvante Williams look like his old self for the Cowboys a little bit. And of course, Cowboys lost that game, but Javvante didn’t look like that at all. Javante had more touchdowns, I think, in Thursday night’s opener than he did really with the Broncos in a handful of stretches there. So, uh, just some things to to look at here early on here at Broncos country, but let us know what your biggest concern would be going into kickoff here with this Broncos team against Tennessee on Sunday. You’ll get postgame coverage here on the Lockdown Broncos podcast. Sarah Bettinger, myself after the game. We got you covered. Hopefully, the Broncos off to a one and0 start. We’ll see you then, Broncos country.

The Denver Broncos defense was dealt a blow to their depth after Malcolm Roach suffered an injury on Thursday that could sideline him for several weeks. With the Titans game coming up on Sunday, will Eyioma Uwazurike or Jordan Miller be called upon? Plus, Courtland Sutton and Quinn Meinerz headline key players to watch on Sunday and Denver’s run game will be key if the Broncos hope to win their first season opener since 2021.

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.

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