CONCERN: Denver Broncos Special Teams ISSUES Concerning Sean Payton

CONCERN: Denver Broncos Special Teams ISSUES Concerning Sean Payton

The Denver Broncos special teams unit is running out of riz and Shawn Peyton is running out of patience. We’ll discuss 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. What’s up, Broncos country? Welcome to another episode of Lock on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lock on Podcast Network, where you know it’s your team every day. Shout out to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. I’m Cody Ror, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, and we got a lot to talk about here on today’s episode of the show here. Shawn Payeyton acknowledging some of the issues here with the Broncos special teams unit. And Darren Rzzy might be running out of riz and influence here with Payton going forward as he expressed concern after Sunday’s win in Houston. Plus, the Broncos, they’re tied for the best record in the NFL right now. If you had that on your bingo card, you’re crazy. Give me the lottery numbers there. We’ll discuss what that looks like from the AFC perspective. And we’ll talk about why the Broncos control their AFC West destiny with the lead here this week on a short turnaround for Thursday Night Football. You’ll get all that and more on today’s show brought to you by our friends over there at FanDuel. And right now, new customers can bet just $5. If your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app. Special teams, usually the the phrase is special teams, special players. And look, this is a Broncos special teams unit, folks. That has been very inconsistent. And I would say they’ve been teetering more so towards bad production all season long outside of Will Lutz primarily being the one guy who’s made consistent enough plays. Jeremy Crossaw certainly has been a bright spot, but the Broncos seemingly haven’t had the same effectiveness with their special teams unit that they certainly had last year. There’s been a couple of key standouts. Let’s not discredit that. You know, while the Broncos special teams issues have them kind of middle of the pack in a lot of categories, they’re second to last in one major category we’ll talk about here in a minute, but they got some standout players that I I’m really liking what we’re seeing from guys like Devin Key who’s emerged to really be that best special teams impact player, that core 4 ace specialist. We’re seeing guys like Dandre Tilman, Jonah Ellis making plays on special teams, but the units as a whole from a production standpoint have not lived up to the standard. Whereas last year they were a top 10, top five unit in a lot of categories all throughout the entire season last year and of course under Ben Kotwika and Mike Westoff. There were a couple of hiccups here and there, but I think it’s safe to say anybody watching or listening to this right now will understand and can clearly tell you that this Broncos unit, specifically that phase of the football, has had more hiccups through nine weeks than Kotwika’s unit had throughout the entire 17game season last year. Shawn Peyton made the decision to ultimately fire Katika for having one of the best units in the special teams department in the NFL and going out there and hiring Darren Rizzy who he’s obviously has a lot of familiarity with. He’s worked with him before. He’s obviously got a good friendship there. But sometimes in the world, just like if you have ever roommated, if you ever been a roommate with one of your best friends, I’m sure you have stories how it doesn’t always go the way that you hope for. The one thing I’ll say here is that Ben Kotwika was fired for drastically less than the issues that we’re seeing now with Rzy’s unit. And look, RZY was a highly coveted name in the free agency market in terms of coaching. He was in consideration for the Saints head coaching job. Did a really good job rallying them after they had fired Dennis Allen last year. Yes, Saints players wanted him to stay and be the head coach. Ultimately, they chose Kell Moore here. We can’t ignore the fact that this unit has taken a step back. And granted, the rules on the kickoff aspect of it are a little different this year. The Broncos, they are forcing more returns. They are trying to cover more returns, but that’s a problematic statistic in and of itself because they’re 31st right now in the NFL in kick return average against. And that trend continued on Sunday. Obviously, there was a punt return that went for 45 yards against the Broncos punt return unit. But then Truman Smith, former Bronco, he had a 36-yd kick return that gave the Texans pretty good field position. This has been an area of concern. The Broncos gave up some big ones against the Jets. They gave up some big ones obviously early on the season to the Tennessee Titans in week one. This has been a very hitand- miss unit and Shawn Peyton’s patience is starting to wear a little bit thin to the point, you know, we were talking about all the issues in this game. Let’s go through them. Deno Autry blocked a field goal here that would have tied the game at 3-3 here for the Broncos in Sunday’s game early on. And Shawn Peyton told us this week, the first thing we saw on Wednesdays when you look at the rate of kicks blocked from Deno Autry, it certainly is something we have to account for. What does he do? Deno Autry, he comes out there and he blocks the kick, blocks the field goal. You’ve game planned, you talked about it all week, and yet it happens. One thing that Sean Payeyton mentioned, which you’ll hear in just a moment, the Broncos, and I saw this a few times as well, because even on the game broadcast, there was one time where the Broncos were back to return. It was Tyler Bedet and RJ Harvey, and they’re sitting back there confused and they’re pointing to the sideline right before Kaami Fairbar kicks off a kick return to them. And luckily, I mean, I think it got to the 28 yard line, 30 yard line, somewhere close. But there was a substitution issue on that side. Obviously, there were penalties on the special teams side that just seemingly were uncharacteristic. I thought the one on JL Skinner was such a bad call by the officials, but it does count unfortunately negatively against him even though JL Skinner demolished his jammer. He did a really good job there. Mitchell Forbone, your long snapper gets called for a 15-yd penalty that obviously gifts the Texans offense great field position after a big return there. It was everything that you didn’t want to see in this game. special teams led to the Texans essentially coming away with nine of their 15 points solely because of special teams play here. Here’s what Shawn Peyton said after the game because the issues are starting to concern him. Yeah, we’ll look at that on film. Um all of that without without watching on tape. Um my my my concern was just the late subs. It was a little bit sloppy um in the kicking game. and we’ll get that cleaned up or we’ll we’ll find someone else that can do it. Which is very interesting considering how close obviously Rzzy and Payton are. Rzy’s been a big behind-the-scenes factor in the NFL competition committee and keeping some of these special teams plays alive like the kick return game. He’s a big proponent in terms of his presentation this past summer. But the performance of this unit is inexcusable in a sense that these same issues that are plaguing them early on in the season are carrying over on a week-to-eek basis. And look, it’s also contributing to the fact that the Broncos are the most penalized team right now in the National Football League. There are too many issues and a lot of this if these same issues continue to happen week in and week out. My coach has always said it best and I carried this message with me when I became a coach and I helped out on special teams as well. You are either coaching it or you’re allowing it. Every week we get the lip service of as coaches we’ve got to clean this up. Now you’re nine weeks into the season going on week 10. These issues certainly could have un undone you in a few games. Like you could have lost a handful of games here. And the Broncos, come to think of it, when you look at special teams, you can make the argument they lost against the Colts because of special teams. The leverage call was the right call, unfortunately. But the Broncos didn’t teach that up the right way. They didn’t coach it up the right way in that situation to avoid the leverage call that led to the Broncos losing the game against the Indianapolis Colts. You miss a field goal against the Los Angeles Chargers. special teams. You give some big returns in that game. You have penalties on special teams. Those all contributed to a potential loss here. What I’m trying to say is that these issues simply can’t carry over as you get deeper on the season. You’re not even to the second half yet. You know, the second half starts when you come out of your bye-week. These are problematic here. And for Shawn Peyton to come out and say, “We we’re going to get these cleaned up. If not, we’re going to find somebody that will. I find it to be very interesting because that that puts a lot of heat. That puts a lot of pressure publicly on Darren Rzzy to get this unit right. And certainly Rzzy has to do it. We hear a lot of great things from him every week. I think he’s got great visions about how he wants his units to be, but the production is just not matching the energy and the hype. And a lot of Broncos fans have said, “It reminds me a lot of Brock Olivot. We all know Brock, I wish I had 22 channels.” Well, you don’t. And also in this situation, Darren Rzzy, your unit is running out of RZ at this point. And I’m very curious to see if these issues persist, what Shawn Payeyton does. They had Chris Banjo in the building. And look, the Jets special teams unit right now, they’re one of the best units in football in terms of how they play. And Chris Banjo, who was the assistant special teams coordinator last year under Ben Katria here in Denver, he was in the building. Sean let him go and get a special teams coordinator job in New York when you could have hired him as your own special teams coordinator here in Denver. You have that continuity carryover from the Ben Kotwika Mike Wes system that those guys taught him. He’s doing a really good job of translating that over in the Meadowlands there. And while the Broncos, they’re good in some areas. is obviously field goal percentage. They are middle of the pack in almost every single major category you could think of and obviously second to last in the NFL and kick return average yards against there. So, this is problematic the issue. It has to get fixed or else it could sink the Broncos season at some point late down the stretch. Broncos country, let me know your thoughts here on what you thought of Shawn Payton’s comments about the kicking game and the need to improve or else they’re going to find someone who could clean up those issues. How much pressure does that put on Darren Rizzie? Make sure you let us know here on today’s episode of the show. Coming up next, the Denver Broncos folks are tied for the best record in the NFL. We’ll talk about that and how the rest of the AFC looks after week nine here on today’s episode, Locked on Broncos. Today’s show is brought to you by our friends over there at Pelaton. Look folks, it’s time to break through the busiest time of the year with a brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus that’s powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s Pelaton’s most elevated technology and equipment yet that gives you real-time guidance and it gives you endless ways to move. Whether you want to work out by yourself or if you want to work out with your favorite instructor like my personal favorite, Alex Tousant, he always gets me fired up to tackle the day. And the thing I like about Pelaton, it helps me achieve more in less times. They have features that help you plan, stay motivated, track your progress, and Pelaton IQ also provides personalized workout plans and recommendations. That’s something that I use right now during the busiest time of the year covering the NFL. They plan my workouts for me based on my mood, my vibe, and also my favorite instructors. So, make sure you check it out and use it because it also helps you correct your form in real time, and it maximizes your reps. It counts your reps so that you can do it smarter, safer, and more efficient. Let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. Explore the new Pelaton cross trainining tread plus at onepliton.com. Today’s show is also brought to you by our friends over there at Supply House. And when the opening whistle blows on a new repair, get your crew moving forward with Supply House. Order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. Over 280,000 plumbing, HVAC, and electrical items from the most trusted brands in the business. Their real-time inventory and honest lead times keeps you from punting projects while their industryleading customer service always has your blind side covered. If you need parts fast for a project, supply house has next day delivery. Talk about a game changer. Their tradem perks like priority shipping and dedicated support make the whole process even smoother. Join the free Trademaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit supplyhouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code sh5 for 5% off your first order. That’s supply.com. Real people, real service. The Denver Broncos, after nine weeks of play, are finding themselves tied for the best record in the NFL and in a position to control their destiny here going forward, especially with some big matchups coming up in the AFC West for them. We’ll take a look at the entire AFC and where the Broncos stack up in that here on today’s show. Real quick, thank you to all the everyday out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen. We appreciate you so much. And make sure if you like the show, if you’re a brand new viewer or listener, hit that subscribe or that follow button so you never miss out on what’s going on with your favorite team every day all year long. That is our promise to you. Plus the debut tomorrow of the Broncos squad show, myself, Sarah Bettinger, Anil Opiro, host of the postcast here on the show. And former Broncos safety Nick Ferguson. We all sit down for a live show on Tuesdays and following game days. The Broncos squad shows kicking off this week. We’re excited to have you there. And you know what we’re also excited about here, Broncos country. This Broncos football team, surprisingly enough, they’re tied for the best record right now in the NFL after nine weeks of play. And the AFC as a whole is a very competitive conference. And the matchups, the stakes that we’re seeing on a week- toeek basis now, they’re getting even more important. And that’s only going to amplify as we get closer to the end of the season as well. But for the Broncos right now, folks, to be sitting at 7 and2, tied for the best record in the NFL, it’s a remarkable feat. And I think the crazy thing about that is, we’ve talked about this here on the show. This team is not even close to playing their best football just yet. And if the offense can find a way to be consistent and complement each other, the Broncos can clean up these issues on special teams, they’ve got a defense that can take them very, very far. And if you can get complimentary play from special teams in the return game, obviously hopefully the Marvin Mims will be back in the mix this week. We’ll talk about that tomorrow’s episode of the show. But then you have an offense that it can seemingly be more consistent where you don’t go drive to drive where you’re hot one drive, cold the next, cold for two drives, and then you get it going in the fourth quarter. The Broncos can find a way to piece together just three or four full quarters of consistent football, mistakefree football. This is a team that can make a very big run inside the AFC. They are legit contenders. But let’s take a look at how the AFC stacks up so far here after week nine of play. Sitting at number one. If everything were to end today and the playoffs were to begin, the Indianapolis Colts still sit a top at the number one seed right now with a seven and two record even though that they lost on Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers who I I tell you what, like this has just been an up and down jackal and Hyde season where coming into this game, the Colts, they’ve been on fire. Daniel Jones has been lighting it up, has been playing like an MVP candidate. Jonathan Taylor’s been playing like an MVP candidate at the running back position or at least offensive player of the year. They did not look like the same unit that we’ve seen so far this year against a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that has been brutally awful for a large portion of this season. They lose on the road against the Steelers 27 to 20. Found that to be very interesting here. And obviously because the Colts hold the tiebreaker direct head-to-head against the Broncos, they sit at top there. So, if the Broncos would have beaten the Colts, Denver more than likely at this point, they’d probably have an 8-1 record and they would be sitting at top the AFC right now. But right now, tied for the best overall record. There are three teams, the Colts at 7-2, the New England Patriots at 7-2, and the Broncos at 7-2. And if you said before the season, if you had that on your bingo card that halfway through the season, these three teams would have a 7-2 record and be a top of the conference, I think we’d all say that you’re crazy here. So, this has been a fun season certainly to watch unfold here and as the developments continue to progress forward with this season, the Broncos have a great opportunity to take advantage and they just got to take it one game at a time. And I’ll say that’s the mindset and the mentality with this team. Justin Sternad, Drake Greenlaw, you talked to Taleno Hufanga, they all say that we don’t really look ahead. Our our idea is to look at one week at a time. We were focused on the Houston Texans this week and now that focus is going to shift to the Las Vegas Raiders. And so it’s a short week turnaround. The Broncos certainly going to have their hands full just because it is a short week. It is a rivalry game. Those are never a gimme. They’re never easy. And when you factor in the dynamic of it being just really short and both teams not having a lot of chances to really rest and recover and truly prepare for this game. It is going to be interesting to see how this team comes out on Thursday. But the Patriots obviously winning on Sunday over the NFC at South Atlanta Falcons. They held on in that one 24 to23. Drake May is playing really good football for them right now and it’s making a lot of social media conversations very interesting when you talk about it. But Mike Rabel’s got those Patriots in a good spot and the Broncos 7-2 right behind them after the 18 to 15 win on Sunday against the Houston Texans who have one of the best NFL defenses here. That was obviously a promising development. Anytime you can face off against a unit like that, come away with a win, you’re going to take it no matter what. But behind the Broncos, things get very interesting. Obviously by default because of division and obviously their record where they’re at having the lowest run out of all the division leaders right now the Pittsburgh Steelers inside the AFC North sit at 5 and three. They held on obviously as we talked about they beat the Indianapolis Colts 27 to 20 at home. They’re such a jackal and high team. So up and down the offense I mean they can make some big plays with with Rogers to DK Metaf. The run game with Jaylen Warren can be explosive from time to time but that defense as we talked about in Pittsburgh it ain’t what it used to be. So, they find a way to still maintain at five and three and and hold on there. But maybe the Baltimore Ravens could be coming up right behind them. We’ll see how things transpire in that division there. The Buffalo Bills doing everybody a favor and beating the Kansas City Chiefs. They improved to 5-2 to go to the five seat here, winning 28 to 21 against the Chiefs and holding Patrick Mahomes, I believe, to about 50 or under 50% completion percentage, which I think is the second time that’s happened in Mahomes career. They pressured him. They picked him off. He had several downfield throws into double coverage. One of them got picked off late in that fourth quarter. That was nice to see because the Broncos, they needed that, especially with what’s coming up because they they they play the Raiders on Thursday night. Then they play Kansas City. And we’ll obviously dive into what the state of the AFC West looks like. What does it look like for every team in the division, what’s coming up for them. We’ll highlight that coming up here in a minute, but definitely worth pinpointing that. And then the Chargers sitting at the six seed at 6 and three, beating the Tennessee Titans 27 to 20 in a game where they were just kind of back and forth. They lose Joe Alton in this game to yet another high equal spring. Carded off. We’ll see how that impacts where his status is at, but certainly Justin Herbert taking a lot of hits behind that offensive line this season. And they’ve lost a lot of running backs so far this year as well. We’ll highlight that coming up here in just a moment as well. But then the number seven seed here, the Jacksonville Jaguars, also doing the Broncos a favor and beating the Las Vegas Raiders on the road in overtime 30-29 in a game where look, the Raiders, they were coming off the bye-week, they lose his heartbreaker, they get Brock Bowers back and Brock Bowers was going crazy for them. Three touchdowns. So the Broncos obviously he’s going to be their biggest threat this upcoming week. No PS2. How does that impact things in terms of how they’re going to game plan against him considering that Denver gave up a couple of big plays? Dalton Schultz and tight ends in Sunday’s game against the Texans. All that to say the Raiders lose, the the Jaguars win. They sit at five and three, the seven seed if the playoffs were to begin today. And that’s going to set us up for our state of the AFC West. What do things look like here from a storyline standpoint for the Broncos, their resiliency, and what’s ahead for the Chiefs, the Raiders, and for the Chargers? We’ll dive into the state of the AFC West coming up here on today’s episode, Locked on Broncos. Today’s show is brought to you by our friends over there at FanDuel. And look, folks, the NBA season is back. And there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA, where three-point shots, slam dunks, layups, alley oops, you name it, all of that is inside of the FanDuel app. And even if you miss the start of the game or if you want to ride the hot hand, Fando has live bets on everything from who will score to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. And it keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making a late push. Right now, FanDuel, they are giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up today and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports bidding partner of the NBA. Today’s show is also brought to you by our friends over there at Der. And I’m excited about the brand new jeans that I recently just got from DER. I love the flex, the fabric, and the fit. For me, I think it’s very important whether I’m going to a Broncos game, a press conference, a sporting event, I want something that looks good, but also feels good. And that’s exactly what Der does. And I can’t get over how comfortable they are. Durer jeans have five times the stretch of traditional denim. They’re antibacterial, which means that your jeans stay fresher longer, so you can wear more and you can wash less. And they’re made with Coolmax material that regulates your body temperature and it wicks moisture and it keeps you cool and comfortable as temperatures change. The one thing I also like about it as well, Doer, they combine classic jeans wear style with the kind of comfort and performance that you get from athletic wear. So, you get the best of both worlds in one. And it’s designed to look great and to stay comfortable all day long, no matter what you’re doing. Simply put, Dior makes the world’s most comfortable pants without having to sacrifice style. Trust me, once you try these on, they’ll be your go-to for everything. Whether you got a big meeting, whether you just want to lounge back and have a casual Friday, they’re perfect for that. And you can check out Der in store here in Denver. It’s at 2621 Lmer Street. Pick up a pair yourself or as an amazing holiday gift and mention my promo code locked on Denver in store to get 15% off your first order. Or you could check them out online at shopdu.com/lockedondenver for 15% off. That’s shopd.com/lockedon. The race in the Wild, Wild West continues as the Denver Broncos maintain their lead over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Las Vegas Raiders. And Denver, they’re in control of their destiny to win and take back the division if they can handle business. We’ll go through the entire AFC West, some of the key storylines coming out for every single team here in the division, and give you a little bit of an early preview of Thursday Night Football, including whether or not the trade deadline this week on Tuesday could impact this week’s game. We’ll look at all that here on today’s show. Want to say thank you once again to the everydayers in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. So, let’s take a look at the AFC West. We all know the Broncos have the best record. They’re tied for the best record in the NFL at 7-2, which gives them a lead in first place inside the AFC West. And this is the first time through nine weeks that the Broncos have had the division lead since that Super Bowl 50 year in 2015. 10 years later, Super Bowl 50s in Santa Clara. There’s some ties that bind here and maybe the Stars will align here for the Broncos. But in order to do that, they must control their own destiny. And that means they must take care of business here on Thursday Night Football in a short week turnaround against the Las Vegas Raiders. So, let’s start with the opponent. As we highlighted previously talked about where the Jaguars are at inside the division, coming off the win they had against the Raiders. The Raiders are at this standpoint where they’re going to probably try to play spoils probably the rest of the way here. not really competitive for the division. Won’t be in that conversation, I would say, for the rest of the season unless they go on some sort of miraculous run here. But the Raiders in an AFC West matchup against the Broncos on a short week, I always feel like is something you can’t overlook. While Denver is playing hot right now, they’re playing really well at home. You can’t overlook the Raiders who are coming off of a loss here in overtime to the Jaguars where they lost that in Vegas. And it was a very interesting game. And going back and taking a look at it, Gino Smith was on fire essentially connecting left and right with Brock Bowers who made his return from a knee injury. Brock Bowers had three touchdowns on the day. Gino had four passing touchdowns, one interception, and he was pretty efficient getting the ball out of his hands quickly. They were seven of 10 on third down. So that was an area where obviously it was a strength of theirs against the Jaguars. We know the Broncos, they are the number one red red zone defense. They’re the number one third down defense. Can the Broncos get after Gino Smith and pressure him? Kind of bring him back down to reality coming off of this game. Even though that they lost, Gino played relatively well for a large portion of the game. And it was because he was finding his top go-to guy there in Brock Bowers who had over 10 catches. He had obviously over a 100red yards. To me, this is going to be the biggest test here for the Broncos against the Raiders is trying to figure out without Patrick Certan the second, how do you match up? Who do you put on Brock Bowers where they flex him all over the field? We’ve seen tight ends kind of be a little bit of an issue for the Broncos at various points of this season. You can’t let this be the case on Thursday Night Football in a game where the Raiders are now trying to spoil your hot start that you certainly have here at 7-2 and the Broncos, if they win, they go to 8-2 on the year. And more importantly, we talk about divisional play. Look, a win for the Broncos. They’re 4-2 in AFC play right now. A win would propel them to 5-2 in conference play, but would also move them to 1-1 in AFC West play, which is super important. Having those divisional games is going to be big. The rematch at the end of the year with the Chargers will ve will be very big considering Denver lost to them early on. And considering how close the Chargers are right now, we’ll get to them in a minute. Denver’s got to take care of these divisional games, but they got to take care of these conference games. Certainly against the Raiders, you’re getting just that. So, we all know Raiders, Broncos, Thursday night football. What about the Kansas City Chiefs who are coming off of a 28-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills? They are going into their bye-week and they’re expected to get Isaiah Pacheco back after the byee here. They’re coming off that loss, but they’re going to be coming out of the by-week refreshed a little bit probably more healthy than they were against the Buffalo Bills. And we’ll see where the Broncos are at who are going to have essentially 10 days to prepare for Kansas City after Thursday night football. So, this should be very interesting. Will we see an outside chance of PS2 returning for that game? Maybe. looking like a a pretty significant long shot at this point, but from someone I talked to, they would like to hopefully see him back for this Chief’s game. They’re not going to force it. They’re not going to push it. They’re going to be smart. And if Pat’s feeling good, we could see him suit up against this Chiefs team that certainly has, you know, their offensive weapons in a good spot right now. But they struggled against the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s loss. And then you look at the Los Angeles Chargers coming into week number 10. They’ve got a home game coming up against the Pittsburgh Steelers who have just been so up and down as we talked about early on in the show obviously coming off the big win against the Colts. Can the Steelers go on the road and get after Justin Herbert? I mean, that’s one of those things especially when you lose Joe Alt to an injury once again. He was carded off in Sunday’s win against the Tennessee Titans. Can the Steelers come in here and fluster him and get after him? And obviously, can Aaron Rogers, DK Maf go out there and make some plays against this defense in Los Angeles? I think that’s going to be a very, very big thing. I think if you have a rooting guide this week, you’re rooting for the bye-week to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. You’re rooting for the Steelers to beat the Chargers, and more importantly, you need the Broncos to take care of the Raiders. And we’ll see if Marvin Mims gets back into the mix here as he continues to navigate through concussion protocol. I think the bigger key here is do we see him become a limited participant on Tuesday when the Broncos practice or do we see him upgrade to full? If that’s the case, then, you know, good signs towards him playing. But it also could be another week here where the Broncos could be without Marvin and they may even take the approach there could be some roster shuffling with the NFL trade deadline coming up this week which could impact the Raiders. There’s a couple of guys on their roster that could be rumored to be traded. Jacobe Meyers being one of them even though they said they’re not going to trade Max Crosby. Could they offset him potentially? Especially with how frustrated he looked after they lost to the Jaguars in overtime. They couldn’t get the two-point conversion from Gino Smith to Tyler Lockett there. Very, very interesting times here inside this division. But, you know, that’s your rooting guide. And look, if the Broncos win, they’ve moved to eight and two, setting up a very big match up against the Kansas City Chiefs where, hey, that game right there essentially counts as two, right? Because you win, you not only do you win, you get another game in terms of your lead, but you set the Kansas City Chiefs back and another game towards their deficit for the division and the schedule for them in the second half of the season. I would say gets easier for Kansas City. Denver faces some tough stretches, but some favorable ones as well. You want as much of a cushion as possible here for the Broncos to take care of business. We’ll see how the NFL trade deadline impacts this Broncos team. Will the Broncos be active? With them being on a short week, they could still be eyeing the tight end market here. But my understanding is they’re probably not going to make much noise at this juncture here as they’re preparing for the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Raiders, they could be making some moves that could impact maybe some of the players that we’re going to highlight in our preview that we’re going to have on tomorrow’s show. How does the Broncos offense stack up against Max Crosby and that Raiders defense? Plus, on the flip side, how does the Broncos defense match up against Gino Smith? And this offense has obviously one of their best tight ends, best playmakers in Brock Bowers back in the mix. You’re going to get that in our pre- early preview on tomorrow’s episode of the show Broncos Country. We’ll see you then.

The Denver Broncos issues on special teams have been concerning all season long, and Sean Payton’s patience appears to be wearing thin with Darren Rizzi’s unit. After Sunday’s win vs. the Houston Texans, Payton hinted at change coming if things don’t clean themselves up in that phase. Plus, the Broncos are tied for the best record in the NFL after nine weeks and are in firm control of their destiny inside the AFC West.

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 @SayreBedinger
Follow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
BILT
Turn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnfl.

Supply House
Join 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.

Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

PrizePicks
Download 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

Gametime
Download 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.

FanDuel
Right 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)