Broncos vs. Chargers: Injury Report, Matchups, Players To Watch | Week 3 NFL Preview

[Music] Broncos versus Chargers. The very first divisional matchup for the Denver Broncos in 2025. Welcome in Broncos country to the Broncos breakdown by Chat Sports. My name is Moose and I’m going to tell you why the Denver Broncos have the ability to make a statement and have a massive opportunity to move ahead in the AFC standings or AFC West standings, excuse me, after this next game against the Chargers. I think it’s interesting to note that the Chargers stand a top right now of the AFC West at 2-0, followed by the Broncos and the Raiders tied for second, while the Chiefs round out the bottom of the barrel at 0 and2. Like I said, the Broncos can absolutely make a statement against the Chargers. As of right now, based off of what we’ve seen, and recency bias is definitely a thing, the Chargers could be viewed by some as having the upper hand. I said in a video earlier this week that the Broncos actually have the advantage against the Chargers based off of multitude of areas. However, if you’re just going by momentum and the quality of wins that the Chargers have, then I could absolutely see where the argument is made that the Chargers have the upper hand. So, before I tell you why the Broncos can make this massive statement, let’s get those victory vibes going. I want you to smash that thumbs up icon. Why? Because you don’t want to be the guy that jinxes it. You don’t want to be the guy that doesn’t hit the thumbs up button because you think the Chargers will win the game. Because if you don’t hit it and they end up winning, two plus two definitely equals four. Let’s look at the Chargers from a team perspective. Offensively speaking, they’re pretty good. Like uh like really good yards per game, 355.5. NFL rank, ninth. Passing yards per game, 270. NFL rank fourth and the list goes on and on. Believe it or not, the one area that they struggle in is their rushing yards per game. Their rushing offense is not great, but when it comes to their points per game, they’re 12th. So, this is an offense that can put points on the board. And the offense, of course, is led by their best player, and it’s not particularly close. It’s their quarterback, Justin Herbert. Why Justin Herbert? Well, I listen, there’s a lot of guys with talent in this league. He’s clearly a top 10 QB when it comes to talent alone. He’s already started off this 2025 season looking spectacular. 72% completion percentage, 560 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions. Now, if you can keep Justin Herbert to less than 225 yards, you’re going to win this game. You will. If you eliminate the big plays from Justin Herbert, you can absolutely win this game. I truly and sincerely believe that. Why? Because the opposite is true for the Chargers running backs. They don’t have a very strong run game. So, you have a star quarterback, but no stars right now in the back field. Naji Harris and Omari Hampton are your one-two punch. Well, if you watched any of the videos that I put out earlier this week, I told you that Omari and Hampton right now doesn’t look good at all. And Naji Harris might as well be a pirate. He’s only got one eye. So, if I’m looking at this from a game planning perspective, if I’m Vance Joseph, I am absolutely trying to make sure that I put the ball in the hands of Amari and Hampton as much as possible. He’s only averaging 3.1 yards per carry. This is not a dynamic run game. And I think a lot of that is predicated and based off of this offensive line that might have some talent but has not had a lot of continuity playing together. Why? They lost Rashan Slater, their left tackle. So their right tackle, Joe Alt, slides all the way over to left tackle. And then you have to put Mai Beckton, who was on the Philadelphia Eagles last year. He slides into right guard. Trey Pipkins, who is the backup to Rashawn Slater, he actually moves over to right tackle. So, you see now where all of this comes into play here for the Chargers offensive line. Alt is clearly their best offensive lineman, but outside of that, it’s a bunch of whatifs at this point. So, how do you win this football game from a defensive side? You force the Chargers to run the ball. We just explained to you how you make Justin Herbert lose. If you Well, I’ll explain here coming up in a second why. If you rush four and drop seven in coverage, you can force Justin Herbert into a little bit more of a he’s got to go through his progressions, right? It’s not a one read quarterback. If you force him to go through his progressions and you put pressure on them, flush them outside of the pocket, you can do damage. But it starts by making them run the ball. It starts by rushing four, dropping seven back into coverage. And that also bleeds into point number three. You got to lay off the blitz. I put out in a video just a couple of days ago that the Broncos are the number one blitz rate team in the NFL on defense. Vance Joseph is hyper aggressive. He loves to throw the blitz. The problem with that is is you threw the blitz a lot against Daniel Jones in week two and he sliced and diced you. So I can guarantee you that Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert are going to be prepping for the blitz. So don’t do that. And finally, you got to force Justin to make his mistakes. Nick Bonito, Jonathan Cooper, Zack Allen, Jonah Ellis, John Franklin Meyers. Those five are going to be directly responsible for making Justin Herbert’s life a living hell. Design blitzes. Yes. A schemed blitz all the time. No. You’ve got to pick and choose your times to put pressure on him. Flush him outside of the pocket and make him throw interceptions. because when he throws three touchdowns, no picks, I think history and statistics have proven he will absolutely get the W if he is left with a very clean statline. So, will the Broncos defense look better versus the Chargers? I’m talking about holistically, if we go back to last week against the Indianapolis Colts, will the Broncos look better than that? I have to assume the answer is yes. If you’re watching during our live show, put it down in the live chat if you think yes or if you think no. But if you’re watching this during your regularly scheduled programming, let me know in the comments section down below. Before we get into the offensive game plan and how the Broncos can dominate from an offensive perspective, I have to tell you about my friends over at Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every single day, but on Prize Picks, you can actually get paid to be right. 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How does the offense dominate this game? I think it’s pretty simple. This Chargers defense is pretty good. And I’m going to bring up some statistics for you. However, this comes down to one player for the Broncos. But let’s start with the Chargers defense. Khil Mack, their number one pass rusher, is in a sling. Put on short-term IR. I believe it was yesterday. So, you don’t have to worry about him. That’s good news. While I will say this, you never want to root for a player’s injury, it does give the Broncos a significant advantage not going up against the best pass rusher for the LA Chargers. So, we can all agree on that it’s advantageous for Mile High. However, if we’re looking at a statistics perspective for the Chargers defense, they are pretty good. Yards allowed per game, seventh in the NFL. yard rushing yards allowed per game, eighth, points allowed per game, only 15. That’s third right now in the NFL. But then there’s one specific area, passing yards allowed per game, just about 200, which right now is dead nuts even in the NFL. Translation, Bo Nicks has to be the A factor in this game. The secondary is getable. I wouldn’t say that it’s elite. I wouldn’t say that it’s bad, but Bo Nick Knicks played very well against the Indianapolis Colts. I need more of the same from what he showed against them in week two. And if you’re looking at this from a offensive line perspective, because you’re probably wondering, well, if it’s Boone Knicks, that has to be great. It starts with the Hog Mollies up front. And I saw a bunch of fans already in the live chat that were sitting there telling me, well, this Broncos offensive line isn’t very good. I disagree. I disagree. Here’s a chart that shows pass protection ratings. Notice who is number one right now in the NFL. The Denver Broncos. Meaning their pass protection is the best. I will give you this. The run protection, the run blocking scheme in the first week against the Titans wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been. But they didn’t let up an entire sack against the Indianapolis Colts. The Broncos have a very good offensive line. I’m tired of hearing that they don’t. Every offensive line is going to go through their own growing pains, I guess you could call it. And specifically speaking, the Broncos offensive line didn’t have that much time in the preseason. So that first half against the Titans was clearly their get right game. Now they look great. They look great. So I’m very very impressed and leaning on this offensive line in order to give Bo plenty of time to carve up the Charger secondary. So from an offensive perspective, how do you win this football game? Number one, probably one of the most important ones, control the clock. That means long, sustained, monotonous drives. It can be boring. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with it being boring for now. But I don’t need the Broncos to go out and score seven points and only take two and a half minutes off the clock by taking massive shots over and over and over again. If you put seven points on the board, make sure that that drive lasts five minutes, five and a half minutes. Now, I did say that I don’t want to see them taking deep shots over and over again, but I do want to see more deep shots down the field. One thing that Daniel Jones did unbelievably against the Broncos was that playaction chunk yardage type of mentality. He sliced and diced in the play action and a couple of those plays were for 25 plus yards. That’s what I need. That is what I need. So, take more deep shots down the field, but pick and choose your times to do so. Third, like I just said, lean on your offensive line. Rely on the most continuous continuous. Take two. This offensive line has a lot of continuity. Yes, exactly. English is my first language. Sometimes it doesn’t appear. So, you got to lean on the offensive line. This group is returning from 2024, playing almost every single game together. They clearly know how each other plays. Shawn Payeyton relies on them. Bon Knicks relies on them. The run game relies on them. They are one of your most cohesive units on this football team. It’s okay to lean on them and say, “We’re trusting you to be the anchors, literally of this offensive game plan.” And then finally, number four, this one’s for Bo. Limit the costly turnovers. I get it. First game against the Tennessee Titans, first game back, you were under pressure. muddy pockets, trying to do too much. Two interceptions, almost three. Fine. Against the Colts, it was a lot cleaner. However, one bad throw at the wrong time. That interception was not a good time to be thrown. If you’re going to throw an interception, I hope you don’t, but if you are going to go throw an interception, make sure that it is not in opposing territory in either red zone. Make sure it’s over the middle of the field and make sure it’s early on in the game. And Bo, I’m not going to pretend has been great, but I thought you saw last week it got so much better than it was week one. It was night and day difference. So that 82 quarterback rating I expect to go way, way higher than originally anticipated. So I want Bo to show that this is his game to control. I need the offensive line to do its thing. And if you can limit the turnovers, rely on the offensive line. Pick and choose your time to to throw the ball down the field and control the clock, you will win this football game. There are certain games where you can go out and flex the muscles, right? But there are certain games that you have to game manage. This is one of them. This is one of the games that you have to go out, manage it, come out with the win 17-13 and go two- one at the top of the AFC West. Before I get on out of here, victory vibes, keep them going. Hit that thumbs up icon. If you want the Denver Broncos to win this football game, I need you to smash that thumbs up button because if you do that and the Broncos win, we start the streak all over again. Mile High, my friends. Let’s get ready for game day. Mile High salute to you. Be cool. [Music]

Broncos Country! Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS and use code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Denver Broncos take on the L.A. Chargers and Broncos Breakdown host Trace Moustakas explains how the Broncos can beat their AFC West division rival, and take back the West. Moose lists all the Denver Broncos offensive and defensive strategies it will take to beat the L.A. Chargers including clock management and a consistent pass rush to beat Justin Herbert.

Get the victory vibes going! Hit that 👍icon!

Denver Broncos offensive gameplan:
No.1: Control the clock
No.2: Take more deep shots down the field
No.3: Lean on your offensive line
No.4: Limit the costly turnovers

Denver Broncos defensive strategy:
No.1: Force the Chargers to run the ball
No.2: Rush 4 defenders and drop 7 in coverage
No.3: Lay off the blitz
No.4: Force Justin to turn it over

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L.A. Chargers offensive ranks:
Yards Per Game: 355.5 NFL RANK: 9th
Pass Yards Per Game: 270.0 NFL Rank: 4th
Rush Yards Per Game: 85.5 NFL Rank: 25th
Points Per Game: 23.5 NFL Rank: 12th

Broncos offensive starters returning for 2025:
QB: Bo Nix
RB: Jaleel McLaughlin
WR: Courtland Sutton
WR: Marvin Mims Jr.
WR: Devaughn Vele
TE: Adam Trautman
OL: Ben Powers
OL: Luke Wattenberg
OL: Quinn Meinerz
OL: Mike McGlinchey
OL: Garett Bolles

L.A. Chargers offensive line PFF ranks:
LT: Joe Alt, 6/68
LG: Zion Johnson 21/69
C: Bradley Bozeman 26/33
RG: Mekhi Becton 53/69
RT: Trey Pipkins 41/68

All the Denver Broncos YouTube videos for the REAL ONES:
– Denver Broncos Must Make A MAJOR ROSTER MOVE Immediately! | Broncos Rumors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhZrHf8lkxY
– Denver Broncos Injury News Just Went From Bad To WORSE Before NFL Week 3 Matchup vs. Chargers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzRMxf6PTt4
– George Paton & The Broncos Are Pulling Off HIGHWAY ROBBERY AGAIN! | Broncos News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyBys7W9g0Y

FIND MORE Broncos rumors by checking out our Broncos Breakdown website: http://chatsports.com/denver-broncos

BRONCOS COUNTRY, share your responses to the questions in the video:
– Will the Broncos defense look better vs. LAC? Yes or No?

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23 comments

  11. Charger fan here – I hate to break the news to you, but Coach Harbaugh is likely to attack the secondary rather than try to run on the Broncos. Offensive doctrine dictates an attack where the opponent is most vulnerable, for the Broncos, that's the secondary. Rather than get into a RB duel with Dobbins against a stiff Denver run defense, much better to have a QB duel with Nix, and let Herbie, Allen, McConkey and Johnston burn the weak Bronco secondary. Send the blitz to shake Nix and let the Boltz lights out secondary cover like a blanket. Mahomes couldn't pass on it, Smith couldn't pass on it, Nix won't be able to pass on it. We're looking at a possible blow out.

  23. Our secondary has to play the best game of their lives to win. If the Chargers can be held to 6 points the first half, the Broncos have a chance. If not, it will be a long afternoon.

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