Happy ChristmaHanaKwanza to all those who celebrate! I missed last week so you will be getting a double dose this week. First the snaps from the home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The inactives for this game were Sam Ehlinger, Cody Schrader, Reese Taylor, Justin Strnad,
Geron Christian, Jordan Jackson, and Sai’vion Jones.

PlayerPosO NumO PctD NumD PctST NumST PctLuke WattenbergC66100%00%516%Mike McGlincheyT66100%00%516%Quinn MeinerzG66100%00%516%Garett BollesT66100%00%516%Bo NixQB66100%00%00%Courtland SuttonWR6294%00%00%Alex PalczewskiG4365%00%516%Pat BryantWR4264%00%413%Troy FranklinWR4264%00%00%RJ HarveyRB3959%00%00%Adam TrautmanTE3858%00%723%Evan EngramTE2944%00%00%Ben PowersG2335%00%00%Marvin MimsWR2132%00%1135%Tyler BadieRB1523%00%2065%Lil’Jordan HumphreyWR1320%00%516%Jaleel McLaughlinRB1015%00%413%Adam PrenticeFB812%00%1445%Nate AdkinsTE711%00%26%Frank CrumT46%00%1135%Patrick Surtain IICB00%70100%619%Alex SingletonLB00%70100%00%Talanoa HufangaS00%6999%619%Riley MossCB00%6999%619%P.J. LockeS00%6897%00%Dre GreenlawLB00%5071%00%Zach AllenDL00%4666%619%Jonathon CooperLB00%4260%00%John Franklin-MyersDL00%3651%619%Ja’Quan McMillianCB00%3550%00%Nik BonittoLB00%3347%00%Eyioma UwazurikeDL00%3144%619%Malcolm RoachDT00%3144%619%D.J. JonesDT00%3144%619%Dondrea TillmanLB00%2434%2065%Jonah EllissLB00%2231%2684%Quandarrius RobinsonLB00%1927%1755%Jahdae BarronCB00%1826%826%Jordan TurnerLB00%34%2065%Devon KeyDB00%23%2684%JL SkinnerS00%11%2065%Kris Abrams-DraineCB00%00%1445%Wil LutzK00%00%1032%Delarrin Turner-YellS00%00%826%Jeremy CrawshawP00%00%826%Mitchell FraboniLS00%00%826%Alex ForsythC00%00%516%

This was the first game back for Ben Powers and he played about one third of the offensive snaps, splitting time with Alex P. The other four OL starters and Bo Nix played all the offensive snaps. Frank Crum got 4 snaps as the 6th OL.

Courtland Sutton hardly left the field this game with 94% of the offensive snaps. Bryant and Franklin played 42 snaps. Mims played 21 and LJH played 13.

At running back, Harvey got 39 with Badie getting 15 and McLaughlin 10. Prentice got 8 at FB.

At TE Trautman, Engram and Adkins played 38, 29 and 7 snaps. Adkins reinjured himself this game and was inactive for the next game. Marcedes Lewis did not play in this game despite being active.

On defense we had only two guys take every snap: PS2 and Singleton.

At the other ILB spot Dre Greenlaw got 50 snaps and Jordan Turner got 3, seeing his first D snaps of the year. Turner ended with 3 total tackles – two on KO coverage and one on a run stop at the end of the game.

The other CBs who played were Riley Moss who played all but one defensive snap, McMillian and Barron. They played 69, 35 and 18 snaps.

At safety Hufanga, Locke, Key and Skinner played 69, 68, 2 and 1 snap.

On the DL Allen, JFM, EU, Roach and DJJ played 46, 36, 31, 31 and 31 snaps.

At OLB Cooper, Bonitto, Tillman, Elliss and Que played 42, 33, 24, 22, and 19 snaps. That totals 140 so we never ran plays with 3 OLBs on the field, but we did use a 5-man rotation instead of our normal 4.

The rare win in December in Kansas City

The inactives for this game were: Pat Bryant, Nate Adkins, Que Robinson, Dre Greenlaw, Geron Christian, Jordan Jackson, and Sai’vion Jones.

PlayerPosNumPctNumPctNumPctQuinn MeinerzG72100%00%419%Mike McGlincheyT72100%00%419%Alex ForsythC72100%00%419%Garett BollesT72100%00%419%Bo NixQB72100%00%00%Courtland SuttonWR5982%00%00%Adam TrautmanTE5272%00%629%RJ HarveyRB4765%00%00%Lil’Jordan HumphreyWR4360%00%419%Ben PowersG4157%00%00%Marvin MimsWR3447%00%733%Alex PalczewskiG3143%00%419%Troy FranklinWR2738%00%00%Evan EngramTE2231%00%00%Adam PrenticeFB2129%00%1152%Jaleel McLaughlinRB1622%00%00%Marcedes LewisTE1521%00%00%Tyler BadieRB811%00%1257%Frank CrumT811%00%733%Michael BandyWR710%00%00%Talanoa HufangaS11%4093%314%Patrick Surtain IICB00%43100%314%Riley MossCB00%43100%314%P.J. LockeS00%43100%00%Alex SingletonLB00%4298%00%Jonathon CooperLB00%3274%00%Nik BonittoLB00%3274%00%Zach AllenDL00%2763%314%Malcolm RoachDT00%2558%524%Eyioma UwazurikeDL00%2456%524%Ja’Quan McMillianCB00%2251%00%Justin StrnadLB00%2251%00%Jahdae BarronCB00%2149%314%D.J. JonesDT00%2047%314%Jonah EllissLB00%1228%1781%Dondrea TillmanLB00%1126%1467%John Franklin-MyersDL00%1126%314%Devon KeyS00%37%1781%Jordan TurnerLB00%00%1467%Reese TaylorCB00%00%1467%JL SkinnerS00%00%1257%Levelle BaileyLB00%00%1257%Wil LutzK00%00%943%Kris Abrams-DraineCB00%00%838%Jeremy CrawshawP00%00%629%Mitchell FraboniLS00%00%629%Calvin ThrockmortonG00%00%419%

The time-share at guard continued this game with Ben Powers getting the larger portion relative to AP – 41:31. The other OL guys and Bo Nix played every snap. Alex P. played every snap at center with LW on the IR. Frank Crum played 8 snaps as the 6th OL.

Hufanga got one offensive snap on the end of game victory formation kneel-down.

With Pat Bryant being out Michael Bandy got 7 snaps as WR5. Sutton, LJH, Mims and Franklin played 59, 43, 34 and 27 snaps.

Trautman, Engram and Lewis played 52, 22, and 15 snaps. I would guess that Lewis and Crum were both on the field together for the eight plays where they both could have been on the field.

At RB, Harvey, McLaughlin, and Badie played 47, 16, and 8 snaps. Prentice got heavily used this game with 21 snaps. The 31 rushing attempts in this game on 71 actual offensive plays shows that the game plan was run-heavy. Prentice’ snaps are testament to that.

On defense PS2, Locke and Moss all played every defensive snap.

Hufanga for 3 snaps off on defense. Devon Key played those 3.

McMillian and Barron played 22 and 21 snaps at CB. Barron played 49% of the defensive snaps in this game and 50% in the previous game against KC. This shows that VJ thinks he works well as a matchup for Travis Kelce or at least for the other receivers in KC if he wants to erase Kelce by putting PS2 on him. These two games are Barron’s two career high games in defensive snap % so far in his career.

At DL Allen, Roach, EU, DJJ and JFM played 27, 25, 24, 20 and 11 snaps. I think JFM got dinged in this game.

At the ILB spots Singleton played 42 and Strnad played 22 snaps. Turner did not get any D snaps this game with Greenlaw inactive.

At the OLB spots Bonitto, Cooper, Tillman and Elliss played 32, 32, 11 and 12 snaps. We only used four OLBs this game after rotating five the previous game.

With only one game left the Denver Broncos will most likely not break the regular season sack record. They stand at 64. The record is 72. While the Chargers OL has been the worst in the league this year at protecting the QB, I doubt that Trey Lance will be allowed to take 9 sacks in the final game of the season. Nine sacks by one team is exceedingly rare in the NFL, so the ’84 Bears should feel relatively safe.

The Bronco defense still will set a new single season team sack record with every sack they get on Sunday. The previous record was set last season at 63. The Broncos are far and away the best team in the NFL at pressuring the QB with 203 pressures (according to PFR) and a pressure rate of 31.5%. The Chargers OL has allowed 29.5% pressure this year which is the worst in the NFL. The Bucs are once again the best OL in the NFL at keeping pressure off their QB. They are allowing pressure on only 14.4% of dropbacks. The Bronco OL is currently 5th at 18.5%.

Zach Allen in currently tied for second in total pressures (PFR) with 48. He should finish alone in second since Micah Parsons is done for the year. He could surpass Myles Garrett who currently has 50. Garrett is almost a sure-bet to win defensive player of the year even if he doesn’t get the single season sack record.

The Broncos only have one player in double digits in sacks – Bonitto with 12.5 – but they have two others in the top 30 with Cooper (8.0) and JFM (7.5). So far this year only 13 players have double digits in sacks. 17 did so last year and 24 did it in 2023. 19 did it in 2022. The overall sack rate is about the same as last season, but the sacks have been very evenly distributed this year, except for the Browns.