Good morning, Broncos Country.
We are just five days away from the Denver Broncos kicking off their regular season against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s a perfect matchup to cap off an intriguing set of Week 1 games across the National Football League.
Last night, the NFL’s season began with the Seattle Seahawks embarking on a comeback victory against the New England Patriots. Drake Maye threw three interceptions and struggled mightily against the Seahawks’ defense. Former Broncos quarterback Drew Lock took
the reins early on replacing Sam Darnold [after injury] and helped Seattle earn their first victory of the year.
Last night just goes to show how important a great defense can be—especially when your offense wasn’t hitting their stride. In order for the Broncos to achieve a key win on the road in Arrowhead, they’re going to have to perform well against a Chiefs defense that has been one of the best in the NFL the past few seasons.
Yesterday, Head Coach Sean Payton offered his thoughts on what makes Kansas City’s defense tough to go up against.
“They mix a lot of looks up. The second game, we got a little bit more coverage than we had seen in maybe the game prior or the years prior. It all depends on what they’re trying to take away, but they’re well coached, they tackle well. They can create negative plays in both the run and passing game because of the pressure looks that you get,” stated Payton.
“A lot of it is the personnel you’re in and then what they’re trying to take away. They do a good job of keeping the lid on the coverage. They’re near the top of the league in fewest explosives, but each game can kind of take on a shape of its own.”
How the Broncos choose to combat the Chiefs’ defense with Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb calling the shots remains to be seen. From my perspective, Denver will need to dial up some big plays through the air against a revamped secondary featuring three new starters. They’ve got the quarterback in Bo Nix to do it and a ton of weapons at skill positions to make that happen.
On top of that, they need to be consistent with running the ball. This year’s trio of J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Jonah Coleman should help the Broncos’ running game be a strong point of their offense. Denver has had some modest success rushing the ball against Kansas City last year, but controlling the clock and pace of the game by being efficient in their ground attack will be critical on Monday Night Football.
Football is a game of inches and every single one of them will matter in primetime against the Chiefs. We saw that play out on several occasions in the Patriots/Seahawks game. Last night was a good appetizer of what’s to come the rest of the week, but I’m ready for the main course and anxious to see the Broncos feast in just a few days.
As always, thank you for reading. Here is today’s slate of articles for Horse Tracks.
