Bronco Football On The Way!

With Football being back tonight, that only means Broncos football is right around the corner. I am here to provide my 3 keys to the game along with a score prediction at the end against our upcoming opponents the New York Giants. Let's go!

1. Pass Rush Needs to Eat:

The Giants have one of the worst starting O lines in the league as they rank 32nd entering the 2021 NFL Season by Pro football focus. That means our pass rush should have ample opportunities to get to Daniel Jones who was sacked 45 times last year. This is a good opportunity for Von Miller to get his feet coming back from his first game since Dec. 29 2019 of regular season football. Chubb may not play as he has had an ankle injury hampering him throughout the week during practice limiting his time in practice. Still, the broncos should still be able to generate loads of pressure throughout the game with the likes of Von Miller, Malik Reed(who led the team in sacks last year), Shelby Harris, Dre'mont Jones, etc.. this team is loaded on the line. It is important to keep Daniel Jones uncomfortable all game as it will likely lead to poor decision making and thats when Denver's stout secondary can make their move.

2. Get Run Game Going

Melvin Gordon looked great in the week 3 preseason game against the rams averaging about 7 yards per carry. It will not be easy though against the Giants who ranked 11th last year in yards allowed per game at 111.4. However, Pat Shurmer must help out his veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater as dropping him back 40+ times a game is a recipe for disaster. Teddy looked best when he was on the move on rollouts especially running the bootleg which works best when the run game works. Playing good defense with a good running game has shown to be a great formula with Teddy Bridgewater as the last time he has had this type of talent with him was on the saints in 2018 where he started 5 games and won all of the game keeping the Saints ahead of the race in Brees's absence. The Giants pass rush was solid last year ranking 11th once again averaging 2.6 sacks per game so keeping the ball in Teddy's hands all game could put him in for a long day. The Giants were top half of the League in Passing defense so it won't be easy throwing either. The best formula is to get the run game going and get Teddy some easy open throws off of the run game on bootlegs and rollouts early to get him in a rhythm. Even if the run game isn't as successful as Shurmer hopes it to be they need to keep pounding the rock as they need to keep the defense honest and guessing.

3. Get Off to Fast Start

Get off to a fast start. Please! Make the giants throw down after down because we would rather put the ball in the hands of Danny Jones than Saquan Barkley. A reminder that Saquan had 2,000 yards from scrimmage in 2018, a year he was at his healthiest. So yeah he can do some damage. The broncos have played catchup way too many times last year and have spent games trying to dig themselves out of holes in the 4th quarter. That doesn't just go for this game in particular as the broncos are 0-7 in September in the Vic Fangio era and they desperately need to start off fast especially with the strength of schedule they have in September this year. But for this game in particular, keep the Giants behind the sticks and behind in score so the Giants are in obvious passing situations which would enable the Broncos line to go after Jones and dial up more pressure. Oh by the way, the broncos ranked 8th in sacks with 42 without Miller and Chubb being in and out of the lineup. Now imagine them together. Exactly!

Game Prediction:

- 24-13 Broncos

- Teddy 1 Td and 250 yards

- Gordon 80+ yards and 1 TD

- Defensive TD