The Broncos will be taking on the Commanders back at home and will be rocking their white unis for a change. A 1-1 start and a 0-2 start may seem like a negligible difference but it does seem to matter down the road. Since 1970, over 400 teams have started 0-2 and only about 10% have made it to the playoffs. So basically this is an important game for the Broncos. Obviously, it's not a must-win because it's only week 2 but the schedule doesn't get any easier and there's a stretch in the middle of the season where it's nothing but a bunch of 2022 playoff teams. What should we expect this week:
First and foremost, I expect a win. I also expect Russ to continue playing smart football and hopefully play 2 strong halves of football this week. The return of Jerry Jeudy this week should certainly help with that. The Commanders are a frisky team and have a stingy defense so it won't be easy by any means but this team struggled to beat the Cardinals who may be the worst team in the league so if the Broncos want any respect this season, they need to take care of teams like Washington. I expect Williams to get a bigger workload this week. Last week it felt like Payton was trying to ease him into the offense but this week, after having a full game under his belt, should be poised for a heavier workload this week.
In other unfortunate news, Frank Clark injured his hip in practice on Wednesday and did not practice today and doesn't seem to be on track to play on Sunday and may actually miss a few more weeks. Injury is not viewed as serious according to Ian Rapoport. The Broncos were not able to generate any pass rush last week and things will only get harder without Frank Clark. Hopefully, Vance Joseph has something dialed up for this game to change that. On the bright side, the Broncos' O-line was ranked best for week 1 only allowing pressure on 17.1% of their snaps so that is very encouraging, especially after the season we fans saw last year.
This is a game Denver should win and I expect them to pull through in a tightly-contested game in the first half that will eventually turn into a double-digit win for the Broncos.
My Prediction: Broncos 27-17
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