May 15, 2025 • 52 mins
On this episode of "Altitude Advantage," team reporter Elisa Hernandez and lead writer Aric DiLalla go week by week through the Broncos' 2025 NFL schedule to preview the season. Intro (00:00-2:15) Week 1 vs. Titans (2:16-5:00) Week 2 at Colts (5:01-7:44) Week 3 at Chargers (7:45-10:04) Week 4 vs. Bengals (10:05-14:07) Week 5 at Eagles (14:08-16:18) Week 6 at Jets (16:19-19:59) Week 7 vs. Giants (20:00-22:21) Week 8 vs. Cowboys (22:22-24:34) Week 9 at Texans (24:35-27:03) Week 10 vs. Raiders (27:04-29:58) Week 11 vs. Chiefs (29:59-33:40) BYE (33:41-35:49) Week 13 at Commanders (35:50-38:13) Week 14 at Raiders (38:14-40:44) Week 15 vs. Packers (40:45-43:49) Week 16 vs. Jaguars (43:50-46:11) Week 17 at Chiefs (46:12-49:09) Week 18 vs. Chargers (49:10-50:07) Closing thoughts (50:08-52:14) Want more of “Altitude Advantage”? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to leave a rating and review or a comment if you’re watching on YouTube.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to another episode of Altitude Advantage. I'm your host
and team reporter Lisa Nandez across the table from me
as always as our lead writer on Denver Broncos dot.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Com, Eric Zalala.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The schedule is out twenty twenty five. Can not come
soon enough. I cannot wait for week one. When you
just look at when the schedule came out, everyone was
really buzzing. If you missed our schedule this video, make
sure you check out all of our social channels. It's
there and you mentioned it. It's like waking up on
Christmas or a schedule release and your first takeaways from
(00:31):
the schedule and how excited are you just to get
football back in the rotation here?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Yeah, No, I love schedule release, staying gett to see
when we play. Obviously you know where we're playing, but
which games are going to be on primetime? Which games
are you know, how to things shape up when you
going on the road, any long stretches, any long stretches
at home, you know what's going on around the holidays,
So a lot to look at it and see kind
of how a season can come to life. And we know,
as I said, as we broke down a schedule. Initially
(00:59):
we know the BRONC because of high aspirations, and so
this schedule, you know, who knows what it could lead to, right,
And I think when you look at it, one, you
see the four primetime games and we'll get into those.
You see the five standalone games. When you count the
London game. You see at the beginning of the year,
after the home opener against the Titans, you see four
or five on the road. That's going to be a test,
and then you come right back. You don't have a
(01:20):
bye week after London. You then play four or five
at home, so you kind of switch there, so a
little you go from road warriors to having this nice
home stand and then exactly and then at the end
of the year three of four to finish at home.
That stands out to me. So we're going to go
game by game here, we know everybody, we like to
do this every year ago, game by game and look
(01:40):
at you know who we're playing, what that game could mean.
But I think overall, when I look at it, I
think it's a fair schedule. I think, you know, there's
not a stretch that I think is just insane. But
there's also not a stretch where you're like, you know,
there's a bunch of easy ones in a row, right,
And so it is going to be interesting to see
(02:02):
how the schedule plays out. And as we talk about
it here, we'll kind of go through the importance of
some of these games, which ones stand out, But yeah,
we've got it, and that it's time to go through up.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, the Broncos will face each team in the AFC
South and that starts off with the Tennessee Titans at
home home opener September seventh. It's gonna be fun to
see because as I look at the schedule before the
day t Eaven came out, I kind of went through
and see, all, right, now the draft is over, what
big picks are going to be coming to town, Which
ones are we going to face on the road. And
(02:32):
when you look at the Tennessee Titans to open up
the season, you got cam Ward the number one overall pick.
That's gonna be really exciting to watch for a lot
of reasons. But I think another big part is I
think Broncos country is very anxious to see how this
team is going to look. And Week one, you know,
this Broncos defense has a chance to go out there
and show that they haven't missed a beat.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah. I like this for the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Like you mentioned first of our first overall pick, cam Ward,
He's going to be really talented. He's going to have success,
I think in this league. But it's a tough task
to go up against the defense that has the reigning
defensive player of the Year, that has two guys and
Nick Bonito and Jonathan Cooper, that had double digit sacks
last season, that has a guy like Zach Allen that
hits exactly that added you know, it's Toalanoa Hufunga and
(03:15):
Drake Green. Lot of this defense, it was already third
in scoring defense. That that's a tough ask of a rookie.
And we know that Vance Joseph likes to bring pressure.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
This one.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I think the defense can really get after it, and
you know, there is this element of unknown. You don't
know what cam Ward is going to be or what
he's going to do. And certainly rookies have come in
and some have had success right away in Week one,
but I think back to last year and even bo Nix,
who had a great rookie year, even Jade Daniels who
went on to have.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
All this success.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Like they both they both had their struggles in Week
one and early in the season, So I think that
it's a good matchup for Denver's defense hopefully, and then
on the offensive side of the ball, it's just your
first glimpse of an RJ. Harvey and Evan Ingram, Pat Bryant,
you know, de Troy Franklin and Marvin Mams take more
steps forward. So we're another year into bow Nicks and
(04:05):
you kind of get an early chance to see what
that all looks like. I do think, you know, you
never want to go through like especially this early, and
say like you got to win this one. But I
do think the Broncos, having lost their last three Week
one games, their last three season openers, I do think
it's important, especially when you're playing a rookie quarterback, to
get off on the right foot and start off the
(04:26):
season with a win, especially given everything that's coming over
the next four or five weeks after that.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
To get a win in Week one I think is
really important.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, because as you mentioned, you're going to go on
the road and play face Indianapolis and then the LA
back to back, so that's obviously going to be something
I think the good thing about last season two you
talk about like these these growing pains, right, you never
know when you need to call on them until they happen.
So it's also good to know, like there's no time
to panic if that does that game doesn't go to
(04:54):
the Broncos way, because we saw the way the Broncos
was able to rebound and have such a great season
to start the year. So when you look at the
next game Week two on the road against Indiapolis, they're
going to go against another top pick, Tyler Warren, tight
end from Penn State, and not necessarily like you mentioned,
we're looking at these rookies, but there's something about when
that top talent is out there, they want they want
(05:16):
to come out swinging as well, and especially when you're
going against the top defense.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Like you said, it's going to be really hard.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And the Broncos defense definitely had their handsful with Bronck
Bowers when they played the Raiders, but they were able
to make that work and obviously get that win and
sweep them. So when you look at that matchup going
on the road Lucas Oil Stadium, what do you like
about it?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Yeah, it's first time since twenty nineteen, the Broncos are
playing a regular season game at Indy. This one, I
think comes down to who's the quarterback for the Colts, right,
Obviously Anthony Richardson, super talented, former top five pick, but
it hasn't necessarily hanned out at least the first couple
of years, the way they've wanted it to. They brought
in Daniel Jones. He's going to compete for that job.
(05:56):
So are you playing Richardson? Are you playing Daniel Jones?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
That'd be a mixture at that point. You just never know.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, we'll see. And so I think that that's
kind of what stands out to me is just who's
that quarterback? A little bit of an unknown there. I
think we know this team from last year is capable
of going on the road and winning, But this is
a game that you know it's it's going to be allowed.
It couldn't matter late in the season from a wild
card perspective. Obviously, last year Week fifteen, Week fourteen, whenever
(06:22):
it was, that game between the Broncos and Colts ended
up mattering a great deal in the playoff standings. This
one comes a lot earlier, but that doesn't mean it
won't be important. So if the Broncos end up battling
for a wildcard spot, it could matter whether you have
that head to head win over the Colts. So this
will be one that you know, can you go there
and get a win and start off your season with
(06:42):
a couple of wins over AFC South opponents, that'd be
really nice. But you just got to especially early in
the year, Like I think that's where the maturity of
the team and like knowing going through what like you said,
what you went through last year, like early in the year.
Sometimes it's just the maturity of a team. I think
that can determine whether you win or lose. One thing
I'll note as we kind of go through all these
(07:03):
is last year, obviously the Broncos their wins were by
significant margins. Then they had a lot of one score losses,
I believe one in five in one score games last year,
and so you know, if you come down to the
wire against Indy on the road, like, can you make
the plays you need to win that football game. That's
kind of what stands out to me about Week two.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, no, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And last season the Broncos were four and five away
a lot of those get those games being close games,
and that's kind of part of that taking that next
step forward, right, is you don't want these moral victories anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You want to make sure you swing it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So, yes, the Broncos were in control of their own
playoff destiny last year, but you want to be more
in control. You always want more control as you kind
of go through the season, and that starts with winning
the division and making the run there. And they get
that opportunity to make a statement Week three at Sofi.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Stadium against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
The Chargers obviously sweeping the Broncos last year, and they
got some good guys too. They definitely booked up their offense.
But it's definitely another chance to kind of make a
mark in the division.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah, I mean Sean Payton talks about you can't it's
rare for somebody to do something in the postseason if
you go five hundred in your division, and that's where
the Broncos were last year they got swept by the Chargers.
You probably got to fix that in twenty twenty five, right,
And it's not like they were uncompetitive. Both of them
were seven point games, especially the one in LA last year.
Late the Broncos jumped out to a big early lead
(08:23):
and just couldn't hold on. So this is kind of
an early I think, gut checked tone setter, like who
is going to get that early?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Obviously, the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Play the Chiefs week one in Brazil, so they've got
a couple of division games under their belt. By the
end of week three, I think you're gonna see, kind
of early in the year, how does this set up? Like,
you know, do the Chiefs beat the Chargers and the
Broncos like, do they fall or are they able to
beat the Chargers and say, hey, we're.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Right there with Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Like obviously there's a long season ahead, but I do
think early in the year, even in week three, you
kind of set the tone for what that division is
going to look like. It's the earliest the Broncos will
play the Chargers since twenty seventeen, so they're not used
to playing them this early in the year. But I
think going to Sofi a place where the Broncos fan
base has traveled well historically. We know how many Broncos
(09:14):
fans there are out in LA growing.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Up in LA and going to those games, I can.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Attest to that that's right.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
There are a lot of Broncos fans out.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
There, and I just think that you know, the Jim
harbov or Sean Payton, the Justin Herbert versus Bonnicks, Like
this is going to be every year that those pairings
are there. It's like always going to be this battle
and this tough, tough game to win. I think that
the teams are built similarly in terms of they want
to run the football, they want to be tough, they
(09:41):
want to kind of out physical you and win you
win the game in the fourth quarter. So I think
there's some similarities there. So this to me, there's several
like measuring stick games, I think, and actually this stretch
week three to five might be one of the toughest. Yeah,
it might be one of the toughest stretches of the season.
There's a lot of measuring stick games there. But yeah,
that game in LA certainly won early that if you
(10:02):
can find a way to win that, I think you
set the tone early in the AMC West.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, and you're gonna these first three games, as you know,
I was looking at the schedule on that go and
then as we're going to individual I'm like, well, which you
win that well then, and I'm already starting to do
like the little it's kind of like that meme where
you're just kind of like just looking at everything at
avery possible scenario. Because you go into Week four and
it is Monday night football. I'm not gonna do the
famous Monday because I just don't think my voice goes
(10:28):
that loud. But they played Cincinnati at a power for
the Malhi, that's gonna be a really good game I
given just I flashed back to the touchdown that Bo
had with Marvin Mims, and it was one of the
most exciting games I've seen in a while.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Obviously, again the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Didn't get the winning that game, but to have it primetime,
the first primetime of four for the season comes against Cincinnati,
that one's gonna be definitely get your popcorn ready status.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, that was potentially the game of the year in
the NFL.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I thought last year just in terms of the back
and forth nature, the way Bo played, the way Joe
Borrow played, Higgins, Jamar Chase Patzer Tan obviously played really well.
That kind of I think cemented as defensive Player of
the Year Canadacy, even in the loss, and it was
a game that the Broncos had an opportunity to win,
obviously fell short in heartbreaking fashion, and I would think
(11:17):
this one would be just as entertaining. You now add
Juday Baron to the mix to help cover. You know,
maybe he is able to get a crack at T
Higgins here we'll see.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Obviously you're at.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Home now instead of on the road in Cincinnati, which
was an awesome atmosphere. But yeah, it's Monday night football.
I believe it's the thirty third time in the last
thirty four seasons the Broncos have played on Monday Night,
So they're a staple there. It's kind of what you
get used to with the Broncos. But this is another one.
It's a measuring stick type game. And I know the
Bengals eight playoff or eight games against playoff teams this
(11:50):
year for the Broncos Bengals don't count as one of those.
But I think it's clear that this offense is as
good as any offense in football, and so it's an
early test. We know the Bronx added to their defense
because they weren't quite happy the way things ended defensively.
This is a test and a chance to show. Hey
we've taken a step here. I'm interested. Cincinnati historically has
struggled a little bit in September. So what version of
(12:13):
the Bengals do you get? Do you get that that
desperate Bengals team, or is it you know, do they
get off to a faster start because of the way
last year went? But this is one that, man, it
should be fun. Like I look at games here and
like which one's important or which one's difficult. This one
should be fun, like there should be a lot of points,
I think, and just another chance for for Bonix to
(12:34):
go head to head with one of the top quarterbacks
in this league and MVP candidate and Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
This one.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
I you know, when I did the schedule prediction, I thought, hey,
maybe this is a week one Monday night game. But
I'm happy to see it in Monday night, happy to
see it on a prime time stage. Yeh and uh yeah,
a really big opportunity for the for the Broncos. And
something to point out here that we mentioned in our
kind of overview videos. It's the one home game in
a forty one day stretch because you have that game
(13:03):
in Indie in LA you come home on Monday night.
But then after that you go back on the road
for two games. So you don't want to call games
like like you were saying, you don't want to start saying,
now you got to win this one or you gotta win
this one. But you've got an opportunity at home and
you've got to have you've got to find a way
to have that good home record and for the Broncos
to take the next step from ten to seven to
(13:25):
maybe like twelve and five or thirteen or four, like
if you're going to get up there and really challenge
for the AFC West, there's certain games that like, man,
you've got to find a way to win some of
these toss up games, whether it's at LA or in
since you know, home against Cincinnati, Like, yeah, you've got
to pull a high number of those to your side.
And also, like you said, protect home field. So that's
(13:45):
a big one for the Broncos I think early in
the year.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and like you mentioned, it's it's kind of hard
to stop to stop yourself with wanting to start making
your buckets and kind of saying where things fall. But
those games played such a big part in the Broncos playoff.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Run towards the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So just like you mentioned about the Colts game, you're
not really sure how important that game's going to be
until it's important. And so as you kind of continue on,
the Broncos really don't get a break because after that
you got to go see Jalen Hurts in his house
defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles October fifth, for Week five.
That game I'm really excited for because I just I
(14:23):
know a lot of Eagles fans and they have been
waiting to play the Broncos, and so for this to
kind of come about, obviously on the road, a tough
environment to play in Philadelphia, obviously the defending champs there,
but that one, again, I take it, that's gonna be
a fun game too. It's just two competitors, too high
profile teams going going at it.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, And I think the more I look at it
this that week three to a week five stretch, that
might be the hardest stretch of the Broncos season, at least,
as you like, everything changes once the season starts, but
at least how I look at it now, that looks
like a tough stretch, and I think, but I do
think that chance to prove yourself against the defending champs
(15:03):
and say like here's how close we are or hey,
we've got a ways to go.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I think last.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Year you saw the Broncos, whether it's in Buffalo or
on the road against Baltimore. And obviously the Broncos they
almost beat the Chiefs in Kansas City, Like it wasn't
like they didn't show they could go toe to toe
with contenders. But some of those big games where everyone
talked about, hey, like we're excited for Bonex and the
Broncos to face the Ravens, Like what's this all going
to be about?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Can they push the Ravens? You know? Can they push
the Bills in the wildcard round? Like?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
You got to take that next step, I think, and
this gives you an opportunity to do it. Obviously, a
tremendously talented quarterback, a really good receiving corps at defense,
former head coach Vic Fangio there as the defensive coordinator.
So a lot of storylines there, But I think mainly
I come away from looking at that one as just
(15:52):
here's a chance to see where do you stack up
in this echelon? Are you ready to compete? Are you
just kind of where are things and so excited about
that one. Again, it's a it's a non conference game,
so it's not gonna at the end of the year
determine wild card positioning. And I view it more as like,
can you go make a statement as opposed to one
that you absolutely have to find a way to win.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, And the Broncos will play each team in the
NFC East as well, which we'll get to that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
In a second.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
But after that game in Philadelphia, they travel across the pond. Now,
the NFL and its entirety will hold seven regular season
games outside the United States, and the Broncos are going
to face the New York Jets, who play their fifth
international game type for fourth most in NFL history. And
I think there's a bigger storyline obviously about how the
game is growing international and things like that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
There's games literally all over the world now.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But when you look at this Jets game, they're gonna
play in a ton of Hotspur Stadium against you know,
in an environment where you're gonna travel across there's time change,
there's you talked about the atmosphere like you're not just
gonna see you know, each team's jersey.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You're gonna see everybody's jersey.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And so that one's gonna be a game that I
think is gonna be really exciting, specially given how last
year when we traveled to New York to play the Jets,
that game was so pivotal and how the rest of
the season kind of played out.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, and this is a game that comes it's the
final road game in this stretch, four out a five.
I think you've got to manage a little bit of
And I should have mentioned too, with that Philly game
that we talked about a second ago, not only are
you going on the road to play in the defending champs,
you're doing it on a short week after playing on
Monday Night football, So that's even more of a challenge.
But this Jets game, you've been on the road for
(17:29):
three of the last four weeks. You're probably like ready
to be at home. And it's like, can you find
the mental strength and the mental toughness to get up
for this one?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
To get ready?
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And again, I think that's where you go from a
ten and seven team to a team that can do
more and compete for more. I think on the field, obviously,
justin fields comes in at quarterback. He's a guy that
the Broncos I think performed pretty well against last year
when he was with the Steelers. But he did beat
the Broncos in Week two, and then you look the
(18:01):
year before and obviously the Broncos I think allowed fifteen
consecutive completions to start the first half in Chicago, ended
up winning that football game and made some big plays.
The kopen score as Nick Bonito got the strip sack,
Johnathan Cooper returns it for a touchdown. But Justin Fields
is a good football player. He can pose some problems,
so they got to be ready to go for that one.
(18:22):
But I look at this and think, man, just after
the stretch you've just had of la since the at
Philly on a short week.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
This is a mental toughness.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Game, and excited to see how the Broncos respond, because
again it's one that you want to get, right, Like,
each one of these that you can get is important
in the grand scheme of things, and if the Broncos
can find a way to win in London, it would
be a big deal, especially because bye week doesn't come
after it, right, You're right back to work.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, it's you look at this the first stretch of
the season, and obviously it's a lot of back and forth.
But then you come back and for out of the
remaining five games before that bye week are at home,
which I think is beneficial. So obviously coming back from
London will be tough. But you know, again, I'm talking
about the growing pains. You go to the Greenbrier. Last year,
you have that week where you don't come home following
(19:16):
the Tampa Bay game, you go to a Greenbrier, you're
stare a week, and then you go on the road
again to play the Jets in New York. Something about
learning that being like okay, like bonding, that camaraderie. International
games really do bring out the best in people, and
I think those are also memories that you want to
go and you want to say, yeah, I want my team.
We won, you know, like we went there, we handled business,
(19:38):
and I feel like having that time away from home
last year, even though obviously the stakes weren't obviously international,
I think it is kind of a growing pain. You
can kind of lean on and say like, okay, like
how did we handle that adversary last year? How did
we kind of bounce back and get that win? Not
go back home directly and then go get another win.
I think that's a really big important thing that they.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Were able to have.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And I think just coming home is another way, just
kind of like some stress. And you're going to welcome
the Giants on October nineteenth, which is also my birthday,
so I'm gonna need a win on that day. But yeah,
the New York Giants in part of them a high
for Week seven.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Yeah, and this is you know, we'll see Russell Wilson
is on the Giants. Obviously he was injured last year
for the Steelers Feelers game in Week two. You know,
we'll see kind of how they drafted Jackson Dart in
the first round. We know Jamis Winston is there. So
I don't know sitting here in May who's going to
start at quarterback for the Giants in Week one, let
alone week seven. But I think either way, you're either
(20:32):
facing a rookie you're facing a guy in Jamis that
last year produced a thrilling game right when the Broncos
played the Browns a lot of I think he threw
five six total touchdowns when you count the ones that
he threw to the Broncos, or you get Russell Wilson
coming back to face his old team that he spent
two years with, So there's definitely some storylines there. Malik
(20:53):
neighbors a great receiver, Abduel Carter, a really high draft
pick who will try to pressure on bon Nick. So
the Giants are starting to add some pieces. They're a
team that wants to take that step. But this is
another game where it's not technically a short week, but
you're coming back from London. You've got to readjust to Denver,
(21:14):
You've got a long plane ride back, and then you've
got to get ready again. And so if you're coming
off a loss, you know, how do you motivate yourself
to get back going again, or you know, hopefully coming
off a win, how do you stay motivated and not.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Just say, Okay, we're back from London.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
We're good, because you've got to say you fly back
Sunday after the Jets game. And I don't know exactly
how they're going to do this yet. The team hasn't
you know, Sean Payne hasn't talked to the press since
the schedule released. But you know, whether the team comes
back right away or stays a night and comes back,
I don't know, but you come back in like two
days later. You're prepping for a game again, right, and
(21:53):
so the and Monday or Tuesday you probably got to
go over film and so that's going to be a
grind of a week, I would imagine. And again, so
much of this first six seven weeks is a mental
test as much as a physical one. So on paper,
you see the Giants coming and you think, man would
love to get that win.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
But but there's some you got to prove.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Something as simple as jet lag, like just something as
simple as that.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
You have you have the battle battle through and be
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, well you're gonna welcome another NFC East opponent with
the Dallas Cowboys coming to town Fills. You watch on YouTube,
you just saw eRx had pop up.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Sorry he was like, whoa Cowboys?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
All right?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah in power fel that, mahai. The Cowboys are coming
in sound. They obviously got some uh some picks on
offense that are gonna kind of bolster that offensive side,
and we're excited to see what that's gonna look like.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Pickens is on there now, another Steeler.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Yeah, traded for George Pickens, So that that changes kind
of the dynamic of that offense. Dak Prescott's going to
be back. I mean, this is a team that two
years ago was right there with the best teams in
the NFC, and last year obviously struggled a little bit.
They move on, they make a change at head coach
Brian Schottenheimer. Now they're leading the way. But this is
a talented team and so you got Micah Parsons. This
(23:09):
is a a group that will be a test for
the Broncos. But again, I think this is a game
that and it's a little early I think to talk
about flexing and all that, but Dallas is obviously they
are America's They.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
They draw huge audiences.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
This is a two twenty five CBS, Like, is this
a nance romo game? It's I think you've got potentially
a really big audience for this and a chance to
show what you're all about. And we just mentioned a
second ago that you play four or five on the road,
including that Giants game, and then with Dallas you're in
a stretch of four or five at home, so you're
(23:50):
gonna play some talented teams. We'll get to Chiefs in
a second here, but like you've got to find a
way to win these home games, and it's important to
have that strong home record, and no matter what order
they come in, you've got to find a way to
do it. But yeah, it's a talented Dallas team that
I think they have championship aspirations and as recently, like
I said, as a couple of years ago, they were
(24:10):
right there going for it.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, and you know, as we go through this these
matchups kind of one by one, the pick of Johnny
barrin the first round kind of just keeps flashing in
my head because now you have CD Lamb and then
you have George Pickens and obviously we have a lot
of good guys on the secondary. But it's interesting to see,
like you've mentioned, like where he can fit into just
help or just call disruption or double team and things
(24:32):
like that. So that's gonna be a really fun game.
And then after two games at home, they travel to
Houston C c J.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's gonna be a twelve o'clock game on November two,
Week nine game Texans. I something about c. J. Stroud,
I'm you know, I'm a really big fan of him.
I think that he is one heck of a player.
And something about Bonex going against him. I just I
like those quarterback matchups, right, like just to kind of
see not really measuring against it's like seeing these two
(25:01):
talented guys again, like you mentioned, just the feature of
what the NFL can be and how the game is
growing at that position. One matchups like that are really
I don't know, they get me going, So I like them.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah, and then listen, that's another we talk about mental tests.
It's an early kick, it's going to feel like eleven
am Mountain time. You got to be ready to go.
The Broncos a couple of years ago, if you remember,
went down there in twenty twenty three and played Houston
in a really important game and they started a little
bit slow, and Sean Payton said at the end of
the year, hey, we got to find a way to
start faster in these early kicks. And the better you are,
(25:32):
the fewer early kicks play. So if you look at
the schedule, like you've got an early kick at LA,
but that'll feel body clockwise like two pm for the Broncos.
So really it's just Philly film at Houston are the
only quote unquote early kicks you'll play. And so you've
kind of played yourself out of some of those early windows,
(25:52):
but you still got to be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
The offense was kind of down last year a little
bit for Houston, but they still they got it going
the playoffs. They made a late run at the Chiefs
there obviously beat the Chargers in the postseason. And then
this defense, as we saw a couple of years ago,
is quite talented and quite good. Between Derek Stingley, Will Anderson,
They've got some dudes on defense. So this is not
(26:15):
going to be an easy one. And I think that
I looked before the schedule came out as like maybe
this is even a primetime game with CJ. Stroud and
Bo Nicks, So you got to find a way to
get a win there. But this is another one depending
on what in the AFC South, at least the last
few years has been a little down, and so Houston
(26:36):
has won that division. But you know, if Indy takes
a step forward, or Jacksonville or even Tennessee, then you
could be looking at, Hey, Houston's a team that in
the wild card, you know, we could be battling with them.
So another game that from a playoff positioning standpoint, I
think will be important down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, about six opponents I think from last season were
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yes, six opponent.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Like you look at who's next, and you go against
two back to back division rivals against Vegas and Kansas City.
We'll obviously against the city Kenas City in a second,
but you go to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Actually, Las Vegas comes here.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
The Raiders will be in Powerfield for Thursday Night Football,
another primetime game for the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Something about the AFC West.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
When we went to the annual meetings, we spoke to
some of the coaches out there and they're all really
excited to go against Sean Payon. Like they all mentioned like,
look like we've known each other for years now. We're
all in this division together as coaches, and we want
to make this as competitive as possible, especially the Raiders
because they didn't have a great season last year four
and thirteen. But you go out, you have a great draft,
you have Pete Carroll as your head coach, and they're
(27:44):
trying to make a turn too, and the best way
to do that is to knock off.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
The Broncos.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And obviously we don't know how the first couple weeks
are going to play out, but when you're battling for
your division, you want to make sure that you get
these games taken care of. And you're going to see
the Chargers in Week three, and then you're going to
see your next AFC West, the pont in week ten.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, this is a new look Raiders team. And obviously
the Broncos last year snapped a streak against the Raiders
hadn't beating him in a long time, and they ended
up sweeping them. But this is a team that with
Pete Carroll, you know, is going to be well coached
and fundamentally sound. They're going to run the football. And
they got Ashon Genty, who I know a lot of
Broncos fans love and wanted the team to trade up for.
(28:27):
That was not gonna happen when he gets picked at
six right by the Raiders. But this is a guy
that is a load to bring down. We know the
Broncos want to get better against the run. It's a
quarterback in Gino Smith that they traded for, who the
Raiders have had some quarterback uncertainty here over the last
few years. I think the fact that they've got Geno
Smith there immediately takes them to like much more capable.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
And qualified quarterback play.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Obviously, Gino played well enough to beat the Broncos Week
one last year and Week one Cup years before that,
so like Gino has played well against Denver, So the
Broncos will need to kind of be ready to go
and be ready for this one. It is a short
week for the Broncos after a road game. After a
(29:14):
road game, we'll see kind of as we're recording this,
haven't seen the Raiders schedule yet, so don't know are
they on a bye the week before, what's their schedule
look like. But I do think anytime you have a
Thursday game at home, there's a benefit to that, right
because the other team has to go on the road
and travel, and it makes you know if you pick
up an injury Sunday or you're trying to get back
(29:36):
to the field, it makes things a little bit trickier.
But this is a talented Vegas team that's got some
pieces with Brock Bowers like you mentioned earlier, and obviously
Max Crosby has just been a menace toward the Broncos
during his career. So this is not an easy one
by any stretch. But I do think the fact that
you get an in prime time at home, maybe that
gives the Broncos the edge they need to get to
(29:58):
win there.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I mean after that Thursday Night you get a mini
by week and right before facing the Kansas City Chiefs
at home, which you know, as you mentioned, going on
a short week, and then you kind of get that
little bump of a longer week coming out from Thursday
Night football and playing Kansas City at home. You can
just never count this team, especially last season, as many wins,
(30:20):
as many wins as they were able to pull off,
especially one score wins obviously to take them all the
way to the Super Bowl. This is gonna be one
of those games that it's going to be semi of
a measuring stick, right, especially at this point in the season,
Week eleven, This is when things get really serious.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I don't mean this like in a bad way, but
I've kind of had enough of the measuring stick games
against Kansas City. I think the Broncos have done enough
to show that it's not just measuring like they know
they measure up with Kansas City now, Like it's one
thing to say, oh, the Eagles won the Super Bowl,
you don't play them very much. You know, the Broncos
haven't played them since twenty twenty one here in twenty
(30:58):
they haven't been a Philly since twenty seventeen. Like I
get the measuring stick there. They know they can beat
Kansas City, right like they did it two years ago
here in Denver against Patrick Mahomes against Travis Kelce. They
obviously did it last year thirty eight to nothing. I
know that wasn't against the starters, so it doesn't right,
it doesn't count the same way. But then they went
to Kansas City, even they marched down the field. As
(31:20):
Sean Payton said after the game, I thought we outplayed them,
don't win the football game because of the blockfield goal.
But like I don't think there's any question in the
Broncos mind that, Like they measure up with Kansas City
now in terms of winning the division, it's can you
win enough games the rest of the year to make
that happen. Can enough other teams beat Kansas City? Because
(31:44):
last year, right like the Chiefs started off what eleven
and oh twelve and oh thirteen whatever it was, So
it was like even if the Broncos are playing great
and where ten and three, you're still three games back
because nobody else can beat these guys, so you need
some help from around the league. But I don't view
this is like, this is a game that I think
if you have AFC West aspirations, as the Broncos have
(32:06):
laid out at the end of the year under and
CEO Greg Penner said, hey, our goal is to compete
for a division championship, and Sean Payton, George Payton they
also did the same thing. This is a game that
you should go and expecting to win, right, And the
Broncos have won eleven in their last sixteen, I believe
before the bye week, so that they've had some success there.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And we know it's Patrick Mahomes, we know it's Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
But like I think, if you're the Broncos, you got
to start to think, hey, this is a defense that
has played really well against Patrick Mahomes in his career
and limited him at times. This is Boonix who went
out and showed what he can do, especially in Arrowhead
against a really good Chiefs defense. Now there's going to
be adjustments, and they're like, people are gonna watch film
of knicks in this offense and try to correct. But
(32:49):
this is a game that I we'll talk about the
Christmas game is like the game of the year potentially
in terms of importance. But this Kansas City won, Like
I think, if you want to win the division, you
have to find a way to at least split with
Kansas City. And so you know, it doesn't have to
be at home or on the like you win at
home and you lose on the road, like and maybe
the Broncos sweep. I don't know that'd be great, but
(33:10):
but like, you have to find a way I think
to split with them at least so that they don't
get that two game edge as they're trying to go
for the division. So this one before the buye becomes
really important. And you know, I think as you look
at the schedule here, maybe it's a little like you
look at Sincy, you look at the home opener, you
(33:31):
look at prime time in Kansas City, like, maybe this
one goes a little bit under the radar. But I
think the more I look at it, this is among
the most important games of the entire year in my mind.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Again, especially coming back off of the Vegas game, You're
gonna see like Okay, like what can depending on what
happens in that game, right if you have a big
blowout like win or if it's a you know battle
out for that game for the W And then you
look at that Kansas City game and kind of late
in the season is when I get so tense because
it's like every single game.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Is like the game that you have to win.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
But then you get a break week twelve, You get
a nice little break desk, the bye week for the Broncos,
and personally, I feel like it comes at a good time.
I know that potentially could have came after the London game,
but I think that home stretch is going to help
a little bit. But that bye week right before that
Sunday night matchup against the Commanders on the road, I
think is huge.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
And listen, I don't know this.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
This is my understanding at least from kind of the
years watching the NFL and the way they've done these
international games. Is I believe that teams at least have
the option to take the buye after London, and so
you know, we'll have to see kind of like when
Sean Payton talks nests is he asked about that and
asked about the bye week and maybe we'll get a
little more clarity there. But it's possible the Broncos didn't
(34:46):
want the bye week after week six, you know, and
and wanted it to be later. So it's not like
you get to say we wanted in week twelve.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
But but I mean you could look at they were
playing at home for of the next five games, like, yeah,
and we can battle that out.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
And I don't know if get I would doubt that
teams are given that sort of like ability to weigh in,
but you might have just said, hey, week seven's a
little early for the buye because we don't want to
play ten consecutive games to end the year.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So this if you can get through.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
And the way you got to look at it too,
is you have a mini by after Vegas, you know,
and so can you kind of use that as a
little bit of a bye week and then you get
another which so you kind of get this post week
ten mini by, get week twelve by you, and have another
mini by after week seventeen, so like there's some rest
built in down the stretch. And again I don't know
(35:35):
that I don't know how it all went down in
terms of that bye week thing. But I don't think
twelve is better than fourteen like it was a year ago.
So we've got two spots, but I do think to
get ready for that stretch running it could be helpful.
You mentioned Washington that comes Sunday Night football, which is
a big one. Excited to see Jade Daniels and bow
Nicks go head to head, obviously the rookie of the
(35:57):
year versus a guy that let a rookies and touchdown passes,
passing yards by all, pretty much anyway you measure. These
were the two best rookie quarterbacks a year ago. There
there I think future potential faces of this league, and
I'm excited to see him go head to head again.
It's not like a wild card implication matchup, but it
(36:19):
is a game where these are two up and coming teams,
teams that want to compete for division titles. And interestingly
both are in a division with the team that went
to the Super Bowl, right like Washing gets in that
division with Philly. Broncos are in it with KC. And
so two teams that want to like take that next
step and kind of burst through the ceiling that is there.
(36:40):
And I will say, looking at just I know you
like the stats here, Hey, zoap them the Broncos I
believe all time twenty six and eleven following the bye week,
and Sean Payton as head coach eleven and six following
the bye two and zero with the Broncos following the
bye week. So you think back to twenty twenty three,
(37:00):
that big win in Buffalo on the road Monday night
football primetime, Broncs find a way to win that game,
and then last year the Colts game, obviously critical, Broncos
find a way to win it as well. So there's
some history there that maybe the Broncos, maybe Sean Payton
has this sense of how do we treat the bye week,
how do we get ready to go? And again I
haven't seen Washington schedule, so don't know what week twelve
(37:23):
holds for them, but you're definitely not going to be
at a rest disadvantage going on the road.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
So that's that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, and against Sunday night football is mut'st watch and
I think for this you mentioned it in kind of
the again the overview that we did, which you can
also watch on our YouTube channels dot com. But just
it shows the state of what the league wants to
see and it shows the state of what the fans
want to see. And for the Broncos, like you mentioned,
(37:49):
ended up with four primetime games last season, but we're
only scheduled for two. And now you have a Sunday
night football game against you know, defending rookie when I'm defending,
but the rookie of the year against a guy that's
really kind of come in and turned to franchise around.
I think it's gonna be really exciting to see from
a competitive standpoint of what they're both able to do.
They both had really exciting games to kind of get
(38:10):
their teams into the playoffs last year. So that's gonna
be that's gonna be a really good one. And after
that Sunday Night, you're gonna go and play the Raiders
in Vegas, another AFC West matchup there, which you're gonna
see them pretty quickly. You know, they see them in
week ten, they're gonna see him again in a week fourteen.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Yeah, just a few games in between two games, I
guess three weeks. Yeah, this is another one where can
you go late in the season, people start getting a
little tired, You get injured, like you're gonna go play
a physical team, right, and it's not short rest.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
But you're coming back.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
You're going basically across the country after playing a Thursday
night or excuse me, a Sunday night primetime game on
the East coast, you gotta go all the way back, yeah,
the next week and play on the West coast. Essentially,
I think Vegas close enough to it's at least Pacific
time zone, even if it's not on the cost. And
this is a game like you gotta be ready to go, right,
and it's gonna be It's not an it's not an
(39:10):
early kick like body clockwise for the Broncos, but it's
still early early kick.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Could be twelve o'clock in Denver, now o'clock, two o'clock.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah, time zones. Man, they're hard, and we're like, we're
week fourteen. We're tired.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
You know, they think playing this schedule, going through this
schedule is hard too.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
But yeah, this is a game again.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
I think we've talked about the Raiders just kind of
in general, but they're going to be improved.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
I don't want I don't mean this like I mean
this as a compliment.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
They're gonna be like annoying to play right, where like
they're just gonna be tough and they're gonna stick around,
and it's a division rival and it's not just gonna
be this easy win. But if the Broncos want to
do what they want to do and win the AFC
wes like these are games you gotta find ways to win,
so it'll be it'll be an interesting one. And then
finally after that one, come home and you get a
little bit of as you say, home cooking here for
(40:01):
the last three and the last four weeks.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, you mentioned just about last year, the Broncos ended
a lot of storylines. The big storyline was never winning
in Vegas. They go to Vegas, they win, and so
now like that's not a storyline anymore. Right now, it's
just a matter of, Okay, let's just go do it again.
We've done it once, we can do it again. And
I think that's really hopeful, especially for a young team,
to kind of end those storylines and end those talks
of you've never done this or haven't done this in
(40:25):
this many years. It's like, no, now it's just a
clean slate.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
We're going to go in.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
As you mentioned, they're going to see them twice in
three weeks because obvious said the bye week there, so
now four weeks. Yeah, So it's gonna be interesting to
see kind of what adjustments are made depending what happens
in that first game and how you're able to attack
that and same thing for them. So after that game,
the Broncos again have some home cooking. Three of the
(40:49):
last four games are going to be played at home,
kicking it off with green Bay in Week fifteen. I'm
really happy that we're not playing green Bay in green Bay.
It is now they're not. I'm not saying it doesn't
get cold here, but I'm just saying I can handle here.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Green Bay is one of the coolest places to play.
I like. I like it. There get some cheese curds.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Going to keep my hands warm.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I This game to me stands out as like potential
flex Sunday night football option.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
I mean, the Packers obviously we're good a year ago.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
Jordan Love got the star power like and as we're
recording this, I don't have all the Week fifteen games
in front of me, and some of that obviously determines
what's going to be FLEX. But this could, like if
the Broncos are a good football team, and you're late
in the year and the Packers are a good football team,
and whatever the Week fifteen game is, maybe, oh maybe
it's not as great like this, at least from an
(41:46):
audience standpoint, Like Broncos are a big brand, Green Bay
is a big brand. This this stands out as like
a potential Sunday Night flex to me, Well, it's early,
we'll see, we're it's we're seven months away, you know,
so we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
You know, I'm gonna love when that happens and we're
able to.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Flash back to this moment.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
But obviously Jordan Love good player.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
They have added a little bit at the wide receiver position,
well coached, kind of that that Shanahan offense a.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Teammate for Joha, because Matthew Golden's on the Packers.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I believe.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Yeah, so we'll say the Broncs I believe have won
the last See if I get this right, I think
they've won the Yeah, they've won the last two games
here against the Packers. Obviously beat Jordan Love two years
ago here in Denver. And then the twenty fifteen game
against Aaron Rodgers that was maybe the defining one of
(42:48):
the defining performances of that Super Bowl fifty season. So
some good, good history against Green Bay here in Denver.
But I predicted it. I thought maybe a nice Christmas matchup.
They decided to send us on the road. I was
trying to manifest playing home. But another good Again, we
talk about like from an NFC standpoint, they don't matter
in the wild card standings, but when you talk about Philly, Washington,
(43:10):
green Bay, like you're getting some Dallas and we'll see
kind of what happens with the Giants, right, but like
you're getting some NFC heavyweights that you're playing on this schedule,
not an easy schedule by any means. Obviously, the the Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs,
they're playing them too, so it's it's not just the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
But that's a big one.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
And I'll say as we go through it here, you
get three of the final four at home, but three
of the final four are also against playoff teams from
a year ago in the Packers, Chiefs, and Chargers. So
it's an advantage I think to be at home for
these but it's not an easy stretch by any means.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And then you're going to welcome in Jacksonville for Week sixteen,
and that comes with with Travis Hunter. Yeah, it's gonna
be fun to watch and that you know that game.
Obviously Jacksonville is kind of going through a lot, but
Evan Ingram obviously coming having played there, and that's going
to be a really fun matchup to see, just from
(44:06):
a just everything perspective, but playing at home, I think
late in December, as you mentioned, it's late, it's grind time.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
You're gonna be tired.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
But something about being able to keep a routine that
these guys are so used to at home, I feel
like it's very beneficial to.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Close out the year.
Speaker 4 (44:19):
Yeah, and I think there's something about this Jacksonville game that,
like right now, maybe it doesn't have as much juice.
The Travis Hunter angle, I think is exciting and definitely
got to watch. Like he sounds like he's gonna play
receiver M Corner.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Played here obviously in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
We know how.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Much respect Patzertan has for Hunter. It'd be really cool
to see Pat guard Travis Hunter. You know, I doubt
that would be get the picture. That'd be pretty awesome
or like part going up against Travis like that, that
would be cool yeah, but I think the underrated thing
with the Jags is that obviously Trevor Lawrence number one
overall pick such high expectations, talked about in the same
(44:59):
breath as like an Andrew Locke, John Elway, and it
hasn't quite panned out. And now you get a coach
and Liam Cohen that essentially turned Baker's career around in Tampa.
Is this I think offensive kind of minded guru type guy,
like what does.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
He do with Trevor Lawrence?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
And so it's quite possible that by this point you're
talking about man, Trevor Lawrence is back and he's playing
at a high level. And this becomes a really challenging
game as well. It's it's hard as we and we're
doing it because it's fun, but like hard to know
what's going to be the reality December twenty first, because
of injuries, because of how teams develop, and the Broncos
(45:39):
could be like they could have locked up the AFC West,
they could be rolling by that, you know, and so
or you might really need to beat Jacksonville to make
a last ditch playoff push. You just don't know how
everything's going to pan out. But this is a game
I think that kind of has some sneaky good storylines
by the time we get there, especially if Trevor Lawrence
kind of gets back to the Trevor Lawrence we can be.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, And I think you mentioned too just about just
even seating alone, like that was a big storyline last year,
just kind of figuring out where they were going to
land the seating, So that can obviously play a big part.
And the thing with that game at Home is that
then you're on a short week and then you travel
to Kansas City for that Christmas game. There will be
three Christmas games total this year, which is going to
(46:20):
be really exciting because I will say last last Christmas,
I was kind.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Of like I need more, and.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Well, She's always enough for so don't let the Beehive
come after me. She's always enough.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
But uh, you know what am I doing at night?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
You think watching is watching?
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Now watches all? Trust me, the Beehive watches all. Didn't
I tell you we got tacked by bees?
Speaker 3 (46:43):
You think that was interesting?
Speaker 1 (46:45):
But look, you you go to Kansas City for Christmas
and that's going to be again another primetime game on.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Thursday night football.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
That's not going to be easy coming off a short
week going out there and getting that win, especially depending
how the AFC West kind of is at that point.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
Yeah, the more I think about, like, I don't think
you can ever count on going to Kansas City, especially
in December. Broncos have not had a lot of success
there in December. Only three quarterbacks in franchise history have
won there in December. Both could become the fourth. But
I don't think you ever go there being like we
have to win this game or we're counting on a
win here, Like if you can go in and.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Play yourself in a position where that's not what needs
to happen.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Right, Like, if you can go there and play your
tails off and get a win, like I firmly believe
the Broncos are capable of that. But it's also like
the Thursday verse Sunday, it's going to be a challenging
game either way, And so I almost am like, Okay,
bring on the challenge of playing on Christmas and then
give yourself more rest time for week eighteen, right, because
it's going to be a challenge for play in Kansas City,
(47:46):
whether it's Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. So can you take
care of business if you're the Broncos at home against
the Chiefs, so that when you go into that game,
it's not a winner your season is over type game,
you know, and and hopefully you still can win. And again,
I firmly believe that Broncos have the talent, as they
showed their last year, to go in and get that done.
(48:07):
But I almost kind of think, like, that's gonna be
tough anyway, So I'd rather get the extra rest. I'd
rather I'd rather just say, hey, lace them up, we'll
play them on a short week.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Maybe you know, maybe that.
Speaker 4 (48:18):
Helps in some way for the Broncos and then you
get extra rest for that that Chargers game to end
the year. But yeah, because it's in a spotlight, it's
on Christmas, like people are gonna be watching, and there
will be takes either way. If the Broncos win, it'll be, oh,
the Chief's rain is over. And if the Chiefs win,
it'll be, oh, the Broncos like can't compete yet with
the Chiefs. And I understand that's how it works. But
(48:41):
but you.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Also go back to that first and like you mentioned
where you said, like you want to go into that
game against Kansas City in week eleven, just going into
and know when you're gonna win, especially when you have
the tough game on the road in December.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
Yeah, exactly, like can you can you get that one?
So maybe there's a little less pressure on this one
and you're you're playing with house money.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
I don't know it.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
Regardless, we're going to go into that one being like, yeah,
we want this one, you know, so final road game there,
and then you get a little extra time coming home
for a big one against the Chargers because season wraps up.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
We don't yet know what day that's going to be.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
Always Saturday or Sunday they announce it the day or
excuse me, after week seventeen. But this is a game
that there's a lot of different ways that could go, right,
Like if the Chiefs take a step back, Maybe it's
a game between the Chargers and Broncos for the division. Yeah,
maybe it's a game where if the Broncos win, they
get the better wildcard seed and the Chargers don't. Maybe
(49:35):
it's a game where whichever team wins makes it to
the playoffs. And so you never quite know at this stage.
But I do think the league, when you look at
what the Broncos and Chargers did last year. Both made
the playoffs as wild cards, both challenged the Chiefs, both
are trying to take that next step. I think it
makes sense that this is kind of like a it's
a game where you say, okay, well the winner is
(49:57):
gonna be in a much better spot than the team
that loses this game in Week eighteen, and being at
home against the Chargers, I think is a big advantage.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
And again that extra rest. So, uh, that's it.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
That's a schedule preseason at San Francisco home against the
Cardinals at the Saints. Been a long time since the
Broncos have played at the Saints or actually just played
the Saints in the preseason, So it's a it's a
good stretch. I think there's some some tough, tough spans
here where, whether it's that week Week three to Week five,
(50:30):
Chargers Bengals Philly, you know, whether it's how do you
manage coming back from London? Uh, you know, whether it's
Kansas City before the buy and then Washington after and
then obviously some three playoff teams at the final four.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Like, there's gonna be challenges.
Speaker 4 (50:45):
But I think you want to get to the point
where you're saying, hey, all these teams are looking at
and being like, man, we gotta play the Broncos, right
like you, that's where you want to get to, And
I think the Broncos are starting to get there. Another
season for the Broncos to show what they're all about.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
Yeah, not only like that, they mentioned that before. It's
like we want we want this to be a destination,
a place to come to, not only to play, but
come watch. And I think given what they did in
free agency, given what they did in the draft, the
Broncos matchups for other teams are gonna definitely.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Gonna be circled for sure. That's what I feel.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
I feel like as you look at some of these matchups,
even in different divisions, you're definitely excited to see, like
how they match up, especially the sophomore year for these quarterbacks.
That week their team game is gonna be a lot
of fun. This whole season is gonna be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
I just I can't. I can't stop staring at it.
It's so pretty, it's so pretty.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Well, guys, that'll do it for this addition of altitude advantage.
As always, I'm your host and team reported Lisa, not
this across our schedule and master Guru Eric Dalala, lead
writer on Denver Broncos dot com who has all the
latest and other breakdown street you guys to check out.
To make sure you guys do that, leave comments, let
us know which game is the game you want to see.
To make sure you guys comment on there and let
us know your thoughts on the schedule and what you
guys think is the toughest stretch. And again what game
(51:58):
do you have circled first? You have your top five
right if your top five list out there devil bunkers
dot com, make sure you guys check it out and
as always, we appreciate you guys listening. H
Welcome to another episode of Altitude Advantage. I'm your host
and team reporter Lisa Nandez across the table from me
as always as our lead writer on Denver Broncos dot.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Com, Eric Zalala.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The schedule is out twenty twenty five. Can not come
soon enough. I cannot wait for week one. When you
just look at when the schedule came out, everyone was
really buzzing. If you missed our schedule this video, make
sure you check out all of our social channels. It's
there and you mentioned it. It's like waking up on
Christmas or a schedule release and your first takeaways from
(00:31):
the schedule and how excited are you just to get
football back in the rotation here?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Yeah, No, I love schedule release, staying gett to see
when we play. Obviously you know where we're playing, but
which games are going to be on primetime? Which games
are you know, how to things shape up when you
going on the road, any long stretches, any long stretches
at home, you know what's going on around the holidays,
So a lot to look at it and see kind
of how a season can come to life. And we know,
as I said, as we broke down a schedule. Initially
(00:59):
we know the BRONC because of high aspirations, and so
this schedule, you know, who knows what it could lead to, right,
And I think when you look at it, one, you
see the four primetime games and we'll get into those.
You see the five standalone games. When you count the
London game. You see at the beginning of the year,
after the home opener against the Titans, you see four
or five on the road. That's going to be a test,
and then you come right back. You don't have a
(01:20):
bye week after London. You then play four or five
at home, so you kind of switch there, so a
little you go from road warriors to having this nice
home stand and then exactly and then at the end
of the year three of four to finish at home.
That stands out to me. So we're going to go
game by game here, we know everybody, we like to
do this every year ago, game by game and look
(01:40):
at you know who we're playing, what that game could mean.
But I think overall, when I look at it, I
think it's a fair schedule. I think, you know, there's
not a stretch that I think is just insane. But
there's also not a stretch where you're like, you know,
there's a bunch of easy ones in a row, right,
And so it is going to be interesting to see
(02:02):
how the schedule plays out. And as we talk about
it here, we'll kind of go through the importance of
some of these games, which ones stand out, But yeah,
we've got it, and that it's time to go through up.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, the Broncos will face each team in the AFC
South and that starts off with the Tennessee Titans at
home home opener September seventh. It's gonna be fun to
see because as I look at the schedule before the
day t Eaven came out, I kind of went through
and see, all, right, now the draft is over, what
big picks are going to be coming to town, Which
ones are we going to face on the road. And
(02:32):
when you look at the Tennessee Titans to open up
the season, you got cam Ward the number one overall pick.
That's gonna be really exciting to watch for a lot
of reasons. But I think another big part is I
think Broncos country is very anxious to see how this
team is going to look. And Week one, you know,
this Broncos defense has a chance to go out there
and show that they haven't missed a beat.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah. I like this for the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Like you mentioned first of our first overall pick, cam Ward,
He's going to be really talented. He's going to have success,
I think in this league. But it's a tough task
to go up against the defense that has the reigning
defensive player of the Year, that has two guys and
Nick Bonito and Jonathan Cooper, that had double digit sacks
last season, that has a guy like Zach Allen that
hits exactly that added you know, it's Toalanoa Hufunga and
(03:15):
Drake Green. Lot of this defense, it was already third
in scoring defense. That that's a tough ask of a rookie.
And we know that Vance Joseph likes to bring pressure.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
This one.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I think the defense can really get after it, and
you know, there is this element of unknown. You don't
know what cam Ward is going to be or what
he's going to do. And certainly rookies have come in
and some have had success right away in Week one,
but I think back to last year and even bo Nix,
who had a great rookie year, even Jade Daniels who
went on to have.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
All this success.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Like they both they both had their struggles in Week
one and early in the season, So I think that
it's a good matchup for Denver's defense hopefully, and then
on the offensive side of the ball, it's just your
first glimpse of an RJ. Harvey and Evan Ingram, Pat Bryant,
you know, de Troy Franklin and Marvin Mams take more
steps forward. So we're another year into bow Nicks and
(04:05):
you kind of get an early chance to see what
that all looks like. I do think, you know, you
never want to go through like especially this early, and
say like you got to win this one. But I
do think the Broncos, having lost their last three Week
one games, their last three season openers, I do think
it's important, especially when you're playing a rookie quarterback, to
get off on the right foot and start off the
(04:26):
season with a win, especially given everything that's coming over
the next four or five weeks after that.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
To get a win in Week one I think is
really important.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, because as you mentioned, you're going to go on
the road and play face Indianapolis and then the LA
back to back, so that's obviously going to be something
I think the good thing about last season two you
talk about like these these growing pains, right, you never
know when you need to call on them until they happen.
So it's also good to know, like there's no time
to panic if that does that game doesn't go to
(04:54):
the Broncos way, because we saw the way the Broncos
was able to rebound and have such a great season
to start the year. So when you look at the
next game Week two on the road against Indiapolis, they're
going to go against another top pick, Tyler Warren, tight
end from Penn State, and not necessarily like you mentioned,
we're looking at these rookies, but there's something about when
that top talent is out there, they want they want
(05:16):
to come out swinging as well, and especially when you're
going against the top defense.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Like you said, it's going to be really hard.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And the Broncos defense definitely had their handsful with Bronck
Bowers when they played the Raiders, but they were able
to make that work and obviously get that win and
sweep them. So when you look at that matchup going
on the road Lucas Oil Stadium, what do you like
about it?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Yeah, it's first time since twenty nineteen, the Broncos are
playing a regular season game at Indy. This one, I
think comes down to who's the quarterback for the Colts, right,
Obviously Anthony Richardson, super talented, former top five pick, but
it hasn't necessarily hanned out at least the first couple
of years, the way they've wanted it to. They brought
in Daniel Jones. He's going to compete for that job.
(05:56):
So are you playing Richardson? Are you playing Daniel Jones?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
That'd be a mixture at that point. You just never know.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, we'll see. And so I think that that's
kind of what stands out to me is just who's
that quarterback? A little bit of an unknown there. I
think we know this team from last year is capable
of going on the road and winning, But this is
a game that you know it's it's going to be allowed.
It couldn't matter late in the season from a wild
card perspective. Obviously, last year Week fifteen, Week fourteen, whenever
(06:22):
it was, that game between the Broncos and Colts ended
up mattering a great deal in the playoff standings. This
one comes a lot earlier, but that doesn't mean it
won't be important. So if the Broncos end up battling
for a wildcard spot, it could matter whether you have
that head to head win over the Colts. So this
will be one that you know, can you go there
and get a win and start off your season with
(06:42):
a couple of wins over AFC South opponents, that'd be
really nice. But you just got to especially early in
the year, Like I think that's where the maturity of
the team and like knowing going through what like you said,
what you went through last year, like early in the year.
Sometimes it's just the maturity of a team. I think
that can determine whether you win or lose. One thing
I'll note as we kind of go through all these
(07:03):
is last year, obviously the Broncos their wins were by
significant margins. Then they had a lot of one score losses,
I believe one in five in one score games last year,
and so you know, if you come down to the
wire against Indy on the road, like, can you make
the plays you need to win that football game. That's
kind of what stands out to me about Week two.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, no, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And last season the Broncos were four and five away
a lot of those get those games being close games,
and that's kind of part of that taking that next
step forward, right, is you don't want these moral victories anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You want to make sure you swing it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So, yes, the Broncos were in control of their own
playoff destiny last year, but you want to be more
in control. You always want more control as you kind
of go through the season, and that starts with winning
the division and making the run there. And they get
that opportunity to make a statement Week three at Sofi.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Stadium against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
The Chargers obviously sweeping the Broncos last year, and they
got some good guys too. They definitely booked up their offense.
But it's definitely another chance to kind of make a
mark in the division.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah, I mean Sean Payton talks about you can't it's
rare for somebody to do something in the postseason if
you go five hundred in your division, and that's where
the Broncos were last year they got swept by the Chargers.
You probably got to fix that in twenty twenty five, right,
And it's not like they were uncompetitive. Both of them
were seven point games, especially the one in LA last year.
Late the Broncos jumped out to a big early lead
(08:23):
and just couldn't hold on. So this is kind of
an early I think, gut checked tone setter, like who
is going to get that early?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Obviously, the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Play the Chiefs week one in Brazil, so they've got
a couple of division games under their belt. By the
end of week three, I think you're gonna see, kind
of early in the year, how does this set up? Like,
you know, do the Chiefs beat the Chargers and the
Broncos like, do they fall or are they able to
beat the Chargers and say, hey, we're.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Right there with Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Like obviously there's a long season ahead, but I do
think early in the year, even in week three, you
kind of set the tone for what that division is
going to look like. It's the earliest the Broncos will
play the Chargers since twenty seventeen, so they're not used
to playing them this early in the year. But I
think going to Sofi a place where the Broncos fan
base has traveled well historically. We know how many Broncos
(09:14):
fans there are out in LA growing.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Up in LA and going to those games, I can.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Attest to that that's right.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
There are a lot of Broncos fans out.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
There, and I just think that you know, the Jim
harbov or Sean Payton, the Justin Herbert versus Bonnicks, Like
this is going to be every year that those pairings
are there. It's like always going to be this battle
and this tough, tough game to win. I think that
the teams are built similarly in terms of they want
to run the football, they want to be tough, they
(09:41):
want to kind of out physical you and win you
win the game in the fourth quarter. So I think
there's some similarities there. So this to me, there's several
like measuring stick games, I think, and actually this stretch
week three to five might be one of the toughest. Yeah,
it might be one of the toughest stretches of the season.
There's a lot of measuring stick games there. But yeah,
that game in LA certainly won early that if you
(10:02):
can find a way to win that, I think you
set the tone early in the AMC West.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, and you're gonna these first three games, as you know,
I was looking at the schedule on that go and
then as we're going to individual I'm like, well, which you
win that well then, and I'm already starting to do
like the little it's kind of like that meme where
you're just kind of like just looking at everything at
avery possible scenario. Because you go into Week four and
it is Monday night football. I'm not gonna do the
famous Monday because I just don't think my voice goes
(10:28):
that loud. But they played Cincinnati at a power for
the Malhi, that's gonna be a really good game I
given just I flashed back to the touchdown that Bo
had with Marvin Mims, and it was one of the
most exciting games I've seen in a while.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Obviously, again the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Didn't get the winning that game, but to have it primetime,
the first primetime of four for the season comes against Cincinnati,
that one's gonna be definitely get your popcorn ready status.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, that was potentially the game of the year in
the NFL.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I thought last year just in terms of the back
and forth nature, the way Bo played, the way Joe
Borrow played, Higgins, Jamar Chase Patzer Tan obviously played really well.
That kind of I think cemented as defensive Player of
the Year Canadacy, even in the loss, and it was
a game that the Broncos had an opportunity to win,
obviously fell short in heartbreaking fashion, and I would think
(11:17):
this one would be just as entertaining. You now add
Juday Baron to the mix to help cover. You know,
maybe he is able to get a crack at T
Higgins here we'll see.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Obviously you're at.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Home now instead of on the road in Cincinnati, which
was an awesome atmosphere. But yeah, it's Monday night football.
I believe it's the thirty third time in the last
thirty four seasons the Broncos have played on Monday Night,
So they're a staple there. It's kind of what you
get used to with the Broncos. But this is another one.
It's a measuring stick type game. And I know the
Bengals eight playoff or eight games against playoff teams this
(11:50):
year for the Broncos Bengals don't count as one of those.
But I think it's clear that this offense is as
good as any offense in football, and so it's an
early test. We know the Bronx added to their defense
because they weren't quite happy the way things ended defensively.
This is a test and a chance to show. Hey
we've taken a step here. I'm interested. Cincinnati historically has
struggled a little bit in September. So what version of
(12:13):
the Bengals do you get? Do you get that that
desperate Bengals team, or is it you know, do they
get off to a faster start because of the way
last year went? But this is one that, man, it
should be fun. Like I look at games here and
like which one's important or which one's difficult. This one
should be fun, like there should be a lot of points,
I think, and just another chance for for Bonix to
(12:34):
go head to head with one of the top quarterbacks
in this league and MVP candidate and Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
This one.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
I you know, when I did the schedule prediction, I thought, hey,
maybe this is a week one Monday night game. But
I'm happy to see it in Monday night, happy to
see it on a prime time stage. Yeh and uh yeah,
a really big opportunity for the for the Broncos. And
something to point out here that we mentioned in our
kind of overview videos. It's the one home game in
a forty one day stretch because you have that game
(13:03):
in Indie in LA you come home on Monday night.
But then after that you go back on the road
for two games. So you don't want to call games
like like you were saying, you don't want to start saying,
now you got to win this one or you gotta win
this one. But you've got an opportunity at home and
you've got to have you've got to find a way
to have that good home record and for the Broncos
to take the next step from ten to seven to
(13:25):
maybe like twelve and five or thirteen or four, like
if you're going to get up there and really challenge
for the AFC West, there's certain games that like, man,
you've got to find a way to win some of
these toss up games, whether it's at LA or in
since you know, home against Cincinnati, Like, yeah, you've got
to pull a high number of those to your side.
And also, like you said, protect home field. So that's
(13:45):
a big one for the Broncos I think early in
the year.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and like you mentioned, it's it's kind of hard
to stop to stop yourself with wanting to start making
your buckets and kind of saying where things fall. But
those games played such a big part in the Broncos playoff.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Run towards the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So just like you mentioned about the Colts game, you're
not really sure how important that game's going to be
until it's important. And so as you kind of continue on,
the Broncos really don't get a break because after that
you got to go see Jalen Hurts in his house
defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles October fifth, for Week five.
That game I'm really excited for because I just I
(14:23):
know a lot of Eagles fans and they have been
waiting to play the Broncos, and so for this to
kind of come about, obviously on the road, a tough
environment to play in Philadelphia, obviously the defending champs there,
but that one, again, I take it, that's gonna be
a fun game too. It's just two competitors, too high
profile teams going going at it.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, And I think the more I look at it
this that week three to a week five stretch, that
might be the hardest stretch of the Broncos season, at least,
as you like, everything changes once the season starts, but
at least how I look at it now, that looks
like a tough stretch, and I think, but I do
think that chance to prove yourself against the defending champs
(15:03):
and say like here's how close we are or hey,
we've got a ways to go.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I think last.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Year you saw the Broncos, whether it's in Buffalo or
on the road against Baltimore. And obviously the Broncos they
almost beat the Chiefs in Kansas City, Like it wasn't
like they didn't show they could go toe to toe
with contenders. But some of those big games where everyone
talked about, hey, like we're excited for Bonex and the
Broncos to face the Ravens, Like what's this all going
to be about?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Can they push the Ravens? You know? Can they push
the Bills in the wildcard round? Like?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
You got to take that next step, I think, and
this gives you an opportunity to do it. Obviously, a
tremendously talented quarterback, a really good receiving corps at defense,
former head coach Vic Fangio there as the defensive coordinator.
So a lot of storylines there, But I think mainly
I come away from looking at that one as just
(15:52):
here's a chance to see where do you stack up
in this echelon? Are you ready to compete? Are you
just kind of where are things and so excited about
that one. Again, it's a it's a non conference game,
so it's not gonna at the end of the year
determine wild card positioning. And I view it more as like,
can you go make a statement as opposed to one
that you absolutely have to find a way to win.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, And the Broncos will play each team in the
NFC East as well, which we'll get to that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
In a second.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
But after that game in Philadelphia, they travel across the pond. Now,
the NFL and its entirety will hold seven regular season
games outside the United States, and the Broncos are going
to face the New York Jets, who play their fifth
international game type for fourth most in NFL history. And
I think there's a bigger storyline obviously about how the
game is growing international and things like that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
There's games literally all over the world now.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But when you look at this Jets game, they're gonna
play in a ton of Hotspur Stadium against you know,
in an environment where you're gonna travel across there's time change,
there's you talked about the atmosphere like you're not just
gonna see you know, each team's jersey.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You're gonna see everybody's jersey.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And so that one's gonna be a game that I
think is gonna be really exciting, specially given how last
year when we traveled to New York to play the Jets,
that game was so pivotal and how the rest of
the season kind of played out.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, and this is a game that comes it's the
final road game in this stretch, four out a five.
I think you've got to manage a little bit of
And I should have mentioned too, with that Philly game
that we talked about a second ago, not only are
you going on the road to play in the defending champs,
you're doing it on a short week after playing on
Monday Night football, So that's even more of a challenge.
But this Jets game, you've been on the road for
(17:29):
three of the last four weeks. You're probably like ready
to be at home. And it's like, can you find
the mental strength and the mental toughness to get up
for this one?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
To get ready?
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And again, I think that's where you go from a
ten and seven team to a team that can do
more and compete for more. I think on the field, obviously,
justin fields comes in at quarterback. He's a guy that
the Broncos I think performed pretty well against last year
when he was with the Steelers. But he did beat
the Broncos in Week two, and then you look the
(18:01):
year before and obviously the Broncos I think allowed fifteen
consecutive completions to start the first half in Chicago, ended
up winning that football game and made some big plays.
The kopen score as Nick Bonito got the strip sack,
Johnathan Cooper returns it for a touchdown. But Justin Fields
is a good football player. He can pose some problems,
so they got to be ready to go for that one.
(18:22):
But I look at this and think, man, just after
the stretch you've just had of la since the at
Philly on a short week.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
This is a mental toughness.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Game, and excited to see how the Broncos respond, because
again it's one that you want to get, right, Like,
each one of these that you can get is important
in the grand scheme of things, and if the Broncos
can find a way to win in London, it would
be a big deal, especially because bye week doesn't come
after it, right, You're right back to work.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, it's you look at this the first stretch of
the season, and obviously it's a lot of back and forth.
But then you come back and for out of the
remaining five games before that bye week are at home,
which I think is beneficial. So obviously coming back from
London will be tough. But you know, again, I'm talking
about the growing pains. You go to the Greenbrier. Last year,
you have that week where you don't come home following
(19:16):
the Tampa Bay game, you go to a Greenbrier, you're
stare a week, and then you go on the road
again to play the Jets in New York. Something about
learning that being like okay, like bonding, that camaraderie. International
games really do bring out the best in people, and
I think those are also memories that you want to
go and you want to say, yeah, I want my team.
We won, you know, like we went there, we handled business,
(19:38):
and I feel like having that time away from home
last year, even though obviously the stakes weren't obviously international,
I think it is kind of a growing pain. You
can kind of lean on and say like, okay, like
how did we handle that adversary last year? How did
we kind of bounce back and get that win? Not
go back home directly and then go get another win.
I think that's a really big important thing that they.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Were able to have.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And I think just coming home is another way, just
kind of like some stress. And you're going to welcome
the Giants on October nineteenth, which is also my birthday,
so I'm gonna need a win on that day. But yeah,
the New York Giants in part of them a high
for Week seven.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Yeah, and this is you know, we'll see Russell Wilson
is on the Giants. Obviously he was injured last year
for the Steelers Feelers game in Week two. You know,
we'll see kind of how they drafted Jackson Dart in
the first round. We know Jamis Winston is there. So
I don't know sitting here in May who's going to
start at quarterback for the Giants in Week one, let
alone week seven. But I think either way, you're either
(20:32):
facing a rookie you're facing a guy in Jamis that
last year produced a thrilling game right when the Broncos
played the Browns a lot of I think he threw
five six total touchdowns when you count the ones that
he threw to the Broncos, or you get Russell Wilson
coming back to face his old team that he spent
two years with, So there's definitely some storylines there. Malik
(20:53):
neighbors a great receiver, Abduel Carter, a really high draft
pick who will try to pressure on bon Nick. So
the Giants are starting to add some pieces. They're a
team that wants to take that step. But this is
another game where it's not technically a short week, but
you're coming back from London. You've got to readjust to Denver,
(21:14):
You've got a long plane ride back, and then you've
got to get ready again. And so if you're coming
off a loss, you know, how do you motivate yourself
to get back going again, or you know, hopefully coming
off a win, how do you stay motivated and not.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Just say, Okay, we're back from London.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
We're good, because you've got to say you fly back
Sunday after the Jets game. And I don't know exactly
how they're going to do this yet. The team hasn't
you know, Sean Payne hasn't talked to the press since
the schedule released. But you know, whether the team comes
back right away or stays a night and comes back,
I don't know, but you come back in like two
days later. You're prepping for a game again, right, and
(21:53):
so the and Monday or Tuesday you probably got to
go over film and so that's going to be a
grind of a week, I would imagine. And again, so
much of this first six seven weeks is a mental
test as much as a physical one. So on paper,
you see the Giants coming and you think, man would
love to get that win.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
But but there's some you got to prove.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Something as simple as jet lag, like just something as
simple as that.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
You have you have the battle battle through and be
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, well you're gonna welcome another NFC East opponent with
the Dallas Cowboys coming to town Fills. You watch on YouTube,
you just saw eRx had pop up.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Sorry he was like, whoa Cowboys?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
All right?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah in power fel that, mahai. The Cowboys are coming
in sound. They obviously got some uh some picks on
offense that are gonna kind of bolster that offensive side,
and we're excited to see what that's gonna look like.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Pickens is on there now, another Steeler.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Yeah, traded for George Pickens, So that that changes kind
of the dynamic of that offense. Dak Prescott's going to
be back. I mean, this is a team that two
years ago was right there with the best teams in
the NFC, and last year obviously struggled a little bit.
They move on, they make a change at head coach
Brian Schottenheimer. Now they're leading the way. But this is
a talented team and so you got Micah Parsons. This
(23:09):
is a a group that will be a test for
the Broncos. But again, I think this is a game
that and it's a little early I think to talk
about flexing and all that, but Dallas is obviously they
are America's They.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
They draw huge audiences.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
This is a two twenty five CBS, Like, is this
a nance romo game? It's I think you've got potentially
a really big audience for this and a chance to
show what you're all about. And we just mentioned a
second ago that you play four or five on the road,
including that Giants game, and then with Dallas you're in
a stretch of four or five at home, so you're
(23:50):
gonna play some talented teams. We'll get to Chiefs in
a second here, but like you've got to find a
way to win these home games, and it's important to
have that strong home record, and no matter what order
they come in, you've got to find a way to
do it. But yeah, it's a talented Dallas team that
I think they have championship aspirations and as recently, like
I said, as a couple of years ago, they were
(24:10):
right there going for it.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, and you know, as we go through this these
matchups kind of one by one, the pick of Johnny
barrin the first round kind of just keeps flashing in
my head because now you have CD Lamb and then
you have George Pickens and obviously we have a lot
of good guys on the secondary. But it's interesting to see,
like you've mentioned, like where he can fit into just
help or just call disruption or double team and things
(24:32):
like that. So that's gonna be a really fun game.
And then after two games at home, they travel to
Houston C c J.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Stroud.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's gonna be a twelve o'clock game on November two,
Week nine game Texans. I something about c. J. Stroud,
I'm you know, I'm a really big fan of him.
I think that he is one heck of a player.
And something about Bonex going against him. I just I
like those quarterback matchups, right, like just to kind of
see not really measuring against it's like seeing these two
(25:01):
talented guys again, like you mentioned, just the feature of
what the NFL can be and how the game is
growing at that position. One matchups like that are really
I don't know, they get me going, So I like them.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah, and then listen, that's another we talk about mental tests.
It's an early kick, it's going to feel like eleven
am Mountain time. You got to be ready to go.
The Broncos a couple of years ago, if you remember,
went down there in twenty twenty three and played Houston
in a really important game and they started a little
bit slow, and Sean Payton said at the end of
the year, hey, we got to find a way to
start faster in these early kicks. And the better you are,
(25:32):
the fewer early kicks play. So if you look at
the schedule, like you've got an early kick at LA,
but that'll feel body clockwise like two pm for the Broncos.
So really it's just Philly film at Houston are the
only quote unquote early kicks you'll play. And so you've
kind of played yourself out of some of those early windows,
(25:52):
but you still got to be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
The offense was kind of down last year a little
bit for Houston, but they still they got it going
the playoffs. They made a late run at the Chiefs
there obviously beat the Chargers in the postseason. And then
this defense, as we saw a couple of years ago,
is quite talented and quite good. Between Derek Stingley, Will Anderson,
They've got some dudes on defense. So this is not
(26:15):
going to be an easy one. And I think that
I looked before the schedule came out as like maybe
this is even a primetime game with CJ. Stroud and
Bo Nicks, So you got to find a way to
get a win there. But this is another one depending
on what in the AFC South, at least the last
few years has been a little down, and so Houston
(26:36):
has won that division. But you know, if Indy takes
a step forward, or Jacksonville or even Tennessee, then you
could be looking at, Hey, Houston's a team that in
the wild card, you know, we could be battling with them.
So another game that from a playoff positioning standpoint, I
think will be important down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, about six opponents I think from last season were
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yes, six opponent.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, it's just.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Like you look at who's next, and you go against
two back to back division rivals against Vegas and Kansas City.
We'll obviously against the city Kenas City in a second,
but you go to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Actually, Las Vegas comes here.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
The Raiders will be in Powerfield for Thursday Night Football,
another primetime game for the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Something about the AFC West.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
When we went to the annual meetings, we spoke to
some of the coaches out there and they're all really
excited to go against Sean Payon. Like they all mentioned like,
look like we've known each other for years now. We're
all in this division together as coaches, and we want
to make this as competitive as possible, especially the Raiders
because they didn't have a great season last year four
and thirteen. But you go out, you have a great draft,
you have Pete Carroll as your head coach, and they're
(27:44):
trying to make a turn too, and the best way
to do that is to knock off.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
The Broncos.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And obviously we don't know how the first couple weeks
are going to play out, but when you're battling for
your division, you want to make sure that you get
these games taken care of. And you're going to see
the Chargers in Week three, and then you're going to
see your next AFC West, the pont in week ten.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, this is a new look Raiders team. And obviously
the Broncos last year snapped a streak against the Raiders
hadn't beating him in a long time, and they ended
up sweeping them. But this is a team that with
Pete Carroll, you know, is going to be well coached
and fundamentally sound. They're going to run the football. And
they got Ashon Genty, who I know a lot of
Broncos fans love and wanted the team to trade up for.
(28:27):
That was not gonna happen when he gets picked at
six right by the Raiders. But this is a guy
that is a load to bring down. We know the
Broncos want to get better against the run. It's a
quarterback in Gino Smith that they traded for, who the
Raiders have had some quarterback uncertainty here over the last
few years. I think the fact that they've got Geno
Smith there immediately takes them to like much more capable.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
And qualified quarterback play.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Obviously, Gino played well enough to beat the Broncos Week
one last year and Week one Cup years before that,
so like Gino has played well against Denver, So the
Broncos will need to kind of be ready to go
and be ready for this one. It is a short
week for the Broncos after a road game. After a
(29:14):
road game, we'll see kind of as we're recording this,
haven't seen the Raiders schedule yet, so don't know are
they on a bye the week before, what's their schedule
look like. But I do think anytime you have a
Thursday game at home, there's a benefit to that, right
because the other team has to go on the road
and travel, and it makes you know if you pick
up an injury Sunday or you're trying to get back
(29:36):
to the field, it makes things a little bit trickier.
But this is a talented Vegas team that's got some
pieces with Brock Bowers like you mentioned earlier, and obviously
Max Crosby has just been a menace toward the Broncos
during his career. So this is not an easy one
by any stretch. But I do think the fact that
you get an in prime time at home, maybe that
gives the Broncos the edge they need to get to
(29:58):
win there.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I mean after that Thursday Night you get a mini
by week and right before facing the Kansas City Chiefs
at home, which you know, as you mentioned, going on
a short week, and then you kind of get that
little bump of a longer week coming out from Thursday
Night football and playing Kansas City at home. You can
just never count this team, especially last season, as many wins,
(30:20):
as many wins as they were able to pull off,
especially one score wins obviously to take them all the
way to the Super Bowl. This is gonna be one
of those games that it's going to be semi of
a measuring stick, right, especially at this point in the season,
Week eleven, This is when things get really serious.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I don't mean this like in a bad way, but
I've kind of had enough of the measuring stick games
against Kansas City. I think the Broncos have done enough
to show that it's not just measuring like they know
they measure up with Kansas City now, Like it's one
thing to say, oh, the Eagles won the Super Bowl,
you don't play them very much. You know, the Broncos
haven't played them since twenty twenty one here in twenty
(30:58):
they haven't been a Philly since twenty seventeen. Like I
get the measuring stick there. They know they can beat
Kansas City, right like they did it two years ago
here in Denver against Patrick Mahomes against Travis Kelce. They
obviously did it last year thirty eight to nothing. I
know that wasn't against the starters, so it doesn't right,
it doesn't count the same way. But then they went
to Kansas City, even they marched down the field. As
(31:20):
Sean Payton said after the game, I thought we outplayed them,
don't win the football game because of the blockfield goal.
But like I don't think there's any question in the
Broncos mind that, Like they measure up with Kansas City
now in terms of winning the division, it's can you
win enough games the rest of the year to make
that happen. Can enough other teams beat Kansas City? Because
(31:44):
last year, right like the Chiefs started off what eleven
and oh twelve and oh thirteen whatever it was, So
it was like even if the Broncos are playing great
and where ten and three, you're still three games back
because nobody else can beat these guys, so you need
some help from around the league. But I don't view
this is like, this is a game that I think
if you have AFC West aspirations, as the Broncos have
(32:06):
laid out at the end of the year under and
CEO Greg Penner said, hey, our goal is to compete
for a division championship, and Sean Payton, George Payton they
also did the same thing. This is a game that
you should go and expecting to win, right, And the
Broncos have won eleven in their last sixteen, I believe
before the bye week, so that they've had some success there.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And we know it's Patrick Mahomes, we know it's Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
But like I think, if you're the Broncos, you got
to start to think, hey, this is a defense that
has played really well against Patrick Mahomes in his career
and limited him at times. This is Boonix who went
out and showed what he can do, especially in Arrowhead
against a really good Chiefs defense. Now there's going to
be adjustments, and they're like, people are gonna watch film
of knicks in this offense and try to correct. But
(32:49):
this is a game that I we'll talk about the
Christmas game is like the game of the year potentially
in terms of importance. But this Kansas City won, Like
I think, if you want to win the division, you
have to find a way to at least split with
Kansas City. And so you know, it doesn't have to
be at home or on the like you win at
home and you lose on the road, like and maybe
the Broncos sweep. I don't know that'd be great, but
(33:10):
but like, you have to find a way I think
to split with them at least so that they don't
get that two game edge as they're trying to go
for the division. So this one before the buye becomes
really important. And you know, I think as you look
at the schedule here, maybe it's a little like you
look at Sincy, you look at the home opener, you
(33:31):
look at prime time in Kansas City, like, maybe this
one goes a little bit under the radar. But I
think the more I look at it, this is among
the most important games of the entire year in my mind.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Again, especially coming back off of the Vegas game, You're
gonna see like Okay, like what can depending on what
happens in that game, right if you have a big
blowout like win or if it's a you know battle
out for that game for the W And then you
look at that Kansas City game and kind of late
in the season is when I get so tense because
it's like every single game.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Is like the game that you have to win.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
But then you get a break week twelve, You get
a nice little break desk, the bye week for the Broncos,
and personally, I feel like it comes at a good time.
I know that potentially could have came after the London game,
but I think that home stretch is going to help
a little bit. But that bye week right before that
Sunday night matchup against the Commanders on the road, I
think is huge.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
And listen, I don't know this.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
This is my understanding at least from kind of the
years watching the NFL and the way they've done these
international games. Is I believe that teams at least have
the option to take the buye after London, and so
you know, we'll have to see kind of like when
Sean Payton talks nests is he asked about that and
asked about the bye week and maybe we'll get a
little more clarity there. But it's possible the Broncos didn't
(34:46):
want the bye week after week six, you know, and
and wanted it to be later. So it's not like
you get to say we wanted in week twelve.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
But but I mean you could look at they were
playing at home for of the next five games, like, yeah,
and we can battle that out.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
And I don't know if get I would doubt that
teams are given that sort of like ability to weigh in,
but you might have just said, hey, week seven's a
little early for the buye because we don't want to
play ten consecutive games to end the year.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So this if you can get through.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
And the way you got to look at it too,
is you have a mini by after Vegas, you know,
and so can you kind of use that as a
little bit of a bye week and then you get
another which so you kind of get this post week
ten mini by, get week twelve by you, and have another
mini by after week seventeen, so like there's some rest
built in down the stretch. And again I don't know
(35:35):
that I don't know how it all went down in
terms of that bye week thing. But I don't think
twelve is better than fourteen like it was a year ago.
So we've got two spots, but I do think to
get ready for that stretch running it could be helpful.
You mentioned Washington that comes Sunday Night football, which is
a big one. Excited to see Jade Daniels and bow
Nicks go head to head, obviously the rookie of the
(35:57):
year versus a guy that let a rookies and touchdown passes,
passing yards by all, pretty much anyway you measure. These
were the two best rookie quarterbacks a year ago. There
there I think future potential faces of this league, and
I'm excited to see him go head to head again.
It's not like a wild card implication matchup, but it
(36:19):
is a game where these are two up and coming teams,
teams that want to compete for division titles. And interestingly
both are in a division with the team that went
to the Super Bowl, right like Washing gets in that
division with Philly. Broncos are in it with KC. And
so two teams that want to like take that next
step and kind of burst through the ceiling that is there.
(36:40):
And I will say, looking at just I know you
like the stats here, Hey, zoap them the Broncos I
believe all time twenty six and eleven following the bye week,
and Sean Payton as head coach eleven and six following
the bye two and zero with the Broncos following the
bye week. So you think back to twenty twenty three,
(37:00):
that big win in Buffalo on the road Monday night
football primetime, Broncs find a way to win that game,
and then last year the Colts game, obviously critical, Broncos
find a way to win it as well. So there's
some history there that maybe the Broncos, maybe Sean Payton
has this sense of how do we treat the bye week,
how do we get ready to go? And again I
haven't seen Washington schedule, so don't know what week twelve
(37:23):
holds for them, but you're definitely not going to be
at a rest disadvantage going on the road.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
So that's that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, and against Sunday night football is mut'st watch and
I think for this you mentioned it in kind of
the again the overview that we did, which you can
also watch on our YouTube channels dot com. But just
it shows the state of what the league wants to
see and it shows the state of what the fans
want to see. And for the Broncos, like you mentioned,
(37:49):
ended up with four primetime games last season, but we're
only scheduled for two. And now you have a Sunday
night football game against you know, defending rookie when I'm defending,
but the rookie of the year against a guy that's
really kind of come in and turned to franchise around.
I think it's gonna be really exciting to see from
a competitive standpoint of what they're both able to do.
They both had really exciting games to kind of get
(38:10):
their teams into the playoffs last year. So that's gonna
be that's gonna be a really good one. And after
that Sunday Night, you're gonna go and play the Raiders
in Vegas, another AFC West matchup there, which you're gonna
see them pretty quickly. You know, they see them in
week ten, they're gonna see him again in a week fourteen.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Yeah, just a few games in between two games, I
guess three weeks. Yeah, this is another one where can
you go late in the season, people start getting a
little tired, You get injured, like you're gonna go play
a physical team, right, and it's not short rest.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
But you're coming back.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
You're going basically across the country after playing a Thursday
night or excuse me, a Sunday night primetime game on
the East coast, you gotta go all the way back, yeah,
the next week and play on the West coast. Essentially,
I think Vegas close enough to it's at least Pacific
time zone, even if it's not on the cost. And
this is a game like you gotta be ready to go, right,
and it's gonna be It's not an it's not an
(39:10):
early kick like body clockwise for the Broncos, but it's
still early early kick.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Could be twelve o'clock in Denver, now o'clock, two o'clock.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah, time zones. Man, they're hard, and we're like, we're
week fourteen. We're tired.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
You know, they think playing this schedule, going through this
schedule is hard too.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
But yeah, this is a game again.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
I think we've talked about the Raiders just kind of
in general, but they're going to be improved.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
I don't want I don't mean this like I mean
this as a compliment.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
They're gonna be like annoying to play right, where like
they're just gonna be tough and they're gonna stick around,
and it's a division rival and it's not just gonna
be this easy win. But if the Broncos want to
do what they want to do and win the AFC
wes like these are games you gotta find ways to win,
so it'll be it'll be an interesting one. And then
finally after that one, come home and you get a
little bit of as you say, home cooking here for
(40:01):
the last three and the last four weeks.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, you mentioned just about last year, the Broncos ended
a lot of storylines. The big storyline was never winning
in Vegas. They go to Vegas, they win, and so
now like that's not a storyline anymore. Right now, it's
just a matter of, Okay, let's just go do it again.
We've done it once, we can do it again. And
I think that's really hopeful, especially for a young team,
to kind of end those storylines and end those talks
of you've never done this or haven't done this in
(40:25):
this many years. It's like, no, now it's just a
clean slate.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
We're going to go in.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
As you mentioned, they're going to see them twice in
three weeks because obvious said the bye week there, so
now four weeks. Yeah, So it's gonna be interesting to
see kind of what adjustments are made depending what happens
in that first game and how you're able to attack
that and same thing for them. So after that game,
the Broncos again have some home cooking. Three of the
(40:49):
last four games are going to be played at home,
kicking it off with green Bay in Week fifteen. I'm
really happy that we're not playing green Bay in green Bay.
It is now they're not. I'm not saying it doesn't
get cold here, but I'm just saying I can handle here.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Green Bay is one of the coolest places to play.
I like. I like it. There get some cheese curds.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Going to keep my hands warm.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I This game to me stands out as like potential
flex Sunday night football option.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
I mean, the Packers obviously we're good a year ago.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
Jordan Love got the star power like and as we're
recording this, I don't have all the Week fifteen games
in front of me, and some of that obviously determines
what's going to be FLEX. But this could, like if
the Broncos are a good football team, and you're late
in the year and the Packers are a good football team,
and whatever the Week fifteen game is, maybe, oh maybe
it's not as great like this, at least from an
(41:46):
audience standpoint, Like Broncos are a big brand, Green Bay
is a big brand. This this stands out as like
a potential Sunday Night flex to me, Well, it's early,
we'll see, we're it's we're seven months away, you know,
so we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
You know, I'm gonna love when that happens and we're
able to.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Flash back to this moment.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
But obviously Jordan Love good player.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
They have added a little bit at the wide receiver position,
well coached, kind of that that Shanahan offense a.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Teammate for Joha, because Matthew Golden's on the Packers.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I believe.
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Yeah, so we'll say the Broncs I believe have won
the last See if I get this right, I think
they've won the Yeah, they've won the last two games
here against the Packers. Obviously beat Jordan Love two years
ago here in Denver. And then the twenty fifteen game
against Aaron Rodgers that was maybe the defining one of
(42:48):
the defining performances of that Super Bowl fifty season. So
some good, good history against Green Bay here in Denver.
But I predicted it. I thought maybe a nice Christmas matchup.
They decided to send us on the road. I was
trying to manifest playing home. But another good Again, we
talk about like from an NFC standpoint, they don't matter
in the wild card standings, but when you talk about Philly, Washington,
(43:10):
green Bay, like you're getting some Dallas and we'll see
kind of what happens with the Giants, right, but like
you're getting some NFC heavyweights that you're playing on this schedule,
not an easy schedule by any means. Obviously, the the Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs,
they're playing them too, so it's it's not just the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
But that's a big one.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
And I'll say as we go through it here, you
get three of the final four at home, but three
of the final four are also against playoff teams from
a year ago in the Packers, Chiefs, and Chargers. So
it's an advantage I think to be at home for
these but it's not an easy stretch by any means.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And then you're going to welcome in Jacksonville for Week sixteen,
and that comes with with Travis Hunter. Yeah, it's gonna
be fun to watch and that you know that game.
Obviously Jacksonville is kind of going through a lot, but
Evan Ingram obviously coming having played there, and that's going
to be a really fun matchup to see, just from
(44:06):
a just everything perspective, but playing at home, I think
late in December, as you mentioned, it's late, it's grind time.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
You're gonna be tired.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
But something about being able to keep a routine that
these guys are so used to at home, I feel
like it's very beneficial to.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Close out the year.
Speaker 4 (44:19):
Yeah, and I think there's something about this Jacksonville game that,
like right now, maybe it doesn't have as much juice.
The Travis Hunter angle, I think is exciting and definitely
got to watch. Like he sounds like he's gonna play
receiver M Corner.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Played here obviously in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
We know how.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Much respect Patzertan has for Hunter. It'd be really cool
to see Pat guard Travis Hunter. You know, I doubt
that would be get the picture. That'd be pretty awesome
or like part going up against Travis like that, that
would be cool yeah, but I think the underrated thing
with the Jags is that obviously Trevor Lawrence number one
overall pick such high expectations, talked about in the same
(44:59):
breath as like an Andrew Locke, John Elway, and it
hasn't quite panned out. And now you get a coach
and Liam Cohen that essentially turned Baker's career around in Tampa.
Is this I think offensive kind of minded guru type guy,
like what does.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
He do with Trevor Lawrence?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
And so it's quite possible that by this point you're
talking about man, Trevor Lawrence is back and he's playing
at a high level. And this becomes a really challenging
game as well. It's it's hard as we and we're
doing it because it's fun, but like hard to know
what's going to be the reality December twenty first, because
of injuries, because of how teams develop, and the Broncos
(45:39):
could be like they could have locked up the AFC West,
they could be rolling by that, you know, and so
or you might really need to beat Jacksonville to make
a last ditch playoff push. You just don't know how
everything's going to pan out. But this is a game
I think that kind of has some sneaky good storylines
by the time we get there, especially if Trevor Lawrence
kind of gets back to the Trevor Lawrence we can be.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, And I think you mentioned too just about just
even seating alone, like that was a big storyline last year,
just kind of figuring out where they were going to
land the seating, So that can obviously play a big part.
And the thing with that game at Home is that
then you're on a short week and then you travel
to Kansas City for that Christmas game. There will be
three Christmas games total this year, which is going to
(46:20):
be really exciting because I will say last last Christmas,
I was kind.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Of like I need more, and.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Well, She's always enough for so don't let the Beehive
come after me. She's always enough.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
But uh, you know what am I doing at night?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
You think watching is watching?
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Now watches all? Trust me, the Beehive watches all. Didn't
I tell you we got tacked by bees?
Speaker 3 (46:43):
You think that was interesting?
Speaker 1 (46:45):
But look, you you go to Kansas City for Christmas
and that's going to be again another primetime game on.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Thursday night football.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
That's not going to be easy coming off a short
week going out there and getting that win, especially depending
how the AFC West kind of is at that point.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
Yeah, the more I think about, like, I don't think
you can ever count on going to Kansas City, especially
in December. Broncos have not had a lot of success
there in December. Only three quarterbacks in franchise history have
won there in December. Both could become the fourth. But
I don't think you ever go there being like we
have to win this game or we're counting on a
win here, Like if you can go in and.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Play yourself in a position where that's not what needs
to happen.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Right, Like, if you can go there and play your
tails off and get a win, like I firmly believe
the Broncos are capable of that. But it's also like
the Thursday verse Sunday, it's going to be a challenging
game either way, And so I almost am like, Okay,
bring on the challenge of playing on Christmas and then
give yourself more rest time for week eighteen, right, because
it's going to be a challenge for play in Kansas City,
(47:46):
whether it's Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. So can you take
care of business if you're the Broncos at home against
the Chiefs, so that when you go into that game,
it's not a winner your season is over type game,
you know, and and hopefully you still can win. And again,
I firmly believe that Broncos have the talent, as they
showed their last year, to go in and get that done.
(48:07):
But I almost kind of think, like, that's gonna be
tough anyway, So I'd rather get the extra rest. I'd
rather I'd rather just say, hey, lace them up, we'll
play them on a short week.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Maybe you know, maybe that.
Speaker 4 (48:18):
Helps in some way for the Broncos and then you
get extra rest for that that Chargers game to end
the year. But yeah, because it's in a spotlight, it's
on Christmas, like people are gonna be watching, and there
will be takes either way. If the Broncos win, it'll be, oh,
the Chief's rain is over. And if the Chiefs win,
it'll be, oh, the Broncos like can't compete yet with
the Chiefs. And I understand that's how it works. But
(48:41):
but you.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Also go back to that first and like you mentioned
where you said, like you want to go into that
game against Kansas City in week eleven, just going into
and know when you're gonna win, especially when you have
the tough game on the road in December.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
Yeah, exactly, like can you can you get that one?
So maybe there's a little less pressure on this one
and you're you're playing with house money.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
I don't know it.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
Regardless, we're going to go into that one being like, yeah,
we want this one, you know, so final road game there,
and then you get a little extra time coming home
for a big one against the Chargers because season wraps up.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
We don't yet know what day that's going to be.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
Always Saturday or Sunday they announce it the day or
excuse me, after week seventeen. But this is a game
that there's a lot of different ways that could go, right,
Like if the Chiefs take a step back, Maybe it's
a game between the Chargers and Broncos for the division. Yeah,
maybe it's a game where if the Broncos win, they
get the better wildcard seed and the Chargers don't. Maybe
(49:35):
it's a game where whichever team wins makes it to
the playoffs. And so you never quite know at this stage.
But I do think the league, when you look at
what the Broncos and Chargers did last year. Both made
the playoffs as wild cards, both challenged the Chiefs, both
are trying to take that next step. I think it
makes sense that this is kind of like a it's
a game where you say, okay, well the winner is
(49:57):
gonna be in a much better spot than the team
that loses this game in Week eighteen, and being at
home against the Chargers, I think is a big advantage.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
And again that extra rest. So, uh, that's it.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
That's a schedule preseason at San Francisco home against the
Cardinals at the Saints. Been a long time since the
Broncos have played at the Saints or actually just played
the Saints in the preseason, So it's a it's a
good stretch. I think there's some some tough, tough spans
here where, whether it's that week Week three to Week five,
(50:30):
Chargers Bengals Philly, you know, whether it's how do you
manage coming back from London? Uh, you know, whether it's
Kansas City before the buy and then Washington after and
then obviously some three playoff teams at the final four.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Like, there's gonna be challenges.
Speaker 4 (50:45):
But I think you want to get to the point
where you're saying, hey, all these teams are looking at
and being like, man, we gotta play the Broncos, right
like you, that's where you want to get to, And
I think the Broncos are starting to get there. Another
season for the Broncos to show what they're all about.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
Yeah, not only like that, they mentioned that before. It's
like we want we want this to be a destination,
a place to come to, not only to play, but
come watch. And I think given what they did in
free agency, given what they did in the draft, the
Broncos matchups for other teams are gonna definitely.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Gonna be circled for sure. That's what I feel.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
I feel like as you look at some of these matchups,
even in different divisions, you're definitely excited to see, like
how they match up, especially the sophomore year for these quarterbacks.
That week their team game is gonna be a lot
of fun. This whole season is gonna be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
I just I can't. I can't stop staring at it.
It's so pretty, it's so pretty.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Well, guys, that'll do it for this addition of altitude advantage.
As always, I'm your host and team reported Lisa, not
this across our schedule and master Guru Eric Dalala, lead
writer on Denver Broncos dot com who has all the
latest and other breakdown street you guys to check out.
To make sure you guys do that, leave comments, let
us know which game is the game you want to see.
To make sure you guys comment on there and let
us know your thoughts on the schedule and what you
guys think is the toughest stretch. And again what game
(51:58):
do you have circled first? You have your top five
right if your top five list out there devil bunkers
dot com, make sure you guys check it out and
as always, we appreciate you guys listening. H
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