Happy Thanksgiving, Denver Broncos fans!
On this week’s Broncos Wire podcast, I joined host Ryan O’Leary to break down last week’s game against Minnesota, discuss Kareem Jackson’s suspension, detail Denver’s playoff chances and preview Sunday’s game against the Browns.
You can listen to episode No. 95 below:
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Our notes for this week’s pod can be seen below.
A win is a win, right?
- It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, and a four-game winning streak is a four-game winning streak. I’ll take it.
- Once again, the offense and Russell Wilson had a mostly poor showing, but when it mattered most when the game was on the line, Wilson led a game-winning drive. He now has the 9th-most fourth-quarter comebacks in NFL history, passing John Elway.
- Denver’s defense continues to make plays — they have 12 takeaways in their last three games with Ja’Quan McMillian recovering yet another fumble and grabbing his second interception of the season on Sunday.
- The offense remains a concern, but Brian Flores’ defense has given other offenses trouble in the past, so I’m not ready to freak out too much.
Kareem Jackson suspended again
- Immediately after returning from a two-game suspension, Kareem Jackson launched himself headfirst into Josh Dobbs on Sunday.
- Jackson has now been suspended again, leaving Denver very thin at safety. Caden Sterns is on injured reserve and P.J. Locke has an ankle injury. Delarrin Turner-Yell has been terrible this year and JL Skinner has been inactive for all but one game.
Free agent safety options include:
- Landon Collins (29)
- Karl Joseph (30)
- Johnathan Abram (27) (*Saints practice squad)
- Devon Key (26) (*Broncos practice squad)
- Broncos special teams assistant Chris Banjo (32) (just kidding, kinda)
- Denver is the 10th seed in the AFC but one team above them (Indy) has the same record and three teams above them (Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Houston) have just one more win than the Broncos. Top 7 make the postseason.
- Denver’s next two games will be crucial — they face the Browns (currently the 5th seed) and Texans (currently the 6th seed) over the next two weeks.
Browns game
- Playing at home with a four-game winning streak going up against a backup quarterback, the Broncos are listed as 1.5-point favorites.
- This is not an easy game, but I would be a lot more nervous if Deshaun Watson was healthy. Dorian Thompson-Robinson only scored 13 points against the Steelers and Denver’s defense has been red-hot.
- Cleveland’s own defense is concerning, but I have confidence that the Broncos’ offense is better than the Browns’ offense, and Wilson is better than Thompson-Robinson.
- The over/under is 36.5, a testament to how well both clubs have been playing on defense. This could be an ugly, low-scoring game. Do we think Denver can pull it off for a fifth-straight win?
Ryan and I will return each week during the season to react to every game.
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