Mile High Report
Quite possibly the hardest game the Denver Broncos will have all season long takes place this Sunday in Philadelphia as they take on one of the two remaining undefeated teams.
There is good news though. Denver is coming off of a total domination of a victory against the Bengals (a lesser opponent, but confidence is confidence) and they get to carry that momentum into this week. And the Philadelphia Eagles are more vulnerable now than they have been all year.
Here’s how the Broncos can pull of a huge win on the road and secure one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Once again the Broncos proved that they have the best pass rush in the league and Nik Bonitto looks to be as good as Von Miller was (I know that might be sacrilegious around here, but I said what I said). Jonathan Cooper has the league’s fastest average get-off speed at a mere 0.69 seconds (Bonitto is at 0.72 seconds and is tied for second) and both of those guys are top-10 in the league in EDGE pass rush win rate (according to PFF). Bonitto also is currently ties for the third-most sacks in the league at 4.5, just 0.5 sacks out of first place. As a team, the Broncos are still first in the league in sacks with 15.
Another thing to take note of is that Eagles’ Lane Johnson missed the second half of their game against the Bucs with a shoulder injury. He did return to practice this week, but he likely will not be 100% heading into this matchup.
Surprisingly, the Eagles have taken a huge nose dive with their rushing attack this season. Right now they are managing just 113 yards per game on the ground, and over their four games their rushing yards have decreased week over week. They failed to break 90-rushing-yard mark against the Rams and the Bucs. Saquon Barkley is averaging less than 60 yards a game and has just 3.1 yards per carry. Two of their seven TD’s have unsurprisingly come from the Tush Push at the one-yard line, and three of their rushing TD’s were scored in the first week of the season.
Most of their success on the year came in their season opener against the Cowboys, and since then things have only been slowing down. The Broncos have to keep Barkley contained, and they’ve done a good job against opposing RB’s this year. They have the 11th-best rushing defense, giving up 99 yards per game, and their defense has racked up 19 TFL’s over the first four games. Their front seven has been sniffing out all sorts of runs.
And I have plenty confidence in this defensive secondary to stifle the already poor passing attack the Eagles have (second-worst in the league at just 138 yards per game), so if they can take away the only thing that is really...
