Mile High Report
No team is as good as they look in their best game or as bad as they look in their worst game. The Denver Broncos played one of their worst games of the season on Sunday and still only lost by 14 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The 34 points allowed was the worst showing by the defense that has been bending but not breaking in previous games. In this game, the dam broke. The Jags scored on 6 of seven drives starting with their TD drive in the first quarter to open the scoring. The 34 points was the most allowed by the defense this season. Oddly enough the Jags did this while only getting 346 total yards. The defense allowed more yards to the Packers, Giants and Commanders, but in those games, the offense was able to come up with enough points to eek out a win. This was partly due to the defense forcing FGs in the red zone. The Jags got TDs not FGs in this game. All four of their TDs were red zone TDs.
The Broncos had allowed only 15 RZ TDs in 14 games and they allowed 4 on Sunday. The defense has fallen to second in RZTD% allowed at 43.2%. The Vikings are currently first at 42.6%.
The Broncos still hold the #1 seed in the AFC due to a tie-breaker (win% in common games), but they have alm0st no room for error. The Chiefs are going to be playing 3rd or 4th string QB, but the Broncos are historically bad at Arrowhead in December 3-22 all-time. Over the last 30ish years, the Broncos have only gotten one win there in December per decade, but this may be our year for this decade.
The Bronco run game was good on Sunday, but we had to abandon it when the deficit got too big. RJ Harvey had his best game as a pro and finally was able to show off his speed and contact-balance in a long TD run. This bodes well for the final games of the season. The ability to control the LOS and run the ball bodes well for the playoffs particularly if the road to the Super Bowl runs through Denver. The altitude is the 12th man for the Broncos and Sean Payton would be wise to use it to the team’s advantage in the final game of the season.
The Patriots have two relatively easy games to finish the season with the hapless Jets and the clueless Dolphins. That means that they will have beaten the Jets twice who the Broncos beat, but the Broncos went 2-0 against the Faiders, who beat the Pats back in week one. The two teams had very few common opponents this season – the Raiders, Titans, Giants and the Jets. The Broncos are 5-0 in those games. The Pats will be 4-1 if they beat the Jets next week so they will still lose that tie-breaker if the Broncos win out.
The Bronco...
