Silver And Black Pride
The Las Vegas Raiders are set for round two against the Denver Broncos in Week 14. To preview the AFC West matchup, we reached out to our friemies over at Mile High Report, and Ian St. Clair was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Broncos for Raider Nation.
Q: While the Broncos are just a half-game out of the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff picture, they’ve played in a lot of one-score games against several bad teams like the Jets, Giants, Raiders and Commanders. Given that, what’s the fanbase’s confidence level heading into the playoffs? Is the feeling in Denver that this team can win a Super Bowl?
A: The discussion over the one-score games is an interesting one. When it was Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs winning an NFL record one-score games last season, they were the best team in the history of the NFL. When it’s Bo Nix and the Broncos, they’re frauds and it’s not sustainable.
Meanwhile, Denver also curb-stomped the Dallas Cowboys and beat the Houston Texans on the road. But winning these close games in the fashion that they’re doing it, regardless of the opposition, means the Broncos are battle-tested and playoff-ready.
I’d much rather have a team like Denver, as opposed to the Detroit Lions a season ago. The Lions blew everybody out in the regular season, but then they wilted in the playoffs because they had no clue how to win tight games. We can also go back 10 years to Super Bowl 50 and that Broncos team. They didn’t blow everybody out either, but Denver utilized a great defense and its battle-tested experience to win the Super Bowl.
Q: On that note, Bo Nix has made a habit of starting slow and then turning it on in the fourth quarter, allowing the Broncos to pull off several comebacks this season. What’s been the difference between his play in the first three quarters versus the final frame?
A: This is the key question for the Broncos right now, and seemingly everyone has a different answer. My tinfoil hat conspiracy theory is that Sean Payton is playing 3D chess with the opposition by presenting the most vanilla and bland offensive game plan he can imagine through the first three quarters. Then, in the fourth quarter, he opens up the offense for Nix. It’s not totally crazy, right?
I think it’s a combination of not playing at up-tempo and lack of execution by the offense. As I’ve said for multiple weeks now, I’d like to see Payton allow Nix to play up-tempo in the first three quarters and let the offense play as it does in the fourth quarter. I also think that limits the thinking involved, not just for Nix and the offense, but also for Payton.
**Q: Denver’s running game hasn’t been as productive ever since JK Dobbins suffered a season-ending injury the last time these two teams met. What needs to change, or who needs...
