The Regular season for our Broncos is only 8 days away.  First up, Jacksonville.  This is a win on most peoples predictions whether you are in the 4-12 camp or the 12-4 camp. 

But.......... If you look at our record in Florida, we flat out suck when playing there especially early in the year.  Also, Denver has forever been a team that plays down to its level of competition. Just look at last year.  We beat good teams like NE and DAL but lose to the Raiders/Chiefs?  It is a trap game for sure and as many have said around here, it appears as the earliest "must win" game in Broncos history.

Keys to the game to pick up the important win.  I have a few and would love to hear what the rest of MHR thinks on this subject.

1.  Apply pressure.  David Garrard is not a very good QB but has hurt other teams by scrambling and moving in the pocket.  We need to put pressure on him and keep him in the pocket.

2.  Keep the ball out of their O's hands.  This is tough in our style of offense throwing as much as we do but we will have to run a bit more and use those screen passes like we did with Buck on Thursday.  Those throws to Decker and Willis can be huge as well just to keep the clock going and chains moving.

3.  Stop the run.  Yes I know it should be #1 and always is but thought putting it hear would make a few people think I was overlooking the obvious.

4.  Have a couple special plays on special teams.  This helps out both sides of the ball as the reserves make up most of the special teams and gives the starters a break.  This early, players get gassed quickly with the heat and humidity and starting on a short field or the jagwads starting inside the 20 and having to go the LONG way is crucial.

5.  Stay healthy.  nuff said

6.  O-line must come together.  Watching a full game of starting quality linemen will be quite a treat as after the 1st 6 linemen we are/were bad.  Sure glad it looks like we hit on our 2 draft picks or we would be in real trouble.

Go Broncos I think you can win but it will not be as easy as it looks on paper.