The Denver Broncos open the season at home on Monday Night Football against their AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers. It’s going to be a late night, but both teams will want to keep pace with the other two division foes who both won their games in Week 1.
As we do every year, we do our best to predict the winner of the Broncos game each week. With Brandon Perna of That’s Good Broncos giving his 33-27 score prediction in the video above, our collective final score average is Broncos 24-16.
Here are each of our score predictions.
Broncos 20, Chargers 16
The Broncos defense seems to find a way against Phillip Rivers and the Chargers every year, so the big question will be whether or not the Broncos offense has found enough juice to score some points this year. It really comes down to the offensive line and the running game and I think both of those improve significantly over last season. The points don’t quite come in Week 1, but we’ll see enough promise to give us hope heading into Week 2. - Tim Lynch
Broncos 24, Chargers 17
Everyone knows the key to the game is the Broncos offense. How Denver runs the ball and pass protection are big, but what’s crucial is how Trevor Siemian keeps Gus Bradley and the Chargers defense honest. We saw how Alex Smith responded on Thursday night against the New England Patriots, and the Massholes are still trying to pull up their britches. Siemian takes what Smith did, increases the bet, and the Broncos reap the benefits. - Ian St. Clair
Broncos 23, Chargers 13
The Broncos still have a lot to prove on offense, which means there won't be a lot of points scored. However, Monday night at home is always fun. There is no doubt the run game should be better. Is it possible that the offense can bust out to start the season? Why not? The defense will do what it has done for 3 seasons, and the offense will benefit from good field position. No reason to think they can't come away with a big win. - Adam Malnati
Broncos 24, Chargers 7
The Denver defense looked to be in elite form in their preseason dress rehearsal game against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, and there's no reason to think the No Fly Zone won't continue that Monday night. However, the key is going to come down to run stopping and run blocking. Whoever comes out ahead on those two aspects of the game will be victorious. Hopefully Denver's Dline depth is up to the task to slow down Melvin Gordon and come away with a win. - Jeff Essary
Broncos win
The most promising thing about Denver's defense this season is that as starters take games off they're replaced by players that have the potential to be better than the starter. Jared Crick is still suffering from back spasms, enter: Shelby Harris. Shane Ray is on their injured reserve, enter: Shaquil Barrett. Mix those two hungry elements on the Broncos right side with Von Miller on the left side swearing two sacks per game doesn't seem difficult. Trevor Siemian seemingly won the quarterback battle, but Chris Harris, Dymonte' Thomas and Siemian all scored same amount of touchdowns this preseason (1). Siemian's the same as last season, the offensive line, run game and defense have all improved. Word from Denver's defensive coordinator Joe Woods is that Will Parks and Justin Simmons won the job from T.J. Ward last season. Rookie phenom Jamal Carter may need a few more practice reps before he's ready for live fire, but if he's active on Monday night we've all seen that Denver's preseason leader in tackles will be _active_. Von Miller, Aqib Talib, Harris, Matt Paradis, Darian Stewart, Brandon Marshall, and Demaryius Thomas... That's seven of the Broncos 22 starters on offense and defense that have legitimate All Pro campaigns this season. Sure some of those are a bit of a stretch, but so is the idea of the Los Angeles Chargers having fans show up to their home games this season. - Ian Henson
Broncos 23, Chargers 17
This game is going to feature a high-octane offense and defense, but unfortunately the two are not on the same team. You know which team has which. The key will be whether the Broncos' explosive defense can stop the Chargers' explosive quarterback more than the Broncos' promised-to-be-more-explosive offense can be stopped by the Chargers' explosive Joey Bosa & Co. Bosa has promised to "get after the quarterback" and we've all seen the incompetence that generally brings out in our offense when that happens. Garett Bolles and Ron Leary will need to have a big game to help keep Trevor Siemian clean because No 13 has a 95.0 passer rating when not under pressure but a 61.6 rating when he is. If Mike McCoy is going to work his magic with this offense, the O-line is going to have to be solid. I think it will take a few weeks for that to be the case but in the meantime the defense will keep the team in the win column. While I wait out a hurricane in the Southeast, I'm fully anticipating a defensive hurricane at Mile High, giving the Broncos the edge in a prime-time matchup at home. - Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann