Good morning, Broncos Country!
There has been one glaring issue with the Denver Broncos defense.
Through the first four games, the defense has two takeaways. That’s tied with the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys. At least Denver isn’t the Houston Texans, the worst in the NFL with zero.
The issue of turnovers isn’t just on the defense, either. The Broncos have turned the ball over eight times. That means Denver is minus-6 in turnover ratio.
As Adam Malnati and I discussed on the MHR Radio Podcast, if the Broncos want to steal Monday’s game with the New England Patriots, they need to win the turnover battle. If Denver is able to finally get some takeaways, that will (likely) give Brett Rypien and the offense more possessions to get points. Conversely, the Broncos can’t give the New England offense extra possessions.
Yes, it’s cliche to say Denver has to win the turnover battle if it wants to win on Monday. But it’s also the truth. If the Broncos start doing the little things correctly, the big things will take care of themselves. The best way to do that is with turnovers.
As Denver defensive coordinator Ed Donatell told the media this week on if the defense needs to generate more turnovers:
“Yeah, absolutely, and I take full responsibility for that. We had a tough month. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t what we wanted. But really the only thing that matters is what we do this week to help our team win. The major emphasis is that we have to catch the ball. We had a couple balls in our hands, a couple tips that we’ve got to come down with, we’ve got to attack runners. But that’s a point of emphasis: we need to do it and we want to set up our offense for points. They put up a lot of points last week without us even helping them. If we help them, good things are going to happen.”
Broncos Blast
Each Saturday, I do a segment on Denver radio station ESPN 1600 AM. On this week’s Broncos Blast, we went positive and I lay out how Denver can win on Monday.
Broncos News
Broncos At Patriots Preview: Can Denver Pull The Road Upset?
Even with the uncertainty surrounding Cam Newton, the Broncos still have to contend with Bill Belichick & his defense.
Drew Lock? Cam Newton? Broncos’ Week 5 matchup impacted by QB uncertainty
Plus, Head Coach Vic Fangio provides an update on Von Miller, other injured players and how the game moving to Monday will impact preparations for Week 6.
#DENvsNE’s Burning Questions: Can the Broncos win in the margins?
Among the questions that will determine the winner of this week's game: Who will start at quarterback for each team?
Opinion: Brett Rypien deserves another start at quarterback | 9news.com
While Drew Lock Watch continues to tick, Rypien should not immediately be benched after his first NFL start resulted in 0 sacks, 37 points and a victory.
Broncos bristle about moving Patriots game to Monday, but Vic Fangio says 'it's on us' - Denver Broncos- ESPN
The Broncos get a short week as a result of the move and may have to face Cam Newton at quarterback, but Fangio says Denver will be ready.
NFL News
Tom Brady’s 4th down confusion was one of the weirdest moments on Thursday night - SBNation.com
A decision that sealed the win for the Bears will come under major scrutiny.
Patriots' Jason McCourty questions whether NFL, NFLPA care about player safety
Patriots CB Jason McCourty gave high marks to Bill Belichick but said the NFL and NFLPA don't care about player safety.
NFL suspends Ian Rapoport two weeks - ProFootballTalk
The NFL usually suspends players. Sometimes, it suspends employees of the NFL’s in-house media conglomerate. Recently, NFL Network suspended its top information gatherer/provider/reciter.
Chiefs strength and conditioning coach tests positive for coronavirus - Arrowhead Pride
It is unclear if this development will affect Sunday’s Chiefs-Raiders game.
It doesn't get more cold and cruel in NFL than Tyrod Taylor's demotion as Chargers' starting QB
When a player is sidelined because of someone else’s mistake, it is a reminder of just how unfair the sport can be.
Scoring Is Way Up In The NFL. Which Teams Does That Help? | FiveThirtyEight
There has been more pre-snap motion, play-action and fourth-down conversion attempts.