Vance Joseph

But the biggest key, Sarah, is the Broncos.

winning early on first down because if you want to create that pass rush opportunity if you want to force the Chiefs to throw the football you want Mahomes to have a have to take a drop back against this pass rush well it can't be on second and third second and three or third and four it has to be on some of those third and eight third and ten long situations to be able to do that and part of that is knowing that the Chiefs are going to come out and they're going to try to attack denver early they're going to try to get five or six yards on first down and that makes their play calling a little bit more manageable on the second and third downs so that's what vance joseph is preparing for so for me early on i hope we see the broncos playing up a little bit not so much cushion in their secondary play some press play five yards off and be able to tighten and react quickly because i think when mahomes does pass sarah to your point i think it is going to be the quick passing game where he's going to try to get it out as quick as he can and then get rolling from there

Yeah, I just don't think we're going to see a ton of shot plays from this Chiefs offense.

Not that we won't see any.

Now have to factor in stopping Kenneth Walker.

That's also going to be another big key to this whole entire puzzle.

And if Kenneth Walker – you can shut them down the run game early on especially on the early downs then it does play into your favor about having the homes drop back there and throw we'll see if the broncos advance joseph can adjust accordingly as every series goes on here monday night football but with that said broncos country we got one more broncos practice coming up on saturday we'll get the final injury report and you'll get our final game preview here on monday's episode lockdown broncos we'll go through the final injury report we'll tell you who our players to watch are and our keys to victory on Monday's episode of the show.

And in the meantime, after this, make sure you go check out the Locked On NFL season preview.

Well, I'd like that, and I would love it for Dennis Allen because it makes me kind of think about when Nick Benito first broke out in Denver.

He was the antithesis of what Vance Joseph has typically liked in his edge rushers, or at least liked them to look like.

But then he was so good, they couldn't take him off the field.

And it's almost been one of those things where if you have enough of what the D.C. wants, you can kind of get away.

Well, I think he's putting everybody on notice that he thinks he's back, and we'll see if he's back or not.

Vance Joseph's defensive testing, that's been a really strong defense ever since Vance has been there.

I think they've gotten better.

I'm anxious to see Alex Singleton return.

Again, he does such a great job leading that defense.

And there's a lot of storylines here.

Eric Bien-Ami and the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs and Vance Joseph are very, very good friends.

But they have a pact that they don't talk to each other for 48 hours before the game.

It's a huge, huge loss because it allows the Denver Broncos defense just to tee off on the run game to force the Chiefs into throwing situations, and that's not a great scenario for the Chiefs to be in.

We've talked about left tackle ad nauseum over the last few weeks since Josh Simmons' situation happened, and we know that the offensive line is not that deep But I imagine, even without Jonathan Cooper, that Vance Joseph is thinking, looking at his chops at what he can do and the matches he can create because there's a lot of opportunities there to take advantage of this offensive line with a quarterback who's coming back from an ACL tear.

Yeah.

Sam, what's it mean for you? Well, I actually think we're looking at the wrong part of the line.

Hopefully not.

But again, it's a lot of it has to do with schematic philosophy and just the way Vance Joseph plays defense and calls defense.

But encouraging steps, Zach, and also encouraging signs of awareness and like, hey, we understand we need better answers for the tight end last season.

using Jaday Barron at times as that neutralizer to just follow tight ends around.

And, man, hey, don't be afraid to do that again this year, Vance Joseph.

And the division is loaded, though.

I mean, honestly, I forgot David Njoku signed with the Chargers.

On the defensive side, it just has to be.

I think he's got to outdo Vance Joseph.

Now, maybe that's laughable in a lot of people's eyes.

We know what Vance is about, right? We know he is going two blitz all freaking night.

That's just what he does, right? That's the Vance Joseph scheme.

Unless you're the

Chiefs and you just drop nine.

So this is Lamar Jackson's first game with his new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle.

Good news, because he's very familiar, he being Lamar Jackson, with the Colts defensive coordinator.

That's Lou Anarumo, who was with the Bengals for a long time.

Lamar has excelled against Anarumo's defenses.

Got to tell you, though.

Four games against Mahomes since 2023.

Broncos defensive coordinator, Vance Joseph.

has held Mahomes to a 55 QBR.

Well, I'd like that, and I would love it for Dennis Allen because it makes me kind of think about when Nick Benito first broke out in Denver.

He was the antithesis of what Vance Joseph has typically liked in his edge rushers, or at least liked them to look like.

But then he was so good, they couldn't take him off the field.

And it's almost been one of those things where if you have enough of what the D.C. wants, you can kind of get away.

They saw Matt Burke and D'Amico Ryans running a Houston Texans defense in the divisional round.

Vance Joseph, one of the most experienced defensive coordinators in the league in the championship game.

And then Mike McDonald and the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

So I don't think this is a bad thing.