With three games left in the season, the Denver Broncos are determined to end strong. What is the team’s thinking going into their Christmas Eve game against the New England Patriots after their heartbreaking defeat to the Detroit Lions on Saturday?
This season has taught us one thing about the Broncos: they don’t back down from a challenge, even when they run against obstacles like brick walls. The Broncos have won six of their last eight games after opening the season 1-5.
Over the past three weeks, we’ve even witnessed this team react to setbacks. They made a huge comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers following their loss to the Houston Texans.
Can they respond once again against the New England Patriots? If the Broncos want to have a chance at the postseason, they’ll have to win their next three games and hope they get some help from other teams along the way.
Regardless of how the season ends, we’ve seen this Broncos team transform their identity that should surely help them going into next season.
“I think it’s going to be very important,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said on his Monday conference call. “We all watched the games yesterday and you get caught up in the numbers and the percentages. You can only focus on the things you can control and it’s obviously getting ready to play New England and that’s it. Focus on getting this next win because that’s really all that matters. It’s going to take three wins, but it starts with this week.”
Their room for error is gone going forward, but how they approach these next three games is entirely in their control. One of their key challenges will be trying not to get caught slipping by a dangerous New England Patriots team.
Despite the Patriots’ 3-11 record this season, they are very much a threat to ending Denver’s playoff hopes this week. Bill Belichick has New England’s defense playing it’s typical brand of stingy and aggressive football.
Belichick will likely utilize a similar strategy to that of Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn this past weekend.
“We kind of just saw it a little bit in [Lions Defensive Coordinator] Aaron Glenn,” Payton said on Monday. “Those guys in Detroit did a good job. There were a number of snaps where they were going to double [WR] Courtland [Sutton]. We’ve had a number of games. I can recall one game in New England with [Saints TE] Jimmy Graham, where [former Patriots CB Aqib] Talib went wherever Jimmy went and really did a good job shutting him down. It really forced us to find other receivers. It’s one of the things that [Patriots Head Coach] Bill [Belichick] historically has done very well. He’s going to try to loot your strengths and I think that’s what good defensive coach coaching is—trying to force you to do things maybe you don’t do as well.”
The main cause of New England’s difficulties this season has been their inability to generate offensive productivity on a regular basis, although Bailey Zappe has given them more competent looks since replacing Mac Jones as the starting quarterback.
Denver just played a game in which they were unable to stop the run and struggled to get after Jared Goff. The Patriots will want to take advantage of the parts of the field that the film showed the Lions using.The Broncos face the Patriots on Sunday in a Christmas Eve game, so it’s all or nothing for them this week.
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