ENGLEWOOD – This is a must win because of the consequences involved if they don’t.
If the Broncos don’t beat the Arizona Cardinals, they might never win again, in particularly on the road.
The Broncos are 2-4 after starting the season 2-0.
The Arizona Cardinals are 1-5 with a rookie starting quarterback. The Broncos are slight road favorites, the key word there being, “road.”
The Broncos are not a good road team. They are 1-9 away from the Mile High City with Vance Joseph as their head coach and 1-11 going back to the end of Gary Kubiak’s term in 2016.
Here is a Klis List of items the Broncos should follow if they want to snap their four-game losing skid:
1. Win one for the Vancer
In part because there are 10 days between this game and the next at Kansas City, there is speculation the Broncos could make a coaching change if they lose this game to the Cards.
There will be no coaching change if the Broncos win. Bronco fans clamoring for Joseph to be fired may not be thinking through the chaos that follows an in-season coaching change. But if the Broncos do lose to a Cardinals’ team that has Mike McCoy as their offensive coordinator, the wrath of Elway may blow its lid.
2. No more allowing a 200-yard running back!
The Broncos just set a dubious NFL record by allowing a 200-yard rushing performance to an individual ball carrier in back-to-back games. The New York Jets’ Isaiah Crowell rushed for 219 yards two weeks ago (after gaining 0 yards on 4 carries the previous game) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Todd Gurley II had 208 yards on Sunday.
To allow Cardinals running back David Johnson a 200-yard rushing game would be padding the record to an unreachable level.
The Cards rank dead last in the league with a meager 64.0 rushing yards per game. If the Broncos, whose defense ranks dead last against the run at 161.3 yards per, can’t stop the Cards, then their next best bet is to try and schedule Georgia Tech, Army or Navy, who rank 1-2-3 in college rushing.
3. Extend The Great 40-yard Offense
The Broncos’ offense ranks a much-improved 12th with 387.7 yards per game. (The last season they finished that well was 2014).
But they are also 26th with 20.0 points per game. Some of the problem is red-zone inefficiency where the Broncos rank 26th with a 47.4 percent touchdown conversion rate.
But too often the Broncos’ drive fizzle between opponent’s 45 and 35.
4. Run the ball
With the Broncos losing their two, highest-paid offensive linemen in Ron Leary and Jared Veldheer to injuries, the revamped line can’t expect to protect quarterback Case Keenum if he’s dropping back 35 times a game.
Unfortunately for rookie running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman they can’t go up against the Denver defense. But the next worse thing is Arizona’s run defense that ranks next-to-last in the league.
5. Pressure the rookie Rosen
Cardinals’ and former Broncos’ offensive coordinator Mike McCoy has taken a cautious approach to breaking in rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, who has just 2 touchdown passes while averaging less than 200 passing yards in his three starts.
But McCoy is under siege and may in jeopardy of getting fired in-season for the second year in a row as the Cardinals are 32nd in total offense with a pitiful 220.5 yards per game and 31st in scoring with an average of only 13.7 points.
McCoy must open it up this week against the Broncos and when he does, Denver outside linebackers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb must get to Rosen and either sack him or hurry him in to bad decisions.
