The Denver Broncos will kick things off this morning in two hours with the New Orleans Saints. What are the two main keys to victory for the Broncos in today’s preseason finale?
Denver Broncos keys to victory vs. New Orleans Saints
If the Broncos are going to leave New Orleans here today with an undefeated preseason campaign, they’ll have to do two of these key things to do just that.
Broncos run game has been the heart of the preseason
Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger have done a tremendous job during the preseason of operating the Denver Broncos’ offense from under center, but it’s the ground game that has been the heart of their success in two preseason games.
In just two games, the Broncos have rushed for 320 yards with the collective group of backs they’ve been utilizing to fill out the remaining roster spots behind J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.
Against the Cardinals last week, the Broncos ran for 167 yards in their 27-7 win, which followed up their 153-yard output against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1.
So far in two preseason games combined, the Saints defense has allowed 244 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, and has allowed opponents to gain a first down on rushing attempts 18 times. Look for Sean Payton to try to continue this trend of rushing success this morning.
Broncos defense has been suffocating on third down
While the Broncos’ offensive output in the preseason has been impressive, Denver’s defense has been suffocating.
Defensively, the Broncos have held preseason opponents scoreless in the second, third, and fourth quarters in both of their previous games and have only allowed 16 combined points in the first quarter.
Third down has been the key metric of success, though, with the Broncos holding both the Cardinals and 49ers to a combined 3-of-25 (12%) on third down. The Saints offense, through two preseason games so far, has converted 7-of-26 (27%) of their third-down attempts.
With Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough battling it out for the QB1 job for New Orleans, I’d expect Vance Joseph to pressure both quarterbacks a lot throughout today’s game, with Saints QBs getting sacked seven times in two games coming into this morning’s matchup.
Kickoff is at 11:00 a.m. MT on KTVD-20. Stay tuned to MHS for post-game coverage and more.
