After finally snapping their losing streak last week, the Denver Broncos will look to launch a winning streak this week against the Los Angeles Rams.
What are the keys to nabbing a victory on Christmas Day for the Broncos? Let’s take a look.
How do the Denver Broncos’ WRs work in concert vs. Jalen Ramsey?
The 2022 Denver Broncos have been disappointing in almost every way imaginable.
As an overall team they failed to live up to expectations, their blockbuster trade seemingly blew up in their face, their head coach looks over his skis, and injuries have crippled nearly half of the roster. Practically nothing has gone right for them.
One thing that has, though, is the recent emergence of Jerry Jeudy as a legitimately dangerous offensive weapon. Jeudy’s been playing his best football of the season, and is currently the NFL’s most efficient receiver (calculated by way of yards per route run — a rate metric similar to ‘yards per attempt’) when facing man coverage. He also ranks fourth in the NFL when facing man coverage, since the Jaguars game in London.
This recently uncovered dynamism has only been highlighted by the recent position shift with Jeudy, as the team began playing him as their ‘X’ receiver in Courtland Sutton’s absence, and it was tremendously successful.
But now that Sutton is back, how will those two fit together, in their new roles? And how will they produce against Jalen Ramsey — likely a future Hall-of-Famer?
The answer will have a massive impact on the Denver Broncos’ offensive production this week.
Take advantage of Aaron Donald’s absence
This one is pretty straightforward.
Aaron Donald is the greatest defensive player of this generation, and, from an accolades perspective, he should at least be debated as the greatest defensive player of all time.
He has seven first-team All-Pro nods, and has only been eligible for eight. That’s by far the best rate in NFL history, among players with at least five. Since the 1970 merger, no one has made more than five All-Pros in less than a decade of play. The NFL record for most first-team All-Pro selections by a defensive player if eight, but whereas Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, and Bruce Smith each played 19, 16, and 13 years, respectively, Donald has been around for just eight. Yet, despite having roughly half the opportunities of those other legends, he’s accomplished 87.5% of what they have.
Donald has also tied Taylor and J.J. Watt in Defensive Player of the Year awards, with three, and Donald has played the least amount of time to get there.
Take that guy off the field, and the entire makeup of the game is flipped on its head.
People think of Donald as a pass-rusher, and rightfully so, but his absence has had its greatest impact on Los Angeles’ ability to defend the run. In the past two weeks, without Donald, the Rams had their two worst performances of the season, when it came to stopping the ground game.
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, the Denver Broncos seem to be hitting their stride on the ground, as they’ve garnered 274 yards on the ground over their last two games — by far their best two-game total of the season.