The Broncos head out to Oakland for the showdown of the season, as they’ll face off against the 6-2 Oakland Raiders on Sunday Night Football for the AFC West lead.
After hitting a bump in the road during weeks five and six, the Broncos believe they’re back on track and ready to take on their arch rivals, especially after last week’s performance against the Chargers.
“You go back out there and you look at San Diego and their game plan,” rookie safety Justin Simmons told Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Afternoon Drive, “they had a pretty good game plan. … For us, it’s just coming out and making sure we have the right calls and the right checks and the right defenses. We put ourselves in the best positions to make plays.”
Just two weeks prior, though, the Broncos went into San Diego on a Thursday night and suffered their second loss of the season. But coming into the rematch, they knew not to expect the same thing.
“They could surprise you,” Simmons explained. “I think that also comes with having great vets. They made sure they told us, ‘Hey, I know we played these guys just a week ago, but be ready for anything to happen.’ … Come out and be ready to attack whatever offensive set they come out in, because that was obviously their game plan.”
This win for Denver has allowed the team to regain that confidence they had at the beginning of the season, before their two-week slump. It is clear the Broncos know this week’s game will be a challenge, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.
“That’s what this defense thrives off of: going up against the best in the league and taking away what they do best,” Simmons said when asked about Oakland. “They haven’t played our defense yet this year, and we haven’t played their offense. But when it comes down to it, they haven’t seen guys like Von [Miller] off the edge, DeMarcus [Ware] off the edge, Shane [Ray]. They haven’t seen Aqib [Talib] and Chris [Harris] on both sides, and you have [Bradley] Roby coming off having the game he just had… They’re a great offensive team, but they haven’t seen a defense like ours yet.”
Listen to the rest of what Justin Simmons has to stay, including how he felt after his first big play of the season, below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/11-1-16-buffs-open-at-15-in-the-cfp-ranking-eric-and-les-catch-up-with-justin-simmons
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro Monday-Friday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.