The Denver Broncos travel to Baltimore for their Week 3 match up against the Ravens.
Broncos Blitz podcast host Ronnie Kohrt breaks down the Broncos game against the Ravens and the three keys that would lead to a Broncos win.
- Broncos Defensive Line Vs. Ravens Offensive Line
The Denver Broncos defense comes into Week 3 as one of the premiere defenses against the run. According to Pro Football Focus, the Broncos run-defense is ranked third in the league with a 80.0 rating, while Baltimore’s run-block grade ranks second-to-last in the NFL.
If the Broncos can control the trenches on defense and pigeon-hole the Ravens into a one dimensional offense, Flacco has proven to turn the ball over in these situations, as evidence in his three turnover night in Week 2 against the Bengals, who sacked Flacco four times.
This also allows the Broncos to unleash their pass rush in more passing downs if they shut down the Ravens run game. The NFL’s sack leader Von Miller comes into Week 3 with 4.0 sacks and certainly will have his opportunities to add more.
- Time of Possession
Denver (31:06) and Baltimore (31:42) are neck-and-neck when it comes to the battle for time of possession. One team controlling the ball with a ground game and key third-down conversations will force the other to play off-balance. This also wears on the opposing defense, which could decimate either side.
A tired secondary for Denver could lead to vulnerability in deep balls to John Brown for Baltimore and the Ravens secondary has already proved to be a liability against deep threats A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd, when the duo combined for four touchdowns against the Ravens defense in Week 2. Time of possession will be crucial to keep defenses fresh throughout the game.
- Contain the deep threat
Denver is well aware of the arm that Joe Flacco has from a cold, frosty night in January (sorry to re-open that wound) so containing the deep threat will be key on Sunday.
Denver kept everything in-front of them on Sunday against the Raiders and while it led to flash numbers for Carr. Denver was never beat by the home run ball by potent deep-threats Amari Cooper and Martavis Bryant.
If Denver can avoid the home run ball to Ravens wide receiver John Brown — who ranks 5th in the NFL in yards-per-reception (19.4) among wide receivers — the Ravens offense doesn’t pose a major threat to score points in bunches.
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