The Broncos are walking into Week 2 with a lot to clean up, and the biggest red flag sits right at the point of attack. Denver gave up 220 rushing yards in its opener, a sharp contrast to the 91.1 rushing yards per game it allowed last season, and Ian St. Clair of Mile High Report isn’t treating that as a one-week blip.
He pointed to a much uglier stretch than just the season opener. Over the last three games, including both playoff games from last season, Denver has been gashed for 543 rushing yards.
That kind of run defense doesn’t just look shaky - it starts to look like a pattern. Against Jacksonville, St.
Clair said it may take “a miracle” for that streak not to continue to a fourth game, and he added that Denver would help itself if it simply remembered how to tackle.
On the other side of the ball, he’s not ready to bury Bo Nix and the offense after a muted Week 1. Denver’s opener came on the road at Arrowhead Stadium against what he described as arguably the best defensive coordinator this century, with an offensive coordinator making his first play-calling debut.
In his view, that combination set the stage for trouble. Still, he didn’t sugarcoat how flat the Broncos looked.
Jaylen Waddle was traded for, yet finished with one catch for two yards, and on third-and-1, Davis Webb called an empty set. St.
Clair’s bottom line was blunt: “The Broncos offense looked and played like this was its first game playing football.” He does expect that side of the ball to be better Sunday.
As for why this matchup could play differently than last season’s meeting, St. Clair leaned on two things: memory and pride.
He noted that athletes remember embarrassment, and Jacksonville’s win over Denver last year left a mark. He also pointed out that the Broncos were just hammered by Kansas City, which should only sharpen the edge heading into this one.
Add in Sean Payton, who St. Clair said won’t accept either of those performances, and there’s at least a built-in response factor.
The game being in Denver, he said, can’t hurt either.
The matchup he’s watching most closely is Denver’s front seven against the Jaguars’ offensive line. If the Broncos can’t hold the edge and fight through interior blocks, he said it’s going to be a long afternoon. He flipped the same lens to Denver’s own offensive line, which has to be better in both run and pass protection than it was in Kansas City.
Even with all that concern, St. Clair still thinks Denver finds a way to cover the 2.5-point spread and win.
His confidence comes with a nod to Bo Nix’s “nasty wake-up call” line after the Chiefs loss. For a prop angle, he gave two calls: Waddle anytime TD (+185) and 60+ receiving yards (+118).
In Other News...
Jaguars Defense Gets An Early Chance To Expose Denvers Biggest Problem
The Broncos left their season opener with plenty to sort through after a 31-10 loss to the Chiefs, and much of the postgame attention centered on how quickly the offense has to steady itself. Bo Nix acknowledged the rough start but framed it as a problem to fix rather than a reason to panic, while Sean Payton took responsibility and pointed to the teams overall shortcomings as the bigger issue.
For Jacksonville, that makes this coming matchup feel like an early measuring stick for a defense looking to take advantage of a team still searching for answers. The Jaguars will get a look at a Denver group that knows it has to play cleaner and more complete football in a hurry, and the pressure is already on Paytons side to show the opener was a stumble, not a sign of a deeper problem. [Read more 🡒]
Travis Hunter Just Gave Jaguars Fans A Big New Reason To Watch
Travis Hunter is back on the field for Jacksonville after a long recovery from an LCL tear that kept him out for 318 days, and his first game back offered the Jaguars a fresh glimpse of why they were so eager to get him involved again. He worked mostly on defense, mixed in a few snaps on offense and finished with one catch and one carry, a small but meaningful step in reintroducing a player the team plans to use in more than one way.
Hunter and the Jaguars defensive coordinator both sounded encouraged by what they saw, which matters because this is still the start of figuring out how far his workload can go. Special teams could be next on the list, adding another layer to a role that already asks plenty of him and giving Jacksonville even more reason to keep watching how the plan unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Face A Mile High Problem After A Shaky Week 1
The Jaguars spent the early part of the week looking hard at the kicking game as they get ready for Denver, where the elevation at Mile High Stadium can change the way kickoffs play out. Jacksonvilles special teams had a rough opening weekend, giving up more than 200 kick return yards and producing only one touchback on seven kickoffs, leaving field position as an immediate concern heading into Week 2.
Heath Farwell and Doug Pederson are weighing game-management adjustments to help limit damage and create better starting spots for the defense. With the Broncos waiting and the altitude factor in play, the Jaguars know this is more than a routine special-teams cleanup job - it may shape how they choose to attack kickoffs and control the game flow on Sunday. [Read more 🡒]