The Denver Broncos are preparing to play the Cardinals on Sunday at home, and fans are looking for the most recent updates.
Check out the latest buzz below.
Tough Choices in Pass Defense Against Cardinals
The Broncos face some tough choices against the improved Cardinals.
For one, they don’t know whether Carson Palmer, who has missed two of the first three games with a shoulder injury, will be out there--or his backup Drew Stanton, who is 2-0 this year.
And star receiver Larry Fitzgerald has been joined by rookie wideout John Brown, who leads the team with three touchdown receptions.
“For the Broncos it means giving Fitzgerald the attention he warrants and still finding a way to handle the rest,” noted ESPN.
“Beyond Fitzgerald, the Broncos will have keep Michael Floyd from the big play -- he leads the league in yards per catch at 22.9 -- and match Brown’s speed.”
The Broncos have readied the lineup for this kind of threat, adding Aqib Talib and rookie Bradley Roby. The team had Roby cover Reggie Wayne basically by himself in the season opener while putting Chris Harris Jr. against Percy Harvin in week 2.
The Broncos, who have played out of their nickel package (five defensive backs) just under 60 percent of the time thus far, figure to keep to that schedule in Sunday’s game. The Broncos have even used it in some run-first, down-and-distance situations because they like the speed it gives them in the formation,” ESPN reported.
“I went back in the slot (against the Seahawks) and I don’t think many people thought I would be back in the slot all time against somebody,” said Harris Jr. “But we can line up a lot of ways and we have to because we’re going to play teams with good receivers looking to move them around. But I think we can do more things this year against that.”
Trevathan to Return on Sunday
The Broncos defense will get a boost with the return of linebacker Danny Trevathan against Arizona.
He suffered a left tibial fracture on August 12.
“It’s a huge deal. I told him that today,” defensive tackle Terrance Knighton told denverbroncos.com. “I’m happy to have him back.”
Trevathan brings speed and versatility to the middle of the defense, and gives Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio the freedom to be more aggressive.
“It allows your defense to be more exotic and do more things and it’s just another guy that quarterbacks have to worry about besides T.J. (Ward) blitzing or DeMarcus (Ware) coming off the edge,” Knighton said.
“You’ve got to worry about Danny now, so he brings a lot more versatility to our defense.”
Von Miller and Ware Being Effectively Used So Far
The Broncos are still looking to better with their pass rush but the combination of DeMarcus Ware and linebacker Miller is paying off so far.
Bleacher Report notes that in comparison with other pass-rushing duos with 4.5 sacks or more this year, the duo is on the top end of tackles and sacks.
Miller has 15 tackles already while Ware has 6; Miller has 2 sacks while Ware has 2.5.
“Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio loves to move Miller and Ware around the formation to create mismatches. Even though he’s a linebacker, Miller is technically a defensive end in the nickel. In [one] picture, we actually see Miller standing up above the center—technically as a defensive tackle,” it reported.
“The Broncos are being quite creative with the way both Miller and Ware are used, and they’ve had a fair amount of success getting pressure on the quarterback. If the Broncos offense can build larger leads, then we could see this pass-rushing duo have even more success going forward.”
Cardinals Look to Stymie Manning
On the other end of the ball, the Broncos defense could be confused by the Cardinals.
The defense is apparently going to try different disguises to try to disrupt Peyton Manning.
“You can disguise some and you can try to disguise as much as you want,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said.
But, he added, “He’s going to find them out sooner or later.”
Defenses coached by Todd Bowles, the current Arizona coordinator, have intercepted Manning seven times while allowing just eight touchdowns.
Linebacker Larry Foote said that the best way to keep anning guessing is to line up in the same defensive formation on every play.
Just “holding your disguise, holding it,” Foote said with some emphasis, reported ESPN. “You ain’t got to show other stuff but just holding it, that helps. A lot of the time he gets the ball out of his hands so fast. He sees something and he goes.”
Five Toughest Games
CBS puts the Arizona game as the second-toughest left for the Broncos alls eason.
The first is the December 14 road game against the San Diego Chargers.
“The Chargers are 3-1 with a win against the Seahawks, and their only loss was a game they should have won against Arizona,” it said.
“The Broncos also have the Chargers at home on October 23, and right now the Chargers are looking like a serious threat in the AFC West (and AFC in general).”
Rounding out the top 5 is the November 30 game at the Kansas City Chiefs, the December 22 game at the Cincinnati Bengals, and the November 2 game at the New England Patriots.
After Sunday’s game, the Broncos will have an away game against the New York Jets on October 12.
