The Denver Broncos are off to one of the most magical starts in recent NFL history.  After an offseason of verbal beatings, Josh McDaniels has led his resurgent Denver team to a 6-0 start, and following their bye week, they face one of their toughest tests yet.

For their Week Eight matchup, the Broncos will travel east to take on the Baltimore Ravens, one of the NFL’s feel good stories from the 2008 season. 

After a quick 3-0 start, many considered the Ravens to be one of the best teams, if not the best team in the entire NFL. Since then, they have dropped three straight games and find themselves two back of the Steelers and Bengals in the AFC North.

Denver and its number one defense travel to Baltimore to take on one of the league’s most explosive offensive units, led by Joe Flacco and Ray Rice.

If Denver is going to improve to a perfect 7-0 this season, they are going to have to do so against a balanced Baltimore attack. Here are my keys to victory for Denver in Week Eight.

 

1. Imprint Joe Flacco’s No. 5 on the turf

By this, I obviously mean that Denver and its top pass rush need to keep the pressure on Joe Flacco, and often.

Elvis Dumervil leads the NFL with ten sacks through six games, and is on pace to absolutely shatter Michael Strahan’s single season record of 22.5 quarterback take-downs. 

The Broncos do a great job of mixing things up with their blitz packages with disguises and eight or nine man fronts. They are able to blitz much more often than not because of their superb talent in the defensive backfield.

The Ravens have been able to throw the ball all over the field this season due to a partial lack of talent on behalf of their opponents, because Baltimore does not have the most imposing group of receivers.

Baltimore will try to counter Denver’s pass rush with a barrage of screen passes, which were extremely effective in the second half of their bout with Minnesota two weeks ago.

 

2. Denver’s Passing Attack

The Ravens’ clear weakness lies with their defensive backs, who combined with a relatively quiet pass rush have given the Ravens the NFL’s 24th ranked pass defense.

This is an area Denver clearly needs to take advantage.

The Broncos are ranked 13th in the NFL in passing offense, but that number has risen every week so far this season. Kyle Orton’s only interception this year came on a hail mary pass at the end of the first half against the New England Patriots, so the Broncos play an efficient pass offense.

They may need to be a bit more aggressive against the Ravens to exploit this weakness, and there is no reason Orton shouldn’t be able to pick and choose where he wants to throw it.

Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal clearly overmatch Baltimore cornerbacks Domonique Foxworth and Fabian Washington, who are speedy but not very physical.

The key for Baltimore lies with Ed Reed, who is bound to have his hands full on Sunday.  The Broncos boast a bevy of talent offensively, and a scouting report given to me by a Vikings analyst indicated that the Ravens were susceptible to the pass over the middle.

Denver needs to exploit this weakness with their physical receivers and with screen passes. Tony Scheffler saw a career high in receiving yards in Denver’s last game and he could be a huge factor on Sunday as well.

One of the most underrated aspects to Denver’s aerial attack is its offensive line, which is absolutely dominant. This group is arguably the best in the NFL, and they have been a huge reason for the Broncos’ offensive success thus far.

3. Create Turnovers

The Broncos started the season with a ton of turnovers, but the last couple of games they have been relatively quiet in that category. Baltimore is plus two in the turnover margin, so they do not often hurt themselves in that venue.

Denver is going to have to instigate the situation, and it starts with my first key to victory which is the pass rush. Joe Flacco is a good quarterback, but his strong arm can get him into trouble at times, and the Broncos need to take advantage.

 

4.  Get out to an early lead

This one is pretty simple, actually.

Denver is the best defensive team in the second half of football games this season, allowing only 10 points through 12 second half quarters.

If the Broncos can get out to an early lead, statistics would indicate that they can hold on to it. The Broncos have had to come back in over half of their games this season, and while the comeback win is still a win, Denver is ninth in the NFL in total offense, and is more than capable of putting up points.

The Broncos have scored 17, 20, and 34 points in their last three games, so their offense is obviously improving.

Getting out to an early lead helps a lot in terms of defense as well. Obviously, if the Broncos get out to a hot start, they will be able to pin their ears back on defense and get after the quarterback.

 

Final Thoughts

The fans in my earlier article picked the Broncos to win by a final count of 231 votes to 27 in favor of Denver. 

Obviously, the Broncos are a team that is gaining respect across the league, but many still consider them to be an underdog in this game. It seems like if a team like New England had similar numbers to Denver, they would be double-digit favorites, but I digress.

This should be a great game, one filled with great coaching and good defense. When it comes down to it though, it seems that this game will be decided on the offensive side of the ball. Which defense will give in first?

Can the Broncos improve to 7-0 on the season and continue their magical run?

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