If the Denver Broncos are going to find a way to beat the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, they are going to have to fix some issues that have plagued them throughout the course of the 2024 season. And maybe some of the things that need fixing haven't been bad all year, but they have routinely popped up as issues that have hurt this team in big games.
To be fair, this Broncos team has overcome some of its major issues throughout the season to still be a top-10 scoring attack offensively and top-3 scoring defense on top of it.
But to pull off an upset on the road, they're going to have to be firing on all cylinders. Here are some consistent or semi-consistent issues they will have to fix.
Broncos must fix timing issue on deep pass for game vs. Bills
1. Timing on the deep ball between Bo Nix and Troy Franklin
Just like we saw against the Cincinnati Bengals in a game where the Broncos had a chance to pull off a win on the road against a premier superstar quarterback, there may come some opportunities throughout the course of the game against the Bills where Bo Nix has a chance to connect on the deep ball with wide receiver Troy Franklin.
The timing has just not been there for those two guys all year, which is odd considering they played college ball together at Oregon.
If the opportunities are presented against the Bills for these two to connect on deep balls, they have to find a way to get the timing right. It could be the difference between a win and a loss. The same could be said about the Broncos' game against the Chargers in which a deep ball to Marvin Mims was mis-timed and behind Mims.
Even though that should have been pass interference.
3. Punting issues in recent weeks
Over the last handful of games, it has looked like Broncos punter Riley Dixon is out there kicking a cinderblock. Which is surprising considering Dixon has been an asset for the Broncos this year plenty of times.
We all want to see Dixon on the field primarily as a holder for extra points, but when he is called upon as a punter, his full-time job, he's got to come through and flip field position for the Broncos. Again, over the long haul of the season, this has not been an issue. But Dixon had his worst game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, routinely providing them with short fields to work with on bad kicks.
Dixon has to be on point in a game where flipping field position at the right time could be a huge advantage for the Broncos.
3. Penalties killing big plays, stalling drives
One thing that has happened to the Broncos on a wide variety of occasions this season is big plays wiped out by penalties. We even saw this a couple of times against the Kansas City Chiefs, specifically on two big runs by Bo Nix.
One of the penalties was on Nix himself, a "forward lateral" based on where Javonte Williams caught Nix's backwards pitch cost the Broncos 20 yards of field position and a 10-second run-off. Against the Chiefs and with the Broncos already up by 21 points with the game in hand, it wasn't a big deal, but that's the kind of play where Nix will have to be even more precise against a team like Buffalo.
Another huge run by Nix was wiped out by a holding call on guard Quinn Meinerz, a rare mistake on the part of no. 77.
Defensively this applies as well. The Broncos have bailed other teams out at times this season with bogus defensive pass interference or holding calls when they would otherwise be getting off the field on third down. The last thing Josh Allen needs is second chances on drives in which he's been stopped.
