The Colts, Broncos, and Patriots are all battling for the top spot in the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Even before we learned Daniel Jones is trying to play with a fracture, things were trending 🙃 for Indy 👇 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Colts. Broncos. Patriots. Who will win the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs? The answer isn't as murky as it appears 👇 open.substack.com/pub/joerowle...

Colts. Broncos. Patriots. Who will win the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs? The answer isn't as murky as it appears 👇 open.substack.com/pub/joerowle...

Fun fact: With wins at Washington (3-8) and Las Vegas (2-9) over the next two weeks, the Broncos will reclaim first place entering the season's final quarter, regardless of what the Patriots or any other team does in the meantime They just need to take care of their business.

Defensive Synergy | Pressure vs. Coverage Who can hit home & lock down WRs? Packers, Lions & Denver lead the list... 👉 Green Bay is an island! ...

Let's look at the pressure philosophy map. There are 4 main philosophies: - All-In Pressure - Deception - Passive - Traditional Aggression All-In indicates high BR with a high Sim rate. Traditional indicates a high BR, but low Sim rate. Vikings are still an outlier. ...

Let's look at some NFL defensive data, but in a more interesting way... First up is coverage diversity. Arizona leads the league in ambiguity & that makes sense; they run a 3-Safety system on most downs. Interestingly, Green Bay is at the bottom. ...

Now, let's look at Master Philosophy. - Aggressive Closed (DEN) - Aggressive Open (MIN) - Conservative Closed (CLV) - Conservative Open (HST) There is obvious overlap. 👉 SF & IND fit into all but one family. ...

👉 NFL Week 12 Defensive Schematic Clusters. More data here: www.matchquarters.com/p/2025-nfl-w... --

With the Broncos Defensive front locked up, got to hope this is the off-season George Paton finally uses meaningful draft resources on an offensive tackle. Denver hasn't drafted one since Garett Bolles in 2017. He will be 34 in May. Mike McGlinchey will be 31 in January.

With Malcolm Roach is extended through 2027, the Broncos DL is set for 2026: Zach Allen: locked up through 2029 D.J. Jones: locked up through '27 Eyioma Uwazurike: locked up through '26 Sai'vion Jones: locked up through '28 Nik Bonitto: locked up through '29 Jonathon Cooper: locked up through '28

Ben Powers has a roster bonus due March 17. Garett Bolles has an option due on September 1st, and he currently carries a cap number of $7.45 M in 2026. If the Broncos trade Mike McGlinchey after June 1st of next year, they eat $6.275 M or less in dead cap space.

The Broncos starting OL contract AAV and NFL ranks: LT Garett Bolles: $20.5 mil (T-10) LG Ben Powers: $13 mil (No. 10) C Luke Wattenberg: $12 mil (T-5) RG Quinn Meinerz: $18 mil (No. 5) RT Mike McGlinchey: $17.5 mil (No. 11)

Broncos prioritize Malcolm Roach for less than what Franklin-Myers will command. Roach more of a run clogger and true interior stuffer than pass rusher. 5.5 sacks in career.

Broncos are extending DT Malcolm Roach on a three-year, $24 million extension that could be worth as much as $29.25 million with incentives. He gets $14 million guaranteed. Former Saint joined Sean Payton in Denver last year, now he's under contract until he's 30.

I had envisioned a floor for a team friendly contract to be around $13.25M APY. To get Luke Wattenberg extended for only $12M APY strikes me as quite a bargain.

Jordan Love fadeaway hero throw to convert on 3rd & 10

I was curious, how rare is it to be No. 1 in both offensive and defensive DVOA like the Rams are now. It's VERY rare. Since 1978, these are the only teams to achieve this after Week 10 or later. 1994 Cowboys Wk 12-13 2001 Rams Wk 16-17 2007 Pats Wk 11 2014 Broncos Wk 10, 13 2025 Rams Wk 12

Chris Tomasson reporting the Broncos haven't expressed interest in a possible extension during the season for DL John Franklin-Myers. He's in line to be a free agent in March and someone will be better for it.

Broncos on expiring UFA deals DL John Franklin Myers Malcom Roach LB Alex Singleton Justin Strnad DB P.J. Locke OL Luke Wattenberg TE Adam Trautman RB J.K. Dobbins

Sean Payton said he and Broncos GM George Paton talked before the bye week on a number of extension candidates. They reached out to a few other players about an extension.

Sorcery! (And no-looking this actually matters. On the end zone angle you can see how #23 breaks on Puka because of where Stafford is looking, which creates the throwing lane on the TD)

The existence of Jared Verse implies the existence of Jared Second Verse, Jared Bridge, and Jared Third Verse

Since Broncos Country is sweating this, here are some of the available free agent "big" running backs Cam Akers Gus "the bus" Edwards Zack Moss Jamaal Williams

Wow this late game window is... Weak. Good time to go throw for Milo. ✌️

Just erased 24’s angle with ease

on throws between 0-9 yards so far, J.J. McCarthy's time to throw is 3.14 seconds

-0.46 EPA per play from the QB without a turnover is insane

he is so cool lol

Drake Maye also beating Cover 2 down the pipe on 3rd down

Micah Parsons just set off a keg of dynamite on the Vikings IOL

Nein hasn't earned his flowers as Captain Comeback yet, so this is bad.

every single game i am just stunned jonathan taylor still has a working body

I would love to see how often defensive backs get flagged vs. the Chiefs vs. league average because it certainly seems like Patrick Mahomes has the ability to draw ticky tack b.s. on a weekly basis.

It was never going to happen because of how high they went in the draft, but it's fun to imagine what Sean Payton could have done with Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland. Both have the skills to serve as the Broncos Jimmy Graham, but they have blocking chops.

The 12 TDs in 1st half for Chiefs this season are their fewest thru 11 games since they also had 12 in 2017 before Patrick Mahomes took over as starter. They averaged 20.1 in Mahomes' 1st 7 seasons

Serious question What was Stewart supposed to do?

Fully expect the Chiefs to try and run at the Broncos in their rematch

I for one am shocked the Chiefs got a touchdown taken back by a zebra.

Latu with a tremendous pick on Patrick Mahomes, and Daniel Jones follows it with a pinpoint pass to Pierce for the six. That'll do Indy

chiefs colts is a strong 1pm matchup

man put wentz back in

Schematic Fluidity is something more defenses are trying to accomplish in 2025. Offenses are trying to get NFL defenses in Base, which typically has a limited set of calls. I used the Bucs-49ers game to give context to this subject. Watch Now! (Free) | www.matchquarters.com/p/todd-bowle... —

Thanks for supporting my longform Broncos & NFL coverage y'all. I don't plan to stop that. Wanted to announce that I'm looking at diving further into some of my other interests down the road, and the bye week seemed a good time. joerowles.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

I guess we are debating Broncos/Texans. Here's a look at each defense's scheme breakdown & pressure profile. »Denver has a more "dynamic" defense utilizing diverse pressure schemes & coverages (though still man-dominant). » Houston is more static & leans heavily on its players. —

Jeremy Crawshaw is having a good season, but not a great season. He leads the league in punts inside the 20 and the 10, but not in % inside the 20 and 10. Plenty of room for improvement.

I get why the Bengals are going to play him at some point soon but I’m not sure Joe Burrow coming off injury material changes anything for the Bengals

[Colts] QB Daniel Jones was downgraded to limited practice with a calf injury. twitter.com/Colts/status...

Sean Payton gives Bo Nix one of the most expansive playbooks in the NFL, & a play caller who has won with vertical games & mobile QBs like young Drew Brees, Taysom Hill & distributors like Teddy Bridgewater & old Drew Brees. It's reasonable for Broncos Country to be optimistic.

Chiefs 43.2 Yeah, I don't buy it ESPN