Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer 6y

Broncos need to solve red zone riddles to keep pace in AFC West race

CARSON, Calif. -- The Denver Broncos didn’t do anything all that unusual this past Thursday. They practiced, filed in and out of their usual team meetings, dealt with some injuries and generally went about the same football business of any other Thursday of the season.

And, yet, when the Oakland Raiders defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on the last play from scrimmage in a wild game Thursday night, the Broncos found themselves with an opportunity to really leave last Sunday night’s dismal loss to the New York Giants behind them and reassert themselves in the AFC West race.

The Chiefs have lost two consecutive games and are now 5-2 after a 5-0 start while the Broncos are 3-2 with an opportunity to close the gap on the Chiefs before an Oct. 30 trip to Arrowhead.

“We always think the AFC West is going to be a tight battle,’’ said linebacker Von Miller. “That’s just how it goes, division games are always big and that’s why.’’

With that in mind, here are some things to watch for in Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers:

Red-zone blues: Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is out for what is expected to be several weeks with a right ankle injury while right tackle Menelik Watson (calf) and Watson’s replacement -- Donald Stephenson -- are expected to miss this game with calf injuries. It means the Broncos will have to try to solve their red-zone issues with some backups in the pass pattern and Allen Barbre, who has been splitting time at left guard, at right tackle. The Broncos are a game-crushing 2-of-11 over the past three games turning trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line into touchdowns and that includes 1-of-3 in the loss to the Buffalo Bills and 1-of-4 in the loss to the Giants. The Chargers are fifth-best in the league in red-zone defense -- opponents have scored on 40 percent of their trips -- so the Broncos need some of their front-line players to win more of those 1-on-1 battles down in close.

Pound it: The Chargers are last in the league in run defense. They’ve allowed 152.5 rushing yards per game and three backs (Jay Ajayi, Kareem Hunt and LaGarrette Blount) have rushed for at least 120 yards against the Chargers over their first six games. The Broncos’ run game had been humming along quite nicely until the Giants limited Denver to just 46 yards rushing this past Sunday night as C.J. Anderson had just 1.9 yards carry. With the Chargers’ ability to rush the passer -- Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa are the only teammates who have at least 5.5 sacks this season -- the Broncos have to control the tempo and keep themselves out of down-and-distance situations where they can't run the ball or the Chargers will just ignore play-action on the way to the quarterback. In the loss to the Giants the Broncos’ offense faced third-and-7 or longer 12 times, including third-and-10 four times to go with a third-and-12, third-and-16 and a third-and-23. Those kinds of situations didn’t work against the Giants and won’t work against the Chargers.

Clean it up: Before his injury, Watson had some struggles in pass protection as has left guard Max Garcia. That’s to go with a rookie at left tackle in Garett Bolles, who has experienced some of the expected growing pains at times, even as he’s shown why he was a first-round pick. But as the weeks have gone by, defenses have been better at concentrating their pass rush efforts where they believe they can reap the rewards. The Broncos can’t double both Bosa and Ingram all the time, so there will be plenty of snaps where either Barbre has to hold up on his own at right tackle or Bolles has to make it work at left tackle. How the Broncos fare on those downs could well decide how things go in pass protection.

Once more with feeling: The Broncos keep saying they have the mindset to stay in the playoff race and the talent to make it happen on the field. But the loss to the injury-ravaged Giants showed some football immaturity. The Broncos were a more talented team that played with less tenacity than its opponent did. The Giants went 69 yards on the opening possession for a field goal without completing a pass to the wide receiver last weekend and the Broncos offense didn’t construct a touchdown drive until well into the fourth quarter. If the Broncos' leadership in the locker room and on the coaching staff is what all involved have said it is, the Broncos won’t have a similar effort in this one.

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