Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton will coach his first regular season game since 2021 when they face off against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1. And ahead of the matchup, Payton acknowledged one roadblock that could cause his team some trouble.
The Raiders will have a new quarterback at the helm in Jimmy Garoppolo to start the season. But they will still have an impressive running game led by All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs.
Payton discussed the team’s game plan against Jacobs, where he detailed that he believes the two-time Pro Bowler is “one of the most dominant running backs in the NFL”.
“Our plan defensively is, here are the key players,’’ Payton told Mike Kilis of 9 News in Denver. “He certainly is one of the more dominant running backs in the NFL so that’s how we’ll approach the game.”
Jacobs certainly proved to be worthy of every bit of Payton’s praise last season, recording a league-leading 1,653 rushing yards to go along with 12 touchdowns.
If the Broncos defense is going to have any success against the Raiders and get their season started off on the right foot, they will need to control Jacobs and the rest of Raiders rushing game. And fortunately, the Broncos defense was successful against the run last season, sporting a top-10 rushing defense in 2022.
It will certainly be interesting to see if the Broncos look any better this season with Sean Payton in town. The Broncos notably finished as one of the worst teams in football last year with a 5-12 record.
[9 News]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.