In a certain sense, the Jacksonville Jaguars will present the Denver Broncos with a challenge this weekend. If you don’t bring it every single week in the NFL, you could get beat — no matter who the opponent. The Jaguars are arguably the worst team in the NFL this season, but Denver can’t take anyone lightly. That’s why they will have to overcome the difficult task of avoiding a major letdown.
One of Peyton Manning’s objectives as a leader is to make sure his team is prepared each and every week. This week, being prepared means avoiding all the talk about the record-breaking 28-point spread between the Broncos and Jaguars.
“We’re playing a good NFL football team,” Manning told reporters on Wednesday, via Pro Football Talk. “I don’t look at anything besides what I see on the tape on defense, and I see a team that’s stingy in the red zone, I see some offenses that have made some really good plays against them, that have been hard to defend. Certainly, you know, it’s a team with a lot of pride.”
I don’t know how much pride the Jaguars have remaining, but I know they aren’t good. That being said, the Broncos are not perfect. Their defense just allowed a whopping 48 points against the Dallas Cowboys. Heck, Manning even had to rush for his first touchdown since 2008 to help his team remain undefeated.
“We have a lot of things we’ve got to improve on,” Manning said. “A lot of mistakes that we made in that game in Dallas. Certainly some good things that we’re building on but there are still plenty of mistakes, things we can correct. It’s actually not hard in my opinion to watch the tape and be pleased with some of the things that we’ve been doing but be motivated to correct some of the mistakes.”
Is Denver in danger of losing to Jacksonville? I wouldn’t go that far, although facing a team with nothing to lose is always dangerous. Peyton clearly wants his teammates to respect the Jags more than the team’s official Twitter account does.
