Can the Broncos continue their push for the playoffs?

Ryan and Ben were joined by George Chahrouri to discuss on Broncos Country Tonight

The Denver Broncos are preparing to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. There are several story lines out there for the game, and George Chahrouri joined Ryan and Ben on Broncos Country Tonight to discuss where the Broncos are at, the Broncos odds for making the playoffs, and Ben’s hair.

Obviously, the Broncos are in a situation where every game has playoff implications. The Bengals are one of the five 7-6 teams, along with Denver, the Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland Browns.

A win on Sunday put the playoffs well within the realm of possibilities in Denver. A loss all but guarantees the Broncos will play in as many post season games as I will. For that reason alone, this game is huge for the Broncos season.

Perhaps the most interesting discussion centered around the idea of 3rd and 4th down conversion rates. There is an argument to be made that says the Broncos should never punt again. As Ryan mentions, the Broncos are converting 64% (14 of 22) of the time.

That’s an interesting stat, and they convert more on 4th down than on 3rd down. Why not just shelve Sam Martin and put a plan in place to go for it on 4th down all the time?

That’s not exactly plausible, but a huge complaint about the Broncos offense is the 3rd down check down. Anytime they have 3rd and long, it seems like they throw it short of the 1st down marker. Infuriating. However, if the plan is to go for it on 4th and short anyway, this might make a little more sense.

Honestly, it’s an interesting debate, but one that does not matter much in the grand scheme of the season. The Broncos have a chance to keep their playoff hopes alive against the Bengals. Whether that means going for it on every 4th down or not doesn’t matter.

Both teams could put up a lot of points. The Bengals have a really good offense, led by Joe Burrow and Joe Mixon. Ja’Marr Chase is a problem, and Cincinnati could blow up if the defense doesn’t do its job.

The silver lining is that the Bengals defense is not great, and the Broncos could take advantage of that. 4th down conversion rates aside, there are two outcomes that are possible from this game. Either we know almost definitively that Denver is out of the playoffs, or we know that they are one step closer to getting in.

Either way, this should be an entertaining match up.