GoJo and Golic preview Thursday Night Football: Will the Chiefs stampede over the Broncos?

It’s Thursday and you know what that means, it’s time for another Thursday Night Football preview with Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr.!

Travis Kelce is officially questionable for tonight’s game, although reports have suggested that he is likely to play. However, GoJo said before the Kelce status update that if there was ever a short week to rest your star tight end it would be this week against a Broncos defense that is dead last against the run. Senior agrees, saying it would seemingly be the move to make to save Kelce and let him heal up, although it appears Kelce will be a go based on reports.

GoJo says the formula in the Mahomes-Kelce era has been to get your hands on Kelce near the line of scrimmage, disrupt the timing, and you have the chance to knock the offense off-kilter. He points out that we saw that the only loss this season for the Chiefs was Week 1 when Kelce was out vs. the Lions. So if Kelce is on the field or not, it is clear to GoJo that he still has to be the foundation that the offense is built upon.

All that said, can the Broncos keep this close and cover the spread? The Chiefs are currently 11-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook. GoJo points out that the Chiefs actually haven’t been a good team against the spread for the past couple of years and Senior points out that Denver’s offense actually hasn’t been awful. It’s really the defensive side of the ball that has let them down. He says this is a game where you shouldn’t worry, but this is the NFL. So, can the Broncos beat the Chiefs? Yes. Does Senior expect it to happen? No. But he says the spread could be a whole other thing.

GoJo says that he still can’t in good conscience endorse betting on the Broncos in any way, shape or form. The only argument, he says, is that it’s the NFL and weird stuff happens all the time. GoJo does say that he thinks the Chiefs are more equipped now than they were in Week 1 to handle things if Kelce isn’t 100 percent and is limited.

GoJo also points out that the Chiefs have one of the best interior offensive lines in football, meaning it’s direct strength on direct weakness in this one and Senior says it’s a spot where the Chiefs can make hay in this one. He says the Chiefs and Isiah Pacheco can really control this game on the ground as the Denver defense can be attacked right up the gut.

This brings GoJo to his next point, which may surprise some who may not have been paying close attention — we have to stop blaming Russell Wilson. GoJo says he understands that Russ has become something of a cartoon character for a lot of people over the past couple of years, but Russell Wilson has played better football in an offense that has been crafted by Sean Payton to be more conducive to Russ’ skillset. But it can’t overcome a historically bad defense.

And in case you missed it, Katie Nolan joined the show on Wednesday prior to her victorious turn on Celebrity Jeopardy! Make sure to check out the full interview on DraftKings’ YouTube channel.

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Hour 1: MLB Division Series Drama, NFL’s Teams Searching for Redemption + Washington Huskies & Oregon Ducks Showdown

Hour 2: NFL Three for Thursday, The NBA Doesn’t Believe in Rest, Penn State Press Conference Gets Weird + Saints DT Brian Bresee & This, That & the Third

VIDEO:

Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show will also be available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.

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