GoJo and Golic preview Monday Night Football: Can the Bills get right vs. the Broncos?

It’s Monday and you know what that means — another Monday Night Football preview with Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr.!

It’s been a rough stretch for the Bills, losing three of their last five and falling out of the AFC playoff picture. But, as Jessie points out, with a win they can get back in thanks to the Bengals’ loss on Sunday to the Texans. Of course, if the Bills are going to climb back into the postseason picture, Josh Allen will have to overcome his home/road splits which show he’s struggled on the road to the tune of a 1-3 record with a 5 TD/6 INT ratio. So should we expect him and the Bills to bounce back tonight against the woeful Broncos defense?

GoJo does wonder how our perceptions of the Broncos, and the Dolphins as well, have been colored by the 70-20 shellacking earlier this season. He points out that it has elevated the Miami offense to a place that hasn’t been sustainable. Meanwhile for the Broncos, while they were a very bad team to begin the season but when you give up 70 points the discussion starts shifting to whether or not they’re one of the worst units of all time. In recent weeks, GoJo points out, we’ve seen a squad that, while never being confused for a contender, has at least gone out and shown they can be respectable, including earning a win over the Chiefs. With that in mind, he thinks it’s a bit more of a challenge for a Buffalo team that enters beat up in several different areas and hasn’t seemed to be able to pull themselves together.

Senior agrees with GoJo, noting that’s it a bit of a “What Have You Done For Me Lately” scenario with the Broncos. While the Broncos’ terrible season-long stats can’t be denied, Senior points out that in their last three games, the Broncos have given up 19, 17 and 9 points. So they’re playing better, he says, and Buffalo can still be an enigma. So, as Denver continues to build some confidence, can they continue to turn the wheel in their favor? And while Senior says they’re not likely to make the postseason, can the Broncos become that team that’s a tough out.

GoJo says that’s about the best you can hope for at this point. He points out that Sean Payton made some waves before the season when discussing the previous administration in Denver, and let’s not forget that he said the expectation was to be a playoff team this season (obviously, not happening). But, GoJo says there is still a chance to set the foundation for the future. He notes that so often in college and the pros we’re not allowed to think that it’s possible not to get immediate results, especially with a QB that has the name and price tag of Russell Wilson. Maybe though that’s the road that Broncos will be travelling.

Meanwhile, does Senior feel better with the knowledge that Latavius Murray called an offensive players-only meeting to remind the team how much talent they had? Senior said he thinks they all believe that they’re underachieving right now. They’re in second place behind the Dolphins right now and likely feel like they should be better than they are. Senior says the Bills are team kind of asking who are we. We know we’re better than this, but we’re not showing it on the field. And he says that’s when you start to get the vibe where you look around the sideline and ask, “How is this happening to us?” He thinks it’s confounding a lot of players on the Bills right now.

What have the issues been on offense, GoJo asks? The Bills have been inconsistent in trying to find a clear No. 2 behind Stefon Diggs, they’ve been banged up at tight end and the running game has still been something that you cannot consistently count on. But a lot of that, he says, goes back to the team’s unwillingness to use Allen as part of that running game. GoJo says if you look at the past few games, it has looked like Allen has been frustrated, looking to scramble just to involve himself in the ground game some. GoJo says this Bills offense is at its best when they involve Allen early as a real run threat as part of the designed run game. He says they have to get back to that.

Senior points out that he has long said that the Bills and Ravens have to let their quarterbacks do what they do, which is run if they want to win. He understands the idea of protecting their investment in their QBs, but if you get where you want to go (i.e. the Super Bowl) Allen and Lamar Jackson have to be big parts of the offense with their legs.

Meanwhile, Michael Lombardi of The GM Shuffle and the Lombardi Line joined the show to talk about the Patriots. Just don’t try to tell him The Patriot Way was really all about one player, even if that player was Tom Brady.

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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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