Denver Broncos vs. Chicago Bears: Five things to watch during the Broncos week two preseason matchup Today Youth Jake Butt Jersey , the Denver Broncos will host quarterback Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago Bears in week two of the Preseason. Last week, the Broncos first team offense and defenses struggled against the Vikings, but Chad Kelly provided some excitement in the second half. How will things shakeup this Saturday night? I give you five things to watch during tonight’s week two preseason matchup against the Chicago Bears.1: How will the first-team offense and defense rebound?Last week, the first team offense entered the game against the Vikings with a ton of hype. Case Keenum was tossing dimes in practice, rookie Courtland Sutton was making big plays, and the offense in general just seemed much improved from last year. Unfortunately, they had two drives and both times went three and out. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY SportsNow this week, quarterback Case Keenum had a bounce back week during the joint practices and will look to continue that during tonight’s game.As for the Broncos first-team defense, they also struggled. They struggled against the run and quarterback Kirk Cousins went 4-4 for 42 yards, and a touchdown. The Broncos leaky run defense was a big reason for these struggles, but Head Coach Vance Joseph believes it is something they can correct easily moving forward.This week, they will face the Bears strong rush attack led by Jordan Howard as well as the Bears tight ends who gave the defense some fits during practice this week. They bounced backed nicely during the second day of joint practices so it will be interesting to see how they perform on the field tonight. 2: Chad Kelly with the second-team offenseThe big news around Broncos Country this week was Paxton Lynch being demoted to the third-team and Chad Kelly moving up to the second team offense. Now we will get to see how Kelly performs as tries to prove to the Broncos that he can be their backup quarterback in 2018.Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY SportsHead Coach Vance Joseph told media earlier this week that the expectations for Kelly remain the same as he moves from the third team to the second team. General Manager John Elway also spoke to the media this week and told reporters that he “had a feeling that he(Kelly) was play well”.Kelly threw for two touchdowns last weekend and added a spark to the offense that really was struggling before he entered the game. With Paxton Lynch struggling and being demoted to the third-team(and potentially off the roster) Kelly has a good chance to become the Broncos new developmental young quarterback on the roster. He also has a chance to prove to Elway and Vance Joseph that he can be trusted to be their backup quarterback behind starter Case Keenum. So how Kelly performs, good or bad, will likely be a big topic at the end of this game. 3: Can Isaac Yiadom nail down the third cornerback job?Last week, we saw Yiadom on the wrong end of some big plays against the Vikings. He was manned up against Stefon Diggs a few times which is a tough matchup for any cornerback in the NFL, especially a rookie playing in his first NFL game. In the end, he gave up a touchdown while covering Diggs during the Vikings first series last weekend. The silver lining for Yiadom is that he was in good position for a lot of these plays and wasn’t beat badly by any means, It shows that he knows what he is doing out there and reading/reacting well. Not bad for a rookie corner making his first NFL appearance.Head Coach Vance Joseph echoed these thoughts when asked about Yiadom after the game.Against the Bears, we may see Yiadom start or get some valuable playing time with the first-team offense with cornerback Chris Harris Jr. likely sitting out this game. This will give Yiadom a chance to improve on his decent showing week one and try to lock down the number three corner job. Veteran Tramaine Brock will likely play as well so it will be a big game for the Broncos third-round pick in this years NFL Draft. 4. Royce Freeman the starting running back?Rookie running back Royce Freeman put up the Broncos first offensive points in 2018 as he scored a 23-yard rushing touchdown against the Vikings last week. After the game, Quarterback Case Keenum was asked about Freeman and he praised the rookies pass blocking ability. Pass blocking is usually where rookie backs struggle and why they do not see the field, so it is promising the see he is excelling in this area early on. Add that to his running ability, and Freeman could be on the brink of a breakout season for the Broncos. Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty ImagesThen earlier this week, Head Coach Vance Joseph dropped a nugget that could point to Freeman likely being the Broncos starting running back. He was asked about the difference between veteran Devontae Booker and rookie Royce Freeman. He called Booker a “third-down back” with good pass-catching ability while calling Freeman the “one cut, downhill pounder with good vertical speed”. To me at least, Joseph pretty much named Freeman the starter right here without officially saying it. You don’t call your starting running back a third-down guy while praising a rookie back with bell-cow running back traits. If Freeman comes out and gets plenty of reps with the first-team offense and plays well, I think this running back competition will be all but settled. 5. Looking for a rebound from rookie Bradley ChubbEntering the game. I had high hopes for the Broncos fifth overall pick thinking he would wreck the Vikings second-team offensive line. However, he ended up having a tough night and was responsible for a few big run plays. He also didn’t record any sacks. Maybe it was rookie jitters, maybe the defense in general just played sloppily, or maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, it wasn’t a great showing for the Broncos fifth overall pick. However, I think he will bounce back in a big way tonight against the Bears.Chubb has been having a great camp and was bringing the heat during the joint practices this week. General Manager John Elway was asked about Chubb, and he had some high praise for the Broncos first-round selection. Chubb figures to get the start opposite of Von MIller once again tonight and will look to make life a living hell for Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. While it is always painful to look back on losses, especially one as close as Monday’s, there are always plenty of things to learn from taking a second look. As I mentioned in last week’s edition, there are always story-lines that emerge immediately following a game each week, particularly after a tough loss. Due to the heat of the moment, and lack of angles on the broadcast version of the game, I find it helpful to review the film and see which of the story-lines hold true and if new ones emerge upon further review.This week is no different. There were a few positive adjustments made from last week, and some adjustments that need to be made next time around to correct errors. Let’s dive in.The NarrativeBefore we get to anything else, let’s address the biggest narrative that I saw coming out of this game, that the offense did not run the ball enough, or they abandoned the run too early. I saw this all across the Twitterverse as well as on this site. So naturally, when I sat down to review the tape on this game, I expected to see instances of the team foregoing the run late in the game, and egregious pass heavy drives that killed momentum. However, what I found, was actually quite the opposite.Here’s some stats for you:In the second half, Denver had four drives http://www.broncoscheapauthenticstore.com/darian-stewart-jersey-cheap , and ran 19 plays, excluding their comeback attempt drive at the end of the game.Of those 19 plays, 11 were runs and 8 were passes. That’s a that’s nearly a 60/40 split in favor of the running game. Additionally, the passing plays gained 7.75 YPP, with runs gaining 6 YPC.Does this mean Denver should have passed more? Not at all. But the evidence that the team stopped calling runs or abandoned the running attack is just not there.On their first two drives of the second half, Denver ran the ball 5 of their first 6 plays, and 3 of their first 4 plays, respectively. That’s not a team who is abandoning running the football at the end of the game.Furthermore, there has been criticism of Denver allowing a middling Keenum to throw it 33 times (37 dropbacks if you count sacks) and only run the ball 22 times when they averaged over 7 YPC on the ground. However, this stat sheet scouting fails to take into account the fact that Denver had two 2-minute drills, one at the end of the first half and one at the end of the game, in which they exclusively passed due to the clock being a factor and needing to gain yards quickly. 19 (yes you read that right) of Keenum’s 37 pass attempts came in 2-minute situations. Meaning, when Denver had the run as an option throughout the rest of the game, Keenum dropped back only 18 times, to 21 runs (they actually ran it once during the 2-minute drill). Looking at it with that context, Denver had a 54%/46% run/pass split in normal game situations. That’s hardly a team who abandoned the running game.Now, were there times Denver could have run but passed instead? Sure. We could likely go knit-pick every pass attempt and say they should have run the ball, which is really easy to do in hindsight once we know said pass attempt failed.However, there are a few legitimate arguments to be made on the other side. For one, the lack of carries for a red hot Royce Freeman is appalling, and needs to change. He should be receiving a majority of the carries every game, especially when playing a team with as poor tackling as the Chiefs.Lastly, there were two plays that I believe the offense would like to have back, that is really the crux of where this narrative started. Let’s look at those.The biggest is the final drive of the offense, excluding their comeback drive. In that drive, the offense went three and out at the worst possible time, when the Chiefs had just scored, and the Broncos needed to bleed clock.They started the drive with a run on first down. This is important to look at before we get to the actual play in question. Denver runs outside zone with the TE coming across the formation to block the backside.Unfortunately, this play was stuffed for no gain. However, it’s a clever setup by Denver because they are going to run play action off this almost identical look on the next play. Now, earlier in the game, Denver tried this with Heuerman, but Bolles allowed the rush to get to Keenum too fast before he could complete the pass.Here’s the look from early in the game. Looks exactly the same as the play above, which is another good move by Denver, running the same look with multiple play variants out of it.This one was wide open and worked well, but Keenum couldn’t get it off in time.So, for this key 2nd and 10, after being stuffed on 1st down, Musgrave calls a similar play to the one he called earlier in the game, and runs play action out of a similar look he just ran the play before. Both are solid, clever coaching moves.This time they ran Emmanuel Sanders across the formation like he is going to block the backside (which is also common), and faked the outside zone action. Unfortunately, Keenum’s release is a little high to get over the defender so the ball floats too long, and the corner plays this excellently.So the result of this play was bad, and in hindsight, that’s all anyone looks at. No play-call looks good when it results in no gain on a critical drive, but in my opinion, this isn’t a bad call.It’s using the run action they just called previously Cheap Chris Harris Jr Jersey , and re-visiting a play that was proven to have success earlier in the game. It just didn’t work out.There’s another one I didn’t mind the call but hated Keenum’s decision. This is on Denver’s field goal drive, right before the Chiefs began to mount their comeback. A touchdown could have put this game out of reach, or made Denver’s eventual comeback attempt easier.Denver made it into Chief’s territory on a big play to Andy Janovich, the next two plays are runs for four and two yards, leaving a 3rd and 4.Now there’s an argument that Denver should have just run it here, but that’s a risky proposition on 3rd and 4. I don’t mind the call by Bill Musgrave, I just hate the execution by Keenum.He immediately looks to DT on the go-route up the left sideline, however, you can see pre-snap that there’s a safety shading to that side.Meanwhile, on the other side, Lindsay’s defender is being cleared out by the TE route and he is wide open in the flat. Overall, based on the defensive alignment, this combo on the right would have been a better one to work.But, Keenum continues to stare down DT and eventually just throw it away as he was double covered, even though he has time and potentially could go to Sutton up the seam, since the safety is shading DT.Overall, just a bad, bad play from Keenum, but not a terrible playcall, in my opinion.Again, it’s easy to go back to all these failed passes and say they should have run the ball in hindsight, but when breaking them down in context, I’m actually okay with the playcalls, just not the execution.AdjustmentsOn the defensive side, I thought they played their hearts out for the majority of the game, and Joe Woods called a nice game. Denver fell victim to a really hot Mahomes in the 4th quarter who was making plays that reminded me of peak Andrew Luck back when the Peyton Manning Broncos got beat by the Colts two years in a row.That said, the biggest mistake by the defense, and adjustment they need to make is keeping Mahomes contained, especially on the right side. Mahomes was absolutely lethal when rolling to his right, and Denver let him escape out the right side way too many times.This chart, courtesy of NextGen Stats, shows that Mahomes did nearly all of his damage deep on the right side, and really his whole passing chart skews right.On two critical plays of the Chiefs final touchdown drive, Denver let him escape to his right.Here is the infamous 2nd and 30 play the defense gave up.Von Miller let’s Mahomes escape out of the pocket, and he eventually finds an open receiver. Regardless of what coverage you call, when the quarterback has six seconds to find a guy and is great throwing on the run, it’s going to be tough to stop.However, the very next play is even worse. Here’s the blitz everyone was calling for. This is on a key 3rd down. Denver intentionally overloads the left side and drops the right side off in coverage.Where do you think that is going to force Mahomes?? Where would you go if you were him in this image below?He gets out of the pocket again and burns the defense.Overall, Joe Woods called a very nice game, but next time they play the Chiefs, they need to employ the strategy Denver used against Aaron Rodgers in 2015, and Cam Newton in the Super Bowl. Box them in on the edge and don’t let them escape, while applying pressure up the middle. Hopefully, next time they play the Chiefs they will learn from this and adjust.Hope you enjoyed this week’s recap. Be on the lookout for a defensive breakdown coming soon about Denver’s adjustments against play action, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.