Posted Friday at 2:00 PM EST

1:00 PM EST. The 2-0 Denver Broncos are getting points. The Super Bowl Champs are getting points. Not only did the Broncos embarrass the Panthers in February, they opened up this year by beating them again in a game that Carolina wanted to win really, really badly. So let’s discuss the Denver Broncos. 11 of their 15 wins last season came by six points or less or one score. That means they were a play away from going 4-15 instead of 15-4. In all those victories, Denver had every bounce go their way. Recovering a fumble is not a skill. If it were, the turnovers stats would be relatively the same every season but they are not. For instance, you can count on Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees being near or at the top of passing yards every year. You can count on the best WR’s to be consistently near the top of those stats every single year too. The top defenses are usually the top defenses every year with little variance. However, when it comes to penalty yardage and turnovers, you may as well throw the teams into a blender and pull them out because they vastly differentiate every single year from top to bottom without exception. Turnovers and penalties are luck driven numbers so when a team keeps winning by the slimmest of margins because of turnovers and penalties by the opposition, an evening out period is right around the corner. 

In their 19 games last year, the Broncs were outgained in 14 of them and many of those were by a wide margin. One will quickly point to the Broncos great defense for their success but unbalanced teams of the past have never thrived liked the Broncos did last year. There have been many teams in the past with great offenses and no defenses that had great regular seasons but you can probably count on one hand the number of teams that thrived with no offense and a great defense. This year, Denver is 2-0 and it’s only because the Panthers were penalized for 85 yards on opening night. Denver was penalized for 22. Last week, the Broncs were in danger of losing at home to the Colts with a 16-13 lead going to the fourth. In points off turnovers, Denver held a 15-3 advantage against Indianapolis. The Broncos have been riding a string of incredible good fortune for far too long. Good team perhaps but not close to being a great one. NowTrevor Siemian will make his first start on the road in a hostile NFL environment and Denver is not getting enough points.

The Bengals have played two very tough road games against the Jets and Steelers. They now get their first home game. The Bengals are still waiting for any signs of a rushing offense to emerge and outside of A.J. Green's monster season opener, the offense has struggled. That said, it is premature to judge a team on just two games and without a home game. Andy Dalton has thrown for over 350 yards in the air in both games so it’s not like he’s struggling. Starting out against two good defenses on the road can only benefit the Bengals offense. However, we’re not predicating this choice on the Bengals offense going off. We’re pr4edicating it on Denver’s luck running out in their first road game of the season. Denver’s offense is extremely simple.Trevor Siemian has not been impressive in that simple offense with three turnovers but they have not hurt the Broncs yet. What we envision here is great field position all game for Cinci and them pulling away at some point and never looking back. 

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