The Denver Broncos have benefitted from being underestimated in the past couple weeks.
Now Denver is the favorite, for a change, in Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
But players insist they’re treating this game like they have the last three.
Wide receiver A.J. Green says he’ll return Sunday, despite being limited in practice Thursday.
The 7-time Pro-Bowler scored six touchdowns before suffering a toe injury at the end of October.
Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. says he’s gearing up for a “dog fight,” ahead of his 1-on-1 matchups with Green.
“I’m up for the challenge,” Harris said this week.
“To be all-pro, you’ve got to play everybody. You can’t run from anybody and I want to show everybody that I can cover number ones-I can cover anybody in the slot. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got a lot to prove,” he added.
“He’s a great player,” said Broncos Head Coach Vance Joseph. “He’s no different than Antonio Brown.”
“You have to take him out of the game, and if not, he can beat you. Obviously I worked there for two years and I’ve watched this guy every day work. He is a special talent.”
Green will have to adjust to playing with a new starting quarterback this Sunday.
Backup quarterback Jeff Driskel will take the place of Andy Dalton, who suffered a season ending injury last Sunday against the Browns.
Driskel scored his first NFL touchdown last Sunday, but that’s not something Vance Joseph says his Denver defense is taking for granted.
Joseph says they’ve already gone through every clip Driskel has played in the league, adding that the new starting Quarterback is a “special athlete.”
“He was a 4.56 guy at the combine and he’s been clocked this year at 21 miles per hour in an actual game,” Joseph said in an interview this week.
“Even when Andy [Dalton] was healthy, he was getting reps as a wildcat type of quarterback. That being said, you watch him throw the football and he’s pretty accurate. He’s an NFL quarterback and we can’t sleep on him,” he added.
Broncos are on the road this week, in Cincinnati.
Kickoff is at 11 a.m.
