"It should help": Broncos face fortunate opponent on short week

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Following a big win over the Houston Texans on Monday night, the Denver Broncos don’t have much time to celebrate. In fact, on Tuesday, during his meeting with the media, head coach Gary Kubiak had already shifted his focus.

“Hopefully, our preparation today, we can catch back up,” he explained of the short week ahead. “Anytime you play on Monday it makes for a short end on the back end, so we got a lot of work to do today.”

Instead of complaining about the short week, Kubiak saw the upside of playing the Chargers twice in a three-week span.

“It happens from time to time. I think the fact that we are on a quick turnaround here from a preparation standpoint it should help us tonight,” Kubiak said. “It’s going to be a long night for us as coaches.”

In a 17-week season, teams typically have more time between facing the same division opponent than the Broncos and Chargers have this year. The two teams faced off in their first matchup Thursday, October 13 and will play again for their second, and final time, just 17 days later on Sunday.

In terms of preparing for the Chargers, not much has changed.

“At least the only thing that has taken place between last time and this time is one football game that we have to go back and evaluate, which is in Atlanta,” Kubiak said.

Along with scouting the Chargers previous game against the Falcons, the only other significant difference in Sunday’s second matchup between the two teams will be the presence of Kubiak. In the Broncos first game against the Chargers, Kubiak was absent from the game as well as the entire week after being taken to the hospital due to a complex migraine condition.

After the Chargers 33-30 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons on the road, the Broncos head coach sees a very dangerous team, even though they are only 3-4 on the season.

“They are playing really good right now,” he explained. “Phillip [Rivers] is playing very good, very aggressive on the defensive side of the ball and [they are] getting turnovers.”

While every game is important in the NFL, division games are that much more important, especially in a tight division like the AFC West.

“I think we are in an extremely tough division this year, everybody is playing well,” Kubiak said. “It will be a really long tough road, so these division games will be big games when it’s all said and done.”

On Sunday, the Broncos will look to tie up the season series with the Chargers, this time with the advantage of their head coach on the sidelines.