A mile of elevation is the whole argument in this one, and it put the hosts on opposite sides. Jaguars and Broncos kick off Sunday, September 20 at 4:05 PM ET in Denver, CO, with Denver favored by 2.5 and the total at 45.5, and on the NFL Picks Week 2 episode the guys could not agree on what a home opener at altitude is worth to a team coming off a bad Monday night.
Jaguars vs Broncos Odds
Denver is a 2.5-point home favorite. The total is 45.5.
Our Picks
- Ryan Kramer (@KramerCentric): JAX +2.5
- Sean Green (@SeanTGreen): DEN -2.5
Ryan got there first and he was not subtle about it. Denver’s Monday night performance read as systemic to him rather than a bad night, because missed tackles are not the kind of thing a defense cleans up in seven days, and whatever the offense was doing looked unprepared on top of it. He expects a lot of people to talk themselves into the buy-low price anyway. He also had the number pointed the other direction: he said he priced this game with Jacksonville favored by 3.5, so laying eyes on Jaguars plus 2.5 felt like the market handing him something.
His Jacksonville case was the louder half. The quarterback looked dialed in reading the field in year two of this offense, the run game showed up in week one, and he called Parker Washington an alpha. Ryan also mentioned that a friend of the show, Uncle Reuben, is worried about a piece Denver’s defense will be without for a while, and that the Broncos pass rush getting home may not matter much against a quarterback who is seeing everything.
Sean heard all of it, admitted Ryan almost sold him, and stayed on Denver. His version is the one you have watched work for years: a good football team gets embarrassed on the road, comes back for a home opener, and everyone in the building has already seen the tape on the tackling. He expects the play calling to get straightened out and the Broncos to lean on the run against a Jaguars team that just had a big week one and might be a little complacent. He even treated the worry about Denver’s defense as his buy signal, which Ryan pushed back on, since the concern was about a missing piece rather than a verdict on the team.
The close was about elevation and history. Ryan pointed out that Jacksonville came to Denver last year and won by two touchdowns, so the trip and the thin air are not new to them, and the guys noted Washington went for 145 and a score in that game. Sean took the same fact and turned it into motivation for the Broncos. Neither of them budged. Ryan still says the wrong team is favored; Sean still wants the short number at home.
Hear the full breakdown on the NFL Picks Week 2 episode, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Watch every game on YouTube, and download the SGPN app at sg.pn/links. See all our NFL Picks.
