Comment on Notebook: Big hitting teams try to lay wood to tournament field

Jonah Elliss expects 30 friends and family members to be in attendance for the Broncos’ home matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. However, which jerseys his family will be wearing on Sunday afternoon remain a mystery. Denver’s Week 11 matchup will be a monumental day for the Elliss family, as the Broncos’ rookie outside linebacker will be going against his older brother and Falcons inside linebacker Kaden Elliss, 29.

For most of October, Sean Payton harped on his offense’s need to improve on third down. The Broncos weren’t just struggling, they were flat-out bad. Denver didn’t convert better than 36% of its attempts in any of its first seven games and entered Week 8 at No. 31 in the NFL, floating around a 26% conversion rate. Over the past three weeks, though, the money down has been an entirely different story for Payton’s offense. In a win against Carolina (11 of 17) and losses at Baltimore (6 of 14) and Kansas City (7 of 13), the Broncos offense was far from perfect, but really good on third down. The team over that stretch has converted 24 of 44 chances for a rate of 54.5%. “It’s probably a handful of things,” Payton said Friday.

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Falcons (6-4) at Broncos (5-5) When: Sunday, 2:05 p.m. MT Where: Empower Field at Mile High Stadium Radio/TV: 850 AM, 94.1 FM/FOX Broncos-Falcons series: Denver is 8-7 in 15 regular-season games dating back to 1970; the Broncos lost 34-27 in the last meeting, on Nov. 8, 2020, in Atlanta, and have dropped two in a row against the Falcons. In the spotlight: Atlanta’s biggest weakness could set up big day for Bo Nix Facing the Saints in Week 10, the Falcons did their best to apply pressure to quarterback Derek Carr.

The Colorado Avalanche will ice its healthiest lineup of the season Friday night, welcoming back three key forwards. But it wasn’t all good news at Ball Arena ahead of the club’s game against the Washington Capitals. Starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev did not participate in the morning skate and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, the team announced. Justus Annunen will start against the Capitals.