Q >> Any cause for concern about our lack of pass-rush Thursday? We’ll get exploited by the Bengals offense if we can’t get pressure on Joe Burrow. And if our offense struggles like it did late vs. the Chargers, I’m not sure we have the firepower to rally.

— Mike, Denver

Parker >> Bottom line: Not really. The Broncos didn’t get to Herbert all that often. Next Gen Stats credited them with 11 pressures and a 30.6% rate, which is their third-lowest of the season after the New York Jets and Baltimore games. Part of the equation is that Los Angeles has a terrific pair of tackles in Rashawn Slater and rookie Joe Alt. Slater was really impressive against Nik Bonitto, in particular.

The Bengals are dangerous, no doubt about it, but their offensive line has not been their strong suit. The pressure rate against Burrow is middle of the pack and he’s been sacked 37 times, tied for ninth most in the NFL. Some of the more advanced metrics like ESPN’s win rates suggest that Burrow is doing good work to negate sub-par performance overall up front.

Obviously, Burrow and those receivers present plenty of challenges, but this should be a matchup where the Denver defensive front can make some hay.

Q >> My question is around the Thursday flex. Was it a poor decision to take the short week in favor of the national spotlight? Or would it have been a stronger play to stick to the standard week to better prepare for the Chargers?

— Drew Darling, Olathe, Kan.

Parker >> Obviously after losing the game — and giving up a lead in the second half — it would be easy to say, “Oh, they shouldn’t have agreed to the flex.” But I think the rationale for it was sound across the board.

Denver still had a rest advantage against the Chargers given they’d played one game since their bye week, while L.A.’s was back in Week 5. Also, if you know you’re going to be a road underdog against a quality team (and you liked your short-week prep strategy early in the season at New Orleans), why not try to muddy the game up, play it on a short week and take the full prep week out of the equation?

Those factors are on top of the main one Payton cited in his explanation of taking the short week and that’s that the original Thursday night game was Cincinnati and Cleveland. So under the original schedule, the Bengals would have had nine days between games and the Broncos six. Now it’s the opposite.

It all made sense. Denver just didn’t make the first leg work.

Q >> Now be honest now. Prior to the season did you believe the Broncos had enough talent and could make the playoffs?

— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Parker>> I believe my preseason prediction was for six wins. The one thing I wrote several times was that I thought they had real upward mobility from there if Bo Nix played well as a rookie, but wanted to see that in action before just assuming it would happen. Obviously, it has.

But I also definitely underestimated how much better the defensive front seven would be and the impact cornerback Riley Moss would have opposite Pat Surtain II.