Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I had Broncos Country tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Benjamin ol Brian here.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
With you, Gras Smith back there behind the glass, taking
all way up to the Buffs prime time at eight o'clock tonight,
in case you guys were wondering, Happy New Year to everybody.
First time I've had a chance to talk to you
since after the first of the year.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I hope you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hope you all haven't already fallen off the New Year's
resolution horse. Some people have. It's day two, so some
people obviously already have.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know how that goes?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Five six, six, nine zero is the text line big
show tonight at wreck Lewis the six thirty school seven
thirty five. We'll get an FL sixpeck in here as well.
At some point I want to talk about this forthcoming
game against Kansas City, what it means for the Broncos,
what it means to the Broncos if they don't get it.
We just saw Notre Dame beating Jarjia. They were calling
(00:48):
it an upset, although not an upset to me.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I put some bank on Notre Dame in that one.
So although my.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Parlay did not cash because Notre Dame's running back at
I'd get to the yardage I need them to I
had I had the over on Stockton's yardage at one
seventy one. I had the over on Riley Riley Leonard's
rushing yardage, which was like forties on me had like eighty.
And then Yarramia Love, you know, is the over runner
in his rushing was was like sixty yards and he
get like nineteen or something like that. It's because love
(01:16):
is never on your side. That's That's what I'm saying.
This is why all the time, it's not just Jordan Love,
it's Annie any Love five six, six nine zeros and text.
I want to hear from you guys what this thing
means this weekend with Kansas City. The Broncos don't make
it versus uh, you know, your disappointment the team if
(01:36):
they don't make it versus your relation, uh if they do,
you know which which matters more? Which one are you
trying to? Are you more uh you more happy about
being excited or already more sad about potentially potentially not
being It's it's the uh do you hate to hate
to lose or love to win more? I guess kind
(01:56):
of kind of question with regard to that. So five, six,
six times to hear from you guys on that one
as well. What's your feeling what you guys are feeling
on this thing? The line started off the Broncos minus
eint it's out to minus ten and a half. As
people are hammering the Broncos line on this one. The
money is all coming in on Denver at this point.
I'll get you the splits on that here in just
a second.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I'm nervous about this game. I yeah, I don't know why.
I just did not have a good feeling about it.
I'm neutral the last two I knew.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Like the last two, I had that that gut feeling.
I'm neutral on this one. I'm I don't even know
which way I'm gonna pick it yet. We'll see how
it goes the Broncos. But at the tweet Ran Edwards
mentioned previously, the Broncos are celebrating here at Koa. We're
all celebrating one hundred years of being on the air
(02:46):
here at Kawa. What a special thing to be a
part of. Broncos put out a tweet celebrating that with their.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Four favorite calls over the year.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And we have those calls, don't we Grant.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Forty two seconds to go.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Bronco was at the clean one five the slap duel Way,
the look the throw touchdown. John Elway has drown a
touchdown to Mark Jackson ninety eight and a half yard drive.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Packers jumping around.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
They rushed forth and we can run inside the ten
head first he lies oh yard line. You want to
tell me the thirty seven year old man didn't want
to win this game? I O may that's sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Tim Playfax in the pocket, sets bros.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Past talk the Marris Thomas out of the forty five
minute deal. Here we go forty thirty five, put it
raise twenty fifteen ten touchdown, den Buris. On that third
down of ten, Will Newton face some pressure here in
the pocket Si and sacked this seventy five. The ball
is free, touchdown Denver. That is the Bronco's four favorite
(03:49):
calls for KWA over the years. You know, hey, I'd
never heard the radio call of the drive neither, and
I was like, how about we get a little emotion
in there the yard drive. Like there's like no emotion
that call whatsoever. Me while Dave is up and down
excited on all the calls. I just you know, know,
with all due respect to the Jus predecessor, I just
(04:12):
I think Dave's one of the best to ever do it,
and specifically the Marius call.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's just iconic. Man.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It gives me goosebumps every time I hear Dave say
here we go yep.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And you know, just from everything that.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Has played out after that with DT's passing, and you know,
it just holds.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
A special place in my heart.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I was with one of my best buddies in college
at that time, and he was a die hard Steelers
fan that I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Have been more excited.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I had no root in the Broncos at that time,
and I just loved rubbing it in his face. But
it means a lot to Broncos country, and it's cool
that Kawa has been a part of it for so
many years.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was watching that game with a then former and
now also former NFL head coach. There's a few coaches,
we're all we're all watching that game together to get together,
and it was one of those things that you know
they coach and he was like, this is a watch
they'll get They'll get to the fourth quarter, they're gonna
get to overtime. They're gonna win this thing.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I'm telling you, this is gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And uh and I'm like, now, there's no way, there's
no way, and uh and it just had and I
would just blew my mind just sitting there watches Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
But again, you know, I'm not a big believer, but
that may have been some divine intervention on the sports field.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
There was, Yeah, one of the guys there, there were
several coaches that were at this, at this watch party,
and one of the guys, how does he kid getting
away with it? And do you think about that season?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I mean, they had games where they had like three
resh or three passing yards or something and still winning games.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And you're just like, this is this is Tim.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Tebow's moment and it was his only moment that season
in the NFL. But I mean, man, what a special
memory for Broncos fans. And currently on the Denver Broncos
ex Twitter page, the drive is at twenty nine percent,
and the helicopter at thirty one percent, the wild Card
walk off winner, which is our favorite seventeen per and
the Super Bowl fifty strip sack TD is at twenty
(06:03):
two percent.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Interesting, so a lot of old school voters in there
voting for the older school stuff rather than the maybe
we need to throw it up on the GRAM and
try to get a younger, a younger voting crowd. I
don't know, five six, six, nine zeros of text line
Broncos hoping to add a new call to that play
call list this weekend up agains the Kansas City Chiefs.
(06:25):
No Paba Holmes, Travis Kelsey, no Chris Jones. We know
about that since Sunday morning. Here on the opening line,
we reported it, and then I think the national guys
had it that afternoon. But we've known this for a
while that this was the direction that was probably headed.
And just because we're not getting those three great players
doesn't mean that's not a good football team. Doesn't mean
(06:47):
they're not fully capable of winning. It doesn't mean they're
not going to have any fight. You know, Carson Wentz
will be the quarterback for Kansas City Chiefs. And you
look around in the league right now at some of
these quarterbacks that are on playoff teams or flirting with
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You look at a Sam Darnold in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You look at a Baker Mayfield down there in Tampa,
you look at a Geno Smith in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You look at some of these.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Quarterbacks, even Jared Goff, and you know in Detroit he
had to go from the Rams to Detroit and succeed
a little bit different as he didn't have the Jerneyman route,
but you know, going he was given up on by
his team for Matt Stafford and then had to go
replace Stafford. And honestly, the Detroit Lions are a heck
of a story. Carson Wentz has not been that bad
over his career. He's had one or two seasons that
(07:34):
you're like Wolf, but you know, he's almost won the MVP.
Also almost won the MVP and only played thirteen game.
As a matter of fact, he was second in the
NFL in touchdowns that year. I played thirteen games. He
was second in the NFL in passing touchdowns by one touchdown.
The touchdown passing leader that year Russell Wilson. He finished
(07:57):
ahead of Tom Brady. Tom Brady played the whole season.
He finished with more passing touchdowns than Tom Brady that
year in thirteen games. By and large, Carson Wentz's stat
line is gonna be twenty seven touchdowns, seven interceptions. I
think He's done that like three times in his career. Hey,
that year is like thirty three touchdowns and seven picks
(08:18):
or something like that. But by and large, when you
know he's that's what he is. And so what he's
doing is he's.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Playing for.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
A journeyman, work my way into the starter shot, just
like Baker, just like Sam Darnold somewhere else next year.
And if you don't think you're gonna get his a game,
you got another thing coming. Carson Wentz is gonna come
in there and play his backside off. He knows the system.
(08:52):
He's gonna come out there, and he's playing for a future.
And I'm gonna be honest, I think that future, which
I tweeted out yesterday or dad before and now you know,
it's everywhere, but might be in New York. New York
Giants Mike Grows the wide receiver coach there. Mike Mike
has a relationship with Carson dating back to when he
(09:12):
was with the quarterbacks coach when he was with the
Philadelphia If Brian Dable and Joe Shane stay in power
there with the Giants, and that is very likely that
that could happen, believe it or not, Carson Wentz is
probably the bridge quarterback for whoever they draft. Wait, they
draft somebody early, mid rounds, whatever, but Carson Wentz is
probably their bridge guy. Well, we're just giving up on
(09:33):
Drew Locke already. Look, and the man, was it a
Drew somber to remember when he messed up my twelve
leg parlay crushing.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The Indianapolis Colts. Don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I was just watched it. I was just watching that game,
and I'm like, I don't know whether it be sad
that this is the only leg of this parlay that
isn't going to cash, or to be happy for Drew, because,
my goodness, he clown hammered the Colts. Gus Bradley had
to do a miacopo and the zoom thing. He's just
sitting there like people talking about job security. Yeah, I
can't even.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Worry about that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I'm still trying to scrubt the embarrassment off.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Drew Locke came out there and absolutely pasted Indy, and man,
the fallout from that in Indianapolis, I mean, gosh, they're
talking about how the culture is all wrong, how these
players don't care, blah blah blah, and all because of
Drew Lock and Drew Simber.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, was and Drew Simber to remember somebody got a
great photo of him after the game and the way
the sun was like going down on the stadium behind
it and everything is just a really cool shot. And
I wish I remember which Twitter account it was that
had that.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'll go have to go back and find you. But
there was a really cool shot of him, and I
was like, man, what a moment for that dude. He's
had a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Maybe the woman up there in Seattle where Geno's on
the sideline happy for him strapping the backpack on to
the celebration and all that. That was so great, you know,
And for a guy who got the love of football
beaten out of him here by Vic Fangio and Pat Shermer,
just on the on the cost but just giving up.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Good for him.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, you think if nothing else, he's going to be
a long time backup in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Probably. I mean, you know that's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's been around long enough that you know he can
come in a spot start for you'd be serviceable. We'll
see if a giant, if he comes out bulls the
doors off again. This week, and it's not like a
fluke one time thing. That's a little bit different. If
he and Elik neighbors have suddenly found the connection, that
might be a little different.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Then you go out and you draft a guy.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And Drew's the bridge, but Carson Wentz is playing for
his next job. That's the point I'm trying to get
at it. If you think that this is going to
come out and be a gimme game for the Broncos
just because all the money's on Denver and around the
ten and a half at the sports books, I got
another thing for you, man, Andy Reid likes winning football games.
(12:05):
And those players that are out there that aren't Chris
Jones and Pad Mahomes and Travis Kelcey, these guys that
are trying to put up tape for other jobs. But
I'm gonna lay down.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I don't want to say I'm concerned, So I'm not
at the level of concern, but I am keeping an
eye on that because I you know, I'm not as
convinced to the Broncos are just gonna steamroll Kansas City
here or Casey's backups. I have a feeling that's going
to be a very ugly game. We got a weird
history with playoff implication games the backup quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Go back to last year, that's event.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And seven Broncos who are taking on the New England
Patriots at the time helms by Bailey zappy. I forgot
about that brutal loss. And maybe if we hadn't had
mismanagement at the end of the game handing our Bill
Belichick free time outs, the outcome might have been a
little bit different on that one. But still, that's that's
another one where you were up against the backup quarterback
(13:07):
and you know in a situation you needed to win
a little different than this where it's just winning. You're
in Bruccles needed some things to break their way with
that Patriots game and everything else. But certainly we have
recent experience with this coaching staff in these kinds of situations,
(13:29):
and I think for me, I I don't know. I
think my reactions as I try to gauge this thing,
and we talk about the elation of victory versus the
agony of defeat. Do you love to win more than
you hate to lose? And in this particular situation, I
think I would just exhale if they won rather than
(13:52):
be elated, Whereas if they lose this game, man, I
think that I'm worried that the dam is going to
break a little bit, and it's going to break too
early on Sean Payton.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, I think what we have to keep in mind
is that we weren't planning on being here this year anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
It's frame of reference. It's exactly it. That's the point
I'm getting to here. That's exactly what I'm getting at. Grant.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is frame of reference.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Because if you think about this, if somebody had told
you that in the final week of the season the
dever Broncos would be playing that a victory would put
them in the playoffs, if I told you that in
training camp, he would say, well.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hell yeah, brother, bring that party on. I'm all about it.
This was a development year for bow Nicks. It was
house money, right, But as you raced out to nine wins,
the frame of reference changed and the expectation then became,
(14:52):
I expect to get into the playoffs. Well then you
come along and not too straight and now all of a
sudden you're starring elimination in the face. And for whatever
you guys think, I think of Sean Payton. He's going
(15:13):
to be back next year, and this year is a
house money year. And what I don't want is an elimination,
not making the playoffs, and a whole offseason a whine
and a grouse, and about the guy before we get
a chance to, you know, to see what it is,
because expectation for him starts next year. Right, there were
(15:33):
no expectations for Sean Payton this year. The sportsbooks had
us at five and a half ways. There were no expectations.
The expectations start for him next year. And I'm talking
about inside the walls of the organization ownership. You're paying
a guy almost twenty million dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
It's your three.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's time to start winning, and we need to be
in the playoffs. We need to be competing. The window
for bow Nick starts next year. If we get in
the playoffs, hey we got there. Your early cool, We
got some experience. But the window for bo Nick starts
next year. The window for Sean Payton starts next year.
And that's where the expector the expectation timer starts. Nobody
(16:15):
turned the timer on for this. It's a brand new oven.
We just threw the pizza in there, we're kind of
looking at it. We'll feel it out. We want to
make sure this thing heats up. We want to make
sure it works properly. We'll start using the timer on
the next one. And that's basically where this team is
(16:36):
in the offseason. You're going to see additions to the
tight end room, into the running back room. They're gonna
get contracts done to finish keeping this defense out through
Bonix's window, getting Nick, Benito, and Zach Allen done. And
so that that's sort of the thing when I ask,
is it are you more elated with a victory or
(16:57):
disappointed at a loss? Where is your frame of reference?
What was your frame of reference to start this year? Interestingly,
I called the Broncos a nine win football team. I
hope I'm wrong. I hope I wind up being wrong
on that one.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Hey, and people thought you were crazy forgetting him nine wins.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
How could I hate Sean Payton and bow Nicks if
I'm projecting nine wins for them to hit the win
total over the passing yard is total, over the rushing total, over,
the touchdown total over. But Ben hates these guys. Some
of the stuff I read online of like it's funny
every once in a while to do that, you know,
just click through and oh god, what these people saying
(17:42):
about me?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Some of the stuff I read is hilarious. So I
have a Reddit account now. And if there is a
space anywhere that contains more fiction about me, I don't
know where it is. It is absolutely there's guys in
(18:07):
there that will claim that they're that they've been in
rooms with me when they obviously haven't been. I was
there when all brod did, so I'm like, you did
what That never happened?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Ever, it's so it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's so funny. They hate me, and awe, he hates
Sean Paid, he hates Boonicks. Buddy, I was a guy
telling you they're gonna draft Bondicks from back in December
or last year. I don't hate any of them. I
want to win, but I also got to I mean,
my job is to sit here and give honest critique.
That means I don't get to cheerlead. It was just
(18:45):
two years ago you guys were telling me I was
a propagandist and state sponsored the competition around town was
trying to sell that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
When they had a show.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I just look, I want to Broncos to win. I
want to make the playoffs, but this year's house money.
So the frame of reference here can't be disgusted if
we don't make the playoffs, disappointed, sure, But what I
don't need is six eight months of scorched earth, hot
take radio, hot take tenver media, go and drink Horris
(19:26):
on a coach I think is good, not great anyway
without giving him the opportunity to do it. This is
year three, this is year two of the bone Nick's era.
I'm gonna give him a fair shake starting next year.
Figure out where it is, regardless of what happens. And
(19:51):
that's the way it should be. The way it should
be is we have enough patience to let them see
it through. Now. If it doesn't work at that point,
doesn't work at that point. If it does work at
that point, that it does work at that point, I'm
willing to let him build it out. Have I in
the micro been critical of the way that he's done things, Absolutely,
(20:12):
But in the macro, I'm trying to be patient. In
the micro, end of half, end of game management stuff
has plagued this dude since New Orleans. He's had a
quarterback that was able to overcome it, and a city
that Frankly had a lot of cachet with because he
won a super Bowl there early. They had never had success.
(20:34):
Devers had success. You don't have any cachet here. You
got three maybe four years total that If you're not
flirting with the super Bowl at that point, if we're
still the third team in the division at that point,
the Broncos fans are going to get restless.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
They gonna look around and say, what the.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And we'll ask quickly us with the funk when we
come back Broncos Country Tonight or analyst Rick Lewis joining
us here on Broncos Country Tonight.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Rick, how you doing? Hey, Ben doing good?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Happy new Year to you and Grant And it's good
to be back on the show.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I broke my resolution two days in that was not
to have Rick Lewis on the show, and you know
we're two days in where we resolved to have you back.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Actually, you can't resist me. That's what it is, is
a powerless against your charms.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Man. It's uh. I love I love going out there
watching the band, love talking, love chopping it up music
with you. But we're chopping it up with with with
maybe a playoff appearance here for these Denver Broncos.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
If I'd said at the height.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Of training camps that this team, with a rookie quarterback
picked by the sports books to have a five and
a half win total, was going to you know, was
going to finish the season with a win in your
end game to make the playoffs, you know, laughed at
me and said I was crazy. But here we are,
and you know, they haven't gotten done the last two weeks,
but they're gonna get opportunity, gets a mostly Kansas City
backup team. How do you feel going to this thing?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Before we get into that, what the funk is clownhammer Now,
this is a term I've seen you use a lot
recently on social media, you know, And I looked it
up and there's nothing. Internet has nothing about clown hammered,
not even a slang definition of it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Now it's descriptive.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I think I know where you're going with that, But
I'm gonna try to work into the broadcast on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I need you to do that for me, I believe
or not. I did not come up with this. I
stole it from Jojo Turnbo, who uses that term. Who
has used that the years, okay and near as I can.
In my mind, what I picture it as is just
like when the when the clown has got that like
inflatable hammer that squeaks when you hit it, so it's
even more embarrassing when you're hitting you with the inflatable mallet,
(22:53):
you know, with.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Like a real one.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, So that that's what to me, that's what that means.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That's where that came from.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
So Sunday, I'll be like, Hey, I don't know about you,
but I think the Broncos are gonna clown hammer the
Chiefs today.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I'm gonna I'm gonna say that moment. It's gonna make
me so proud. I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I'm gonna even have our boss there Jojo listening for that.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So I'll try to work it. I'll try to work
it in.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Yeah, Sunday, you know what I think the Broncos went
on Sunday now the.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Last couple of weeks. My my feel for this football team,
it's kind of.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I would say it's weakened a bit because going into
La I thought the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Would beat the Chargers. They didn't.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Of course, going into Cincinnati, I wasn't so sure the
Broncos would be able to get into a shootout with
Cincinnati and win the game.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So I was right about that. So this game coming up, I.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Don't know what to think other than I think the
Broncos are playing with house money, and I think that
they do show up Sunday. I think this team is
all in on this game. Whether they're playing Carson Wentz
from backups, I don't care who it is. I do
think the Broncos win on Sunday, although I'm a little
(24:15):
afraid it's going to be close enough that we're going
to be chewing our fingernails off in the fourth quarter
of the football game.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Wow, But I do think they will win.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
It's funny because you know, you and I are ships
passing in the night here. I was extremely worried about
the Chargers in Cincinnati games. I had a good feeling about,
you know, the Coles, extremely worried about those last two,
and now I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Know where I am on this one.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And it's funny because the betting public on this is
all over the map. The odds are now out to
ten and a half. By the way, the line is
out to ten and a half But one of the
more interesting disparities is sixty three percent of all bets
placed on the money line have.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Been praised on the Broncos to win.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Ninety two percent of the money is on the Chiefs
to win on the wildline. So there is a fifty
five percent disparity between the tickets and the money in
terms of the betting on this thing. And the over
under hasn't moved a lick. It's been sitting there at
forty eight point five the entire time. It's just the
spread that's moved. So this is this is a fascinating
thing to look at. Carson Wentz is not a pushover either,
(25:14):
and me, he talk about a guy who did thirteen games,
was second in the NFL in touchdown passes the year
the Eagles went to the Super Bowl and he got hurt.
He goesn't quite the same quarterback after that, but he
was still putting up these numbers. And he's a guy
who usually puts up twenty seven touchdowns to seven interceptions
in a season and did that as recently, I think
it's two years ago with the.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Colts or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He's a good quarterback who's trying to play his way
sort of back into a starting job a la Sam Darnold,
Gino Smith, Baker Mayfield, those guys.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, that's what worries me about him.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And of course he was the number two overall pick
when he came out of North Dakota State. So he's
got big time talent and for some reason that hasn't
worked out for him. I remember we called Eagles Broncos
game two twenty seventeen, and I think they scored like
fifty five points in that game, and he had four
(26:06):
touchdowns in the game. I remember driving around Philly. We
had a day off before the game where we were
able to explore the city of Philadelphia, which was fantastic,
and man, people were in love with Carson Wentz. They
wanted to change the name of the state to Wensylvania.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
They were talking.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
About, hey wait, and they wanted to introduce a bill
to do that. And boy, I'll tell you what, that
year came off the rails pretty quick though for him
there in Philly, and they moved on from him. But
you look at the last say, last three years, he's
made eight starts. In the last three years, he's three
and five as a starter. He's thrown thirteen touchdowns ten interceptions.
(26:52):
But he is auditioning for every other team in the
league that needs a quarterback on Sunday against the Broncos,
So that does concern me a bit, But I still
feel like they will get the best of him.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
He's certainly a guy that you can sack.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
You know, There's been a couple of seasons where I
think he took fifty sacks one year in the league,
so you can you can sack this guy. And he
hasn't played a whole lot of football recently, so we have.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
That going for us.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Maybe the Broncos can clownhammer Carson Wentz and win this
game against the Chiefs on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Well, here's hoping five to six, six nine zerals and
text a line. If you guys got questions for Ricklas.
One thing I will say about that.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You know these three and five over.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
His last eight starts over the last two seasons, all
three of those wins were fourth quarter comebacks with game
winning drives to win those games. So fascinating that you know,
a that he wasn't able to do much early, but
then was you know, kind of late to win those games.
Wonder if that plays into anything we see this weekend.
As for the rest of it, would you rather just
beat this you know, no matter who they roll out,
would you rather beat them or is there a sense
(27:56):
of pride that you kind of rather beat the starters
after that whole field goal debacle and arrow and earlier
this year.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
No, I don't care. I just want them to go
to the playoffs. And as we said earlier, I think
they're playing with house money, and so if you can
go to the playoffs with this team, and that's just
putting a cherry on top of this football season and
talk about great experience for bow Nicks and the young
guys on this football team getting ready for the twenty
(28:22):
twenty five season. So it would be really, I think,
really important for this team to win this game and
then get the playoff game at Buffalo. Whether they get
clown hammered or not, I use that term.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Again for you. I love it. Whether they get clown
hammered by the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
I think you just have to get in the playoffs
to get that experience, and then I think that really
goes a long way in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, I know I did to agree with you, and
I think they are playing with house money. I think
this is a team that you know, is as critical
as I've been of Sean Payton. The expectations don't start
till next year. You know, like I said at the
outset that if you'd said that this team is on
the cusp of the playoffs winning your in in the
final week the season training camp, you'd have taken that.
The problem is you raced out to nine wins. The
frame of reference has changed, and now everybody will be disappointed,
(29:07):
even crushed if they don't make it based on the
expectations as recently as a few weeks ago. And that's
part of how football is. You live by and die by.
And you know, this team raced out to an expectation
level that now it hasn't been able to sustain here
at the end, So it'd be nice to It'd be
nice to top that off with a win.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Last thing you want to do. I mean, every team you.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Know, except for one, loses their last game of the
season pretty much. So the last thing you want to do, though,
is go into this thing on a nose dive, losing
three straight and give everybody a reason to doubt the
culture that's been re established this year.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, the goal line's certainly been moved because the Broncos
have had a successful season up to this point, and
it would be an epic collapse I think if they
lost three in a row and didn't get in. So yeah,
you don't want to end the season that way. And
you know, I don't care how how good.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Carson Wentz looks.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
On Sunday, They're still going to be playing a lot
of backups and the Broncos almost beat Patrick Mahomes and
the starters in Kansas City. Really they should have won
that football game obviously, So I do think they will
win the game. You know, there's some talk that maybe
they even play the number three quarterback on Sunday, and
(30:21):
that wouldn't surprise me one bit because you don't want
to get Carson Wentz hurt going into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Then you really got problems if you're the cheap.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
So I feel like maybe we see the number three
quarterback in the second half.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I don't even know who he is, have any sola
cola kuduwa however you pronounce it, but yeah, around a
little bit, he was with the New York Chats for
a minute.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was kind of a fan favorite tip, Rick, we
got to hit a break man, but.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I appreciate you popping on here. I'm looking forward to
seeing you out there and what will be the last
home game of the season for the Broncos either way,
hoping we come away with the win for the fans
and looking forward to seeing out there.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
All right, love you guys, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
We'll see you Sunday, absolutely, brother, Take care, Rick Le
Colorados to the never Broncos.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Six six nine zeros of text.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I appreciate Richulos joining us if you missed that, hey,
part of that, you goys, go to Broncos Country Night
dot Com, slash Podcast wherever each podcast Apple iTunes, that
totally new and redesigned iHeartRadio app where you can get
all kinds of stuff I get the red mic phoge.
You can leave us talk backs to all that kind
of stuff they get. They got a whole lot of
stuff going on with that the new redesigned Appcuse you
gonna really love it, so.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I can get on that if you want.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Alice Gold gonna join us seven thirty five Bus Prime
Time eight o'clock tonight. Stay tuned for that. It's already
the heart of basketball. It doesn't feel like college basketball
season yet. I'm still doing college football.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, with how how long the college football playoffs are extended,
it feels weird to even be watching college basketball yet. Yeah,
like this is usually at the time of year I
tune into college basketball, start to get a feel for things. Yeah,
once conference play is kicking off, but I can't focus
on that yet. We still got the college football playoffs
semi finals and final to go, not not even mentioning
(32:05):
the NFL playoffs kicking off, So it's like, this is
not the time yet to tune in.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yeah, I've I got free money betting on Notre Dame
the last two times, somebody betting against them on the
Penn State game, So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
The one I've I've got the Texas Ohio State. I
haven't got a pulse of that one just yet. I
know Ohio State's been hot, the Texas, they played, the
level of competition that they're up against, it's gonna be interesting.
That'll be the more interesting game. I think Penn State.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Probably runs away from Notre Dame. You think so, I do.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I think that's a dud of a semi final for me.
I know there are two historic college football programs, but
that's not a game I want to see.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I don't think either one has won a championships since
the eighties, but the you know, Notre Dame. They both
got funny draws, like like Penn State got an easy
draw because they wound up plays to play with SMU
and Boise who Boise was vastly overseeded, and we knew
that from the get go. Like that was one of
those things where my biggest gripe wasn't somebody making the playoff.
(33:01):
My biggest gripe was, boyse he get a free seed
when I'm like, what are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You know this team is it's a one man band.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
And as soon as they shut that down, uh, you know,
then they get real dicey and the quarterback play probably
his best game. Yeahs with you against Penn State. It's
still wasn't even close to bed enough.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Do you think that after this year, how they see
after they see it play out the College Football Playoff full,
you know, all the way through, do you think they'll
look at changing some things like maybe we guarantee that
that that big or that top five what's it called
the conference? Not the Power five Conference, but the next
five that. Boy, Yeah, we'll guarantee you a spot in
(33:38):
the playoff, but we're not guaranteeing you a first round.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
By no matter if you're a receeed or what. No
matter what you're ranking, you gonna be undefeated or something
in order to you know, pull that off or so.
I think they got to take a look at it. Yeah,
it's it's I don't know. They They very clearly were not.
If you're basing this on anything, you know, that's subjective.
They very clearly were not, uh, a top three seed.
We saw that play out, you know, play that out
on the field. I didn't have a problem with this
and you making I mean probably the Alabama not making it.
(34:01):
But my biggest ripe in that field from the beginning
was what are we doing with Boise at three?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Get out of here? Yeah, that's stupid.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And congrats to Arizona State for showing up when I
did not think they were going to, and it didn't
look like they were going to for the first three
quarters of that game.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, but man, that.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Looked good for the Big twelve.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
But that's another one where I'm like, how is Arizona
State going to be the top they're the twelfth seed
or the twelfth ranked team, but they're the number four seed.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Like, this just doesn't make any sense to me. Some
silly stuff based on you know, the sillier stuff and
the people that got to be the most matter.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Oregon fans, you're like, you're saying, we get a first
round by cool, but then we have to play Ohio
State in our first game. But the College Football Playoff
is the betting favorite to win it all.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And one of the things that you're looking at right now,
you're sort of seeing, is these teams a head to buy.
They come out these games a little bit rusty in
the first half, you know, having that much time off,
they come out a little rusty. Said something that coaches
are going to have to prepare for going forward with
these buys. You're going to have to find ways to
keep your guys in their rhythm.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
We saw Arizona State show up up in the second
half of that game, So you know, some.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Of these teams are showed up in the second half.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Even Oregon, you know, sort of showed up in the
second half of that game. But you know, it was
it was by then it was way too a little
way too late. I mean, know how they just came
out and boat raced them. Yeah, thirty four, nothing right,
And I was like looking at the Dylan Gabriel thinking,
I'm like, Wall, this was your third Heisman, guy, this
guy really, this was your This was your guy. You
got the John Wayne Lifetime Achievement Award.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
But speaking to your point about the teams with the
first round by starting out slow, I saw a stat
earlier today, I think it was there they were.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Outscored forty two to three in the first quarter. You go, yeah,
so they start off seledge.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
What's happening? And these teams get out of rhythm.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
You know, you get that, you get in peak, peak
rhythm there at the end of the season, and you
get taken right out of it. And uh, you know,
it's something that coaching is going to have to find
a way to, uh to deal with next year and
do a better better job with that. So looking forward
to that, we uh, we're gonna hit a break here
in a second. We got the NFL six pack coming
up and got out gold coming up bottom of the hour,
(35:55):
and then the course puffs Prime Time. Appreciate you guys
sticking around here Rockles, Cuntry Night, Kawa,
I had Broncos Country tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Benjamin ol Brian here.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
With you, Gras Smith back there behind the glass, taking
all way up to the Buffs prime time at eight o'clock tonight,
in case you guys were wondering, Happy New Year to everybody.
First time I've had a chance to talk to you
since after the first of the year.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I hope you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hope you all haven't already fallen off the New Year's
resolution horse. Some people have. It's day two, so some
people obviously already have.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know how that goes?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Five six, six, nine zero is the text line big
show tonight at wreck Lewis the six thirty school seven
thirty five. We'll get an FL sixpeck in here as well.
At some point I want to talk about this forthcoming
game against Kansas City, what it means for the Broncos,
what it means to the Broncos if they don't get it.
We just saw Notre Dame beating Jarjia. They were calling
(00:48):
it an upset, although not an upset to me.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I put some bank on Notre Dame in that one.
So although my.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Parlay did not cash because Notre Dame's running back at
I'd get to the yardage I need them to I
had I had the over on Stockton's yardage at one
seventy one. I had the over on Riley Riley Leonard's
rushing yardage, which was like forties on me had like eighty.
And then Yarramia Love, you know, is the over runner
in his rushing was was like sixty yards and he
get like nineteen or something like that. It's because love
(01:16):
is never on your side. That's That's what I'm saying.
This is why all the time, it's not just Jordan Love,
it's Annie any Love five six, six nine zeros and text.
I want to hear from you guys what this thing
means this weekend with Kansas City. The Broncos don't make
it versus uh, you know, your disappointment the team if
(01:36):
they don't make it versus your relation, uh if they do,
you know which which matters more? Which one are you
trying to? Are you more uh you more happy about
being excited or already more sad about potentially potentially not
being It's it's the uh do you hate to hate
to lose or love to win more? I guess kind
(01:56):
of kind of question with regard to that. So five, six,
six times to hear from you guys on that one
as well. What's your feeling what you guys are feeling
on this thing? The line started off the Broncos minus
eint it's out to minus ten and a half. As
people are hammering the Broncos line on this one. The
money is all coming in on Denver at this point.
I'll get you the splits on that here in just
a second.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I'm nervous about this game. I yeah, I don't know why.
I just did not have a good feeling about it.
I'm neutral the last two I knew.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Like the last two, I had that that gut feeling.
I'm neutral on this one. I'm I don't even know
which way I'm gonna pick it yet. We'll see how
it goes the Broncos. But at the tweet Ran Edwards
mentioned previously, the Broncos are celebrating here at Koa. We're
all celebrating one hundred years of being on the air
(02:46):
here at Kawa. What a special thing to be a
part of. Broncos put out a tweet celebrating that with their.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Four favorite calls over the year.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And we have those calls, don't we Grant.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Forty two seconds to go.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Bronco was at the clean one five the slap duel Way,
the look the throw touchdown. John Elway has drown a
touchdown to Mark Jackson ninety eight and a half yard drive.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Packers jumping around.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
They rushed forth and we can run inside the ten
head first he lies oh yard line. You want to
tell me the thirty seven year old man didn't want
to win this game? I O may that's sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Tim Playfax in the pocket, sets bros.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Past talk the Marris Thomas out of the forty five
minute deal. Here we go forty thirty five, put it
raise twenty fifteen ten touchdown, den Buris. On that third
down of ten, Will Newton face some pressure here in
the pocket Si and sacked this seventy five. The ball
is free, touchdown Denver. That is the Bronco's four favorite
(03:49):
calls for KWA over the years. You know, hey, I'd
never heard the radio call of the drive neither, and
I was like, how about we get a little emotion
in there the yard drive. Like there's like no emotion
that call whatsoever. Me while Dave is up and down
excited on all the calls. I just you know, know,
with all due respect to the Jus predecessor, I just
(04:12):
I think Dave's one of the best to ever do it,
and specifically the Marius call.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's just iconic. Man.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It gives me goosebumps every time I hear Dave say
here we go yep.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And you know, just from everything that.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Has played out after that with DT's passing, and you know,
it just holds.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
A special place in my heart.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I was with one of my best buddies in college
at that time, and he was a die hard Steelers
fan that I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Have been more excited.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I had no root in the Broncos at that time,
and I just loved rubbing it in his face. But
it means a lot to Broncos country, and it's cool
that Kawa has been a part of it for so
many years.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was watching that game with a then former and
now also former NFL head coach. There's a few coaches,
we're all we're all watching that game together to get together,
and it was one of those things that you know
they coach and he was like, this is a watch
they'll get They'll get to the fourth quarter, they're gonna
get to overtime. They're gonna win this thing.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I'm telling you, this is gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And uh and I'm like, now, there's no way, there's
no way, and uh and it just had and I
would just blew my mind just sitting there watches Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
But again, you know, I'm not a big believer, but
that may have been some divine intervention on the sports field.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
There was, Yeah, one of the guys there, there were
several coaches that were at this, at this watch party,
and one of the guys, how does he kid getting
away with it? And do you think about that season?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I mean, they had games where they had like three
resh or three passing yards or something and still winning games.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And you're just like, this is this is Tim.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Tebow's moment and it was his only moment that season
in the NFL. But I mean, man, what a special
memory for Broncos fans. And currently on the Denver Broncos
ex Twitter page, the drive is at twenty nine percent,
and the helicopter at thirty one percent, the wild Card
walk off winner, which is our favorite seventeen per and
the Super Bowl fifty strip sack TD is at twenty
(06:03):
two percent.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Interesting, so a lot of old school voters in there
voting for the older school stuff rather than the maybe
we need to throw it up on the GRAM and
try to get a younger, a younger voting crowd. I
don't know, five six, six, nine zeros of text line
Broncos hoping to add a new call to that play
call list this weekend up agains the Kansas City Chiefs.
(06:25):
No Paba Holmes, Travis Kelsey, no Chris Jones. We know
about that since Sunday morning. Here on the opening line,
we reported it, and then I think the national guys
had it that afternoon. But we've known this for a
while that this was the direction that was probably headed.
And just because we're not getting those three great players
doesn't mean that's not a good football team. Doesn't mean
(06:47):
they're not fully capable of winning. It doesn't mean they're
not going to have any fight. You know, Carson Wentz
will be the quarterback for Kansas City Chiefs. And you
look around in the league right now at some of
these quarterbacks that are on playoff teams or flirting with
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You look at a Sam Darnold in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You look at a Baker Mayfield down there in Tampa,
you look at a Geno Smith in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You look at some of these.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Quarterbacks, even Jared Goff, and you know in Detroit he
had to go from the Rams to Detroit and succeed
a little bit different as he didn't have the Jerneyman route,
but you know, going he was given up on by
his team for Matt Stafford and then had to go
replace Stafford. And honestly, the Detroit Lions are a heck
of a story. Carson Wentz has not been that bad
over his career. He's had one or two seasons that
(07:34):
you're like Wolf, but you know, he's almost won the MVP.
Also almost won the MVP and only played thirteen game.
As a matter of fact, he was second in the
NFL in touchdowns that year. I played thirteen games. He
was second in the NFL in passing touchdowns by one touchdown.
The touchdown passing leader that year Russell Wilson. He finished
(07:57):
ahead of Tom Brady. Tom Brady played the whole season.
He finished with more passing touchdowns than Tom Brady that
year in thirteen games. By and large, Carson Wentz's stat
line is gonna be twenty seven touchdowns, seven interceptions. I
think He's done that like three times in his career. Hey,
that year is like thirty three touchdowns and seven picks
(08:18):
or something like that. But by and large, when you
know he's that's what he is. And so what he's
doing is he's.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Playing for.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
A journeyman, work my way into the starter shot, just
like Baker, just like Sam Darnold somewhere else next year.
And if you don't think you're gonna get his a game,
you got another thing coming. Carson Wentz is gonna come
in there and play his backside off. He knows the system.
(08:52):
He's gonna come out there, and he's playing for a future.
And I'm gonna be honest, I think that future, which
I tweeted out yesterday or dad before and now you know,
it's everywhere, but might be in New York. New York
Giants Mike Grows the wide receiver coach there. Mike Mike
has a relationship with Carson dating back to when he
(09:12):
was with the quarterbacks coach when he was with the
Philadelphia If Brian Dable and Joe Shane stay in power
there with the Giants, and that is very likely that
that could happen, believe it or not, Carson Wentz is
probably the bridge quarterback for whoever they draft. Wait, they
draft somebody early, mid rounds, whatever, but Carson Wentz is
probably their bridge guy. Well, we're just giving up on
(09:33):
Drew Locke already. Look, and the man, was it a
Drew somber to remember when he messed up my twelve
leg parlay crushing.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
The Indianapolis Colts. Don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I was just watched it. I was just watching that game,
and I'm like, I don't know whether it be sad
that this is the only leg of this parlay that
isn't going to cash, or to be happy for Drew, because,
my goodness, he clown hammered the Colts. Gus Bradley had
to do a miacopo and the zoom thing. He's just
sitting there like people talking about job security. Yeah, I
can't even.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Worry about that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I'm still trying to scrubt the embarrassment off.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Drew Locke came out there and absolutely pasted Indy, and man,
the fallout from that in Indianapolis, I mean, gosh, they're
talking about how the culture is all wrong, how these
players don't care, blah blah blah, and all because of
Drew Lock and Drew Simber.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, was and Drew Simber to remember somebody got a
great photo of him after the game and the way
the sun was like going down on the stadium behind
it and everything is just a really cool shot. And
I wish I remember which Twitter account it was that
had that.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'll go have to go back and find you. But
there was a really cool shot of him, and I
was like, man, what a moment for that dude. He's
had a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Maybe the woman up there in Seattle where Geno's on
the sideline happy for him strapping the backpack on to
the celebration and all that. That was so great, you know,
And for a guy who got the love of football
beaten out of him here by Vic Fangio and Pat Shermer,
just on the on the cost but just giving up.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Good for him.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, you think if nothing else, he's going to be
a long time backup in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Probably. I mean, you know that's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's been around long enough that you know he can
come in a spot start for you'd be serviceable. We'll
see if a giant, if he comes out bulls the
doors off again. This week, and it's not like a
fluke one time thing. That's a little bit different. If
he and Elik neighbors have suddenly found the connection, that
might be a little different.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Then you go out and you draft a guy.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And Drew's the bridge, but Carson Wentz is playing for
his next job. That's the point I'm trying to get
at it. If you think that this is going to
come out and be a gimme game for the Broncos
just because all the money's on Denver and around the
ten and a half at the sports books, I got
another thing for you, man, Andy Reid likes winning football games.
(12:05):
And those players that are out there that aren't Chris
Jones and Pad Mahomes and Travis Kelcey, these guys that
are trying to put up tape for other jobs. But
I'm gonna lay down.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I don't want to say I'm concerned, So I'm not
at the level of concern, but I am keeping an
eye on that because I you know, I'm not as
convinced to the Broncos are just gonna steamroll Kansas City
here or Casey's backups. I have a feeling that's going
to be a very ugly game. We got a weird
history with playoff implication games the backup quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Go back to last year, that's event.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And seven Broncos who are taking on the New England
Patriots at the time helms by Bailey zappy. I forgot
about that brutal loss. And maybe if we hadn't had
mismanagement at the end of the game handing our Bill
Belichick free time outs, the outcome might have been a
little bit different on that one. But still, that's that's
another one where you were up against the backup quarterback
(13:07):
and you know in a situation you needed to win
a little different than this where it's just winning. You're
in Bruccles needed some things to break their way with
that Patriots game and everything else. But certainly we have
recent experience with this coaching staff in these kinds of situations,
(13:29):
and I think for me, I I don't know. I
think my reactions as I try to gauge this thing,
and we talk about the elation of victory versus the
agony of defeat. Do you love to win more than
you hate to lose? And in this particular situation, I
think I would just exhale if they won rather than
(13:52):
be elated, Whereas if they lose this game, man, I
think that I'm worried that the dam is going to
break a little bit, and it's going to break too
early on Sean Payton.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, I think what we have to keep in mind
is that we weren't planning on being here this year anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
It's frame of reference. It's exactly it. That's the point
I'm getting to here. That's exactly what I'm getting at. Grant.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is frame of reference.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Because if you think about this, if somebody had told
you that in the final week of the season the
dever Broncos would be playing that a victory would put
them in the playoffs, if I told you that in
training camp, he would say, well.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hell yeah, brother, bring that party on. I'm all about it.
This was a development year for bow Nicks. It was
house money, right, But as you raced out to nine wins,
the frame of reference changed and the expectation then became,
(14:52):
I expect to get into the playoffs. Well then you
come along and not too straight and now all of a
sudden you're starring elimination in the face. And for whatever
you guys think, I think of Sean Payton. He's going
(15:13):
to be back next year, and this year is a
house money year. And what I don't want is an elimination,
not making the playoffs, and a whole offseason a whine
and a grouse, and about the guy before we get
a chance to, you know, to see what it is,
because expectation for him starts next year. Right, there were
(15:33):
no expectations for Sean Payton this year. The sportsbooks had
us at five and a half ways. There were no expectations.
The expectations start for him next year. And I'm talking
about inside the walls of the organization ownership. You're paying
a guy almost twenty million dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
It's your three.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's time to start winning, and we need to be
in the playoffs. We need to be competing. The window
for bow Nick starts next year. If we get in
the playoffs, hey we got there. Your early cool, We
got some experience. But the window for bo Nick starts
next year. The window for Sean Payton starts next year.
And that's where the expector the expectation timer starts. Nobody
(16:15):
turned the timer on for this. It's a brand new oven.
We just threw the pizza in there, we're kind of
looking at it. We'll feel it out. We want to
make sure this thing heats up. We want to make
sure it works properly. We'll start using the timer on
the next one. And that's basically where this team is
(16:36):
in the offseason. You're going to see additions to the
tight end room, into the running back room. They're gonna
get contracts done to finish keeping this defense out through
Bonix's window, getting Nick, Benito, and Zach Allen done. And
so that that's sort of the thing when I ask,
is it are you more elated with a victory or
(16:57):
disappointed at a loss? Where is your frame of reference?
What was your frame of reference to start this year? Interestingly,
I called the Broncos a nine win football team. I
hope I'm wrong. I hope I wind up being wrong
on that one.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Hey, and people thought you were crazy forgetting him nine wins.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
How could I hate Sean Payton and bow Nicks if
I'm projecting nine wins for them to hit the win
total over the passing yard is total, over the rushing total, over,
the touchdown total over. But Ben hates these guys. Some
of the stuff I read online of like it's funny
every once in a while to do that, you know,
just click through and oh god, what these people saying
(17:42):
about me?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Some of the stuff I read is hilarious. So I
have a Reddit account now. And if there is a
space anywhere that contains more fiction about me, I don't
know where it is. It is absolutely there's guys in
(18:07):
there that will claim that they're that they've been in
rooms with me when they obviously haven't been. I was
there when all brod did, so I'm like, you did
what That never happened?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Ever, it's so it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's so funny. They hate me, and awe, he hates
Sean Paid, he hates Boonicks. Buddy, I was a guy
telling you they're gonna draft Bondicks from back in December
or last year. I don't hate any of them. I
want to win, but I also got to I mean,
my job is to sit here and give honest critique.
That means I don't get to cheerlead. It was just
(18:45):
two years ago you guys were telling me I was
a propagandist and state sponsored the competition around town was
trying to sell that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
When they had a show.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I just look, I want to Broncos to win. I
want to make the playoffs, but this year's house money.
So the frame of reference here can't be disgusted if
we don't make the playoffs, disappointed, sure, But what I
don't need is six eight months of scorched earth, hot
take radio, hot take tenver media, go and drink Horris
(19:26):
on a coach I think is good, not great anyway
without giving him the opportunity to do it. This is
year three, this is year two of the bone Nick's era.
I'm gonna give him a fair shake starting next year.
Figure out where it is, regardless of what happens. And
(19:51):
that's the way it should be. The way it should
be is we have enough patience to let them see
it through. Now. If it doesn't work at that point,
doesn't work at that point. If it does work at
that point, that it does work at that point, I'm
willing to let him build it out. Have I in
the micro been critical of the way that he's done things, Absolutely,
(20:12):
But in the macro, I'm trying to be patient. In
the micro, end of half, end of game management stuff
has plagued this dude since New Orleans. He's had a
quarterback that was able to overcome it, and a city
that Frankly had a lot of cachet with because he
won a super Bowl there early. They had never had success.
(20:34):
Devers had success. You don't have any cachet here. You
got three maybe four years total that If you're not
flirting with the super Bowl at that point, if we're
still the third team in the division at that point,
the Broncos fans are going to get restless.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
They gonna look around and say, what the.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And we'll ask quickly us with the funk when we
come back Broncos Country Tonight or analyst Rick Lewis joining
us here on Broncos Country Tonight.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Rick, how you doing? Hey, Ben doing good?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Happy new Year to you and Grant And it's good
to be back on the show.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I broke my resolution two days in that was not
to have Rick Lewis on the show, and you know
we're two days in where we resolved to have you back.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Actually, you can't resist me. That's what it is, is
a powerless against your charms.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Man. It's uh. I love I love going out there
watching the band, love talking, love chopping it up music
with you. But we're chopping it up with with with
maybe a playoff appearance here for these Denver Broncos.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
If I'd said at the height.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Of training camps that this team, with a rookie quarterback
picked by the sports books to have a five and
a half win total, was going to you know, was
going to finish the season with a win in your
end game to make the playoffs, you know, laughed at
me and said I was crazy. But here we are,
and you know, they haven't gotten done the last two weeks,
but they're gonna get opportunity, gets a mostly Kansas City
backup team. How do you feel going to this thing?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Before we get into that, what the funk is clownhammer Now,
this is a term I've seen you use a lot
recently on social media, you know, And I looked it
up and there's nothing. Internet has nothing about clown hammered,
not even a slang definition of it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Now it's descriptive.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I think I know where you're going with that, But
I'm gonna try to work into the broadcast on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I need you to do that for me, I believe
or not. I did not come up with this. I
stole it from Jojo Turnbo, who uses that term. Who
has used that the years, okay and near as I can.
In my mind, what I picture it as is just
like when the when the clown has got that like
inflatable hammer that squeaks when you hit it, so it's
even more embarrassing when you're hitting you with the inflatable mallet,
(22:53):
you know, with.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Like a real one.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, So that that's what to me, that's what that means.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That's where that came from.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
So Sunday, I'll be like, Hey, I don't know about you,
but I think the Broncos are gonna clown hammer the
Chiefs today.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I'm gonna I'm gonna say that moment. It's gonna make
me so proud. I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I'm gonna even have our boss there Jojo listening for that.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So I'll try to work it. I'll try to work
it in.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Yeah, Sunday, you know what I think the Broncos went
on Sunday now the.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Last couple of weeks. My my feel for this football team,
it's kind of.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I would say it's weakened a bit because going into
La I thought the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Would beat the Chargers. They didn't.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Of course, going into Cincinnati, I wasn't so sure the
Broncos would be able to get into a shootout with
Cincinnati and win the game.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So I was right about that. So this game coming up, I.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Don't know what to think other than I think the
Broncos are playing with house money, and I think that
they do show up Sunday. I think this team is
all in on this game. Whether they're playing Carson Wentz
from backups, I don't care who it is. I do
think the Broncos win on Sunday, although I'm a little
(24:15):
afraid it's going to be close enough that we're going
to be chewing our fingernails off in the fourth quarter
of the football game.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Wow, But I do think they will win.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
It's funny because you know, you and I are ships
passing in the night here. I was extremely worried about
the Chargers in Cincinnati games. I had a good feeling about,
you know, the Coles, extremely worried about those last two,
and now I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Know where I am on this one.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And it's funny because the betting public on this is
all over the map. The odds are now out to
ten and a half. By the way, the line is
out to ten and a half But one of the
more interesting disparities is sixty three percent of all bets
placed on the money line have.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Been praised on the Broncos to win.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Ninety two percent of the money is on the Chiefs
to win on the wildline. So there is a fifty
five percent disparity between the tickets and the money in
terms of the betting on this thing. And the over
under hasn't moved a lick. It's been sitting there at
forty eight point five the entire time. It's just the
spread that's moved. So this is this is a fascinating
thing to look at. Carson Wentz is not a pushover either,
(25:14):
and me, he talk about a guy who did thirteen games,
was second in the NFL in touchdown passes the year
the Eagles went to the Super Bowl and he got hurt.
He goesn't quite the same quarterback after that, but he
was still putting up these numbers. And he's a guy
who usually puts up twenty seven touchdowns to seven interceptions
in a season and did that as recently, I think
it's two years ago with the.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Colts or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He's a good quarterback who's trying to play his way
sort of back into a starting job a la Sam Darnold,
Gino Smith, Baker Mayfield, those guys.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, that's what worries me about him.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And of course he was the number two overall pick
when he came out of North Dakota State. So he's
got big time talent and for some reason that hasn't
worked out for him. I remember we called Eagles Broncos
game two twenty seventeen, and I think they scored like
fifty five points in that game, and he had four
(26:06):
touchdowns in the game. I remember driving around Philly. We
had a day off before the game where we were
able to explore the city of Philadelphia, which was fantastic,
and man, people were in love with Carson Wentz. They
wanted to change the name of the state to Wensylvania.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
They were talking.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
About, hey wait, and they wanted to introduce a bill
to do that. And boy, I'll tell you what, that
year came off the rails pretty quick though for him
there in Philly, and they moved on from him. But
you look at the last say, last three years, he's
made eight starts. In the last three years, he's three
and five as a starter. He's thrown thirteen touchdowns ten interceptions.
(26:52):
But he is auditioning for every other team in the
league that needs a quarterback on Sunday against the Broncos,
So that does concern me a bit, But I still
feel like they will get the best of him.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
He's certainly a guy that you can sack.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
You know, There's been a couple of seasons where I
think he took fifty sacks one year in the league,
so you can you can sack this guy. And he
hasn't played a whole lot of football recently, so we have.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
That going for us.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Maybe the Broncos can clownhammer Carson Wentz and win this
game against the Chiefs on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Well, here's hoping five to six, six nine zerals and
text a line. If you guys got questions for Ricklas.
One thing I will say about that.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You know these three and five over.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
His last eight starts over the last two seasons, all
three of those wins were fourth quarter comebacks with game
winning drives to win those games. So fascinating that you know,
a that he wasn't able to do much early, but
then was you know, kind of late to win those games.
Wonder if that plays into anything we see this weekend.
As for the rest of it, would you rather just
beat this you know, no matter who they roll out,
would you rather beat them or is there a sense
(27:56):
of pride that you kind of rather beat the starters
after that whole field goal debacle and arrow and earlier
this year.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
No, I don't care. I just want them to go
to the playoffs. And as we said earlier, I think
they're playing with house money, and so if you can
go to the playoffs with this team, and that's just
putting a cherry on top of this football season and
talk about great experience for bow Nicks and the young
guys on this football team getting ready for the twenty
(28:22):
twenty five season. So it would be really, I think,
really important for this team to win this game and
then get the playoff game at Buffalo. Whether they get
clown hammered or not, I use that term.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Again for you. I love it. Whether they get clown
hammered by the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
I think you just have to get in the playoffs
to get that experience, and then I think that really
goes a long way in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, I know I did to agree with you, and
I think they are playing with house money. I think
this is a team that you know, is as critical
as I've been of Sean Payton. The expectations don't start
till next year. You know, like I said at the
outset that if you'd said that this team is on
the cusp of the playoffs winning your in in the
final week the season training camp, you'd have taken that.
The problem is you raced out to nine wins. The
frame of reference has changed, and now everybody will be disappointed,
(29:07):
even crushed if they don't make it based on the
expectations as recently as a few weeks ago. And that's
part of how football is. You live by and die by.
And you know, this team raced out to an expectation
level that now it hasn't been able to sustain here
at the end, So it'd be nice to It'd be
nice to top that off with a win.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Last thing you want to do. I mean, every team you.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Know, except for one, loses their last game of the
season pretty much. So the last thing you want to do, though,
is go into this thing on a nose dive, losing
three straight and give everybody a reason to doubt the
culture that's been re established this year.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, the goal line's certainly been moved because the Broncos
have had a successful season up to this point, and
it would be an epic collapse I think if they
lost three in a row and didn't get in. So yeah,
you don't want to end the season that way. And
you know, I don't care how how good.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Carson Wentz looks.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
On Sunday, They're still going to be playing a lot
of backups and the Broncos almost beat Patrick Mahomes and
the starters in Kansas City. Really they should have won
that football game obviously, So I do think they will
win the game. You know, there's some talk that maybe
they even play the number three quarterback on Sunday, and
(30:21):
that wouldn't surprise me one bit because you don't want
to get Carson Wentz hurt going into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Then you really got problems if you're the cheap.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
So I feel like maybe we see the number three
quarterback in the second half.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I don't even know who he is, have any sola
cola kuduwa however you pronounce it, but yeah, around a
little bit, he was with the New York Chats for
a minute.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was kind of a fan favorite tip, Rick, we
got to hit a break man, but.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I appreciate you popping on here. I'm looking forward to
seeing you out there and what will be the last
home game of the season for the Broncos either way,
hoping we come away with the win for the fans
and looking forward to seeing out there.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
All right, love you guys, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
We'll see you Sunday, absolutely, brother, Take care, Rick Le
Colorados to the never Broncos.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Six six nine zeros of text.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I appreciate Richulos joining us if you missed that, hey,
part of that, you goys, go to Broncos Country Night
dot Com, slash Podcast wherever each podcast Apple iTunes, that
totally new and redesigned iHeartRadio app where you can get
all kinds of stuff I get the red mic phoge.
You can leave us talk backs to all that kind
of stuff they get. They got a whole lot of
stuff going on with that the new redesigned Appcuse you
gonna really love it, so.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I can get on that if you want.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Alice Gold gonna join us seven thirty five Bus Prime
Time eight o'clock tonight. Stay tuned for that. It's already
the heart of basketball. It doesn't feel like college basketball
season yet. I'm still doing college football.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, with how how long the college football playoffs are extended,
it feels weird to even be watching college basketball yet. Yeah,
like this is usually at the time of year I
tune into college basketball, start to get a feel for things. Yeah,
once conference play is kicking off, but I can't focus
on that yet. We still got the college football playoffs
semi finals and final to go, not not even mentioning
(32:05):
the NFL playoffs kicking off, So it's like, this is
not the time yet to tune in.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yeah, I've I got free money betting on Notre Dame
the last two times, somebody betting against them on the
Penn State game, So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
The one I've I've got the Texas Ohio State. I
haven't got a pulse of that one just yet. I
know Ohio State's been hot, the Texas, they played, the
level of competition that they're up against, it's gonna be interesting.
That'll be the more interesting game. I think Penn State.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Probably runs away from Notre Dame. You think so, I do.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I think that's a dud of a semi final for me.
I know there are two historic college football programs, but
that's not a game I want to see.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I don't think either one has won a championships since
the eighties, but the you know, Notre Dame. They both
got funny draws, like like Penn State got an easy
draw because they wound up plays to play with SMU
and Boise who Boise was vastly overseeded, and we knew
that from the get go. Like that was one of
those things where my biggest gripe wasn't somebody making the playoff.
(33:01):
My biggest gripe was, boyse he get a free seed
when I'm like, what are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You know this team is it's a one man band.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
And as soon as they shut that down, uh, you know,
then they get real dicey and the quarterback play probably
his best game. Yeahs with you against Penn State. It's
still wasn't even close to bed enough.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Do you think that after this year, how they see
after they see it play out the College Football Playoff full,
you know, all the way through, do you think they'll
look at changing some things like maybe we guarantee that
that that big or that top five what's it called
the conference? Not the Power five Conference, but the next
five that. Boy, Yeah, we'll guarantee you a spot in
(33:38):
the playoff, but we're not guaranteeing you a first round.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
By no matter if you're a receeed or what. No
matter what you're ranking, you gonna be undefeated or something
in order to you know, pull that off or so.
I think they got to take a look at it. Yeah,
it's it's I don't know. They They very clearly were not.
If you're basing this on anything, you know, that's subjective.
They very clearly were not, uh, a top three seed.
We saw that play out, you know, play that out
on the field. I didn't have a problem with this
and you making I mean probably the Alabama not making it.
(34:01):
But my biggest ripe in that field from the beginning
was what are we doing with Boise at three?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Get out of here? Yeah, that's stupid.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And congrats to Arizona State for showing up when I
did not think they were going to, and it didn't
look like they were going to for the first three
quarters of that game.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, but man, that.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Looked good for the Big twelve.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
But that's another one where I'm like, how is Arizona
State going to be the top they're the twelfth seed
or the twelfth ranked team, but they're the number four seed.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Like, this just doesn't make any sense to me. Some
silly stuff based on you know, the sillier stuff and
the people that got to be the most matter.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Oregon fans, you're like, you're saying, we get a first
round by cool, but then we have to play Ohio
State in our first game. But the College Football Playoff
is the betting favorite to win it all.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And one of the things that you're looking at right now,
you're sort of seeing, is these teams a head to buy.
They come out these games a little bit rusty in
the first half, you know, having that much time off,
they come out a little rusty. Said something that coaches
are going to have to prepare for going forward with
these buys. You're going to have to find ways to
keep your guys in their rhythm.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
We saw Arizona State show up up in the second
half of that game, So you know, some.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Of these teams are showed up in the second half.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Even Oregon, you know, sort of showed up in the
second half of that game. But you know, it was
it was by then it was way too a little
way too late. I mean, know how they just came
out and boat raced them. Yeah, thirty four, nothing right,
And I was like looking at the Dylan Gabriel thinking,
I'm like, Wall, this was your third Heisman, guy, this
guy really, this was your This was your guy. You
got the John Wayne Lifetime Achievement Award.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
But speaking to your point about the teams with the
first round by starting out slow, I saw a stat
earlier today, I think it was there they were.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Outscored forty two to three in the first quarter. You go, yeah,
so they start off seledge.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
What's happening? And these teams get out of rhythm.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
You know, you get that, you get in peak, peak
rhythm there at the end of the season, and you
get taken right out of it. And uh, you know,
it's something that coaching is going to have to find
a way to, uh to deal with next year and
do a better better job with that. So looking forward
to that, we uh, we're gonna hit a break here
in a second. We got the NFL six pack coming
up and got out gold coming up bottom of the hour,
(35:55):
and then the course puffs Prime Time. Appreciate you guys
sticking around here Rockles, Cuntry Night, Kawa,
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.