Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
To everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Happy New Year to you over there, Zach you how's
your your Christmas slash New Year?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Pretty great? Always enjoy the holiday season. Took it easy
for New Year's Eve because we had a brunch with
friends on New Year's Day and everyone got together, including
Joey Richards, and we all were remarking on how washed
we are now because none of us in our our
mid twenties friend group went out for New Year's Eve,
and it's just I feel like, I'm on, I'm Joe
Flacko win.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
A Bengals jersey right now.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, I give it to about twenty years.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, yes, it's funny. One of the things like, so.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know, Mario is like ten years younger than me,
a Rider, good friend Mario, and we got, you know,
we've been out playing football since I've been here since
twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We go out to play football, all that.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Kind of stuff, and so those guys, you know, I'm
forty five now, but when we started playing you know,
football and everything, I was in twenty thirteen. I was
about forty or thirty two, and they were all about
like twenty two, you know, all that kind of stuff,
and so at the time you know, and I'd get
winded and I'd be like, oh, i's at tired or whatever,
and they're like, dude.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You're so old.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well now they're the age I was at that point
in time, and I'm you know, tell you, and all
of a sudden they're like, oh my god, I'm a
terror stub.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
They're following. I mean, uh huh ah.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And you guys are playing against me at forty five
and not you at twenty five or whatever it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Was back you know, back in the day.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's convenient that Mario is always full time quarterback and
then gets annoyed at the receivers for not running their
routes hard enough.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's it's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, about four routes in You're like, how about you
go run a fly pattern, buddy. Yeah, I'd like to
see you go for your four forty yarder down there
and not get the ball as he tries to throw
a drag route through your face. Right. Yeah, I put
a hole for the middle of my chest. Oh my goodness,
I'm looking. It's funny here. I don't know what I
got into.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I came in here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I came in here at the end, and there's a
lot of textualizes about the guys.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
We're right and we're right, a Nick vickery or something.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
There was a lot of sparring over the concept of
style points and how much that matters at this point
in the season in the NFL, in the NFL and
and no matter there's in the NFL now. Nick was arguing,
let's see this team I think performed dominantly at a
consistent or on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You know, if you are, you know, the third best
team in the.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
League, you should look like the third best team in
the league playing you know, a squad of backups or scrubs.
You shouldn't lower yourself maybe to their level, I think
was his point.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay, well, you don't want to play down to your
level of competition, but you don't have to be the
third best team in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You just got to be the first best team in
the stadium that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Day, Yes, And I think ultimately that was the disagreement.
Ryan was saying, Hey, I think this team's got some magic.
They keep pulling this off. Why can't they keep repeating
it throughout the season. They're beating the good teams generally
speaking when they play them or play them in these
close games, and I think Knick's stance was war Hey,
they're still not playing well enough.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They should be playing up to that level.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Every week, as opposed to, you know, some weeks it
seems like they can't get out of.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Bed for the game. That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I think Nick's coming at them from the championship mentality.
It's coming out of a former NFL player, coming at
it from the I've seen what it takes to have
that sort of mentality, you know, and maybe wonders why
this team is not, you know, at that level, maybe
at this point in the season. Oh, it was because
they had it last year.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And although I will say to Ryan's points, they have
been resilient, they have been a team that is found
away and there is there is some value to that.
There is some value to having an inherent confidency in
you know, it doesn't matter what kind of hole we
get in, we can get ourselves out of it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You don't want to just let yourself get in a
hole for the sake of get it in a hole
before you get going. But there is some value to that.
I mean, you can go back to Kansas City when
they were starting the beginning of their dominant run. I
don't know if you remember or not. There were five
or six games that season where they got down twenty
twenty one points.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
They got out of the Texans twenty one points in the.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
First quarter and then just blew them out the rest
of the game, and there was an inherent there's a
confidence that comes from all, right, we got to settle down,
we got to we gotta come outver here and put
foot to foot the backside here real quick and get
this thing done.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, having Tom Brady on your sidelines makes the twenty
eight to three come back more feasible, not just because
he's a great quarterback, but because his greatness allows everyone
else to believe, hey, we're not done yet. I think
having that giant's game in your back pocket, you don't
want to continue to play like that, But having that
truly miraculous comeback on this team's resume, I think is
(04:17):
good to have going into the playoffs that hey, we
might be down fourteen nothing, twenty one nothing or whatever,
and it's not over yet.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
We can claw and fight our way back into this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think as there's a confidence too from having seen
somebody do it, like, for instance, you just mentioned Tom Brady,
and you know, I think when you're twenty eighty three,
the rest of your offense is like, well, we got
Tom over here, let's let's just put one foot for
the other seer we go. If you have to use
our favorite whipping boys over there, Russell Wilson or Justin
Fields on that sideline, well we're torpedoed. We're not coming
back from this. You know, there's no confidence in that
(04:48):
because you know, at least Justin Fields never come back
from that. Russ hasn't in a while.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, remember that Rams game where the Broncos got down
big and all of a sudden you got people fighting
on the sidelines. That's the difference between having a organized
you don't believe or a surrounding group you don't believe
in a surrounding group you do believe can get the
job done.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It's also the difference between having a head coach that
has the sidelines where they need to be and not.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
That was so for the incident that got Nate Hack.
I meann Hacket was gonna be like go at the
end of the year, but that was what expedited his
his firing. You know, with regard to that Hackett was
gonna be like go at the end.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Of the year.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then you saw, dudes, you know, you had the
offensive lineman fighting a backup quarterback on the sideline, and
you're like, all right, this is embarrassing because everybody saw it.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It wasna it was a national.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Game, you know, all that kind of stuff, and the
ownership was like, we're not We're not doing this. We'll
just put h We'll put the HVAC salesman in here,
or you know, no, it was the hyperbaric chambers.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That's what it was at Rossberg. The hyperbarck chamber, salesman
in here and be dumbled the tail as old as time.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Man ownership will sometimes make these early proclamations in December
or late November saying, no such and such coaches sticking around,
you know, we're keeping them. And then I vividly remember
with Joe Judge, well, you know, do something to embarrass himself,
either if you know, several games in a row and
blowout fashion, or you know, start trying to settle scores
in the media, and ownership goes, oh, this is a
(06:06):
little embarrassing for us. Let's you know, on second thought,
let's bring in the fresh head coach.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, which the Giants are one of the teams that
is going to be doing in advanced Joseph will be
one of the people interviewing for that job, as well
as the job in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Although I don't think he's gonna get the job in Tennessee.
For his sake, I just hope he lands somewhere good.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I worry as a fan of Vance Joseph for him
landing in a place like the Giants, where over the
last decade it's them in the Jets as the most
dysfunctional franchises.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
In the league. And as we.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
All know, not many guys get a second bite to
the apple to be a head coach. But if you
get two bites of the apple and neither goes well,
you are not getting a third.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But I think in that situation, New York situation, you're
going to be jumping into a general manager that you
know in Joe Shane, Dvance and Joe work together.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Miami.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You really already kind of have quite a bit of
talent on that roster.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I mean, the Giants have some town now, They've got
some holes on that roster.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Don't get me wrong, They're better than their records, but
they are yeah they on paper, they're better than the record,
and you.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Know it is Scatabo Dart.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I don't know how long those guys are going to
stay healthy. You gotta find ways to especially with Dart,
you know, keep him out of the medical tent getting
concussions every game. But there's several pieces on that defense
that a guy like Vas Joseph could scheme things up for.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Oh absolutely, and that that exciting group of pass rushers
and everything. You could definitely get a Nick Benito like
thing out of Abdual Carter, another kind of slighter edge rusher.
We ate there aren't a ton of those in the
NFL anymore, and we obviously see Advance Joseph get a
lot of production.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Out of those guys. So I think it would be appealing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And one thing that I think would make it at
least a little more appealing for Vance Jos if you've
got some ownership stability, but also because you have at
least a functional answer at quarterback, you can trade that
top three, top four draft.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Pick to the high spitter.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
This looks like it's probably going to be a two
quarterback class.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Get some depend your work comes out at.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Three, But yes, I guess yeah, I could be Serio
more Mendoza would be the three names. Now, nobody I
talked to thinks extremely highly of any of those three.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
But yeah, basically a three quarterback class.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I think more or I think the second one
winds up kind of being like dark maybe not going
that late, but the guy who gets talked up just
because hey, if you're going to draft a quarterback, that's
the only other option there that's even worth considering in
the first round. And maybe the Giants could get a
decent haul for that, you know, high up draft pick,
and get a lot of assets to start more of
(08:35):
dramatically overhauling that ross.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
If you're a new quarterback or general manager. Now Shane's
not a new general manager, but if you're a new
coach or general manager, if you have a top five
pick and you've got something that's serviceable at quarterback, a
lot of times you want to trade that because you
can roll the capitol for You've got rolling capital to
go forward next years, to be able to move up
and go get a guy you really if you don't
(08:57):
believe it, now, if you believe that mendoz Is, you're
due than whatever I'll just say that people I talked
to don't have any of those three quarterbacks grated higher
than they had bon Nicks coming out, and Bonnix was
the fifth or sixth quarterback in that class for most
people that I talked to in that class, which should
kind of tell you what they think of these guys
that in a normal class, every one of these guys
would be a Day two guy or worse.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And you just don't have.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Any quarterback talent coming out in this class that figures
to be long term starters.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, it's maybe not as bad as the Kenny Pickett heere,
but it's probably pretty darn close to it. Where of course,
that year you had the quarterback go well I think
it's twenty second overall, and then another one didn't go
until the seventies or eighties or whatever it was. I
could very easily imagine this year's draft going following a
similar route, maybe not to drop into the twenties, but
(09:45):
you have the one quarterback in the first round, and
outside of that, it's a whole lot of waiting.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, there's I mean, if you need a defensive lineman,
this is your class.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
If you need a quarterback, you struggling.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
But if you need a defensive lineman, man, this is
your There's some guys and there's some dudes that are
still in the playoff. Obviously Texas Tech is out, so
you're missing some of those guys. But Ruben Bain from Miami,
that dude's gonna be a dog in the league, man, Like,
if you need that, If that's what you need, and
honestly vance even though they've got the edge rushers and
everything else, you might bring him in as a Zach
Allen type.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I mean, I know he's a little the arms, little whatever.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But Khalais Campbell already came out, was like, hey dude,
they doubted me. You know, when I was coming out
saying I didn't have the right measurements for that position.
I just dominated every time. You know, sometimes it's the
dude and not the measurements.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, there's plenty of stories like that all over the NFL.
But I think, you know, even getting into maybe the
lackluster nature of this class, Ruben Baine is a good
demonstration of that because he is a phenomenal player, but
he has some serious measurable inmitations. I think his arm
lengths like thirty one thirty two inches, which would make
him an extreme outlier to be drafted so high, and
(10:49):
if he became a very productive dresser, he'd also be
an extreme outlier in that regard. But he's gonna go
top ten in this year's draft almost no doubt it,
because everyone else's flaws are more dramatic, and I think
that just perfectly encapsulates this draft class is nowhere near
what it was being hyped up to be back in
(11:10):
you know, August or June.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, And I think that's, you know, that's sort of
the thing. But you can. You can.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
If you've got a top five pick and you've got
a quarterback thirsty team behind you, why not move back
a little bit and get some future capital to go.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Forward and flip side to bring back to the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
This is going to be a buyer's market in terms
of trading up the board and trading down. Everyone's going
to be looking, I think at the top few picks
in this class and going, I don't really want to
spend the eighth overall pick on this guy. Maybe we
can trade down, accumulate some picks, and then you know,
fill it up that way. I think so many teams
are going to have that same philosophy. And we've seen
this before in the draft where that makes it a
(11:48):
lot cheaper to trade up. And if you're the Broncos,
where you know they're struggling to get their first round
pick this year on the field, like they need that
high end talent, they don't need more depth reinforcement, I
think it might be worthwhile packaging some picks or packaging
some assets together to move up the board and get
that high end first round talent instead of the guy
(12:08):
that pick hopefully thirty two.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, and that's you know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
This, however, is going to be a class where the
Broncos need to have some hits. The Broncos need to
and I would say, you know, you kind of want
to multiply your picks into the meat of this draft
because you need some hits. And the reason you need
some hits is you're going to be paying bo nicks
up here in about two years and you're going to
have to turn some of these things over on some
of these guys that you're paying now, Garrett Bowles.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But you know, in a couple of years, you gonna do.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What thirty six, thirty seven years old, something like that.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You're gonna need probably need to replace him.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know, you look along this offensive line, Power's probably
gone after this year.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Mcglinchy's somebody you're going to have to replace at some point.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Zach Allen at the end of his deal, probably somebody
you're replacing at that point. And so there's there's guys
as you start to look through this, you know, this
roster that you're going to have to replace here in
two or three years, and you need to start developing
those guys now. You need to you need to have
some hits in this draft class that are developable guys
so that you were on rookie deals.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
When it comes time to pay bo Yeah, you know,
I think you look at the success they had with
the Russell Wilson dead cap hit with bo Nix trying
to make the playoffs and everything, and the reason they
were able to experience that great success is you had,
you know, Jonathan Cooper still on a cheap deal of
giving you excellent contributions.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Stick Benito, like I know he's.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Resigned, but that money hasn't hit the books yet giving
you tremendous contributions. Also, some big free agency hits like
Zach Allen and John Franklin Myers playing way above the
level of what you invested in them. You know, even
guys like Pat Bryant being critical pieces. Bo Nicks of
course greatly outperforming what you typically get out of a
(13:46):
young quarterback in his first and second season. Those sorts
of you know, bits of surplus value are what you
need to create a high end contender around a big
quarterback hit.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And again we've seen the Broncos do it before.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
They did it with young players that are young, cheap
players that are soon to become expensive. They need to
start reloading that word chess to your point, Yeah, that's
that's one of.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
The things they're gonna have to do. Broncos taken on
the Chargers this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Chargers of course not playing Justin Herbert who's got the
hand issue.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Omarion Hampton also has some menja he's not going to
be going as well.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
People I talk to the Chargers aren't resting players, but
if they've been injured, they are holding them back this
week and it's going to be interesting to see, you know,
what they do.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Trey Lance, who I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Believe has started at games since what twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Maybe been a while. It's been, Yeah, it's certainly been
a while.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
You know, he started off as a guy that was
drafted right after Zach Wilson in that Saint Pats or
Tan draft class, that was drafted by the Niners to
be the guy and ultimately injury derailed that, and you know,
and then the emergence of Rock Party and then you know,
he went to the Cowboys for a minute. Couldn't really
get anything going there now with the Argers, and it
(15:00):
was the One thing I will say is that Jim
Harball has a propensity for that style of quarterback and
has found ways over the years to make that style
of quarterback play better than they previously played before.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, Greg Roman too, of course, with even without Jim
Harbaugh going to the Bills, he was their offensive coordinator
when they made the playoffs. With Tyrod, I think he
will have a lot of interesting different looks cooked.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Up for the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
You know, we don't see a lot of justin Herbert
design quarterback run game. It's definitely sprinkled in there, so
I don't think it'll be foreign to them to run it.
But I think we'll definitely see a larger serving of
it this week. To your point about Trey Lance starting,
he has started only one game since twenty twenty two.
He started a game last year for the Cowboys after
(15:47):
I think Joe Milton got injured or something. But that's
his only start in the last four years.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Oh yeah, Well, just going to say, I know it
hasn't been much.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He did start a game for the Cowboys though, Yes,
during his time in Dallas, he started one game and
appeared in four, going twenty five and forty one. Well,
and that's certainly better than he had previously. He said
he hasn't throw a touchdown pass since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, funny also kind of to your point, hasn't thrown
a touchdown pass since twenty twenty one, but has thrown
an interception in both twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Twenty two and twenty twenty four. Well, there you go.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And you know he's had a limited action this year
in that offense that Harball runs.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
That's all I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Look, okay, I'm not you know, as as far as
the Broncos go. I mean, I'm projecting him to win,
but I don't think you don't want to sleep on it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You don't want to sleep on.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
A Chargers team that's you know, they're a playoff caliber
football team.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You certainly don't want to sleep on them.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But I do believe that the Broncos should be able
to dispatch them and hopefully get up big it up
quick enough that you're able to maybe rest some of
the players.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
That you want to rest in this game.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Players, especially on that offensive line where they're a little
banged up. You know, if you have the opportunit to
maybe rest some of those guys, or maybe rest some
of the uh uh some of the defensive players and
get them ready for uh this playoff push.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That'd be that'd be big, yeah, and also just avoid injury.
I think I don't know how clear the memory will
be for Broncos country, but there was a year, I
think in the the Stally era, where the Chargers were
playing a meaningless uh final game of the season against
the Denver Broncos. They had already had the playoffs locked
up and were just I think maybe fighting for a
(17:29):
bit of wild card seating. Mike Williams suffers a serious injury,
this is the entire postseason, and they're one and done
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Now they didn't come down to that one injury. Probably not.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
But still this this Broncos team, they've you know, lost
a starting safety, they're already down there starting running back,
down at starting center, now down maybe a starting linebacker.
With the Drake greenlass situation. You don't want to keep
adding names to that list. It'd be great if they
could get out of this game healthy and and you know,
have a full uh war chest going into that divisional
(18:00):
game against whoever you wind up facing.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, and we'll continue to get into that a little
bit more throughout the show.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I think as you look at some of the.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Matchups, there's some there's some shake up or there could
be some shakeup.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And where all these seeds land.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right now, it looks like the only seed you can
really put in pen is the four seed. That's either
Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Just whoever wins is in that game.
Beyond that, the Broncos win and their number one they lose,
and then everything else starts getting complicated. Any number of
teams could get just about any number of places. The
(18:36):
lowest the Broncos can be, I will tell you, is third.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
That is the lowest seed that they could have, and
it likely will be first or third, you know, if
they don't take care of business. Here, the Patriots, the
team dipping at their heels, get to play the Jets,
who we've been talking about all year how hard they suck.
And then you look over at the Jags, also dipping
at the broncos heels. They play the Titans, who are
(19:00):
taking very, very high also in this year's draft. So
safe to assume again they play the games for a reason,
but safe to assume those two teams will take care
of business. So the Broncos can't afford to slip up
against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
They need to make sure they are yeah, winning that game.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Internally, there seems to be some sentiment that a lot
of these AFC teams want to play the Chargers and
also want to play the Broncos, so they're fine with
the Broncos being the number one seed. I don't know
that I would have that attitude coming into it, but
just doing a light survey doing some phone calls, things
like that the teams like Pittsburgh, New England and Pittsford Baltimore,
(19:38):
New England, and the Broncos for the teams that like,
if they're given the option, they would want to.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Play, which is interesting to me. I think that's very interesting,
and you're seeing a lot of teams.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I guess two teams circle the Patriots as the opponent
they'd want to play. The Bills have something again by
winning this week against the Dolphins, and they're favored to
win nonetheless, or I think I gotta make sid Patriots
are playing the Dolphins, Bills are playing the Jets, and
they should still beat the Jets anyways with their backups,
but you know they're opting to put in their backups
(20:08):
and not really try their hardest to win that game
despite the playoff positioning on the line, which I think
is especially interesting in this context because, as you highlighted,
the one seed we know is whichever week team comes
out of the AFC North is going to be the
four seed. You would think that makes the most coveted
wildcard spot very clearly the five seed, where you get
(20:29):
that easy matchup even if you're still on the road.
These three wild card teams don't seem to be prioritizing
all that much and seem to be just fine playing
the Patriots instead of that four seed, which seems like
quite the critique of what whoever whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
In New England's got going on.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, and you can tell by actions here that you
know what teams, you know what they're kind of favoring.
And you look at this thing and I said, you know,
I said last week, I said, hey, the wild card
teams look more dangerous to me than the division winners
this year in the AFC. And that's a sort of
a fascinating I wouldn't you know if I had my
brothers and I'm sitting here power ranking the teams I
(21:04):
don't want to play. Yeah, Buffalo and Houston would be
at or near the top of that list. Chargers probably
up there as well, if they were a little more healthy,
you know, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And then you start.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Getting into Okay, maybe Jacksonville again, maybe New England maybe,
you know, so I yeah, I really the Wildcards this
year are interesting because I think they're the superior teams,
but they're gonna.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Have to do it on the road.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, maybe this rest works, wonder if for the Chargers
and get some healthy We were talking about how on
Sunday's pregame, how the Chargers if they had some better
injury luck this year, they might have been the class
of the AFC they might be and certainly something scary
going for we got hit a break.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
We'll be back Broncos Country Nights here on Kawa.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Guys, would remind you it's the final month to thank
a veteran active military member first responder with twenty five
hundred dollars through February first submit your nomination name and
their deserving reason for twenty five hundred dollars a ka
cou rotter dot com slash contest. It is a Heroes
thank You presented by Common Sperate Health and Fix It
twenty four seven. Looking forward to that as always as
(22:09):
we do. One other thing we always look forward to
around here is get into the coach's corners. Our own
Dave Logan sits down with Roccos head coach Sean Payton
breaks down one of the plays from the previous game.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Knicks roll Sway's right bow, pump wants throws back of
the is gonna touchdown Denver?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
RJ.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Harvey Sean, this was obviously a big, big play, and
just talk about the play design and really talking about
the fact how RJ. Harvey sort of uncovered, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
This is you're hoping on a slipper naked, the back's
going to be opening the flat. They played it pretty well,
and then at that very moment, at that very moment,
what you can't measure sometimes coach or teach or football
instincts and bo's a quick peak and then all RJ
(22:57):
does is kind of stop and boom yep. And I've
coached a ton of players and Breeze used to say
this about certain guys. They've never surprised me one time
on the field, and then there are others that maybe don't,
but those are that's a really you know, that's a
really instinctive player that just understands leverage and what the
(23:18):
quarterbacks thinking. And so at that point, that's one of
those that wasn't the play. That was the players. Sure,
you know, yeah, if he was open, that would have
been the play design, but very a real important play
for us because we're getting ready to kick the field goal.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
We get them to go.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Off sides, and now there's more pressure to drive in
the two minutes and score a touchdown than a field goal.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
You would know, and I'll get you out of here
on this one. You would know better than I. But
what Drew said in terms of certain guys have never
surprised me one time.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's what quarterbacks want.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Yeah, and so when we scout and evaluate. He was
talking about Darren Sprolls. He said, now, one time in
my career with Darren did he do something that I
didn't expect?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
You know, when the ends tried to butcher Sprolls, he'd slip.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Under the end between the tackle and and it was
just football instincts. And there there are certain positions that's
a premium and a must. You know, it's hard to
be a Mike linebacker without good football instincts, you know.
And the great ones are half a step ahead. They've
seen the backfield set, they've recognized the split. And if
(24:31):
you're defending everything, you're defending nothing. And so like Loukeley,
maybe he's in this class. Ye Bill Mkeighley, those guys
they would call out to play. We used to self
scout more because of keik Ley and try to figure
out what he's seen and then do the opposite. And
so that those instincts. It's like a center fielder in
(24:54):
baseball that may not have the but he has that
step and he understands the pitch and angles. Yes, yes, yes, yep.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Sean thanks for the time.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Hey, thank you, Dave.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
That's our own Dave Logan sitting down with Broncos head
coach Sean Payton. Would like to call it the coaches Corners.
I break down a play as only those two guys can.
And you know, I think that was interesting there where
he talks about how that was. You know, it doesn't
matter how you draw it up if it's a bust,
and that's on the players, and the players sort of
made that happen more than any sort of great play design.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, you know, it's the players, not the plays. I
think I tend to subscribe to that theory too, And yeah,
I had some players make an awesome play there. Second
time in a row. Actually we're talking about r J.
Harvey making a great play in the coach's corner. Last
time was the touchdown run, which you know is like
a well designed, well executed play. The scene was there
and everything, but that's a touchdown because r J. Harvey
(25:48):
makes an unreal play against the Jacks. Well, and I
think there's a value to guys that used to play
the quarterback position who play other positions, right RJ.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Harvey course used to play quarterback in you know, playing
high school, played a little bit in college before finally
converted running back. But you know, there's there's sort of
a vent because you have a different mentality going out there.
You see the game through the quarterback eyes of you know,
when you're out there and the play starts to break
down what you need to do, uh to to adjust
or as you as you go, you see what you
need to do to adjust to give the quarterback the
(26:19):
easiest laying to get you the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And Bo highlighted that himself during his media availability this week,
talking about how it's great working with r J. Harvey
on those different routes because he can see that Harvey's
been in his shoes before, and Harvey knows in those
moments like, Okay, I know how to create this back
shorter opportunity for my quarterback because you know, we've seen
a lot of receivers just kind of keep running with
(26:42):
the flow of the play and run themselves out of
bounds and run themselves out of the back of the
end zone dan Orlovsky style. As a result, r J.
Harvey perfectly settled down, found the soft spot, and you know,
you get a game win.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He touched on as a result, and that's uh yeah,
and that's how things how things shake out.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I think one of the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Things that you look at, if you want to look
at this team and how they're headed towards the playoffs
is there's certain there certainly seems to be some sort
of synergy, you know, going on on offense where these
guys are kind of figuring out where they need to
be and the quarterbacks figuring out where they're going to go,
and they're getting on the same page.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
At least r J.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Harvey and Bonick certainly in some of these scenarios where
the play might otherwise be a bust unless they both
are on the same page about the adjustment that the
other's going to.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Make and I think, you know, flipping it to the
other side of the ball. That's why at least personally
has some frustration with the defense. We know how many
great players are on this defensive side of the ball. Man,
we need to start to see in some defensive plays.
I get, you know, you're not gonna have five sacks
every game and everything, and then turnovers are so luck based.
But if this team is going to you know, live
(27:51):
up to the one seed they've earned with their great
regular season performance. The defense has to start playing like
you did for the first you know, two thirds of
that regular seas.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, and that's going to be I think the point
of discussion going into the playoffs. We'll see, you know, obviously,
I think we probably all expect to win over the
Chargers here. I don't think anybody's I mean, you can't
sleep walk through this. You've got to go out and
handle business. But I think we all expect a win
over the Chargers and their backups, you know, Trey Lance
and the doll and you know, the fact that they've
(28:22):
got guys that would be starting that are a little
banged up that they want to get healthy for the
playoff run. But I do think this is a game
where maybe you can try and get some of that,
you know, get on the right page on some of
that kind of stuff. You know, you're hoping that that's
the case. You've had a part of the defense, because
that defense is so heavily communication based. I think part
(28:44):
of the defense and part of the problem has been
you've had some guys that do the air traffic control
as it were, injured. Brandon Jones is out right and
in that third level, he's been the guy with the
most experienced outside of stand it's it's had had the
most experienced with Vans, right, you look at the at
the second level, the linebacking group as a whole.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Has been injured.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Old you whether it's or not Singleton with the you
know the cancer surgery, Drake green Law, I've missed in
half the season trying to get those guys who are
getting everybody else lined up and where everything is you
know has has been an issue.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And then you know you've had a few.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
You've had a little bit up front but not as much,
but at the second and third levels you've had and
and areas where you need to be adaptive, reactive to
and communicative, you've had injuries or guys missed time and
that disrupts what you're doing, which.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Is definitely a concern.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But also I think like your two safeties are injury
prone guys.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
That's That's how you got Brandon Jones on a discount.
That's how you got Hoofoon.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Go on a discount, despite how talented they both are.
And if your Drake green Law same thing, like you
got him knowing the injury hang us there and if
your build is so fragile that injuries to those guys,
guys will derail everything despite you know, the like luxury
top twenty picket cornerback this year too, in theory help
(30:08):
you know, bolster that depth on the back end. I
would question the strategy or I would question the method
of your build if it's that precarious, because there's a
good chance you're going to suffer an injury to a
starting safety at some point, like every team in the NFL.
That's true, And maybe you don't, but I think you're
lucky in those circumstances rather than oh Man, Brandon Jones
(30:30):
is out and now we're a middling to below average defense.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, and I would say, I mean, I don't think
that some of these defensive performances have been.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
As bad as people has made out.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I do believe that the Jags game and the Commander's
game were not great, But the Vegas of the Packers game,
I didn't think the defense was that bad. You know,
I thought the offense, the other team's offenses did what
they could in those games.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
The Cheat, the Reascent, most recent Chiefs game, they were dominant.
The defense was dominant in.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Allow what one hundred yards or whatever it was like
fifty passing yards something like.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
It was stupid, and that is what it is.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I've thought if you go back and you look, I mean,
the Giants game was the worst defensive game, but this
team's played all year, right, yes, and then the second
worst game is probably the Colts game.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
If we're being realistic.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Coiter Jacksonville, I'd say, I think Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Up with jack third. But yeah, I could see the
argument Jaggs. I think down to down was a lot
better than the Colts.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Like the Colts were, you know, if you want to
talk about success rate and like you know the down
to down elements, I think then yes, that's Colts game
was worse because they were on a down to down
basis kind of dominant against the Jags offense.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
But I think what worries me in that.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Jags game is the defense position themselves so well to
win that game at so many different points, Like you
set up the third and long, so you set up
I think that's the most pressures they've had of any
quarterback all season long. Like they won a lot of
different matchups defensively in that game, and yet on the
critical third downs, you know, in the red zone in
(32:02):
those biggest moments, which I think has kind of been
what's defined this defense. They've been so good in those
those crucial downs and distances. They were willfully inept against
the Jags and offenses like the Jags. Is what you're
going to be seeing in the postseason with the Patriots too.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, because I don't think the defense has been appreciably
worse so much as there's been some red zone snaff
foo type stuff that they've they've given up that they
weren't giving up earlier in the year. You go back
and look, I mean the Broncos have only given up
two hundred yard games like the last but eight nine
games something like that to.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Rushing teams. And then in terms of passing, I don't
think they've given up a guy. Maybe won maybe two
games where.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
They've given up over two hundred and seventy five passing
yards all year. One of those, of course, was the
Commander's overtime game where they give two hundred and twenty six.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
The other on would have been the Coach game where
they gave up three hundred and six passing yards.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Other than that, they haven't allowed over to seventy five
all year, and you know, looking at down to down
stuff like success rate that would point to this defense
is still playing at a high level. They're a top
ten defense by success rate over this band, bottom ten
by the DPA stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
What is causing that disparity.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's the red zone stuff, it's the third down stuff,
it's the lack of takeaway so hopefully they clean that up.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Six nine zeros text one. Yeah, you got to verify that.
Stats actually told me to something during the break.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I mean, if that's true, but I struggle to believe
that Pete Golding would have more college football playoff wins
than anybody not named Nick say s coach. Okay, all right,
I'm like, man, that does have more.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Urban Meyer probably is more, but SEC, which still I
think is interesting because you look at all the coaches
getting fired for not winning playoff games for their team,
and now it seems there's only uh, I guess again,
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban are the only SEC coaches
with three or more.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Okay, because I was the say peg Oldie has never
been a head coach before the last two games too,
and oh as a head coach both games in the playoffs. Previously,
obviously he was Old MISSUS defensive coordinator. Part of that,
he was Nick Saban's defensive coordinator at Alabama, and then
you got to go back.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
He was in some smaller schools before that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
He is a UTSA for a couple of years, Southern Miss,
Southeastern Louisiana then you know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So it's that's a fascinating thing. I mean, to be fair, the.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Only people from the in the SEC, they've gotten into
the playoffs over the over the years, so it as
a four team deal was basically Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I guess they might not count the first round as
an official win college football playoff win, which is weird
this year or no.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Okay, they just have it updated for this.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Yeah, because if they'd lost, they count the loss.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
You don't get the advance entering this year. And Kirby Smart.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, so he's tied now with two playoff wins. Only
Nick Saban in college football playoff history has three.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
That can't be right.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
No, they're counting this weird because they're saying Urban Meyer
only has one.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Let me follow up with this in sight. Yeah, it's
got to be that.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
That can't be right, all right, I'm curious where this
comes from, because that doesn't feel like that that can be.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
That that could be correct when all said and done.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I just it doesn't feel right as I as I
sit here thinking about who has won games in the
college football playoffs before. I mean, obviously Kirby Smart and
Nick Saban will probably lead the pack, but there's got
to be people out there with multiple wins. Just off
the top of my head, I'm you know, there's I
can think of a couple.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So that that.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Seems unrealistic to me. Although you know I've been wrong before,
it could be grown.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Again five six six times.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Text I remakes this going to join us here in
a couple of minutes, So we're gonna get back to
it a little bit of the bottom of the hour
with scenarios now for the Broncos, for the charters for
the AFC.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
There's a whole flow chart, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
It looks like with the strings tied and all the
outcomes and all that kind of stuff, there are there
is a lot of variety in terms of what could
actually happen. I think the expectation we all have is
that the Broncos win, but there's a lot of variety
even if they lose, there's a lot of variety in
terms of what could happen. And I think, uh, you know,
as everybody's looking at this thing and and look at
(36:23):
where it would be, we want to know what all
the outcomes could possibly be. So we'll get into that
bottom of the hour, but Premays just joins us next
here on Broncos Country Tonight.
To everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Happy New Year to you over there, Zach you how's
your your Christmas slash New Year?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Pretty great? Always enjoy the holiday season. Took it easy
for New Year's Eve because we had a brunch with
friends on New Year's Day and everyone got together, including
Joey Richards, and we all were remarking on how washed
we are now because none of us in our our
mid twenties friend group went out for New Year's Eve,
and it's just I feel like, I'm on, I'm Joe
Flacko win.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
A Bengals jersey right now.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, I give it to about twenty years.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, yes, it's funny. One of the things like, so.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know, Mario is like ten years younger than me,
a Rider, good friend Mario, and we got, you know,
we've been out playing football since I've been here since
twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We go out to play football, all that.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Kind of stuff, and so those guys, you know, I'm
forty five now, but when we started playing you know,
football and everything, I was in twenty thirteen. I was
about forty or thirty two, and they were all about
like twenty two, you know, all that kind of stuff,
and so at the time you know, and I'd get
winded and I'd be like, oh, i's at tired or whatever,
and they're like, dude.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You're so old.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well now they're the age I was at that point
in time, and I'm you know, tell you, and all
of a sudden they're like, oh my god, I'm a
terror stub.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
They're following. I mean, uh huh ah.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And you guys are playing against me at forty five
and not you at twenty five or whatever it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Was back you know, back in the day.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's convenient that Mario is always full time quarterback and
then gets annoyed at the receivers for not running their
routes hard enough.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's it's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, about four routes in You're like, how about you
go run a fly pattern, buddy. Yeah, I'd like to
see you go for your four forty yarder down there
and not get the ball as he tries to throw
a drag route through your face. Right. Yeah, I put
a hole for the middle of my chest. Oh my goodness,
I'm looking. It's funny here. I don't know what I
got into.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I came in here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I came in here at the end, and there's a
lot of textualizes about the guys.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
We're right and we're right, a Nick vickery or something.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
There was a lot of sparring over the concept of
style points and how much that matters at this point
in the season in the NFL, in the NFL and
and no matter there's in the NFL now. Nick was arguing,
let's see this team I think performed dominantly at a
consistent or on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You know, if you are, you know, the third best
team in the.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
League, you should look like the third best team in
the league playing you know, a squad of backups or scrubs.
You shouldn't lower yourself maybe to their level, I think
was his point.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay, well, you don't want to play down to your
level of competition, but you don't have to be the
third best team in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You just got to be the first best team in
the stadium that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Day, Yes, And I think ultimately that was the disagreement.
Ryan was saying, Hey, I think this team's got some magic.
They keep pulling this off. Why can't they keep repeating
it throughout the season. They're beating the good teams generally
speaking when they play them or play them in these
close games, and I think Knick's stance was war Hey,
they're still not playing well enough.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They should be playing up to that level.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Every week, as opposed to, you know, some weeks it
seems like they can't get out of.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Bed for the game. That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I think Nick's coming at them from the championship mentality.
It's coming out of a former NFL player, coming at
it from the I've seen what it takes to have
that sort of mentality, you know, and maybe wonders why
this team is not, you know, at that level, maybe
at this point in the season. Oh, it was because
they had it last year.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And although I will say to Ryan's points, they have
been resilient, they have been a team that is found
away and there is there is some value to that.
There is some value to having an inherent confidency in
you know, it doesn't matter what kind of hole we
get in, we can get ourselves out of it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You don't want to just let yourself get in a
hole for the sake of get it in a hole
before you get going. But there is some value to that.
I mean, you can go back to Kansas City when
they were starting the beginning of their dominant run. I
don't know if you remember or not. There were five
or six games that season where they got down twenty
twenty one points.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
They got out of the Texans twenty one points in the.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
First quarter and then just blew them out the rest
of the game, and there was an inherent there's a
confidence that comes from all, right, we got to settle down,
we got to we gotta come outver here and put
foot to foot the backside here real quick and get
this thing done.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, having Tom Brady on your sidelines makes the twenty
eight to three come back more feasible, not just because
he's a great quarterback, but because his greatness allows everyone
else to believe, hey, we're not done yet. I think
having that giant's game in your back pocket, you don't
want to continue to play like that, But having that
truly miraculous comeback on this team's resume, I think is
(04:17):
good to have going into the playoffs that hey, we
might be down fourteen nothing, twenty one nothing or whatever,
and it's not over yet.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
We can claw and fight our way back into this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think as there's a confidence too from having seen
somebody do it, like, for instance, you just mentioned Tom Brady,
and you know, I think when you're twenty eighty three,
the rest of your offense is like, well, we got
Tom over here, let's let's just put one foot for
the other seer we go. If you have to use
our favorite whipping boys over there, Russell Wilson or Justin
Fields on that sideline, well we're torpedoed. We're not coming
back from this. You know, there's no confidence in that
(04:48):
because you know, at least Justin Fields never come back
from that. Russ hasn't in a while.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, remember that Rams game where the Broncos got down
big and all of a sudden you got people fighting
on the sidelines. That's the difference between having a organized
you don't believe or a surrounding group you don't believe
in a surrounding group you do believe can get the
job done.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It's also the difference between having a head coach that
has the sidelines where they need to be and not.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
That was so for the incident that got Nate Hack.
I meann Hacket was gonna be like go at the
end of the year, but that was what expedited his
his firing. You know, with regard to that Hackett was
gonna be like go at the end.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Of the year.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then you saw, dudes, you know, you had the
offensive lineman fighting a backup quarterback on the sideline, and
you're like, all right, this is embarrassing because everybody saw it.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It wasna it was a national.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Game, you know, all that kind of stuff, and the
ownership was like, we're not We're not doing this. We'll
just put h We'll put the HVAC salesman in here,
or you know, no, it was the hyperbaric chambers.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That's what it was at Rossberg. The hyperbarck chamber, salesman
in here and be dumbled the tail as old as time.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Man ownership will sometimes make these early proclamations in December
or late November saying, no such and such coaches sticking around,
you know, we're keeping them. And then I vividly remember
with Joe Judge, well, you know, do something to embarrass himself,
either if you know, several games in a row and
blowout fashion, or you know, start trying to settle scores
in the media, and ownership goes, oh, this is a
(06:06):
little embarrassing for us. Let's you know, on second thought,
let's bring in the fresh head coach.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, which the Giants are one of the teams that
is going to be doing in advanced Joseph will be
one of the people interviewing for that job, as well
as the job in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Although I don't think he's gonna get the job in Tennessee.
For his sake, I just hope he lands somewhere good.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I worry as a fan of Vance Joseph for him
landing in a place like the Giants, where over the
last decade it's them in the Jets as the most
dysfunctional franchises.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
In the league. And as we.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
All know, not many guys get a second bite to
the apple to be a head coach. But if you
get two bites of the apple and neither goes well,
you are not getting a third.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But I think in that situation, New York situation, you're
going to be jumping into a general manager that you
know in Joe Shane, Dvance and Joe work together.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Miami.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You really already kind of have quite a bit of
talent on that roster.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I mean, the Giants have some town now, They've got
some holes on that roster.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Don't get me wrong, They're better than their records, but
they are yeah they on paper, they're better than the record,
and you.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Know it is Scatabo Dart.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I don't know how long those guys are going to
stay healthy. You gotta find ways to especially with Dart,
you know, keep him out of the medical tent getting
concussions every game. But there's several pieces on that defense
that a guy like Vas Joseph could scheme things up for.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Oh absolutely, and that that exciting group of pass rushers
and everything. You could definitely get a Nick Benito like
thing out of Abdual Carter, another kind of slighter edge rusher.
We ate there aren't a ton of those in the
NFL anymore, and we obviously see Advance Joseph get a
lot of production.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Out of those guys. So I think it would be appealing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And one thing that I think would make it at
least a little more appealing for Vance Jos if you've
got some ownership stability, but also because you have at
least a functional answer at quarterback, you can trade that
top three, top four draft.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Pick to the high spitter.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
This looks like it's probably going to be a two
quarterback class.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Get some depend your work comes out at.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Three, But yes, I guess yeah, I could be Serio
more Mendoza would be the three names. Now, nobody I
talked to thinks extremely highly of any of those three.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
But yeah, basically a three quarterback class.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I think more or I think the second one
winds up kind of being like dark maybe not going
that late, but the guy who gets talked up just
because hey, if you're going to draft a quarterback, that's
the only other option there that's even worth considering in
the first round. And maybe the Giants could get a
decent haul for that, you know, high up draft pick,
and get a lot of assets to start more of
(08:35):
dramatically overhauling that ross.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
If you're a new quarterback or general manager. Now Shane's
not a new general manager, but if you're a new
coach or general manager, if you have a top five
pick and you've got something that's serviceable at quarterback, a
lot of times you want to trade that because you
can roll the capitol for You've got rolling capital to
go forward next years, to be able to move up
and go get a guy you really if you don't
(08:57):
believe it, now, if you believe that mendoz Is, you're
due than whatever I'll just say that people I talked
to don't have any of those three quarterbacks grated higher
than they had bon Nicks coming out, and Bonnix was
the fifth or sixth quarterback in that class for most
people that I talked to in that class, which should
kind of tell you what they think of these guys
that in a normal class, every one of these guys
would be a Day two guy or worse.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And you just don't have.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Any quarterback talent coming out in this class that figures
to be long term starters.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, it's maybe not as bad as the Kenny Pickett heere,
but it's probably pretty darn close to it. Where of course,
that year you had the quarterback go well I think
it's twenty second overall, and then another one didn't go
until the seventies or eighties or whatever it was. I
could very easily imagine this year's draft going following a
similar route, maybe not to drop into the twenties, but
(09:45):
you have the one quarterback in the first round, and
outside of that, it's a whole lot of waiting.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, there's I mean, if you need a defensive lineman,
this is your class.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
If you need a quarterback, you struggling.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
But if you need a defensive lineman, man, this is
your There's some guys and there's some dudes that are
still in the playoff. Obviously Texas Tech is out, so
you're missing some of those guys. But Ruben Bain from Miami,
that dude's gonna be a dog in the league, man, Like,
if you need that, If that's what you need, and
honestly vance even though they've got the edge rushers and
everything else, you might bring him in as a Zach
Allen type.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I mean, I know he's a little the arms, little whatever.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But Khalais Campbell already came out, was like, hey dude,
they doubted me. You know, when I was coming out
saying I didn't have the right measurements for that position.
I just dominated every time. You know, sometimes it's the
dude and not the measurements.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, there's plenty of stories like that all over the NFL.
But I think, you know, even getting into maybe the
lackluster nature of this class, Ruben Baine is a good
demonstration of that because he is a phenomenal player, but
he has some serious measurable inmitations. I think his arm
lengths like thirty one thirty two inches, which would make
him an extreme outlier to be drafted so high, and
(10:49):
if he became a very productive dresser, he'd also be
an extreme outlier in that regard. But he's gonna go
top ten in this year's draft almost no doubt it,
because everyone else's flaws are more dramatic, and I think
that just perfectly encapsulates this draft class is nowhere near
what it was being hyped up to be back in
(11:10):
you know, August or June.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, And I think that's, you know, that's sort of
the thing. But you can. You can.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
If you've got a top five pick and you've got
a quarterback thirsty team behind you, why not move back
a little bit and get some future capital to go.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Forward and flip side to bring back to the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
This is going to be a buyer's market in terms
of trading up the board and trading down. Everyone's going
to be looking, I think at the top few picks
in this class and going, I don't really want to
spend the eighth overall pick on this guy. Maybe we
can trade down, accumulate some picks, and then you know,
fill it up that way. I think so many teams
are going to have that same philosophy. And we've seen
this before in the draft where that makes it a
(11:48):
lot cheaper to trade up. And if you're the Broncos,
where you know they're struggling to get their first round
pick this year on the field, like they need that
high end talent, they don't need more depth reinforcement, I
think it might be worthwhile packaging some picks or packaging
some assets together to move up the board and get
that high end first round talent instead of the guy
(12:08):
that pick hopefully thirty two.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, and that's you know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
This, however, is going to be a class where the
Broncos need to have some hits. The Broncos need to
and I would say, you know, you kind of want
to multiply your picks into the meat of this draft
because you need some hits. And the reason you need
some hits is you're going to be paying bo nicks
up here in about two years and you're going to
have to turn some of these things over on some
of these guys that you're paying now, Garrett Bowles.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But you know, in a couple of years, you gonna do.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What thirty six, thirty seven years old, something like that.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You're gonna need probably need to replace him.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know, you look along this offensive line, Power's probably
gone after this year.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Mcglinchy's somebody you're going to have to replace at some point.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Zach Allen at the end of his deal, probably somebody
you're replacing at that point. And so there's there's guys
as you start to look through this, you know, this
roster that you're going to have to replace here in
two or three years, and you need to start developing
those guys now. You need to you need to have
some hits in this draft class that are developable guys
so that you were on rookie deals.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
When it comes time to pay bo Yeah, you know,
I think you look at the success they had with
the Russell Wilson dead cap hit with bo Nix trying
to make the playoffs and everything, and the reason they
were able to experience that great success is you had,
you know, Jonathan Cooper still on a cheap deal of
giving you excellent contributions.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Stick Benito, like I know he's.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Resigned, but that money hasn't hit the books yet giving
you tremendous contributions. Also, some big free agency hits like
Zach Allen and John Franklin Myers playing way above the
level of what you invested in them. You know, even
guys like Pat Bryant being critical pieces. Bo Nicks of
course greatly outperforming what you typically get out of a
(13:46):
young quarterback in his first and second season. Those sorts
of you know, bits of surplus value are what you
need to create a high end contender around a big
quarterback hit.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And again we've seen the Broncos do it before.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
They did it with young players that are young, cheap
players that are soon to become expensive. They need to
start reloading that word chess to your point, Yeah, that's
that's one of.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
The things they're gonna have to do. Broncos taken on
the Chargers this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Chargers of course not playing Justin Herbert who's got the
hand issue.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Omarion Hampton also has some menja he's not going to
be going as well.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
People I talk to the Chargers aren't resting players, but
if they've been injured, they are holding them back this
week and it's going to be interesting to see, you know,
what they do.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Trey Lance, who I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Believe has started at games since what twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Maybe been a while. It's been, Yeah, it's certainly been
a while.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
You know, he started off as a guy that was
drafted right after Zach Wilson in that Saint Pats or
Tan draft class, that was drafted by the Niners to
be the guy and ultimately injury derailed that, and you know,
and then the emergence of Rock Party and then you know,
he went to the Cowboys for a minute. Couldn't really
get anything going there now with the Argers, and it
(15:00):
was the One thing I will say is that Jim
Harball has a propensity for that style of quarterback and
has found ways over the years to make that style
of quarterback play better than they previously played before.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, Greg Roman too, of course, with even without Jim
Harbaugh going to the Bills, he was their offensive coordinator
when they made the playoffs. With Tyrod, I think he
will have a lot of interesting different looks cooked.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Up for the Broncos.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
You know, we don't see a lot of justin Herbert
design quarterback run game. It's definitely sprinkled in there, so
I don't think it'll be foreign to them to run it.
But I think we'll definitely see a larger serving of
it this week. To your point about Trey Lance starting,
he has started only one game since twenty twenty two.
He started a game last year for the Cowboys after
(15:47):
I think Joe Milton got injured or something. But that's
his only start in the last four years.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Oh yeah, Well, just going to say, I know it
hasn't been much.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He did start a game for the Cowboys though, Yes,
during his time in Dallas, he started one game and
appeared in four, going twenty five and forty one. Well,
and that's certainly better than he had previously. He said
he hasn't throw a touchdown pass since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, funny also kind of to your point, hasn't thrown
a touchdown pass since twenty twenty one, but has thrown
an interception in both twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Twenty two and twenty twenty four. Well, there you go.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And you know he's had a limited action this year
in that offense that Harball runs.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
That's all I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Look, okay, I'm not you know, as as far as
the Broncos go. I mean, I'm projecting him to win,
but I don't think you don't want to sleep on it.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You don't want to sleep on.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
A Chargers team that's you know, they're a playoff caliber
football team.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You certainly don't want to sleep on them.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But I do believe that the Broncos should be able
to dispatch them and hopefully get up big it up
quick enough that you're able to maybe rest some of
the players.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
That you want to rest in this game.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Players, especially on that offensive line where they're a little
banged up. You know, if you have the opportunit to
maybe rest some of those guys, or maybe rest some
of the uh uh some of the defensive players and
get them ready for uh this playoff push.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That'd be that'd be big, yeah, and also just avoid injury.
I think I don't know how clear the memory will
be for Broncos country, but there was a year, I
think in the the Stally era, where the Chargers were
playing a meaningless uh final game of the season against
the Denver Broncos. They had already had the playoffs locked
up and were just I think maybe fighting for a
(17:29):
bit of wild card seating. Mike Williams suffers a serious injury,
this is the entire postseason, and they're one and done
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Now they didn't come down to that one injury. Probably not.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
But still this this Broncos team, they've you know, lost
a starting safety, they're already down there starting running back,
down at starting center, now down maybe a starting linebacker.
With the Drake greenlass situation. You don't want to keep
adding names to that list. It'd be great if they
could get out of this game healthy and and you know,
have a full uh war chest going into that divisional
(18:00):
game against whoever you wind up facing.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, and we'll continue to get into that a little
bit more throughout the show.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I think as you look at some of the.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Matchups, there's some there's some shake up or there could
be some shakeup.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And where all these seeds land.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right now, it looks like the only seed you can
really put in pen is the four seed. That's either
Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Just whoever wins is in that game.
Beyond that, the Broncos win and their number one they lose,
and then everything else starts getting complicated. Any number of
teams could get just about any number of places. The
(18:36):
lowest the Broncos can be, I will tell you, is third.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
That is the lowest seed that they could have, and
it likely will be first or third, you know, if
they don't take care of business. Here, the Patriots, the
team dipping at their heels, get to play the Jets,
who we've been talking about all year how hard they suck.
And then you look over at the Jags, also dipping
at the broncos heels. They play the Titans, who are
(19:00):
taking very, very high also in this year's draft. So
safe to assume again they play the games for a reason,
but safe to assume those two teams will take care
of business. So the Broncos can't afford to slip up
against the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
They need to make sure they are yeah, winning that game.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Internally, there seems to be some sentiment that a lot
of these AFC teams want to play the Chargers and
also want to play the Broncos, so they're fine with
the Broncos being the number one seed. I don't know
that I would have that attitude coming into it, but
just doing a light survey doing some phone calls, things
like that the teams like Pittsburgh, New England and Pittsford Baltimore,
(19:38):
New England, and the Broncos for the teams that like,
if they're given the option, they would want to.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Play, which is interesting to me. I think that's very interesting,
and you're seeing a lot of teams.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I guess two teams circle the Patriots as the opponent
they'd want to play. The Bills have something again by
winning this week against the Dolphins, and they're favored to
win nonetheless, or I think I gotta make sid Patriots
are playing the Dolphins, Bills are playing the Jets, and
they should still beat the Jets anyways with their backups,
but you know they're opting to put in their backups
(20:08):
and not really try their hardest to win that game
despite the playoff positioning on the line, which I think
is especially interesting in this context because, as you highlighted,
the one seed we know is whichever week team comes
out of the AFC North is going to be the
four seed. You would think that makes the most coveted
wildcard spot very clearly the five seed, where you get
(20:29):
that easy matchup even if you're still on the road.
These three wild card teams don't seem to be prioritizing
all that much and seem to be just fine playing
the Patriots instead of that four seed, which seems like
quite the critique of what whoever whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
In New England's got going on.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, and you can tell by actions here that you
know what teams, you know what they're kind of favoring.
And you look at this thing and I said, you know,
I said last week, I said, hey, the wild card
teams look more dangerous to me than the division winners
this year in the AFC. And that's a sort of
a fascinating I wouldn't you know if I had my
brothers and I'm sitting here power ranking the teams I
(21:04):
don't want to play. Yeah, Buffalo and Houston would be
at or near the top of that list. Chargers probably
up there as well, if they were a little more healthy,
you know, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And then you start.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Getting into Okay, maybe Jacksonville again, maybe New England maybe,
you know, so I yeah, I really the Wildcards this
year are interesting because I think they're the superior teams,
but they're gonna.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Have to do it on the road.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, maybe this rest works, wonder if for the Chargers
and get some healthy We were talking about how on
Sunday's pregame, how the Chargers if they had some better
injury luck this year, they might have been the class
of the AFC they might be and certainly something scary
going for we got hit a break.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
We'll be back Broncos Country Nights here on Kawa.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Guys, would remind you it's the final month to thank
a veteran active military member first responder with twenty five
hundred dollars through February first submit your nomination name and
their deserving reason for twenty five hundred dollars a ka
cou rotter dot com slash contest. It is a Heroes
thank You presented by Common Sperate Health and Fix It
twenty four seven. Looking forward to that as always as
(22:09):
we do. One other thing we always look forward to
around here is get into the coach's corners. Our own
Dave Logan sits down with Roccos head coach Sean Payton
breaks down one of the plays from the previous game.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Knicks roll Sway's right bow, pump wants throws back of
the is gonna touchdown Denver?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
RJ.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Harvey Sean, this was obviously a big, big play, and
just talk about the play design and really talking about
the fact how RJ. Harvey sort of uncovered, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
This is you're hoping on a slipper naked, the back's
going to be opening the flat. They played it pretty well,
and then at that very moment, at that very moment,
what you can't measure sometimes coach or teach or football
instincts and bo's a quick peak and then all RJ
(22:57):
does is kind of stop and boom yep. And I've
coached a ton of players and Breeze used to say
this about certain guys. They've never surprised me one time
on the field, and then there are others that maybe don't,
but those are that's a really you know, that's a
really instinctive player that just understands leverage and what the
(23:18):
quarterbacks thinking. And so at that point, that's one of
those that wasn't the play. That was the players. Sure,
you know, yeah, if he was open, that would have
been the play design, but very a real important play
for us because we're getting ready to kick the field goal.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
We get them to go.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Off sides, and now there's more pressure to drive in
the two minutes and score a touchdown than a field goal.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
You would know, and I'll get you out of here
on this one. You would know better than I. But
what Drew said in terms of certain guys have never
surprised me one time.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's what quarterbacks want.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Yeah, and so when we scout and evaluate. He was
talking about Darren Sprolls. He said, now, one time in
my career with Darren did he do something that I
didn't expect?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
You know, when the ends tried to butcher Sprolls, he'd slip.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Under the end between the tackle and and it was
just football instincts. And there there are certain positions that's
a premium and a must. You know, it's hard to
be a Mike linebacker without good football instincts, you know.
And the great ones are half a step ahead. They've
seen the backfield set, they've recognized the split. And if
(24:31):
you're defending everything, you're defending nothing. And so like Loukeley,
maybe he's in this class. Ye Bill Mkeighley, those guys
they would call out to play. We used to self
scout more because of keik Ley and try to figure
out what he's seen and then do the opposite. And
so that those instincts. It's like a center fielder in
(24:54):
baseball that may not have the but he has that
step and he understands the pitch and angles. Yes, yes, yes, yep.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Sean thanks for the time.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Hey, thank you, Dave.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
That's our own Dave Logan sitting down with Broncos head
coach Sean Payton. Would like to call it the coaches Corners.
I break down a play as only those two guys can.
And you know, I think that was interesting there where
he talks about how that was. You know, it doesn't
matter how you draw it up if it's a bust,
and that's on the players, and the players sort of
made that happen more than any sort of great play design.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, you know, it's the players, not the plays. I
think I tend to subscribe to that theory too, And yeah,
I had some players make an awesome play there. Second
time in a row. Actually we're talking about r J.
Harvey making a great play in the coach's corner. Last
time was the touchdown run, which you know is like
a well designed, well executed play. The scene was there
and everything, but that's a touchdown because r J. Harvey
(25:48):
makes an unreal play against the Jacks. Well, and I
think there's a value to guys that used to play
the quarterback position who play other positions, right RJ.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Harvey course used to play quarterback in you know, playing
high school, played a little bit in college before finally
converted running back. But you know, there's there's sort of
a vent because you have a different mentality going out there.
You see the game through the quarterback eyes of you know,
when you're out there and the play starts to break
down what you need to do, uh to to adjust
or as you as you go, you see what you
need to do to adjust to give the quarterback the
(26:19):
easiest laying to get you the ball.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And Bo highlighted that himself during his media availability this week,
talking about how it's great working with r J. Harvey
on those different routes because he can see that Harvey's
been in his shoes before, and Harvey knows in those
moments like, Okay, I know how to create this back
shorter opportunity for my quarterback because you know, we've seen
a lot of receivers just kind of keep running with
(26:42):
the flow of the play and run themselves out of
bounds and run themselves out of the back of the
end zone dan Orlovsky style. As a result, r J.
Harvey perfectly settled down, found the soft spot, and you know,
you get a game win.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He touched on as a result, and that's uh yeah,
and that's how things how things shake out.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I think one of the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Things that you look at, if you want to look
at this team and how they're headed towards the playoffs
is there's certain there certainly seems to be some sort
of synergy, you know, going on on offense where these
guys are kind of figuring out where they need to
be and the quarterbacks figuring out where they're going to go,
and they're getting on the same page.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
At least r J.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Harvey and Bonick certainly in some of these scenarios where
the play might otherwise be a bust unless they both
are on the same page about the adjustment that the
other's going to.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Make and I think, you know, flipping it to the
other side of the ball. That's why at least personally
has some frustration with the defense. We know how many
great players are on this defensive side of the ball. Man,
we need to start to see in some defensive plays.
I get, you know, you're not gonna have five sacks
every game and everything, and then turnovers are so luck based.
But if this team is going to you know, live
(27:51):
up to the one seed they've earned with their great
regular season performance. The defense has to start playing like
you did for the first you know, two thirds of
that regular seas.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, and that's going to be I think the point
of discussion going into the playoffs. We'll see, you know, obviously,
I think we probably all expect to win over the
Chargers here. I don't think anybody's I mean, you can't
sleep walk through this. You've got to go out and
handle business. But I think we all expect a win
over the Chargers and their backups, you know, Trey Lance
and the doll and you know, the fact that they've
(28:22):
got guys that would be starting that are a little
banged up that they want to get healthy for the
playoff run. But I do think this is a game
where maybe you can try and get some of that,
you know, get on the right page on some of
that kind of stuff. You know, you're hoping that that's
the case. You've had a part of the defense, because
that defense is so heavily communication based. I think part
(28:44):
of the defense and part of the problem has been
you've had some guys that do the air traffic control
as it were, injured. Brandon Jones is out right and
in that third level, he's been the guy with the
most experienced outside of stand it's it's had had the
most experienced with Vans, right, you look at the at
the second level, the linebacking group as a whole.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Has been injured.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Old you whether it's or not Singleton with the you
know the cancer surgery, Drake green Law, I've missed in
half the season trying to get those guys who are
getting everybody else lined up and where everything is you
know has has been an issue.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And then you know you've had a few.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
You've had a little bit up front but not as much,
but at the second and third levels you've had and
and areas where you need to be adaptive, reactive to
and communicative, you've had injuries or guys missed time and
that disrupts what you're doing, which.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Is definitely a concern.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But also I think like your two safeties are injury
prone guys.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
That's That's how you got Brandon Jones on a discount.
That's how you got Hoofoon.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Go on a discount, despite how talented they both are.
And if your Drake green Law same thing, like you
got him knowing the injury hang us there and if
your build is so fragile that injuries to those guys,
guys will derail everything despite you know, the like luxury
top twenty picket cornerback this year too, in theory help
(30:08):
you know, bolster that depth on the back end. I
would question the strategy or I would question the method
of your build if it's that precarious, because there's a
good chance you're going to suffer an injury to a
starting safety at some point, like every team in the NFL.
That's true, And maybe you don't, but I think you're
lucky in those circumstances rather than oh Man, Brandon Jones
(30:30):
is out and now we're a middling to below average defense.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, and I would say, I mean, I don't think
that some of these defensive performances have been.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
As bad as people has made out.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I do believe that the Jags game and the Commander's
game were not great, But the Vegas of the Packers game,
I didn't think the defense was that bad. You know,
I thought the offense, the other team's offenses did what
they could in those games.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
The Cheat, the Reascent, most recent Chiefs game, they were dominant.
The defense was dominant in.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Allow what one hundred yards or whatever it was like
fifty passing yards something like.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
It was stupid, and that is what it is.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I've thought if you go back and you look, I mean,
the Giants game was the worst defensive game, but this
team's played all year, right, yes, and then the second
worst game is probably the Colts game.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
If we're being realistic.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Coiter Jacksonville, I'd say, I think Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Up with jack third. But yeah, I could see the
argument Jaggs. I think down to down was a lot
better than the Colts.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Like the Colts were, you know, if you want to
talk about success rate and like you know the down
to down elements, I think then yes, that's Colts game
was worse because they were on a down to down
basis kind of dominant against the Jags offense.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
But I think what worries me in that.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Jags game is the defense position themselves so well to
win that game at so many different points, Like you
set up the third and long, so you set up
I think that's the most pressures they've had of any
quarterback all season long. Like they won a lot of
different matchups defensively in that game, and yet on the
critical third downs, you know, in the red zone in
(32:02):
those biggest moments, which I think has kind of been
what's defined this defense. They've been so good in those
those crucial downs and distances. They were willfully inept against
the Jags and offenses like the Jags. Is what you're
going to be seeing in the postseason with the Patriots too.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, because I don't think the defense has been appreciably
worse so much as there's been some red zone snaff
foo type stuff that they've they've given up that they
weren't giving up earlier in the year. You go back
and look, I mean the Broncos have only given up
two hundred yard games like the last but eight nine
games something like that to.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Rushing teams. And then in terms of passing, I don't
think they've given up a guy. Maybe won maybe two
games where.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
They've given up over two hundred and seventy five passing
yards all year. One of those, of course, was the
Commander's overtime game where they give two hundred and twenty six.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
The other on would have been the Coach game where
they gave up three hundred and six passing yards.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Other than that, they haven't allowed over to seventy five
all year, and you know, looking at down to down
stuff like success rate that would point to this defense
is still playing at a high level. They're a top
ten defense by success rate over this band, bottom ten
by the DPA stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
What is causing that disparity.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's the red zone stuff, it's the third down stuff,
it's the lack of takeaway so hopefully they clean that up.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Six nine zeros text one. Yeah, you got to verify that.
Stats actually told me to something during the break.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I mean, if that's true, but I struggle to believe
that Pete Golding would have more college football playoff wins
than anybody not named Nick say s coach. Okay, all right,
I'm like, man, that does have more.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Urban Meyer probably is more, but SEC, which still I
think is interesting because you look at all the coaches
getting fired for not winning playoff games for their team,
and now it seems there's only uh, I guess again,
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban are the only SEC coaches
with three or more.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Okay, because I was the say peg Oldie has never
been a head coach before the last two games too,
and oh as a head coach both games in the playoffs. Previously,
obviously he was Old MISSUS defensive coordinator. Part of that,
he was Nick Saban's defensive coordinator at Alabama, and then
you got to go back.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
He was in some smaller schools before that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
He is a UTSA for a couple of years, Southern Miss,
Southeastern Louisiana then you know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So it's that's a fascinating thing. I mean, to be fair, the.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Only people from the in the SEC, they've gotten into
the playoffs over the over the years, so it as
a four team deal was basically Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I guess they might not count the first round as
an official win college football playoff win, which is weird
this year or no.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Okay, they just have it updated for this.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Yeah, because if they'd lost, they count the loss.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
You don't get the advance entering this year. And Kirby Smart.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, so he's tied now with two playoff wins. Only
Nick Saban in college football playoff history has three.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
That can't be right.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
No, they're counting this weird because they're saying Urban Meyer
only has one.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Let me follow up with this in sight. Yeah, it's
got to be that.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
That can't be right, all right, I'm curious where this
comes from, because that doesn't feel like that that can be.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
That that could be correct when all said and done.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I just it doesn't feel right as I as I
sit here thinking about who has won games in the
college football playoffs before. I mean, obviously Kirby Smart and
Nick Saban will probably lead the pack, but there's got
to be people out there with multiple wins. Just off
the top of my head, I'm you know, there's I
can think of a couple.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
So that that.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Seems unrealistic to me. Although you know I've been wrong before,
it could be grown.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Again five six six times.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Text I remakes this going to join us here in
a couple of minutes, So we're gonna get back to
it a little bit of the bottom of the hour
with scenarios now for the Broncos, for the charters for
the AFC.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
There's a whole flow chart, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
It looks like with the strings tied and all the
outcomes and all that kind of stuff, there are there
is a lot of variety in terms of what could
actually happen. I think the expectation we all have is
that the Broncos win, but there's a lot of variety
even if they lose, there's a lot of variety in
terms of what could happen. And I think, uh, you know,
as everybody's looking at this thing and and look at
(36:23):
where it would be, we want to know what all
the outcomes could possibly be. So we'll get into that
bottom of the hour, but Premays just joins us next
here on Broncos Country Tonight.
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