05-06-24 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We have to do a better job, and ow starters in particular have to
do a better job of being readyto play and setting the tone early.
Now with down oh one, whatare you waiting for? Like we all
know that going back to Minnesota downO two is not the ideal situation.
I think to start the game.You'll have your answer. If we come
out the same way lacks a daysical, not physical, not urgent, Well

(00:21):
then there's an issue there, youknow, a deeper lying issue than just
stopping Anthony Edwards. You know whereis that mental at? Well? Do
it Broncos Country tonight. But withall bright Dick Ferguson Grant Smith found out,
uh about thirty five minutes ago,Ruddy Gobert is out for Game two
versus the Nuggets obviously the birth ofhis first child and wanted to be there

(00:42):
for that. I can understand.I can respect that it's still the playoffs,
so I think I would have triedto get a flight figure that out.
I don't know. Let's go outto the kn't wait common spirit off
hotline and bring on Vinie Benedetto fromthe Gazette the chance to talk about this
series. First off, is thisa must win game for the Denver nugg
If it's not, it's about asclose as you can get to being musclin

(01:04):
without it being a muscle win.I mean, you know, obviously this
Minnesota team is present some problems forthe Nugget and to go to Minnesota down
oh two, I think would bejust about as close of a death sentence
for this Nugget series. Yeah,it feels, you know, Michael Malone
and you know we heard from JamalMurray and Reggie Jackson yesterday, none of

(01:26):
them use the phrase must win,but it's got to be about as close
as you can get. So,so the biggest thing coming into this series
was how do you stop Anthony Edwards? Because coach Malon threw a bevy of
players at him and still he wasable to put up forty three points.
So what's going to be the gameplan in game two to slow down to

(01:48):
even stop Anthony Edwards? Yeah,I don't know if there's any stopping Anthony
Edwards. So I think we gotwe got to stick with a slowing him
down or making it tough, andI think a lot of that's you know,
fall Christian brown to and I thinkhe kind of fills the gap where
Intavious Caldwell Pope might be a littlebit too small and Aaron Gordon might not
have the requisite lateral quickness to stayin front of the guy like it.

(02:12):
And I think Christian Brown kind ofoccupies that middle state. And you know,
Malone speaking pregame, was really encouragedwith the UH with a few possessions
that he had Christian on on AnthonyEdwards in game one. So I think
it I think it starts there,and then part of it, I think
you just got to hope that someof his shooting numbers come back down to
earth, because I think he's shootinglike forty four percent from three in the

(02:35):
postseason, and you know, he'sa good shooter, but I don't think
he's quite that level of a shooter. And then mid range, you know,
for the course of the regular season, he was I think in an
average score from mid range, buthe's just been been lethal in Minnesota's first
five playoff games. So I thinkthere's some strategy involved with getting Christian Brown
more a minute, and then justsome some praying and hoping that that Anthony

(02:55):
Edwards comes back down to earth abit, and and they do they do
need to find a way to,if not contain Anthony Edwards, at least
slow him down. But I thinkthe bigger thing for me watching that that
that Game one was the rebounding wherethe Timberwolves just took him to the woods
shed. I mean, go bear'sgonna get he is now, he's not
gonna be there tonight. Obviously birthof his child. That that may help.
But Jade McDaniels, who's a completenon factor on offense, pulled down

(03:19):
eight boards. Meanwhile Eric Gordon strugglingto pull three boards down and you need
that help. What can the Nuggetsdo to get back in there and get
themselves the rebounds and take away andgive themselves second chance opportunities. Yeah,
I think it just starts with increasedphysicality. That was one thing that bothered
Malone after Game one, and itstill bothered him yesterday when we heard from

(03:39):
him between games. So I thinkit's just increased physicality. You know,
that's certainly something that that Aaron Gordoncan bring to the table. You know,
Minnesota is still gonna be big ifwe assume that not three jumps into
the starting lineup, so they're stillgonna have there's still gonna be one of
those few teams that that will havea size advantage over Denver. But yeah,

(03:59):
I think if you just need toMichael Porter Junior, Aaron Gordon,
Nikole Jokics to up the physicality alittle bit, and then you know,
I think getting some help from JamalMarie can Tavis called well Pope would go
a long way too, Because youknow, you're looking at you know,
Anthony Edwards's table rebounder, but youknow, Mike Conley getting four rebounds while
Murray and KCP combined for three justdoesn't feel like it's a you know,

(04:23):
a sustainable route to success for theNuggets. Well, Vitty clarify that for
me because we've heard this before fromcoach Malone and then previous years talking about
his team and the physicality level.What can the Nuggets bring from a physicality
standpoint in Game two that they didn'tbring in Game one? What does that

(04:46):
even look like? Yeah, Imean, well, Nicole Jokis is a
big guy and we've seen him.You know, you think back to the
first round series and it was likeAnthony Davis would play really well for two
and a half three quarters, butyou know, having Yokis just lean on
him for for so much of thegame. Uh feels like it kind of
death some of his energy by thetime the fourth quarter started. And now

(05:08):
tonight thinking about uh a Timberwolfs teamwithout Rudy Gobert, it's it's you know,
leaning on Carl Anthony Towns and makinghim making him feel you for for
a for as much as he's onthe court and seeing if you can,
uh maybe wear him down a bitthat way. Or you know, Aaron
Gordon's dropping the shoulder into somebody andlike maybe you get called for a charge,

(05:28):
but but make them aware that you'rebringing physicality to the table tonight.
So I think it's you know,Jokis can lean on people. Gordon can
can you know, kind of bea bull in a china shop at times.
So I think those are are arejust two two easy ways the Nuggets
can impuse a little more factality intothe matchup. Not to get ahead of
ourselves here, but if the DenverNuggets get up big tonight early, is

(05:49):
this is this the game where you'vesort of rested Nicola Jokic a little bit
because with you know, with withWolves without Colbert, you're probably not gonna
need as much to be able totake them down. Uh, you've been
a lie on the big fellow thereto carry you. You know. Murray
has come through with some game winningshots, but he's not quite been himself.
Is this something where you maybe takeyour foot off the gas with the

(06:10):
kol Jocic a little bit? Imean, ideally, yeah, if you're
a big you can limit his minute, and I would I would include Jamal
in that as well in terms oftrying to get him as as much rest
as possible. But I don't thinkthey're gonna get too cute with it,
you know. I think, youknow, securing a win is going to
be the number one thing, especiallywhen you factor in there there are three

(06:30):
days off between tonight's game and gamefive Friday in Minneapolis, so I think,
you know, it'd be great ifthey were up comfortably in the fourth
quarter and they can get those guysa few extra minutes. But I don't
think Michael Malone is going to bein the the mood to mess around or
risk anything if it's you know,say, a fifteen point game with six

(06:50):
date minutes. But I'd expect thestarters to be out there well let's talk
about the pace of the game,because in Game one, it was a
little different watching the Kola Jokic executebecause idea was that no one could really
speed him up. But you lookat the defensive effort by the tim it
was that was something that they wereable to make him do when the ball
came in. They made a defensiveeffort from in the end. From a

(07:14):
court standpoint, So is their momentin the game where you feel that coach
Malone could sit in the Kola Yolksand if he does, who now is
able to get those types of pointsare you talking about? Yeah? Like
if if yokis because he looked tiredafter Game one, if Alan has to

(07:34):
sit him, what does that mean? Does that mean DeAndre Jordan comes in
and then what kind of offensive adefensive effort do you get from him?
Yeah, I mean DeAndre would bethe guy they go to if they need
more size than they don't want togo with with Aaron Gordon as the backup
center. But you know DJ offensively, I think a lot of that is
just going to come down to whatwe what we saw over the course of

(07:58):
the regular season when he's with thatsecond unit and they they found their most
success, uh, you know,running to Reggie Jackson DeAndre Jordan's pick and
roll. So uh, you knowDJ's been off his feet for a while.
So if if he's got some juicein those legs, you know,
they'll they'll certainly be relying on himto roll to the rim and be a
lout threat and provide some production thatway. Talk with Vinie Bettedo from the

(08:20):
Gazette. Uh, talk a littlenuggets here, Vinie. Before the season,
before the series excuse me started,I said something that you kind of
circled around a little bit earlier,and that was that Anthony Edwards is just
such a poor matchup for normally agood defender in KCP. Uh. I
figured we're gonna have to see ChristianBrawns some additional minutes, you know,
in in an effort to try toslow him down a little bit. Is

(08:41):
this the game where you try tofigure out a way to get KCP going
on offense a little bit since he'sI don't want to say a liability on
defense against Edwards, but certainly hasa disadvantage there. Yeah, I think
one thing you can do with kCP if if Anthony Edwards is going to
be guarding him, and they couldmanipulate that some as well with some screening,

(09:01):
because in game one the Timberwolves worthswitching just about everything one through four.
You know, if I'm KCP andI've got Anthony Edwards on me,
or if I'm Michael Malone and Isee Edwards s guarding KCP, I think
one thing you can do is juststart running him off a bunch of off
ball screens and making Anthony Edwards workon the defensive end, you know,
chap KTP, you know, sidelineto sideline, make him fight through screens

(09:24):
and see if you can get tohim a little bit that way. But
you know, Anthony Edwards is stilltwenty two, so it might take a
little bit more than that to gethim a little fatigued. But yeah,
I think it is important, especiallyyou know, given the tough matchup on
the defensive end for KCP, thatthat he is, that he's still involved

(09:45):
offensively and not just allowing Anthony Edwardsto stand around, you know, if
KCP is just you know, beinga fourse facer in the corner. Coach
Malone has been known for being acoach who doesn't really like to go deep
into his pants in the playoffs,based on what we've seen in Game one,
is he going to have to throwthat away and now try to get

(10:07):
guys like Zeke Nausee more time toactually expel some of these guys on the
offense, especially knowing it's been anup and down pace for the Timberwolves in
the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, I'dbe surprised that if we if we see
much Zeke Nasee in in a closegame, just given that, you know,
Minnesota is still gonna have a bitmore size, but one guy who

(10:31):
might be in for a bit morerun for me would be just in a
holiday We may not see it asmuch tonight without Rudy Gobert, but when
in Game one, when Minnesota wasthe few times they would have Towns on
Joker and let Rudy Gobert, youknow, kind of float around, something
we've seen a handful of teams doagainst the Nuggets in the last year or

(10:54):
so. You know, Michael Malonewent to the four shooter surrounding Yokic,
so so Gobert couldn't just hang aroundthe rim. And I'm not sure if
Minnesota would would try to utilize thatsame strategy tonight without Gobert. But if
they do, I would expect MichaelMalonda to surround nicolea Jokic with shooters,
and Justin Holliday would be the firstbench player on my list to get a

(11:16):
little more run tonight. Well sortof sort of dovetails where I was going
next here with this, She said, you know, the Nuggets have to
even this up that I don't know. It's trite to UH to talk about
must win, which I obviously openedwith, but in a sense, they
do, and if they do getthe equalizer, and they do, they
do even this thing up. Atthat point, you're going to have to
You're gonna get Gobert backs. You'regonna have to figure out a way to

(11:37):
deal with this, uh, withthis triumvirate of Gobert Towns and Edwards going
forward. And I'm looking at thisand I just don't see a scenario where
you're not putting yourself well outside yourcomfort zone. If you're the Denver Nuggets.
They looked uncomfortable in Game one.You know, without Gobert, I
expect them to win tonight. Butyou're going on the road, You're going
back to Minnesota. How in theworld are you going to find a way

(12:01):
to I want to say, changeor overhaul what it is that you've done,
but at least modify it enough thatyou're going to be competitive on their
court. Yeah, that's interesting,just because you know, these teams are
so familiar with each other, soI'm not sure how much kind of new
stuff there's going to be displayed.I think what it's going to be interesting

(12:24):
is that it's just going to bechanging styles. It feels like, you
know, in the five games againstthe Lakers in the first round, Nicole
Joki got very comfortable with the factthat the Lakers were double teaming just about
the same way at the same time, you know, pretty consistently, and
he could get into a rhythm there. Game one, you know, it

(12:48):
felt like Minnesota's lack of a doubleteam kind of caught Yo gets a little
off guard and it resulted into seventurnovers. And then tonight, I'm expecting
something different without Gobert, and thenyou get Bear packing game three. So
I think the Nuggets are just gonnahave to kind of come up with with
different game plans and be ready to, you know, flip the switch at

(13:11):
a moment's notice. Given what theTimberwolves are doing defensively. But if there
is, you know, something workingin the Nuggets favor is that you know,
they saw this team, albeit aslightly different version, last year in
the playoffs, and they played threetimes since the All Star break, and
at least the last one of thosematchups was pretty meaningful. So I don't

(13:31):
know how much kind of new stuffthere's gonna be unveiled here tonight or in
Game three, but the Nuggets arecertainly gonna have to be a little more
versatile in terms of their approach.Well, looking forward to this one,
expecting and Nuggets win, hoping andNuggets wins. Any Benadetto from the Gazette,
we appreciate you joined us tonight.Awesome, appreciate you guys helping me
on take care any better detto Illove having them on, and I do

(13:52):
think like for me, it's it'sinteresting. It's interesting because, yeah,
you don't have Gobert tonight for Minnesota. We all expect that heavily favors Denver
here at home in a game thatthey need to win. But in the
long run, is that a bitof a disservice to the Nuggets in the
sense that You're still going to haveto figure out once he gets back in
the lineup how to defend that bigthree. And man, I tell you

(14:13):
that is just a tough ask.I mean, Edwards is always Vince,
carter Ree and Carnate. Well,for coach Mulon, idea is that you
play the game with the people thatyou have to play the game with,
and you worry about trying to figureout how to match up with the Timberwolves
once you have that time off.So it's kind of a godsend not having

(14:37):
Rudy on the floor because here's whatI saw from Rudy pulling down thirteen boards
and Nicola only had seven. Now, Nicole is not known for being that
traditional center, rim protector defender,as though some of these other guys out
He's one of those guys that,like a unicorn, he get the team
out of a transition. He canscore from anywhere on the floor. But

(14:58):
this would give the Nuggets and opportunityto pull down those boards because that's the
one thing that I saw in thatin that series against the Lakers, when
Anthony Davis was able to control therebounds, that kept the Lakers in the
game because he was getting those secondchance rebounds, those putbacks. He's getting
their defense, I mean their offense. Ecuse me, out into transition and

(15:22):
with Rudy off the floor, youcan take advantage of This would be totally
honest. As tall as Rudy is, that's the only thing he gives you.
He's giving you somewhat of a shotblocker, rim protector because he's not
getting out in transition. He's not, you know, scoring from anywhere on
the floor. He can barely shootfree throws. So this is the perfect
situation for coach Malon to play withdifferent lineups. If he wants to go

(15:43):
small to get out, he can. He can have that ability to put
the pressure on the Timberwolves. Ijust worry that he gives the tee Wolves
the opportunity to discover something else onoffense, because you're right, Gobert doesn't
give you anything. He's not anoffensive threat. You're not worried about You're
not worried about him or J McDanielson the offensive it you're not. But
those guys clean glass and Gobert doesalter shots. You know, he does

(16:07):
change the way you attack the rima little bit. So you know,
I I I worry that it's gonnagive them the opportunity to rotate somebody and
figure out how to get more offenseinvolved, and that that's the part that
worries me, you know, JadeMcDaniels, I mean he contributes what Rodman
contributed, you know, I meannot at not at the work rate that
Robmin did, but you get whatI'm saying, Like he comes in and
he cleans a glass and it's boutit right. I I just between town

(16:30):
Edwards, you know, and Connieis a facilitator, and then nas Reed
coming off the bench man they I'mjust hoping the Wolves don't figure something out
here and then add that to thearsenal going into their home court. We
come back, Ryan Michael's going insidethe numbers. We'll be back Broncos Country
tonight. Welcome back to it,Broncos Country tonight. Benjamin Olbrighten, Nick

(16:52):
Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you. We're gonna go right after the Kway
Comma Speil hotline though, and bringRyan michaels on because we're gonna go inside
the numbers, No, inside thenumbers with Ryan Michael. Ryan, how
you doing this evening? Doing well? Ben Nick, How are you guys
doing pretty well? Gave you thehomework assignment. It's about the five greatest

(17:15):
rookie seasons in Broncos franchise history.And I've seen some previewing on this stuff,
and I'm going to tell you Nickhas Nick has posted some of it
in his group chat the former players, and this one, this one,
I think is going to get someconversation going on Twitter. So without further
ado, let's jump right into it. What are the five greatest rookie seasons

(17:36):
in Denver Broncos history? Could behonest with you, Ben, there were
so many. I couldn't keep itto a top five. I had to
expend it to a top seven.And there's some honorable mentions that I put
out on Twitter, But for thesake of brevity, I'll start off with
number seven and work my way upto number one. Number seven, I
have one of my favorite defensive actsof all time. Steve Atwater came in

(17:57):
second place for Defensive Rookie of theYear on three interceptions, one hundred and
twenty nine total tackles. The Broncosin eighty nine had the number one scoring
defense in the league, won theAFC championship at number Did we lose Ryn?
Sounds like we lost him, Ican hear you guys. Okay,

(18:17):
yeah we lost here. Let's resetthat number two, all right? So
we got number six Goose Donslin andhow this is an old school a ring
of samer Okay, nineteen sixty firstyear in Broncos history. He was a
first team All Pro selection. Hehauled in eleven interceptions, which not only
led the AFL that year, butto this day remains the Broncos single season

(18:41):
franchise record at number five. Thisis one of my personal favorites. I
have Ryan klefty in two thousand andeight and he was a second team All
Pro selection, didn't make the ProBowl, which says everything it needs to
say about what I think about thePro Bowl. Actually came in third place
for Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, which is not a small feat for

(19:02):
a left tackle. And since youdon't have stats specifically on left tackles,
I'm going to share a quarterback thatthat is just as much a credit to
Ryan Clady as it is to JayCutler. In two thousand and eight,
Jay Cutler led the NFL with aone point eight percent sack percentage. There
have been eighty two seasons an NFLhistory where a quarterback has thrown six hundred

(19:22):
or more passes. Cutler's one pointeight percent sack percentage is the second highest
in the history of the NFL.Only Dan Marino in nineteen eighty eight was
sacked one percent of the time,was better. Number four, I have
Terrell Davis nineteen ninety five. Heput up one four hundred and eighty four
total yard, eight touchdowns, averagefour point seven yards per carry, which

(19:44):
is tied for the second best markof his Hall of Fame career with nineteen
ninety seven. Only ninety eight didhe average more yards per carry, and
he came in second place for OffensiveRookie of the Year. Now, this
might be a little bit controversial havingMike Anderson over Terrell Davis, but Mike
Anderson in two thousand and did winOffensive Rookie of the Year honors. He
put up one thousand, six hundredand fifty six total yards from scrimmage,

(20:06):
fifteen total touchdowns, and averaged fiveyards per carry. Number two I have
Von Miller came in top ten insacks. He had eleven and a half
and he actually missed a game,so he could have been even higher.
Twenty nine quarterback hit, sixty fourtackles, two forced fumbles, and four
passes defended. He was a secondteam All Pro selection, and he was

(20:26):
named Defensive Rookie of the Year andat number one. And this one wasn't
too much of a struggle. Ihave Clinton portis. In two thousand and
two, he put up one thousand, eight hundred and seventy two total yards
from scrimmage seventeen total touchdowns. Heplayed in all sixteen games, but he
only started twelve of those games.So shout out and thank you to Clinton

(20:47):
for retweeting that before I hopped on. That's my number one pick for the
greatest rookie season in Broncos franchise history. Wow, that's a bunch of great
rookies. But the one thing thatjumps out to me in this seven players
sable size, there's a majority ofoffensive players on the board and a lot
of them playing for Mike Shanahan.So what does that say about Mike Shanahan

(21:11):
and his creativity because there's three runningbacks on this list. Well, what
Mike Shanahan was able to do inthe ground game during his tenure in the
NFL, maybe second to nine,because it wasn't just Torell Davis in his
Hall of Fame career, but youhad Landa Scarry in nineteen ninety nine stepping
in rushing for over eleven hundred yards. You had Mike Anderson, as we

(21:32):
just mentioned, offensive rookie of theyear, and two years later you plug
in Clinton Portis and he's the offensiverookie of the year when he moved over
to Washington. Alfred Morrison his firstyear rushed for over fourteen hundred yards alone.
So if there's a term running backwhisperer, maybe Mike Shanahan would be
that, in addition to being aquarterback whisperer. Yeah. I mean a
lot of people I think you wouldwould would agree with you that. You

(21:56):
know, and often running backs havebeen called plug and play in the Shanahan
system, but there were they werespecial. The thing that was probably most
impressive to me was what Mike Andersondid. And I understand, you know,
Clinton and all that kind of stuff. I get that, But Mike
Anderson was a guy who'd been aMarine for four years. Uh, you
know, into college, comes out, you know, he gets in with
the uh with the with the DenverBroncos as a six round draft pick,

(22:18):
and then you see him in hisrookie season, which he only started.
I believe it was twelve games ayear. I'd have to go back and
double check, but he had moreyardage than than any running back had in
the NFL last year. I mean, Christian McCaffrey had had, you know,
fourteen hundred yards. He was abovethat. Christian mccaffre had fourteen touchdowns
last year. You know, Anderstonhad what fifteen his rookie year, which
would have been tied for uh fora second in touchdowns last year, which

(22:41):
by the way, would have beentied. Two of those guys were quarterbacks,
I mean Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, you know, sneaking him in
goal line stuff or he moster wouldhave thank the only guy that'surre passed that
another guy who's in that system.I which of these jumps out at you
as as I mean, I getthat we were ranking them as a rookie,
but what was the most impressive featto you, Whether or not it
was Clinton Portis there at number oneor not, what was the most impressive

(23:03):
thing about these rookie seasons. Iwould say arguably the most impressive may have
been Ryan Clady in two thousand andeight because for Cutler to have the second
best sacked percentage in the history ofthe NFL, and I posted Twitter the
top eight sack percentage seasons of alltime with six hundred and one passes.
So it's a big sample size,right. So all the other names in

(23:25):
the list are all either first ballotHall of Fame quarterbacks or future first ballot
Hall of Fame quarterback. You haveMarino one, Cutler two, Breeze three,
Roethlisberger four, Peyton Manning five,Breeze again at six, Peyton again
at seven, also tied with Marinoagain, So there's a tie for seventh
place. For Ryan Clady to stepin as a rookie protecting the blindside for
a quarterback who only had two othertop ten finishes in sack percentage in his

(23:48):
career, it's one of the mostastonishing statistics in Broncos franchise history. Fascinating
stuff. We talk a lot aboutthe running backs in the Shannian system.
The Shannon system is not we runhere anymore, but then does have a
great lineage of running backs. Theydrafted one in his past draft in order
guest Man and no Dame. Whatkind of rookie season can we maybe see
out of the rookie You know,I don't know if Audric is going to

(24:11):
be quite at the level of aClinton Portis, or a Mike Anderson,
or even necessarily an Orlando Sciary.But what I would say to his I
like the comp that you gave uslast week for Mary and Barbara, both
of them standing five to eleven.Barbara was to eighteen estimates two twenty one.
I like him as a first andsecond down back. I like him
as a red zone thread. Youknow, he's a smart football player,

(24:33):
great pre stamp vision, downfield power. He's slow off the snap, so
it takes him a little while toget going in the red zone. For
a Broncos team that only scored fiverushing touchdowns amongst running backs last year in
seventeen games, Audre Guestime, inhis final year of college football, produced
eleven rushing touchdowns in his final fivegames. I'd like to see what we

(24:53):
can do plugging him into some redzone situations, giving Bonnicks a little bit
of ring de brief. Let's takea look in the famous crystal ball and
look ahead, not backwards, andlet's see if we can project maybe what
bow next step line might be afterthis season campaign. So tell me,

(25:17):
have you dug into those stats snapsand those stats and tell us what do
you think those numbers could actually be? Nick, I'm gonna channel your optimism
here and you know we're going tohope for the best of Sean. You
know, the offensive genius label hasfollowed him for a very long time,
and obviously, as we've talked aboutin recent months, he's had a lot

(25:37):
of struggles without your recent quarterback.So this is the ultimate opportunity for Sean
Payton to show exactly who he isas a play caller. So, looking
at the number of passing attempts we'veseen out of Sean Payton offenses in recent
years, say bo Nick throws fivehundred and fifty passes and he's able to
start all seventeen games. I havehim completing three fifty two, which would
be sixty four percent foury fifteen passingyards, So he'd be averaging seven point

(26:03):
three yards per attempt, twenty fivetouchdowns to thirteen picks, and ninety one
point one passer rating. I thinksomewhere in that ballpark would be a very
optimistic stat line, provided he's ableto start all seventeen games, and provided
Sean Payton is able to channel thatoffensive genius that we all know that he
has in him. So I'm lookingforward to see what both can do in
the system. Wow, that's amazing. Now I want to go back for

(26:30):
just a second. Now, Yeah, you mentioned von milon your list,
So I want to go back andrevisit the twenty eleven draft because I'll give
you the top four picks and thenI'll get to my question. Cam went
off the board first, then Ibelieve it was Vaughn, Marcel Darius and
AJ Green. Now with the Broncosfacing off against Cam Newton and the Panthers

(26:55):
and Super Bowl fifty, now whenwe look at it, I mean Cam's
no longer playing, Vaughan is stillplaying. Per say all about the better
of the pick? Was it thePanthers? Was the Broncos? You know,
as tempted as I am to veryquickly just say von Miller, And
as if it's obvious, I dowant to give Cam Newton a little bit
of credit. And I just recently, as a matter of fact, wrote

(27:18):
a piece for the Pro Football Hallof fam that's going to be coming out
shortly about how dominant he was intwenty fifteen. So Cam Newton at the
peak of his power was as goodas Von Miller was at the peak of
his power. For me, it'sreally a matter of how did they play
throughout the totality of their careers.Vn is an eight time Pro Bowl selection
of three time First Team All Pro. Cam made it to three Pro Bowls

(27:41):
and had that one First Team AllPro MVP season in twenty fifteen. So
Von Miller unquestionably is a better footballplayer at his position than Cam was at
his But the quarterback position does providea lot more value. It's can impact
the results of games. Given thereality that we picked up Peyton Manning in
twenty twelve, which certainly would nothave been the case if Cam Newton hypothetically

(28:03):
had fallen to number two and wetook him. I'm very happy with the
fact that we took Von Miller,and I think that if there was any
doubt about who was the better choicebetween the two, Super Bowl fifty is
the evidence that provide the answer tothat question. Talking with Ryan Michael at
the Ryan Michael on Twitter. SorryI had to coughing fit there for a
minute there. I think as wetalk about rookie performances, all eyes here

(28:27):
in Broncos Country are obviously all thenumber twelve pick. Bo Nick's drafted blake
quarterback out of Oregon. You know, he obviously he's got to be at
Zach Wilson Tarret Stidham, which Iyou know, I'm not going to say
it's a foregone conclusion, but certainlywould be disappointing if he did not.
What can we expect out of therookie in his debut season? You know,

(28:47):
I think for bone Nicks, themost important thing is going to be
him the learning Sean Payton's system,and it's going to be a tremendous challenge
for the team to provide him withthe supports in terms of past protection,
terms of the running game, andcertainly in terms of defensive performance. I'm
excited to see what our defense cando on the opposite side of the ball,
because if we're going to be inthe bottom quarter of scoring defensives this

(29:10):
year, you're going to force boneNicks into a situation where he's going to
throw a lot of picks. Rookiesthrow picks. Ask Peydon Man and he'll
tell you. And so I thinkbon Nicks will have an opportunity to be,
as I said last week, apoor man's Drew Brees, provided he's
given the supports that he needs tosucceed. I'm also confident that he'll get
the starting nod for week one,and we hope that he stays healthy and

(29:32):
is able to play through all seventeengames. For me, you look at
the rookie season as the ultimate learningopportunity. Worked for Peydon Man and worked
for Dan Marino, and you sawhow much better those two quarterbacks were in
their second year. So I'm optimisticin terms of what we'll see from Bo,
but I'm not expecting a Robert Griffinthe third CD Stroud type of rookie
season. I don't think we havethe team in place to be able to

(29:53):
support such a year. Ryan.Does that change because you mentioned support,
having a supports system, and I'mreally big on quarterbacks more importantly having a
support system. But with Troy Franklin, who is a rookie and we're talking
about, you know, being onyour list of top rookie performers, could
this now benefit both Troy Franklin,which now benefits bo Nicks and put him

(30:18):
higher on this list based on hisoverall performance. I think it has the
potential because the chemistry that they hadat Oregon was arguably second to nine in
all of college football. And there'sdefinitely going to be an opening for that
wide receiver two spot with the Broncosthis year. So you know, Franklin
was a guy who went third inthe nation and touchdown deceptions last year fourteen.

(30:40):
Some of them were pretty deep,which is not so bad for a
guy who's claimed to be the kingof the screen game in Bo Nicks.
The two of them have proven theycan stretch the field. So if we
get something even comparable to what EddieRoyle did in two thousand and eight with
Jay Cutler, I think that willbe a good foundation for the future moving
forward. Ryan, we appreciate itas always the Ryan Michael on Twitter.
What are you cooking up for usnext time? You know you've got to

(31:04):
give me an assignment. I've beenso caught up with the NBA playoffs,
to be honest with you, haven'tgiven a lot of funks. So we'll
see what we can do later thisevening, but if you have any ideas,
yeah, we'll work on it.Area is of emphasis in which the
Broncos maybe you weren't as productive thispast season with Sean Payton, that they
can improve on in year two.I like that, let's do it.
Let's do it absolutely. Ryan Michaelthat the Bryan Michael on Twitter looking forward

(31:26):
to it. Always great going insidethe numbers with him. I think it
would be a huge disappointment to fansof Bonix did not beat out Jared Stidham
and Zach Wilson that said Sean Payton'soffense takes a lot to learn it.
Jared Stidham obviously has a leg uphaving been there for a year. Would
we be surprised that all if Stidhamstarted the season as the starter and then

(31:48):
gave way to Bonix downline. No, I wouldn't be surprised at all,
because I've seen this happened as teamstry to work that roocky quarterback into the
mix. Now all depending on howoh well bot Nicks is adapting to the
heavy amount of information that he isbeing given during install that would change a

(32:09):
lot. But I think it's fairto say that if the Broncos decided that
to roll out with Jerry Stidham astheir day one starter, that's not a
bad idea. And for anyone gettingupset and saying, Okay, whoa you
know? Bo Nicks apparently was SeanPayton's guy. He got him at twelve,
so he should be expected to goout there and perform. I would

(32:31):
say to those people, you've neverplayed in the NFL. And I say
that with a lot of certainty knownas though there are other individuals who have
played in the NFL who would say, no, Nick, that you're wrong.
But once again, playing that allimportant quarterback position, it is key
and there's a lot of pressure expectationswhen you play that position here opposed to

(32:53):
playing it anywhere else. So myidea is ease bow in. There's no
rush to get him in and tosee, you know, what are you
gonna do right away? I knoweveryone wants that, but this should be
somewhat of a slow drip to bringhim along. So once you get him
in, you're not trying to takehim out. Right. I agree with
that, and I think that youknow, the last thing you want to
do is put a guy out therewho's who's not ready. You know absolutely,

(33:15):
you don't want to serve a turkey. It's only half cooked, right.
I don't know aboy too, butSimonella, poisoning can be dangerous Somono.
Yeah, I'm good on that.When we come back. We had
a little nugget stuff. We gota an NFL six pack. Mister Bruccos
Country Night. Can't wait.