05-16-24 Ryan Michael with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

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Inside the Numbers with Ryan Michael EricDelala here on Broncos Country tonight alongside Nick
Ferguson. Ryan, thank you somuch for joining us here a Pro Football
Hall of Fame contributor. Are thingsgoing doing well? Eric? Nick?
How are you guys doing tonight?Things are good? Things are good?

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Right. I want to start usoff here with probably maybe the number one
cause for concern when you watch thetwenty twenty three Denver Broncos from the quarterback
position, which was turnovers and takingsacks. I know you've kind of taken
a look at what the Broncos struggledwith their last year, and I'm wondering,

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where can the Broncos and how canthe Broncos get those numbers down.
I know it's important to Sean Payton, I know it's important to Broncos Country
for sure. It is then,you know, for the folks who have
been listening to my spot on theshow over the past few months, I've
really been a one eighty since theNFL Draft, and I went from being
as pessimistic as anybody you'll find tobeing as optimistic as anybody he'll find in

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Denver, because I really think thatthe way we approached free agency in the
draft was to work with the deficienciesthat we have in hand. We're in
salary cap hell, we didn't havea lot of draft picks, and what
we did with the opportunities we wereafforded is we were looking to channel weaknesses
and the strength. And one ofthe biggest ones we talked about a lot

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last year with sack percentage. RussellWilson. For as much as I defend
him as having had a much betterseason than a lot of folks give him
credit, certainly sack percentage has notjust last year, but always been the
greatest weakness of his game. Sohe finished last year ranked twenty seventh in
sack percentage. He went down ninepoint one percent of his dropbacks. That's

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awful. And when you factor intonet yards per attempt, which factors in
sacks along with yards per attend hefinished twenty third in the league five point
seven to two. That's just aboveAid and O'Connell twenty fourth five point five
to seven. Not where you wantto be. So what does Sean Payton
do. He gets the antithesis ofwhat Russell Wilson was in the pocket in

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the form of Bonnicks bon Nicks,and last season, with four hundred and
seventy attempts, he was sacked onlyfive times. At one point one percent.
Sack percentage was far and away thebest mark of any quarterback taken in
the top fifteen over the last tenyears. And so since Sean Payton's system

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is predicated upon efficiency, having aquarterback who has that sense of awareness in
the pocket is going to make atremendous difference. So I'm very excited about
that move. It's down the officeside of the ball. Before you joined
us, Eric and I was talkingabout the Broncos running back room and how
competitive is going to be in trainingcamp. But we know, whether you're
a veteran or you are a rookiequarterback, your best friend is a run

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game. So how is it thatthis run game could it help out not
just Sean Payton as well? Absolutely, I mean, and that was really
the brain better of what you guysdid so well during your time Nick with
the team under Mike Shanahan. Soright now we're looking at a Broncos backfield
that last year, excluding Russell Wilson'swork on the ground, rushed for only

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five touchdowns in the seventeen games.So you bring in Audrick Estimate, a
guy who produced eight tuon rushing touchdownslast year, and he got particularly strong
as the season went on, scoringeleven touchdowns in his final five games of
college football. Again, it isif Sean Payton looked directly at our deficiencies

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someone asked him, what are yougoing to do about it? We pick
up Audric Estimate. I'm very excitedabout what that will do to help alleviate
some of that pressure on bo Nick'sparticularly in red zone situation. I'd like
to see what that dynamic is goingto look like this year between Estimate,
between some of the additions at thewide receiver position, how much does this
look to you like Sean Payton's typeof guy on offense, and how much

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improvement. Granted that there could bea rookie quarterback, a quarterback who is
new to the system, or aquarterback with just two starts in the system,
so granted that there might be somegrowing pains there, but when you
look at the additions, how muchmore is it realistic to expect out of
this Sean payn offense compared to whatwe saw last year? Well, I

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think that what we're going to see. It's going to be tough to replicate
what Russell Wilson did well. Soyou're looking at a guy in Russe Wilson
who finished eighth in the league lastyear in passer rating, number one in
the AFC in touchdown past percentage.I don't expect, realistically bon Nicks to
match those strengths. But what Ithink we're going to see here's the antithesis
of Russell Wilson. I've been callingbon Nicks Drew Brees light, and I

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consider that a high compliment given howhighly I think of Drew Brees. You're
going to see efficiency. You're goingto see sack of winness. You're going
to see god willing, a highcompletion percentage. You're going to see a
guy who's been incredibly efficient at avoidingturnovers and producing touchdowns. He led all
of college football with fifty one totaltouchdowns last year. So I think what
we're going to see is hopefully somethingthat might be similar in terms of points

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produced and totally as an offense.Hopefully we're going to produce more getting some
touchdowns on the ground, But thesuccess that Bonnicks is going to have,
it might look similar in the boxscore in terms of points scored. He's
going to be getting it done verydifferently. And I think laying down the
bricks of that foundation for Sean Payton'ssystem and running it the way that he
wants to run it is going toshow greater games in year two for bon

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Knicks Troy Franklin than the rest ofthe guys. Speaking of system, what
would that system look like? Andthe reason I asked because when anytime we
talk about Sean Payton in offense,it automatically goes back to New Orleans in
his time with Drew Brees, andwe know that when you spending a lot
of time with any guy in anysystem, things kind of flow a different

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way. But now we're talking aboutZach Wilson, Bo Nicks and even Jared
Stidham, you know, being inthis particular system, and neither guy I
would say this, we don't reallyknow what they actually can be in this
system. So what are you predictingthat we could see with the new additions
offensively? You know, I don'tthink realistically Zach Wilson is going to see

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the field. He might see somepreseason action, and you know, as
as Bennett mentioned, last week.There's no guarantee that Bonnicks will be TV
one week one, although that's certainlywhat I'm going to be pulling for,
because, in my view, Jaredsaid him, even if he play as
well as going to be a shortterm solution at best, his ceiling is
far lower than Bonnicks's ceiling is.I think our goal for this year,

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we'd like to win the Super Bowl, right, We'd like to knock off
Kansas City. We did it lastyear last year's rosters, so never see
never. But the goal was moreabout laying down bricks to build that foundation
for the future. And I thinkthat if we produce something similar in the
wing column and perhaps score a bitmore points and prevent more points, sure
we might not win the Super Bowlthis year, but we might find ourselves

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in really good position for twenty twentyfive and beyond. Ryan curious, but
before we jump over to the defensiveside of the ball, and here you
can choose a guy on defense ifyou'd like. But wondering one edition from
this offseason that from a statistical standpointin terms of addressing a weakness then really

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stands out to you as Hey,here's the guy that maybe fans haven't thought
enough about when they think about Likeyou mentioned that the Broncos weren't big spenders
like they were a year ago,but still made some moves in free agency.
Who's maybe the under the radar editionthat fans should know ahead a week
one. Well, for me,I've been consistent in saying that Malcolm Roach

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is my favorite free agent signing,and since the tackles don't traditionally get a
lot of love. But if youlook at where we finished last year in
terms of rising yards per carry surrendered, we were dead last. We gave
up five yards per carry And tojust put into context just how bad that
number is. The distance between thirtysecond and thirty first. Giving up four

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point seven yards per carryus equal tothe distance between thirty first and twenty second.
It's a gargantling gap. So surethe outlier massacre in Miami giving up
three hundred and fifty yards on theground was a big part of it.
If you look at Malcolm Roach,and he's a guy who Pro Football Focus
had ranked number one in the NFLamongst interior defensive linemen and runstop rate at

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seventeen point four percent in the sameflast, year finished tied for fourth and
rushing touchdowns allowed, they only gaveup ten. They finished eighth and rushing
the XP, which is an efficiencymetric per Pro Football Reference. So he's
really the perfect edition in terms ofaddressing that weakness on the defensive side of
the ball. Now, obviously thispast offseason, the loss of Justin Simmons,

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you know, from an emotional standpointand what he means to the team
from a community standpoint. Fans arestill going through that. But now there
are new players who are going tobe inserted into the lineup where they're going
to be as to carry that lowand even take it to a whole different
level. How do you think VanceJoseph in his second year can actually help

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those guys play better in the backend. It's stillosuming for me to talk
about losing Justin Simmons because he's notthe kind of all player that you're going
to replace very easily, if atall. But I love the pickup of
Jonah Ellis. I think that we'regoing to turn our defense into strengths through
different areas. So we obviously needto generate pressure in terms of sacking the

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quarterback, and he's a guy wholast year finished seventeen college football in total
sacks with twelve, which was secondamongst all players taken in the NFL Draft.
I think that we're going to seethe Singer shutdown corner in terms of
what Patser can can do well.And I believe one made the point a
few weeks ago. When you're lookingat Chris abram Strain, he's a guy
who's more of an aggressive defensive backwho might be able to take some chances

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and beat some people into throwing somepicks. He finished tenth in the nation
and passes defended last year. SoI don't see any route to replacing Justin
Simmons with the collection of talent thatwe've assembled through free and became the draft.
Least be hopeful that in Kris Joseph'ssecond year we're going to be a
lot more efficient on the defensive sideof the ball. Well, I do
want to jump back to the defensiveline, just for one second second.

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In my mind, it all startsthere. How underrated? Maybe I know
Draft weekend gets crazy a lot goingon, but to get a guy like
John Franklin Myers, just curious yourthoughts on him. Angel Blaxon I mean
that wasn't like Malcolm Roach was theonly guy They really made a concerted effort
to get better along that defensive front. How much of a difference in your

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mind does a good defensive line makefor both the linebacking corps and the secondary.
It's going to make everybody's life easier, so you know, stopping the
run is going to be king.Malcolm Roach certainly plugged that point of developing
pressure off the edge. It's goingto allow our linebackers to be able to
scan the field and be able toadjust to the surrounding circumstances in a way

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that enables them to play at theirbest if the dvs have a chance to
breathe and have a chance to beable to catch a posing quarterback out of
position because we're getting pressure to quarterbacks. Finally, this year, it's not
going to be the twenty fifteen Broncos, but it really is of the mold
of building that. Bully and Ilike everything that we've done. To be

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honest, with the resources that wehad, the money we had to spend,
I don't think we could have donemuch of a better job in creating
and seeing the draft. Brian somuch about the NFL is about the offensive
side of the ball. And Ihave to ask you, like, like,
I played with Rod Smith and hewas a very underrated guy. Do
you have any fun facts about RodSmith himself and what he was able to

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accomplish in his time as a Bronco? I do. Not only is Rod
Smith one of the most underrated Broncosof all time, he's one of the
most underrated wide receivers of all time. An undrafted guy, a guy who
proves how far you can come withhard work and just got given talent and
ability. So here's a stat foryou. From nineteen ninety seven through two

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thousand and five, so we're talkinga nine year stretch, almost a full
decade sample size, he produced tenthousand, eight hundred and forty yards from
scrimmage. So if you adjust thatto a seventeen game season, he would
have averaged one thousand, three hundredand seven yards per year every year for
nearly a full decade. That isHall of Fame numbers for a guy we

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certainly haven't gotten anywhere close to thatdegree of recognition one of my all time
favorite Broncos. All right, well, Steve, that water is with us
Earlier he's gone, so he can'thear you say nice things now. But
I want to know what you goton Steve the Smiling Assassin. You've got
some good stuff on Rod. Youanything on Steve over there? You know.
I think when it comes to dvs, a lot of their greatness isn't

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necessarily reflected in the box score becauseyou want to throw away from those guys
and stee aatt Waters resume in Denveris very similar, in my view to
Barry sanators resume on the running backposition in Detroit in the sense that every
year had a very very high ceiling. So from nineteen eighty nine through nineteen
ninety eight, all of his yearsin Denver, every single season he either

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won an AFC Championship, was namedto a Pro Bowl, was named All
Pro, or he won a SuperBowl. So his rookie year AFC champions
the Bronco was to the number onescoring defense in the league. He finished
second place in voting for Defensive Rookieof the Year nineteen ninety He made the
Pro Bowl ninety one through ninety twoPro Bowl and the first team All Pro

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selection ninety three for ninety five ProBowl. Every single year ninety six Pro
Bowl and a second team All Proselection nineteen ninety seven, won is for
Super Bowl nineteen ninety eight. Backto the Pro Bowl, and one another.
That's a Barry Sanders resume on thedefensive side, including some rings.
Incredible resume. You know, that'svery interesting because you absolutely right, Ryan,

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defensive guys we never really get thatmuch love because it's all about the
offensive guys, how many points thatthey can score. But listen, I
mean, if it's not for defense, a lot of teams wouldn't have championships.
So that whole phrase of defense winschampionships, it's true. And you
just laid it out based on thestats about I mean, our great Steve

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Atwater. I want to know ifRyan has my high school stats somewhere.
I think I had like three interceptions. Got that on the max preps or
something. Give me a week.We'll go inside the numbers, go inside
the numbers of Eric Delava. There'sanother Broncos defensive back that we wanted to

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leave to the end of the segment. This was Ben's pick, so we're
trying to it as a surprise andI'm going to go with Nick Kurdson,
and so you know, We oftensee quarterbacks credited with wins and losses,
and we always say they get alittle bit too much credit when they win,
a little bit too much blame whenthey lose. So if we're going
to look at wins and losses forindividual players, I'm gonna use you Nick
as an example. From two thousandthreety to two thousand and sixteen games that

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you played in the Broncos finished thirtynine and sixteen. That's the seventy point
nine percent winning percentage. You finishtop ten in points per game surrendered every
single season, and two against PeytonManning, two against Drew Brees, three
against Tom Brady, including his firstever postseason defeat. So how do you

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feel about those numbers? You know? Way, when you put it that
way, I'm like, man,it only frustrates me more that I wasn't
voted to the Pro Bowl. ButI'll say this is that hearing those numbers
and playing on those teams, itwasn't just one person. And that's the
one thing I loved about playing onour defense. There were multiple people from

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week to week that were counted onto make plays, and that's how our
defense was galvanized. If I'm notmistaken. One of those years we led,
I think we were in tops inthe league as far as teams against
the rush, And for me,that was something that you know, both
John and myself and Al Wilson andIan Gole. I mean, we took

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the heart. We wanted to makesure that at the end of any game,
whether we want to loss, thatopposing team had an opportunity to definitely
fill us. So I have tothank Ben for putting me in that mix
too as well. I think it'salso worth noting that that it's not just
what you did statistically, but it'swho you competed against. So during the

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time that you played, I alwayssay the two thousand and three to two
thousand and five Broncos one of myfavorite runs ever. You were competing against
Peyton Manning at the peak of hispower, Drew Brees, Tom Brady Ladini,
and Tomlinton Police Holmes. You weren'tgoing and Division three teams out there.
You were going against some of thegreatest players to have ever played the
game. And to pick up notjust one, but multiple wins against guys

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with those kinds of resumes, it'struly remarkable to testament to the team Coach
Sanahan put together and all of youguys collectively were able to achieve the team.
Well, Nick is just sobbing inhere now and he's just overjoyed.
I did think he was going tosay that when you said it gives me
regrets we didn't. I thought youwere going to say, win the super
Bowl, but you went for thePro Bowl. We went for the individual

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honor there. Nick, that's okaybecause that one I don't want to do
that because that still hurts. Okay, it's I try not to bring it
up. I mean, Eric,I'm sorry, you know what. He's
walking out, he's walking sobbing.He was happy, Now he's sad.
Ryan, we appreciate you, weappreciate you joining us. I got to
go make sure that Nick's okay.