06-23-25 Hour 3 of Broncos Country Tonight with Cody Roark and Phil Milani

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You want to get involved, you can get involved by

(00:01):
textanis on the common speare of health text line five
sixty six nine zero. Set in the stage. Here is
what we were talking about before the break. Here kind
of look into the AFC West and where things are
at here. Obviously, the Broncos have gotten significantly better on
paper than what they were last year.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
They passed a lot of expectations. The Chargers. They've added
some key pieces.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
I know they have a you know, kind of an
ideal in their head for Harbaugh is a two headed
Russian attack with obviously Najee Harrison, Omari and Hampton who
was on a wide list of mock drafts here for
the Broncos leading up to the NFL Draft. Here, and
that's the team that swept Denver last year. Denver splits
with Kansas City. Last year they sweeped the Raiders. But

(00:41):
going into this year, this is a division that on
paper upgraded in a lot of different ways. You look
at head coach Tenure, Andy Reid, obviously, Jim Harbush on Payton,
and now Pete Carroll coming into the mix for the
Las Vegas Raiders team that is looking for a little
bit of a culture shock here, maybe in the right
way in terms of attitude and grit.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
But is it safe to say or is it fair
to speculate right now?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Could the AFC West be the toughest division right now
in the NFL when you look at every other division
across the league. I think there's an argument to be made,
but there's other teams and other divisions.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
I feel like they definitely have some consideration.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, I think that the AFC West is probably right
there with the NFC North, right you know, I think
that anytime you get three playoff teams, then you got
to be considered that one of the top divisions in football,
right maybe, like yeah, I mean even like high end,
you know, like the Chiefs and the Lions are like
kind of right there, you know. And then yeah, I

(01:36):
mean I think that with the Broncos and the Chargers,
I think that that kind of matches up well with
the NFC North. So those two I think I think
that they Yeah, I think that those two are the
divisions that you think about.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
And you know, why not the AFC West.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
I mean, with the with the stuff that's happened this offseason,
I think that the Raiders are going to be I
don't think the Raiders are going to contend for the division,
but they're not gonna be just a you know, a
team that you count as a win automatically.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
I mean Pete.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Carroll, the whatever you think about him, he's got tremendous.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Energy, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
I mean, for his age, the way he's out there
playing like that, He's gonna have that Raiders team fired up.
He's like, he's like a master motivator, you know what
I mean. Like those Seattle teams played with edge, they played,
you know, with a lot of intensity. I expect his
Raiders team to play that same way that Maybe they
don't have the roster yet, but they're gonna play with

(02:31):
the mindset, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
And plus I think that this division has the best
coaching staffs and also the best coaching staff personalities. I mean,
you talk about Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh renewing that rivalry.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
There might not be.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Another coach out there who has the zest of Sean Payton.
And then Andy Reid, who's probably the best head coach
in the game right now.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
So yeah, and I also look at as well, I
mean the Chiefs they added Chip Kelly as their offensive
cour You know, you get a guy like Ashton genty,
you added him.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
We all know the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
They if they could have, they would have tried to
trade up and get him.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
That obviously did not happen.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
You have Brock Bowers, who was, you know, a massive
player except against the Broncos. It seemed like he had
success against everybody except Denver, which was nice. I mean,
granted his first I think he had what a fifty
six yard touchdown against Denver in that first game there,
and then they put passer Tan on him and then
Pad had an interception off of that and then shut
him down in that second game on.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
The road at Allegiance.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
So I would say before that Pat picked six. Though
that game was a little closer than you maybe it
would have thought.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So it was.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
It was teetering between what thirteen zero seventeen zero potentially, Yeah,
and you know, thank you passer Tan and made it
I think what was at ten to seven, and.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So yeah, it was. It was changed the whole thing,
just the dynamic of that.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Thank goodness for a guy like Patser Tan Ranning defending
undisputed defensive player of the year.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
I look at the.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
AFC wes and look, until somebody knocks off Kansas City,
They're always going to be the favorite right now, until
somebody bethrowns them, you know. You look at though, I
feel like they got worse this offseason in terms of
key losses, but then again, it's that same situation we
saw after they lost the Super Bowl to Tampa Bay
where they got rid of their starting offensive tackles and
and all of us were like, what.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Are they doing?

Speaker 1 (04:15):
And then it ended up working out for them because
then to go on to win the Super Bowl. Here
to me, as long as they have Patrick Mahomes, there's that.
The wild card factor for the Chiefs, I really feel
like is can that wide receiver room that they've consistently
I mean, they get guys with speed, they get speedsters,
but then they run into issues with off the field stuff.
They run into issues with guys not being able to
stay healthy. Travis Kelsey's obviously not the same guy he

(04:37):
used to be three or four years ago, and that
there was a complete dynamic game changer for you. This
is where I feel like Denver has a chance, the
Chargers have a chance. I think Kansas City, right now
on paper, they're more they're more vulnerable, Jesus, more vulnerable
than they ever have been in the last eight or
nine years.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, I think look when thing about teams that have
been at the top for a long time, everybody's eager
to bring that back down to life.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Everybody Like, how many years in a row did people say, Hey,
Tom is going to fall off that cliff. Tom Brady's
gonna fall this year, this year, well, this is the year,
and it just never happened, right, And I think that
maybe you watch that Super Bowl and you say, Okay,
there's the blueprint, this is how you can beat Patrick Mahomes.
But not everybody has that Eagles roster, right, No, not

(05:30):
everybody has Vic Vango calling their defensive place. So I
just think that like, as long as Patrick Mahomes is
there and as long as like you see what he's like,
as long as nothing crazy happens, they've got to be
sort of the favorite, I think. But I do think
that the Broncos and Chargers are right there. I think

(05:52):
that Harbaugh in his second year there in LA, I
think you're going to start to see that team take
on his identity a little bit more, you know, and
he certainly has an identity man, like he's they're gonna
play football a certain way. They're in LA and I
think that really, if you get more out of Justin Herbert,
that team's gonna be really dangerous.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
I know that sounds crazy because you think of Justin
and you're like, he's one of the better quarterbacks, but
really he hasn't always played up to that level, do
you know what I mean. I think there's like some
doubts starting to creep in about Justin Herbert and like
what his ceiling is or like if he's ever going
to really be able to get to that. He doesn't
want a playoff game, right, So I think that if

(06:38):
they get more out of Justin Herbert, I would say
that they're probably the favorite.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And I would say last year too, I felt like
they didn't really have much around Herbert outside of you know,
they had a good run game with JK. Dobbins and
the guys that you know they had in there. When
JK went down with his injury, Yeah, they kind of struggled.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
A little bit. Lad McConkie was excellent. Oh for that man,
what a find.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
But they did they had so much inconsistencies from guys
like Joshua Palmer, who was a big play guy for
them from time to time, he dealt with some injuries.
You also had other guys in the mixes well, Quinton
Johnson had some struggles with drops and just consistencies there.
Really it was Lad and this is a Charter scene
that came in and swept the Broncos last year. Granted
they got up twenty nothing early on in that first game,

(07:20):
Bowe knicks and the Broncos made an interesting almost had
that comeback, but that you know, obviously that was enough.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Then you go on the road. Denver goes on the
road in La.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
They get up, they have an eleven point lead in
the in the third quarter, and then they dwindle that
away because they couldn't run the football anymore. Lad mccaukiy
ends up tearing them up. They have a couple of
busted coverages. I look at what the Charters have done.
Look you have Lad McConkie. Obviously they added Tyler Conklin
at tight end, which I think will be, you know,
a solid veteran presence for them. Not gonna be a
guy that think's gonna be game changing for them, you know,

(07:48):
an extent of you know, got like a Brock Bowers
or anything like that. Then you bring back Mike Williams, who,
in my opinion, they should have never let Mike Williams
go in free agency. Granted he had the injury, they
didn't want to pay him. Mike Williams is coming back,
and obviously I think will be a better option for
Justin Herbert than anybody that they had last year outside
of Lad McConkey. And then they add some guys obviously

(08:10):
in the NFL draft. They want to try to get
that talent pool goal. But really the idea for Harbaugh
is to ground and pound, run the football, open up
the play action, which is what happened that first game.
I mean, Justin Herbert couldn't miss on third down against
Denver in that first game last season early on because
they had an.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Effective run game. It was working with JK. Dobbins, and
then you cover him up with play action.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Now you have Najee Harris, who I feel like is
a pretty good add to that scheme.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
On that offensive line. Yeah, Omari and Hampton as well.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
I mean, they could very well be maybe the scariest
team right now in.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
The AC West.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Yeah, I sort of think that, you know, like I
think that Harby is capable of getting that team to
a higher level here. But you know, like we've talked
about all show, like if Bo can take that step,
I think that the Broncos are going to be right there.
I really do think it's gonna be three. Those three
team I think are going to battle it out. I
don't think that, you know, the last several years, it's

(09:04):
just been hey, the Chiefs are going to win. Let's
see if you can find a wildcard spot. You know,
here's a question. I know we haven't really talked about this,
but would you rather win the division or win a
playoff game? Like what if what if I told you
that Broncos would win the AFC West, but they'll lose
their first playoff game, or hey, the Chiefs are going

(09:27):
to or the Chargers will win the division the Broncos
they'll win their wildcard game.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Though I would take the playoff win, really, I would.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
You know, ideally, on paper, it's nice to say, Okay, hey,
you're a division champion, but at the end of the day,
what it doesn't do anything for you? I mean, what
in your division more than likely gives you a home
playoff game.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, they gives you a home playoff game.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's the aspiration of Sean Payton said, our goal is
to play these games at home, and there was this
level of confidence that Sean had saying, if we felt
like if we beat Buffalo, we felt really good about
our chances of going.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
On the road and beating the Chiefs in Arrowhead, which
they have their sit set out the Chiefs, they do
well known. It is the division good, that's the goal.
You love that.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
But if in this situation, I would definitely take a
playoff win over the division because you could go on
and run as a wild card team. And that's kind
of what I've always said, is like all.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
You need is a ticket to the dance.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Sure, winning your division would be great for the Broncos
to do that here in twenty twenty five. They have
to be better in one score games. They were one
and six and one score games this past season, and
the games that they won, the teams that they beat,
you know, I think in nine out of their ten
wins they won by nine or more points, which you
love to see that, like you're taking care of business
against bad teams. Yeah, but you have to find a way.

(10:37):
There was really only one blowout in the regular season.
That was that Baltimore game got out of hand pretty quickly,
right at when halftime occurred.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Aside from that, you're in those games the middle of
the game.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
You have to find a way to turn those one
score losses that you had into wins. I mean, if
Denver takes care of business just a few of those games.
I mean, Phil, we're talking about a thirteen to fourteen
win team last week, which is nuts to think about.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, like what they only be one playoff team, right
that was the Bucks?

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (11:04):
So yeah, if you can knock off some of these
better teams in the league, then yeah, you're talking about,
you know, getting into that range. But yeah, I don't know, Like,
I think there is something special about winning your division.
I think that that's a big stepping especially beating the Chiefs.
Like we've talked so much about how mentally being able
to beat the Chiefs just in a game, how far

(11:26):
that would go. And the Broncos going on the road
almost beat the Chiefs. That was that was Like, I
think that gave them a lot of confidence, even though
they lost a game. Yeah, So, like, I just think
that there might be something to be said for winning
the division and being like, all right, we took a
huge step yere, Even if that doesn't lead to necessarily

(11:46):
playoff success, I just wonder if that that might be
a bigger thing ultimately in terms of building confidence and
moving forward. Granted, winning a playoff game really gives you
a lot of confidence too, but yeah, winning that whole
I think would be nice.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
And I think that this is a this is a
fan base that would be dying for a playoff game
though we just hosted. There's nothing more electrifying than seeing
the crowd during a playoff game here at empower Field,
going to the common Spare Health text line of five
six six nine zero uh texta ninety seven seven zero
says we can win a playoff game and be nowhere
the next year. I'd rather win the division only because

(12:22):
it means we're contenders, and if we finished in the
first that's a.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Start and shows who we are. I agree with that.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
The challenge here, though, is just about trying to get
this young Broncos team.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Field that competed. I thought they competed well last year.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
They competed with Baltimore really until the final four minutes
of that, you know, first half against Baltimore. I thought
they competed well in that first half against Buffalo. There
they competed against Kansas City. Can you find a way
to sustain, keep drives alive, avoid those three and outs,
avoid some of those turnovers. Like Denver was much better
and not turning the ball over last year, but against

(12:58):
some of those playoff teams, they turned the ball over.
They had key mistakes at moments that you simply can't afford.
I think that's definitely something that hurt them. In your
opinion as well as we focus here on the division.
In your opinion, I know you talked about these three teams,
Kansas City, the Charters, and Denver all having a chance
to do it. Do you feel like the division this
year is up for grabs or do we expect the

(13:19):
Chiefs to win it again.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
I really think that it's up for grabs. I mean,
I think that there's there's no reason why a team
like the Chargers of the Broncas couldn't win this division.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Like I don't think it's just a lot.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
I think I think that I think that can't this
This could be the year that maybe Kansas City stumbles.
But it's really hard to sit here and say that
until you see it. Yeah, we saw it a little
though last year, Like the Chiefs definitely were not as
good as they had been, you know what I mean,
Like they really took like that was a hard playoff

(13:54):
run for them to get to the Super Bowl, and
then they got whooped up in this in the Super Bowl.
So yeah, I mean, I think I'm going to take
the Chargers right now. That's who I would take right now.
And I think that I think Denver's right there though.
I think that there's no reason why right now you
win and say they couldn't win it.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Well, I think when you look at the first part
of their schedule here, they've got a couple of crucial stretches. Obviously,
an early hust game against the Chargers Week three, and
then they'll have this stretch here week ten and week eleven. Luckily,
these are back to back home games before denverheads in
the bye week, a Thursday night game against the Raiders
and then a Sunday afternoon game against Kansas City ten

(14:34):
days after the fact.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
But Kansas City will be coming off to buy Denver.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
What one, two, three, four, five, six, eight of their
first eleven games or AFC conference games, like you have
to take care of business there. You're not playing the
NFC South this year though you were the NFC South
champions last year. Conference games, division games, those are going
to be the deciding factor here for the Broncos. But
we want to hear from you, obviously in the common
Spirit health text line five to six, six nine zero.

(15:01):
Coming up next though, we're gonna go through a Broncos
stock report. We're going to talk about which names have
some stock rising in stock following after the offseason program
heading into training camp here on Broncos Country.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
I Kawa eight am ninety four one FM.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
You know, talking about stock reports here looking at the
Broncos offseason program we're getting ready for. We're about a
month away from training camp, and there are some players
that look good, you know, in the helmets, the jersey,
the shorts. And we always have to put an asterisk
on on this by talking about when we talk about
or hype up because obviously I do this myself, try

(15:35):
not to overhype things too much during that time of
the year, just because it's not a real simulation as
to what you're gonna get during the season, right, it's
not gonna be a real simulation of what you're gonna
get during training camp. And while contact will be permitted
in training camp, when the pads come on, it's skewed
in some areas because you can't touch the quarterback and
you want to save that for the opponent, not your

(15:57):
own teammates. So there are a few play field I
feel like stock rose a little bit here, and I
think first and foremost, we'll talk about the rookie wide
receiver Pat Brian. I liked what I saw from him.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Uh I not.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
I know this isn't gonna be a hot take or anything,
but I kind of said my own thoughts and my
observations on him. Well, I feel like as the season progresses,
he'll be the Broncos best route running wide receiver. Interesting,
just sure handed guy. You see him building up chemistry
with bon Nix. When you know Vele missed all of
mandatory mini camp.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
We don't know what the reason, but we know Sean Payton.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Told us he will be back ready to go full
go for the start of training camp.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
So excited about that. Hopefully everything's okay with him.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
But Pat Brian got a lot of volume there and
got a lot of reps with O Nix, which I
feel like is important.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, you know, for me, I always feel like wide
receiver is a hard position for rookies coming in. Yes,
your your playbook is a lot more, it's a lot
thicker than it was in college. You're trying to do
things that are scheming things. Your timing has to be
so precise, your route running, which you know what you

(17:03):
were saying, he's excelling in. But like everything has to
like click at the right time for everybody to break
open right when they're supposed to write, and so some
of the concepts, I always feel like it's hard for
a rookie to really have a ton of success at
the wide receiver positions. So yeah, I mean pack coming out,
I think some people maybe were a little surprised when

(17:24):
the Broncos took him as high as they did. They thought,
you know, the all the online scouting reports on him
were like, hey, he's gonna be a later round pick.
He's gonna be the you know, like a six to
seven maybe some of the things I was reading. So
the fact that he was able to come in and
have that confidence and play well during the offseason program.

(17:45):
That's big, you know, and I do think that coaches
over there really like him.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
So much of that too is your ability to pick
up the playbook. And earlier when Dave and Ben and
Shelby were on their show, they were talking about like
the play call standpoint. Obviously West Coast offense. Uh, we've
seen that with John Gruden. They played a clip there
from Gruden and Chris Sims rattling off that and Chris
really struggling with that.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Bow doesn't struggle with that.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
But the play calls here for the Broncos offense, they're lengthy,
they're extensive.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
But for a guy like Pat Bryant, he's just.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Listening to one specific thing and it could be a buzzword,
or it could be a number and that's telling him
exactly where he's going to go. Or it could be
something as z stick and he knows, okay, I'm going
to run the stick route at this point. But so
much will also change too, based on what coverage are
you getting. You know, the Broncos, I know Sean Payton them,
they have guidelines. This was something that Johnny Moe, who's

(18:36):
now the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions really was
kind of driving home last year's. The guys would line
up in a formation, he would say, Okay, this is
the play like Sean would.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Call it a play call. Bo would call it the play.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Call, and then Johnny Mo would say cover four and
then that changes one or two different you know, receivers
routes based.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
On the coverage in which they're in.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
So I always find it interesting there's so much information
overload that you have to get. The quarterback has the most,
but I think the wide receivers also have quite a
bit of it as well, because they have to know
when things are going to move, how they're going to adapt.
So I like that running back.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
You know, R J.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Harvey's looked good once again. It's so hard to evaluate
running back. It's hard to evaluate the D line, the
O line when these guys can't do the things that
we see them do on Sundays, and I think that's
always tough there. But I don't know, Phil, who do
you want to see a little bit more of once
Trening cap Roll is around.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
I think Devon Vailey is the guy that I'm excited
about just because he showed something's last year where I
was like, man, this guy's got great hands, Like he's
catching everything. And also like, I think that is big
when coaches speak highly of you, like in the press,
you know, like Sean doesn't give out a ton of compliments,
you know, so whenever he brings up your name, you're like, oh,

(19:47):
that's a big deal, you know, in my opinion. So
and because I think that wide receiver as hard as
a rookie. So the fact that Vailey popped showed some
science last year, and then the fact that he's into
his second year now, I really expect Bailey to really
develop into a legit weapon for BO. So he's the

(20:09):
guy that I'm like most excited about. And I agree
with you that skill positions are the That's a position
that I'm like won't pay the most attention to. In
the offseason program. You can tell like some things about
those guys, right, Like even like I remember when PS
two hit the field for the first time, I was like,
this guy's body just looks different than everybody else, right, Yeah,

(20:31):
the way his hips flip and the way like he
moves out there. A guy his size shouldn't be able
to move like that, right, And like you can even
see that on Sundays too, where like that pick six
against against the Raiders, it doesn't even look like he's
moving that fast, right, but he is flying down the field.
Something about his body. I think you could tell some

(20:53):
of those things about a guy like, hey, this guy
looks a little different than some of the other athletes
out on the field. Those are the things that I'm
looking for. Certainly, everything that's being said about RG Harvey
suggests that, like, hey, he moves pretty smooth, like through
some of these drills. Obviously we've seen the quads out there.
We know that he's stout right, like he's built load

(21:14):
to the ground. So the fact that he's moving smooth
is a good sign. I think for a lot of
these guys like you mentioned as a playbook, right, are
they gonna be able to trust you out there that
you're gonna do what you're supposed to do when when
you're supposed to do it, that's gonna be big. And
then like if a guy like Pat Bryan, you know,
like it's good to get excited about him now, but
like a couple of drops, you know, like remember Troy Franklin, Like, yeah,

(21:38):
there's like a couple of drops and then you're all
of a sudden you're like, I just can't throw to
this guy for a few weeks here. Yeah, So like
you got to guard against some of those things when
you're when you're a rookie out there. So yeah, I
think skill position guys looking for for like natural athleticism,
those are the things I'm looking for. Because when you're
just coming into the facility, you're doing a little bit

(21:58):
of meetings, you put on your Jim Schortz and you
go out there, get a little workout in, you leave
by lunch. That's way different than Hey, we got joint
practices with the forty nine ers tomorrow. The intensity is
going to go go up a notch. It's gonna be
you know, the conditions are just a little bit different there, right.
So I think those joint practices, I like that. The

(22:20):
fact that the Broncos are doing two of those, I
think that that those always you could just tell guys
cared about that there's a pride factor there. You're seeing
a different colored jersey than you have seen the last
couple of weeks. Those get pretty intense for just being
a practice. That's the first time we're going to be
able to really see, Okay, what are these guys made of?

Speaker 1 (22:40):
I always go back to, uh, you know, I know
it was the Hackey year, but I always go back
to the joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys. That was
one of the craziest, most undihinged, just like what is
going when you get Draymont Jones putting the fingers up
to an offensive lineman on the Dallas Cowboys guy, you
got Randy Gregory barking at a Cowboys beat reporter because
he recognize him for something that he said.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
That was that was a little bit of chaos there.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
And then I think, really Sean Payton's first year, he
had joint practices with the Los Angeles Rams, and he
was he was sick about how that looked because.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
The Rams came in and they took it to the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
And that was something that I remember reading an article
where Sean Payton had to go in and light candles
in his offense, something just just to calm down.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
But it was not business as usual.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Last year when Green Bay came in Denver, they turned
it up a notch. You can tell that they didn't
want to have that same vibe that they did there
and I think that goes to show what the culture
vibe and the culture shock that Sean has done, because
I've talked.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
To players like we fail.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
You were here when when Hackett had the job through
practices and players are like, wow, you know, we're in
and out, like our bodies are feeling great, but then
you saw the amount of injuries that piled up. You
talked to Broncos players, They'll tell you Sean Payton's training
camps are the hardest thing that they've ever experienced in
their careers. But they'll also tell you at the same
exact standpoint, and we see the reward like we we understand,

(23:59):
like we see how it does, how it prepares us
to play for the season, how it readies our bodies,
and more importantly, there's this mental toughness that gets carved
out of that.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah. Vic Fangio used to call that gigging caalyst.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yes, you know, I think that there's something you just
got to get ready to play football, you know what
I mean. And so there's a certain level of torture
you have to endure in order to get to the
other side.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Right, So yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Think that that's I think those joint practices are going
to be really good for this Broncos team because I
think for the first time in a long time, this
Broncos team is headed into the season with a little
bit of expectations, you know, and there's a little bit
of a different mindset that you have to have going
into a season like that, right, And so this training
camp you're gonna get you got to be tested, not

(24:44):
just physically, but also mentally, I think too. And so
you know last year down the stretch once the Broncos
got good, you remember that stretch at the end of
the season when it was like, hey, all they have
to do is win one more team, you know, and
then it was like, yeah, it was like the Ers
that Bengals game, you know, and then of.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Course the Chief sat everybody.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
But you know, like when you've got pressure on you
to go out there and perform, it's a little bit
different than when you're trying to, you know, catch some
guys off guards and you're playing with house money. So
I think that this offseason, at this training camp coming
up is going to be big for the Broncos and
give that first taste of some heightened intensity out there

(25:26):
is gonna be good for this team.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
I feel like they've been battle tested, You've gone through
you know, a little bit of fire last year at times.
I think that will help them this season. But with that,
I think there was a great question, you know, what
is the difference. Like Denver, last year, they were an underdog,
they were only expected to win five and a half games.
They exceeded those expectations. Now it seems like the expectations
on them are higher. You know, you look at sports lines,

(25:49):
they got them at nine and a half.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
You know, on most sites.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
There the question I have here, and certainly it's different
for every team. Is there more pressure on you when
you're the underdog or when the expects are higher? I
feel like depending on who you have as your leader,
I think that can be a little bit.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Of an issue.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
With this Broncos team, the expectations are significantly higher the season.
But with Sean Payton, with Bonux, with the guys that
they have the leaders on this team, I actually feel
comfortable about where they're at as to they understand the message.
They're not going to buy into the hype of the
outside noise is saying, because very much last year they
tuned out the outside noises, said they were going to
do terribly.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah, that is that's a really good point, Cody. Is
just that you know, the message inside the building's got
to be way different than the message outside of the building,
and you've got to always bring consistency, you know. I
think that that's the biggest thing about being a pro
is that you're the same guy every day when you
walk into that building, and that's just your mindset, right,
no matter win or lose, whatever it is, you're in

(26:48):
that building with the same mentality. And so, yeah, I
think that you feel good about having Sean as your
leader there just because he's gone through so many seasons
with the expectations being high, and so he knows how
to manage all of these things. But I do think
that there's going to be some growing and learning, and

(27:10):
this is just a spot that a lot of these
players on this Broncos team that never never been in
that spot, you know, with the exception of a few
free agents that have come in, but the guys who've
been with the Broncos for a long time never been
in this position. So I do think that they're going
to have to just kind of work through a little
bit of that because what they did last year they're

(27:31):
not going to catch anybody off guard.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
No, No, They're going to get the best from everybody.
And I think with the standard that has been set
here in Denver, the expectation that Sean Payton is set
inside that locker room, guys are guys are also saying, Hey,
we don't we don't want to just be satisfied with
just getting there.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
We want to go far. And that's the process. And
it's a long.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
When it's grueling, I mean, Phil, I mean it's grueling
for us, like from a content standpoint in the media game,
but for the players with the physical mental aspect, it
is another level, you know, difficult to maintain that esecially
over the course of an eighteen game regular season. To me,
I look at where this team is at from a
mentality standpoint, you have to be sharp and that I'll
see that is something that gets built. I think in

(28:10):
the early parts of mandatory mini camp, where you instead
of just focusing on all these football related things that
they're going to do, they're in the weight room for
you know, Sean Payton said, well, we're in phase one
for five weeks. Rather you know, other teams are not. Yeah,
they're really trying to build that boat. Boat looks bigger
by the way he's bulked up. Which what's that going
to do?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Like maybe contact absorption that's going to be great. But hopefully,
you know, hopefully means mega arm bow. Maybe we'll see what. Uh, Yeah,
the expectations are big. I do think that.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Even at the end of the off season program, Sean
said something that was like, look, this is just offseason program.
The biggest thing is transforming your body, right, That's sort
of the biggest thing that he wants to highlight. So, yeah,
that that message is clear for this Broncos team is
coming back after this little break being ready to hit
the ground running and being physically in shape to go.

(28:58):
But yeah, getting back to the ruling thing, it's easy
to motivate your team when you're about to play a
game and you say, nobody believes in us, you know, no,
you know, we got to shock the world. It's it's
easy to get your team hyped up for a game
like that, you know what I mean. It's easy to say, hey,
you haven't beat this Chiefs team and blah blah blah

(29:18):
blah years. You know, they're making fun of you. They
think that this is another practice blah blah blah. That's
easy to get those guys motivated. I think that one
of Sewan's big talents is his communication and the way
that he's able to press the right buttons to get
these guys in the frame of mind to go out
there and play a football game. That's something he's really

(29:40):
good at. And so I think that he's gonna be
able to press the right buttons here with this team
having expectations. But you know, Cody, like the way, you know,
we talked about the schedule here, the way that this
thing sets up. You know at the beginning of the season,
they're going to be tested right away in Week three,
you know, and then that those next few games. So
they got to be ready to go and ready hit

(30:00):
the ground running, and they've got to come in with
that mentality that like, we've got big goals this year
and what it's going to take to get to achieve
those goals starts now. Yeah, and having that mindset week
in and week out. That's like some of them being
around like those Peyton Manning teams, they just like turned

(30:21):
into machine into a machine. You know, it was like
it didn't matter who you are playing. They just got up.
They played at a certain level and they just took
care of business.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
And when your message is you know, you're getting a
certain message from the head coach and that's the organizational standard.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
And that message is also understood.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
And you have guys in the locker room, your leaders
who are policing that where you don't want your coaches
that police the locker room and say, hey, like you
guys gotta do this.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
You have players.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Holding players accountable, but you also have this camaraderie where
you're close off the field that these guys are all
doing stuff, which not every NFL locker room I know
are huge Shelby Harrison tell you not every locker room
in the NFL will go hang out away from the facility,
Whereas this Broncos team, a lot of these guys have
a close knit bond which I can't overstay.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's that's important.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
You need that to sustain to get through the good times,
to get through.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
The bad times, and certainly.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
The Broncos the expectations while high, I think this is
a team that will rise to the occasion.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Phil tell people what you've been up to and where
they can catch your man here.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Thank Hey, Hey, check out the podcast, Broncos and Bourbon.
We're back every week once the season starts. We got
former players, friends of the media. It's a it's a
it's a fun time to check us out on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Check out Phil.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
You can check out my work mile high sports dot Com.
Also the Lockdown Broncos podcast every single day, but gar
on Broncos Country Tonight will also dive a little bit
deeper into the NBA Finals the Thunder.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
They're the champions. We don't like that.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
More here Broncos Country Night KA eight fifty AM ninety
four one FM.