08-12-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to it Broncos Country tonight. Benjamin Albright here
short show post Rockies. Addition, appreciate you guys being along
for the ride. We have one preseason football game under
our belts, and I don't think it showed exactly what
the fans were hoping to see. We'll get into some
of that as well as news and notes from around

(00:20):
the league. The Broncos, of course, did win their preseason
game against the San Francisco forty nine Ers on Saturday.
Thirty to nine was the final score. However, it was
not exactly I think what fans were sort of looking for.
The first team offense didn't exactly look sharp. In fact,

(00:42):
they didn't look sharp at all. The defense came out
and gave up. It's really just one big play to
Mac Jones and the forty nine ers first team offense,
a fifty yard reception to Jordan Watkins that led to
their only score of the game, and it was on
ja Quon mcmillion. Just just sort of a make million,
you know, get beat by somebody who's who's pretty good

(01:05):
for the Niners and had a really good camp at
Watkins and so you know that happened, and I think
fans were a little unsettled by what they saw out
of the first team offense in the first team defense,
although I tend to say that the defense pa a
little bit better outside that one play. You know, they
didn't allow the Niners to do anything. The only other

(01:25):
score they got was the offense giving up a safety
when bo Nick's got an intentional grounding in the end zone,
and pretty clearly a good call. You know, the ball
did not even get close to the line of scrimmage,
and I don't think he was outside the pocket.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
There was some quibble about that.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
But overall, not exactly a stellar start for the Broncos
first team offense, who didn't score until Will Lutz kicked
a forty two yard field goal with thirteen forty three
left in the second quarter. By then, the Niners had
scored all nine of the points that they were going
to score, all nine of which they scored in the
first quarter. We ever, let at the half twenty to nine,

(02:01):
and then Will Lutz capt packed another field goal in
the third quarter, and Sam Ahlinger made a pass to
Caden priest korn Or a seven yard touchdown. Was the
final score of the game. With twenty one remaining in
the game, Denver wins thirty to nine. Bo Nicks was
six of eleven passing for only thirty one yards, no touchdowns,
no interceptions, and a sixty quarterback rating, by far the

(02:23):
worst of the Broncos three. However, that number would have
been better than any of the three numbers that the
Niners quarterbacks put up. Sam Ailinger six of ten to
fifty five yards, one touchdown, o pick, a one to
eight point three rating, and Jared Stidham, who was near
perfect fourteen to fifteen passing one hundred and thirty six yards,
two touchdowns, no picks, a one hundred and forty four
quarterback rating. On the Niners side, Matt Jones four seven

(02:44):
thirty four yards, no touchdowns, one interception, a fifty four
point two rating, Carter Bradley, the son of NFL coach
Gus Bradley, six of fourteen thirty two yards, no touchdowns,
one interception, a twenty point five rating, and Tanner Morcai
three of six yards, no touchdowns and interception and eighteen
point eight rating for the Niners. We had a lot

(03:05):
of fun out there at the burn down, getting a
chance to do our away game watch parties we'll be
doing all year. Thanks to everybody showed up. Ronnick cap Hill,
you know, Brian obviously profit his wife, and there were
there was tons of people out there. Big Dave was
celebrating his fortieth birthday. It was quite a bit of
people out there, and we always love you guys coming
out for those kinds of things. So again, we'll be

(03:27):
at the Burndown for every away game you know, this season,
So look forward to seeing you guys out there for that.
Continuing on with the statistic accomplishments.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Before we start weeding into what happened.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Here, Jared Stidham let all rushers on the team three
carries thirty six yards, including the eighteen yards Camper Tyler
Bady today, I guess it is now let all rushers
for the Broncos five rushes thirty two yards six point
four average. Blake Watson four carries twenty eight yards, although

(04:01):
eighteen of those came on one carry.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
R J.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Harvey seven carries twenty five yards a three point six average.
Aldrick estimate eight carries twenty one yards are two point
six average.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sam Allinger four carries six.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yards eight one point five average, and Julia McLoughlin three
carries four five yards one point seven average. Interestingly, he
had one carry for six yards and two carries for
negative yards, and that as well. On the nier side
of things, Corey Kiner led all of their rushers ten
carries forty five yards. A Mirabdollah four for twenty Tenor
Mordecai won for fifteen, Patrick Taylor five for seven, Keyshan

(04:33):
Vaughn won for four, Jordan Watkins won for three, and
Mac Jones won for two. On the receiving side of
the house, a lot of Broncos receivers got involved. Trent
Sherfield led all receivers three catches seventy three yards at
a touchdown, thirty six of which came on one play.
Blake Watson three catches for twenty one yards. Pat Bryant
two for twenty one estimate caught a ball for twenty yards.

(04:54):
Troy Franklin three catches eighteen yards, Joaquin Davis won for fourteen,
Tyler Bde two for nine, Courty Jackson two for nine,
and Lucas Croll one for eight in a touchdown where
he was wide opening the end zone. Caden Priestcorn won
for seven caught the other Broncos touchdown that didn't go
to Sherfield. Veyle had one catch for six yards, McLoughlin
one for five, Dobbins one for four, Harvey one for four,

(05:16):
Mims one for three, Sutton one for two, and I
think that was it. Juwan Newton, Kyrie f Rowan, and
Michael Bandiol got targeted. Bandy caught one for negative two yards.
Courtney Jackson was the most targeted on the day with
four targets. Also, Troy Franklin, who played on mostly second team,
had four targets as well. Jordan Watkins let all receivers

(05:37):
for the Niners three catches fifty six yards, including that
fifty yarder that set up the only touchdown that they got.
He had six targets on the day. Jake Thongas had
two catches for thirty three, Robinson two for twenty, Russell
Gage two for three. No other Niners receiver caught more
than when Ball, Hodgens, Patrick Taylor, Corey Kiner Robbie chosen
all one catch a piece. Kicking Will LUTs got over

(05:58):
his practice shanks. He went three for three in the
game from field gold longest to forty five and three
for three on extra points. Jake Moody of the Niners
only had the opportunity to kick the one extra point,
which he did make. On returns, Michael Bandy had a
punt return for sixty yards. Courdy Jackson had a kick
return for twenty eight two point returns for thirty one.
It appears to be making some noise in terms of

(06:18):
being considered for the practice squad from the Niner side
of the house, and Rebdullah had a twenty two yard
kick return. Dallas Flowers three kick returns for seventy three yards,
Junior Bergan two for forty, Corey Kiner one for seventeen.
Burgan also had a punt return for twenty eight yards
as well. On the punting side of things, Jerremy Crosshaw
got his first action to Broncos uniform. Had three punts
only a thirty seven average a long pot of fifty,

(06:40):
but one of those was he was inside the fifty
and had to try to short punt. It wasn't very
well done and it messed with the average a little bit.
Tomas Morristead of the Niners five punts forty point four average,
two inside the twenty, no touchbacks forty four long. On
the defensive side of things, John Franklin Myers got a sack.
Benito got a sack. You know, had two UH, two

(07:01):
near sacks and UH and four pressures and only five snaps.
I mean he was he was everywhere. He's a menace
on the few snaps.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
That he had.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
The Broncos had three interceptions Stakuwa McMillan getting one, redeeming
himself for the long pass it gets picket given up
earlier in the game. Kareem Reid had one as well,
and then Josh Pickett, the guy who was mistaken for
Pat Sartan and covering Watkins during practice, had an interception
UH as well. Leading tackler for the Broncos was Jordan Jackson,

(07:34):
who had six UH. Nobody else, i'd believe had more
than three that I remember. I think Jordan Turner had three.
I don't remember. Hughteran Smith had three as well. Nobody
else had more than that. On the niner side of
the house, Chase Lucas leading tackle with eight UH. They
had several people getting involved. Seagull had seven, Bathoon had
five UH. Su he had six, their looter had five UH,

(07:56):
and several players had had four on down UH. All
in all, I did not think that this was a
great performance for the starters of the Broncos, but I
do believe that there's confidence to be had from what
the backups were able to do. I do believe that
you look at the floor of this roster, you look
at the backups, and you're saying, Okay, there's not a
big drop off here. The floor of this roster has

(08:17):
been raised in the backups on this team or are
quite good, and I think that's something to give you
confidence in the offense. I'll say the same thing that
I said after the after Bonnicks went out there and
sort of lit it up. You know, for a game
last year in preseason, it's one game. You know, in
the same way that you shouldn't put Bonix in the

(08:38):
All Pro category after one preseason game last year, you
shouldn't put the Broncos in the bust category after one
preseason game this year, especially with most of the drag
on that being on the first team offense, Give it time,
give it time to to you know, to get it
together and go from there.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Several of those.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Plays there was pressure in Nix's face that you know,
they've got to clean up. There were a couple of
throws that were off target. There were a couple of
targets that probably should have been caught.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
You know, it wasn't just any one thing.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I think the things that jumped out at me and
I went back and I looked when they came out
at the PFF grades and just kind of shook my
head to me, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg. Look like there's
some sort of issue going on there. We've seen a
little bit in camp where you know, the Broncos have
been able to get pressure there. But watching this game

(09:32):
and I'm seeing the Niners get pressure in that area
again sort of seems to set off alarm bells in
the sense that that this offensive line is highly touted
and as highly paid as it is outside of one Berg,
it seems to maybe have a little bit of an
issue going on there. And we'll see if that continues

(09:52):
to linger on into the season. I don't, you know,
I'm not going to do anything based off one game.
I'm not going to sit there. I'm sure you've got
play a hot take artists around town with all kinds
of hot take opinions about all this. But the reality is,
you know, in the preseason everything matters, But the final
score and the regular season. Nothing matters but the final score.
And I think that in this particular case, that were

(10:14):
quality reps to look at. You know, I think we
finally see that, you know, r J. Harvey does have
some explosiveness, but he also does have a pension for
bouncing the ball outside and doesn't pass protect particularly well.
They kind of put Dobbins and Bubble Rap in that game,
didn't really give him a lot of a lot of run,
but he's he's running back one right now. He saw

(10:35):
who the starting receiving corps trio was going to be,
and that was Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mems and Davon Vale.
Froy Franklin looks like he has cemented himself as wide
receiver four, Pat Bryant as wide receiver five, and Surefield
continues to have a great camp at a great day
as wide receiver six, with some special team's ability as well.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
I think that, you know, in the next preseason game,
you'll see a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Of what what will more closely resemble the actual offense
this year. In this particular game, this this what they
were doing doesn't really resemble what it is that they
want to be doing.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
On offense. You know, Evan Ingram, No, no, JK.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Dobbins, You're not seeing them use you know, the spacing
concepts that they want to be using, and that stuff
will come right now. I just think you're you're trying
to get the timing down, You're trying to shake off
a little bit of the offseason rusty. They certainly have
their plans for how they plan on doing that, but
I I don't. I don't like the chicken little sky
is falling mentality. I sort of saw out of a

(11:37):
lot of Broncos country after this game. Was it confidence inspiring?
Not exactly, but you know, I did kind of warn
that last year they'd be better than what people thought,
and that this year that Sean Payton probably shouldn't be
shooting his mouth off about Super Bowls for a young
team that hasn't arrived yet. And that's That's sort of

(11:58):
where I'm at with this. Still, Like, Yeah, I believe
this team will be good. I do believe the challenge
for a wild card. If all bounces their way, they
could challenge for the division. What I don't think we
need to be doing is setting unrealistic expectations on.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
A unit that has hasn't arrived. They haven't done anything.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
They back towards their way to the playoffs last year
and got trials in the opening round. They haven't done
anything yet. And so, you know, on the one hand,
I sort of understand, and I've mentioned several times, I
understand Sean Payton's setting a standard. I like setting a standard.
I like setting a standard high, you know, and setting
the challenge to meet that. I do like those aspects
of it. What I don't like is shooting your mouth

(12:36):
off to every national media outlet you can find, while
simultaneously treating the local media like dirt and and suggesting
that the Broncos should be at the forefront of the
Super Bowl conversation. Because what did that do? It did
microwave those takes. It did have national media for a
weeks sitting there talking about the Broncos as a national
Super Bowl contender. And I guess maybe after a decade,

(12:58):
it's nice to be involved in those conversations to a degree.
But at the same time, you know, I'd rather everybody
be underestimating and be slept on and not have to
worry about the criticism that comes from having those conversations
and then watching a team not meet them because national
anchors or people get embarrassed, and then what happens, Well,
then they retaliate against that by by lampooning the team

(13:21):
for failing to live up to the expectations that they
had set forth because some coach had arbitrarily decided to
say that's where he viewed this team. I think this team.
I think this Broncos team is good. I don't think
it's great. I think the defense is great as a
potential to be great. The problem with defense is one
little thing goes wrong and you're cooked. And we saw
that happen in that game. One little thing went wrong

(13:42):
with Aqui McMillan, just just you know, being a step
out of phase there, and he had a fifty yard
completion on it, which was thrown when the Broncos even
should have gotten the uniters off the field, and it
ultimately set up a touchdown for the forty nine ers,
one in which I believe on that play with the
running back round outside of the pylon and Moss got
caught on a bad angle. I believe Nick Benito was

(14:06):
held on that play. It looks to me like he
was held on that play, but he doesn't have enough
wattage yet to sort of get those calls, especially in
the preseason.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
You know, he's not t J.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Watt or Miles Garrett or or Michael Parsons where he's
just kind of getting those calls, you know, the way
some superstars do do. I believe Nick could could launch
himself into that stratosphy this year, absolutely, but again not
there yet. And if you go back and look at
the play, I think you'll see it look like it
looked to me like he was held. I you know,

(14:38):
all I can say for the people that are hymning
and hauling at pearl, clutching and dogging this football team
is it's one game. It's in the preseason. You still
didn't see you know, I think half but let's type
cat defense off. It's like half your starters didn't play
in this one. Like, maybe take a breath and relax.
We have two more preseason games for them to kind
of iron out some of the kinks.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
We know.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
We have Arizona coming in this week to practice. That's
gonna be fun. They have a very good defense. They've
made a real commitment to defense this offseason. The players
that they've added, they have a really good defense, and
it'll be it'll be a good opportunity to sort of
test this offense and see where it is, you know,
against another against another good defense.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
And I think having with with.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
All due respect to the forty nine ers media, having
the Denver media out there on the ground able to
see it every day, versus some of these weird and
bizarre Niners takes that came out, like misidentifying Sirtannis, Josh Pikett,
you know, those kinds of things I think will be
beneficial to the coverage that we'll see on this team.
So to recap, you know, my thoughts on the opening

(15:48):
preseason game. I thought there were some some offensive line
issues with the first team offensive line. Love the way
the second team played, though, second team offensive line played
really well, and so I think those need to be
looked at. I think there's some running run back stuff
that you know, I mean, obviously there's a symbiosis in
that relationship.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
So but R. J.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Harvey, I thought it looked okay, but again, bouncing balls
outside and uh, maybe you shouldn't have won for sure,
and and maybe you know, I had some gripes with
with one of the other runs, but you know, there,
there are there are things to get cleaned up, and
we'll see in practice this week if what the focus is,
if they're able to do that and where things go

(16:25):
from there. Uh we come back. I want to get into, uh,
go around the league a little bit. There's plenty to
get into with some of the other things we saw
from preseason. It was in a Broncos Country tonight right
here on KOA. Welcome back to a Broncos Country Tonight,
Benjamin Allbright here with you. Short show post Rockies edition.

(16:46):
Have another one of these tomorrow, full live shows on
Wednesday and Thursday. You guys want to tune into KI
Sports Tomorrow gonna have a special guest in there who's
gonna be around for a little bit. I don't want
to give it away in case it's not out there,
but former Bronco U gonna be on and he's a

(17:06):
funny guy and it'll be it'll be a lot of fun,
So you guys will definitely want to tune in for that.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Friday.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
It'll think it'll be myself and Nick on KOI Sports
filling in for Ryan and Dave. I don't know if
Fran's gonna be there or not. I'm still working that up,
but Nick and I will definitely be in there for sure.
So programming notes for the week for you guys, we're
talking a little bit about the the Broncos preseason debut
against the Niners and how the first team was a
little lackluster but the subsequent teams were absolute dominance on

(17:34):
the Niners.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
And I'll get into more of that throughout the week.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Sean Payton said he had a bunch of stuff that
bugged him that wasn't even involved in the game, which
you know, sort of was frustrating. I think for fans,
you know, nobody wants Sean Payton complaining about the logistics
and support staff and in a postgame presser when the
offense came out, was was sort of lackluster. So I
think I several comments from fans that are like, you know,

(18:02):
wondering why that is.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
I can't answer that. I want to answer for somebody.
But you know, as far.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
As addressing the expectations that he set up for everybody,
you know, I think, uh, I think he should have
I think he should have focused on that and rather
than airing laundry about you know, internal mechanisms.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
You know, as far as that kind of stuff goes.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
So we'll see. I want to get into stuff around
the league a little bit here. I think a lot
of people here locally, especially interested in Travis Hunter, and
the Jags certainly aren't gonna he's Hunter in the NFL,
not even in the preseason. The in Jags camp reports
have said that Hunter's practice thing extensively on both sides

(18:48):
of the ball, and that you know, shouldn't be a
surprise considering one of heisman for playing both receiver and corner,
and Jags then made that huge trade up to draft
him second overall with plans to play in both ways.
The Jags made sure Hunter made his NFL preseason debut
on offense and defense on Saturday Night, using him as
a full time starter on offense. On their first drive,

(19:09):
he went with their starting defense for its only series
of the game, but the next time the Steelers got
the ball, he was in at corner, and so begins
one of the NFL's grand experiments. Hunter started the game,
which Pittsburgh won thirty one to twenty five, along with
the rest of the Jags regular starting offense, including quarterback
Trevor Lawrence. Hunter was in on eleven of the twelve

(19:32):
snaps on the first drive, including a play wiped out
due to penalty, ran seven routes and they got him
involved early. I mean he caught a pass on a
short option route on third down, he was a little
short of the sticks, Jags went forward converted. Later in
the drive, got to catch on a receiver screen but
the play was erace due to an offensive penalty, and

(19:53):
then he caught another third down pass later in the
drive shorter first out again and then the Jaguars kicked
a field so his night ended with two catches for
nine yards. But definitely definitely was involved there on that
first drive. Jags usual their starting defense, but he didn't
see the action on that side of the ball, although
he did warm up on both sides before the game.

(20:14):
The Steelers attempted seven passes on nine downs on their
opening drive. Hunter was not a corner on any of them.
But you know, fans didn't have to wait long. Hunter
was in on the second team for pittsburgh second drive.
He missed a tackle on a seven yard run by
Caleb Johnson the Steelers, and then the rest of his
snaps on defense over two drives, basically eight snaps on

(20:35):
defense overall were uneventful. Obviously one of the most intriguing
prospects in the history of the NFL, and it's going
to be interesting to see exactly how much this usage
continues once the once the season starts actually starts for
the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans the Broncos Week one a

(20:56):
regular season Week one opponent. Cam Ward to the first
pick of the twenty twenty five draft and had to
wait a long time for his first NFL preseason completion
the Bucks, which just wouldn't let him have the ball.
Bucks had two long drives to start the game, of course,
won that game twenty nine to seven, while Ward and
the Titans went three and out on their first possession,

(21:18):
and the Bucks had the ball for fourteen minutes of
possession early in the second quarter while the Titans were
stuck on fifty eight seconds. But eventually Ward gave the
Titans fans what they wanted. His first completion after two
completions on the short first possession was a It was
a downfield throw to Calvin Ridley for twenty seven yards.
Ward was looking Ridley's way a lot early on really

(21:41):
caught past ten and thirteen yards After that, I would
say he threw it with relative ease in his first
In his first NFL action, he almost threw an inception
on a Nail Advi's pass bucks corner. Josh Hayes got
his hands on it but couldn't bring it in.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
The drive kept going.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Tony Pollard got in on a rushing touchdown, So Awards
sure to make his share of rookie mistakes, but the
the Titans are probably gonna have some exciting moments this
year with him. I mean, he does have some some
juice to that arm. He was done after that touchdown.
Drive total was five of eight for sixty seven yards
and what was a pretty strong debut overall Tennessee of

(22:19):
course three or fourteen last season. But there are some
reasons for optimism. It starts with the Award's got a
soft division, Titans a plenty of holes on the roster,
and getting them week one I think is big for
Denver because I just don't think Ward's going to be
ready for.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
That kind of defense in week one.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
So you know, obviously I've had my eye on that,
my watching that because that's an early season opponent for
the Broncos. But I you know, I saw cam Ward's
got some things there to get excited about. I didn't
see anything in that that had me worried about that game.
One of my favorite targets on this show, punching back
targets on this show, justin fields. It was probably never

(22:55):
going to be a great NFL thrower, but you know,
he did enough as a dual threat to sort of
keep the offense moving in that Jets Packers game. Fields,
whose performances in training camp to date have not been
good and have drawn some attention, looked more or less
fine in preseason game action against the Packers. Jets won
that game thirty to ten. First drive of the preseason

(23:19):
he went three or four forty two yards and what
would be basically his only series of the game. Biggest
pass was twenty four yard gain by full back and
Rew Beck. Jets finished it with a thirteen yard touchdown
run in which the running back sold that he was
throwing him the ball by throwing his hands up and
keeping the corner engaged. You know, the corner would have

(23:40):
made a play on fields running it in field. He
wasn't bad as a runner or passer, but you know,
obviously played for the Steelers, early last season when Russ
was injured and Jets needed quarterback and signed him. They
didn't draft or sign anyone who really could compete with
him outside of Torod Taylor's already there. Uh, so he'll

(24:01):
he'll probably get a season to show what he can do,
unless he gets bench for poor performance. Before that, Uh,
Giants beat the Bills thirty four to twenty five. And
that that preseason game, you know, Russ looks pretty good,
Uh coming out there. Uh, they were missing their starting

(24:21):
top receivers. But why he and Wandell Robinson had a connection.
I think the big story was his backup Jackson Dart
and having a pretty you know, impressive debut. Bills back
up Mitch Trubisky played fairly well nine to thirteen th
eight at touchdown. The Bills obviously hoping Trubisky doesn't play
any meaningful football because they have the MVP and Josh Allen,

(24:43):
but that should give him a comfort level, you know,
if he does. And I again, I thought Russ played
pretty well for the you know, for the Giants out there.
Learned to really play within himself a little bit more
or less trying to make your little ball throws downfield.
So you know, we'll see he will start the season
as the as the giant starter Vikings in Houston, Texans.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
J J.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
McCarthy played just one series and it might be his
only action of the preseason. But Sam Howell played fairly
well in relief levet at thirteen to one five.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
In that one.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Rams Cowboys Rams thirty one Dallas twenty one. Again, final
scores don't really matter in the preseason. Last year, the
Rams drafted running back Blake Korham in the third round,
didn't use him much as Kien Williams took almost all
the work. Then the Rams drafted Jarquist Hunter in the
fourth front this year, and Corum sort of made his
statement for some more playing time with two touchdowns in

(25:38):
the first quarter of Saturday's preseason game. Gorum had nine
carries for thirty two yards in the first half, while
Hunter played behind him. He had eleven carries on it.
Let's give me eleven yards on four carries before halftime.
The Rams is per their usual set their starters A
team that I think could be very good and obviously won.

(25:58):
The Broncos'll have their eye on because they're coming to
town this week. Arizona Cardinals beat the Kansas City Chiefs
twenty seventeen. It's one of the benefits of Andy Reid
being an old school coach is that we get to
see one of the old time great quarterbacks play, you know,
in August. Reid believes him playing his starters in the
preseason and Pat Mahomes started the Chiefs preseason opener. Cardinals

(26:21):
fumbled away the first kickoff of the game. Chiefs had
a short drive cap by Mahomes one yard touchdown pass.
It was a pretty nice catch by Jason Brownly and
that was enough. His night was over. Arizona came back
and when they game twenty to seventeen, you know, a
couple other things. Broncos obviously we've talked about that. It's

(26:45):
just I don't know. It wasn't a very good day
for the first team for the Broncos. I'll leave it
at that. I don't want to believe that. Turn the
page and get onto the Arizona stuff. Bill's running back
James Cook is holding in while he seeks a new contract,
but he wasn't a uniform and warmed up with the
team before their game against the Giants. McDermott said he
wanted Cook to play but he of course didn't because
of his contract situation. Many of the Bill starters did play,

(27:07):
other than Josh Allen. Second year running back Ray Davis
got most of the work early with Cook not playing.
Davis had just seven yards up four carries, but did
kick a point after after their kicker got hurt. Mason Rudolph,
who not Aaron Rodgers, started a quarterback for the Steelers,
not a big surprise. Rogers' only preseason action since twenty

(27:28):
eighteen was a brief outing for the Jets two years ago.
Possible Rodgers won't play at all this preseason, even though
he's with a new team. Rudolph completed nine to ten
passes eighty four yards on a touchdown, and a fairly
successful start for him. The Buccaneers didn't use their starting offense,
though first round pick and Mechaguba did play at receiver

(27:49):
with the starters, which included quarterback Kyle Trask. Buku, has
been getting a lot of praise in camp, made a
nice jumping catch for twenty one yards on his second
snap after second year receiver Jalen McMillan made a brilliant
cash for twenty five yards on the first play of
the game, Packers QB Jordan Love didn't have a great night,
completing only one of five passes for seven yards. Good

(28:11):
news is, aside from the fact that its preseason loves
to be fine when the receiver regular season gets going.
The one completion, though, was to first round rookie Matt
Golden on a slant route. They have high hopes for
the rookie receiver out of Texas. Tampa Bay Bucks, already
dealing with a knee injury to stand out left tackle
Tristan Wurst that could cause him to miss the start
of the regular season, saw Rashad White, their backup running back,

(28:34):
go down with a groin injury. Bucks are set up
to withstand that injury if White misses time. You Bucky
Irving is the starter obviously, and Sean Tucker is a
pretty good third string back, but it's still not what
Tampa wants to see while we're here. In August, Tennessee
Titans had a potentially disruptive injury when running back ty J.
Spears suffered a lower leg injury while being tackled.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Spears was carted off to the locker room.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
He is the primary backup to Tony Pollard, was expected
to have a significant role, but that might depend on
the severity of the injury and how long it takes
for him to come back. There was an interception from
Kyler Murray. It was a pretty bad one in that
Arizona and Chiefs game. Murray was rolling his left through

(29:20):
it to Chief safety Jayden Hicks, who is a pretty
good breakout candidate. Is he likely replaces Justin Reid in
the defensive lineer for Kansas City. But other than that interception,
Murray played pretty well seven of eight passing ninety six
yards in the Arizona offense trying to take a step

(29:41):
forward this year they'll lead to if they have plans
on winning that division. Obviously, just preseason, but Cam Little
had a heck of a highlight. The Jacks kicker nailed
a seventy yard field goal, and that was at sea
level in Jacksonville. The record for the regular season is
sixty six yards by Justin Tucker. Little cleared that by

(30:04):
four yards, again and only a preseason so does not
actually count for the record. Books and coaches generally don't
like to attempt field goals close to that long in
the regular season the fear being blocked or giving away
field position. But at least the Jags know that Cam
Little's capable of it, So that's, you know, that's something
to take away from there as you get the opportunity

(30:25):
to try that out, you know, in the preseason. The
biggest story I think was Friday night when Brown's fifth
rounder rookie Shdor Sanders looks solid in his pro debut.
He went fourteen to twenty three, one hundred and thirty
eight yards to touchdowns, and it sort of puts the
Browns into question mark territory, I think in terms of

(30:46):
what they're going to do at quarterback this year. It
was probably going to be Joe Flaco the whole time,
and it probably still will be to start the season.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
But that does give.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
You, you know, it does give you a little bit
of pause in terms of maybe we undervalue this guy.
Kevin Stevanski came out today and said, I'm not there
on the game itself. By Wednesday Thursday, I'll a better
feel for the game and how we're going to handle
that update you guys, But I'm not there yet in
terms of whether shoot or would start this week as well.

(31:14):
Today's practice for what it's worth to not shed much
new light on the pecking order. Flacco, who sat out
the preseason opener, did gold to go with the starters.
A third round rookie Dylan Gabriel was next for the
second team. Veederally Kenny Picktt was up first in red
zone seven on sevens, So this situation will be one
to watch all week as the Browns sort of continue

(31:35):
to create a bit of drama with their quarterback situation.
Things aren't hopeless between Washington and wide receiver Terr McLaurin,
who's seeking a new contract, but they're not great. The
Commanders are firmly tucked into their negotiating trench on one side,
McLarin his agent firmly on the other, and right now

(31:57):
those trenches are not close. It's fair to consider the
standoff as capable of making it all the way to
the first week of the regular season without McLaren stepping
foot into the practice field and barring Jane Daniels injecting
himself directly into someone else's situation, which is never known
to be his persona, his ability to hit the ground
running in a season of high expectations for the franchise

(32:17):
might be a little bit in danger. I do expect
them to get something done there, but this one might
be one that pushes itself closer to the deadline. Saints'
rookie quarterback Tyler Shuck outplayed Spencer Ratler. I don't know
if you watched the disaster that was the Saints offense
at all, but Rattler started the opener. Rattler is a

(32:39):
fifth round pick last year. Fifty three yards on seven
to eleven passing. The offense scored zero points in nearly
a full first half of him at quarterback. He exited
the game with one thirty eight left in the second quarter.
Shock came on with his first snaps, completed fifteen to
twenty two four one sixty five with a fifty forty
yard touchdown. Else had an interception, took two sacks. Not perfect,
but showed some signs of life there for an offense

(33:01):
that appears to be one of the absolute worst in
the NFL this coming season. Eagles Landon Dickerson was carted
off with the leg injury and practice he had to
be helped off the field carter back to locker room.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
He went down with a right leg injury on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
He fell to the ground awkwardly on a pass play
late during the team's open practice at Lincoln Financial. He
remained down for several minutes, eventually helped up on the
cart taking off the field. Was not able to place
much weight on his leg at all as he left,
and is not expected to be healthy for quite some
time for the Philadelphia Eagles. For the Broncos, you know, escaped,
have escaped preseason thus far without you know, much injury.

(33:38):
Green Law had, you know, a little setback with the
soft tissue, obviously Alex Singleton with the thumb, although both
those guys are expected to be fine for Week one.
In fact, both of them were out there doing light
stuff during practice this week. Drew Sanders, you know, was
obviously hurt.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
That's that's a blow.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
But then you look at this thing, and I mean
that's all contained of the inside backer position. Outside of
that at Perry has not gotten healthy, but he's almost
an afterthought in the receiver room at this point. And
Matt Henningson who's going to be done for the season
at defensive end, probably opens that competition up for that, uh,
you know, that fourth defensive end spot, fifth defensive end
spot whatever for the Broncos.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
So that's going to be interesting.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
To see us as we keep our eye going forward
and continue to focus on on various camp battles that
are going on. Uh, it's going to be interesting to
see where where that sort of ends up with the
backup defensive ends because we know who the top you know,
four defensive linemen are.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
After that, we really don't.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
So obviously we've got practice with the cards this week
and that'll be fun. We'll be keeping an eye on
it right here on Koa