09-16-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to it. Broncos Country Tonight post Rockies edition
short show. We'll have another one of these tomorrow and
then full shows on KIOI Sports and Roccos Country to
Night on Thursday. I'll be on both those, you guys
want to stick around for that, and then Nick and
I will both be on KOI Sports on Friday as well,
So there's programming notes. Sunday. Of course, Nick and I'll

(00:24):
be out of there at Burned Down for the Broncos
taking on the l A Chargers. Uh be another away game,
so obviously we'll be down there burned Down and looking
forward you guys coming on. We had a we had
a good crowd at the last one. We had Uh
good Buddy Rom's out there, Broncos. Uh Bonkers was out there.
We had Uh, we had quite a few out there.

(00:46):
We had a crowded table. I kept messing with one
of the ladies there would not did not want Chris
Brown concert tickets, and uh, you know I was making
we were trading some pretty funny jokes about that. We
had a good crowd downstairs. We had you know, another
I don't know twenty people I guess at the at
the main table. We've got a VIP table to give
away all that kind of stuff with free drinks and stuff.

(01:09):
So come on out to the Burned Down on Sunday.
We'll be out there for the whole game. I look
forward to seeing and meeting you guys out there as
we keep growing this thing bigger and bigger every week,
So looking forward to that. Of course, the Roncos did
lose to the Indianapolis Colts on that late field goal
penalty leveraging call, which some fans I think most fans

(01:33):
are stopped disputing now, but I think we're good on that.
But I think the more interesting thing was how this
redemption arc is sort of going for Daniel Jones. A
month ago, when the Colts name of their starting quarterback,
a large portion of the team's fan base was a
pop leptic. You know. They were wondering how you could

(01:57):
push aside twenty three year old Anthony Richardson, who's ceiling
an upside, you know, or they are even with the
past failures, and then settle on the twenty eight year
old ex New York Giant washout who brought two undeniable
realities to the table. Juan He was experienced with sixty
nine starts under his belt and also demonstray limited based

(02:19):
on what those sixty nine starts actually produced over the
first six years was NFL career. So when the decision
to roll with Daniel Jones was made, a large portion
of the fan base that was Colt's head coach Shane
Steichen was just trying to save his job, or he
was seeing something more in Jones that many were not.

(02:41):
Two games into the twenty twenty five season, it might
have been both. Well, it's just a two game sample size.
The former six overall pick from the twenty nineteen draft
because quickly showcased why the Giants once chose him over
Saquon Barkley as the future of the franchise. I disagreed
with that decision at the time. I still disagree with
it now. However, he's certainly making a case for himself

(03:05):
through the first couple of games of this season. Not
to mention why former Giants general manager Dave Gettlman once believed,
you know, he could be a franchise quarterback. But even
the most hopeful Daniel Jones believer said any point in
his career wouldn't have suggested that he'd help an offense
to the start that Indianapolis is experiencing right now. The
Colts are the first team in NFL history to start

(03:28):
a season by scoring on ten straight position possessions. They
are the first team in the Super Bowl era to
open a season without punning a single time through two games.
And while this sort of you know, offensive perfection can't
possibly last, it certainly is the first spark in what
could become a season long conversation dreamcasting about whether Jones

(03:52):
might be settling into his perfect spot by now. It's
a bit of a familiar debate about how career reclamation
the quarterback position. It mirrors what we've seen over the
last three seasons, Gino getting on track with the Seahawks
back in twenty two, Mayfield anchoring himself as a starter
with Tampa in twenty three, Donald jump starting his resurrection

(04:14):
with the Vikings last year. All three found the right
situation to remake themselves as NFL starters, and interestingly, all
three year now slotted beside each other in their current
average salaries. Mayfield at thirty three point three million of season,
Darnald thirty three point five, Smith thirty seven point five,
and Daniel Jones could be next in line. If a

(04:36):
start is even remotely close to where he's headed this year,
wouldn't be a question right now. One hundred and eleven
point one passer rating, five total passing rushing touchdowns, seventy
one point four percent completion percentage. What that deal ultimately
looked like to paint you know, We'll obviously depend on

(04:57):
the remainder of the season how that plays out, But
Darnald's three year, one hundred million dollars deal with the Seahawks,
which has fifty five million guaranteed money, is now the
baseline for above average quarterbacks who are in the market
to sign for a limited commitment. So as it stands,
Jones bet on himself with a one year, fourteen million
dollar deal, setting himself up to chase a path similar
to the one Mayfield took back in twenty three. Back

(05:20):
in that season, Mayfield signed a one year proven contract
with the Bucks. They offered him a chance to earn
up to eight point five million if he were to
beat out Trask the starting job. He obviously did win
that job and ended up making six to twenty five
million for that year, but more importantly, he convinced the
Bucks to count to the table with a three year,
on hundred million dollar extension and cemented himself as Tampa starter,
setting up another lucrative round of contract talks next off

(05:44):
season before he enters the final year of his deal
in twenty twenty six. Again, it's too early to know
if that's the path that Daniel Jones is going to
remain on, but his start is mirroring Mayfield's twenty twenty three.
Like Mayfield, Jones chose the Colts because he saw a
path to starting job through a competition with a younger,
struggling player. Now, like Mayfield, Jones won the job in camp,

(06:07):
and like Mayfield, Jones has won his first two games
in pretty impressive fashion. And in the process, Jones has
made stike and look good for a decision that was
being panned less than a month ago. You know. Thus four,
Jones has earned one twenty two point two million in
his career, including a four year, one hundred and sixty
million dollar extension he signed with the Giants that ultimately

(06:29):
paid out a total of eighty two million by the
time he was released last November. How much more is
coming remains to be seen. But two games in, I mean,
Danny dimes is back on the Danty dollars track, and
that's way more than was expected four weeks ago. Moving
forward to the broncos next opponent, the LA Chargers, they've

(06:53):
also looked good through two games at two and zero,
sit atop the AFC West Right now Herbert against the
Las Vegas Raiders last night, nineteen to twenty seven, two
hundred forty two yards, two touchdowns, no picks in a
one to twenty two point eight quarterback rating. Also lied
the team in rushing nine carries thirty one yards, did
lose a fumble. Naja Harris Marion Hampton each eight carries

(07:15):
twenty eight and twenty four yards, respectively. Quinton Johnston continues
to be highly targeted by the Chargers as they continued
to take shots with him. He did get a sixty
yard touchdown and there he was targeted seven times but
only caught three balls seventy one yards total. Keenan Allen
continues to get a lot of the possession type stuff

(07:37):
five five receptions sixty one yards, one touchdown on seven targets,
and then Lad McConkie, the most reliable receiver they have
caught all five of the balls thrown his way for
forty eight yards. They do rotate some of the other
guys through. Trey Harris had a couple of targets, Najie Harris,
will dis Ley, o' marion Hampton, Cameron Dicker two field
goals on two attempts. The only the longest was only

(07:58):
thirty eight whin like he was, he pushed everything there
and then defensively, I mean, the Chargers are just a
very good team day and Henley looks like a revelation,
uh there and he was not not even feeling well
in that game, got an interception, had ten tackles plus assists,
got a sack, nearly had another interception. He he looks
like an emerging star for the for the Chargers. Dante

(08:20):
Jackson also got a pick and Tony Jefferson got a
pick in that on It's well Jamari Colwell got a sack.
Khalil Mack got a sack and limited time he heard
his elbow in that when he looks like he's gonna
be out for a while. So that may help the
Broncos out a little bit. But they're Chargers are very
very good football team. This is going to be the
strongest on paper football team. The Broncos have played played yet.

(08:42):
The offense is every every bit is good, if not
better than what they took took on in Indianapolis. The
defense is significantly better than than any even without Khalil Mackton,
than any team they've played so far, and this this
figures to be an interesting test of whether or not
the Broncos can put together a complete game. The Raiders,
who were the Chargers opponent last night, didn't do much.

(09:05):
Gino picked off three times. They were throwing and not
running the ball only one hundred and eighty yards, no touchdowns.
Janny eleven carries forty three yards has not gotten off
to the start that they really wanted there for the Raiders.
An only real right spot for the Raiders last night
was Jacoby Meyers six catches sixty eight yards, but that
was on twelve targets. Brock Bowers didn't really get go

(09:27):
one five catches thirty eight yards, and nobody else could
could really get going. Deontay Thorton only had one catch
on four targets and the rest of the guys were
below twenty yards as they tried to spread the ball
around and do a few things you know here or there, defensively,
the only guy who could get to Herbert was Joan

(09:48):
Olalou at Paras sacks. They didn't pick him off any
They didn't really get any anything else going. Couple of
passes defense by Jermaine Pratt, but other than that, they
really just couldn't get anything going defense for the Raiders. So,
you know, the Raiders look like a team that's headed
in the right direction, but not a team I don't

(10:09):
think anybody's worried about at this point. The Chargers look
like a very, very worrisome team thus far throughout the season.
I mean we're two games in, but they've showed a
propensity and a willingness to be able to pass versus
years past or harball offense, where you know, you mostly

(10:30):
a lot of running. Now they can run the ball.
I mean they've got Hampton and Agie Harris justin. Herbert
has sixty three rushing yards on the year already, but
he's got five hundred and sixty passing yards through two games,
and it has come fairly easily for him throughout those games.

(10:52):
You know, the Chargers are their defense is third in
the league. They're only allowing fifteen A games so far,
and their offense is is scoring twenty four game. That's
you know that that's getting it done. Herbert's rating for
the season so far at one twenty seven point eight,
five touchdowns, no picks, averaging two to eighty through the air.

(11:14):
They are chargers are really showing something early. And so
this this the Broncos, this is one that you you
look at and you say, all right, you got to
get out to a fast start. You can't. You can't
have the same you know, kind of lack of complete
game games that you've been having. You had the first

(11:36):
game of the season with the defense showed up and
the offense was nowhere to be found. You get the
second game, the offense shows up and the defense never
got off the plane. That that's you know, that's gonna
be a problem. You gotta have everybody put it together.
And the special teams included in there as well. The
Broncos have not been a good passing team so far
this year. They've been better running the ball and they've

(11:57):
been better than throwing it. Their average there twenty fifth
in the league and passing yards per game, but tenth
in the NFL and rushing yards per game. Right now,
they just have to get more consistent and more committed.
I think to that run game. The one area that
the Broncos have continued to, you know, be dominant sacks

(12:18):
and passing yards against. People just can't You can't throw
on the Broncos very well, and you tend to get
sacked a lot when you try to do it. Broncos
fourth in the league with seven sacks, they're ninth in
the in the NFL and passing yards against and that's
you know, only only giving up one eighty four. So
something's got to give in the coming game with the Chargers,

(12:40):
Chargers starting off as a two and a half point
favorite at home. If you look at the the early
returns on the on the bets, seventy five percent of
the money is on the Chargers at that minus two
and a half on the money line. Let's say about
sixty three percent of the money's on the Chargers on
the money line in this one. UH and then the

(13:01):
the over under is bet heavily to the under in
this game. The over unders forty six and eighty eight
percent of the money I bet so far expects this
to be a low scoring game. Low scoring game favors Denver.
I think uh, in the sense that you know, the
offense has not really gotten to the point where it's
it's just as reliable as as you would hope uh,

(13:21):
and also keeps the Broncos in it. You have a
low scoring game, one score game, a one possession game
is one possession game. Yeah, I said, Broncos to dig
out of a hole. And that's where you start, I
think worrying and having some some issues or some problems.
So you know, this coming game is going to be
something that I think, I'm I'm I'm hoping the problem.

(13:42):
I'm desperately hoping that Broncos win this one. But as
it sits right now, I would probably pick the Chargers
just based on what we've seen so far, and I'll
get into that in the next segment on the wise.
But as you look at this thing, you know you
probably gonna catch a break on that Monday night game
with the Bengals, uh, and not have to you know,
obviously not have to deal with Joe Burrow, So you're
probably catching up break there. If you do lose this one,

(14:03):
you can get to you can hope to get to
two and two against the Bengals at home before you
before you have to take on the Eagles and go
over to London. And the last thing you want to
be is too far underwater. You don't want to be
one and four, two and three, you know, But it
looks like two and three is a real possibility at
this point in time. And I think a lot of
people who expected the Broncos to, you know, win those

(14:28):
first two games. I had those first two games down
as wins. I think a lot of people are kind
of reassessing at this point and saying, Okay, all this,
all this chest puffin we did during the offseason talking
about super Bowls and stuff, maybe we should have maybe
we should have put together a season where we want
a playoff game first before we started doing stuff like that.
And that's where a lot of that cautionary stuff was
coming from. People were, you know, I know, you guys

(14:49):
love to give me some you know, you know what,
and the wet blanket stuff or all that, and that's fine.
I don't I don't mind you guys doing that, just
because I'm a little less optimistic at times and some things.
But this is why, like these kinds of things are
why you shouldn't have struggled with the Colts it shouldn't
have been a game to begin with, and you know
you did and then you wound up, you know, committing

(15:11):
a penalty and it costs you a game, and you know,
now you're one to one. And if it hadn't been
for the Borough injury, I mean, oh, you could be
staring down the barrel of one four just as easily
as three and two or two or three heading into London,
and that that would have been a disaster. And so
you know, I think I think for me, I just

(15:33):
I need this team to put together a complete game
before before I'm back to that sort of optimistic place
that we were after the after the Tennessee game. I
don't know about you guys, but my watching that when
my faith was a little bit shaken. Although I will
say the defense is not going to be as bad
as they were against Indie all year, I mean there

(15:53):
were some things in there. Yeah, obviously pats er Tan
and the ankle Singleton was was out of position to bit,
Brandon Jones was out a position on a You I
think you got to tip your cap and and and
sort of give a salute to Shane Stichen for the
game plan they put in there. You know, as we're
as we're putting a bow on the Colts game. You know,
it's okay to be disappointed and frustrated. I'm disappointed and

(16:13):
frustrated and you know the outcome of that game. But
it's also I think important to acknowledge the difference between
the you know, the referees and all that kind of
stuff and just say, look, they Colts put together good
game plan offensively, I mean, they really did, and I
think it's important to acknowledge that because you know, you
could see the Colts down the line. What if both

(16:34):
these teams make the playoffs. You know, you see the
Colts down the line, acknowledge that they put together a
good game plan, and then when we see them down
the line, we say, okay, we saw what you did
last time. Here's what we're going to do to counter
that and and get our own revenge in the next matchup.
So we'll get into preview up next. You listen to
Broncos Country to Night right here. Okay, away, welcome back

(16:56):
to a Broncos Country Tonight. Bens but all bright here
short show post Rocky's edition. Appreciate you guys being along
for the ride. We'll have another one of these Tomorrow,
as the Rocky season starts to wind down, we put
a put a bow on it, and then we'll be
back to full time shows here shortly full show on Thursday,
I'll be on both KI Sports and bc T, and

(17:17):
then myself and Nick will be on k Sports on
Friday as well. I want to reiterate to UH, you
guys come on out to the Burndown on Sunday. We
got programming starting here at eight am on on KWA.
But come on out to the Burndown on Sunday. Myself
and Nick will be out there. We had a great
time this past week, lots of people showing up. I'd
appreciate you guys, you know, coming up big to help

(17:40):
out and show up for these sponsors that are investing
in our show. So come on out to the Burndown.
We got the Orgin Blue watch party. We'll watch Broncos
take on the Chargers. There. Love to hear you guys
thoughts in person on the Broncos and all that, So
looking forward to that. UH. In previewing this Chargers matt up,

(18:01):
even with the Khalil Max situation, UH, there's still a
very formidable UH team and I don't know. Looking at
this thing so far, Uh, they look like they're one
of the elite teams in the in the AFC. They
really do. They've got great coaching here with with hardball
Jesse Menter and Greg Roman as the head coach and coordinators.

(18:21):
They've stayed relatively healthy outside of the Khalil Max situation. Uh.
You know, obviously, I think most people know about the
Shawn Slater injury, but you know, beyond that, they've they've
been relatively healthy. They've got all of a sudden they've
decided to anyway, uh, certainly make a commitment to the
passing game, which they have really really been successful at

(18:46):
through two weeks. We all saw what they did to
Kansas City, saw what they did to the Raiders. Uh,
they've been successful with that pass game so far. So uh.
Interestingly enough, this will be the third division game for
the Chargers to to open the season, and it'll be
the first division game for the Never Broncos. You know,
the offensive line for the Chargers pretty good. They're a

(19:07):
little bit weaker on the right side than the left
at the receivers. Quinton Johnston still issues with the hands,
but it's gotten a little bit better. McConkie out of
the slot's the most reliable guy. They brought Keenan Allen
back and he's looked like he's still got a little
juice as well. Then they've got Trey Harris, the rookie
backing all them up. At the tight end is probably
their weakest skill position, where you've got Will Disley and

(19:28):
Tyler Conklin. They added rookie o'ronda Gadsden in the fifth
round as well. It's just that position ahead group has
not really taken off so far this year. It'll be
interesting to see how they match up with the Broncos,
who have struggled a little against the tight end. The
running backs, rookie O'marion Hampton the Naji Harris backing him up.
They've started to get him more and more involved. And
then Hassan Haskins is the emergency back. He can't returns kicks,

(19:50):
doesn't really do much else. Scott matt Locke is kind
of the do it all full back that they have.
He plays little h back. They've used him as a
tight end, but mostly as a full back on the
defensive side. It's a thirty four with an UNDERFRONTI Caldwell
the rookie at the nose. They used to Sean Hand
and Tier Tart as the other uh you know, interior

(20:11):
defensive lineman off the edge. Uh used to be Khalil
Mack and uh truly too a below two. But with
Mac down, you're probably gonna get a little bit more
of Bud Dupree uh in there. You'll uh you know,
you may get a little bit of Caleb Murphy, uh

(20:38):
you know in there as well. And then they've of
course got Kyle Knard, the rookie who they have some
high hopes for, so you probably see little bit more
of him in the rotation inside linebackers. Uh, Troy died,
but Dayon Henley is really the has really been sort
of the revelation there. Henley was an inside backer at
Washington State. Uh, they drafted he's and it's what third year,

(21:03):
you know with the Chargers, and he's he's had a
he had a great camp. He's had a great season
so far for the Chargers. As as their primary inside backer, UH,
the corners, Dante Jackson uh Tar Heep still are the
main guys. They are backed up by Benjamin Saint just
and uh and in Cam Hart out of the slot.

(21:23):
Darwin James who moves around, he plays a nickel back
plays the safety moves around a little bit. Uh, and
just here Taylor and then the main safeties we mentioned James,
but also a lohih Gilman and R. J. Mickens the
sixth round rookie. They kind of have a rotation that
they use, uh through the safety and the nickel in
an effort to get you know, Darwin James on the field. UH,

(21:46):
punter JK. Scott and Cameron Dicker. Those guys are reliable.
He's Darius Davis, the Son Haskins and Lad mcconkee's return guys.
And that's really, I mean, that's really all you need
to know about the rosters. Uh. They keep two quarterbacks, the backups,
Trey Lance and the guy behind him is DJ. They
Chargers have a propensity for collecting failure failed quarterbacks and

(22:07):
trying to rehab them as their backups. So uh, if
Justin Herbert goes down, that's sort of what you would see.
They love to they love to run the ball, but
they've been throwing it this year and you know that
they've been wildly successful at it. So you know that's
that's one of those things that it's going to be

(22:27):
really interesting, really interesting to watch in this game. The
Chargers have been a smash mouth football team. They beat
the Broncos last year. They're good. I will say this,
this is not this is not the Chargers of yours.
Is not a pushover game. And I you know, the
Chargers are two and a half point favorite, and I
I I I see why. I feel like the Chargers

(22:51):
are one of the elite teams in the AFC right
now and the Broncos. They win this game, they could
get some of that confidence back. But he's a tough ask.
So you know, you're on the road, coming off another
road game, a loss in disheartening fashion. It's important to
get your mind right for this game. It's important to
like kind of put that out of out of your
memory and get your mind right for this game. And
you know, Sean Payton's got to get a game plan

(23:13):
together to beat the Chargers because he has not beaten
Jim Harball yet. Around the league, a bunch of news
and notes here. The Vikings are putting Aaron Jones on
the injured reserve. According to multiple reports, it'll keep them
out at least the next four games. They're signing running
back Cam Akers to bolster their backfield. Jordan Mason has

(23:33):
been splitting time with Aaron Jones over the first two weeks,
and Mason'll obviously move into the lead role for the
ground game. Right now, Jones has thirteen carries for forty
six yards, three catches forty four yards the first two
games of the season. Obviously, he's going to miss the
Vikings coming match up with the Bengals, as well as
games against the steeless Browns at Eagles. The Vikings do
have a buy in week six, so he'll be eligible

(23:54):
to return for the Vikings Thursday night game against the
Rams in week eight. So just just some stuff to
keep your eye on there if you're a fantasy footballer.
You know, we talked a little bit about Ashton Janty
in the last segment. Janney's got thirty carries for eighty

(24:14):
one yards, five catches three yards. That's basically two point
four yards per touch, nowhere near what the Raiders were
expecting when they when they drafted Janty with a six
overall pick, but Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said it's
too early to worry about that or his ability in
the NFL say he ran the ball. Well, I thought
he's hit stuff. Well, he went the wrong way on

(24:34):
a play that was unfortunate, mess up the whole play. Gino.
I don't know ifk I saw last night. Geno goes
one way, he goes the other. So you know we
got a ways to go there. But Carol said, I
have no problem telling you that he's gonna get better
and more comfortable. He felt more comfortable in this game.
Look good running the ball. We just need to get
it to him more. And Jenny's career is going to
be judged on more than two games. But certainly early

(24:57):
it has not looked. The returns have not looked like
what people thought that they were getting out of a
top ten draft pick on a running back. I know
I talked about it yesterday, but this Saudi Arabia thing.
Tom Brady's current professional activities feel less like a post
playing exploits of a seven time Super Bowl winner more

(25:20):
like the origin story of a villain in a Bond movie.
Lost in yesterday's sort of aha moment regarding the Fox
Raiders conflict of interest with him in the booth with
the headset and all that is that he's going to
be pocketing presumably a substantial amount of Middle Eastern oil
money to stage flag football games in Saudi Arabia, along

(25:42):
with multiple current and former players. The league was asked
if it has involvement the event and whether or not
teams have authorized participation of players in non NFL football,
and the league responded with a mass email sent earlier
today saying, quote, fanatics made us aware of the event,
but this is not a league initiative. It is up

(26:02):
to individual clubs to provide clearance for their active players
to participate. It's not known whether the teams have given
the players they're blessing yet. Paragraph three of the standard
player contract gives teams the ability to shut down player
involvement in any other football in Denver with the following
quotation without prior written consent of the club, player will

(26:23):
not engage in football or football related activities related to
football otherwise than for the club, or engage in any
activity other than football which may involve a significant risk
of personal injury. In English, teams can tell players not
to play the football basically, and teams can go to
court to keep it from happening. That's the current unknown

(26:43):
as it relates to this Tom Brady led flag football
cash grab. Now, obviously Brady is not under those same
rules as he's not a current player, but there are
current players named in the press release that include Saquon Barkley,
Ceede Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, Sauce Gardner, Miles Garrett, brock By, Ours,
Max Crosby, Tyreek Hill. So you know, we'll we'll see

(27:05):
how that goes. Both Kyle Shanahan and Sean Payton are
on the coaching list for this endeavor as well. And
that's gonna be It's gonna be one of those things
that I don't know. I don't I don't know that
I'm gonna be tuned into that. I mean, I don't,
I don't get it. Tom Brady's coming out of retirement
with Rob Gronkowski to play flag football in Saudi Arabia.

(27:29):
It seems like a vanity project to me, more than
more than anything else. And if you look a lot
of the people who are involved in this are Don
Yee clients, Tom Brady, Sean Payton, you know, Rabbi, you know,
et cetera, et cetera. So there's a bunch of Don
Yee guys that are that are doing this. This feels
more like him getting his clients a bunch of money
and and you know, I'm not big grudging him that
secure the bag, but this doesn't feel like something that's

(27:53):
who's asking for this? What fans we're asking for this.
I've been to Saudi Arabia a half dozen times, and
I never had an an American football related conversation anytime
I was there with anybody who lived there. You know,
they love soccer, but the NFL was just not a thing.
And maybe that's changed in the recent years. It's been
a little while, so I've been over there, but that
was not a thing when I was over there. So

(28:15):
I just I wonder if this is some vanity project,
or if it's maybe the Saudi you know, oil families
trying to get involved with potentially these new NFL rules
on allowing certain funds to get involved in ownership. You know,
maybe it's maybe it's trending that I don't know, but

(28:38):
this one was weird. Just seemed like sort of a
vanity project type thing that I stateside, I don't think
any NFL fans are asking for for this. I don't know,
Maybe I'm wrong the other moves of VI because it
made the sign cam Akers. They made a move to
fortify the quarterback position while McCarthy recovers from his ankle injury.
Per Tom Pell Herodian Rapaport, Minniesda is signing with signing

(29:01):
quarterback Desmond Ridder to their fifty three man roster. Ridder,
who's twenty six, met the preseason with the Bengals but
had not found a team since he was like go
at the end of August. Minnesota play Cincinnati this week.
Cincinnati also shorthanded, so that's that's sort of interesting. With
the Bengals obviously down to Jake Browning with Burrow out,

(29:22):
by signing Riddle of the fifty three, they'll be able
to have him suit up as the emergency third quarterback.
McCarthy's still not expected to be placed on the ir
but we don't know how long he's out just yet.
Ridder has appeared in twenty five games of eighteen starts,
went six and seven as the Falcon starter before traded Arizona.
Cardinals subsequently let him go hooked up with the Raiders

(29:43):
last season. You know, he's completed sixty three point three
percent of his passes for four thousand yards, sixteen touchdowns,
fourteen picks, so of the course of his career bouncing
around between multiple teams, Minnesota's top three quarterbacks are expected
to be Carson Wentz, Max Borough, and then Ritter on
top of that. So you know, we'll see how that

(30:04):
shakes out for the Vikings, who are having to make
several several different moves here to pick up on their roster.
The other part of the Brady thing was from last
night where he was sitting in the coach's booth with
the headset on and owners are allowed to do that.
I'll tell you the Broncos owners, they don't typically sit
in the coaches box, but they do have the headset

(30:25):
on to listen to that stuff, and there's no problem
with that. The NFL released a statement on it today
saying there's no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting
in the coach's booth wearing a headset during the game.
But that sort of misses the point of why people were,
you know, why people are looking at this Brady thing

(30:46):
with with with the side eye. The issue isn't what
Brady was doing on Monday night, although it looked kind
of like he was trying to slide under the desk
once you realize the camera was on him. The issue
is what he does on Sundays on Fox, and the
quote is just that Tom continues to be prohibited from
going to team facility for practices or production meetings. He

(31:06):
can attend them remotely, but can't do them on site.
But that that's that's a cop out by the league.
You know, the game of the week becomes lesser if
teams choose to say as little as possible to Brady
because they don't want, you know, that to get out
there and then we're on you. But at the same time,

(31:27):
it also allows him to work as an advanced scout
on these things because of you know, the access that
he gets even though he's not allowed to go to
those kinds of meetings. The Tom Brady thing is going
to come to ahead eventually. Right now, it's it's bubbling
under the service, but that's gonna you know, the the
fact that he's doing all this stuff and then there's
conflicts of interest, there's it's going to come to a
head eventually, and it's gonna be interesting to see how

(31:49):
both the league and and you know, the the teams.
Uh handle all that. A couple of things I wanted
to get to. Josh Allen is going to be sporting
a new look on Thursday Night Football. Alan had to
leave during Sundays beat down of the Jets for a
brief period after he got hit in the face at
the end of a running play and his nose was

(32:11):
bleeding gushing blood. But he returned with gauze in one
nostril and didn't really have any further issues the rest
of the game. Today, he said he's a little bruised up,
but otherwise fine. Heading into this week's game. Was sporting
a visor on his helmet at practice and said he
thinks he will wear it as further protection on Thursday. Alan,
during his pressure said we'll see quotes. We'll probably wear

(32:33):
it in the game, just trying to get used to it.
He has never worn a visor in an NFL game,
but did wear one back in college. Said it doesn't
have much impact outside of being warmer than his usual helmet.
We did finally get the broadcast team for the Netflix
Christmas Games. No Eagle confirmed to Front Office Sports that

(32:56):
they'll be the play by play announcers for the double header.
Second straight year they'll be in those roles. There was
word back in July Drew Brees be calling one of
the games. He'll be in the booth with Noah Eagle
for the Lions Vikings game and in Minnesota. Breeze had
previously called the games for NBC and the New York
last year's Christmas games for Netflix International version. Iron Eagle

(33:16):
will be joined by Nate Barlson and Matt Ryan for
the one pm Eastern time game, which features the Cowboys
and Commanders in Washington. Eagle calls games for CBS with J. J. Watt,
while Berlson and Ryan are both on the NFL Today.
So if you care about the broadcast team type stuff
there you go for the for the Thanksgiving games, excuse me,

(33:38):
Netflix Christmas games rather. This year, the Bengals, who put
Joe Burrow on IR, signed our old buddy Brett Rippin
to the roster. They also brought in Mike White Shawan
Clifford to the practice squad, just putting bodies on there
for now until they can figure out what they're going
to do. Jake Browning will get the majority of the

(33:59):
work and he's expected to be the starter for the
game this week. As well as the Broncos Monday night
football game here in Denver here a week from this
coming Monday, so that'll be that's interesting signing Brett Rippon,
the former Bronco just two weeks before you play them.
It's you know, some people speculating that there's you know,
something to that as well. So appreciate you guys being

(34:21):
along for the ride today. Looking forward to another show
tomorrow night, another short show as we wind down Rocky
season before we get back to full time shows. Appreciate
you guys listening full day on ko Sports on Thursday.
Nick and I will be on k Sports on Friday,
and then of course Sunday we'll have all your game

(34:42):
time stuff and be down at the Burnout for a
couple hours to come on down to the Burnedout as well.
You guys have been listening to Broncos country tonight right
here on KOWA