Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well them do it Broncos Country tonight, but with all bright,
Dick Ferguson, Grant Smith for Sam's Number three in Glennendale,
Shannon Scott on site here, Grant Smith back there at iHeart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Maine, and Nick.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
The Denver Nuggets have not gotten off to a very
auspicious start here this season. It's not been what is
expected of them to currently down as we were talking
right now, although they battle back from.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
A double digit lead to cut the lead within four.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
The Nuggets have just not come out the gate the
way everybody expected this team to come out the gate.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
No, they haven't.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
And it leads back to a problem that a situation
we saw at the beginning of the season. We was
wondering how we're going to play out during the season
and was there going to be any drama difficulty with
an organization and what I'm talking about. Before the season started,
there were some difference of a pain between what coach
Malone wanted and what Cavin Booth the GM won it.
(01:00):
You think about Kevin Booth, he wants young players that
you can you can develop for a long time down
the road for the Nuggets. But coach Malone, based on
you know, being around his father and being that kind
of coach, he wants more veteran.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Guys because he understands that.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
That window for NIKOLEA. Yoki it's not gonna stay open forever. So,
you know, after the first couple of games of the season,
both Coach Malone and Nikola Yokis were somewhat asked about
the team shooting because that was a problem for me
when the look when you look at Ben shooting, when
the starters off the floor, where's that shooting going to
(01:38):
come from? And Coach Malone said, look, I mean going
into the season, shooting wasn't concern of mine. You lose
a guy like KCP who's a forty three point shooter
end quote. And then Nikola Jokic had this to say,
We're not a good shooting team except Mike and Jamal.
(02:00):
All of us kind of a streaky not streaky, but
just average shooters end quote. So both of those individuals,
you have your coach who won a title for the
Denver Nuggets fan base and they have been done since
forty seven years, and you have your reigning MVP saying
they both realized that shooting is a issue for me.
(02:22):
That was them trying to say the quiet part out
loud and let Kevin bout know. Hey, man, we may
need to tweak this roster because we're gonna need to shoot.
And you and I saw the opening games and start
the NBA season. It was the Celtics versus the Knicks.
The Celtics took twenty nine to three pointers twenty nine.
(02:46):
They were one shy if I'm not mistaken off the
NBA record, So you know what you're gonna have to
face and relying on Nikola, Jokis and MPJ just to
be those outside shooters. And you know, when you think
about Jamal Murray, he can shoot the three and Soka Westbrook,
but this team needs outside shooting, especially on that second unit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, they do. And you know, we've seen sort of
at this point how.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
It is.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's been a struggle for them to be able to
find the right rhythm and find the right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Successful lineups early on, thankfully the basketball season eighty two games,
but without Jokic on the court, this team looks bad.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Jokic's clearly the engine that makes it go, and.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
The problem is that when he comes off the court,
you have to basically rework your entire offense. There isn't
a plug and play player behind him where you can
sort of continue to run the same thing because there's
nobody that offers that skill set.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Very true, but the biggest thing for me, other than
the second thing for me, other than finding shooters on
the second unit, is how.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The Nuggets defit. And we watch with OKC.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Teams are not as afraid of the Nuggets as maybe they.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Were two years ago, and it just seemed as some.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Of that shine has rubbed off because teams are now
looking say, well, you can attack the Nuggets get downhill,
and also you can attack them if you got outside
three point shooters, because the Nuggets still don't close out
well on three point shooters. And if you got a
guard that is long, athletic that can penetrate, you're gonna
(04:32):
collapse the defense. And when you collapse the defense, there's
a drive and kick. And sometimes the Nuggets defenders, both
the starters and that second unit sometimes ben they're late
far as the weak side help.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
These are areas.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Where the Nuggets need to definitely get better because teams
are gonna attack them.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And then, once again it's a little different and it's.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Not for me to kind of put Christen Brown on
blind but it's a little different than when KCP was here.
He was known as somewhat of a defensive specialist. Ye
when Christen Brown is on the floor, they look opposing
teams in their guards, they look as an opportunity to
attack it and get down.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You, right, And it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He doesn't have the same lateral quickness that that KCP head,
doesn't have the same defensive ability that CACP had. And uh,
you know me, I love the fact that Christian Brown
is a hustle guy and all that kind of stuff.
At the end of the day, you you either are
able to capably defend or you are not. And I
get that Christian Brown is certainly a favorite of Coach Malone,
(05:37):
But uh, at the point where you become a bit
of a liability in the fact that teams are attacking
you and haven't gone away from that because you haven't
shown that they need to, like for instance, Riley Moss,
you know, to mix my sports here, then then they're
going to keep doing it. And if you have success
doing something, I don't blame them keep doing it.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, And this is where guys like straw there is
going to have to come up, you know, big for
this team.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
He's a young guy.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
He is still developing, and they're hoping that he can
turn into something where he becomes another piece or another
threat offensively for the Denver Nuggets, that they can mix
and match, you know, when the starters are off the floor,
swap out with.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Both he and the Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
But they need to develop other scores because that's where
the teams have decided. If the Boston won the title,
it was about, you know, once again, getting those guys
who can actually shoot those outside shots, but do it
very consistently.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And that's I mean, and that's the thing, you know,
at at the end of the day in the in
the modern NBA, you basically, I mean, you have to
be able to shoot outside. You've got to be able
to do that. And because that's what it is, it's
a race to who can hit the most three pointers, uh,
you know, and then there are some teams that will
make some three point plays, but the most most of
these teams have accelerated this to where it's a race
(07:03):
to vomit from outside and who can rebound on those.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Scenarios and get second chance opportunities. And the Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Just when when Yokich isn't on the court to be
able to to suck up the defenders and give those
perimeter shooters those looks, it changes the concept of what
they are. The scoring bogs down and they become frankly
a bad basketball team.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Well here's the other thing too, is that you know,
closing out on shooters and when you take an enormous
amount of three point shots, because this is kind of
what the NBA has turned into, right, Obviously three is
more than two, so you're gonna have so many guys
making those attempts to knock down to three point shots.
(07:46):
But the biggest thing if you're gonna take those shots,
and this is the thing that frustrates the hell out
of me, and it's not just with the Nuggets, but
it's across the NBA league.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One is that guys take.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
ILLVII shots, right, And I know, you know, we've seen
those transition threes and some guys have been successful at it.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But sometimes guys have come up court.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Take those transition threes, but you have no one under
the rim to get the rebound, or sometimes even if
it's not a transition three, someone does. There's a down
pick downscreen and someone shoots a three point shot, but
once again, who's grabbing their rebounds And it's an extraordinary
of an athletic talent even though he's not that fast.
(08:28):
Nikola is an extraordinary as a player, but he's not
known for being just kind of like that guy who's
going to consistently grab like twelve board, twelve to fifteen board.
That's not who he is. He can do that, but
you don't want to put him in that position. You
want to get Nikola Jokic out and running, you want
to start to break. To me, that's where the Denver
(08:50):
Nuggets offense definitely lives. So I don't know how coach
Malone finans is at or makes it work, but they're.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Going to need if they are if they want to.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Be playoff contenders or dare I say, you know, contenders
for a title. You you gotta find some way to
improve your outside shooting.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Because they're missing a piece right now. This team is
not prepared to twin an NBA title. Like looking at
this even with Jokic on there, they're just not. They
got their first win of the season in overtime against
the Raptors twenty twenty seven five, you'll catch back to
back forty point games. I mean, are we wearing them
out early in the season to even be in contention
(09:29):
for that kind of stuff?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I say yes, because if you look at some of
the Nuggets games, they are fighting back from maybe ten
to twelve point deficits. So that's more energy that you
have to exert if you are Nicola Jokis, because if
you're coach Malone, you're saying to yourself, we can't have
Nicola Jokic off the floor that long. And that's the
(09:50):
problem that goes back to having so many young guys
who are expected to build up that second unit. Because
if those guys weren assistant as far as being able
to score, then you don't have to work. But you
can sit him for an extended minutes. But now you can't.
It's like soon as Nicola sits down, it's like, now
(10:11):
you got to get back up because now we're down
maybe six eight points.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Can't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You mentioned the team us to go ahead and get
a shooter, but how do you do that? They're already
up against it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
As far as the you know, the cap kind of
stuff goes basically anything short of moving Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You're host, Well, who's to say that come trade deadline.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
That's not something that you think about it or you
even think about it now, because when we think about
what the Nuggets are, like, the first thing your cornerstone
piece is Nicola Jokics. You're not You wouldn't move him,
and that would be a stupid move. So you look
and say, well, what are the players around him? Could
you move? Could you survive it out of Jamal? Maybe,
(10:55):
but you don't want to do that. And Aaron Gohin
just signed extensions, So that's not the guy. So the
guy becomes in essence, it becomes Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's interesting because I don't Jamal Murray has not looked
like himself.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He has not looked like himself the season.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And I know most people would consider him part of
the core, but I feel like that if you're looking
at pieces you move.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
First of all, you got to look at the money.
Murray and Porter are the only two that makes sense
to move.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They make sense to move. But when you're really thinking
about it, you say, well, who works well together?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
When you think about Michael Porter Jr. Streaky shooter, he's
a spot up shooter. I don't look at Michael Porter Jr.
As athletic as he is a guy that can creciate
his own shot. When you when you look at Michael
Porter Junior play and you say, okay, well he could
take a guy off the drive. I know that he's
athletic and he has the potential to be able to
(12:00):
do it, but we don't see him do that on
an every night in a night night out basis. So
he would be one of those guys. And like once again,
Ebstrada starts coming along and Peyton Watson, who plays with
a lot of energy and a lot of passion. Those
two guys start to come on. It gives you some
some options, but you got to think about the money
(12:22):
and then what you're getting in return. But if the
Nuggets truly want to make another run, they got to
start looking at the Ronston said, well, where can we
get a haircut here and there to make this team better?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Not just once.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Againe as we talk about the Broncos and trade dallin
this next week, Not just for a one year renter, right,
you gotta look at at least two to three years.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
And resetting it a little bit as well. I think
that they believe that they're still in Nikole Jokicic's window,
that he's still in his prime. I mean, we see
a guy who's capable going out putting for forty point
nights back to BacT certainly certainly capable is still doing that.
Who would you be eyeballing to bring in who's a
good fit for this team?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
See that that's that's the other thing that you worry
about because all of the offense runs through Nikola Jokis.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Now like off ball shooters is what you think?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Well, yeah, so now you have to find individuals who
that's all they do. They excel at being spot up shooters.
Like so for me, like a guy like Devin Cinzo,
like he is one of those guys who has excel
in the league as a spot up shooter.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And we have Miller available, No coming.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You don't?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
You don't then, I mean, if there was a team
that I would look at their roster first. There's two teams,
Sacramento Kings and.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
The Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And the reason why I say those two teams because
they have young players. But we know both of those
two teams are fun and gun teams and they love
to shoot a three point shots.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I do, and they've got both of them have guys
I think they would fit.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Here the question is how you you make that work?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Trading within the West and then you know you're moving
on from a what are you getting back for who
you're who you're giving up? You know, in those kinds
of scenarios, you gotta make the money work because it's
the NBA versus some of these other leagues where you
don't have to worry about, you know, making the money
balance out on some of these moves.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
On those things as well.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I don't know, as I look at this Nuggets team,
they're clearly missing something.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I don't know what it is exactly. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Christian Brown in the starting lineup has been the right move.
I always thought he was better off the bench, and
I'm doubling down on that now after having seen it
for a few games. I like when Starthur breaks to
the table, but he's not quite ready yet either defensively.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And so that's you know that they you know, you
and I had this discussion. You pointed that out correctly,
and it was one of those things like I love
what he brings to the table offensively, but he's not
quite there defensively.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
But this is where the internal discussions between Calvin Booth
and Mike Malone will happen throughout the season.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They have two different philosophies.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
They both have the same gold in mine Washington Nuggets
win and trying to get back to winning the title,
but it's how do you get that done? And they're
gonna wrestle with this this this entire season to see
which philosophy actually works. But for right now, I'm gonna
lean heavily towards coach Malone because, look, I know the
(15:22):
idea of bringing in young players that they're not as
costly they're or cost effective as they are, but you
need time for those players to develop and to bring
in veteran players you know who and what they are,
and you're bringing them in specifically to do certain things.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Right. Broncos will be listening.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
You want guys to be able to do certain things,
and there's nothing wrong with being a guy that specify
in this particular thing.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
You could be a specialist in the NBA. I mean,
you know you can be a specialist in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
That's why repoint specialist. Right. So they're there.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, you know, as I look at this and
I'm starting to mentally put together some you know, kind.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Of lists of what it is.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I think that the Nuggets can a forward and be
what it would take to get those kinds of players. Uh,
that's something we'll kind of keep an eye on as
we as we move forward, and and how this team
adapts as they as they start to figure things out
throughout the season and tweak the lineup just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
We come back. We've got our good friend Ryan and
Michael gonna go inside the numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Brocos Country KOA, how would you rate my pick of
Nick Benito?
Speaker 5 (16:38):
You know, I think that he's an underrated player and
has a fantastic opportunity to be a great contributor. Is
it going to be someone who lead the team in
av No? I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Carolina three of ten On third down, empty set, Young
raises the right knee, bounces around and bounces right into
a sack back at the sixteen yard line.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
That's the easiest one of the year for Nick Benito.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that is the sixth consecutive game that Nick Benito
has had at least a sack.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
That one fell right into his lap.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I always love it when Grant plays clips of something
that I was right on, that I forgot that I
was right on that I get to spike the football again.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
This is not about you being right, so stop bringing
your arm trying to patch yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
On the Everything is about me being right.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And I've I've already sought treatment for the sore elbow
from patting myself on the backside elbow.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
It patters elbow, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
It's it's similar to us.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's it's the same injury actually that those referees are
getting in the NFL right now with Flagger's elbow, with
throwing so many flags out there right now, we'll get
the over.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Got to get the tub ready for the refs.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Is that similar to uh, Tommy Dons.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yes, and you're gonna have to get that surgery, the
surgery in order to be able to get that flag
out there.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Five six sixth nine zeros.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The text line Benjamin Old, bad day Fergus live from
Sam's Number three in Glendale, Gonna go right out to
the KA concentrator the hotline and bringing on our buddy
Ryan Michael at the Ryan on My on Twitter ride.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
How you doing this.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Evening doing well man, Nick, How are you guys?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I was just basking in the globe being right again Nick.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Nick was frustrated with it, but you know, I think
deep deep down he appreciates me spiking the adult even
though I didn't score on that particular play.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Ryan.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You know, we've it's been an interesting ride so far
this season.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Earlier this season, all we hear about bo Nicks, you know,
recording historic lows and efficiency. Then we get the Raiders
and Panthers, the Saints, we see them light of the
box score, the highlight reel.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Halfway through the season. Who is bo Nicks?
Speaker 5 (18:39):
You know, that's a difficult question to answer, Ben, because
eight games in we're dealing with such a small sample
size with both the highs and the lows. Of course,
the truth is going to be somewhere in between those
two ends of the spectrum. You know, when you look
at his efficiency numbers from a statistical perspective. We talked
(18:59):
to us this a little bit last week. Having such
a small sample size when you struggle as he did
towards the beginning of the season, We'll sew the numbers
and I'll give you a Peyton Manning stat to that effect.
Building off of our win over Carolina in Super Bowl fifty,
Manning only attempted twenty three passes if you include the
two point conversion twenty four passes. He was got awful
(19:22):
in the second quarter two of seven for fifteen yards
to pick a zero point zero passer rating, but in
the other three quarters combined, his passer rating was nearly
one hundred. He completed the total of twelve of seventeen
passes for one hundred and twenty eight yards, And so
you look to the total numbers for that game, you
would say Peyton Manning did not have a good statistical game,
(19:43):
but the sample size was so small that awful second
quarter killed the overall efficiency numbers. Similar thing at play
for bow in terms of his awful outings versus Seattle
and Pittsburgh and some low efficiency even in the win
over the Jets. So the truth is somewhere in between.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Well, we see bo makes be successful from the beginning
of the season with the implementation of maybe some RPO
plays and some design quarterback bronze. And we saw last
week on Thursday Night Football against the Saints he had
that long run down the left side of the field.
Do you project or foreseeing that bo Nick's being able
(20:21):
to run efficiently as he has been thus far as
being something that the Broncos to lean on moving forward.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
You know, I think he accept the bar so hind
Nick that it wouldn't be reasonable to expect to see
this kind of production on the ground, and I came
prepared with some numbers to that effect. His four rushing
touchdowns are two away from the Broncos franchise rookie record
in tebou scored six. But right now, his rushing success percentage,
(20:50):
which is an efficiency metric per Pro Football Reference, at
fifty five point eight percent, blows away Tebow's rookie mark
of fifty one point two percent. It's the highest and
franchise history for a rookie quarterback. So high, he's eighth
in the NFL for players of all positions. The only
quarterbacks ahead of him are Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels.
Bo is just to tick above Lamar Jackson at fifty
(21:13):
five point six percent, So at his current pace, he's
on pace to produce five hundred and fifty yards eight
touchdowns while averaging five point zero yards for carry on
the ground. I don't think it's sustainable, will continue to
build off it, and it will be effective at times.
But he's really set the bar so high to expect
more of the same in the second half of the season.
I don't think that would be reasonable. I would expect
(21:35):
to see not so much regression as much as the
opposing defenses having more all twenty two to study, and
they'll implement measures to force him to win through the air.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I mean, I think that's the way we all we
all saw it coming that bow Dix would absolutely just
lab based Lamar Jackson in terms of rushing because he's
he's such a you.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Know, I can't even finish that called.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Bo Vic what all said instead of bow Knicks. Look
the things that have helped bow improve over the course
of this though. You talked about a little bit but
quicker pre snapwork, cleaning up some of the issues of
play the offense. To the first few games the season,
we saw the Broncos finally start to adopt a little
bit of tempo at times, picking up the pace of things,
(22:15):
and that's certainly helped out as well.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
What else can they do to kind of sort.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Of help bo Nicks as he matures and grows this season.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Yeah, I think it's a matter of continuing to build
continuity in the offense so we don't need to be
having the seemingly endless number of personnel swap. I think
that Sean Payton has certainly dummied down the language right,
so we're not seeing bo Nick struggling just to get
the words out in time to call play. I think
we've made improvement in that area, and I think as
(22:47):
he continues to get more support on the ground, that's
going to open up things in the passing game. All
the cliches are true. Football is a balanced game, so
you can find that perfect balance of passing and rush
deficiency as we've seen over the last four weeks or so,
And I wouldn't say that it's perfect. I would say
it's trending in the right direction. If we can continue
to build on that, I'm excited to see what he's
(23:10):
going to be able to do as a passer against
some tougher defenses.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, when you think about last Sunday's game, it was
it did start out as well as the Broncos won it,
and they had some trouble spots along the way. But
is there a particular player on either side of the
ball that really stood.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Out to you.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
I think collectively, for Bo, it's really just a matter
of that overall efficiency, and as we've seen, he starts
to get hot during the second half of games. We
even saw that in the season opener this year against Seattle,
So you know, it's a matter of getting off. If
we could take a positive hot start that he had
versus Tampa Bay, with some of these hot finishes, you'd
(23:49):
really have the perfect quarterback. So there's plenty to clean
up and plenty to build off of.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
As we look at the splits that Bo has incurred
to the first half of the season, what are some
positives and what are some some negatives.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Sure, I'll start with the positive, even though it's a
somewhat limited sample size. Under center, he's been playing very well.
He's completed twenty eight forty five passes, two hundred and
forty eight yards, four touchdowns, no picks, a one oh
six point five passer rating. He's only taken one sack
in those forty six dropbacks, and three of his four
(24:27):
rushing touchdowns have come from under center. So I'd like
to see them incorporate a little bit more of that,
you know, a weakness. I would say after he crossed
his midfield between the opponents forty nine and twenty plays
better in the red zone. But between the forty nine
and twenty he's only completed fifty seven point three percent
of his passes FO one hundred and fifty three yards,
no touchdowns, two picks, sixty four passer rating. He gets
(24:51):
better in the red zone eight touchdowns to one pick,
which are his numbers for the totality, or rather the
touchdowns for the season have all come in the red zone.
He's playing good football there, it just needs to clean
it up after he passes midfield.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
So what do you think that coach Payton needs to
do to kind of squeeze more of the jews out
of his receivering corps, Because on Sunday we saw you know,
Devon Villet making couple of plays, and obviously this last
week there has been a con sort of effort trying
to get Troy Franklin involved in offense more. But what
(25:25):
can he do from a coaching standpoint or even scheme
standpoint to kind of give those guys more touches?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
You know, I think he's doing what he can and
the receivers have to make the most out of their opportunities. Obviously,
the big drops and bumbles are killers, even in games
where we're well ahead, as we were against Carolina, So
you know, we have to clean that up, and the
players who are getting targets need to make the most
of those opportunities. You could tell Courtland Sutton must have
felt the paint of having no targets the week before,
(25:55):
because he hauled in eight receptions off eleven targets front
of one hundred yards. That's definitely encouraging to see, and
I think that the rest of the receiving corps will
need to follow suit.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
What should we expect What should Broadcoast Country expect out
bone Ax in the second half season.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
I'd say in the second half of the season, what
we're going to see are he's going to be forced
to flesh out his skills as a passer, and then
I'm in agreement with you. As impressive as it is
to see him put up the box score numbers that
he did against Carolina, and even on tape it was very,
very pretty, but it was against one of the worst
defenses in pro football. He's catching a break this week
(26:33):
going against Baltimore's defense. That ranks twenty ninth in passer
ratings surrendered at one O three point four, dead last
in the NFL. In passing yards, they've given up two
three hundred and thirty one, tied for dead last in
the league. Had given up seventeen touchdown passes. On the
flip side, they're number one in the NFL in terms
of yards per carry, only allowing three point three. So
(26:54):
it looks to me, at least on paper, a game
that he's going to need to win through the air
as time goes on, and I want to see how
he holds up against some of the better pass defenses
in the league, because that's something we haven't seen yet.
Tearing apart bad defense is one thing, but eventually you're
going to be facing those top ten defenses and you
got to show up.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Well, we know the Ravens are not that great as
far as playing the pass, and we watched Javontae Williams
just kind of explode out of the gate last week
on Thursday Night Football, and knowing as though you're going
to need every single player in every ounce of production,
no one is going You're going against Lamar Jackson and
Derrick Henry and who They're gonna want to keep the
(27:35):
ground game going. Do you see an opportunity at any
point against his Baltimore Ravens defense where the Broncos can
get Javonte back on track.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
You know, as much as I'd like to say that,
this week is going to be the week going against
the league leaders in that defensive rushing the XP which
is another efficiency metric per Pro Football Reference twenty two
point zero five. Statistically speaking, Nick, this is going to
be the week to be efficient through the passing game.
It's not that you're going to abandon the run game,
(28:08):
because we, of course need to have balance. We've done
a great job in terms of controlling the clock. I
think we had thirty three minutes plus of possession last week,
so I'd like to see that continue. This week is
going to be tougher against a quarterback like Lamar Jackson,
but I think if our offense is going to have
any success, it's going to be through the air.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Talking with Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter, Roy,
what did you think of the accusations of Sean Payton
trying to run it up last week?
Speaker 5 (28:41):
Well, I mean, when you produce twenty eight points, I
don't know how much we're running of the score, and
I may be in the minority here, Ben, but it's
my view that as opposing coaches, as opposing defensive players,
your job is to stop the other team from scoring.
So if you've performed so poorly that your opponent is
ahead by so much that they're to take their foot
(29:02):
off the gas, it's a classy thing to do, and
you know, I don't think it's something that should be
taken for granted. So I think you got to go
out there and play football. If you're exhausting yourself at
the end of the game coming after a head coach,
we're doing his job. And that's really what we'd like
to see more out of a Sean Payton offense that
ranks twentieth in the league in scoring and two of
those touchdowns come on the defensive side of the ball.
(29:24):
So I want to see Sean Payton leave the offense
to more points. I don't particularly care when it happens.
It means more when you're putting your team ahead, but
it happens at the end of football games and it
builds momentum going into the next week. I'm here for
it played better.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I mean, whether we in season or we in an
off season, the conversation is always dominated by quarterback play,
just just kind of overall, looking at the situation that
Shane Stikeen is dealing with with Anthony Richison with the
Colts and the fact that you know, he said that
he was tied and that narrative is that he's tapped out,
(30:02):
do you think that somehow as we move forward during
the evaluation process of for Quarterbacks schedule to come out
at twenty twenty five, that looking at Anthony Richardson somehow
changes how the quarterback position is evaluated from.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Here on out.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Well, you know, as we talked about during the spring,
it's more probable than not that your top ten overall
quarterback selection, with the exception of the guys who are
going number one overall, is going to be a bust
relative to a really really big stand. And statistically, unfortunately
for Richardson dead last in the league and passer rating
(30:41):
at fifty seven point two, second to last is for
Eleves at seventy point seven. He's only completed forty four
point four percent of his passes, So it's been a
very ugly overall season for him with a somewhat limited
sample size. He's only attempt at one hundred and thirty
three passes, so this really isn't anything new. Rarely do
you see a quarterback drafted that high struggle as much
(31:04):
as Anthony has this season. But it's something that all
thirty two teams have to be prepared for because, with
the exception of number one overall picks, it's a coin
flip when you're drafting in the top ten, and so
depending on the situation, you have to be prepared for that.
There is no guarantee that because you draft a quarterback high,
he's going to be playing at an elite level.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Ran What do you give the Broncos as far as
chances coming up against the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They got a tough three game stretch. The Ravens is
nick noted.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Not exactly great against the pass this year. They do
stop the run pretty well. The defense has had some
issues there, but of course they got a very very
good offense. It's going to be interesting as you've got
the number one per play offense to the Baltimore Ravens
against the number one per play defense in the Broncos.
But what chance do you give the Broncos this week.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
You know, I have Baltimore at twenty seven to twenty one.
It's a winnable game when you look at just how
weak Baltimore's pass defense has been. If history is the gauge,
they're due to have a good game because it's been
really ugly for them through eight games so far. But
Baltimore is the better overall team. Lamar Jackson's arguably playing
(32:11):
the quarterback position better than anybody in the NFL right now,
and as great as our defense has been, it's going
to be the biggest challenge of the season far and away,
so I'm pulling for him. I think it's a winnable game,
but I still give the splight edge to Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well he's Ryan Michael at The Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Look forward to talking to you next week. Hopefully the
Broncos are able to get that win against the Baltimore Ravens,
but if they don't, we'll be going into Kansas City
and trying to figure things out.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Look forward to talking to them, but for having me,
absolutely take care.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Ryan Michael at The Ryan Michael on Twitter, contributor at
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and we always love
having him on the show to go inside the numbers.
He thinks that the Baltimore game is a is a
close game with Baltimore pulling it out.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
What do you think they.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You know what, right now, I wouldn't put it that close.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
And the reason that I said this the last time
the Broncos played Baltimore, the game was close and Lamar
Jackson was injured and Huntley taler Huntley had to come
in the game, right, and it was still a baseball
type of score. But known as though you do have
Derrick Henry, they still have Zay Flowers.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
They have two dang good tight ends.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And they just added Deontay Johnson who's leaving the Carolina Panthers.
We don't know how much he's gonna be brought up
to speed on char as their offense and utilized. But
that's kind of been a big issue for Baltimore having
adequate play outside the numbers for the team. But one
(33:46):
thing we do know, they can run the ball with
Derek Henry and just bludging you to death, or they
can speed things up with Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
We'll get more into that as the as the week
goes along, we come back.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
We've got Parker Gabriel.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It's gonna join us, talk a little bit about this
past week and look forward to Baltimore as well.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It is in Nebroncos country, like right here on kiawe
Well them do it Broncos Country tonight, but with all bright,
Dick Ferguson, Grant Smith for Sam's Number three in Glennendale,
Shannon Scott on site here, Grant Smith back there at iHeart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Maine, and Nick.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
The Denver Nuggets have not gotten off to a very
auspicious start here this season. It's not been what is
expected of them to currently down as we were talking
right now, although they battle back from.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
A double digit lead to cut the lead within four.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
The Nuggets have just not come out the gate the
way everybody expected this team to come out the gate.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
No, they haven't.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
And it leads back to a problem that a situation
we saw at the beginning of the season. We was
wondering how we're going to play out during the season
and was there going to be any drama difficulty with
an organization and what I'm talking about. Before the season started,
there were some difference of a pain between what coach
Malone wanted and what Cavin Booth the GM won it.
(01:00):
You think about Kevin Booth, he wants young players that
you can you can develop for a long time down
the road for the Nuggets. But coach Malone, based on
you know, being around his father and being that kind
of coach, he wants more veteran.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Guys because he understands that.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
That window for NIKOLEA. Yoki it's not gonna stay open forever. So,
you know, after the first couple of games of the season,
both Coach Malone and Nikola Yokis were somewhat asked about
the team shooting because that was a problem for me
when the look when you look at Ben shooting, when
the starters off the floor, where's that shooting going to
(01:38):
come from? And Coach Malone said, look, I mean going
into the season, shooting wasn't concern of mine. You lose
a guy like KCP who's a forty three point shooter
end quote. And then Nikola Jokic had this to say,
We're not a good shooting team except Mike and Jamal.
(02:00):
All of us kind of a streaky not streaky, but
just average shooters end quote. So both of those individuals,
you have your coach who won a title for the
Denver Nuggets fan base and they have been done since
forty seven years, and you have your reigning MVP saying
they both realized that shooting is a issue for me.
(02:22):
That was them trying to say the quiet part out
loud and let Kevin bout know. Hey, man, we may
need to tweak this roster because we're gonna need to shoot.
And you and I saw the opening games and start
the NBA season. It was the Celtics versus the Knicks.
The Celtics took twenty nine to three pointers twenty nine.
(02:46):
They were one shy if I'm not mistaken off the
NBA record, So you know what you're gonna have to
face and relying on Nikola, Jokis and MPJ just to
be those outside shooters. And you know, when you think
about Jamal Murray, he can shoot the three and Soka Westbrook,
but this team needs outside shooting, especially on that second unit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, they do. And you know, we've seen sort of
at this point how.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
It is.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's been a struggle for them to be able to
find the right rhythm and find the right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Successful lineups early on, thankfully the basketball season eighty two games,
but without Jokic on the court, this team looks bad.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Jokic's clearly the engine that makes it go, and.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
The problem is that when he comes off the court,
you have to basically rework your entire offense. There isn't
a plug and play player behind him where you can
sort of continue to run the same thing because there's
nobody that offers that skill set.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Very true, but the biggest thing for me, other than
the second thing for me, other than finding shooters on
the second unit, is how.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The Nuggets defit. And we watch with OKC.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Teams are not as afraid of the Nuggets as maybe they.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Were two years ago, and it just seemed as some.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Of that shine has rubbed off because teams are now
looking say, well, you can attack the Nuggets get downhill,
and also you can attack them if you got outside
three point shooters, because the Nuggets still don't close out
well on three point shooters. And if you got a
guard that is long, athletic that can penetrate, you're gonna
(04:32):
collapse the defense. And when you collapse the defense, there's
a drive and kick. And sometimes the Nuggets defenders, both
the starters and that second unit sometimes ben they're late
far as the weak side help.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
These are areas.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Where the Nuggets need to definitely get better because teams
are gonna attack them.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And then, once again it's a little different and it's.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Not for me to kind of put Christen Brown on
blind but it's a little different than when KCP was here.
He was known as somewhat of a defensive specialist. Ye
when Christen Brown is on the floor, they look opposing
teams in their guards, they look as an opportunity to
attack it and get down.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You, right, And it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He doesn't have the same lateral quickness that that KCP head,
doesn't have the same defensive ability that CACP had. And uh,
you know me, I love the fact that Christian Brown
is a hustle guy and all that kind of stuff.
At the end of the day, you you either are
able to capably defend or you are not. And I
get that Christian Brown is certainly a favorite of Coach Malone,
(05:37):
But uh, at the point where you become a bit
of a liability in the fact that teams are attacking
you and haven't gone away from that because you haven't
shown that they need to, like for instance, Riley Moss,
you know, to mix my sports here, then then they're
going to keep doing it. And if you have success
doing something, I don't blame them keep doing it.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, And this is where guys like straw there is
going to have to come up, you know, big for
this team.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
He's a young guy.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
He is still developing, and they're hoping that he can
turn into something where he becomes another piece or another
threat offensively for the Denver Nuggets, that they can mix
and match, you know, when the starters are off the floor,
swap out with.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Both he and the Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
But they need to develop other scores because that's where
the teams have decided. If the Boston won the title,
it was about, you know, once again, getting those guys
who can actually shoot those outside shots, but do it
very consistently.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And that's I mean, and that's the thing, you know,
at at the end of the day in the in
the modern NBA, you basically, I mean, you have to
be able to shoot outside. You've got to be able
to do that. And because that's what it is, it's
a race to who can hit the most three pointers, uh,
you know, and then there are some teams that will
make some three point plays, but the most most of
these teams have accelerated this to where it's a race
(07:03):
to vomit from outside and who can rebound on those.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Scenarios and get second chance opportunities. And the Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Just when when Yokich isn't on the court to be
able to to suck up the defenders and give those
perimeter shooters those looks, it changes the concept of what
they are. The scoring bogs down and they become frankly
a bad basketball team.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Well here's the other thing too, is that you know,
closing out on shooters and when you take an enormous
amount of three point shots, because this is kind of
what the NBA has turned into, right, Obviously three is
more than two, so you're gonna have so many guys
making those attempts to knock down to three point shots.
(07:46):
But the biggest thing if you're gonna take those shots,
and this is the thing that frustrates the hell out
of me, and it's not just with the Nuggets, but
it's across the NBA league.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
One is that guys take.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
ILLVII shots, right, And I know, you know, we've seen
those transition threes and some guys have been successful at it.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But sometimes guys have come up court.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Take those transition threes, but you have no one under
the rim to get the rebound, or sometimes even if
it's not a transition three, someone does. There's a down
pick downscreen and someone shoots a three point shot, but
once again, who's grabbing their rebounds And it's an extraordinary
of an athletic talent even though he's not that fast.
(08:28):
Nikola is an extraordinary as a player, but he's not
known for being just kind of like that guy who's
going to consistently grab like twelve board, twelve to fifteen board.
That's not who he is. He can do that, but
you don't want to put him in that position. You
want to get Nikola Jokic out and running, you want
to start to break. To me, that's where the Denver
(08:50):
Nuggets offense definitely lives. So I don't know how coach
Malone finans is at or makes it work, but they're.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Going to need if they are if they want to.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Be playoff contenders or dare I say, you know, contenders
for a title. You you gotta find some way to
improve your outside shooting.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Because they're missing a piece right now. This team is
not prepared to twin an NBA title. Like looking at
this even with Jokic on there, they're just not. They
got their first win of the season in overtime against
the Raptors twenty twenty seven five, you'll catch back to
back forty point games. I mean, are we wearing them
out early in the season to even be in contention
(09:29):
for that kind of stuff?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
I say yes, because if you look at some of
the Nuggets games, they are fighting back from maybe ten
to twelve point deficits. So that's more energy that you
have to exert if you are Nicola Jokis, because if
you're coach Malone, you're saying to yourself, we can't have
Nicola Jokic off the floor that long. And that's the
(09:50):
problem that goes back to having so many young guys
who are expected to build up that second unit. Because
if those guys weren assistant as far as being able
to score, then you don't have to work. But you
can sit him for an extended minutes. But now you can't.
It's like soon as Nicola sits down, it's like, now
(10:11):
you got to get back up because now we're down
maybe six eight points.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Can't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You mentioned the team us to go ahead and get
a shooter, but how do you do that? They're already
up against it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
As far as the you know, the cap kind of
stuff goes basically anything short of moving Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You're host, Well, who's to say that come trade deadline.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
That's not something that you think about it or you
even think about it now, because when we think about
what the Nuggets are, like, the first thing your cornerstone
piece is Nicola Jokics. You're not You wouldn't move him,
and that would be a stupid move. So you look
and say, well, what are the players around him? Could
you move? Could you survive it out of Jamal? Maybe,
(10:55):
but you don't want to do that. And Aaron Gohin
just signed extensions, So that's not the guy. So the
guy becomes in essence, it becomes Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's interesting because I don't Jamal Murray has not looked
like himself.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He has not looked like himself the season.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And I know most people would consider him part of
the core, but I feel like that if you're looking
at pieces you move.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
First of all, you got to look at the money.
Murray and Porter are the only two that makes sense
to move.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They make sense to move. But when you're really thinking
about it, you say, well, who works well together?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
When you think about Michael Porter Jr. Streaky shooter, he's
a spot up shooter. I don't look at Michael Porter Jr.
As athletic as he is a guy that can creciate
his own shot. When you when you look at Michael
Porter Junior play and you say, okay, well he could
take a guy off the drive. I know that he's
athletic and he has the potential to be able to
(12:00):
do it, but we don't see him do that on
an every night in a night night out basis. So
he would be one of those guys. And like once again,
Ebstrada starts coming along and Peyton Watson, who plays with
a lot of energy and a lot of passion. Those
two guys start to come on. It gives you some
some options, but you got to think about the money
(12:22):
and then what you're getting in return. But if the
Nuggets truly want to make another run, they got to
start looking at the Ronston said, well, where can we
get a haircut here and there to make this team better?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Not just once.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Againe as we talk about the Broncos and trade dallin
this next week, Not just for a one year renter, right,
you gotta look at at least two to three years.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
And resetting it a little bit as well. I think
that they believe that they're still in Nikole Jokicic's window,
that he's still in his prime. I mean, we see
a guy who's capable going out putting for forty point
nights back to BacT certainly certainly capable is still doing that.
Who would you be eyeballing to bring in who's a
good fit for this team?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
See that that's that's the other thing that you worry
about because all of the offense runs through Nikola Jokis.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Now like off ball shooters is what you think?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Well, yeah, so now you have to find individuals who
that's all they do. They excel at being spot up shooters.
Like so for me, like a guy like Devin Cinzo,
like he is one of those guys who has excel
in the league as a spot up shooter.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And we have Miller available, No coming.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You don't?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
You don't then, I mean, if there was a team
that I would look at their roster first. There's two teams,
Sacramento Kings and.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
The Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And the reason why I say those two teams because
they have young players. But we know both of those
two teams are fun and gun teams and they love
to shoot a three point shots.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I do, and they've got both of them have guys
I think they would fit.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Here the question is how you you make that work?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Trading within the West and then you know you're moving
on from a what are you getting back for who
you're who you're giving up? You know, in those kinds
of scenarios, you gotta make the money work because it's
the NBA versus some of these other leagues where you
don't have to worry about, you know, making the money
balance out on some of these moves.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
On those things as well.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I don't know, as I look at this Nuggets team,
they're clearly missing something.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I don't know what it is exactly. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Christian Brown in the starting lineup has been the right move.
I always thought he was better off the bench, and
I'm doubling down on that now after having seen it
for a few games. I like when Starthur breaks to
the table, but he's not quite ready yet either defensively.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And so that's you know that they you know, you
and I had this discussion. You pointed that out correctly,
and it was one of those things like I love
what he brings to the table offensively, but he's not
quite there defensively.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
But this is where the internal discussions between Calvin Booth
and Mike Malone will happen throughout the season.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They have two different philosophies.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
They both have the same gold in mine Washington Nuggets
win and trying to get back to winning the title,
but it's how do you get that done? And they're
gonna wrestle with this this this entire season to see
which philosophy actually works. But for right now, I'm gonna
lean heavily towards coach Malone because, look, I know the
(15:22):
idea of bringing in young players that they're not as
costly they're or cost effective as they are, but you
need time for those players to develop and to bring
in veteran players you know who and what they are,
and you're bringing them in specifically to do certain things.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Right. Broncos will be listening.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
You want guys to be able to do certain things,
and there's nothing wrong with being a guy that specify
in this particular thing.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
You could be a specialist in the NBA. I mean,
you know you can be a specialist in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
That's why repoint specialist. Right. So they're there.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, you know, as I look at this and
I'm starting to mentally put together some you know, kind.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Of lists of what it is.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I think that the Nuggets can a forward and be
what it would take to get those kinds of players. Uh,
that's something we'll kind of keep an eye on as
we as we move forward, and and how this team
adapts as they as they start to figure things out
throughout the season and tweak the lineup just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
We come back. We've got our good friend Ryan and
Michael gonna go inside the numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Brocos Country KOA, how would you rate my pick of
Nick Benito?
Speaker 5 (16:38):
You know, I think that he's an underrated player and
has a fantastic opportunity to be a great contributor. Is
it going to be someone who lead the team in
av No? I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Carolina three of ten On third down, empty set, Young
raises the right knee, bounces around and bounces right into
a sack back at the sixteen yard line.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
That's the easiest one of the year for Nick Benito.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that is the sixth consecutive game that Nick Benito
has had at least a sack.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
That one fell right into his lap.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I always love it when Grant plays clips of something
that I was right on, that I forgot that I
was right on that I get to spike the football again.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
This is not about you being right, so stop bringing
your arm trying to patch yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
On the Everything is about me being right.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And I've I've already sought treatment for the sore elbow
from patting myself on the backside elbow.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
It patters elbow, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
It's it's similar to us.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's it's the same injury actually that those referees are
getting in the NFL right now with Flagger's elbow, with
throwing so many flags out there right now, we'll get
the over.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Got to get the tub ready for the refs.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Is that similar to uh, Tommy Dons.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yes, and you're gonna have to get that surgery, the
surgery in order to be able to get that flag
out there.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Five six sixth nine zeros.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The text line Benjamin Old, bad day Fergus live from
Sam's Number three in Glendale, Gonna go right out to
the KA concentrator the hotline and bringing on our buddy
Ryan Michael at the Ryan on My on Twitter ride.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
How you doing this.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Evening doing well man, Nick, How are you guys?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I was just basking in the globe being right again Nick.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Nick was frustrated with it, but you know, I think
deep deep down he appreciates me spiking the adult even
though I didn't score on that particular play.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Ryan.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You know, we've it's been an interesting ride so far
this season.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Earlier this season, all we hear about bo Nicks, you know,
recording historic lows and efficiency. Then we get the Raiders
and Panthers, the Saints, we see them light of the
box score, the highlight reel.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Halfway through the season. Who is bo Nicks?
Speaker 5 (18:39):
You know, that's a difficult question to answer, Ben, because
eight games in we're dealing with such a small sample
size with both the highs and the lows. Of course,
the truth is going to be somewhere in between those
two ends of the spectrum. You know, when you look
at his efficiency numbers from a statistical perspective. We talked
(18:59):
to us this a little bit last week. Having such
a small sample size when you struggle as he did
towards the beginning of the season, We'll sew the numbers
and I'll give you a Peyton Manning stat to that effect.
Building off of our win over Carolina in Super Bowl fifty,
Manning only attempted twenty three passes if you include the
two point conversion twenty four passes. He was got awful
(19:22):
in the second quarter two of seven for fifteen yards
to pick a zero point zero passer rating, but in
the other three quarters combined, his passer rating was nearly
one hundred. He completed the total of twelve of seventeen
passes for one hundred and twenty eight yards, And so
you look to the total numbers for that game, you
would say Peyton Manning did not have a good statistical game,
(19:43):
but the sample size was so small that awful second
quarter killed the overall efficiency numbers. Similar thing at play
for bow in terms of his awful outings versus Seattle
and Pittsburgh and some low efficiency even in the win
over the Jets. So the truth is somewhere in between.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Well, we see bo makes be successful from the beginning
of the season with the implementation of maybe some RPO
plays and some design quarterback bronze. And we saw last
week on Thursday Night Football against the Saints he had
that long run down the left side of the field.
Do you project or foreseeing that bo Nick's being able
(20:21):
to run efficiently as he has been thus far as
being something that the Broncos to lean on moving forward.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
You know, I think he accept the bar so hind
Nick that it wouldn't be reasonable to expect to see
this kind of production on the ground, and I came
prepared with some numbers to that effect. His four rushing
touchdowns are two away from the Broncos franchise rookie record
in tebou scored six. But right now, his rushing success percentage,
(20:50):
which is an efficiency metric per Pro Football Reference, at
fifty five point eight percent, blows away Tebow's rookie mark
of fifty one point two percent. It's the highest and
franchise history for a rookie quarterback. So high, he's eighth
in the NFL for players of all positions. The only
quarterbacks ahead of him are Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels.
Bo is just to tick above Lamar Jackson at fifty
(21:13):
five point six percent, So at his current pace, he's
on pace to produce five hundred and fifty yards eight
touchdowns while averaging five point zero yards for carry on
the ground. I don't think it's sustainable, will continue to
build off it, and it will be effective at times.
But he's really set the bar so high to expect
more of the same in the second half of the season.
I don't think that would be reasonable. I would expect
(21:35):
to see not so much regression as much as the
opposing defenses having more all twenty two to study, and
they'll implement measures to force him to win through the air.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I mean, I think that's the way we all we
all saw it coming that bow Dix would absolutely just
lab based Lamar Jackson in terms of rushing because he's
he's such a you.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Know, I can't even finish that called.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Bo Vic what all said instead of bow Knicks. Look
the things that have helped bow improve over the course
of this though. You talked about a little bit but
quicker pre snapwork, cleaning up some of the issues of
play the offense. To the first few games the season,
we saw the Broncos finally start to adopt a little
bit of tempo at times, picking up the pace of things,
(22:15):
and that's certainly helped out as well.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
What else can they do to kind of sort.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Of help bo Nicks as he matures and grows this season.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Yeah, I think it's a matter of continuing to build
continuity in the offense so we don't need to be
having the seemingly endless number of personnel swap. I think
that Sean Payton has certainly dummied down the language right,
so we're not seeing bo Nick struggling just to get
the words out in time to call play. I think
we've made improvement in that area, and I think as
(22:47):
he continues to get more support on the ground, that's
going to open up things in the passing game. All
the cliches are true. Football is a balanced game, so
you can find that perfect balance of passing and rush
deficiency as we've seen over the last four weeks or so,
And I wouldn't say that it's perfect. I would say
it's trending in the right direction. If we can continue
to build on that, I'm excited to see what he's
(23:10):
going to be able to do as a passer against
some tougher defenses.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Well, when you think about last Sunday's game, it was
it did start out as well as the Broncos won it,
and they had some trouble spots along the way. But
is there a particular player on either side of the
ball that really stood.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Out to you.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
I think collectively, for Bo, it's really just a matter
of that overall efficiency, and as we've seen, he starts
to get hot during the second half of games. We
even saw that in the season opener this year against Seattle,
So you know, it's a matter of getting off. If
we could take a positive hot start that he had
versus Tampa Bay, with some of these hot finishes, you'd
(23:49):
really have the perfect quarterback. So there's plenty to clean
up and plenty to build off of.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
As we look at the splits that Bo has incurred
to the first half of the season, what are some
positives and what are some some negatives.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Sure, I'll start with the positive, even though it's a
somewhat limited sample size. Under center, he's been playing very well.
He's completed twenty eight forty five passes, two hundred and
forty eight yards, four touchdowns, no picks, a one oh
six point five passer rating. He's only taken one sack
in those forty six dropbacks, and three of his four
(24:27):
rushing touchdowns have come from under center. So I'd like
to see them incorporate a little bit more of that,
you know, a weakness. I would say after he crossed
his midfield between the opponents forty nine and twenty plays
better in the red zone. But between the forty nine
and twenty he's only completed fifty seven point three percent
of his passes FO one hundred and fifty three yards,
no touchdowns, two picks, sixty four passer rating. He gets
(24:51):
better in the red zone eight touchdowns to one pick,
which are his numbers for the totality, or rather the
touchdowns for the season have all come in the red zone.
He's playing good football there, it just needs to clean
it up after he passes midfield.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
So what do you think that coach Payton needs to
do to kind of squeeze more of the jews out
of his receivering corps, Because on Sunday we saw you know,
Devon Villet making couple of plays, and obviously this last
week there has been a con sort of effort trying
to get Troy Franklin involved in offense more. But what
(25:25):
can he do from a coaching standpoint or even scheme
standpoint to kind of give those guys more touches?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
You know, I think he's doing what he can and
the receivers have to make the most out of their opportunities. Obviously,
the big drops and bumbles are killers, even in games
where we're well ahead, as we were against Carolina, So
you know, we have to clean that up, and the
players who are getting targets need to make the most
of those opportunities. You could tell Courtland Sutton must have
felt the paint of having no targets the week before,
(25:55):
because he hauled in eight receptions off eleven targets front
of one hundred yards. That's definitely encouraging to see, and
I think that the rest of the receiving corps will
need to follow suit.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
What should we expect What should Broadcoast Country expect out
bone Ax in the second half season.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
I'd say in the second half of the season, what
we're going to see are he's going to be forced
to flesh out his skills as a passer, and then
I'm in agreement with you. As impressive as it is
to see him put up the box score numbers that
he did against Carolina, and even on tape it was very,
very pretty, but it was against one of the worst
defenses in pro football. He's catching a break this week
(26:33):
going against Baltimore's defense. That ranks twenty ninth in passer
ratings surrendered at one O three point four, dead last
in the NFL. In passing yards, they've given up two
three hundred and thirty one, tied for dead last in
the league. Had given up seventeen touchdown passes. On the
flip side, they're number one in the NFL in terms
of yards per carry, only allowing three point three. So
(26:54):
it looks to me, at least on paper, a game
that he's going to need to win through the air
as time goes on, and I want to see how
he holds up against some of the better pass defenses
in the league, because that's something we haven't seen yet.
Tearing apart bad defense is one thing, but eventually you're
going to be facing those top ten defenses and you
got to show up.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Well, we know the Ravens are not that great as
far as playing the pass, and we watched Javontae Williams
just kind of explode out of the gate last week
on Thursday Night Football, and knowing as though you're going
to need every single player in every ounce of production,
no one is going You're going against Lamar Jackson and
Derrick Henry and who They're gonna want to keep the
(27:35):
ground game going. Do you see an opportunity at any
point against his Baltimore Ravens defense where the Broncos can
get Javonte back on track.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
You know, as much as I'd like to say that,
this week is going to be the week going against
the league leaders in that defensive rushing the XP which
is another efficiency metric per Pro Football Reference twenty two
point zero five. Statistically speaking, Nick, this is going to
be the week to be efficient through the passing game.
It's not that you're going to abandon the run game,
(28:08):
because we, of course need to have balance. We've done
a great job in terms of controlling the clock. I
think we had thirty three minutes plus of possession last week,
so I'd like to see that continue. This week is
going to be tougher against a quarterback like Lamar Jackson,
but I think if our offense is going to have
any success, it's going to be through the air.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Talking with Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter, Roy,
what did you think of the accusations of Sean Payton
trying to run it up last week?
Speaker 5 (28:41):
Well, I mean, when you produce twenty eight points, I
don't know how much we're running of the score, and
I may be in the minority here, Ben, but it's
my view that as opposing coaches, as opposing defensive players,
your job is to stop the other team from scoring.
So if you've performed so poorly that your opponent is
ahead by so much that they're to take their foot
(29:02):
off the gas, it's a classy thing to do, and
you know, I don't think it's something that should be
taken for granted. So I think you got to go
out there and play football. If you're exhausting yourself at
the end of the game coming after a head coach,
we're doing his job. And that's really what we'd like
to see more out of a Sean Payton offense that
ranks twentieth in the league in scoring and two of
those touchdowns come on the defensive side of the ball.
(29:24):
So I want to see Sean Payton leave the offense
to more points. I don't particularly care when it happens.
It means more when you're putting your team ahead, but
it happens at the end of football games and it
builds momentum going into the next week. I'm here for
it played better.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I mean, whether we in season or we in an
off season, the conversation is always dominated by quarterback play,
just just kind of overall, looking at the situation that
Shane Stikeen is dealing with with Anthony Richison with the
Colts and the fact that you know, he said that
he was tied and that narrative is that he's tapped out,
(30:02):
do you think that somehow as we move forward during
the evaluation process of for Quarterbacks schedule to come out
at twenty twenty five, that looking at Anthony Richardson somehow
changes how the quarterback position is evaluated from.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Here on out.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Well, you know, as we talked about during the spring,
it's more probable than not that your top ten overall
quarterback selection, with the exception of the guys who are
going number one overall, is going to be a bust
relative to a really really big stand. And statistically, unfortunately
for Richardson dead last in the league and passer rating
(30:41):
at fifty seven point two, second to last is for
Eleves at seventy point seven. He's only completed forty four
point four percent of his passes, So it's been a
very ugly overall season for him with a somewhat limited
sample size. He's only attempt at one hundred and thirty
three passes, so this really isn't anything new. Rarely do
you see a quarterback drafted that high struggle as much
(31:04):
as Anthony has this season. But it's something that all
thirty two teams have to be prepared for because, with
the exception of number one overall picks, it's a coin
flip when you're drafting in the top ten, and so
depending on the situation, you have to be prepared for that.
There is no guarantee that because you draft a quarterback high,
he's going to be playing at an elite level.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Ran What do you give the Broncos as far as
chances coming up against the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They got a tough three game stretch. The Ravens is
nick noted.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Not exactly great against the pass this year. They do
stop the run pretty well. The defense has had some
issues there, but of course they got a very very
good offense. It's going to be interesting as you've got
the number one per play offense to the Baltimore Ravens
against the number one per play defense in the Broncos.
But what chance do you give the Broncos this week.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
You know, I have Baltimore at twenty seven to twenty one.
It's a winnable game when you look at just how
weak Baltimore's pass defense has been. If history is the gauge,
they're due to have a good game because it's been
really ugly for them through eight games so far. But
Baltimore is the better overall team. Lamar Jackson's arguably playing
(32:11):
the quarterback position better than anybody in the NFL right now,
and as great as our defense has been, it's going
to be the biggest challenge of the season far and away,
so I'm pulling for him. I think it's a winnable game,
but I still give the splight edge to Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well he's Ryan Michael at The Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Look forward to talking to you next week. Hopefully the
Broncos are able to get that win against the Baltimore Ravens,
but if they don't, we'll be going into Kansas City
and trying to figure things out.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Look forward to talking to them, but for having me,
absolutely take care.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Ryan Michael at The Ryan Michael on Twitter, contributor at
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and we always love
having him on the show to go inside the numbers.
He thinks that the Baltimore game is a is a
close game with Baltimore pulling it out.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
What do you think they.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You know what, right now, I wouldn't put it that close.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
And the reason that I said this the last time
the Broncos played Baltimore, the game was close and Lamar
Jackson was injured and Huntley taler Huntley had to come
in the game, right, and it was still a baseball
type of score. But known as though you do have
Derrick Henry, they still have Zay Flowers.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
They have two dang good tight ends.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And they just added Deontay Johnson who's leaving the Carolina Panthers.
We don't know how much he's gonna be brought up
to speed on char as their offense and utilized. But
that's kind of been a big issue for Baltimore having
adequate play outside the numbers for the team. But one
(33:46):
thing we do know, they can run the ball with
Derek Henry and just bludging you to death, or they
can speed things up with Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
We'll get more into that as the as the week
goes along, we come back.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
We've got Parker Gabriel.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It's gonna join us, talk a little bit about this
past week and look forward to Baltimore as well.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It is in Nebroncos country, like right here on kiawe
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