10-29-24 Ryan Michael with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How would you rate my pick of Nick Benito?

Speaker 2 (00:02):
You know, I think that he's an underrated player and
has a fantastic opportunity to be a great contributor. Is
he going to be someone who lead the team and
av No, I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Carolina three or ten On third down, empty set, Young
raises the right knee, bounces around, it bounces right into
a sack back at the sixteen yard line. That's the
easiest one of the year for Nick Benito. And that
is the sixth consecutive game that Nick Benito has had
at least a sack. That one fell right into his lap.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
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 (00:41):
This is not about you being right, So stop bringing
your arm trying to patch yourself on the back.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Everything is about me being right. And I've already sought
treatment for the sore elbow from patting myself on the backside.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
Elbow.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
It patters elbow. You know, it's similar to us. It's
the same injury Act that those referees are getting in
the NFL right now with flaggers elbow with throwing so
many flags out there right now, they'll get the over
got to get the tub ready for the refs.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Is similar to uh yes, and you're gonna have to.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Get that surgery, the surgery in order to be able
to get that flag out there five six six nine
zeros in text line Benjamin old Bright Deck ferguson live
from Sam's Number three in Glendale, Gonna go right out
to the KA commcentrator with hotline and bringing on our
buddy Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter ride.
How you doing this evening?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Doing well?

Speaker 4 (01:28):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Nick? How are you guys?

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I was just basking in the globe being right again?
Nice Nick was. Nick was frustrated with it, but you know,
I think deep deep down he appreciates me spiking the
belt even though I didn't score on that particular play.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Ryan.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
You know, we've it's been an interesting ride so far
this season. Earlier this season, all we hear about bo
Nick's uh, you know, recording historic lows and efficiency. Then
we get the Raiders, the Panthers, the Saints. We see
them light at the box score a highlight reel. Halfway
through the season. Who is Bonix?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
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

(02:24):
about 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 skeew the numbers and
I'll give you a Payton 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

(02:47):
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,

(03:07):
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 more efficiency even than the win
over the Jets. So the truth is somewhere in between.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
Well, and we've seen bow Nicks be successful from the
beginning of the season with the implementation of maybe some
RPO plays and some design quarterback runs. 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 foresee that bo Nick's being able

(03:46):
to run efficiently as he has been thus far as
being something that the Broncos to lean on move forward.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
You know, I think he accepted 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,

(04:15):
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 mark
in 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 a fifty

(04:38):
five point six percent so hey his current pace, he's
on pace to produce five hundred and fifty yards eight
touchdowns while averaging five point zero yards per 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

(05:00):
see not so much regression as much as the opposing
defenses having Moral twenty two to study, and they'll implement
measures that force him to win through the air.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Well.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
I mean, I think that's the way we all we
all saw it coming. Bo Nix would absolutely just lam
based Lamar Jackson in terms of rushing because he's such
a you know, I can't even finish that call it
bo Vic when all sudden instead of bow Knicks. Look,
there have been things that have helped bow improve over
the course of this though. You talked about a little
bit but quicker pre snap work, cleaning up some of

(05:31):
the issues that play the offense. During the first few
games of the season, we saw the Broncos finally start
to adopt a little bit of tempo at times, picking
up the pace of things, and that's certainly helped out
as well. What else can they do to kind of
sort of help bow Knicks as he matures and grows
this season?

Speaker 2 (05:51):
You know, 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 persons I'll 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

(06:12):
think as 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
rushing deficiency as we've seen over the last four weeks
or so, and I wouldn't say that it's perfect. I'd
say it's trending in the right direction. If we can
continue to build on that, I'm excited to see what

(06:34):
he's going to be able to do as a passer
against some tougher defenses.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
Well, when you think about last Sunday's game, it was
it did start out as well as the Broncos wanted,
and they had some trouble spots along the way. But
is there a particular player on either side of the
ball that really stood out to you?

Speaker 2 (06:53):
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 the positive hot start that he had
versus Tampa Bay with some of these hot finishes, you'd

(07:14):
really have the perfect quarterback. So there's plenty to clean
up and plenty to build off of.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
As we look at the splits that Bo has incurred
through the first half of the season. What are some
positives and what are some some negatives.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
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 forty six dropbacks, and three of his

(07:51):
four rushing touchdowns have come from under center. So I'd
like to see them incorporate a little bit more of that,
you know, 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 for one hundred and fifty three yards, no touchdowns,

(08:12):
two picks, sixty four passer rating. He gets 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, just needs to clean it up
after he passes midfield.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
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 Villat making couple of plays, and obviously since last
week there has been a consort of efforts trying to
get Troy Franklin involved in offense more. But what can

(08:50):
he do from a coaching standpoint or even scheme standpoint
to kind of give those guys more touches?

Speaker 2 (08:57):
You know, I think he's doing what he can. In
the receiver have to make the most out of their opportunities. Obviously,
the big drops and bumbles or 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

(09:20):
before because he hauled in eight receptions off eleven targets
butt up 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 (09:30):
What should we expect, what should broadcast country expect out
a bone X in the second half season.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
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

(09:57):
going against Baltimore's defense that ranks twenty ninth and passer
ratings surrendered at one O three point four, dead last
in the NFL. In passing yards, They've given up two
thousand and three hundred and thirty one, tied for dead
last in the league. They've 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.

(10:18):
So it looks to me, at least on paper, a
game that he is going to need to win through
the air. As time goes on, 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.
Carrying 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 (10:37):
Well, we know the Raves are not that great as
far as playing the pass, and we watched Davante Williams
just kind of explode out of the gate last week
on Thursday Night Football, and no one as though you're
going to need every single player in every ounce of production,
none is going. You're going against Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry,

(10:58):
who they gonna want to keep the ground game going.
Do you see an opportunity at any point, I guess
as Baltimore Ravens defense where the Broncos can get davontep
back on track.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
You know, as much as I'd like to say that,
this week is going to be the week going against
the league's leaders in defensive rushing XP, which is another
efficient symmetric 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. Because we, of

(11:34):
course need to have balanced We've done a great job
in terms of controlling the quod. 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 mar Jackson, but I
think if our offense is going to have any success,
it's going to be through the air.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
Talking with Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter, ran,
what'd you think of the accusations of Sean Payton trying
to run it up last week?

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well, I mean, when you produce twenty eight points, I
don't know how much we're running up 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 perform so poorly that your opponent is
ahead by so much that they're to take their foot

(12:26):
off the gas, it's the classic thing to do. And
you know, I don't think it's something that should be
taken for granted. So I think you've 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 and scoring and two of
those touchdowns come on the defensive side of the ball.

(12:48):
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 that it
builds momentum going into next week. I'm here for it
played better.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
I mean, whether we in season or were in the
off season, the conversation is always dominated by quarterback play,
just kind of overall. Looking at the situation that Shane
Stikeen is dealing with with Anthony Richardson with the Colts
and the fact that you know, he said that he
was tied, and that narrative is that he tapped he's

(13:26):
tapped out. Do you think that somehow, as we move
forward during the evaluation process and for Quarterbacks Schedule to
come out in twenty twenty five, that looking at Anthony
Richardson somehow changes how the quarterback position is evaluated from.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Here on out. 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 dating stand
And statistically, unfortunately for Richardson dead last in the league

(14:05):
and passer rating at fifty seven point two, second to
lasses for Levis 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

(14:28):
as much as Anthony has this season. But it's something
that all thirty fIF 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 (14:50):
Ran What do you give the Broncos as far as
chances coming up against the Baltimore Ravens. They got a
tough three game stretch. The Ravens is nick noted, not
exactly great against the pass this year. They do stuff
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

(15:11):
do you give the Broncos this week?

Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know, I have Baltimore at twenty seven to twenty one.
It's a winnable game. When you look at just how
week Baltimore's pass defense has been, I would say if
history is the gauge, they're due to have a good
game because it's been really ugly for them three eight
games so far. But Baltimore is the better overall team.

(15:34):
Lamar Jackson's arguably playing 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 slight edge to Baltimore.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
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 going into Kansas City and
and trying to figure things out. Look forward to talking
to them.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
But thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Absolutely take care, Ryan Michael at The Ryan Michael on
Twitter