11-10-25 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight with Parker Gabriel

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks to Ryan Michael for joining us in the last hour.

(00:03):
We're gonna go right back out to the ka Common
Spirit health hot Well, I didn't bring on our guy,
Parker Gaber from the Debor Post.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Parker, how you doing this evening?

Speaker 3 (00:12):
I'm doing good? How you guys doing?

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Do it all right?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Interesting week Broncos picked up two w's, but more questions
than answers.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I think at this point is the drums.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Surrounding bo Nicks in the national narrative media change from
Sunday being an MVP candidate to Thursday being a replaceable
guy that should probably have his his new version drafted.
This draft interesting watching the same people's about the same
things in a one a degree turnaround. What do we
really think of where Sean Payton and bo Nix are

(00:45):
at this point?

Speaker 5 (00:47):
Yeah, I mean I think I think Bonix is in
a little bit of a slump. I think he's struggled
and some of the things are a little bit head scratching,
Like there are things that you see him succeed with
in the past, and some of the things are parts
of the game that he's sort of struggled with all
along that have been Florida to come for him in.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
His first year and a half under center.

Speaker 5 (01:09):
So I think you can be eight in two and
be satisfied with that. And whether your Bo Nicks or
Sean Payton or anybody else in the building, also recognize
that as good as that is, everyone's going to be
need need to be held to a higher standard if
you're really going to get where you're trying to go,
and that that obviously includes bon Nix. And you know,

(01:30):
when you missed some of the things he's missed the
last couple of weeks, and when it feels and looks
as rocky as it has at times the last few weeks,
that obviously, you know, trip result in hard coaching and
and hard work and all of that, and you know,
we'll see how quickly or if he can sort of

(01:51):
get it turned around here.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Talking with Barker Gabriel the Dimmer Post, you know, it's
it is sort of fascinating because we've sort of seen
throughout this season where Bow's been guy that is, honestly,
except for against historically bad defense, has struggled through the
first three quarters of football games, and then all of
a sudden, the fourth quarter seems to turn it on
and whether that's Keebo magic, whether that's playing up Temple,
whether that's whatever that is. What is it that we

(02:15):
are not able to replicate that for four quarters?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
I think if anybody had the answer to that, they
would probably you know, be handsomely paid at this point.
I sometimes what it looks like and this gets to
you know, the happy feat the sort of the you know,
it's it's sort of one or the other. It seems
like he's just a little bit caught in between sometimes
in the passing game where it's either his clock gets

(02:43):
sped up with Sean Payton, you know, mentioned after the
Houston game, and then and then you know, was sort
of willing to entertain a question about today as being
a good thing and a bad thing.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Or it's the double clutch.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
You look to the place you're supposed to go at
the football and you just hesitate before actually you know, putting.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
The ball there.

Speaker 5 (03:02):
That all speaks to I think one of two things,
either just not quite trusting what you're seeing or more complicated,
actually not seeing it. I don't you know, it probably
varies play to play in whatever. I don't think there's
one blanket answer, But in general, it's just playing with
a hesitation or an anxiousness that I think he was

(03:28):
able to put away for a pretty long stretch in
the middle.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Of last season. So I don't. I don't quite know
the way out of that.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
It seems like it's like once he's settled into the game,
then like really truly settled into the game, then he
kind of just lets it fly. The thing is, it's
just taken a long time three quarters basically in some
of these games before it really feels like he's comfortable
and settled in.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Talking about Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter.
You know, we had this I don't know if issue
is the right way to say it, but we had
this issue with Ussell Wilson before Bone Eggs where it
was three quarters of Sean Payton and that offense not
moving and then all of a sudden, Russ got the
offense moving. Is this something that Sean needs to adjust?
Is this does does this fall on personnel? Or is

(04:12):
this just two different scenarios that happen to be coincidental.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, that's a great question. Be I don't.

Speaker 5 (04:18):
I don't think it's entirely coincidental. Like there's just there's
certain things, especially like when when recently, and there's.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Been times where this hasn't been the case. So I'm
not saying it's not.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
Faceable, but like the last couple of weeks where you've
seen bo Nick's bail out of the pocket really quickly
to the right, especially that kind of has a little
bit of rough vibes to it. I'm guessing the coaching
staff would say different, genesis different. You know, obviously they're
very different players from in terms of the sack propensity

(04:50):
of the two, and Russell.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Even at his peak athletically.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
When he was younger, always got sacked at a much
higher rate than than bo Nix does. So it's different
in that regard. But the just a little bit of
hesitation or just being like a little aheader, a little behind.
I'm I'm I just I guess I just don't quite
know if that's a if that's some play calling and
not getting quarterback in the rhythm. Some of it I
think is on the receivers in terms of you know,

(05:17):
being in the right place at the right time consistently
and not getting disrupted like I would certainly buy an
argument that it's more than one thing that's happening, But
I do it is sort of interesting that there are
at least uh surface level or sort of just you know,

(05:37):
onlooker type similarities, if not carbon copy between you know,
the things that Russell Wilson struggle with and the things
that Bonex is currently struggling with.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Tywood Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post JK.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Dobbins arguably the best weapon on the offense for the
team this season. Looks like he's got the midline fracture
in the in the foot or whatever they wanted. The
second opinion, with all that, where does that currently stand?

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Yeah, I doesn't sound dominant. I don't.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
I don't know exactly.

Speaker 5 (06:05):
I think, you know, we'll see if there's more information
out about that tomorrow or if it goes all the
way until a practice report comes out on Wednesday. I
I don't know. I know there's some talk about, you know,
just the foot sprain and all of that that would it.
I mean, just based on what you saw and based
on the way the tackle happens, that's sort of foot

(06:25):
you know, sort of mild moderate foot sprain where maybe
you're in the mix.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
This weekend.

Speaker 5 (06:30):
Maybe you're not. It's one week Like to me that
that feels like the best case scenario. Obviously, if he
were in line to miss more time than that, if
it was a fracture, that'd be really bad.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
For this offense.

Speaker 5 (06:43):
I mean, he's literally you know, take away you know,
maybe Garrett Balls and Quinn minors up front, and he's
been the most consistent offensive player for sure, certainly their
most consistent offensive weapon and a guy who's sort of
their offense go when it's gone. So yeah, I mean,
if he's looking at missing anymore then obviously it's a

(07:06):
big loss. But he doesn't play again Kansas City alone.
But if you're talking about missing any more time than that,
that's a pretty rush scenario.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Talk with Parker Gabriel, Yeah, it's And it was your
tough game coming up too.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
You know, you got Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Is this you know, not a make or break for
the season, but certainly a referendum on what this team
is because at eight and two there are still a
lot of questions. Even though you have a tie for
the best record in the NFL. You got Kansas City,
who's suddenly gotten a lot hotter, and I've gotten thereck
togethers they've gotten pieces back on the offensive side of
the ball. You look back to last year, I guess
they sort of got the monkey off their back in

(07:37):
terms of winning. But although it was against the backups
for Kansas City in week eighteen, as Kansas City put
no effort into it, is this is this closer to
a referendum on what this team is at this point?

Speaker 3 (07:48):
You know what's interesting about that?

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Then?

Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean you can look at it that way. I
almost I almost don't see it so much that way.
And I'll tell you why.

Speaker 5 (07:56):
Like, I think there are so many people there saying
there's no way Denver should be eight and two, and
there's also a lot of people saying there's no way
Kansas City should be five and four. I mean, they're
zero to four and one score games. The Broncos are
six and two. It's kind of like a full reversal
from last year. I don't think anybody would have thought
or predicted that the Broncos would be three and a

(08:18):
half games up on Kansas City through eleven weeks. And
so if the Chiefs win, now obviously you're talking to
different story if it's seventeen to fourteen or if it's
thirty five to ten or whatever. And I definitely don't
mean this as like it doesn't matter if the Broncos
win or up, but I just think that it would
be it would feel more weird if the Broncos were

(08:38):
up three and a half games than it would feel
if they were up a game and a half. It's
just hard for me to imagine the Broncos just running
away and hiding from the Chiefs in the division. And
so yeah, I mean it's a huge opportunity. And certainly,
like if if Denver loses, you're gonna hear a lot
of that they're not as good as their record.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
It's still the Chiefs Division all of that.

Speaker 5 (09:00):
Nothing of the fact that the Chargers are in this
picture right clearly too. But like I just it's a
huge opportunity for Denver, and it's one that if they
if they lose this game, I think you're gonna show up,
you know, after the bye we can be like I
look around and say, wait a second, like we're still
leading the division.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
That's where I was kind of going with it. I
was gonna let you let you row with that sort
of where I'm at with it too. I mean, it
is a referendum on where this team is. But at
the same time, they're still out in front and there's
plenty of opportunity to continue to close that down. We
kind of have the Jags on fraud watch at this point.
That's another team down the stretch that the Broncos have
to play. You still get another game against the Raiders,
you got the Commanders. You're not sure if we're going

(09:39):
to have Jadon Daniels in that one, despite the fact
they're trying to accelerate that back. So there's opportunities here
for Denver. And I think this team makes the playoffs
any which way is license. I mean, it would take
an epic collapse for this team to not make the
playoffs at this point.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
So I don't think that.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean, you hate to lose to Kansas City, especially
when you've got another game against them in their turf
on Christmas. But at the same time, I don't think
that this is the ultimate It may be a litmus
test for where you are now, but it's not a
lipus test for who you are overall one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (10:06):
And like I would even say, you know Kansas City,
like Kansas City is going to be dangerous. They could
be the seventh seed and the last wildcard in and
you do not want them to come into your place
in the wildcard round of the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
That's just the kind of team they are. They're a
little bit like.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
The Dodgers in the sense of, like they might not
have the best regular season, but boy if they get
in the dance, like, you don't want any part of that.
So in that regard, like, I'm sure Kansas City wants
to make it ten in a row and win the
division and have as good of a seat as possible
on all of that, But I would say it's much
closer to a must win, you know, a must win

(10:44):
for Kansas City than it is for the Broncos. Like
it's hard to imagine whether it's Denver or the Chargers.
It's hard to imagine being five and five and being
down a game to you know, in terms of head
to head on both the Chargers and the Broncos, and then.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Winning the division from there.

Speaker 5 (11:01):
So like doesn't mean their season's over, doesn't mean they
can't have won the Super Bowl or whatever. But like,
as far as the AFC West Race goes is very
clearly you know, more more of a must.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Win for Kansas City than it is for the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Ty would Parker Gabriel at Parker J.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Gabriel.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
You know, Alex Singleton came out today. He talked about
the testicular cancer, what a you know, what a what
a warrior I guess he is, and what he's been
for this football team. We talked about the injury he
played to last year. Of course, then you get any
you know, and then uh, yeah, the brooken thalms this year.
Now the testicular cancer and uh, you know, he's been
kind of maligned I think a bit. But at the
same time he's shown up, uh, you know, time and

(11:38):
time again. And uh as we look at this thing
going forward with the rotation that you know that you
would have with him, mister not and uh and and
green Law, I mean, you know, I think this team
would be worse off if he was not here.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean I.

Speaker 5 (11:53):
Think that it's easy to it's easy to assume that
the middle linebacker has always has coverage responsible on the
back out of the backfield or a.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Kind end of the seam or whatever.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
And and to be fair like sometimes certainly that's the case.
And and Alex Singleton is not the best covers linebacker
in the NFL by by any stretch, but like he's
really important to this team. He's worn the green dots
since Van s Jose has been here, and he you know,
he calls the defense on the field. He's he's part
of the communication hub, which is I think particularly important

(12:26):
for Denver given how much man and match they play.
That communication between the safeties and the linebackers is and
and and you know Macmillan and the nickel is is
sort of the central hub of the defense. And so
like on the field obviously is important, but you know,
it's situations like this or playing through the ACL last
year that's that sort of gives you an idea I

(12:48):
think of like the kind of guy that Alex Singleton
is and also what is real importance to the team is.
I mean, he's just one of these He's just a
guy who, uh, you know, he makes like being around.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
They like playing with them, they like being in the
locker room with them.

Speaker 5 (13:02):
They and it's it's sort of easy to see why
in moments when character comes out and so like it's
obviously a scary thing and it's it's great news that
you know he's got a good prognosis here, and obviously
hopefully the rest of the testing bears that out. But yeah,
I mean it's one of those things where you you,
you know, it's obviously much more important than you know,

(13:26):
covering running backs on wheel routes, obviously, and then it
also I think, I think it's one of those moments that.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Sort of shows you a little.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
Bit about the who and the what and the why
of a person as much or or more than as
a football player.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Talk with Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post the last
one for me, Parker, what does bo have to do
in this Kansas City game to turn the narrative boat around?

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, I mean I think take what's given largely.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
I mean, you you obviously want to go and and
snatch a couple of big plays and make a couple
of big plays and do to spectacular and all of that.
But you know, a year ago, when they were in
position to win that game at Arrowhead, it was like
it was pretty I mean, he threw two big touchdowns
and it was it was you know that that he
made plays in big moments. But it wasn't it wasn't forced,

(14:15):
it wasn't outside the scope of you know, of the system,
and so I think he if he operates the offense
efficiently and takes what's there and doesn't leave opportunities, you know,
clear opportunities and let them go begging, I think they're
going to be in pretty good shape. It doesn't necessarily
mean they're gonna win, but that's the sort of you know,

(14:37):
that's what they need. That's the sort of efficient play
style they need. And then we've seen in the past,
whether it's four quarters this year, that drive that he
mounted before the field goal got blocked last year. I mean,
those are the things that we know he can do
and that his team knows he can do, and if
he can play efficiently enough to get them into those spots,

(14:57):
then I think they're in pretty good hands, are Gabriel?

Speaker 2 (14:59):
That did posts?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Appreciate you as always, Bud, your night, all right, take care,
Parker Gabel. You can follow him at Parker J. Gabriel
on Twitter. We come back, romy b from CBS is
going to join us here a little bit. It was
Nebrancos Country to Night right aroun Kawa. Appreciate you guys
being along for the ride, Brian said, Ben, can you
have Bka in your program to discuss the Lway documentary

(15:22):
on Netflix. Don't know if you guys saw it or not,
but I got an invite to it, but I didn't go.
They had the premiere at the was it the Denver
Arts Festival or whatever, with the premiere the Lway documentary
of the Ginver Film Festival film Festival as it was,
and I got a chance to see it. I did
not go, but I know some people, plenty of people
that did, and they all said it was really well done.

(15:43):
If you like John Elway, if you didn't like John Elway,
you still enjoy the documentary. And so that's you know,
for those of you who didn't get chance to set
here were obviously you get a chance to see when
it comes out of.

Speaker 6 (15:53):
Netflix, maybe getting the director of the documentary on our program.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
See that's enterprising. Grand Smith back there, I do it.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
I can.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
You know, you have been known on.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Occasion quite a bit of us other stuff to get
to it, and I want to thank Ryan Michael and
Parker Gairol for joining us earlier on I missed the
parts of that.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
You go to Broncos Country dot Com, slash.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Podcast or which podcast Apple iTunes Spotify that you free
and read redesigned I heeart Radio app almost nailed it there,
I stumbled over my own words where you get to
you take it for granted podcast archives as well, including
the award winning David Smithson episode. That award that it
won apparently was given out by me, So yeah, as

(16:34):
it should have been. I give myself a bowling trophy
for that ed interview. We got Roby Bean joining us
in the next segments. You guys want to stick around
for that. It would be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
The big question all week is this is sustainable and.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
The answer that the short answer is no, but the
longer answer is maybe. The way the Broncos have been
winning games in the NFL are decided close. They are
decided by one score in a lot of cases. And
the idea that the Broncos cannot win close football games
is frankly in bull the the idea that they can

(17:15):
continue to win football games on the back of their
defense and not get the productivity and need of the offense.
That's that's where this is, especially with some of the
games that are coming up. I mean, Kansas City's one
of the top three offenses in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
This year.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
But with the Rams and the Seahawks, the defense is
a start a little slogish, but it's get a little better.
They've got weapons and being without you know, Certan, I think.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Hurts us. Although this game, yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
Although it has I mean I think I like Justin
Sterno out there, to be honest with you, I like that.
I think he's a good linebacker and I think it's
gonna be good for him in that game. But you know,
missing missing valuable parts of your defense. You know, we
saw last year this defense started leaking oil a little
bit toward the end of the season, partially due to
two injury and the injuries, especially at the corner position

(18:04):
both Riley Maws sand patz Er Tannhead injuries, and that
that led to some games where his defense started giving
up significantly more points than they had previously. I I
think we all saw the Asterisk Game, as I call it,
the Jameis Winston game last year, the Asterisk game, the
Asterisk Gang.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Like there's just nothing I mean like that that is such.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
An outlier defensively, that game with Jameis Winston out of nowhere,
just you know, doing what Jamis does, throwing half a
million touchdowns well, cibultanous think throwing half a million interceptions.
It's funny because when that draft class came out on Twitter,
people are looking for comps for those two quarter as
they do every year.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Who's this kind compared to?

Speaker 1 (18:46):
And at the time, I compared Jamis to j Cutler
and Marcus Mariot and Alex Smith.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
I think pretty good comedy. I think they were too,
especially in retrospect.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
But people were like, oh, you're under selling all these
guys are gonna be stars. I'm like, I don't know
about that, man. I mean, Jameis got the arm, but
you know, it's it's kind of of course, he got
all the character stuff around him and all that too.
And then Mariota, I just never I don't know. I
never bought into that. I didn't when the Titans drafted.

Speaker 6 (19:15):
Him, I was kind of like, oh, okay, I will
say this, are both of them still in the league.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
They are, which is impressive, still in the league, and
that is impressive. That certainly is impressive. If they managed
to carve out careers in that way, Jamis will eventually
have a career in media. He's he's too funny, not
too but.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Too many great soundbites.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean, you know, that's that feels like one
of the most obvious things out there is that he's
gonna wind up be in the most hilarious color analyst
of all time in the booth somewhere or or or
like the Charles Barkley at the you know, at the
halftime booth kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (19:47):
I'm knowing better than this, Like I'm just praying for
the Lord to deliver me from pick sixes.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Every time.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
That makes me laugh too. It has never not made
me laugh. I just you know, as I look at that,
I don't I don't know, we'll see it was. It's
Twitter's an interesting place, and the conversation around bow Knicks
has gotten sideways a little bit. There are definitely things
he needs to fix, and there are there's plenty of

(20:16):
It's weird because I get a question about percentages, where
do what percentage of blame goes here, percentage of blame
goes there? I don't know how to answer that. That's
an arbitrary number. But what I can tell you on
the offensive side is there's blame to go around. There
are dropped balls from wide receivers that they should be
making plays on. There are missed throws from bow.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Nix that he should be making. There is weird.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Set of play calling through the first three quarters that
appears to try to hide bow in a lot of ways,
and they do get away from the run for an
absurd amount of time for a team that probably needs
it more than other teams. But I keep coming back to, Okay, well,
if bo can't do certain things right, if it's offense
can't do certain things, then why are we out there

(21:04):
trying to do them? And who does that? Whose responsibility
is that? And that That's ultimately where I come down
on that. It's not and I don't want see her.
You know, everybody already thinks I hate Sean Payton, which
is stupid, but I don't want to see here a
dump on him. But at the end of the day,
that's where the buck stops, right Like, if you're out
there on offense and you're trying to you're perpetually trying

(21:25):
to execute things that definitely don't work and your quarterback
can't seem to do.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Who is that on.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
The head coach? Some of the quarterbacks sitting there trying
to you know, it's not like the quarterback saying I
can't do this. Let's call it again. I just it's
it's frustrating to me to watch all of that, and
Sean Payton's too smart to keep doing that. Sean Payton
had some comments about oh and what he needs, what

(21:56):
he needs to do to improve himself.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
Dave, this does a great job. There's time were during
portions of practice they'll work specifically on you know, left
off the three step, left off of five, right off
of three, right off of five, routes specific the challenge
the other night, and especially when you look at the tape,
there were a number of things that we've got to
do better, we collectively as coaches, and we will. I'm

(22:21):
glad we got to win. I just finished talking to
our team about it. That was a big win for
us to get to eight. And obviously we recognize, all right,
here are the things we got to continue to work
on to improve.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
A Sean Bayton talking about what they do to improve
with bow.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
I just.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
You know, there are things that are obvious. The footwork
is off. The bailing from pockets, you know, is off.
Bo's not using running with his legs to run the
football the same way he did last year, which you know,
threatened defenses in a different dimension and sort of backed
them off a little bit. There are several things that

(23:03):
are different about last year, and honestly, it's been that
way since fractured back with BO. I don't know that
I'm arbitrarily connecting the two, but I'm not saying they're
not connected. I don't know, but they'd spend that way
since then, and so those are all things to keep
your eye on. A former NFL quarterback Cody Kessler had

(23:24):
some things to say about BO as well.

Speaker 7 (23:27):
All things he does that I think is going to
hurt him down the line, and things that I would
like to see him already have improved on going into
the year two. He's too quick to escape the pocket.
There's no rhythm when he gets to the top of
his drop. You can already tell when he has a
clean pocket. The play hasn't developed yet. He's already looking
for a rushlane to step up and take off and run,
or to escape to his right.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
That's his thing right now.

Speaker 7 (23:45):
Is he'll step up even if there's not a lot
of pressure. He likes to escape to the right and
then try to throw the ball. And he's missing a
lot of those low The second thing that he does,
and I already mentioned this was some of those double
pump throws.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
He gets to the top of his drop and he
does a couple clutches. Where should I throw it? Should
I not?

Speaker 5 (23:58):
I'm already late.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
My timing's off. Me two things.

Speaker 7 (24:00):
One is he doesn't trust his receiver is going to
be where they need to be, and they can see
it lead to some of those misthrows. He has guys
open and his timing's been off. He is already predetermining
going a checkdown and you can see Bo dropping back.
He's not even letting the play developed, and he had
the curl to the left wide open.

Speaker 5 (24:13):
That tells me that he's either.

Speaker 7 (24:15):
Losing confidence in himself or he's losing confidence in the
play calling. And that's not what you want to see
from your quarterback. But then at the end of the day,
they're winning games despite what he's doing. He's finding a
way to get the job done. I'll give him credit.
But a big part of that is the defense.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, and that's that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
I mean, the Broncos defense has bailed out the offense
collectively over the course of the season. I think that's
the thing that's frustrating fans is that we're paying eighteen
twenty million dollars a year for a head coach who
revered for his offensive prowess, was brought in to fix
the offense. And to Sean Payton's credit, he certainly fixed
the floor of the roster, or the floor of this team.
They are eight and two right now. Whatever else you

(24:50):
think of him, shot the floor on Sean Payton is
raised by having him in there. It's the same thing
with you know, George carl and basketball going to make
the playoffs, the question is how far are you gonna go?
And it's the same thing with Sean Payton. I mean, you're, you're,
you're a team, You're the floor is seven and nine. Right,
you go back over Sean Payton's career. Look, even with

(25:10):
the worst defenses on or the floor seven and nine,
only got one super Bowl with the Hall of Fame
caliber quarterback.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
But the floor is seven and nine.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
And so you know, obviously, if you're the Denver Broncos,
you're out there Friday eight and two at this point,
and you've got this this sort of gap, this island game, right,
you have ten days you at Kansas City and then
you get the bye week, and then you get the
Commanders on Sunday Night Football. So it's this kind of
island game to focus on in the moment, and I
think I think fans are hopeful. I think if I

(25:42):
think if Sean Payton beats Kansas City in this particular game,
I think if the Broncos win this game, I think
it's one of those things where I don't want to
say you can write his ticket, but there's no pressure
on him for at least another year. At that point,
I think you lose this game, and on the fashion,
you lose it in the fan base, which has been

(26:04):
not so subtle and not so quiet in their criticisms
of some of the things that he's doing offensively, I
think that gets louder. And I think it's fascinating because
everybody caught on that. The usual mouthpieces, guys that worked
with Sean Payton before, guys like Colin Coward and Chase
Daniel started off the week talking about how bo Nix

(26:29):
was an MVP candidate and ended the week talking about
how Sean Payton could replace him. And it was more
than one person, it was multiple people doing that. Kay
Adams had a little slight quote in there. Colin Coward
outright said, at Chase Daniel, you know these guys that
previously worked with him and seemed to always have the
exact same quotes. Amazing how that works. I think it

(26:53):
was funny on Twitter watching people catch on to that
in real time and what was going on. And so
I think the I think there's a sentiment from a
large portion of the fan base that's normally the silent majority,
that's that's starting to grumble a little bit about wait
a minute, are they already throwing boat Nicks under the
under the bus. This was the guy, This was the

(27:14):
guy you said was a super Bowl caliber, super Bowl
caliber winning quarterback, tops five in the league. This was
the guy you hand picked, and you at the time
you told everybody we're better at evaluating quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
We're a long way from that now, so now.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
You have to be it's not about evaluating, that's about
developing them. And we've got a quarterback that clearly has
something going on at this point where he enters games
too frenetic, too hot to wound up whatever it is,
and it takes him a while. As Parker Gabriel was
talking about earlier to settle into the groove, and when

(27:54):
he does, it's it's nice. It's fun to watch when
he does. When this offense is clicked, it's really clicking.
But man, it's it's it's three quarters of bad football.
It's this is Tebow era stuff all over again.

Speaker 6 (28:11):
In that Raiders game, like, yes, I was glad we won,
but it was hard to watch.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
It was very difficult to watch, Like you could see.

Speaker 6 (28:17):
Multiple opportunities to take advantage against that Raiders defense that's
very subpar.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
Well, I think that defense a little better than people
think it is, but at the same time, there's still
there were opportunities there. I think everybody's seen the There's
a couple of plays. There's a dagger play where everybody
was open, Someton's open deep, Franklin's open on the on
the end, there was there's a couple of plays there
where everybody was open, and you know, boj just dumps
it down to the flat. Part of that, I think
is his mentality. Bot wants to get the ball out quick.

(28:44):
He's the anti Russell Wilson in that way. He still
leads the NFL in not taking sacks. His sack percentage
is that is the best in the league. It's not
even close. I think he has like half. He gets
sacked half as often as the next closest guy. Part
of that's a good offensive line. Part of that is
he gets that ball out quick. You're just not going

(29:04):
to sack him very often.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
And I think also, you know, you watch someone like
Drake may on Sunday taking on the Bucks who's been sacked.
I think he's been sacked like thirty four times this
year or something, but he holds onto the ball long
enough to guys get open downfield.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
He's also that's what to say, He's looking for the play,
where Bo is just debting it out, not taking. Bo's
mental philosophy seems to be I'm not going to take
negative plays. And while there is something to that and
that was probably beaten into him by Sean given his predecessor,
there is something to hanging in there at times and
making the play. And I think that's a part of

(29:41):
the success that we see in the fourth quarters, because
you have to hang in there to make the play.
And so I wish there was a way to sort
of get him that confidence earlier on Hey, Bud, just
hang in there and make that play. It's okay if
you get hit. You know, it's okay if occasionally we
have a pressure or a sack or whatever. But dumping

(30:01):
it down for three when you could get twenty. You know,
if you've got a guy screaming open, there's something to
be said for taking the three. But a schedule based
offense that is a slave to the schedule is going
to get derailed at some point. You get a holding
call your first and twenty, there's no why for you
to make that up. Yeah, you had an incomplete shit

(30:23):
or a drop, there's no why for you to make
that up. If you're a three point three yard per
play offense and Bo's average are yards by always like
three point four, it's bad.

Speaker 6 (30:32):
It's worse in the league, which was one of the
knocks on him coming out of working right, Like, I
think he's a smart football player.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
He's just got to get him out of his mind
and get him to operate on that same instinct that
he's operating in the You know, in the fourth quarters
of these games, when things get sped up a little.

Speaker 6 (30:49):
Bit and when all else fails, why not take a
chance on a fifty to fifty ball to Courtland, Like
that's a seventy thirty ball most of the time, Like
you'd know he's going to get it or no one's
going to get it, right. I would love for him
when you know, when the play breaks down, just throw
one up every once in a while to Courtland.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Maybe he'll make a miraculous catch.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well, I mean, you don't want to put yourself in
harm's way, but I mean there was the arm punt
that we saw in that Raiders game. There was you
could have done that all third down instead, you know,
like that's what I would have done at that particular point.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
But you know, it is what it is when it
comes to that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
We we gotta hit a break here, we come back.
Roby Bean from CBS is gonna join us. A good
chance to talk about see you this weekend and going forward.
You taste up at the Broncos. Didn't have her on
last week, didn't have her on last week, and did
not get the official sound drop that we're used to.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
So we'll maybe we'll fart one out here in a
couple of minutes. Maybe we will.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
We'll find out Broncos Country to Night back after this