07-23-25 KOA Sports Hour 1 with Benjamin Allbright

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I mean you knew what this was. Hete you so much.
I know. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Very excited to be here with you, Very excited to
talking about a Rockies win. That's right, two series win
to kick off the second half of the twenty twenty
five season. Welcome to it, Ryan Edwards. Benjamin Albright in
for Dave Logan this afternoon. We are on until six o'clock.
We'll be able to continue on into the evening with
Broncos Country Tonight, but I am on until six o'clock.
Five six, six nine zero is our Kawae Comma Spirit

(00:26):
health text line.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
If you want to interact.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
With us, Hi, Ben, given the people what they want,
five straight.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hours of me me, me, me, nobody me too.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Nobody out there claim you know we need more.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Ben.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, well again I heard the petition for changing the
name of the show to Albright Country Tonight, and so yeah,
I mean, at this point is so far we have
one signature that's me. Well good, I'm glad you owned
up to it because we started to ask around the
the the office, Well, no, who.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Signed this thing?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Legible signature? Is this all right? So we will get
into some thoughts.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
And sound from the first day of Broncos training camp
with acclamation period. We've got a couple of days of
that before Fridays. I guess, real practice, real practice. But
there's still stuff to learn today that I really enjoyed,
and we'll get to that coming up here and just
a little bit here from Sean Payton. But we got
to talk about the Rockies here for a moment, because
coming off of obviously a disappointing first half, they were

(01:30):
rocketing toward a well historic finish. I mean that's what
it was, right, And we came into the second half saying, well,
they need twenty games, need twenty games to not be
the worst team in baseball history. And here they got
four out of the first six to start the second half.
They only need sixteen more out of sixty. And again
I'm terrible at math, but sixteen and fifty four for

(01:51):
the rest of the way feels very doable. Now I
say that that I knocking all the wood I could
possibly because I don't want to be the Jinks where
they just completely go in the take.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
But at this moment, I'm feeling pretty optimistic. Ben, how
about it?

Speaker 3 (02:03):
View I I'm a neutral right now. I need to
see a little bit more, Biden, I worry that there's
a potential downside to this. We start to get, you know,
a little bit hotter in the you know, in the
second half of the season. Come on now, and all
of a sudden, we're like, you know what, this thing
is just on the cusp.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
All we need to do is.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Keep riding this out and it's gonna and then we
go into next year. We start the season off twelve
and sixty again or whatever, and.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
A classic wet blanket all bright starts to even great, great,
had that dropped?

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Ready to go?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
I mean, come on, dude, I mean this team routinely
wins afternoon close out games at home because one two
series in a row at home is the first time
they've done that all season. Come on, now, Ben, because
of teams just kind of packing it in whatever.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
I don't know, are you for real free time. I've
tried to celebrate the Rockies.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
They've they've they've they've doused me with toilet water, So
I am not celebrating just yet.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Twins are a good team.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Say Louis is a good I mean, they're you know,
five hundred teams.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
But there are both teams that need these games.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
They're not packing in anything.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, the end of the series, you kind of, you know,
get on a plane here and they.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Had a chance to get a series win.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Nolan Arnado had a chance for his team to get
a series win, and they did that for four. And
by the way, the shutout home, as you heard Jack say,
just a little bit ago, the first time since twenty
twenty two the Rockies, and I think it was because
the Pirates in July, but it.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Was the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, so well they had a few shutouts actually in
twenty twenty two, but yes, it was the last time
was against the Dodgers. But it was very, very cool
to see that happened today, resounding six nothing.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
When coming off of the heels of winning the Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Twins series, they got the Baltimore Orioles come up on
Friday at Baltimore games. Baltimore is not what they should be.
So go out there and show people that you really
have quote.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Unquote turned the corner. How about Tanna.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Gordon on how.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
About six innings pitched?

Speaker 3 (04:00):
It runs a lot of far cry from how he
started the season back and I back here with Detroit,
I've scrubbed that from my brain.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I'm good. Yeah, yeah, I'm great. Right now, you're
you you won today. This is a what have you
done for me lately?

Speaker 1 (04:15):
League?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
And today Tanlor Gordon my life drive blanket. Edward's over
there dry. I don't know I'm drinking at all. That
is that. I don't You made the COOLi you don't
even drink it. You made the kool Aid. Would you
like a sip? I'm good, Okay, I'm good. I mean

(04:39):
vegan sugar in this. That's gonna say, made with bacon.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
What is uh? Yeah, I remember fondly summertime, especially my parents.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
And and again this is the eighties, right, so you know
kool Aid was very popular back then.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
I don't know how packets.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I don't know how pow popular is now, but yeah,
we have the packets and then you I had just
four five heaping cups of sugar of white.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
It was water, sugar and food coloring, and that was
the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
The giants inside the fridge and we just yeah, oh
my gosh, we drink.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
We drank the three or four cups a day. Yes,
it was the flavor. That was the flavor, that was
the best one. I was there. It was good when Mom.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Got the purple source wrecks instead of the regular grape.
It's you what a pole. You really are on your
game today, said but I was worried about it. Oh yeah,
I had to go. You know, I had doctor's appointment
on that. I have the biomarkers of a man ten
years younger than myself.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Congratulations on the.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Cool for whatever that means, despite the exterior look, despite
the haggardly look of someone twenty years older than my age.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
I mean, you said it, so I just sit over here.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, you know, I was nice Hollywood to reach out
to see if I would to stunt double from the Crypt
keeper from Tails for the Crypt. Your facial hair is
very so recognizing that, I think I couldn't. I was
trying to do the voice, a perfect voice shot right there too,
that's right there, it's right there, all right. So yeah,
great stuff for the Rockies.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Timely hitting, it was, I mean, they got they they
kind of put up the majority of the runs in
the second inning, and then they kind of in a
lot of ways coasted. But again, the pitching hasn't always
backed up the hitting, and so many times for the
Rockies that has been. The problem is is that maybe
they're they're hitting, especially at home. You know, that's such
a as we know. Of course, field is such a
hitter's park. We oftentimes see scenarios where, hey, man, you

(06:28):
got me. You can tell me I got Tennor Gordon
going around there today. And even if you spot him
four runs, which is what they scored in the second inning,
you know, if.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
You're still shaky, you're like, this doesn't sound nearly enough.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Guys, good teams like you say it's the Dodgers or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well for hey, for nothing, we're gonna win that game.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, like you, you have the confidence, and that's more
than anything. I was telling Dave that I don't know
a met a month ago. I said, I want to
see a team that's competing. I want to see a
team that hasn't given up, and of course you'd like
to win some games in the process.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
This is that I certainly am.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Rooting for not being the worst team historically in baseball history.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
I understand your point.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
I do about if you start to win some games
down the stretch, you'll talk yourself into running it back.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I don't know if that's the case.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
I don't know if they feel I mean, they already
fired their manager. They have an intern in place right
now with Schaeffer. I don't know if they will see enough.
Let's just say they get to forty five wins. Hey,
they miss being the worst team in baseball history. It's
forty five wins, which is still a disaster of a season.
I still feel like that's enough for the organization to

(07:39):
rethink and retool a lot of what they want to
be because this is going to be three straight years
of over one hundred losses and they actually almost were
at four. So that right there is enough for me
that the Rockies will hopefully take an internal look at
their processes regardless of a strong finish, but a strong
finishes it's something to build on because a lot of
the young utes, as.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
You would say, the young.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Players awa a ute, awat see.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
This is me to love John Stockton with you assists.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
There, those guys well make me buyer and Russell I
don't want to be Carbal.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
You don't want to be carble.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
That that's what you do as a team that says, okay,
well it didn't go well, but we hung in there,
and that for me the culture because a lot of
these guys argue to be coming back one way or
the other. The processes internally need to be fixed, but
they're players on this roster that you just can't move
on from or you don't want to either.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
I think my concern is the stay of the course mentality,
which the Rockies have long had to their own detriment.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
If you if you're building something and you're.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Getting some positivity out of that, you get some positivity, that, Okay,
that's good.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I mean, it's good for culture building.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
But you also need to recognize where you are flawed
and address those things and correct those things. And you know,
my worry is is that you get close to the
trade deadline here you're like, well, let's move on for
Brian McMahon and otherwise let's just stay the course, you know.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
And that's how they've been, Like it doesn't really.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, you're not wrong, it's just what they have been.
They tend to be a little bit gun with us.
That's why I worry at the trade deadline. But I
don't even think that that's like, even if they had
lost these first two series, I don't think that that
changes anything, you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't
know if they get to the trade deadline, which is
I think next week of the week after is coming up,
I don't know if their record really reflects how they're

(09:28):
going to approach that anyways, because they've been good, they've
been bad, they tend to not do anything well.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
I just I hope that it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
I hope that at the end of this season we're
evaluating where the baseball side of the house is and
making the appropriate changes there, because otherwise I think Dick
Monferen's been a pretty decent owner.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
They spend money, they.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Have a great ballpark, they have a great surrounding area.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
It is fun to go out there.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
You and I were out there Sunday watching the lone
loss and all these and all these wings they're pulling up.
You're the Jinx Ryan, and so you know, I think
I think for me, you know, the one area where
the Montforts have have consistently struggled with owning a baseball
team is getting the internal culture and the internal baseball
stuff sorted out. And I hope we don't get us
stay the course attitude, because that it's not going to

(10:13):
a few wins at the end of the season is
not going to irrevocably plow this team forward into sudden
playoff contention. That was a really fun game, by the way,
I mean, which like just seems more runs out of
the Rockies offense.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
As it were. Joe Ryan's fun to watch. It was fun.
Now we had the what's his name Jackson to play
his high school ball. Cherry Creek was out there for
the twins. Yeah, you know, it was a lot of
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
And maybe I am the Jinks because that was the
first game I've actually been to this year.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
So we're blamer. That's what we did.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
We all thought Grant Smith went to the game last
night and didn't they won that one, So we Grant
he's the He is the good luck Chug.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Tried to tell you they did.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
You did try to You literally did try to tell
me yesterday.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
And I told him as he as we were talking
before the show, I said, I find have known that
piece of information.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
I would have shifted my show down there. He was like,
Ryan didn't know, so he you know, he voted the
wrong way.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
He like Greg got called the shot. He pointed to
center field.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
I felt like the Rockies coming off of the momentum
of laying the Twins series.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
You can tell me you're not listen Ryan, as an artist,
you know exactly what I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
I know, I know.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
But I did pick the Rockies on Monday night because
I felt like, hey, you know, the lost to Joe
Ryan and the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
They'd be able to move past that.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
They're gonna get fired up to play Nolan Arnado and
the Cardinals.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
They're gonna win this first game. And it did not work.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
That workout, and I should have stuck to my guns
because I would have picked them in the next two games.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
But I did not. I changed my mind after that loss,
and I again should have.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Checked in with Grant. I should say, hey, are you
going to the game? That's my first.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Call when I am picking Rockies games, or if I'm
laying a wager, is Grant are you attending this game?

Speaker 1 (11:52):
All right? We're of 'n'rolling here on a Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Benjamin Albright, Ryan Edwards, Dave will be back with us tomorrow.
So we've got all sorts of really cool insights from
practice today for the Broncos as they kicked off training camp.
We'll hear from Sean Payton. Sean, by the way, quite
literally took a shot at the across the bow at
Ben Albright. Sewan went after Ben Albright today at a
press conference.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
That's what I heard.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
It was beautiful and I cannot wait to play the
sound to shove it in Ben's face about how wrong
he is in his wrongness.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Bring it on, We're gonna do that. And I'll bring
it on. We're gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know, we
all remember that one teacher who made a difference in
our lives, who believed in us, challenged us, or made
learning fun. Now's your chance to say thank you with
iHeartRadio's Thank a Teacher powered by Donor's Choice Nominate in
a nominate on a standing public school teacher who's gone
above and beyond for their students to win five thousand

(12:53):
dollars to stock their classroom. Nominate your favorite teacher right
now at iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Again. Thank you to donors choose for helping us out.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Go to iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers to nominate your
favorite teacher.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Now we're back, baby, that's what this feels like. We're back.
Three dog nights on a Wednesday. We are so back.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Okay, all right, that's Benjamin Albright, what blanket?

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Look what the record is over the next ten and
you know they need sixteen to play Baltimore. They need
sixteen sixteen the magic number, and they blow away that
horrible records. Only the Rockies could mess up not being
the worst of all time down the stretch.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Is that what you're rooting for? Aren't we all?

Speaker 3 (13:45):
No?

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Absolutely not our name in the record books. You don't
want to be bad. You want to be if you're
going to be bad, you want to be epically bad. Nope, Nope, nope,
don't want to comically bad. Don't want it.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Oh, this was all part of the plan. We're we're
bottoming out. Before we do, we get.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
To make fun of you yet for Sean Payton coming
after you bring this quote on because this was it
was cringe, but not the way the head coach wanted
it to be. Okay, So a couple of things. I'll
get some insights from practice today. It was it was
kind of like an OTA's practice. It's an acclamation period.
You'll hear that a lot.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
We'll hear that a lot.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
You'll deal some people tweeting it about tweeting out about it.
You'll see you'll hear radio hosts who are out there
logger so on and so and forth. They're all going
to say acclamation period. And that's I mean, that is
what it is. But there's still things to learn, there
are still observations. I'll get in some of that coming
up in a second. But here's Sean Payton. He was asked,
what is it Parker actually asked this question, but he

(14:43):
was asked about how excited he is to counter punch
some of the ways defensive quartors might approach bo Nix
in year two, as in, you think you know what
he is, but here is another level, here's another level
of our office with bow Nicks. So he was asked
about that, and here's what Sean Payton said.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
I hear that a lot.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
That overflowing that I think. So, I look, they're watching
the We're all watching the film throughout the year. So
there's not this one off season where there's a group
of defensive coaches sitting in the room for two weeks
looking at bow Knicks film. I mean the study and
looking at the system, the players in the system. Yeah,

(15:28):
I've heard. I've heard that, and I kind of cringe
when I hear it.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Okay, so we're I think we're a little quiet on that,
but yeah, more or less, he said that he's heard
that he's a defensive coordinators don't spend all the time
sit around watching bo Nicks, stay around watching watching both
they do and and he makes him cringe when hears
been allbright. He did say been all bright, but everybody
else everybody knew was my you know, everyone knew what

(15:54):
that was.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, so Van, I'll give you a chance to respond.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
I was just cringing because our coach apparently doesn't do
his job watch and that much tape on other teams.
That or he's line of the media, one of the two,
which is the more likely. But I mean that's you know,
I mean, that's that is what they do. That is
what guys do in the off season. I've literally talked
to a defensive coordinator who is taking on bow Nicks
this year. There's like, yeah, you know, I sat down
for about two weeks and went and chopped through what

(16:18):
it is.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
That he does and what it is that.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
He didn't look at you know, didn't look like he
did as well, and that you know, and so that
we know things to kind of try to throw at
him and design about that when it comes around of
the game we play against him.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
So I don't know, I don't know what how to
respond to that.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
I mean, like, is the head coach not doing his
job watching enough opposing quarterbacks?

Speaker 1 (16:36):
You don't believe that.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
No, he's line of media. Uh, he knew where it
came from. He knows he doesn't like the guy it
came from. And he I mean, he's got kind of
a point, he doesn't. They've got a lot of things,
not like there's a cup ball of defensive coordinators that
are sitting in the cave, But no one suggested the
Justice League of defensive coordinators was sitting around looking for
a way to stop you know, bow Nicks. Each individual team, though,

(17:00):
is looking at that. They are looking at the system,
they are looking at the player, they are looking at
the tape. But they want to see what that guy
can and can't do and how they can try and
stop it. I think, so it's your job. I understand
where well you are animated. All I gotta do is
just I you.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Know what my gears rying. I hear you. I like
the cabal by the way, that was that was fantastic.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
I think his point is most teams are probably more
focused on improving themselves.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
They're looking at other teams. Because he talked about it
today quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
He's like, you're looking at other teams, and you're looking
for things that you can use for yourself. You're looking
for ways to improve yourself. But there's not this anticipation
of the offseason where these teams are like, gosh, if
we're gonna we're in this division, boy, we got to
stop bo Nicks like that. That is that is priority one. Well,
nobody suggested that, though.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
What I'm saying is that every team looks at every
quarterback they're playing against, and they start their defensive game
plan with that. They don't start even even the Eagles.
When you're playing the Eagles, nobody starts with Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
You start with Jalen Hurts, and then you go from there.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
You start with what can the quarterback do, how can
they beat us in the past game, how can we
shut that down? And then you go to the other
thing you want to take away their two or three
best best players or weapons and go from there.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
I mean, I think think the point of it is,
though Eagles are a great example here because everybody wants
to know how to stop the toush push, right, I
mean everybody, And I imagine a lot of coaches study
that from an offensive blocking scheme, like what are they
doing because they've been doing it for years with such
a high success rate. I imagine if you're Zach Streef, if
you're Sean Payton, if you're any of the coaches around

(18:39):
the league, You're like, Okay, what what is it about them?
Is it just the personnel that they have that they
have that ability to well, hey they changed out Jason
Kelly Kelsey, but they're still able to have a lot
of success doing it.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Is it just Jalen Hurts? Is that you know?

Speaker 2 (18:51):
So that for me is an example, a great example
of how I'm sure they do study those kinds of things,
and in some ways, I guess you're kind of keeping
in the back of your mind, especially since the Bronx
are playing the Eagles, on what you can learn from
it and maybe consequently how to stop it. I don't
know if Vince Joseph, though, is spending all his time

(19:11):
watching the Eagles now and saying, well, I got to
figure out how to stop the tush push in July.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
No, but I think he's digging his time up amongst
the seventeen games that they have, some of which are
repeat opponents, three which are repeat opponents, and probably spending
a little extra time on those repeat opponents and saying,
you know, okay, how do how do we stop this now?
Vance was the guy who helped figure out the blueprint
on mahomes, not that there is a blueprint for stopping mahomes,
but slowed them down with the two high It was
it was Vance, you know, not blitzing as much.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
On mahomes because they'll eat you up with that. And
so I mean, yeah, these these.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
That's what it is.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
What you this is your job. Your job is to
sit there and do that. So the idea that you know,
I mean, I get where I get what Sean Payte
is doing, you know, and there have been with him
and maybe media people that you know, they have a
small dislike or whatever, the little barbs exchange through.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
The media before I get what he's doing.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
But he's I mean, in the specific thing that he said,
he is correct, but that wasn't the thing that he
was responding to.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
He also responded with that.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
I think Parker followed up asking about the sophomore slump
for quarterbacks, and he kind of made e quip about
I'm still looking for the MTV one hit wonderers out there.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
He's like, I can't think of my first clue.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
That Sean Payton had never watched MTV because it's littered
with one hit wonders. True, but actually no, I think
he was Papa Roach's second song anyone.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
I think anyone he was acknowledging. He was acknowledging that
there are one hit wonders. He was saying, I can't
think of, off the top of my head quarterbacks that
have been one hit wonders. I do think we talk
about those things because because even Parker brought up c J. Stroud,
and of course Sean right away said, well, didn't they
make the playoffs?

Speaker 3 (20:54):
What are we talking about? Great defense and a pretty
strong run game that year. I mean, yeah, and Nico
Collins had a I mean they had, but there was
a definitive drop off for CJ.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Stride.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
Now, part of that was the fact that Bobby Slowick
didn't change up the blocking scheme. Let the let tackle
on the on the io, and team started sugar in
that and then go in the other direction. And I mean,
you know, we can get into all that if we
want to. It's not solely on CJ. Stroud, but yeah,
there are guys that have a sophomore slump in terms
of Okay, teams have a whole year of pro tape
on you now that kind of know what you can
do and can't do, and they start to throw things
at you based on that, and you either evolve as

(21:26):
a player or you don't.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well in this case, for Bonicks, I mean certainly, and
we'll get into some of the stuff he did this offseason.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Including visiting Drew Brees and Tom House. But for Bonnicks,
it is.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
About the counter punch and it's also about what the
coaching staff can do to continue to help him develop.
I think the stuff with CJ. Stroud can be pointed
to more than just CJ. If that makes sense. You
pointed there to some of the offensive line issues. They
improve their running game. Joe Mixon was a revelation for
that offense. Nico Collins had his best season even though
it's hurt for part of it, he still looks fantas

(22:00):
they lost Tank Dell. I mean, there were some reasons
why in Stefan Diggs as well. There's some reasons why
they ended up where they were. I pointed the offensive
line as some of the biggest issues for the Texans
last year, and they were just having a difficult time
surviving that, especially in pass per and maybe CJ's held
the ball a little.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Bit too long.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
I think Sean's point is a good one, though, because
overall team's success was still there and CJ still had
some very impressive games. He just wasn't as consistent as
he was his rookie season. So I guess to take
a lesson from that. You wonder for Bonnix how much
consistency can he find, And certainly want to start out

(22:36):
faster than you did last year, because you started out
very poorly last year as a quarterback, right.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
And there are examples of bad quarterbacks where the sophomore
slope did them completely in guys like member Rick Meyer
or Tim Couch. There are examples of good quarterbacks that
had sophomore slopes their second years, Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan.
There are plenty of guys that have had this. The
idea that this is not an occurrence is just fiction.
It's absolute that this does not happen. So that's why
I was kind of like, really that was the response,

(23:03):
like maybe, you know, maybe we have a No, We're
just going to concentrate on being the best whatever we
can be, and we'll worry about, you know, worry about
that when it comes to it.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Matt Jones was when under name that sort of popped
in my head because he didn't have a really good
rookie year.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Is a Pro Bowl his rookie year, right, and then
teams get on off season a tape on you, and
then they get to look at you and then all
of a sudden, defensive coordinators are smart guys and they
pick up on the things you can't do and they
try to force you into those scenarios.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, there was one fear for me because a lot
of the national media have really, you know, globbed onto
the mac Jones comp for Bonix.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
If there's one sort of fear about it is.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
That those assessments of him in the pre draft process
and even the ones that keep coming out with these
different stats, the Bomani Joneses of the world and your
favorite guy been so lack whatever. They come out with
stats about Bonix throwing behind the line, not even acknowledging
the struggles the Broncos had to run the ball.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Last context for all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
But those those doors don't see all that stuff, and
so they go with you know, they just go with
the numbers and stuff.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Why do you retweet them? What's that? Just throwing that
out there so.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
That the Broncos country can get in there and correct that.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
What it is? Yes, okay, I send the hounds. It's
not an acknowledgment that you believe in. Great sweets are
not endorsements. Okay, I'm just looking through your Twitter account.
It doesn't say anything about that. I think that it's implied.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Someone Mike from iOS is Tiffany. I think we're alone
now was a great one.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
It won.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
That was a great one. Hit won, So we you know,
I guess what you could do tomorrow. Shawn's isn't talking tomorrow.
I think it'll be you talking on Friday. But you can, Hey, coach,
I got a list of one hit wonders here for Ports.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Analysis Collective did a study back in twenty twenty and
depending on the position that you're in. This is across
all position groups, depending on the position, And there is
a tendency to have a decline in performance from freshman
to sophomore seasons in the NFL from three to twelve
percent depending on the.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Position it exists.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
Hmm, okay, three percent for receivers they tend to get better. Yeah,
up to twelve percent for quarterbacks. Okay, well, and that
you can google that article.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
No, no, I'm not trying to, are you.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
We refute, I'd say, like we were just talking about
with Bonix, there's context. There's context with all those situations Slave,
there's context with c J.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Strad Lesher.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
There's context with the Patriots who decided not to actually
hire an offensive coordinator at one point because they just
sort of thought they could figure that thing out with
the DC and a former special teams coordinator and they
were good. There's context with all those kinds of things.
What was the plan, what was who? Who was the
actual play caller? Because again, you and I've been around
the game a long time.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
There's something to be said for continuity years in the systems,
or something be said for your offensive line, like how.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Many of those guys had resets A play caller, how
many of those guys had resets? And obviously, maybe you're right,
I had a lot of offensive line all of a sudden,
we're not available next year. Maybe they had a lot
of injuries. Again, I know, I'm not trying to draw
out a point. I'm just more of saying like, I
think that on its face value, that stat just doesn't
tell me a lot.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
No, and I and there's context to everything. Anybody who
can't contextualize anything as is doing a disservice. But I
will say that I was amused by Sean Payton's response
because I was like, dude, this is at best disingenuous,
and it's fine because Sean Payton likes to mess with
the media and that's that's his thing. But I was like,
come on, man, I mean, like, this is a real
phenomenon and if you didn't want to lean into it,

(26:20):
all you had to do is say we're gonna be
the best Broncos we can be whatever those numbers are.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
We don't care about the numbers. We care about the
win win numbers.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
You know, any kind of coaching pablum response would have
worked there Other than what we got all right.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
So today was I mean from a health standpoint, it's
about as good as it can possibly be. I mean,
at Perry's the only guy on the on the pup, yep.
Everybody else was there. They were all participating, including guys
that are in quote unquote contract negotiations. Right, Courtland, Sutton, JFM,
Zach Allen, Nick Benito, all those guys participated in practice.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Yeah, and don't read anything into Courtland's I've seen some
weird Courtland reporting out there. Don't read anything into that.
If they do get something done, they do. But he
doesn't need to be out there every rep. This is again,
this is acclamation. You've got to see some of the
younger guys get more reps right now. That's that's got
to be part of it.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, people did read into that a lot as far
as that was a contract thing, like he showed up,
he wasn't a hold in. He participated in individual drills.
I didn't read it, you know. In fact, Sean said
a couple of things today. First of all, here's what
the stuff about the contract negotiation players.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
Look, there's a number of guys you're going to ask
me about a few contracts. They're all, you know, being
worked on something we really would never discuss with you,
and those guys are are getting work done. So yeah,
there's been good communication.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
And I'm just going to leave it at that. Relative
to the specific players.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, so, I mean that is expected, and all those
guys were out there practicing, and so I'm with you.
And he was asked about Zach Allen and this is
kind of dovetailing to your point about Courland. They have
a plan in place for a lot of these guys
as far as the kind of reps they're going to get.
Today it was day one of an acclamation period. Because
somebody else asked me earlier about Jadde Baron, who played

(28:10):
outside today. In part, Riley Moss didn't play as much.
I mean they only did one one series of a
team and one series of sevens, so there wasn't really
a lot to read into that. But you know, again,
hot take people get out there and say, boy, Jade
Baron's already left in front of Riley Moss.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
That is that is just not what's happening.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Jaddey Baron will continue to be moved around between Nickel
and Outside.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
I think they just want to see him everywhere. But
here's really quick.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Here' Sean Payton talking about he was first asked by
Zach Allen, but then he went into a little bit
about everybody and how actually that's managing reps.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
I'll tell you what. Let's play the managing reps one.
I'll get to the Zachlon one.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Here these players were discussing, you know, whether it's Dre
or any of these guys coming back off of injury.
We're going to monitor the snaps. We're gonna we're going
to have a calendar where some days they're not going
to practice. I'm telling you now because you'll ask me then.
And it's three groups all the time. It's the recently injured,

(29:12):
it's the injury history, and then it's the veteran group
of players that we'll put together, you know, a little
bit of a load management program. I don't want to
call it that, but it's us looking ahead over the
next four weeks and getting ahead of you know, the
practice schedule, so those guys would all fall into that.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I do like that.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
He's like, I know you'reys gonna ask me about guys
not practicing and not getting reps, and it's all part
of a plan.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
I mean, I think that's great.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
I think part of the reason why the Broncs have
had the success that they've had over the last couple
of years is because they have a plan with these players.
They manage the reps in practice, they manage the reps
over the course of the week, so these guys are
as good as they possibly can be for Sunday.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
Anybody, let me let me go a step further with that.
Anybody who's making definitive collusions about anything about the Broncos
this year after one practice in shorts where they did
one series of sevens and one series, I mean, like
you should know not to trust those people on anything.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Ever, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
The idea here again, just to get guys up to speed.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
We're going to have the good practices coming up.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
It'll be a couple of weeks before we know this
kind of stuff, but we'll get to day to day
observations on that and kind of see, like you know
you point out today about Coop, you get you get
to see the day to day observations on some of
that stuff. But you know, he is way way too
early to be making any definitive statements about anything.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, you had everybody out there.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Drake Green Laws were with one, Alex Singleton was out there,
and when they did skeleton, JK.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Dobbins was kind of the quote unquote lead back.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
But again they were all in rotation, which is going
to be the case of a Vailey back out there
after missing good portions of OTA's congratulations Jay's child by
the way, that's right that I don't think this is
out there, but oh sorry, not bad.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
PJ.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Locke was back out there after having a spinal few usion,
which is sound.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
It's like a scary thing.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
My dad actually had it, but I can't imagine him
trying to play football afterwards. But yeah, it was great
and honestly, one of the things that they really stood out.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
And was going to think you said it perfectly.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
You have one series with first, second and third team
with team and with sevens. They did one in shorts, right,
and they did one series of punts and they didn't
even do field goal. I mean it was a very
short practice. But I thought Coop looked. Coop has got
to be talked about a little bit. I think he recognizes.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
The visibility of having drafted an edge rusher in the
second round and he got Benito, who's up here for
a pay day, And I think Cooper sort of realizes, Hey,
you know, I came from the seventh round. I've been hungry,
I've done everything I asked. You guys got me paid,
and I continue to show up and produce. And I
think I think there's there's sort of a little bit
of a foot on the gas thing for him there, like, hey,

(31:59):
maybe I don't get the run that I deserve.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Not that he has the ego.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Like that, but I think that Coop deserves a little
bit more run than he gets.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
One of thing my one of my favorite things about
Jonathan Cooper, and he's been like this since he got there,
but today, just like every day in practice, he stays engaged.
When we get to second and third team, he's out
there cheering those guys on, he's clapping, he's calling out
players they're.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Doing good job. Yeah. I mean some people will think
is that all that necessary?

Speaker 2 (32:27):
But he's a starter, like he doesn't need to be
like given dere Tellman any extra love, or Keut Robinson
or a safety making a play. But he's out there
like engaged with all of it. Yeah, And so again,
maybe that means nothing, but it just sort of kind
of goes to the culture, like, hey, if your defensive

(32:47):
player one, or your defensive player like thirty five, you know,
like I got your back, I'm watching, I'm paying attention,
and I'm engaged in all that.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
It would be very easy.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think if his group isn't in there and he's
not going to be playing, for him to take his
helmet off, get some water, chat with the guys.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
It's not offensive if he does that.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
I do appreciate though, Jonathan Cooper, who has a nice offseason.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
He looked really great out there today.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
He continues to have great training camp reps every single time.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
He always goes on one hundred miles prior.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
And know it's cliche, but he stays engaged with everything,
and I think from a culture standpoint that matters.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
From a tape standpoint, he does the things that don't
show up in the stat sheet, you know, Like Jonathan
Cooper from early on as an edge rusher, has been
able to set the age in the run game when
other guys have had to come off the field because
they've been unable to do that, you know. And so
he's just a complete outside linebacker and maybe He's not
the flashiest guy with the highest production totals, but he
is the guy that does all those little things that

(33:44):
as a coach you're like, I never have to worry
about him being a liability.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
By with DeAndre tellman Man a lot of is a
good player.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
There's a lot of I mean, you know, between him
and Jonah Ellis coming back off injury. They think they've
got a pretty deep room there, and it's given them
some level to push back against the Benito camp, who
was saying, hey, I'm gonna let Hendrickson and Parsons sign
and push that top five average.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Up for the bag. I think if you're Nick Benito,
that's not the.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Worst thing to let let you know better on yourself
market set the market. Yeah, because Dave and I were
arguing about this last week, I think, and he was
kind of making the argument to kind of get that
one done early, and I think from a standpoint of
trying to save money, maybe there is something to that.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Well the team was to get it done early.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, I think so, But I also don't think it's
the worst thing for either side.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Honestly.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
I mean, with Watt signing and now you're gonna get
you know, Schartage deal will get done, Hendricksons the one.
But as you're sitting there, that pushes the average, because
what what what Benito's gonna get is the average of
the top five right somewhere in that that fifth whatever,
the average of the fifth number, that's that's about.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
What he's gonna get. And so you know, as that.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Number continues to go up, Benito's just sitting there like,
all right, cool, let them let let the number rise.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well sure, but I mean, can you honestly see Nick
Benito as a fourenty million?

Speaker 3 (35:01):
No, but in the thirties I could see it. And
at this point that's where we're getting.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
So if you have the option of paying him, say
twenty four to twenty five, If.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
You had the option paying Nick Beanito twenty five million
a year, you run to the table. We'll do that
right now, sprint to the table with that number. That
number won't be accepted now, but it might have been
a few months ago.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Did the Broncos drag their feet there?

Speaker 3 (35:22):
I just think he's either his representation or intelligent enough
to know, hey, look there's a couple of big name
guys are about to get sign and push that market up.
Why not sit there.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Wait, it's not hurting anything, but.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
George Carl laughs, it's got what twenty three and a
half twenty four?

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah, you're probably, I mean at Benito's, you're probably at
the twenty five to twenty eight range, maybe north of
thirty by the time Hendrickson and if Hendrickson signs and
Parsons sign.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Well, Hendrickson thing is a mess.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Oh, it's a bigger disaster than you know. You got
two offers in twenty four hours before he left for Florida.
Neither one of them had any money guaranteed.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Be on your one. Are you kidding?

Speaker 3 (35:53):
The Bengals are absolutely just bungling grant. You need to
get on the phone of your boy, Mike Brown. Dude,
that was Don Rickles. He's not aged. Well sorry, that's.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
See what you did there.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
That was not a great look for Mike Brown a
couple of days ago talking about Schamar Stewart either.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, they're lying about that part too. The language, the
clause that's in that contract is completely independent to the Bengals.
It's a brand new deal and the way that it's
worded gives them wiggle room to pull guarantees without any
oversight based on your off field or injury performances. I
wouldn't sign up if I was Shamar Stewart either. No,
and I'm not the biggest Jamar Stewart fan.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, they're trying. They're trying to put it back on him.
They're trying to control the narrative. Nobody's buying it.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Well, right, it's it's because and I will tell you
in insider circles, and maybe it's out there. I'm not sure,
but that that part of the contractuse leaked. We've seen
the language. They're lying. All right, we come back. We'll
here's some positivity. Enough of the wet blanket, all bright stuff.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
We'll hear some positivity about the Broncos and bo Nix.
We'll also get some more insights from today's practice. Don't
go anywhere.