Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To the KWA comings for a hotline to bring on
a very good front of the program. Nick Cosmiter from
The Athletic at Nick Cosmiter on Twitter. Nick, always great
to catch up with you, my friend. How's the bye
week treating you?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's nice, you know, like actually running down a list
of things that I've probably been putting off for weeks.
It's not months, so yeah, it makes my wife happy and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We're doing good. So you're saying you have your own
fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Comeback, right, yeah, you know, like at a certain point,
you just it doesn't matter if you're down by thirty
three or five.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You got to make a run at some point. So
that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I really liked I mean I always liked your articles.
I reference him a lot here on the show, but
I like this one that you were sort of breaking
down the path to the one seed. We'll start there
and then I want to get to your bone mix
stuff because I thought that was really good too. But
you said you seeking around thirteen and four would would
probably do the trick. And of course there's still a
lot to play here the Colts and they're playing this
week against the Chiefs, you got the Patriots, maybe they're
(00:57):
playing Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, and four feels
about right for you, does it?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It does?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
You know we use then there's obviously lots of different
stimulators you can use, but with ours at the Athletic
you know, that's kind of the projected finish right now,
that they have the Patriots and there at thirteen and four,
of the Broncos in the two at twelve and five.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
So I do think.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Thirteen and four kind of kind of makes sense, particularly
because for me, you look at that Patriots schedule and
they really don't have.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
A tough road ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The one team they have left that has a winning
record right now is the Bills. They get that game
at home, obviously at Baltimore. The way that the Ravens
are playing right now, that'll be a tough contest. Those
are the two toughest games. Certainly, if you're a Broncos fan,
you like that Joe Burrow is returning in this game.
But nonetheless, I just think you look at two teams
that to this point are nine and two.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You know, four and.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Two seems pretty reasonable that one of these teams, you know,
is kind of going to get to that mark.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, And it's the interesting thing here, and I you know,
I kind of penciled him at twelve and five, so
that fits right in the range going going forward. But
I think the interesting thing to me is if you
look at this, say if they do clinch this this
number one, see if they do get that. I mean,
here's a scenario here where you're resting guys, you know,
in week eighteen, and you're talking about like a three
week period there where you've got the potential for these
(02:15):
guys to be down, you know, kind of getting healthy again.
I just not I haven't seen anything like this. And
then you know in Broncos Country in quite some time.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, and it's interesting, Like after the game on Sunday,
and I forget exactly what led into this, if you
guys might remember, but Sean Payton is essentially talking about
you know, one of his saying I think he was
just sort of talking about like doing what you need
to do for your team at any given time. And
he took some criticism for having rested or arm having
(02:45):
played some of his players, but he felt like they
need to or maybe it was the other way around.
Either way, the idea was that, like, you know, he's
always had a pretty good read on what his teams need,
and so you're absolutely right then, like that that could be,
that could be the scenario, you know, because let's say
Baltimore perhaps has you know, I'm sorry, New England has
lost those two games that were that we're talking about,
(03:06):
and maybe to that point, the Broncos have only lost one.
And you look at the tie breakers if it's going
to be them in New England, you know, first's conference record.
After that it's it's a you know, record.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Of combined opponents.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It helps denver that New England has already lost to
the Raiders this year, you know, something that obviously the
Broncos haven't done. Still have one more game there on
December seventh against Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So there's a decent chance.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
All that is to say that they you know, could
be in a good tiebreaker.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Scenario with the Patriots. That's why they're.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Currently sitting ahead of them in the standings right now,
even though they.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Have the same record.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So yeah, I don't think that's out of the possibility.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And yeah, it really is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
When you know that kind of the bye week is
to take some time.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
To sort of zoom out and look at where they are.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think any of us, really, you know, many
of us thought that that could be the position that
they're in, you know, kind of heading into that big
game in Washington, that they would be nine to two,
and we're having you know, serious substantive conversations about and
potentially earning a number one seed in the buy that
comes with it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Shan the cosmid Or from the Athletic you know, you
you you kind of did a nice breakdown here on
bon Nicks and specifically how his team has rallied around him.
Is there something that bo Nicks could be working on
in the bye week? I know the Sean gave him
all week off, but if there was something he could
improve on for these final six games, what would it
be for you?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah? I would If it was me, I would have
started with, hey, like, let's cut up a lot of
the good things that we did in this game against
a really good pass rush and just have those kind
of things sink into sort of your psyche like we
you know, you go through And there had been time,
there had not been many times going through his film
this year where there was just kind of the solid
(04:43):
climb in the pocket sometimes, but you know, they're run
up in the pocket to kind of create you know,
an off platform throw or whatever the case might be.
But just pure you know, climbing stepping up, it's sort
of been few and far between, and you could point
to several examples of that in the game against Kansas City.
And of course what that does is allows.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You to manipulate the pressure the way.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That you want to, but it also keeps your eyes
down the field in a way that when you just
kind of like run up in the pocket, you're not
always necessarily able to do. And I thought his ability
to do that, you know, let guys extend routes, create
some separation you know later in the route concept that
would be kind of my thing. My mine would be
a like a kind of a go into this with
(05:25):
a real positive thing of hey, let's let's build on this.
Because there was some some really good stuff that you know,
he added to to what he already does well, which
is the you know, the movement, the ability to kind
of you know, be a playmaker, especially late in games
like he often is, you know, I e. The throat,
the twenty yard throat of Courtland Sutton on third and
fifteen pair of that, which is kind of more sound
(05:46):
trust in the pocket. I thought there was.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
A lot to like, and so that would be me.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It would just be like, hey, let's let's kind of
build off what we did there on Sunday against the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And everybody wants to focus on Bowl. But you know,
he's answered those questions for me.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, he shows up when when he needs to
and and you know when the bell rings and h
and he shows up what he needs to. I think
the question here going forward, as we look at this
last third of the season is what does this.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Run game look like?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Both it's been the leads the NFL in passing attempts. Uh,
the run game is wildly ineffective, although you know, to
be fair, wasn't as as needed this past week. You
know RJ has just not gotten it as a as
a running back, yet you Leia was marginally better. What
what are we going to do here when we're getting
into the dead of December and you've got to run
the football.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, it's a great question because you know you're you're
you're somewhat short on options in terms of, like, you know,
different levers that you can pull like you're you're going
to need r J. Harvey to you know, to get
more reps and hope that he builds on those enough
to where you are trusting him to be, you know,
a guy that becomes a major part of your game plan.
To your point, Ben, in games where you know, running
(06:51):
the football is going to be paramount, not just because
of a you know, controlling the clock type of way
or whatever that might be, but also because of the
weather and not wanting to put the ball in bo
Nix's hands already times when it's you know, tend degrees
there at in power field, So that's going to be critical.
And I know that this team has shown a lot
of acumen for being able to finish close games, but man,
(07:11):
you would love if you're the Broncos going into these
next two against teams with losing records to be able
to like get out ahead and really just give the
reps and give the opportunity to really work r J. Harvey,
Angela mcloughfin in a way that kind of gives you
confidence that they're starting to kind of build up a
rhythm that to me would be a big priority if
I'm the Broncos, Like, yeah, you need to win these games.
(07:33):
You need to continue to win these games because of
what you're playing for, right, Like, if you're trying to
be the number one seed, not a lot of margin
for err, But I think you do kind of have
to balance that with like, let's really get these guys
going so that we can figure out what they can
and can't do collectively as we build our run game.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
For the playoffs at Cosmo or joining us. Last couple
for you Man. Also in your article he talked about
the secondary a little bit. Would you consider some kind
of rotation there at outside corner, especially when Pastor Tam
comes back. Obviously he's starting on the opposite side, But
for Riley Moss in his position, do you go rotation
there or do you go back to what you were?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think they're
probably going to look at a couple of these things,
and certainly with pat Down they have they had kind
of created a little bit of an outside rotation. Obviously
it was large, it's largely been Chris Abrams strain on
the outside, but you sprinkled John A. Barren into that
role a little bit as well. So maybe there are
certain packages that you like Chris Abrams Drain to be
(08:33):
out on the field a little bit more for you know,
obviously they they they're confident in Riley Moss. You know,
no point to the you know, the low completion rate,
his ability to just be competitive and to get past things.
But you know that they're going to have to kind
of really sort of evaluate almost from a philosophical level
of like, this is sort of what this guy is
in terms of right now. He's just at a point
(08:54):
where he's he's collecting a lot of flags and a
lot of big moments, and teams are clearly hunting that as.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
A way to get down the field.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So, you know, Riley Moss set himself after the game
like there's going to be a lot of things that
he needs to do that they're going to work on
in practice, whether it's you know, playing corner with boxing
gloves on, so he has to keep his keep his
hands off, you know, as they train for these upcoming games,
like they're going to need to kind of try all
those things. But I don't have a great answer for you,
but I wouldn't surprise me if they do try to
(09:22):
look at that and say, you know, how can we
get Chris abrams Strand on the field as well, in
part just because he's he's playing really well. That's the
guy you want to continue to have grow and develop.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
You know, we were talking with Dave Logan earlier. We're
talking about how, you know, Washington went to the NFC
Championship in their first year and they kind of fell
off in the second year, and a lot of that
had to do with the fact they need to reload
on defense, and they went with a munch old free agents.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
It didn't work out. If Broncos have a defense, it's
pre built.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It is pre built to be sustained for a few
years on into whenever it is you're going to end
up having to pay both How much of a confidence
boost do you think it is overall for this unit
to go out there and do what they're doing without
their best player and without their logistics leader in the
Green dot, and you know, and and still coming away
with these defensive performances.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, I think it's kind of wild, honestly, And that's
what I think separates this team from the unit last year. Obviously,
Denver had a really good defense last year, led the
league in sacks by a large margins set a franchise record,
could always get after the quarterback. But I just think
that if they were lucky last year to not have
to have dealt with a lot of the injuries that
(10:28):
we are we're seeing creeping up, they didn't rest on
that as some sort of thing where you're like, oh,
this is this is how it's going to be every year,
even though you know Sean Payton says you kind of
like to you feel like you earn what you have
injury wise.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Look, we all know that there's there's huge variants to injuries.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You're going to have them at some point, and right
now the Broncos have dealt with them a little bit
more than they did in either Sean Payton's.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
First two years.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
They've also they're also more equipped than at any other
time to deal with those, and I think that's been
a really important part of the latter part of this
win streak. Like when you when tatz er Tan win down,
if you said, hey, we're going to be we're going
to be three and oh before we get him back
in Washington, you're gonna feel great about that, if for
no other reason than like that's your best football player
and you found a way to win without him. And
(11:11):
then yeah, the again, you had guys that were starters
last year, like Justin Surnad's now.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
He's a fill in guy.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Who plays at a starter level. That's not a luxury
a lot of teams have. And it's a testament to
George Peyton and Sean Payton the way that they've built
this roster.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
So your guy, Robert Mays on the podcast today said
that if the Broncos win the Super Bowl, he's going
to shave his head.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Are you going to help with that? Since you covered
the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I'd be happy to. I Actually I was just cleaning
some stuff off for that honeydew list and found this
old pair of like clippers from COVID when I tried
to cut.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
My own hair, and obviously I burned all.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Evidence of that existing.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I've got the clippers not really used, so I'll be
happy to send Robert does or help them in whatever
way I can, you know, video it or whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He needs those guys, and again, I think they do
a really good job. I listened to a lot of
National pods just kind of get a sense of how
different people are talking about the Broncos outside of the market,
and yeah, they have not been the biggest boon Nicks guys,
and I can understand that from the pre draft process
to some of his inconsistencies, But there's the they basically
(12:18):
said that they just don't believe this team has what
it takes to win a championship, and they took the
Chiefs ahead of them even that sitting at the nine seed,
as in more belief in their ability to win a championship,
which I guess I could kind of understand based on priors,
but also it's a little weird to me.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, I mean, there's like there's one school of thought.
I think, like, you know, as much as I'm sure
you guys and plenty of others have had.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Fun with Nick, right, like the one thing that he said.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
That it's like, okay, I see that where he said
something to the effect of like I'm gonna go ahead
and just wait one year until the Chiefs aren't in
the Super Bowl or you know, in the AFT Championship
before I you know, just kind of declare them, to
declare them dead. And I think earned sort of some
of the benefit of the doubt, even though now they
have this scrape just to get into the playoffs, I
think the one thing and then maybe this is like
(13:06):
a bigger picture sort.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Of like critique on what we do sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You know from a national media perspective. But but all
of this is there's always this yearning to put like
a certain.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Game into a larger context like all the time.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And what that does is it presents just this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Like week by week, like this.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Is what we've decided a person is, this is how
it's going well, ignoring the fact that so much of
this is an arc, like it really is like a marathon.
Like if you had done this to John Oways for
like this didn't exist back then, but you'd be saying,
like God, what.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
A bum, Like what do you complete.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
His passes today? Or who is like you know, and
so it just is this kind of that's the machine.
It's just like everything has to be instead of just
evaluating the game or like you know, talking about this
that there tends to.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Be And it's not singling anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I just I think we're all guilty of that at times,
of like wanting to put it into a.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Larger context or a larger.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Conversation all the time instead of just as this was
this game he did this well, this is something that
he did do well, like he's going to have to
continue to grow. And then you know, then you look
back on it later and just say, like this is
sort of the trend that we see. You know, I
get it, you understand why it works that way. But
I think that's where you get some of that stuff,
is just like this is the trend, like we are
(14:25):
seeing this and when we've created this like narrative and
so you know, now you're just sticking with it as
opposed to maybe just really kind of getting in there
and looking at it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Game by game.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I think as perfectly said my friend, always great. We
will see you out of practice next week.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
All right, Well, thanks a lot to take care.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I appreciate. It's in the cosmo from the Athletic. Always
Great
To the KWA comings for a hotline to bring on
a very good front of the program. Nick Cosmiter from
The Athletic at Nick Cosmiter on Twitter. Nick, always great
to catch up with you, my friend. How's the bye
week treating you?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's nice, you know, like actually running down a list
of things that I've probably been putting off for weeks.
It's not months, so yeah, it makes my wife happy and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We're doing good. So you're saying you have your own
fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Comeback, right, yeah, you know, like at a certain point,
you just it doesn't matter if you're down by thirty
three or five.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You got to make a run at some point. So
that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I really liked I mean I always liked your articles.
I reference him a lot here on the show, but
I like this one that you were sort of breaking
down the path to the one seed. We'll start there
and then I want to get to your bone mix
stuff because I thought that was really good too. But
you said you seeking around thirteen and four would would
probably do the trick. And of course there's still a
lot to play here the Colts and they're playing this
week against the Chiefs, you got the Patriots, maybe they're
(00:57):
playing Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, and four feels
about right for you, does it?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It does?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
You know we use then there's obviously lots of different
stimulators you can use, but with ours at the Athletic
you know, that's kind of the projected finish right now,
that they have the Patriots and there at thirteen and four,
of the Broncos in the two at twelve and five.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
So I do think.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Thirteen and four kind of kind of makes sense, particularly
because for me, you look at that Patriots schedule and
they really don't have.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
A tough road ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The one team they have left that has a winning
record right now is the Bills. They get that game
at home, obviously at Baltimore. The way that the Ravens
are playing right now, that'll be a tough contest. Those
are the two toughest games. Certainly, if you're a Broncos fan,
you like that Joe Burrow is returning in this game.
But nonetheless, I just think you look at two teams
that to this point are nine and two.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You know, four and.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Two seems pretty reasonable that one of these teams, you know,
is kind of going to get to that mark.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, And it's the interesting thing here, and I you know,
I kind of penciled him at twelve and five, so
that fits right in the range going going forward. But
I think the interesting thing to me is if you
look at this, say if they do clinch this this
number one, see if they do get that. I mean,
here's a scenario here where you're resting guys, you know,
in week eighteen, and you're talking about like a three
week period there where you've got the potential for these
(02:15):
guys to be down, you know, kind of getting healthy again.
I just not I haven't seen anything like this. And
then you know in Broncos Country in quite some time.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, and it's interesting, Like after the game on Sunday,
and I forget exactly what led into this, if you
guys might remember, but Sean Payton is essentially talking about
you know, one of his saying I think he was
just sort of talking about like doing what you need
to do for your team at any given time. And
he took some criticism for having rested or arm having
(02:45):
played some of his players, but he felt like they
need to or maybe it was the other way around.
Either way, the idea was that, like, you know, he's
always had a pretty good read on what his teams need,
and so you're absolutely right then, like that that could be,
that could be the scenario, you know, because let's say
Baltimore perhaps has you know, I'm sorry, New England has
lost those two games that were that we're talking about,
(03:06):
and maybe to that point, the Broncos have only lost one.
And you look at the tie breakers if it's going
to be them in New England, you know, first's conference record.
After that it's it's a you know, record.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Of combined opponents.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It helps denver that New England has already lost to
the Raiders this year, you know, something that obviously the
Broncos haven't done. Still have one more game there on
December seventh against Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So there's a decent chance.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
All that is to say that they you know, could
be in a good tiebreaker.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Scenario with the Patriots. That's why they're.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Currently sitting ahead of them in the standings right now,
even though they.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Have the same record.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So yeah, I don't think that's out of the possibility.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And yeah, it really is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
When you know that kind of the bye week is
to take some time.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
To sort of zoom out and look at where they are.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't think any of us, really, you know, many
of us thought that that could be the position that
they're in, you know, kind of heading into that big
game in Washington, that they would be nine to two,
and we're having you know, serious substantive conversations about and
potentially earning a number one seed in the buy that
comes with it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Shan the cosmid Or from the Athletic you know, you
you you kind of did a nice breakdown here on
bon Nicks and specifically how his team has rallied around him.
Is there something that bo Nicks could be working on
in the bye week? I know the Sean gave him
all week off, but if there was something he could
improve on for these final six games, what would it
be for you?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah? I would If it was me, I would have
started with, hey, like, let's cut up a lot of
the good things that we did in this game against
a really good pass rush and just have those kind
of things sink into sort of your psyche like we
you know, you go through And there had been time,
there had not been many times going through his film
this year where there was just kind of the solid
(04:43):
climb in the pocket sometimes, but you know, they're run
up in the pocket to kind of create you know,
an off platform throw or whatever the case might be.
But just pure you know, climbing stepping up, it's sort
of been few and far between, and you could point
to several examples of that in the game against Kansas City.
And of course what that does is allows.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You to manipulate the pressure the way.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That you want to, but it also keeps your eyes
down the field in a way that when you just
kind of like run up in the pocket, you're not
always necessarily able to do. And I thought his ability
to do that, you know, let guys extend routes, create
some separation you know later in the route concept that
would be kind of my thing. My mine would be
a like a kind of a go into this with
(05:25):
a real positive thing of hey, let's let's build on this.
Because there was some some really good stuff that you know,
he added to to what he already does well, which
is the you know, the movement, the ability to kind
of you know, be a playmaker, especially late in games
like he often is, you know, I e. The throat,
the twenty yard throat of Courtland Sutton on third and
fifteen pair of that, which is kind of more sound
(05:46):
trust in the pocket. I thought there was.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
A lot to like, and so that would be me.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It would just be like, hey, let's let's kind of
build off what we did there on Sunday against the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And everybody wants to focus on Bowl. But you know,
he's answered those questions for me.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, he shows up when when he needs to
and and you know when the bell rings and h
and he shows up what he needs to. I think
the question here going forward, as we look at this
last third of the season is what does this.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Run game look like?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Both it's been the leads the NFL in passing attempts. Uh,
the run game is wildly ineffective, although you know, to
be fair, wasn't as as needed this past week. You
know RJ has just not gotten it as a as
a running back, yet you Leia was marginally better. What
what are we going to do here when we're getting
into the dead of December and you've got to run
the football.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, it's a great question because you know you're you're
you're somewhat short on options in terms of, like, you know,
different levers that you can pull like you're you're going
to need r J. Harvey to you know, to get
more reps and hope that he builds on those enough
to where you are trusting him to be, you know,
a guy that becomes a major part of your game plan.
To your point, Ben, in games where you know, running
(06:51):
the football is going to be paramount, not just because
of a you know, controlling the clock type of way
or whatever that might be, but also because of the
weather and not wanting to put the ball in bo
Nix's hands already times when it's you know, tend degrees
there at in power field, So that's going to be critical.
And I know that this team has shown a lot
of acumen for being able to finish close games, but man,
(07:11):
you would love if you're the Broncos going into these
next two against teams with losing records to be able
to like get out ahead and really just give the
reps and give the opportunity to really work r J. Harvey,
Angela mcloughfin in a way that kind of gives you
confidence that they're starting to kind of build up a
rhythm that to me would be a big priority if
I'm the Broncos, Like, yeah, you need to win these games.
(07:33):
You need to continue to win these games because of
what you're playing for, right, Like, if you're trying to
be the number one seed, not a lot of margin
for err, But I think you do kind of have
to balance that with like, let's really get these guys
going so that we can figure out what they can
and can't do collectively as we build our run game.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
For the playoffs at Cosmo or joining us. Last couple
for you Man. Also in your article he talked about
the secondary a little bit. Would you consider some kind
of rotation there at outside corner, especially when Pastor Tam
comes back. Obviously he's starting on the opposite side, But
for Riley Moss in his position, do you go rotation
there or do you go back to what you were?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think they're
probably going to look at a couple of these things,
and certainly with pat Down they have they had kind
of created a little bit of an outside rotation. Obviously
it was large, it's largely been Chris Abrams strain on
the outside, but you sprinkled John A. Barren into that
role a little bit as well. So maybe there are
certain packages that you like Chris Abrams Drain to be
(08:33):
out on the field a little bit more for you know,
obviously they they they're confident in Riley Moss. You know,
no point to the you know, the low completion rate,
his ability to just be competitive and to get past things.
But you know that they're going to have to kind
of really sort of evaluate almost from a philosophical level
of like, this is sort of what this guy is
in terms of right now. He's just at a point
(08:54):
where he's he's collecting a lot of flags and a
lot of big moments, and teams are clearly hunting that as.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
A way to get down the field.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So, you know, Riley Moss set himself after the game
like there's going to be a lot of things that
he needs to do that they're going to work on
in practice, whether it's you know, playing corner with boxing
gloves on, so he has to keep his keep his
hands off, you know, as they train for these upcoming games,
like they're going to need to kind of try all
those things. But I don't have a great answer for you,
but I wouldn't surprise me if they do try to
(09:22):
look at that and say, you know, how can we
get Chris abrams Strand on the field as well, in
part just because he's he's playing really well. That's the
guy you want to continue to have grow and develop.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
You know, we were talking with Dave Logan earlier. We're
talking about how, you know, Washington went to the NFC
Championship in their first year and they kind of fell
off in the second year, and a lot of that
had to do with the fact they need to reload
on defense, and they went with a munch old free agents.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
It didn't work out. If Broncos have a defense, it's
pre built.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It is pre built to be sustained for a few
years on into whenever it is you're going to end
up having to pay both How much of a confidence
boost do you think it is overall for this unit
to go out there and do what they're doing without
their best player and without their logistics leader in the
Green dot, and you know, and and still coming away
with these defensive performances.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, I think it's kind of wild, honestly, And that's
what I think separates this team from the unit last year. Obviously,
Denver had a really good defense last year, led the
league in sacks by a large margins set a franchise record,
could always get after the quarterback. But I just think
that if they were lucky last year to not have
to have dealt with a lot of the injuries that
(10:28):
we are we're seeing creeping up, they didn't rest on
that as some sort of thing where you're like, oh,
this is this is how it's going to be every year,
even though you know Sean Payton says you kind of
like to you feel like you earn what you have
injury wise.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Look, we all know that there's there's huge variants to injuries.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You're going to have them at some point, and right
now the Broncos have dealt with them a little bit
more than they did in either Sean Payton's.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
First two years.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
They've also they're also more equipped than at any other
time to deal with those, and I think that's been
a really important part of the latter part of this
win streak. Like when you when tatz er Tan win down,
if you said, hey, we're going to be we're going
to be three and oh before we get him back
in Washington, you're gonna feel great about that, if for
no other reason than like that's your best football player
and you found a way to win without him. And
(11:11):
then yeah, the again, you had guys that were starters
last year, like Justin Surnad's now.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
He's a fill in guy.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Who plays at a starter level. That's not a luxury
a lot of teams have. And it's a testament to
George Peyton and Sean Payton the way that they've built
this roster.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
So your guy, Robert Mays on the podcast today said
that if the Broncos win the Super Bowl, he's going
to shave his head.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Are you going to help with that? Since you covered
the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I'd be happy to. I Actually I was just cleaning
some stuff off for that honeydew list and found this
old pair of like clippers from COVID when I tried
to cut.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
My own hair, and obviously I burned all.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Evidence of that existing.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I've got the clippers not really used, so I'll be
happy to send Robert does or help them in whatever
way I can, you know, video it or whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He needs those guys, and again, I think they do
a really good job. I listened to a lot of
National pods just kind of get a sense of how
different people are talking about the Broncos outside of the market,
and yeah, they have not been the biggest boon Nicks guys,
and I can understand that from the pre draft process
to some of his inconsistencies, But there's the they basically
(12:18):
said that they just don't believe this team has what
it takes to win a championship, and they took the
Chiefs ahead of them even that sitting at the nine seed,
as in more belief in their ability to win a championship,
which I guess I could kind of understand based on priors,
but also it's a little weird to me.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, I mean, there's like there's one school of thought.
I think, like, you know, as much as I'm sure
you guys and plenty of others have had.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Fun with Nick, right, like the one thing that he said.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
That it's like, okay, I see that where he said
something to the effect of like I'm gonna go ahead
and just wait one year until the Chiefs aren't in
the Super Bowl or you know, in the AFT Championship
before I you know, just kind of declare them, to
declare them dead. And I think earned sort of some
of the benefit of the doubt, even though now they
have this scrape just to get into the playoffs, I
think the one thing and then maybe this is like
(13:06):
a bigger picture sort.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Of like critique on what we do sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You know from a national media perspective. But but all
of this is there's always this yearning to put like
a certain.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Game into a larger context like all the time.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And what that does is it presents just this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Like week by week, like this.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Is what we've decided a person is, this is how
it's going well, ignoring the fact that so much of
this is an arc, like it really is like a marathon.
Like if you had done this to John Oways for
like this didn't exist back then, but you'd be saying,
like God, what.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
A bum, Like what do you complete.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
His passes today? Or who is like you know, and
so it just is this kind of that's the machine.
It's just like everything has to be instead of just
evaluating the game or like you know, talking about this
that there tends to.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Be And it's not singling anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I just I think we're all guilty of that at times,
of like wanting to put it into a.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Larger context or a larger.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Conversation all the time instead of just as this was
this game he did this well, this is something that
he did do well, like he's going to have to
continue to grow. And then you know, then you look
back on it later and just say, like this is
sort of the trend that we see. You know, I
get it, you understand why it works that way. But
I think that's where you get some of that stuff,
is just like this is the trend, like we are
(14:25):
seeing this and when we've created this like narrative and
so you know, now you're just sticking with it as
opposed to maybe just really kind of getting in there
and looking at it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Game by game.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I think as perfectly said my friend, always great. We
will see you out of practice next week.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
All right, Well, thanks a lot to take care.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I appreciate. It's in the cosmo from the Athletic. Always
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