September 15, 2023 • 19 mins
On this episode of “The Snap”, Sydney Jones is joined by NFL on CBS sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala to discuss Russell Wilson’s performance in Week 1, the challenge that Washington’s defensive front presents and more. Want more of “The Snap”? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you find your podcasts. Make sure to leave a rating and review.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey to Scotland Sundon. Hey, this is Tim Patrick. Are
you listening to The Snap with Sidney Doones on Broncos
podcast Network? Here? What's the Broncus Country? Welcome back to
the Broncos podcast networking and YouTube for the latest episode
of The Snap. As always, I'm your host is Sidney Jones,
and the Broncos will look to grab their first win
of the season here at home Adam Powerfield at Mile
(00:20):
High as they face the Washington Commanders. So joining me
on today's episode to take a look at this weekend's
matchup is NFL on CBS Sideline reporter at dede Kin
Kombwala and Diddy. Thanks so much for joining the show.
Always a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
On, Sidney. It's so good to be back with you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So great to have you. How are you? Have Things
been great?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Although I did, to be perfectly honest, I did just
tell you I'm losing my mind a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
All that.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's that whole like start of school is so much fun,
but you're sort of like, oh, I have to go,
where where's my locker? And what am I doing? So
we had a eight first week. It was a lot
of fun. But obviously, just like I had lamar Jack
and we had the Ravens and the Texans. Been said afterwards,
it was a win, but we were rusty and we
(01:05):
have a lot to clean up. And that's kind of
how I'm feeling. So we're looking forward to week two.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Honestly, That's how I'm feeling too. You know, Week one
is kind of getting back in the groove of what
the season looks like for you. In week two, you
kind of get things figured out.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, we hope, we hope at least we hope.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, true, good point. Well, did you know, I know
we were just talking about the last time I had
you on the show. You were with NFL Network still,
so how has the switch to Sideline's been for you
now that you're a CBS Sidney.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I love it. I love it, love it, love it.
There were It was ten years at the NFL network.
Before that, I was a newspaper writer, so obviously I
learned television at the NFL Network. I had some great relationships,
but the job there is certainly very different than being
a part of the actual game broadcast. And there's nothing more,
(01:54):
I don't know, true than the game itself. And the
opportunity to get to stand on the sideline behind the bench,
to sit in the production meetings, to have those conversations.
I tell people all the time, I covered the National
Football League for more than a dozen years before I
came to CBS last year, and in last season at CBS,
(02:17):
I learned more than I had in the twelve years prior.
And it's just because of the opportunity to actually hear
what happens as opposed to guessing what happens. So when
you're standing behind the bench, you hear what the coach
actually says to the quarterback, and you're not allowed to
say it, but you file it away and it's in
(02:37):
your brain and it gives you context and it helps
you tell a story a little bit better or figure
out how you got from A to B to C.
And it's just it's so much fun. What's more fun
than game day?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I agree? I agree. I'm so glad you're loving it.
You know, you mentioned just how much you've learned, and
you know, listening to coaches and the players on the sideline,
what's been I guess the most surprising part for you
in this new role.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gosh, this is like a question I asked, Sidney, and
now you're jumping me. I don't you know. I I
love my teammates. I love, love, love the culture at CBS,
and that starts with Sean mcmanuson David Berson and to them.
As big as CBS is, CBS is a big broadcast network,
(03:21):
sports is still kind of intimate, and especially the football world.
I love that piece of it. And I think that
when you say what's surprising, it's almost the way we
go to work, you know. It's kind of like we're
all pulling together, we're all rowing together, and it's just
(03:43):
it's awesome because everyone's in it in some way. And
I don't know how to properly explain this. So it
doesn't sound like we're shills by any means, but the
teams have to give us a certain level of trust.
We have a level of trust that the teams aren't
lying to us, you know, Like I'll give you a
hypothetical when we sit on a Friday with Sean Payton.
(04:06):
When we sit with Sean Payton on Friday, we'll ask him.
We'll ask him what we think his actives and inactives are. Now,
we're not reporting that, we're not trying to break news.
We're not you know, any of that, that's not our
goal here, but we're asking him to help us in
our game prep. You know, if offensive lineman X is
(04:27):
not playing, or let's say, in the worst case scenario,
you're starting quarterback is not playing, we want to make
sure we've done all the work in prep that we
need to do on your backup quarterback and not be
blindsided on Sunday. So yeah, so a team has to
have or yes, yes, a team has to have trust
in us. We have to trust the team. We're all
(04:48):
working to sort of put together what is the story
of in this case the Denver Broncos, what is the
story of the Washington Commanders, while you're also telling the
story of the game as it unfolds, Right, So it's
just I guess the surprising piece is just that they're
in such a competitive world. There really is such a
(05:09):
great sense of team.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, well, I love that. I'm so excited for you
and it's been so fun seeing you on the sidelines
this year and last year too. I know you mentioned
you're going to talk to head coach on Payton this Friday.
Who else are you gonna you know, touch base with
and get to know a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I had the chance to talk to Chavante Williams and
Pat Sertan myself, and I'll tell you this, they were
both gems. Like I have two awesome new favorite players.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, they're really wonderful people, good football players, but also
very humble people.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah. And did Chavanti Williams was his high school valedictorian.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I did know that, Yeah, And he said a classes
starting in eleventh grade. And we discovered that we both
have the same favorite subject, which is history. And we
both discovered that we both like to read more than
watch TV.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I didn't know that. I'm expected you see him putting
over people and you're like, I would like, you know,
curl up with a book on history.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Love that. Wow, you learn something new every day and.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
You hope, you hope at least. But anyway, So I've
had the opportunity to talk to both of them, and
it was just a complete pleasure. And I hope that
both have big plays that enables me to share some
of what we talked about.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, I hope so too. We'll talk about Javonte Williams
a little bit later. DEDI, but you know, looking ahead
to this matchup on Sunday, just to start, you know
what really excites you about this matchup between the Broncos
and the Commanders.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So let's start with the Commanders. I think that Sam
Howell is just such an interesting story, right because he's
not a high draft pick, with the Commanders are definitely
giving him a significant opportunity here. If the Commanders were
only interested in sort of a placeholder or treading water
or getting the next year, Jacoby Brissett has proven he
(07:08):
is more than a serviceable starter. He's a veteran, he's
unbelievably smart, he's a really heady player, and quite frankly,
he played well in Cleveland last year. So you would
feel completely comfortable starting Jacoby Brissett. But what Washington is
doing is it's giving Sam a chance. All right, Sam,
show us who you are. Let's see, are you our
(07:30):
quarterback of the future, even though you don't come in
with this high draft pedigree. Although that's so weird Sydney,
if you look at how he did in college, he
actually was ridiculously successful in college. And I did have
him in a preseason game this year. He's deceivingly athletic.
So and on a very personal note, there is a
piece of him that is part Asian, so I of
(07:50):
course will love that his grandmother is Korean. In any case,
I think that that's really sort of fascinating to see
what is his growth, How will he be? How does
he get better every week? You hope he gets better
because you'll always root for young people. And Ron Rivera
said something interesting this week. He said, you know, you
need to recognize that almost every single thing that Sam
(08:13):
Howell does is the first time that he's done it.
So Sunday it'll be the first time that he's playing
starting a road game, It'll be the first time that
he's playing in altitude. There's two things right there, and
you see how that affects him. On the other side,
it's the low hanging fruit. But I'm interested to see
(08:36):
if Sean Payton can help resurrect Russell Wilson. And then,
of course I think that Sean appears to be Now
it's hard because it's a small sample size, right Sidney,
So we don't know what was one week, but it
felt like he's not just running the offense that he
ran in New Orleans. So I'm curious, how are you
changing things to cater to who you think Russell is,
(08:59):
or how are you taking advantage of what you believe
Russell does best. I'm intrigued to hear what Sean Payton
did in his year off. How much football was he
watching and what was he studying and what was he
taking the most notes on. So I think that that's
a huge thing to see. And as you said to
me earlier before we were on camera, even though the
points weren't necessarily there, you felt like you saw some
(09:24):
points of potential or some good signs with the Broncos offense.
And I'll say this, it certainly seems like they operated
a lot more smoothly, that the offense kind of was
a little bit more controlled in what it was doing.
That's always a good sign, right, Like the operation is
a big piece of it. So we'll see, we'll see
(09:46):
all of that. I'm also curious how Russell lost the
fifteen pounds secrets.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You know, Yeah, I would like to know those secrets too,
Not that.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You need to worry, but you take some of that. Yeah, yeah,
I did.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know you mentioned it, like we talked about earlier.
You know, I felt like the offense moved the ball
pretty well on Sunday, and we have we saw a
different team than we saw last year. Of course, you
know Russell Wilson, he had the second highest completion percentage
among quarterbacks last week, finished the game with you know,
one hundred and seventy seven yards and two touchdowns. Now,
how do you think he'll just continue to build off
(10:22):
that performance? With Sean Payton running this offense, you know
week by week, Well.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You need some bigger plays, right, you need some explosive plays,
And a lot of that has to do with is
Jerry Judy coming back or not? And do you have
the targets that you need to make those explosive plays too.
It's also is the run game kind of getting more.
Even though the production wasn't huge from the run game,
there just weren't that many snaps to go around. There
weren't that many touches. There were definitely good signs there.
(10:47):
It all has to start with that. You want to
see this offense. Look, there's no team in the I'm
cutting myself off, but there's no team in the NFL
that has lost more games despite having en up seventeen
points or less in the last two years than the Broncos.
And it's funny because I actually said this to Pat Soutan.
I started telling him this. I said, you know, dick
(11:08):
Lebou used to say, Dick Leboux used to tell me
that if a defense holds the opponent to seventeen points
or less, and he just started laughing because he was exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Where I was going, or you were going with it.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, if you hold the other team to seventeen points
or less, ninety nine percent of the time you're winning.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But the Broncs have lost And I could be wrong
on this, I'm not sure, but I think they've lost
six games having given up only seventeen points and that's
twice as many as their next closest competitor. That's just
it's just not going to cut it, you know. And
credit to the Broncos defense that it's not binger pointing, that,
it's not saying, hey, we're doing our job. You need
(11:49):
to do your job. But at some point Broncos needs
to score more points and they need to be able to,
at times, if necessary, score points quickly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Definitely, Yeah, I know they'll look to do that this weekend.
We've heard head coach Sean Payton talk a lot this
week about those explosive plays like you mentioned Adidi. But
you know, looking at Sunday's matchup, I know the Commanders
they have a really dominant defensive front. You know, we
heard Sean Payton talk this week about just how you
know active they are in the run game. They're really athletic.
So what do you what challenge do you think that
will provide for this Broncos offense.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It's a challenge, but that's also a really intriguing matchup
because you've got running backs that aren't afraid of contact,
and especially Javonte Williams who loves to go right up
the gut. And then you've got these big, huge, stout
defensive linemen who, by the way, are playing a lot.
So last week you look at if you look at
(12:40):
the defensive lineman and the percentage of snaps that they played,
Washington has three of the top fifteen players. There's no
but in terms of percentage of snaps played, there's no
other team that has more than one defensive lineman in
that top fifteen. So the Broncos aren't, I mean, sorry,
the Washington are not rolling their defensive linemen. They're keeping
(13:04):
their guys in Now. I did talk to Doroon Pain
about this, and he was just like, well, we're just
rolling like he didn't even realize it. But if you've
got a really physical run game and you're just battling
those same guys and they're not fresh bodies to roll
in there or to spell your starters, then let's see
what happens in the fourth quarter. Yeah, and especially in
(13:25):
the altitude, especially in.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The especially in the altitude for sure, especially now that
of course, you know we have Davonte Williams, but samaj
p Ryan too, who's also you know, pretty productive in
week one. That one two punch there can really slow
down a defensive front for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Sydney, I just realized that I'm going to be running
in the altitude. I keep talking here about everybody else
dealing with the altitude. But when I do a sideline,
I lug at least fifteen thousand steps. Oh, I believe it,
from one sideline to the other, one side line to
the other. I'm going to have to do that on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That until just now, I'm gonna say good luck to
you because I have lived here for almost four years
now and I'm still not really used to the altitude.
I'll walk up the stairs and I'll be huffing and puffin,
and I'm like, oh my god, Really, either I'm really
out of shape or the altitude is just really something else.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'm gonna have to go for, like an outdoor run?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Can you even do that? What's better? Is it better
to try to train yourself for it in two days
or is it better.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
To just I feel in the moment, Yeah, I feel
like you just wait it, suck it up in the moment.
It'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
All right, We'll see if you see the sideline reporter
on CBS, it's I'm not an elite athlete. We'll go
right there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Well, adit? I know samhow you know? He was sacked
six times in Week one, But you know, one of
the big storylines here in Denver this week has been
about the Broncos pass rush because they didn't record a
single sack in Week one versus the Raiders. So I
think it'd be really interesting to see how that kind
of balances out here on Sunday. That'll be one to watch.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
All of the all six of those sacks are necessarily
all on the Washington line. I think part of it
is also a young quarterback knowing when to throw the
ball away. It's funny. I used to say this about
Eli Manning, and I think he actually just said it
recently on my friend Kevin Clark's podcast. I'm not sure.
I feel like I saw a clip of it, but
I used to say about Eli Manning that he knows
(15:20):
when to throw the ball away and live to see
another down and sometimes and I think what Eli actually
said this week was like, sometimes you realize a punt
is not a bad play and that comes with time, right.
And so we're talking about a rookie who it's not
a rookie, but a very young quarterback who was only
(15:42):
making his second start, and those are things that he
has to learn, and he has to feel the pressure,
and he has to know when to just get rid
of the ball, and that's not always that's not always
the easiest thing. I'm laughing. I'm sorry. This is a
total non sequitur. But my son and I went to
go see pit play its first game last weekend. Labor
(16:03):
Day weekend was my last weekend off. Wait went as
a family to go watch Pitt play, and the quarterback
took a really bad sack, and I was screaming, throw
the ball away, throw the ball away, throw the ball away.
And then on the next drive, he was facing a
third and twenty two and he held the ball and
ran three yards, which was that's not what you do.
(16:24):
I'm third and twenty two. And so I was saying
to my son, my seven year old son, I'm like,
I'm really not happy with this decision making and he
needs to know when to throw the ball away. And
my son looks at me and he goes, Mom, this
is not the NFL, NFL, but it's actually college game.
Yeah no, but it's like, to my point, college quarterback
(16:47):
sometimes doesn't have the same issue that, So why would
we expect young Sam Howell to immediately be as aware
in that situation. He learned from last week and he
is more aware this week.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
But we'll yeah, definitely takes time for sure, all right, DIDI,
last question for you here, you know, looking at both teams,
who's a player to really watch for that you think
might have a big impact on this weekend's game.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm personally really excited about the Terry McLaurin Pat Curtain.
I mean, Pat wouldn't tell me. Are you going to
shadow Terry. He made very clear, like all great quarterbacks,
that he would love to just chase the number one
receiver on the other side. I know he didn't fully
do that with DeVante Adams, and he really played all
over the field, but I think just the way my
(17:37):
young man from pitt Damari mathis. We'll see how he rebounds, obviously,
but you would like to see kind of a McLaurin
Curtin matchup. I'm curious to see how that plays out.
So I'm intrigued by both of them. Obviously. Again, I
hate being the person saying the quarterback because it feels
(17:59):
too obvious. But when people are writing one week in
that maybe Russell Wilson can't play quarterback, of course, I
want to see what Russell Wilson can do. And of
course Sean Payton is one of the best offensive minds
of our generation. I want to see how he's coaching
him up and what he's doing. So again, I know
that that feels like so obvious, and you'd probably love
(18:19):
for me to say, like the third cornerback or something,
or I love your honest opinion, the old linebacker. Yeah,
but I mean that's what drives I agree I agree.
I came out of I came out of the Ravens
game with this like creep story about the rookie wide
receiver's a floor at Flowers, and of course a great
story about Adell Beckham Junior. Whatever the reality is, Odell
(18:42):
Beckham Junior moves the needle and people can't hear about him.
So there you know. Sorry, Day, we'll be talking about
you too, right, We'll talk about him as the season
goes on, exactly exactly, exactly well.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
DDI, I cannot thank you enough for joining me on
today's episode. Always a pleasure having you on.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Totally my pleasure to join you, Sidney, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well it'll do it for this week's episode of The
Snap Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in, and
a big thank you again to add for joining the show.
I'll see you all right back here on the Broncos
podcast network and YouTube next week
Hey to Scotland Sundon. Hey, this is Tim Patrick. Are
you listening to The Snap with Sidney Doones on Broncos
podcast Network? Here? What's the Broncus Country? Welcome back to
the Broncos podcast networking and YouTube for the latest episode
of The Snap. As always, I'm your host is Sidney Jones,
and the Broncos will look to grab their first win
of the season here at home Adam Powerfield at Mile
(00:20):
High as they face the Washington Commanders. So joining me
on today's episode to take a look at this weekend's
matchup is NFL on CBS Sideline reporter at dede Kin
Kombwala and Diddy. Thanks so much for joining the show.
Always a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
On, Sidney. It's so good to be back with you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So great to have you. How are you? Have Things
been great?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Although I did, to be perfectly honest, I did just
tell you I'm losing my mind a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
All that.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's that whole like start of school is so much fun,
but you're sort of like, oh, I have to go,
where where's my locker? And what am I doing? So
we had a eight first week. It was a lot
of fun. But obviously, just like I had lamar Jack
and we had the Ravens and the Texans. Been said afterwards,
it was a win, but we were rusty and we
(01:05):
have a lot to clean up. And that's kind of
how I'm feeling. So we're looking forward to week two.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Honestly, That's how I'm feeling too. You know, Week one
is kind of getting back in the groove of what
the season looks like for you. In week two, you
kind of get things figured out.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, we hope, we hope at least we hope.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, true, good point. Well, did you know, I know
we were just talking about the last time I had
you on the show. You were with NFL Network still,
so how has the switch to Sideline's been for you
now that you're a CBS Sidney.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I love it. I love it, love it, love it.
There were It was ten years at the NFL network.
Before that, I was a newspaper writer, so obviously I
learned television at the NFL Network. I had some great relationships,
but the job there is certainly very different than being
a part of the actual game broadcast. And there's nothing more,
(01:54):
I don't know, true than the game itself. And the
opportunity to get to stand on the sideline behind the bench,
to sit in the production meetings, to have those conversations.
I tell people all the time, I covered the National
Football League for more than a dozen years before I
came to CBS last year, and in last season at CBS,
(02:17):
I learned more than I had in the twelve years prior.
And it's just because of the opportunity to actually hear
what happens as opposed to guessing what happens. So when
you're standing behind the bench, you hear what the coach
actually says to the quarterback, and you're not allowed to
say it, but you file it away and it's in
(02:37):
your brain and it gives you context and it helps
you tell a story a little bit better or figure
out how you got from A to B to C.
And it's just it's so much fun. What's more fun
than game day?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I agree? I agree. I'm so glad you're loving it.
You know, you mentioned just how much you've learned, and
you know, listening to coaches and the players on the sideline,
what's been I guess the most surprising part for you
in this new role.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gosh, this is like a question I asked, Sidney, and
now you're jumping me. I don't you know. I I
love my teammates. I love, love, love the culture at CBS,
and that starts with Sean mcmanuson David Berson and to them.
As big as CBS is, CBS is a big broadcast network,
(03:21):
sports is still kind of intimate, and especially the football world.
I love that piece of it. And I think that
when you say what's surprising, it's almost the way we
go to work, you know. It's kind of like we're
all pulling together, we're all rowing together, and it's just
(03:43):
it's awesome because everyone's in it in some way. And
I don't know how to properly explain this. So it
doesn't sound like we're shills by any means, but the
teams have to give us a certain level of trust.
We have a level of trust that the teams aren't
lying to us, you know, Like I'll give you a
hypothetical when we sit on a Friday with Sean Payton.
(04:06):
When we sit with Sean Payton on Friday, we'll ask him.
We'll ask him what we think his actives and inactives are. Now,
we're not reporting that, we're not trying to break news.
We're not you know, any of that, that's not our
goal here, but we're asking him to help us in
our game prep. You know, if offensive lineman X is
(04:27):
not playing, or let's say, in the worst case scenario,
you're starting quarterback is not playing, we want to make
sure we've done all the work in prep that we
need to do on your backup quarterback and not be
blindsided on Sunday. So yeah, so a team has to
have or yes, yes, a team has to have trust
in us. We have to trust the team. We're all
(04:48):
working to sort of put together what is the story
of in this case the Denver Broncos, what is the
story of the Washington Commanders, while you're also telling the
story of the game as it unfolds, Right, So it's
just I guess the surprising piece is just that they're
in such a competitive world. There really is such a
(05:09):
great sense of team.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, well, I love that. I'm so excited for you
and it's been so fun seeing you on the sidelines
this year and last year too. I know you mentioned
you're going to talk to head coach on Payton this Friday.
Who else are you gonna you know, touch base with
and get to know a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I had the chance to talk to Chavante Williams and
Pat Sertan myself, and I'll tell you this, they were
both gems. Like I have two awesome new favorite players.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, they're really wonderful people, good football players, but also
very humble people.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah. And did Chavanti Williams was his high school valedictorian.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I did know that, Yeah, And he said a classes
starting in eleventh grade. And we discovered that we both
have the same favorite subject, which is history. And we
both discovered that we both like to read more than
watch TV.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I didn't know that. I'm expected you see him putting
over people and you're like, I would like, you know,
curl up with a book on history.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Love that. Wow, you learn something new every day and.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
You hope, you hope at least. But anyway, So I've
had the opportunity to talk to both of them, and
it was just a complete pleasure. And I hope that
both have big plays that enables me to share some
of what we talked about.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, I hope so too. We'll talk about Javonte Williams
a little bit later. DEDI, but you know, looking ahead
to this matchup on Sunday, just to start, you know
what really excites you about this matchup between the Broncos
and the Commanders.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So let's start with the Commanders. I think that Sam
Howell is just such an interesting story, right because he's
not a high draft pick, with the Commanders are definitely
giving him a significant opportunity here. If the Commanders were
only interested in sort of a placeholder or treading water
or getting the next year, Jacoby Brissett has proven he
(07:08):
is more than a serviceable starter. He's a veteran, he's
unbelievably smart, he's a really heady player, and quite frankly,
he played well in Cleveland last year. So you would
feel completely comfortable starting Jacoby Brissett. But what Washington is
doing is it's giving Sam a chance. All right, Sam,
show us who you are. Let's see, are you our
(07:30):
quarterback of the future, even though you don't come in
with this high draft pedigree. Although that's so weird Sydney,
if you look at how he did in college, he
actually was ridiculously successful in college. And I did have
him in a preseason game this year. He's deceivingly athletic.
So and on a very personal note, there is a
piece of him that is part Asian, so I of
(07:50):
course will love that his grandmother is Korean. In any case,
I think that that's really sort of fascinating to see
what is his growth, How will he be? How does
he get better every week? You hope he gets better
because you'll always root for young people. And Ron Rivera
said something interesting this week. He said, you know, you
need to recognize that almost every single thing that Sam
(08:13):
Howell does is the first time that he's done it.
So Sunday it'll be the first time that he's playing
starting a road game, It'll be the first time that
he's playing in altitude. There's two things right there, and
you see how that affects him. On the other side,
it's the low hanging fruit. But I'm interested to see
(08:36):
if Sean Payton can help resurrect Russell Wilson. And then,
of course I think that Sean appears to be Now
it's hard because it's a small sample size, right Sidney,
So we don't know what was one week, but it
felt like he's not just running the offense that he
ran in New Orleans. So I'm curious, how are you
changing things to cater to who you think Russell is,
(08:59):
or how are you taking advantage of what you believe
Russell does best. I'm intrigued to hear what Sean Payton
did in his year off. How much football was he
watching and what was he studying and what was he
taking the most notes on. So I think that that's
a huge thing to see. And as you said to
me earlier before we were on camera, even though the
points weren't necessarily there, you felt like you saw some
(09:24):
points of potential or some good signs with the Broncos offense.
And I'll say this, it certainly seems like they operated
a lot more smoothly, that the offense kind of was
a little bit more controlled in what it was doing.
That's always a good sign, right, Like the operation is
a big piece of it. So we'll see, we'll see
(09:46):
all of that. I'm also curious how Russell lost the
fifteen pounds secrets.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You know, Yeah, I would like to know those secrets too,
Not that.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You need to worry, but you take some of that. Yeah, yeah,
I did.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know you mentioned it, like we talked about earlier.
You know, I felt like the offense moved the ball
pretty well on Sunday, and we have we saw a
different team than we saw last year. Of course, you
know Russell Wilson, he had the second highest completion percentage
among quarterbacks last week, finished the game with you know,
one hundred and seventy seven yards and two touchdowns. Now,
how do you think he'll just continue to build off
(10:22):
that performance? With Sean Payton running this offense, you know
week by week, Well.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You need some bigger plays, right, you need some explosive plays,
And a lot of that has to do with is
Jerry Judy coming back or not? And do you have
the targets that you need to make those explosive plays too.
It's also is the run game kind of getting more.
Even though the production wasn't huge from the run game,
there just weren't that many snaps to go around. There
weren't that many touches. There were definitely good signs there.
(10:47):
It all has to start with that. You want to
see this offense. Look, there's no team in the I'm
cutting myself off, but there's no team in the NFL
that has lost more games despite having en up seventeen
points or less in the last two years than the Broncos.
And it's funny because I actually said this to Pat Soutan.
I started telling him this. I said, you know, dick
(11:08):
Lebou used to say, Dick Leboux used to tell me
that if a defense holds the opponent to seventeen points
or less, and he just started laughing because he was exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Where I was going, or you were going with it.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, if you hold the other team to seventeen points
or less, ninety nine percent of the time you're winning.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But the Broncs have lost And I could be wrong
on this, I'm not sure, but I think they've lost
six games having given up only seventeen points and that's
twice as many as their next closest competitor. That's just
it's just not going to cut it, you know. And
credit to the Broncos defense that it's not binger pointing, that,
it's not saying, hey, we're doing our job. You need
(11:49):
to do your job. But at some point Broncos needs
to score more points and they need to be able to,
at times, if necessary, score points quickly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Definitely, Yeah, I know they'll look to do that this weekend.
We've heard head coach Sean Payton talk a lot this
week about those explosive plays like you mentioned Adidi. But
you know, looking at Sunday's matchup, I know the Commanders
they have a really dominant defensive front. You know, we
heard Sean Payton talk this week about just how you
know active they are in the run game. They're really athletic.
So what do you what challenge do you think that
will provide for this Broncos offense.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It's a challenge, but that's also a really intriguing matchup
because you've got running backs that aren't afraid of contact,
and especially Javonte Williams who loves to go right up
the gut. And then you've got these big, huge, stout
defensive linemen who, by the way, are playing a lot.
So last week you look at if you look at
(12:40):
the defensive lineman and the percentage of snaps that they played,
Washington has three of the top fifteen players. There's no
but in terms of percentage of snaps played, there's no
other team that has more than one defensive lineman in
that top fifteen. So the Broncos aren't, I mean, sorry,
the Washington are not rolling their defensive linemen. They're keeping
(13:04):
their guys in Now. I did talk to Doroon Pain
about this, and he was just like, well, we're just
rolling like he didn't even realize it. But if you've
got a really physical run game and you're just battling
those same guys and they're not fresh bodies to roll
in there or to spell your starters, then let's see
what happens in the fourth quarter. Yeah, and especially in
(13:25):
the altitude, especially in.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The especially in the altitude for sure, especially now that
of course, you know we have Davonte Williams, but samaj
p Ryan too, who's also you know, pretty productive in
week one. That one two punch there can really slow
down a defensive front for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Sydney, I just realized that I'm going to be running
in the altitude. I keep talking here about everybody else
dealing with the altitude. But when I do a sideline,
I lug at least fifteen thousand steps. Oh, I believe it,
from one sideline to the other, one side line to
the other. I'm going to have to do that on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That until just now, I'm gonna say good luck to
you because I have lived here for almost four years
now and I'm still not really used to the altitude.
I'll walk up the stairs and I'll be huffing and puffin,
and I'm like, oh my god, Really, either I'm really
out of shape or the altitude is just really something else.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'm gonna have to go for, like an outdoor run?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Can you even do that? What's better? Is it better
to try to train yourself for it in two days
or is it better.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
To just I feel in the moment, Yeah, I feel
like you just wait it, suck it up in the moment.
It'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
All right, We'll see if you see the sideline reporter
on CBS, it's I'm not an elite athlete. We'll go
right there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Well, adit? I know samhow you know? He was sacked
six times in Week one, But you know, one of
the big storylines here in Denver this week has been
about the Broncos pass rush because they didn't record a
single sack in Week one versus the Raiders. So I
think it'd be really interesting to see how that kind
of balances out here on Sunday. That'll be one to watch.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
All of the all six of those sacks are necessarily
all on the Washington line. I think part of it
is also a young quarterback knowing when to throw the
ball away. It's funny. I used to say this about
Eli Manning, and I think he actually just said it
recently on my friend Kevin Clark's podcast. I'm not sure.
I feel like I saw a clip of it, but
I used to say about Eli Manning that he knows
(15:20):
when to throw the ball away and live to see
another down and sometimes and I think what Eli actually
said this week was like, sometimes you realize a punt
is not a bad play and that comes with time, right.
And so we're talking about a rookie who it's not
a rookie, but a very young quarterback who was only
(15:42):
making his second start, and those are things that he
has to learn, and he has to feel the pressure,
and he has to know when to just get rid
of the ball, and that's not always that's not always
the easiest thing. I'm laughing. I'm sorry. This is a
total non sequitur. But my son and I went to
go see pit play its first game last weekend. Labor
(16:03):
Day weekend was my last weekend off. Wait went as
a family to go watch Pitt play, and the quarterback
took a really bad sack, and I was screaming, throw
the ball away, throw the ball away, throw the ball away.
And then on the next drive, he was facing a
third and twenty two and he held the ball and
ran three yards, which was that's not what you do.
(16:24):
I'm third and twenty two. And so I was saying
to my son, my seven year old son, I'm like,
I'm really not happy with this decision making and he
needs to know when to throw the ball away. And
my son looks at me and he goes, Mom, this
is not the NFL, NFL, but it's actually college game.
Yeah no, but it's like, to my point, college quarterback
(16:47):
sometimes doesn't have the same issue that, So why would
we expect young Sam Howell to immediately be as aware
in that situation. He learned from last week and he
is more aware this week.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
But we'll yeah, definitely takes time for sure, all right, DIDI,
last question for you here, you know, looking at both teams,
who's a player to really watch for that you think
might have a big impact on this weekend's game.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm personally really excited about the Terry McLaurin Pat Curtain.
I mean, Pat wouldn't tell me. Are you going to
shadow Terry. He made very clear, like all great quarterbacks,
that he would love to just chase the number one
receiver on the other side. I know he didn't fully
do that with DeVante Adams, and he really played all
over the field, but I think just the way my
(17:37):
young man from pitt Damari mathis. We'll see how he rebounds, obviously,
but you would like to see kind of a McLaurin
Curtin matchup. I'm curious to see how that plays out.
So I'm intrigued by both of them. Obviously. Again, I
hate being the person saying the quarterback because it feels
(17:59):
too obvious. But when people are writing one week in
that maybe Russell Wilson can't play quarterback, of course, I
want to see what Russell Wilson can do. And of
course Sean Payton is one of the best offensive minds
of our generation. I want to see how he's coaching
him up and what he's doing. So again, I know
that that feels like so obvious, and you'd probably love
(18:19):
for me to say, like the third cornerback or something,
or I love your honest opinion, the old linebacker. Yeah,
but I mean that's what drives I agree I agree.
I came out of I came out of the Ravens
game with this like creep story about the rookie wide
receiver's a floor at Flowers, and of course a great
story about Adell Beckham Junior. Whatever the reality is, Odell
(18:42):
Beckham Junior moves the needle and people can't hear about him.
So there you know. Sorry, Day, we'll be talking about
you too, right, We'll talk about him as the season
goes on, exactly exactly, exactly well.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
DDI, I cannot thank you enough for joining me on
today's episode. Always a pleasure having you on.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Totally my pleasure to join you, Sidney, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well it'll do it for this week's episode of The
Snap Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in, and
a big thank you again to add for joining the show.
I'll see you all right back here on the Broncos
podcast network and YouTube next week
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