05-13-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We got Rockies baseball coming up topof the hour five six, six,
nine zeros. The text line hada ton of stuff happened over the weekend.
The Denver Nuggets got right back intoit against the Minnesota Timberwolves, largely
thanks to the reemergence of Aaron Gordon. We've got the Colorado Rockies who are

(00:22):
coming up top of the hour ona four game winning streak. Four game
winning streak the Rockies won before theystarted this streak was like eight games total
to twelve thirteen wins. Now theyare twelve and twenty eight I believe.
Okay, so they were at eightand twenty eight before this win streak exactly.

(00:43):
But they swept the defending world championTexas Rangers. Yeah that's saying something
right there. Yeah what it says, I don't know. But is this
is this Rockies team about to goon it in probable run much like the
moneyball Oakland Athletics. Probably not.They're in San Diego tonight and they're probably
gonna lose tonight, but we'll see. That's why they play the game.
Yeah, I'm you can listen righthere on KOA going on top of the

(01:07):
hour. Jack Corgan Jay Shammill onthe call the Nuggets getting back into things.
You could kind of see after Gametwo that you were at a breaking
point with this Denver Nuggets basketball team, because you saw a team that I
always and I hate to say thisbecause it's so trite and cliche and sports

(01:29):
talk radio, you know whatever,but a team that looked like they lacked
heart for a minute, like theydidn't want to be there. You had
your home court Game two. Youhad guys not chasing balls, not chasing
rebounds. Jamal Murray was clearly frustrated, couldn't connect on anything. You had

(01:49):
the frustration throwing the towel, theheat pack onto the court. It was
all bad. It was not good. And then you found a way to
go to Minnesota and turn it around. And it's almost like Jamal Murray hasn't
missed since he threw the heat packthat was his last miss. I think

(02:10):
what really helped him out was obviouslythey played on Monday and didn't have to
play again until Friday, so hebasically got four days off to help with
that calf, and I think thatdid him wonders for his game, could
have helped, and I think it'llbe interesting now because he wasn't quite as
good in Game four when he onlyhad the one day off, and now

(02:30):
he's listed as questionable for Game fiveback here in Denver once again just one
day off. So I think it'sgonna be interesting to see exactly how good
he is in Game five tomorrow night. Looking at the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony

(02:51):
Edwards is carrying that team. Heis, He's carrying that team. That
team is a better team when NazReid is on the floor than Rudy Gobert.
Oh, I'd agree with that.I would agree with that for the
most part, especially in this series. You would think that all the length
that Minnesota has with Gobert and nasReed and Karl Anthony Towns, that that

(03:12):
would affect Nicola Jokic, and itdid in the first couple of games.
But Nicola and Jamal both got theirsea legs underneath them and they played out
standing in Game three and four,and not only that, but the Denver
Nuggets. It also helps when youdon't miss a shot. For the most
part, they were on fire inGame three, shot the ball well again
in Game four, and that sequenceright before the half was was crucial for

(03:38):
the Nuggets because they got an eightpoint run right there at the end of
the half that ballooned the lead upto fifteen going into halftime when it could
have been seven eight eight points goinginto halftime, and the te Wolves got
the turnover, they got the dunk, and then they got the half court
shot from Jamal Murray, and Ithink it was that momentum that allowed them
to have that sense of belief againbecause they were frustrated. They've been frustrated

(04:01):
to the first two games with thatlength that you're talking about that the Wolves
had, they've been frustrated. Butthey kind of got their groove back in
Game three, and I just feellike that sequence there at the half in
Game four was a seminal and pivotable, But we'll see if that carries over
to game five. The other partof this was getting Aaron Gordon going twenty
seven points, seven board, sixassists in Game four. Gordon had been

(04:23):
someone who I don't hesitate to,you know, I don't want to call
him like a non factor, buthis first two games against specifically the first
game against Minnesota, and he hadnine points. He was just just not
there. He had twenty points ingame two, but it was just it
felt empty. Thirteen points in gamethree, but really he started contributing again

(04:45):
with the assists in game three andletting the ball flow through him, finding
the open guy. If it wasn'tthere, then take it through. And
then he just just went to toweleven of twelve from the field, two
of two from downtown, seb board, six assists, only two turnovers in
game four and helped the spark there. We saw Nikola Jokic doing what he
does, but getting back to assertinghimself. Gobert couldn't do anything offensively.

(05:11):
I mean, he's just it's Idon't even know what he's doing out there
half the time on offense. Imean, if he's not drawing a foul,
what is he doing. He's setin picks, trying to get offensive
rebounds, stickbacks, yeah, thatkind of stuff. But I mean he's
there for the rebounding is what he'sthere for. And the shot altering theoretically,
although with Jokic there that pulls youaway and allows for cutback lanes.
Karl Anthony Towns couldn't hit the broadside of a barn in that game.

(05:31):
He was five of eighteen from thefloor, a large portion of that bullied
by late points. He was brutallybad from the floor, and when he
is off, it creates a problembecause Anthony Edwards is really the only reliable
offensive option that they have at thatpoint. Jade McDaniels is another really a
defensive player and high energy guy whowas out there to provide length, but

(05:53):
he doesn't provide much in terms ofscoring. He ended up chipping at eleven
points. A lot of that camelate, most of that guy, I
think half of that came in thefourth late and the fourth. If you
look at the Tea Wolves starting lineup, you have they have Conley, they
have Edwards, they have McDaniels,they have Karl Anthony Towns, and they
have Gobert. If you look atit, three of those guys out on
the floor, especially Mike Conley nowthat he's up in age, Mike Conley
when he was younger, was anoffensive force. Right now he's not quite

(06:15):
that same offensive guy. And basicallyyou have three guys on the floor who
aren't going to score for you,that's not their main job, which leaves
everything on Anthony Edwards and Karl AnthonyTowns and Dick Ferguson brought up a very
good point about Carl Anthony Towns.It was Mother's Day on Sunday, and
of course he lost his mom theCOVID, and so I'm sure that had

(06:35):
to have a little bit of impacton his game in one way or another.
On Sunday with it being Mother's Dayand going five for eighteen, he
obviously did not have a good game, so to mention to see if he
bounces back. But for the TeaWolves, they're relying so much on Anthony
Edwards and he had forty five.There was an interesting stat when Anthony Edwards

(06:55):
was on the floor, the teWolves were plus five. When he was
off the floor, they were minusthirteen. He was only off the floor
for like two minutes and forty fiveseconds, right, And that goes to
show quite a bit. The otherpart of this thing for me is Rudy
Gobert needs to be coming off thebench. Rudy Gobert does not need nas
Reed needs to be out there witheverything. You got to have other score.

(07:16):
You can't have three guys that don'tscore. I don't care what kind
of defensive rebounding to bring to thetable. If they can't score. What
are you doing? Yeah, theobjective is to put the ball in the
bucket, and I get you wantto stop people from putting the ball in
the bucket, but they are beingsuccessful at that with the trio towers or
whatever it is that they're doing.You got to get Gobert off the court
and putting nas Reed out there moreeighteen minutes for nas Reed, ain't it,
especially when he's five or six fromthe field and you're looking at at

(07:39):
the rest of these guys. Townsis five of eighteen, Gobert three of
five. It tipted five shots inthe game. I think that's going to
be an interesting adjustment that coach Finchmakes for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is what
does he do after losing two athome, after winning two on the road,
now you're back out on the road. I mean, they have one

(08:00):
game two without Gobert because Gobert didn'tplay, and obviously they played really well
in that game. They won bywhat twenty six points and nas Reed was
a big factor in that. Soit' of be interesting to see if they
do make that play. My guessis probably not. My guess is they
don't make an adjustment to the startinglineup, and they'll keep rolling with what
they are because basically they are adefensive team and that's their identity. So

(08:20):
I assume they're gonna try to leanon that and just try to make better
plays and hope that Denver doesn't makeas many shots as they did. I
mean, Denver was just on firin Game three. They shot the ball
really well in Game four again,and I think they've got to hope that
the law of averages comes back alittle bit and Denver starts missing some of
those shots that they were making inMinnesota. Yeah, we'll see how that

(08:43):
shakes out. I believe they playedtomorrow night. You've got the the Abs
who lost at home. I attendedmy first hockey game over the weekend Saturday,
watching Theavs and the Stars play.How was that. It was a
large contingent of Stars fan at thatgame. I mean a large contingent,
big swatch of green right below thepress box. And they were loud and
vocal during the anthem when whenever theword star is sang, they shout the

(09:05):
you know, the word star.It was loud, like they were they
were quite uh, quite aggressive andquite loud. The Dallas Stars fans,
it didn't feel like. Uh andI've watched a few hockey games on TV
and with the biggest hockey fan inthe world, but you know, I
try to support the local team.I it just didn't feel like it felt
like they as were kind of disjointedin that game. It really did.

(09:26):
It just didn't you ever watch somethingand it just doesn't feel in sync.
That's what it felt like watching thatgame. And it was a close game
throughout. I mean, it's twoto one going into the third period,
a couple of empty netters late tomake it four to one, So it
was a close type contested game.Dallas obviously played the game at their at
their tempo, which obviously is played. And we had Steve Levy on the

(09:50):
show on KOA Sports today and hemade a very good point about the fact
that the Stars want to stay outof the box so they can clog up
everything and don't let Colorado get outwith all that speed that they have to
get up and down the ice.And they've done a good job of staying
out of the box and and Coloradohas struggled on the power play when they've
gotten those chances in this series.So it'll be interesting to see if they

(10:11):
are able to get the power playgoing tonight and getting that getting that speed
that goes up and down the icewith McKinnon and mccarr and Nashushkin. I
mean, it's it's it's one ofthose things that I think Colorado, I
think this is a must win tonight. So they've got to come out with
a sense of urgency. Yeah,it's it's yeah, and you do.
I mean, that's that's what youhave to do at this point. It

(10:35):
was it was interesting. There wasone goal that that maybe should have been
a goal where the Dallas player gotto stick behind the goalkeeper skates. They
were showing that in the arena.Man, it was real close. Uh
that that that that puck may haveslipped through and uh and met something.
But ultimately nothing, nothing came up. Of course, we got the hottest
team in National League, the ColoradoRockies tonight right here on Kowa off the

(10:58):
four game winning streak, beating theSan Francisco Giants nine to one and then
sweeping the Texas Rangers. You gotthe they're up against the Dads tonight.
The San Diego Podres be Dakota Hudsonagainst Randy Vasquez in terms of pitching.
And you look at the Rockies andand and don't look now, but you

(11:20):
know, at last he is he'sreally really kind of rounding into something.
Me Ryan McMahon started the season offhot. Uh, he's he's dropped dat.
He's cooled down to what he normallyis in a three h two hitter
and you know, in five homeruns, but at least he has bat
in three eleven uh, and andhe is, Uh, he's really starting
to round into something that I thinkthat Rockies fans is gonna be the future

(11:41):
maybe the future face of the Rockies. It's possible, especially with Chris Bryant
being injured. Yet once again thebats to Ezekiel Tovar had a big series
against the Rangers, had a bighome run the other day that helped them
win that baseball game. I thinkhe's gonna be one of the future stars
of this team. Nolan Oones ison the injured list. He is going
to be a star on this team. Yeah, he's just got to stay

(12:03):
healthy because he had a great seasonlast year, gotten off to a very
slow start this year. But Ithink he's going to be one of the
building blocks Tovar, obviously, Jones, obviously Diaz and obviously Ryan McMahon.
Those have got to be the guysthat carry this team if they're going to
win some games. And obviously thatVegas obviously had him at fifty nine.

(12:24):
They only got twelve through forty,so they're a quarter all the way through
the season, and so they're they'rethey're lacking. They're like to buy in
that fifty nine mark. So it'llbe interesting to see what do you think
about bow Knicks this weekend? Obviouslywith the rookie Minni camp? Do you
put a whole lot of stock inthat? We asked Ian Rappaport that earlier
and he goes, I don't puta whole lot of stock in this,

(12:45):
these rookie mini camps. What doyou put? How much stock do you
put in the rookie Minni camp?And and bo Nixon what he did this
weekend. Yeah, I saw thesocial media. The hyperbole was I mean,
it was deafening. It was,you know, like Bonix was the
next thing. And I'm like,I I mean he was okay, I
was there. I watched it.He had a couple of balls that he

(13:07):
threw a little you know a littlebehind. But I mean it's one practice
in mini camp, you know.I mean, there's just nothing to really
take away from that. You gota bunch of guys who don't know what
they're doing. Most of those guysaren't going to even be there for training
camp, let alone make the team. There's nothing really to me to take
They didn't look bad, you know, I wouldn't say that, you know,
I saw anything that was like,Wow, this guy can go to

(13:28):
tote with Pat Mahomes Like. Ididn't see any of that. I saw
a guy who you know, checkedthe boxes that you checked for for rookie
mini caamp, and that was that. I didn't think he looked bad.
I didn't think he looked great.It wasn't you know. The ball wasn't
spraying all over the place or anything, and was going where it tended to
go. But I mean, we'renot gonna know until he starts seeing live
fire against you know, NFL caliberdefensive players, not guys that are gonna

(13:50):
be selling insurance next week. Soin other words, you didn't look at
this guy that came out here forrookie minichamp and said, we know what
that guy is going to be ourstarter week one. Well he will be,
but not based on mini camp,just based on the fact that he's
number twelve overall pick and Sean Paytonhas staked his legacy to this guy.
So if he's not ready, thenhe won't be, you know, then
Jarrett Stidham, my guess. Butwe've got a training camp to figure that

(14:11):
out. And I rushed to judgment. I mean, I get it.
Everybody wants to be excited because firstround quarterback and all this kind of stuff,
and I think Bonnick is gonna beperfectly serviceable in this offense. I
think he's built to run this offense. Do I think that he's going to
be a world beater quarterback in theNFL. I don't know. I don't
think so. But it's early time. Will there's plenty of time, you

(14:31):
know, we'll tell with this kindof stuff. I think he's just the
guy who is sort of built torun Sean Payton's offense. We saw what,
for instance, Teddy Bridgewater was capableof in this offense with the Saints
a few years ago, and Ithink Bonnicks is perfectly capable of the same.
I think that's that's kind of whathe is. I think he's got
a little stronger arm than Teddy had. I think he's a little bit willing,

(14:52):
more willing to let it go thanTeddy was. But overall, I
mean, in terms of what theyare as core, I don't think there's
a vastly appreciable difference between what TeddyBridgewater was and what Bonix is. Yeah,
Teddy two Gloves didn't want to takechances whatsoever. He didn't want to
push the ball down the floor.He wanted to check it down. Bow

(15:13):
Nicks. I think it's let meask you this question, because you brought
up Sean Payton's offense as at itscore, What is Sean Payton's offense and
how does Bonnix fit in it.It's a high low read offense that operate
that that is designed to try toget receivers into the eleven to nineteen yard
middle between the numbers part of thefield and get them open and get through

(15:35):
the football. And as you goyou read that high low If that's not
there, you're coming down to thetight end or a shallow crosser from the
backside or whatever, or a runningback on an angle route or a choice
route out there. So it's a. It's a high low offense. It's
built to play between the numbers.They will they will run some screens to
try to get guys to bite downor widen out the field. And we
saw some of that last year withruss you know, and all those screens

(15:56):
they were trying to do. Theywill try to try to get you with
the screen game and take away you'reRussian. But it's a it's a schedule
based offense. Uh. And itis successful. If you don't take sacks,
you don't turn it over. Aslong as you're getting gains. They
don't care how big they are.As long as you're getting gains on first
and second down, that offense willwill just continue to roll. It's designed
to get you, you know,four to five a pop and keep on
going. And if the chunk playis there, you go get it.
If not, you take the safeplay. Is there anybody else out there

(16:18):
that impressed you this weekend? Youknow? The uh the Ryan Edwards mentioned
the kid Villa. Yeah, heI think everybody was all over him.
And he's gonna be He's going tobe a crosser type, you know,
shallow crosser type guy or minds youa little tim Patrick in the way that
he plays. I thought he lookedpretty good. And they're running backs.
I mean, l a, youyou just looking at estimate, you know,

(16:41):
you look at him, You're like, I don't want to tackle that
guy, you know. And andthen you've got Watson, whose whose speed
is something else. I think he'sgoing to be something in this this offense.
Probably UH see him on kick returnduty as well, given how much
they paid him, and and youknow, and everything else. I don't
I don't think there was anybody thatjust absolutely wowed me or floored me or
and if like that, it's justrookie minik Can. It's a bunch of
you know, it's a bunch ofrookies. And you know, eighty percent

(17:03):
of the guys that were out there, like I said, are not even
gonna be in camp. How doyou think the running back room shakes out
this year? Because I think Ifind that to be the one of the
most interesting position groups out there.You've obviously got Javonte Williams, who's the
starter. You got samaj p Ryanwho was very good on third down and
pass pro and catching the ball outof the backfield. Then you got Jalil

(17:23):
McLoughlin, who was obviously somebody whoshowed signs of life at times, and
then you brought then you actually draftedOdric Estima. I mean, how do
you see this room shaking out?Because to me, Javonte Williams should be
the guy that gets the most carries. But everybody's excited about what Estimate can
bring. Everybody knows what pe Ryancan bring, and everybody's kind of excited

(17:47):
about McLoughlin. How do you seethis room shaking out? Well, I
don't. I mean, the mathsuggests that Samaj p Ryan will not be
here. You know, Shamaj fumbledbowl too much last year, and his
dollar amount suggests that probably you're theodd man out. Javonte wasn't the Javonte
of old, but he was aworkload running back last year and you could
see that again. And he catchesthe ball well out of the backfield.

(18:08):
If has to make and catch theball out of the backfield, he will,
He will supplant Samaj p Ryn.Julia mcgloffin is probably gonna be here,
and you're probably gonna carry a fourthrunning back and it'll probably be Watson
especially. He guaranteed HM two hundredfifty thousand dollars. I mean he's gonna
be here at that at that number. Yeah, at that number, he's
probably gonna be So he probably carryingfour running backs, uh, you know,
in a full back, and you'llskip somewhere else, whether that's the

(18:29):
receiver room, tight end whatever,you'll you'll you know, you'll skip somewhere
else on on one of those inan effort to make sure that that room
is fully stocked. I think Samajis the odd man out though, I
mean you look at what he bringsto the table. In the aggregate,
he's replaced by what Audri Guestime brings, you know, pow, a battering
ram running back that doesn't have athird gear. If if has to make
and catch a ball out of thebackfield like Samaj did, because that's that

(18:52):
was the bulk of what he did, and has to make him pick up
the you know, in pass pro, Samaj's is uh, you know,
is the odd man out. Hejust his skill set is replicable by the
younger guys, cheaper guys than theaggregate. I mean, if you look
at the end of games last year, I mean that was the play that
they ran over and over was RussellWilson checked down the SAMAJP runs. What
this offense is at six seven,eight yards, That's what this offense is.

(19:14):
If the stuff isn't there down thefield in the middle of the field,
and Russ doesn't see that stuff verywell anyway, If that stuff isn't
there, then you just dump itdown to the running back and let him
get your four or five live tofight another day. It's an extension of
the run game. So that's that'swhat the offense. Go back and look
at why Drew Brees had such highcompletion percentages, to look how much the
running backs were involved in catching thefootball and those offenses, that's sort of
what this is. We come back. Chicago Bears coaches are critical now of

(19:38):
justin fields. We hear what theyhave to say. Listen to Broncos Country,
inn ok Wa. Welcome back toit, Broncos Country tonight. But

(20:08):
it's been all right here with you. Michael Cooper behind the glass, Arrest
in peace. D. A.J. Smith the architect of the Philip
Rivers era Chargers. Former Chargers generalmanager I seventy five years oldest son who
was the Atlanta Falcons assistant general manager. Kyle Smith announced his passing and a
statement alongside the Falcons. Smith diedat following a seven year battle with prostate

(20:33):
cancer. He was an assistant gmutterJohn Butler, general manager of the Chargers
frow three to twelve and a spanthat saw him going ninety five and sixty
five, made the playoffs five times. Best known for overseeing the transition from
Drew Brees to Phil Rivers. Hetook over the twenty three team that featured
Breeze and Hall of Fame running backLadanian Tomlinson that went four and twelve in

(20:55):
his first season as general manager,and one of his first significant transactions was
to sign projected a Hall of Fametight and Antonio Gates as an undrafted free
agent. They got the number oneoverall pick in the draft. Use that
to select Manning, leverage that totrade for for Phil Rivers. Smith's ninety

(21:19):
eight wins is the most by ageneral manager in Chargers history. And of
course he's survived by Kyle, hiswife Susan, a daughter Andrea, So
thoughts with their family. I talkedwith you guys before the break about Bears
coach is now coming out there andsaying the quiet part out loud on justin
Fields. Our good friend ty Donover at Golong TD who does great long

(21:40):
form pieces. If one of thoseone of those people like I give you
some guys to subscribe to every oncein a while, or you fasan his
substack, somebody you shouldbscribe to tyDon Golo on TV. That's somebody else
you usued to subscribe to. It'llmake you smarter football. And ty gets
gets these great great stories, hasgreat access, great connections. Field was

(22:00):
a polarizing character as the Bears startingquarterback, and one Chicago coach was highly
critical, quoted in the article saying, quote, watch his eyes. He
tries to see the whole thing anddoesn't see anything. His eyes are all
over the place. It's just reallyhard to watch. It's just bad football.

(22:23):
Fields of course flashed athleticism in thehighlights, but the Bears struggle to
put him in a position to besuccessful unless they were relying heavily on athleticism.
He just he couldn't see the field. He's now the backup in Pittsburgh
to Russell Wilson after having been tradedby Chicago. And the piece is mainly

(22:45):
that ty Road is mainly about CalebWilliams and how they're starting over all that
kind of stuff. But that anecdotein there I found interesting because it's something
that I've kind of harped on.You watch the tape on Fields and you
see a guy that, I mean, you know, a world athlete,
but you see a guy who doesnot get it in terms of past game
you had. And they talk aboutthe offensive line, That offensive line wasn't
that bad. Talking about the skillposition players that man had. DJ Moore

(23:08):
and Cole Kmet those are very goodplayer. DJ Moore is a ostensibly a
top five receiver in this league,certainly top ten. And you go watch
the tape on Fields and you seeit guy who just does not see the
field. That first read isn't there, Like, he just doesn't see it.
He's looking around phrenetically, and hedoes well with the ball in his

(23:33):
hands, running the ball. Imean, if it were me and the
Steelers have talked about that kick returnthing, I might make him a running
back and kick returner on top ofeverything else. I don't see that happening
whatsoever because Justin Fields and his agentand aren't gonna let that happen. Well,
I mean, he can sit thereand ride the pine and do nothing.
You know that they already declined hisfifth year option. To tell you

(23:55):
what to think of him as aquarterback. You've got Russell Wilson, who
the Broncos are mostly paying this yearon a one your deal there, and
then you've got Justin Fields, who'sfinishing out his rookie deal. Who's the
third quarterback there? Did they havea third quarterback there right now? I'm
pretty sure that they have another thirdquarterback that actually has somewhat of a name
as well. I just can't thinkof his name right this second mm off

(24:15):
the top of my head. Wellthey if they uh, Jefrey's Plumbley.
Who's rookie they brought in for rookiecamp? Kyle Allen? Kyle Allen,
Yeah, Kyle Allen, who's gotHe's got a few snaps that they've got
out there, but those got Imean, you know, Russell Wilson is
the starter there. It's funny tome because you get a lot of people

(24:36):
telling me that Russell Wilson isn't evengoing to be Because we talked about the
opening the opening game of the schedulepotentially being Steelers Broncos and again, a
lot of people to well, ifthat's even if for Russ is the start,
Russe is gonna be the starter.Russell Wilson is a significantly better quarterback
than Justin Fields. Russell Wilson wasa top five, top six quarterback in

(24:57):
the league last year. To statistically, when he got benched, Justin Fields
was a bottom five quarterback. Idon't I don't understand what people are watching,
Like, is this just people playingMadden that are like, well,
Justin Fields is going to take thatjob? Is he? Unless Russell Wilson
gets hurt. Russell Wilson is goingto be the starter in Pittsburgh and it's
not going to be close. Oh. I completely agree with you there.

(25:18):
I mean Justin Fields. I meanhe had his moments last season. I
mean, he had one hell ofa game against the Broncos there in Chicago
where he threw at the yeah,where he threw for what four touchdowns?
I think it was up like that, most of which came at the you
know. I mean he had ColeComett wide open on a couple of plays.
Now, granted it was against theDenver defense that struggled at times last
year, but still, I mean, good grief. I mean they and

(25:41):
the Actually, I mean the Bearsactually did beat the Detroit Lions last year
in Chicago late in the season whenthe Lions were trying. It wasn't like
the Lions were a stellar defense either. They had that front four and that's
really I mean, they've they've addedto it this year, but it was
not exactly like that that that defensewas was stellar. H He had one
touchdown against the Lions in that gamethey won twenty eight thirteen, and he

(26:02):
had won won touchouts. Yeah.I followed that up at Cleveland with a
one touchdown, two interception game.They lost. They lost, agreement.
I mean, the thing about itis a lot of people try to tell
me that Justin Fields had this likerenaissance after the injury last year. No,
the Bears defense had a renaissance.That's what happened. The Bears defense

(26:22):
started holding people. They held Minnesotato ten points, they held Detroit to
thirteen points, the Browns to twenty, Arizona to sixteen, Atlanta is seventeen,
Green Bay to seventeen. Like allof a sudden, the defense showed
up for the Bears. Last year. Justin Fields was basically the same quarterback
he always was. When you're throwingfifty seven percent and one touchdown in a

(26:44):
win over Detroit, it ain't you, No, it's not. But how
do you see the Bears doing thisyear? In the NFC North? I
think it's a rather interesting division.You got the Lions, who obviously won
the division last year, followed bythe Packers. Jordan Love seemed to make
some big strides last year at theend of the season, going on the
road, eating Dallas in the playoffsand probably should have beaten San Francisco if
you if you think about it.And then obviously you have Minnesota who has

(27:07):
obviously Sam Darnold, and then JJMcCarthy is their rookie quarterback. So I
think the Bears probably slide in whatthird I think? So the questions really,
I mean, Detroit is considered thefavorite to win the division, and
rightfully so. About by the way, speaking of Detroit before Jared Goffteel,
Jared Goffteel, what did you thinkof that? I mean, you kind
of had to that was where you'reat. I mean, you're either it's

(27:29):
you know, let's go to thebathroom or get off the pot. Time
with minutes I find it interesting he'snow the second highest paid quarterback in the
NFL, But that's what happens.Like when you sign a quarterback to a
new deal, they're going to bethe highest paid, and then in two
years it'll be a cheap deal.The market resets itself constantly, So that's
why it's important to get a quarterbackdone as quickly as possible and then not
look back. Hopefully he's your guyand you'll find out. I mean,

(27:51):
Jared goff he's been good enough.Yeah, he was good last year.
I mean he was He had whatthirty touchdowns and there were a couple or
two or three games there where hewas Goffle, you know, but for
the most part he was he wasthere. I think with in the NFC
North, the big questions are isthere carryover from Chicago's defense from last year,
because the offense is certainly more loaded. You had a Keenan Allen,
You've got a competent passer in KaylebWilliams. You know, you does the

(28:15):
defense carry over because if it does, you're going to be a good football
team. And then you know,Minnesota is probably going to be bad.
They're probably going to be very bad. I mean, Sam Darnold and J.
J. McCarthy is probably not lightingthe world on fire, might led
your fantasy team on fire. Butso the question really comes down to what
did the Bears carry over from lastyear in terms of defense and how quickly
does Caleb Williams acclimate how much ofGreen Bay and what they did carries over.

(28:38):
Was it just a bunch of youngguys they didn't know any better or
is this a young team that's reallygrowing up? And then you know Detroit,
how they they looks like on paperthat they built out that defense finally
and added the right pieces. Butthey added two cornerbacks. That was that
was the one position group that theywere really struggling with, right, and
then you add two cornerbacks in thedraft. Basically you got Terry and Arnold

(28:59):
in the first and then you gotthe other kid, the kid from Missouri
whose name is escaping me right thissecond. But I mean he's the guy
that some people had graded in thefirst round. So, uh, I
think that they did do some things. I think Detroit's a team honestly to
watch for Justin Simmons when it's allsaid and done, maybe they have they
have they have some money to spend, even despite giving out these three contracts

(29:22):
that they did to Pinna Sewell,I'm on Ross, Saint Brown and Jared
Goff. They gave out the biggestsensions, but they still have some money
left and there is a need atsafety considering CJ. Gardner Johnson left and
they haven't really replaced that. Yeah, you got Melifon Woo's been in the
league a couple of years out ofSyracuse, and then you've got Kirby Joseph
at the free and to me,that screams a good landing spot there.

(29:44):
If you know, if Justin wantsto go win, that would be one
of the options. There are afew options out there as far as that
goes, here, going to seehim signing for a couple of weeks.
He's still he's still evaluating. Imean, they're more than one all.
You think it goes all the wayto training camp. I don't think it
quite goes that far. But Ido believe over the next few weeks he's
gonna he's you know, they wantedto get through the draft and see you
know where the you know where everybodyhad gotten draft, where the team's kind

(30:07):
of stood and stacked at that point. Now you kind of got a lay
of the land. You know whereeverybody is, you know where the money
is, you know who's a competitoron paper, all that kind of stuff.
So I think I think Justin atthis point values winning. I think
he wants to win. I thinkhe wants to go to a winner,
and I think he wants he hasa certain price point, and I think
that there are multiple offers out there, so they'll leverage that and get that
going on. Do we run outto the kay Common Spirit Traffic Center though

(30:30):
and check in with Dave O'Brien.Welcome back to it, Broncos Country.
Tonight a Rockies baseball coming up thetop of the hour. The Rockies take
on the San Diego Padres Padres twentytwo to twenty one. Second NL West.

(30:55):
Rockies, despite the four game winsstreak twelve and twenty eight fifth in
the NL West, have Dakota Hudsonagainst Randy Vasquez on the mound for starters.
Freeland obviously still out Nolan Jones onthe ten day d L as well.
Chris Bryant's still out for the Rockies. Talked a little bit about last

(31:19):
DAS and what he's meant to thisbaseball team so far. He last did
a home run in the loss theeight six lost their last loss to San
Francisco. But he's gotten on basequite a bit. Two for four against

(31:41):
the Giants in that nine to onewin, two for four against the Rangers
opening series, two for five againstthe Texas Rangers in that in the third
win of the streak, and thenhe went over four against the Rangers in
the three to one win the finalgame of the the sw There. Yes,
Batten three or eleven on the season, does have three home runs so

(32:09):
far this year, twenty one batit in. I Uh, I don't
know what the Rockies can be,but getting a four game winning streak so
at least, seems like a bigmark for them. I think it's just
one of those things that just helpsthem lift their spirits a little bit.

(32:29):
I mean, when you're eight andtwenty eight, twenty games under in the
worst record in all of baseball,there's not a whole lot of good vibes
going on inside that clubhouse. Butnow you get a win over the Giants,
what was it eight to one ornine to one, whatever it was.
Then you get the Rangers at homeyou wind up sweeping them. Just
gives you some good vibes going intothis next series on the road in San
Diego, a place that on theroad has not been has not been very

(32:53):
kind of the Rockies to the Rockieswhatsoever. So the Padres probably look at
it as a get right. Ithink the Rockies will hopefully go into this
series with some momentum and maybe getoff to a fast start tonight. Get
on the board early and take anearly lead and see what and see what
happens, and see if you can'tmake it five in a row, say

(33:14):
lengthy California road trip for the Rockies. Three games against the Padres and off
day, three games against the Giants, an off day, then three games
against the Athletics before you come backhome and get the take on Philadelphia and
Cleveland. If you're the Rockies atthis point, I think you're looking at

(33:34):
it like this, and we cantake two of three, you know,
if we can go on these onthese these stands and take two of three,
all of a sudden, you know, we start getting right back into
this thing. We start chipping awayat this and start getting right back into
this thing. And that's not tosay that they will or whatever. But
I think that's kind of how youhave to look at this is, Look,
we have the ability to win games. We've shown that. We've shown
that over the last you know,four games. Yeah, I mean,

(33:57):
it's it's a long uphill climb.Even if they win two out of three
and all three of these series onthe road, there are sixteen games under
five hundred right now. If theywin all three of those series, win
two out of three, at theend of that, there's still only thirteen
games under five hundred. But soit is a long road da hoe to
get back into it. I mean, you've got to go on a winning
streak, a fairly lengthy one toeven try to make a dentt into this.

(34:21):
But bottom line is, play goodbaseball. The fans will come out.
It's a great experience. Play goodbaseball, and the fans will come
out, just like they have toin If you don't play good baseball,
the fans aren't going to continue tocome out, regardless of how nice of
a setting it is at Corsfield rightobviously on the road again for the next
nine games. Jack Corgan Jery Shimwill going to be on the call here
in just a few minutes. Ijust it is a long road, but

(34:45):
you've won four in a row,and there's got to be some some internal
optimism there that you know, hey, look, this streak isn't gonna last
forever, but we can win games. We are capable of winning baseball games.
And if we can, you know, if we can win these series,
you know three, I'll win twoout of three in these kinds of
series, then you know, comethe All Star break, we're right back
in the in the hunt. Allright, quick question. Obviously we got

(35:06):
Stars and Apps coming up in aboutthirty five minutes as well. Game four.
Who do you like tonight? Starsand Abs? Are the Abs even
the series up at two? Ibelieve, Yeah, the Stars go up
three to one. I believe theAbs will eaven the series up. I
don't know about that one and ahalf. I went ahead and took that
and show me the money. ButI do believe the As will even up
the series tonight. And I've gotsome hope for the Rockies tonight. Man,
let's let's get this thing out thefive. Why not, Let's get
this streak out the five. Let'sdo it. Let's start. Let'll start

(35:29):
getting people to take notice of ColoradoRockies baseball, which is coming up next
right here on KOA, Jack Corgan, Jerry shimme'll gonna meet you guys with
the Call. I'm looking forward toit, my coover and Benjamin I'll break