05-16-24 Hour 3 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome into Broncos Country tonight on KOAeight fifty am and ninety four to one
FM. I'm Eric Dlala from DenverBroncos dot com Film and for Benjamin Albright,
who is out tonight, we gotNick Ferguson. Nick, I want
you to think back decades, manydecades. Why you say video so when
you do that, why first yousay decades? I'm like, I'm with

(00:21):
you many decades. I mean,my will you memmoth Now? So when
you were you're playing You're Atari orwhatever whatever video game you had when you
were a kid, right, visiongot the the Sega Dreamcast or whatever you
got the video games. Uh,I'm not sure if they had EA sports

(00:43):
college football back then, Nick,you know what. To be totally honest,
No, they didn't. But whenI was in college, they did.
They did, they did. Yes, Were you building yourself as a
player you were? I don't knowif you at that time the features were
that in hands were you could buildyour own players. You just dealt with
whatever you had. It was justlike a black and white you would simulate
it tell you what they game was, and it looked really pixelated because the

(01:07):
players, you know, it lookedlike they were square, like roadblocks or
whatever. Yeah. Technology, man, it's changed, it's changed, and
I think people, certainly people myage, and I'm just giving you a
hard time because we're not so differenthere, but people are fired up about
the return of the EA Sports CollegeFootball Game. They released the cover today,

(01:30):
I believe, and the CU Buff'sown Travis Hunter. He's on the
cover. That's a pretty big deal. I think, Yeah, that is
a big deal. I would havethought, based on this past offseason and
how much we've heard from coach Primeand Shadoor, that Shardoor would have been
on the cover instead of Travis,even though Travis is is an uber chalented

(01:53):
guy. But this actually boosts theprofile, believe it or not. For
see, your team that didn't evenwin the four games last season. It's
amazing how you have a team thatdidn't win that many games last season,
but they're one of the more talkedabout teams in college football. Yeah,
they're they're cover. Athlete to winratio is pretty good, Yes it is,

(02:15):
and there are not too many teamsand athletes who could say that they
have been in that rare air.But it's got to be nice to don
a cover of any magazine, butmore importantly, an any sports video game
that hasn't been around in a coupleof years. Yeah, a long time,
and well I think ten, twelve, thirteen years something like that.

(02:37):
It's been a while. And obviouslythe rights and the licensing and all that
was kind of the reason it wentaway in the first place. Yes,
of course, Annett. And nowwith NIL you can have these guys in
the game. I think fans arereally excited about it because now you can
go jump on Xbox or PlayStation orwhatever. And I don't have a video

(03:00):
game console that I don't even knowwhat is there another console now that exists.
See first of all, neither decade. You don't even own a consto.
I don't even know what's going on. Yeah, it's like, okay,
I have a console, but myson does more the playing than I
do. And there's always this rightof passage that fathers and sons encounter.

(03:23):
Sometimes is on a basketball court mostof the time. But mine happened playing
Madden Football. And I don't reallyplay you know, Mad Football that often,
but my son took a lot ofpride and beating me. And I
don't know if you have any kidsand I don't know if Gret has any
kids, but okay, but atsome point, you guys are going to

(03:49):
get to what I'm explaining right now. And I know someone is driving around
they know exactly what I'm talking about. When as a father, you're supposed
to set pretty much to stay agent, be a role model, but it's
very hard when your son is kickingyour butt and he's talking trash at the
same time. But that competitive footballparty, you want to do something,

(04:11):
but you're like, I can't sayanything. He is demolishing me. Yeah.
I think by the time I havekids, we're gonna be wearing those
little vision goggles just sitting next toeach other. Yeah, we won't even
be hold in the control or justbe wearing the goggles and pretending to throw
a phone. Okay, so reallyquickly, technology, as you said,
has changed over the years. Andwhen you watch kids in high school walking

(04:35):
from school to their cars and tothe bus, they're always looking down at
their phones. And you go tograb a bite any place, you will
see kids looking at their phones.What you are predicting is that there are
no more phones. People are atdinner and everyone has on VR goggles.
I mean can you not see thathappening? I could. I can definitely

(04:57):
see that. But if that wereto happen, we're just talking to sitting
there just blindly reaching before like rushan app or something, your order,
say your bill. Okay, Sodoes that now mean you're eating virtual food
now? I mean you have virtualgoggles on. I don't like that type
of world. No, that thatmight be too far, but I could

(05:17):
see playing a video game with withthe virtual reality goggles on. Nick.
I do wonder how big And Ido think for like, certainly Twitter fans
a certain generation like it's great thatthis game is coming back. I wonder
do you think the players for themit's a big deal because I remember when

(05:38):
I first started with the Broncos eightnine years ago, there was still kind
of a generation of rookies where they'relike, oh my gosh, I'm in
Madden. I'm in Madden. Andit was like a big question that reporters
would ask and be like, ohhave you have you played with yourself?
And madly like have you created ateam and used and and it just like,

(05:58):
uh, it doesn't that question doesn'tcome up anymore, Like no one
asked bo Nix, hey have youhave you gone on Madden and used bo
Nix with the Broncos yet I mean, and maybe maybe it's just not of
as much interest. But I'm wonderingif like there's just so much technology and
these guys are so like there's somuch exposure for them in college in high

(06:21):
school now that like they're not asinterested as being a part of a video
game or do you think it's stilla big No, it is still a
big thing because you would have beena part of one of the biggest game
that's out there right especially when wetalk about Madden, like EA Sports is
making his comeback in college, youknow football, but being in the Meden

(06:45):
game, I mean, even guyswho didn't want to admit it, you
got to think about the idea thatsomeone in their family told, Hey,
dude, I played with you onMadden last night. Good game. That
meant something. It is like Ibeat Nick Ferguson. Yes, like you've
achieved something. Listen doing my timefor playing for the Broncos. You know,
I have buddy I got a chanceto meet and knowing really well who

(07:08):
lives in New York. One timehe called me out of nowhere and he
was like dude, you suck.I was like, what I mean.
As soon as I pick up thephone, He's like, dude, you
suck. I was like, whatare you talking about? And he was
like, you lost me the game. I said, you talked about a
Matt. I said, you calledme about a freaking mad game. He
was like, yeah, I wasplaying online man, and I had a

(07:28):
chance for you to make an interceptionand you dropped it. And I hung
up on him, and I'm like, you call me to tell me I
suck because you lost in Madden.And I'm like, you are controlling the
player, not me, So whyare you getting upset with me? But
this is when you know, likeas a player, you grow up as
a kid, you want to playthis sport. You always dream of playing

(07:49):
in the NFL, and there's certainboxes you want to check. Playing on
Monday Night Football that was one ofthem. And having a time broadcasters say
your name on television and then playingon Madden that was kind of I made
it moment. So there are alot of players who do that. Now,
just think about it. Paxton Lynchplayed it so much, played him

(08:13):
out of the league. I mean, when you think, when you think
about yes, just think about that. He played himself out of here.
Kyler Murray. Let's talk about whatit is, Kyler Murray. It was
so bad that the Car News hadto put it in his contract that he
watched more Fame than he plays Madden. Was it Madden or was it Call

(08:35):
of Duty? Well, whatever itwas, he wasn't studying his playbook,
right, did you You like whenbought Madden and were like, I'm gonna
play with Nick Ferguson. No,here's a crazy thing about it. I
never played Madden like that. Iwould watch my teammates. You didn't,
like Jack, your stats up toninety nine, that's put yourself at number

(08:56):
one corner. Oh no, No. First of all, no one would
have believed that. I wouldn't havebelieved that, huy. No, But
but I did, like you wouldoccasionally see those guys roaming around training camp,
right, the man guys, theman guys, and just roll up
on him like, dude, what'sup with this? Yes, so you

(09:22):
know you're trying to talk to theguys, and you know, we've we've
seen some of these hard knock umyou know videos where you know, band
guys have gone to training camp andguys. We're talking to them, like,
look, man, why am Iat an eighty right or my awareness
is at zero? Could you pleaseexplain to me why there's some guys out
there that are guys. I didn'twant to say it, but yeah,

(09:48):
there's some guys out there who awarenessit's zero. Is like, uh,
it's for a reason. So listen, I kid ourselves. Do you know
what your rating was? No?I don't. I'm I'm sure someone took
a screenshot of it and sent itto me. I don't. I don't
know it back then, and itjust what your rating was was what your

(10:09):
rating was. That was it.Now it's like you drop a pass in
a game and your rating's dropping twopoints In Madden by by the time the
quarter's over. I mean, theyupdate it so fast. It's it is
crazy how fast they they update thegame and how they have it now,
Like if a guy's on a rosterand then he's traded, it reflects on

(10:30):
the roster on a video game.And now, if I'm not mistaken,
the last version of Madden, youcan you know, build your own player,
build yourself and start from the collegeand work your way up to the
pros and get drafted. It's like, it's amazing what they're doing with with
this technology and going back to collegefor just a second, the NILS have

(10:50):
changed a lot of things. Iwish that it was one of those retroactive
type things. So I'm I guess, yeah, I did it. You
just you just walk to the millbox. Hey I checked just in case.
You should just go to the mailboxconstantly be like you think it's here today,
you think the checks here? Andwhy are you taking the mailbox like

(11:11):
five times I'm inside, Yeah,there's nothing in there. I'm waiting for
the postal service. No. Ido think for a school like See You,
that that leans into all this stuffand leans into social media, that
that having a guy like Travis Hunteron the cover only helps because you can
point to it and say, hey, you come to see you. You

(11:31):
can be one of the biggest starsin the entire game. And I think
my initial thought when Dion got hiredthere, and obviously we'll see how it
all hands out. Wins have tofollow at some point, right, But
I wondered, like, even ifit goes well, can see you be
as prominent as Michigan or Ohio Stateor Georgia or Alabama or whatever team you

(11:54):
want to pick, and and overallmaybe you know, will it ever be
quite like that? I don't know, but you can say, hey,
listen, the Texas quarterback's on thecover. We can have a CU player
on the cover too. I meanthat's I think that says something about what's
capable if you look like what canhappen if you go to see you in

(12:15):
kind of the profile you can have. Obviously, Travis Hunter's talked about as
a potential first round pick, topten pick, so there's a reason he's
on it. But there's some guysyou go to, you go to a
school and you just you kind ofgrind an infamy. There's no no media
exposure. I do think this isthis is somewhat meaningful in terms of what
it means for CEEU. It does, and it changes a lot as far

(12:39):
as the branding and exposure. Butlet's be totally honest, a lot of
this has been done on the onthe relationship or the charismatic attitude and personality
of their head coach. Right,and coach Prime is the same way as

(13:00):
a coach as he was as aplayer. He knows how to press the
right buttons. He knows how todraw attention, and it's something a lot
of coaches and a lot of programsthey're definitely trying to emulate. But I
mean, nothing beats the original.And because of that, this is how
you know, Travis Hunter, youknow, made the cover of EA Sports.

(13:22):
I mean, this is a gamethat I talked to people who obviously
around my age. They couldn't waitfor this game to come out. And
some guys are going to go purchasethis game. Not for their kids,
No no, no, no,no no, it's not for the kids.
This is not for you. Thisis for dad. Yes, parental
advisory stamp, even though it's notthat type of game. But just to

(13:46):
say that this was a game froma particular era that is now coming back
and there's a certain level of nostalgiaassociated with it. Yeah, I agree.
I'm curious if just because we areBroncos country and I if you made
a a Madden game specific to theBroncos and I think there's who's on the
cover, Well, I think there'sthree guys on the cover this NCAA football

(14:09):
game. So you put three guyson a cover for a Broncos video game.
Let's say at the end of thisyear. End of this year.
Who you're putting on the cover,Well, the first guy is passer Tan.
Yeah, out of the gate.Alex Singleton would probably make the cut
because he's going, why are youlooking at me like that? I'm not

(14:30):
looking at you, just there's anothermore obvious answer. I think. Well,
the reason I say that is becausehe's gonna make a lot of tackles,
as he always does, so thatguy gets a lot of praise.
I mean, and for me,I think bow Knicks was obvious. That's
why. That's why one the oppositeway. So you're going Passer Tan,
bow Knicks and Alex Singleton. Thereyou go at the end of the year.

(14:52):
Okay, I like it. Ithink that makes sense. If you
tossed a some linebacker love. Yes, it's all about the defense, all
about the defense, All about thedefense. What about a nice Quinn Miners
Give him some love? Huh?Give the offensive lineman a little bit of
love. Nick, I know you'vegot some. You've got some thoughts on

(15:13):
strength of schedule and how we shouldmeasure it. We're going to get to
that coming up here on Broncos Countrytonight on KOA eight fifty am and ninety
four to one FM. Back hereon Broncos Country Tonight on KOA eight fifty
am and ninety four to one FM. I'm obviously here filling in for Benjamin
olbrid We got Nick Ferguson. Wegot you. That's all we need?

(15:35):
Yes, we all, we got, we all we need? That's right?
Yes, Nick, I hear you. You're telling me you got some
pretty strong feelings on strength to schedule. I know it's a topic that fires
people up. I mean there's peopleoutside just trying to barge down the door
talking about strength to schedule. Itis interesting because, like the strength of
schedule is based on stats from theprior year, and it doesn't take an

(16:00):
account any coaching changes, any additionsto upgrades based on free agency or the
draft. It's just solely based onwhat happened last year. And I thought
the idea is that once we changedthe calendar, we should therefore change our
mind and leave the past behind us, should we not? Kind of beautiful

(16:22):
we got thinking about it, right? Yeah, it should be on the
postcard, yes, with the ideasjust leave the past behind us and just
kind of look at the season asa new and even judging it by the
upgrades to give it that perspective maynot do it just as well. There
has to be some other type ofmetrics that go into giving the strength of

(16:48):
schedule, because when you look atyou know, the Pittsburgh Steelers, they
have a tough schedule. You lookat the San Francisco forty nine ers.
How much time that they're going totravel from Levi Stadium to the stadiums.
I mean they're going to They're goingto be a team that's really going to
be tested from an endurance standpoint.But there's so much stock put into the

(17:11):
strength of schedule and how that reallydefines a team. Yeah, and then
listen, like the Jets right noware not considered from a strength of schedule
perspective to be one of the tougheropponents. But they presumably are getting Aaron
Aaron Rodgers back who presumably is goingto play pretty well, which makes them
a much better football team than theywere a year ago. Does it make

(17:34):
them a contender? Well, Imean we're talking more right from like the
Broncos strength of schedule or this team'sstrength of schedules number one or number thirty
two. I don't know if itmakes them a contender, but certainly last
year's record, like you're saying,it's not adicative of who they could be

(17:55):
this year. Or if you areAtlanta, for ample, a team that
some people are talking about is maybea more difficult opponent for the Broncos than
strength of schedule would indicate. Okay, you've got a new head coach who's
known for, you know, beinga good a coach that gets people online,
disciplined fundamentals, you bringing a quarterbackand Kirk Cousins who plays pretty well.

(18:18):
They got a lot of offensive talent. That's a team that you would
expect is going to be better thanthe strength of schedule metric would indicate.
I don't know that off the topof my head. I have like a
great answer of like what's better otherthan like vibes, maybe like the vibes
of certain teams. Well, ifI'm not mistaken, the Falcons have one

(18:41):
of the second easiest schedule in theleague, and for me, second easy
schedule, And you're in a divisionwith Bryce Young, you in the division
with Derek Carr with the Saints wherethere's a lot of uncertainty taking place there,
and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that wantedto vision last year at nine and

(19:02):
eight. So for the expectations tobe really high for the Falcons, yeah,
I can easily see that. RaheemMoores comes in from the Rams and
he brings in Zach Robinson as anofficer coordinator. Yeah, they're bringing along
that championship pedigree because they won achampionship with Rams and Sean McVay, and
they just look at the roster theyhave, you know, Kyle Pitts,

(19:26):
Drake London, and b Jon Robinsonand then you slide a guy in Kirk
Cousins, who it has been knownin the league as being a volume passer.
You kind of put him in agreat situation. So at all the
lines for the Atlanta Falcons to bethere, right there in the thicket things
when it comes to playoffs in theNFC, Yeah, I mean, I

(19:48):
just don't think until you get tothe season, and especially the way injuries
and training camp or the preseason canimpact things. Until you get to the
season, it's hard to really besure what your strength of schedule looks like.
And I would point to the Broncoslast year you had a stretch of

(20:08):
Kansas City, Buffalo Minnesota Cleveland rightwhere if you looked at a strength of
schedule metric, that stretch looked nearimpossible. And the Broncos won all four
of those games. And then youlook at the next strength of schedule portion
of last year's slate and it wasyou know, the Chargers and Patriots and

(20:33):
Raiders and I think even Detroit atthat point because they still looked like a
nine to eight football team from theyear before. I remember doing tweets from
like an FPI Football Power Index standpointthat was like, oh, the Broncos
just went four and oh against thetoughest part of their schedule. Now they've
got the easiest part of their scheduleand they won one game in that stretch.
And so that also to me islike the Broncos can go to Seattlenick

(20:56):
and win, they could lose.They could go to Kansas City and win.
They could host the Panthers, whoare not expected to be great this
year and lose at home. Imean, this is a one possession league,
a close league. It's designed forteams to get better if you're bad,
and get worse if you're good.And I do believe that the any

(21:17):
given week, if you don't showup. Anybody can beat you. I'm
sure you can attest to that thatyou guys probably beat teams that you didn't
think you were necessarily gonna beat,and you probably lost to a couple of
teams that shouldn't have beat you.Well, the biggest thing that you don't
want to lose so many times thoseteams who are considered inferior type teams,
because it's a back breaker as faras the love of confidence for your team.

(21:40):
I think right now the Broncos havenot mistaken the twentieth rank schedule as
far as the strength and just thinkif they're able to win more games than
the odds makers are giving now,they are a year ahead of what everyone
thought and that would be a greatlearning curve for this team that has a

(22:03):
lot of young players in it.And the Broncos at the end of the
day can say, look, weare head of schedule, and I'm sure
Broncos fans would love to hear that, but it is the players that have
to look at this schedule and theyhave to go out there and complete compete
because this is their resume. Thisis how you're being compared to other players

(22:23):
and other teams. Around the league. And I can tell you this.
Guys talk. Guys call one anotherand they're watching the game and be like,
yeah, yeah, I saw thatThursday night game. But like you
guys gonna need all the rest youcan get, right. This is how
guys talk to one another around theleague. So you want to make sure
that you not only played well foryour fan base and for your team,

(22:45):
you want to make sure that yourboys on the league they're not calling you
just kind of cracking jokes on you. Yeah. I always have said from
a like, if you want tomake the playoffs, there's three types of
games on a schedule. If you'rea playoff contender, I think there's the
teams that you should beat, there'sthe fifty to fifty toss up games,

(23:07):
and then there's the games against teamsthat you probably shouldn't beat. And to
make the playoffs and be a goodteam winning record, you've got to win
all the games and maybe you loseone, but you got to win almost
all the games in that first categoryof games you should win. And then
you got to probably win sixty percentof the category of toss ups, and
then you got to steal one ortwo like You're not gonna win, even

(23:27):
if you're Buffalo or Baltimore. You'renot gonna win every game, right,
But can you steal one like Detroitlast year they stole one in Kansas City
and it helped them win the division. Ultimately, can you steal one or
two against really good teams? Thatto me is more important, like than

(23:48):
a you know, a decimal pointnumber about what the strength of schedule is
it. It's more about can youjust take care of business when you need
to steal a couple And I thinkfor the most part, nick Lebroncs did
that last year, the exception ofthe end of the season lost to the
Patriots. For the most part,they won the games they were supposed to
win. Maybe the Commanders early inthe year you argue is not, But
that to me is And we've talkeda lot about this in this episode,

(24:11):
about the schedule and kind of thevarious different elements of being on the road
a lot or having a late byeweek. How a run game can heal.
I mean, it all goes backto coaching, and I think that
Sean Payton helps them in a lotof areas. But in terms of winning

(24:32):
the games, you're supposed to win. That's one of the places that I
think he had his biggest impact lastyear. Is there a game on the
schedule that you say, well,look, the Broncos definitely need to win
this game to say that they havedefinitely improved. Is there a win in
a division outside the division that you'velooked at the scaled and say, look,

(24:53):
this is a game I'm not onlylooking forward to, but to show
that there's been some improvement with theso that has been built, that this
is a game that the Broncos needto win. It's a good question.
I think it's two different Like ifyou say, for this year, what's
the game that Broncos have to win, I would say, like the Panthers,

(25:15):
for example, the way that theschedule sets up, I think you've
got three out of four on theroad sandwiched around that Panthers game. Like,
you can't expect to lose to thePanthers at home when you've got back
to back road games right there againstthe Chiefs and Ravens and expect to make
a push. You just can't.You can't do it. You have to
win a game like that. Youhave to find a way to win,
you know, even though Atlanta isgood, you probably have to find a

(25:36):
way to beat Alana at home.You have to find a way to beat
the Chargers at home, for example. But that's a different question than what
you're asking, which I kind oflike is to show improvement. What's the
game? And to me, Nick, I think it's at the it's on
the road at Las Vegas. Thatto me is the game where if you
win that in ideally you'd win athome too, right, just to end

(26:00):
the streak. But yeah, theBroncs is not one on the road since
Chris Harris Junior against the Raiders,since Chris Harris Junior returned that interception for
a touchdown in twenty fifteen. It'slong. It's been almost ten years.
No, yeah, wow, theyhave not beat the Raiders on the road
since then. Well see during thattime they were the Oakland Raiders. Yeah,
they've never I don't think they've beatenthe Las Vegas Raiders at all,

(26:23):
because the Raiders have won eight straightgames. Well, it's time to change
it, right, And I thinkthat you've got to I mean, before
you can can even worry about theChiefs. In my mind, you've got
to get to the point where likethe Chargers and Raiders are clearly below you,
and if you lose every year onthe road to Vegas, that's not

(26:45):
the case, and you can't makethe argument that you're head and shoulders above
them. So I'd like to seeDenver go in beat the Raiders at their
place. It is at a toughpoint in the year, just since after
that Kansas City and Baltimore back toback, it's before the buy still well,
it's what like week eleven or twelve, something like that. I mean,
the Bronxs are evenna played a lotof football in a row and then

(27:07):
go play what's typically a physical,smash mouth game against Max Crosby. Nick
He's got like thirteen and a halfsacks in ten games against the Broncos,
He's nine to one. He's hadeight consecutive games with a sack. In
twenty twenty two he had four sacksand two games. I mean, this
man just he plays like a Hallof Famer all the time, but especially

(27:30):
against Denver. If you could gothere and stop Crosby, stop DeVante Adams
and get a win there, thatto me would show Hey, this team
is taking a step forward, notjust in terms of getting a win this
year, but like what it wouldmean moving forward, it's right up there
to me with snapping the streak againstKansas City this past year. Snab and

(27:51):
at streak was really key for theBroncos as far as showing where they can
get to. Because when you lookat the postal child of the NFL right
now, regardless of who you rootfor, it is Patrick Mahomes, Kansas
City and Andy Reid. It's notKid ourselves. So if the Broncos can
be competitive in those games, definitelywould help. But yeah, you're right,

(28:15):
you know that Panthers game, youdefinitely want to win that game for
sure. It's like there's no suchthing as an easy win in the NFL
period. But Bryce Young is goinginto his second year, he had some
troubles. Dave Canilis is their newhead coach. You're hoping that, Okay,
well, that's a game that youknow you can go in and be
competitive. But being able to getrid of that streak against the Raiders,

(28:38):
that was gonna be key. Butthe one thing I was happy about that
the Broncos are not ending this seasonwith the Raiders for the past I think
two three years. End of theseason with the game either home or away
against the Raiders. This year it'sagainst Kansas City, and look, you
only could play who's on your ross, who's on your schedule at that think

(29:00):
of the point, who's to saythat Kansas City hasn't clinched? Then yep,
and you still win. The gamestill counts. That actually would have
been The Broncos were eliminated a weekseventeen this past year, but had they
stayed alive one more week, theywould have been They would have been done
for anyway, because Kansas City restedall their starters against the Chargers, and

(29:22):
so le Broncos needed Kansas City tolose that game for the division. You
know, who knows. Kansas Cityobviously kind of had a down regular season.
But you're right, if Kansas Cityhas something clinched or they you know,
they're just locked into their seed,that could end up being beneficial.
But I do think that that Raidersgame is just if there's one that's like

(29:42):
a realistic game to win that's alsoa statement in terms of making progress,
that's a big one. Like beatingPittsburgh, Nick, it would be great
from like a just like a narrativestandpoint, right, and like fans would
love it, But does it doesit say much about like like the Broncos

(30:02):
could have could beat that Pittsburgh teamin past years. I don't think it
shows like a drastic jump. Well, I would disagree with you for this
reason, this reason only regardless ofwhat who's starting in the quarterback position.
The Steelers is a story franchise thathas history being in the playoffs in the

(30:22):
Super Bowl, and their defense,you know, did a great job of
carrying them last year. Idea theyhad quality quarterback play. Maybe they get
deeper in the playoffs. So forme, you're thinking that may be bow
Knicks's second start and he's playing againstthe Steelers of the Broncos. Somehow we're
able to win that game. Whatthat would say to me is everything we

(30:47):
thought about bo Knicks coming out,we are starting to see some of that
because you're playing well in your secondgame as an NFL starting quarterback. So
that's the pro that I would takeout of the the Broncos able to get
a win and Week two, Yeah, I just like when I think back
about the last eight nine years,there's been games where like Denver destroyed the

(31:08):
Cowboys here and I think Week twoback in twenty seventeen, they beat the
Steelers with Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown andLe'Veon Bell and all those guys here in
Denver. Like, there's been somesome games that the Broncas have won that
are big wins. I just wonder, you know, does it mean enough
in the overall trajectory the franchise,Like if you beat Pittsburgh but then you

(31:30):
lose to you get swept by theRaiders later in the year, it doesn't
mean as much to me as abreaking the streak against the Raiders and finding
a way, especially on the road, Like there's something about it, and
you would know this going to somebodyelse's place and beating them and what a
visiting locker room feels like after awin and that plane ride home it's hard
to beat that, man, youknow what it feels like. It would

(31:52):
feel like going to someone's home andnot using a coaster and putting your drink
on their wooden table. Who feellike that's uh, that's why you join
us, That's why you tune in. This is Broncos Country Tonight.