06-05-24 Steve Atwater with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well to it. Broncos Country tonight, got myself pits but all bright,

(00:03):
Nick Ferguson, Steve Atwater grants,but we don have to rename this to
Jets Country that I give the amountof Jets alumni we have in the room.
Right, Okay, I'm getting clearedup by Steve at Water. Got
one just right now, man.Yes, yes, it was a couple
of years after you left. Iswhen I got there. Okay, Yes,
but he handed the Jets legacy down. No, no, no he

(00:27):
didn't know. He didn't. Youguys gonna murder me. But I know
you got a big show night obviously, the whole favorite Steve Atwater. We
got Nick Ferguson here, Grant themustache man Smith back there behind the glass
man. He's rocking on. He'sgot a colorad Rocky's head on. He's
having he's having some fun. Wegot Ryan Michael's gonna join this, uh
in the next hour of the NFLsix Pack a little bit later. It

(00:48):
feels good to be live and havea have a good show, have a
big, long, full show heretonight. Yeah, it's it's great.
But you know, before we dothat, Ben, let's kind of let
the fans, uh, go behindthe curtain. And because there's a lot
of conversations that take place when we'reoff air, that really between the show
is the best part. And wheneverthey put cameras in here, that's gonna

(01:10):
get way worse because nobody will eversay anything. Yes. But but Steve
was saying how Alfred got him cutand got him traded to trade. It
was correct, yeah he said soso so Steve like, no, so
it was Alfred's fault that the greatSteve Atwater, the Hall of Fame Steve

(01:34):
Atwater was cut by the No.No, I take I take responsibility for
if I do. Give him abunch of crap about it. But that
was a big hole to cover themman I tackle No, no, no,
Steve don't. That was a wideguy. So here's what we're talking
about. Obviously, Steve and Alfredplayed together and everyone knows that. So

(01:57):
there is like a defensive call whereyou get your you know, defensive outside
linebacker to take a stunt inside runinside. It's called a pirate get washed
about yards And from what outfit described, I was like, how dare you?
And Alphad was like, yeah,I got inside that tackle, but
he got washed all the way downwhere you had maybe a two yard hold

(02:21):
turn into a twenty yard home andI don't are you not making that tackle?
You're not well people could, butcome on, Steve, let's let's
be let's be realistic. When ithappened like that, no hard, especially
if the if the running back ispressing the side away from you, and

(02:42):
then any kind of joke to himreminds me, Yes, think about that
means and he's coming around the cornerand good, no good, I mean
I had the dating and Thomas good. You about to get worked. You

(03:06):
gotta get work. You're making theESBN top. I'm not stop. I'm
gonna stop a jet brow the gas, world class athlete with the with some
moves. Dude, I haven't seendefenses run that too much. You gotta
call that pirate off No no,no, no, no, no,
no reason. There's a reason.There's a reason pirates died out in like

(03:29):
the seventeen there. You know that. It tells you how difficult it is
to play defense in the league.And as we progress to this point,
the league has changed rules to benefitthe offense, to make it more difficult
for us. And this is whyit's so important for defensive players to be

(03:52):
on the same page. And that'swhy we always say, even when we're
all wrong, we're all right.It's because everyone's playing the same defense.
Because there were I don't know aboutyou, see, there were times where
the call will come in like they'relining up, they're going to no Hoddle
and we're standing up with our handsup. Look line like, hey,
give us a call. We haveto call it on our own. Yeah,
we're ready for that. But youhad but you had two or three

(04:13):
plays in the pocket in case thathappened, right, in case you had
a communications you guys had like acall like a work like gold. We're
in a gold since we can't getthe call, we're running whatever you called
it. Well, you had toget that together and practice the game,
you guys. But sometimes hey,in the game, we had to get
it together. Hey man, lookthis car will come in in time,
running right X y Z get right. Okay, So that's I'm sing like

(04:34):
you know, but you you haveyou had a contingency plan in case you
can get the calling right, Yeah, you did. They get they would
get upset and we did that.But it's like you get the line and
we don't get the call and werenot. We can't, we don't even
call it, and we we're waitingon you. We got nothing. We're
a livably reasonably placed road cones sittingout here. And then you're really gonna
look back. Now, I knowyou do it a couple of times,

(04:57):
they'll get they'll get that. Igo back to when Vic Fangier was the
head coach defensive coordinator here. Thereare a couple of games where guys had
to do that. They had towe all, we all saw on the
offense that happened with Nate Hackett andthat led to the you know, the
bringing it. But yeah, onthe defensive side of the figure, I
can I can recall seeing the handsif you're looking for if you're looking for

(05:24):
it, Like if you know whatyou're looking for and you're watching you,
I don't want to call you becauseyou have one side playing, man the
other side playing, and then nowthere's exposed to play. Everybody's looking around,
you know, and the coach isblaming the play. Hey why didn't
you what was the call? Youknow? What's it's always bad when you
watch any game where you look atcollege or the NFL level, when you

(05:46):
see two defensive backs in the endzone having a conversation, both guys keep
your hands up. Came on theopposite by ten second. Keep doing this
because you're trying to figure out,Okay, you just gave up a toutout
explosive or not. So now you'rehaving that conversation as you're walking back to

(06:08):
the sideline. When you watch filmon that Tuesday, who's gonna get to
blame Nick Ferguson's whiteboard. I'm overhere right at the time, Stamp.
I heard of a guy that whenhe got beat, he would point to
his teammates say, man, that'smy fault. There's a point someone else.

(06:38):
Teammates all think you say your responsibilityat the best of both wones.
And that was the toughest part aboutplaying the safety position because everyone only sees
the last guy. That the lastguy in the frame. They don't see
if you play a cover two,the corner didn't get the jams, No,
they just release and then the corneris looking like, oh, he's
he's moving his hands like I thoughtyou had away from the corner. If

(07:01):
he gets outside, he's jeous.If he gets out the mess outside.
I've been the situations where we letbe totally honest, I hate playing Cover
two. And the reason I hatereally yes, well, yes, the
reason I hate playing Cover two ortwo man under all of it, Tampa
two just too high zone. Yes, because of the corners. Because the

(07:24):
idea when you play cover two,you have to read the receiver inside of
you right right, so you're lookinginside at number two. If he goes
vertical, now you gotta those dudesknow his adult because they're looking for the
interception. They want to see back. They don't want to make the big
boy tackle, so they're trying tocheat, so trying to bake the quarterback

(07:47):
to throw it in the flat.Well, speaking of Jets, that's probably
part of the reason that Darrell Reavesdid not succeed in that defense. Do
you remember what he left and wentto Tampa for and it was an ab
He was the best man cover guyin the league. He goes down to
try to play tam but two andit was an abject disaster. Yeah.
Yeah, some guys just they aren't. They aren't in the cove too.
They they man and man guys well, and it's it's the flat of guys

(08:07):
like that. They ain't want tohave anything to do his own. Yeah,
I don't know why. I'm like, bro, zon't you get a
little bit of the break now?No, here's why, because think about
it this way. When you wereplaying Man and Man, Herman Evers used
to call it cat coverage. Yougot that cat, you got that.
Yeah. When you started to playzone, you were forced to see more
of the feeling. Some guys like, oh no, no, no,
no, I just want to focuson the guy in my third. That's

(08:30):
it. I think some of thebetter and I hate to say it this
way because everybody's a premium athlete NFL, but some of the better athletic guys
love that that that that man,because I'm like, I'm just going out
athlete. You know why aren't yourcoverage? You get your technique, you
got But at that point it becomesit does become a mono. A mono.
This receiver is not gonna out athleteme kind of moment versus if you're
in zoone, I mean, you'reright, you get there's a computational process

(08:50):
there. I gotta ride into theseam and then I gotta get you know,
pick back. Who's coming back?Are they flooding their zones, you
know, but this is how youget those guys who are only fixated with
what they do and playing corn Yousay, okay, well they want to.
This team runs a lot of bunchformation, especially inside the red zone
are a certain part of the field. So what we're gonna do. We're
gonna get in those clusters now.We're gonna force those man corners to think

(09:11):
zone and some of them trust me. Man See, I don't know if
you've you've been through it, butonce you start getting those clusters formations and
guys have to communicate, they can'tdo it. Some guys can't do it.
That's why you see guys running freeunderneath, and I hate to see
guys trying to defend that in theirline up at the same level. Are
you gonna run in each other likethe keifs thone cobs man. Yeah,

(09:35):
they haven't. Haven't you this bynow? But they don't talk. I
go back remember the Super Bowl whenKansas City played, uh, the Philadelphia
Eagles. Yes, and the Eaglesgot defense got burnt twice, yep,
twice, because all it was isthey they did a little movement with motion,
and when gods see motion, theypanic and they waited until after halftime,

(09:58):
by the way, so that thewas not gonna be a halftime adjustments
to the play. Ye, itwas a smart buyer bend and ad reed,
and then they went up because Idid the entriest full disclosure. I
think most listeners to show know.I know John Gannon, I've listened to
you know his U was the DCat the time. He's like, yeah,
they waited after halftime. We didn'tcommunicate out there. They ran a
little half orbit motion went back theother direction. We had nothing for it.
And on all you do, likeSteve said, if you know that

(10:20):
a team is going to do it, or you start to see it.
For me, the first thing startswith if you're the slot defender and number
two is on the ball and numberone is off the ball, there's a
chance god saw a god might comein motion, so someone's got to get
on the guy on the point.And once he comes in motion, then
the guy who's coming in motion,you back off. But guys just don't

(10:41):
talk, and it drives me insanewhen I watch games at the high school
of the collegiate level, the prolevel. When guys don't talk, they
make it so easy for the offense. Yeah, yeah, and the offense
take advantage of it. And thenit's one thing I've said, time is
time again. Whenever somebody on offensegoes, somebody on defense is confused,

(11:03):
I'm telling you, are you notwrong as one person? Not a hundred
percent show about what he's supposed todo? Yes, And why do you
think now when you look at mostof the offensive schemes, they do it
with the rams a lot. Uh. Cincinnati does it. Yes, they
do it. And Andy Reid dismasterful at doing He could teach a master

(11:26):
class. And it's to confuse thedefense before the play even saw because you
know me think when the offense goesin motion, they're trying to determine man
is ol. No, they're tryingto jack you up. Sometimes you're trying
to get motion. Bill Belichick andand and Josh McDaniels. I know they're
hated names, but they used toThey used to do that a little bit.
They put the receiver in motion justso you could get the extra block.
He's trying to take two guys outof the playoff the edge, so

(11:46):
they're trying to get an extra blockerout of right on a receiver emotion,
So there have been tactics to use. It's not just like Worrior Madden.
Okay, I'm just checking matters.Sometimes you're doing something with that motion and
so that's it. Really does.I think you're right. I think some
body on defense probably is confused alarge portion of the time. Man,
Bro, I'm telling you we usedto be in meetings. I'm talking about
the date for the game. No, not Bro. What happens when he

(12:09):
goes uh particular and uh the calculationis like no, man, you're supposed
to talk through those things. Andyou know, planning for Mike Shenahan,
he did a great job, Iwould have to say, of making sure
we went through situation of football.But there were some certain things in in

(12:33):
game situations that you can't practice everysingle thing because the team is going to
make adjustments. But like you said, there has to be a go to
call if you get caught into bondhas to well, you have to know
what your rules are to you know, like a situational is. If you
understand the rules of what you're supposedto do, that makes it so much
easier. What's the Army saying wasslow a smooth smooth as fast. I
don't know if you guys had thesame thing, but you practice knowing the

(12:56):
rules and then once you know therules, look and then you go.
You know, you build off thatwith speed, and if you're confident in
your ability to handle that out andand do that from reflex, you got
to be better. But if you'rethinking about it, everybody processes that stuff
differently, you know what I'm saying. I mean you probably process it one
way. I process one way.Everybody has a different way. You know,
when the when the office is breakingthe huddle, what are you looking

(13:18):
at right? I'm the first offlooking at the sideline and see was coming
in and see what adjustments are beingmade, And I'm thinking trying to find
out what side of tight end islining up to to see because I got
to go to the opposite of thetight end. You know, what's their
personnel? Are they more likely torun or pass out of this personnel so
they see you, yeah, yeah, running out and you gotta run down

(13:41):
that mental checklist in a matter ofseconds. Oh yeah. But the more
you do it, the faster youget story. But this is why for
me, this is why I wouldlike to see the Broncos kind of utilize
no huddle because it creates a lotof confusion, especially on the opening drive
because defense hasn't even settled in andyou still got the altitude. And I

(14:03):
can tell you this personally, onceyou get tired, you don't get untired,
and the decision making matrix plummets.It just sounds like there's a famous
quote that I always remember from VinceLombardi and it says, fatigue makes cowards
of all. And once again,once you're tired and you're huffing and puffing,

(14:26):
I don't care what they call it. Didn't in your head, you
didn't get it. But I meanthat's that's the part of the off season.
Responsibilities have been a profession and you'renot talked about that though You've been
trying to gas people with the openingseries and do that kind of So I
don't think this coach is going todo that, just by the way he
shuffles personnel in and out. ButI'd love to see somebody do it.
Yeah, that would be interesting.You know, even though both Nix is

(14:48):
a young quarterback. That would helphim stay on schedule because now you've scripted
the first twenty plays and you knowfrom excuse me a muscle memory. Stay,
yes, it is hit my backfoot. The ball is gone.
Now I gotta speed out. Nowhere's what we're gonna do. We're gonna
run that same formation. This theguy that the number two spot runs the

(15:09):
speed out. But here comes theslant. Yeah right, So Mike Shanhand
in his offense, they called thatthe slant flats were dragons, right,
So so you give it like simplecode names. But that allow him to
build confidence. But still it keepsthe defense kind of, you know,
off balance. That's the thing though, I mean, he knows what he's
doing, but he don't know whatthe defense is doing because they sending somebody

(15:30):
off the corner. That's gonna that'sa whole different story. Well even if
they send corner bledd. I meanonce again, it's like as a wide
receiver, you gotta communicate that well, and it's the same thing for your
offense. Your quarterbacks gotta go throughthat checklist. Yes, you gotta know
the ru This is a coverage rule. I'm like, okay, where's the
mic? All right, what arewe doing? What is the coverage shell
they're showing here? Is this thetrappers? Is what they're they're showing what
do we you know? And soyou gotta run down that checklist yourself.

(15:52):
You gotta you gotta go through theprocess to be like okay, uh,
they're showing me free release on theoutside, they're showing me, you know
what. Everything you gotta you gottacalculate all that. And Peyton Manning was
kind of the master of calculating allthat. But this is how you control
this. Ros Smith and I hada conversation about this. The way you
control it far as you say,you get a corner of nickel blitz not
only going to come from a closedside. So if you worried about the

(16:12):
nickel blitz, take that slot receiverand split them out a lot more so.
Now the quarterback you see it rightaway. The receiver has to help
the quarterback out and give some kindof see it just like Reggie Wayne used
to do with with with Peyton Manningand Hindy right or Damarius used to do
here and change the route. Yeah, now now you know the guy's coming

(16:33):
quick. Now you may have aseam route at the slot receiver. Now
you just run turn around last yournumber. Oh that's five yards. That's
where it used to be So whyis it so difficult now made it's so
difficult that I don't know. Imean, but you were going back to
the no huddle and scripting and allthat kind of stuff. Yeah, you
can set stuff up to build offof too it if that defense is gassed,
you know, you see your baitthem. Can you run slat flat

(16:56):
two or three times? You knowin the set of drive and then I
put im in there and something andsomeone's gonna jump and I've got you know,
and I'm doing and I'm doing sobut's he good defenders think about that
like they're running this Oh they comeeverybody with the same thing. No,
no, no, I'm not.I'm not going so that's what I do.
I'm coming back with the same thing, and I'm reading you tell you

(17:18):
when you cheat it, then themberyou know, I got a hand signal,
all right, you know I'm givingthem, know That's what I'm saying.
Though, if you run it oncesame time, I'm not jumping.
Well that's but that's the point.I'm running slat flat to get you to
jump it. That's a point.I'm gonna drop the first one though.
Okay, Well I'm gonna get youthere all right, since how he gets
this is how you get yes.This this is the chess mats. This

(17:41):
is how you get aggressive dbs.You most of that slot receiver and you
run insert right the next time heblocks, and then the next time you
run insert again, he keeps going. That's how you get him. Set
him up, shut him up,knock hi down. Yeah. Man.
Well as a defensive back, Ilearned this later on in my career because
earlier in my career, you toread. Try to read the the uncovered.

(18:03):
That's the f bro, we'll getyou. I see at the angle
that we're at right, we're we'rewe're like right there with them. We
can't tell if they're driving off theline of scrimmers that they standing up pass
blocking and uh so I started lookingat the at the receivers, and the
receivers they'll tell you they yes,well now the good ones. It makes

(18:27):
it makes it more difficult. Butif somebody on the team thats not running
full speed of their routes and youget to get to read from that always
uh for me, it's footwork,Like I could look at the feet a
lot of times before the snap.I can look at your feet and you
if you're feet of the receiver,if you're not paying attention, you're giving
yourself away. I'll talk about thaton the other side. Broncos Country to
night. Welcome back to it,Broncos Country tonight. A begement, all

(18:51):
right, Nick Ferston, Hall ofFamer, Steve Atwater here in studio,
guys, Uh, some sad news. Larry Allen, hall of Famer,
pass away this week. Both ofyou guys overlapped his career, and I
have to ask what it was liketo see that freak train coming downhill at
you. Well, I don't seefor those at home right now, you
can't see the eyes Nick Ferguson,but I have never seen their eyes wider

(19:12):
than they are right now. Look, man, I had the unprofessional pleasure
running into Larry Allen and you know, listening to coach Peyton talk about how
Larry was so strong and how heused to, you know, shot put
guy. I ended up being oneof those shot put guys. I don't

(19:33):
know if he's out there, butit was a Thanksgiving game. We were
in Dallas and Drew Blessed was aquarterback. Bill Parcells was the head coach,
and we have been working on thisblitz all all week long, and
Larry Coy was our defensive coordinator.Now, the design of the blitz was
just like for me to open thegap for Al Wilson, And I said,

(19:56):
well, this doesn't make sense.For one, Al is the much
low out your body than I am. And you guys showed me the highlights
of Larry Allen shot putting the otherguys. So you want me to clear
the hole for him. And I'mrunning from depth trying to get a sneak
attack. But he's so massive ofa man. You're not You're not due.

(20:18):
When I got there, he waswaiting because I was running. I
was like, this is not gonnaend well for me, and I'm gonna
end up on his highlight. Thissounds like Hawkey trying to take on the
Hulk. Oh my god, man. You know we were always saying that
a guy got, you know,killing out o the club. Remember how

(20:40):
at the house, Remember how JazzyJason used to get thrown out of the
house. That's exactly how I look. I went back to the sideline until
Larry corder, you cannot call thisagain. You cannot call this again because
this massive I can't get through.I mean, how gets home. I
get all the glory, but Imean I'm getting club, yes man,

(21:03):
and and he hit me with oneof those called like a chicken wing.
You know, he just it's it'slike he didn't even put too much energy
in it. He just like,get on out of here, look buddy,
sorry. As a visual like this, he was just like get on
the On the one hand, I'mupset because I wish social media had existed
at that point. I need Ineed the loop of Nick Fergus getting tossed
up the club first the ball.I don't know if you ever seen the

(21:26):
video, but Larry Allen used tobitch like four hundred pounds and the bar
used to bench best seven hundred dude. And I'm like, dude, if
he gets seven hundreds of video,the has been like a noodle and this
dude's putting seven hundred up like he'sin change. Yeah about they ran down
the linebacker from hyeah, dude outhere like Ben Watson, he like Larry

(21:53):
Allen was so he was a massiveman, but he had great feet.
He had great feet. I meanwhen you talk about his ability to combo
block, like block the three techniqueand then climb to get to the second
level. Talk about wipe out boys, He's wiping everything out. He was.
It was a special athlete. Itwas somebody that big, shouldn't be

(22:17):
that fast. No, he saidthat about he said about one of the
guy in person my life, andthat was Jason Peters down at Arkansas,
Jason Peters and Sean Andrews. SeanAndrews at the time was the right tackle.
Peters was the was the Peters wasthe right tackle. Sean Anders was,
you know, the guard. Andthey would put them out there to
tackle a tight end and it wasjust unfair. It was completely unfair.

(22:37):
And once again going back to whatSean Payton said earlier about you know what
was taking place with Larry Allen andhis time with Bill Parcells. I don't
know if you guys did it inNew York, but Bill was notorious for
doing a couple of things. Andhe had that three hundred yard shuttle that
you had to pass. Now,I saw Bill Parcells cut a guy because

(23:00):
not passing. Now technically the guypassed because he dope. Yeah, but
but it builds mine that ship.You should have had to die. But
also the other part was if youdidn't pass the conditioning test. It's like
they put you on the opposite sideof the field, like something respect for
you too, yes, well yeah, yes, yeah, because it's like,

(23:22):
how could you not have prepared yourself? And it's like Larry Allen Jason
Peters in the same physical profiles,both those guys about three hundred and twenty
five pounds four eight nine forties atthat at that size, there's twenty four
eight. Now, that's unfair.Of that's that's unbelievable. Okay, imagine
Larry Allen pulling into today's games,today's rules. That's what I'm saying.
When you can't knife with him myfront hall man bodies on the field,

(23:45):
man, dead body. Yeah,I'm picturing that. I'm picture I'm picturing
this happening here at Denver, right. Like, think about a couple of
years ago, you had a littleBryce Callahan out there. Bryce colln is
my size, guys like I outway Bryce calla man. That would have
been unfair. Was Callahan out there, would get would get stone walled into
the future, Yes, like hewould be waking up today. Yes,

(24:07):
you know who could Okay, speakingof that, I thought about Larry Allen
and I thought about Quinn Miners.Could Quinn Mioners be the broadcos version of
Larry Allen? And what I meanby that just heavy hand? Yeah yeah,
putt him hands on people like likelike literally because you can put hands
on people at that guard position andno one can follow assault chargers. Well,

(24:30):
Quinn, by the way, andthen to tie right into this,
Quinn Miner's at three hundred and twentypounds runs a four. Hey man,
that's rolling. That's rolling offensive line. That's that's a belly bouncing dude.
And Queen is bro I've loved hisgame from day one. Well, okay,
so I knew Quinn's assistant O linecoach back in college tipped me off

(24:52):
to him like two years before hecame to the pros. So when the
Broncos drafted, I'm jumping up anddown. I'm on the broadcast with Dave
and Ryan and all them, Ryanthose who, because I you know,
I talked to about it. DavidAllen look at me like, who Wisconsin
white one? How do you evenknow who he is? Bro? I
said on the broadcast. In twoyears, this guy's gonna have somebody's job.
He will be starting on this Broncosone. The one thing about Quinn
Miners that I love is his aggressiveness, but his ability to finish place to

(25:18):
the whistle. Yes, he's aold school throw back dasty. I'm gonna
play all the way through the throughthe whistle. He's like that. Okay,
So I'm gonna talks the name outhere that I know football fans will
know, and I know you wouldknow John running. Yeah, that's that
was finishing. Yeah, yeah,I know so many defensive guys who hated
him. But but that's what youknow what guys the Jews from theators man

(25:42):
bro, because if you're around thepow, well, he's the whistle's bone.
He's he's trying to eat you low. He's doing everything clean him up.
We always had to, Hey,don't relast because the tackle was made
by somebody else. You still don'tgot to keep your head on the swift

(26:03):
and try to get it in fromthe tackle because otherwise lay Yeah. You
know, just think about if theBroncos offensive line embraced that mentality like being
powers and Quinn minors all man.And see, that's the thing I've been
talking about for a while because andI don't know, we gotta traffic a
second. But that'st thing I've beentalking about for a while because it does
feel like that the offensive line haslost this identity from the Alex Gibbs years.
We haven't had a nasty offensive linea long time. We got we

(26:26):
got beef. Now we got beefwe didn't used to have. No,
we know we need no, wedon't just need beef from a body mass
standpoint, No, but we neednasty. You need that. You need
nasty and Quinn. Quinn's the guywho's got that attitude. I think Power's
got a little bit of that inhim. But you know, Gary's got
something over in Garrett's developed that Garrettdidn't used to have that, But Garrett
has started to see the offensive lineneed that. Kens with Lamar and Drake

(26:48):
beef they they talking about Yeah,but Jay Cole Bounce, I'm just saying,
I figure people to talk about mansince we got to no defensive backsm
Here, somebody I've noticed out thereat Ota, PJ. Lock. I've
been a big fan, uh sincewe've got him, and I mean he's
far from from a perfect player,but sometimes you just noticefect well, I

(27:10):
mean fair, you know what Imean. What I'm saying, He's not
Steve That not perfect, No,not at all perfect to me. You
see PJ out there, and Ialways hesitate to invoke a name with somebody
because you're your own player, andI don't want to keep expectations on anybody.
But there are some guys you justnotice have a nose for the football.
Dyren Matthew had a nose for thePj's got that nose for the football.

(27:34):
You at tax he does. Heattacks, he causes fumbles, he
gets the interceptions. He's around theball. He's uh not hesitant to get
involved in the run. Uh.He's a guy that's you know, He's
shown these flashes over the years.He's had a few injuries unfortunately, but
hopefully he can stay healthy and reallyshow his true potential. I think he's

(27:56):
going to be a really great playerfor us this year. See. I
give the Broncos secondary some credit,even though they're young group and they still
have to come together. But thisis the by product of a team.
When you don't play well the yearbefore, a lot of players are gonna
get playing time. And I'm thinkingbecause PJ had some playing time last year

(28:18):
when Kareem was out that builds uphis confidence and also instill confidence in the
coaching staff that he can go outthere and make plays. And this is
why when you look at the financialpart of you know, Justin Simmons deal,
this is what the team was comfortablewith PJ. Lott, So this
is going to be an opportunity forhim to go out there and play well.
But also the thing is is becausewhen you look at the secondary and

(28:41):
look at the safeties, there's sometalent in that group. Now, like
Steve said, you know, healthis always somewhat of a concern, but
there's enough guys who have enough experienceand year two, year three in vance
Joseph defense that you should see alot of competition come training camp, because
that's what you want to do.You want to make sure the first game

(29:02):
of the season you have the bestof the best on the field. And
they'll be able to get that byease guys pushing the other guy ahead of
him. Yeah, the Broncos losta lot of experience when you lost twenty
three seasons of experience by moving onfrom Kareem and Justin. That's a lot
of experience experience young. But butbut what you get in return is you
get energy from a different standpoint.You may not have as much experience,

(29:26):
but if you've been at these thesepractices as there's a little different energy,
the energy is just oozed and outof the poors. It's just the fact
that can they use that energy collectivelyand put it together and turn into a
good problem. Who do you thinkthe leaders are in that in that uh
secondary room? I don't know.I mean, obviously is in it.

(29:48):
I kind of yeah, I'm gonnasay Jakuan mcmiller. I think I think
is gonna be a star this year. There's a lot of questions who's going
to be the other corner out ofthe out of that travel, But it's
something that I have noticed to practiceand you know, maybe you know,
maybe he gets in the rotation becauseBrandon Jones and PJ gonna be the stars,
and I think we all know thatthey want Cayden if he's healthy,

(30:08):
to you know, to figure inthat is the force safety. Jail Skinner
is a big dude. Yeah,when he's out on the field, you're
like, wait, that's a safety. Yeah, he's a big guy.
He's physical, Uh, he's heruns work really well. Now I'm anxious
to see if he's gonna make someplays in this preseason. I saw what

(30:30):
he did in college. He wasexceptional in college and thing, and uh,
he just has to prove that hecan bring that same level of play
to the to the NFL. Andthen hey, divine key, I love
his game. Yeah, I don'tknow if you guys watched him. It's
a little bit, but you know, I'm talking about when he got into
the games and I saw some ofsome of the practice, been his physicality,

(30:52):
his his nose for getting to theball when when their run plays.
He's got great hustle. He's aguy that I think we'll make this team
and possibly contribute quite a bit.I'd love to see it. I mean,
anybody that we get that is ableto do that is you know,
and be a contributor and do thatkind of stuff. But I love to

(31:12):
see it. He's been around theleague a little bit. I'm start off
with Kansas City, he shine priorto u DFA, and then he went
to Atlanta for a minute before itcame here. Here's the great thing that
I love about this story with PJ. Lock and you can look at some
of the other Broncos safeties and saythat they're walking in those same shoes because
I myself walked in the same shoesthat PJ is walking into. And when

(31:33):
you have been labeled as just aspecial teams player and then team, the
team gives you the confidence and theyshow you by either paying you or putting
you in that starting lineup, youwant to make sure that you make you
show that they made the right decision. So you're going to empty the tank
ptice and games because you want tomake sure that, hey, thank you
for putting me in this position,thank you for believing in me. So

(31:56):
I'm hoping that PJ takes that nextstep and becomes a household names this question.
There's a chance with him being thestarting safety and we're assuming that what's
going to happen, would he stillbe starting on all the special teams,
probably on some of them, becausethat's it's the gift of the curse.
You played well on special teams andyou showed you could play the safety position.

(32:20):
You can't get rid of that production. I think it'll be some but
his safe special teams numbers droped drasticallylast year. He was eighty four,
eighty three, seventy six percent ofspecial teams this first year is only twenty
eight percent last year as he wentfrom ten percent of defensive snaps sixty nine
percent. So you know it'll bounceout the other way, Steve. We
appreciate it as always ah way