07-12-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back to it Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin Albright, Grant Smith here with
you. Five six six nine Zero'stext line, You guys want to get
in on the conversation post Rockies edition, we gotta something like I think four
full live shows next week Thursday mightbe if he with the the GB convention
and all that kind of stuff.Well, uh, we'll see how that

(00:21):
one shakes out. But certainly Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, myself, Nick
Ferguson, we'll have some in studioguests that we hadn't talked to in a
while, and that'll be a lotof fun thing. Mario, but Tansey's
gonna join us. Uh, there'srumors about a current NFL player swinging by.
We'll see, we'll see how thatshakes out. But looking forward to
a big week next week with theRockies on break for the All Star All

(00:42):
Star Break, and we'll got youcovered right here at KOA. Five six
six nine zero is the text line. One thing I wanted to get into
we didn't really get into a tonof yesterday, was it Monty Kiffin had
passed away. Kiffin, obviously famousfor helping develop the Tampa two variant of
the cumber two defense along with thewith Tony Dungee. Kiffen got his start

(01:08):
at Nebraska as a grad assistant defensivecoordinator before moving on to Arkansas in nineteen
seventy seven and probably most notable therein seventy seven for taking a chance at
hiring a grad assist to work underhim, by the name of Pete Carroll.
Carol lasted there one year and thenmoved on and you know, of

(01:29):
course had the career that he did. Kiffen continued two more seasons at Arkansas,
becoming the assistant head coach in seventynine before taking the head coaching job
at North Carolina State, his onlyhead coaching job throughout his career. He
basically was a five hundred coach atNC State. Was fired the third season,

(01:51):
I believe it was, and itwasn't bad. I mean, he
was something like six and three Ithink in his final season as coach,
but I you know, for whateverreason back in nineteen eighty two, that
went on. He began a coupleof stints after that, with Green Bay
for a season, Buffalo for twoseasons, in Minnesota for what amount of

(02:12):
to four seasons as a linebackers coachwent to the linebackers coach. All those
went to the Jets first season asa linebackers coach and came back to the
Vikings in nineteen ninety one on whathas to be the most underperforming perhaps X
versus expectations team of old time,the nineteen ninety one Minnesota Vikings for those

(02:37):
that don't know, were coach thehead coach was Jerry Burns, but the
offensive coordinator was Tom Moore, Yesthat Tom Moore. The defensive coordinator was
Matty Kiffen, and Mark Trestman wasthe quarterbacks coach there. They they had

(02:59):
herschel Walker towards the end of hiscareer at running back and he he paired
up with Terry Allen really to kindof have a one two punch there.
They had Chris Carter at receiver.They drafted Jake Reed, although he didn't
play that year he was hurt.Then their main receiving target was was Steve
Jordan, who I believe went tothe Pro Bowl that year, if I'm
not mistaken. On the offensive line, they had some some an All Pro

(03:24):
over. On the defensive side ofthe ball, they had quite a few
players that I think people remember HenryThomas went to the Pro Bowl that year.
John Randall, of course, Ilike everybody knows, he had nine
a half sacks. Chris Doleman wasthere, Greg Manowski was there as a
middle linebacker. It was I mean, they they had quite a few players

(03:53):
coaches that you would remember. Randommcdan, you know, was the All
Pro that year at left guard.The problem for that team was the quarterback
room, where they had rich Gannonand Wade Wilson starting games. Wilson went
two and three with three touchdowns toten interceptions thrown. Rich Gannon started eleven

(04:20):
games, went six and five andhad twelve touchdowns to six interceptions. Gannon
was a twenty six year old atthat point. Wade Wilson thirty two years
old. It was excuse me.It was the second season in which rich
Gannon had started multiple games, mucha vast improvement on his previous season,

(04:42):
where he had thrown only fifty twopercent of his past his sixteen touchdown sixteen
picks. So he dropped the picksand did all that, and it would
be. He would go on tostart one more season in Minnesota before moving
on to Washington for a season.Injury shoulder and then going to Kansas City
where he backed up Elvis Gerback andthen moved on to Oakland where he had
all that success with the Raiders,and you know John Gruden who ultimately would

(05:09):
retain Manti Kiffen. Mudy Kifen,interestingly, by the way, after his
nineteen ninety one season, demoted fromdefensive coordinator to linebackers coach, where he
stayed three more years before taking thedefensive next defensive coordinator job with the New
Orleans Saints in ninety five and thenthe Bucks ninety six through eight. There,
you know, with John Gruden wementioned with the rich Gannon connection.

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There there was a little bit ofcontroversy that sort of surrounded Kiffen's departure from
Tampa because Lane Kiffen had signed withTennessee and was set to be their head
coach and Tampa's you know, kindof typically tough defense kind of underperformed.

(05:56):
The Bucks lost their final four gamesthe eight season. They ended up nine
to seven, missed the playoffs.There were there was submitter turmoil where Gruden
had refused to allow Montey Kiffin toannounce his departure at Tennessee mid season allegations
were made that Kiffen refused to participatein normal coaching meetings. There was some

(06:18):
some animosity there with the way thatall that went down. Kiffen ultimately went
on to Tennessee with Lanekiffin for aseason and then the USC for three more
seasons. His last shot as adefensive coordinators with the Dallas Cowboys in twenty
thirteen, when he was ultimately demotedat the end of the year, Rod

(06:39):
Marinelli took over. He stayed onas the assistant at coach for the defense
another season and his contract was allowedto run out. Then he signed off
for Jacksonville for one season as adefensive assistant, went to Florida Atlantic to
work with Lane Kiffen from twenty seventeento twenty nineteen, and then Ole Miss
twenty twenty three. Kiffen's other sons, Chris kiff And played football at Colorado

(07:00):
State and was recently a linebacker forthe the Houston Texans. And uh,
it's you know, it's just uha sad day I think for football fans,
as one of one of the greatinnovators of the Tampa two passed away.
It was good that John Gruden gotout there today and got on with

(07:26):
Ira Kauffman, who's kind of theone of the big Tampa Bay Buccaneers insiders,
and and extolling the virtues kind ofyou know, whether that hatchet got
buried in life is certainly buried nowas Gruden jumped on and was talking about
when he got traded to Tampa andthe money and he were so excited to

(07:48):
work together. They you know,behind the scenes, been studying football for
several years. He was a greatmentor for Gruden. That worked well together.
According to Gruden, Efin's thirteen yearsin Tampa remains the longest tenured coach
in Bucks franchise history, and hepassed away, of course, yesterday at
the age of eighty four. Kiffand coach Sap, Derek Brooks, Ronnie

(08:11):
Barbara, John Lynch, all ofwhom are in the Hall of Fame.
Gruden went on to say that MANIwas the same guy every day, upbeat,
positive and prepared, phenomenal teacher andpresenter. Did the presentation and he
did the presentation. Those are twothings I always thought great coaches did,
and he did it better than anybody. God bless him and his family.

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So Monnie is also a member ofthe Tampa Bay Bucks Ring of Honor.
Another former Buccaneers coach now the Falconshead coach Raheem Morris, who's been coaching
the NFL for more than twenty yearsand obviously knows that good teams tendify themselves

(08:52):
needing to replace coaches on a regularbasis. You know on the team see
success that when I emulated the higherstaff members off the winning team. That's
what the Falcons did honestly by takingRahee Morris and offensive coordinator Zach Robinson.
And it's something that Marris wants hisnew team to be prepared for here in

(09:13):
the future. Morris has assembled astaff of a whopping twenty six coaches for
his first season in Atlanta. Thatis the third largest staff in the league,
and Morris explained size is proportional tohis expectation of the team's on field
is success, saying it's the attritionof knowing that you're going to be good.

(09:35):
It's a little bit of arrogance withit as well, right. Mars
said to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, said, we're going to lose good
coaches and I would like to beable to replace them within I would like
to be able to have guys inplace that are training and constantly develop for
those roles. When you do it, you don't come into this thing hoping
you can win. You go intothis thing knowing you can win. And

(09:56):
when you can win, you're goingto lose people that are curious about what
you're doing and how you're doing it. I want to be prepared for that.
Having to replace coaches after winning seasonobviously falls in the column of good
problems if you happen to have them, And if Morris happens to wrap up
the season in Atlanta with that issue, so be it. But that is
a lot. Twenty six coaches ona rookie coaching staff is an exorbitant amount.

(10:16):
You tend to have guys that sortof stick around or get that are
still there and get shuffled with othertitles, and that it'll balloon if you've
you've been there a while. Butto have a rookie staff with that many
coaches is a very very large amountby any standard. And Raheem Morris,

(10:37):
of course, you know, sayingthat he did that simply to prepare for
the fact that some of the coacheswere going to get poached to something I
hope that he I like Raheem Morris, I thought he was too young for
the job when he had the jobin Tampa, but there wasn't ready to
do the things he needed to do. But I hope that he has a
good feeling about all twenty six ofthose coaches and did just bring guys in

(10:58):
to bring guys in. But ifyou're doing a good job of training guys
and training like a left seat rightseat sort of replacement type scenario, then
good for you. And that's sortof thinking if if your owners willing to
pay for that, you know,I think that's a good way to plan
and you know and kind of prepfor those things. The Tennessee Titans signed

(11:20):
safety Jamal Adams the other day,and with that, a lot of people's
eyes turned back to former Broncos andcurrently unsigned safety Justin Simmons. The Broncos
released Simmons back in March and obviouslybecame one of the top safeties on the
market, Yet with just a coupleof weeks before training camp set to begin,
he has not yet signed with anybody. Simmons, who spoke to the

(11:43):
media at his charity golf event yesterday, said he's playing a long game when
it comes to finding a team,saying quote, I think ultimately we're going
to go end up where we're wantedand where we're valued. I've always said
from the jump that I want toplay for a contender, and I feel
like I can be the missing piecefor a lot of teams to get at
them over the hump. Simmons,who is thirty, has found the silver
lining of not being signed at thispoint in the calendar, saying, obviously

(12:09):
it'd be so great right now toknow where I'm going, what I can
be studying, who it can beplaying for matchups, all have all that
good stuff. But ultimately, Ithink it's challenging me in a positive way.
I think complacency can be a thingwhere you just get caught up in
a routine of doing the same thingsover and over and over finding the little
increments of growth. But for me, now everything's new. I'm having to
ask questions, take accountability, learnfrom people who have been in it before,

(12:33):
whether they're three years in ten years, in just getting some insight and
getting some wisdom. I think it'sgoing to help me grow tremendously. I
think it's helped me slow down It'shelped me be more present with my family
when I haven't had the chance dueto OTA's and ramping up for camp.
Simmons did not sound as if anagreement was eminent, saying you could sign
tomorrow, two weeks into camp,or just before the first game of the

(12:54):
season. You just never know howthese things go, he said, So
it's caused me to slow down,give up control because it's not in my
control. He also noted that he'sgot plenty left in the tank, saying,
I think what's he at a certainage a lot of people start writing
you off just motivates me. Ithink there's just a new hunger and thirst
you get when you go to anew place because you need to prove yourself
all over again. Simmons, obviouslya third round pick of the Broncos and

(13:18):
the twenty sixteen draft out of BostonCollege, appeared in one hundred eighteen games,
one hundred and eight starts, sixtyfour passes defended in thirty interceptions,
named second team All Pro four timesin his career, and I think fans
here are certainly very excited to see, you know, where he goes as
a as a fan favorite here inDenver. A little disappointed at the Broncos,

(13:41):
you know, moved on this offseason. John OU Smith bashed Buffalo,
calling it the worst place you canbe in the world. In his eighth
season, John HU Smith is onhis fourth team, the Dolphins, of
the second AFC East team the tightended to play for. It's safe to
say he will never play for oneof the other teams in the division.

(14:03):
Smith bashed Buffalo, Chicken Wings andBill's fans during an appearance on the Dive
Bar podcast, saying, quote,that's why fans be hating so much,
because they want to be down herein Miami. Smith said, via Ryan
Talbot of New York Upstate dot Com, quote you ever went to Buffalo?

(14:24):
Oh my gosh, man, Idon't know how these dudes do it.
I don't know how they did it. I don't know how they did it.
Man, Going from anywhere in thecountry and going to Buffalo, it
got to be the worst place youcan be. Smith, who's twenty eight,
signed a two year, eight pointfour million dollar deal with Miami Dolphins
this offseason. After four seasons inTennessee, two in New England, and

(14:45):
one in Atlanta, He's one inone in his career playing at Buffalo after
missing the Week eighteen game of thetwenty twenty two season while with the New
England Patriots at should fuel the rivalrya little bit. I mean to be
fair, Miami climate wise, iscertainly an interesting place to live, and

(15:05):
there are great aspects of the cityof Miami to live, and there are
also negative aspects of the city ofMiami. I have been there several times.
Nick Ferguson can probably speak on thata little bit more. That's his
stomping grounds. But to sit thereand bash the city where one of your
Indivision rivals plays tends to add alittle fuel to the fire. And these

(15:26):
types of situations I think, youknow, that's one of the things about
living in Denver. I think thecity of Denver, the climate here and
everything is great. I think Denver'sa destination city. But you know,
want to add fuel to the fireby sitting there and ranting about how horrible
it is to be in Kansas City, you know, I tend to feel
like that. Stuff like that tendsto add to the bullets and board material

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and they get people kind of sortof fired up, give them an extra
edge to come play. John Smith'sown guide. He can do what he
wants, but I'm sure that he'sobviously not endeared himself to anyone in Buffalo,
and it'll be interesting to see ifmaybe the Buffalo fans take it out
on them a little this year whenMiami comes to play in Buffalo, if
he's healthy and able to play inthat game. I you know, the

(16:14):
Dolphins and the Bills are interesting teamsthis year. The Dolphins obviously changed defensive
coordinators from mc fangio and you knowa little bit of turnover there as far
as that goes. The Bills overhaultheir defense. Both those teams kind of
up and coming as contenders, whereasthe Patriots had fallen back to one of
the worst teams in the league.And the Jets, who knows what they're
going to be with, you know, with Aaron Rodgers. So two teams

(16:36):
that both feel like they can probablywin the division there in the AFC East
this year. A lot of expectationson both of them, and it'll be
fascinating you to see which one comesout on top. You listen to Broncos
Country tonight right here on KOA.It's eight ninety four one am News Talk
Sports Welcome back to a Broncos Countrytonight, Benjamin Olibright, Grant Smith here

(16:57):
with you five six six nine zerois the text line. I wanted to
get into a little bit of thisSP's conversation. Yeah, I don't know
if you guys watch this. Inever I don't watch award shows. I've
talked about it before. I'll doward shows and I'll watch award shows.
I just like it's I don't know, it's just not my thing. And
any of the good stuff like comesout and clips on social media, you

(17:18):
know, the next couple of daysanyway, So that's the thing. I
just don't. I've never I've neverbeen into it. Whatever they are,
the Oscars, the Emmys, theSP's, the the Jimmy's, the Joe's.
I don't even know if there's areal awards. I just i've never
I've never been into that. I'venever been into getting awards and all.
I mean, if I get them, cool, you know, but i've
never. It's just never been athing for me. And I don't know,

(17:41):
maybe I'm weird. I know alot of people love it. There's
culture built up around parties, aroundthose kinds of things. All that kind
of stuff, but the SP's wereon last night, fans were furious,
is uh. The President's press conferencekind of pushed that back a little bit,
but the twenty twenty four SP's hada lot of awards and abrupt ending

(18:04):
for many, and some interesting momentsfrom some of the latter coming from hosts
Serena Williams. The tennis legend definitelyseemed to be having fun, cracking Caitlin
Clark jokes in her opening monologue singinga song dedicated to friend and rival Marisharpova,
But the spiciest moment of the nightreally came from a segment where,

(18:30):
alongside her sister Venus Williams and Abbottelementary star Quinta Brunson, the trio delivered
a sort of tongue in cheek seminaron how fans can embrace the rising world
of women's sports, and went forthe throat while doing so. At one
point, they told fans that theycould call the athletes athlete, champion or

(18:51):
even dumbass, but they said inunison, just don't use the B word.
The line was a clear call outto ESPN's own Pat McAfee for a
apologizing for calling Clark, a whitebee from Indiana. Then the group ended
it with venus urging fans to enjoywomen's sports as just sports. Accept you,

(19:11):
Harrison Butker, we don't need youat all. Like ever, that's
the pile of blowback. I guessthe Kansas City Keeys chicker, Chiefs kicker
excuse me his receiver for his controversialcommencement speech. Among those in attendance in
Los Angeles was Chiefs head coach AdyReid, who had defended Butker in the

(19:32):
aftermath. Butker responded, today andI'll get to that in a second,
is dance pees. I'll say,their usual assortment of moments designed to tug
at the heart strings and all that. Don Stale and x Saban both had
stirring speeches. Prince Harry dedicated hisPat Tillman Award to the veterans behind the
Invictus Games he founded, and Mauisurfing community leader urged for action against climate

(19:56):
change. Probably the most emotion themoment was Steve Gleason, the former NFL
safety. He was diagnosed with alsback in twenty eleven. Despite being told
he only had a few years tolive, He's still with us, you
know. In a wheelchair with hiswife and kids and had a standing ovation
as he took the sun with histook the stage with his son to accept
the Arthur Ash Courage Award, andyou could see a tear kind of streaming

(20:21):
down his cheek. The ending ofthe show was sort of the problem though,
as at about eleven thirty pm EasternTimes, some viewers reported at the
ending of the show getting abruptly cutoff, with late evening news taking over.
The telecasts started several minutes late dueto ABC's coverage of President Joe Biden's

(20:44):
news conference, and it jumped froma segment on the Malleys surfing community to
a speech about Prince Harry, bothof which were already aired, followed by
an ending montage despite the Best Teamaward still waiting to be revealed. People
on Twitter called it out, sayingthat he has been glitched out during the
final Lesbian Award, cut the PrinceHarry, and then just ended. There

(21:07):
was a full list that was putout. Best athlete for men's was Pat
Mahomes, Bed athlete, Women's wasAja Wilson. The Las Vegas Ace's Best
Team of South Carolina Women's basketball Collegeathlete Caitlyn Clark. Best college athlete men's
was Jaden Daniels one of the best. I think the best play as I

(21:29):
remember it, is Lamar Jackson catchinghis own pass in the playoffs last year,
and I thought that that was aninteresting choice as far as that goes.
Harrison Butker responded to Serena Williams sayingsports is supposed to be the great
unifier. He apparently didn't enjoy watchingher joke that he wasn't welcome in the

(21:51):
world of women's sports, and theday after she Serena Williams and Venus Williams
and Quinn Brunson roasted him. SaidI thought ms WII was a great host
and plaued her for using her platformto express her beliefs on a variety of
topics at sports are supposed to bethe greatest unifier at an event dedicated to
celebrating a diverse group of men andwomen who have accomplished great feats, she

(22:11):
used it as an opportunity to disinvitethose whom she disagrees with from supporting her
fellow athletes. Butcker was in attendanceat the event, but was not shown
on camera. After Williams made herjoke, Chief said coach Andy Reid obviously
was there and accepted the best Playeraward on behalf of Patrick Mahomes, who
was not there. Homes and outstoday that he and his wife are expecting

(22:32):
their third child. The line aboutButcker came during a segment which the sister
has given a tongue in cheek seminaron how to enjoy women's sports. The
Butcker line, however, was themost direct. Butcker's sort of become a
divisive figure. Since his commencement addresshad been Edictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
Bucker spoke on multiple subjects, includinghis opposition to abortion, this opposition

(22:56):
to in vitrol fertilization, his oppositionto be LGBTQ pride, a false claim
about the Anti Semitism Awareness Acts recentlypassed to the US House, and his
belief that the women had been toldquote diabolical lies about pursuing professional careers rather
than becoming homemakers. Last subject specificallyreceived criticism of mockery from Maning. The

(23:18):
Chiefs distance themselves from the statement,but their players and coaches came out and
supported him as a player, sayinghe had the right to say what he
wanted to say. So anyway,I don't know. Hopefully that'll that Harrison
Butker thing will die off for now, will end up seeing seeing where that
goes from here five six six nineZeros text line Jaden Daniels, who won

(23:42):
Best Male Sports College Athletes from theSPS. He's hoping to win bigger.
He's hoping to win and shift theculture with the Washington Commanders. The rookie
quarterback just finished his first NFL offseason program. He's preparing for his initial
training camp as the command and newfranchise quarterback. But before Daniels and the

(24:03):
Commanders began training camp, the quarterbackattended the SB Awards last night, and
Daniels talked to USA Today's Sports fora minute, saying has been a great
off season and has been a greatoff season for Daniels since winning the Heisman
Trophy. He selected number two overall, became the franchise's highest quarterback pick since
the club chose RG three number twooverall in twenty twelve. Daniels, who's

(24:26):
LSU product, is expected to bethe Commander's starting quarterback when the team opens
the season Week one at the TampaBay Buccaneers quarterback Sam Howell started all seventeen
games for Washington last year. TheCommander's traded Howel to the Seahawks in March,
clearing the way for Daniels to becomethe teams to starter. But before
the regular season begins, Daniels andCommander's rookies report to training camp on July

(24:49):
eighteenth, and Daniels said, it'sa daties look forward to competing and having
fun. Go out there play football. It's a sport I love so much.
Commander's backup quarterback Marcus Mariota and linebackerBobby Wagner helping him get acclimated of
the NFL. Danill say he's reallyjust learning everything the ins and outs.
You're guaranteed seventeen games, so beingable to experience how to take care of

(25:10):
your body mentally, physically, andspiritually. Stuff like that. USA Today
also asked data as about as goalsin year one, and he said he
wants to help the Commanders win theNFC East, a division they haven't won
since twenty twenty, but to winas many games as possible, have fun
by doing it, try to shiftthe culture. Go out there, have
fun and compete. Try to helpmy team win the division as the main
goal. And you know, obviouslyour good friend coach Pagano out there with

(25:33):
the with the Washington Commanders as well, So we'll we'll be following that,
wishing them well. As long asthey're not well, they won't be playing
the Broncos this year. But aslong as they're not playing the Broncos,
think will be a big thing.Frank Schwab put out his NFL offseason power
rankings and has the Pittsburgh Steelers withRussell Wilson at number fifteen. The Steelers

(26:00):
seemed like they were finished, andperhaps Mike Tomlin's tenure as a Steelers head
coach finally would have been too.Pittsburgh lost consecutive home games in weeks thirteen
and fourteen to the Patriots and Cardinals, a pair of four and thirteen teams
last year. Then they had alistless thirty to thirteen loss to the Indianapolis
Colts. At that point they wereseven to seven. Their odds to make
the playoffs were less than ten percentin a lot of models, less than

(26:22):
five percent in others, and theywere turning to Mason Rudolph at quarterback.
But the lesson what happened next isTomlin's streak of non losing seasons simply won't
die. The Steelers rally to winthree in a row made the playoffs.
It's remarkable and also repeated a milliontimes that Tomlin has been Steelers coach for
seventeen years and still hasn't had alosing season. He did get a three

(26:45):
year contract extension this offseason, andwhile that was a fun rally, it's
worth wondering if there's another level forthe Steelers, or barely making the playoffs
just keeps them on the merry goround of slightly above average every season.
Tomlin, who has a surprising amountof critics, and they'll quickly point out
that Pittsburgh hasn't won a playoff gamesince the end of the twenty sixteen season.

(27:08):
The Steelers lost thirty one to seventeento the Bills in a wildcard playoff
game last season, and it wasobvious that there's a sizable gap between them
and the AFC's best teams. Steelersdidn't really seem like a playoff worthy team,
and a fortunate nine to two recordin one score games did most of
the heavy lifting last year to getthem to the postseason. Being in the

(27:30):
middle means there's not easy solutions aquarterback. They tried Kenny Pickett, who
was the twentieth overall draft pick inthe twenty twenty two class, and he's
gone now to the Eagles. Theirsolutions this offseason were somewhat creative, signing
Russell Wilson to a one year,one point two million dollar deal, as
the Broncos pick up the other thirtyseven point eight million of his salary,

(27:52):
and Pittsburgh also traded a sixth roundpick, which could become a fourth moth
playtime for justin fields, but it'sdifficult to buy either. Quarterback is a
permanent solution. Steelers fans want morethan sneaking in the playoffs and getting blown
out as they've done to the pastthree season. It is hard to see
a higher ceiling than that sort ofWith the current roster, the Steelers will

(28:15):
look familiar this season, even withthe change at quarterback. The defense,
led by TJ. Watt make AFitzpatrick, should be excellent again. The
offense a bit short on receivers aftertrading Deontay Johnson. We'll run it a
lot with hopefully getting a decent quarterbackplay from Russell Wilson and maybe justin Fields.
If that doesn't work out, theSteelers will try to find ways to

(28:38):
win close games. Be in theplayoff hunt in December. Either bad,
it's not exciting for their fan baseanymore. Tomlin, for his part,
has some quirky catchphrases. The mainone that is endured is the standard as
the standard. After multiple seasons ofbeing nowhere near Super Bowl contention and a
lot of long term questions at quarterbacks, Steelers have to be wondering what's the

(29:00):
standard is anymore. Frank Schwab hasput out his list and gave their off
season grade in a minus, sayingit's okay to praise the Steelers moves at
quarterback and still question if they founda long term ansen. Russell Wilson cost
practically nothing. You have a specialteam's players across the NFL making more than
one point two million a year.Wilson had mostly struggled with the Broncos,

(29:23):
but wasn't terrible last season. Hedoesn't have nine Pro Bowls to his name.
Fields was a low cost gamble.The Steelers traded the sixth rounder in
twenty twenty five that could conditionally becomea fourth for fields, a former first
round pick that has flashed a littlebit of running ability, but his passing
ability has left a lot to beDisaster be desired to excuse me. Steelers
traded Deontay Johnson to the Panthers forquarnerback Dante Jackson, leaving a hole on

(29:48):
the offense that really wasn't adequately filled. Kenny Pickett reportedly had a tantrum over
the Russell Wilson addition, the Steelerstraded him and a fourth round pick to
the Eagles for a third round pickin twenty twenty five, already pair of
twenty twenty five sevens. The bigaddition for the Steelers in free agency was
linebacker Patrick Queen, who will probablyhelp a defense that's really coming off a

(30:10):
good season. The Steelers draft wasuniversally praised. A drafted offensive tackle Troy
Foultano twentieth overall, followed that upwith center Zach Frasier. Receive a Romant
Wilson linebacker Peyton Wilson, the latteror a third round pick out of NC
State who was especially interesting because he'sa big time talent who fell due to
durability concerns. Steelers got the highestconsensus great for their draft class, which

(30:32):
is probably silly considered. The Bearsdrafted both Caleb Willams and Romadoonze, but
the Steelers had a good draft inwhich they remade their offensive line and got
some some other intriguing pieces. Themain thing here, though, is the
quarterbacks. When the Steelers signed Wilsonfor a minimum contract, they couldn't have
known the offseason would lead them totrading a late pick for Fields. They
sent Picket, they sent off Picketand made the move for Fields. Wilson

(30:56):
turns thirty six in November. Itis on just a one year deal.
Fields, who's twenty five, presentsa much better option for the future with
his youth. But throughout the summerthere certainly wasn't any positive buzz for Fields
from Steelers OTAs, and it appearedRussell Wilson has maintained his hold on the
starting job. Both quarterbacks are flawed. Wilson was abysmal in twenty twenty two,

(31:19):
as Broncos fans know, and significantlybetter in twenty three. There's a
reason the broadcost took on eighty fivemillion dead cap just to move on from
him. Fields is electric as arunner, and has had some great highlights
there, but he lacks consistent accuracy. It holds a ball too long,
and if there were more faith indeveloping him as a passer, the Bears
would have gotten more when they tradedhim or had anyone else interested. Shouldn't

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be a surprise if Field starts atsome point, just because maybe they want
to see what the potential is ifthey're out of range of anything, But
there is no realistic hope that RussellWilson is the Steelers quarterback four years from
now. Fields it could possibly bethat if he earned that opportunity. You
look at the bethamgm wind total forthe Steelers this year, it's listed at

(32:06):
seven point five, so al Tomlinhas to do to avoid his first losing
season has hit the over eight.You know, the odds are for the
over inflated minus won seventy five,meaning yet to bet one hundred and seventy
five dollars just to win one hundred. But the Steelers have one of the
projected toughest schedules in the NFL thisseason, and the reason that they are

(32:28):
plus seven hundred to win a toughAFC north be interesting to see what russ
is able to do there, andobviously, the Steelers come to town week
two for the Denver Broncos home opener. College football betting has moved Dylan Gabriel
to Heisman co favorite, alongside Georgiaquarterback Carson Beck and ahead of Texas quarterback

(32:53):
Quinn Ewers. Gabriel's odds dropped thisweek because betters have suddenly become intrigued with
his Heisman candidacy. Former Oklahoma andUCF quarterback has gotten the most bets and
twice as much money to win theHeisman of any other player over the last
seven days. Gabriel transferred to Oregonover the offseason after spending two seasons at
Oklahoma. Threw for thirty touchdowns andjust six picks in twenty twenty three,

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completed seventy nearly seventy percent of hispasses season before, twenty five touchdowns and
sixty three percent of his passes.Twenty twenty four will be his sixth season
in college football. He red shirtedtwenty twenty one after he suffering a season
ending shoulder injury against Louisville early inthe season at UCF. Mikey Keen,
now at Fresno State, became theKnights starting quarterback in Gabriel's absence, so

(33:38):
the Hawaii native entered the transfer portalat the end of the season. For
his career, Dylan Gabriel as onehundred and twenty five touchdowns to twenty six
interceptions across fifty games over five seasons. With fourteen, eight hundred and sixty
five passing yards. It believe ithas a chance to set the NCAA record
for career passing yards, as he'staken over at Oregon offense that was one
of the best in the country aseason ago while being helmed by Broncos new

(34:00):
quarterback Bo Nix, who finished thirdin the Heisman voting after throwing forty five
hundred and eight yards and setting theCAA single season completion percentage record at seventy
seven point four percent. Gabriel currentlyranks eighth among all quarterbacks and should move
up to fourth very early this seasonfrom a Houston quarterback case. Keenum is
currently the career leader in passing yardswith nineteen thousand, two hundred and seventeen.

(34:23):
Keenum has nobly twelve hundred more thancurrent Hawaii coach Timmy Chang, who
is in second place. Appreciate youguys being along for the ride with us.
You are listening to Broncos country tonightright here on Kawa say fifty am
ninety four, one of m NewsTalk Sports