Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to it Broncos Country tonight. But with all Brian Dick, Ferguson,
Grant Smith, Well, I'm from Broncos Park Power by Common
Spirit down here at Valley five six six nine Zeros
text line. You guys want to get involved the conference conversation.
We've got some tickets to give away today or at
least get you qualified for to give away a little
bit earlier than we did yesterday. So you want to
(00:22):
be listening to here real soon we're gonna we're gonna
get you right to that to get qualified for season
tickets to the to the Denver Broncos.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're gonna have a pack show tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three of the game
in Milwaukee will join us here at the bottom of
the hour. Ryan Michael gonna join us as well the
next hour in Philip Dukes from on three Duke's the
Scoop on Twitter did the the work on the Coach
Prime thing. Want to get a chance to talk to
him a little bit about, you know, his context.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
To sort of that that situation.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the interview. Mice myself. I
had a chance to talk to Coach Prime earlier this
week and talk about a couple of things that are
going on in Boulder. And when you look at college football,
you say, okay, well where do you look at coach
(01:17):
Prime in this program? And obviously, based on what we
saw last year, there was a lot of I guess
I don't want to say hoopla. I don't believe that's
the proper word. Uh, maybe the proper word is there
was a lot of excitement. There was a lot of tension,
a lot of excitement for the program, and what comes
with that is a lot of scrutiny as well. And
(01:40):
I'll say this, all this scrutiny wasn't as fair as
it need to be as far as certain individuals who
cover this sport, the game of football, for the Denver
Broncos and both the CEU buffs.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I mean, I'm my own person.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I know you're your own person, and you know you've
had trolls come after you on on Twitter and you're
no stranger through Sometimes I invite it, sometimes you invite it,
but some of it I don't believe is fair. But
being able to hear if someone else's voice outside of Denver,
I mean, that'd be great for our audience.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I mean, anytime you do something a little bit differently,
there's gonna be scrutiny on that, whether it's fair or not.
And you know, Prime is doing something a little bit different.
He's inviting the circus.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
You know he did.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He sort of invited it, and I'm okay with that.
I mean, it's not the first time somebody has done that.
Pete Carroll did it a USC back in the you know,
the late nineties, early two thousands. I mean that it
was the same thing Pete Carroll did to create that
culture at USC.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It was, you know, it's the same thing.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It's just weird how one person got away with it,
you know, with almost no scrutiny. Is that a product
of the social media age? Is that a product of
other things?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, it is a by product of several things, some
of which those EI did the meetre or the public
don't really want to acknowledge because there is a pecking order.
And when you in the media, you can choose and
we've seen it here, we've seen it nationally. You can
uplift someone or you can try to tear them down.
(03:11):
And what we've seen is tearing someone down seems to
be more popular than anything else. Now we know that
coach Prime is a different coach. He's a coach, nonetheless,
but he's the same type of coach as he was
the type of player. It is flash and dash. He's
gonna put it in your face. And here's the situation
for him. He's not on the field. It was like
(03:34):
Wayne Gretzky or Michael George's being GMS or coaches. Your
drive is entirely different than the drive of your players.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I'll go a step further with that in John Elway
drafting Pats to Lynch, Yes, he drafted a big, tall, strong,
arm mobile quarterback and you know, didn't assumed that he
had the championship mentality.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
When he didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
He didn't read the fine print right, He just saw
the big stature, the arm go like, okay, well.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
He's going to be maybe quintessential.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I guess heir apparent to me. The same thing was
said of Jake Cutler when I played with him. But
it's the understanding of knowing is though your players may
not have that same drive and that pursuit of excellence
like you have. But that has brought a lot of
phrase for CU. But it's actually brought a lot of
like tsunami type criticism.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, that certainly has brought an avalanche of attention to
see you one way or the other, and they are
a It's funny because when Paul Finebaub got on ESPN
and was like, they're not relevant, I'm like, well, wait
a minute, you wouldn't talking about him if they're not relevant.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That's not the right word to say there.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
If you think that they're not going to make the playoffs, Okay, fine,
I respect that opinion if that's the opinion you want
to have, But to say that CU is not relevant,
there may not be a more relevant university in the
country right now.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
There's a lot of jealousy for a lot of things.
And I'm not just talking about Coach Prime, but when
there is an overwhelming this mindset of criticism like well
why is it they are getting this type of coverage
and we are not, and our record is better than
(05:12):
CEU buffs, it goes back to the person who's in charge.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The one thing that Coach Prime.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Has a PhD in, and that's the highest degree that
you can get, rights is a PhD. Right, right, right,
So he has a PhD in self promotion. He knows
he can sell water to a well. I mean, that's
how good he is.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And that's obstacles to Lady White Gloves.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Absolutely, because that's what he did with the CU program.
Because no one was talking about the program even though
they went four and eight.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
There's still a topic of conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, and that's what that's what I was getting at
this part of the national zeitgeist. I mean, like the
CU is talked about every week, whether they're winning or not,
they're talked about because of what the attention that he got,
which if you're a university like Colorado who has been
largely a rel event for two decades, that's what you need.
You don't have the you don't have the money to
compete with the you know, the Alabamas and the Texas
(06:07):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
You don't have the pedigree anymore to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I mean they did at one time, but they don't
anymore to be able to compete with for recruits with
those guys.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So bring the circus, bringing you attention.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Hey, we're having fun over here and we're building some
It's a little different than than playing over here.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
For Gabbles twenty at Clemson well, you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
When you use the term circus as it retains to
a coach or organization, most people look at.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Them in front of it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, I'm I can using circus stead applying it to
the media. You're ringing the media circus.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Right, and others look at it, you know, from a
catastrophic standpoint because they don't like clowns.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And you know, going through the circus, do you have
a fear of clouds?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
No, okay, that's I'm curious because some people are like
really actually afraid of clouds.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You know what, I didn't realize how many people were
actually afraid of clouds.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I did not either think this is I wan't get
too sidetracked.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He but this is like a real thing that because
I always joked about it, you know, but I to realize,
because a real thing, that people are genuinely afraid of clowns.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Well, let me tell you, honest, there are some clown
people in the media. I was afraid. I'm not sure
I can come to practice, that's exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
But when you talk about bringing the circus, that's what
you want, because now it makes you a topic of conversation,
even if your team isn't that good by the standard
of everyone else. They're talking about you, and I think
college football last year they were not ready for that
type of wave of validation from fans all around the
(07:37):
United States because I told Coach Prime when I spoke
to him, I said, man, look, keep doing you, keep
that spirit up, keep putting up those Bible versus. Because
I know people in Chicago, I know people in Atlanta.
I know people in Florida who did not go to
see you, who all of a sudden they have more
(07:58):
CEU gear. I believe I see you, glads. But that's
the impact that he's making. But not everyone is happy
with that.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Anytime you do something that's outside of the norm or
different from the way it's being done, you're gonna come
under scrutiny.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You are, And so that's I mean, I get that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
At the same time, it does feel like at times
that it's piling on. It was year one of a
team that barely won any games, like, you know, give
it a chance to breathe. Now, I'm not saying they're
going to make the playoffs this year. I'm not saying
they're gonna go under whatever that Vegas total is, like
four games, whatever it is.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
I think it's something like that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, I like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm gonna give it a chance to breathe and then
I'll criticize it afterwards if it needs to be criticized
it you know, if it didn't work, okay, why didn't
it work? If it did work, then hey, well you
know what, what were all you people talking about that
we're criticizing it?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So okay, when you look at it, both coach Sean
Payton and coach Prime are in the same predicament if
you think about it right. Both didn't have great seasons
last year. They're not projected to have great seasons this year.
But if you talk to people in either building, there
is a belief that they're going to be competitive.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
That's kind of the concept and that's all you want.
And if you I guess, overshoot, what the projections are
to me?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You ahead of schedule? Yeah, yeah, ahead of schedule?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I think the two of them have a very interesting
quarterback conundrum with coach Prime. Shadora is about to leave
for the NFL after this season, and that's that's going
to be the end of that. So he's got to
figure the quarterback position out where the Broncos have acquired
ostensibly their quarterback of the future and are trying to
make sure that he's the guy. So a little bit
of going in the opposite direction in terms of that problem.
(09:37):
But you know, overall, I think they are programs in
similar boats as it were, you know, all the bad
season with bad seasons there before and hoping that there's
an optimism that we can do better this year.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, yeah, because there are some unique parallels, because there
are on either side some boxes that you can check
and say, well, we'll secute here, and then some others
you say, well, well maybe not. So when you look
at the Broncos offensive line, a significant amount of money
has been paid to that offensive line, and you look
at what the CU Buff's offensive line was last year.
I mean, to me, it was it was just awful.
(10:11):
Let's just call it what it is. But we're gonna
look at both of those teams this season and see
how well the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Play will be.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
But it's all predicated on the guys blocking up front.
That's why there's more similarities so both of these organizations
than differences.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, and I agree, I think that you know that
there's a sense of optimism with both and hopefully they
can take off.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
By the way CSU up the road.
Speaker 5 (10:35):
There's a little.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Optimism there too, and kind of get overshadowed by all
the attention that CEU gets.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But they got they got a nice quarterback receiver combo there.
They might make some noise to you.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I wonder what Ryan Evers, who's driving home right now,
is thinking about us.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I shouldn't have mentioned that. I should have waited until
I know.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, we would go on as roll that you
mentioned horrible issue.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I can never see a guy word about him.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Stay beloved.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Razorbacks, we don't talk about it.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
You call them horrible, that's what it called. They're just terrible. Ryan,
take that on the drive home.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, guys, you guys want to get qualified to win
some season tickets to the Denver Broncos this year.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Three h three H three.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Or three seven three eighty five eighty five color five
Right now, three oh three someone three eighty five eighty five.
We'll get you qualified in the drawing, uh to win
those season tickets to the Denver Broncos this year. On
the text line, UH, I hope see you fans can
respect coach Prime more.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Because we're lucky he's here.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I remember seeing you spending seven hundred and fifty million
dollars on facility upgrades just to win one game that year,
remember that, Yes, from the the seven to oh even guys,
My wife and I were in Italy in June. When
people found out we were from Boulder, nine of ten
people Italians would say, you have coach Prime.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's how big an impact he's having on the square.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Wait wait, wait oven it Italy.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yes, Italians are from.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
I looked at I was just like, it's just but
it's just the fact of you never really know how
a team or a person's popularity grows until you go
to a different.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Country, right, and then you're here too.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Used to get a bunch of Italian people that are
asking about coach ProAb.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I guess who does have a footprint over there?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Brian asks, there are also people who want to see
Dion fall flat on his face.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, there's a number of people want to see that,
And it's just just like anything else in life, right,
It's like people love to build you up because it's
the fall.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Why they want to see you fall.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Because they want to say you are just like me,
You're no different than me.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
You put your pants on one leg at a time,
and you do.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I put moost of them on and then trying to hollower.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
These are pants.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I'll just ask some people when they say that with
a one leg at a time, like I put both
legs on at the same time, you don't do that
like do it like dead pan? Incredulous And they're really
like they're trying worked the mechanics of that out in
their head.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
If you're doing that like that, yeah, your pants are
definitely too tight. But this is kind of the situation
that a lot of individuals who have had some form
of success in their life, they run into someone is
hating on you in some particular way. And when you
are a public figure, there there's several ways that they
(13:22):
can attack you. They can attack you verbally on the
mic or posting something on Twitter, or writing something in.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
A blog or a newspaper exactly. And I'd like to say,
maybe you welcomed it all.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Myself exactly. But this is this is kind of part
for the course. This is something that happens, and when
you step into this role where coach Prime finds himself,
I mean, everyone was okay with him being at Jackson State, right,
but the moment he moved to Boulder, it changed the landscape.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
And if you've ever been to Boulder and you watch
the game.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Last season, whether the Boss won or not, you can
tell right away the culture had changed. And on the sideline, right,
I mean, I mean people doctor j was on the sideline,
master p the Litu tang clients. Yes, okay, like you
mentioned earlier, like when you look at around the landscape
(14:21):
of college football, Steves Arkysian, uh, even Nick Saban himself,
they wouldn't have it. They were not having that type
of impact in college football or the pearents are on
the sidelines, right, and the only person that's close to that,
like you said, is Pete Carroll. Yeah, they're something more
jealous of that.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, he was the guy first brought you know, rappers
and DJs to practice and you know, and all that
kind of made the game spectacle, right. Will Ferrell was
he's a USC super fan anyway, because that's right, went
but I mean, like that's you know that that's sort
of the thing, getting the celebrity culture involved in it,
you know, so people pay attention because at the time
when Pete Carroll took over us. He was kind of
a down program they've been and Paul Hackett had been
(15:01):
the Nathaniel Hackett's father had been the head coach there,
and he had to revitalize the program.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But this is one way for me that you not
only revitalize Boulder in the CU Buffs program, but just
college football in general.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Right, because every.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Hero needs a villain, and right now, see you and
coach Prime, they've become the villains of college football, even
though their record doesn't indicate that they should, right, which
is kind of a paradox within itself.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, I think that. I mean, you look at CU schedule,
it's a tough schedule.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I sort of get why the oddsmakers are a little
bit lower on them, although I think the number they
put out is absurdly low. It is the most bet
ticket out there at BETEMGM on the over and the under,
like they're the haters and the law. You know, Yeah,
there's the most bet ticket in college football out there
is the season went totally runner for Colado.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
So for you, you stay in the game either way.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Well I didn't met both of them.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean I lose on the day, but you know,
I I mean, I think it's I mean, I bet
the over, so I do think they'll win more than
four games. I'm not sure that they're a playoff team,
but I'd love to see it. I'd love for them
to be, you know, in the mix. I'd love for
that attention to be brought here to Colorado. So we'll
see that shakes out.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
We got.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Some great guests tonight.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I already told you Ryan Michael, of course, is going
to be in his spot breaking down the Broncos quarterbacks
in the first preseason game. Philip Dukes, which spurred this conversation,
will join us at Duke's The Scoop on Twitter, and
he did a video on YouTube about the whole situation
with the reporters here locally, and for me, it was
(16:48):
it was fascinating that, you know, he kind of got
into some stuff, and I want to see this from
a national perspective. Doug Russell from ninety seven three of
the game in Milwaukee. He's a studio host for the
Packers radio network. He's basically the Ryan Edwards of the
Green Bay Packers. Uh, we'll be joining us here in
just a few minutes at the at the bottom of
the hour, get a chance to preview sort of these
practices that are happening tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Get a chance to see what.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
What the Packers, uh, what the sentiment is for them
where they're at as a as a football team. The
Packers very young on offense last year, and through the
first six or seven games of the season, I was
kind of like, I don't know, Jordan Love, I don't know,
you know, I don't know about this guy.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I don't know if he's did or not. Now you
put all you can't.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
He put on a tear there at the end of
the season, certainly got paid off that off that tear
that he did. We'll be able to see if he's uh,
now that people get a full year of tape on
him in an offseason to game play, we'll see how
he adjusts the defensive coordinators throwing different things at him.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
But uh, he quitted himself well down the stretch last year.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, you did. And and the one thing that he
did for me, it should should do for so many
different people.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Because when a quarterback is taken in the first round,
obviously the fan base is like, Okay, well, this is
our quarterback.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Of the future. But in the case of the Green
Bay Packers.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Aaron Rodgers was already there and with Jordan Love following
him in, people not seeing a lot of I guess,
maturity and growth. And that's because he was playing behind
Aaron Rodgers. But now he became the guy when you
look at what Matt la Floyd decided to do, because
I felt as though early on the offense seemed like
(18:17):
it was catered to Aaron Rodgers. And then Lafour said,
you know what that was, Rogers, we have Jordan Love.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We're gonna do it. George Love, We're gonna do And.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I felt as though that was the smartest thing to do,
even though some coordinators they don't do that because they're
though stubborn. But Love came out and he showed everyone
what he was capable of doing. And he continued that
into the playoffs. Like watching them play the Dallas Cowboys
the way they did. To me, that said a lot
about Jorde Love and where he is. And if you
put plays in place for any quarterback to be successful,
(18:50):
this is the love of production that you could possibly receive.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Can't Wait Trading Campower by the Sporty Pickle Bar and
Grill and Chevron Colorado Human Energy Company, committed to our
local communities and safely delivering affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three, the game in
Milwaukee is gonna join us. He's a studio host for
the Packers Radio Network. Listen to Broncos Country to night
right here on KAWA.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Four.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Man rushed love in the pocket, bounces around, throws a
ball deep down the field.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That ball is intercepted, intercepted by PJ. Lock, And this
one is going to end with the Broncos winning a
whole game.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Welcome back to it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Albrighten, Nick Ferguson,
Grant Smith here with you. Just go to the KWA
Cobbs here.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
A hotline and bring on.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three, The game there
in Milwaukee's studio host for the Packers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Doug, How you doing this evening?
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I'm doing all right. Thanks for having me on, guys, ah.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We got joint practices coming up here. What is this
Green Bay Packers team? A team that offensively maybe started
a little slow last year, really turned it on in
the second half of the season.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Is that continuity going.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
To continue to build this year or is this a
team that maybe takes a step backward before it takes
another step forward.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, that's a billion dollar question, right. I mean, I
think everybody was down some hopes that it is the
former as opposed to the latter. But you know what
we saw in the second half of last season, and
you guys saw Jordan Love and the Packers' offense when
it was still very young, very raw, and you guys,
rightfully Bragus came away with a big win and that
(20:29):
was I think one of those learning experiences that Jordan
Love and not only Jordan Love, but his entire offense,
his entire group of wide receivers last year in their
first and second year now in their second and third year.
So they're still pretty young, but that was one of
those lumps that they just had to take. It was
one of those growing teams that they just had to
go through in the second half of the season. Is
I think everybody who observes the NFL saw I think
(20:51):
specifically after the Steelers game, there was no better player
in the NFL last year the second half of the
season than Jordan Love. Obviously Lamar had already wrapped up
the MVP pretty early in the season last season, But
you know, Jordan Love really showed why the Packers invested
fifty five million dollars a year into him a couple
(21:12):
of weeks ago when I signed to his four year extension.
So there's a belief system in Green Bay that they've
got their guy not only at quarterback, but also in
the wide receivers room as well. They don't necessarily need
a number one mine receiver. Maybe three guys can combine
and be what DeVante Adams was at the tail end
of Aaron Rodgers' career with the Packers. So you bring
(21:37):
in Josh Jacobs on offense, there's a belief system that
they got a lot, you know, certainly younger at the
feature back position. Maybe he offers a few things that
Aaron Jones didn't, including durability. They bring in Xavier McKinney
on defense to help solidify a position of need for
them for the last decade or so, and expectations in
Green Bay or sky high for this team. They don't
(21:59):
want to take a step back, and they don't feel
like they're going to take a step back.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Well, doug. With that being said, every single year we
see five teams.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Make the playoffs when five other teams didn't make it,
and the Packers seemed to be one of those particular teams.
Do you worry that, Okay, did they hit their selling
far too early? And could they have a season where
now it's disappointing based on what they did.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Last year with Jordan Love, if they have a season
that doesn't result in a playoff earth this year, it
will be very disappointing. So if that answers your question,
I mean, I don't think that they're going to just
based on everything that I've seen from Jordan Love and
the way that he goes about his business. He did
learn from Aaron Rodgers for three years, and Aaron Rodgers
(22:47):
for all of his proclivities and weirdness that we all
saw and have seen the last several years, still a
darnkon quarterback, and Jordan Love picked up on a lot
of habits, of positive habits that Aaron taught him the
last three years of Aaron's tenure with the Packers, and
we saw some of that really kind of take shape
(23:07):
everybody mature at the same time last year. So yeah,
maybe It's a long way of saying, if they don't
make the playoffs, it's going to be a major, major disappointment. Now,
everybody's got to stay healthy. That's caveat everyone does. They
don't make the playoffs, it's going to be a major disappointment.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
For the Packers.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, you would think so.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
At the top of the division there it feels pretty
top have you mean you've got Detroit and the Packers,
and then of course you know the down trace, You've
got the Bears who are rebuilding. They've got some optimism
with Kayleb Williams and the Vikings, who I think are
to be charitable. I don't think they're going to be good,
but we'll see how that shakes out the Packers. On
the everyone was talking the offense, but the other side
of the ball, the defensive side of the balls.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Would interest me.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
This has been something that from my timeline, have seen
fans catching about for quite some time. What defensive improvements
have they made and how does that defense factor in
this year?
Speaker 5 (23:54):
The biggest improvement I think they made was with Jeff Hafley,
then air defensive coordinator, former head coach and boss in
college Jill Berry. I think is a good coach, and
I don't know that he was a great coach for
these players. That having been said, there was a change
in the coordinator's room, and now you've got someone who
is more aggressive. You've got someone who's schematically seems like
(24:17):
he's going to be someone who the players really respond to.
They have in the early going. Granted they haven't played
a game yet. They played one preseason game, so you know,
success will kind of bear that out as to whether
or not, you know, the players are still going to
be on board with Jeff Hafley from a player personnel standpoint.
That brought in the guy that I just mentioned, Xavier McKinney.
He's the new player that I think everybody's kind of
(24:40):
coalescing around a little bit. You've got a very young
defensive secondary at the safety position. Mckenney's entering his fifth
season after four really good years with the Giants, but
Anthony Johnson juniors and steventh round pick in his second year,
he's the only guy that really might start that has
any experience. Because you've got a couple of rookies in
Javon Bullard and Devin Williams, and Williams by the Way
has really shown out so far, not only in training camp,
(25:03):
but also in the mini camps as well, perform really
well last week in the Packers preseason opener against the Browns.
So it's very young at the safety position, but Viger
McKinney is a guy that they think is going to
really solidify a position of need for them that they
really haven't had, you know, really just Thick Collins and
he had to retire because of a freak injury a
decade ago, more than a decade ago. So he's the
(25:25):
one guy that they're hoping solidifies that because you know,
Rashon Garry, they want him in this new scheme to
be able to get home and get to the quarterback,
not just pressure the quarterback he was really neutralized in
the second half of last season. But also their second
round pick from a year ago, Lucas van Ness. He's
had a really good camp so far and he looks
(25:46):
like he's primed to make a big leap from year
one to year two as well. So defensively, yeah, it's
been a bugaboo for them. We've all thought that the
player personnel didn't match the output, and perhaps a lot
of that was schematic now the scheme has changed, so
the group is going to be in the putting, and
you know, only time is going to tell whether or
not they're going to be able to live up to
(26:06):
the expectations.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
But one thing I love about watching the Packers last
season is that you saw a lot of young guys
actually step up to the plate and play like they
were three four year veterans. And one guy that definitely
stood out for me from a tight end standpoint was
Luke Musgrave and just kind of let our audience know
(26:28):
that when you watch him in practice and watching him
do certain things, what makes this young tight end? You
know where most people will look at him and say,
you know, this is a guy that has the potential
to be mentioned amongst the greats in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
What is it about him?
Speaker 5 (26:46):
One thing that isn't talked enough about, I think is
his relationship with George Kittle. To be honest with you,
I mean, those two have known each other for a
long time, and for Luke, he kind of looks at
Kittle as a big brother. And we've all seen the
success that Georg Kittle has had. Musgrave is a big body.
He's a guy who has really soft hands, he's a
guy who can get down field. He's got perceptive speed.
(27:08):
They haven't featured him as much as they did a
year ago, and that's one of the questions that we
continue to ask Matt before throughout the course of the
offseason and throughout the course of training camp, is you
know when is Luke going to get back at the speed?
And you know because you've got this weapon. And I
know that there's been some injuries at the tight end position,
and maybe that's part of it, because when you throw
Tucker Craft in there as well, you've got a really
(27:28):
good one too, tight end punch that a lot of
teams don't have. But both of those players are entering
their second year. So I think offensively, if you're looking
for a year one to year two jump up, it
might be with Musgrave because he's a guy that showed
last year that you know, he had the touchdown catch
obviously against the Cowboys and playoffs where he was just
all alone down the right sideline because he's got that elusiveness,
(27:50):
he's got rare speed for a tight end at his size,
and he just needs to maybe get a little bit
stronger in the rate room. But I think he can
really be a special player if he continues to develop.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Much like the Broncos, there is a quarterback battle for
the Packers, although it's a little bit further down the
Jemp chart after Jordan Love, Michael Pratt and Seawan Clifford.
I've been hearing good things about Seawn Clifford thus far.
How how both those guys looked? And do you who
do you expect to get the job?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I Love?
Speaker 5 (28:15):
We're talking about the backup quarterback. This is great. Uh,
we don't normally talk about the backups. Shawn Clifford is
in a second season. He played at Penn State, so
he's played in big time games. Though Michael Pratt had
some big time games at Tulane as well. He beat
Now I'm they say this with the coveyat he didn't
beat Caleb Williams. That's been something that we've heard a lot.
(28:37):
He beat Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl a few
years ago. Now Tulane defeated a terrible defense that Alex
Grinch was co ordinating for Lincoln Riley at the time.
There was some other, uh you know, things going on
in that game as well. But he has played in
some big time games he played, he played in and won,
like I said, one of those New Year six games.
(28:58):
So I think that Pratt has the better arm than Clifford.
You got the better size than Clifford. But Clifford has
one more year in Matt with Flora's system. So you're
going to see both of them coming up on Sunday
night against Denver, and I think that you're going to
see Sean Clifford play most of the I would say
probably into the third quarter of then Pratt will kind
of clean things up. But you know, if I had
(29:20):
to handicap it right now, Clifford has the upper light,
but only because he's been here for one extra year.
But Pratt has some tangibles that that Clifford may not have, including,
like I said, a bigger, better arm, and maybe just
a little bit better size.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Sort of the situation we have here where a quarterback
and Jared stead Of have been here for a year
and had a little bit of a leg up early
on bo Nixon. Since past him in the quarterback competition,
everybody presumes he'll be the starter going on.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Right right right, looking about QB two in the season, because.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
We're in trouble, well, fair to be fair, Doug.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
We really appreciate you take us some time out to
join us today and we look forward to having some
practice and see these two teams compete on Sunday night.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Looking forward to it. Benjamin, thanks so much for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Absolute take care Doug Russell. He's the Packers radio sports
desk guy. He's just like the Ryant Edwards the Packers.
But we got to go out and check traffic, Davi
O Bryant. Welcome back to it Broncos Country tonight, Benjamin,
ol Briden, Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Here with you.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Are you doing the Inc's the stadium hosting again?
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Hey, you know what, It's a game on Sunday and
I can't wait to see the Broncos get out there.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Fair enough, I will, I will be there. I always
do my first thing I do. I always do a lap.
I don't know why it's weird. I think I'm not
even a superstitious person, but I always do that. I
always say, go down to the field, do a lap
real quick, and then I go up to the booth
and you know, and do the thing or whatever you
have any pregame rituals.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Yeah, I do, man.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Like as a player or as a host. Which one
because it's different.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Well, let's go both.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Let's start with the player. Let's see what do you do?
Speaker 4 (30:52):
So as a player, I would have to get to
the game almost four hours early. And to understand this
is that there is an early bus and then there's
an early early bus.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Usually that bus is filled with the equipment guys who
go there want to make sure everything's set up. I
usually go with those guys because I want to make
sure that I'm there on site and I'm not late
for anything.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Because even now, Ben.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I still have nightmares about being late because I'm thinking
someone is gonna find me.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
And I'm like, I haven't played.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
In almost twelve years, and no, who's gonna find me.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
But I have to get to the games early. I
like you, I do.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
A couple of laps around the field because my whole
idea is that when you play the game of football,
whether it's here or somewhere else, you got to get exhausted.
And you always hear run and talk about that second win.
I try to stress my body out early second one
get to the second wations. Yes, so that's that's one
of those things that I do. What do you do
(31:54):
now and now I still get to the game, or
you care to being late?
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Yes, being late?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I think it's it's interesting because one of the things
you know in the Army you're on time, to be
on time is to be late. You gotta be earlier
on that stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yes, but I think it taught me exactly how to
thread the needle on that it was the exact opposite
of its intended thing, where I'm like, okay, I know
that I have one minute and thirty seconds.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Left here where I can thread the needles. I mean, look,
I don't believe in cutting it that close. Because if
you're coming into a Broncos game was home. Home games
and preseason games are are a little different because you
think about the traffic, uh, the security to get inside
and then to get up to where we need to
get get up to. It's kind of a hassle. But
(32:41):
if I am there, I'm comfortable, there are no nerves.
I don't have to worry about being late. And besides,
if I am there's no one finding me. But it's
just kind of the idea and it's almost like man
Parcel is still in my head. I can't I've got
a time spot.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
So I have to go from the Heartbeiller where we
broadcast the stuff down to this. I have to be
on time because I got a time spot. So like
for me, I've got this down to a science. I
know exactly what time I have to get, what traffic
light to turn on, colfax and all that kind of stuff.
I yeah, it's just fascinating to me, but yeah, I
always do it. I just take the first lap. I
take the lap around the field and then I'm like, okay,
I'm ready now and go up to the For me, when.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
I first come in, I got to go to visit
all the security spots to say hello to all the
security guys before I go upstairs.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And what's that.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
I do the high dapt and then come back downstairs
and hit the field and just kind of, you know,
walk around. You see coaches on either side, and sometimes
you see I had the coaches, players or people in
the media covering the opposing team that you know, you
may chop it up with them for a bit. And
then I got to go back upstairs and get my
head right for what I have to do on the field.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, when we.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Come back, Ryan Michael's gonna join us.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Tell us what he saw during the Broncos pre season opener,
what we can expect against the Packers.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
This the Broncos Country tonight, right here on ka
Welcome to it Broncos Country tonight. But with all Brian Dick, Ferguson,
Grant Smith, Well, I'm from Broncos Park Power by Common
Spirit down here at Valley five six six nine Zeros
text line. You guys want to get involved the conference conversation.
We've got some tickets to give away today or at
least get you qualified for to give away a little
bit earlier than we did yesterday. So you want to
(00:22):
be listening to here real soon we're gonna we're gonna
get you right to that to get qualified for season
tickets to the to the Denver Broncos.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're gonna have a pack show tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three of the game
in Milwaukee will join us here at the bottom of
the hour. Ryan Michael gonna join us as well the
next hour in Philip Dukes from on three Duke's the
Scoop on Twitter did the the work on the Coach
Prime thing. Want to get a chance to talk to
him a little bit about, you know, his context.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
To sort of that that situation.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the interview. Mice myself. I
had a chance to talk to Coach Prime earlier this
week and talk about a couple of things that are
going on in Boulder. And when you look at college football,
you say, okay, well where do you look at coach
(01:17):
Prime in this program? And obviously, based on what we
saw last year, there was a lot of I guess
I don't want to say hoopla. I don't believe that's
the proper word. Uh, maybe the proper word is there
was a lot of excitement. There was a lot of tension,
a lot of excitement for the program, and what comes
with that is a lot of scrutiny as well. And
(01:40):
I'll say this, all this scrutiny wasn't as fair as
it need to be as far as certain individuals who
cover this sport, the game of football, for the Denver
Broncos and both the CEU buffs.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I mean, I'm my own person.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I know you're your own person, and you know you've
had trolls come after you on on Twitter and you're
no stranger through Sometimes I invite it, sometimes you invite it,
but some of it I don't believe is fair. But
being able to hear if someone else's voice outside of Denver,
I mean, that'd be great for our audience.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I mean, anytime you do something a little bit differently,
there's gonna be scrutiny on that, whether it's fair or not.
And you know, Prime is doing something a little bit different.
He's inviting the circus.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
You know he did.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He sort of invited it, and I'm okay with that.
I mean, it's not the first time somebody has done that.
Pete Carroll did it a USC back in the you know,
the late nineties, early two thousands. I mean that it
was the same thing Pete Carroll did to create that
culture at USC.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It was, you know, it's the same thing.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It's just weird how one person got away with it,
you know, with almost no scrutiny. Is that a product
of the social media age? Is that a product of
other things?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, it is a by product of several things, some
of which those EI did the meetre or the public
don't really want to acknowledge because there is a pecking order.
And when you in the media, you can choose and
we've seen it here, we've seen it nationally. You can
uplift someone or you can try to tear them down.
(03:11):
And what we've seen is tearing someone down seems to
be more popular than anything else. Now we know that
coach Prime is a different coach. He's a coach, nonetheless,
but he's the same type of coach as he was
the type of player. It is flash and dash. He's
gonna put it in your face. And here's the situation
for him. He's not on the field. It was like
(03:34):
Wayne Gretzky or Michael George's being GMS or coaches. Your
drive is entirely different than the drive of your players.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I'll go a step further with that in John Elway
drafting Pats to Lynch, Yes, he drafted a big, tall, strong,
arm mobile quarterback and you know, didn't assumed that he
had the championship mentality.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
When he didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
He didn't read the fine print right, He just saw
the big stature, the arm go like, okay, well.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
He's going to be maybe quintessential.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I guess heir apparent to me. The same thing was
said of Jake Cutler when I played with him. But
it's the understanding of knowing is though your players may
not have that same drive and that pursuit of excellence
like you have. But that has brought a lot of
phrase for CU. But it's actually brought a lot of
like tsunami type criticism.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, that certainly has brought an avalanche of attention to
see you one way or the other, and they are
a It's funny because when Paul Finebaub got on ESPN
and was like, they're not relevant, I'm like, well, wait
a minute, you wouldn't talking about him if they're not relevant.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That's not the right word to say there.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
If you think that they're not going to make the playoffs, Okay, fine,
I respect that opinion if that's the opinion you want
to have, But to say that CU is not relevant,
there may not be a more relevant university in the
country right now.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
There's a lot of jealousy for a lot of things.
And I'm not just talking about Coach Prime, but when
there is an overwhelming this mindset of criticism like well
why is it they are getting this type of coverage
and we are not, and our record is better than
(05:12):
CEU buffs, it goes back to the person who's in charge.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The one thing that Coach Prime.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Has a PhD in, and that's the highest degree that
you can get, rights is a PhD. Right, right, right,
So he has a PhD in self promotion. He knows
he can sell water to a well. I mean, that's
how good he is.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And that's obstacles to Lady White Gloves.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Absolutely, because that's what he did with the CU program.
Because no one was talking about the program even though
they went four and eight.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
There's still a topic of conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, and that's what that's what I was getting at
this part of the national zeitgeist. I mean, like the
CU is talked about every week, whether they're winning or not,
they're talked about because of what the attention that he got,
which if you're a university like Colorado who has been
largely a rel event for two decades, that's what you need.
You don't have the you don't have the money to
compete with the you know, the Alabamas and the Texas
(06:07):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
You don't have the pedigree anymore to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I mean they did at one time, but they don't
anymore to be able to compete with for recruits with
those guys.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So bring the circus, bringing you attention.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Hey, we're having fun over here and we're building some
It's a little different than than playing over here.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
For Gabbles twenty at Clemson well, you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
When you use the term circus as it retains to
a coach or organization, most people look at.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Them in front of it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, I'm I can using circus stead applying it to
the media. You're ringing the media circus.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Right, and others look at it, you know, from a
catastrophic standpoint because they don't like clowns.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And you know, going through the circus, do you have
a fear of clouds?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
No, okay, that's I'm curious because some people are like
really actually afraid of clouds.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You know what, I didn't realize how many people were
actually afraid of clouds.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I did not either think this is I wan't get
too sidetracked.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He but this is like a real thing that because
I always joked about it, you know, but I to realize,
because a real thing, that people are genuinely afraid of clowns.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Well, let me tell you, honest, there are some clown
people in the media. I was afraid. I'm not sure
I can come to practice, that's exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
But when you talk about bringing the circus, that's what
you want, because now it makes you a topic of conversation,
even if your team isn't that good by the standard
of everyone else. They're talking about you, and I think
college football last year they were not ready for that
type of wave of validation from fans all around the
(07:37):
United States because I told Coach Prime when I spoke
to him, I said, man, look, keep doing you, keep
that spirit up, keep putting up those Bible versus. Because
I know people in Chicago, I know people in Atlanta.
I know people in Florida who did not go to
see you, who all of a sudden they have more
(07:58):
CEU gear. I believe I see you, glads. But that's
the impact that he's making. But not everyone is happy
with that.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Anytime you do something that's outside of the norm or
different from the way it's being done, you're gonna come
under scrutiny.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You are, And so that's I mean, I get that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
At the same time, it does feel like at times
that it's piling on. It was year one of a
team that barely won any games, like, you know, give
it a chance to breathe. Now, I'm not saying they're
going to make the playoffs this year. I'm not saying
they're gonna go under whatever that Vegas total is, like
four games, whatever it is.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
I think it's something like that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, I like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm gonna give it a chance to breathe and then
I'll criticize it afterwards if it needs to be criticized
it you know, if it didn't work, okay, why didn't
it work? If it did work, then hey, well you
know what, what were all you people talking about that
we're criticizing it?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So okay, when you look at it, both coach Sean
Payton and coach Prime are in the same predicament if
you think about it right. Both didn't have great seasons
last year. They're not projected to have great seasons this year.
But if you talk to people in either building, there
is a belief that they're going to be competitive.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
That's kind of the concept and that's all you want.
And if you I guess, overshoot, what the projections are
to me?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You ahead of schedule? Yeah, yeah, ahead of schedule?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I think the two of them have a very interesting
quarterback conundrum with coach Prime. Shadora is about to leave
for the NFL after this season, and that's that's going
to be the end of that. So he's got to
figure the quarterback position out where the Broncos have acquired
ostensibly their quarterback of the future and are trying to
make sure that he's the guy. So a little bit
of going in the opposite direction in terms of that problem.
(09:37):
But you know, overall, I think they are programs in
similar boats as it were, you know, all the bad
season with bad seasons there before and hoping that there's
an optimism that we can do better this year.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, yeah, because there are some unique parallels, because there
are on either side some boxes that you can check
and say, well, we'll secute here, and then some others
you say, well, well maybe not. So when you look
at the Broncos offensive line, a significant amount of money
has been paid to that offensive line, and you look
at what the CU Buff's offensive line was last year.
I mean, to me, it was it was just awful.
(10:11):
Let's just call it what it is. But we're gonna
look at both of those teams this season and see
how well the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Play will be.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
But it's all predicated on the guys blocking up front.
That's why there's more similarities so both of these organizations
than differences.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, and I agree, I think that you know that
there's a sense of optimism with both and hopefully they
can take off.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
By the way CSU up the road.
Speaker 5 (10:35):
There's a little.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Optimism there too, and kind of get overshadowed by all
the attention that CEU gets.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But they got they got a nice quarterback receiver combo there.
They might make some noise to you.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I wonder what Ryan Evers, who's driving home right now,
is thinking about us.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I shouldn't have mentioned that. I should have waited until
I know.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, we would go on as roll that you
mentioned horrible issue.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I can never see a guy word about him.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Stay beloved.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Razorbacks, we don't talk about it.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
You call them horrible, that's what it called. They're just terrible. Ryan,
take that on the drive home.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, guys, you guys want to get qualified to win
some season tickets to the Denver Broncos this year.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Three h three H three.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Or three seven three eighty five eighty five color five
Right now, three oh three someone three eighty five eighty five.
We'll get you qualified in the drawing, uh to win
those season tickets to the Denver Broncos this year. On
the text line, UH, I hope see you fans can
respect coach Prime more.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Because we're lucky he's here.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I remember seeing you spending seven hundred and fifty million
dollars on facility upgrades just to win one game that year,
remember that, Yes, from the the seven to oh even guys,
My wife and I were in Italy in June. When
people found out we were from Boulder, nine of ten
people Italians would say, you have coach Prime.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's how big an impact he's having on the square.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Wait wait, wait oven it Italy.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yes, Italians are from.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
I looked at I was just like, it's just but
it's just the fact of you never really know how
a team or a person's popularity grows until you go
to a different.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Country, right, and then you're here too.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Used to get a bunch of Italian people that are
asking about coach ProAb.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I guess who does have a footprint over there?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Brian asks, there are also people who want to see
Dion fall flat on his face.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, there's a number of people want to see that,
And it's just just like anything else in life, right,
It's like people love to build you up because it's
the fall.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Why they want to see you fall.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Because they want to say you are just like me,
You're no different than me.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
You put your pants on one leg at a time,
and you do.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I put moost of them on and then trying to hollower.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
These are pants.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I'll just ask some people when they say that with
a one leg at a time, like I put both
legs on at the same time, you don't do that
like do it like dead pan? Incredulous And they're really
like they're trying worked the mechanics of that out in
their head.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
If you're doing that like that, yeah, your pants are
definitely too tight. But this is kind of the situation
that a lot of individuals who have had some form
of success in their life, they run into someone is
hating on you in some particular way. And when you
are a public figure, there there's several ways that they
(13:22):
can attack you. They can attack you verbally on the
mic or posting something on Twitter, or writing something in.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
A blog or a newspaper exactly. And I'd like to say,
maybe you welcomed it all.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Myself exactly. But this is this is kind of part
for the course. This is something that happens, and when
you step into this role where coach Prime finds himself,
I mean, everyone was okay with him being at Jackson State, right,
but the moment he moved to Boulder, it changed the landscape.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
And if you've ever been to Boulder and you watch
the game.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Last season, whether the Boss won or not, you can
tell right away the culture had changed. And on the sideline, right,
I mean, I mean people doctor j was on the sideline,
master p the Litu tang clients. Yes, okay, like you
mentioned earlier, like when you look at around the landscape
(14:21):
of college football, Steves Arkysian, uh, even Nick Saban himself,
they wouldn't have it. They were not having that type
of impact in college football or the pearents are on
the sidelines, right, and the only person that's close to that,
like you said, is Pete Carroll. Yeah, they're something more
jealous of that.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, he was the guy first brought you know, rappers
and DJs to practice and you know, and all that
kind of made the game spectacle, right. Will Ferrell was
he's a USC super fan anyway, because that's right, went
but I mean, like that's you know that that's sort
of the thing, getting the celebrity culture involved in it,
you know, so people pay attention because at the time
when Pete Carroll took over us. He was kind of
a down program they've been and Paul Hackett had been
(15:01):
the Nathaniel Hackett's father had been the head coach there,
and he had to revitalize the program.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
But this is one way for me that you not
only revitalize Boulder in the CU Buffs program, but just
college football in general.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Right, because every.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Hero needs a villain, and right now, see you and
coach Prime, they've become the villains of college football, even
though their record doesn't indicate that they should, right, which
is kind of a paradox within itself.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, I think that. I mean, you look at CU schedule,
it's a tough schedule.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I sort of get why the oddsmakers are a little
bit lower on them, although I think the number they
put out is absurdly low. It is the most bet
ticket out there at BETEMGM on the over and the under,
like they're the haters and the law. You know, Yeah,
there's the most bet ticket in college football out there
is the season went totally runner for Colado.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
So for you, you stay in the game either way.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Well I didn't met both of them.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean I lose on the day, but you know,
I I mean, I think it's I mean, I bet
the over, so I do think they'll win more than
four games. I'm not sure that they're a playoff team,
but I'd love to see it. I'd love for them
to be, you know, in the mix. I'd love for
that attention to be brought here to Colorado. So we'll
see that shakes out.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
We got.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Some great guests tonight.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I already told you Ryan Michael, of course, is going
to be in his spot breaking down the Broncos quarterbacks
in the first preseason game. Philip Dukes, which spurred this conversation,
will join us at Duke's The Scoop on Twitter, and
he did a video on YouTube about the whole situation
with the reporters here locally, and for me, it was
(16:48):
it was fascinating that, you know, he kind of got
into some stuff, and I want to see this from
a national perspective. Doug Russell from ninety seven three of
the game in Milwaukee. He's a studio host for the
Packers radio network. He's basically the Ryan Edwards of the
Green Bay Packers. Uh, we'll be joining us here in
just a few minutes at the at the bottom of
the hour, get a chance to preview sort of these
practices that are happening tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Get a chance to see what.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
What the Packers, uh, what the sentiment is for them
where they're at as a as a football team. The
Packers very young on offense last year, and through the
first six or seven games of the season, I was
kind of like, I don't know, Jordan Love, I don't know,
you know, I don't know about this guy.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I don't know if he's did or not. Now you
put all you can't.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
He put on a tear there at the end of
the season, certainly got paid off that off that tear
that he did. We'll be able to see if he's uh,
now that people get a full year of tape on
him in an offseason to game play, we'll see how
he adjusts the defensive coordinators throwing different things at him.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
But uh, he quitted himself well down the stretch last year.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, you did. And and the one thing that he
did for me, it should should do for so many
different people.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Because when a quarterback is taken in the first round,
obviously the fan base is like, Okay, well, this is
our quarterback.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Of the future. But in the case of the Green
Bay Packers.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Aaron Rodgers was already there and with Jordan Love following
him in, people not seeing a lot of I guess,
maturity and growth. And that's because he was playing behind
Aaron Rodgers. But now he became the guy when you
look at what Matt la Floyd decided to do, because
I felt as though early on the offense seemed like
(18:17):
it was catered to Aaron Rodgers. And then Lafour said,
you know what that was, Rogers, we have Jordan Love.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We're gonna do it. George Love, We're gonna do And.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I felt as though that was the smartest thing to do,
even though some coordinators they don't do that because they're
though stubborn. But Love came out and he showed everyone
what he was capable of doing. And he continued that
into the playoffs. Like watching them play the Dallas Cowboys
the way they did. To me, that said a lot
about Jorde Love and where he is. And if you
put plays in place for any quarterback to be successful,
(18:50):
this is the love of production that you could possibly receive.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Can't Wait Trading Campower by the Sporty Pickle Bar and
Grill and Chevron Colorado Human Energy Company, committed to our
local communities and safely delivering affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three, the game in
Milwaukee is gonna join us. He's a studio host for
the Packers Radio Network. Listen to Broncos Country to night
right here on KAWA.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Four.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Man rushed love in the pocket, bounces around, throws a
ball deep down the field.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That ball is intercepted, intercepted by PJ. Lock, And this
one is going to end with the Broncos winning a
whole game.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Welcome back to it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Albrighten, Nick Ferguson,
Grant Smith here with you. Just go to the KWA
Cobbs here.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
A hotline and bring on.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Doug Russell from ninety seven to three, The game there
in Milwaukee's studio host for the Packers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Doug, How you doing this evening?
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I'm doing all right. Thanks for having me on, guys, ah.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We got joint practices coming up here. What is this
Green Bay Packers team? A team that offensively maybe started
a little slow last year, really turned it on in
the second half of the season.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Is that continuity going.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
To continue to build this year or is this a
team that maybe takes a step backward before it takes
another step forward.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, that's a billion dollar question, right. I mean, I
think everybody was down some hopes that it is the
former as opposed to the latter. But you know what
we saw in the second half of last season, and
you guys saw Jordan Love and the Packers' offense when
it was still very young, very raw, and you guys,
rightfully Bragus came away with a big win and that
(20:29):
was I think one of those learning experiences that Jordan
Love and not only Jordan Love, but his entire offense,
his entire group of wide receivers last year in their
first and second year now in their second and third year.
So they're still pretty young, but that was one of
those lumps that they just had to take. It was
one of those growing teams that they just had to
go through in the second half of the season. Is
I think everybody who observes the NFL saw I think
(20:51):
specifically after the Steelers game, there was no better player
in the NFL last year the second half of the
season than Jordan Love. Obviously Lamar had already wrapped up
the MVP pretty early in the season last season, But
you know, Jordan Love really showed why the Packers invested
fifty five million dollars a year into him a couple
(21:12):
of weeks ago when I signed to his four year extension.
So there's a belief system in Green Bay that they've
got their guy not only at quarterback, but also in
the wide receivers room as well. They don't necessarily need
a number one mine receiver. Maybe three guys can combine
and be what DeVante Adams was at the tail end
of Aaron Rodgers' career with the Packers. So you bring
(21:37):
in Josh Jacobs on offense, there's a belief system that
they got a lot, you know, certainly younger at the
feature back position. Maybe he offers a few things that
Aaron Jones didn't, including durability. They bring in Xavier McKinney
on defense to help solidify a position of need for
them for the last decade or so, and expectations in
Green Bay or sky high for this team. They don't
(21:59):
want to take a step back, and they don't feel
like they're going to take a step back.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Well, doug. With that being said, every single year we
see five teams.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Make the playoffs when five other teams didn't make it,
and the Packers seemed to be one of those particular teams.
Do you worry that, Okay, did they hit their selling
far too early? And could they have a season where
now it's disappointing based on what they did.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Last year with Jordan Love, if they have a season
that doesn't result in a playoff earth this year, it
will be very disappointing. So if that answers your question,
I mean, I don't think that they're going to just
based on everything that I've seen from Jordan Love and
the way that he goes about his business. He did
learn from Aaron Rodgers for three years, and Aaron Rodgers
(22:47):
for all of his proclivities and weirdness that we all
saw and have seen the last several years, still a
darnkon quarterback, and Jordan Love picked up on a lot
of habits, of positive habits that Aaron taught him the
last three years of Aaron's tenure with the Packers, and
we saw some of that really kind of take shape
(23:07):
everybody mature at the same time last year. So yeah,
maybe It's a long way of saying, if they don't
make the playoffs, it's going to be a major, major disappointment. Now,
everybody's got to stay healthy. That's caveat everyone does. They
don't make the playoffs, it's going to be a major disappointment.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
For the Packers.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, you would think so.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
At the top of the division there it feels pretty
top have you mean you've got Detroit and the Packers,
and then of course you know the down trace, You've
got the Bears who are rebuilding. They've got some optimism
with Kayleb Williams and the Vikings, who I think are
to be charitable. I don't think they're going to be good,
but we'll see how that shakes out the Packers. On
the everyone was talking the offense, but the other side
of the ball, the defensive side of the balls.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Would interest me.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
This has been something that from my timeline, have seen
fans catching about for quite some time. What defensive improvements
have they made and how does that defense factor in
this year?
Speaker 5 (23:54):
The biggest improvement I think they made was with Jeff Hafley,
then air defensive coordinator, former head coach and boss in
college Jill Berry. I think is a good coach, and
I don't know that he was a great coach for
these players. That having been said, there was a change
in the coordinator's room, and now you've got someone who
is more aggressive. You've got someone who's schematically seems like
(24:17):
he's going to be someone who the players really respond to.
They have in the early going. Granted they haven't played
a game yet. They played one preseason game, so you know,
success will kind of bear that out as to whether
or not, you know, the players are still going to
be on board with Jeff Hafley from a player personnel standpoint.
That brought in the guy that I just mentioned, Xavier McKinney.
He's the new player that I think everybody's kind of
(24:40):
coalescing around a little bit. You've got a very young
defensive secondary at the safety position. Mckenney's entering his fifth
season after four really good years with the Giants, but
Anthony Johnson juniors and steventh round pick in his second year,
he's the only guy that really might start that has
any experience. Because you've got a couple of rookies in
Javon Bullard and Devin Williams, and Williams by the Way
has really shown out so far, not only in training camp,
(25:03):
but also in the mini camps as well, perform really
well last week in the Packers preseason opener against the Browns.
So it's very young at the safety position, but Viger
McKinney is a guy that they think is going to
really solidify a position of need for them that they
really haven't had, you know, really just Thick Collins and
he had to retire because of a freak injury a
decade ago, more than a decade ago. So he's the
(25:25):
one guy that they're hoping solidifies that because you know,
Rashon Garry, they want him in this new scheme to
be able to get home and get to the quarterback,
not just pressure the quarterback he was really neutralized in
the second half of last season. But also their second
round pick from a year ago, Lucas van Ness. He's
had a really good camp so far and he looks
(25:46):
like he's primed to make a big leap from year
one to year two as well. So defensively, yeah, it's
been a bugaboo for them. We've all thought that the
player personnel didn't match the output, and perhaps a lot
of that was schematic now the scheme has changed, so
the group is going to be in the putting, and
you know, only time is going to tell whether or
not they're going to be able to live up to
(26:06):
the expectations.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
But one thing I love about watching the Packers last
season is that you saw a lot of young guys
actually step up to the plate and play like they
were three four year veterans. And one guy that definitely
stood out for me from a tight end standpoint was
Luke Musgrave and just kind of let our audience know
(26:28):
that when you watch him in practice and watching him
do certain things, what makes this young tight end? You
know where most people will look at him and say,
you know, this is a guy that has the potential
to be mentioned amongst the greats in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
What is it about him?
Speaker 5 (26:46):
One thing that isn't talked enough about, I think is
his relationship with George Kittle. To be honest with you,
I mean, those two have known each other for a
long time, and for Luke, he kind of looks at
Kittle as a big brother. And we've all seen the
success that Georg Kittle has had. Musgrave is a big body.
He's a guy who has really soft hands, he's a
guy who can get down field. He's got perceptive speed.
(27:08):
They haven't featured him as much as they did a
year ago, and that's one of the questions that we
continue to ask Matt before throughout the course of the
offseason and throughout the course of training camp, is you
know when is Luke going to get back at the speed?
And you know because you've got this weapon. And I
know that there's been some injuries at the tight end position,
and maybe that's part of it, because when you throw
Tucker Craft in there as well, you've got a really
(27:28):
good one too, tight end punch that a lot of
teams don't have. But both of those players are entering
their second year. So I think offensively, if you're looking
for a year one to year two jump up, it
might be with Musgrave because he's a guy that showed
last year that you know, he had the touchdown catch
obviously against the Cowboys and playoffs where he was just
all alone down the right sideline because he's got that elusiveness,
(27:50):
he's got rare speed for a tight end at his size,
and he just needs to maybe get a little bit
stronger in the rate room. But I think he can
really be a special player if he continues to develop.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Much like the Broncos, there is a quarterback battle for
the Packers, although it's a little bit further down the
Jemp chart after Jordan Love, Michael Pratt and Seawan Clifford.
I've been hearing good things about Seawn Clifford thus far.
How how both those guys looked? And do you who
do you expect to get the job?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I Love?
Speaker 5 (28:15):
We're talking about the backup quarterback. This is great. Uh,
we don't normally talk about the backups. Shawn Clifford is
in a second season. He played at Penn State, so
he's played in big time games. Though Michael Pratt had
some big time games at Tulane as well. He beat
Now I'm they say this with the coveyat he didn't
beat Caleb Williams. That's been something that we've heard a lot.
(28:37):
He beat Caleb Williams in the Cotton Bowl a few
years ago. Now Tulane defeated a terrible defense that Alex
Grinch was co ordinating for Lincoln Riley at the time.
There was some other, uh you know, things going on
in that game as well. But he has played in
some big time games he played, he played in and won,
like I said, one of those New Year six games.
(28:58):
So I think that Pratt has the better arm than Clifford.
You got the better size than Clifford. But Clifford has
one more year in Matt with Flora's system. So you're
going to see both of them coming up on Sunday
night against Denver, and I think that you're going to
see Sean Clifford play most of the I would say
probably into the third quarter of then Pratt will kind
of clean things up. But you know, if I had
(29:20):
to handicap it right now, Clifford has the upper light,
but only because he's been here for one extra year.
But Pratt has some tangibles that that Clifford may not have, including,
like I said, a bigger, better arm, and maybe just
a little bit better size.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Sort of the situation we have here where a quarterback
and Jared stead Of have been here for a year
and had a little bit of a leg up early
on bo Nixon. Since past him in the quarterback competition,
everybody presumes he'll be the starter going on.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Right right right, looking about QB two in the season, because.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
We're in trouble, well, fair to be fair, Doug.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
We really appreciate you take us some time out to
join us today and we look forward to having some
practice and see these two teams compete on Sunday night.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Looking forward to it. Benjamin, thanks so much for having
me on.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Absolute take care Doug Russell. He's the Packers radio sports
desk guy. He's just like the Ryant Edwards the Packers.
But we got to go out and check traffic, Davi
O Bryant. Welcome back to it Broncos Country tonight, Benjamin,
ol Briden, Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Here with you.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Are you doing the Inc's the stadium hosting again?
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Hey, you know what, It's a game on Sunday and
I can't wait to see the Broncos get out there.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Fair enough, I will, I will be there. I always
do my first thing I do. I always do a lap.
I don't know why it's weird. I think I'm not
even a superstitious person, but I always do that. I
always say, go down to the field, do a lap
real quick, and then I go up to the booth
and you know, and do the thing or whatever you
have any pregame rituals.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Yeah, I do, man.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Like as a player or as a host. Which one
because it's different.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Well, let's go both.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Let's start with the player. Let's see what do you do?
Speaker 4 (30:52):
So as a player, I would have to get to
the game almost four hours early. And to understand this
is that there is an early bus and then there's
an early early bus.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Usually that bus is filled with the equipment guys who
go there want to make sure everything's set up. I
usually go with those guys because I want to make
sure that I'm there on site and I'm not late
for anything.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Because even now, Ben.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I still have nightmares about being late because I'm thinking
someone is gonna find me.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
And I'm like, I haven't played.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
In almost twelve years, and no, who's gonna find me.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
But I have to get to the games early. I
like you, I do.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
A couple of laps around the field because my whole
idea is that when you play the game of football,
whether it's here or somewhere else, you got to get exhausted.
And you always hear run and talk about that second win.
I try to stress my body out early second one
get to the second wations. Yes, so that's that's one
of those things that I do. What do you do
(31:54):
now and now I still get to the game, or
you care to being late?
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Yes, being late?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I think it's it's interesting because one of the things
you know in the Army you're on time, to be
on time is to be late. You gotta be earlier
on that stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yes, but I think it taught me exactly how to
thread the needle on that it was the exact opposite
of its intended thing, where I'm like, okay, I know
that I have one minute and thirty seconds.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Left here where I can thread the needles. I mean, look,
I don't believe in cutting it that close. Because if
you're coming into a Broncos game was home. Home games
and preseason games are are a little different because you
think about the traffic, uh, the security to get inside
and then to get up to where we need to
get get up to. It's kind of a hassle. But
(32:41):
if I am there, I'm comfortable, there are no nerves.
I don't have to worry about being late. And besides,
if I am there's no one finding me. But it's
just kind of the idea and it's almost like man
Parcel is still in my head. I can't I've got
a time spot.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
So I have to go from the Heartbeiller where we
broadcast the stuff down to this. I have to be
on time because I got a time spot. So like
for me, I've got this down to a science. I
know exactly what time I have to get, what traffic
light to turn on, colfax and all that kind of stuff.
I yeah, it's just fascinating to me, but yeah, I
always do it. I just take the first lap. I
take the lap around the field and then I'm like, okay,
I'm ready now and go up to the For me, when.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
I first come in, I got to go to visit
all the security spots to say hello to all the
security guys before I go upstairs.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And what's that.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
I do the high dapt and then come back downstairs
and hit the field and just kind of, you know,
walk around. You see coaches on either side, and sometimes
you see I had the coaches, players or people in
the media covering the opposing team that you know, you
may chop it up with them for a bit. And
then I got to go back upstairs and get my
head right for what I have to do on the field.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, when we.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Come back, Ryan Michael's gonna join us.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Tell us what he saw during the Broncos pre season opener,
what we can expect against the Packers.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
This the Broncos Country tonight, right here on ka
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