08-28-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into it.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin Olbright here with you five six,
six nine zeros text line short show tonight post Rockies edition.
We've got to see you Buff's Football Tomorrow KOA, You're
exclusive home of the Colorado Buffalo's Tomorrow night right here
on KOA. Friday, there'll be a short show post Rockies
edition as well, so markie calendars for that. I think

(00:23):
BK is going to be in on Friday'm gonna take
myself a little four day weekend and get recharged before
we kick off this football season in earnest. So I
hope you guys will listen to BK doing the solo
show on Friday. It should be a lot of fun.
I am a bit of busy. Twenty four hours or
so little over twenty four hours, I guess closer to
twenty seven hours. I guess for Broncos Country forty eight hours. Really,

(00:46):
if you look at the cutdowns and trying to get
this fifty three at a way they want it. The
Broncos made some additions today what they're going to do
on practice squad. We found out where some magic. P
Rod and Tim Patrick are going getting to that here
in a few. One thing I want to tell you
dip into the personal life for just a second, and
that is I think you know, people on Twitter have
seen some of my personal life out there and and

(01:08):
all that kind of stuff. And one thing I will
tell you is learn from your mistakes. You know, learn
from your mistakes and separate yourself from them. I I
wanted to shout out somebody, I'm I'm with somebody now
and she is just absolutely great. You know, spend their
time building me up and and you know, we build
each other up and instead of tearing each other down.
And if you find yourself in a relationship where you're

(01:29):
doing that, like my advice, get get counseling to try
to work through it or separate yourself from and move
on because it's unhealthy. It's it's it's bad few mental state,
and you.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Know you can't.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
There's there's no reasoning with people who you know are
narcissists or pathological liars and that kind of stuff, and
there's no reasoning with them. Like I'm so stubborn. I
tried for a long time. And that's not to say
it's not to pay myself out as a saint by
any means, I had plenty wrong with my last relationship crashing,
but I will say and the point of that was

(02:00):
to shout out my my current one, because you know,
it's just it's such a breath of fresh air to
have somebody that's that's honest and truthful and spends their
time building me up instead of you know, the opposite,
which is which is something that I encountered, uh for
for a little bit out there as well, baby thing
into football, because nobody wants to hear me talk about

(02:20):
that stuff. I'm sure maybe we'll create a relationship podcast
at some point we could pour over all.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
The mistakes that I've made.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
But the Denver Broncos getting down to the to the
fifty three has been a bit of a journey, I
think fans, I know, there was some disappointment about moving
on from moving on from Tim Patrick. You know, those

(02:47):
are definitely things that I think that Broncos fans have
been disappointed with some of the some of the players
that the Broncos have moved on from.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Justin Simmons, k Jack has gone.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
I think the fans were less upset about that after
last year and how that went down last year, But
Justin Simmons, certainly, Russell Wilson, some of the fan base was,
and as the rest of it not really. You know,
I think that as a whole, you know, the identity
of this roster is turning over for better or worse,
and Sean Payton is remaking this team in his own

(03:20):
image with him as the leadership, and now that he's
sort of laid the groundwork on that, he's got to
start winning. You know.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I don't think that.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
He'll be held to a playoff man eight this year,
but you're gonna have a rookie quarterback in bon Nicks.
But I think by next year you've got to be
a very playoff competitive football team. And I think a
lot of people are hoping that that's the direction this
is headed. I think that the roster is stronger that
it's been in a while, so I tend to be

(03:48):
sort of on that boat. I think what was it
we had BETTAMGM I talked earlier today and we had
what was it? Ninety three percent of the bets are
on the over of five and a half for the
Broncos this year. So the books are really hoping that
the sports books are hoping that the Broncos don't win
six games, but the public certainly seems to think that
that the Broncos are going to win more than the

(04:10):
sports books do. We had several Broncos sign other places,
and that's not necessarily something that that you always see.
You know, the Broncos in recent years have been a
team that brought back guys, you know, onto the practice
squad that they cut, and they kind of rolled with them.
They're they're they're cutting guys, they're getting picked up, and

(04:30):
that really wasn't the thing the last couple of years.
So interesting to look at that from there. The practice squad,
or at least the temporary practice squad, is out there
today for those that don't know, little Jordan Humphrey, Michael Burton,
cornerback Reeze Taylor, offensive lineman Will Sherman, undrafted rookie tight
end Thomas Yastman. He is the seventeenth man on the

(04:52):
practice squad because of the international player designation, so he
doesn't count, so they get to have an extra one.
Quentin Newsome one of the first people to signed back
to the practice squad, the defensive tackle Jordan Miller, edge
rusher Donderrea Tillman. He's the one of UFL Fame wide
receiver David Sills. Sills famously was the quarterback who, at
fourteen years old, was offered by then USC head coach

(05:14):
Lane Kiffin a scholarship to USC.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Wound up.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
He's a wide receiver now and he's on the Broncos
practice squad. Nick gard Julio, the offensive lineman that they
drafted this year. We've brought him back on the practice squad.
He's been injured. Tyler Beatty, who was something of a
fan favorite, kind of lost in the shuffle on the
running back sea was well behind the others, but for
some reason as a fan favorite and brought back on
the practice squad. Tanner McAllister, the safety, made a few plays.

(05:39):
He's on there as well. Defensive lineman Matt Heningson on
the practice squad. That's not a surprise to anybody. Michael
Bandy on the practice squad. I think that one sort
of surprised people. But I think Bandy made it because
some of the other receivers went to other places. And
we'll get into that here in just a moment. Guard
Calvin Throckmorton on the practice squad was one I missed.

(06:00):
I thought he'd make the active roster. He did not,
but he comes back on the practice squad and the
Broncos signed Chargers tight end Donald Parham to the practice squad.
And Parum's a six ' eight stretch Why pass catcher
got cut by the Chargers because his blocking really isn't
up to par, but he's act of a pass catcher
and at that height, with his jumping ability in the

(06:21):
red zone, could be an interesting red zone weapon for
the Broncos this year. Obviously, Joe Lombardi, the former OC
over there at the Chargers, familiar with Parham, familiar with Bandy,
both those guys on this roster. I think, I think
because of that, the Broncos did not were not awarded
any players off waivers. I'm not aware if they put
any claims in, but they were not awarded any players
off waivers. So for those asking that as well for

(06:44):
the Broncos that were released or waived and are signing elsewhere.
Tim Patrick to Detroit, which we had talked about on
this show pretty extensively. He's gonna sign onto their practice
squad for a couple of weeks, try to get up
to speed and try to make the team. Center Sam
Mustafer is gonna be signing with the Chargers practice squad.

(07:06):
The Broncos offered him, but he decided to go elsewhere,
being the third man in in a center competition. Sam
Musterfer's brother, PJ was previously with the Broncos. The defensive
tackle former offensive tackle Demontree Jacobs was claimed off waivers
by the New England Patriots. Former Broncos defensive lineman Elijah Garcia,

(07:26):
guy who hung around here for a while, is supposed
to sign with the New York Giants practice squad. The
Kansas City Chiefs signed samajp right to their active roster. Now,
I thought Samaj would go back to Cincinnati. Ultimately he
decided to go to Kansas City. Stay in the division,
get the plan twice a year. That'll be an interesting,
an interesting addition for the Chiefs. It's it's interesting to

(07:47):
me because that is the second time that I recall
in recent years, maybe the third, where the Chiefs have
signed a guy, a running back off the Broncos who
was waived, a guy who fumbled too much was waived
and went to their roster. They did that with Melvin Gordon,
They've done it with some JP Ryan. I believe they
went and got Washington the draft pick and returner as
well for a while. So the Chiefs have been raising

(08:07):
the Broncos a little bit over the last two three
years for players, and that's I just I don't know
if anybody else finds that as interesting as I do.
Jalen Virgil is going to the Buffalo Bills practice squad. Allegedly,
that's not confirmed. I saw reports out there, but then
I saw some some conflicting stuff that he had not
yet signed. So he's expected to go to Buffalo, but

(08:28):
we're not a hundred on that right now. Thomas Incomb
is going to the Carolina Panthers practice squad. The edge
rusher Broncos corner Art green Udfa who whos kind of
hung around and got a big bonus last year. Choosing
between a few teams not going to be coming back
to the Broncos and the one I get asked about
the most would be Brandon Johnson. Brandon is headed to

(08:50):
the Pittsburgh Steelers reunite with Russell Wilson. Somebody had a
pretty good connection with over there. So you know, the
Broncos initial fifty three in practice squad is sort of.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Set right now.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
We'll see if they make any additional moves. But right
now there appears to be a more or less stable
fifty three with a seventeen man practice squad thanks to
the international exemption that the Broncos get off. Thomas Yassman

(09:30):
the tight end, the Mary Matthis is on the ir
designated for return. Dlaen Turneryelle and Drew Sanders are on
the POP. All three of those players will be eligible
to return week four or start practicing week four. Quinn
Bailey and Ronnie Perkins are both on season ending ir H.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
And you know we've got.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
A fifty three, it's it's only got five receivers on it, Courtland, Josh, Marvin,
Devon Vallet, Troy Franklin. Then of course on the practice
squad you've got the receivers we mentioned David's and Michael
Bandy and little Jordan Humphrey. So that's what they're doing,
is that they'll keep that rotation and do the same
thing they did previously where they'll use they'll use the
call ups to sort of manipulate that they did keep

(10:12):
the four tight ends that we talked about with Nate
Atkins and Bump Burton down to the practice squad. So
Atkins can kind of play that h back role for them.
I think for me, the most surprising player on the
fifty three was Frank Crumb. Like Frank Crumb, but needs
a bit of a work in progress. They like what
he offers in the run game, but they've kind of

(10:33):
got some tackle eligible jumbo work for him that they like.
But him making the roster sort of surprised me a
little bit relative to relative to everybody else who was
a rique did make the fifty three. Gotta get a
good chance with the with the Broncos. That that fascinates me.
I wasn't sure that he would.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
So those are you know, those.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Are a couple that surprised. Obviously, the Broncos hung onto
all three quarterbacks by next year at Stidham. Zach Wilson
got several questions about that today. Jared Stidham is the
backup right now. He's QB two for those of you asking.
That doesn't mean that Zach Wilson won't take that at
some point, but Jared Stidham is considered the backup right
now for the Broncos, and they're preparing that way going

(11:13):
into going into Week one. As it sits your your
primary returners, Marvin Mims on punts. Mims may get some
work on kick returns. Tremont Smith, Julia McLoughlin, Blake Watson
all expected to get some some kick return work as well.
You're starting lineup eleven personnel for the Broncos would be

(11:37):
Courtland Sutton, Josh Reynolds, Marvin Mims at the wide receivers,
Bowles Powers, Wattenberg, min It's McGlinchey at the offensive line.
Troutman would be the starting tight end, with Greg Dolsich
as the as the kind of move tight end. Bonnix
the quarterback, and Javonte Williams the starting running back, with
Julia Ludric Guestime backing him up and Blake Watson getting
a smattering of kerries as well. On the defensive side,

(11:59):
Zach Allen, DJ Jones, John Franklin Myers would be the
ends in the nose tackle Baron Browning, Alex Singleton, Cody Barton,
John Cooper would be the starting linebacking corps Ellis and
Benito will get a lot of work, especially in pass
rush and sub package situations. Sir Tan Riley Moss and
Jaquan McMillan, and the starting corners with PJ. Locke and

(12:22):
Brandon Jones as the starting safeties. I think everybody knows
Riley Dixon is the starting Pawnerlet's the starting kicker for
Bony the starting long snapper. So for those of you
who wondered, that's at least initially your Denver Broncos. Bo
Nicks the only rookie starter on the on the team,
Lavell Bailey, Jonah Ellis, Chris Abrams, Drain, Frank Crumbtroy Franklin,

(12:45):
de von Valle ol on the second team as rookies.
Nesta Man Blake Watson are the rookies that made the
squad as well the practice squad. Thomas the Asman, Gar Julio,
Quentin Newsom, and Jordan Miller A the four rookies that
made the team. I do believe little Jordan Humphrey will
be the first man up as far as wide receiver
call ups week one with Seattle, So for those of

(13:05):
you who who have wondered about that, there you go
as well. So hopefully you guys are excited. I mean
I'm I'm excited about the prospects for this team. I
do believe that the Broncos can be competitive this year.
I don't think that they're I don't think they're a
playoff team necessarily. I think they're closer to a five
hundred team. But I mean, THEFC is tough anyway, you know,

(13:29):
the FC West, whatever. But the AFC in and of
itself is tough. The North has got four teams that
are pretty good. The East obviously has the well, the
Bills are retooling a little bit.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
There's still a prominent team.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
You get the Miami Dolphins obviously, and the Jets expect
to be a factor as well. I don't think anybody
thinks much of the Patriots this year. The AFC South
is always an interesting grab bag. And we'll see, you know,
we'll see how that one kind of kind of shakes.
We saw the Texans rise last year. If people are
expecting big things out of the Colts. Obviously, the Titans
have changed things up with their new coaching staff and
Brian Callahan, and of course Jacksonville who started hot and

(14:04):
then faded down the stretch last year.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
So the AFC is tough.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And I don't know that the Broncos necessarily are looking
at like a team that a lot of people think
that are going to make the playoffs. That's not necessarily
my opinion of this team and where it's at. If
they do, it would be a pleasant surprise. You know,
I'd love it. I'd love to be covering a playoff
team here in Denver. Certainly make my job more fun,
a little bit easier. I do think that the the

(14:29):
five and a half number that's out there from most
sports books is an absurdly low over under total. That
that feels just way wrong to me. You know, who knows,
and maybe you know, maybe we're all looking at this
thing too optimistically. We could be, but I don't think so.
It just feels like that number is absurdly low to me.
And as we pointed out earlier, I think it was

(14:50):
John Evans from MGM. I'm not one hundred percent sure.
He tweeted out, I want to credit the right person,
so if I'm wrong on me know, had tweeted out
that ninety three of the bets, ninety three of the
bets are on the Denver Broncos to hit the over
a five and a half. So certainly a lot of
optimism out there about you know, what what Denver can

(15:13):
can accomplish this season? So five six, six, nine, zero.
Got a lot of a lot of questions that rolled
in on Twitter today. I want to get to some
of those. A lot of people ask him where Jalen
Virgil went. He's supposed to go to Buffalo. That's again,
that's not set in stone yet. I know there's some
tweets out there or whatever. Last I heard that was not,
like I said, not set in stone. But that is

(15:37):
something that I think. I think it'll get done. It's
just not done yet. And that was the thing, like
when people asking about the Tim Patrick thing yesterday and
I'm like, well, I think it's going to be Detroit,
but I'm not. It's not one hundred percent done yet
until it was. And so that's that's the thing. Like,
you know, when we're reporting, it's it's important to be
responsible and make sure we get the facts correct on

(15:58):
all that kind of stuff. I want to go through
the Bronco schedule a little bit in the next segment,
kind of break that down. Seattle's a tough Week one
opponent going on the road to ostensibly the loudest stadium
in the NFL. I know, you know, I always get
questions on that because Kansas City has the decibel record level.
So technically they can say they're the loudest and it's
as in, they achieved the loudest decibel meter, but in

(16:21):
terms of average overall sound throughout the course of a game,
it's it's actually Seattle. So both those two can kind
of share the title depending on which way you frame it.
In any event, it's loud in Seattle, and having a
rookie quarterback on the road in a stadium where communication
issues are gonna be tough, it's going to be vital
to make sure you got everything down, you know, and
so the Broncos are really gonna have to be prepared

(16:42):
for that. We'll go through the schedule a little bit
when we come back. You listen to Broncos Country tonight
right here on KOA, say fifty am, ninety four one am.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
News Talk Sports. Welcome back to it, Broncos Country Tonight.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Ben's went Albright here with you Short show tonight post
Rockies edition five, six six nine zeros text line, We've
got to see you Buff's football tomorrow KOA, You're exclusive
home of the Colorado Buffaloes. Got see you buff football
tomorrow night. So you guys want to lock it here
for that Friday, we'll have a short show post Rockies edition.

(17:16):
I think b K is going to be doing that
when I'm taking myself a little bit of a four
day weekend kind of chill out before the start of
football season in earnest. This season, it could be a
bit of a grind. I mean, not that this job
is particularly difficult. I'm sure there's somebody out there right
now and rightfully so when I talk about it being

(17:37):
a grinder difficult rolling their eyes, because it really isn't
that difficult. Certainly not physically intensive, but there is a
lot of work involved over the course of the season,
and you really get one day off and that's Saturday,
and so it can over the courses, it wears on
you after a while. You do four months like that,
it sort of sort of wears on you, you know, September, October, November, December,

(17:58):
and then on into January.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Now it wears on you for a while.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
So I will say, trying to get a little rest
in before before the season starts. Something I've started doing.
I feel like that that that helps keep me optimal,
especially the other part of the season, and hopefully it
keeps me optimal for a for a winning season. I
think that's what all all of Broncos country is hoping
for right now. I asked somebody today, would you rather
have a winning season or be absolutely convicted that Bonicks

(18:25):
is the guy going forward? And they said both, But
then when I forced him, they said Bonnicks. So I
think most people want, desperately want Bonis to be the
future more than they view this season as a must
win season of some sort. So interest certainly interesting there
as far as attitudes on that is. For the second
time in three years, the Broncos will open their season

(18:48):
visiting former division rival. Remember back when the Seahawks whin
the AFC West, the Seattle Seahawks. The Broncos will be
taking on Seattle September eighth, the week one matchup. That'll
be a two to oh five Mountain Time game, not
a two twenty five two oh five Mountain Time game

(19:09):
for those of you who want to watch it. That'll
be on CBS uh. And that's gonna be we talked
about a little bit the last day. That's be tough.
I mean, the first two games is gonna be tough
for different reasons. The first game September is tough if
you're going to you're going to Seattle. It is very
very loud there. They do have a good defense. I
think this year is gonna be interesting because Seattle's running

(19:29):
a vastly different offense than they've ever run.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Brian Grubb is the new OC there.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
It's not gonna be what you're used to seeing out
of Seattle, which has been primarily a strong ground game,
build off play, action, deep shots for Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf,
that kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
You're not gonna see that. Uh, this is an offense.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's uh, it was the offensive coordinator was the offensive
quardat last year at the University of Washington. So basically
the Michael Pennocks offense. Uh. Obviously that'll be tweaked for
the NFL and then look a little bit different. But
going back and sort of watching the tape on how
that worked at Washington, they love to exploit the flats
in the understuff. So I would not be surprised if

(20:09):
you get a lot of passing attempts out of Geno
Smith in this game. If he were to get hurt,
I think Sam Howell it would be the backup there.
But I would not be surprised to see Geno throwing
the ball a lot in this game. Seattle throwing the
ball a lot in this game, a lot more than
they previously have. You know, Seattle's a team that, again
traditionally has played a conservative offense. When Russell Wilson was there,

(20:33):
they ran the ball a lot, built off play action
deep shots, and then in the fourth quarter if they
needed help, they just turned it over to Russ and said, hey,
bail us out. But they are a defensive minded football team.
Their identity was built with that legion of boom and
all that kind of stuff, and that's what they've been
for a long time. The defense that they're gonna be
running this year is different, you know. I mean they

(20:54):
they've traditionally run a cover three. I think everybody knows
what they're famous for. I think everybody's sort of seen
what it is that that they did.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
It was. It's it's a.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
It's a cover three scheme that that keeps everything in
front of you and they make plays and try to
turn you over.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
The new system that they're.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Running, Michael McDonald's scheme is a lot different. McDonald's comes
from the the D piece Rex Ryan system. There's a
lot of disguises and simulated pressure. Uh. It's it's heavily
reliant on getting pressure with either a front four or
front five. It does not necessarily blitz a lot, but

(21:45):
the base on it is like a four to three
nickel zone. You can run on it. There are ways
you can run on it. And that's sort of the thing.
It's like they they kind of similar to what Vic
Fangio does where he runs that tight front where where
he kind of dares you to run on early downs,
and they want they line up a different depths try
to shut that down. This defense, Uh, it is susceptible

(22:07):
h to the run. It's it's just very very good
against the pass. So you know, there's there's that. It's
I'm trying to figure out a way to explain this,
to break this down a little bit for you guys,
you can sort of understand what it is and what

(22:27):
the difference are.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
With this kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
McDonald's defense. It's it's a zone defense. It's it's it's
a base zone. It's it's heavily reliant on versatile players
that can do a lot. Uh. It is definitely it's
a difficult scheme to run. It's not an easy scheme
to run, and you do need players that consistently do
it at a high level. Most of what makes Mike
McDonald good is the way they disguise things and give

(22:52):
you very very odd looks. But you've got to have
the roster to be able to pull that off, especially
if you're simulating pressure and dropping guys back. If you
watch the Ravens tape from last year, the keys to
this really were Rokwan or Kyle Hamilton, and they are
sort of uniquely versatile. Hamilton, of course was a safety,

(23:15):
but he can play like a slot corner, right, and
so he was a slot corner in almost all his
rookie year back in twenty twenty two, and he sort
of excelled at it. But he's big, and he's built
like a box safety that can wipe out tight ends,
he can blitz, so he kind of does everything. So
Hamilton is basically like a strong safety, sam a free safety,
slot corner roll in one, you know, extremely rare player
of the unicorn, right. And so Kyle Hamilton, I think,

(23:40):
is what Pete Carroll wanted Jamal Adams to be. But
you know, he's just not He's just but he's an
amazing athlete, and so he'll be down to the box
looking like he's gonna blitz, and then he'll quickly shift
a man covering like a wide resaver tight end. And
that's a difficult thing to pull off. I wish, I
wish we had Nick in here right now. It's I
could kind of explain and he could explain that from
an nfldb's perspective. But you know, safeties very rarely get

(24:04):
taken early. Hamilton went fourteenth overall, but he sort of
fit a lot of what Michael McDonald can do, and
so he's gonna need, uh, he's gonna have to rely
on good safeties to you know, to keep the offense
in front of him. Defense is last couple of years
playing a lot more too high in quarters than they
used to. We talk about that all the time on here.
Everybody's trying to prevent big plays and they're willing to
give up the underneath. And so one of Seattle's biggest weaknesses,

(24:28):
you know, it would be the safety position. You know,
they brought in Jabal Adams that went great quandary and
all that, so you know it'll be that'll be interesting
to see McDonald is not super blitz heavy. I mean,
if you think about the Ravens and before him with
Martin Dale was Baltimore was what twenty fifth in blitz

(24:50):
rate last year, twenty one point nine percent. Uh. The
average in the league is about twenty five percent, So
not a huge difference, but certainly you know enough of
one that the average in the league from where the
where the Ravens were. I mean that you're talking about
a few blitzeres per game. You know, you're talking about

(25:14):
three blitzer per game. So, but Baltimore led the NFL
in sacks. He's big on having rushers stun around the
of the offensive tackles, uh and swim and side. He'll
use linebackers to move offensive line out of the way, uh,
to free the edge rushers. It's uh, it's it's really
good coaching, but you need to have players that can
do it. And the linebackers on the Ravens or were

(25:37):
both Pro bowlers, you know, Uh, you had Rokwan and
Patrick Queen, and Queen was a fast you know, will
and was great shooting gaps and blitzing, and you know,
fast linebackers like him are important for executing those disguises.
But the middle linebackers a lot more important. Ro Quan
was kind of their their guy, and you know he

(25:58):
was sort of able to to to pull that off,
pull off what was needed out of that. Michael McDonald
tends to rely on a lot on pressure getting home
versus a decent o line. Their Their defensive stats didn't
look as good you go back and look at, for instance,
the Rams tape. They had a good offensive line last year.

(26:18):
Stafford Old not really mobile, but the Ravens only got
him twice and they only won that game because they
had a pretty lucky return touchdown by their backup or turner.
In that game, the the receivers went for a combined
like a pooka and cup both.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
I think each combined they combined.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
For like two hundred Kyron put one hundred and fourteen
or so on them. So that's that's really, you know,
something to keep your eye on. McDonald relies on athletic
defensive lineman.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
The cues a.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Variety of rush moves. Old school bull rushes aren't really
his thing. It's more a lot of inside stunts and
swims to try to get He does not blitz consistently
like when Martindale did, but he relies on athletic players
to be able to execute consistently. They win the matchups
trying to put guys in favorable positions. That's why you

(27:14):
had Mada Buquez had thirteen sacks as a defensive tackle,
which is not something that you know, most schemes are
going to have.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
So if you.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
He will try to put his best defensive lineman in
the most ideal matchup versus an opposing team's weakest offensive lineman,
which is logical, but you know, the the the way
that they did that, they had versatile players to pull
that off. He doesn't have those same players in Seattle,
and so some of that's going to be a little

(27:47):
bit more difficult for them to pull off. But they
play a lot of complimentary defense. I know, you know,
everybody kind of focused on the Ravens sack numbers when
you look at the scheme, but that's kind of a
surface level understanding of of what's going on. Mike McDonald's
main experience as a position coaches with the linebackers, but
it's it's sort of like it's his zone schemes that

(28:09):
allow those sacked numbers to happen, you know, and you
use your secondary to force quarterbacks to hold onto the
ball a lot longer than they wanted to, and then
you allowed that front to get home. You know, the
inside linebackers would oftentimes be the guys out there sealing
the edges to prevent rollouts. And the result there is

(28:29):
you have panic quarterbacks trying to keep their eyes on
wide receivers waiting for him to get open, can't leave
the pocket, the rush breaks down, keep get sacked, and
that's that's a large portion of of how they got
these cleanup sacks. You know, constantly moving defensive players around
different disguises, stunning defensive line inside uh. And then zone
coverages on the back end that tied receivers up and
didn't didn't let them find too many soft spots, you know,

(28:54):
where they could they could do that. The scheme is
requires disciplined UH. It's it's difficult for quarterbacks to process,
even guys who have been on a legue a while,
just because there's so many different looks. But that also
makes it a challenge for players to execute because you've
got so many motions and disguises, and it is it
is a very complicated scheme with a lot going on

(29:15):
every play. One of the things about Seattle they were
tenth in defensive penalties last year, so and they had
some some mistackle issues and so for the for the
Seahawks side of things, it doesn't matter if he's dialing
up these great coverages if the defense keeps missing tackles
and and a complicated scheme like this really requires players

(29:36):
to be on their p's and q's because if someone's
out of position and the disguise where aly at zone scheme,
you you're gonna end up getting wide receivers wide open,
and you know, and that's that's gonna be a plus
for the Broncos. So they will probably use Spooney there
to handle that Kyle Hamilton role, which we talked about.
The Ravens did use corner blitzes sometimes and uh, if

(29:59):
you looked at that Malay who is mostly mostly the
one that was blitzing from the corner. So they like
the blitz like they have one guy and they'll blitz him.
You know, it's not this isn't like it's going to
come from different areas, even though they scheme it up
to look like it's you know, it's whatever. So you know,
hopefully this this makes sense. I mean, if I'm rambling

(30:20):
a bit here, the the too long didn't read here
is that McDonald's scheme is basically a DNPS rex Ryan
four to three Nickel zone. There's tons of pre snap
motion disguises. It's heavily relying on getting pressure with four
h and having a great upfront defensive line matters a lot.
The sac numbers come from largely disciplined, talented secondary executing
the zone of forcing qbs to hang over the ball

(30:42):
give the rush time to get home, which philosophically is
sort of closer to what what Vic does now. Vic
Fangio doesn't really blitz dbs.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
He doesn't.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
I mean, there are differences, but we can get into
that at some point. But what McDonald is doing is
kind of the next evolution of defense, you know, in
the NFL, and hopefully that's a that's a of a
primer that you know, it helps you guys understand what
we're up against Week one for.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Those that don't know.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
The Seattle Seahawks, and they finished out their depth chart today,
by the way, featuring wide receiver Leviisca Shannault in their
receiving core.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
I won't leave Colorado.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
I think everybody knows Genos the starter, Sam How's backup quarterback.
In terms of running backs, they got Kenny Walker's ax, Sharbona,
Kenny McIntosh tight ends no offense obviously, Broncos fans familiar with.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Farrell Brown, A J.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Barner, and Brindany Russell. Their offensive line left to right,
Charles Cross, Lincoln Tomlinson, Connor Williams, Anthony Bradford, George Fant,
and I would suggest that Laken Tomlinson might be the
weak link on that offensive line. Much as I've liked
him over the years, he's he's susceptible to the bul
rush and that might be a link for Sean Payton
and Vance Joseph to exploit. There are starting receivers dk Metcalf,

(31:57):
Tyler Lockett, Jackson Smith in Jigba, the backups outside of Channault,
Derek Young and Jake Bobo. On defense, and this is,
you know, kind of where this thing matters is They've
they've changed things up, so h Leonard Williams is one
of the defensive ends. They've got Jonathan Hankins the massive
man at the nose, and Jared Reid at the other

(32:18):
defensive tackle, and read a pretty good player, and then
they use Draymont Jones as more of an edge rusher
outside backer. Uh, that kind of thing. He's not like
he used to be. He's not he doesn't play the
same role that he used to play for the Broncos. Uh,
you're talking about a guy who he is a is

(32:40):
basically a defensive end, an edge rusher. He's not the
undertackle like he used to be here in Denver. And
at the linebackers, Jerome Baker's at the will, Tyrol Dodson's
got the mic and it's Sam. They used Chanon Nuoso
the corners, Trey Brown. I think everybody knows Reek Woolland
and Devin Witherspoon. Witherspoon plays the nickel, and then the

(33:00):
safeties are ray Shawn Jenkins and Julian Love And that
might be an exploitable area with that. Both those guys athletic,
but in terms of football instincts, they're certainly not a uh,
certainly not a Kyle Hamilton.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
No, we're close to that. In terms of what they
bring to the table. It's it's it's just interesting to.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Me that the scheme they're changing to and what they're
going to be doing, and it's gonna be loud there
and you're gonna have a rookie quarterback, and so.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
It does.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
It does fascinate me this matchup. I mean, is this
one where a defense it's very complex, is not going
to be ready to go week one and you know
your your rookie quarterback would be better off because they're gonna.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Have communication issues.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Or is this going to be a situation where the
offense is at a disadvantage because you've got a rookie
quarterback and you know there might be communication issues based
on the volume you know in the stadium.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
So I think.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
I think the Broncos stand as good a chance as
any I I do believe that this is a game
that is winnable for them.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
You know, I'm not sure that I would come away
as that the Broncos is a favorite in this game
if you were like betting it for whatever Seattle is currently,
I believe a five and a half point favorite in
that one. But and the over under on the game
is forty one and a half is what I'm looking
at here. But you know, I think the Broncos have

(34:28):
a shot at winning that one.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
I don't think even though they're a fairly large underdog
in this one. I wouldn't necessarily count them out. The
question is going to be how quickly bo Nix adapts
to NFL starting speed and we'll see he's in the
Broncos country to night right here on KOA, sayty Am
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