Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go right out to the Uka Common Spirrel hotline and
bring on our guy, Parker, Gabriel Parker, how you doing this?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Seating good guys. I was just in the commercial break
before before he came back. I was watching the twenty
year old Jackson Surio Homer in the playoffs for the Brewers.
So I may or may not have yelled in my
living room.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
That was what that sound was. We were trying to
figure out. We thought we had some faulty equipment. We
didn't know what's going on. I didn't know you're a
Brewers fan.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, yeah, I grew up in Wisconsin. Okay, that are
the Cubs, and I would never do that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, I was born in Saint Louis. I could never family.
Wou just owe me, So you know, Parker, we got
an interesting set up here. The Broncos finished that first
quarter of the season at an even five hundred, and
it's interesting because some of those games to those games
could have gone either way. The Jets game in the
this Steelers game probably could have gone either way. But
they finish with an East coast trip two early games.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
They get the wins.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
They find ways to either get the wins or not
lose them in the case of New York, and we're
coming home for a two game stretch against banged up
a West upon US and look suddenly witable. All of
a sudden, the Broncos look like they have the road
paved in front of them.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, it's kind of funny. Ben, Like, I got this
question in our mail bag for the Denver Post this
week about what letter grade would you give the Broncos
And I'm not I mean, we do that so far,
like through four games, right, and like we do that
each game. And I'm not a big fan of the
letter grade thing, but it just it got me to
thinking about, like, okay, quarter to the way through, what
do you make of the Broncos? And it's kind of
(01:28):
funny that, like I think you actually for all of
the zero to two and what are they going to
be this year and all of that, Like I think
you feel dethan about where they're at right now, and
maybe even you know, somewhat heartened if you're a fan,
just because of how good the defense has been and
you know, are they going to be third in overall
(01:48):
defense and scoring defense? All year? You know, maybe not,
but even if they're a top ten defense, if the
offense comes around at all, you maybe have something to
work with. And so so I think they're in a
pretty decent spot. Broncos fans and folks that cover the team.
People have been covering the team a lot longer than me.
I think we're a little bit conditioned to say, okay,
(02:12):
two and two, two home games coming up, two beat
up teams coming up, Like, how is it going to
go wrong? But listen, if they're in front of them,
there's thirteen teams there, two and two, and they've got
a chance to really, you know, do a little bit
of damage and stack a couple more wins here over
the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
All right, Parker, The Broncos defense has been playing exceptionally,
even though we still find ourselves talking about the offense.
But one player in particular is I guess falling on
the under the radar if I can say that, And
that's been the production of PS two because he's typically
(02:50):
tasked with following the other team's top player around, but
he is still performing at a high level, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No doubt. I mean it pretty amazing. Actually, I just
wrote about Pat today. Story went up a little bit ago.
I mean, he he what he's doing. You know, Levi
Wallace obviously veteran guy than around the NFL for a
long time. I was talking to him in the locker
room today and he put it pretty simply. He said,
he said, the thing that Pat's doing right now is crazy.
(03:18):
I mean, he's he has pretty much he rates the
top receiver of the other team each of the first
four weeks. It would have been awesome to see him
this weekend when he's in this kind of form, going
against Pat or going against DeVante Adams of the Raiders.
Obviously it doesn't seem like that's going to happen at
this point, but it just he does it in a
(03:39):
way that it's so sort of like unremarkable. You could
just miss it the entire game, and all of a
sudden you look up and George Pickens has one catch,
he came metcalf as three for twenty nine, Mike Evans
has one catch for eight yards, and then Garrett Wilson,
you know, two for twenty two. And this is just
(04:00):
it's sort of just what he does every week. And
so it's one of those things where it's like, you know,
whether you're a film junkie or you know you're an
All twenty two type or not. Like, if you ever
get a chance to find a set of watching Pat
you know, all of his reps one on one against
these guys so far dur in the season. I mean,
it is just you can't watch it and not marvel
at the kind of player he is and the kind
(04:22):
of role that he's on right now with the way
he's playing.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Talking with Parker Gabriel, excuse me, I'm talking with Parker Gabriel.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Parker.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
We look at the Jets game and in the second half,
the Broncos finally this season made a commitment to the
ground game and it paid dividends. You saw Javonte get
in a rhythm. You saw you know, Juel's McLoughlin get
getting in a rhythm. And I think part of that
Tyler Benet goes down early and Sean Payton's hand was
sort of forced in the sense that he couldn't rotate
(04:50):
those guys as much as he wanted. How much can
we expect them to commit to that going forward, because
I think this is the key to unlocking what bo
Nicks is is having a strong ground game and building
off that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
But they've been reluctant to do that thus far.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, they have been. It's been sort of it's sort
of interesting, like you got you got even sort of
like taste of it today that that make me skeptical
that they're going to stick with it again on what
you know, hopefully it's a beautiful day on Sunday here
in Denver. And like you heard Bo today, bow Knicks
today talk about how, you know, they just the last
time they could really spin it was in Tampa when
(05:27):
it was sunny. Both he and Sean Payton both said,
you know, it's not an excuse, but both attributed a
lot of the first half, you know, lack of rhythm,
negative seven yards passing the first half of bo nicks
uh to the weather. And so it just it seems
to me that the way that they played against Tampa,
with a short rhythm passing game, that's like the way
(05:48):
they want to play now. I tend to agree with
you Ben that, like, you know, I think they should
be running it thirty times a game. I'm obviously not
the coach or a coach in the NFL, but when
they've done that, and not just this year at bon Nix,
but going back to last year, the best, the most
control of games they had were the games where they
(06:10):
didn't just run the football at the end of the
game to lead the clock when they already had a lead,
like they did in Tampa. It's committing to the run
and bullying people. And they have an offensive line. We've
talked about this before. They have an offensive line that's
structured to do exactly that. So you know, it's just
one of those things where it looks like they're built
(06:31):
one way, they wipe playing the other way. The quarterback
seems more comfortable so far playing the other way, and
that there's a little bit of tension there, just philosophically.
I don't mean tension like between players and coaches or
among coaches or among players. They're just as attention in
what looks like the way they're built on paper versus
the way they seemingly want to play.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
What are your thoughts when you look at this defense
and you see so many different people finding way to
make plays and what I mean by that because Zach
Allen has made a lot of plays. Now we're not
talking about Zack Allen lighting up the stat sheet is
having like eight to ten sacks, but he is a
game rerecord he's impacting the game. But also linebacker Christian Welch.
(07:17):
I mean he wasn't named gear for the team with
for a long period of time, but even the game
against the Jets, you saw his number flashing. What does
this say about what Vas Joseph is doing to get
these guys to truly buy in and play as a team.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, great call, Nick, especially on Christian Welch. I love
that because Christian Welch on Sunday against New York played
three defensive snaps. The three snaps on the goal line
and it was assisted tackle on first down, stone breeze
haul on second down, and then bailed I think just
enough in to coverag chapter. He and Cody Barton both
got sucked up. They sort of jointly recovered just enough
(07:54):
for Aaron Rodgers to get pressured by John Franklin Myers
and have to throw the ball away on third down.
So like that's sort of the way they're going right now.
Is like, you know, they got a guy that plays
three snaps on the goal line. He makes an impact
on all three of those plays. You know, the kid
all starts for the Jets and they have to kick
a field goal instead of what you would imagine ninety
(08:14):
five percent of the time as a touchdown. So that's
just the way they're going right now. You know, they're
like I don't think Devin Key played it all defensively Sunday,
but he's the guy of the first couple of weeks
right spot duty, looks completely comfortable playing in place of
Brandon Jones when that's been the case. Just it's sort
of so far, whatever button vance Joseph's push with this
(08:34):
defense has pretty much worked. And that's the sign I
think of guys being comfortable in the system. And it's
also just a sign that they feel really good about
where they're at as group. And listen, like, you know,
John Franklin Myers is sort of in the Zach Allen
camp where he doesn't have huge numbers at this point,
but he has and you know, been Ben, you got
(08:56):
to talk about this. We've all talked about this since
the beginning of camp, Like he really changed their defense.
Like the way that their defensive line is now is
so much different than what it looked like last year.
It's you can't even compare it. Even though two of
the starters in Dak Allen and DJ Jones are the
same guys, and so that's really been the engine that
(09:17):
that's driven them so far on defense is their ability
to play against the run and pressure of the quarterback.
But yeah, it's been a fun group to watch so far.
And it's like like you said, every time they throw
somebody in, it seems like they make a playoff.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Talk with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter
covers of Broncos for the Denver Post. Yeah, JFM or
as I call him JMF because he's so unbelievable, really
has been a force on that on that line. It
kind of changed the attitude I think as well DJ
Jones taking the positions, which has gone a lot better
than I expected it to too.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
You look at what the Broncos have done.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Almost every person that they have brought in has been
a hit this year, and it's opposed to perhaps in
recent year where they haven't. Frank Clark didn't work out,
Rady Gregory didn't work out. You look at something the
guys they brought in, Brandon you I mean, you look,
you move on from Justin Simmons and you expect to
drop off in safety play and Brandon Jones has been
around the ball every game. You move on from Josie Jewel,
(10:07):
you lose Alex Singleton the injury. Well, you got Cody
Bartning here who's looking pretty good. You got Justin Sternad
who gets sax Aaron Rodgers on his first play. And
you just talked about Christian Welsh, you talk about JFM,
you talk about.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know, adding Riley Moss over there at the other side.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This is a testament to I think the front office,
the scouts, and the general manager of the must be
aligned George Payton in what they've put together in terms
of personnel. This defense has one first rounder on it
and six guys starting that are either Day three or undrafted.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, definitely, And I mean even like you know that
they signed Zach Allen essentially instead of Draymond Jones last
year in free agency, and like Jack Allen was fine
last year, he had a nice year. But you're really
seeing I think what they envisioned and what they saw,
you know, when they signed him in the spring of
twenty three. Now and now that he's playing with guys
(10:58):
around him that that defense have to respect and pay
attention to. And so yeah, I think you're right. I mean,
the hit rate has been high. You know, it would
have been interesting to see with Riley Moss and Levi
Wallace had Levi been healthy in camp. He wasn't obviously.
Now Riley's playing great. And I agree with you as
on Brandon Jones especially. I mean, he he's been solid,
(11:21):
and the thing that they like about him, and the
thing that they liked about him in free agency is
he will come up and hit and and he's been
willing to do that. It's really helped I think their
run support, that they can play pretty interchangeably between he
and PJ Locke in terms of who's in the box. Obviously,
you know PJ comes three on the fourth and ten
blitz and get Aaron Rodgers on that, you know in
(11:44):
the last two minutes last week, you know, but Brandon
Jones can play up there and run support too, and
all of their guys are willing to tackle, and it's just,
you know, it's just been a pretty good picture for
the defense. Like pretty much literally outside the third quarter
in Seattle.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Parker, before you came on, Ben and I were having
this conversation about whether the Broncos should be buyers and
sellers come the trade deadline, and I know there's a
lot of time between then and now, but if you
had to say, based on what you've seen for the
Broncos being too and too knowing of the two teams
that they have coming up with the Raiders and the Chargers,
what do you say, do you think the team should
(12:21):
be sellers or buyers?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh? You don't think they're going to get DeVante Adams.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Listen, in a perfect world, I would love that, but
teams typically don't trade inside the division. Some teams have
done that in the past, but if it were possible
for the team to do that, I would absolutely say,
sign me up.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
What about Kyle Pitts, which has been my suggestion.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, I mean, well, look well, first of all, like
they need something, they need something at tight end. They're
just really you know in some of the runs up Okay,
even like Greg Dolfich, I think there was a third
and one where he came across and had a little
kickout block helped get a first down. But like by
and large, that's the position where they just they need
to get a lot more and they haven't gotten really
much of anything from the group as it's currently considered.
(13:09):
So Pits would certainly be certainly be interesting. And I
think you know what Pits is like twenty four. I mean,
I think he that's the sort of player who fits
the profile, so I used him as an example. Like
I certainly wouldn't mind the Broncos buying strategically, even if
they're around five hundred. Maybe they're on the periphery. You know,
let's say they're basically they're like they were last year,
(13:31):
except for obviously they were still digging out of the
hole to trade deadline. Last year, I think there were
three and five, So like, if they're in the mix,
but they're not like definitely a buyer, I certainly I
would not mind them strategically buying, as long as it's
not somebody who you're buying for the rest of this
year to try to eke out a wildcard spot. Like
I think you're still very much in roster building mode,
(13:54):
and I'm guessing like obviously this time year, Sam Payton
just win a game no matter what. But like I
think think they would tell you heart of hearts at
this point that it's still a building project. It's a
roster building project all the time, especially for them right now.
So if you could acquire somebody who you think can
be part of your group for you know, the next
couple handful of years. I think that's great, even if
(14:18):
you're you're not writing contention. But like overall, I just
will be surprised that they sell because Sean Payton, you know,
rarely believes that he's out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I'm talking with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on
Twitter covers so Broncos for the Denver Post. Last one
for me, uh, Parker with with bo Nicks, We've got
a quarter of the way through the season thus far.
I'm you know, dating back to training camp, I maintained that,
you know, he was a little inaccurate throwing behind guys.
We saw that even on the touchdown pass to Courtland
Sudden and and it's sort of been that way outside
of the Tampa game, where he had an incredibly clean
(14:49):
pocket to work from.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
What can we do to help expedite bon Nicks in
his development?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, it's a great question. I've thought about this quite
a bit, and I I think one of the challenges
is that some of the things that you typically do
for a young quarterback to help him is are things
that just are not quite in bo Nix's wheelhouse at
this point. Like, you know, he's pretty good. He can
make plays on the run, but just playing from under
(15:18):
center and all the footwork and intricacies and all of
that is just not really what he's best at at
this point, not really what he's comfortable at this point.
I mean, most guys you don't say, hey, let's let's
let's try to help our young quarterback out and put
him in the gun, you know, empty. But bo Nicks,
when we asked him about empty a couple of weeks ago,
he's like, yeah, I love that, you know. So he's
(15:40):
a little bit of a of a roof exkew just
in terms of like what's normally good for a young
quarterback and what bo Nick is comfortable with don't seem
to me to be exactly the same thing. So I
think they've got to continue to protect him, and they
just you know, I think they've got to hit on
some stuff down the field. They tried, you know, he
threw it up for Troy Franklin on Sunday, and and
(16:04):
I just maintain, like, run the football, play from under center,
like these are the this is where my brain goes
and I'm like, how do you help a young quarterback?
And that doesn't seem to be what they like to do,
so I'm not really sure, but it'll be interesting to
see how they try to, you know, help him along
over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Well that's right, well, at least to look good doing
it in those throwback uniforms. This weekending for Raiders Week, Parker.
We always appreciate that, Tod. Look forward seeing you out.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
There on Sunday. All right, have a good night, guys,
Absolutely take care. Parker Gables never post
Go right out to the Uka Common Spirrel hotline and
bring on our guy, Parker, Gabriel Parker, how you doing this?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Seating good guys. I was just in the commercial break
before before he came back. I was watching the twenty
year old Jackson Surio Homer in the playoffs for the Brewers.
So I may or may not have yelled in my
living room.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
That was what that sound was. We were trying to
figure out. We thought we had some faulty equipment. We
didn't know what's going on. I didn't know you're a
Brewers fan.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, yeah, I grew up in Wisconsin. Okay, that are
the Cubs, and I would never do that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, I was born in Saint Louis. I could never family.
Wou just owe me, So you know, Parker, we got
an interesting set up here. The Broncos finished that first
quarter of the season at an even five hundred, and
it's interesting because some of those games to those games
could have gone either way. The Jets game in the
this Steelers game probably could have gone either way. But
they finish with an East coast trip two early games.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
They get the wins.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
They find ways to either get the wins or not
lose them in the case of New York, and we're
coming home for a two game stretch against banged up
a West upon US and look suddenly witable. All of
a sudden, the Broncos look like they have the road
paved in front of them.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, it's kind of funny. Ben, Like, I got this
question in our mail bag for the Denver Post this
week about what letter grade would you give the Broncos
And I'm not I mean, we do that so far,
like through four games, right, and like we do that
each game. And I'm not a big fan of the
letter grade thing, but it just it got me to
thinking about, like, okay, quarter to the way through, what
do you make of the Broncos? And it's kind of
(01:28):
funny that, like I think you actually for all of
the zero to two and what are they going to
be this year and all of that, Like I think
you feel dethan about where they're at right now, and
maybe even you know, somewhat heartened if you're a fan,
just because of how good the defense has been and
you know, are they going to be third in overall
(01:48):
defense and scoring defense? All year? You know, maybe not,
but even if they're a top ten defense, if the
offense comes around at all, you maybe have something to
work with. And so so I think they're in a
pretty decent spot. Broncos fans and folks that cover the team.
People have been covering the team a lot longer than me.
I think we're a little bit conditioned to say, okay,
(02:12):
two and two, two home games coming up, two beat
up teams coming up, Like, how is it going to
go wrong? But listen, if they're in front of them,
there's thirteen teams there, two and two, and they've got
a chance to really, you know, do a little bit
of damage and stack a couple more wins here over
the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
All right, Parker, The Broncos defense has been playing exceptionally,
even though we still find ourselves talking about the offense.
But one player in particular is I guess falling on
the under the radar if I can say that, And
that's been the production of PS two because he's typically
(02:50):
tasked with following the other team's top player around, but
he is still performing at a high level, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No doubt. I mean it pretty amazing. Actually, I just
wrote about Pat today. Story went up a little bit ago.
I mean, he he what he's doing. You know, Levi
Wallace obviously veteran guy than around the NFL for a
long time. I was talking to him in the locker
room today and he put it pretty simply. He said,
he said, the thing that Pat's doing right now is crazy.
(03:18):
I mean, he's he has pretty much he rates the
top receiver of the other team each of the first
four weeks. It would have been awesome to see him
this weekend when he's in this kind of form, going
against Pat or going against DeVante Adams of the Raiders.
Obviously it doesn't seem like that's going to happen at
this point, but it just he does it in a
(03:39):
way that it's so sort of like unremarkable. You could
just miss it the entire game, and all of a
sudden you look up and George Pickens has one catch,
he came metcalf as three for twenty nine, Mike Evans
has one catch for eight yards, and then Garrett Wilson,
you know, two for twenty two. And this is just
(04:00):
it's sort of just what he does every week. And
so it's one of those things where it's like, you know,
whether you're a film junkie or you know you're an
All twenty two type or not. Like, if you ever
get a chance to find a set of watching Pat
you know, all of his reps one on one against
these guys so far dur in the season. I mean,
it is just you can't watch it and not marvel
at the kind of player he is and the kind
(04:22):
of role that he's on right now with the way
he's playing.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Talking with Parker Gabriel, excuse me, I'm talking with Parker Gabriel.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Parker.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
We look at the Jets game and in the second half,
the Broncos finally this season made a commitment to the
ground game and it paid dividends. You saw Javonte get
in a rhythm. You saw you know, Juel's McLoughlin get
getting in a rhythm. And I think part of that
Tyler Benet goes down early and Sean Payton's hand was
sort of forced in the sense that he couldn't rotate
(04:50):
those guys as much as he wanted. How much can
we expect them to commit to that going forward, because
I think this is the key to unlocking what bo
Nicks is is having a strong ground game and building
off that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
But they've been reluctant to do that thus far.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, they have been. It's been sort of it's sort
of interesting, like you got you got even sort of
like taste of it today that that make me skeptical
that they're going to stick with it again on what
you know, hopefully it's a beautiful day on Sunday here
in Denver. And like you heard Bo today, bow Knicks
today talk about how, you know, they just the last
time they could really spin it was in Tampa when
(05:27):
it was sunny. Both he and Sean Payton both said,
you know, it's not an excuse, but both attributed a
lot of the first half, you know, lack of rhythm,
negative seven yards passing the first half of bo nicks
uh to the weather. And so it just it seems
to me that the way that they played against Tampa,
with a short rhythm passing game, that's like the way
(05:48):
they want to play now. I tend to agree with
you Ben that, like, you know, I think they should
be running it thirty times a game. I'm obviously not
the coach or a coach in the NFL, but when
they've done that, and not just this year at bon Nix,
but going back to last year, the best, the most
control of games they had were the games where they
(06:10):
didn't just run the football at the end of the
game to lead the clock when they already had a lead,
like they did in Tampa. It's committing to the run
and bullying people. And they have an offensive line. We've
talked about this before. They have an offensive line that's
structured to do exactly that. So you know, it's just
one of those things where it looks like they're built
(06:31):
one way, they wipe playing the other way. The quarterback
seems more comfortable so far playing the other way, and
that there's a little bit of tension there, just philosophically.
I don't mean tension like between players and coaches or
among coaches or among players. They're just as attention in
what looks like the way they're built on paper versus
the way they seemingly want to play.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
What are your thoughts when you look at this defense
and you see so many different people finding way to
make plays and what I mean by that because Zach
Allen has made a lot of plays. Now we're not
talking about Zack Allen lighting up the stat sheet is
having like eight to ten sacks, but he is a
game rerecord he's impacting the game. But also linebacker Christian Welch.
(07:17):
I mean he wasn't named gear for the team with
for a long period of time, but even the game
against the Jets, you saw his number flashing. What does
this say about what Vas Joseph is doing to get
these guys to truly buy in and play as a team.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, great call, Nick, especially on Christian Welch. I love
that because Christian Welch on Sunday against New York played
three defensive snaps. The three snaps on the goal line
and it was assisted tackle on first down, stone breeze
haul on second down, and then bailed I think just
enough in to coverag chapter. He and Cody Barton both
got sucked up. They sort of jointly recovered just enough
(07:54):
for Aaron Rodgers to get pressured by John Franklin Myers
and have to throw the ball away on third down.
So like that's sort of the way they're going right now.
Is like, you know, they got a guy that plays
three snaps on the goal line. He makes an impact
on all three of those plays. You know, the kid
all starts for the Jets and they have to kick
a field goal instead of what you would imagine ninety
(08:14):
five percent of the time as a touchdown. So that's
just the way they're going right now. You know, they're
like I don't think Devin Key played it all defensively Sunday,
but he's the guy of the first couple of weeks
right spot duty, looks completely comfortable playing in place of
Brandon Jones when that's been the case. Just it's sort
of so far, whatever button vance Joseph's push with this
(08:34):
defense has pretty much worked. And that's the sign I
think of guys being comfortable in the system. And it's
also just a sign that they feel really good about
where they're at as group. And listen, like, you know,
John Franklin Myers is sort of in the Zach Allen
camp where he doesn't have huge numbers at this point,
but he has and you know, been Ben, you got
(08:56):
to talk about this. We've all talked about this since
the beginning of camp, Like he really changed their defense.
Like the way that their defensive line is now is
so much different than what it looked like last year.
It's you can't even compare it. Even though two of
the starters in Dak Allen and DJ Jones are the
same guys, and so that's really been the engine that
(09:17):
that's driven them so far on defense is their ability
to play against the run and pressure of the quarterback.
But yeah, it's been a fun group to watch so far.
And it's like like you said, every time they throw
somebody in, it seems like they make a playoff.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Talk with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter
covers of Broncos for the Denver Post. Yeah, JFM or
as I call him JMF because he's so unbelievable, really
has been a force on that on that line. It
kind of changed the attitude I think as well DJ
Jones taking the positions, which has gone a lot better
than I expected it to too.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
You look at what the Broncos have done.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Almost every person that they have brought in has been
a hit this year, and it's opposed to perhaps in
recent year where they haven't. Frank Clark didn't work out,
Rady Gregory didn't work out. You look at something the
guys they brought in, Brandon you I mean, you look,
you move on from Justin Simmons and you expect to
drop off in safety play and Brandon Jones has been
around the ball every game. You move on from Josie Jewel,
(10:07):
you lose Alex Singleton the injury. Well, you got Cody
Bartning here who's looking pretty good. You got Justin Sternad
who gets sax Aaron Rodgers on his first play. And
you just talked about Christian Welsh, you talk about JFM,
you talk about.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know, adding Riley Moss over there at the other side.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
This is a testament to I think the front office,
the scouts, and the general manager of the must be
aligned George Payton in what they've put together in terms
of personnel. This defense has one first rounder on it
and six guys starting that are either Day three or undrafted.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, definitely, And I mean even like you know that
they signed Zach Allen essentially instead of Draymond Jones last
year in free agency, and like Jack Allen was fine
last year, he had a nice year. But you're really
seeing I think what they envisioned and what they saw,
you know, when they signed him in the spring of
twenty three. Now and now that he's playing with guys
(10:58):
around him that that defense have to respect and pay
attention to. And so yeah, I think you're right. I mean,
the hit rate has been high. You know, it would
have been interesting to see with Riley Moss and Levi
Wallace had Levi been healthy in camp. He wasn't obviously.
Now Riley's playing great. And I agree with you as
on Brandon Jones especially. I mean, he he's been solid,
(11:21):
and the thing that they like about him, and the
thing that they liked about him in free agency is
he will come up and hit and and he's been
willing to do that. It's really helped I think their
run support, that they can play pretty interchangeably between he
and PJ Locke in terms of who's in the box. Obviously,
you know PJ comes three on the fourth and ten
blitz and get Aaron Rodgers on that, you know in
(11:44):
the last two minutes last week, you know, but Brandon
Jones can play up there and run support too, and
all of their guys are willing to tackle, and it's just,
you know, it's just been a pretty good picture for
the defense. Like pretty much literally outside the third quarter
in Seattle.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Parker, before you came on, Ben and I were having
this conversation about whether the Broncos should be buyers and
sellers come the trade deadline, and I know there's a
lot of time between then and now, but if you
had to say, based on what you've seen for the
Broncos being too and too knowing of the two teams
that they have coming up with the Raiders and the Chargers,
what do you say, do you think the team should
(12:21):
be sellers or buyers?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh? You don't think they're going to get DeVante Adams.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Listen, in a perfect world, I would love that, but
teams typically don't trade inside the division. Some teams have
done that in the past, but if it were possible
for the team to do that, I would absolutely say,
sign me up.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
What about Kyle Pitts, which has been my suggestion.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, I mean, well, look well, first of all, like
they need something, they need something at tight end. They're
just really you know in some of the runs up Okay,
even like Greg Dolfich, I think there was a third
and one where he came across and had a little
kickout block helped get a first down. But like by
and large, that's the position where they just they need
to get a lot more and they haven't gotten really
much of anything from the group as it's currently considered.
(13:09):
So Pits would certainly be certainly be interesting. And I
think you know what Pits is like twenty four. I mean,
I think he that's the sort of player who fits
the profile, so I used him as an example. Like
I certainly wouldn't mind the Broncos buying strategically, even if
they're around five hundred. Maybe they're on the periphery. You know,
let's say they're basically they're like they were last year,
(13:31):
except for obviously they were still digging out of the
hole to trade deadline. Last year, I think there were
three and five, So like, if they're in the mix,
but they're not like definitely a buyer, I certainly I
would not mind them strategically buying, as long as it's
not somebody who you're buying for the rest of this
year to try to eke out a wildcard spot. Like
I think you're still very much in roster building mode,
(13:54):
and I'm guessing like obviously this time year, Sam Payton
just win a game no matter what. But like I
think think they would tell you heart of hearts at
this point that it's still a building project. It's a
roster building project all the time, especially for them right now.
So if you could acquire somebody who you think can
be part of your group for you know, the next
couple handful of years. I think that's great, even if
(14:18):
you're you're not writing contention. But like overall, I just
will be surprised that they sell because Sean Payton, you know,
rarely believes that he's out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I'm talking with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on
Twitter covers so Broncos for the Denver Post. Last one
for me, uh, Parker with with bo Nicks, We've got
a quarter of the way through the season thus far.
I'm you know, dating back to training camp, I maintained that,
you know, he was a little inaccurate throwing behind guys.
We saw that even on the touchdown pass to Courtland
Sudden and and it's sort of been that way outside
of the Tampa game, where he had an incredibly clean
(14:49):
pocket to work from.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
What can we do to help expedite bon Nicks in
his development?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, it's a great question. I've thought about this quite
a bit, and I I think one of the challenges
is that some of the things that you typically do
for a young quarterback to help him is are things
that just are not quite in bo Nix's wheelhouse at
this point. Like, you know, he's pretty good. He can
make plays on the run, but just playing from under
(15:18):
center and all the footwork and intricacies and all of
that is just not really what he's best at at
this point, not really what he's comfortable at this point.
I mean, most guys you don't say, hey, let's let's
let's try to help our young quarterback out and put
him in the gun, you know, empty. But bo Nicks,
when we asked him about empty a couple of weeks ago,
he's like, yeah, I love that, you know. So he's
(15:40):
a little bit of a of a roof exkew just
in terms of like what's normally good for a young
quarterback and what bo Nick is comfortable with don't seem
to me to be exactly the same thing. So I
think they've got to continue to protect him, and they
just you know, I think they've got to hit on
some stuff down the field. They tried, you know, he
threw it up for Troy Franklin on Sunday, and and
(16:04):
I just maintain, like, run the football, play from under center,
like these are the this is where my brain goes
and I'm like, how do you help a young quarterback?
And that doesn't seem to be what they like to do,
so I'm not really sure, but it'll be interesting to
see how they try to, you know, help him along
over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Well that's right, well, at least to look good doing
it in those throwback uniforms. This weekending for Raiders Week, Parker.
We always appreciate that, Tod. Look forward seeing you out.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
There on Sunday. All right, have a good night, guys,
Absolutely take care. Parker Gables never post
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