10-16-24 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am film, Well, I need filling in for Benjamin Albright.
Here in studio with the one and only Nick Ferguson,
we are talking to all things Broncos and Saints getting
ready for a big matchup on Thursday Night football.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Both of these.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Teams desperately in need for a win here, Nick, the
Saints have had a rough go of it the last
several weeks here.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
The Broncos had.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
That three game winning streak snap last week against the Chargers.
In my opinion, particularly on the offensive side, they could
really use a bounce back game. And so this is
a big one here. So we are going to welcome
in Matthew Paris from The Times, picka un and The
Advocate to talk about this matchup. Matthew, thank you so

(00:46):
much for taking some time to join us.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Hey, yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
What is the vibe like there in New Orleans with
Sean Payton coming back to town on Thursday Night?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, it's interesting because it's a bit chaotic at the moment.
It's you know, Sean Payton's return has almost been overshadowed
by kind of the chaos going around the team, or
you know that they're in a four game losing streak,
the early vibes of starting to and oh has been
pretty much all but ruined. And you know, the defense
has really regressed to where you know that that's very

(01:21):
uncharacteristic for the Saints defense, and so it's almost on
a kind of full crisis mode over here. But you know,
people have still talked highly about Peyton's I think they're excited,
and it'll be interesting to see what the atmosphere is
because you know, Peyton, for as he loved as he
was in New Orleans, you know, he kind of left

(01:42):
on downturns, So it'll be interesting to see what reception
he gets. But I would imagine it's mostly positive.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
So with so many injuries on the officer side of
the ball, it seems though Clinton Kobiak has a tough
job in the makeshift offense as he tries to go
out there and try to turn lemons into lemonade. What
do you see him doing as to try to make
things easier for rookie quarterback Spencer Ratler.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, I think the klink Kubyak experience in New Orleans
has been largely positive so far. He's a type of
coordinator that plays his player's strength. I think you saw
that last week with his approach in Ratler's first start
against Tampa. A lot of rollouts, a lot of plays
designed to take advantage of Rattler's mobility. Now the interest

(02:30):
the thing was that Tampa really kind of shut those
types of plays down as the games go along, and
as much as Denver likes to blitz, I could see
Ratley having some trouble there again, But I do think
Kubiak will try and take advantage of Rattler's mobility, has
a big arm, and try and get him on the

(02:52):
move and push it down the field a little bit,
especially with Patter tannout.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, just with the two starting the receivers there out
for New Orleans felt like maybe we'd see a lot
of Alvin Kamara. I wanted to ask you, Matthew, like,
from your perspective in New Orleans, what is sort of
the thought surrounding this Broncos team and especially bow Nicks.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, I think it's it'll be it's you know, trum
Payton for being such like no one is an offensive guru.
It's kind of wild to see their often struggle the way.
It's sad. Now I get bo Nicks as a rookie
quarterback and he's now going to be seven games into
his first year, so he should probably get them plat

(03:37):
that way. But it's not the juggernaut that people are
used to with that offense.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
But that's that.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I think bo Nicks is still a smart player. He
makes generally good decisions. I know he's had a few interceptions,
but I think you can grow into the role. It's
just a matter of do they have the talent to
take to take advantage of New Orleans deficiencies right now now?
And you know, with Courtland Sutton and the other playmakers there,

(04:06):
it's kind of a mixed bag. So we'll see how
Peyton decides to attack it.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
So when you look at the Saints defense, they're underperforming.
They're giving up at least twenty four points a game,
and they're kind of towards the bottom when you look
at the number of passing yards that they're giving up.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
Why do you think that Joe.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Woods and this defense is struggling, knowing as though on
the defensive side of the ball, they have a lot
of seasoned veteran players.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah no, that's that's the number one point question around
town right now. But the biggest problem it seems to be,
is misstackles, which you know they're they're veteran players. You
guys know how to tackle once you reach the NFL.
That's not new, but they they just aren't really in
good positions once they try to make the tackle. There's

(04:55):
been a lot of open space miss tackles, there's been
a lot of bad angles and really that that's kind
of kept plays a lot. But there's struggle in other
areas too. You know that they're not very good at
stopping to run. They've had some really costly penalties, particularly
with Bolton Adebo. They're starting cornerback off the Marshall Lattimore
and he's had that think about eight and so they

(05:18):
kind of just fairly get stopped at big times and
that's kind of the biggest problem he saw.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Obviously, Baker Mayfield had a big day last week. The
Buccaneers scored fifty one points in that game. So maybe
a chance for the Broncos certainly to get back on track. Potentially,
let's get back to Sean Payton a little bit here.
You know, it's one thing for the fans maybe to
feel a little spurned with him leaving and then now

(05:44):
you know, coming back so quickly with a different team.
What's the vibe like in that Saints locker room because
we heard you know, Cam Jordan sort of downplay you know,
the hey, it's just another game here, that's the mentality.
But what's it like, what's the sense of the guys
who actually played for Sean there?

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah, I mean there are eighteen guys left. A lot
of them are hurt right now. But of the guys
we talked to, I think don't played it as well.
You know, they were appreciateive for what Peyton did for
their careers. So they see a lot of the same
similarities in terms of the offensive structure that the Broncos
run to what the Saints did, and so I do

(06:26):
think people are generally grateful for him. You know, they've
had everyone has their like game pay Sean Sorry, where
they get cut out by Sean Painion on game day.
But besides that, you know that that now, if those
are the types of memories that are kind of looked
back with fondness, like with distance, rather than maybe in

(06:49):
the moment.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
Well, for me, I want to get down to the
nuts and bolts of it.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Let's talk about pressure. It is Thursday night games the
short week. The Broncos are coming off disappointing home laws.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
Against the Chargers.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
But like you said earlier, you look at the Saints,
they've lost consecutive games, and I've heard that coach Dennis
Allen his seat is rid hot. How much pressure is
is it on him to kind of get this team
back on the winning track knowing knowing that they have
so many injuries right now.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, they do. And I don't necessarily know. I mean,
Dennis Allen's seat is hot in the sense that this
is his third season, he hasn't made the playoffs in
this first two, Like this is a huge year for him.
But at the moment, like if they lose to Denver,
if he's going to get fired, and I would be
very surprised, just because Thanky Loomis, their general manager, went

(07:42):
on the radio this week with the pretty like strong
defense of Ben Allen said you had to look beyond
the results, like look at beyond like, yeah, look beyond
the results, see what's happening, like why these losses are happening.
And sometimes it's on the coach, but initiatese it is it,
you know, the comment Senate necessarily go over well fans here,

(08:06):
but that that's kind of how they feel about going
to found that front office. He has been behind him,
so this is a huge year for him. It's just
how much like what will it do if he loses
to his former boss? You know, tell me how about
the losses?

Speaker 5 (08:22):
I guess is.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, because if you look at this Saints team, they
started the season so well, and when Carr was healthy
in there, you know, they were playing really well. Lost
by three points to the Eagles, two points to the Falcons.
That was a big game on Monday Night football against
the Chiefs. You know, like this team was rolling there
for a while, so you know, I think that that

(08:45):
might be a little bit quick to make a move there.
Although hey, this is the NFL. It is really interesting
how how much coaching overlapped or is between the Saints
and this Broncos team. I mean, you mentioned Joe Woods,
Klint Kubiak, Dennis Allen, and then of course you know
Sean has brought so many Saints guys with him and

(09:05):
brought a lot of Saints players. You know, that's seemed
to be his m O here for the first year
and a half. So one thing I did want to
ask you about was Drew Brees going into the Hall
of Fame that kind of just rams this up just
even a little bit more right going into the Saints
Hall of Fame this week.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
It does, and I actually think the Saints will try
and do what you know, game day atmosphere wise, to
try and maybe make it more about Drew than it
was about Sean Marjeff Duncan, I'll call him this year
at the times they can't. He actually reported this week
that the Saint that some things officials didn't want the
Drew Breeses induction to be this side just because they

(09:45):
felt like they didn't want Breeze's induction into the Ring
of Honor to kind of be overshadowed by Sean Pain.
But it is. But Breeze wanted this. I think it'll
be upside for sure them if they have a chance.
They know, last before the game at all, you guys
know that Sean Payne still talks about Drew Brees all

(10:08):
the time and that those two still get along pretty well.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
I think.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
So we've seen Drew at the Broncos facility. I mean
he's been here, you know, with with uh Sean. So
you you said Drew chose this game.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, so that's that's my understanding, is that he but
part of that was because he coaches like his kids
on the weekend and didn't want to get away from
California where he lives, so Thursday kind of made the
most sense. But yeah, I do think maybe Payton, I
don't know for sure, but I could imagine the paint

(10:43):
angle maybe playing some tacts there too. But I do
think it was more so the schedule least, that's what
people pulled Jeff.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Interesting, that's really Uh. I just think the fact that
you know he's going in, the emotions are going to
be so high, uh, you know for this game. I
just think that it's going to be really interesting to
see because at the end of the day, I do
think that you know, you you say what you want
to say in the media, but at the end of
the day, this is sort of like, hey, we want

(11:11):
to we want to get our old coach.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, Yeah, I mean I think so. I think it
would do a lot for dna Felon to take some
of the pressure off right now. Now, the uh, the
Saints desperately need to win going into this game, and
if it comes against you, know the guy who coaching
for fifteen years that I think that's out of gravy.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
Matthew.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
When I think about Spencer Rattler and I go back
to the days at ou in South Carolina, there was
something dynamic about him. Even the Broncos staff have talked
about when they were doing their evaluations they had the
hymn somewhere.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
On their board.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
So what have you seen from Spencer Rattler that will
let Broncos fans know that even though this is a
short week, this is not going to be a game
that's going to be an easy win. Because Spencer ral has.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
What I think athleticism is his main selling point, at
least in terms of maybe mobility is more of the
right word. Can really get out there with his legs,
can push the ball down the field. He has a
different element to the Sants offense that they didn't have
for Derek Carr. Now, I don't think Derek Carr's job

(12:23):
is in danger by any means. He'll have this starting
job on healthy again, but he just Ratler just provides
kind of an interesting wrinkle to maybe what Clint Kubiak
can do. And to your point earlier about Tameric getting involved. Yeah,
I mean they're going to lean on him. It would
really really helpful if Taysom Hill was healthy, but he's doubtful.

(12:43):
So I think Rattler, you know, he's a guy that
I think can grow a bit. He's still relatively young,
being a rookie. He had a lot of college starting experience, however,
and that has gone. You know that that's been a
positive with this staff that they've said that, you know,
he started forty two games to college. That helps him

(13:05):
get up the speed a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Matthew, Well, thank you so much for your time here.
We'll let you out of this, out of here on this.
You know a lot of different angles to this game,
all the injuries, the Champagne, the Drew Brees, everything, you
know we've talked about here.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
How do you see it playing out?

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, you know, I see it going either two ways.
One is a narrow state Saint Twin. I think they
really need it from a desperation standpoint. Or I can
see it getting really ugly in the Broncos and Team
Payton kind of blowing the doors off. You know. Cam
Jordan had a really interesting quote this week. He said
that Trump Payton is a type who can see blood
in the water. Then when I asked Cam Jordan if

(13:45):
the Saints were bleeding, he said the yardage shotal from
the Buccaneers game. So I do think the Saints are bleeding.
But I actually think Dennis Allen has a reputation as
a defensive guy. He's gotten his defensive track when they struggled,
and I just even with Crystal without even with Crystal

(14:06):
Lave and your shuture heat sidelined, I like the Saints narrowly.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Okay, all right, it makes sense. And anything can happen
on Thursday night. I mean some of these Thursday night
games have been crazy the last couple of weeks here,
so you never know what's going to happen on a
short week. You just go out there and line it up.
So we are looking forward to the game. Matthew, thank
you so much. I really appreciate your time and your insight.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
On the game.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Well, thanks, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
That's Matthew Paris, the Saints beat reporter for the Times.
Pick a Yun and the Advocate. We went into enemy
territory there a little bit, Nick, just to get an
interesting perspective on this game.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Would you think, well.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
I thought that the lending part of where he is slightly.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Given the stands stage.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
I mean, it may sound like a little like hometown cooking,
but for me, it's something that to be taken into
consideration because, like you said on Thursday Night football, anything
can happen, and when you take an opponent very lightly,
oh yeah, and that sometimes ends up very poorly because
when you look at the Thursday Night game results, for

(15:11):
the most part, a lot of teams.

Speaker 5 (15:13):
Have scored a lot of points.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, and the Cowboys they they won, but they just
barely beat the Giants twenty to fifteen.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
So could we see that type of game tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Could be Yeah, we'll have to see.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
And interesting his thoughts on this Broncos offensive bo knicks
six games through the season here, Well, we'll talk much
more about that. And you know, how can the Broncos
get right here against a hurting Saints team? Maybe an
opportunity for a faster start too, So that'll be coming
up after the break stick with us here on Broncos

(15:49):
Country tonight talking about the Broncos Thursday night matchup against
the New Orleans Saints. A lot going on with this matchup.
We've got the injuries, we got Peyton heading back to
New Orleans, and of course we've got bo Nicks trying
to bounce back after a tough start to that Chargers game.

(16:10):
Of course, the fourth quarter things turned around for him
a little bit nick or a lot of bit, But
through three quarters against the Chargers, Nicks had twenty seven
yards passing Nick. So what's going to be the key
to try and get this Broncos offense. Maybe get a
little jump start, get going a little bit earlier light.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Of fire unto their asses. Yeah, pretty much. And the
way you do that is you're going into a hostile
environment in the Caesars Dome, and you know that Drew
Brees is going to be honored, He's going into the
Ring of Fame.

Speaker 5 (16:47):
You should want to go in and step all over that, right.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
You just want to make Ah, you guys shore for
Drew Brees. Yeah, all you want to, But you're going
home crying. And that has to be the mentality for
the coaching staff and every single play. And I know
there's a large amount of coaches, both on the defense
but more importantly on the offensive side of the ball,
who were there with Drew Brees. Zach Street, the offensive

(17:14):
line coach. He blocked for Drew Brees. Yeah right, So
this is a celebration for Drew Brees, where the Broncos
should say, well, we heard, we've heard of wedding crashers.
We're going to be party crashers. That's what we are,
crashing your New Orleans party.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
So take all the gumbo and vigne that you want
before the game, but we're gonna kick it over. It's
got to be the mentality.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
You gotta take it personally the hut.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
Yes, it has to be personal, even though once again,
as a player, you may have friends on the other
side of the ball. And just to tell give you
a little transparency about me, like when I play, I
was cool with a lot of guys. I will talk
to you before the game. You know, we may talk
family the moment they kicked the ball.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
I don't know you.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
I don't know you.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, and you may say, don for why you hit
me that way? What uniform are you wearing? Yeah, right,
you're in the wrong uniform. So this is the type
of game. Now after the game, be like, hey man, hey,
sorry about that, but you know how it is.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, let me keep it pushing. Yeah, that's the way.
I mean, it's your job, right, it's my job. Yeah,
but that's a tough place to play. New Orleans is
a is a really you know, first of all, you're
in New Orleans, so it's already a party, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
They're going to be liquored up.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
It's and you know, Shane's back there, Druze coming back,
and that dome, Nick, it's kind of it's not like
one of these new domes, you know, like you go
to like Dallas or you go to Minnesota. There's like
natural light coming in that dome.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
It's dark. You're like in a spaceship and out of.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
Space, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
You're like in a different you know world, okay, and
that crowd is going crazy.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
You know.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
That's that is a tough place to play. And you know,
I think that the start of this game is going
to be really important for the Broncos because when I
think about the good games that Bo's had, you know,
or like that Tampa game really sticks out, just the
way that they were able to go out there that
first drive, you know, stuff that they've really worked on,

(19:18):
you know, in practice, and then it translates to the game.
That's just got to do so much confidence wise, like,
all right, hey, well we practice our game plans working.
I hit a few passes here, I'm feeling good and
maybe it quiets the crowd a little bit there. I
just think that the start of this game is going
to be important.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Well, the start of the game.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Every game is so important, and the Broncos right now
are at the bottom statistically in two categories, first down
and third down. Execution can stay on the field, so
can't get a first If you cannot get a first down,
that becomes problematic and it starts to kind of get
into your mind as far as what you're capabilities are.

(20:01):
And I would dare to say that sometimes it would
change players belief in the play call, right if you're saying,
oh man, we call them that play again, Well, that
play didn't work before, it didn't work in week two,
we calling it again.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
So it would force players to not really buy in.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
And we know how important that is for players to
buy into any scheme or any strategy.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
And you want to make sure that you.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Have all hands on deck when you are trying to
get back on the track and you are behind the gun,
meaning that you're an enemy territory and you know it's
going to be loud.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
What about the pre snap execution? How have you seen that?
Has that improved as the season's gone on? Here, Nick,
because that's going to be in my mind, it's going
to be crucial. You don't want to be backing yourself
up and.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Hey, you're on the road.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Things are going to be you know your communication is
going to be crucial this week.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
Well, the biggest thing as.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
It pertains to that is communication across the line of scrimmage.
And like I said, playing on a roll is very difficult.
Is going to be loud. Those individuals are gonna be
you know, sparked up, hype, call it whatever you want to.
You got to find a way to quiet the crowd
because if the Broncos can take that first drive down
the field and score, it's gonna settle them down just

(21:16):
a little. And that's what you want because you want
your office to stay into a rhythm. But also you
want to make sure that your offensive linement can hear
when you don't have the fans yelling and screaming and
they are upset because they've lost three or four in
a row. You take the energy, you take the air
out of the room. So the Broncos are gonna have
to be able to do that because we've seen too

(21:37):
many times, whether it's this year and we're seeing it
an awful amount last year, when the Broncos make a
positive play, guess what, you gotta come back because there's
offside someone moving in legal formation. The Broncos just have
to make sure that their operation is clean.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, because to me, like if you're in law, you
know these and longs and stuff. That's how you get
off the field quick, that's how you get a three
and out. Especially with the way that it seems like
the Broncos like to start some of these games shorter passes,
try to run the ball a little bit to start,
just to see, get to feel it out a little bit.
In order to have that be successful, you've got to

(22:17):
be in manageable situations.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
Well, the only way you can.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
Put yourself in managber situation is ruling first down, an
area that the Broncos, like I said, they're not the
best in as far as the other thirty one teams
get positive yards on first downs.

Speaker 5 (22:33):
Like, that's easier said and done. So what do you do.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
We've seen the Broncos come out running the ball on
first out two consecutive plays first and second down, and
then we've seen them come out and pass the ball.

Speaker 5 (22:44):
For me, I would like.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
To see the Broncos put Boat under center at times,
because when from a defense perspective, when we see a
quarterback under center, we don't know if it's a run
our pass. If you're in a shotgun, we're going eighty
percent of the time most likely that's the past because
sending your quarterback in the shotgun, you'll simply put him
in his five to seven step drop.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, and you can't see as well when you're you know,
if from the defensive perspective, if you're under center, you
can't really see as well what's going on. I imagine
it probably helps with the crowd noise a little bit
there if you're under center, makes your operation a little
bit easier.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Can Bo do that?

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yes, hell yeah. There's a lot of things that Bow
can do. And for me, I'm always going to refer
back to the film I watched before Bow got arrived here,
what we saw in Auburn, when we saw at Oregon.
For me, that wasn't a fluke. I mean, there's a
lot to this kid, and he's got a lot of
moxie and you can see it based on some of

(23:45):
the plays he's made this season, more importantly on Sunday
and Bow has a lot of Russell Wilson in him.
It sounds bad, but because being able to see Blitzer's
coming from certain directions, being able to make your offensive

(24:09):
line better. Because there has been some criticism of Bo,
as it was of Russell, Well he's creating too many sacks.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
Well, he's also getting you out of sacks too as well.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, right, and and that's something that individuals are not
talking about because I hear well.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
BO is not seeing the same the entire field. Well,
they said the same thing about Russell. Right.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
Well, my whole thing is in any offensive scheme, if
you're a mobile quarterback, there's an escape hatch.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, I find it.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
And I think the Buzzs done a really good job,
like not taking a huge sack. I mean, he was
only sacked twice last week against the Chargers, a lot
of pressures and he was able to get out of
some of those. I mean the one where he ran
for the sideline was crazy.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
You see at the end of the Yeah, yes.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
I don't know if I like that.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
No, no, no, well let me let me rephrase that.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I like that. I don't
care because the idea is that when you are down,
most guys kind.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
Of get into a suppressive state, just beat down.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
But you still have a guy out there who's firing,
and he's a rookie and he's your quarterback.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
So so yes, I love to see him point at
another guy because even though you're down, he's he's still
fired up, and that should fire other guys up to say,
you know what, that's my quarterback. Now I'm not I'm
not gonna cry like Terror Oorins did, but that's my quarter.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
But I understand.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
I understood Terrell then, but I understand if someone on
the Broncos roster did that.

Speaker 5 (25:50):
Now you need.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Someone to do that quarter perfect, you know.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
I think that that's been his strongest attribute that I've
seen Nick is just the way that the guys respond
to him after Cortland's big touchdown. I mean, you saw
them on the sideline getting each other hyped up.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
There.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
You got to have that mindset that you're like, Okay,
we're gonna pull through this, We're gonna make some magic
happen here. You got to have that, and I think
that the guys have rallied around him that way, Nick,
But I think that you tell me what it's like here.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Nick.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
You can be that raw raye, you could be that
positive guy. You can have that strong leadership, but at
some point you got to go out there and perform
and not fall behind twenty three nothing. You got to
go out there and do it, and then you say, Okay,
I'll follow that guy.

Speaker 5 (26:40):
So Phil, all of what you say it is true.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
And there's no one player who wins games by themselves.
And this is the problem with how quarterbacks have viewed
and evaluated like they are somehow the savior. They're going
to save everyone. Yeah, and no, he's not superman. Like
I refer to bow in one of my tweets watching

(27:07):
him maneuver the pocket and avoid Bud Dupree and picking up.

Speaker 5 (27:12):
Those fourteen twenty three yards.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
I said that bow Knicks went from Bruce Wayne to Batman, right, Yeah,
that that is my comp for him, because Batman didn't
have a superpower. Well, his only superpower was he was rich.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
But he's just a regular guy, regular guy.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Him and his utility belt and right now, Bo is
operating like.

Speaker 5 (27:38):
He is Batman with his utility belt.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
What he needs is his other teammates around him to
help him out. He needs the Justice League, and right
now Bow Knicks needs the Justice League to help him
out because he is Batman right now.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Well, you look at the Broncos stats. Johontay Williams is
the leading rusher hundred and thirteen yards. There's six games,
two hundred and thirteen yards. The second rut leading rusher
Bo Nicks. That's why Nicks one hundred and eighty yards.
That is not That's a troubling sign right there.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
It is a troubling sign. But at the same time,
it's a good sign. And here's why, because you know
bow is relying.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
On his mobility.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
Now, some would tell us that, well, that's not sustainable.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
You can't do that in the NFL. Is not sustainable.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
And it's twol belt.

Speaker 4 (28:28):
Yes, to use it in Batman's utility belt.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
Yeah, you better freaking use it.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
You've got to be smart about it. He is smart,
Like he hasn't taken to some huge black He hasn't.
So yeah, but I agree. I think that one thing
that Bow can use his legs for is when things
aren't going well and it's been three and out, three
and out, use your legs a little bit is stay
on the field just by bye, Okay, another set of
downs here.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
I think that that's a good time to use it.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
That's all I'm saying, because there is always when a
quarterback pulls the ball down and starts to run with
the ball.

Speaker 5 (29:01):
Well, there was receivers open.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
And he's not staying with his progression of reads, and
he's looking to run more than he's looking to pass.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
At the end of the day, did you move the
ball ten yards?

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Then who gives the damn about whatever everyone else is saying?

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, yeah, I agree that at some point, like you
don't want your quarterback to get hurt, and so you
got to be able to pocket.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
But you can get a slip and fall in the store.
You can trip down some stairs.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
Over a dog. I've heard that, guys, I've done that before,
I know.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
But you get slip in the bathroom on a bar.
So right, you can't put players in freaking bubble wrap.
And look at look what's happening in Baltimore. Now, I'm
not saying that both knicks is Lamar Jackson but guess what.
It scares the defense to death, knowing as though Lamar
Jackson can both throw the ball and he.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
Can do it.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, he could do it. He's a thread. You gotta
you gotta keep an eye on him. Yes, for sure.
Now here's I'm glad that you brought this up, Nick,
because here's what I'm I'm interested in. Look, we know
what this Broncos offense. You know, we know the playmakers
that are around Bo. Okay, you know there's Carolyn Sutton
who's out there just making amazing catches. After that, there's

(30:11):
sort of a drop off talent wise. Okay, And we
talked about the running game. How do you measure if
bo is getting better week to week to week to
week to week, Like, how would you measure success? Because
one of the things that I was I've been hearing
after the Chargers game is that like, Okay, look, his
offensive line is banged up. They don't have a running game.

(30:33):
He doesn't have the guys to throw it to. You know,
there's no tight end. Okay, Okay, then find how are
you measuring his success?

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Well, I'm measuring the success with first downs. Are you
moving the ball? Are you putting the team in.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
A position to succeed.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
Now every time, that doesn't mean that there's going to
be a first down. But is Bo giving the offense
an opportunity to have more positive plays than negative plays?
How many sex is he taking? Is he putting the
offensive line in bad positions? Or is he building them
out at time? Because it's something that works in unison,

(31:11):
they save him, he saves them.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, it works both ways.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
Right, and also the biggest thing is fighting back from challenges. Right,
looking at where the team was offensively in that game,
down twenty three to nothing, almost nine minutes remaining in
the game, on the verge of having the worst loss
in franchise history, being shut out.

Speaker 5 (31:31):
They start making plays.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
He's running with the ball and guess where the defense
Thinking he's going to run again, they come up. He
finds Corling, he finds Davon Vla. That's how I measure
growth with Vo Nicks.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Okay, I want to talk more about this, and I
want listeners to weigh in here. Call us at three
h three seven one eighty five eighty five at the
or Texas I mean, at the Common Spirit Health text
line at five six six nine zero. We're going to
get into much more about bo Nicks here and the
beginning coming up against the Saints.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
That's next. Mbronco's Country Tonight