Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:22):
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
Our six sixty nine zero is the text line got
Luther Ellis caught up in the next segment, father of
Rocco's rookie Jonah Ellis, as well as Falcons player Caden Ellis.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Several other Ellis's lyses LSI, I don't know how we
pluralize that around the NFL. Basically the McCaffrey's of defense
in that gene pool there. We'll see if we'll see
how he responds to that. Also the chapel of the
Super Bowl fifty, Rocco Super Bowl fifty championship team, Nick
Ferguson's former teammate.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Looking forward to having a conversation with him.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Broncos taking on the Falcons this weekend. And the Falcons
are kind of the antithesis of what it is that
the Denver Broncos are. The Broncos a defensive Henry heavy
team that's growing in offense.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
They're the third youngest team.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
In football, and they're, you know, trying to get the
offense to catch up with the defense right now. The
Falcons the other way around, a very offensive oriented football team,
one of the oldest teams in football. They have what
five I think five defensive starters are thirty year older,
and the defense has struggled to generate any semblance of
(01:40):
a pass rush for them all year. If matter of fact,
the Falcons have nine sacks on the season, by far,
the worst mark in the NFL. They've struggled to get
after the pass. They struggled to stop anybody, despite the
fact that their offense has been fairly prolific.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Yeah, one of the reasons when you go back and
you watch the Falcons on phil, one of the reasons
why their defense is underperforming is It's an old saying,
but it's true. Your back in and your pass rush
are tied together. And when you look at the pass rush,
there isn't a level of consistency. I went back and
I watched a couple of plays against the New Orleans
(02:16):
Saints and simple te stunts and what I mean by that,
you get the guy who's on the outside, he's coming
inside and the guy inside is now replacing him on
the outside. They can't really run those simple stunts to efficiency.
And what it does is it allows quarterbacks to get
outside the pocket. And this is where I think bowl
(02:38):
Nicks can have a great day because bow in my opinion,
is more athletic than Derek Carr, and Derek car is
really athletic, and with both speed and young legs, he
can take advantage of that. They are going to be
play after play for the Broncos to somewhat take advantage
of it, and then we'll get into it more in
(02:58):
detail tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
But looking at the.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Falcons defense, they're having issues and giving up explosive plays
because MBS.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Right, Marquez Valdez wasn't even relevant. Yes, came out here,
put over a hondo and two touchdowns on them, Yes.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
And it was just like, wait a minute, it's simple
pass coverage. All you have to do if you are
cutting him, meaning that if you were safety or whatever.
You're trying to rob him and be underneath him. You
got to be underneath him. But the corner's got to
stay on top. So there's opportunities to be had against
this Falcons defense. If the Broncos exploited the right way.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, we need to see how they can exploit that.
How would you game plan against them?
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Well, for one, I'm going to do a lot of
different things with my receivers. And I know over the
past couple of weeks we've seen some the Broncos offense
go through somewhat of evolution.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
What I mean by that, we've seen Marvin Mamms, who
I think.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Is better suited to be running more vertical opposed to
parallel to the line of scrimmage. And I know the
Broncos wanted to get more speed, more spark uh in
the backfield, so they put Marvin back there.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But for me, he's not built like Deebo Sammuews.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
He has the speed he's got, he's got the one
cutting vertical right, but he's not powerful from a lower
body standpoint where he can run into other players and
drive them off the ball. So to deploy him behind
the line of scrimmage. I think is not really utilizing
his skill set having him run vertically. That's where we
(04:40):
saw last year he was his best and he was
the most dangerous.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
If it's me, I've got I'm getting my speed.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Guys running outside early, we're running toss, sweep anything outside
because they're slow. They're slow on defense. I mean they're
old and they're slow on defense. And I hate to
you know, I hate to be reductive and say.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Just being totally honest, you don't hate doing it, So
don't don't put it that way. Say well, just tell
the people, Hey, I feel this way.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
This is what I see, and this is what it is. Okay,
thank you. They are they're old and slope, so we're
getting speed going on the outside. Matthew Judad, who was a.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Central piece of what they was that they brought in
this offseason, has been largely in effective. Grady Jarrett still
Grady Jared despite the fact that he's getting up in years,
but he's still Grady Jared out there. But they really
just don't have effective pass rush off the edge. Honestly,
Kayden Ellis is their best pass rusher not named Grady Jarrett.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
That's that's that's kind of very interesting. I can't wait
till you have that conversation with Lutha Ellis at the
top of the at the bottom of the hour. But yeah,
this is where the Falcons could be much better, but
they're not. And when you can't generate pass rush, it
opens up.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Passing lanes in the back end.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
And then that means from a defensive corner to standpoint,
you got to bring a guy from the second level.
And when you do that, you got one on one coverage. Yeah,
we got one on one on covers. And this would
be a great game for the Broncos to find a
way to utilize the tight end. And and I'm not
talking about, you know, eighty yards. I'm not talking about
(06:11):
nineteen receptions or nineteen targets. Rather, if the tight ends
collectively as a group can have twelve targets, to me,
that makes that opens up the Falcons defense. And it
ends up being a great day for bo Nicks because
now he's continuing to spread the ball around like he
(06:31):
ended up doing in the Kansas City game.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Ultimately, and I think that's that's gonna be another key
to success, is spreading into around, keeping them guessing because
they're not good enough to be able to stack up there.
It's funny because it does expose the back end. The
lack of pastrus does expose the back end. They've got
talent back there. Jesse bas is a very good.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Safety there is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I think everybody here knows, Justin Simmons, as far as
the cover safety goes, very good safety still, very good safety.
You got you got the corner there, Tyrell.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah, Asterrell. I'm gonna say, Rob Alford, any of that
was wrong? Dat Terrell? Who's who's you know? You? Libson?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You've got good you know You've got good secondary players there.
But they get exposed because the front seven is not
getting home and being disruptive in the way that they
need to. And I believe that there's plenty of ways
of Broncos can exploit that. I think they're gonna want
to be hyper aggressive early. I think the screen game
is a good counter for that. I love seeing them
run the football outside and wearing these guys out show
(07:23):
and keep showcasing the speed off the edge.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
This is a perfect game to hit.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
To hit Marvin Mims on a bump pass or jet sweep,
This is a perfect game to get Julia mclofflein going
on the toss.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
See here's a great thing about it.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
And the Broncos are playing the Falcons a week after
the Saints played them a place where Sean Payton is
familiar with the personnel, right right, And what we saw
was Al m kamara being very explosive in the screen game.
There was one play was like Trip's left. He was offset.
He was able to beat the linebacker off the line
(07:56):
of scrimmers with similar play to what we saw a
couple of weeks ago when JK. Dobbins ran against Cody
bart yep. To be able to get your running backs
out there running those rail routes, to me, that's where
you can you can exploit the speed of the Falcons defense. Now,
if you were to tell me, well that's what you're
gonna do with Marvin Mims or do you live McLoughlin,
(08:18):
this weekend, this week, this Sunday, this week, Yes, this week,
I will be gained for that because it's there for
the taken.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
This is not I'm not saying we need to pivot
to that on offense, but I am saying that this
week those plays are there and if you judiciously use them,
we can have we can get some some yardage and
get some explosiveness out of it. I still like the
idea of Estimate being mostly the early down back. I
still like the idea of Chavante and that sort of
later down roll where he's able to catch them a
little bit more out of the backfield.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I still love those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But I do believe that there's some plays on the
field this week after going back and looking at the
Falcons defense over the last couple of weeks to be
had there, specifically on the edges with the run game
and using like I said, Mims as sort of an
end to a round, you know, bump past, jet sweep
or of a motion kind of guy.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Well, if you use him, but once again I'm gonna
say you don't use him a lot in that particular role.
Use him to kind of as somewhat set up as
a decoy. But you got to send him vertical, right,
You have to send in vertical. That is where his
skills set lies, and that's where he can hurt and
(09:25):
help the offense the most and hurt the defense is
being able to go vertical. I mean, if you want
to get him out on some of those tall sweeps
or whatever. Your receivers definitely have to blot well. Another
play is a pen and pool play where I watched
them pull the center and they pull Mike mcglihy right.
(09:45):
You get those two big guys in front of him
and let him high behind him. Like when I played
against the Saints and Darren Spose was there, you couldn't
see him. You lose him in the wash. While you
standing up looking and trying to find it. One of
those linemen are hitting you in the base. That is
how you should use your little McLoughlin.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, so I'm here for it.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I do believe that you know that he might have
a bigger presence in that game.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
We'll see. I do like your point about the tight ends.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Their linebackers aren't overly fast and that again, that's another
area you could probably exploit with the tight ends defensively.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
This is gonna be an interesting matchup.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Although Mooney, their wide receiver, came up on the injury
report today with an achilles.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I think he's still gonna be good to go for
that game.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, Mooney, You've got Drake London there, and those are
two pretty good receivers you're going to have to You're
gonna have to account for that in this game. And
then of course you've got Kyle Pitts as well, who
plays the tight end or the awful line y at
times as a pass catching threat. They have Ray Ray
McCloud who is a bit of a speed so who
(10:49):
can play as well. You know, they'll move Frake London
into sort of a heaviest slot roll when they go
three wide, and they'll put McCloud on the outside as well.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
So they've got some pass catchers here.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
They've got some guys that are able to do some things,
and then the ones who punched the run game with
Jon Robinson and Tyler Algear. I think that's got to
be a focus if you're the Denver Broncos, because Robinson
is a quadruple threat. He can do it all and
Algier is a is a I don't want to call
him a battering ram because I want to limit him,
but that's kind of the back that he is.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Well, yeah, jire Is is that battering ram.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
But to be transparent, both guys are because Bijon can
run you over. He's got the jump cut, he's got
the stiff farm He's got all of those things. When
you go back and watch him play, a lot of
his yards come from you know, your arts have to contact,
and as a as a defensive guy and defensive coach,
(11:40):
that's what I look at the most. I mean, are
guys making contact with him and they're stopping his forward
movement or he is he running through tackles. So yeah,
when you look at these two running backs as Year
and Bijon, they don't look like Derrick Henry when when
you see him, they're not tall and stature, but they
run behind their pads well. And if you take the
(12:00):
wrong angle, Algiel will run you over. Jon to run
you over, but Bjeon would make you look bad. Like
the Falcons do this weird thing. But but I love
it where they have a camera overhead and they record
some of Bjeon's moves and you can see the jump
cut like last year they were playing against the Packers.
It's almost like he he was like Kyrie Irvin. He
(12:22):
put the ball behind his back, did the spin move
across the wa Yes, yes, it's in order to do
that because they always tell you, like Bteam used to
coach for the forty nine, I mean he coached at
the forty nine ers now, but he used to coach
the running backs.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
For the Broncos. He would always talk about eight points
of pressure.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
But with Jeon, he is just that talented being able
to move from side to side and being able to
move the ball in that particular way. And they're not
too many bags like him, So the Broncos have their
word cutout for him.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
But this is going to be another game where.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
They have to tackle not one man on one man,
but they have to tackle Bijeon and Algier as a group,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Gonna be the thing. You can't have busted tackle plays
like you had. For instance, on that Kareem Hunt catch
and run was in nineteen yards they play. It was
like two plays after the Brandon Jones phantom defensive holding call,
probably the worst play of the game for the never Broncos,
one of the worst defensive reps that they recorded this season,
with a nineteen yard catch and run by Kareem Hunt
where the defense looked like Keystone cops trying to try
(13:28):
to tackle him. Can't have mistackle plays like that against
b John Robinson.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
He'll make you pay.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
He's with all due respect to Kareem Hunt b John
Robinson has gears that Kareem Hunt hasn't had in years.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
No, he doesn't.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Man, That's the thing that I hope the guys are
watching and breaking down tape and saying, Okay, well, what
side of the offensive line is it that the Falcons
like to run a lot of their plays?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Who's a pulling guard? Right?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Which offensive lineman can we exploit? And for me, right
off the bat, they're they're they're tackles. You can get
after their tackles Browning, I mean, excuse me, John Than
Cooper should be able to get after them and social
Nick Mendo and Jonah Ellis as well. That that is
where vance Joseph defense will be able to make their
(14:18):
biggest impact right then and known as though Kirk Cousins
can't run, I mean, this could be like a six
eight SAT game for the defense as an entirety. And
once again, we still haven't talked about, you know, Zach
Allen and what his capabilities are.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I think that that's gonna be the Other part is
Kirk Cousins never was the most mobile quarterback in the world,
but now he's really not. Uh, And so this is
gonna be one of those games where if you can
get after and collapse the pocket quick and get to him,
you could.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
You could phasally see the.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Broncos getting off a five six seven sack day against
a quarterback like that if they can, if they can
get after him.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
One thing.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Another thing, But about Kirk Cousins when when because he
cannot move when the sack is coming, He's not one
of those guys who's going to find a way to
get rid of the ball and not take the sack. Yes,
he's gonna eat it right. So it's almost like when
you watch him, like.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Peyton Manning at the at the late stage of his
career just grab the ball fell.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Down well, well Peyton Manning early stage of his career
as well as like Payon's is gonna fall and take
the sack and not use to me lose to the Yad.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
He's not extending to play or trying to go backwards
out of the pocket or anything.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah, I mean Kurt looks like he has two segment
shoes on. Yeah, like like that exactly that KURTA. Yes,
we can't even say that he's more you know, quicker
than slow.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
We can't even say that slower than the molasses Jays.
Just let it, just let it rip. I'm I'm looking
forward to that.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
We got, we got Luther Ellis gotta be joining us
here in the next segment. The father of Broncos uh
drafty this past year, a pass rusher, Jonah Ellis, as
well as Kate Ellis who's on the Falcons uh know what?
And Christian also uh in the league as well playing
in the league as well.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
So that's gonna be a fun conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Was the chaplain of the Super Bowl fifty team is
Todd Davis remondom me when he was in here earlier,
looking forward to that conversation next right here on Broncos
Country tonight, we're gonna go right out to the ka
commas spelled hotline though, and bring on a guest tonight
Luther Ellis, former NFL or former Denver Bronco, former Super
Bowl fifty chaplain, father of Jonah Elis, Broncos edg rusher,
(16:21):
and Kate Ellis who's playing for the Atlanta Falcons in
this game, as well as a host.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Of other Ellis's that have already made the NFL.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
We we liken him to the mccaffreys of defense with
those genetics hopefully he takes that in in stride and
doesn't murder me.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Luthor, how's it going.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
To seating that's going? Gray?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
How are you doing pretty well?
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Man?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I remember when when your son Jonah was drafted on
draft night here in Denver and he was elated and everything,
and we you know, it just occurred to me, how
many of you Ellis's they had Ellis children they had
in the in the NFL. And I asked him if
he had a sister who was a doctor somewhere, that
might be a family disappointment given out. If you got
some made the NFL, you got to be proud of
that whole family. What's it like being a parent of
(17:01):
two sons that are going to be playing each other
in an NFL game?
Speaker 6 (17:05):
Oh, it's so exciting. And you know, we're grateful and
God bless them the way they he has and that
they've had opportunities that they have right now currently. And
I mean, I don't like to play in the NFL,
but then opportunity to play against you know, your sibling,
and it's going to be for bragging rights and a
lot of other things that goes on. So there's something
that's really exciting. And we're excited to support them.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
My guy Luther, How you doing man?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Nick Ferguson, here's big dog, how are you?
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I'm doing well, man?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
And you know, for me, know one as though, I mean,
you have your sons playing, you know, in the NFL.
But I just want you to give us somewhat of
a glimpse of what it was like in the LS
household with the kids that you have, and just you know,
the whole idea of football was a huge part of it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
What was that? What was that like for you? Oh?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
It was first of all awesome, And I like my
wife and I we weren't planning on having full children, right.
I mean, it was just one of those things that
we felt, you know, live, I got whatever to adopt
and do different things and to grow the family that way.
And I'm all little close and well it's crazy, is uh.
(18:17):
It was pretty quiet around the household, and a lot
of friends to call and say, hey, we'll go on
where's your kids? So quiet? I'm like, oh, they're all here, right.
But as soon as we had guests or anything like that,
then it got pretty wild and crazy. So but in
our household, honestly, I tried to get him to play
other sports, be quite honest, and my oldest at first, Kayden,
he didn't wanted anything to do with sports. He wanted
(18:38):
to be a scientist. Which I'll be like, great, good,
let's let's just have you down that path. Now, I
do want to throw the ball around with you and
have fun in doing that. But you know, I tried
to direct them other ways. But of course football is
a huge part of who we are and what we do.
And I coached a little bit and then the kids
are like, well, we want to do that too. So
monstory short, they got into it. They love it. It's
(19:01):
been a huge part of that family, just because also
I think, you know, football brings so many different things
with as far as development and character and just disappointment
and developing strength, meaning and character and how you got
losses and how you all go you know, winning, and
I just think there are so many pluses and benefits
(19:22):
of it that how we're grateful that they all chose
to play the great game of football.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Well, but with all your boys playing football, and all
of those guys being on our defensive side of the ball,
do you have any conversations with them now that they're
pros weekly conversations on things that they can improve on,
the things that you see in their game.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Do you have those conversations with them?
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Oh, yeah, we do. Yeah, we talked, not much as
I would like to, just because you know, I'm coaching
here at the University of Utah and it's just harder
to be able to spend more time with them to
help coach them up and do those things. But they'll
last me things or say things their call and say, hey,
this happened or this happened. I'll handle that. But we do.
We talk a lot about technique and different things. Of course,
(20:06):
they have different terminology than what we do, but at
the end of the day, it's still football and it's
still about fundamental to the technique. And you know, if
you have fundamentals and technique, then your athletic will do
being that much better. So we talked a lot about
that and just you know, how to be sounded in
what they do and what they're being have to do.
And I enjoy it. I love talking about them. I
(20:29):
love when the awe moments happened and then they go
out and use it and apply it and you see
it and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Talking with Luther Ellis.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Todd Davis was in here earlier today and he was
talking about you being one of you, being one of
his favorite people. That you're obviously the chaplain for the
Super Bowl fifty team. Tell us a little bit about
what that experience was like being a chaplain for a
Super Bowl winning football team.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
It was crazy, It was awesome. I mean, these guys
are just great, great athletes for the great men, and
you know, I had an opportunity for into them outside
of football and in sense of spiritually and and sharing
the Gospel and you just loving on these guys, right,
And we kept it pretty simple because I'm a pretty
simple guy. I believe that kiss principle applies in all
(21:16):
areas of life. And so when I came to the
spiritual side of things, being able to just pour into
these guys, being able to walk with them through different
seasons of their lives and different childs and thinks, that
was happening, and you know it was. It was a
lot of fun. And you know I got a chance
to well I didn't get to do it because I
had some come up, but you know, the opportunities to
(21:38):
really plaunt your lives by you know, they asked, hey,
you officiate my wedding, will you do this and do
a different thing. So it was a great experience.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
And I love it.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
My kids liked it a lot, and my wife got
at a bunch of the women and it was something that,
you know, it was fully out of the blue, unexpected
when Coach Koubac called me out of blue, and you know,
I get the phone call and he's like Cooper. I'm like, hey,
how are you. I'm not sure it is I don't
know the number. And he goes it's Coo. I'm Who's
(22:08):
Who's He goes Coobiac. I was like, oh my gosh, coach,
what's up? I always been a lot. How are you being?
And he goes, I'll you know, we talk for a
minute and then he goes, hey, I want to bring
you give you an opportunity to the our chaplain. I'll
be like what okay? And then of course Ray jack
and Ray Jackson those guys and no got to know
him prior to that, and then with him in part
(22:30):
of the organization. It was just a huge blessing. So
grateful for the opportunity, which I was, you know, good,
keep going doing it. But uh, you know, being at
Denver being the team chaplain and then uh, you know,
got the coach bug because coach COO's right first day
I'm out there and he's like, what are you doing?
I said, I'm watching practice. He goes go over there
and start coaching. Help him out, let's go. You know what, Yes, sir,
(22:53):
so I went over and you know, so we'll help
you know what I could do with the line and
then tie ends and whatever else the coaches needed at
to help out. You know, the whole time held it back,
but that's okay. It was so fun and just got
me going and coaching opportunities, and then it happened.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
You know. I always felt as though coaching was somewhat
you know, down the road for you. And you have
a big game coming up this weekend here in Boulder
where us to come in and play.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
To see you buffs.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
But you got two guys who definitely are big guys
and definitely stand out, Tafuna and Tana Vasa.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I mean, what is it about.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
These guys that you guys lean on so much and
will lean on Saturday as you face the buffs.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
Yes, I mean those guys are awesome guys. First and
foremost as people, right, They're they're great individuals. They love football,
they love Lie Junior is married and he has a
beautiful son, and and they're just great young men that
you know, again, I'm fortunate enough to build a foreign
to them and sure, you know, hopefully a little bit
of knowledge and wisdom and just continue to help them
(23:58):
on their journey in this great game called football.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
And and then Kiano is just he's just a lot
of fun too. He's he's younger and and he has
that kind of help uh type of mentality, And it's
just fun watching these guys get out there and kay,
you know what you're asking to do coaching wise, and
go out there and play really well. So but hey,
the Buzz and Bus are really really good team. They
(24:23):
have talent all over the place. They they're doing great.
I mean, their defense is playing better and better every week.
And it's gonna be a tough path. So we're gonna
need those two d bbs and to be able to
handle themselves and do what we need them to do,
because without those two, I mean, I don't hope there
our defense is quite the same. And you also have
to have all a defense alignment. But I really believe
(24:45):
especially interior wife, because they think control the interior, it
makes it that much easier on the defense.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
We'll talk again with Luther Ellis, father of both Kayden
and Jonah, also be playing this Sunday coach at Utah
chaplain for the Super Bowl fifty bronco his team, but
more importantly, twenty four teammate if Nick Ferguson and a
desperate World here wants to know what kind of Dirk
you have on a younger Nick Ferguson.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Was awesome, man.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
He was awesome that I got to Denver. You know,
of course he's you know, be on deep inside and
doing those things. He was. He was awesome. He just
took took me in like, you know, anything I needed.
He was quiet, funny, you know because being who I
was at that time and where I was that in
life was just a family.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It was you know.
Speaker 6 (25:32):
He didn't hang out too much, but uh it was
fun going to defensive dinners and doing the things of
that nature and hanging out. But no, I don't have
anything on him. He's as far as I know, he's
not the class and straight up and just loves playing
being a teammate and watching him do the things he
does and making the places he made for us. So
it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Well, thank you for the check. It will be in
the Maryland. I see, I said before he got on that.
See what happened here. You know, when you look.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
At the way that the game is being played in
the NFL from a quarterback standpoint, there are so many
mobile guys in the league, how do you coach your
guys to actually deal with that skill set?
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Yeah, I mean that's a great question, because you know,
it is kind of for surely a big dilemma for us,
right the guys upfront, because we were our jobs to
have to get out of that quarterback and I'll let
them get out of the pass rush lanes, and we
got to do our part and holding up and doing
those things. We tried multiple ways and different things that
we try to make it more difficult on him, meaning
(26:40):
getting after him, but also controlling the lanes and not
opening up lanes so we could just escape on us.
But I don't know, I feel like it's one of
those things where when you play what's the word, I
don't stay scared, but you've played more of a conservative. Hey,
we're just going to bull rush and just trying to
keep from contained in the pocket. Well, typically those guys,
(27:03):
like you said, right, only are they great athletes, but
they can win that ball. So now you give them
all towards the time to dissector your secondary right and
as you say, man, hey, you can't cover before ever.
So you know what we do is, honestly, we just
try to get after them. We just say, guys, you
know you've got to put fresh on them. You got
to make him uncomfortableacker, We got to get hits on him.
(27:24):
So we need to just rush and rush, smart rush,
you know, just will and elly and get up phills,
run by the quarterback, that type stuff. But you have
to maintain your brush past our slang. But we can't
resteat him until hey, all's gonna do a bull rush
all game. Because again, these guys are I mean, I
don't know about you, but these kids coming in now,
(27:45):
I mean, you got even high school kids are a
far more advanced than I was when I got into
the bros. Right, I mean, they're they're working on this
game year round and getting some great teaching and great
coaching through former NFL guys, coaches and things of that nature.
So these guys are a lot more skilled and more advanced,
I would say than even during our time. Right. It's
(28:05):
just one of those things where these kids are seeing
so much time in the game that you have to
get after them. And the best way to do that
it just again starts up front. Guys up front have
to cause that pressure, cause that havoc be in his grill,
so he's alway thinking about like where they're coming from. Right,
if we can get his eyes from looking downfield or
checking down to a second third grade and we're doing
a good job.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Talk again with Luther ellis, what do you think of
the Nil era of football?
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Is Nile good for it? Is it good for recruits?
Is it good for football?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
What's the biggest difference now between when you were coming
up and of these kids now?
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Yeah, I think I think Nile is a good thing
in a sense. You know, you look at all these years.
I think back in my day when we figured out
what we were making per hour for all the time
and effort we put into football. You know, it was
really like a little less than minimum wage back then,
which you know, I don't remember what minimum wage back then,
but it was you know er leak and for everything
(29:02):
that you're doing, and then the universities are able to
new jerseys and do all the things. So I do
think there was it was a balanced and it was
something that needed to be addressed and looked at. But
where we're at right now, it doesn't my pennis and
it's not creating an equal playing field across the board
in the sense of if you right have a big purse,
you're going to be able to do a lot more
(29:23):
with that then with someone other schools that don't have that,
And it's just not the way I think college football
should be to me, if we already lost amateurism status
quite a while ago, I as soon as they started
broadcasting and making some kind of road opportunities from the
games being played, it's no longer amateurism anymore. It's about
(29:44):
the dollars and about what you're trying to get out
of it. And and of course I say, oh, hey,
you're education everything else more so grateful for that. But
the bottom line, like ABC and NBC and all these
people aren't broadcasting games just to do out of the
kindness of their hearts right there, They're doing it because
it's drawing and helps them to generate the revenue. So
to me, I just I'm at the point where in
(30:05):
college football it is what it is. We're a semi
pro league. Let's call it what it is. Let's model
after the NFL and create a salary cap, create those
different things, because then now you're going to have more
equity or be more equitable for all schools and have
opportunities to do us. And I know it's like, hey,
you got so many schools. Yeah, well we need to
(30:25):
figure it out. Because again, just right now, I mean
I don't know if you guys saw that, but the
Michigan kid quarterback or whatever he is, I mean, he's
a dynamic athlete. Right, somebody's you know, one school's willing
to tam ten and a half million always coming out
of high school. So wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Well, looten ten seconds here. My last question for you.
Are you coming to the Broncos game on Sunday?
Speaker 6 (30:53):
Unfortunately I won't be able to make it. I wish
I could make it, but you know, we just Sunday's
a big game planning for us and things that we do.
So I fortunately won't be able to make it. But
my wife and my kids, their belts will be there
and they'll enjoy it and for them to go head
to head and and course I'm just gonna be caring
for them individually.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Well, i'll see you Saturday on the sideline before the game.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
Awesome, that'd be great, look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Well, we really appreciate you taking some time out for
us tonight, and I wish you luck. Sorry you don't
get to see about your son's play man, it's a shame,
but hopefully be able to watch it on TV.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
I will thank you guys, appreciate your time. Now, I'll
see you Saturday.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
I'll get that dirt from him at some point, I
promise you. Fergus and this is gonna happen. We'll find
all the hitting Gatoray tables, all of it hitting Gatoray
tables overturned.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
No listen, Man, Luther was a great dude, very spiritual.
They helped out us a lot with our team, and
I'm so happy to see that he and his family
are flourishing the way that they're doing. It definitely sucks
that he can't see both the sounds playing, but.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I felt the pain from him. I felt the pain
in that answer.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yeah, yeah, I was kind of looking forward to it myself.
But I'll see him Saturday up and Boulder. That'll be
that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah, it seems like a gem of a human being,
and it's rare that you find somebody who nobody has
a negative word to say about. That is certainly one
of those people that nobody has a negative word to
say about.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Is is Luther? Ellis said?
Speaker 3 (32:24):
In fact, Todd, like I said, Todd Davis when he
was there earlier, lit up when he found out that
Luther was going to be on the show.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
So that was That's a lot of fun. You guys
missed any part of that.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
You go to Broncos, Country Night, Dot comp Slash podcast
or wherever you get your podcast, Appleite, Tune, Spotify to
it the freight of Awesome, iHeart Radio app where you
can also get to take it for granted podcast. When
he bothers to post an episode, just say it just
giving him guff. Here's a bowlo tie Thursday over there though,
so you know, it makes me happy better.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Than a bedazzled sweater. Is it is a letter? It
is not, but it gave us plenty of material for
the start of the show. It's not.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
People that it doesn't even fit to the Dazzle criterion.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
It doesn't bedazzle you must I got nothing. No last
prime Time coming up next to the KWA
Behind every VP Phillip, Thousands of people across America go
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(00:22):
hundred thousand jobs VP supports across the country. Learn more
at VP dot com. Slash Investing in America.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Our six sixty nine zero is the text line got
Luther Ellis caught up in the next segment, father of
Rocco's rookie Jonah Ellis, as well as Falcons player Caden Ellis.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Several other Ellis's lyses LSI, I don't know how we
pluralize that around the NFL. Basically the McCaffrey's of defense
in that gene pool there. We'll see if we'll see
how he responds to that. Also the chapel of the
Super Bowl fifty, Rocco Super Bowl fifty championship team, Nick
Ferguson's former teammate.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Looking forward to having a conversation with him.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Broncos taking on the Falcons this weekend. And the Falcons
are kind of the antithesis of what it is that
the Denver Broncos are. The Broncos a defensive Henry heavy
team that's growing in offense.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
They're the third youngest team.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
In football, and they're, you know, trying to get the
offense to catch up with the defense right now. The
Falcons the other way around, a very offensive oriented football team,
one of the oldest teams in football. They have what
five I think five defensive starters are thirty year older,
and the defense has struggled to generate any semblance of
(01:40):
a pass rush for them all year. If matter of fact,
the Falcons have nine sacks on the season, by far,
the worst mark in the NFL. They've struggled to get
after the pass. They struggled to stop anybody, despite the
fact that their offense has been fairly prolific.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Yeah, one of the reasons when you go back and
you watch the Falcons on phil, one of the reasons
why their defense is underperforming is It's an old saying,
but it's true. Your back in and your pass rush
are tied together. And when you look at the pass rush,
there isn't a level of consistency. I went back and
I watched a couple of plays against the New Orleans
(02:16):
Saints and simple te stunts and what I mean by that,
you get the guy who's on the outside, he's coming
inside and the guy inside is now replacing him on
the outside. They can't really run those simple stunts to efficiency.
And what it does is it allows quarterbacks to get
outside the pocket. And this is where I think bowl
(02:38):
Nicks can have a great day because bow in my opinion,
is more athletic than Derek Carr, and Derek car is
really athletic, and with both speed and young legs, he
can take advantage of that. They are going to be
play after play for the Broncos to somewhat take advantage
of it, and then we'll get into it more in
(02:58):
detail tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
But looking at the.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Falcons defense, they're having issues and giving up explosive plays
because MBS.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Right, Marquez Valdez wasn't even relevant. Yes, came out here,
put over a hondo and two touchdowns on them, Yes.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
And it was just like, wait a minute, it's simple
pass coverage. All you have to do if you are
cutting him, meaning that if you were safety or whatever.
You're trying to rob him and be underneath him. You
got to be underneath him. But the corner's got to
stay on top. So there's opportunities to be had against
this Falcons defense. If the Broncos exploited the right way.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, we need to see how they can exploit that.
How would you game plan against them?
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Well, for one, I'm going to do a lot of
different things with my receivers. And I know over the
past couple of weeks we've seen some the Broncos offense
go through somewhat of evolution.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
What I mean by that, we've seen Marvin Mamms, who
I think.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Is better suited to be running more vertical opposed to
parallel to the line of scrimmage. And I know the
Broncos wanted to get more speed, more spark uh in
the backfield, so they put Marvin back there.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But for me, he's not built like Deebo Sammuews.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
He has the speed he's got, he's got the one
cutting vertical right, but he's not powerful from a lower
body standpoint where he can run into other players and
drive them off the ball. So to deploy him behind
the line of scrimmage. I think is not really utilizing
his skill set having him run vertically. That's where we
(04:40):
saw last year he was his best and he was
the most dangerous.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
If it's me, I've got I'm getting my speed.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Guys running outside early, we're running toss, sweep anything outside
because they're slow. They're slow on defense. I mean they're
old and they're slow on defense. And I hate to
you know, I hate to be reductive and say.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Just being totally honest, you don't hate doing it, So
don't don't put it that way. Say well, just tell
the people, Hey, I feel this way.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
This is what I see, and this is what it is. Okay,
thank you. They are they're old and slope, so we're
getting speed going on the outside. Matthew Judad, who was a.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Central piece of what they was that they brought in
this offseason, has been largely in effective. Grady Jarrett still
Grady Jared despite the fact that he's getting up in years,
but he's still Grady Jared out there. But they really
just don't have effective pass rush off the edge. Honestly,
Kayden Ellis is their best pass rusher not named Grady Jarrett.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
That's that's that's kind of very interesting. I can't wait
till you have that conversation with Lutha Ellis at the
top of the at the bottom of the hour. But yeah,
this is where the Falcons could be much better, but
they're not. And when you can't generate pass rush, it
opens up.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Passing lanes in the back end.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
And then that means from a defensive corner to standpoint,
you got to bring a guy from the second level.
And when you do that, you got one on one coverage. Yeah,
we got one on one on covers. And this would
be a great game for the Broncos to find a
way to utilize the tight end. And and I'm not
talking about, you know, eighty yards. I'm not talking about
(06:11):
nineteen receptions or nineteen targets. Rather, if the tight ends
collectively as a group can have twelve targets, to me,
that makes that opens up the Falcons defense. And it
ends up being a great day for bo Nicks because
now he's continuing to spread the ball around like he
(06:31):
ended up doing in the Kansas City game.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Ultimately, and I think that's that's gonna be another key
to success, is spreading into around, keeping them guessing because
they're not good enough to be able to stack up there.
It's funny because it does expose the back end. The
lack of pastrus does expose the back end. They've got
talent back there. Jesse bas is a very good.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Safety there is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I think everybody here knows, Justin Simmons, as far as
the cover safety goes, very good safety still, very good safety.
You got you got the corner there, Tyrell.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah, Asterrell. I'm gonna say, Rob Alford, any of that
was wrong? Dat Terrell? Who's who's you know? You? Libson?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You've got good you know You've got good secondary players there.
But they get exposed because the front seven is not
getting home and being disruptive in the way that they
need to. And I believe that there's plenty of ways
of Broncos can exploit that. I think they're gonna want
to be hyper aggressive early. I think the screen game
is a good counter for that. I love seeing them
run the football outside and wearing these guys out show
(07:23):
and keep showcasing the speed off the edge.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
This is a perfect game to hit.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
To hit Marvin Mims on a bump pass or jet sweep,
This is a perfect game to get Julia mclofflein going
on the toss.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
See here's a great thing about it.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
And the Broncos are playing the Falcons a week after
the Saints played them a place where Sean Payton is
familiar with the personnel, right right, And what we saw
was Al m kamara being very explosive in the screen game.
There was one play was like Trip's left. He was offset.
He was able to beat the linebacker off the line
(07:56):
of scrimmers with similar play to what we saw a
couple of weeks ago when JK. Dobbins ran against Cody
bart yep. To be able to get your running backs
out there running those rail routes, to me, that's where
you can you can exploit the speed of the Falcons defense. Now,
if you were to tell me, well that's what you're
gonna do with Marvin Mims or do you live McLoughlin,
(08:18):
this weekend, this week, this Sunday, this week, Yes, this week,
I will be gained for that because it's there for
the taken.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
This is not I'm not saying we need to pivot
to that on offense, but I am saying that this
week those plays are there and if you judiciously use them,
we can have we can get some some yardage and
get some explosiveness out of it. I still like the
idea of Estimate being mostly the early down back. I
still like the idea of Chavante and that sort of
later down roll where he's able to catch them a
little bit more out of the backfield.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I still love those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But I do believe that there's some plays on the
field this week after going back and looking at the
Falcons defense over the last couple of weeks to be
had there, specifically on the edges with the run game
and using like I said, Mims as sort of an
end to a round, you know, bump past, jet sweep
or of a motion kind of guy.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Well, if you use him, but once again I'm gonna
say you don't use him a lot in that particular role.
Use him to kind of as somewhat set up as
a decoy. But you got to send him vertical, right,
You have to send in vertical. That is where his
skills set lies, and that's where he can hurt and
(09:25):
help the offense the most and hurt the defense is
being able to go vertical. I mean, if you want
to get him out on some of those tall sweeps
or whatever. Your receivers definitely have to blot well. Another
play is a pen and pool play where I watched
them pull the center and they pull Mike mcglihy right.
(09:45):
You get those two big guys in front of him
and let him high behind him. Like when I played
against the Saints and Darren Spose was there, you couldn't
see him. You lose him in the wash. While you
standing up looking and trying to find it. One of
those linemen are hitting you in the base. That is
how you should use your little McLoughlin.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, so I'm here for it.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I do believe that you know that he might have
a bigger presence in that game.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
We'll see. I do like your point about the tight ends.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Their linebackers aren't overly fast and that again, that's another
area you could probably exploit with the tight ends defensively.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
This is gonna be an interesting matchup.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Although Mooney, their wide receiver, came up on the injury
report today with an achilles.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I think he's still gonna be good to go for
that game.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, Mooney, You've got Drake London there, and those are
two pretty good receivers you're going to have to You're
gonna have to account for that in this game. And
then of course you've got Kyle Pitts as well, who
plays the tight end or the awful line y at
times as a pass catching threat. They have Ray Ray
McCloud who is a bit of a speed so who
(10:49):
can play as well. You know, they'll move Frake London
into sort of a heaviest slot roll when they go
three wide, and they'll put McCloud on the outside as well.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
So they've got some pass catchers here.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
They've got some guys that are able to do some things,
and then the ones who punched the run game with
Jon Robinson and Tyler Algear. I think that's got to
be a focus if you're the Denver Broncos, because Robinson
is a quadruple threat. He can do it all and
Algier is a is a I don't want to call
him a battering ram because I want to limit him,
but that's kind of the back that he is.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Well, yeah, jire Is is that battering ram.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
But to be transparent, both guys are because Bijon can
run you over. He's got the jump cut, he's got
the stiff farm He's got all of those things. When
you go back and watch him play, a lot of
his yards come from you know, your arts have to contact,
and as a as a defensive guy and defensive coach,
(11:40):
that's what I look at the most. I mean, are
guys making contact with him and they're stopping his forward
movement or he is he running through tackles. So yeah,
when you look at these two running backs as Year
and Bijon, they don't look like Derrick Henry when when
you see him, they're not tall and stature, but they
run behind their pads well. And if you take the
(12:00):
wrong angle, Algiel will run you over. Jon to run
you over, but Bjeon would make you look bad. Like
the Falcons do this weird thing. But but I love
it where they have a camera overhead and they record
some of Bjeon's moves and you can see the jump
cut like last year they were playing against the Packers.
It's almost like he he was like Kyrie Irvin. He
(12:22):
put the ball behind his back, did the spin move
across the wa Yes, yes, it's in order to do
that because they always tell you, like Bteam used to
coach for the forty nine, I mean he coached at
the forty nine ers now, but he used to coach
the running backs.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
For the Broncos. He would always talk about eight points
of pressure.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
But with Jeon, he is just that talented being able
to move from side to side and being able to
move the ball in that particular way. And they're not
too many bags like him, So the Broncos have their
word cutout for him.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
But this is going to be another game where.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
They have to tackle not one man on one man,
but they have to tackle Bijeon and Algier as a group,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Gonna be the thing. You can't have busted tackle plays
like you had. For instance, on that Kareem Hunt catch
and run was in nineteen yards they play. It was
like two plays after the Brandon Jones phantom defensive holding call,
probably the worst play of the game for the never Broncos,
one of the worst defensive reps that they recorded this season,
with a nineteen yard catch and run by Kareem Hunt
where the defense looked like Keystone cops trying to try
(13:28):
to tackle him. Can't have mistackle plays like that against
b John Robinson.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
He'll make you pay.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
He's with all due respect to Kareem Hunt b John
Robinson has gears that Kareem Hunt hasn't had in years.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
No, he doesn't.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
Man, That's the thing that I hope the guys are
watching and breaking down tape and saying, Okay, well, what
side of the offensive line is it that the Falcons
like to run a lot of their plays?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Who's a pulling guard? Right?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Which offensive lineman can we exploit? And for me, right
off the bat, they're they're they're tackles. You can get
after their tackles Browning, I mean, excuse me, John Than
Cooper should be able to get after them and social
Nick Mendo and Jonah Ellis as well. That that is
where vance Joseph defense will be able to make their
(14:18):
biggest impact right then and known as though Kirk Cousins
can't run, I mean, this could be like a six
eight SAT game for the defense as an entirety. And
once again, we still haven't talked about, you know, Zach
Allen and what his capabilities are.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I think that that's gonna be the Other part is
Kirk Cousins never was the most mobile quarterback in the world,
but now he's really not. Uh, And so this is
gonna be one of those games where if you can
get after and collapse the pocket quick and get to him,
you could.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
You could phasally see the.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Broncos getting off a five six seven sack day against
a quarterback like that if they can, if they can
get after him.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
One thing.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Another thing, But about Kirk Cousins when when because he
cannot move when the sack is coming, He's not one
of those guys who's going to find a way to
get rid of the ball and not take the sack. Yes,
he's gonna eat it right. So it's almost like when
you watch him, like.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Peyton Manning at the at the late stage of his
career just grab the ball fell.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Down well, well Peyton Manning early stage of his career
as well as like Payon's is gonna fall and take
the sack and not use to me lose to the Yad.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
He's not extending to play or trying to go backwards
out of the pocket or anything.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah, I mean Kurt looks like he has two segment
shoes on. Yeah, like like that exactly that KURTA. Yes,
we can't even say that he's more you know, quicker
than slow.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
We can't even say that slower than the molasses Jays.
Just let it, just let it rip. I'm I'm looking
forward to that.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
We got, we got Luther Ellis gotta be joining us
here in the next segment. The father of Broncos uh
drafty this past year, a pass rusher, Jonah Ellis, as
well as Kate Ellis who's on the Falcons uh know what?
And Christian also uh in the league as well playing
in the league as well.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
So that's gonna be a fun conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Was the chaplain of the Super Bowl fifty team is
Todd Davis remondom me when he was in here earlier,
looking forward to that conversation next right here on Broncos
Country tonight, we're gonna go right out to the ka
commas spelled hotline though, and bring on a guest tonight
Luther Ellis, former NFL or former Denver Bronco, former Super
Bowl fifty chaplain, father of Jonah Elis, Broncos edg rusher,
(16:21):
and Kate Ellis who's playing for the Atlanta Falcons in
this game, as well as a host.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Of other Ellis's that have already made the NFL.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
We we liken him to the mccaffreys of defense with
those genetics hopefully he takes that in in stride and
doesn't murder me.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Luthor, how's it going.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
To seating that's going? Gray?
Speaker 3 (16:38):
How are you doing pretty well?
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Man?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I remember when when your son Jonah was drafted on
draft night here in Denver and he was elated and everything,
and we you know, it just occurred to me, how
many of you Ellis's they had Ellis children they had
in the in the NFL. And I asked him if
he had a sister who was a doctor somewhere, that
might be a family disappointment given out. If you got
some made the NFL, you got to be proud of
that whole family. What's it like being a parent of
(17:01):
two sons that are going to be playing each other
in an NFL game?
Speaker 6 (17:05):
Oh, it's so exciting. And you know, we're grateful and
God bless them the way they he has and that
they've had opportunities that they have right now currently. And
I mean, I don't like to play in the NFL,
but then opportunity to play against you know, your sibling,
and it's going to be for bragging rights and a
lot of other things that goes on. So there's something
that's really exciting. And we're excited to support them.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
My guy Luther, How you doing man?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Nick Ferguson, here's big dog, how are you?
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I'm doing well, man?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
And you know, for me, know one as though, I mean,
you have your sons playing, you know, in the NFL.
But I just want you to give us somewhat of
a glimpse of what it was like in the LS
household with the kids that you have, and just you know,
the whole idea of football was a huge part of it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
What was that? What was that like for you? Oh?
Speaker 6 (17:57):
It was first of all awesome, And I like my
wife and I we weren't planning on having full children, right.
I mean, it was just one of those things that
we felt, you know, live, I got whatever to adopt
and do different things and to grow the family that way.
And I'm all little close and well it's crazy, is uh.
(18:17):
It was pretty quiet around the household, and a lot
of friends to call and say, hey, we'll go on
where's your kids? So quiet? I'm like, oh, they're all here, right.
But as soon as we had guests or anything like that,
then it got pretty wild and crazy. So but in
our household, honestly, I tried to get him to play
other sports, be quite honest, and my oldest at first, Kayden,
he didn't wanted anything to do with sports. He wanted
(18:38):
to be a scientist. Which I'll be like, great, good,
let's let's just have you down that path. Now, I
do want to throw the ball around with you and
have fun in doing that. But you know, I tried
to direct them other ways. But of course football is
a huge part of who we are and what we do.
And I coached a little bit and then the kids
are like, well, we want to do that too. So
monstory short, they got into it. They love it. It's
(19:01):
been a huge part of that family, just because also
I think, you know, football brings so many different things
with as far as development and character and just disappointment
and developing strength, meaning and character and how you got
losses and how you all go you know, winning, and
I just think there are so many pluses and benefits
(19:22):
of it that how we're grateful that they all chose
to play the great game of football.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Well, but with all your boys playing football, and all
of those guys being on our defensive side of the ball,
do you have any conversations with them now that they're
pros weekly conversations on things that they can improve on,
the things that you see in their game.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Do you have those conversations with them?
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Oh, yeah, we do. Yeah, we talked, not much as
I would like to, just because you know, I'm coaching
here at the University of Utah and it's just harder
to be able to spend more time with them to
help coach them up and do those things. But they'll
last me things or say things their call and say, hey,
this happened or this happened. I'll handle that. But we do.
We talk a lot about technique and different things. Of course,
(20:06):
they have different terminology than what we do, but at
the end of the day, it's still football and it's
still about fundamental to the technique. And you know, if
you have fundamentals and technique, then your athletic will do
being that much better. So we talked a lot about
that and just you know, how to be sounded in
what they do and what they're being have to do.
And I enjoy it. I love talking about them. I
(20:29):
love when the awe moments happened and then they go
out and use it and apply it and you see
it and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Talking with Luther Ellis.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Todd Davis was in here earlier today and he was
talking about you being one of you, being one of
his favorite people. That you're obviously the chaplain for the
Super Bowl fifty team. Tell us a little bit about
what that experience was like being a chaplain for a
Super Bowl winning football team.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
It was crazy, It was awesome. I mean, these guys
are just great, great athletes for the great men, and
you know, I had an opportunity for into them outside
of football and in sense of spiritually and and sharing
the Gospel and you just loving on these guys, right,
And we kept it pretty simple because I'm a pretty
simple guy. I believe that kiss principle applies in all
(21:16):
areas of life. And so when I came to the
spiritual side of things, being able to just pour into
these guys, being able to walk with them through different
seasons of their lives and different childs and thinks, that
was happening, and you know it was. It was a
lot of fun. And you know I got a chance
to well I didn't get to do it because I
had some come up, but you know, the opportunities to
(21:38):
really plaunt your lives by you know, they asked, hey,
you officiate my wedding, will you do this and do
a different thing. So it was a great experience.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
And I love it.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
My kids liked it a lot, and my wife got
at a bunch of the women and it was something that,
you know, it was fully out of the blue, unexpected
when Coach Koubac called me out of blue, and you know,
I get the phone call and he's like Cooper. I'm like, hey,
how are you. I'm not sure it is I don't
know the number. And he goes it's Coo. I'm Who's
(22:08):
Who's He goes Coobiac. I was like, oh my gosh, coach,
what's up? I always been a lot. How are you being?
And he goes, I'll you know, we talk for a
minute and then he goes, hey, I want to bring
you give you an opportunity to the our chaplain. I'll
be like what okay? And then of course Ray jack
and Ray Jackson those guys and no got to know
him prior to that, and then with him in part
(22:30):
of the organization. It was just a huge blessing. So
grateful for the opportunity, which I was, you know, good,
keep going doing it. But uh, you know, being at
Denver being the team chaplain and then uh, you know,
got the coach bug because coach COO's right first day
I'm out there and he's like, what are you doing?
I said, I'm watching practice. He goes go over there
and start coaching. Help him out, let's go. You know what, Yes, sir,
(22:53):
so I went over and you know, so we'll help
you know what I could do with the line and
then tie ends and whatever else the coaches needed at
to help out. You know, the whole time held it back,
but that's okay. It was so fun and just got
me going and coaching opportunities, and then it happened.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
You know. I always felt as though coaching was somewhat
you know, down the road for you. And you have
a big game coming up this weekend here in Boulder
where us to come in and play.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
To see you buffs.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
But you got two guys who definitely are big guys
and definitely stand out, Tafuna and Tana Vasa.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I mean, what is it about.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
These guys that you guys lean on so much and
will lean on Saturday as you face the buffs.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
Yes, I mean those guys are awesome guys. First and
foremost as people, right, They're they're great individuals. They love football,
they love Lie Junior is married and he has a
beautiful son, and and they're just great young men that
you know, again, I'm fortunate enough to build a foreign
to them and sure, you know, hopefully a little bit
of knowledge and wisdom and just continue to help them
(23:58):
on their journey in this great game called football.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
And and then Kiano is just he's just a lot
of fun too. He's he's younger and and he has
that kind of help uh type of mentality, And it's
just fun watching these guys get out there and kay,
you know what you're asking to do coaching wise, and
go out there and play really well. So but hey,
the Buzz and Bus are really really good team. They
(24:23):
have talent all over the place. They they're doing great.
I mean, their defense is playing better and better every week.
And it's gonna be a tough path. So we're gonna
need those two d bbs and to be able to
handle themselves and do what we need them to do,
because without those two, I mean, I don't hope there
our defense is quite the same. And you also have
to have all a defense alignment. But I really believe
(24:45):
especially interior wife, because they think control the interior, it
makes it that much easier on the defense.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
We'll talk again with Luther Ellis, father of both Kayden
and Jonah, also be playing this Sunday coach at Utah
chaplain for the Super Bowl fifty bronco his team, but
more importantly, twenty four teammate if Nick Ferguson and a
desperate World here wants to know what kind of Dirk
you have on a younger Nick Ferguson.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Was awesome, man.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
He was awesome that I got to Denver. You know,
of course he's you know, be on deep inside and
doing those things. He was. He was awesome. He just
took took me in like, you know, anything I needed.
He was quiet, funny, you know because being who I
was at that time and where I was that in
life was just a family.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It was you know.
Speaker 6 (25:32):
He didn't hang out too much, but uh it was
fun going to defensive dinners and doing the things of
that nature and hanging out. But no, I don't have
anything on him. He's as far as I know, he's
not the class and straight up and just loves playing
being a teammate and watching him do the things he
does and making the places he made for us. So
it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Well, thank you for the check. It will be in
the Maryland. I see, I said before he got on that.
See what happened here. You know, when you look.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
At the way that the game is being played in
the NFL from a quarterback standpoint, there are so many
mobile guys in the league, how do you coach your
guys to actually deal with that skill set?
Speaker 6 (26:18):
Yeah, I mean that's a great question, because you know,
it is kind of for surely a big dilemma for us,
right the guys upfront, because we were our jobs to
have to get out of that quarterback and I'll let
them get out of the pass rush lanes, and we
got to do our part and holding up and doing
those things. We tried multiple ways and different things that
we try to make it more difficult on him, meaning
(26:40):
getting after him, but also controlling the lanes and not
opening up lanes so we could just escape on us.
But I don't know, I feel like it's one of
those things where when you play what's the word, I
don't stay scared, but you've played more of a conservative. Hey,
we're just going to bull rush and just trying to
keep from contained in the pocket. Well, typically those guys,
(27:03):
like you said, right, only are they great athletes, but
they can win that ball. So now you give them
all towards the time to dissector your secondary right and
as you say, man, hey, you can't cover before ever.
So you know what we do is, honestly, we just
try to get after them. We just say, guys, you
know you've got to put fresh on them. You got
to make him uncomfortableacker, We got to get hits on him.
(27:24):
So we need to just rush and rush, smart rush,
you know, just will and elly and get up phills,
run by the quarterback, that type stuff. But you have
to maintain your brush past our slang. But we can't
resteat him until hey, all's gonna do a bull rush
all game. Because again, these guys are I mean, I
don't know about you, but these kids coming in now,
(27:45):
I mean, you got even high school kids are a
far more advanced than I was when I got into
the bros. Right, I mean, they're they're working on this
game year round and getting some great teaching and great
coaching through former NFL guys, coaches and things of that nature.
So these guys are a lot more skilled and more advanced,
I would say than even during our time. Right. It's
(28:05):
just one of those things where these kids are seeing
so much time in the game that you have to
get after them. And the best way to do that
it just again starts up front. Guys up front have
to cause that pressure, cause that havoc be in his grill,
so he's alway thinking about like where they're coming from. Right,
if we can get his eyes from looking downfield or
checking down to a second third grade and we're doing
a good job.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Talk again with Luther ellis, what do you think of
the Nil era of football?
Speaker 4 (28:31):
Is Nile good for it? Is it good for recruits?
Is it good for football?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
What's the biggest difference now between when you were coming
up and of these kids now?
Speaker 6 (28:40):
Yeah, I think I think Nile is a good thing
in a sense. You know, you look at all these years.
I think back in my day when we figured out
what we were making per hour for all the time
and effort we put into football. You know, it was
really like a little less than minimum wage back then,
which you know, I don't remember what minimum wage back then,
but it was you know er leak and for everything
(29:02):
that you're doing, and then the universities are able to
new jerseys and do all the things. So I do
think there was it was a balanced and it was
something that needed to be addressed and looked at. But
where we're at right now, it doesn't my pennis and
it's not creating an equal playing field across the board
in the sense of if you right have a big purse,
you're going to be able to do a lot more
(29:23):
with that then with someone other schools that don't have that,
And it's just not the way I think college football
should be to me, if we already lost amateurism status
quite a while ago, I as soon as they started
broadcasting and making some kind of road opportunities from the
games being played, it's no longer amateurism anymore. It's about
(29:44):
the dollars and about what you're trying to get out
of it. And and of course I say, oh, hey,
you're education everything else more so grateful for that. But
the bottom line, like ABC and NBC and all these
people aren't broadcasting games just to do out of the
kindness of their hearts right there, They're doing it because
it's drawing and helps them to generate the revenue. So
to me, I just I'm at the point where in
(30:05):
college football it is what it is. We're a semi
pro league. Let's call it what it is. Let's model
after the NFL and create a salary cap, create those
different things, because then now you're going to have more
equity or be more equitable for all schools and have
opportunities to do us. And I know it's like, hey,
you got so many schools. Yeah, well we need to
(30:25):
figure it out. Because again, just right now, I mean
I don't know if you guys saw that, but the
Michigan kid quarterback or whatever he is, I mean, he's
a dynamic athlete. Right, somebody's you know, one school's willing
to tam ten and a half million always coming out
of high school. So wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Well, looten ten seconds here. My last question for you.
Are you coming to the Broncos game on Sunday?
Speaker 6 (30:53):
Unfortunately I won't be able to make it. I wish
I could make it, but you know, we just Sunday's
a big game planning for us and things that we do.
So I fortunately won't be able to make it. But
my wife and my kids, their belts will be there
and they'll enjoy it and for them to go head
to head and and course I'm just gonna be caring
for them individually.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Well, i'll see you Saturday on the sideline before the game.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
Awesome, that'd be great, look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Well, we really appreciate you taking some time out for
us tonight, and I wish you luck. Sorry you don't
get to see about your son's play man, it's a shame,
but hopefully be able to watch it on TV.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
I will thank you guys, appreciate your time. Now, I'll
see you Saturday.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
I'll get that dirt from him at some point, I
promise you. Fergus and this is gonna happen. We'll find
all the hitting Gatoray tables, all of it hitting Gatoray
tables overturned.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
No listen, Man, Luther was a great dude, very spiritual.
They helped out us a lot with our team, and
I'm so happy to see that he and his family
are flourishing the way that they're doing. It definitely sucks
that he can't see both the sounds playing, but.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I felt the pain from him. I felt the pain
in that answer.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yeah, yeah, I was kind of looking forward to it myself.
But I'll see him Saturday up and Boulder. That'll be
that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah, it seems like a gem of a human being,
and it's rare that you find somebody who nobody has
a negative word to say about. That is certainly one
of those people that nobody has a negative word to
say about.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Is is Luther? Ellis said?
Speaker 3 (32:24):
In fact, Todd, like I said, Todd Davis when he
was there earlier, lit up when he found out that
Luther was going to be on the show.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
So that was That's a lot of fun. You guys
missed any part of that.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
You go to Broncos, Country Night, Dot comp Slash podcast
or wherever you get your podcast, Appleite, Tune, Spotify to
it the freight of Awesome, iHeart Radio app where you
can also get to take it for granted podcast. When
he bothers to post an episode, just say it just
giving him guff. Here's a bowlo tie Thursday over there though,
so you know, it makes me happy better.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Than a bedazzled sweater. Is it is a letter? It
is not, but it gave us plenty of material for
the start of the show. It's not.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
People that it doesn't even fit to the Dazzle criterion.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
It doesn't bedazzle you must I got nothing. No last
prime Time coming up next to the KWA
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