Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So now on fourth down eight from the thirty four
yard line, Brian's gonna go for it on fourth down
with one fourteen deployment, snapped the chadure quick trump deep Trump,
Man in his face, rears back fright, pulls it downfield.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Travis is out there, high in the air. He makes
the crab in between two defenders inside the ten and
the Buffaloes have got it cold and co twenty eight
yards strike from Shaduur Sanders to Travis Hunter and another
Heisman moment.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Welcome back to it, Broccos. Contrary tonight, does Mark Johnson
on the call. Always love hearing his calls on everything
as we talk about here quite often five six six
nine zeros text line, You guys.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Wanna get involved in the conversation.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm gonna go right out to the Kelly commas Field
hotline though, and bringing our guy Neil Welk from seabufs
dot com.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Neil, how you doing this evening?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Good? Damon?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
How are you doing pretty well?
Speaker 5 (00:53):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, first of all, let's hit it right off the
top here. Travis Hunter is your Heisman winner. I don't
think that's surprising to everybody. I was a little surprised
by actually in the end how close it was between
him and Chancey And then that.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Did surprise me and I you know, I've talked to
several people that did vote for Ashton Jancy first and
I see their reasoning. I you know, I can't say
that I agree with it. I understand it, but in
my mind, this was, you know this, there was one
clear favorite. There's only one player in America who had
an impact or a possible impact on every play of
(01:31):
every game that he played that Colorado played in. I
mean everybody Hilse sits on the sidelines for half the game.
He had Travis Hunter could had potentially, you know, the
potential to impact on every play of the game and
a big impact. And that's that's just why I thought
he deserved it. He won. I'm really happy to see that.
(01:54):
Like I said, so, I didn't anticipate it being that close.
But you know that trophy still sitting in right now.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
There you go, buy an instro by a mile doesn't
matter as long as you win. There was some other
I thought, uh, irregularities with the Heisman voting, Dylan Gabriel
at third and what felt like a lifetime achievement Award
more than anything else. You know, you had cam Scannibo
above Bryson Daley, who had more yards, more touchdowns, with
literally nothing else around him.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Tyler Warren is somehow above.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Shador Sanders, Like you know, these voters, there were some
things here where I'm like, I can understand cam Ward
being third or fourth. I thought Daily should have been higher.
I thought Shador should have been higher.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
But you know, at the end of the day, I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Know this is it's it's almost like some of these
guys don't even watch college football. You got, you know,
guys like Tyler Warren ahead of guys like Kyle McCord.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
You know, I have to be real careful when I
say this because obviously I'm biased. Obviously I worked for
the University of Colorado. But I wonder if in some
of the voting, you know what you mentioned Shador Standers,
I thought Shador should have been should have been higher
up on the list too. I thought he was, you know,
arguably the best quarterback in the nation, certainly one of
the top two or three. I just wondered if there
(03:07):
wasn't an anti time, you know, contingent out there that said, okay,
We're not going to vote for for Deon Sanders. He
just this is just too easy for him. We're going
to we're going to give it to somebody. We're going
to vote for somebody else. And I have no proof
of that. I have not heard that. I just have
my suspicions. And now it sounds funny me saying it
(03:28):
out loud, but I just wondered about that just a
little bit. Was there, you know, was there an anti
Ideon contingent out there that was determined, you know, not
to give it to one of his guys?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Maybe, and maybe that's why it was so close. The
other thing I worried about was two guys on the
same team splitting the vote a little bit. Yeah, but
you know, in the end, I mean, she only got
one first place vote, seven second place votes, in thirty
third place votes, so it certainly wasn't splitting the vote
as it were. I think everybody sort of rallied behind
Travis Hunter, and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
But yeah, there, you know, I kind of wondered about
some of those things. What do you make of this?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And I don't want to get through deep in the
weeds on this because frankly, it's none of our business.
But well, what do you think about this backlash towards
Travis Hunter's girlfriend?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
At this point I.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Have I can't begin to even comprehend what that's about.
I don't know. You know, Travis is a good kid.
I mean, I tell you what. This is a kid
that every coach in America wishes he could, wishes he
had a team of guys like that, not just his
athletic ability, but a guy that shows up the practice
(04:29):
every day, a guy that has a girlfriend, you know,
sticks with or isn't in the bars, isn't out drinking,
isn't out partying, comes to practice every day, does everything
he's supposed to do. And I don't know what the
backlash was. I can't explain it. I don't know. Again,
it's inexplicable to me. It's the I guess it's this
(04:50):
day and age of social media. Find something to be
critical about, jump on it and see if you can
get some people to get behind you with it. That
to me, yeah, yeah, that just that. That bothers me.
But I'm you know, I'm an old guy and you
can get off my lawn now.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
So I have a different type of mindset. Well, I
don't go out. I don't drink, I don't do noneing,
none of that extra stuff. I go home to my
fiance played the video game.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
I always went on ones he's in and doing stuff
like that to keep me out of trouble and just
keep my head done and keep my head in the
right space.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Uh yeah, and it's you know, I mean, Travis Hunter
is a good kid by all counts. And I apologize
from mislabeling it is fiance, not not not a girl
for his fiance, But I mean, yeah, he doesn't drink,
he stays home, plays video games, and you know, and
and and she's been with him since before he was
Travis Hunter.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I mean, you know, she's been with him for five years.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So this isn't this is an odd situation that people
trying to seize on and create a scuse him with
his fiance.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It feels like, yeah, I I I.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Don't understand it at all. And again, uh, they seem
like a good couple. I don't know them. I mean,
I can't say that you know anything about their personal lives,
but just for what I here and what I see,
they seem like a good couple. Travis seems like a
really you know, a strong, you know, minded young man
who has a goal in life, and I think she
(06:11):
supports him and all that. I think she's a big
part of his his support system, and I think she
helps keep him grounded and all those things. So, boy,
I don't those kinds of things. That's yeah, yeah, that's
way beyond my pay grade to try and figure out
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Well might as well.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I mean, you know, who are we to criticize the
inner workings of somebody's relationship we don't know anything about.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I just it was running in sort of the topic
that you're out there today. So yeah, looking at.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The CEU, Bobson, how they're going to pivot forward. Dion's
going to be here for another year at least, you know,
but the two centerpieces of his coaching career, his son,
Shador Sanders and Travis Hunter, are not going to be
here obviously moving on to the uh the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
We'll get to that here in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
It's going to be it's going to be fascinating to
see what this team looks like with Dion coaching without
a tangible personal familial connection to you know, a son playing.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
How do you think this team goes forward.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Obviously they got Juju at the at the quarterback, But
how does this team go forward?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
What does this thing look like going forward?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
You know, I don't to be honest, I don't think
it's going to look a whole lot different. I mean
I think Dion has been you know, coach Prime has
been very good about separating you know, personal and coaching.
I mean, he he, He made sure that Pat Shermer
had a big say in how Shador Sanders, you know,
ran the offense. What happened with that, Uh, those two
(07:36):
had a very close relationship, you know, quarterback and offensive coordinator.
I can see the same thing happening with with Juju
coming in and you know, Shermer taking him under his
wing and doing those things. Uh, Dion his.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
And I wrote a column about this a few weeks
ago and everybody laughed. And now all of a sudden,
it seems to be uh, you know, more more mainstream stuff.
What Dion has done has brought an NFL approach to
college football at the exact moment the college football became
the NFL. I mean, there's free agency, there's a salary structure,
there's a playoff system. Now it's not just four teams,
(08:16):
it's twelve teams. You can go out and add twenty
five thirty veteran guys to your team every year. If
that's what you feel you need to do, you can.
You know, you work the high school recruiting, that's your draft.
You try and go get the best young guys that
you're going to develop. And I think I think coach
Prime just maintains that same attitude with next year's team. Now,
(08:39):
are they going to be as good next year?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well?
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Can you lose you know, arguably the best quarterback in
the nation or one of the top two or three
and the Heisman Trophy winner and be that good again
next year? That's a that's a big, big, big, big
challenge right there. But they have a lot of tea,
you know, a lot of pieces in place. I think
their offensive line gets better, their defensive line gets better.
(09:04):
They have a lot of their defensive guys returning. So
I think Dion just continues to run that program as
a franchise, as a you know, as a as a
you know, you know, like a pro franchise, And I
think he's going to bring in a lot of guys
in the portal again, you know, because I know they've
got a lot of guys leading or you know, I've
seen ten or twelve I think on the list maybe
(09:26):
that they have decided they were going to go elsewhere.
So he's going to bring in portal guys and continue
to build that program. It's not just those two, but
certainly those are two huge pieces to lose.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Right, and I would expect the regression. Talk with Neil
welcome SeaBus dot com. I would expect the regression. I mean,
obviously you can't lose two Heisman final or two you know,
top ten Heisman voteaters and.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Expect to keep the same level.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
But it could evolve, it could look different because it
felt like in a lot of ways this season the
offense was there to feature Shador and feature Travis in
a lot of ways. And it feels like that you
could get to something that's a little bit more uh
centered around the run, you know at times and uh
and do those kinds of things. And certainly that's that's
where Pat Shermer comes from. He comes from something that's
(10:11):
centered around the run. So that's you know, that's something
to be seen uh there as well. The other part
of this is you hit sort of the nail on
the head there earlier, and that is that that you know,
there's something of the coach prime effect to college football
as a whole. He brought the NFL mentality to the
game when it was becoming professional football because of the nil.
Now we've see North Carolina hire Bill Belichick and and
(10:33):
and sort of the manifesto and what they want to
do there.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
With uh with that, which is along similar lines.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Is is this blueprint for Colorado which was largely decried
the whole transfer portal, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It was absolutely made fun of.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
They said it would never work, all this kind of stuff,
And to be fair to those critics, that hasn't worked
with a playoff appearance just yet.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But is that the new blueprints?
Speaker 7 (11:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Well right? Is that the new blueprint for college football?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
I certainly think it is a blueprint. I don't think
there's any one blueprint When you've got one hundred and
thirty rough one hundred and thirty hundred and thirty five
you know, FBS teams, I don't think there's going to
be one singular blueprint that's going to rise above all
the others. But I certainly think it is one way,
one way to do it. And the other thing that
he did was he's brought in NFL coaches because he's
(11:27):
more comfortable with him. I Mean, the one thing that
I think kind of got overlooked this year is how
good Robert Livingston was on the defensive side of the
ball and how much see you improve defensively. That's what
kept them in games. You know, they weren't able to
do that a year ago. Have a defense keep them
in games. And what Livingson brought in was, you know,
(11:48):
a very good, solid defense, and I think they'll be better.
They have a chance to be better on that side
of the ball next year, you know, and have more balance.
And you know, that's another thing that that coach Prime
did was bring in NFL guys with the NFL experience
and say, hey, look, we're if we're going to build
this team through the portal, we have to be able
(12:08):
to adapt our schemes. And that's that's what he has
told his assistant coaches. We have to be able to adapt.
We can't recruit guys to fit the scheme that we
want and try and fit a square peg in a
round hole. We've got to be able to adapt and
that's what Livingston was just terrific at that he took
a look at what he had found out his best
players were in the secondary, and he built his team
(12:30):
around that. Played so much press coverage, a lot of
one on one stuff, and then built this team around that.
And I think, you know, that's another piece of the
puzzle that I think Coach Prime, I'll be really interested
to see who Belichick brings, you know, I'll bet surely
there's a lot of NFL experience on that staff.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Well, it's funny you talked about the transfer portal. A
little bit of breaking news.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Alabama transfer defensive tackle Jahim Otis, who was the number
one defensive player at ESPN's transfer ranking, has committed to Colorado.
Six five pounds Junior was obviously one of those coveted
players in the portal, number five overall player at ESPN's
transfer rankings. He has two seasons of eligibility. He was
the thirty eighth overall recruit in twenty twenty two, and
he said the big reason for doing this was Coach Prime,
(13:11):
coach Damian Lewis, and Warren sapp that he could combine
those three coaches.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And help maximize his vast potential. So big get for Colorado.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
There, and that's what and that's you know, coach Prime,
I'd give you know, I heard all the critics, and
I admit I was I don't know if I was skeptical,
but I took a big look and said, well, I
don't know how this is going to work. But two
years later, you look, he had a plan. He had
he had an NFL plan for college football at exact
(13:38):
moment college football became the NFL. And he has worked
it very well. Granted he had he brought with him
a couple pretty good players when he came from Jackson State.
Those aren't the only guys on that team. And you
know the name of you just mentioned, that's a pretty
that's a pretty big get for a defensive line.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Yeah, that's going to.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Be huge for College Colorado.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
All all puns intended there, the Colorad was going to
a bowl game or going to the Elible Bowl.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Is this matchup disappointing for you?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
The fact that it's ultimately a conference game in a sense,
even though they didn't play this year, It's a bit
of a disappointment for me.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I've always said that if you're going to make the.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Bowl system stay relevant outside of the playoffs. You got
to have exotic matchups and having what amounts to a
de facto conference game that just doesn't move the needle
for me.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
I would have loved to have seen an SEC team,
a Big ten team, Yes, I would have loved to
see them play, you know, a good SEC team, you know,
for somebody that's not in the playoffs, a good a
good you know, Big ten team that didn't quite make
the playoffs, because I think that's what Bowl games should
be is match up you know, different conferences and you know,
(14:46):
put a little spice in it. But I think they
looked I think the Bolt people looked at that looked
at who they had to choose from and made the
best choice they could. Yeah. The both times are just
so weird because the Ali Mobile it's still the Pack twelve, yeah,
and the Big twelve, so they had to pick from
(15:07):
PAC twelve schools in Big twelve schools, right, and that's
what you know, it would be that way for one
more year.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, It's just you know, it's one of those ones
where you kind of would have wanted to see, you know,
the take on an SEC team or something.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I'm with you on that anyway. Yeah, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
We gotta hit a break here, but I appreciate the time,
and I look forward to talking again here soon anytime.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Benjamin, thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Absolutely take care Neil well seebuff dot com. We got
a break, We come back parking Gare was gonna join us.
Special thanks to Neil Welk for joining us in the
last second. Talk a little to see you Buffs and
Travis Hunter and the Heisman. If you missed any part
of that, you go to Broncos Country Night dot com,
Slash podcast or podcast, Apple i Tunes, Spotify, totally fraight
off in my Heart Radio app. I didn't have to
use my fake falsetto grant impersonation, like when you were
(15:51):
out sick.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
It was terrible. The world hated it. I got called
out on it. I know Zach seekers has a high
en f voice to hit that note.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Eight, yeah, but he was more he like he didn't
want to go sett. He was just like nailed it,
and I was like, no, no, I didn't nail it.
And I was like, nailed it and it was yeah,
I got called out. Usually has more of a cat's
me out to it. Mine just sounds like a guy
going really high with the with the Octave series.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Yeah, say there you go. So anyway you guys can
get a.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Bronx country night guy that com slash pocket or whatever
you gets podcasts or doing right out to the UK. Wait,
he comes for a hotline again the home bringing our guy,
Parker Gabro from the Never Post.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Parker, how's it going, Buney.
Speaker 7 (16:22):
I'm doing great. How you doing?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Ah, you know, I'm doing pretty well. Broncos coming off of.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
The win thirty one thirteen against the Colts in a
game that felt anything but what that final score was.
As we look at the Broncos, who are primed for
a playoff appearance at this point, just need to win
one of the final three to secure that for sure.
But we see this team sort of stuck in a
late season, a little bit of maybe offensive regression with
(16:48):
bo having multi interception games back to back.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
What is the level of confidence you have as this
team enters the home stretch.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Yeah, I think confidence that they'll punch their ticket to
the postus and here at some point, you know, and
I think it's it's a little hard to say. I
don't I don't quite know what to make of it.
I mean, it does seem like some of the stuff offensively,
you know, obviously the league adjusts back and readjust and
keeps adjusting really fast, and then it's you have to
(17:17):
sort of continually grow. Maybe there's some of that. There's
been a few times where it just seems like, you know,
bo Nix has has has maybe tried to do a
little bit too much, like you don't you know, you
didn't didn't need to throw at least one of them
against Cleveland obviously, just a couple of bad throws against Indianapolis,
and so you know, I think they're they're okay. I
think Trump, Payton Thurtley would tell you that, you know,
(17:41):
they need to get the running game going probably you
know problem number one offensively, uh and so like I
think that they can. I think that they can iron
some of those things out. Does that mean they're gonna
make a deep playoff run. I don't know. I mean,
it's it it it'll depend some un matchup. But obviously
the top of the a he's really good. So you're
(18:01):
just trying to make the dance and then see what
happens when you get there.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
What is needed to get this run game going bonicks
led the team and rushing attempts led the team, and
rushing yardage against the Colts, a team that was thirty
first in the league against the run coming into that game.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
Yeah, you know, that's a good question. I think certainly
some of it is is is you know, sticking to
it and getting and getting attempts. They just you know,
it was one of those sort of weird games where
they didn't end up with a whole lot of plays.
Champaygon sort of laments that sometimes when they end up
in the fifties. And then the other part of it
(18:37):
is just like we've talked about this before, I just
I'm not sure exactly what needs to happen in order
for audreg estimate to get you know, a longer look.
But it looks different when he runs the ball than
when the other two guys run the ball. And I
get it that that's not the only job of a
running back, but it is sort of like the singular
(19:00):
thing that the Broncos have struggled with from a consistency
standpoint this year. And not only that, but some of
the other things like pass protection for example, like they've
been pretty darn good in and not only that, but
then like oo, Nick sort of helps in that equation,
and they can they can blunt the rush a little
bit with chips and with the RPO stuff and all
(19:22):
of that, and so like, you know, whatever it is,
and maybe he's dropping the ball in practice or whatever,
but like whatever it is that has kept aud your
estimate for the most part off the field the last
several weeks, I would just be interested in seeing what
that picture looks like down the stretch.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, me too, And talking with Parker Gabriel that Parker J.
Gabriel on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
That's sort of the thing because if you look at
this on paper, auto cuestimation should be the early down
back and Javonte should be the one.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
In the Samaj p Ryan roll from last year.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I think you sprinkle McLoughlin in for some you know,
some place here and there, you know whatever, and go
from there.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
And on paper that looks like an obviousity.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But yet as we sit here again, it just over
and over again, seems like they're refusing to put the
rookie battering ram out there to their own detriment.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Yeah right, And I mean you know they're not. This
was the thing with Marvin this was just like the
thing with Marvin n last year. It's like at some
point even if you don't even if they're not interested
in telling you what the exact rationale is, Like I
would always tell people that would ask me, like, well,
it's not like they don't know he's on the team. Like,
clearly there is some reason why they've got it this way.
(20:29):
It doesn't maybe make a lot of sense to me
or just looking at it from the outside, but I'm
looking at it from the outside, so like I don't
I don't know exactly what that reason is, but it
does get to a point where you're sort of like
you do just sort of scratch your head. Like even
even yesterday, Audrey DestinE goes in, he gets one carry
six yards and he's right back out of the game,
(20:51):
Like I just that that doesn't track to me. But
like I'm also just a guy that you know.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Types with Parker Gabriel, a guy that does more than
just type. He also talks, and he's talking to us
right now, uh here on KOA. I look, I'm with
you though. That's one of those things. It's like these
guys are coaches, that they're lifeer coaches. They bet around
the league a long time. They know what they've got.
Why does it seem obvious to us dorks with a microphone?
And then at the same time, but you know, that's
beside the point. As we look at this offense. It
(21:17):
has been multiple weeks of multiple turnovers, and you know,
off the top of the show, I said, you know,
maybe maybe this is the CounterPunch. Maybe teams have gotten
enough tape on Bow they see what he does. And
you know, because that's what you get out of most
quarterbacks if you start slow and then you start to
pick it up, and by the end of the year,
you're you got to feel for it, You're excited the fans.
Then you know, the off season occurs, everybody's got tape
(21:38):
on you, they study it up, and then you know,
the next year you have that sophomore slop. That's usually
what that is, and then the great quarterbacks CounterPunch that
CounterPunch and get better. Are we at the CounterPunch stage
with bo Nix? Or is this just you know, is
this team's figuring no matter? Is this just happenstance and
just just the luck and the way that it goes.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
I think it's probably a little bit of both. I mean,
you know, to me, I'd be interested in what you think.
But like when I you look at the three picks
from from from Sunday, from yesterday, and like, yeah, maybe
he got Maybe maybe teams are trying to do more,
you know, after the snap, and they're trying to make
it difficult for him in terms of like processing and
(22:16):
all of that. But like, you know, he also just
completely airmailed Courtland Sutton and he made a bad you know,
he made a bad read and he made three really
bad throws on the three interceptions, and so like could
have been ruled as that a CounterPunch maybe, But sometimes
you know.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
With bo it can it's just sometimes it's.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
About footwork and playing in rhythm. You know. It's like
if he get a little mixed up and he's throwing
side arms, he's thrown off, he's leaning a way, and
you know, so it might be as simple as you
have a run of success and good play and then
you get reminded a little bit of like, oh, you
can't do that. You know, you might be able to
do this, you can't do that. And that's a line
(22:56):
that quarterbacks walk, and that's the really good ones, you know,
experiment with over the course of time. Just it's also
it can be really costly, and he's put the ball.
I think also it's fair to say, like in the
ten games were only three or two picks. It's not
like he never put the ball in Harm's way like
he did. He didn't do it often, but he did
get away with a few over the course of that.
(23:18):
So it may just be you know, the sort of
the turnover to Luck coming home to roost a little
bit too.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, that was something i you know, I mean, the
Tyrad Matthew dropped interception we could get there were several
times where he should have been picked and wasn't, and
so that's you know, maybe it's just regression to the mean,
you know, as we're talking about Parker Gabriel, as we
look at the distribution for.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
The offense again here too.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
This is as much as the run game can be perplexing,
this seemed to be perplexing as well. Force feeding the
ball to Courtland Sutton and only getting three receptions thirty
two yards, one of which was a touchdown out of
it on nine targets. You got Troy Franklin getting five
targets in this game. Meanwhile, your most explosive athlete, Marvin
Mimams again, four targets for the game, You're Pepper the
tight ends again, Lake Troutman, Adkins and Lucas Kroll get involved.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Uh, it's just it's it's.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Just bizarre to me the way we we seem to
have no no, no continuity week to week.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
It's it feels disjointed in a way, and in a way.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
That can be represented a little bit microcosmically maybe on
the ways that the constant shuffling of personnel packages in
and out of the offense disjoyed some of the flow
of the offense.
Speaker 7 (24:23):
Yeah, it's sort of interesting. Like I've always I've always
I've always wondered this about Sean Payton and I you know,
then you've seen it up close and personal in a
different way than ever really was in New Orleans outside
of like when Drew Brees was hurt and then the
last year that he was there is like he talks
a lot about game plans and the NFL, like there's
no doubt about it. It is a game plan league. But
(24:45):
like if you you know, Ben, like if somebody asked you, hey,
what is the Broncos identity?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
On offense, and this was a thing last year.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
So I think most of this year obviously they've been
they've been better offensively for a big chunk of this year,
and they're they're they're capable of going off and scoring
a bunch of points. But it's not like it's not
like the forty nine ers, right where like you just
know it when you see it. It is very weak
to week in terms of what they want to do,
and like, I think that's okay for the most part,
(25:15):
Like a lot of you know, there's teams in the
NFL to play that way. There's teams the NFL that
that one week they know they want to get to X,
Y and Z and then the next week at A,
B and C and that's fine. And you know, the Broncos,
I think for the most part this year, not so
much in the run game yesterday, but like their offensive
line has become something that they can pretty much hang
their hat on most of the time, and I think
(25:37):
maybe it surprised them a little bit to the extent
to which that wasn't necessarily true in the run game yesterday.
But there are times where you just think, like, what
is the identity of this team? And sometimes it feels
like the identity of the offense is a team that
does a bunch of different stuff every single week.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Well, one team that the one side of the ball
that has been doing the right thing consistently throughout the year,
or is the defensive side of the ball, and it's
kind of bailed the Broncos out the last couple of games,
specifically with generating points on their own. Nick Benito has
been an absolute man on fire. As a matter of fact,
three weeks ago and I took a flyer and his
Defensive Player of the Year just because of the sack totals.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I took a flyer on it. At plus ten thousand.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
He's all the way up to the third favorite in
the league at plus six hundred at Caesars right now,
behind teammate pats Or ten has banged up and TJ Watt,
who's banged up as well. Nick Benito could be working
his way in depensive player of the Year conversation.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Yeah, I could be. I thought that today from next
Gen stats that he's the first player since JJ Watt
in twenty fourteen to have double digit sacks and multiple
touchdowns in the season. Now he's not going to quite
do the JJ Watt of twenty fourteen, when JJ Watt
had twenty and a half sacks, had a picktick the
fumber return for a touchdown, and caught three touchdowns on offense.
(26:52):
That I think when when Nick Benito, you know, negotiates
the massive extension that he's going to get sometime in
the next twelve months, I think you should ask to
have a package where he can play offense too. He's
got pretty good ball skills, but in the meantime, yeah,
I mean he's he's turned himself into a star. I mean,
there's really there's really new, no two ways around it.
And it's it's interesting, it's a it's a compelling story,
(27:15):
and obviously it's fun for fans when you watch a
guy just sort of turn into over the course of
the season, go from being one thing to being something
else entirely as a player. And he's done that and
it's been really impressive to watch. Obviously eleven and a
half sacks, two touchdowns, and I think you're right then,
I mean, if he closes any way like he's been
(27:38):
playing recently, he's going to be right in the mixture
for Depo. I mean, think about the last three games
against Vegas. He closed that game out with the strip
sack in the fourth quarter, and then he scored touchdowns
in each of their two games after that. Like, find
a more impactful stretch of three games than that, because
it's been I mean it's been. It's been really impressive.
(27:59):
And it's not just like he's getting sacked. He's making
game tilting, game altering plays pretty much on a weekly
basis at this point.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
Talk with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
How much trouble the broncos Ian if La Mowison Patcer
Tan can't go on Thursday?
Speaker 7 (28:13):
Yeah, quite a bit. Although I think I think what
Chris abram Strain and Damri Matsus did sort of teaming
up to play one side yesterday was pretty impressive. Chris
Abrams strange, you know, he he was. I thought he
played well in camp and obviously they just have depth
and so he didn't have a game day role most
of the season. He jumped right in and played pretty
(28:35):
well so far. But you know, teams start to figure
that out too, and they'll go you know, they'll go
after him, and it's different if number two is not
on the other side, and so it would be a big,
big challenge obviously if they're without both Pat and Roley
Moss obviously encouraging that they they sort of you know,
they estimated that Pat would have been a full participant
(28:57):
today and all of that. But yeah, I mean, you
can't have your depth tested a whole lot more than
having two guys who were playing at a really high level.
Pat obviously at an all pro level, you know, out
of a game, and so the Broadcos will be hoping
that's not the case. But you know, they've got a
couple of interesting young guys that it would be it
(29:18):
would be pretty pretty fascinating to watch try to hold
it down if that, you know, scenario were to come
to pass.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
If you think you think about any game that it
would be okay air quotes for that to happen.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Would it be a short week.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Game against the Chargers, whose receivers or let's say a
bit lack cluster outside of Ladd mcconkee, and maybe get
them healthy by the time you had to play the
Cincinnati Bengals and that offensive Jabberwacke.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
Yeah, well definitely, I mean, certainly, if you were saying,
do you want the full complement of corners available for
the Chargers or for the Bengals, you would pick the Bengals.
It just so happened that Cincinnati's after on the schedule, obviously,
but you know, like and it was different because it
happened on the first play of the game. But who
knows if that game against the Chargers earlier in the
(30:07):
season here in Denver would have been different had Tat
not gone out after the first snap. They obviously build
their defensive plan around him. Even when you have a
week where you're playing a team that's going to run
the side out of the ball like the Chargers. So like, yeah,
you know, it's not the most dangerous set of weaponry
to be, you know, if you're if you're shorthanded a
little bit, but you know, obvious statement alert, you're better
(30:31):
off if you've got number two in the game.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Talking with Barker Gabriel, all right, Parker, last one here
for you. You've you've got the Chargers on a short
week here, you're little banged up, seeing a few cracks
here or there both sides of the ball. Does the
Broncos go ahead and close this thing out and purchase
a playoff bid on Thursday night? Are we going to
be asking the same question coming up against the Bengals.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
I I don't.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
I mean, I think the Chargers are really good. I
know the record doesn't doesn't necessarily know back that up.
I'm a believer, and yet there's just some the Broncos
are rolling, you know, the one four in a row.
I just there's part of me that maybe it's just
because of the good vibes around and all that. Like,
(31:17):
there's definitely part of me that thinks that that they've
got a great chance at least uh to wrap it
up and punch their ticket on Thursday night. You know,
you know, Sean Payton will will want nothing more than
to get you know, to even the season series against Tarbaugh.
And not only that, but it would put him in
the driver's seat to finish ahead of the Chargers in
(31:39):
the playoff standings. That you know, two up with two
games to go, so plenty of motivation. I think I
think there's a decent chance they get it done. Even
though obviously the Chargers are favored.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Real quick by thirty seconds left.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
How much do you think they want the Pittsburgh Steelers,
or how much do you think Sean Payton wants the
Pittsburgh Steelers and specifically Russell Wilson in that opening playoff
round if they get there.
Speaker 7 (31:59):
Well, I have no idea what he thinks, but I
know that I would like it. That would be just
tremendous feeder, and I think after the season that we're
entitled to it. He didn't, he didn't play the first
time around, and so if the football gods have any
any sense of humor, certainly, somehow, some way, that's where
(32:21):
it ends up. Well, card weekend.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Looking forward to it, man, I appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter. Looking forward
to this thing on Thursday night.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Brother, Yeah you bet. Having a good week all right, now.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Take care, park Gabriel. The Denver Polish. We got Cuddy
rockhen we come back.
So now on fourth down eight from the thirty four
yard line, Brian's gonna go for it on fourth down
with one fourteen deployment, snapped the chadure quick trump deep Trump,
Man in his face, rears back fright, pulls it downfield.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Travis is out there, high in the air. He makes
the crab in between two defenders inside the ten and
the Buffaloes have got it cold and co twenty eight
yards strike from Shaduur Sanders to Travis Hunter and another
Heisman moment.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Welcome back to it, Broccos. Contrary tonight, does Mark Johnson
on the call. Always love hearing his calls on everything
as we talk about here quite often five six six
nine zeros text line, You guys.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Wanna get involved in the conversation.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm gonna go right out to the Kelly commas Field
hotline though, and bringing our guy Neil Welk from seabufs
dot com.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Neil, how you doing this evening?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Good? Damon?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
How are you doing pretty well?
Speaker 5 (00:53):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, first of all, let's hit it right off the
top here. Travis Hunter is your Heisman winner. I don't
think that's surprising to everybody. I was a little surprised
by actually in the end how close it was between
him and Chancey And then that.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Did surprise me and I you know, I've talked to
several people that did vote for Ashton Jancy first and
I see their reasoning. I you know, I can't say
that I agree with it. I understand it, but in
my mind, this was, you know this, there was one
clear favorite. There's only one player in America who had
an impact or a possible impact on every play of
(01:31):
every game that he played that Colorado played in. I
mean everybody Hilse sits on the sidelines for half the game.
He had Travis Hunter could had potentially, you know, the
potential to impact on every play of the game and
a big impact. And that's that's just why I thought
he deserved it. He won. I'm really happy to see that.
(01:54):
Like I said, so, I didn't anticipate it being that close.
But you know that trophy still sitting in right now.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
There you go, buy an instro by a mile doesn't
matter as long as you win. There was some other
I thought, uh, irregularities with the Heisman voting, Dylan Gabriel
at third and what felt like a lifetime achievement Award
more than anything else. You know, you had cam Scannibo
above Bryson Daley, who had more yards, more touchdowns, with
literally nothing else around him.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Tyler Warren is somehow above.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Shador Sanders, Like you know, these voters, there were some
things here where I'm like, I can understand cam Ward
being third or fourth. I thought Daily should have been higher.
I thought Shador should have been higher.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
But you know, at the end of the day, I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Know this is it's it's almost like some of these
guys don't even watch college football. You got, you know,
guys like Tyler Warren ahead of guys like Kyle McCord.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
You know, I have to be real careful when I
say this because obviously I'm biased. Obviously I worked for
the University of Colorado. But I wonder if in some
of the voting, you know what you mentioned Shador Standers,
I thought Shador should have been should have been higher
up on the list too. I thought he was, you know,
arguably the best quarterback in the nation, certainly one of
the top two or three. I just wondered if there
(03:07):
wasn't an anti time, you know, contingent out there that said, okay,
We're not going to vote for for Deon Sanders. He
just this is just too easy for him. We're going
to we're going to give it to somebody. We're going
to vote for somebody else. And I have no proof
of that. I have not heard that. I just have
my suspicions. And now it sounds funny me saying it
(03:28):
out loud, but I just wondered about that just a
little bit. Was there, you know, was there an anti
Ideon contingent out there that was determined, you know, not
to give it to one of his guys?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Maybe, and maybe that's why it was so close. The
other thing I worried about was two guys on the
same team splitting the vote a little bit. Yeah, but
you know, in the end, I mean, she only got
one first place vote, seven second place votes, in thirty
third place votes, so it certainly wasn't splitting the vote
as it were. I think everybody sort of rallied behind
Travis Hunter, and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
But yeah, there, you know, I kind of wondered about
some of those things. What do you make of this?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And I don't want to get through deep in the
weeds on this because frankly, it's none of our business.
But well, what do you think about this backlash towards
Travis Hunter's girlfriend?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
At this point I.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Have I can't begin to even comprehend what that's about.
I don't know. You know, Travis is a good kid.
I mean, I tell you what. This is a kid
that every coach in America wishes he could, wishes he
had a team of guys like that, not just his
athletic ability, but a guy that shows up the practice
(04:29):
every day, a guy that has a girlfriend, you know,
sticks with or isn't in the bars, isn't out drinking,
isn't out partying, comes to practice every day, does everything
he's supposed to do. And I don't know what the
backlash was. I can't explain it. I don't know. Again,
it's inexplicable to me. It's the I guess it's this
(04:50):
day and age of social media. Find something to be
critical about, jump on it and see if you can
get some people to get behind you with it. That
to me, yeah, yeah, that just that. That bothers me.
But I'm you know, I'm an old guy and you
can get off my lawn now.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
So I have a different type of mindset. Well, I
don't go out. I don't drink, I don't do noneing,
none of that extra stuff. I go home to my
fiance played the video game.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
I always went on ones he's in and doing stuff
like that to keep me out of trouble and just
keep my head done and keep my head in the
right space.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Uh yeah, and it's you know, I mean, Travis Hunter
is a good kid by all counts. And I apologize
from mislabeling it is fiance, not not not a girl
for his fiance, But I mean, yeah, he doesn't drink,
he stays home, plays video games, and you know, and
and and she's been with him since before he was
Travis Hunter.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I mean, you know, she's been with him for five years.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So this isn't this is an odd situation that people
trying to seize on and create a scuse him with
his fiance.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It feels like, yeah, I I I.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Don't understand it at all. And again, uh, they seem
like a good couple. I don't know them. I mean,
I can't say that you know anything about their personal lives,
but just for what I here and what I see,
they seem like a good couple. Travis seems like a
really you know, a strong, you know, minded young man
who has a goal in life, and I think she
(06:11):
supports him and all that. I think she's a big
part of his his support system, and I think she
helps keep him grounded and all those things. So, boy,
I don't those kinds of things. That's yeah, yeah, that's
way beyond my pay grade to try and figure out
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Well might as well.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I mean, you know, who are we to criticize the
inner workings of somebody's relationship we don't know anything about.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I just it was running in sort of the topic
that you're out there today. So yeah, looking at.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The CEU, Bobson, how they're going to pivot forward. Dion's
going to be here for another year at least, you know,
but the two centerpieces of his coaching career, his son,
Shador Sanders and Travis Hunter, are not going to be
here obviously moving on to the uh the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
We'll get to that here in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
It's going to be it's going to be fascinating to
see what this team looks like with Dion coaching without
a tangible personal familial connection to you know, a son playing.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
How do you think this team goes forward.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Obviously they got Juju at the at the quarterback, But
how does this team go forward?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
What does this thing look like going forward?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
You know, I don't to be honest, I don't think
it's going to look a whole lot different. I mean
I think Dion has been you know, coach Prime has
been very good about separating you know, personal and coaching.
I mean, he he, He made sure that Pat Shermer
had a big say in how Shador Sanders, you know,
ran the offense. What happened with that, Uh, those two
(07:36):
had a very close relationship, you know, quarterback and offensive coordinator.
I can see the same thing happening with with Juju
coming in and you know, Shermer taking him under his
wing and doing those things. Uh, Dion his.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
And I wrote a column about this a few weeks
ago and everybody laughed. And now all of a sudden,
it seems to be uh, you know, more more mainstream stuff.
What Dion has done has brought an NFL approach to
college football at the exact moment the college football became
the NFL. I mean, there's free agency, there's a salary structure,
there's a playoff system. Now it's not just four teams,
(08:16):
it's twelve teams. You can go out and add twenty
five thirty veteran guys to your team every year. If
that's what you feel you need to do, you can.
You know, you work the high school recruiting, that's your draft.
You try and go get the best young guys that
you're going to develop. And I think I think coach
Prime just maintains that same attitude with next year's team. Now,
(08:39):
are they going to be as good next year?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well?
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Can you lose you know, arguably the best quarterback in
the nation or one of the top two or three
and the Heisman Trophy winner and be that good again
next year? That's a that's a big, big, big, big
challenge right there. But they have a lot of tea,
you know, a lot of pieces in place. I think
their offensive line gets better, their defensive line gets better.
(09:04):
They have a lot of their defensive guys returning. So
I think Dion just continues to run that program as
a franchise, as a you know, as a as a
you know, you know, like a pro franchise, And I
think he's going to bring in a lot of guys
in the portal again, you know, because I know they've
got a lot of guys leading or you know, I've
seen ten or twelve I think on the list maybe
(09:26):
that they have decided they were going to go elsewhere.
So he's going to bring in portal guys and continue
to build that program. It's not just those two, but
certainly those are two huge pieces to lose.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Right, and I would expect the regression. Talk with Neil
welcome SeaBus dot com. I would expect the regression. I mean,
obviously you can't lose two Heisman final or two you know,
top ten Heisman voteaters and.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Expect to keep the same level.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
But it could evolve, it could look different because it
felt like in a lot of ways this season the
offense was there to feature Shador and feature Travis in
a lot of ways. And it feels like that you
could get to something that's a little bit more uh
centered around the run, you know at times and uh
and do those kinds of things. And certainly that's that's
where Pat Shermer comes from. He comes from something that's
(10:11):
centered around the run. So that's you know, that's something
to be seen uh there as well. The other part
of this is you hit sort of the nail on
the head there earlier, and that is that that you know,
there's something of the coach prime effect to college football
as a whole. He brought the NFL mentality to the
game when it was becoming professional football because of the nil.
Now we've see North Carolina hire Bill Belichick and and
(10:33):
and sort of the manifesto and what they want to
do there.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
With uh with that, which is along similar lines.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Is is this blueprint for Colorado which was largely decried
the whole transfer portal, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It was absolutely made fun of.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
They said it would never work, all this kind of stuff,
And to be fair to those critics, that hasn't worked
with a playoff appearance just yet.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But is that the new blueprints?
Speaker 7 (11:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Well right? Is that the new blueprint for college football?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
I certainly think it is a blueprint. I don't think
there's any one blueprint When you've got one hundred and
thirty rough one hundred and thirty hundred and thirty five
you know, FBS teams, I don't think there's going to
be one singular blueprint that's going to rise above all
the others. But I certainly think it is one way,
one way to do it. And the other thing that
he did was he's brought in NFL coaches because he's
(11:27):
more comfortable with him. I Mean, the one thing that
I think kind of got overlooked this year is how
good Robert Livingston was on the defensive side of the
ball and how much see you improve defensively. That's what
kept them in games. You know, they weren't able to
do that a year ago. Have a defense keep them
in games. And what Livingson brought in was, you know,
(11:48):
a very good, solid defense, and I think they'll be better.
They have a chance to be better on that side
of the ball next year, you know, and have more balance.
And you know, that's another thing that that coach Prime
did was bring in NFL guys with the NFL experience
and say, hey, look, we're if we're going to build
this team through the portal, we have to be able
(12:08):
to adapt our schemes. And that's that's what he has
told his assistant coaches. We have to be able to adapt.
We can't recruit guys to fit the scheme that we
want and try and fit a square peg in a
round hole. We've got to be able to adapt and
that's what Livingston was just terrific at that he took
a look at what he had found out his best
players were in the secondary, and he built his team
(12:30):
around that. Played so much press coverage, a lot of
one on one stuff, and then built this team around that.
And I think, you know, that's another piece of the
puzzle that I think Coach Prime, I'll be really interested
to see who Belichick brings, you know, I'll bet surely
there's a lot of NFL experience on that staff.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Well, it's funny you talked about the transfer portal. A
little bit of breaking news.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Alabama transfer defensive tackle Jahim Otis, who was the number
one defensive player at ESPN's transfer ranking, has committed to Colorado.
Six five pounds Junior was obviously one of those coveted
players in the portal, number five overall player at ESPN's
transfer rankings. He has two seasons of eligibility. He was
the thirty eighth overall recruit in twenty twenty two, and
he said the big reason for doing this was Coach Prime,
(13:11):
coach Damian Lewis, and Warren sapp that he could combine
those three coaches.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And help maximize his vast potential. So big get for Colorado.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
There, and that's what and that's you know, coach Prime,
I'd give you know, I heard all the critics, and
I admit I was I don't know if I was skeptical,
but I took a big look and said, well, I
don't know how this is going to work. But two
years later, you look, he had a plan. He had
he had an NFL plan for college football at exact
(13:38):
moment college football became the NFL. And he has worked
it very well. Granted he had he brought with him
a couple pretty good players when he came from Jackson State.
Those aren't the only guys on that team. And you
know the name of you just mentioned, that's a pretty
that's a pretty big get for a defensive line.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Yeah, that's going to.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Be huge for College Colorado.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
All all puns intended there, the Colorad was going to
a bowl game or going to the Elible Bowl.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Is this matchup disappointing for you?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
The fact that it's ultimately a conference game in a sense,
even though they didn't play this year, It's a bit
of a disappointment for me.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I've always said that if you're going to make the.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Bowl system stay relevant outside of the playoffs. You got
to have exotic matchups and having what amounts to a
de facto conference game that just doesn't move the needle
for me.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
I would have loved to have seen an SEC team,
a Big ten team, Yes, I would have loved to
see them play, you know, a good SEC team, you know,
for somebody that's not in the playoffs, a good a
good you know, Big ten team that didn't quite make
the playoffs, because I think that's what Bowl games should
be is match up you know, different conferences and you know,
(14:46):
put a little spice in it. But I think they
looked I think the Bolt people looked at that looked
at who they had to choose from and made the
best choice they could. Yeah. The both times are just
so weird because the Ali Mobile it's still the Pack twelve, yeah,
and the Big twelve, so they had to pick from
(15:07):
PAC twelve schools in Big twelve schools, right, and that's
what you know, it would be that way for one
more year.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, It's just you know, it's one of those ones
where you kind of would have wanted to see, you know,
the take on an SEC team or something.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I'm with you on that anyway. Yeah, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
We gotta hit a break here, but I appreciate the time,
and I look forward to talking again here soon anytime.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Benjamin, thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Absolutely take care Neil well seebuff dot com. We got
a break, We come back parking Gare was gonna join us.
Special thanks to Neil Welk for joining us in the
last second. Talk a little to see you Buffs and
Travis Hunter and the Heisman. If you missed any part
of that, you go to Broncos Country Night dot com,
Slash podcast or podcast, Apple i Tunes, Spotify, totally fraight
off in my Heart Radio app. I didn't have to
use my fake falsetto grant impersonation, like when you were
(15:51):
out sick.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
It was terrible. The world hated it. I got called
out on it. I know Zach seekers has a high
en f voice to hit that note.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Eight, yeah, but he was more he like he didn't
want to go sett. He was just like nailed it,
and I was like, no, no, I didn't nail it.
And I was like, nailed it and it was yeah,
I got called out. Usually has more of a cat's
me out to it. Mine just sounds like a guy
going really high with the with the Octave series.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Yeah, say there you go. So anyway you guys can
get a.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Bronx country night guy that com slash pocket or whatever
you gets podcasts or doing right out to the UK. Wait,
he comes for a hotline again the home bringing our guy,
Parker Gabro from the Never Post.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Parker, how's it going, Buney.
Speaker 7 (16:22):
I'm doing great. How you doing?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Ah, you know, I'm doing pretty well. Broncos coming off of.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
The win thirty one thirteen against the Colts in a
game that felt anything but what that final score was.
As we look at the Broncos, who are primed for
a playoff appearance at this point, just need to win
one of the final three to secure that for sure.
But we see this team sort of stuck in a
late season, a little bit of maybe offensive regression with
(16:48):
bo having multi interception games back to back.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
What is the level of confidence you have as this
team enters the home stretch.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Yeah, I think confidence that they'll punch their ticket to
the postus and here at some point, you know, and
I think it's it's a little hard to say. I
don't I don't quite know what to make of it.
I mean, it does seem like some of the stuff offensively,
you know, obviously the league adjusts back and readjust and
keeps adjusting really fast, and then it's you have to
(17:17):
sort of continually grow. Maybe there's some of that. There's
been a few times where it just seems like, you know,
bo Nix has has has maybe tried to do a
little bit too much, like you don't you know, you
didn't didn't need to throw at least one of them
against Cleveland obviously, just a couple of bad throws against Indianapolis,
and so you know, I think they're they're okay. I
think Trump, Payton Thurtley would tell you that, you know,
(17:41):
they need to get the running game going probably you
know problem number one offensively, uh and so like I
think that they can. I think that they can iron
some of those things out. Does that mean they're gonna
make a deep playoff run. I don't know. I mean,
it's it it it'll depend some un matchup. But obviously
the top of the a he's really good. So you're
(18:01):
just trying to make the dance and then see what
happens when you get there.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
What is needed to get this run game going bonicks
led the team and rushing attempts led the team, and
rushing yardage against the Colts, a team that was thirty
first in the league against the run coming into that game.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
Yeah, you know, that's a good question. I think certainly
some of it is is is you know, sticking to
it and getting and getting attempts. They just you know,
it was one of those sort of weird games where
they didn't end up with a whole lot of plays.
Champaygon sort of laments that sometimes when they end up
in the fifties. And then the other part of it
(18:37):
is just like we've talked about this before, I just
I'm not sure exactly what needs to happen in order
for audreg estimate to get you know, a longer look.
But it looks different when he runs the ball than
when the other two guys run the ball. And I
get it that that's not the only job of a
running back, but it is sort of like the singular
(19:00):
thing that the Broncos have struggled with from a consistency
standpoint this year. And not only that, but some of
the other things like pass protection for example, like they've
been pretty darn good in and not only that, but
then like oo, Nick sort of helps in that equation,
and they can they can blunt the rush a little
bit with chips and with the RPO stuff and all
(19:22):
of that, and so like, you know, whatever it is,
and maybe he's dropping the ball in practice or whatever,
but like whatever it is that has kept aud your
estimate for the most part off the field the last
several weeks, I would just be interested in seeing what
that picture looks like down the stretch.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, me too, And talking with Parker Gabriel that Parker J.
Gabriel on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
That's sort of the thing because if you look at
this on paper, auto cuestimation should be the early down
back and Javonte should be the one.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
In the Samaj p Ryan roll from last year.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I think you sprinkle McLoughlin in for some you know,
some place here and there, you know whatever, and go
from there.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
And on paper that looks like an obviousity.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But yet as we sit here again, it just over
and over again, seems like they're refusing to put the
rookie battering ram out there to their own detriment.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Yeah right, And I mean you know they're not. This
was the thing with Marvin this was just like the
thing with Marvin n last year. It's like at some
point even if you don't even if they're not interested
in telling you what the exact rationale is, Like I
would always tell people that would ask me, like, well,
it's not like they don't know he's on the team. Like,
clearly there is some reason why they've got it this way.
(20:29):
It doesn't maybe make a lot of sense to me
or just looking at it from the outside, but I'm
looking at it from the outside, so like I don't
I don't know exactly what that reason is, but it
does get to a point where you're sort of like
you do just sort of scratch your head. Like even
even yesterday, Audrey DestinE goes in, he gets one carry
six yards and he's right back out of the game,
(20:51):
Like I just that that doesn't track to me. But
like I'm also just a guy that you know.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Types with Parker Gabriel, a guy that does more than
just type. He also talks, and he's talking to us
right now, uh here on KOA. I look, I'm with
you though. That's one of those things. It's like these
guys are coaches, that they're lifeer coaches. They bet around
the league a long time. They know what they've got.
Why does it seem obvious to us dorks with a microphone?
And then at the same time, but you know, that's
beside the point. As we look at this offense. It
(21:17):
has been multiple weeks of multiple turnovers, and you know,
off the top of the show, I said, you know,
maybe maybe this is the CounterPunch. Maybe teams have gotten
enough tape on Bow they see what he does. And
you know, because that's what you get out of most
quarterbacks if you start slow and then you start to
pick it up, and by the end of the year,
you're you got to feel for it, You're excited the fans.
Then you know, the off season occurs, everybody's got tape
(21:38):
on you, they study it up, and then you know,
the next year you have that sophomore slop. That's usually
what that is, and then the great quarterbacks CounterPunch that
CounterPunch and get better. Are we at the CounterPunch stage
with bo Nix? Or is this just you know, is
this team's figuring no matter? Is this just happenstance and
just just the luck and the way that it goes.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
I think it's probably a little bit of both. I mean,
you know, to me, I'd be interested in what you think.
But like when I you look at the three picks
from from from Sunday, from yesterday, and like, yeah, maybe
he got Maybe maybe teams are trying to do more,
you know, after the snap, and they're trying to make
it difficult for him in terms of like processing and
(22:16):
all of that. But like, you know, he also just
completely airmailed Courtland Sutton and he made a bad you know,
he made a bad read and he made three really
bad throws on the three interceptions, and so like could
have been ruled as that a CounterPunch maybe, But sometimes
you know.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
With bo it can it's just sometimes it's.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
About footwork and playing in rhythm. You know. It's like
if he get a little mixed up and he's throwing
side arms, he's thrown off, he's leaning a way, and
you know, so it might be as simple as you
have a run of success and good play and then
you get reminded a little bit of like, oh, you
can't do that. You know, you might be able to
do this, you can't do that. And that's a line
(22:56):
that quarterbacks walk, and that's the really good ones, you know,
experiment with over the course of time. Just it's also
it can be really costly, and he's put the ball.
I think also it's fair to say, like in the
ten games were only three or two picks. It's not
like he never put the ball in Harm's way like
he did. He didn't do it often, but he did
get away with a few over the course of that.
(23:18):
So it may just be you know, the sort of
the turnover to Luck coming home to roost a little
bit too.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, that was something i you know, I mean, the
Tyrad Matthew dropped interception we could get there were several
times where he should have been picked and wasn't, and
so that's you know, maybe it's just regression to the mean,
you know, as we're talking about Parker Gabriel, as we
look at the distribution for.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
The offense again here too.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
This is as much as the run game can be perplexing,
this seemed to be perplexing as well. Force feeding the
ball to Courtland Sutton and only getting three receptions thirty
two yards, one of which was a touchdown out of
it on nine targets. You got Troy Franklin getting five
targets in this game. Meanwhile, your most explosive athlete, Marvin
Mimams again, four targets for the game, You're Pepper the
tight ends again, Lake Troutman, Adkins and Lucas Kroll get involved.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Uh, it's just it's it's.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Just bizarre to me the way we we seem to
have no no, no continuity week to week.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
It's it feels disjointed in a way, and in a way.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
That can be represented a little bit microcosmically maybe on
the ways that the constant shuffling of personnel packages in
and out of the offense disjoyed some of the flow
of the offense.
Speaker 7 (24:23):
Yeah, it's sort of interesting. Like I've always I've always
I've always wondered this about Sean Payton and I you know,
then you've seen it up close and personal in a
different way than ever really was in New Orleans outside
of like when Drew Brees was hurt and then the
last year that he was there is like he talks
a lot about game plans and the NFL, like there's
no doubt about it. It is a game plan league. But
(24:45):
like if you you know, Ben, like if somebody asked you, hey,
what is the Broncos identity?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
On offense, and this was a thing last year.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
So I think most of this year obviously they've been
they've been better offensively for a big chunk of this year,
and they're they're they're capable of going off and scoring
a bunch of points. But it's not like it's not
like the forty nine ers, right where like you just
know it when you see it. It is very weak
to week in terms of what they want to do,
and like, I think that's okay for the most part,
(25:15):
Like a lot of you know, there's teams in the
NFL to play that way. There's teams the NFL that
that one week they know they want to get to X,
Y and Z and then the next week at A,
B and C and that's fine. And you know, the Broncos,
I think for the most part this year, not so
much in the run game yesterday, but like their offensive
line has become something that they can pretty much hang
their hat on most of the time, and I think
(25:37):
maybe it surprised them a little bit to the extent
to which that wasn't necessarily true in the run game yesterday.
But there are times where you just think, like, what
is the identity of this team? And sometimes it feels
like the identity of the offense is a team that
does a bunch of different stuff every single week.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Well, one team that the one side of the ball
that has been doing the right thing consistently throughout the year,
or is the defensive side of the ball, and it's
kind of bailed the Broncos out the last couple of games,
specifically with generating points on their own. Nick Benito has
been an absolute man on fire. As a matter of fact,
three weeks ago and I took a flyer and his
Defensive Player of the Year just because of the sack totals.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I took a flyer on it. At plus ten thousand.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
He's all the way up to the third favorite in
the league at plus six hundred at Caesars right now,
behind teammate pats Or ten has banged up and TJ Watt,
who's banged up as well. Nick Benito could be working
his way in depensive player of the Year conversation.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Yeah, I could be. I thought that today from next
Gen stats that he's the first player since JJ Watt
in twenty fourteen to have double digit sacks and multiple
touchdowns in the season. Now he's not going to quite
do the JJ Watt of twenty fourteen, when JJ Watt
had twenty and a half sacks, had a picktick the
fumber return for a touchdown, and caught three touchdowns on offense.
(26:52):
That I think when when Nick Benito, you know, negotiates
the massive extension that he's going to get sometime in
the next twelve months, I think you should ask to
have a package where he can play offense too. He's
got pretty good ball skills, but in the meantime, yeah,
I mean he's he's turned himself into a star. I mean,
there's really there's really new, no two ways around it.
And it's it's interesting, it's a it's a compelling story,
(27:15):
and obviously it's fun for fans when you watch a
guy just sort of turn into over the course of
the season, go from being one thing to being something
else entirely as a player. And he's done that and
it's been really impressive to watch. Obviously eleven and a
half sacks, two touchdowns, and I think you're right then,
I mean, if he closes any way like he's been
(27:38):
playing recently, he's going to be right in the mixture
for Depo. I mean, think about the last three games
against Vegas. He closed that game out with the strip
sack in the fourth quarter, and then he scored touchdowns
in each of their two games after that. Like, find
a more impactful stretch of three games than that, because
it's been I mean it's been. It's been really impressive.
(27:59):
And it's not just like he's getting sacked. He's making
game tilting, game altering plays pretty much on a weekly
basis at this point.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
Talk with Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
How much trouble the broncos Ian if La Mowison Patcer
Tan can't go on Thursday?
Speaker 7 (28:13):
Yeah, quite a bit. Although I think I think what
Chris abram Strain and Damri Matsus did sort of teaming
up to play one side yesterday was pretty impressive. Chris
Abrams strange, you know, he he was. I thought he
played well in camp and obviously they just have depth
and so he didn't have a game day role most
of the season. He jumped right in and played pretty
(28:35):
well so far. But you know, teams start to figure
that out too, and they'll go you know, they'll go
after him, and it's different if number two is not
on the other side, and so it would be a big,
big challenge obviously if they're without both Pat and Roley
Moss obviously encouraging that they they sort of you know,
they estimated that Pat would have been a full participant
(28:57):
today and all of that. But yeah, I mean, you
can't have your depth tested a whole lot more than
having two guys who were playing at a really high level.
Pat obviously at an all pro level, you know, out
of a game, and so the Broadcos will be hoping
that's not the case. But you know, they've got a
couple of interesting young guys that it would be it
(29:18):
would be pretty pretty fascinating to watch try to hold
it down if that, you know, scenario were to come
to pass.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
If you think you think about any game that it
would be okay air quotes for that to happen.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Would it be a short week.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Game against the Chargers, whose receivers or let's say a
bit lack cluster outside of Ladd mcconkee, and maybe get
them healthy by the time you had to play the
Cincinnati Bengals and that offensive Jabberwacke.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
Yeah, well definitely, I mean, certainly, if you were saying,
do you want the full complement of corners available for
the Chargers or for the Bengals, you would pick the Bengals.
It just so happened that Cincinnati's after on the schedule, obviously,
but you know, like and it was different because it
happened on the first play of the game. But who
knows if that game against the Chargers earlier in the
(30:07):
season here in Denver would have been different had Tat
not gone out after the first snap. They obviously build
their defensive plan around him. Even when you have a
week where you're playing a team that's going to run
the side out of the ball like the Chargers. So like, yeah,
you know, it's not the most dangerous set of weaponry
to be, you know, if you're if you're shorthanded a
little bit, but you know, obvious statement alert, you're better
(30:31):
off if you've got number two in the game.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Talking with Barker Gabriel, all right, Parker, last one here
for you. You've you've got the Chargers on a short
week here, you're little banged up, seeing a few cracks
here or there both sides of the ball. Does the
Broncos go ahead and close this thing out and purchase
a playoff bid on Thursday night? Are we going to
be asking the same question coming up against the Bengals.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
I I don't.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
I mean, I think the Chargers are really good. I
know the record doesn't doesn't necessarily know back that up.
I'm a believer, and yet there's just some the Broncos
are rolling, you know, the one four in a row.
I just there's part of me that maybe it's just
because of the good vibes around and all that. Like,
(31:17):
there's definitely part of me that thinks that that they've
got a great chance at least uh to wrap it
up and punch their ticket on Thursday night. You know,
you know, Sean Payton will will want nothing more than
to get you know, to even the season series against Tarbaugh.
And not only that, but it would put him in
the driver's seat to finish ahead of the Chargers in
(31:39):
the playoff standings. That you know, two up with two
games to go, so plenty of motivation. I think I
think there's a decent chance they get it done. Even
though obviously the Chargers are favored.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Real quick by thirty seconds left.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
How much do you think they want the Pittsburgh Steelers,
or how much do you think Sean Payton wants the
Pittsburgh Steelers and specifically Russell Wilson in that opening playoff
round if they get there.
Speaker 7 (31:59):
Well, I have no idea what he thinks, but I
know that I would like it. That would be just
tremendous feeder, and I think after the season that we're
entitled to it. He didn't, he didn't play the first
time around, and so if the football gods have any
any sense of humor, certainly, somehow, some way, that's where
(32:21):
it ends up. Well, card weekend.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Looking forward to it, man, I appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter. Looking forward
to this thing on Thursday night.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Brother, Yeah you bet. Having a good week all right, now.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Take care, park Gabriel. The Denver Polish. We got Cuddy
rockhen we come back.
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