Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Broncos Country tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's been all Brod Dick Ferguson grass Smith here with
you guys. The Broncos playoff game on KOA is presented
by Common Spirit Health. It'll be here Sunday morning, the
kickoff around to eleven, but we'll start the coverage at
seven am, yours truly on the opening line and whatever
else we managed to shoot horn into that hour before
we give way to Broncos Game Day at eight o'clock.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Great looked like he was gonna say something. There is
Nick on Broncos game Day this week? Yes, sir at
eight am, eight am, Jojo.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Turbo better than seven am.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, I gotta be here at seven am, me too.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We'll make it fun.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
At least it's for the playoffs, right, right, for the
playoffs Playoff Country tonight, the playoff opening line.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We're gonna have some fun with that. So yeah, joined
at seven am then all the covers presented by Common
Sparate Health.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Looking forward to that, Looking forward to you guys joining
us on Sunday, and let's let's hope for Broncos win
as we look at this matchup coming up. Anything else
you want to clean up. This is our last chance
to get anything in before we will uh, before kicking
this thing off.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Nick, Here's what I wanted to talk about, just kind
of a little off the beaten path, because black money
has always taken place and we've seen several coaches gms
fired and I was just wondering, Okay, when if you
were an owner, what would be some of the criteria
that you're looking for to fill out your coaching roster,
(01:27):
I mean, your GM, your head coach. What are some
of those things that you feel or or should be
most important.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I think you you think you have to assess
a cultural fit.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You know, is this guy going to be somebody that
fits in with the culture that you have, or is
this a guy who's going to redefine the culture that
you have. I think you definitely need somebody with strong
communication skills. I think I think you have to evaluate
leadership competencies in different ways. Who's going to be the
guy who aspire and motivate? Who is who can handle
(02:04):
delegation aptitudes? Who has good time management skills? Detail oriented?
But I think I think those things and communication skills
are all types things I'm looking right off the top, like, like,
who embodies those things?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
And how do I assess that?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
So I have had attention to when you say you
said communication skills and time management, that translates to me.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You know, you know exactly why I'm shock management time.
But time management begets clock management. Someone who who who
knows how to manage their time because the day only
has a certain amount of hours and you've got to
maximize those hours in preparation. Right, But that's a microcosm
or a macro on what it is that you're going
to be able to do in a game. You have
to maximize and you have to monopolize that time. You
(02:46):
have a certain amount of time to either score points
or you have a certain amount of time to bleed
that time out because you have the lead.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
So how do you do that for coaches who are
quarterback coaches getting interviews or guys who are offensive coordinators
right that you feel as though they are the ones
calling the game, But you still have a head coach
who is the maestro of the orchestreet. He's the person
that's navigating everything. How do you if you're evaluating a
(03:15):
guy whose officive coordinator, where you can make the determination
if they are capable of making those quality in game decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, you have to have a process by which you
do that. Now, if i'm it depends on who you're asking.
Am I the owner in this case the general manager?
Who am I the bismon all Bright Enterprises?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I'm all the owner?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well, then I'm hiring a general manager who's who
has a process for doing those kinds of things. Or
I'm hiring a coach who is going to hire a
general who has those kinds of things. What however, the
process I'm doing now, I don't like vertical integration. I
don't like owner to general manager to head coach. I
like both as direct reports to me in this particular situation.
(03:54):
So I'm I'm looking for a head coach, and I've
look for a general manager whose vision is aligned with
I'm gonna go get this head coach the guy he needs.
We're gonna run this system. This is how we're gonna
do things, and this is my process for doing that.
And I want to know his mental makeup in terms
of how we're gonna por how we're gonna do contracts. Right,
are you going to rely on me as the cash
flush owner to be paying up accelerate bonuses to to
keep us under the.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Cap, or are we gonna have to have a frugal approach?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You know how are we what what is our what
is our angle doing these kinds of things with our coach?
What is our vision for our offense and our defense?
Are we going to be an attacking, aggressive defense like
the Broncos are this year, or we're going to be
more of a red react type defense like with Fangio?
You know how are we gonna get players to fulfill that?
What's our what's our base coverage shell? We are we
philosophizing middle middle of the field open or middlefield closed
(04:36):
as our priority?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
How are we viewing what it is that we do
on offense? Are we going to be a zone or
power power gap blocking up front? Are we going to
be investing heavily and running the football and building off
play action? Or are we going to be throwing the
ball and then allowing the runs on like Kansas City
where they.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Throw us set up the run?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh? What what are our philosophies there?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And then from there we'll drill down into.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
How easily easy these guys are able to communicate things,
how they facilitate communication, what their personality type is sort
of sort of like in values in those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
There's a lot of ways to drill down on that.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But I think that there's going to be a top
down structure in terms of the coach hiring guys that
he believes fill those roles best. And if we fail
on that, then we'll learn how do we fail on that?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
What areas was this coach deficient? How can I assess
those in the next hiring cycle. All of those things.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Are are great, and that's a viewpoint that I feel
as though there are several owners in the league who
don't look at it from that viewpoint. And the reason
I feel is though they don't they don't know the
game in.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That particular way.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Now there are some individuals who do, but then there
are others who don't. Right, they don't understand the minutia
of the game the way that you were breaking it down.
And for me, I look at it this way. All
of those things are great, and you can get a
lot of those quality things, and you can determine that
based on someone who has been in the position to
(06:01):
be a head coach to lead, and you can just
go and look at the track record. You can look
at the stats, but it's those individuals who've never been
in that moment before.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They're getting that first interview.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Right and they're hitting you with the x's and o's
and all of those things.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But it's like, well, what is it that they have
to do.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
To make ownership? Say, you know what, this is our person?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, for me, it's different than other people, but I'm
gonna have you know, the x's and o's are the
ex's and o so we'll get into that. I want
a guy who's got personal courage, guy who's gonna stand
up for what's right, defend their guys, willing to take
on the challenge those kinds of things. He's got to
have accountability when he's wrong and he makes a mistake.
He's got to have a system in place for accountability
on mistakes, not just for himself, but for his staff,
for the players across the board. And it's got to
(06:45):
be a one to one. You know, nobody gets over
on Bill Parcells is your you talk about it all
the time. To me, that sounds like a great system
of accountability. We hold everybody to the same standard. You
have to have self awareness. You have to understand that
why you're the head coach of this football team. Also,
you know you're going to make mistakes and you're going
to have to hold yourself accountable and find a way
(07:06):
to do that. I'm looking for influence. How much does
he influence the locker room? How does he influence other players?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
By and large?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Is he influencing people to want to come into this organization?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And then persistence.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You get something wrong, you mess up, you do whatever,
You're not just throwing your hands up, Well that didn't
you know that didn't work. I want your persistence. I
want you to keep going. You got to keep chipping
away at it. Those kinds of so big the five
qualities I'm looking for right off the back. Courage, accountability,
self awareness, influence, and persistence.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
With that being said, when you look at the Broncos
roster and based on what they've done all season long,
despite what people have said that they couldn't achieve, who
own this coach and stab? Do you think has earned
not deserve who has earned an opportunity to be a
head coach? And is there a guy on the stab
(07:54):
that we're not really talking about right now, but maybe
a year from now two years from now, that their
name could be missed. As far as being a head
coach in this league, well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I think of everybody on the coaching staff, Vas Joseph
involves those five things that I talked about. He had
the courage to come back to a situation where he's
been a head coach and it didn't work out. He's
had the accountability, you know, to stack up there when
he gets something wrong to say. So he's the self
awareness to know that he's going to make mistakes. He
has influence, he brought in guys like Zach Allen came
(08:25):
with him right, and persistence. He sticks with it, sticks
at it. I think if you're talking about Sean Payton,
you'd probably get three out of five here. I think
accountability of the self awareness, there are two that you
kind of be like, eh, you know, but internally some
of those conversations may be different. Externally, it looks like
he's missing two and three if you look at if
you've talked to some of these other guys before. I
(08:45):
think Davis Webb is on the uptick with some of these.
I don't know that he's necessarily in the coaching conversation
right now. I'd like to see him get an OC
roll somewhere and see what he can do with that.
But it give him a little more responsibility here and
there and see what he can do with it. But
he's a guy who when you've had conversation with Zach
Streef as a guy who's had most of these uh
(09:06):
in conversations that you've seen with him on the defensive
side of the ball. You know, I don't know outside
of Vance, I don't know that there's anybody over there
that I'm jumping up and down saying this guy's this
guy's a dude that that I'm I'm promoting to head coach.
Jim Leonard is a guy who's been in those situations.
Certainly has influence and self awareness and accountability. I don't
(09:26):
know about the others, okay, because that's where I was
gonna go.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Well, when you look at Jim Leonard, who has been
a head coach in college football, and then you look
at coach Lombardi, who has been who was on the
officsite side, has been around Sean Payton for years, do
you see or let me ever phrase that, Why is
it that we haven't heard a.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Lot about Joe Lombardi getting the interviews.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Because the reason I asked that question because last season, obviously,
you know, we heard a lot of about Dave Canilla's,
we heard a lot about Bobby Slowly.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Right, Why is it that Joe.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Lombardi, who's been with coach Peyton for some years, dating
Mecks his time with the Lowelens Saints, why is it
that his name has not come up in those conversations.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I think because I think outside of Sean Payton, he
hasn't particularly had a lot of success as an offensive coordinator.
You go back and you look at his stint with
the Chargers, you look at his stint with the Detroit Lions,
rousing offensive coordinator. I don't think that he's had a
lot of success there. And then he prior to that,
I mean, he was a defensive assistant with the Falcons
and you know, in two.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I don't know that he's had a whole lot of
success outside of Outside of that, you know, he was
he was a defensive line and strengthen and conditioning coach
back at buck Now he was a defensive assistant with
the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
A defensive line coach back there with Dayton.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You know, he's I don't know that he's had a
lot of success with that.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I think that's probably part of it.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
If let's say that Broncos, no matter what happens on Sunday,
Vance Joseph started getting a lot of interviews, and let's
just say he ends.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Up taking a head coach job elsewhere.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Would you be okay with John Fox coming in here
being the defensive coordinator for the deim with Broncos?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It defends I mean, does Don Fox understand that his
role would be defensive coordinator having been a head coach before?
He is he looking to be a head coach again,
Because I'm not going to bring a guy back in.
That's one of those things I'm going to look at, like,
if you're at that certain certain level, you've been a
head coach before.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Multiple times, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I want to know that you're here to coach my defense,
not use it as a springboard for you to get
another head coach in the job.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
But I thought every coach is using their opportunity a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Different if you're a younger guy like that, especially if
you're a guy like Vance Joseph who had one very
limited role. Or if you're Jim Leonard, who's you know,
he's not really had a lot of head coaching experience.
If you're looking at at guys like that, I'm okay
with those guys looking as as a springboard. But if
I'm bringing in a guy like Dennis Allen or John
Fox who has had multiple opportunities to be a head
(12:06):
coach and it hasn't worked out, I'm not looking for
you to be your third rehab guy.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I'm not looking for you to be the same thing
with Rex Ryan.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know, if you're looking to bring in a Rex Ran,
I'm not looking for somebody who's I'm looking.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
For you to coach my defense, not looking for.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
You to springboard your career again, but like or undermine
the authority of my You got to be careful.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Is not usurping or undermining you know, the mindset and
the coach that the head coach is trying to bring
every coach, no matter where you're coaching, the opportunity for
you to jump and go to how.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
You're playing, it's always there.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Now, you don't you don't I get what you're saying
that you don't want a coach to come in and
he's thinking.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
About his next gig.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
But you get to your next gig by your offense
and your defense performing well.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But that's that's exactly it. I want somebody who's dialed
in on this job, and if that leads to that,
so be it. Somebody wants to, so be it. If
I'm hired a young guy, I understand that that's in
the in the realm of things. If I hire a
gym Leonard or advanced Joseph, I old debt for a.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Guy who's the older guy.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, But if I'm getting a guy who's in his
late dises, who starts to get in his fifties, late fifties,
sixties or seventies, no, I'm not looking. I want somebody
who's committed to being my defensive coordinator. Not looking in
for that as a spring book.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
But he could be committed to helping your organization on
I decided the ball where he's coaching get to that
next level because it is an extension of your tree.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
From from a coaching standpoint, I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I'm worried about waiting now, and I'm looking for somebody
who's going to be here for a couple of years,
so we got continuity on that side of the ball.
Because frankly, if I'm an offensive guy, the offensive guys
that I'm gonna you know, that'll be coming up probably
are gonna either They're gonna be young guys that are
going to get opportunities because I've been successful and they
want a piece of my tree.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So I don't want to have to constantly be replacing
both sides of the ball. So, so Ben, you got
a little agism, that's what you just said in.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Sand said, but I mean that's the framework with which
I operate. Everybody has preferences on what it is that
they look for when they do things. You can't tell
me I can't date somebody, because this is.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
The way that I like people to look at Leonardo DiCaprio.
So I know, you're you're, you're you're dating that.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I wish, you know, I wish that I wish that
I could step down to the level of Leo DiCaprio,
But unfortunately I'm cursed with who I am and you know, excellence,
so I think that I'm keep it going.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
The reason I said that was because Leo is very
selective as far as his dating age.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But I think that everybody needs to be a LEO
when it comes to doing this. You have to be
selective for what it is that you want, what it
is that you envision, and who can execute it. You
can't just open the doors say out, I'll take whatever,
Like No, I've got a vision. This is the vision
I need company football. We're going to be aggressive on defense.
I want to even or odd front. Are we got
middlefield open or closed?
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Do we? You know?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
There are? There are things that I'm looking for and
I have certain parameters.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I want somebody who's gonna do that, and they're going
to be here for three years to do that.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
See I that's a huge question for me because Advance
gets another opportunity and he's going to get the interview.
Now we have to see where if other teams hire
him or not. I saw something on the Instagram two
days ago and someone was saying, well they were hoping
that Vance becomes the head coach for the Raiders. That
(15:13):
would be insane. But if he were to depart, it's
the idea of who steps the line. Is Jim Leonard
bumped up? Is it John Fox? Probably jo or Dennis
Allen comes back? Because his relationship with Sean Payton.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I would say that Jim Letter gets a job and
Dennis Allen comes back as an assistant, and then Dennis
Allen would be the way that Jim Letard is in
the pipeline now for vance, Dennis Allen would then be
in the pipeline. And as long as you have a
transition like that, that's a side of a good head coach.
I gotta go back and get Sean Payton props on that.
If you have a succession plan for when your guys
eventually get hired like Kyle Shanahan has, like Sean McVay has,
(15:49):
if you're a guy who has that in the next
man up mentality, you're probably a pretty good coach.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
And if I was expect come back coach to this,
welcome back to it.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Playoff Country Tonight, Benjamin ol Bright.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
The call before the Storm five six six nine zero.
Here's the text.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I want to thank Dan Fedis for joining us a
little bit earlier.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
If you missed any part of that, you go to
Broncos Country Night dot Complation podcast where we get your
podcast Apple, i Tunes, Spotify, the totally free, Awesome and
redesigns iHeartRadio app where you can also get the Grand
Smith ticket for Granted podcast, or you could get Grant
Smith's debut hosting Broncos Country Tonight last night.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Thank you for that, by the way. That was a
lot of fun, man.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, a little.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Bit a little bit different in the longer format where
you gotta you gotta sit there and hold up for.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
For a good eighteen minutes in a row.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, thank god Nick was there.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
If I had to do one of those, alright, sol
those shows, that would have been drowned. So yeah, we
bot Rick Lewis, who you know it is the best
and then had a couple of guests as well. But
Nick helped me keep the ship afloat while you were
out for that.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I listened to a little bit of the first hour there,
uh in the in the uber with my my Uber driver,
who was absolutely flummixed that. I was like, we gotta
listen to this and and you know, and he's like, okay,
you big sports talk as a yain total sports talk fan,
that was it never never what were you in the uber?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Because my car was plowed in yesterday they plowed.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
The street the third time this happened to you.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Because when they plow my street, they don't like I
park on the street, and so like when they plow
my street, they don't have any regard for the cars
that are parked on the streets. And I was not
spending two hours digging myself out yesterday. He's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I'll let it melt a little today and then I
dug it out.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah, they like, we know whose car that is that
wet blanket.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Right, Yes, digging out belongs to Rocos hater.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
We are car right right.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It's like the garbage trucks and the Monk Show or whatever.
They know.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's oh my god, Yeah, no, I was. I thought
it was good last night, man, And I appreciate you
filling in. I wanted to say give you a shout
out there, and I appreciate that you got a new
episode dropping here in a couple of days on the
Ticket for Granted podcast.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, celebrating five years the way we started it all
with my brother, so I'm excited to catch up with him.
He's now eight years sober, so pretty exciting to chat
with him. I know a lot of people deal with
addiction in their families and a hit mine very hard,
and to see him turn his life around is pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So excited to catch up with him. Yeah, it's fascining.
I'll be definitely within that framework and be listening to that.
I lost a half brother two addictions, so I can
I can definitely say that stuff will creep up and
hit you, and you know, hit on a personal level.
So with that, in a weird transition, let's get to
the NFL six pack.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
It's time for the NFL six pack.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm gonna trade the last year insight and insight information
you can't find anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I know the top six NFL headline what well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It hasn't been announced yet, but it's getting closer to
the defensive player of the year.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's Offen a guy.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's a lot of sacks or interceptions Broncos Patrick Shirtan.
We didn't do either, but he's still probably the finest
defensive player on the field for the twenty twenty four
NFL season. He didn't have four interceptions for the season,
including a one hundred yard pick, six eleven passes defense,
forty five tackles forced to fumble to recovered. One best
work came against the best opposition he faced, though, as
recently noted by the team's official website, Sir Tan was
(19:22):
targeted sixteen times on ninety two routes and allowed six
catches for fifty six yards no touchdowns at an eight
point three passer rating. When covering the combination of Zay Flowers,
Jerry Judy, Jamar Chase, Travis Kelcey, and Brock Bauers, all
five Pro Bowlers, he also had two interceptions while walking
down that quintete of high end pass catchers. Stertan's the
(19:43):
son of a former Pro Bowl and one time First
team All Pro corner Patcher Tan is doing justice given
the name got the All Pro first team. In fact,
only had one person, Ben Bolden of the Boston Globe,
not vote for him for a first team All Pro,
thus making the situation not unanimous thanks to his I
can vote there.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You guys can take that up with him.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
What do we think about patser Tad possibly winning NFL
Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I like the concept.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
It's just going to take off all those edge rushers
because you have a lot of those guys who have
great a mass of a large amount of sacks and
to see it go to a dB, a guy that
they feel as though plays further away from the ball.
Those guys get upset because guess what, they have incentives.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
In their contract.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
And it's almost like patser Tad would have swooped down
like an eagle picking up a semon out of the
late So I like.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The idea, I like the concepts.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
For dbs, though, come well, what I'm saying this would
bowl well for Pats or Tam, but also for the
guy who drafted him and George Peyton letting him know
he made a great decision when everyone was saying he
should have selected a quarterback or those all pro lists
that came out today and make George Payton look like
a genius in the draft with all the you know,
(21:00):
the drafting that he's done, not just him, but you know,
quit minors, and it's just it has absolutely been has
absolutely been a phenomenal time for George Baden.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Is so funny that people are trying to run him
out of town, you.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Know a few years ago, when he's absolutely been phenomenal
at this drafting thing. So two Broncos have almost an
entirely clean injury report for Sunday's Wildcard matchup against the Bills,
and we're listed running back Tyler Batty with his back
as questionable and offensive lineman Frank.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Crumb is out with an illness.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Baty is still on the ir would have to be
activated to play on Sunday, but there may not be
a spot for him on the fifty three, and his
twenty one day practice windows set to expire early next week.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
In three games this year.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Baty took eleven carries for eighty six yards nine carries
for seventy yards in the Week three win over Tampa.
Prom has been on the field for twenty four special
team snaps nine offensive snaps in six games this year.
Tight End Nate Adkins has an abdomen issue in cornerback
and tomorrow Mathis is the back, but both of them
are off the reports and obviously expected to play.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
It's been a pretty healthy year for the Denver broadcos.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, it's supposedly the time of the year you want
to make sure that you are getting healthy and your
guys are showing confidence going into the playoffs. And I've
said this before, man, he usually is not always the
best teams that make it this far and get further
to the Super Bowl. It's a team that that's the healthiest,
because if your guys are healthy, that.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Means that though the offensive.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Defensive coordinators definitely could dig in their bag and come
up with a certain amount of tricks to kind of
keep things moving forward. So Gods to the Broncos and
being able to be healthy up to this point.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, and it's just been fascinating to watch it, you know,
staying that healthy. That could be a a big boost
going into the playoffs, having that amount of health and
not having to scramble to make things work and reshuffle
the roster there at the end.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Great the wildfires they could ravage the Los Angeles area
have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. Ramscos Sean mcveagis
family were among those required to leave. If they told
reporters on Friday, as soon as I know that my
wife and little boy were good, you know what that
to happen. But if it did, those things can be replaced.
Fortunately they got those things under control. But as soon
as I got off the practice field, and because of
(23:04):
where they were, I saw them right away. It was
all I needed. It felt a lot more real. I
don't want to say that because you don't want to
minimize how important and how many people were affected. But
when you start to see it physically, as the smoke
rose up yesterday, a lot of guys I live in
proximity that hits home in a different way. As soon
as I knew Veronica and George were good, I was
good as well. Through it all the rams. They have
a playoff game to prepare for. They left for Arizona today.
(23:24):
They faced the Vikings at State Farm Stadium on Monday night.
They explained how the team is balancing the personal situation
against the upcoming competition, saying, I think you acknowledge the
personnel staff, and foremost I want to make sure guys
are good. Once you're able to address and be aware
of that, let's focus on what we can control in
terms of being totally and completely present, having the right
sense of urgency and enjoyment with our preparation. The biggest
(23:46):
thing obviously, when you knew your wife and son are good,
you never want to emphasize with the amount of people
that have been affected, but you do realize people are
the most important thing. All that other stuff is replaceable,
not the fruition, but it came to life. McVeigh praised
the league for doing the right thing and moving the game,
expressed appreciation of the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
For opening their facility to the Rams.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
While the catastrophic fires have created a major disruption, Situations
like this often result in the game becoming the escape,
with the players throwing themselves in the opportunity to get
away from the stress of the recent days and embrace
a few hours of normalcy. What do you think about
the Rams Vikings game moving to Arizona, MC Bay being
evacuated from their homes.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
What do you think about that? I think the league
did the right thing moving the game.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
And it's always tough to do your job, whether you're
a coach or you're working any occupation, and your family
is on your mind, and peace of mind is priceless.
But really quickly to the people in Los Angeles on
several people that I know because I lived in Los
Angeles five years who have lost every single thing I
(24:47):
know talking about football, it's not one of those things
that they are dealing with, but it gives certain individuals
an opportunity to look at something a little different, to
somewhat take your mind a off toward the things that
you're going that's going on, But Scarry Times and Los
Angeles and the and pras go out to Sean mcvay's
(25:07):
players and so many other people I know who are
currently still living in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Looks like the Rams will have a good contingent of
support even though the games moved four hundred miles. Rams
president kep at demofs A thirty five thousand Rams season
ticket holders bought tickets in the Monday night game against
the Viking S four. The Jets have announced their interview
of the second Chiefs assistant coach of the week. The
team announced they completed an interview a Chief defensive coordator
(25:33):
Steve Spagnolo their head coach position. Offensive coordator Matt Naggy
interviewed for the same job. Earlier this week in Kansas
City's assistant general manager Mike Porconzi interviewed for the team's
general manager job. Bagnolo has previous head coaching experience with
the Rams, but went ten to thirty eight over three seasons.
Ended in twenty eleven, however, and Spagnolo has since won
three Super bowl while running the defense for the Chiefs.
(25:54):
The Jags and Raiders also requested interviews with Spagnolo. Jets
interviewed University of Ireland head coach Michael Loxley and Buck's
assistant GM Mike Greenberg on Friday as well. But we
think first of the Jets head coaching search, which seems
the most off the wall of all of them so far,
And what about Steve Spagnolo may be dipping his toe
back in the head coaching waters.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Well, that's good for coach Bags to do that, And
I mean, he's done a great job with his defense
in Kansas City for so many years, and it's always
good to see good coaches have another opportunity to be a.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Head coach in the league.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
And as far as the Jets situation, it's a very
bizarre type situation because you're asking yourself, if we get
the team's probably history hiring from a head coaching standpoint
and a GM standpoint, it hasn't really been that successful.
And we always talk about the hot jobs that are
out there, and for me, I don't look at the
Jets as being one of those jobs because there's a
(26:52):
little dysfunction there. But I'm all for any coach getting
to sit down with the owner be able to discuss
your plan.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Here's the other thing you were about to Ben.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
That's another opportunity for them to pluck information.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
From you two as well. That it is.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
If Spagnolo is to get a head coaching gig this
time around, you would hope that he hires better offensive
coordinators that he did during his times with the Rams,
Pat Shermer being the initial offensive coordinator, succeeded by Josh McDaniels.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yes, two, guys, I know offensively that you really like. No,
I'm offended five.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Mike Evans on facing Marshawn Lattimore, says he's got to
be at his best. Mike Evans admitted before his first
meeting with Marshaw Latimore earlier this season, he had a
good job controlling his emotions against his nemesis Bucks receivers,
let the now commander's corner get under his skin. Evans
was ejected once and served a two game all right,
excuse me, served two one game suspensions for his actions
against Latimore and losing more than one hundred thousand dollars
(27:49):
in fines. Latimore warned Evans this week that Evans is
going to know he's there.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Evans admitted he's got to be disciplined.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I just got to be my best, he said via
Rich Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. I've got to
give my best. He's a really good player. Obviously, we've
had a lot of really good matchup. If he's playing,
I look forward to the matchup. Evans has averaged two
point six catches for forty three point six yards and
thirteen games head to head with Latimore, including two catches
for thirty four back in October when the Bucks.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Rounded the Saints fifty one twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
The Saints traded Lattimore to the Commanders soon after, and
Latimore has played only two games for Washington, but will
return for the Sunday Night Football playoff game. Todd Bowles
said that both great players, they both like to compete
like soapro He understands what a stake, understands a game.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Nothing really needs to be said about that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
There's been some great corner wide receiver matchups over the years.
I think we all hear locally A to lead Crabtree
is certainly very prominent.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
What do we think about?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Mike Evans and Marshall and Latimore square off again on
Sunday Night Football for a playoff.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
For me, I want to see these guys just kind
of go out and compete. I know they both have
competitive history and a lot of it has been really physical,
but I want to see them go out and compete
and not do anything that can one hurt themselves but
hurt their teeth. And I know that that's easy to say,
hard to do, especially for two guys who are highly
(29:05):
competitive and now a lot to say that in that battle.
I could be wrong, Marcia, and Latimore has gotten pretty
much the best of Mike Evans in that battle, but
I mean Latimore is coming off a hamstring injury which
is lingered since his time with the Saints, so that
may be an opportunity for you know, the wide receiver
(29:28):
for Mike to actually take advantage of it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Might be is.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, Alatimore by and large has gotten the best of
the matchup so far. But of course, you know, Mike Evans,
being a guy who's probably punched his ticket to the
Hall of FAMEUS has another chance to show him up
here six.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The Tennessee Titans have.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Completed a first round virtual interview with former Falcons general
manager Thomas de Metrov for the team's general manager position.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
The team and outs.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Today, de Metrov serves the general manager of the Falcons.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
From two thousand and eight to twenty twenty, the Falcons
qualified for the postseason six times tenure and lost in
Super Bowl fifty one to the Patriots. De Metrov was
the Patriots director of college scouting from O three to
seven before the Falcons hired him.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Spent twenty eight years in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Was recognized as the NFL Executive Year at eight and
twenty ten. In January of twenty twenty two, to Mitrov
helped found a football analytics company named Super Sports. Company
says aims to ride the vest in class quantitative analysis
aimed at creating precision in player acquisition and roster management
in the NFL. Titans was seeking to replace ran Carfin,
(30:29):
who was hired before the twenty twenty three season. Chad Brinker,
the Titans President of football Operations, is running the search for.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
The new GM.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
The Titans are currently under investigation for the role of
the general manager, as Chad Brinker was technically executing some
of those aspects, allegedly leading to the schism and ultimately
the firing with ran Carfin. Titans previously interviewed Dolphin's senior
Personal EXECU Reggie mackenzie.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
They've also.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Requested Seahawks Director of Player Personnel Matt Barry, Colt's assistant
Jim at Dobbs, Bills Director player Personnel Terrence Gray, and
Buck's assistant Jim Job spy Tech.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
There are a lot of people that are.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Skeptical of taking the Titans GM job, realizing that they're
only gonna be a puppet GM for Chad Brinker.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
See that's the tough part because.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
There's a job out there and you want to get
back into the league, but you know that you are
being hamstrung in a little way, your hands being tied.
The decision making that you think that you would have
now you won't. So the question is do you take
that job just to say you have a job, or
you pass and wait for a better job to come along.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Well, and it's a fascinating thing because Ram Carthon hired
Chad Breaker to be his assistant and then Chad was
promoted over him to put President of Football Ops and
then began just basically taking over the general manager job.
The NFL has clearly defined roles for what his position
is and if you exceed those roles. It's actually a
problem the actually you get penalized for that.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
That's very tough to know that you hire someone and
then somehow they leap frog you.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That that's going to be very difficult to handle.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, and ultimately leading to him firing you.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
You hired him.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That's tough play off.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Good for Tonight rolls on after this
The Broncos Country tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's been all Brod Dick Ferguson grass Smith here with
you guys. The Broncos playoff game on KOA is presented
by Common Spirit Health. It'll be here Sunday morning, the
kickoff around to eleven, but we'll start the coverage at
seven am, yours truly on the opening line and whatever
else we managed to shoot horn into that hour before
we give way to Broncos Game Day at eight o'clock.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Great looked like he was gonna say something. There is
Nick on Broncos game Day this week? Yes, sir at
eight am, eight am, Jojo.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Turbo better than seven am.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, I gotta be here at seven am, me too.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We'll make it fun.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
At least it's for the playoffs, right, right, for the
playoffs Playoff Country tonight, the playoff opening line.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We're gonna have some fun with that. So yeah, joined
at seven am then all the covers presented by Common
Sparate Health.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Looking forward to that, Looking forward to you guys joining
us on Sunday, and let's let's hope for Broncos win
as we look at this matchup coming up. Anything else
you want to clean up. This is our last chance
to get anything in before we will uh, before kicking
this thing off.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Nick, Here's what I wanted to talk about, just kind
of a little off the beaten path, because black money
has always taken place and we've seen several coaches gms
fired and I was just wondering, Okay, when if you
were an owner, what would be some of the criteria
that you're looking for to fill out your coaching roster,
(01:27):
I mean, your GM, your head coach. What are some
of those things that you feel or or should be
most important.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I think you you think you have to assess
a cultural fit.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You know, is this guy going to be somebody that
fits in with the culture that you have, or is
this a guy who's going to redefine the culture that
you have. I think you definitely need somebody with strong
communication skills. I think I think you have to evaluate
leadership competencies in different ways. Who's going to be the
guy who aspire and motivate? Who is who can handle
(02:04):
delegation aptitudes? Who has good time management skills? Detail oriented?
But I think I think those things and communication skills
are all types things I'm looking right off the top, like, like,
who embodies those things?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
And how do I assess that?
Speaker 5 (02:18):
So I have had attention to when you say you
said communication skills and time management, that translates to me.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You know, you know exactly why I'm shock management time.
But time management begets clock management. Someone who who who
knows how to manage their time because the day only
has a certain amount of hours and you've got to
maximize those hours in preparation. Right, But that's a microcosm
or a macro on what it is that you're going
to be able to do in a game. You have
to maximize and you have to monopolize that time. You
(02:46):
have a certain amount of time to either score points
or you have a certain amount of time to bleed
that time out because you have the lead.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
So how do you do that for coaches who are
quarterback coaches getting interviews or guys who are offensive coordinators
right that you feel as though they are the ones
calling the game, But you still have a head coach
who is the maestro of the orchestreet. He's the person
that's navigating everything. How do you if you're evaluating a
(03:15):
guy whose officive coordinator, where you can make the determination
if they are capable of making those quality in game decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, you have to have a process by which you
do that. Now, if i'm it depends on who you're asking.
Am I the owner in this case the general manager?
Who am I the bismon all Bright Enterprises?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I'm all the owner?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well, then I'm hiring a general manager who's who
has a process for doing those kinds of things. Or
I'm hiring a coach who is going to hire a
general who has those kinds of things. What however, the
process I'm doing now, I don't like vertical integration. I
don't like owner to general manager to head coach. I
like both as direct reports to me in this particular situation.
(03:54):
So I'm I'm looking for a head coach, and I've
look for a general manager whose vision is aligned with
I'm gonna go get this head coach the guy he needs.
We're gonna run this system. This is how we're gonna
do things, and this is my process for doing that.
And I want to know his mental makeup in terms
of how we're gonna por how we're gonna do contracts. Right,
are you going to rely on me as the cash
flush owner to be paying up accelerate bonuses to to
keep us under the.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Cap, or are we gonna have to have a frugal approach?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You know how are we what what is our what
is our angle doing these kinds of things with our coach?
What is our vision for our offense and our defense?
Are we going to be an attacking, aggressive defense like
the Broncos are this year, or we're going to be
more of a red react type defense like with Fangio?
You know how are we gonna get players to fulfill that?
What's our what's our base coverage shell? We are we
philosophizing middle middle of the field open or middlefield closed
(04:36):
as our priority?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
How are we viewing what it is that we do
on offense? Are we going to be a zone or
power power gap blocking up front? Are we going to
be investing heavily and running the football and building off
play action? Or are we going to be throwing the
ball and then allowing the runs on like Kansas City
where they.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Throw us set up the run?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh? What what are our philosophies there?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And then from there we'll drill down into.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
How easily easy these guys are able to communicate things,
how they facilitate communication, what their personality type is sort
of sort of like in values in those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
There's a lot of ways to drill down on that.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But I think that there's going to be a top
down structure in terms of the coach hiring guys that
he believes fill those roles best. And if we fail
on that, then we'll learn how do we fail on that?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
What areas was this coach deficient? How can I assess
those in the next hiring cycle. All of those things.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Are are great, and that's a viewpoint that I feel
as though there are several owners in the league who
don't look at it from that viewpoint. And the reason
I feel is though they don't they don't know the
game in.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That particular way.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Now there are some individuals who do, but then there
are others who don't. Right, they don't understand the minutia
of the game the way that you were breaking it down.
And for me, I look at it this way. All
of those things are great, and you can get a
lot of those quality things, and you can determine that
based on someone who has been in the position to
(06:01):
be a head coach to lead, and you can just
go and look at the track record. You can look
at the stats, but it's those individuals who've never been
in that moment before.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They're getting that first interview.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Right and they're hitting you with the x's and o's
and all of those things.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But it's like, well, what is it that they have
to do.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
To make ownership? Say, you know what, this is our person?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, for me, it's different than other people, but I'm
gonna have you know, the x's and o's are the
ex's and o so we'll get into that. I want
a guy who's got personal courage, guy who's gonna stand
up for what's right, defend their guys, willing to take
on the challenge those kinds of things. He's got to
have accountability when he's wrong and he makes a mistake.
He's got to have a system in place for accountability
on mistakes, not just for himself, but for his staff,
for the players across the board. And it's got to
(06:45):
be a one to one. You know, nobody gets over
on Bill Parcells is your you talk about it all
the time. To me, that sounds like a great system
of accountability. We hold everybody to the same standard. You
have to have self awareness. You have to understand that
why you're the head coach of this football team. Also,
you know you're going to make mistakes and you're going
to have to hold yourself accountable and find a way
(07:06):
to do that. I'm looking for influence. How much does
he influence the locker room? How does he influence other players?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
By and large?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Is he influencing people to want to come into this organization?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And then persistence.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You get something wrong, you mess up, you do whatever,
You're not just throwing your hands up, Well that didn't
you know that didn't work. I want your persistence. I
want you to keep going. You got to keep chipping
away at it. Those kinds of so big the five
qualities I'm looking for right off the back. Courage, accountability,
self awareness, influence, and persistence.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
With that being said, when you look at the Broncos
roster and based on what they've done all season long,
despite what people have said that they couldn't achieve, who
own this coach and stab? Do you think has earned
not deserve who has earned an opportunity to be a
head coach? And is there a guy on the stab
(07:54):
that we're not really talking about right now, but maybe
a year from now two years from now, that their
name could be missed. As far as being a head
coach in this league, well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I think of everybody on the coaching staff, Vas Joseph
involves those five things that I talked about. He had
the courage to come back to a situation where he's
been a head coach and it didn't work out. He's
had the accountability, you know, to stack up there when
he gets something wrong to say. So he's the self
awareness to know that he's going to make mistakes. He
has influence, he brought in guys like Zach Allen came
(08:25):
with him right, and persistence. He sticks with it, sticks
at it. I think if you're talking about Sean Payton,
you'd probably get three out of five here. I think
accountability of the self awareness, there are two that you
kind of be like, eh, you know, but internally some
of those conversations may be different. Externally, it looks like
he's missing two and three if you look at if
you've talked to some of these other guys before. I
(08:45):
think Davis Webb is on the uptick with some of these.
I don't know that he's necessarily in the coaching conversation
right now. I'd like to see him get an OC
roll somewhere and see what he can do with that.
But it give him a little more responsibility here and
there and see what he can do with it. But
he's a guy who when you've had conversation with Zach
Streef as a guy who's had most of these uh
(09:06):
in conversations that you've seen with him on the defensive
side of the ball. You know, I don't know outside
of Vance, I don't know that there's anybody over there
that I'm jumping up and down saying this guy's this
guy's a dude that that I'm I'm promoting to head coach.
Jim Leonard is a guy who's been in those situations.
Certainly has influence and self awareness and accountability. I don't
(09:26):
know about the others, okay, because that's where I was
gonna go.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Well, when you look at Jim Leonard, who has been
a head coach in college football, and then you look
at coach Lombardi, who has been who was on the
officsite side, has been around Sean Payton for years, do
you see or let me ever phrase that, Why is
it that we haven't heard a.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Lot about Joe Lombardi getting the interviews.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Because the reason I asked that question because last season, obviously,
you know, we heard a lot of about Dave Canilla's,
we heard a lot about Bobby Slowly.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Right, Why is it that Joe.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Lombardi, who's been with coach Peyton for some years, dating
Mecks his time with the Lowelens Saints, why is it
that his name has not come up in those conversations.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I think because I think outside of Sean Payton, he
hasn't particularly had a lot of success as an offensive coordinator.
You go back and you look at his stint with
the Chargers, you look at his stint with the Detroit Lions,
rousing offensive coordinator. I don't think that he's had a
lot of success there. And then he prior to that,
I mean, he was a defensive assistant with the Falcons
and you know, in two.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I don't know that he's had a whole lot of
success outside of Outside of that, you know, he was
he was a defensive line and strengthen and conditioning coach
back at buck Now he was a defensive assistant with
the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
A defensive line coach back there with Dayton.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You know, he's I don't know that he's had a
lot of success with that.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I think that's probably part of it.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
If let's say that Broncos, no matter what happens on Sunday,
Vance Joseph started getting a lot of interviews, and let's
just say he ends.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Up taking a head coach job elsewhere.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Would you be okay with John Fox coming in here
being the defensive coordinator for the deim with Broncos?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It defends I mean, does Don Fox understand that his
role would be defensive coordinator having been a head coach before?
He is he looking to be a head coach again,
Because I'm not going to bring a guy back in.
That's one of those things I'm going to look at, like,
if you're at that certain certain level, you've been a
head coach before.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Multiple times, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I want to know that you're here to coach my defense,
not use it as a springboard for you to get
another head coach in the job.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
But I thought every coach is using their opportunity a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Different if you're a younger guy like that, especially if
you're a guy like Vance Joseph who had one very
limited role. Or if you're Jim Leonard, who's you know,
he's not really had a lot of head coaching experience.
If you're looking at at guys like that, I'm okay
with those guys looking as as a springboard. But if
I'm bringing in a guy like Dennis Allen or John
Fox who has had multiple opportunities to be a head
(12:06):
coach and it hasn't worked out, I'm not looking for
you to be your third rehab guy.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I'm not looking for you to be the same thing
with Rex Ryan.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know, if you're looking to bring in a Rex Ran,
I'm not looking for somebody who's I'm looking.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
For you to coach my defense, not looking for.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
You to springboard your career again, but like or undermine
the authority of my You got to be careful.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Is not usurping or undermining you know, the mindset and
the coach that the head coach is trying to bring
every coach, no matter where you're coaching, the opportunity for
you to jump and go to how.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
You're playing, it's always there.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Now, you don't you don't I get what you're saying
that you don't want a coach to come in and
he's thinking.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
About his next gig.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
But you get to your next gig by your offense
and your defense performing well.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But that's that's exactly it. I want somebody who's dialed
in on this job, and if that leads to that,
so be it. Somebody wants to, so be it. If
I'm hired a young guy, I understand that that's in
the in the realm of things. If I hire a
gym Leonard or advanced Joseph, I old debt for a.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Guy who's the older guy.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, But if I'm getting a guy who's in his
late dises, who starts to get in his fifties, late fifties,
sixties or seventies, no, I'm not looking. I want somebody
who's committed to being my defensive coordinator. Not looking in
for that as a spring book.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
But he could be committed to helping your organization on
I decided the ball where he's coaching get to that
next level because it is an extension of your tree.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
From from a coaching standpoint, I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I'm worried about waiting now, and I'm looking for somebody
who's going to be here for a couple of years,
so we got continuity on that side of the ball.
Because frankly, if I'm an offensive guy, the offensive guys
that I'm gonna you know, that'll be coming up probably
are gonna either They're gonna be young guys that are
going to get opportunities because I've been successful and they
want a piece of my tree.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So I don't want to have to constantly be replacing
both sides of the ball. So, so Ben, you got
a little agism, that's what you just said in.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Sand said, but I mean that's the framework with which
I operate. Everybody has preferences on what it is that
they look for when they do things. You can't tell
me I can't date somebody, because this is.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
The way that I like people to look at Leonardo DiCaprio.
So I know, you're you're, you're you're dating that.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I wish, you know, I wish that I wish that
I could step down to the level of Leo DiCaprio,
But unfortunately I'm cursed with who I am and you know, excellence,
so I think that I'm keep it going.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
The reason I said that was because Leo is very
selective as far as his dating age.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But I think that everybody needs to be a LEO
when it comes to doing this. You have to be
selective for what it is that you want, what it
is that you envision, and who can execute it. You
can't just open the doors say out, I'll take whatever,
Like No, I've got a vision. This is the vision
I need company football. We're going to be aggressive on defense.
I want to even or odd front. Are we got
middlefield open or closed?
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Do we? You know?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
There are? There are things that I'm looking for and
I have certain parameters.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I want somebody who's gonna do that, and they're going
to be here for three years to do that.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
See I that's a huge question for me because Advance
gets another opportunity and he's going to get the interview.
Now we have to see where if other teams hire
him or not. I saw something on the Instagram two
days ago and someone was saying, well they were hoping
that Vance becomes the head coach for the Raiders. That
(15:13):
would be insane. But if he were to depart, it's
the idea of who steps the line. Is Jim Leonard
bumped up? Is it John Fox? Probably jo or Dennis
Allen comes back? Because his relationship with Sean Payton.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I would say that Jim Letter gets a job and
Dennis Allen comes back as an assistant, and then Dennis
Allen would be the way that Jim Letard is in
the pipeline now for vance, Dennis Allen would then be
in the pipeline. And as long as you have a
transition like that, that's a side of a good head coach.
I gotta go back and get Sean Payton props on that.
If you have a succession plan for when your guys
eventually get hired like Kyle Shanahan has, like Sean McVay has,
(15:49):
if you're a guy who has that in the next
man up mentality, you're probably a pretty good coach.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
And if I was expect come back coach to this,
welcome back to it.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Playoff Country Tonight, Benjamin ol Bright.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
The call before the Storm five six six nine zero.
Here's the text.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I want to thank Dan Fedis for joining us a
little bit earlier.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
If you missed any part of that, you go to
Broncos Country Night dot Complation podcast where we get your
podcast Apple, i Tunes, Spotify, the totally free, Awesome and
redesigns iHeartRadio app where you can also get the Grand
Smith ticket for Granted podcast, or you could get Grant
Smith's debut hosting Broncos Country Tonight last night.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Thank you for that, by the way. That was a
lot of fun, man.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, a little.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Bit a little bit different in the longer format where
you gotta you gotta sit there and hold up for.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
For a good eighteen minutes in a row.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, thank god Nick was there.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
If I had to do one of those, alright, sol
those shows, that would have been drowned. So yeah, we
bot Rick Lewis, who you know it is the best
and then had a couple of guests as well. But
Nick helped me keep the ship afloat while you were
out for that.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I listened to a little bit of the first hour there,
uh in the in the uber with my my Uber driver,
who was absolutely flummixed that. I was like, we gotta
listen to this and and you know, and he's like, okay,
you big sports talk as a yain total sports talk fan,
that was it never never what were you in the uber?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Because my car was plowed in yesterday they plowed.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
The street the third time this happened to you.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Because when they plow my street, they don't like I
park on the street, and so like when they plow
my street, they don't have any regard for the cars
that are parked on the streets. And I was not
spending two hours digging myself out yesterday. He's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I'll let it melt a little today and then I
dug it out.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah, they like, we know whose car that is that
wet blanket.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Right, Yes, digging out belongs to Rocos hater.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
We are car right right.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It's like the garbage trucks and the Monk Show or whatever.
They know.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's oh my god, Yeah, no, I was. I thought
it was good last night, man, And I appreciate you
filling in. I wanted to say give you a shout
out there, and I appreciate that you got a new
episode dropping here in a couple of days on the
Ticket for Granted podcast.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, celebrating five years the way we started it all
with my brother, so I'm excited to catch up with him.
He's now eight years sober, so pretty exciting to chat
with him. I know a lot of people deal with
addiction in their families and a hit mine very hard,
and to see him turn his life around is pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So excited to catch up with him. Yeah, it's fascining.
I'll be definitely within that framework and be listening to that.
I lost a half brother two addictions, so I can
I can definitely say that stuff will creep up and
hit you, and you know, hit on a personal level.
So with that, in a weird transition, let's get to
the NFL six pack.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
It's time for the NFL six pack.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm gonna trade the last year insight and insight information
you can't find anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I know the top six NFL headline what well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
It hasn't been announced yet, but it's getting closer to
the defensive player of the year.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It's Offen a guy.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's a lot of sacks or interceptions Broncos Patrick Shirtan.
We didn't do either, but he's still probably the finest
defensive player on the field for the twenty twenty four
NFL season. He didn't have four interceptions for the season,
including a one hundred yard pick, six eleven passes defense,
forty five tackles forced to fumble to recovered. One best
work came against the best opposition he faced, though, as
recently noted by the team's official website, Sir Tan was
(19:22):
targeted sixteen times on ninety two routes and allowed six
catches for fifty six yards no touchdowns at an eight
point three passer rating. When covering the combination of Zay Flowers,
Jerry Judy, Jamar Chase, Travis Kelcey, and Brock Bauers, all
five Pro Bowlers, he also had two interceptions while walking
down that quintete of high end pass catchers. Stertan's the
(19:43):
son of a former Pro Bowl and one time First
team All Pro corner Patcher Tan is doing justice given
the name got the All Pro first team. In fact,
only had one person, Ben Bolden of the Boston Globe,
not vote for him for a first team All Pro,
thus making the situation not unanimous thanks to his I
can vote there.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You guys can take that up with him.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
What do we think about patser Tad possibly winning NFL
Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I like the concept.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
It's just going to take off all those edge rushers
because you have a lot of those guys who have
great a mass of a large amount of sacks and
to see it go to a dB, a guy that
they feel as though plays further away from the ball.
Those guys get upset because guess what, they have incentives.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
In their contract.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
And it's almost like patser Tad would have swooped down
like an eagle picking up a semon out of the
late So I like.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The idea, I like the concepts.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
For dbs, though, come well, what I'm saying this would
bowl well for Pats or Tam, but also for the
guy who drafted him and George Peyton letting him know
he made a great decision when everyone was saying he
should have selected a quarterback or those all pro lists
that came out today and make George Payton look like
a genius in the draft with all the you know,
(21:00):
the drafting that he's done, not just him, but you know,
quit minors, and it's just it has absolutely been has
absolutely been a phenomenal time for George Baden.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Is so funny that people are trying to run him
out of town, you.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Know a few years ago, when he's absolutely been phenomenal
at this drafting thing. So two Broncos have almost an
entirely clean injury report for Sunday's Wildcard matchup against the Bills,
and we're listed running back Tyler Batty with his back
as questionable and offensive lineman Frank.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Crumb is out with an illness.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Baty is still on the ir would have to be
activated to play on Sunday, but there may not be
a spot for him on the fifty three, and his
twenty one day practice windows set to expire early next week.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
In three games this year.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Baty took eleven carries for eighty six yards nine carries
for seventy yards in the Week three win over Tampa.
Prom has been on the field for twenty four special
team snaps nine offensive snaps in six games this year.
Tight End Nate Adkins has an abdomen issue in cornerback
and tomorrow Mathis is the back, but both of them
are off the reports and obviously expected to play.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
It's been a pretty healthy year for the Denver broadcos.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, it's supposedly the time of the year you want
to make sure that you are getting healthy and your
guys are showing confidence going into the playoffs. And I've
said this before, man, he usually is not always the
best teams that make it this far and get further
to the Super Bowl. It's a team that that's the healthiest,
because if your guys are healthy, that.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Means that though the offensive.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Defensive coordinators definitely could dig in their bag and come
up with a certain amount of tricks to kind of
keep things moving forward. So Gods to the Broncos and
being able to be healthy up to this point.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, and it's just been fascinating to watch it, you know,
staying that healthy. That could be a a big boost
going into the playoffs, having that amount of health and
not having to scramble to make things work and reshuffle
the roster there at the end.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Great the wildfires they could ravage the Los Angeles area
have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. Ramscos Sean mcveagis
family were among those required to leave. If they told
reporters on Friday, as soon as I know that my
wife and little boy were good, you know what that
to happen. But if it did, those things can be replaced.
Fortunately they got those things under control. But as soon
as I got off the practice field, and because of
(23:04):
where they were, I saw them right away. It was
all I needed. It felt a lot more real. I
don't want to say that because you don't want to
minimize how important and how many people were affected. But
when you start to see it physically, as the smoke
rose up yesterday, a lot of guys I live in
proximity that hits home in a different way. As soon
as I knew Veronica and George were good, I was
good as well. Through it all the rams. They have
a playoff game to prepare for. They left for Arizona today.
(23:24):
They faced the Vikings at State Farm Stadium on Monday night.
They explained how the team is balancing the personal situation
against the upcoming competition, saying, I think you acknowledge the
personnel staff, and foremost I want to make sure guys
are good. Once you're able to address and be aware
of that, let's focus on what we can control in
terms of being totally and completely present, having the right
sense of urgency and enjoyment with our preparation. The biggest
(23:46):
thing obviously, when you knew your wife and son are good,
you never want to emphasize with the amount of people
that have been affected, but you do realize people are
the most important thing. All that other stuff is replaceable,
not the fruition, but it came to life. McVeigh praised
the league for doing the right thing and moving the game,
expressed appreciation of the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
For opening their facility to the Rams.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
While the catastrophic fires have created a major disruption, Situations
like this often result in the game becoming the escape,
with the players throwing themselves in the opportunity to get
away from the stress of the recent days and embrace
a few hours of normalcy. What do you think about
the Rams Vikings game moving to Arizona, MC Bay being
evacuated from their homes.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
What do you think about that? I think the league
did the right thing moving the game.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
And it's always tough to do your job, whether you're
a coach or you're working any occupation, and your family
is on your mind, and peace of mind is priceless.
But really quickly to the people in Los Angeles on
several people that I know because I lived in Los
Angeles five years who have lost every single thing I
(24:47):
know talking about football, it's not one of those things
that they are dealing with, but it gives certain individuals
an opportunity to look at something a little different, to
somewhat take your mind a off toward the things that
you're going that's going on, But Scarry Times and Los
Angeles and the and pras go out to Sean mcvay's
(25:07):
players and so many other people I know who are
currently still living in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Looks like the Rams will have a good contingent of
support even though the games moved four hundred miles. Rams
president kep at demofs A thirty five thousand Rams season
ticket holders bought tickets in the Monday night game against
the Viking S four. The Jets have announced their interview
of the second Chiefs assistant coach of the week. The
team announced they completed an interview a Chief defensive coordator
(25:33):
Steve Spagnolo their head coach position. Offensive coordator Matt Naggy
interviewed for the same job. Earlier this week in Kansas
City's assistant general manager Mike Porconzi interviewed for the team's
general manager job. Bagnolo has previous head coaching experience with
the Rams, but went ten to thirty eight over three seasons.
Ended in twenty eleven, however, and Spagnolo has since won
three Super bowl while running the defense for the Chiefs.
(25:54):
The Jags and Raiders also requested interviews with Spagnolo. Jets
interviewed University of Ireland head coach Michael Loxley and Buck's
assistant GM Mike Greenberg on Friday as well. But we
think first of the Jets head coaching search, which seems
the most off the wall of all of them so far,
And what about Steve Spagnolo may be dipping his toe
back in the head coaching waters.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Well, that's good for coach Bags to do that, And
I mean, he's done a great job with his defense
in Kansas City for so many years, and it's always
good to see good coaches have another opportunity to be a.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Head coach in the league.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
And as far as the Jets situation, it's a very
bizarre type situation because you're asking yourself, if we get
the team's probably history hiring from a head coaching standpoint
and a GM standpoint, it hasn't really been that successful.
And we always talk about the hot jobs that are
out there, and for me, I don't look at the
Jets as being one of those jobs because there's a
(26:52):
little dysfunction there. But I'm all for any coach getting
to sit down with the owner be able to discuss
your plan.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Here's the other thing you were about to Ben.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
That's another opportunity for them to pluck information.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
From you two as well. That it is.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
If Spagnolo is to get a head coaching gig this
time around, you would hope that he hires better offensive
coordinators that he did during his times with the Rams,
Pat Shermer being the initial offensive coordinator, succeeded by Josh McDaniels.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yes, two, guys, I know offensively that you really like. No,
I'm offended five.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Mike Evans on facing Marshawn Lattimore, says he's got to
be at his best. Mike Evans admitted before his first
meeting with Marshaw Latimore earlier this season, he had a
good job controlling his emotions against his nemesis Bucks receivers,
let the now commander's corner get under his skin. Evans
was ejected once and served a two game all right,
excuse me, served two one game suspensions for his actions
against Latimore and losing more than one hundred thousand dollars
(27:49):
in fines. Latimore warned Evans this week that Evans is
going to know he's there.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Evans admitted he's got to be disciplined.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I just got to be my best, he said via
Rich Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. I've got to
give my best. He's a really good player. Obviously, we've
had a lot of really good matchup. If he's playing,
I look forward to the matchup. Evans has averaged two
point six catches for forty three point six yards and
thirteen games head to head with Latimore, including two catches
for thirty four back in October when the Bucks.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Rounded the Saints fifty one twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
The Saints traded Lattimore to the Commanders soon after, and
Latimore has played only two games for Washington, but will
return for the Sunday Night Football playoff game. Todd Bowles
said that both great players, they both like to compete
like soapro He understands what a stake, understands a game.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Nothing really needs to be said about that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
There's been some great corner wide receiver matchups over the years.
I think we all hear locally A to lead Crabtree
is certainly very prominent.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
What do we think about?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Mike Evans and Marshall and Latimore square off again on
Sunday Night Football for a playoff.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
For me, I want to see these guys just kind
of go out and compete. I know they both have
competitive history and a lot of it has been really physical,
but I want to see them go out and compete
and not do anything that can one hurt themselves but
hurt their teeth. And I know that that's easy to say,
hard to do, especially for two guys who are highly
(29:05):
competitive and now a lot to say that in that battle.
I could be wrong, Marcia, and Latimore has gotten pretty
much the best of Mike Evans in that battle, but
I mean Latimore is coming off a hamstring injury which
is lingered since his time with the Saints, so that
may be an opportunity for you know, the wide receiver
(29:28):
for Mike to actually take advantage of it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Might be is.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, Alatimore by and large has gotten the best of
the matchup so far. But of course, you know, Mike Evans,
being a guy who's probably punched his ticket to the
Hall of FAMEUS has another chance to show him up
here six.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The Tennessee Titans have.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Completed a first round virtual interview with former Falcons general
manager Thomas de Metrov for the team's general manager position.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
The team and outs.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Today, de Metrov serves the general manager of the Falcons.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
From two thousand and eight to twenty twenty, the Falcons
qualified for the postseason six times tenure and lost in
Super Bowl fifty one to the Patriots. De Metrov was
the Patriots director of college scouting from O three to
seven before the Falcons hired him.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Spent twenty eight years in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Was recognized as the NFL Executive Year at eight and
twenty ten. In January of twenty twenty two, to Mitrov
helped found a football analytics company named Super Sports. Company
says aims to ride the vest in class quantitative analysis
aimed at creating precision in player acquisition and roster management
in the NFL. Titans was seeking to replace ran Carfin,
(30:29):
who was hired before the twenty twenty three season. Chad Brinker,
the Titans President of football Operations, is running the search for.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
The new GM.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
The Titans are currently under investigation for the role of
the general manager, as Chad Brinker was technically executing some
of those aspects, allegedly leading to the schism and ultimately
the firing with ran Carfin. Titans previously interviewed Dolphin's senior
Personal EXECU Reggie mackenzie.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
They've also.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Requested Seahawks Director of Player Personnel Matt Barry, Colt's assistant
Jim at Dobbs, Bills Director player Personnel Terrence Gray, and
Buck's assistant Jim Job spy Tech.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
There are a lot of people that are.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Skeptical of taking the Titans GM job, realizing that they're
only gonna be a puppet GM for Chad Brinker.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
See that's the tough part because.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
There's a job out there and you want to get
back into the league, but you know that you are
being hamstrung in a little way, your hands being tied.
The decision making that you think that you would have
now you won't. So the question is do you take
that job just to say you have a job, or
you pass and wait for a better job to come along.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Well, and it's a fascinating thing because Ram Carthon hired
Chad Breaker to be his assistant and then Chad was
promoted over him to put President of Football Ops and
then began just basically taking over the general manager job.
The NFL has clearly defined roles for what his position
is and if you exceed those roles. It's actually a
problem the actually you get penalized for that.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
That's very tough to know that you hire someone and
then somehow they leap frog you.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That that's going to be very difficult to handle.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, and ultimately leading to him firing you.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
You hired him.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That's tough play off.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Good for Tonight rolls on after this
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