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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 10-23-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald time here on a Friday afternoon. Jeff Legwald's
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  Speaker 1: appearance is brought to you by the International Brotherhood of
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  Speaker 1: Electrical Workers, IBEW. Local 68, you start with a job,
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  Speaker 1: you end with a career. Oh, I hope you all
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  Speaker 1: read Jeff Legwald today. Outstanding breakdown on the struggles of
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  Speaker 1: the Broncos offense, particularly that of their quarterback, one Beauregard
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  Speaker 1: Steven Nix. Leggy, let's kind of start there as you
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  Speaker 1: canvassed and surveyed and talked to assorted different personnel people
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  Speaker 1: around the NFL what were some of the most common
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  Speaker 1: refrains you heard to in terms of trying to explain
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  Speaker 1: away the struggles in the Broncos passing game.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah Nate I guess the one thing that struck me
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  Speaker 2: the most is you know they saw it more as
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  Speaker 2: a sort of a 60-40 split you know bow slash
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  Speaker 2: offense Whereas I think locally, we see this as a
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  Speaker 2: bow struggle, you know, ultimately. But, you know, the things
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  Speaker 2: they mentioned that came up the most, and these are
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  Speaker 2: people that evaluate quarterback play all the time, including some
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  Speaker 2: quarterback coaches. So the tendency to leave clean pockets, to
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  Speaker 2: not climb and make throws, you know, just... rhythm plays.
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  Speaker 2: And that came up a lot, that in their minds,
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  Speaker 2: he's leaving clean pockets too often. And that's always a
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  Speaker 2: red flag for people who coach the position. And then
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  Speaker 2: I think in the past, I've said in the past,
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  Speaker 2: he ran to punish defenses. And this year, he's running
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  Speaker 2: to evade And I think there's a difference there that
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  Speaker 2: those folks brought up a lot, too.
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  Speaker 3: Did you get the feeling, Jeff, that this is fixable
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  Speaker 3: this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they always think coaches tend to think
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  Speaker 2: they can fix things. Now, when you talk to personnel
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  Speaker 2: people about him, they sort of have the viewpoint that
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  Speaker 2: it's going to take some work. type of thing. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it may be like other players at other positions.
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  Speaker 2: We don't notice sometimes that it takes them a season.
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  Speaker 2: And then the next season they're all the way back
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  Speaker 2: from whatever injury they had. So I think some of
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  Speaker 2: it is, you know, the thought is that the two
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  Speaker 2: surgeries is, this is sort of the, the aftershock of,
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  Speaker 2: of those physically and, And offensively, and I think it's
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  Speaker 2: clear when you watch the video, too, they don't give
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  Speaker 2: him enough in the intermediate zone to sort of throw to.
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  Speaker 2: And whether that's they've just decided that's not his preference
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  Speaker 2: or what, but some people saw not enough options for
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  Speaker 2: him in the intermediate area. It's either the check down
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  Speaker 2: or or the deeper routes that he isn't always waiting
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  Speaker 2: for them to develop.
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  Speaker 1: Why is that, though? Is it just they're not running
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  Speaker 1: clean combinations to open things up in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the field? And, Jeff, you break down this film as
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  Speaker 1: much as anybody, or is it just simply a lack
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  Speaker 1: of willingness to throw there?
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  Speaker 2: Probably a little of both. I think it was telling
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  Speaker 2: this week that, I sort of asked a follow-up, kind
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  Speaker 2: of like, what specifically are you talking about, Sean, when
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  Speaker 2: you say you can help him more? And he did
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  Speaker 2: say play design. So that tells me this is on
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  Speaker 2: their radar in some fashion. So I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as you move forward, to me the sign that they
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  Speaker 2: are really trying to address this is if you see
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  Speaker 2: more of the deep overs And you see more of
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  Speaker 2: the double, you know, sort of the scissor concepts, they
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  Speaker 2: call it, you know, the double crossers. If you see
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  Speaker 2: more of those things, then it was indeed a play
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  Speaker 2: design in some of it. But, you know, I know
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  Speaker 2: the team is hoping they can get this figured out
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  Speaker 2: and that it is fixable during the season. But. I
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  Speaker 2: will say if they can't move the ball through the
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  Speaker 2: air Sunday, uh, that's a bit of a red flag.
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  Speaker 2: If it's even possible to have more of a red alert,
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  Speaker 2: then it w it would go to the other desk
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  Speaker 2: con of wherever we are. If they can't throw the
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  Speaker 2: ball against the Cardinals because everybody has. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Nate, I kind of talked about that earlier, a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of pressure for this thing. Um, All right, Jeff,
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  Speaker 3: we've got a questionable designation for both Pat Sertan and
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  Speaker 3: Jonah Coleman. What do you expect to be the results
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  Speaker 3: of those designations come Sunday?
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  Speaker 2: I would think Coleman plays unless he has some kind
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  Speaker 2: of issue, you know, after the walkthrough tomorrow or on
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  Speaker 2: the flight or whatever. You know, sometimes guys, you know,
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  Speaker 2: have an injury or swell back up after a flight.
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  Speaker 2: But I think if he doesn't have any issues, he plays.
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  Speaker 2: I still think Sertan, who was limited today, he didn't
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  Speaker 2: practice fully. I think Sertan is more likely against the
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  Speaker 2: Chiefs than Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff, what is the deal with the Arizona Cardinals? Why
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  Speaker 1: are they so bad at this?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jeff, we tried to name the all-time Arizona players yesterday,
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  Speaker 3: and we really had a lot of laughs trying to
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  Speaker 3: do it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's– they've just– and they– They've been in the
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  Speaker 1: playoffs once in the last decade. They haven't won a
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  Speaker 1: playoff game since 2015.
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  Speaker 3: They don't have a string of three or four years
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  Speaker 3: just going. They're lucky to put two years in a
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  Speaker 3: row going to the playoffs.
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  Speaker 1: The Bidwells obviously are going to be a key part
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  Speaker 1: of the issue, but how is this team just toiled
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  Speaker 1: in NFL irrelevance for as long as they have?
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  Speaker 2: It is an amazing run. I will say When you
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  Speaker 2: look at a franchise like this, I think you go
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  Speaker 2: the next step in the dig down and you say, okay,
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  Speaker 2: who are the greatest homegrown Cardinals? And there's your issue.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. That's your issue. If you can't draft and develop
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  Speaker 2: and build, you're never going to be very good. And
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  Speaker 2: whether that's, because you're always firing your GMs or because
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  Speaker 2: you're always hiring the wrong people. Whatever it turns out
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  Speaker 2: to be, if you can't draw lines to sort of
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  Speaker 2: the greatest homegrown players, you're just not going to succeed
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  Speaker 2: because you can't build in free agency. They went to
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  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl with Kurt Warner, not a homegrown player.
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  Speaker 2: You know, J.J. Watt ended his career there, not a
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  Speaker 2: homegrown player. I mean, you're just one after another. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the great Cardinals are not homegrown players for the most part.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that is your issue, is they don't,
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  Speaker 2: for whatever reason, they don't. And they've always been at
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  Speaker 2: the low end in terms of spending on scouting, number
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  Speaker 2: of scouts. You know, the Bengals for a long time
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  Speaker 2: were at the, on that side of the equation too.
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  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of this speaks to a
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  Speaker 2: bigger issue in the league. Can these family owned teams, uh,
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  Speaker 2: still compete, uh, in this day and age of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: cash upfront type situations, uh, when you're up against far
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  Speaker 2: more wealthy, uh, ownership groups and, and all of that.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's all part of the big swirl, but, uh,
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  Speaker 2: You know, they haven't been good. They weren't good for
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  Speaker 2: much of their run in Chicago, and they weren't good
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  Speaker 2: for other than the Jim Hart years at quarterback. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they weren't good for much of their years in St. Louis,
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  Speaker 2: and they haven't been good for much of their years
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  Speaker 2: in Arizona.
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  Speaker 1: So, Jeff, this current iteration of the Arizona Cardinals, Trey
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  Speaker 1: McBride is arguably the best tight end in the league.
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  Speaker 1: And Buda Baker is certainly he's been their best playmaker
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  Speaker 1: defensively so far this year. After that, Jeff, is there
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  Speaker 1: are there other players on the Arizona Cardinals that you
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  Speaker 1: would give the Jeff Legwald endorsement to that you would
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  Speaker 1: say that's a guy and you got to watch out
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  Speaker 1: for him?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I would for love, but he's not playing.
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  Speaker 1: He's not playing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And again, I think you're catching a team and.
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  Speaker 2: Yet another makeover, you know, first year coach questions at quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they, you know, they, they have sat out
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  Speaker 2: the other, you know, the Josh Rosen experiment was short lived,
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  Speaker 2: but they haven't really participated in the old, Hey, let's
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  Speaker 2: draft the quarterback and build around it.
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  Speaker 1: I guess they tried with Kyler, but that didn't work.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's, the thing. And what did they
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  Speaker 2: do recently? They traded Marvin Harrison Jr. Because it didn't
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  Speaker 2: work out there. And, you know, I got to believe
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  Speaker 2: he's going to have some kind of career now moving forward. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they do. They're an odd team, defensively especially, because, like,
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  Speaker 2: they don't do anything well except somehow they pressure quarterbacks. Now,
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  Speaker 2: all of those quarterbacks are completing a lot of passes
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  Speaker 2: for a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns.
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  Speaker 2: But somehow... their pressure numbers are pretty good. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that's the only thing defensively where they could really
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  Speaker 2: be a problem for the Broncos. Cause then, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you get the lucky sack and the, and the fluky turnover,
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  Speaker 2: if you can pressure quarterbacks and they've done that, they're
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  Speaker 2: like 14th and pressure rate, but like last or next
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  Speaker 2: to last and everything else defending the past. So, And
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  Speaker 2: I think their defensive front is physical at times in
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  Speaker 2: run defense. So to me, those are the two things
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  Speaker 2: that stick out when I watch them right now. Offensively,
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  Speaker 2: not a lot of impact there. They kind of just
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  Speaker 2: try to wear you down and get the bride loose
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  Speaker 2: for a couple of plays and kick a field goal
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  Speaker 2: or two.
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  Speaker 3: All right, so what kind of passing numbers should we expect?
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  Speaker 3: What would a good game look like, Jeff? I mean, obviously,
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  Speaker 3: we'd all like to see a Caleb Williams 300-yard two-touchdown
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  Speaker 3: game out of Bo this week, and everybody can just
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  Speaker 3: shut up for a while, and everything's calm, and now
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  Speaker 3: they're going to really hit their stride and all that
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  Speaker 3: good stuff, but probably not realistic, honestly, because as you
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  Speaker 3: laid out in your article, it's not just Bo. It's
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  Speaker 3: some of the guys around him not making plays either,
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  Speaker 3: and I don't think we can just assume that everyone's
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  Speaker 3: going to wake up on the same Sunday, although maybe
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  Speaker 3: they do. But give us a realistic, what would the
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  Speaker 3: stat line that you would say, okay, that feels okay
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  Speaker 3: after this game Sunday for the offense?
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  Speaker 2: Andy, I just think they'd like to see, I think
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  Speaker 2: they want the run game to be part of this.
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  Speaker 2: So if people are thinking the breakout is just going
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  Speaker 2: to be a throw it around game, I don't get
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  Speaker 2: the sense that that's what they're going to try. I
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  Speaker 2: think they're looking for that. get the run game more physical,
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  Speaker 2: get more production, more efficiency out of the run game.
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  Speaker 2: So then the play action can give them the big
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  Speaker 2: plays they haven't had. And if, you know, if, if
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  Speaker 2: he had a nice, you know, routine 240 yard, two
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  Speaker 2: touchdown day, I think that would be an indicator that
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  Speaker 2: the play action plays are a big part of that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, if they had like two of those hits,
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  Speaker 2: I think they would think that's a good day at
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  Speaker 2: the office.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, we haven't had you pop a bubble in a while,
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  Speaker 3: but people are trying to put out on the Internet
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  Speaker 3: that maybe Jonathan Taylor is a guy that they would
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  Speaker 3: inquire about.
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  Speaker 1: Who would have put something out like that? Who would
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  Speaker 1: have ever suggested such a thing?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you and I put it out there, but we're
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  Speaker 3: irresponsible talk show hosts. When it actually shows up on
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  Speaker 3: Twitter as somebody that's trying to There was some guy inside.
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  Speaker 1: It's only responsible reporting on Twitter.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there's some guy in Indianapolis who put it
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  Speaker 3: out there, and that's why I'm asking, Jeff. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: you know, look, we got three hours to talk about
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  Speaker 3: everything on our mind, as you well know, but do
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  Speaker 3: you think they would really inquire about Taylor or what,
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  Speaker 3: you know, or maybe even, I don't know, Tyler said
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  Speaker 3: he wouldn't even mind them going after Quentin Nelson, but
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  Speaker 3: what do you think is real as far as what
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  Speaker 3: interest they would have there?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I haven't heard much real yet. Now, that doesn't
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  Speaker 2: mean it's not going on very clandestine and all of that,
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  Speaker 2: but the Broncos have the richest ownership group in the league.
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  Speaker 2: They have an older coach with a lot of personnel say.
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  Speaker 2: That's like the profile of the rumor mill team, no
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  Speaker 2: matter what. Now, again, if you're unsure if your quarterback's
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  Speaker 2: the long-term solution, Do you want to give up a
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  Speaker 2: first-rounder in the 27 draft? My answer would be no.
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  Speaker 2: But I think there's a lot more at work than
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  Speaker 2: just trading for the running back you think is going
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  Speaker 2: to be the difference because it's going to cost you
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  Speaker 2: at least one first-rounder probably and maybe more. I've heard
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  Speaker 2: from people in the league who say– the price tag
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  Speaker 2: for Taylor will be enormous. So whether they can get that,
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  Speaker 2: but they're asking price is going to be enormous. And again,
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  Speaker 2: the 27 board is still projecting to be very, very
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  Speaker 2: good at impact positions, edge rushers, uh, corners and quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 2: And if, if you surrender your one, uh, no matter
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  Speaker 2: where you're picking on the board, it better be because
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  Speaker 2: you are thinking you are one player away from a
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  Speaker 2: Super Bowl.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, Jeff, along those lines, you know, and Andy
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  Speaker 1: and I have talked about this, like I'd be hesitant
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  Speaker 1: to move a one or a two right now because
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  Speaker 1: you very well may have to draft a quarterback. That's
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  Speaker 1: a very realistic possibility.
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  Speaker 2: And look, Nate, they got three starters in the secondary.
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  Speaker 2: They're going to be free agents.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: After this season. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Jaquan McMillan, you cannot let that guy walk out the door.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, Jeff, and we got about 60 seconds here,
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  Speaker 1: but the quarterback that the Buffs will see tomorrow afternoon
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  Speaker 1: at 5 o'clock in Stillwater, Mel Kuyper is high on
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  Speaker 1: Drew Mestemaker. I know you're still in the preliminary process,
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  Speaker 1: but you've watched Mestemaker play at North Texas, play at
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma State. Give me a quick scouting report on what
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  Speaker 1: you expect to see out of him at the next level.
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  Speaker 2: You know, My concern, and I don't know how big
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  Speaker 2: a concern it is yet because I have looked at
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  Speaker 2: him and I've charted him pretty well. He does have
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  Speaker 2: a hitch in the throwing motion that potentially in the
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: NFL could be an accuracy tight window issue. But that said,
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  Speaker 2: in the college game right now, he's got the spine
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  Speaker 2: you're looking for in a quarterback. He's not afraid of
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  Speaker 2: any moment. And I think a lot of that is
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  Speaker 2: he wasn't cultivated as a quarterback. That's not how he thinks.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this guy wasn't even the quarterback of his
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  Speaker 2: high school team. So his mindset, I think, when he
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  Speaker 2: plays is different. He hasn't been in this quarterback wheel
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  Speaker 2: of the lead 11 and all this other stuff. He
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  Speaker 2: just plays ball. And that's a big deal. And I
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  Speaker 2: think teams are really going to like that.
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  Speaker 1: I like how he put that, the spine of this kid.
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  Speaker 3: I heard him take that question and called it huevos
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  Speaker 3: a little bit earlier. So he decided to dial it
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  Speaker 3: down for Kreckman and Lindahl.
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  Speaker 2: You know huevos, that's a real draft attribute.
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  Speaker 3: That is.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see. He's taking on the Buffs tomorrow at
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: 5 o'clock as nearly two touchdown favorites. In Stillwater. All right. Hey, Jeff,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: good stuff as always, man. Have a great trip to Arizona.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Appreciate you, fellas. See ya.