Latest / Mac & Bone Podcast / Mac & Bone Show - Ryan Edwards Interview

Transcript

Mac & Bone Show - Ryan Edwards Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Ryan Edwards is from KOA Radio in Denver, the pre-
0:03
Speaker 1: and post-game host out there for the Broncos. And he
0:07
Speaker 1: joins us to talk about the 6-2 Denver Broncos coming
0:11
Speaker 1: in this weekend. Ryan, what's going on, man?
0:13
Speaker 2: How you doing?
0:15
Speaker 3: Doing great. Thanks, guys.
0:16
Speaker 1: What's up, Ryan? Appreciate you being here. So this Denver
0:20
Speaker 1: team clearly comes in here. We don't have any winning streaks,
0:24
Speaker 1: it feels like, going on in Charlotte sports. But Denver's
0:26
Speaker 1: won four in a row, including the exciting goal line
0:29
Speaker 1: stand victory, come from behind style, which they've been good at,
0:35
Speaker 1: against Kansas City. What's been the difference here the last
0:38
Speaker 1: few weeks? Because it does feel like they're rounding into form.
0:43
Speaker 3: Well, I think part of it is the schedule lightening up.
0:47
Speaker 3: You look at the schedule for the Broncos, starting out
0:50
Speaker 3: Monday night football on the road against Kansas City. You
0:53
Speaker 3: had the Jaguars, which you guys know down in that
0:57
Speaker 3: part of the area, different conference certainly. And then you
1:00
Speaker 3: got the Rams and the 49ers and the Seahawks. Some
1:03
Speaker 3: of these matchups were just really... really tough in that stretch.
1:07
Speaker 3: So the Broncos, you know, scratching out a 4-2 record
1:09
Speaker 3: to start the first six, and now 6-2. I think
1:12
Speaker 3: they're starting to figure some things out, especially on the
1:15
Speaker 3: offensive side of the ball. We're seeing a lot more
1:17
Speaker 3: confidence from them. You know, the defense has been playing
1:20
Speaker 3: at a pretty good level, even though they're a little
1:21
Speaker 3: banged up. So it's just kind of all kind of
1:23
Speaker 3: coming together for the team. I mean, this is kind
1:25
Speaker 3: of what they did last year, a little bit of
1:27
Speaker 3: a slower start, and then they started to pick up
1:29
Speaker 3: some things, and especially on offense, and kind of get
1:32
Speaker 3: their confidence together.
1:33
Speaker 2: Ryan, we're doing a constant vibe check around here, as
1:36
Speaker 2: I'm sure most NFL cities do, with the play of
1:39
Speaker 2: the quarterback. It's been a little up and down here
1:42
Speaker 2: of late for Bryce Young. What are the current vibes
1:45
Speaker 2: right now with Bo Nix at the helm of the Broncos?
1:49
Speaker 3: Oh, it's mixed. I mean, it's going to be mixed.
1:53
Speaker 3: I mean, remarkably, as you're talking about Bryce Young, I'm
1:56
Speaker 3: sure you guys had similar conversations out there. right before
1:59
Speaker 3: you started to think about paying him. And it's kind
2:03
Speaker 3: of that way out here. It's like, okay, well, after
2:05
Speaker 3: this third year, the Broncos could technically give him a
2:08
Speaker 3: contract extension, but there's a lot of people that are
2:11
Speaker 3: kind of like, I'd like to see at least one
2:12
Speaker 3: more year, or maybe he goes on a bit of
2:14
Speaker 3: a run and we'll see. But right now, I think
2:17
Speaker 3: most Broncos fans are kind of like, Yeah, I like
2:19
Speaker 3: those fourth quarter comebacks. You certainly like winning. But this
2:23
Speaker 3: last week, for example, they had 3-3 announced in the
2:26
Speaker 3: third quarter. They barely moved the ball. They barely possessed
2:29
Speaker 3: the ball. And the Broncos' defense has more snaps than
2:32
Speaker 3: any other defense in the NFL right now. And as
2:35
Speaker 3: a result of that, it's just a lot of pressure.
2:37
Speaker 3: And you've got to know eventually that's going to wear
2:39
Speaker 3: down this defense if the offense doesn't really pick things
2:42
Speaker 3: up here soon. They don't have a consistent run game.
2:44
Speaker 3: That's not all on Bo Nix, but... I mean, it's
2:46
Speaker 3: part of it because he throws so short of the
2:49
Speaker 3: sticks more than any other quarterback, right? And it's all
2:53
Speaker 3: that short to intermediate stuff that teams just kind of
2:56
Speaker 3: key in on. So it's all part and parcel. Right now,
2:59
Speaker 3: I think that the Broncos fans are allowing this thing
3:02
Speaker 3: to kind of play out a bit because they keep winning.
3:05
Speaker 3: But I tell you what, if they start losing some games,
3:06
Speaker 3: this thing could turn quick.
3:08
Speaker 1: We're talking to Ryan Edwards. KOA Radio covers the Broncos
3:13
Speaker 1: out there in Denver. I will say this, though. You
3:16
Speaker 1: look at his splits, and this goes in line with
3:20
Speaker 1: the four fourth-quarter comebacks he's had. He is a way
3:23
Speaker 1: better quarterback statistically in the second half. He's had moments
3:28
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Is there something to it? Is
3:31
Speaker 1: there some Bo Nix magic there? How much do fans
3:35
Speaker 1: give him credit for that element of this season?
3:40
Speaker 3: Oh, they certainly appreciate it. And there's that feeling, like
3:43
Speaker 3: even this last week against Kansas City after the third quarter,
3:46
Speaker 3: you're just like, I mean, nothing's going right. But yet...
3:49
Speaker 3: Even though they're down 11, you still think they have
3:51
Speaker 3: a chance. And as soon as the Kansas City Chiefs
3:53
Speaker 3: punted the ball with like 13-13 remaining in the fourth quarter, man,
3:57
Speaker 3: he just turns it on. And they just went on
4:00
Speaker 3: to win the game. And they do that over and
4:01
Speaker 3: over again. Last year, the Giants game where they had
4:03
Speaker 3: a 30-point comeback. I mean, it's weird, right? I mean,
4:07
Speaker 3: it's almost Tebow-esque in a lot of ways, but he's
4:09
Speaker 3: got more tools. He's got more tools in the tool
4:12
Speaker 3: belt than Tebow ever did. And trust me, I covered
4:14
Speaker 3: that team, so I would know. He just... You give
4:18
Speaker 3: him credit for it, but you also are trying to
4:21
Speaker 3: look at him in the prism of a franchise quarterback.
4:24
Speaker 3: And it's like, all right, well, you kind of want
4:26
Speaker 3: a little bit more from that guy. So, again, you
4:29
Speaker 3: get excited about it. You love that this team has
4:32
Speaker 3: a belief internally, not only in Bo, but also in themselves,
4:35
Speaker 3: that they can come back for most anything. That being said, again,
4:39
Speaker 3: people keep questioning how sustainable ultimately is it. But, again,
4:42
Speaker 3: until it's proven otherwise, they'll find a way.
4:46
Speaker 2: That's the voice of Ryan Edwards, our friend from KOA
4:49
Speaker 2: Radio out there in Denver, afternoon drive host and pre-
4:52
Speaker 2: and post-host for the Broncos as well. Ryan, I'm sure
4:56
Speaker 2: you're aware the Panthers made a defensive coordinator change last
5:00
Speaker 2: week in large part because of what Chicago and Tampa
5:04
Speaker 2: did on the ground to this team. How do you
5:07
Speaker 2: view the matchup of the Panthers' defense versus the Broncos'
5:10
Speaker 2: run game, and how worried should we be about the Broncos'
5:14
Speaker 2: running backs in this matchup?
5:16
Speaker 3: Well, you know, every time you have a coordinator change,
5:20
Speaker 3: that adds a little bit of a different wrinkle, no
5:23
Speaker 3: question about it. I mean, I know how much the
5:26
Speaker 3: fingerprints of a team can really change midseason with a
5:29
Speaker 3: coordinator change. But, I mean, you have play callers. It's
5:32
Speaker 3: the same conversation, right? It's like, all right, well, you're
5:35
Speaker 3: doing this to shake things up. How much can you
5:36
Speaker 3: actually shake things up because you still have the same personnel?
5:40
Speaker 3: But the Broncos' rushing attack has really not gotten on
5:44
Speaker 3: track because it's Yeah, no, Jonah Coleman had a bit
5:48
Speaker 3: of a breakout game this last week. But, you know,
5:50
Speaker 3: only 11 carries. He's definitely going to be this. He
5:54
Speaker 3: may not start the game, but he'll be the guy
5:57
Speaker 3: that plays the most. He's the rookie running back out
5:59
Speaker 3: of Washington. So he's going to be the guy that
6:02
Speaker 3: you're going to see the most. And he's really projected
6:04
Speaker 3: the three down back. And he's got plus hands out
6:06
Speaker 3: of the backfield. He's great in pass pro. runs hard
6:09
Speaker 3: between the tackles. Some really nice things that we like
6:11
Speaker 3: about Jonah Coleman. And the compliment to him is J.K. Dobbins,
6:14
Speaker 3: who is just a shell of what he was prior.
6:17
Speaker 3: Last year, he's averaging five yards per carry before he
6:19
Speaker 3: got hurt. This year, he's in the low threes. And honestly,
6:23
Speaker 3: even this last week, he was under two. So it's
6:26
Speaker 3: a one-two punch, which really more like one and a
6:28
Speaker 3: half punch at this point. So yeah, I imagine the
6:31
Speaker 3: Broncos are looking at this matchup against Carolina and knowing
6:34
Speaker 3: that they've struggled stopping the run. hoping to maybe get
6:36
Speaker 3: a little more success going there. But once again, they
6:40
Speaker 3: haven't shown to be a team that not only consistently
6:43
Speaker 3: attempts to run the ball, but they give up on
6:46
Speaker 3: it pretty quick. So that's going to be the fascinating
6:49
Speaker 3: thing for me, is even in plus matchups against the run,
6:52
Speaker 3: they don't always commit to it.
6:54
Speaker 1: Got to ask you about this defense, the talent you
6:57
Speaker 1: guys have there on defense. And if you look at
6:59
Speaker 1: the stats, a lot of the numbers show Don't, you know,
7:03
Speaker 1: maybe indicate the talent you have. It does seem like
7:06
Speaker 1: the defense is picking up. I think it's like 18
7:08
Speaker 1: points a game in the last four. They've got Sertan back.
7:12
Speaker 1: What's going on with this defense right now? And what
7:15
Speaker 1: about specifically the pass rush up front? Because I know
7:19
Speaker 1: you've probably seen it. Bryce Young can't breathe on a
7:22
Speaker 1: drop back right now, you know?
7:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I've seen some of your issues with the
7:28
Speaker 3: offensive line. We were watching that primetime game last week.
7:31
Speaker 3: I'd say the pass rush is still really, really good.
7:35
Speaker 3: I mean, they get a lot of pressures. They got
7:36
Speaker 3: like 24 pressures against Jacoby Brissett a couple weeks ago.
7:41
Speaker 3: They're going to light them up, and they sort of
7:44
Speaker 3: feel like they have to because they're probably going to
7:45
Speaker 3: be down their top two safeties in this game. They
7:48
Speaker 3: got all their cornerbacks back. They've been missing a couple
7:51
Speaker 3: of those guys. Those guys are all returned and are
7:53
Speaker 3: good to go. But when you're missing Talanoa Hufanga and
7:56
Speaker 3: Brandon Jones in the back end, you know, that, that,
7:59
Speaker 3: that could be problematic. Now we'll see what the rest
8:01
Speaker 3: of the practice reports, but two DNPs yesterday. So that's
8:05
Speaker 3: my expectation, but yeah, I mean, the pass rush, Nick Benito,
8:09
Speaker 3: Jonathan Cooper returned after being on the exempt list. And
8:13
Speaker 3: he looked like he really didn't skip a beat. They
8:15
Speaker 3: just come at you in waves. So it's going to
8:18
Speaker 3: be a challenge there because that's, that's how Vijay wants
8:21
Speaker 3: to win this game. He's going to try to light
8:23
Speaker 3: up the quarterback, really speed things up. And so that's
8:26
Speaker 3: going to help hopefully help out the secondary.
8:28
Speaker 2: Ryan, what do you think the ceiling is for this
8:31
Speaker 2: Broncos team in the AFC right now with the other
8:34
Speaker 2: top contenders?
8:36
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, right now, I mean, they're turning to
8:38
Speaker 3: win the AFC West, which is obviously their first goal, right?
8:40
Speaker 3: They say that every year. I feel like, you know,
8:43
Speaker 3: once again, with this formula, if the offense can kind
8:47
Speaker 3: of figure some things out here, find some consistency somewhere,
8:50
Speaker 3: and again, I'm asking a lot apparently, but if they
8:53
Speaker 3: can get that, then I feel like they could go
8:56
Speaker 3: all the way, really, legitimately. I mean, the AFC is loaded, obviously,
8:59
Speaker 3: a lot of talent, but there's teams that are kind
9:01
Speaker 3: of falling off. We don't know what's going to happen
9:02
Speaker 3: with Baltimore, for example. Houston obviously didn't have the season.
9:06
Speaker 3: Same thing with the Chargers. So all of a sudden,
9:10
Speaker 3: the path is absolutely there, but they kind of need
9:13
Speaker 3: to be playing at home. Again, they can win.
9:16
Speaker 2: On the road.
9:16
Speaker 3: They're a little bit of a different team there. having
9:20
Speaker 3: the home field advantage for this team, they really lean
9:22
Speaker 3: into it a lot. So if they can somehow secure
9:25
Speaker 3: that one seed, they got the Buffalo Bills on Christmas
9:29
Speaker 3: Day out here, so it might literally be for the
9:31
Speaker 3: one seed at that point. But if they can somehow
9:34
Speaker 3: find a way into the one seed, I really like
9:35
Speaker 3: their chances.
9:36
Speaker 1: All right, last question about Sean Payton. Take it with
9:39
Speaker 1: a grain of salt, because myself and many Panther fans
9:42
Speaker 1: here in Carolina know Can't stand the man after our
9:45
Speaker 1: battles against him when he was in our division. I mean,
9:48
Speaker 1: when they swept Carolina three games, including a playoff game,
9:52
Speaker 1: and Sean had a broom afterwards. I mean, things like
9:56
Speaker 1: that stick in our memories. There was the incident with
9:58
Speaker 1: him and J.C.
9:59
Speaker 3: Horn.
10:00
Speaker 1: With each other a couple years ago when Denver played Carolina.
10:04
Speaker 1: But I do want to ask about him taking the
10:06
Speaker 1: play calling back. One is, has there been a noticeable
10:11
Speaker 1: uptick in your opinion? But then secondly, do people there
10:14
Speaker 1: in Denver feel like that was cruel? Because I know
10:18
Speaker 1: him giving Davis Webb the play calling kind of kept
10:20
Speaker 1: Davis Webb from leaving the organization. Was that seen as
10:24
Speaker 1: kind of shady? Like, hey, I'll give him this play
10:26
Speaker 1: calling to keep him here, but I might just snatch
10:29
Speaker 1: it away. Talk about that a little bit.
10:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was met with some mixed reactions. I mean,
10:37
Speaker 3: there were some people that just expected it to happen
10:39
Speaker 3: at some point. Maybe this was on the earlier side
10:41
Speaker 3: than some thought would be the case. But it was
10:46
Speaker 3: one of those like, all right, well, I mean, I
10:48
Speaker 3: understand you're doing this. We understand you're doing this to
10:50
Speaker 3: keep him here. Certainly Bo Nix wants him to stay here.
10:54
Speaker 3: We get all that. He was given a brand new
10:57
Speaker 3: contract as a result of it. So we felt like
10:59
Speaker 3: that was just everybody getting along. But there's a lot
11:03
Speaker 3: of arrogance, as you pointed out there. and and certainly
11:06
Speaker 3: for Sean this was only a matter of time again
11:10
Speaker 3: it was a little on the earlier side for me
11:12
Speaker 3: I really bought into the idea of him trying to
11:14
Speaker 3: be in a bit more of an executive role where
11:16
Speaker 3: he got to oversee all parts of the team allow
11:19
Speaker 3: the offense to function like the offense and just give
11:21
Speaker 3: his feedback but he decided no I've seen enough we
11:25
Speaker 3: need to do better at some things I feel like
11:27
Speaker 3: they've They've had a little bit more commitment to the
11:29
Speaker 3: run game. They utilize the fullback a little bit more,
11:32
Speaker 3: which is better for them when they do that. I
11:35
Speaker 3: think that there was a little bit more razzle-dazzle with
11:39
Speaker 3: Davis Webb. Again, it's great, and I think later on
11:42
Speaker 3: in the season, some of that razzle-dazzle might work out.
11:44
Speaker 3: But while Bo Nix was struggling, it felt like he
11:46
Speaker 3: was having a hard time kind of connecting with all
11:49
Speaker 3: of it. And again, it just was an offense sort
11:51
Speaker 3: of stuck in neutral. So I understood it. Again, a
11:55
Speaker 3: little on the early side to ultimately do it, but
11:57
Speaker 3: once again, when you have that kind of arrogance, you
12:01
Speaker 3: really can't be slowed down.
12:02
Speaker 1: All right, there you go. He's playing to us, Boney.
12:04
Speaker 1: He's using the word arrogant for Coach Payton. All right,
12:06
Speaker 1: I like that. He is honest. He is Ryan Edwards,
12:09
Speaker 1: KOA Radio in Denver. Thanks for the insight, brother. We
12:13
Speaker 1: appreciate you, man.
12:15
Speaker 3: Anytime, guys. Thanks, Ryan.