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Jeff Legwold on Moser, Lombardi, & Kane 1-4-24 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  To two sports radio Moser, Lombardy and Kate Let's go out to the ramos
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  Law line, car Accident ramos Law medical doctor and attorney ramos Law dot com.
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  Jeff LEGWALDESPN dot com joined us every week. Hello, Leggy, how
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  are you this morning? Hey? I said, real quick, Brett,
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  did you see him rolling up his He's he's pulling up his sleeves. He's
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  like, all right, let's get it on, baby, Come on now,
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  let's let's roll. You're pretty fired up last week. You're fired up
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  last week. So I'm into this. And now we've seen one week of
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  this football team without Russell Wilson under center. But I think you and me
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  are on the same page here. What you talked about last week was a
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  lot of not the last two weeks of this season, but what happens beyond
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  that? And that's been my main question in all of this is, once
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  you take the dead cap on from Russell Wilson's contract. You told us last
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  week they're already twenty million dollars over the cap before they would make this decision,
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  how do you go about fixing this? How do you go about having
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  this team getting better? And the funny thing legy is this team could finish
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  nine to eight, a winning record for the first time in twenty sixteen,
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  barely missing out on a playoff spot. And if I ask you this question,
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  are they better off at this point this year or last year? What
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  would you say? Well, they're better off in December this year than they
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  were in December last year. Will they be better off in June? Is
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  the real question? And that's that's really the rope here. You know,
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  it's they've made a decision, in my opinion, a year too early.
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  I mean, they've they already have ten million of dead money already on their
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  twenty four cap too, so I mean they're projected to be twenty million over
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  the salary cap. They already have ten million dead money already before they've done
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  anything. They don't have many draft picks, and they really don't have many
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  prime draft picks, only two on the first two days. And you know,
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  again I continue to ask the question, you know, whether they discover
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  a long term plan at quarterback this offseason and then we see that. But
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  in twenty twenty four, when they line up in the opener, I think
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  there's almost zero chance they have a better player than Russell Wilson at quarterback.
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  Forgive me. I've got a two part question for you, Legi, and
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  the first one is this, then why pull the trigger a year early?
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  I think Sean Payton. Again, this is my from talking to everybody in
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  the building, from being out here every day. I think Sean Payton has
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  just quietly decided Russell Wilson won't play my offense the way I want him to.
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  Twenty six touchdowns or not. I mean, Wilson's still ninth in the
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  league in touchdowns and they didn't even play last week. All right. Part
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  two to the question is the only thing that bothers me, because listen,
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  if they're gonna let Sean Payton run the show, they're obviously letting him run
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  the show in all capacities operationally, personnel wise, He's making every decision.
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  Okay, that's fine. But the only problem I have is when he he
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  addresses the media about this and then claims that he's not privy to those conversations
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  with Russell, and that's someone else. I mean, come on, those
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  conversations stem from him. They come from him. He's the one who sparked
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  that whole thing. What is your reaction when you hear those words from the
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  head coach, well, thank you know, in this job, you're gonna
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  hear stuff like that. Almost every day. Someone's gonna look you in the
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  eye and tell you something even they don't believe. And uh, my response
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  to people is often, hey, let me go get my moron signs so
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  you can you can finish this thought. But and I'll just wear it while
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  you're telling me this complete line of crap. But I think what we're really
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  talking about here is he is doing what a lot of people do in this
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  day and age. He's split in. He's split in a very thin semantic
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  hair, which is he wasn't in the actual discussions while they were happening in
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  real time. He told them what to say, but he told his people
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  exactly what to do or say. Well, they he didn't tell them one
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  hundred percent. I mean, George Peyton and Sean Payton sat down and they
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  you know, this is what I think happened, and they decided what they
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  would say together, and George Peyton handled the front line of the discussions with
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  Wilson and his representatives. And you know Sean Payton, if you listen closely,
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  he sort of adds wasn't privy to the dialogue, you know, of
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  those discussions. You know, so he is he's splitting the hair. Yes
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  he knows. There's no way they were gonna put Benching the starting quarterback on
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  the table without the head coach knowing. But he didn't specifically participate in the
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  ill fated discussions, you know, which went off the rails pretty fast.
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  I think the Broncos in their minds, thought they were pursuing compromise, and
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  I think Wilson and his representatives hurt a threat. So it really is who
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  you who you ask about all this and you know what really happened, Jeff.
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  We were talking to begin the show about the Pro Bowl no Broncos offensive
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  players, and rightfully so, and that dovetails into I know what I saw
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  last weekend against the Chargers that no good dog but bottom of the heat LA
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  Chargers. And it looked the exact same anyway, man, the exact same.
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  They've got no jam, they've got no playmakers, they've got no game
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  breakers, they got no nothing. I mean, it doesn't matter stood them.
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  I mean to me, it looked the same. What did you see
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  out of the offense in the game as a whole well most I don't think
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  you were gonna see much explosiveness. I mean, Mims and Sutton don't play,
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  and those have been there, you know. I mean, Courtland's still
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  third in the league in touchdowns and he's missed all but nine plays in two
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  games. So I mean that's that tells you what kind of I thought he
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  should have got at least a look and you know, some kind of alternate
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  spot in the Pro Bowl, but he didn't even he didn't even get an
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  alternate you know spot. So uh, but yeah, I mean they lack
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  impact right now on offense. And whether that's philosophically it's not happening the way
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  they wanted to, or guys just aren't winning matchups, but they weren't gonna
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  look good with no Sutton and no Mims. Those have been the only two
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  guys who really stressed defenses, consider instantly all year anyway, And when you
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  get away from Sutton and Men's and Judy to a certain extent, they don't
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  have a hell of a lot of team speed on offense, you know,
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  Julia McLoughlin, and they've started to use them more and we've seen it,
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  you know that that can have some impact there too, but they need an
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  infusion of a little more explosiveness on offense, especially a tight end. That's
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  where Dulcin's being out most of the year has just crushed them, because when
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  you face all these nickel defenses, that's the matchup you can just win all
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  the time if you've got a tight end. So, and you know,
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  again, six draft picks, no second rounder. Uh, they're gonna have
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  to get a lot of middle, middle of the board, bottom of the
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  board picks right next year. And they're gonna have to be extremely lucky throughout
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  the year next year for twenty twenty four not to be a struggle. So
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  they need to do a Rams thing. They need a Kyron Williams and a
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  Puka Nakua to find the fifth round. You know, I've said, you
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  know, but the the Rams were younger when the Rams had the second youngest
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  team when the season started. The Packers had the youngest team when the season
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  started. That's the only reason those two teams survived all the dead money they
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  had. They were they were among two of the four teams who went into
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  the year with sixty million in dead money. And they've served. They've survived
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  because they are the two youngest teams in the NFL, and guess what they
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  have quarterbacks you know already on hand. So the Broncos are doing this with
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  an older roster twenty fourth when the year started, and they're doing it without
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  an answer at quarterback. And that's a tough way to go see. But
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  what Mosher was talking about earlier, and I read you're right up on the
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  ESPN article that had all the Pro Bowl rosters, how many teams had,
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  how many guys? And when you you wrote in there that that's the fourth
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  straight year with no offensive player play making the Pro Bowl, what I got
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  to thinking was we we've always complained about inconsistency surrounding the Broncos, that there's
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  always a new GM, there's always a new coach, or always a new
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  quarterback. Well, the things that have remained the same are the wide receiver
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  room's been pretty similar over the last few years, save for some injuries.
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  The running back room has been pretty similar, the you know what I mean,
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  Like, there's been a lot of similarities outside of those major spots.
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  And you haven't had a thousand yard rusher or receiver in four years. So
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  I mean, is that part of the problem too. Well, I guess
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  I would say the turnover at quarterback's going to impact that. You know,
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  when you're on your twelfth quarterback, you know, behind center, it's hard
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  to have the timing. You know. The NFL is life thn tight window
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  throws. It's not like college where you can switch quarterbacks and that the receivers
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  got five yards of separation on every play. And it's fine. This is
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  a league of tight window throws and timing is is paramount and if you keep
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  switching quarterbacks, you're not gonna have that. A scout friend of mine a
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  long time ago told me, if the mailman doesn't know the route, you're
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  not getting a letter. And that just means that that timing, if the
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  timing isn't there, you're not getting the ball. And I think that's a
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  big part of it too. Man, we don't have enough vic we don't
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  have enough old timey sayings anymore like that. Nobody, nobody comes up with
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  stuff like that anymore, you know what I mean. The world was a
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  better place when you had the guys. But you know, guys woodling on
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  a piece of wood with a corn cob pipe saying, you know what if
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  the dog don't eat in the morning, the pig don't give it night,
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  I mean, or you know whatever. I don't know, you know that
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  kind of stuff. That was a borderline drunk take. Oh, you're probably
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  right about that. Yeah. I want to one final question regarding Russ,
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  because I'm trying to think this through. Is there any scenario Jeff Flagwalt,
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  where perhaps the relationship can be salvaged for one year where the Denver Broncos sit
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  down with Russ afters a little less angry after the season, and they work
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  out a deal where they tell them, I listen one more year, come
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  back. You're comfortable here, you have a home here. We'll let you
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  compete for the starting spot. We'll pay your money. Everything's fine, but
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  you're not assured the starting spot will let you compete for it and if you
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  win it great. If you don't know, is there any chance of that
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  happening? Well, you know, I never say never, but you know
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  that here. I mean, we've seen too much here to say never on
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  anything. But I think they missed their opportunity. I think the richest ownership
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  group in the league by a long margin, could have simply said, hey,
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  why don't we give some of your future money to you in cash right
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  now in your hand, and you give us a break on the contract.
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  I think that would have gone pretty quickly. You know, maybe I'm naive,
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  you know not, you know, little Jeffy the sportswriter and whatnot,
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  But I think the resources the Broncos have because he's getting his money anyway,
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  so why would you care? Why would you care when he gets it?
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  That's the that's the part I can't get past. They tried to do this
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  on the cheap, and they and they did what everyone thought this ownership group
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  would not do, which is do something on the cheap. They tried to
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  do this a little bit on the cheap. In the NFL world, I'm
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  talking. Look, everybody makes a ton of money numbers I can't even comprehend.
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  I get that. I'm talking in the football world. I thought,
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  I think there was an easy solution out there, and I think they went
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  flying past that exit to try and get, you know, something better.
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  That's counterintuitive to everything they've done so far. Because his ownership group has spent
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  money. They've spent money. They're gonna build a They're gonna build a palace
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  out here with their own money. I mean, they're gonna this is gonna
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  be the best, you know, facility in the league when they're done.
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  That's why I can't get past this. Are you really that mad at Russell
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  Wilson? You can't find the compromise that would work, and apparently they are.
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  It just seems like an emotional decision they made too quickly. Uh.
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  And I really don't know how the hell you sit a guy down after you
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  beat the Chiefs for the first time in like a century, and you know,
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  and then you tell him that, and then guess what, they go
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  on to win six of eight games and are in the playoff hunt, and
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  then you know, you mess that up because you decide you're going to bench
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  the guy. And look, if they lose that game to the Chiefs,
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  he's probably benched then. And this is not even an issue now, You're
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  like, exactly, they just they just kept winning games. I mean,
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  I don't know what you want from the guy, That's what I'm saying.
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  We all wanted. We've made a cottage in industry about talking about how bad
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  Russell Wilson plays and how much people don't like what he says. Well,
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  in my book, he was the only guy scoring touchdowns, and they were
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  winning games, and they were in the playoff hunt, and then they decided
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  that wasn't okay and that they should embarrass him and basically blame him publicly for
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  everything. And then they score one touchdown and the only reason they scored is
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  little Jordan Humphrey breaks like nineteen tackles to get the end zone. Yeah,
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  well, Jeff, I think what you're trying to say is you can't make
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  a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Is that right? Wow?
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  You decided the old saying cut. Did you just google that or did you
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  pull that out? I'm just start googling. Yeah, I love it dot
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  com, but jeezer dot com go on there and get that. Jeff.
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  We always love talking to you. I love you a bushel and a peck
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  and a hug around the neck. We'll talk to you next week. God,
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  get off the internet. And that is right. Hold on a second,
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  I got a few of the plague. Well the ESPN dot got hanging
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  on one second. All conversations with Leggy brought to by bets Save Colorado,
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