Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 9-28-26

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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 9-28-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald of ESPN is here. Hi, Jeff. How you doing, man?
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Afternoon, fellas.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Good to see you as always.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Jeff, Andy and I, we joke all the time of
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: just like one score regression. Like that's a real thing.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: You're supposed to take a step backward in that area.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: You can't just keep finding a way to voodoo your
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: way into these victories. And the Denver Broncos spit in
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: the face of all football conventional wisdom and Jeff, do
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: we just have to accept that Sean Payton likely made
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: a deal with the devil and that's how they keep
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: winning these games?
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, you're talking the rarest of rare here.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, they set the record last year with 11
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: of these one-score wins, and they've got two already. And,
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm not excellent at math all the time,
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  Speaker 4: but I believe they played three. three games and they've
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: got two of these already.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: And they're two and oh, and one score games already.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's just, you know, I
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: don't know what you do with it. You know, I,
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: I always, it's like in the draft, you don't, you
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: don't make decisions based on outliers. Like, okay, Drew Brees
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: was a really good quarterback, amazing quarterback, hall of fame
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: quarterback at a certain height. So that means, Every year
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: in the draft, there should be a quarterback of that
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  Speaker 4: height who can do those things. That's not how this works,
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  Speaker 4: and it's not how the world works and everything. But
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: if you all, you know, if you happen to be
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: the outlier, then life is good. And I think the
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Broncos just may be the outlier at this moment. Now,
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: you know... play somebody good in January, throw a little
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: weather in there, maybe an injury or two. And, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think the math comes to visit, but you know, but.
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  Speaker 3: Jake, Ron McMillan rips the ball out of cook's hands and, and,
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  Speaker 3: and a, you're off to the AFC championship.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: You know, and then the next week you score a
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  Speaker 4: touchdown and don't do anything in the snow. And, you know,
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: I just, you know, they're living the, they're living the
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: good life. And, you know, look, I, if you're a
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: player or a coach for the Broncos, you fully accept
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: that the things you didn't do well, or at least
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: you better. If you're a legitimate contender, you fully, full accountability,
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  Speaker 4: you look in the mirror and you say, we didn't
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  Speaker 4: do these things well. And I think they do that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: And I think that's part of the freedom they have
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  Speaker 4: is they're pretty willing to say, yeah, I didn't do this,
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  Speaker 4: didn't do that. But in the end, You know, they
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: get the win, and there is something to be said
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: about a group of players who don't seem to really
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: mind pressure situations that not every player enjoys, and they
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: seem to have assembled a lot of them because, you know, defensively,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: you know, they give up tons of yards yesterday, but
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: that's kind of modern defense. You know, play situational. Don't
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: give up touchdowns in the red zone.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So Stafford goes crazy.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: You know, they, they get tons of passing yards. He
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: throws it, uh, you know, over 50 times in a game,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: 32 times in the first half, there's no way the
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: Broncos thought they were getting that kind of game.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: And Kyron was running the ball fantastically. Like the Rams
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: had a good run game going in. My God, their
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: ratio was out of whack last night.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I can't figure it out. I mean, by my, by
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  Speaker 4: my count, uh, I think Stafford is like one in
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: 14 in games in his career when he throws 50 passes.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: And Leggy that's, that's in a game where they didn't
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: have Puka Nakua and, and they lost two tight ends
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: like immediately in that game. Like the amount of weapons
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: just dwindled and McVay was just like, all right, I'm
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  Speaker 3: going to keep chucking it. Even though they were effective
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  Speaker 3: running the football, it was bizarre to watch.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 4: And again, they got a lot of yards. It's going
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  Speaker 4: to look, you know, if, You know, it's that age-old argument,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: why does the NFL rank defenses on yards allowed instead
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  Speaker 4: of points allowed? But, you know, I think Vance Joseph
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: gave everybody a hint before the season when he kept
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: saying the numbers might look different, but their goal is
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  Speaker 4: red zone defense, third down defense, turnovers, and, you know,
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  Speaker 4: stopping the run. And the Rams gave them a little
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  Speaker 4: help stopping the run because they didn't run a lot
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  Speaker 4: when they could have, I thought, especially in the rain
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  Speaker 4: in the first half. So it was, it was an
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  Speaker 4: odd game, but you, you know, the Broncos are living right. And,
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  Speaker 4: and the only way you can sort of get away
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: with it is if you are really, truly willing to
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: wrestle with the things that weren't good. And you can't
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: believe that it can go on forever because it can't, but,
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  Speaker 4: They certainly have people comfortable when they're in those situations.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: All right, so many questions I want to ask, and
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  Speaker 5: yet half of them could be as if every other
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: interview we've done after 15 wins, 18 wins like this before, Jeff.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: So I'm going to try to get rid of those
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: that you hear all the time.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Let's start here. DMACC did describe to us.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: What's the deal with Jared Stidham, Jeff?
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: No, but the loud conversation, it seemed, or maybe it
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: was just the one-way conversation with Sean, with Bo, and Davis.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: Do you have any insight as to maybe what was
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: said there in the second half after the first three
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  Speaker 5: and out or whatever?
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  Speaker 4: No, this is no secret. I love how we, all
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: of us, me included, we look at all these things,
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  Speaker 4: but look, he is the head coach. And there will
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: be moments, and I don't care who your play caller is,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: when Bill Belichick was Bill Parcells' defensive coordinator, you can
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: believe that Bill Parcells would walk over to Bill Belichick
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  Speaker 4: at times, who was roundly considered one of the best
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  Speaker 4: defensive minds in football, even then, and would, under no
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  Speaker 4: certain terms, outline to him... how he wanted the next
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: series to be called, or why in the hell did
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: you just call that? That goes on. That's going to
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: go on, and I don't care if Davis Webb turns
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: out to be the greatest play caller to wear a headset.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: At some point, his head coach is going to walk
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  Speaker 4: over and tell him what he'd really like to see
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  Speaker 4: on the next drive. So I'm not shocked by that,
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  Speaker 4: but it struck me. Look how the game looked. right
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: after that conversation.
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  Speaker 2: 30 straight.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: I would say it turned things. The head coach intervened
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: at the right time, and people may not like it,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: and it probably wasn't done with, you know, Emily Post
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  Speaker 4: etiquette and all of that. But, you know, those are
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: going to happen. And guess what? I think, you know,
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  Speaker 4: in this case, the head coach was probably right.
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  Speaker 3: Talking to Jeff Legwald here on a Rally House Football Monday.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Rally House shop every team in town here on Altitude
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Sports Radio 92. Five Broncos win 30 to 26 over
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: the Rams last night at Empower Field at Mile High.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Jeff, we're three games into the season.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: J.K.
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  Speaker 3: Dobbins is averaging 3.5 yards per rush. It was good
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: to see him get 17 carries last night. That part
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  Speaker 3: was good, but still, they'll take him off the field
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  Speaker 3: in third and short situations. It seems to be a
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  Speaker 3: little confusing what they're trying to do in terms of
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: establishing a rotation with the backs. I know Dobbins suited up,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: and so when you suit up, there's expectation, but is
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  Speaker 3: he right? How would you describe what the plan is
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  Speaker 3: right now with the rotation of backs?
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  Speaker 4: I think they're still working that out, Nate. And I
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  Speaker 4: think the injury factors are, no, I mean, the injuries
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: have played a part in this, you know, Jonah Coleman's
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: on IR with an injury he played through in the game,
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: but as often happens, you go home and sleep the night.
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  Speaker 2: And the next day, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And one of your limbs looks like it's twice the
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: size it was the night before. So that's pretty common too. So,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: And then Harvey is getting evaluated for concussion early in
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  Speaker 4: the game. They just don't have the, hey, everybody's healthy
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: look at any point yet this season at that position group.
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  Speaker 4: I think Dobbins was clearly compromised a little bit, whether
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: he would admit it or not. He did not have
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  Speaker 4: the explosiveness he has, and occasionally you could see him
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  Speaker 4: sort of slightly limping On the sideline and, you know,
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  Speaker 4: he's he's been practicing through the week with the with
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: the therapeutic tape on his leg and all those things.
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  Speaker 4: So I think clearly he's playing through something that, you know,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: in some situations, guys would probably sit down for a
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: week or so.
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  Speaker 1: But he pinky promised.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: No, and he is adamant about this. You know, that
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: wasn't just a funny joke to him. He's, you know,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: he told me that in June on the record, you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: I wrote a story in June with him saying, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Don't care. You don't have the picture, Jeff. You're not
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: going to want to be pal.
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  Speaker 1: Like, well, it's like check the date line.
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  Speaker 2: I got released.
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  Speaker 1: I was in May.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Whatever. No, Jeff to that.
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  Speaker 5: No, let me ask you this. Cause you're, you've taught
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  Speaker 5: me a lot about, these Liz Franks. And that's basically
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: what he had last year. Do you think I realized
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  Speaker 5: what you're describing? It is a little, the hamstring or
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: whatever he's got going on. That's muscular during camp. But
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  Speaker 5: do you think he feels like himself after that mid
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: foot sprain that we've seen take guys in a different
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: direction post injury?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Andy, I would say he looked awfully good in
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: camp when I watched him. So I feel like this
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  Speaker 4: is the hamstring going on a little bit. And that's
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: not going to be just a rest up and everything's
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: fine after a week thing. He's obviously trying to work
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  Speaker 4: through this. And they probably are hoping with their own
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  Speaker 4: pinkies crossed that he gets through it without aggravate it
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  Speaker 4: more because the depth is, has taken a hit already
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  Speaker 4: and they do want to run the ball. You know,
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  Speaker 4: I think the short yardage thing is, is the disconnect
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: that's left when you, when you get a first time
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: play caller like Davis Webb, you got an old salt
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  Speaker 4: like Sean Payton used to doing things he did for
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: a lot of years in a row. Uh, I think
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: they're still working out short yardage. Now, as everyone knows,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I want to get in my car and go home
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: when I see people in the gun and empty on
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: third and two or less. I just want to leave
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: the stadium. And I think there should be league mandated
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: fines for that formation if the quarterback isn't going to run.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: So I don't like it when they do it. They
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: know I don't like it. They don't much care that
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: I don't like it.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: They prefer you leave the stadium, frankly, Jeff. If that
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is the rule, then.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: They would like me to retire. And maybe they're goading me.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know. They're going to get you to do it.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: This is the long game they're playing with me. But, no,
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  Speaker 4: I really think that needs some attention and needs to
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: be worked out because you're losing a lot of, first downs,
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  Speaker 4: I think. A lot of drives. You could keep going.
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  Speaker 4: And the three and out to open the second half,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: that was just malfeasance, and I can see why everyone
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: involved was peeved.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: The possession right before the pick six that Stafford threw
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: to Hufanga last night, third down and one. Dobbins goes
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: for nine yards on first and second down. It's third
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  Speaker 3: and one. They take Dobbins off the field. They put
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: in Tyler Bidet, and... Bo has a pass batted down
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: at the line of scrimmage. Now you get bailed out
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: because Jeremy Kroshaw has a flawless punt down inside the six. So,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: and quite frankly, last night was a pretty good special
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: teams night for the Broncos. Like a Will Lutz missed
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: field goal aside, that was a pretty good special teams night.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Well, the young returner's a thrill ride.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: He sure is, isn't he? That guy's must-see TV.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Unbelievable. I mean, the ball's going to be on the ground.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: I mean, he bobbled a ton in camp. But, yeah,
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're liable to see anything with him. You're
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: liable to see the two-bounce pickup at some point for
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: a touchdown. You know, he's really got some sparks when
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: he returns. It's just the ball isn't always... caught as
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: cleanly as you would like.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: No, it's, it's entertaining.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: And I brought it up during cross of like, if he,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: if he continues to be the punt returner, he's going
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: to be a big talking point on a Monday at
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: some point this year, because that's just the way that
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: it goes for those guys. Jeff, let's, let's talk a
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: little bit about, and I gave a lot of credit
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: for this victory to the play of the offensive line
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: last night. The pass protection in the second half, it
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: was night and day, and I know Sean kind of
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: said tale of two halves today. For the offensive line
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: in particular, and Bo Nix's numbers right now, and looking
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: at the next-gen stats, no pressure versus under pressure. I mean,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: it is stark right now, the kind of quarterbacking you're
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: getting when Bo is in a clean pocket versus when
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: he actually has to move and adjust and everything else.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: But this offensive line right now, Jeff, to me, they're
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: the biggest, the pass protection in the second half was
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: the biggest thing that flipped in that game. I thought
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: they were the reason they won the game last night.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Well, and I would just offer this. They, they, uh,
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: about 70, 60% of their snaps and two tight end
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: are after halftime.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: All of, all of their snaps and three tight end
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: are after halftime. And, You know, they have a touchdown
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: in one of the three tight end looks. So, I mean,
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: that's obviously a key adjustment there that they're making. You know,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: the one snap of two back, two tight end they're
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: in is after halftime. So that was obviously discussed. It
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: obviously helps because you're protecting the edges of the formation. And,
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: you know, they did a pretty good job on Donald when,
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: when that can be a tough thing at times. And
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: that's a really good front. I mean, I know Miles
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: Gerritsen and I are, but if you look at the
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: pressure numbers before Sunday night, coming into the Sunday night's game,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Kobe Turner was among the league's best. I mean, they've
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: got two guys, I think, that were in the upper
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: tier of run stops, all of these metrics. So that
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: is a really good front, and they did respond in
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: the second half. It's been a problem, and I think
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: Davis Webb, as a former quarterback, is going to want
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: to live in the three-wide receiver world because that's just
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: how people want to play now with the quarterback and
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: the gun and all of that. But they are much
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: better under center, and I'm going to die on that hill.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: I know what my eyes tell me. And I look
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: at it a lot and I ask a lot of
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: people and the quarterback, whether he likes it or not
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: is much better under center. And that helps the past
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: protection as well.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Just tell me how you cross a pinky. You're going
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: to tell me tomorrow.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: And that's the other thing, you know, eight snaps under
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: center in the first half, 16 under center in the
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: second half.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And it's different.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: It's all, it all goes together.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: And, You can not like playing that way, but they're
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: better at it, and someday they'll accept it.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: And they'll go up against an offense next week that's
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: also really, really good at it. Jeff Legwald, everybody, getting
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: you ready for Broncos Niners all week long here on
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5. Jeff, we'll talk to you on Friday.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks, man.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: You bet. We'll see you, fellas.