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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 9-11-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  Speaker 1: It's time to talk to Jeff Legwald here on a
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Bud Light football Friday. Bud Light's the official beer sponsor
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of the Denver Broncos. Please remember to enjoy responsibly. Live
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: at Society Sports and Spirits at 14th and Blake, where
• 0:11
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  Speaker 1: passes and a pair of Broncos regular season tickets plus
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  Speaker 1: great Bud Light specials as well. Let's talk to Jeff
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  Speaker 1: Legwald here on a Friday afternoon. Jeff Legwald brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local 6800.
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  Speaker 1: You start with a job and you end with a career. Jeff,
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  Speaker 1: let's start in this space right now. This is an
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  Speaker 1: extremely healthy Broncos team with Marvin Mims, the only name
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  Speaker 1: on the injury report, going into this game. There were
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  Speaker 1: a lot of soft tissue, muscle tweaks and whatnot going
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  Speaker 1: on during the preseason, but the Broncos go into this
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  Speaker 1: game mostly healthy players. What do you think the approach
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  Speaker 1: is for Denver early on in this season, after a
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  Speaker 1: training camp in which they dealt with some annoying little
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  Speaker 1: things here and there, to just try and get through
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  Speaker 1: the hot part of the schedule nice and healthy?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's been their focus. I mean, Sean
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  Speaker 2: Payton basically announced he was, you know, forbidding any more
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  Speaker 2: injuries at one point in camp. So... I think they've
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  Speaker 2: tried very hard. This is the longest stretch between a
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  Speaker 2: final preseason game and an opener that I can remember
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  Speaker 2: a team having, and certainly any team I've ever covered
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  Speaker 2: never had a gap like this. So I think the
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  Speaker 2: challenge has been to do, you know, just sort of
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  Speaker 2: stay sharp, not be stale, and not keep guys on
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  Speaker 2: the field so long that you have those injuries pop
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  Speaker 2: up because you're You know, you just keep going at it.
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  Speaker 2: I remember vividly a Fangio camp one year when they
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  Speaker 2: just kept grinding after the last preseason game, and that
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  Speaker 2: team came out of the gate as poorly as I
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  Speaker 2: can ever remember. So I think they've been real cognizant
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  Speaker 2: of trying to keep everybody on the field healthy. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they didn't take as many veteran rest days as he
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  Speaker 2: sort of implied. in camp, but I think they've managed
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  Speaker 2: their time on the field and kind of what they
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  Speaker 2: did in each of those drills. And I think today
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  Speaker 2: is even an example. They sort of made today a
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  Speaker 2: recovery day for players, you know, to go in and
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  Speaker 2: use all of the new facilities they have now that
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  Speaker 2: a lot of teams don't. So I think you're seeing
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  Speaker 2: sort of the whole portfolio now of the new facility
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  Speaker 2: and what it means.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff, along those lines, you know, we were talking earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the show last night and you know, the Rams
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  Speaker 1: and Niners game and you saw, uh, Kalen black 15
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  Speaker 1: touches along with 15 touches for Christian McCaffrey. All right,
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  Speaker 1: let's kind of translate that to Denver with JK Dobbins,
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  Speaker 1: like known, known likely injury case for the Broncos as
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  Speaker 1: he has been throughout his career. Um, is it possible
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  Speaker 1: that we could see kind of a distribution of touches
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  Speaker 1: quite similar to what Kyle Shanahan is trying to do
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  Speaker 1: to get McCaffrey to the finish line healthy?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, to all of the above. I'll pinky swear to that.
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  Speaker 1: With me?
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  Speaker 2: The Broncos will be the most frustrating team for many
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  Speaker 2: fantasy football aficionados. They're going to constantly be in the
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  Speaker 2: How are the carries and touches going to get split
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  Speaker 2: among the running backs? And a lot of it, frankly,
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  Speaker 2: is going to matter about who they're playing and what
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  Speaker 2: kind of packages they're in. I will say they've held
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  Speaker 2: a lot back of their offensive tweaks so far, and
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  Speaker 2: a lot of those are in the run game, and
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  Speaker 2: there are several two-back sets and not– fullback running back
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  Speaker 2: to back, but two running back sets in the, in
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  Speaker 2: the playbook. And I guess I'll be intrigued early on
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  Speaker 2: to see how often we see those to sort of
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  Speaker 2: get those snaps to those guys. Cause I think they
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  Speaker 2: feel better in terms of production point production and first
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  Speaker 2: down production, all those things that, with the addition of
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  Speaker 2: waddle and what they have at running back now, that
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  Speaker 2: may be the replacement for sort of tight end touches
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  Speaker 2: in some of those times when they're in a heavier set.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Chris Jones all of a sudden pops up on the
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  Speaker 3: injury report today with a calf injury. Jeff, how big
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  Speaker 3: would that be for the Broncos is an obvious question.
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  Speaker 3: Easy one for you right here. But how big would
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  Speaker 3: that be for them getting that run game going?
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  Speaker 2: It would be a mess. He is the biggest problem
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  Speaker 2: they have up front. You know, he's traditionally played pretty
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  Speaker 2: well against the Broncos through the years, as we all know. But,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think the big difference is in recent years,
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  Speaker 2: Spagnola's been far more willing to move him all over
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  Speaker 2: in the formation. And if he does not have a
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  Speaker 2: full speed player in Jones to do that, it does
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  Speaker 2: limit some of their potential. you know looks in the
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  Speaker 2: pass rush especially when they would put him at end
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  Speaker 2: uh so i think that that could influence some things
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  Speaker 2: that you know how much do the broncos attack the
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  Speaker 2: edges and and all of those things when they when
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  Speaker 2: they do move jones out there or if he you
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  Speaker 2: know plays a limited number of snaps so that's a
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  Speaker 2: big deal and for that to pop up on a
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  Speaker 2: friday is even a bigger deal All right.
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  Speaker 3: So Nate and I have been trying to figure this
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  Speaker 3: out all weekend. I understand you're not a betting guy
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  Speaker 3: or you're giving betting advice. We're not asking for that.
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  Speaker 3: Why are the Chiefs favored in this game?
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  Speaker 1: Help us out.
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  Speaker 3: What in the history, what maybe are we missing about
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  Speaker 3: the roster? What's your take on why would the Chiefs
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  Speaker 3: be favored in this game?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the simple answer has nothing to do with football.
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  Speaker 2: That's where the money's heading. You know, they set that
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  Speaker 2: mark to split the money. So obviously they need to
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  Speaker 2: give the Chiefs some points to get the money split.
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  Speaker 2: So that tells you some Bronco people may be pushing
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  Speaker 2: the number out there a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Mahomes is a home dog, isn't necessarily going to
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  Speaker 1: get an even split. Right.
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  Speaker 2: And, you know, I think, frankly, he's the uncertainty. So
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  Speaker 2: I think if you're in that realm, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: bet on history a little bit. And his history is
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  Speaker 2: pretty good. you know, as far as playing.
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  Speaker 1: Well, along those lines, Jeff, what do you expect to
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  Speaker 1: see out of Mahomes? What does history tell us about
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback who's nine months removed from ACL surgery? Like,
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  Speaker 1: what should we expect from his performance on Monday night
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  Speaker 1: without his regular left tackle against one of the very
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  Speaker 1: best pass rushes in the game?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I would think. This will have a
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  Speaker 2: lot more to do with how they play around him
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  Speaker 2: and when, what they choose to do rather than his
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  Speaker 2: physical health, you know, he's healthy enough to play or
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  Speaker 2: he wouldn't be out there. They've got too much. He
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  Speaker 2: means too much to them to risk in any fashion,
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  Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean, you know, he's traditionally takes one
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  Speaker 2: of the deepest drops of any quarterback in the league
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  Speaker 2: when he's in a full seven step. I don't think
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  Speaker 2: there's any other quarterbacks in the league that drop as
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  Speaker 2: deeply deeply as he does into the pocket. So I
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  Speaker 2: don't think you do that if he's coming back with
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  Speaker 2: the offensive line and the shape it's in. I think
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  Speaker 2: you see a lot more of him in the gun,
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  Speaker 2: a lot more of him shorter drops, quicker throws, a
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  Speaker 2: lot more screens. I think you might see the whole
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  Speaker 2: full allotment of Andy Reid screen passes. You may see
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  Speaker 2: eight different kinds before the night's over. But I will
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  Speaker 2: be stunned if their first priority is not getting the
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  Speaker 2: ball out of his hands as quickly as possible and
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  Speaker 2: sort of turn the game into a lot of four-
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  Speaker 2: and six-yard passes and hope you get a mistake in
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  Speaker 2: a play-action look that gives you a long play here
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  Speaker 2: and there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Jeff, and Vijay kind of alluded to that. It
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  Speaker 1: was early on in training camp when Vijay just kind
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  Speaker 1: of said, like, okay, you know, under two and a
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  Speaker 1: half seconds is how we're expecting opposing offensive coordinators to
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  Speaker 1: game plan us, get the ball out of the quarterback's
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  Speaker 1: hand as quickly as humanly possible. The thing that has
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  Speaker 1: always kind of thrown me about, and Vijay talked about that,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think he's wrong, but also when you have
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  Speaker 1: a group of corners like Denver does that can play
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  Speaker 1: that kind of press man coverage and play it as
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  Speaker 1: aggressively as they do, I guess my question is, how
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  Speaker 1: effective is that going to be against the Broncos?
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  Speaker 2: I think it'll be tough. I mean, certainly you're going
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  Speaker 2: to hit some just because of the way, like if
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  Speaker 2: you bunch receivers, it's going to be really hard for
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  Speaker 2: all three corners.
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  Speaker 1: You can pick stuff and make catches, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: But what it does, the biggest thing it does for
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  Speaker 2: the Broncos is Vance Joseph can suddenly take Pat Sertan
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  Speaker 2: and and slap him on your best guy, on your
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  Speaker 2: number one guy, and you don't get the first read
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  Speaker 2: off a quick hitter look. So that means you're going
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  Speaker 2: to the second progression, the third progression, in a route
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  Speaker 2: tree that might be built where the 12 yards is
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  Speaker 2: the deep route. and that is a distinct advantage for
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  Speaker 2: the Broncos to play that way because then he gets
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  Speaker 2: your choices are either throw the ball at the best
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  Speaker 2: corner in football or you have to hang on to
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  Speaker 2: it just a smidge longer and then you know other
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  Speaker 2: bad things can happen.
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  Speaker 3: Jeff, you know, and we'll talk to you again on
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  Speaker 3: Monday before kickoff, at least I hope, if you're not
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  Speaker 3: too busy with all your ESPN duties. So I got
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  Speaker 3: to ask you, what did you think of last night's game?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it was crazy. I was telling Nate, first off,
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  Speaker 3: it was, I don't know, maybe you've dealt with this,
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  Speaker 3: but I guess I know what it's like to watch
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  Speaker 3: a football game from Europe now, where I just kept
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  Speaker 3: thinking it's dark here and I can clearly tell it's
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: early to mid-morning where they're playing this game. But do
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  Speaker 3: you think the Rams would want Would you think the
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  Speaker 3: Rams would want to do over on when they chose
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  Speaker 3: to go in there? Or we talked to our buddy
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  Speaker 3: Bryce Parker, who I know you've talked to as well,
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  Speaker 3: who's one of the Australian journalists there. And he told
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  Speaker 3: us he does think that ultimately the Rams will be
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  Speaker 3: more happy not dealing with the jet lag and adjusting
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  Speaker 3: to the time zone out there than the Niners, that
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  Speaker 3: this could affect the Niners two weeks later from what
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  Speaker 3: he's experienced in his own personal travels. Do you think
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  Speaker 3: the NFL will continue to look at what the Rams
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  Speaker 3: did and try to perfect it? Or do you think
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: in the future, everyone's just going to stick to the
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  Speaker 3: one week out plan?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's up to the teams. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the NFL can offer guidance or any experts they have,
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately, and when you say a team's making the decision,
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  Speaker 2: most often it's the head coach. Let's be honest. And
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  Speaker 2: McVay took an educated guess. You know, he had information
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  Speaker 2: that this could work. And, like, if you did it
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  Speaker 2: ten times, who's to say it wouldn't work, you know, eight?
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  Speaker 2: But it didn't work last night. And I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I thought if the Rams had a big win last night,
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  Speaker 2: then suddenly you would see a lot more teams trying
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  Speaker 2: this technique. But they didn't. And they didn't just look
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  Speaker 2: kind of bad. They looked really bad. I mean, they–
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  Speaker 2: This defense that they've revamped and spent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: money on gave up a 99-yard scoring drive to a
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  Speaker 2: team everybody else said was too hurt to put that
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  Speaker 2: kind of drive together. So I think this one stings,
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  Speaker 2: and maybe physically the 49ers will feel worse, but they
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  Speaker 2: love having that win because in their division race, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's as big a chip as you can have in
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  Speaker 2: the game. is you already have a win against the
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  Speaker 2: Super Bowl favorite in your pocket.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, which is pretty good. And then Kyle Shanahan gets
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  Speaker 1: a big fat extension today. Jeff, taking a look at
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  Speaker 1: the Kyle Shanahan-Brock Purdy partnership and what Shanahan has been
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  Speaker 1: able to do there, do your best for me. And
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  Speaker 1: I know you know the Shanahans well, and obviously nobody
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  Speaker 1: knows the Broncos better than you do. What are the similarities,
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  Speaker 1: what are the differences between the Shanahan-Purdy partnership and the
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  Speaker 1: Payton and Nix partnership here in Denver?
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of the same. They have the
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  Speaker 2: same– they face the same ferocity in coaching and not–
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  Speaker 2: you've got to be a different kind of quarterback to
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  Speaker 2: hold up to that because they're– your coach is on
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  Speaker 2: all the time. They're never– kicking back or giving you
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  Speaker 2: a day where it's just happy time, you know, it's,
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  Speaker 2: it's always a push to perform. And, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think what you see is, and, you know, I've done
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  Speaker 2: a few drafts and it's something a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: who watch football and enjoy football don't accept, but a
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  Speaker 2: lot of your big time play callers are, place a
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  Speaker 2: bigger premium on processing than they do on arm strength.
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  Speaker 2: And a lot of people grade quarterbacks from the elbow in, essentially,
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  Speaker 2: when a lot of people who want to pay them
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: a lot of money grade them from the head down.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a little different. And I don't think there's
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  Speaker 2: two bigger proponents. Maybe McVay as well. But Kyle, like
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Mike did, They want processors. Sure, Elway was a phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: outlier athlete we've rarely seen at quarterback, but his processing
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  Speaker 2: has always been undervalued, and it was one of the
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  Speaker 2: things Mike liked the best about him, and it's what
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Sean likes best about Bo is he's even said, give
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  Speaker 2: me a guy who can process fast, and I'll deal
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  Speaker 2: with the rest, whatever else I have to fix, but
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  Speaker 2: give me the processor, and that's how Purdy is He
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  Speaker 2: didn't get that job because his footwork or, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he can run great or his arm is phenomenal. And
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  Speaker 2: then people say, oh, arm talent. Look at him. Look
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  Speaker 2: at that throw against air. It's because he knows what
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  Speaker 2: he's looking at and what he needs to do when
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  Speaker 2: the defense, you know, defenses are changing more before the
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  Speaker 2: snap than ever before, than I ever remember. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why the processors rise to the top in today's league.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, solve the chess match. That's the job. Jeff Legwald, everybody, ESPN. Leggy,
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  Speaker 1: great stuff, man. We appreciate it. Have a good weekend,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and then we'll talk to you Monday before kickoff, all right?
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Look forward to it, fellas. Stick to it.