Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ryan Edwards previews the Denver Broncos vs Kansas City Chiefs tonight on MNF, Breakout year on tap for Jonah Elliss (?) + more

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Ryan Edwards previews the Denver Broncos vs Kansas City Chiefs tonight on MNF, Breakout year on tap for Jonah Elliss (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: best inside of your Utes. Let's get back to OC
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  Speaker 1: from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM.
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  Speaker 2: Time for a little Monday Night Football preview.
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  Speaker 3: Broncos Chiefs tonight on ESPN and ABC.
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  Speaker 2: Kickoff at 6 p.m.
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  Speaker 3: Right after live programming ends on our station.
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Edwards.
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  Speaker 3: Denver Broncos insider and radio analyst is kind enough to
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  Speaker 3: join us to preview this game to kick off the
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  Speaker 3: season for AFC West Rivals.
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  Speaker 2: Ryan, welcome to the show. How are you? Doing great.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 3: The Broncos, you're probably aware, the Broncos are sort of
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  Speaker 3: a de facto home team for a very large contingent
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  Speaker 3: of fans here in Salt Lake City, Utah. I think
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  Speaker 3: that they probably have the largest following of any NFL team.
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  Speaker 3: And they have a bunch of former Utes on. That
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  Speaker 3: helps us here on the home of the Utes. So
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  Speaker 3: we'll start with those guys. Garrett Bowles has firmly established
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  Speaker 3: himself as not only your starting tackle, but kind of
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  Speaker 3: a leader on this offense. And Jonah Ellis has really,
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  Speaker 3: I think, done some nice things for this defense. I
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  Speaker 3: expect kind of a breakout year for him. let's start
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  Speaker 3: with Garrett Bowles and his importance to this team as
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  Speaker 3: the season progresses with, you know, a young quarterback still
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  Speaker 3: trying to kind of make his way and some guys
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  Speaker 3: on this team where he's, even though he's not old
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  Speaker 3: in real life, Garrett Bowles is sort of an elder
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  Speaker 3: statesman for this offense.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and he came into the league a little old too, right?
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  Speaker 4: So that was kind of the deal. But yeah, Garrett
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  Speaker 4: has been phenomenal, honestly. You know, first round pick, he's
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  Speaker 4: actually the last offensive tackle the Broncos drafted, literally, last
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  Speaker 4: offensive tackle they drafted. So that's a pretty good sign there.
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  Speaker 4: One of the last guys playing, of course, from John
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  Speaker 4: Elway's draft as well. But, yeah, I mean, he's just
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  Speaker 4: been rock solid. I mean, in fact, better than that.
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  Speaker 4: He's been great. He's been an all-pro. I mean, this
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  Speaker 4: last year he was an all-pro. He's been a pro bowler. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, you're thinking about the success that you can
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  Speaker 4: have as a team when you build through the trenches
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  Speaker 4: and have success with those kinds of players. When Sean
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  Speaker 4: Payton got here, he added two offensive linemen almost immediately. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, oftentimes in the case when a new coach
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  Speaker 4: comes into town, he's got to get his guys, like
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  Speaker 4: guys I want in free agency, guys that I want
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  Speaker 4: in the draft. He hasn't even for a moment considered
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  Speaker 4: replacing Garrett Bowles because he's just been that good. And
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  Speaker 4: now he's considered probably one of the top five offensive tackles,
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  Speaker 4: especially left tackles in the NFL. It's truly remarkable, especially
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  Speaker 4: from where he started considering, you know, there's some raw
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  Speaker 4: athletic upside, but it took him a little bit of
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  Speaker 4: time to find his footing.
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  Speaker 3: The other guy that I, I guess I'm more excited
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  Speaker 3: to talk about is Jonah Ellis and by his, his youngest,
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  Speaker 3: his youngest, I think he's the youngest of the Ellis
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  Speaker 3: brothers is on the Utah football team right now. Jonah
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  Speaker 3: obviously came through here. His older brothers that played at
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  Speaker 3: Idaho are in the league. Dad's on staff here at
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  Speaker 3: the university of Utah. If you're an Ellis, we have
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  Speaker 3: high expectations of you. What do the Broncos expect from
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  Speaker 3: Jonah Ellis this year?
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  Speaker 4: Well, they expect to step forward, as you said, and
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  Speaker 4: he's starting tonight. So basically with Koop on the exempt
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  Speaker 4: list right now, they're going to go with Jonah Ellis
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  Speaker 4: as the starting outside linebacker, and he's going to have
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  Speaker 4: some opportunities tonight. I mean, the fact is the Chiefs
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  Speaker 4: are down their starting left tackle, which means the side
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  Speaker 4: that Nick Benito is going to be rushing from is
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  Speaker 4: There should be some opportunities, but, of course, the Chiefs
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  Speaker 4: already know that, so they're going to probably give some
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  Speaker 4: extra attention to that side, which means Jonah Ellis should
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  Speaker 4: see some one-on-ones tonight. And if that ends up being
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  Speaker 4: the case, he really needs to find a way to
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  Speaker 4: be successful. With Jonathan Cooper on the opposite side of
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  Speaker 4: Nick Benito, they have had that success. certainly leading the
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  Speaker 4: league in sacks the last two years the Broncos have been.
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  Speaker 4: So I'd say where Jonah Ellis tonight and as well
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  Speaker 4: as for the season, he's going to continue to need
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  Speaker 4: to show up. I mean, he's a high-energy player. You
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  Speaker 4: guys know that. He's a high-energy player. He has a
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  Speaker 4: nose for the football. He had double-digit sacks in that
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  Speaker 4: final year there at Utah. We expect, I think the
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  Speaker 4: Broncos expect him to have a similar kind of season
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  Speaker 4: this year.
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  Speaker 2: Are the Chiefs still the Chiefs?
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  Speaker 3: I know Broncos person might not be the right, person
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  Speaker 3: to ask that but like this is a team that
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  Speaker 3: has been hanging around and they they were like flirting
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  Speaker 3: with that dynasty thing and then they've had some issues
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  Speaker 3: and then you know they they still seem to be
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  Speaker 3: there and it's andy reed and it's pat mahomes but
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  Speaker 3: uh everyone you know kelsey a year older and married
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  Speaker 3: to taylor swift and on tour and whatever else are
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  Speaker 3: the chiefs still the chiefs.
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  Speaker 4: We're about to find out, aren't we? I mean, six
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  Speaker 4: and 11 last year, you could chalk some of that
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  Speaker 4: up to the eventuality of the roster aging out in
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  Speaker 4: some spots, Patrick Mahomes injury, certainly. But they're still running
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  Speaker 4: it back with quite a few of those guys. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: Travis Kelsey is almost 37 years old, as you mentioned.
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  Speaker 4: Chris Jones is pretty high up there, too. So they're
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  Speaker 4: running it back with a lot of the same construction.
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  Speaker 4: They added Kenneth Walker running back. That's going to be
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  Speaker 4: something that really is going to be interesting to see
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  Speaker 4: if that can kind of sustain the inevitable fall of
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  Speaker 4: this dynasty if they can find a run game. The
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  Speaker 4: Broncos fans certainly know about that with Terrell Davis here
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  Speaker 4: was able to sort of help John Elway get over
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  Speaker 4: the hump in those championships here. And I don't know
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  Speaker 4: if that's where they're headed right now, but I know
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  Speaker 4: that's in anticipation for tonight as well as this season,
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  Speaker 4: that they're going to lean a bit more on the
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  Speaker 4: run game and take some off of Patrick Mahomes because
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  Speaker 4: he's nine months removed from an ACL surgery. He's just
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  Speaker 4: not going to have the mobility. So I guess long-winded
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  Speaker 4: answer to your question is I guess we're going to
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  Speaker 4: find out because I think the chiefs are on the
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  Speaker 4: bit of a decline, but I remember doing this same
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  Speaker 4: exercise with the Patriots for all those years when they
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  Speaker 4: were in the midst of their dynasty. And a lot
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  Speaker 4: of us, including myself at times looked pretty foolish, kind
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  Speaker 4: of waiting for it to happening or predicting it's going
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  Speaker 4: to happen. I'm going to sort of see, but I
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  Speaker 4: do like the Broncos chances tonight.
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  Speaker 3: I'm curious where you think the Broncos fit in the
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  Speaker 3: overall power structure of the NFL.
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  Speaker 2: I guess they've got what the seventh or eighth highest
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  Speaker 2: odds to win a Superbowl.
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  Speaker 3: I went outside looking in, you know, a good mix
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  Speaker 3: of veteran and youthful players. I don't know that they
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  Speaker 3: have some of the like marquee star power that some
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  Speaker 3: of the other considered Super Bowl contenders do. But overall,
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  Speaker 3: I see this Broncos team is one that's pretty problematic
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  Speaker 3: for even the top top squads in the league is
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  Speaker 3: the expectation internally that they will be Super Bowl contenders
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  Speaker 3: and they will be, you know, division champs and an
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  Speaker 3: AFC champs.
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  Speaker 4: They believe so, yes. They believe that's one of the
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  Speaker 4: reasons why they brought back so many of their players
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  Speaker 4: from last year during free agency, and they only added
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  Speaker 4: a handful during the draft. The one big move, obviously,
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  Speaker 4: was Jalen Waddell, but the reason they did all that
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  Speaker 4: is they believe in their culture, they believe in this team,
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  Speaker 4: and they do think they're poised to make a real
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  Speaker 4: run this year, health permitting, of course, and that starts
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  Speaker 4: with your quarterback. And honestly, to that question, because I
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  Speaker 4: get asked that a lot, I'd say that, in my opinion,
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  Speaker 4: it all depends on what the offense does this year.
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  Speaker 4: I think there's a certain standard we can expect from
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  Speaker 4: the defense. They're going to be opportunistic. They're going to
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  Speaker 4: get after the quarterback. I hope that they have some
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  Speaker 4: better turnover luck this year. But the offense really kind
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  Speaker 4: of has to take that step forward for, I think,
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  Speaker 4: most people to take them seriously. You mentioned seventh-best odds.
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  Speaker 4: They're the third-best odds in their own division. And they
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  Speaker 4: won it last year with 14 wins. So year over year,
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  Speaker 4: people just aren't really completely buying them yet. And I
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  Speaker 4: think the offense, if they can take another step forward,
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  Speaker 4: if Bo Nix, Davis Webb calling the plays, can take
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  Speaker 4: another step forward, pretty significant step forward, I think a
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  Speaker 4: lot of the naysayers out there, the people that don't believe,
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  Speaker 4: they will come around pretty quick. Because right now, especially
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  Speaker 4: in this iteration of the NFL, it is an offensive-driven league.
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  Speaker 3: What does a step forward for Bo Nix look like?
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  Speaker 3: What is this team trying to get out of him
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  Speaker 3: or maybe a mistake or a weakness in his game
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  Speaker 3: that they're trying to eliminate in these off seasons?
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  Speaker 4: I think consistency. He's obviously shown the ability to be clutch,
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  Speaker 4: especially in the fourth quarter. I mean, these comeback wins,
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  Speaker 4: that's a big deal. And it's the reason why the
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  Speaker 4: question gets asked to me often, do you have your
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  Speaker 4: franchise quarterback? And I say, yeah. I mean, the hardest
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  Speaker 4: thing he's already doing, he's clutch when he needs to
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  Speaker 4: be clutch. He comes up with big plays. That win
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  Speaker 4: over the Buffalo Bills, yeah, I mean, you've got five
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  Speaker 4: takeaways from the defense, which, again, Josh Allen will give
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  Speaker 4: those to you if you want them. but then your
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  Speaker 4: offense still has to produce because the Bills offense did.
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  Speaker 4: So Bo Nix just needs to do that for four quarters, right? Now,
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  Speaker 4: not every quarterback can do that for four quarters, but
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  Speaker 4: maybe give me two and a half to three quarters.
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  Speaker 4: Let's take a step forward and say, instead of, Well,
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  Speaker 4: you have one good quarter, you have two bad quarters,
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  Speaker 4: and then you have one great quarter. Do you know
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  Speaker 4: what I'm saying? Like, give yourself a position where you
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  Speaker 4: don't have to make these dramatic comebacks. You have that
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  Speaker 4: in your back pocket. You know that you have the
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  Speaker 4: ability to do that. The team knows they have the
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  Speaker 4: ability to do that. But what it is for Bo
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  Speaker 4: Nix is, okay, when you start the game, you start
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  Speaker 4: a little faster. and and they've already shown the ability
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  Speaker 4: to close half strong so you know sort of keep
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  Speaker 4: that don't fall back there and then hey come out
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  Speaker 4: of the third quarter and don't have a lull the
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  Speaker 4: third quarter has been one of the worst for the
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  Speaker 4: broncos over the last couple of years they've got to
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  Speaker 4: find a way to be more consistent i think it
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  Speaker 4: starts with the quarterback.
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  Speaker 3: What is the strength of this team positionally and where's
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  Speaker 3: the biggest question mark.
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  Speaker 2: Ooh, good one.
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  Speaker 4: I'd say strength. I mean, I'm cheating if I say
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  Speaker 4: the trenches. So I'll just say, I'll say the defensive line.
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  Speaker 4: And they lost John Franklin Myers, but they really do
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  Speaker 4: like the depth of this group. Ennio Moazerike is going
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  Speaker 4: to start tonight, but Malcolm Roach is a guy that
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  Speaker 4: he's going to rotate in and he plays a significant role.
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  Speaker 4: Fabian Jones was a third-round pick last year. They took
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  Speaker 4: Tyler Onyedem this year in the third round. They feel
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  Speaker 4: like they have a lot of depth there. They have
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  Speaker 4: a lot of different ways, and that's before I get
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  Speaker 4: to Zach Allen, who's one of the most elite defensive
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  Speaker 4: tackles in the game, along with DJ Jones, who's one
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  Speaker 4: of the better nose tackles in the game. So the
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  Speaker 4: defensive line, along with the edge, is really strong. Weakest
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  Speaker 4: probably get to the inside linebacker group right behind them.
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  Speaker 4: And it's not to say that they don't fill their roles.
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  Speaker 4: They're very important, but they are susceptible to running backs
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  Speaker 4: out of the backfield and tight ends in space. And
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  Speaker 4: if you get one injury there, it becomes a little
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  Speaker 4: dicey on what your depth looks like behind that because
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  Speaker 4: you don't have a lot of experience. So, yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: the defense is very good overall, but there are certainly
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  Speaker 4: some spots where if you experience a couple of mishaps
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  Speaker 4: or injuries, it could get a little dicey.
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  Speaker 3: Outside of Denver, and I know it's an unfair thing
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  Speaker 3: to ask when you're someone who's so dialed in on
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  Speaker 3: the Broncos, but outside of Denver, what NFL storyline draws
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  Speaker 3: your eye most right now, early in the season, season
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  Speaker 3: kicking off?
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  Speaker 4: Hmm. Well, yesterday the Chargers collapsing against Arizona was something.
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  Speaker 4: Of all the expectations, and we spent a lot of
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  Speaker 4: time this offseason talking about Mike McDaniel and what impact
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  Speaker 4: he might have there on Justin Herbert and the run game,
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  Speaker 4: and you just saw none of it. So and and
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  Speaker 4: their defense looked bad, too, which I did not think
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  Speaker 4: they would fall off as bad as they did. So
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  Speaker 4: that that one is fascinating to me. You know, the
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  Speaker 4: just overall picture of the offense. I mean, it was
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  Speaker 4: the highest scoring offensive weekend, first weekend of the NFL
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  Speaker 4: since the merger. And I think if both these teams
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  Speaker 4: tonight combined for 42 points, then it'll be the highest
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  Speaker 4: scoring first weekend ever in the NFL, which is pretty ridiculous.
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  Speaker 4: That's something to sort of peak interest uh you know
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  Speaker 4: you had the bears you had the ravens you had
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  Speaker 4: the bills against the texans all just having the jaguars
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  Speaker 4: of the broncos are going to face next week all
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  Speaker 4: having really big weekends offensively so certainly like the pattern
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  Speaker 4: here is defense certainly can win championships and you need
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  Speaker 4: to have a good defense to win in the postseason
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  Speaker 4: but during the regular season it's really about having a
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  Speaker 4: prolific offense and an ability to score at will.
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  Speaker 3: All right, I'm going to assume that you've put the
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  Speaker 3: Broncos in the Super Bowl, so who's coming out of
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  Speaker 3: the NFC to play against them?
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  Speaker 4: Well, hang on. Now, don't assume that.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I won't assume. I won't assume, but.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I do like the Broncos' chances, but
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  Speaker 4: the Bills are probably the team that's the top of
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  Speaker 4: the AFC for me. Like, right now... I still put
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  Speaker 4: them up there, even though the Broncos beat them head-to-head
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  Speaker 4: last year. There's just something about the way Josh Allen
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  Speaker 4: can change a game, and you saw it even yesterday.
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  Speaker 4: So coming out of the NFC, it would be easy
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  Speaker 4: to pick the Rams. Of course, we have the hindsight
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  Speaker 4: now of watching how they performed in Australia. I don't
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  Speaker 4: know if that changes everything, but I think the Seahawks
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  Speaker 4: are still really, really good. Once they get Sam Darnold back,
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  Speaker 4: I do think they're a complete team. I really love
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  Speaker 4: their rookie running back, Jadarian Price. I was a big
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  Speaker 4: fan of his coming out of college. So I'd say
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  Speaker 4: right now, if you're twisting my arm on, what is this,
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  Speaker 4: September 14th, I think, I'd say it's Price Seahawks.
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  Speaker 2: All right. I'll take it, even though I'm a Niners guy.
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  Speaker 2: I think that... They looked good. They looked amazing.
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  Speaker 3: And if you could keep that core healthy for an
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  Speaker 3: entire year, I think they can continue to look amazing.
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  Speaker 2: That's the big question, though.
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  Speaker 4: Yep, that's the if. You're right. In that game, it
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  Speaker 4: was a bad game, obviously. Not unless you're a 49ers fan,
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  Speaker 4: but it was just a bad overall game. But the 49ers,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the way they have... There's so much talent. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, just very quickly, it's remarkable because they flashed
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  Speaker 4: the thing on the screen about how they're missing two
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  Speaker 4: top wide receivers, Brandon Ayuk and Ricky Pearsall. And you're
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  Speaker 4: getting a fraction of George Kittle out there. So it's
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  Speaker 4: just amazing to me to think, like, what that offense
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  Speaker 4: could actually look like if you had the full complement
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  Speaker 4: of talent that you basically should have paid or drafted.
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  Speaker 2: The Broncos have any Australia games this year?
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  Speaker 3: I'd say that tongue-in-cheek because I know they don't have
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: one in actual Australia, but I haven't looked at the
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: full schedule.
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  Speaker 2: Are they overseas at all in 2026? No.
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  Speaker 4: No, they're everything in the United States, but they do
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: have an Australian punter, if that helps.
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  Speaker 2: Good enough.
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  Speaker 3: We're familiar with those guys from our University of Utah coverage.
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  Speaker 3: Appreciate you giving us some time today. Obviously, I know
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  Speaker 3: it's a busy time of year, so enjoy tonight's game.
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  Speaker 3: We'll chat again soon.
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  Speaker 4: All right, sounds good. Thanks for having me.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Ryan Edwards, Denver Broncos studio analyst, Broncos Chiefs. That is
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: your Monday Night Football preview here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
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  Speaker 3: Kicks off at 6 p.m. You can find it on
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: ABC and on ESPN. Broncos radio right on our sister station,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: ESPN The Fan, 103.9, 98.3 FM.