Latest / The Appetizer Hour with Brett Kane / 10-16-26 - An even uglier Broncos win/Ryan Fitzpatrick eviscerates Bo Nix/Can you bench Bo?

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10-16-26 - An even uglier Broncos win/Ryan Fitzpatrick eviscerates Bo Nix/Can you bench Bo? · The Appetizer Hour with Brett Kane

0:02
Speaker 1: This is the Appetizer Hour with Brett Cain on demand.
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Speaker 1: Check out Brett weekday mornings at 6 on Altitude Sports
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Speaker 1: Radio 92.5 and on the Altitude Sports Radio app.
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Speaker 2: Bo Nix is not playing competitively. It's almost disrespectful to
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Speaker 2: the quarterback position how he's playing football.
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Speaker 3: What do you mean? What do you mean when you see?
0:27
Speaker 3: How is he playing?
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Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, the guy doesn't want to
0:30
Speaker 2: throw the ball.
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Speaker 3: That's fine.
0:31
Speaker 2: He's throwing to the flats. He's throwing behind. But he
0:33
Speaker 2: has no trust from his coach. He calls a screenplay
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Speaker 2: on third and eight. Just run up and... Let the
0:39
Speaker 2: clock keep going. What does he do? He throws it away.
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Speaker 2: Seattle gets the ball. They have a timeout. And then
0:43
Speaker 2: in overtime, he's got two chances to be competitive. The
0:46
Speaker 2: last one being a designed run for him to run,
0:50
Speaker 2: make somebody miss, and get a first down for your
0:53
Speaker 2: football team. Now they're in the locker room right now.
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Speaker 2: They're excited.
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Speaker 3: They won.
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Speaker 2: He's not playing competitive football right now.
1:01
Speaker 3: Who cares? I don't know if I've heard an analyst say,
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Speaker 3: On a studio network broadcast, after a game in talking
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Speaker 3: about the quarterback who won the football game, sound as
1:17
Speaker 3: feisty as Ryan Fitzpatrick was yesterday. Now, there's an issue
1:28
Speaker 3: we have here. And here's the issue. I'm going to
1:32
Speaker 3: try and give this as much equal time as I can.
1:36
Speaker 3: The Broncos through six weeks of the most grueling and
1:42
Speaker 3: most difficult schedule that exists are a four-in-two football team.
1:47
Speaker 3: And I want to give the defense as much credit
1:52
Speaker 3: as humanly possible. And I will do that today. And
1:55
Speaker 3: I'll do it in a second. Because they are, I
1:59
Speaker 3: can't describe how amazing of a group you have to
2:04
Speaker 3: be to overcome the shortcomings and the pitfalls of what
2:09
Speaker 3: this offense is against really, really good opponents. And to,
2:14
Speaker 3: you know, we always talked about with the defense, how
2:16
Speaker 3: can they improve from last year? I mean, they lost JFM,
2:20
Speaker 3: and this week they don't have Hufanga, they don't have Sertan.
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Speaker 3: The thing that they've added to their arsenal, they had
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Speaker 3: every other sort of thing that you could beg a
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Speaker 3: defense to have. Great secondary, good pass rush, good against
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Speaker 3: the run. They've added.
2:37
Speaker 3: The ability to turn the ball over. They've added the takeaways. Like,
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Speaker 3: it's another level on what this defense is, and I
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Speaker 3: want to get to that in a second. But, guys,
2:57
Speaker 3: I don't know how it's possible for the Denver Broncos...
3:04
Speaker 3: to have 168 total yards at the end of a
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Speaker 3: football game that went into overtime, to average 2.9 yards
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Speaker 3: per play, to have a quarterback who on 27 passing
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Speaker 3: attempts had a net 94 passing yards in a rushing
3:24
Speaker 3: game that went for 2.5 yards per carry. I don't
3:30
Speaker 3: know how you do that and still win. I really don't.
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Speaker 3: And the things that we've been talking about, sustainability, whether
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Speaker 3: it's Ryan Fitzpatrick or Dan Rolofsky on ESPN, who I
3:47
Speaker 3: heard this morning on the way in or whoever, they
3:53
Speaker 3: can all have their opinions. And, you know, before the
3:56
Speaker 3: show started, there was a text that sits here at
4:00
Speaker 3: 530 in the morning that said... Fitzpatrick talks bleep about
4:06
Speaker 3: Bo Nix, and now he disrespects quarterback play. 17 years
4:11
Speaker 3: he never led a team to the playoffs. Bo has twice.
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Speaker 3: Which one is more disrespectful to the position? You can't
4:17
Speaker 3: be this defensive about a product you know is bad.
4:23
Speaker 3: You can't. I'll give you a couple of numbers, and
4:28
Speaker 3: just to tell you, You know, the issue that I
4:32
Speaker 3: think a lot of people have, the reason why you
4:34
Speaker 3: can't feel good or it's really hard to feel good
4:38
Speaker 3: after winning games the way that the Broncos are winning,
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Speaker 3: there is a number that I've never seen anything like
4:46
Speaker 3: it in sports that I saw after the game. Like,
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Speaker 3: it is literally unbelievable. Like, in the most literal sense,
4:56
Speaker 3: I saw it and I can't believe it. There is
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Speaker 3: a number that tracks success or failure in terms of
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Speaker 3: wins and losses within offenses that can't really move the
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Speaker 3: ball downfield. Here are records of notable quarterbacks in the
5:21
Speaker 3: NFL in games in which they have six yards per
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Speaker 3: attempt or less. Okay? Just for reference, both finished last
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Speaker 3: night four yards per attempt. The records of those quarterbacks
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Speaker 3: in their careers, Matthew Stafford is 15-39 while doing that.
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Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers is 17-32. Jared Goff is 7-23. Dak Prescott
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Speaker 3: is 9-21. Patrick Mahomes is 8-8. Bo Nix is 13-3.
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Speaker 3: It goes against everything that you know that your eyes
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Speaker 3: tell you about football. And that is, which we'll get
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Speaker 3: to in a few minutes, the ultimate compliment to the
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Speaker 3: defense because we've seen defenses be heavy, heavy reasons as
6:15
Speaker 3: to why teams are good. I don't think I've seen
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Speaker 3: a defense that is directly responsible for wins every week.
6:24
Speaker 3: And If you think I'm once again being too harsh
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Speaker 3: after a win or you think that I'm being unfair
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Speaker 3: and look at the record, I'll point to a couple things.
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Speaker 3: I was doing the postgame show last night, myself and
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Speaker 3: Vic and Lauren Gardner. And there were still some people
6:46
Speaker 3: in the postgame show that felt, you know, damn how
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Speaker 3: it looks. Look at the record. And I said, I understand.
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Speaker 3: But do you want to know How I know that
6:58
Speaker 3: they are equally as concerned as we are. They just
7:00
Speaker 3: can't say it out loud in a press conference setting.
7:04
Speaker 3: I know they feel that way because Sean Payton said
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Speaker 3: all offseason that the offense had to get better and
7:10
Speaker 3: they had to get better on third down and they
7:11
Speaker 3: had to finish in the red zone and they had
7:13
Speaker 3: to run the football more. And the passing game had
7:16
Speaker 3: to improve. He did that all offseason. And I know
7:22
Speaker 3: he knows that or he still feels that way in
7:24
Speaker 3: the middle of this season because after four weeks, he
7:26
Speaker 3: made the gigantic shift for a football team of changing
7:30
Speaker 3: who the play caller is. And then last night, all
7:35
Speaker 3: the things that I'm talking about that I've been talking about,
7:38
Speaker 3: about sustainability or whatever you want to call it. Now, Lee,
7:40
Speaker 3: if you could cue this up. Sean Payton was asked
7:43
Speaker 3: after the game, what gives him a reason to smile?
7:46
Speaker 3: Being 4-2, now six games in. Here's what he said.
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Speaker 4: The record. Meaning I say that, the record, because those
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Speaker 4: wins are hard to get. And so we just played
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Speaker 4: a real good team. I mean, I feel like we
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Speaker 4: can continue to improve. But being at 4-2 right at
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Speaker 4: this little three-day stretch and then getting ready next week.
8:08
Speaker 4: That'd be the honest. And again, I'm a little bit
8:12
Speaker 4: of a realist to know that 4-2 could easily be 2-4.
8:15
Speaker 1: Stop.
8:18
Speaker 3: Four and two could easily be two and four. That's
8:21
Speaker 3: the point. That's the reason why you need to bring
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Speaker 3: this up and continually hit the idea of the way
8:32
Speaker 3: you've been getting to these results is so dependent on
8:39
Speaker 3: one side of the football that you can't ask them
8:42
Speaker 3: to do it over and over again. There's another team
8:46
Speaker 3: in this league that has the same issue. It's just
8:50
Speaker 3: the opposite problem. And that's Detroit. But Detroit, they talk
8:55
Speaker 3: about it every week. Like, the defense needs to be better.
8:59
Speaker 3: You aren't going to win anything of substance if one
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Speaker 3: part of your team is, like, league worst bad. And
9:08
Speaker 3: that's what the Broncos are facing. Like, Not to mention
9:17
Speaker 3: the much larger discussion of if it continues this way,
9:23
Speaker 3: you're looking for a quarterback in the offseason. And God,
9:26
Speaker 3: is there variables to that question? I'll put it as
9:34
Speaker 3: succinctly as I can. There was a moment in that
9:37
Speaker 3: first half where I felt really good about where the
9:40
Speaker 3: offense was. And I thought to myself at halftime, I
9:44
Speaker 3: cannot wait to talk about the offense being a net
9:49
Speaker 3: positive in this game and getting things done. The back-to-back
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Speaker 3: touchdown drives at the beginning of the second quarter were
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Speaker 3: the two best drives of the season. You had a
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Speaker 3: 16-play drive for 74 yards, almost nine minutes off the clock.
10:04
Speaker 3: You punch it in the end zone with a run.
10:06
Speaker 3: That's exactly what you wanted. You force a punt on
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Speaker 3: the next drive. You get the ball back. And once again,
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Speaker 3: a nine-play, 79-yard drive that ate up Four minutes and
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Speaker 3: 32 seconds off the clock that you again punched it
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Speaker 3: into the end zone with a run. You picked up
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Speaker 3: first downs. You kept time of possession in your favor.
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Speaker 3: You gave your defense a breather. You finished the drive
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Speaker 3: in the end zone. You did everything that you can
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Speaker 3: ask an offense to do. There's one problem. First touchdown
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Speaker 3: drive was 74 yards. The second was 79. Do the math.
10:48
Speaker 3: How many yards is that, Nelly? Quick math. 74 plus 79.
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Speaker 3: Tell me. Let me see that college education working. 153.
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Speaker 3: 153 total yards of offense in those two drives. Now, Nelly,
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Speaker 3: I need you to do one more math equation for me.
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Speaker 3: They finished with 168. How many yards did they have
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Speaker 3: outside the 153 on those two touchdown drives?
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Speaker 1: Zero.
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Speaker 3: 15 total yards the rest of the game. 15. And
11:20
Speaker 3: they had 15 when they went into halftime, up 11.
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Speaker 3: It's like if you just get a single score, if
11:27
Speaker 3: you get a couple first downs, the game could be over.
11:32
Speaker 3: Even in overtime, you win on a field goal because
11:36
Speaker 3: you intercepted the ball and returned it to the 43.
11:39
Speaker 3: Not because you put a couple of first downs together.
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Speaker 3: You went three and out again. After those two touchdown drives,
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Speaker 3: Three plays, punt, four yards. End of half, they took
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Speaker 3: a knee, whatever. Start the second half. Four plays, nine yards, punt.
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Speaker 3: Three plays, four yards, punt. Three plays, three yards, punt.
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Speaker 3: Five plays, 18 yards, punt. Three plays, negative 10 yards, punt.
12:09
Speaker 3: Three plays, two yards, punt. End of half, overtime, four plays,
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Speaker 3: eight yards, field goal. That was the final after the touchdown.
12:22
Speaker 3: And I'll count the ones at the end of the halves. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
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Speaker 3: Ten drives. If you want to eliminate the end of
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Speaker 3: half stuff where they're just taking these eight. Eight drives
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Speaker 3: of the game. Where you didn't move the ball more
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Speaker 3: than like four yards on a drive. That's crazy work. Like,
12:50
Speaker 3: that's insanity. And yet, you have a defense that is
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Speaker 3: so elite that they make play after play after play happen.
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Speaker 3: It is... You are asking so unfairly for the defense
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Speaker 3: to play at one of the highest, I swear to God,
13:20
Speaker 3: this is not hyperbole, but to be four and two
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Speaker 3: against the opponents you've played with the offense that you've
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Speaker 3: had through six weeks, you are asking the defense to
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Speaker 3: play like the best defense that's ever existed in the
13:34
Speaker 3: history of the sport. And they're doing it. That's the
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Speaker 3: craziest thing. They're actually doing it. When they need a sack,
13:43
Speaker 3: they get a sack. When they need a turnover, they
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Speaker 3: get a turnover. When they need to make a stop
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Speaker 3: on their end of the field, that happens. They weren't
13:52
Speaker 3: even helped out by special teams. Like Lutz hits the
13:54
Speaker 3: big kick at the end of the game. That's great.
13:56
Speaker 3: You kick the ball out of bounds on a kickoff.
13:59
Speaker 3: You gave up a huge kickoff return. Like you gave
14:02
Speaker 3: them great territory to start their drives. And because this
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Speaker 3: defense is filled with absolute monsters, You're able to keep
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Speaker 3: it together. It's the most bizarre football watching I think
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Speaker 3: I've ever experienced for how amazingly good one side of
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Speaker 3: the ball is and how putridly bad the other side is.
14:32
Speaker 3: We'll get more into this as we go along. More
14:35
Speaker 3: audio from Sean Payton, Bo Nix after the game as
14:37
Speaker 3: we broadcast from the back of the Shanker Studios on
14:40
Speaker 3: this Bud Light Football Friday. Bacchus and Shanker, serious lawyers
14:43
Speaker 3: for the seriously injured, back after this. So Bud Light
14:46
Speaker 3: Football Friday. Bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the
14:49
Speaker 3: Denver Broncos. Remember to enjoy responsibly. So I just, I
14:54
Speaker 3: keep saying numbers, and I mean, everything about the Broncos
14:58
Speaker 3: is confusing everyone. It's breaking people's brains, including my own.
15:03
Speaker 3: Let me just rattle off a few of these for you.
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Speaker 3: The longest completion by the Denver Broncos, Quarterback Bo Nix
15:10
Speaker 3: tonight traveled just seven yards through the air. Not a
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Speaker 3: single completed pass traveled more than seven yards beyond the
15:18
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage. There are 701 qualified quarterback seasons through
15:25
Speaker 3: six games in the past 20 years. Bo Nix, an
15:29
Speaker 3: average pass length, which is 4.9 air yards per attempt
15:34
Speaker 3: so far this season. is 701st out of 701. It
15:43
Speaker 3: is literally the least air yards per attempt in the
15:51
Speaker 3: last 20 seasons in the NFL. His average pass was behind...
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Speaker 3: His average pass length was behind the line of scrimmage
16:01
Speaker 3: in the second half on Thursday. But the one that confuses...
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Speaker 3: Now that you know those, that confuses me more than anything.
16:13
Speaker 3: The Broncos last year in one-score games were 11-2. The
16:18
Speaker 3: Broncos this year, 4-0. 15-2 in one-score games. With an
16:28
Speaker 3: offense that had 2.9 yards per play. I just don't
16:32
Speaker 3: get it. And if you guys missed it, again, one
16:35
Speaker 3: of the things that I just haven't seen before, I've
16:37
Speaker 3: never seen an analyst on a studio show where they're
16:41
Speaker 3: usually pretty tame in their criticism because they're, you know,
16:44
Speaker 3: they're there to talk about the game, have a good time.
16:48
Speaker 3: They interview these guys. Ryan Fitzpatrick. said this on the
16:54
Speaker 3: Amazon postgame show.
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Speaker 2: Bo Nix is not playing competitively. It's almost disrespectful to
16:59
Speaker 2: the quarterback position how.
17:01
Speaker 3: He's playing football. What do you mean? What do you
17:03
Speaker 3: mean when you see? How is he playing?
17:04
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, the guy doesn't want to
17:06
Speaker 2: throw the ball.
17:07
Speaker 3: That's fine.
17:07
Speaker 2: He's throwing to the flats. He's throwing behind, but he
17:09
Speaker 2: has no trust from his coach. He calls a screenplay
17:12
Speaker 2: on third and eight.
17:13
Speaker 3: Just run up and.
17:15
Speaker 2: Let the clock keep going. What does he do? He
17:17
Speaker 2: throws it away. Seattle gets the ball.
17:19
Speaker 3: They have a timeout.
17:19
Speaker 2: And then in overtime, he's got two chances to be competitive.
17:23
Speaker 2: The last one being a designed run for him to run,
17:27
Speaker 2: make somebody miss, and get a first down for your
17:29
Speaker 2: football team. Now they're in the locker room right now.
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Speaker 2: They're excited.
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Speaker 3: They won.
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Speaker 2: He's not playing competitive football right now.
17:36
Speaker 3: I love your passion about this because if you're this
17:38
Speaker 3: fired up and you're not on this team or you're
17:40
Speaker 3: not one of these fans, I can only imagine how
17:42
Speaker 3: they feel.
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Speaker 2: I can only imagine how Sean Payton feels. I mean,
17:45
Speaker 2: Sean Payton, Davis Webb, everybody that blocks for him, he's
17:49
Speaker 2: not competing right now. And that's something that he's hung
17:52
Speaker 2: his hat on.
17:52
Speaker 3: For the last two years.
17:53
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's still injured.
17:55
Speaker 3: I don't know what's going on, but it's not good enough.
17:58
Speaker 3: So that's Ryan Fitzpatrick after the game. When he says
18:01
Speaker 3: competitive football, I think I know what he's talking about.
18:05
Speaker 3: This isn't about, you know, this is beyond taking shots
18:08
Speaker 3: downfield or whatever. Every time Bo Nix got close to contact,
18:16
Speaker 3: they called multiple designed quarterback runs in this game. He's
18:23
Speaker 3: run out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage before
18:28
Speaker 3: getting hit. There was a designed quarterback run in which, look,
18:33
Speaker 3: it was bottled up. He got to the line of scrimmage.
18:35
Speaker 3: There's a few guys in front of him. He could
18:37
Speaker 3: do whatever a quarterback does, which is sort of jump
18:40
Speaker 3: headfirst and pick up a yard or two. I think
18:42
Speaker 3: it would have made it like third and two instead
18:45
Speaker 3: of third and four or something like that. He could
18:47
Speaker 3: have done that. And instead... He threw the ball at
18:52
Speaker 3: the feet of his running back that's in front of him.
18:55
Speaker 3: Here's the problem with that. Because it was called a
18:58
Speaker 3: running play, offensive linemen are now downfield already, and you
19:03
Speaker 3: get ineligible man downfield, which now takes that into, instead
19:07
Speaker 3: of third and short, it was third and long. That's
19:12
Speaker 3: what uncompetitive means. And I kind of get it. And
19:15
Speaker 3: it is so anti what Bo Nix has been in
19:19
Speaker 3: the past, which tells me How scared is he from
19:24
Speaker 3: taking a hit with that ankle? It's the only thing
19:29
Speaker 3: that's changed. That's it. I'm just, it's bizarre. Now, his
19:46
Speaker 3: avoidance of taking hits is very odd. Very. Just because
19:56
Speaker 3: it is so not what you're used to seeing out
19:59
Speaker 3: of Bo Nix, who up until this point, whatever you
20:01
Speaker 3: wanted to say about Bo Nix and his actual quarterback
20:04
Speaker 3: ability or his ability to process in offense or look
20:08
Speaker 3: at a defense and make the right read, All of
20:10
Speaker 3: those were up for debate. I don't think anybody questioned
20:13
Speaker 3: the competitiveness of Bo Nix. That he would be one
20:17
Speaker 3: of those guys that would be willing to mix it up.
20:19
Speaker 3: And he has not done that at all this year.
20:21
Speaker 3: He looks scared to get hit at all. Whether it's
20:23
Speaker 3: in the pocket, on a run, on a scramble, anything.
20:28
Speaker 3: And that's what's kind of freaking me out. But I
20:37
Speaker 3: said I wanted to do this because I think that
20:39
Speaker 3: this is fair. All of the numbers that we have
20:42
Speaker 3: given you regarding this offense, I honestly, honestly am just
20:54
Speaker 3: as much in shock with the defense as I am
20:56
Speaker 3: the offense. And the reason for that is the defense
21:06
Speaker 3: doing what they've done through the first six weeks of
21:09
Speaker 3: the season, And I don't think it's going to bear
21:12
Speaker 3: out in any way statistically where they're going to show
21:14
Speaker 3: up as the top defense in the NFL. In yards
21:19
Speaker 3: per game allowed, the Broncos aren't near the top of
21:23
Speaker 3: that list. In fact, they're somewhere on the back end
21:29
Speaker 3: of that. They've given up 350 yards per game. So
21:32
Speaker 3: they aren't going to show up in the top five
21:34
Speaker 3: in that category. They aren't going to show up in
21:36
Speaker 3: the top five in... yards, pass yards allowed per game.
21:41
Speaker 3: They aren't going to do that with rush yards allowed
21:43
Speaker 3: per game. They aren't going to do that with points
21:45
Speaker 3: allowed per game. They aren't top five. They sit there,
21:48
Speaker 3: they've given up 20.8 per game. That is good for three, six,
21:53
Speaker 3: ninth in the league. They are the best defense in football.
22:00
Speaker 3: The Minnesota Vikings maybe have an argument.
22:02
Speaker 1: Sure.
22:03
Speaker 3: The best defense in the NFL resides in Denver, Colorado,
22:06
Speaker 3: for what they need to do to win football games.
22:12
Speaker 3: And you can say what you want about Minnesota and
22:15
Speaker 3: their offensive numbers, and they aren't great, and they've played
22:17
Speaker 3: backup quarterbacks, and Kyler Murray's their starter, and all these
22:20
Speaker 3: this and that. Guys, it ain't even close. What the
22:25
Speaker 3: defense has to deal with, with the ineptitude of their
22:29
Speaker 3: offense right now, they are the best in the league.
22:36
Speaker 3: The Denver Broncos now have 10 takeaways this season. Tied
22:42
Speaker 3: for second in the NFL. And I understand most teams
22:44
Speaker 3: are going to play this week and those numbers can
22:46
Speaker 3: get skewed. Still, the point is 10 takeaways was something
22:52
Speaker 3: that did not exist last year through six weeks for
22:55
Speaker 3: this team. The Broncos were a great defense last year.
22:59
Speaker 3: They finished last season, finished it through 17 with 14 takeaways.
23:04
Speaker 3: They have four left until they reach that number from
23:07
Speaker 3: next year. And at this point, give them a game
23:10
Speaker 3: or two and they'll get there. If you don't have
23:14
Speaker 3: the defense coming up with these turnovers consistently to bail
23:19
Speaker 3: your offense out to either give them great field position
23:22
Speaker 3: or to go score or give them great field position
23:27
Speaker 3: to flip the field when they go three and out
23:28
Speaker 3: and punt. And I'll show you what I mean. In
23:33
Speaker 3: the first half of that game, the Broncos gave up
23:37
Speaker 3: a field goal in the first quarter. Here's why. First
23:43
Speaker 3: drive for the Seahawks, they take the opening kickoff. After
23:47
Speaker 3: eight plays, they punted away. They got near the 50-yard line.
23:53
Speaker 3: And they punted. So now the Broncos drive starts at
23:56
Speaker 3: the 10. That first offensive drive resulted in three plays,
24:04
Speaker 3: two yards, a punt. It was a bad punt from Croshaw,
24:08
Speaker 3: only 43 yards. Seattle started at the 45-yard line. They're 45,
24:15
Speaker 3: but you're right there at midfield. So they give up
24:18
Speaker 3: a first down, and now all of a sudden Seahawks
24:21
Speaker 3: are in field goal territory. That's why they gave up points.
24:27
Speaker 3: Because you allowed them to start a drive at midfield.
24:32
Speaker 3: Think about the amount of times that the defense has
24:35
Speaker 3: had to come up with stops like that and flip
24:38
Speaker 3: field position themselves. The defense should have closed that game
24:44
Speaker 3: out in the fourth quarter when with a minute 30 left,
24:52
Speaker 3: Chris Abrams' drain comes up with a pick. There's a
24:56
Speaker 3: minute 30 left in the game. All you have to
25:01
Speaker 3: do is get a first down and the game's over.
25:04
Speaker 3: And the Broncos go three and out and punt. And
25:09
Speaker 3: at the end of that punt, the Seahawks, because of
25:18
Speaker 3: where the starting field position was, The Seahawks start that
25:23
Speaker 3: drive at the 46-yard line, then you give up the
25:26
Speaker 3: game-tying field goal. I just, man, it is such a
25:30
Speaker 3: credit to that unit. And I have no idea where
25:35
Speaker 3: this team would be without Vance Joseph in particular. If
25:42
Speaker 3: Vance Joseph doesn't get a head coaching gig, it's an
25:45
Speaker 3: absolute crime. I want the whole league investigated.
25:48
Speaker 5: No, don't say that. Don't say that. Because we want
25:51
Speaker 5: him to stay here. He should remain D.C. Don't put
25:55
Speaker 5: that out there.
25:55
Speaker 3: Nelly, do you know how fortunate the Broncos have been
25:58
Speaker 3: that he hasn't gotten one yet? Basically, ever since the
26:02
Speaker 3: game that first year in which he gave up 70
26:04
Speaker 3: points to Miami in like the third week of the season,
26:07
Speaker 3: it has been one of the best defenses in the
26:09
Speaker 3: history of the NFL.
26:10
Speaker 5: Well, and I don't know if this... adds to it,
26:13
Speaker 5: but look at his first head coaching tenure with the Broncos.
26:15
Speaker 5: Now I will say there were a lot of factors
26:18
Speaker 5: that were way outside of his control. Like he, he
26:20
Speaker 5: kind of was the fall guy for a lot of
26:22
Speaker 5: organizational unrest. However, comma, his head coaching resume was putrid.
26:27
Speaker 5: So maybe that's buying the Broncos a little more time
26:29
Speaker 5: to keep him as a coordinator.
26:31
Speaker 3: Like, yes, but again, think about this for a second.
26:40
Speaker 3: Time of possession. in which, again, in the first half,
26:44
Speaker 3: first half of that game, you had time of possession
26:46
Speaker 3: in your favor because you had almost a nine-minute drive
26:49
Speaker 3: and a four-and-a-half-minute drive in that first half. If you're
26:52
Speaker 3: doing that, I mean, you should be dominating that. Do
26:57
Speaker 3: you know how many plays the Seahawks ran offensively in
27:02
Speaker 3: that game yesterday? The Seahawks ran 82 plays. Eighty-two. And
27:13
Speaker 3: the defense gave them nothing.
27:17
Speaker 1: Nothing.
27:21
Speaker 3: But JSN had 12 catches for 134 yards. Did it
27:24
Speaker 3: feel that impactful? They let him catch a ball underneath for,
27:28
Speaker 3: you know, five or six yards. He had one play
27:31
Speaker 3: or as a 32 yarder towards the end of the game. Okay, fine.
27:37
Speaker 3: But they bottled up everything. And to ask your defense
27:40
Speaker 3: on 82 plays, you can't make a mistake. If you
27:44
Speaker 3: make a mistake and you get burnt for a long touchdown,
27:47
Speaker 3: that might be the game. They never did. It's crazy.
27:52
Speaker 3: Hang on a second. Texture says, Brett, this sounds like
28:01
Speaker 3: a lot of complaining. You said you would not do
28:02
Speaker 3: that if they won. Incorrect. I changed my mind at
28:05
Speaker 3: the end. You're talking about Vic. Vic made that promise.
28:08
Speaker 3: I redacted that promise towards the end of the show yesterday.
28:11
Speaker 3: And second of all, I've spent the last 15 minutes
28:15
Speaker 3: just talking about how amazing this defense is. Again, to
28:23
Speaker 3: ask a team... who is facing 82 plays in a
28:27
Speaker 3: football game, to not give up a big one is
28:31
Speaker 3: almost impossible. To ask a defense to do that when
28:34
Speaker 3: they're missing the best cornerback in the world, missing in
28:40
Speaker 3: all pro safety, having another cornerback who's banged up against
28:48
Speaker 3: quite possibly the best receiver in the world. They were remarkable.
28:56
Speaker 3: You know what they did last night? You want to
28:58
Speaker 3: know how good that defensive front was? Not only did
29:02
Speaker 3: seven different guys get in the sack column with either
29:05
Speaker 3: a half sack or more, they hit Sam Darnold 17
29:10
Speaker 3: times last night. 17 QB hits. He was harassed and
29:17
Speaker 3: under duress the entire game because your defensive front and
29:21
Speaker 3: because of the blitzing schemes from Uh, Vance Joseph. I mean,
29:30
Speaker 3: and that's the thing, like Sean Payton's going to go
29:32
Speaker 3: to these press conference afterwards. He's going to get asked
29:34
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of questions about his offense. I don't
29:37
Speaker 3: know the last time he sort of gave, uh, Vance
29:40
Speaker 3: Joseph a shout-out, but he deserves more of a shout-out.
29:42
Speaker 3: Vance Joseph deserves to... What's the thing that they used
29:46
Speaker 3: to carry around, like, pharaohs and stuff on? Everybody would, like,
29:49
Speaker 3: put the... The big seat, everybody carried on their shoulders
29:53
Speaker 3: and they'd palm them with leaves and all that stuff. Like,
29:57
Speaker 3: Vance Joseph should be doing that within that locker room
29:59
Speaker 3: and within that building for the next week. Do we really?
30:03
Speaker 3: He should not have to take a step with his
30:05
Speaker 3: own legs. His motor skills should be unneeded for the
30:09
Speaker 3: next week and a half until they play again. Is
30:15
Speaker 3: it a chariot? Is that what it's called?
30:19
Speaker 5: No, it is an ancient Egyptian palanquin.
30:22
Speaker 3: A palanquin. All right. Or palanquin.
30:25
Speaker 5: There's an N in there.
30:25
Speaker 3: Palanquin. Well, he deserves to be on the palanquin. And
30:31
Speaker 3: Bo Nix and Sean Payton and Davis Webb, and I
30:33
Speaker 3: forget the quarterback coach's name, need to be the ones
30:36
Speaker 3: all carrying him with the rest of the offense with
30:39
Speaker 3: those giant leaves going. And then they wash his feet. Exactly,
30:49
Speaker 3: one of those things. Yeah, one of those. You can
30:50
Speaker 3: just carry him around. He should be like, what's the
30:54
Speaker 3: movie where the... I can just watch it with my kid. WALL-E.
30:59
Speaker 3: Everybody's in one of those motorized scooters because nobody knows
31:01
Speaker 3: how to walk anymore. He shouldn't have to walk for
31:03
Speaker 3: the next week. What a job he's done. So again, 303-504-0925.
31:10
Speaker 3: It is a Bud Light Football Friday. On this Bud
31:16
Speaker 3: Light Football Friday, Crickman and Lindahl are live at Schoolhouse
31:19
Speaker 3: in Old Town, Arvada today from 3 to 6. You
31:21
Speaker 3: can enjoy Bud Light specials and enter to win tickets
31:24
Speaker 3: to Denver vs. KC, plus VIP tailgate passes. It's all
31:29
Speaker 3: courtesy of Bud Light. The official beer of the Denver Broncos.
31:32
Speaker 3: Join us today at 3 at Schoolhouse. Back after this.
31:35
Speaker 6: Bo, you know, we've talked about the defense keeping you
31:38
Speaker 6: guys in games. I guess, is there some sort of
31:42
Speaker 6: solace or relief knowing that your offense... I imagine you
31:45
Speaker 6: don't think your offense is going to struggle to know
31:48
Speaker 6: that more offense is coming, I guess, to match that
31:50
Speaker 6: defensive effort?
31:51
Speaker 3: What's the question?
31:52
Speaker 6: Like down the road to know that your offense is
31:54
Speaker 6: capable of doing a lot more to match what your
31:56
Speaker 6: defense is putting up there.
31:59
Speaker 3: So during the postgame show last night, during the postgame
32:02
Speaker 3: show last night, it's Bud Light Football Friday. I'm on
32:05
Speaker 3: very little sleep. So forgive me. But I feel like
32:10
Speaker 3: I'm fired up this morning. It's funny. You do these shows,
32:14
Speaker 3: as Vic and Moe's know very well, but I don't.
32:17
Speaker 3: You do these shows, there's no just going to bed afterwards.
32:19
Speaker 3: You feel like you got your adrenaline pumping. I didn't
32:23
Speaker 3: hit the pillow until about, I don't know, 12, 30,
32:26
Speaker 3: 1 o'clock in the morning. But I feel like, I
32:28
Speaker 3: still feel energized because I think this team is fascinating.
32:32
Speaker 3: It's one of the most fascinating things I've ever watched.
32:35
Speaker 3: And I'm not even joking. Like, to see something like
32:39
Speaker 3: this up close and personal, you know what it is? It's,
32:42
Speaker 3: It's almost like the first time somebody really starts to
32:46
Speaker 3: watch Nikola Jokic. And hear me out on this. You
32:51
Speaker 3: see something happening in front of you. And your first
32:57
Speaker 3: thought is, how? How did that happen? How did he
33:03
Speaker 3: do that? That doesn't look like that should work, but
33:07
Speaker 3: it's working. Like, It's exactly like... It's one of the
33:12
Speaker 3: most fascinating things I've ever seen, and they're doing it
33:15
Speaker 3: in wins, which is even crazier. But I was doing
33:21
Speaker 3: the post-game show last night. Towards the end of the show,
33:23
Speaker 3: Vic brought up an idea. I do not agree with this.
33:28
Speaker 3: But a lot of texture is now riding it. Vic
33:31
Speaker 3: brought up the idea of, like, maybe get a bench
33:33
Speaker 3: him for a week. Talking about Bo Nix.
33:37
Speaker 1: And I.
33:39
Speaker 3: I don't think you can do it. And I don't
33:45
Speaker 3: think you can do it for two reasons. Number one,
33:50
Speaker 3: if your quarterback has a confidence problem right now, benching
33:53
Speaker 3: him is not going to help his confidence. It's not
33:55
Speaker 3: going to help. Two, if you put in Stidham or
34:01
Speaker 3: you put in Ellinger or whoever it would be, and
34:04
Speaker 3: you lose... then this experiment that you've done resulted in
34:07
Speaker 3: a loss against a Cardinals team that's really bad. But
34:15
Speaker 3: most of all, most of all, I don't think you
34:23
Speaker 3: can show panic when the team is winning. You've already
34:29
Speaker 3: pushed that button, man. You did it two weeks ago
34:32
Speaker 3: when Sean Payton took over play calling. You've already hit
34:35
Speaker 3: the panic button. You can't hit the other one. You
34:42
Speaker 3: can't go from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 2 when you're
34:45
Speaker 3: riding winning football. I just, I understand the sentiment and
34:54
Speaker 3: I would be a lot more on board if you
34:57
Speaker 3: had something behind Bo Nix that was viable. Jared Stidham
35:00
Speaker 3: is not viable, guys. It's just not. I don't care
35:04
Speaker 3: how much Sean Payton likes him. I'm not even faulting
35:07
Speaker 3: him for the AFC championship game because I think that's
35:09
Speaker 3: a very rough way to evaluate a quarterback is the
35:12
Speaker 3: conditions of that game. It was, he hasn't played in
35:16
Speaker 3: a game in two years and then he comes into
35:18
Speaker 3: the most high pressure stakes you could walk into along
35:20
Speaker 3: with it being terrible weather. It's a tough judge. But
35:26
Speaker 3: I think you need to ride this wave of calm.
35:30
Speaker 3: You need to just keep riding it. And you need
35:34
Speaker 3: to keep encouraging Bo. Because there's something wrong. This is not...
35:39
Speaker 3: Whatever you thought Bo Nix's talent level was, maybe you
35:42
Speaker 3: thought he was a terrible quarterback to start with. Nobody
35:45
Speaker 3: thought it would look this bad. No one. Like, this
35:47
Speaker 3: is as bad as an offense can look. And you won.
35:52
Speaker 3: And you continue to win. But whatever you thought of
35:56
Speaker 3: Bo Nix, there's something else happening here. His inability... An
36:03
Speaker 3: unwillingness to take a little bit of contact on a
36:08
Speaker 3: designed run, that's not Bo. Like, that's just not him.
36:16
Speaker 3: And if he still has, six weeks into the season,
36:20
Speaker 3: a huge fear of his ankle getting hit, then that's
36:22
Speaker 3: an even bigger problem. You know, a couple weeks ago, Nelly,
36:26
Speaker 3: I don't need you to find it, but I just
36:28
Speaker 3: need you to back me up here. We had a
36:30
Speaker 3: clip of Benny Fowler. I think he was on the DNVR,
36:33
Speaker 3: on the DNVR podcast. And he was talking about how
36:35
Speaker 3: he had screws in his foot or something like that.
36:39
Speaker 3: He said it took two years before he fully trusted it. Like,
36:41
Speaker 3: maybe that's it. But the weird part, man, is you
36:46
Speaker 3: talk about year three of a quarterback, this is going
36:53
Speaker 3: to be your true evaluation. I just, as bad as
36:59
Speaker 3: this is, I don't think you can show panic right now.
37:02
Speaker 3: You know, in a different kind of way, it's not
37:04
Speaker 3: the exact same. But it's similar. The Houston Texans face
37:11
Speaker 3: this problem with C.J. Stroud. The difference was C.J. Stroud,
37:15
Speaker 3: when he first got into the league, he absolutely torched
37:19
Speaker 3: the scene. Like, he went out. Remember, he didn't throw
37:22
Speaker 3: a pick his rookie year until like week nine or
37:25
Speaker 3: something like that. He had this amazing rookie season. Everybody
37:29
Speaker 3: looked at it in the draft class he was in
37:38
Speaker 3: and said, wow, who would have thunk it? The number
37:42
Speaker 3: two overall quarterback in this draft was the better pick
37:45
Speaker 3: than the number one overall quarterback in Bryce Young. Remember,
37:49
Speaker 3: that was a draft that in the first four picks
37:51
Speaker 3: of it, it went Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson,
37:53
Speaker 3: and Anthony Richardson. That's three quarterbacks in the first four picks.
37:57
Speaker 3: And you thought C.J. Stroud, that one's the winner. And
38:00
Speaker 3: in year two, he looked worse than in year one.
38:03
Speaker 3: And in year three, he looked worse than in year two. Like,
38:06
Speaker 3: continually dropped.
38:08
Speaker 2: C.J.
38:09
Speaker 3: Stroud's been better this year, even though the Texans haven't been.
38:15
Speaker 3: If you're showing regression in year three to this extent, man,
38:19
Speaker 3: you got some real issues. But I just don't think
38:22
Speaker 3: benching him is the answer. If you had a backup
38:25
Speaker 3: that was viable, and look, man, these aren't great names
38:31
Speaker 3: to throw out there, but not a lot of backup
38:33
Speaker 3: quarterbacks are. If you had Flacco or if you had
38:37
Speaker 3: Tyrod Taylor or if you had, I don't know, Justin
38:41
Speaker 3: Fields or if you had Kirk Cousins or if you
38:44
Speaker 3: had any one of those guys, I think the discussion
38:48
Speaker 3: about benching Bo Nix is legitimate. It's not right now, though.
38:51
Speaker 3: It's just not. And again, I don't want to sound
38:58
Speaker 3: like the panicky Pete after the Broncos won a football game,
39:04
Speaker 3: but their own coach, Can you go to cut seven
39:06
Speaker 3: for me, Nellie, and just play it like midway through?
39:10
Speaker 3: When your own coach is saying stuff like this, as
39:12
Speaker 3: he said in the offseason, as he said in the
39:15
Speaker 3: first few weeks of the season, before he took play
39:18
Speaker 3: calling duties back, and then he said it again last night. Listen.
39:22
Speaker 4: But being at four and two right at this little
39:25
Speaker 4: three-day stretch and then get ready next week. That'd be
39:28
Speaker 4: the honest. And again, I'm a little bit of a
39:33
Speaker 4: realist to know that 4-2 could easily be 2-4.
39:37
Speaker 3: Here's a translation. When he says, I'm a realist, 4-2
39:41
Speaker 3: could be 2-4. When he says last year, I'm not
39:43
Speaker 3: naive enough to think that a lot of those games
39:46
Speaker 3: couldn't flip the other direction. Here's what he's saying. I
39:50
Speaker 3: have no idea we're getting away with this. We have
39:54
Speaker 3: no business getting away with winning games the way that
39:57
Speaker 3: we're winning. No business. And yet here we are. Like
40:06
Speaker 3: Sean Payton just said to you, I'm as confused as anybody.
40:13
Speaker 3: But I can't imagine, man. Coaches spend 20 hours a
40:16
Speaker 3: day at the office, looking through film, putting together a
40:24
Speaker 3: game plan, scripting out their plays, figuring out how do
40:28
Speaker 3: we get Cortland Sutton going? How do we get Jalen
40:30
Speaker 3: Waddle going? How do we get the running game more effective?
40:34
Speaker 3: And to do all of that work through six weeks
40:37
Speaker 3: of this season, not including training camp and preseason and
40:40
Speaker 3: offseason and OTAs and everything else, to have the result
40:44
Speaker 3: like that is just, it's got to be an absolute drag.
40:51
Speaker 3: It has to. But it's a lot easier to stomach
40:56
Speaker 3: when somehow you come out on top. But for those,
41:03
Speaker 3: including Vic, and I'm sure we'll talk about it later today,
41:06
Speaker 3: saying maybe you just need to bench him for a
41:08
Speaker 3: little bit. I don't think you can do it. I
41:11
Speaker 3: don't think you can take somebody who is mentally fragile
41:13
Speaker 3: right now and say, we're going to go with your
41:17
Speaker 3: backup because we feel like that's the better option. And
41:20
Speaker 3: maybe later in the year, we'll bring it back. I
41:23
Speaker 3: know this happened. You know, everybody's going to bring up Elway. Well,
41:25
Speaker 3: Elway got benched. It's a different era, man. It's 2026.
41:29
Speaker 3: This is going to be news the entire week. It's
41:32
Speaker 3: just a different sort of landscape that you're dealing with.
41:36
Speaker 3: And right now, I don't think your quarterback is mentally
41:39
Speaker 3: tough enough to handle this. Because he's not mentally tough
41:43
Speaker 3: enough to take a hit right now. He doesn't even
41:46
Speaker 3: want to do that. So it's a Bud Light Football Friday.
41:51
Speaker 6: 303-504-0925.
41:51
Speaker 3: The Avs are back at it tonight. They host Sidney
41:57
Speaker 3: Crosby in the Penguins. You can hear it right here
41:59
Speaker 3: on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5. Are you going to talk
42:03
Speaker 3: to me about speaking? Is that what you're going to do?
42:04
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know this. I speak for
42:06
Speaker 3: an entire hour by myself. That's what I do. You
42:12
Speaker 3: fix it. I'm very important. Sidney Crosby in the Penguins tonight.
42:16
Speaker 3: Pre-game at 6.30. Powered by Ramos Law. And the puck
42:18
Speaker 3: drops shortly after 7 on your home for the Avalanche.
42:21
Speaker 3: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5. So, I'll say it again. I
42:30
Speaker 3: mean this in the most literal sense. It is the
42:35
Speaker 3: most remarkable thing to watch. This football team. It's crazy. So,
42:44
Speaker 3: we'll get more into this as we go along. Avs tonight. Yes, quickly, Moshe.
42:48
Speaker 3: They're a living, breathing impossibility. They're an enigma. Nothing makes sense.
42:53
Speaker 3: I have numbers to back it up that we'll get
42:55
Speaker 3: to in just a second. Watch on Twitch. Watch on YouTube.
42:58
Speaker 3: Watch on Altitude Television. Subscribe to the channel and don't
43:01
Speaker 3: miss anything from Denver's number one sports station, Altitude Sports
43:04
Speaker 3: Radio 92.5. Moshe Lombardi and Kane next.