Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 12-26-25

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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 12-26-25 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful scot Friday. I guess there's a slight
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: chance and we get a little bit of moisture. Finally
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: this weekend, we'll see we know we need it. Look
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: like they're gonna get some moisture in Kansas City yesterday,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: as one Jeff Legwald knows, he joins us now here
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  Speaker 1: as he does every week Mondays and Fridays on the
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  Speaker 1: Krekman and Lindahl Show. And now we do want to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: tell you that when Jeff does appear on the show,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: it's brought to you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Start with a career or start with a job, leave
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: with the career. All right, my friend, what was it like?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: What is your reaction to that game yesterday? You know
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: what's funny, Jeff, I was telling Spring like, I felt
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  Speaker 1: like the Chiefs hung around in that game, and I
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  Speaker 1: was like, man, the defense, you know, not as many
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  Speaker 1: sacks as I expected in this That the other thing,
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  Speaker 1: I go look at the box score and it's like,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: holy cow, they didn't allow any yardage.
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  Speaker 2: How the heck was that a twenty to thirteen game?
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  Speaker 1: Yet yesterday, Jeff, that was a weird game.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was good as had fog Andy, because it
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  Speaker 3: looked a lot like the London game for the Broncos
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: when they were basically in a rock fight, when they,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: you know, against the Jets, when they had negative passing yardage,
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  Speaker 3: and at one point yesterday, early in the fourth quarter,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: the Chiefs had negative passing yardage. But I think you
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  Speaker 3: did see a little bit of you know, how good
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  Speaker 3: coaches can manipulate the clock, and and Andy Reid had
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  Speaker 3: obviously decided to just take the air out of everything.
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  Speaker 3: He knew what team he was sending out, he knew
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  Speaker 3: the challenges of it. And I'm watching them play defense,
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  Speaker 3: and a defense that normally blitzes and has all kinds
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  Speaker 3: of you know, different pressures and all of those things
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  Speaker 3: did none of that. Almost every single time the Broncos
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  Speaker 3: passed the ball, the safeties for the Chiefs were basically
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  Speaker 3: sprinting backward and went deeper than the deepest receiver every time,
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  Speaker 3: even if they didn't have anybody to cover. So they
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  Speaker 3: were not going to let the Broncos go the quick
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  Speaker 3: way on offense. And that's why you saw the game.
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  Speaker 3: You did just just grind it out thing where you're
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  Speaker 3: hoping for the best and you know, we saw Fangio
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  Speaker 3: do that a little bit here with the Broncos when
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  Speaker 3: he felt offensively challenged. But it's been a long long
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  Speaker 3: time since anybody's seen the Chiefs play.
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  Speaker 2: The way they did yesterday.
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  Speaker 3: And they manipulated the clock and it almost worked, and
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  Speaker 3: had the Broncos not played pretty amazing defense. I think
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  Speaker 3: sixty six of the or forty six of the Chiefs
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  Speaker 3: passing yards were on the last drive when they were
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  Speaker 3: just chucking it to try and get downfield. So it
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  Speaker 3: was an odd game and it had had an odd
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  Speaker 3: feel about it. You know, it's been a long time
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  Speaker 3: since the Chiefs have been in that passe position, and
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: you could just tell it was like, you know, kind
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  Speaker 3: of this somber game. There wasn't much of an atmosphere, certainly,
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  Speaker 3: nothing like Arrowhead usually is.
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  Speaker 4: It was, yeah, like Andy said, a weird game. Offense
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  Speaker 4: struggles a little bit, but the defense has been catching
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  Speaker 4: some strays last couple games, allowing thirty four to Jacksonville,
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  Speaker 4: and and you know, it's there's a lot of context
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  Speaker 4: to the thirteen points that Kansas City scores. Chris Oladokin
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  Speaker 4: only throws for sixty sixty yards, but he was only
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  Speaker 4: sacked once. Jeff only one sack on a practice squad
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  Speaker 4: quarterback who does not appear to be very good at all.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I thought, I expected this dude to get hammered all
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  Speaker 4: night long. He was able to stay largely untouched. Do
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  Speaker 4: you think that that's vance Joseph knowing that it's a
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  Speaker 4: weaker opponent and they don't have to show any of
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  Speaker 4: their more intricate blitz schemes, put anything on tape for
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  Speaker 4: anyone else to see, and just and just rely on
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  Speaker 4: your base defense and that would be enough to get
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  Speaker 4: the win.
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  Speaker 2: Well Spring. It was more they didn't want to let
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  Speaker 2: him run.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, you know, when you're you're sort of you know,
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  Speaker 3: cluster rushing or cage rushing as some defensive coordinators call it.
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  Speaker 3: You're just trying to keep the guy contained and you're
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  Speaker 3: not really making the effort to turn the corner all
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  Speaker 3: the time. You don't want to give him any corners
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  Speaker 3: to go around. So a lot of it was they
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  Speaker 3: were just rushing him as if he was what he is,
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  Speaker 3: a running quarterback at this point, and that was really
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  Speaker 3: the only way he was going to hurt them. So
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  Speaker 3: they dialed it back. You know, an awful lot of
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  Speaker 3: fore man four man rushes. They didn't even change the
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  Speaker 3: four players out very often like they normally do. They
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  Speaker 3: often rushed for but it's usually you know, a dB,
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  Speaker 3: a linebacker and two defensive linemen. They sprinkle in different looks,
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  Speaker 3: and they didn't really do much of that, and I
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  Speaker 3: think they had just made the decision they were going
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  Speaker 3: to keep them hemmed in and Reid was never going
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  Speaker 3: to throw the ball enough for them just to tee off.
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  Speaker 3: And that's why they tried to take the air out
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  Speaker 3: of the game, because they knew if they got down,
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  Speaker 3: you know, by a significant amount two or three scores,
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  Speaker 3: then the moroncos were just going to go after him.
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  Speaker 3: So they kept it from being that kind of game.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, like I say, if you have a
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  Speaker 3: good coaching staff, they can manipulate the clock sometimes, and
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  Speaker 3: that's what they did. It had an impact statistically, but
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  Speaker 3: I think if if you're an NFL defense and you
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  Speaker 3: give up one hundred and thirty yards to another NFL team,
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a pretty good day at the office
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  Speaker 3: and you just get on the bus and go home.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah again, Jeff, When I looked at the stats, I
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  Speaker 1: was like, well, they had a better day than I thought. Like,
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  Speaker 1: I think you put it the best. It just was
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  Speaker 1: a weird game, and so we got what we got.
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  Speaker 1: That things over with. How concerned are you about their
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  Speaker 1: injury situation? Obviously now that you've got uh Wattenberg going on,
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  Speaker 1: ir he can't come back until the Super Bowl if
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  Speaker 1: you get the first seed AFC Championship, if for some
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  Speaker 1: reason you don't, because as you told us when they
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: did this a week ago with the other player, with
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Brandon Jones, that they got to sit out the four games,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: right So four games right now? I guess he misses
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: yesterday and then there'd be two more after that. How
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know the green Law thing, how bad
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  Speaker 1: do you think the hamis? And you told us he
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't play, certainly he didn't. How concerned are you about
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  Speaker 1: the overall injury outlook for this team?
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  Speaker 3: I'd be stunned if Greenlaws back anytime soon. That looked
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  Speaker 3: pretty significant to me, So you know, again, I wasn't.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: I wasn't at medical school the day they taught medicine,
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  Speaker 3: but they I think the hamstring pull for green Law
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  Speaker 3: was pretty was a pretty tough one, which you know,
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  Speaker 3: I think that one's going to take a bit. They
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  Speaker 3: they're you know, they got their fingers crossed. You know
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  Speaker 3: that they can get Wattenberg back if they go deep enough.
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  Speaker 3: I do not know the rule for the postseason, and
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  Speaker 3: I apologize for not knowing it. I don't think they
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  Speaker 3: punish you for earning a bye in the in the
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  Speaker 3: i R rules, but I got to check that. I'm
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  Speaker 3: fairly certain that the bye week in the postseason counts
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  Speaker 3: as a game in the i R rules, but I
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  Speaker 3: got to dig through the text and of the rule
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  Speaker 3: book and see if I can find it. But that's
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  Speaker 3: my recollection. If that's the case, then that makes a
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  Speaker 3: little more sense and why they would be hoping to
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  Speaker 3: get you know, even sort of Dobbins or Wattenberg back.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I don't think Brandon Jones is coming back. Everybody's basically
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: saying his season is over without saying.
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  Speaker 2: Leggy.
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  Speaker 4: Let's talk about bo Nicks. I had the best game
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  Speaker 4: of his career against the Packers start to finish. I
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: thought the first half against Jacksonville was largely a carryover
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: from that, but then some struggles in the second half.
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  Speaker 4: They're they're trailing, they're throwing more. That fourth and two
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  Speaker 4: interception on The attempted back shoulder was a bad read
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  Speaker 4: by Bo Dotty. Got out to a slow start last night,
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  Speaker 4: underthrows Mims and then throws an interception a couple passes later,
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  Speaker 4: although nice play by Nick Bolton did get it going
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  Speaker 4: as the game went on. What are you seeing from
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  Speaker 4: bow going from a complete effort against the Packers, the
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  Speaker 4: best performance of his career to some ups and downs
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  Speaker 4: now the last two games.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, spraying he goes as his footwork goes.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's it was true in August, and it's
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  Speaker 3: true now. It's just the stakes are a little higher now.
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  Speaker 3: So we you know, everybody's paying attention. But I think
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  Speaker 3: yesterday his footwork was not as clean as it's been
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  Speaker 3: in recent games.
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  Speaker 2: And what did we see.
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  Speaker 3: We saw some accuracy issues with some open receivers. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: in the rare times they had, you know, some intermediate
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  Speaker 3: or deeper throws available. I thought he got hurried and
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  Speaker 3: he didn't set his feet and the ball drifted on
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  Speaker 3: him a bit.
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  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: You know that it's a one yard touchdown in the
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  Speaker 3: in the you know, in the in the game book,
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  Speaker 3: as it were. But I thought the touchdown throw to
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  Speaker 3: Harvey was was his best throw the night. That was
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  Speaker 3: that was a nice a nice toss in traffic, you know,
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  Speaker 3: to get the score. But uh, you know, last night
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  Speaker 3: was another example of when his footwork isn't right, then
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  Speaker 3: his accuracy isn't going to be what it should. And
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  Speaker 3: sometimes he just doesn't get his footwork right in clean
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  Speaker 3: pockets or in open space, you know, especially in some
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: of the rollouts. I think he sees the open guy
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  Speaker 3: and wants to deliver the ball so quickly that he
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  Speaker 3: just doesn't take that half a set second to square
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  Speaker 3: his feet make the throw. And when he does that,
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  Speaker 3: he can play like he played against the Packers. When
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  Speaker 3: he doesn't, it's gonna come and go. And I think
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  Speaker 3: in a postseason game, it's gonna be really important for
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  Speaker 3: him to make sure his footwork is as good as
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  Speaker 3: possible every time, because you know, it only takes one
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  Speaker 3: or two mistakes in a playoff game to turn things.
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  Speaker 3: So it really is going to be about his footwork
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  Speaker 3: and you know, ultimately decision making sure. But when he's
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: delivering the ball on his feet are right, he's an
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  Speaker 3: accurate passer.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Jeff, what what do you make of the Lions con
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: under him? You know, because again, here's what I think
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: is interesting, Like if the Broncos or go out and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: win a game, a playoff game, really, by just I
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: think realistic expectations, we should all be happy they've won
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: more than they did last regular season. They won, they
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: maybe will win a playoff game when they haven't won
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a playoff game since twenty sixteen to twenty fifteen season.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: All that, so that's good proper growth, right, And yet
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I think about the Detroit Lions, where sometimes the window
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: opens when you know it and you better take advantage
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: of it, because honestly, Jeff, I kind of feel like,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: right now maybe the Lions have screwed around their window
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: too much and I don't know what's going on there now.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Well, and you know, they're a great example of NFL life.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: You have the you have three or four well placed
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: injuries and maybe one free agency departure you really hope
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  Speaker 3: you could avoid, and suddenly you can backslide. Doesn't mean
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: your window is closed or that you're you know, it's
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: not like you were really smart last year and you're
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: dumb this year because you got three guys hurt. But
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: we I think sometimes all of us around who enjoy
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: NFL football, or cover it or watch it or whatever,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: we really underestimate how much injuries just affect how things
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: look at the season's end. And and you've heard me
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: say it a million times, I don't think it's always
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: the two best teams in the super Bowl. It's the
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  Speaker 3: two best healthy teams that are in the super Bowl.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's gonna end up being that way.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Look at look at New England's injury report for for
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: this weekend. You know, what do you rule out today?
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  Speaker 3: Five starters? You know that impacts you. Doesn't mean your
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: talent level of your rosters any worse, but it does
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: mean it's a physical game and it's and it's very uncertain.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: You can't guarantee health, and it's always going to be
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: that way, and it's always going to be the wild card.
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  Speaker 3: I also think they let their offensive line get away
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  Speaker 3: from them. And I know, you know a lot of
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: people consume football with fantasy football, but it does you
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: no good to spend a lot of time with skill
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: positions if you don't have the line to block for it.
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  Speaker 3: And how many more teams do we need to want
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  Speaker 3: to prove it? The Lions, the Bengals, I mean, how
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: much more skill talent do you need to watch get
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: wasted because you don't spend enough time at the line
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  Speaker 3: of scrimmage building your roster, and they let the line
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  Speaker 3: get away from them and then two guys get hurt
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  Speaker 3: in the line, and you still have the same skill
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: level at quarterback and on the outside at running back.
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  Speaker 3: But guess what, they can't do very much no matter
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: how talented they are.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Lecky, what do you make of this AFC playoff field
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: right now? Is this the the slimmest of margins between
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: the top team and the bottom team and a conference
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: playoff field that you've ever seen? Because I cannot handicap
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: this thing. I could see this thing going any which direction.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: I can't remember ever seeing it being so tight between
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: all of the teams in one conference.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Well, let's spring.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: I think you're seeing what happens when the defenses have
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: a year and look look at the AFC playoff field.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: You've got some really physical defensive teams, and that's how
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: they play games with finn margins, you know, And I
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: think that's you know, it's gonna be one of those
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: playoff fields. I think we're the you know, there'll be
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: some talk in the Competition committee about, you know, whatever
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: rule changes they can make to increase scoring again, because
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: this is what happens when when defense sort of takes
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: over a playoff field. Now, you know, look, the offenses
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: may go crazy here in the playoffs, but I always
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: think things get dialed back and it gets you know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: sort of a muscle up game and in the postseason.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: And that's how a lot of these teams are built.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: You know, Broncos defense, the Texans defense. I think the
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Jacksonville defenses is big, especially up front. Physical. I mean,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: you just see a lot of defensive presence in the
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: In the AFC power Brokers.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Right now, he is Jeff Legwald.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: We always love talking to him, and every time we
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: get a chance to have him on, we appreciate having
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: him on. He joins us on the Ramos law. The
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Ramos law. Wait, that's the injury report. So there we go.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: By the way, the injury report. Did they get anything?
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: We might as well just do that. Did Hufuna come out?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He had that one run play towards the end where
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: he was kind of less risks as he got up.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: He's okay, he went back in. So is there anything fresh.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: We'll have to watch other than that. I don't think so,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: but you know how it goes. Sometimes. We didn't know
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: about Berg either.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: DJ Jones felt like that popped up. You know, he
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: ain't never know.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: All right, man, Well, enjoy your weekend, Jeff. I hope
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: you get to watch a little football now.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Huh.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: This is a little nice, isn't it?
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Nice little long weekend for you?
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I'm sure.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, the draft bunker will be open for a
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: little while.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: But we'll see, we'll see how it goes.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Wow, really gonna watch those college football playoff games and
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: do a little little early.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Ranking or something.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I gotta get some regular season I gotta get some
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: regular season game video taken care of this weekend.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: So we're gonna that's the goal. We'll see, all right, Jeff,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: were you enjoy it? My friend? All right?
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: You know, just watch some football, but I know you
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: won't