Latest / Altitude Problems / 2026 Episode #1: Introduction and Denver Sports Talk
Transcript
- Big Country: Welcome, welcome. This is episode one of the altitude Problems Podcast. I'm your host, Big Country. Let me throw it on over to my co-host, P V. Let me let's introduce yourself, P V. How are you doing tonight? PV: I'm doing good. I'm P V guys. How you how you all doing? ⁓ hope you h how you doing tonight, c big country. Big Country: Not too bad, not too bad. You know, ⁓ it's it's a good time to be in Denver right now. A lot of sports are heating up. And ⁓ this is our first episode, and I'm really excited to get this going and ⁓ talk to ⁓ the world about the Denver sports, even though we're not gonna have ⁓ much of an audience on the first episode, but I'm excited. So But let's get ⁓ let's get straight into things. Nuggets, man. How are ⁓ how what what was your takeaway from game five? PV: Absolutely. Takeaway from game five is obviously we did better ⁓ than previous games. I mean if you look at the previous games it was rough to even watch for us Nuggets fans. ⁓ a lot of struggles down low both on offense and on defense. I mean you could see them still attacking us in the paint. ⁓ and so I'm not saying that we're where we need to be yet, because we absolutely aren't. ⁓ we still gave up a big lead, but ⁓ I think I definitely see some improvement and I hope we can keep it going. What did you see? Big Country: I mean, I saw something, you know, I think that Adam and kind of addressed this in the post game. I mean, the offense was a lot better. Yeah. Does he need to be so snarky at reporters? No. But the offense was a lot better than it was in games three and four. I mean, you couldn't tell me that was the same team on the court past past night versus previous two games. I think the Nuggets, you know, I think they could come back. And it's a real possibility with the injuries that the Timberwolves have had, but I mean it's definitely gonna be a challenge going into their place. It's gonna be loud, it's gonna be rocking. I mean, do you see the three one comeback viable or no? PV: I think it's definitely viable. ⁓ and you mentioned injuries. I think there's obviously a good side and a bad side to that. ⁓ obviously we don't have the threat of Anthony Edwards or Dante DiVincenzo on the court anymore. But now even if we do come back from this three to one deficit, all you're ever gonna hear is, ⁓ the Nuggets only came back from this because of injuries. The Nuggets were saved by injuries. And so I think it sucks as much as it ⁓ works out for us, which I'm obviously never rooting for injuries, ⁓ never something that you wanna see. But I think even given the fact that they were both injured, ⁓ in game four we should have been able to pull away with that victory going into quarter four, but even going into quarter four without the two stars, we still blew the game and ended up losing that game by quite a bit. And so obviously there's still a lot that that team can do without their two stars and I think that they've shown that on both sides of the ball we're weak down low, whether it's on offense or on defence. And I think a lot of that just comes from the effort that these Nuggets players have been putting out recently. It just feels like they aren't really trying as hard as they did in their championship run. You used to see them flying around the court making plays and now it just feels like they're either trying to always get fouls and then complaining to the refs about it afterwards or they're just sitting around waiting on defense which you see you saw a lot of that in games three and four. Big Country: Yeah. Definitely, I mean, that's honestly what you're taking away, like the effort I saw from Jamal Murray all game. He was diving for loose balls. He was, you know, getting under the paint, getting low, bodying it up, and he was wanting the contact, which is just awesome to see. I mean, Jokic, he's our our only like I guess you could call it brute force from a scoring perspective with Aaron Gordon out. And it was it was great to see him kind of find a rhythm because I mean Rudy has been on him all series long and to see that. Just a little bit of six success is probably very promising for him. And I'm hoping I mean, let's be honest, if they win game six, they're probably not losing game seven. At home, you're not gonna do it. I mean, the series is decided obviously on Thursday night. And as we're recording us on Tuesday, I I have high hopes, but ⁓ the only way we could shut up haters after we if we do beat them in seven, is we gotta go into the Spurs house and beat ⁓ If they we beat ⁓ yeah. Yeah. PV: Yeah, and I totally agree. And one of the biggest things too, ⁓ that we haven't mentioned yet that has was a big reason why we won this past game is our role players. ⁓ I mean, like you mentioned, we don't have Aaron Gordon. And I think obviously in this series, one of the biggest losses that we've seen is the fact that we don't have Peyton Watson. Peyton Watson is a huge presence down low when it comes to ⁓ offense, but mostly obviously defense. His defense down low is just unbelievable. And that was the type of physical threat that we needed down low to face the physic the to face the physical Timberwolves that we did in this series. Big Country: ⁓ yeah. PV: And so it really helped recently to have players like ⁓ surprisingly Zeke Nagy and Spencer Jones were two big names in the last couple games. Zeke Najee had a huge game in game four, ⁓ almost kept us in that game, and then obviously game five, Spencer Jones came in, had the start, dropped twenty points on some phenomenal shooting on seven of nine shooting, I believe it was, and he ⁓ played great physical, great hustle, was all over the floor all game, and that's the type of energy and effort that we needed to bring into the game. Big Country: Twenty. Mm-hmm. Not to mention we had Cam Johnson kind of fulfilling that role that he needs to fulfill, especially without Aaron Gordon. He needs to be the third scorer. You know, we can't can't. do PV: Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, I mean we brought in Cam Johnson to replace ⁓ MPJ as one of those playmakers. ⁓ and obviously the regular season he didn't really show up as much as we were hoping, but I think this last game was a huge, huge step up as to what we've seen all year and if he can continue that productivity I'd be very happy with ⁓ where he's at. Big Country: Yeah, I mean honestly with him, i i he just needs to shoot it often and early. The shots are gonna fall. He's a great player. I mean he when he attacked the rim last night, that's also another area of his game that I don't don't feel like he fully exploits in in our offense. But I mean at the end of the day, I mean he is our third best scorer and we need to treat him like that as well. But sometimes I I feel like it's confidence with him too. So I mean the the real question is at the at the end of this, I mean, say the Nuggets do lose tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Thursday night. Do you blow it up? What do you do? Because like this is back to back ⁓ seasons where you know you come up short, you know, do you you fire Adelman? Do you keep Adelman? You see the still same voice in the clubhouse that you really want? ⁓ that's a big question the nuggets gotta answer, and honestly, probably way above my pay grade. But if you're me, I don't like Adelman as much. I think he doesn't know how to call timeouts, but That's also from a f fans perspective that never played basketball. So yeah. PV: Yeah, I don't necessarily have a problem with the game management that Adleman has. I think my main issue is what energy does he bring really to the locker room, you know? ⁓ under Mike Malone, yeah, obviously there were plenty of issues, ⁓ but there was always that energy and that confidence that he instilled into our team. And I think that was a big part of our championship run that a lot of people kind of underrate and don't really think about. ⁓ and so I I don't really mind Adleman as much, but if you're going down into in Big Country: Mm-hmm. PV: in a series the way that we have this last couple of games and then you have the showings like we had in games three and four and you don't light a fire under your team enough to continue going after they lose their two star players, then I do think that is a problem that needs to be addressed. Big Country: Yeah, and honestly one of the things I saw from Adleman just like his he played the role guys a lot in game f game five. Gave those starters a chance to rest and recover so they could come back fresh and play well. And in turn these bench and roll guys they saw the opportunity and they seized it and it was just and it was awesome to see. Now, if they just learn how to close out a little bit better, the starters mainly, I mean bench was doing great had a twenty point lead and then as soon as the starters come in they give up like a nine ⁓ run so I mean hopefully I don't want them to blow it up. I like the players that we have but it's gonna beg the question if if they do lose. So yeah any more thoughts on the Nuggets or no? PV: Right. Yeah. I mean go nuggets. Hopefully we see some good results in game seven. Or game six, sorry. Big Country: Gun nuggets, yeah. Yeah, I mean game six, yeah. Let's not get ahead of ourselves there. I mean yes, please win. I mean we have two chances of getting a parade in Denver. One is more a lot more likely than the other right now. It's gonna be even more likely. I mean, but ⁓ yeah, let's ⁓ let's ⁓ let's switch up who's here, talk some baseball. ⁓ how you feeling with the Rockies? PV: Yeah. Big Country: These ⁓ first first months of month of the season. PV: I mean it took us until mid June to get ten wins last year, so being at thirteen wins this year is obviously it's really satisfying to see. ⁓ I mean even being close to a five hundred record being thirty games in. Obviously dropping the one today was ⁓ a shame, but you know, we just got a sweep against the Mets, which the Mets are the Mets, but it feels good to beat a team that spends all this money on their players and, you know, we're the Rockies, so Big Country: Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm loving what I'm seeing from our Rockies. I mean, like you said, got it getting the same amount of wins as we did last year in in two months, we're getting it in just just under a month is insane. I'm loving what I'm seeing. Truthfully, I mean, the pitching has been the difference for the Rockies. I wouldn't say it's like the offense mainly. I mean the offense has been somewhat better, but the pitching has been so much better. I mean we're I think we're ranking just about PV: It's been a good start to the year. Big Country: fifteenth or sixteenth at overall pitching. When have we ever heard about that over for a Rockies team? Ever. I mean, ⁓ Chase Dolander is looking like he's he's looking like a little Paul Skins esque in my opinion. It's probably a little Rockies cloud over my head, but he is looked very dominant and I'm loving what I see him. Yeah, I mean he has the highest war for a pitcher in baseball right now. And he's a Rocky. PV: Chasin the dream. The numbers are looking great. Absolutely. Big Country: That's amazing news. ⁓ and that honestly comes from our new like pi pitching coach. I mean I've heard their calling pitches from the dugout as a suggestion. I don't know if they're taking him obviously, but they're really expanding these arsenals that the Rockies pitchers have. I mean, look at Antonio Sanzatella, highest hit fastball in all of the major leagues last year. And he is some he's quite possibly one of the best relievers for the one the Rockies have, but he might want to be the best like top ten relievers in net the national league. So really excited for what Senza's seeing I'm seeing out of Senza. Talk talk to me about ⁓ Mickey Monique. PV: Mickey Modiac is smacking that is smacking that ball, man. He is just his average is high. He's over the three hundreds. He's getting a lot of power behind his swings. He's driving in a lot of runs. Couldn't be happier that without him. I mean, and then you got his beautiful defense out there in the outfield. I mean, what more could you want from a player in course field? Big Country: Yeah, the beautiful defense, you know, letting pop flies drop. But you know that wasn't always the greatest thing. But you know, it'll it'll come. I was his first game back from the aisle at the start of the season, obviously. And he's s you know, the rest was knocked off right there. And if it wasn't the Bluebirds definitely knocked it off. So I'm I mean, you what a w you couldn't have a worse start to the Rockies home home game by giving up that many runs in the first inning. But the way this team has rebounded since then PV: Yeah. Big Country: I mean, rebounded since we got swept in our first series against the Marlins to be, you know, sweeping the Astros. I don't care if they're not the greatest Astros I've ever seen. You know, this team last year swept one team and it was the Marlins. And they were never once five hundred and they were never once had this like confidence and swagger that they have now. And I'm I'm excited for what the Rockies are becoming as well. So yeah. PV: Yeah, I mean, when especially when you just reflect on the pr last few years that we've had, it just feels good to actually go into a game and think, Hey, we might actually be able to win this one at least fifty percent of the time. Big Country: Yeah. Yeah. Do you think ⁓ the Penner like family buying into the Rockies will be a great thing in the end? PV: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, more money in baseball is obviously always a good thing. money in baseball is kinda the driving factor of a lot of the winning teams. and I think the Walter or the Penner family is they just love to win. So ⁓ yeah, they're gonna bring a big winning culture and they're gonna bring ⁓ big just want to drive a lot of wins into the team. And I mean we I think we've seen it already in the early year, so Big Country: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I I definitely like the fact that they're, you know, investing into Denver sports a little bit more. ⁓ obviously they bought the Broncos, they turned around that franchise and it felt like just a quick couple of years, you know, getting Sean Payton, bringing in Bonex, everything like that. It's really revived the the city and I feel like in two aspects of their sports. I mean the Nuggets and Aves have been great for years, you know, controlled by Kronki and everything like that. But I mean th the city's kind of been missing like a like the baseball and the football to be good. I truly I feel like the backbone of this city is baseball and football. When the Rockies are good, there's a certain buzz to Denver. When the Broncos are good, it's it's pretty nice in in Denver. Traffic sucks, but that's about it. ⁓ but speaking of Broncos, ⁓ only like a little transition a little bit into that talk about the NFL draft. ⁓ how'd you like your Broncos picks? PV: Yeah. You know, I think I'm ⁓ I'm happy about it, but I do think that there were certain areas that I was surprised weren't addressed sooner. ⁓ I think picking Our first pick in our th in the third round. I think that one made sense, Tyler Onyed on Onyedim. Onyedim. I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name correctly. ⁓ but I think it made a lot of sense given that we lost John Franklin Myers. ⁓ it definitely sucks to lose that veteran presence, but I think we have a lot of veteran presence from over the last couple of years that is remaining anyways. And so I think that that's not necessarily the issue, but the run stopping that John Franklin Myers brought to the team obviously is something that was gonna need to be replaced. So I think that was something that needed to be addressed. Big Country: Yeah. Yeah. PV: ⁓ I do really like the Jonah Coleman pick. ⁓ I'm sure that a lot of people are confused as to why we have so many running backs in our back in our running back room. But I think that the biggest thing about Jonah Coleman is that he's a phenomenal blocker. ⁓ and that's kind of what he's ⁓ his blocking and his finishing in the end zone. And so I think that's a lot of things that the Broncos obviously two big things that the Broncos were lacking last year. We had a lot of good runs that were ⁓ physical and fast runs to the outside that. I think we're rather successful, but I think a lot of the stuff that we were lacking were those short, powerful runs up the middle, those first down runs to get you a couple of yards, like four four yards to make second down more manageable, or even the end zone runs where you're just a couple yards out and you're just trying to stuff it down the middle. And I think that's something that he's gonna bring to the team, as well as phenomenal blocking for a lot of pass catching situations. And then we move on to a couple of the other picks. ⁓ we drafted an O-lineman, obviously, an O-lineman never hurts. ⁓ you know, it's always nice to have big. Big Country: Hm. Depth. PV: big young depth ⁓ back there and ⁓ obviously that's not something I'm gonna complain about. But then one that was a little surprising to me was going and trading up for Justin Jolly at tight end. ⁓ and I think it is a good pick for us given that he's an extreme athlete and he's great vertical threat. But I thought it was really interesting because I think what we're missing at tight end isn't necessarily a vertical threat, but it's kind of someone that's a really good consistent blocker and a good short yardage ⁓ kind of a Big Country: Mm-hmm. PV: Situation guy. I don't think that we have that in Evan Ingram necessarily. And so I thought it was a little strange for us to go out and find a vertical threat rather than a big blocking threat. and then kind of the last one I want to talk about is gonna be obviously Mr. Relevant, which I'm pretty excited about in Red Murdoch. ⁓ the interesting thing about this pick is linebacker was a big position. ⁓ a lot of Broncos fans were looking to fill, especially in the draft, given that was a really deep draft. And I think. Given that it's a deep draft, I think that's why we waited so long. But there were certainly a lot of really good options that we passed on early, and so it was surprising to see us wait until the very, very end of the draft to pick up a linebacker. But we did pick up somebody that is really he he's got a great engine. He's always going at the ball. He broke the NCAA record for force fumbles, forcing 17. He had 39 and a half ⁓ tackles for a loss over the last three seasons. So he's definitely got a great engine and definitely the type of linebacker that we're looking Looking for, but ⁓ obviously it was it was definitely really interesting as a Broncos fan, I think, to see us go so late for a linebacker. Big Country: Yeah, definitely. And honestly, I mean I think the like the biggest out like thing that we're not like talking about with the Broncos 'cause they had so few picks is your first round pick was Jalen Waddle. It's the I mean, you just gotta look at it like that. And honestly, I Waddle compliments that offense in more ways than a lot of people think. I mean, you guys had your one obviously with Sutton, but I mean it was Sutton, the guy that was gonna cross over the middle field, run the greatest routes in the world, you know, take the top off the defense? Probably not. No. He was a big gu big Play guy, go make a big catch. Great with context's catches, you know, great in the red zone. But him with Waddle, it's gonna be I think a great tandem. And I'm not saying Broncos are gonna absolutely win the Super Bowl. I mean, 'cause you gotta reload at AFC West as well. But the Broncos are looking like a very promising. Very, very promising, especially when they are on the doorsteps of the Super Bowl last year. So PV: Yeah, absolutely. And ⁓ yeah, Jalen Waddell, like you mentioned, I think is just a very different type of receiver and one that we've been really looking for over the last couple of years, 'cause like you said, we have Cortland Sutton who's He's great as a deep threat receiver, but more so like you mentioned to make that big explosive catch, to make that one-on-one contested catch. So you know he's not gonna necessarily beat someone down the field, but he's gonna go up for the ball and catch it over them. Versus Jalen Waddle is gonna be the type of guy, like you said, he's gonna be able to run down and across the field and Bo Nix has that can and we've seen it. We saw a lot of production with ⁓ not necessarily a lot of production, but we did see him make a lot of big throws with players like Marvin Mims down the field, and so that's kind of Kind of the thing that we're definitely looking for to get from Jalen Waddle here. So that's definitely gonna be really, really exciting to watch. So yeah, I'm hoping for a big run next year. Big Country: Plus you got hopefully the year two leap with Pat Bryant, maybe two. I know he should be healthy, right? PV: ⁓ yeah. And Yeah, and especially in that ⁓ in that game against New England, he got injured early. ⁓ but he started off getting like what, three or four catches for a solid ⁓ fifty yards. He was off to a great start in that first quarter before getting a concussion. And so yeah, it's definitely gonna be great to see him step up as well. But one thing that we haven't mentioned as well, like you said, ⁓ the AFC West ⁓ and kind of everywhere's getting reloaded. ⁓ but the AFC West obviously now they're gonna have what they hope to be their next Big Country: ⁓ yeah. PV: ⁓ big star QB and so if it pans out for them obviously we have to compete with ⁓ Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and now Mendoza who also has ⁓ Ashton Jensee complimenting him in the backfield and also one thing Big Country: ⁓ yeah. to mention the tight end. Brock Powers. PV: Yeah, and of course, yeah. Brock Powers is unbelievably good and so obviously there's a lot of talent there and then the Chiefs who obviously struggled last year, they still went out this year and they traded up a lot. ⁓ got a coup they traded up into the first round, I believe it was. Big Country: ⁓ they traded I know they traded away their I want to say it was the first round pick for the no, they traded away their cornerback to the Rams. I forget his name. It's not s is it Sneed? No, Sneed's on the Titans. McDuffie, yeah. But then they traded up I wanna say to the sixth pick then just got another corner from the L L C. So I mean you you can never really count out the Chiefs. I know everyone in Denver hates the Chiefs, but I mean PV: Yeah, that's right. And now, was it McDuffie? Did they trade McDuffie? McDuffie, yeah. Yeah, and drafted a new corner. Yeah. Big Country: Patrick Mahomes, he's already a Hall of Famer, and he's going to be hungry no matter what. I I don't want to see them lay lay an egg, truthfully. I want those crazy matchups. I want to see Miles High rocking when we play them every single time. But I mean, I can't I can't here sit here and say the Chargers aren't going to be looking great. I think Mike McDaniel was a great hire. And the I feel like some of the guys that they had also just didn't pan out last year. They got extremely hurt. Like everyone in the O line was hurt. PV: No, and I don't think they will. Fantastic. Fantastic higher. Big Country: You had receivers getting hurt. I mean, Quinn Johnson still doesn't know how to catch a ball and I feel like they address that need as well in the second round. You have Trey Harris as well that's gonna be progressing. I think the Chargers could be really good. But shout out Matt. But you know. ⁓ PV: Yeah, I definitely think I agree there. ⁓ I think the Chargers have a lot of potential. I'm big on Mike McDaniel. I think the problem with him be as head coach is just As a player, I think that there were a lot of players that couldn't look at him and f see him as a leader. I think he was just too I w I don't want to say unprofessional, but he was just a really goofy guy in that it's really hard to follow a guy like that into like things like football games as a head coach. And so obviously when things started falling apart, they fell apart on him fast. But I still think that Mike McDaniels is McDaniel is a brilliant guy. ⁓ and he is going to elevate that Chargers offense one hundred percent. He knows what he's doing with that offense. Big Country: Yeah. PV: And as for the Chiefs, I don't think they're gonna be laying a goose egg, honestly. I think they're gonna try I think these I think them trading up into the draft and everything is a sign that they're still gonna be trying. Cause I mean I think one thing that people don't consider with them trading away a guy like Trent McDuffie and going for a first round draft corner pick is that it does cost them a decent amount, obviously, to go that high at six. ⁓ but they were going to have to pay Trent McDuffie a lot anyway. And right now he's one of the premier elite corners in the league right now, and so they did get a little. bit of a price tag ⁓ shaved off on that and they have a young player with obviously plenty of potential and so I think that they're definitely showing signs of life and wanting to make a lot of moves ⁓ so that they can kind of rebuild their offense and be back to where they used to be. Big Country: Yeah, definitely. I mean the Chiefs I mean they signed also Kenneth Walker. I think that's extremely not like talked about as well in this offseason as much as it should. I mean, when was last time the Chiefs had have had a dominant running back? I mean, you could say Kareem Hunt was the last time, honestly. Maybe Clyde Oteller in his only good season, but having that like rock in the backfield so Mahomes doesn't have to drop back every single time, they could actually threat like the play action game and Mahomes can let it loose. I mean, I don't know who he's gonna throw to considering his receivers are you know, She Rice and ⁓ you know, the Trifecto bumps, but yeah. PV: I mean think the K nine move was really interesting. I don't want to say it was a bad move, because I don't I obviously don't think it was a bad move, but I just think it was really strange because when you look at the successful running backs that have been in this Chiefs offense, ⁓ in what I think when I see success is obviously Kareem Hunt from his rookie year to even now. and then a little bit of maybe Isaiah Pacheco, I didn't s I don't think I would see I honestly saw much success with Big Country: It was. PV: Clyde Edwards is there. The thing with those running backs is they're the guys that like to get downfield ⁓ or not downfield, down the middle and just kinda hit hit your defensive line as hard as they can and just get yards out of that rather than juke side to side. And then Kareem Hunt just rocks people when he's in the backfield. Yeah, those guys that K nine is a really like side to side kind of a guy to me. ⁓ and Big Country: Mm-hmm. And Kenneth's ⁓ yeah. PV: I think that the only similarity I see between him and the kind of the previous backs is his ability to kinda slip out from a play action handoff into a dump off. ⁓ I think he was really successful with the Seahawks obviously a lot on that. ⁓ and so I think that's what maybe they're gonna try to use a lot. ⁓ but it was really interesting to me kind of to see them go for a side to side guy this time rather than someone who is a smash mouth football player like the last couple backs they've had. Big Country: Yeah, definitely. I mean like you're saying, like the elusive lucid yeah, elusiveness part of him is definitely not like their common like I guess archetype for running back. So that's definitely just like a new intricacy that Andy Reid's gonna be playing with and that did a absolute mastermind with the playbooks. So I I mean they took a obviously a big step back last year with how with their record. I mean, they w they went to what, was it three Super Bowls in a row? PV: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. Big Country: No. Yes. I mean, obviously like a big downside towards ACL, you know, you gotta hope you gotta think he's gonna be back for game one, maybe, maybe not the start of it, and you'll have Justin Fields back there. But I mean as much as we hate to see it, I kinda w I don't mind when the Chiefs are a good team personally, but ⁓ Marcus fans will probably differ on that one. ⁓ but I mean good teams being in the same division. PV: They went to three, yeah. No, Big Country: Yeah, y you might have four in the next two years. I mean you might see obviously, you know, the Chiefs start to come down just with age with all their players, especially, you know, Mahomes is already I want to say thirty-one. And, you know, Herbert can't win a playoff game. So I mean, it's the Broncos divisions right now, obviously, and everyone's coming back and I bet I the Chiefs are hungry. I know they are, so I'm expecting some things from them. But ⁓ did you like any other picks from other teams in the NFL or PV: ⁓ I think that one of the more interesting teams to me this year was Hmm I don't know, I honestly didn't follow the draft that much this year if I'm being honest, but obviously Yeah. Actually Big Country: It's kinda hard when your team is out outside of the first round, outside even the second round. It's harder, I will say. PV: Actually the Cardinals definitely were an interesting one to me. I think them picking Jeremiah Love at three was really, really interesting. ⁓ I mean I didn't think it was their biggest yeah, their biggest need to fill. ⁓ but I thought it was a good pick for them to get, Big Country: That was hmm. Very, very PV: later on get Carson Beck. I think that you get a lot of experience in Carson Beck. And ⁓ you just got rid of Kyler Murray, so obviously you're kind of scrambling in your QB situation anyway. I mean you have Jacoby Brissett as a you know, worst case scenario fallback. But ⁓ yeah, I think it's really interesting to see they have some really big offensive weapons. We'll see if they can do something with them. that was definitely one of the more interesting ones for me. Big Country: I mean the talent is there from ⁓ pos like a skill possession standpoint with the Cardinals. The question is like, you know, is their defense good enough to hold up in the MC West? Probably not, to be honest. But the offense, I mean, the the question is like, why do you take a running back in a loaded running back room? Like why sign Algier? You know, why why don't you cut James Connor? I mean, it's always valuable to have depth at the running back position 'cause, you know, you're in a brute force game. you're gonna get injuries as we saw with James Conner last year, especially with his age. But you know, you get a basically a a lifelong backup in Algier and then just bend him over with a third overall pick. And you also make him the highest paid running back of all time on the very first first round pick that you have. So from a I mean, as a person that has the o first overall pick in Dynasty for foot fantasy football. Who needs a running back? I'm a little upset with this. Just considering, like, you know, if he went to the Titans, great pick. Honestly, if the Chiefs didn't pick up Kenneth Walker, if he fell somehow fell to the Chiefs and they went up and got him, I'd be a happy, happy man. But I I mean, you still you still gotta chick Jeremiah Love. That dude's a stud. He will be the starter for years to come. Algier probably has a contract that's cuddle. And he always I mean, he was with Bijan. He likes he can't be a backup to But they're also a very similar style runner. So I'm just like, so who's gonna get the goal line carries really at the end? Is it gonna be Connor, Algier, or Love? You gotta think it's Love. Just 'cause you're not gonna waste a first overall pick and put him at the bottom of your bench. So I don't know. No. ⁓ I'm I'm truly hoping, you know, for a decent season from Love in his rookie year as a you know from a fantasy standpoint, but I mean I can't expect him to be, you know, RB five or RB ten. You you're probably looking like RB fifteen or B to twenty. So unfortunate. But when you're ⁓ you're stand the barrel down at, you know, what you can pick one one and you're really only gonna go t one of two ways. It's either him Or Carnell Tate, maybe Jordan Tyson, and that's about it. But as a guy that has Malik neighbors and other, you know, assets at wide receiver, you have to take love, unfortunately. But it shouldn't be that unfortunate. So yeah. PV: Yeah, I think I think another interesting one this year was the Giants made a lot of big moves ⁓ in the draft I think that are gonna improve their team. Obviously they got a lineman in the first round. ⁓ but one of the interesting things to me was their fifth overall pick being an edge. I mean they already have yeah, they already have so many threats on that D line. Big Country: They think Made no sense. PV: It was I mean they'd obviously lost Demarcus Lawrence, so I don't know if maybe they plan on shifting somebody down to D tackle and moving this guy. What did I call him? I said I just said D did I say Demarcus? My bad. I meant Dexter Lawrence. Big Country: Dexter Lawrence, by the way. DeMarcus. Yeah. I mean, you're you're a hundred percent right. Like, what are we doing, Giants? I mean, I saw they were kind of trying to trade Thibodeau to the Saints and they wanted a second round pick for him. Like, are you are you high? No one's paying that. I mean, it I mean, I didn't like I mean if you I will say Arvell Reese, the talent f to be at the fifth overall pick was absurd. PV: Yeah. Big Country: That's almost like, hey, you take the best player available. That's what it kinda felt like. And I kinda like that. I will say that. But when you go into dress the line instead of getting maybe the safety, the game changing safety, 'cause you haven't really had that safety since the Xavier McKinney left. I thought I mean you you saw it immediately from Malik Neighbors. He was like, Why did he get to go to the Cowboys? Now I have to face this dude. I mean, what what did you think of Malik Neighbors and his thoughts on the on the whole wide receiver stuff like like on ⁓ Carnell Tate. PV: ⁓ I actually didn't see what was his take on the Cartel take. Big Country: I mean he he was telling he was basically saying okay, Cardinal Tate's never been a wide receiver one. I mean and you gotta think like, no shit, of course he's not a wide receiver one, he has Jeremiah Smith on his team. PV: Right. Yeah. I yeah, I think that's kind of an absurd take. ⁓ but I also think it is fair to take that into account. I mean, obviously whenever facing teams now, because you have Jeremiah Smith on the other side, you don't have to face their best corner and you don't draw all the attention. And so I think that obviously does give you a lot of ⁓ leeway. And so I can see why he might have brought that up, but I do think it's still unfair to judge him based on that. Big Country: Yeah, and I also I mean, for me ⁓ what you call it? I don't even know. I I mean, from Colonel Tate's like standpoint as well. I mean and I think Ts just need to figure this out. I don't know how they haven't, you know, death taxes in an Ohio state wide receiver. They haven't really missed. I think we're still waiting for that, you know, Marvin Harrison Jr. breakout, but it's coming. He's on just quite possibly the worst team of all time. That's his only problem. Chris Olave, I mean JSN really broke out this year. You know, you have tons of names from this school. So I think Cornell Tate's gonna be just fine on the Titans. I think him pairing him with Cam Ward, pairing him with Brian Dable, and I think he's also kind of like that one of those OCs that just shouldn't have been a head coach. I think is gonna be really good for him. So I mean, watch out for the Titans. You never know. The AFC South is kind of wide open every year, just kind of like the NFC South is. So you never know. You could see like a possible Patriots type season. Not saying that like that big, like fourteen wins or thirteen wins. I don't know how many they got. But I'm saying they could get there. PV: Yeah. Yeah, I could definitely see them flip the script and they still have the I think one of their biggest biggest pluses is having the veteran veteran presence of Jeffrey Simmons down low. ⁓ I think he just has such a big impact on honestly both sides of the game 'cause you could see him hyping up the team constantly and so I think he's just a really, really big presence for them to have and ⁓ as long as Cam Ward can get that and get hit get his team going the right direction and kind of step into that leadership role, I think giving him that big young receiver. Big Country: Yeah, that and the fact that you have Robert Sala as your head coach, defensive wizard. I think he's gonna be really good for that Titans team. I mean, I I think you kinda saw it in Salah's first year with the with the Jets. They had a good defense. They were positioned to to make some noise. Obviously Rogers' injury really derailed that season, but that defense was electric from the get go and I think Sala also is just like a player ⁓ coach's dream. Sorry, a player's dream for a coach. He's he's super fire, he'll get the team. ready to go and I'm I'm excited for what the Titans can like put up this year. But honestly, what I'm really excited to watch for this season s is ⁓ our boy Shador Sanders. PV: It'll definitely be a lot of fun to watch Shadur Samez. I hope he can definitely have some production this year. You know, he had some he had a lot of shining moments in his rookie year. It wasn't a perfect rookie year, but it definitely was a lot of fun to watch at times. Big Country: Ha ha ha. So yeah, I mean Shador, I mean, I don't know what the Browns are really doing at the end of the day. You know, you make the weird head coaching hire, the guy that probably wanted Shador in b in Baltimore. He even said it. But then, you know, you draft another quarterback and you have another great off season of questions about your quarterbacks of how you have four quarterbacks paying for Deshaun Watson. He'll be fully healthy going into next season. You got The dumbass lefty in Dylan Gabriel just cut him. I think he's an easy cut candidate. And then you got Talen, I want to say Talen Green. I want to say his name is from Arkansas. Dude looks like a Lamar Jackson cut out. He's extremely athletic. Wouldn't be surprised if they put him somehow at wide receiver and try to bone him over as a quarterback. But I mean, it kind of makes you wonder what the Browns are doing just in general, because i I didn't really see an incredible amount of energy. To like, you know, surround the quarterback with weapons. I think they drafted a wide receiver in the second round. But I mean we saw what Shador can do with weapons around him at C U. Even with like not the greatest O line, he can I think he could do some great things, but we'll just have to see. But what do you think? PV: I think that they still have a lot. I mean it's the Browns, they'll always have a lot to work on. ⁓ it just feels like they're constantly blowing it up, honestly. I don't think they're I don't know if they're ever gonna commit, but I'm hoping that they're kinda getting together a team that maybe they're gonna commit to here. ⁓ obviously it doesn't feel like it. Like you said, they have all these different quarterbacks, they don't even know who they want to throw in there. So I'm just hoping that they can figure it out here, at least before the season starts, cut it down to maybe two quarterbacks that are legitimate candidates. It's ⁓ one one of the guys a practice squad player. I think obviously the Browns being the Browns f will always kinda be in disarray until someone somehow manages to fix that miracle, but I think that it's not necessarily the weapons they're missing, it's just putting it all together and making it work. Big Country: And let me just re rewalk some of my comments I made about that draft class. They did actually address some needs around Shador. ⁓ I mean this offseason they p they they they picked up Elton Jenkins after he got released from the Packers and then from personal watching of Green Bay, big fan of Green Bay also, but Elton's a great pick and putting him at left guard is gonna be great for Shador and then you get the offensive tackle, the ninth overall. I mean, they're right there. You're already protecting Shador a little bit more. PV: Yeah. They did get a lineman in pick nine with s in Spencer Fano. Big Country: And then your next two picks is a KC Concepcion from AM, Stud, Denzel Boston from Washington. Haven't really seen him, but I mean you're surrounding Shador with some talent and and then you go after and get some get a tight end, you know. Pair him with Harold Fannon, 'cause I believe that Njoku's gone, right? I want to say he's gone for next season. PV: Fastest guy in the draft, yeah. ⁓ I think he's still a f free agent. No one's claimed him yet. I might be wrong. Let's see. Big Country: Yeah. Hey. Green Bay, go after him. Kinda needs someone to go opposite of ⁓ Tucker Kraft, especially with him being out for the potential start of the season. I mean I'm I'm excited for what the Browns could do with Shador if he does start. If they don't start Sador, I think you're just taking ten steps backwards. I mean, I think the the Sean Watson train has left the station. There's really no going back to him, but PV: Yeah, he's still a free agent. I don't think there's any point in going back to him. I think that his I think his time passed. you know, even in his even in the games that we've seen him back since his whole debacle, he wasn't Deshaun Watson, not the same Deshaun Watson that we saw. ⁓ I mean I'll always remember his playoff games that he had. That's the Deshaun Watson that I would expect to see on the field and he was nowhere near what he used to be, so I just don't think it's worth going back to him knowing you're not gonna get near the same level of Big Country: Mm-hmm. No. Yeah. PV: production. Big Country: Yeah. Well like honestly like switch topics a little bit, but like what did ya did you see any of the NFC North picks? PV: No, I did not. Big Country: Yeah, it's because they were like the most in uninst interesting picks I've ever seen. I mean Green Bay didn't have a first round pick, obviously, because of Micah Parsons. I think the Bears Well, that was the Cowboys pick. PV: Caleb Downs was a pretty good pick. I did see Caleb Downs. ⁓ yeah. Big Country: I was I think that I mean, you had all those like, you know, worries about his health and everything, but I think that dude's a stud. I mean, you just you gotta think that him going to the Cowboys is probably gonna haunt someone in the NFC East. ⁓ but the Packers I will say they address some needs. You know, our biggest like I would say question going into this offseason is what what's gonna get you over the seven seed hump. It seems like the Packers are in the seventh seed almost every year. And you know, big problem is we haven't had that like that shut down corner ever s ever since Jair's kind of been hurt and you know, retiring, obviously. That's what they did, their their second round pick. They went out, got the guy from South Carolina, Brandon C say, and then you show up that middle of the run game with the D tackle from Missouri. So I'm extremely excited for that side of the ball, but I'm also really concerned with what the hell we're doing with all this cap space because I feel like all these contract extensions are coming. I just don't know who's gonna get it. I mean, I saw we extended Jaden Reed over the weekend, which I'm excited for. But I hope we don't overpay for Christian Watson. Please give Tucker Kraft whatever he wants. Devontae Wyatt, D tackle, need him. I mean the Packers were extremely hurt at the end of the season, unfortunately, and I feel like that's why they lost in the end. But Packers are have been packing for the last ten years and starting to get really old. But yeah. At least we got a kicker in the sixth round. PV: Yeah. Big Country: That's been one of our issues since Mason Crosby. Shout out CU legend right there. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ let's l wrap up the NFL talk and ⁓ switch a little bit into the Aves. As we know, the Aves swept the Kings four o over the weekend. And you know, I heard this guy tal talk about it. He's just like the Aves might not lose more than one game until the Stanley Cup finals. Don't know if that's true, don't know if it's not. I mean The Aves. The biggest problem is you gotta get past the Dallas Stars if they come to town. Stars, for whatever reason, have our number the past few years. We look good against them in the regular season, but everyone knows it in the playoffs, it's an entirely different beast. But I'm hoping to see some positive things out of the Aves come next series. One thing is we're gonna have all this rest, we're not gonna be buzzing as much. So hopefully the Aves can come out and protect home court advantage, whether it's the Stars or the who is it? ⁓ Wild. Yeah. PV: Yeah. Yeah, and that's kinda one thing in sports with me that I feel like ⁓ is kind of an underrated kind of thing that hurts a lot of teams is if you do get that sweep is all that time that you spend waiting ⁓ for the next series to start, especially if the other series is a series like this one that's kind of neck and neck and they're just trading games off back and forth because you don't keep that same energy up that you've kind of been going ⁓ through and having, ⁓ and I think that that's kind of one of the things that ⁓ I think that's one of the things that might be kind of a big negative going into the series and I hope it doesn't affect us too badly, but ⁓ obviously we have the momentum of a four ⁓ win, but we lose the energy because of that four ⁓ win. So there's a good side and a bad side I think. And that that's kinda something that you see in all sports I believe. Big Country: Yeah, definitely. I mean the thing with the the Abs and I kinda kinda saw the takeaway from like them beating the Kings. Kings were an extremely defensive team, played a lot of close games, went into a lot of overtime games. They were playing dirty. That's how you gotta beat the Abs. You gotta play a little dirty because they're just simply better than you at every single line. It feels like they are very talented. They're almost all in or all in her bust for this team, which I'm excited about because I wanna I wanna parade. I want a parade in Denver. It would be awesome. We haven't had one since twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty three. Which one? Twenty twenty three, right? Thousand nuggets, yeah. And you know, just that feeling of ⁓ those parades was a great ha great for Denver and we're kinda we're hungry, even though it might s might sound like, you know, we take it for granted, but we w we want it and we want it bad. And it feels like all of our teams are trending in the right direction, even if the Rockies are four games below five hundred, you know. PV: Yeah. Big Country: ⁓ yeah. So hopefully the ads can ⁓ start hot and ⁓ stay hot. ⁓ PV: Yeah, Dem Denver certainly feels like the city champions right now. So it'd be it'd be nice to see kind of all the different Colorado teams kinda go far, especially with the two teams that we have in the playoffs at the moment. So a lot of ⁓ a lot of exciting stuff for us to see right now. Big Country: Yeah. And that ⁓ kind of like ⁓ leads us into our last like kinda like segment of the of the day for tonight. ⁓ and that is our beautiful parlay, guys. yeah, let me Pull up my our parlay, guys. Give me one moment. PV: There it is. Big Country: Alrighty. So here's our same gay parley for the Nuggets Timberwolves game Thursday night at eight PM Mountain Standard Time. ⁓ talk me through the your our first pick of the night, Pat. PV: Yeah, I Jamal Murray twenty five points is a pretty safe bet, especially given his performance ⁓ the kind of throughout the series. You know, obviously there's I think been two games where he didn't hit it. One of those was twenty four points or just a point under. ⁓ but he's averaging around thirty one points against Minnesota, and so I think twenty five is definitely a good line to add into this parlay for today. Why don't you take the next one? Big Country: Yeah, Jokic, 20 rebounds plus assists. I mean, Jokic, it feels like this dude is stealing every board on the court, it feels like the past few games. Not to mention he's he almost averages a triple double. This should be this is our one leg that's probably the most sweat free, but it'll probably be the one that we sweat the hardest, unfortunately. but honestly, I don't see Jokic not getting this. I mean, he I mean, especially with Aaron Gordon potentially being out. Even if he's in, he's gonna be on limited minutes and he's probably gonna crack in half in the first half. But I mean Jokic is going to get this line usually at a high rate. But ⁓ talking about Julius Randle twenty five. PV: Yeah. And This one was a I think this one's a pretty easy one, honestly. We've seen Julius Randall haul down rebound after rebound over the last couple of games, a lot of like seven twice, nine once. ⁓ and then obviously the points, ⁓ given that he doesn't have Anthony Edwards or ⁓ Dante Di Vincenzo to help him with a lot of the scoring, he's gonna have to be a big scorer in this game as he showed this past game five. And so I think he's gonna be able to pick on our defense down low and score a lot of those easy buckets like he has been and get a lot of boards to pair for Big Country: Yeah. Yeah, so we got Jaden McFuckin Donald's over here. Fucking clown of the series in Denver's eyes. But this dude, I mean, he plays electric with a lot of electricity, gets in people's faces, and I don't he's been doing this in three out of the four games that he's played in over thirty-three minutes. I don't see him not playing more than that unless the Nuggets blow them out. And Nuggets don't really they haven't blown them out all series. I don't see that happening. I I think it's gonna be a tight one in their house. I think this dude's gonna smash his line, but maybe just the rebounds alone. So and I love this line considering he's hit it three out of the four in those minutes. Non-restricted games. So you know, you put that little twenty-five percent boost, you get it up to plus four seventy four legs. Not sweat free, but certainly something that we could definitely strive for. And ⁓ yeah. I'm liking what I'm seeing from from this. Hopefully we turn into a green slip and go one and ⁓ On our first ⁓ altitude problems parlay of the PV: Absolutely. Big Country: Yeah. And ⁓ one thing I kinda wanna introduce into this show just at the end is our fun fact for altitude ⁓ problems. This is only for ⁓ for Denver, you know, ball knowers, but who was the team to get scored on when cargo hit his walk off cycle? PV: Try to think of this one. I can see it so clearly, but I can't see the other team. I could see the home run happening in my head. I can't see the other team's jerseys. ⁓ I wanna say Big Country: National League team. Fun fact also another like a little additional what did Drew Goodman call him when he rounded the basement rounded the bases? PV: Let's say Was that the little pony? Did he call him the little pony? Yeah, I knew that one. ⁓ I don't know the team. What's the team? ⁓ I you know what's funny? I was gonna say the Chicago White Sox, so I would been kinda close. Big Country: Fuck yeah, it's a little pony. The Chicago Cubs. ⁓ yeah. Yep. But that is our ⁓ little fun fact for for Denver fans. ⁓ and that kinda wraps up our show tonight. Anything else you want to comment on, P V? PV: No, that should be it. Thank you guys for ⁓ joining us. ⁓ obviously no one really joined us, but ⁓ hopefully we get some clips out there and people can kinda start joining our podcast for the future. Big Country: Yeah, definitely. And honestly, just concluding up our ⁓ episode one, we'll be back next week, posting hopefully regularly on Wednesdays at ⁓ twelve PM ⁓ Mount Standard time. But I appreciate everyone anyone that's tuning in. ⁓ we're just getting started. So yeah. Good night. PV: Yeah, absolutely. All right. Good night, everybody.