Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold previews Jaguars @ Broncos with Moser, Lombardi and Kane 9-17-26

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Jeff Legwold previews Jaguars @ Broncos with Moser, Lombardi and Kane 9-17-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's head back out to the Ramos Law Hotline. Car accident,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you need Ramos Law. Medical doctor and attorney, RamosLaw.com. Jeff
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Laywald of ESPN.com joins us every single Thursday. Hello, Leggy.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Morning, fellas.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Your headphones look like they're strangling your throat. Just to
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: let you know.
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  Speaker 2: I have a very big neck.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I'm good.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: It's been established.
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  Speaker 3: Okay. Copy that. Okay.
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  Speaker 4: He looks like he's ready.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Leggy.
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  Speaker 4: Leggy.
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  Speaker 2: Bring it on.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I got to ask you something.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: So.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: What was the worst aspect of the game? Was it
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: just the fundamental lack of wrapping up in tackling, or
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: was it the four three-and-outs in the first six drives
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of the game?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Well, it's hard to pick a winner there, or the loser,
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  Speaker 2: as it were.
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  Speaker 5: I think the thing that sort of red flags me
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  Speaker 5: the most is they just spent an entire off season
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: trying to deal with three and outs. I think they
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: were 29th in the league last year. I think they
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: were 27th the year before. So this isn't a new
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  Speaker 5: issue for them. And just, I thought that the first
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: play from scrimmage, he took a really bad sack immediately.
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  Speaker 5: And that was just like the tone of the offense
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  Speaker 5: for the entire night. I mean, I've, I've always been
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: taught years and years, talked to quarterbacks my whole career,
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: offensive coordinators. I've watched film with these guys. I've always
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: been taught, replace the pressure with the ball. And the
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  Speaker 5: first sack of the game, Bowe's got an unblocked off-ball rusher.
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: And if he just simply flips the ball to Jalen
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  Speaker 5: Waddell behind that rusher, it's a it's a football one-on-one
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  Speaker 5: play and maybe it gets six yards, maybe it gets eight,
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: but it's not a sack on the opening play of
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  Speaker 5: the game. And I thought that just like set the
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  Speaker 5: tone for the whole night that things weren't in sync
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  Speaker 5: because he immediately looks away from replacing the pressure with
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  Speaker 5: the ball, which is what I've always been told you
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  Speaker 5: do and goes back to into where the coverage has
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  Speaker 5: been rotated and he can't find anybody. And the unblocked
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  Speaker 5: rusher is in on him.
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  Speaker 2: So I just thought that offensively.
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  Speaker 5: The three and outs, the lack of commitment to a
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  Speaker 5: run game they talked all offseason about being committed to,
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  Speaker 5: I think those were two really big red flags.
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  Speaker 4: Well, let's just go down the line. Two plays later,
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  Speaker 4: the interception. I was looking at the all 22. And
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  Speaker 4: he could have gone to the left or to the right,
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  Speaker 4: shorter routes that were wide open.
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  Speaker 2: They were open.
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  Speaker 4: And it looked to me, Leggy, that he had his
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  Speaker 4: mind made up before the snap that he's going to
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: go to Cortland Sutton. I don't know if you saw
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: the same thing.
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  Speaker 5: No, and sometimes, Vic, you know, quarterbacks do that. They
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: get the pre-snap and they make a decision. But, you know,
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  Speaker 5: I'm not sure, you know, that play is open. It's
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: an easy undercut. He's not hidden. It's not a hidden defender.
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  Speaker 5: It's not the safety rotating to come in and make
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  Speaker 5: the play. That's the corner who has Cortland simply undercutting
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: him in a rookie, no less.
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  Speaker 1: Like he read it.
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  Speaker 4: He read the play.
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  Speaker 5: No, he knew the route, as good corners do. You know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: corners study. But, you know, and that said, I just
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: think that drive was pretty much, you know, you got–
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  Speaker 5: It's the first drive of the regular season.
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  Speaker 2: You've had the big buildup.
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  Speaker 5: You've, you know, and you go, you know, stack, middling play, interception,
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: and suddenly you're already giving Mahomes the ball, momentum.
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  Speaker 2: The crowd is crazy.
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  Speaker 5: You've done everything you didn't want to do in a
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  Speaker 5: space of like a minute and a half.
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  Speaker 3: Jeff, we talked about this ad nauseum on Tuesday. Ad
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  Speaker 3: nauseum yesterday, a little bit so far today. Andy Reid,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: you knew he wanted to run the football, and he
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  Speaker 3: bashed the Broncos right in the face with it on
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  Speaker 3: that first drive. You know what I mean? I mean...
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  Speaker 3: Walkers had seven carries in the first drive for crying
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  Speaker 3: out loud and Dobbins is in and out and so on. Jeff,
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  Speaker 3: you've got a three and one, a third and one,
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  Speaker 3: and you go, you spread, you go empty five wide
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  Speaker 3: and Brett pointed it out. Four guys were on patterns
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  Speaker 3: way down the field. Troutman's the only one actually set
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  Speaker 3: in a spot. Why not just hand the football off
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  Speaker 3: there and punch him in the mouth and get a yard, Jeff?
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  Speaker 3: Why are we getting too fancy and all this kind
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  Speaker 3: of thing?
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  Speaker 5: It's the same thing we've been talking about for, you know,
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  Speaker 5: a long time here is that this, this desire to
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  Speaker 5: put the quarterback in the gun all the time.
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  Speaker 2: I just don't think it's the move.
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  Speaker 5: And, you know, honestly, you know, and look, I'm not saying,
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  Speaker 5: you know, the Broncos should follow every league trend and
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  Speaker 5: they shouldn't think for themselves.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not saying that at all, but there is a
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  Speaker 2: reason that.
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  Speaker 5: Quarterbacks were under center more in week one than we've
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  Speaker 5: seen in a very long time, 40 some percent of
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  Speaker 5: the snaps under center. And I, you know, I fully admit,
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  Speaker 5: I subscribe to the Shanahan Kubiak. It's tougher on a defense.
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  Speaker 5: If the quarterback's under center, it's also tougher on the
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  Speaker 5: quarterback and, and nobody, I mean, all you got to
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  Speaker 5: do is drive around and watch high school football.
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  Speaker 4: And Everybody's taking the snap.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody's in the gun. Everybody's in the gun.
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  Speaker 5: So you're going to have to teach somebody to do it.
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  Speaker 4: And the reason, Leggy, if you could explain, is because
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  Speaker 4: when you're under center, your eyes come off the field because,
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  Speaker 4: you know, you have to take steps back. When you're
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: in the gun, your eyes are always on the defense,
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  Speaker 4: and it's easier to assess and evaluate. But you're so right.
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  Speaker 4: The lost art of being able to take a snap,
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  Speaker 4: go backwards, and then assess the defense.
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  Speaker 5: Because you're the, the options a defense has to consider
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  Speaker 5: is more under center when a quarterback's under center.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's also.
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  Speaker 5: Easier for the quarterback to get the ball out in
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  Speaker 5: the gun and get completions and all of those things,
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  Speaker 5: pile up yards. I mean, we've seen passing numbers like
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  Speaker 5: we never have with, with quarterbacks in the gun, but
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  Speaker 5: as in terms of, moment-to-moment pressure on a defense, making
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  Speaker 5: a decision, it's much more difficult if a team plays
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  Speaker 5: from under center.
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  Speaker 2: And I'll always believe that.
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  Speaker 5: And, yeah, you know, the only 600-point offense we've ever
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  Speaker 5: seen in league history was here, and the.
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  Speaker 2: Quarterback was in the gun a ton.
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  Speaker 5: But if anyone doesn't think Peyton Manning could go under
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  Speaker 5: center– and run some of the best play action stuff
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  Speaker 5: you've ever seen in your life.
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  Speaker 2: That's just ridiculous. He could do it. He was one
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  Speaker 2: of the best at it.
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  Speaker 5: And I spent countless hours on the practice field watching
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  Speaker 5: him in his, you know, double digit years in the
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  Speaker 5: league practicing play action and selling the fake like nobody
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  Speaker 5: I've seen practice it before or since. So I just,
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  Speaker 5: And I guess I expected more because, and I said
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  Speaker 5: on the show the other day for the afternoon guys,
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  Speaker 5: that I think the thing that I wonder the most
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  Speaker 5: about is they didn't play that game Monday like they
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  Speaker 5: had practiced in camp. So it's sort of like a
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  Speaker 5: decision they obviously made going into the game week. And
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  Speaker 5: I'm curious about that. I've asked lots of people, but
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  Speaker 5: that's not how they practiced in camp.
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  Speaker 2: There was a lot more variety in camp.
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  Speaker 3: It's so interesting that you talk about the gun. I
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  Speaker 3: was watching Joe Montana in his heyday 49ers game about
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  Speaker 3: a week ago. And Jeff, it looks so foreign to me.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you're talking about Montana under center, sprinting back
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  Speaker 3: into seven-step drop, right? And then rifling the ball downfield.
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  Speaker 3: But it just looked, it doesn't look like the same game.
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  Speaker 3: It's just kind of a... it's a weird thing to
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  Speaker 3: go back and watch film from 30, 40 years ago
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  Speaker 3: and the guys under center. And then, you know, what we,
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  Speaker 3: what we've got going on today where everybody's just trying
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  Speaker 3: to be so damn dynamic.
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  Speaker 5: Well, and it's, I mean, it's just easier to move
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  Speaker 5: the ball, you know, quickly to when you're, when you're
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  Speaker 5: going to spread receivers out in that, I'm just saying,
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  Speaker 5: you know, if you're going to, you should have that
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  Speaker 5: card in your.
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  Speaker 2: Deck on offense, I think.
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  Speaker 5: And, and I think if, If you are athletic enough
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  Speaker 5: to play quarterback in the NFL, you're athletic enough to
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  Speaker 5: learn the footwork coming back from center.
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  Speaker 2: Now, it's not easy. I'm not here to tell you
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  Speaker 2: it's easy.
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  Speaker 5: I've had long discussions with people who've played for Mike
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  Speaker 5: and Gary, and there's much different footwork. There's three different
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  Speaker 5: kinds of five-step drops. There's multiple seven-step drops in terms
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  Speaker 5: of depth and timing and where you end up. There's
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  Speaker 5: tons of things there, but I just think it makes
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  Speaker 5: an offense more powerful and more able to, you know,
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  Speaker 5: return the physicality to a defense that you're getting from.
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  Speaker 2: Time to time.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald, ESPN.com. All conversations with Legge are brought to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you by the International Brotherhood. of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local 68.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Start with a job, end with a career. Speaking of career.
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  Speaker 1: What do I make of.
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  Speaker 2: This, Jeff?
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  Speaker 1: Because here's the funny thing. Bo Nix has had virtually
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  Speaker 1: the exact same week one for three straight years. They've
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: all been bad performances in the first week, including multiple
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: turnovers in each of those games, which he doesn't turn
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the ball over too much. But overall, Sean Payton teams
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: don't do well early in the season. And I looked
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: this up. His Hall of Fame quarterback, Drew Brees, over
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the course of his career, had a record of 29-33
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in the month of September. How much does Sean Payton just,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say not care, but is unbothered
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  Speaker 1: by early losses in the season?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I think it would be wrong to say he's
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: not bothered.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't know how else to say it.
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  Speaker 2: It's so consistent.
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  Speaker 1: It's just weird.
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  Speaker 5: I think they, I think Sean and his approach, you know,
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: he runs camp. you know, differently than a lot of
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: teams do his guys play in the preseason.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: You know, we, you know, there could be all sorts of.
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  Speaker 5: Little tiny factors that add up into his September record,
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  Speaker 5: but they, they have spent a lot of time and,
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: and effort about getting off to a better start this year. And,
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: you know, that's obviously not the first step they wanted
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  Speaker 5: to take, but there is something there. You can't deny that.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: It it's, it's been an issue, not an issue, but
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  Speaker 5: it's happened many years before he got to Denver. And
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  Speaker 5: I think he just, he coaches hard and sometimes they,
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: and I think he's more willing to sort of, uh,
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  Speaker 5: kick the tires in September to see what they can
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  Speaker 5: and can't do, uh, and get a, get the information.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: So to back, uh, to, to piggyback on that, um,
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  Speaker 1: are you concerned about how bad the tackling was in
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  Speaker 1: the first week? Or is that a by-product of maybe
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: a training camp in which they didn't bring people to
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  Speaker 1: the ground?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's league wide.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, I, I think you saw every defense we
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: think is going to be good, not be very good
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: week one. I mean, was Houston very good?
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: No, they were not. Nope.
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: They were not. And, uh, you know, I think you
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: can't say that's not going to be a good defense.
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: I don't think I, I just think, uh, You know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: we all watch camp practices and the defense looks ahead
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: of the offense in those practices because they're in the
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: right place.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: But we don't get to see the end of the movie,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: as it were.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: You know, would they have run through that tackle? Was
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: he really squared.
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  Speaker 2: Up in the hole?
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: You know, are the run fits really where they're supposed
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  Speaker 5: to be? You know, and they grade all that stuff.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: when they watched the practice film every day, but it's
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: still different when you're bringing, trying to bring Kenneth Walker
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: to the ground, uh, than if while I was in
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: the hole.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Well, you did make the right move and you, you
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: had the right fit, but we didn't get to see
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: the end of the end of the show as it were. And,
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  Speaker 5: but I do think it was league wide. Now that said, uh,
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: I look back through an awful lot of games. I
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: chart everything and I had them for 19 missed tackles.
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  Speaker 5: And that's the highest number in a very long time
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  Speaker 5: for them. And I think I had four plays where
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: they had two missed tackles on the play.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: All right, real quick, 30 seconds or less. What's the
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: story with Harvey and Mims? Bad, not good. Okay. What
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  Speaker 3: do we think?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I have not seen him yet. You know, I
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: haven't seen him moving around yet. So that's coming later today.
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: So we'll, We'll see. Now, Marvin came back in the
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: game after going to the locker room for a bit. So,
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: you know, it may have been one of those cases
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: where had they been on the field yesterday, they would
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: have just given them the day off to ramp them
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: up slowly. But we'll see today where, you know, if
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: they're working with everybody or if they're on the side
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: field that he no longer wants us to say who's
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: on the side field.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Hey, Jeff, the Jags feel real. They feel On both
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: sides of the ball, they feel real. You've got to
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: win this game, man.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Oh, no. They're the only team to beat the Broncos
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: here last year. So they already know they can do
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: it because they just did it. They're going to have
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: to be much sounder on offense. They've got to be–
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: I think he summed it up after the game Monday,
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: too many throws, not enough runs. Look, no one's advocating
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: for them to run the ball 80% of the time
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: or anything, but they've got to have a little more
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: physical approach.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald, ESPN.com, last thing for you. Take yourself back
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: to when you were a kid. You got a toy
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you really liked on Christmas, and then it needed batteries,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: and you didn't have batteries. That's what I felt like
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: watching Jalen model that first week. It's like, well, I
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: was expecting this new toy to be fun. And between
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: him and Cortland Sutton, it was three catches and what,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: like 15 yards or something. It was nuts. What happened?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's not.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: And that's where I think in game, you've, you've got
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: to just do things just to get the ball in
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: their hands. And if that means leaving, leaving the call sheet,
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: that's what you do. You know, just cause you planned
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: it doesn't mean you got to stick with it. Uh,
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: I just don't think they were very adaptive in the moment. And,
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: you know, Sean hinted at that after the game. And
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: I think they will be a lot smoother this week
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: in that regard.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: You know, now will the plays function any better? Will
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: they get more yards? I can't say that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: But I think they have spent time this week on, okay, we,
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: you know, got to be a little more adaptive and
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: be ready to get off the plan if it's clearly not,
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: getting the ball where you want it.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff Laywell, ESPN.com, joins us every Thursday. Always appreciate it, Lakey.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: See you, fellas.