Latest / The Appetizer Hour with Brett Kane / 9-24-26 - Payton & McDonald respond to VideoGate/Avs - Broncos connection/Sean Payton seems relaxed

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9-24-26 - Payton & McDonald respond to VideoGate/Avs - Broncos connection/Sean Payton seems relaxed · The Appetizer Hour with Brett Kane

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is the Appetizer Hour with Brett Cain on demand.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Check out Brett weekday mornings at 6 on Altitude Sports
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Radio 92.5 and on the Altitude Sports Radio app.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: We spoke.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Listen, he and I are good. Lord knows I've been
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: in his position where, you know, you're talking about something and, um,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: The story is three years ago. Now, I don't know
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Mike at that time, really, but I know Snides really well, John.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: And so I'm sure my initial call to John wasn't pleasant,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: but I would say this. It allowed talking with him.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: It allowed us to figure out how to handle our
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: training camp relative to, you know, just videos and And
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: I don't think anything was intentional by fans. You know
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: what I mean? But at first, you're kind of thinking, man,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: how could it? And then we did some research online
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: of what was available, and that's kind of how we
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: changed our policy. So I've known John for 20 years,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: so it was an easy call to him. Yeah, that's
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: really it.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Sean Payton yesterday, I will say, look, I think this
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: whole thing is really silly. And it's gotten a ton
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: of run now because Mike McDonald had the comment on
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: it yesterday. And I do want to play what he said,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: because it feels like both of these guys are handling
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: this pretty well. I have my own theories towards this.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, one of two things has happened here. You
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: know what? Can we play McDonald's first? So that was
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Sean Payton talking about. He actually has some funny responses
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: afterwards that we can get to. But I also want
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: to hear Michael McDonald's portion of this because he says
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: something that leaves two options on the table. So let's
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: hear Mike McDonald.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: It's something that I didn't intend for public use. But,
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: you know, it just felt like it was the most
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and really just
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: apologize to him for having that end up be public
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: where it wasn't meant to. So I just– and, you know,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: you're kind of something that they have to deal with
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: in real time that wasn't really– you know, on their end.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: So that's, that's really where you're like crap.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: So something that came out public that wasn't really meant to,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: that's what he said. Wasn't really meant. And you put
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: that side by side with the statement yesterday from Graham Bensinger,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: who said, The complete Mike McDonald interview, including the conversation
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: now at issue, was provided to Seahawks PR last Wednesday,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: September 16th, five days before it was published on YouTube.
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  Speaker 2: During that time, no concern was raised about the exchange
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: and we were never asked to remove it. He then
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: goes on to say, maybe I should have left it out, blah, blah, blah.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: One of two things happened here. and I've been going
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: back and forth on which one of these is more likely,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think Graham Bensinger, whose job it is to
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: interview people, to do essentially profile pieces, is going to
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: do this and betray some sort of journalistic trust when
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: his job is based on journalistic trust and release something
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: that was a private conversation, not a public one. Here's
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: what I think happened. I think Mike McDonald thought it
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: made him look cool. And then he saw the reaction,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: and he's like, oh, I guess not. That was a
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: private convo. That's how it feels to me. Now, the
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: reason I do think this is funny, and you can
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: just continue to go through it. Let's go to cut
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: two from Sean Payton here, Nellie. just go down the line.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: His initial thoughts when he found out Seattle was doing something.
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  Speaker 2: At first, at first you thought.
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  Speaker 3: It was not, you didn't, I don't know what the heck.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And then all of a sudden you start realizing like,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: this is all out there. Um, so it helped us
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: to some degree. Look, when I say this, we're pulling
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  Speaker 3: for them except for one game. They're playing our division.
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  Speaker 3: They're in the NFC. Um, like I said, the conversation
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  Speaker 3: last night was good. Um, Have a ton of respect
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  Speaker 3: for him.
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  Speaker 2: I just love the beginning of that. And I want
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  Speaker 2: that on my board. For life. The first reaction of
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  Speaker 2: Sean Payton. Play it again, Nelly. At first you thought
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  Speaker 2: it was not.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know what the heck.
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  Speaker 2: I need that on my board because I will use that.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know what the heck. I will wear that
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  Speaker 2: button out. I will wear that out. But then we
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: can go to, yeah, just the next one. How they
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  Speaker 2: found out what Seattle was doing.
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  Speaker 3: Unimportant. It's really unimportant. And I don't know what time
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: of the year. I know it seems like years ago. Yeah,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: it was a ways ago.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing. Why wouldn't you just say it? How
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: did you find out? My guess is... Somebody told Sean
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that was maybe a media member or something like that.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: And then that got back to him and he doesn't
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: want to give up who the media member was, whatever.
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  Speaker 2: But this whole thing is silly. But there's one more
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  Speaker 2: I want to play. Go ahead, Nelly.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: I didn't know. So obviously I called shooting before I.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Started looking.
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  Speaker 3: And I could only do that with John because, again...
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: He's someone I'll have a beer with at the combine.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: I consider him a good friend. But it was eye-opening
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  Speaker 3: relative to just, all right, we've got to be better
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  Speaker 3: in this area.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I went shooting before I knew what happened. Again, none
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: of this matters. I thought even when this first came out,
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  Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, the only thing that this does
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  Speaker 2: to me It makes McDonald look like kind of a...
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And not even like the taking the practice video stuff.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: It was him saying like he big-dogged him in an elevator.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: It just made him look like a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: a D-bag. That was it. But here's the deal. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: have more important Broncos things to move on to, and
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: it's something that was said by Tyler Poulombis the other day.
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  Speaker 2: He said that Bo Nix has a lot of stuff
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  Speaker 2: on his resume that you can point to that's a positive.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And one of those things is at the end of
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: football games, he has proven that if you give him opportunity,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Bo Nix is going to go out and he's going
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  Speaker 2: to finish a game for you. That's it. If you
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  Speaker 2: go out and give him a shot at the end
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  Speaker 2: of a game, he has proven time and time again
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  Speaker 2: that he is going to go out and make you
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  Speaker 2: pay for it. And that is an excellent quality to
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  Speaker 2: have in a quarterback. There is one thing that Bo
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  Speaker 2: Nix has not proven consistently that he is able to do.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And that is win a football game When your defense
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: plays subpar. And there's a stat that I'll bring you
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: that I think proves this point. It happened more often
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: last year. But out of the what? They were 14
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and three last year with a playoff win. That's 15
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: wins in the year prior to that. They finished the year. 10-7,
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  Speaker 2: that's 25. Is it 26 wins that he has so
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: far now? In total. Only six of those have come
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: when the opponent scores 20 points or more. The record
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: of the Denver Broncos under Bo Nix when your opponent
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: scores 20 points is not great. And that is an issue.
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  Speaker 2: And I can go through even the games that you
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  Speaker 2: won while your opponent scored 20 or more points. I'll
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: tell you how they went. Because they are really odd
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: types of games that you've won. So I said there's
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: been six of these games since Bo Nix has taken over.
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  Speaker 2: The first... came in his rookie season in its win.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: It was a 41-32 win over the Cleveland Browns. And
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: if you guys remember that game, Jameis Winston went out.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: He threw for almost 500 yards in that game, but
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: he also had three interceptions in that game. And I
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  Speaker 2: believe that was the game, Nelly, where it was deliver
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  Speaker 2: me from pick sixes.
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  Speaker 5: I'm just praying for the Lord to deliver me from
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  Speaker 5: pick sixes.
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  Speaker 2: It was that game. Like the Broncos had Nick Benito
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  Speaker 2: had the 71-yard interception return for a touchdown. Jaquan McMillan,
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  Speaker 2: I think, closed the game out with a pick six.
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  Speaker 2: So you got two of those touchdowns on defense when
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  Speaker 2: winning 41-32. You move to last year. Here's some of
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  Speaker 2: the examples. One is the Broncos comeback against the Giants
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  Speaker 2: in which you were down 19 to nothing heading into
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  Speaker 2: the fourth quarter. And you put up 33 points in
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  Speaker 2: a single quarter in the fourth. You beat the Cowboys
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  Speaker 2: 44 to 24, but the Cowboys only got to 24
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  Speaker 2: points because at the end of the game, you were
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  Speaker 2: up by.
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  Speaker 5: 30, what?
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  Speaker 2: No, 27 points. And you basically gifted them a late touchdown.
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  Speaker 2: 27-26 win over the Commanders, but heading into overtime, the
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  Speaker 2: Commanders only had 20 points. The Packers, I think the
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  Speaker 2: best example from last year, because it was a 34-26 win,
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  Speaker 2: and that was one where the Packers had 23 points
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  Speaker 2: with 14 minutes left in the third quarter. Like the
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  Speaker 2: entire second half, that's one where your offense had to
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: keep you in it, and they did. And then finally,
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  Speaker 2: the playoff game. The game against the Bills. Where, yes,
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  Speaker 2: your offense put up 33 points. You won 33 to 30.
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  Speaker 2: But there was also five turnovers in that game that
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: helped you. So all of those games had something weird
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  Speaker 2: that went with it. With the exception of maybe Green Bay.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason why I think that's important and why
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Palomas brings that up is for now, you have a
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  Speaker 2: defense that is really, really good. You have a defense
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  Speaker 2: that you can rely upon, a defense that's going to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: have some standard baseline that they're going to play to
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: every single week. With very few exceptions. Exceptions like the
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  Speaker 2: Chiefs game. But When you move forward and Bo Nix
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  Speaker 2: gets paid $ 55 million a year potentially, all of that money,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: that $ 50 million that you don't owe him right now,
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  Speaker 2: goes to the defensive side of the football to keep
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: guys like Zach Allen and Nick Benito and Pat Sertan
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: and Hufanga and you go down the list. Once you
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: make that payment to the quarterback, you have to give
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  Speaker 2: up some stuff. Look at the Chiefs. They've had to
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: give up on corners repeatedly. They traded Trent McDuffie. They
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: didn't keep Tyreek Hill. They had a really jumbled running
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: back room for a while. There are guys that you
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: make a priority on keeping, guys like Chris Jones, guys
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: like Travis Kelsey. The Bills went through it last year
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: where they had to get rid of a ton of guys.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Because Josh Allen's making a lot of money. If you
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: can't beat teams if they score 20 plus points, at
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: least somewhat consistently, then that all of a sudden becomes
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: a little bit of an issue. And that's why I
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: think this stuff's important. And I think that this year,
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: you'll get no better look than this season on if
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Bo Nix is somebody that's capable of being trusted in
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: a situation like that, considering you're playing against some of
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: the top competition in the sport. And in my opinion,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the top competition in the sport this weekend. So 303-504-0925,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: broadcasting from the Backus & Shanker Studios, serious lawyers for
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: the seriously injured. More I want to discuss on this subject,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: because it's not just about Bo, it's about everybody else.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: And the closer we get to this game, this primetime
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: matchup against a very, very good football team, what are
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: the most important things you need to see? We'll get
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: to it in just a couple minutes. The Avs are
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: back in less than a week with a full season
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: of great nights at Ball Arena ahead, including one of
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the most meaningful nights of the year, Hockey Fights Cancer,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: on November 7th. You can get your tickets now at ColoradoAvalanche.com
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: slash tickets.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: But.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Now is a chance to win a pair to opening
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: night on the 30th. If you text Parker in your
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: first and last name to 303-504-0925. Who told you that?
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: That is Parker in your first and last name as
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: it is in Av's ticket to Thursday. We'll be giving
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: away keywords on the 20s all day, every show, having
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: a pair of tickets to give away. But again, that
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: keyword for this hour is Harker.
• 15:36
  Speaker 6: And I don't believe it's in reference to where Mosher lives.
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: I believe it's in reference to... Well, butter my butt
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: and call me a biscuit!
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Parker Kelly. So, a couple things here. Again, in evaluating
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: what I think you need to see from Bo Nix.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: When you play a game against the Super Bowl favorites,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: and that's what the Rams are right now, they had
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: that in both of these teams, you crumple up their
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: week one into a tight, firm ball. You throw it
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: in a toilet and you flush it and never think
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: about it again. Because I think in both cases, the
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Broncos and Rams first week of the season, you had
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: two examples of teams that the games were so out
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: of character. I don't think it had any bearing on
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: what the rest of their seasons look like. For the Rams,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: it was a case of maybe you made a mistake
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: on when you got to Australia for your game. In
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: the case of the Broncos, you couldn't tackle. And because
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: you couldn't tackle, you lost. But you know how to tackle. So,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: all of that is, I think, a reason to just
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: throw things out the window and not think about them again,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: at least in that first week. Now, the Broncos in
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: the second week looked like the exact team that we've
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: come to know over the last calendar year. which is
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: slow start, great finish, do enough to result in a win.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: When playing against a team like the Rams, I don't
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: know if that's going to be enough. I think you
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: need to have a pretty tip-top game from beginning to end.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: There are just things that they can do that they'll
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: make you pay. And I'll just give you an example
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: here going back to last year. Point totals scored by
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: the Rams from week seven on. 35, 34, 42, 21, 34, 28, 45, 41, 37, 24, 37.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Then you get to the playoffs, 34, 20, and 27.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: And last week they scored 28. If you go into
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: a fourth quarter against them having only six points, you're
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: going to be in trouble. And that's where, again, the
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: emphasis on this, and maybe part of the reason for
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: the frustration and angst that I felt Tuesday after the
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Broncos win on Monday night was... When you spend an
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: entire offseason trying to improve on something and that thing
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: is not improved, it's frustrating. Even if it comes in success.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And I'll give you guys a perfect example. Last year,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: the Avs were the best team in hockey from start
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: to finish. Beginning of the season, end of the season,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: into the postseason, and then the series against Vegas happened.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: But everything prior to that Vegas series led your eyes,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: your mind, your everything to believe this is the best
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: team the sport has to offer. And in the middle
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: of that, Nelly, you answer this question for me. Everything
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that indicated Avs' best team in hockey, won the most
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: games in hockey, did it consistently, did it dominantly, Was
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: there something that Ash fans constantly complained about despite the winning? Well,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: we had a running bid.
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: On this show where you made me calculate the power
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: play percentage and until... American hero Brock Nelson won a
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: gold medal and then came back until post the Olympics.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: They didn't figure out their power play. And that's the
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: only reason that I have that Leroy Jenkins thing, because
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: I would say that their power play percentage was like 15%.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Repeating, of course, percentage of survival.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: It's a lot better than we usually do.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: But you nailed it, Nelly. It's, you know, everybody that
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: got on me on Tuesday for being a little bit
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: That it wasn't a 100% all sunshine and rainbow show
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: was because I saw the same flaws that I saw
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: last year that I thought could have been a problem. Now, again,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: the biggest argument you can have against me, and you
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: would win this one, because the evidence is to your side, despite...
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: It's like somebody has proven to me that 2 plus
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: 2 does not equal 4. And I'm just, my mind
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: refuses to accept it. I didn't think what you were doing,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: that style of winning, was going to be sustainable, and
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: last year it was. So you could say that to
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: me until you're blue in the face, and you would
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: be absolutely right. I just don't know how else. I
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: can't get my mind wrapped around it. But we did
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: the same thing last year. With the Avalanche, they kept winning.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: And when people would, would text in and gripe about
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: power play percentage, I wouldn't tell you, shut up. They're winning.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Why are you being, I was like, yeah, that's a problem.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: We asked Bednar every week. Hey, what's going on with
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: the power play? Because it's a problem. Despite the fact
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: that you win.
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: And I love that you guys were always like, I
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: don't want to do this, but I have to do this.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Hey coach.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: It's the 20th week we're asking you this. How are
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: you feeling about the power play?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: But why did we ask that question? Why did we
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: repeatedly go to that well? It's because you knew in
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: the playoffs, special teams and specifically power play, when you
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: were given a man advantage, it very well could be
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: the difference between winning and losing postseason games. But I
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: think the same way towards the Broncos... And how their
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: offense operates early in games is you will run into situations,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: especially now with a better schedule, in which if you
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: do that, you won't have the opportunity to come back
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: because these teams won't allow you to do it. And
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: that's why it is, to me, pointing out flaws while
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: winning is a very healthy thing. In fact, it's the
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: best way to go about correcting things. Still having success
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: while still not executing on pretty important parts of what
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: a winning formula is. It's great. But yeah, it's not...
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: I don't think that you can confuse that for somehow
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: being negative towards something. And again, to me, if you
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: just kind of want to whistle by the graveyard and
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: not acknowledge some of the stuff, you know, how about this?
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: In much the same way, and I think the Avs
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: power play is a really good comparison for another reason.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: The power play dating back two years ago was starting
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to drop off. starting to struggle. You fired your special
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: teams coach, you brought somebody else in to try and
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: fix that, and then the next year, it continued to
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: have the same issues. And why I'm pointing this out is,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: you make a change at offensive play collar. You do
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: some subtle changes to try and fix those things. You
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: say all offseason, hey, our priority is to try and
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: start faster. We have to start faster. And through two weeks,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: it looks the exact same. And in week one, worse.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: So again, I think pointing these things out are, it's healthy.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Texter says, speaking of the abs, what do you think
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: about Biz's comments? Nelly, could you pull this up for me?
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Biz is, and I think the spit and chiclets guys are,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: first of all, incredibly entertaining. But, Secondly, they know what
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: they're talking about. And we just had a clip not
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: too long ago of Ryan Whitney that was saying that
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what they paid McCarr, they were going
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: to underpay him. And it's kind of what we were
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: talking about the entire time. There's no alternative to the
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: McCarr contract. What McCarr wants, he gets. Because if the
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: alternative is he's not an Av anymore, that's stupid. And
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: everybody at Ballerina and in the Avs organization knew that.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And Cale knew it. But as far as overall, what
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: is this team? I think it's fair to question some
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: things that you lost this offseason. And that's something that
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Biz did a couple days ago.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: I don't think they're nearly as good as last regular season.
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: And if anything, I kind of want to poke the
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: bear a little bit here. You look at what they
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: have listed on the second line. Like, Kadri did not
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: look like the Kadri we saw when they won the
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: Stanley Cup when they brought him back. I would hope
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: that he had a good offseason and is coming in
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: fully healthy and ready to go.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Brock Nelson.
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: Struggled in playoffs. I think he's left a lot more
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: to be desired since coming over. Like, I believe in him.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: He helped win the gold medal for Team USA. I
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: think he's an incredible player. Just would like to see
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: a little bit more. And then on that line, they
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: have right now land a scog and he's no spring
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: chicken either. Like this team's getting a little bit old
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: up front and even on the back end to some degree,
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: like they got Burnsy back there. Like he's played 1800 games. He,
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, we talked about landing McDonald. He started playing
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: when Lenny was finishing up. That's how old the Ram
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: burns is. So I agree. I like that Schwartz move.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: I think he's a bit of a honey badger and
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: he brings that like Lekanen type mentality, a cup experience
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: and He'll play physical. I think that there's still some
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: question marks on this bottom six. I think we all
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: know what we're going to get from that top line
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: and how they're going to be zipping up and down
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: the ice and a hundred points here, a hundred points there.
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: Obviously like the goaltending tandem, I think the back end
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: with that top pairing solid, I'm less impressed with this
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: group up front than I was to begin the season
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: last year. And I wouldn't be shocked if they're, they're
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: like middle of the pack in the central. Like I
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: could see them getting the second or even third spot
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: in the division, but I don't know what they have
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: as far as cap space. I don't know what they
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: have as far as prospects where they can make a
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: move at the deadline.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: 11 million bucks.
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Okay. Because I look at this roster right now and
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: I don't see a Stanley Cup winning team. I agree
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: with you. I think they were better last year and
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: that was their chance.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I think that's totally fair for right now. I think
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: that's a totally fair assessment. I mean, you went out.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You lost a couple of big guys. I mean, I
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: know Val wasn't quite the same. over the last couple
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: of years as he was maybe when you were in
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: the middle of that cup run, but there is a
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: certain level to the abs where, I mean, I brought
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: this up before. I think a big reason why Joe
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Sackick has decided to stay on as GM right now
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: and not look for somebody to take over that job
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: so we can go back up to the president's job
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: is because I think they know that they're about to
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: see the end of this iteration of the Avs. And
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: it does kind of feel like you're making a last
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: sort of run at this. You look at some of
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: the ages of guys on the roster. Now, here's the
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: beauty of where the Avs are at. Because you have
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Kael McCarr, and because you have Nathan McKinnon, you're going
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: to be in the mix, playoff mix, every year that
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: those guys are going to be in an Avs sweater.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: In much the same way that I don't think anybody
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: would look at the Nuggets and say they're as talented
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: now as they were when they won the championship. But
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: as long as you have Nikola Jokic, you're going to
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: be in the playoffs and in the championship mix. Now,
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: how great of an opportunity that you have, that's all relative. Now,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: at the same time, the Avs are the favorites in
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: the Western Conference. And I think they should be. But
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I think you see that there is a finite closing
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: of a window with this current core group. And Joe
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Sackick is staying in that chair because he wants to
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: be the guy that shepherds him through it. Could I
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: see the Avs winning a Stanley Cup this year? Absolutely,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: I could. I could. They need a lot of things
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: to go right for them, though. Obviously, the health department
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: is one of them. They need improvement in the power
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: play department. They have a lot of stuff that they
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: need to go their way. I still think they're in. very,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: very good position. But the question is, how much longer
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: is that going to be able to last? And I
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: think if people assess the abs and look at them
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: and say, hmm, well... I see a few holes. Well, yeah,
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: of course. I think we all kind of see it.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: It's just a matter of do you have enough to
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: overcome some of that? Can you get some of these
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: guys that maybe are less heard of that can step
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: up into bigger roles? And to me, the season comes
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: down to a couple of really simple things outside the
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: obvious ones of health and goaltending and stuff like that.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: If you can get Brock Nelson to take a big
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: step forward, Production-wise, it would be huge. I mean, to me,
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: that's a big one. When you have, the Avs have
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: been looking forever for a second-line center that can take
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: things over, and ironically, Kadri was the last guy to
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: do it. Now he's back on the roster, but he
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: is going to be 36 in a couple weeks. But
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: you need to have a few things, and I think
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Brock Nelson is one. an improvement in the power play.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: If you get back to Hummond somewhere in that top
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: 10 range, it does really feel like this team kind
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: of has everything else. But if you don't, it can
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: just leave you with a big void of production that's
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: missing that can cost you. So we can get back
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: to this in a little bit.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: 303-504-0925.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Reminder to you guys, the keyword for this hour is Parker,
• 31:23
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• 31:26
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• 31:29
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• 31:36
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• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Sean Robinson's on your fantasy team, but either way, We've
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• 31:46
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  Speaker 2: get to here as we roll along. We're inching towards
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: a big-time matchup between the Broncos and the Rams. Sunday
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: night football. Chad Brown's going to join us at 740
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: this morning. Stick around. It's your anniversary, isn't it? Oh, wait,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: is it on here? Let's hear it. I need to
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: have isn't it be thrown into my vernacular. It's your birthday,
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: isn't it? What is that? I-Z-N-I-T? Is that how you
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: do that?
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: One word.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Isn't it? Isn't it?
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: Um....
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: So, few things here. As we continue to roll along,
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: we have a gigantic slate of games coming your way
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: this weekend. Like, Saturday and Sunday are loaded. Hawaiian-Wyoming is
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: going to be on AM 950 at 1 o'clock. We
• 33:00
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• 33:04
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• 33:07
  Speaker 2: at 5.30. And Rapids and Galaxy at 8.30. That's just
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: on Saturday. Then we have Chargers-Bills in the morning on Sunday.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: We have Seahawks-Commanders on AM 950 in the morning. We
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: have Ravens and Cowboys in Brazil on AM 950. There's
• 33:22
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• 33:25
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• 33:31
  Speaker 5: LA.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: LA.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Altitude Sports Radio loves football. That's right.
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: So....
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Couple things here when it comes to... Look, when you're
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: trying to win in the NFL and your team has
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: some flaws, some flaws, what you can't have is those
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: start to spiral out of control and then it turns
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: into a lack of confidence. And I will say, in
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: listening to Sean Payton yesterday, maybe this is wrong, But
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: I do feel like, and you guys correct me here,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: Sean Payton seems like very comfortable at the podium now
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: in a way that he wasn't over the past few years.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know if not being part of like installing
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: the game plan by himself, not by himself, but he's
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: the guy in charge of it, has taken a little
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: bit of pressure off him. I don't know if like
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: being the overseer of the organization has has led him
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: to be a little bit more, I don't know if
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: understanding is the right word, but just not as salty
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: during some of these press conferences. But I do believe
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: that whatever happened last week for the Broncos offense, getting
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: the win, getting a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: finding a little bit of momentum, especially with how the
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: game started. I mean, you get to the one-yard line,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: you can't punch it into the end zone. The next
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: time you're in the red zone, you throw an interception,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: you come away with no points. And you saw the
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: reaction of Davis Webb where it was like he was
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: rightfully angry as hell. But when the game ended and
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Sean Payton went over to Davis Webb on the sideline,
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: kind of gave him a power pat. And you saw
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: a weight that was lifted off the shoulders of Davis Webb.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: I do think that that can carry momentum into this week.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: And that can lead to maybe a better and let's
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: say more comfortable start. But the Broncos do have one issue.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: They had three running backs going into this year that
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: they trusted and they liked. And that was J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: and Jonah Coleman. Problem is, all three of those guys
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: are on the injury report. Jonah Coleman now dealing with
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: a sprained ankle now did participate in a very small
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: portion of practice from a couple of days ago. He's
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: listed as a DNP yesterday, but you look at R.J.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Harvey and J.K. Dobbins, they were both limited in practice.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: All three of your running backs that were going to
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: get some play and some run, because they use all
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: three of them, are dealing with something. A hip for Dobbins,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: a hamstring for Harvey, an ankle for Jonah Coleman. If
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: you want to commit to running the football, and we
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: saw this last year, and I think it'll be different
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: with Davis Webb. First week obviously was not. Second week was.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Making a commitment to running the football means trusting it
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: even if negative or nothing plays happen. And it's a
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: lot harder to do that when you don't have the
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: full stable of people that you want running the football
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: running the football. If you have, you know, Tyler Bidet
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: as your number one option heading into this game against
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: the Rams, that is going to, I think naturally and understandingly,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: if you're calling plays, you're probably not thinking, well, let's
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: go to the run. Let's defer to the run over
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: the pass. even though we're on our fourth string running back.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think anybody wants to operate in that world.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: But against the Rams, there has to be a strong
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: commitment to running the football because if nothing else, you
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: got to be able to wear some time off the clock.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: It has to happen. You have to keep time of
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: possession somehow in your favor. You have to be able
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: to get yourself in third and manageable positions. And the
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Broncos did that, you know, actually last week they did
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: it to a decent extent. They were okay in that department.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: They just weren't able to finish when the drives and
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: the plays mattered the most. But not having any one
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: of those three or, God forbid, multiple of those three
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Would be a real hindrance towards, I think, the commitment
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: to being like, we really need to establish the run here.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Because you don't have your horses to do it. You know,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: the Rams are dealing with their own thing. The updates
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: here that you've seen from Sean McVay about Puka Nakua
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: and his status. He's being pretty cagey about it. A
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: quote from a couple days ago was, if he's ready
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: to go, great. If not, then we'll continue to roll him.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: But they have Devontae Adams in their back pocket that
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: they can go to when they need to. They have
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: multiple running backs that they trust in the backfield. They
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: have like five different tight ends that they use. They
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: have ways to get around that. You just hope, and
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: I really hope that Jonah Coleman gets healthy and ready
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: to go for Sunday night because I thought he earned
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: the opportunity to get some real run and see what
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: sort of hay he can make. The way he finished
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: that game, a couple of big runs to ice a
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: football game, like those are, I don't think people have
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: truly given credit to him in the offensive line for that.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: That is a situation where the opposing team knows you're
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: going to run the football and you're just lining them up,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: my best versus your best, and you are able to capitalize.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: you were able to win that battle. And I think
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: that's a huge compliment to both Jonah Coleman and the
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: offensive line. And I want to see if that can
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: continue going into this weekend. But if he is too
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: hurt to go at the ankle, then you hope that J.K.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: Dobbins and or R.J. Harvey are ready to go. Because
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: you have to be able to establish the run. We
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: talk about this a lot, but teams that go out
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: and even if you have elite quarterback play, those teams
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: run the football. The Rams had 28 runs to 31
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: passes last week. I think that's the exact same number
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: as what the Broncos had. We've obviously seen what the
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Chiefs have done now that they've gotten Kenneth Walker out there.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: The Bills run the ball with James Cook a ton.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson has Derrick Henry. You see that even though
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: you have elite quarterback play, you need to be able
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: to trust the run game, because it helps open everything
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: else up. And it's sort of hand-in-hand. Running game helps
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Jalen Waddell get open. Jalen Waddell getting open and hitting
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: passes downfield helps those safeties back up and then helps
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: the running game. It all is kind of cohesive together.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: But bottom line is, pray to God that at least
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: two of these guys are good to go in the backfield,
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: because you are going to need them. You want to
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: beat the Rams, you have to effectively Run the football.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: And if you cannot do that, and you combine and
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: mix in three and outs, and you give Stafford the
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: football over and over and over again, bet your bottom dollar,
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford will have three, four touchdowns by the end
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: of this game, and that's probably too much to overcome.
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: So, 303-504-0925.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Thursdays on Altitude Sports Radio are powered by the Wilhite
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• 41:52
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• 41:58
  Speaker 2: Chad Brown is going to be on with us at
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: 740 this morning. Jeff Legwald is going to be on
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: at 9 o'clock. We'll get a full sort of recap
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: from last week, what went well, what went wrong. In
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: the Broncos win over the Jags and then a preview
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: of what's going to happen this weekend on Sunday Night
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Football as they take on the Super Bowl favorites at
• 42:18
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• 42:22
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