Latest / The Appetizer Hour with Brett Kane / 11-09-26 - Broncos beat Panthers 26-21/NFL Trade Deadline tomorrow/Wins in 16 consecutive one-score games

Transcript

11-09-26 - Broncos beat Panthers 26-21/NFL Trade Deadline tomorrow/Wins in 16 consecutive one-score games · 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 bread weekday mornings at six on altitude sports radio,
0:11
Speaker 1: 92 five and on the altitude sports radio app.
0:19
Speaker 2: It's a rally house football Monday. A crazy weekend. It
0:25
Speaker 2: was with a fill with a whole bunch of dubs.
0:27
Speaker 2: That's the good thing. Um, The Broncos once again win
0:31
Speaker 2: a one-score game that takes their streak of 16 consecutive
0:39
Speaker 2: games that were decided by one score being wins for
0:42
Speaker 2: the Broncos, which also means that is an NFL record.
0:47
Speaker 2: Heading into this game, what I kind of thought about
0:52
Speaker 2: what this game was going to look like would be
0:55
Speaker 2: very similar to the games that took place in the past,
0:59
Speaker 2: which is you're the better football team. You're a team
1:09
Speaker 2: that when you have to make a play, you seem
1:11
Speaker 2: to make a play, but you aren't a team that
1:13
Speaker 2: wins easy. And once again, just to share a message
1:19
Speaker 2: that was taking place as I was talking to DMACC
1:21
Speaker 2: on the pregame show, He said, what do you think
1:24
Speaker 2: happens here? And I talked about it has all the
1:26
Speaker 2: classic earmarks of a trap game. It did kind of
1:29
Speaker 2: feel that way for a minute. But I think ultimately
1:35
Speaker 2: there's two reasons why I think the Broncos win. Number one,
1:38
Speaker 2: they just don't lose the teams that they are favored against.
1:40
Speaker 2: They beat teams who they are better than. And number two,
1:46
Speaker 2: I think the game is going to be close because
1:48
Speaker 2: every game with the Broncos is close. And Mosher texts
1:52
Speaker 2: me in the middle of me saying that, saying, stop
1:54
Speaker 2: being a wuss. They're going to roll. Early in that game,
1:59
Speaker 2: first drive, field goal, take it all the way down
2:01
Speaker 2: to the goal line. You take a stupid delay a
2:03
Speaker 2: game penalty that takes you back to the eight-yard line,
2:06
Speaker 2: and then you're forced to kick a field goal. Good drive,
2:10
Speaker 2: set up by a good kickoff return, but you're like,
2:14
Speaker 2: all right. Don't like the very end of the drive,
2:18
Speaker 2: but everything that preceded it, Was good offense. Then your
2:23
Speaker 2: next drive. 10 plays. 81 yards. Touchdown. 10-0 lead. Bo
2:29
Speaker 2: Nix pushing the ball downfield. Getting pass interference calls because
2:33
Speaker 2: he's throwing to Cortland Sutton one-on-one. Hitting guys over the
2:36
Speaker 2: middle of the field. Good things are happening. And then,
2:42
Speaker 2: three and out. You get a missed field goal out
2:45
Speaker 2: of that with Carolina. So the game stays 10-0. And
2:50
Speaker 2: then when it kind of started to shift, it was
2:52
Speaker 2: about right here. So what happens? You once again have
2:58
Speaker 2: a good drive going. Bo Nix throws the rare interception.
3:04
Speaker 2: This time inside the red zone. And I'll be honest,
3:07
Speaker 2: my first thought with you is good play by the defense.
3:10
Speaker 2: Not a great throw from Bo Nix. I'm dead serious.
3:14
Speaker 2: I'm kind of happy he made the throw. I'm happy
3:18
Speaker 2: he attempted it. The willingness to go out and make
3:24
Speaker 2: some of the throws that he made in that game,
3:26
Speaker 2: I think we're encouraging. But then Carolina scores a touchdown.
3:31
Speaker 2: You get a field goal to make it 13-7. They
3:33
Speaker 2: open up the second half with another touchdown, and you
3:36
Speaker 2: start thinking to yourself, uh-oh, now what? Your ensuing drive
3:43
Speaker 2: goes kind of nowhere. And then once again, Carolina's on
3:48
Speaker 2: the march. They're up one. They push it all the
3:52
Speaker 2: way inside the five-yard line and then down to the one.
3:59
Speaker 2: And the craziest pick that could ever pick happens. Throw
4:05
Speaker 2: in the end zone. Balls popped up in the air.
4:08
Speaker 2: Nobody really moves because they think it hits the ground.
4:11
Speaker 3: No.
4:12
Speaker 2: It stays off the hand of a Carolina player and
4:17
Speaker 2: ends up In the hands of Devon Key. The call
4:26
Speaker 2: is reversed, and then the Broncos do what the Broncos
4:29
Speaker 2: always do, which is, what's that? Did we get lucky
4:33
Speaker 2: on something late in a football game? Guess what happens
4:36
Speaker 2: to you now? Your face goes in the dirt. I mean,
4:39
Speaker 2: that's it. Everything in these one-score games always comes down
4:45
Speaker 2: to one weird or stupid kind of play, and the
4:49
Speaker 2: Broncos from there on out just Take off and never
4:52
Speaker 2: look back. Now, you did have to get a stop
4:56
Speaker 2: at the end of a game. Carolina had the ball
4:58
Speaker 2: at the minute 49 left, down five, a chance to
5:01
Speaker 2: go down and win it. But what happens? Your defense,
5:06
Speaker 2: despite the fact they're on the field for a long time,
5:09
Speaker 2: makes the play. Nick Benito, strip sack, ball game. It's
5:16
Speaker 2: a very, I think that's a sneaky, really good win. Carolina,
5:22
Speaker 2: you guys saw it. That team is capable of moving
5:25
Speaker 2: the football at a pretty high level. They got some
5:28
Speaker 2: really talented guys in that roster. Bryce Young, I think,
5:32
Speaker 2: has an immense amount of ability that's just not put
5:36
Speaker 2: together consistently at times, but he had a great game.
5:39
Speaker 2: They can run the football with Chuba Hubbard. How about
5:44
Speaker 2: a blast from the past? Darren Waller looking like he
5:46
Speaker 2: was playing back in 2019 again. Pre-rap Darren Waller showed up.
5:55
Speaker 2: But that's a talented team. Not a very good defense.
5:59
Speaker 2: You moved the football all right. Again, I think you're
6:04
Speaker 2: taking baby steps each week into what the offense can
6:08
Speaker 2: slash should be on a week-to-week basis. There's one problem.
6:16
Speaker 2: Everybody mentioned this, and it is, What was supposed to
6:22
Speaker 2: happen against this Carolina defense? You were supposed to be
6:26
Speaker 2: able to class run the football. And I tried telling
6:37
Speaker 2: you guys like Carolina's rush defense isn't great, but their
6:41
Speaker 2: numbers are highly skewed from that weird game that they
6:43
Speaker 2: played against Tampa where Tampa just didn't throw the ball. Um,
6:49
Speaker 2: End of the day, Jonah Coleman has 17 carries for
6:52
Speaker 2: 57 yards and a touchdown. Once again, I thought Coleman
6:56
Speaker 2: looked perfectly competent, but the longest run of the day
7:00
Speaker 2: from him was nine yards. J.K. Dobbins had four for 18.
7:06
Speaker 2: I think this team needs a running back, and I
7:09
Speaker 2: think that this week proved it. If not all the
7:12
Speaker 2: other weeks prior to this, but if you were hanging
7:14
Speaker 2: on to the fact that you think that Jonah Coleman...
7:16
Speaker 2: is going to be the savior of your run game,
7:19
Speaker 2: first of all, I thought that was a little bit foolhardy.
7:22
Speaker 2: Second of all, well, even if he is, what happens
7:25
Speaker 2: if he goes down? At a crucial point in the calendar, like,
7:27
Speaker 2: I don't know, playoff time. There's a lot of things
7:34
Speaker 2: I really liked about that game. This is, by the way,
7:36
Speaker 2: do not confuse this. This is not a complaint. I
7:39
Speaker 2: think that's a good win. I thought your offense looked fine.
7:41
Speaker 2: I thought Bo Nix looked fine. Each week, I think
7:44
Speaker 2: this offense has taken a step forward and forward and forward,
7:47
Speaker 2: which is what they do every year. They start the
7:49
Speaker 2: season off terribly, and as the season progresses, they get better,
7:53
Speaker 2: and that's what you want to see out of your offense.
7:57
Speaker 2: It's better than the opposite. It's better than starting the
8:00
Speaker 2: year great and then falling off a cliff. But all
8:07
Speaker 2: I'm pointing out is.
8:11
Speaker 2: You've established... You are playoff team, okay? Broncos, playoff team.
8:19
Speaker 2: Broncos division winners, maybe, probably. Broncos number one in the
8:24
Speaker 2: AFC overall, maybe. I don't want to be in the
8:30
Speaker 2: same position that they were last season, which is we
8:38
Speaker 2: make it to the AFC championship game And a snow
8:44
Speaker 2: squall comes in. Broncos don't have a running back they trust.
8:49
Speaker 2: And their quarterbacks hurt. You know what I mean? Like,
8:52
Speaker 2: you just don't want to be in that spot. You
8:55
Speaker 2: got to learn from what happened last year. And I
8:57
Speaker 2: think what happened was you learned that the depth in
9:00
Speaker 2: that running back room was not something that was good
9:05
Speaker 2: enough heading into postseason last year. So now, it's time
9:17
Speaker 2: we are. I don't know what, what is the actual
9:20
Speaker 2: deadline time? Yeah. Like 3 PM mountain tomorrow or something
9:25
Speaker 2: like that for the trade deadline. Um, Jonathan Taylor has
9:29
Speaker 2: essentially given away his, his, he gave his goodbye speech
9:34
Speaker 2: post game after the, the Colts who lost again. Why?
9:38
Speaker 2: Cause Daniel Jones stinks. Um, But he gave his salute,
9:46
Speaker 2: his farewell. I just, I don't see any excuse for
9:53
Speaker 2: why you wouldn't make a move. Again, would it be
9:58
Speaker 2: great if it was Jonathan Taylor? Of course not. Does
10:00
Speaker 2: it have to be? Of course not. But it's got
10:02
Speaker 2: to be somebody. You have to get someone else in
10:05
Speaker 2: that room. Texas says this team needs interior O-line help
10:14
Speaker 2: in such a bad way. Forget trading for running back.
10:17
Speaker 2: They need trade for offensive line help. Here's the problem.
10:22
Speaker 2: That just doesn't happen at the deadline. Offensive linemen don't
10:25
Speaker 2: get flipped. They don't. That's an off-season free agency thing.
10:32
Speaker 2: That's something like that. Very rarely do you get the
10:34
Speaker 2: situation where offensive linemen are traded in mid-season. I mean, again,
10:39
Speaker 2: Indianapolis was in a unique spot. If they had Quentin Nelson,
10:42
Speaker 2: they traded him. But the other thing is any offensive
10:46
Speaker 2: lineman worth their salt, if you're going to make that trade,
10:51
Speaker 2: probably comes with a heftier price tag. And I know
10:56
Speaker 2: that you guys are saying, I'm starting to think it's
10:57
Speaker 2: less our running backs and more of a blocking thing.
10:59
Speaker 2: When there are holes, they gain five plus. I don't know, man. Like,
11:04
Speaker 2: You're right. Blocking is a huge part of the running game.
11:08
Speaker 2: You have to create holes. There are... I'll put it
11:12
Speaker 2: like this. The easiest way to fix that is not
11:15
Speaker 2: revamping two positions on the offensive line. It's having a
11:18
Speaker 2: running back who kind of makes the holes himself. Good
11:22
Speaker 2: running backs do that. I'm sorry. Great running backs do that.
11:32
Speaker 2: I don't think... Like, honestly, you think that a guy
11:40
Speaker 2: like Jonathan Taylor comes here and he averages three yards
11:43
Speaker 2: a carry? Or Derek Henry? I don't think so. You
11:55
Speaker 2: have running backs who are okay. But at the end
11:59
Speaker 2: of the day, go ahead. If you don't want to
12:01
Speaker 2: take the big swing for one of those guys, just
12:03
Speaker 2: get somebody else in that room. Sean Payton usually likes
12:10
Speaker 2: to run, you know, three running backs deep. He barely
12:12
Speaker 2: ran two in that last game. Jonah Coleman got 17 carries.
12:16
Speaker 2: I mean, they said, without saying, this is really the
12:20
Speaker 2: only guy I want to give the ball to right now.
12:22
Speaker 2: I think that changes when R.J. Harvey comes in, but
12:25
Speaker 2: that changes more the pass game than the run game.
12:29
Speaker 2: It was nice to see Bo Nix spreading the ball
12:32
Speaker 2: around a little bit. I mean, you had five different
12:36
Speaker 2: receivers with at least three catches on the day. Bryant,
12:40
Speaker 2: welcome back to the lineup. I thought he was awesome
12:42
Speaker 2: in his return. He got himself a touchdown, four catches
12:45
Speaker 2: for 56 yards. Cortland Sutton had five catches, but he
12:48
Speaker 2: was targeted a bunch, which led to a lot of
12:50
Speaker 2: pass interference calls. Jalen Waddell made that one great catch
12:54
Speaker 2: and then just got blown up. I mean, almost as
12:58
Speaker 2: obvious a concussion as you're going to see. But you
13:01
Speaker 2: even got the ball to Evan Ingram, who had four catches.
13:04
Speaker 2: Troy Franklin, who had four. Again, I thought the offense
13:09
Speaker 2: was fine. Was it great? No, I don't know if
13:12
Speaker 2: it's ever going to be great. The nice thing is
13:15
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be. But they did what they
13:19
Speaker 2: were supposed to do. They moved the ball well enough.
13:22
Speaker 2: They converted on third down really well. They pushed the
13:26
Speaker 2: ball over the middle of the field. They kind of
13:29
Speaker 2: did everything except for what? Turn the ball over once
13:33
Speaker 2: and in the red zone, it was a little bit murky.
13:38
Speaker 2: But I am far from expecting perfection out of this roster,
13:43
Speaker 2: or at least out of this offense. Good enough is
13:48
Speaker 2: what you need. So 303-504-0925. November is Hockey Fights Cancer Month.
13:55
Speaker 2: Vitalant and the Avs are teaming up in the fight
13:59
Speaker 2: against that. Schedule a blood donation at any Vitalant donation
14:02
Speaker 2: center or blood drive using the Colorado Avalanche virtual blood
14:07
Speaker 2: drive link. And anybody who donates has a chance to
14:10
Speaker 2: win a team sign stick or a Josh Manson sign stick.
14:14
Speaker 2: You can get signed up by talent.org slash hockey fights
14:18
Speaker 2: cancer for more info and to schedule that blood donation
14:21
Speaker 2: as a giant portion of blood donations are used directly
14:24
Speaker 2: in the fight against cancer. So sign up at that
14:26
Speaker 2: link by talent.org slash hockey fights cancer. A lot to
14:30
Speaker 2: get to from over the weekend. Continue a little bit
14:32
Speaker 2: of this Broncos discussion. But how about the winning trifecta
14:35
Speaker 2: that was? Broncos, Avs, and Nuggets. We'll get to all
14:39
Speaker 2: of it as we go along. Stick around.
14:40
Speaker 4: Can we not smoke in here? Please. Oh, you're not smoking.
14:46
Speaker 1: You got a pencil.
14:47
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
14:47
Speaker 4: I thought you were smoking. I owe you. But I
14:52
Speaker 4: was just, I had a flashback thinking, who's smoking a cigarette?
14:55
Speaker 4: All right.
14:56
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
14:57
Speaker 4: I'll start again, though.
15:05
Speaker 2: Rally House Football Monday. Why would Sean Payton think somebody's
15:10
Speaker 2: smoking a cigarette? You can't smoke anywhere anymore. I mean,
15:18
Speaker 2: Carolina doesn't strike me as a place that people are
15:20
Speaker 2: lighting up a lot either. But I think it was
15:24
Speaker 2: Sean Keillor who he thought was smoking.
15:27
Speaker 5: It was Sean Keillor, and it was not a pencil.
15:29
Speaker 5: It was a pen. And Keillor actually did tweet out
15:32
Speaker 5: the picture of the pen in question.
15:35
Speaker 2: It was such an odd thing. He was like, can
15:36
Speaker 2: we not smoke in here, please? It's like, um, sir,
15:40
Speaker 2: I'm not. Maybe he thought it was a vape. You
15:44
Speaker 2: think that's what happened? You, you vapors, you guys are,
15:50
Speaker 2: you try and be subtle about it. You're not subtle.
15:53
Speaker 2: We all know. You put that giant robot finger in
15:59
Speaker 2: your mouth and you, you puff out them clouds. We
16:02
Speaker 2: know where it goes.
16:03
Speaker 1: Okay.
16:05
Speaker 2: I know what happens.
16:08
Speaker 4: Anyway, we're not smoking here, please.
16:13
Speaker 2: So Adam Schefter is going to join us at eight
16:15
Speaker 2: o'clock this morning. We'll ask him like, what, what are
16:18
Speaker 2: the Broncos in the market for? Who are they in
16:20
Speaker 2: the market for? Early this morning, the Falcons just traded
16:25
Speaker 2: Jesse Bates, really good safety to the Jags in exchange
16:30
Speaker 2: for a second and fifth round pick. Now, The nice
16:35
Speaker 2: thing about doing trades for guys, and I believe he's
16:38
Speaker 2: on an expiring deal. Let me confirm this for a second.
16:43
Speaker 2: He's set to become an unrestricted free agent in March.
16:47
Speaker 2: The nice thing about making a trade like that is
16:48
Speaker 2: that guy is likely, even if you don't re-sign him,
16:52
Speaker 2: you're going to get a third round compensatory pick back.
16:57
Speaker 2: Those are kind of like the chess games that these
16:59
Speaker 2: contenders play at this point in the calendar. It's like, okay,
17:02
Speaker 2: it might be a rental, but Even if we lose them,
17:08
Speaker 2: we get a third stringer back. So, or I'm sorry,
17:12
Speaker 2: third rounder back. The big thing about where the Broncos
17:16
Speaker 2: are at right now, they are second in the AFC.
17:20
Speaker 2: The number two seed of the season ended today. The
17:23
Speaker 2: only team that's ahead of them right now is Buffalo,
17:25
Speaker 2: who is yet to play. If Buffalo loses to Minnesota
17:27
Speaker 2: tonight in Minnesota, then you are the number one team
17:31
Speaker 2: in the entire AFC again. with a long runway ahead
17:35
Speaker 2: of you. Remember, the Broncos schedule now, they get a
17:37
Speaker 2: bye week, so it gives a chance for guys like
17:39
Speaker 2: Brandon Jones and Hufanga to get healthy. Hufanga started practicing
17:43
Speaker 2: this week, and I think they just said, you know what,
17:44
Speaker 2: take one more off. You get this stretch against the Raiders, Steelers, Dolphins, Jets,
17:51
Speaker 2: and Raiders again. Before closing out the year in what
17:55
Speaker 2: will be, I think, two really pivotal games against the
17:57
Speaker 2: Bills and the Patriots, and then closing out the season
18:00
Speaker 2: against the Chargers. So, I mean, you have a runway
18:06
Speaker 2: in which you are going to be in a very,
18:08
Speaker 2: very similar position to what you were last year, which
18:12
Speaker 2: is top of the AFC, top of the AFC West.
18:18
Speaker 2: You now need to start thinking ahead to, well, what
18:23
Speaker 2: is going to be the thing that could possibly hinder
18:26
Speaker 2: us come postseason? That's the only question you have left
18:30
Speaker 2: to answer. And you can't fix everything. But it just
18:39
Speaker 2: feels like you need to do something to bolster the offense.
18:43
Speaker 2: You just do. And, you know, I've heard this.
18:47
Speaker 5: What does bolster me?
18:49
Speaker 2: I've heard this kind of like, oh, we'll get to
18:51
Speaker 2: that in a second. I've heard this sort of thing
18:56
Speaker 2: about like, well, what if we went out and got
18:57
Speaker 2: a tight end? You know, there was a report. The
19:01
Speaker 2: Broncos went out and asked about Trey McBride, which, sure,
19:05
Speaker 2: I think we're all in on Trey McBride, right? The
19:11
Speaker 2: Cardinals gave the very predictable answer, which is, shut up.
19:14
Speaker 2: I don't care what you think you can give us.
19:18
Speaker 2: We aren't thinking about it. We'll never think about it.
19:21
Speaker 2: He's ours. Worth the phone call. I like that they
19:26
Speaker 2: did it. Point is, I don't know if a tight
19:29
Speaker 2: end unless it's somebody of that caliber, is going to
19:33
Speaker 2: give you enough of a boost to really like move
19:36
Speaker 2: the needle. I'm kind of preparing myself for a very
19:42
Speaker 2: underwhelming trade deadline in which they do nothing or maybe
19:45
Speaker 2: like a very, very small piece. to me it's just
19:51
Speaker 2: a matter of you need to find a way to
20:00
Speaker 2: give yourself some margin for error within the offense and
20:04
Speaker 2: I think running back is the easiest way to do
20:06
Speaker 2: it now we just saw Pat Bryant coming back to
20:09
Speaker 2: the lineup was huge, right? And what a week for
20:12
Speaker 2: him to do it. Pat Bryant comes back the same
20:20
Speaker 2: week that Jalen Waddell leaves after one catch with a concussion,
20:26
Speaker 2: and you see where that depth comes in. I mean,
20:28
Speaker 2: we've seen it at the cornerback position when Riley Moss
20:31
Speaker 2: leaves with a concussion. In comes Jadé Barron. Chris Abrams-Drain
20:38
Speaker 2: has played a lot this year. You've seen a number
20:44
Speaker 2: of different areas in where depth makes a massive difference. Massive.
20:52
Speaker 2: But you haven't had a lot of that on offense.
20:54
Speaker 2: They've had some of it in the wide receiver room,
20:56
Speaker 2: I would say, like Troy Franklin stepping in after not
20:59
Speaker 2: playing a whole lot this year. Making some big catches
21:01
Speaker 2: in that game was huge. But just overall, The Broncos
21:06
Speaker 2: offense is moving in the right direction. It needs to
21:11
Speaker 2: continue to point that way. And finishing that game with
21:18
Speaker 2: 27 carries for 82 yards, you know, an average of
21:20
Speaker 2: three per carry is just yuck. Not great. So we'll
21:27
Speaker 2: get back to the Broncos in a bit. I do
21:28
Speaker 2: want to get to the abs and the nuggets from
21:30
Speaker 2: over the weekend. We'll start with the nuggets. They played
21:33
Speaker 2: Mexico City. It's funny, man. You watched the beginning of
21:36
Speaker 2: that game. So I was playing the Vic role on
21:39
Speaker 2: television over the weekend. And I was asking Jason Richardson.
21:44
Speaker 2: He played there. And I said, how much more of
21:48
Speaker 2: a difference is it going from Denver to Mexico City?
21:51
Speaker 2: Because it's an extra 2,000 feet. And I started thinking
21:55
Speaker 2: to myself, well, how big of a difference is going
21:59
Speaker 2: from 3,000 feet to 5,000? Yeah, it's a lot. And
22:03
Speaker 2: you saw it, the beginning of that game was like
22:05
Speaker 2: midway through the first quarter. There was like, both teams
22:09
Speaker 2: were getting out in transition. They were running up and
22:12
Speaker 2: down the floor. It was sort of a track meet
22:13
Speaker 2: sort of start. And then all of a sudden, those
22:16
Speaker 2: guys just literally, there was a ball out of bounds.
22:20
Speaker 2: Everyone was hands on their knees. The dude for the
22:24
Speaker 2: Pacers who was... got on the floor for the loose
22:27
Speaker 2: ball and rolled out of bounds, laid on the ground
22:29
Speaker 2: for about 10 seconds afterwards. You could tell it was
22:32
Speaker 2: eating him up. And the Nuggets, they build this gigantic
22:37
Speaker 2: lead that they then sort of give away in the third.
22:44
Speaker 2: They play this great defense. They hold the Pacers at
22:47
Speaker 2: 33% in the first half. Third quarter, They miss some shots.
22:52
Speaker 2: They don't hustle back in transition. And then the Pacers
22:54
Speaker 2: started to get some buckets. Then they started to knock
22:57
Speaker 2: down some threes. And it felt like it was contagious
22:59
Speaker 2: within that team. Like Larry Nance, out of all people,
23:02
Speaker 2: started knocking down three after three after three. Got them
23:07
Speaker 2: back in the game. Cut a 20-some point lead to
23:09
Speaker 2: single digits. But the Nuggets did a good job of
23:12
Speaker 2: always keeping them at an arm's length. And one of
23:15
Speaker 2: the things that I really noticed in that game was
23:19
Speaker 2: really two things. Number one, Cam Johnson, when he's on
23:23
Speaker 2: in that starting lineup, makes a massive difference. When he
23:27
Speaker 2: is engaged, knocking down shots, willing to shoot, it's huge. Secondly, man,
23:33
Speaker 2: was it good to get Spencer Jones back. He comes
23:37
Speaker 2: back in the game. First, like 20 seconds, he comes in,
23:40
Speaker 2: gets a block shot. So it makes his defensive presence felt.
23:45
Speaker 2: And then when the Nuggets were struggling to shoot threes,
23:48
Speaker 2: even though they were winning at the beginning of that game,
23:50
Speaker 2: he kind of sits down in that corner, that sort
23:52
Speaker 2: of awkward shooting motion, but knocks down two threes, bam,
23:59
Speaker 2: bam from the corner. And it just felt like it
24:00
Speaker 2: got the team back, you know, settled as far as
24:03
Speaker 2: shooting the basketball. Overall, I think a really good game
24:07
Speaker 2: and a really good win. So the Nuggets are now
24:10
Speaker 2: five and three on the year. They had five different,
24:15
Speaker 2: Was it five? Sorry, seven different guys in double digits
24:21
Speaker 2: in that game, including three of them off the bench.
24:24
Speaker 2: The bench is kind of what kept you in it. Or,
24:26
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, which extended your lead. Both benches for each
24:31
Speaker 2: team were knocking down a whole bunch of shots. But
24:35
Speaker 2: having three guys off the bench in double digits for
24:39
Speaker 2: the Nuggets, Spencer Jones, DeMar DeRozan, and then Marvin Bagley,
24:43
Speaker 2: who I think is.
24:46
Speaker 2: He has the ability to be, I should say, the
24:51
Speaker 2: best backup big to Joker in a long, long time.
24:57
Speaker 2: Just because he's different. And he plays differently. You have
25:04
Speaker 2: to run a different sort of style when Joker's off
25:06
Speaker 2: the floor. And I like having the tall athletic guy.
25:11
Speaker 2: That steps in. You combine that with Trevin Brazil and
25:15
Speaker 2: Spencer Jones. Now you've got some bigs that can move
25:17
Speaker 2: a little bit, which I'm a huge fan of. But overall,
25:23
Speaker 2: the Nuggets played a great game. And they had, not
25:32
Speaker 2: to give away too much, they had some travel nightmares
25:36
Speaker 2: getting out of Mexico City. I'll just say that. They
25:40
Speaker 2: were supposed to leave right after the game. That did
25:42
Speaker 2: not happen. So there's a chance that you could see
25:48
Speaker 2: some weirdness tonight within this game in Houston. I kind
25:53
Speaker 2: of hate the idea of your starting a four-game road
25:56
Speaker 2: trip in Mexico City. It just makes for a really
26:01
Speaker 2: weird beginning. And not to mention, when they go to
26:05
Speaker 2: Mexico City, it's not like they fly into the airport,
26:08
Speaker 2: they get to their hotel, they chill, and then they
26:10
Speaker 2: play the game and go home. When you have a
26:12
Speaker 2: game like this internationally, what the NBA wants, they want
26:16
Speaker 2: you to make this an infomercial for the league. So
26:20
Speaker 2: now you're going out, you're shaking hands with the kids
26:22
Speaker 2: out there, you're doing youth camps, you're speaking to the
26:26
Speaker 2: media 10 times, you know what I mean? It's a
26:29
Speaker 2: whole ordeal that goes along with just playing the game.
26:33
Speaker 2: So all I'm saying is they got this game against Houston.
26:38
Speaker 2: Houston on the year is 7-3. They're playing some good basketball.
26:44
Speaker 2: They've lost their last two. But point spread in this
26:49
Speaker 2: game is Houston by 8.5.
26:51
Speaker 1: Why?
26:52
Speaker 2: Because everybody within the starting lineup for the Nuggets is
26:56
Speaker 2: a game-time decision tonight. That's where the travel part comes in.
27:06
Speaker 2: So maybe tonight, not going to be great for what
27:11
Speaker 2: you want to see out of the Nuggets, but we'll
27:13
Speaker 2: see who's going to be in the lineup and who's
27:15
Speaker 2: out a little bit later. Now, to the Avs side
27:18
Speaker 2: of things, they're off tonight. They play against Toronto tomorrow.
27:21
Speaker 2: The Avs with a fantastic game against the Wings. They
27:26
Speaker 2: win four to nothing. It was another banger of a game.
27:31
Speaker 2: from Mackenzie Blackwood. He has been, you know, for the
27:34
Speaker 2: early hesitations that we had about the goaltending situation this
27:41
Speaker 2: year and maybe his start to the season, I'm telling
27:44
Speaker 2: you from about mid-October to now, Mackenzie Blackwood has been
27:50
Speaker 2: lights out between the pipes. Lights out. In that game,
27:58
Speaker 2: he got his first shutout of the year against the Wings.
28:02
Speaker 2: a couple of fantastic saves. The Avs in that night
28:06
Speaker 2: were sort of clicking on all cylinders. Not just playing
28:10
Speaker 2: great defensively, not just getting out and doing their five-on-five thing,
28:14
Speaker 2: but three of five on the power play. Again, when
28:19
Speaker 2: this team plays the special teams area as well as
28:23
Speaker 2: they did against Detroit, they're unbeatable. Nobody's going to beat
28:28
Speaker 2: the Avs when they're three of five on the power play.
28:31
Speaker 2: Because they're already the best five-on-five team in the league.
28:34
Speaker 2: If you add the special teams area into that, you
28:37
Speaker 2: add that category to the mix, good bleepin' luck. But
28:45
Speaker 2: you saw in that game, Marty Natchez had a huge game.
28:48
Speaker 2: McKinnon gets back on the score sheet. McCarr gets on
28:52
Speaker 2: it as he scored the fourth goal, which was just
28:54
Speaker 2: a beauty of a wrister. But kind of everybody got involved.
29:00
Speaker 2: And I think you're saying, you know, the sense of
29:05
Speaker 2: urgency that was trying to be created by Jared Bednar
29:11
Speaker 2: after that awful game. Who am I blanking on? Who
29:16
Speaker 2: was that against again? Help me.
29:18
Speaker 5: Columbus was pretty bad.
29:20
Speaker 2: That awful game against Columbus where he's basically saying, I
29:23
Speaker 2: got to be more judicious with my ice time now.
29:26
Speaker 2: I'm going to give it to the guys who are
29:27
Speaker 2: going to go out there and play. It's almost like,
29:31
Speaker 2: That was the final straw where it's like, okay, guys,
29:35
Speaker 2: let's get our stuff together. I know it's early in
29:38
Speaker 2: the season, but stop messing around. You know, they lose
29:40
Speaker 2: that game following that against Nashville, but I think a
29:42
Speaker 2: much better performance. What you're just talking about is being
29:45
Speaker 2: engaged on the defensive side. And I think over the
29:47
Speaker 2: last two games, you've seen a much more engaged team,
29:50
Speaker 2: especially in that win against the wings. And when you
29:54
Speaker 2: do that and you have a goaltender who's playing well,
29:57
Speaker 2: when you play well in front of him, the numbers
29:59
Speaker 2: start to back that up too. On the year, Mackenzie
30:03
Speaker 2: Blackwood's got two six goals against, but he's back over,
30:07
Speaker 2: he's at 901 now in save percentage. I think that
30:11
Speaker 2: number's going to continue to creep up as long as
30:14
Speaker 2: they play well in front of him. But he's been
30:17
Speaker 2: fantastic lately. And I think that's the one thing that
30:26
Speaker 2: when you had concerns, uh, if you had a list
30:29
Speaker 2: of concerns and I don't know how long the list
30:30
Speaker 2: would be for the apps heading into this season, the
30:33
Speaker 2: first one would be, can we still trust goaltending even
30:36
Speaker 2: with what they accomplished last year? So three Oh three
30:41
Speaker 2: five Oh four Oh nine two five. As we broadcast
30:44
Speaker 2: from the back of some Shanker studios, back as a Shanker,
30:46
Speaker 2: your hometown injury lawyers in the car accident call three
30:49
Speaker 2: Oh three two, two, two 2222. It is a rally
30:53
Speaker 2: house football Monday. Um, So a lot more to break
30:57
Speaker 2: down here. We're a day away from the trade deadline.
30:59
Speaker 2: No better time to talk to than to talk to
31:02
Speaker 2: Adam Schefter. He will be on with us at 8.05
31:07
Speaker 2: this morning, giving any sort of tidbits. I'm sure some
31:09
Speaker 2: more trades are going to leak out here. Hell, maybe
31:12
Speaker 2: in the next hour and a half before Adam Schefter
31:15
Speaker 2: joins us. So a lot to discuss with him at 8.
31:17
Speaker 2: Stick around.
31:18
Speaker 4: Part of it pisses me off because there's been a
31:21
Speaker 4: few of them that you would say, shouldn't have been
31:24
Speaker 4: one score games. And then obviously there's some that are.
31:27
Speaker 4: When those things keep falling your way, then that's not
31:30
Speaker 4: by accident.
31:31
Speaker 2: I don't care. At the end of the day, in 10,
31:34
Speaker 2: 15 years, nobody's going to care about it. And they're
31:36
Speaker 2: going to say, you know, talk about wins instead of
31:39
Speaker 2: the streak. But, you know, it's cool right now and
31:42
Speaker 2: it's great, you know, as we go.
31:44
Speaker 5: But it definitely would be nice to win by more
31:47
Speaker 5: than a score.
31:50
Speaker 2: Sean Payton and Bo Nix talking about the one score wins. Again,
31:56
Speaker 2: this is all fine because you've won 16 one score
32:00
Speaker 2: games in a row. Now, there have been other games
32:05
Speaker 2: that have been mixed in there that have not been
32:07
Speaker 2: one score, but in games that have been decided by
32:10
Speaker 2: one score, the Broncos are better than anybody. And that is, again,
32:14
Speaker 2: a requisite skill that good teams possess. When Sean Payton
32:22
Speaker 2: says it pisses him off that it comes down to
32:27
Speaker 2: stuff like this, I know where he's coming from.
32:31
Speaker 3: Because as 16 consecutive times you have been on the
32:36
Speaker 3: right side of this, you don't want the 17th time
32:42
Speaker 3: to go the other way and have that be in
32:44
Speaker 3: the postseason or whatever.
32:46
Speaker 2: That's his concern. And I think that is a valid one.
32:52
Speaker 2: At the same time, nobody's more prepared for a game
32:54
Speaker 2: like that than the Denver Broncos are. Nobody's more comfortable
33:00
Speaker 2: in that than the Denver Broncos. They just know how
33:05
Speaker 2: to get things done. And when you give them a
33:07
Speaker 2: sliver to capitalize on, they jump on you. I mean, again,
33:13
Speaker 2: think about this. This was a 14-13 game that you trailed.
33:18
Speaker 2: You trailed. Heading into the end of the third period.
33:24
Speaker 2: Third quarter, I'm sorry. You get the luck of Carolina
33:33
Speaker 2: driving it all the way down to the one-yard line
33:36
Speaker 2: to potentially go up eight points, only to have a
33:39
Speaker 2: ball that everybody thought bounced off the ground, which actually
33:42
Speaker 2: bounced off a dude's hand. popped up into the hands
33:47
Speaker 2: of Devon Key, who did not react because he also
33:50
Speaker 2: thought the ball hit the ground. And then a video
33:53
Speaker 2: review that takes place that gives you the football that
33:56
Speaker 2: you then turn into an 80-yard touchdown drive. Like, once
34:01
Speaker 2: you're given the opportunity, the opposing team is buried at
34:06
Speaker 2: almost every turn. Because not only did you do that,
34:08
Speaker 2: you then held... The Panthers to a three and out
34:12
Speaker 2: just to follow up the next drive with another touchdown drive,
34:17
Speaker 2: which puts you up 26 to 14. Then you think,
34:20
Speaker 2: all right, it's watching a game with a buddy. It
34:23
Speaker 2: was sort of fist bump, put the game away. Good job.
34:26
Speaker 2: All right, let's head home. Well, Panthers go down and score. Okay,
34:30
Speaker 2: we just need a drive. Oops, this drive moves backwards.
34:33
Speaker 2: And my goodness gracious. Remember all those lucky bounces that
34:38
Speaker 2: we talk about that the Broncos never seem to be
34:40
Speaker 2: on the wrong side of and it always kind of
34:42
Speaker 2: goes for the Broncos late in the game? When they
34:47
Speaker 2: pitched the ball to Jonah Coleman and it hit his hands,
34:51
Speaker 2: bounced 20 yards backwards or whatever that was, and it
34:54
Speaker 2: looked like it could have set the Carolina Panthers up
34:58
Speaker 2: at like the 20-yard line down five. You jumped on it,
35:04
Speaker 2: but you wasted the drive that then turned into a
35:08
Speaker 2: huge shift in field goal position. The Panthers then get
35:18
Speaker 2: the ball back at midfield with a minute 50 to
35:24
Speaker 2: work with and I think a couple of timeouts, right?
35:29
Speaker 2: And they end up Fumbling on the second play, strip sack,
35:33
Speaker 2: Nick Benito, game over. It's just, it's remarkable. For the
35:42
Speaker 2: amount of times this happens that the Broncos almost want
35:47
Speaker 2: to try and give the other team the game just
35:50
Speaker 2: to snatch it away. Like I play this game with
35:54
Speaker 2: my daughter, baby Jamal Cale. We got like a toy
35:58
Speaker 2: in my hand and she'll like run and try and
35:59
Speaker 2: get it and I throw it over her head and
36:01
Speaker 2: then I'll put it underneath her the next time and
36:03
Speaker 2: I'll do this and that and this and that. You're
36:06
Speaker 2: toying with them. It's rude. It's rude what you do
36:12
Speaker 2: to them. But it happens all the time. All the time.
36:18
Speaker 2: But now you get ahead into a bye week. 7-2 record.
36:22
Speaker 2: At the moment, 2nd. in the AFC after tonight could
36:26
Speaker 2: be first. And a chance for you to get healthy.
36:32
Speaker 2: Two guys leave the game with a concussion. You had
36:38
Speaker 2: Riley Moss and Jalen Waddle leave. You had Brandon Jones
36:42
Speaker 2: and Hufanga dealing with injuries heading into this game. A
36:45
Speaker 2: chance to get some guys healthy for this stretch run
36:46
Speaker 2: that you're going to have second half of the year
36:48
Speaker 2: after you get back from the bye.
36:51
Speaker 1: But....
36:54
Speaker 2: Some moments in that game, you know, the interaction between
37:00
Speaker 2: Sean Payton and Bo Nix on the sideline. Again, I
37:03
Speaker 2: always think this is interesting because Sean Payton is sort
37:07
Speaker 2: of a dictator. And what he says goes. But then
37:11
Speaker 2: you see some video like he's walking along the sideline
37:14
Speaker 2: talking to Bo Nix. Bo Nix kind of walks away
37:17
Speaker 2: from him. He chases him down to say more. Bo
37:19
Speaker 2: Nix continues to walk away. They have a very... I
37:24
Speaker 2: want to call it combative relationship, but it's like Bo
37:27
Speaker 2: Nix has no issue with talking back to Sean Payton
37:32
Speaker 2: on the sideline. But 303, 504, 0925. Texture says, easy
37:42
Speaker 2: does it, Nelly. I'm not done yet. How dare you?
37:45
Speaker 5: We're done when I say we're done. I got a
37:49
Speaker 5: little jump happy there. I guess I want to get
37:50
Speaker 5: Vic and Mojin and see what they have to say
37:52
Speaker 5: about this game.
37:52
Speaker 2: Oh, they can wait. Vic will tell us all about
37:58
Speaker 2: Notre Dame here in a second. I can't read. Texture says,
38:02
Speaker 2: I don't even want them to have a lead going
38:04
Speaker 2: into the fourth. The Broncos don't know how to play
38:06
Speaker 2: with the lead. It is funny because that does seem
38:08
Speaker 2: to be the case. It's happened now multiple instances over
38:11
Speaker 2: the past couple of games. When they have a lead
38:17
Speaker 2: going into the fourth quarter, it does feel different. So
38:22
Speaker 2: I think the first time that happened, They had the
38:27
Speaker 2: 14-3 lead against the Seahawks going into the fourth, in
38:30
Speaker 2: which they allowed the Seahawks to outscore them 11-0, send
38:33
Speaker 2: it into overtime, and the Broncos, of course, eventually end
38:35
Speaker 2: up winning. The game against the Cardinals was maybe the
38:41
Speaker 2: one that they put away. I mean, that was 27-13.
38:44
Speaker 2: They made 30-13. They had that one going away, and
38:46
Speaker 2: they kept it. The Cardinals just didn't have the the
38:54
Speaker 2: boost to keep up in that game. Had to make
39:00
Speaker 2: a comeback against the Chiefs, but yeah, in this game,
39:04
Speaker 2: you have what you think is comfortable, a comfortable lead with, what,
39:07
Speaker 2: five and a half minutes left, you're up 12, and
39:10
Speaker 2: it flips in a hurry to the point to where
39:12
Speaker 2: you're back to biting your nails again. I just... I
39:19
Speaker 2: think this team is very comfortable in being uncomfortable, and
39:24
Speaker 2: they're uncomfortable being comfortable. It's a weird thing. Hey, we
39:29
Speaker 2: got a lead. Great. What am I supposed to do
39:33
Speaker 2: with this? I'll tell you what. What if we went
39:36
Speaker 2: three and out like four times in a row just
39:39
Speaker 2: to let the other team creep back into it? Told you.
39:42
Speaker 2: There's some fetish thing happening with the Broncos. They like
39:46
Speaker 2: to feel the danger. There's multiple analogies I can make
39:52
Speaker 2: in this, but they're gross. Point is, the Broncos like
39:59
Speaker 2: the adrenaline. They're adrenaline junkies. What did we say last week, Nelly?
40:03
Speaker 2: They like to jump out of the plane with no
40:05
Speaker 2: shoot and just be like, somebody come catch me.
40:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're just going full-on Travis Pastrana in 2008. Chug
40:12
Speaker 5: a Red Bull and then jump out of a plane
40:13
Speaker 5: and trust your buddies to get you.
40:15
Speaker 2: And I've told you, it is sort of the perfect
40:17
Speaker 2: analogy for them because most of their games is.
40:21
Speaker 2: If you haven't seen the Travis Pastrana video, he's pretending
40:24
Speaker 2: that he's asleep in the airplane. Somebody wakes him up.
40:27
Speaker 2: He crushes a Red Bull and then just jumps out
40:29
Speaker 2: of a plane with no chute. And that's the Broncos.
40:32
Speaker 2: They're asleep in the first half of the game. They
40:35
Speaker 2: wake up. They chug a Red Bull. Jump out of
40:37
Speaker 2: the plane. They're like, ah, we'll figure this out before
40:39
Speaker 2: we hit. We're never going to go splat. I just...
40:50
Speaker 2: I think this team, and specifically let's just say the offense,
40:54
Speaker 2: the offense has made steady improvements each week over the
40:59
Speaker 2: last three weeks. There was not a bad offensive performance.
41:02
Speaker 2: It wasn't. And look, if we're talking about the Bills
41:08
Speaker 2: offense or the Detroit offense or some of the better
41:11
Speaker 2: ones in the league, then yeah, by their standards, it's
41:14
Speaker 2: not good. But we are judging off a different set
41:17
Speaker 2: of criteria, okay? We have a low bar that's set.
41:23
Speaker 2: And I think in each of the last three weeks,
41:24
Speaker 2: the Broncos have hurtled that low bar offensively. They've been
41:28
Speaker 2: able to get over it. It hasn't been perfect. It's
41:31
Speaker 2: been far from it. But they have been better in
41:34
Speaker 2: each of the last three weeks. I still think you
41:36
Speaker 2: got to do something about your run game. That Panthers
41:40
Speaker 2: defense is not good. And they're not good at stopping
41:43
Speaker 2: the run. But they made your run game stop a bowl.
41:49
Speaker 2: And once again, you finish a game with your lead
41:52
Speaker 2: back getting less than three and a half yards per carry.
41:55
Speaker 2: The longest run of the day was nine yards. Something's
41:58
Speaker 2: got to be done about it. So it is a
42:01
Speaker 2: Rally House Football Monday. Rally House shop every team in town.
42:05
Speaker 2: A whole bunch to break down. Broncos, Avs, Nuggets from
42:08
Speaker 2: over the weekend. I want to get... To see you
42:17
Speaker 2: in the Dion part of this, because we might have
42:19
Speaker 2: hit a breaking point this weekend, like legitimately might be time.
42:25
Speaker 2: And it's just a matter of, is CU going to
42:28
Speaker 2: be willing to fork over the cash to sort of
42:33
Speaker 2: start over? And then that begins a whole nother set
42:36
Speaker 2: of questions of where do you go from here? So
42:39
Speaker 2: a lot to get to on this Rally House Football Monday.
42:41
Speaker 2: You can watch the show live on Twitch. Twitch.tv, search
42:43
Speaker 2: Altitude SR in the search bar. The Altitude TV simulcast.
42:46
Speaker 2: You can also watch on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel
42:50
Speaker 2: and don't miss anything from Denver's number one sports station.
42:53
Speaker 2: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5. Mojo Lombardi and Kane starts next.