Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 11-21-24

Transcript

Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 11-21-24 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Blue in the facus at Shakers Studios. Serious Lawyers for
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Serious Leader, kiks F MHD one Profield ten for Boulder.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is coach Mike Sanford.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: This is Alex Ryan, Emmy Morning Sprint coming up at ten.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This is Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five, Moser, Lombardy
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and Kins.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: John Langwald is our Broncos insider.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five Pro Football.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: The insider I've covered while.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Chef Legwall he's the balloon popper.
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: He doesn't blow it up.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: IBBW Local sixty eight. Start with the job and with
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a career. It's Leggy on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Five, joining us as he does every Thursday, nine o'clock.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Jeff Lagwell at ESPN dot com. Leg Here's the situation
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that I think we all face. The Broncos are in
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a place that they haven't been in a long time,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: which is you have confidence entering a game against an
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: opponent that you seem to be better then now everybody
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: makes a mistake of trap games, and you can't do that,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: can't overlook opponents. But just overall, is this a game
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: that the Broncos should win in a comfortable manner despite
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: not beating the Raiders on the road since I think
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: it's twenty fifteen.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, since they moved to Vegas.
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: They have one in Vegas, So I guess that's always
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: uh my caveat for just saying, oh yeah, but uh,
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: in some ways the Raiders defense may be worse than
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: the Falcons, So that's what you're looking at. You know,
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: if you go handle business and you don't turn the
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: ball over and you don't do silly things on defense, Yeah,
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: they should win. Whether it's one point or comfortably, it
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: doesn't matter, you know. They just at this point, if
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: they could get to the by eight and five, I
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: think that's the ultimate, you know, the ultimate top shelf thing.
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: But uh, they are playing much better than the Raiders
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: are right now. But we've we've seen in the past
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: that hasn't always mattered when they when they go on
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: the road.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: There, Leggy or some of our listeners want to see
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: you bleed. They said, you've been the the vocal opponent
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: of bo Nick's and didn't like his footwork, and now
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: he's proving you wrong. What do you say to those listeners?
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Wow, I didn't realize they were taking it so fiercely.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I'm reading it right now.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: I read all these things. We all get hit.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: No, it's uh, you know, the footwork is still I mean,
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: he says he needs to work on his footwork, So
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: I don't you know, I'm not saying anything I haven't
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: said to him or asked him about. Uh, He's a
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: rookie quarterback. That's all I've said. And you know, again,
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: you know what were we saying after Baltimore? Where we saying,
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: you know earlier in the year, this is a rookie
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: quarterback who is gonna play like a rookie sometimes, And
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: the Broncos you know last week that that is one
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: of the most disinterested defenses you know, I've ever seen
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: play a game. But again, he put up a statistical
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: line that's never been seen before by a rookie quarterback.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: So you know, all you can do is talk about
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: what you see. And last week was as good as
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: he's played this year. And if the Broncos get a
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: lot more of that, he'll be here a long time
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: and people will be wearing a lot of his jerseys.
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: I can't remember the last time I had this feeling though,
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: even against the Raiders, and I know they've struggled against
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: the Raiders and blah blah blah blah blah of times.
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: He man, you should go in there and smoke those fools.
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: Raiders stink. It's a bad football reality, is what it is.
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: The Broncos were a much better football team, Jeff, and
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: they should go in there and win by double digits.
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: I haven't felt that way in a long time. But
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: I am that supremely confident heading into this game.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Are you?
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: I never get as you know, ride the emotional wave
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: of Moses.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I don't think.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well I ride my own wave here, Baby, I'm
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: on it right now.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: You're all in all the time. That's but you know, again,
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: they this isn't a game. They should handle their business.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: That's and you know, I don't I don't necessarily like
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: sort of grade blowouts or close games or whatever.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: They should just go in there and handle it.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: You know, they were seven and six last year I
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: believe at one point too.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: So you know, they just need to.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: Show themselves really that they can go in and win
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: these games and keep stacking them up and then when
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: they get to the end of the year, you're in
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: the wild card chase. I mean, that's that's just all
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: they they need right now. And if they you know, look,
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: the defense is elite, The defense is playoff worthy that
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: you know, bo Nicks had the game of his life
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: last week. But the defense has done the heavy lifting
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: to get them to six and five so far. And
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: you know that gives you a chance any week to
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: give mos what you want, which is the blowout win
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: against somebody you should beat.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: But yeah, they.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: Should beat the Raiders, and they should beat the Browns,
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: and they should beat beat eight and five at the
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: bye if things go in you know, in every way
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: they want them to go.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: You know what's interesting, LEGGI is the the first game
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: against the Raiders this year. The Raiders drove the ball
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: down the field in three consecutive drives with the chance
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to go up seventeen to three, and what happened was
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: PS two took the pick six back at the goal line.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: The game change. Broncos blew them out afterwards. Not only
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: did that pick change the game, is it fair to
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: say that that pick changed the Seeds because ever since
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: then the Broncos have been on a nice little run here.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that's you know, players like him are
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: gonna change games, they're gonna change seasons, and he did.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: You know, he made the play at the time they
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: needed it the most. And it wasn't just you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: an interception and a three yard return. It was an
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: interception and change everything. But I think their defense would
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: have been good enough eventually to sort of kick in
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: at some point. But you're right, that play, however, this
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: turns out at the end of the year, that play
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: will be on the list of the ones that got
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: him there.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: When you look at the defense and why they've been
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: so successful and why this defense has found its way?
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Is it upfront leg is it the trenches? Is it
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: the defensive line, because to me, it all starts there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: It is, and you know they got it right and
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: a lot of I mean, Zach Allen's one of the
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: best free agent signings in the last couple of years
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: for anybody in terms of production.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: And I can't tell you, I don't have the.
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Numbers specifically in front of me, but I can't remember
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: charting a team that I covered where a defensive lineman
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: was playing ninety percent of the snaps in this era.
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: And Zach Allen has played roughly ninety percent of the snaps.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Aaron Donald.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's that's.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: The level of player you're talking about, with the level
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: of intensity and consistency.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: And you know, the John Franklin Myers trade is a
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: steal on any level. You know, for the Jets to
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: do that is shows you why they're where they are.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: And you know, Malcolm Roach was sort of an under
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: the radar signing when they did it, but he fits
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: exactly what they do. And you you couple all that
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: with what I think is the best set of corners
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: in the league and and maybe the best secondary when
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: when they're healthy. So you know, Russian cover is is
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: all you hear defensive coaches talk about these days, Russian
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: cover and if you can do both, you're gonna be
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: a good defense. And and certain gives them the chess
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: piece and coverage just because he affects everything offenses do
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: in the passing game simply by where he lines up
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: on the field.
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: Jeff, what in the heck has gotten into? Nick Benito?
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: Oh my goodness, gracious, this guy is all over the place,
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: Like I'm looking up at least a couple of sacks
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: every week. Pressures this and that I don't want to
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: say that he's emerged as an unbelievable pass rusher overnight,
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: but boy, old boy, is he playing the game at
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: a high level right now.
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he sort of gave everybody a preview last year.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, he he was one of the you know,
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: the one of the advanced metrics teams used as UH
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: Pressures created our first pressures, are you the first player
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: to pressure the quarterback? And last year Benito he didn't
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: have a ton of sacks, but he was one of
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: the top pressure players in the league. We're talking about
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: a guy who was in the neighborhood of Micah Parsons
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: and Miles Garrett.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Benito was right there last year.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: And I remember I wrote a story at one point
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: earlier this year about just asking him, what do you
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: have to do to turn those pressures into sacks type
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: of thing, and you know, he just had a really
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: good frame of mind about it. And this year he's
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: seventh in the league in first pressures. He's ahead of
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: Miles Garrett. So that tells you the company he keeps
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: in the pass rush. But he was just really raw
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: coming into the draft in Oklahoma. His last year there,
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: played the weirdest defensive scheme anybody's ever seen. They were
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: not good on defense, so a lot of way he
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: did got hidden before the draft. So uh, I think
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: some teams had a late first round around him. You know,
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: the Broncos got him in the second. But his first
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: step and his you know that proverbial bend, that flexibility
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: in your hips and your waist that the great ones
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: like von Miller have, Benitos got that, and you're you're
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: always going to get to the quarterback if if you
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: have that early burst and that finished bend around the corner.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Okay, what about the opposite side, because I saw this
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: from Pro Football Focus. The Broncos lead the league in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: pressures forced defensively. They also lead the NFL and pressures
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: allowed on offense. There the best in the league at
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: that What happened year over year? Is it as simple
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: as Russell's not the quarterback hanging on to the ball
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: as much anymore? Or has the offensive line just gotten
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: better despite losing Lloyd Cushionberry.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: It's probably a little of ball.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, you're if you get the ball out, your
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: pressure quota on offense is gonna be better because guys
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: aren't gonna get close when they measure that. You know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: when you measure a pressure, it's what's the distance between
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: the defender and the quarterback.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: And if the.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: Balls away, obviously that that distance is going to be greater.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: H You know, Roethlisberger when he played always you know,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: often led the league in sacks and often led the
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: league in pressure surrendered, didn't make him any less good.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: It was just the way he played. So some of
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: it you just look at what's going on. But they're
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: they're playing. They've made investments. I mean, they spent big
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: money on Ben Powers, they spent big money on Mike mcglinchy,
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: they re signed minors. You know, they've they've invested up
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: front and offense because I think they knew they would
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: have a young quarterback at some point. And defensively, we
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: just talked about it. They invested up front and they've
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: used draft capital. I mean, they felt so good about
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: Jonathan Cooper. They traded Baron Browning and I don't think,
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: you know, a year and a half ago, any of
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: us would have said, oh yeah, I think that's the
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: how it's all going to play out.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: When it's said and done.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: But they've invested in it and they've gotten return on
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: that investment.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Do the Raiders want to lose? What are they doing?
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: Well? You know, I don't know.
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: You know, any team that wants a quarterback, you get
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: to this point of the year. You always wonder if
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: if the owner is just gonna say you pull the pin.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: I don't see the most tell Man White, tell yeah.
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: I think I will say though, I think in football
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: it is such a painful game to play physically for
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: each guy. I think it's really hard to just say,
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: you know, mail it in even if things aren't going well,
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: because you you cannot only get injured, you can get
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: really injured. Yeah, And you know, I just always think
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: that's the toughest thing about the I've I've said along
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: a long time, there's there's few things more difficult to
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: watch in a locker room than pro football gone bad.
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: And it's a tough walk down the final stretch of
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: the season when it ain't going right.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Hey, I know that you work obviously closely with the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame and all that. I never heard the results.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Whatever happened to the Mike Shanahan and the coaches voting
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: all that stuff from the other.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Day nobody knows.
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: I mean there they'll I think they'll release all the
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: results of the seniors, the contributor and the coaches finalists,
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: all at the same time and in a couple of weeks.
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: Got us got to get in. He's got, he's got,
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: he's got to be there. There's I don't.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: I will say this. I mean there's yes.
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: Mike Shanahan, by God, is a Hall of Fame, should
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: have a gold jacket. But you know, all of those
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: guys there, there are people in those cities who feel
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: just the way you do. So it's a passionate thing.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: He's getting in.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: It's just a matter of when.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Two quick things here, just thirty seconds a piece number one,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: both of these. On the coaching subject, everybody acknowledges that
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Peyton's doing a better coaching job this year than last year.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Why is that to you?
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, I don't know if it was
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: the year out, but I think some of his game
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: management last year was a little choppy, and even he
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: said it at the end of the year. So I
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: think they addressed that. And I think this a little
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: bit of a younger team. He would rarely have a
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: roster this young with this many first and second year
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: guys playing in New Orleans didn't happen very often. He
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: routinely had one of the oldest teams in the league
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: year after year, and I think he's adjusted to that.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: I think he likes it, and I think it shows,
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: and he he has made concessions for Bo Nicks. They
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: run far more play action now than he ever did
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: in New Orleans, and I think that's part of getting
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: Nicks more comfortable.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Second thing, just quickly and then we'll let you go.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Deon Sanders, Cowboys, Raiders. Is that is that real? Or
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: is that happy media fun talk?
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: You know?
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: I think when I ask people in the league right now,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: they think it's more happy media fun talk. But I'm
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: not sure anyone can honestly say they know exactly what
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: Dion would do. I mean, he's not going to be
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: able to control where Shadur goes unless they're willing just
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: to say he won't start his career until he gets
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: to sit out long enough to be on the right team.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: I mean, Bo Jackson did it, but he had baseball.
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: He didn't want to go to the Buccaneers, and he
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: didn't and he ended up with the Raiders The next year.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Jeff leagwealdon ESPN dot com joins us every single week
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: on Thursdays. Always appreciate it, Leggy, thank you.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Thanks.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: All conversations with Leggi brought you by the International Brotherhood
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: of Electrical Workers IBEW Local sixty eight. Start with the job,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: end with a career