Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Broncos POSTCAST: Broncos DOMINATE 49ers in first preseason game

Episode Date: August 10, 2025

The Denver Broncos cleaned up in their first preseason game, beating the San Francisco 49ers, 30-9. Sean Payton played the starters early in the game as e got our first look at Bo Nix in year two along with new additions lie RJ Harvey, JK Dobbins and Evan Engram. Aniello Piro and Cody Roark breakdown the game on tonight's Locked On Broncos POSTCAST. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Yahoo Fantasy Presented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are Locked-on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Oh, Broncos Country. What is going on, everybody? Anilo Piro, Cody Rourke, this is your Locked-on Broncos postcast. Of course, Cody is the standard host of the Locked-on Broncos podcast along with our guy, Sarah Bedinger. But of course, this is your Lockdown Broncos postcast, Anilo Piro, alongside with my running mate Cody Roark here this evening as the Denver Broncos taking care of business against the San Francisco 49ers 30 to 9 your final score. Plenty to talk about on today's lockdown Broncos

postcast with my man Cody Rourke. But before we do that, today's episode is brought to you by our friends by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch money. Use code locked on NFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Rourke, I've seen you at trading camp, but nice to see you virtually here and a good, good effort tonight from the Denver Broncos. Yeah, look, I mean, obviously, I think when you talk about this game, the minutia of it, everyone's going to be talking about, okay, the slow start that the Broncos starters had to this game.

Look, defensively, offensively, and certainly it's something that Sean Payton has acknowledged as it was disappointing. We didn't want to open up that way, but it's why you play in the preseason, you know, because I always ask people the question, I think there's a lot of value in the preseason, contrary to what people say or don't say. Some people say it's real football or it's not.

real football. I think it is real football. It matters. A lot of the details matter. But wouldn't you rather the Broncos get, you know, have some of this rust here in the preseason, get off to a little bit of that slow start. And that way you can go through and identify things before the regular season comes around because I remember last year, the Broncos offense in the preseason, they got off to a pretty hot start, but they opened up the regular season with a very sluggish start. And they had those struggles all the way up until week four. So, you know, I think there's a lot of things you could take away from this game on film. That certainly the offense and the defense themselves. They're going to want to come back and maybe go back.

They want to redo essentially of this game. You don't get that, but you get another opportunity this upcoming week against the Arizona Cardinals. Yeah, I mean, look, you and I have been at just about every single training camp practice for the Denver Broncos, right? And this was their first opportunity outside of the joint practice that happened earlier this week against San Francisco for them to kind of go out there and get their feet wet. And that's exactly what it looked like for me with the first team offense and the first team defense is a Broncos team that has a lot of talent, but kind of need to get back into that football mindset, that football group. Look, Bo Nix, I thought was fine.

You know, there was a couple of passes that you want to see, you know, the one to Cortland Sutton over the shoulder. You would have liked to see him bring that in. A couple other passes from Bo Nix, you would have like to see them connect. But this is to your point where you want to get these reps in, where you want to, I don't want to say make mistakes, but, you know, build momentum, build chemistry, build camaraderie. So when you get to that regular season, you're ready to go, there was nothing to me, despite, you know, some of the off put play from Bo Nicks and the offense. and some bad plays from the defense at time.

Nothing for me taking away from this game that has me worried about the Denver Broncos starters. No, not in any way, shape, or form. Look, and I'll highlight this. You know, you made a great point. On that first offensive series that the Broncos had, I thought, Bo, that throw the end to Cortland Sutton was beautiful. Sutton couldn't haul it in going down.

All right, you move on on the next series. You want, you know, you want a more productive offensive output. That's fine. I mean, you don't get in that one. Fine. You get your second series. You want to look a little bit better there. You know, we had that underthrow.

pass to Troy Franklin across the middle, you know, in the regular season, that's just got to be one of those throws you can't make because safeties will break on that quicker than anything when we talk about starters there. And then there is the one obviously on third down on the left sideline to Cortland Sutton. That was a little underthrown as well. I think right now, Bo's still just trying to play around a little bit and see what he can and can't do. And look, he obviously worked this offseason on some mechanics. I think he's trying some new things, though you don't want to get too crazy. I didn't think Bo did a job of operating the offense here.

You know, the quick passing game was there. We got to see R.J. Harvey in the run game going a little bit. That was a nice positive coming out of this. You got to see Bo find Troy Franklin on that fourth down and Troy's rise that he's had. That's a story coming out of this game. But, you know, a lot of people are talking about the safety here. And a lot of people are reacting. You go back and you watch the play.

All right, you look at the right side there. That's where Bo is sliding the protection to because they're overloaded on their right side. So you want to protect, right? that you know Robert Sala that dude is diabolical he's dialing up five six men you know rush blitzes in the preseason I'm with it I would do the same thing as a DC but the nickel comes free and bow has to spin out and just try to chuck it you know people like all stand in the pocket you want Bo to stand there and get killed by a free rushing nickel blitzer in the preseason no I'd rather him just take this I'd rather the safety happen than Bo getting blown up on a play

and then all of a sudden you have to worry about a potential injury you know was it perfect Was it cleaned by the offense? No, it was rusty, a lot to be desired. But it's the preseason. You have joint practices this week against the San Francisco. I'm not against San Francisco against the Arizona Cardinals. They have a game at home. That's what it's all about.

Can the Broncos have a better showing here in week two of the preseason? That's what it's about. Can you measure where you're at week one of the preseason? And can you approve upon those things going into week two? That is the nature of the game. Yeah, I think part of the, some of the overreaction that we're seeing out there is less about it being preseason.

is more so about that it was the Broncos ones against San Francisco's twos. And I'll read into that, you know, maybe a little bit. Like, like, like, there's this much of me that's like, okay, like that's of note. They didn't play overly well against the ones, right? But to your point out, Bo Nix and the offense and even the defense as a whole, it looked like a team that is getting used to, you know, game experience again. I mean, you and I sit on the sidelines at training camp. Like, we've watched the same receiver drills over and over.

We watched Bo Nicks throw into a net over and over, right? Like, this was their first time. to really get out there and get back into that game speed type of thing. And we can talk more about this after the commercial break as well, but it's funny that some people want to go doom and gloom. Cody, they had 30 unanswered points in this game. 30. They dominated the game.

It was nice to see them bounce back that way. And obviously, Jared Sidham had a really great night operating the second team offense there, 14 of 15 passing. His connection with Trent Sherfield, that was a fun thing to kind of see play out, a nice touchdown right before halftime there. And obviously, Denver's defense. I mean, you had four key four key four. forced takeaways at that point.

You know, if you want to count turnover on downs, the Broncos had several other forced turnovers, you know, in that regard there. I thought the defense played well for the most part. But, you know, yeah, you want to see these other guys getting the mix. And really the story with the offense outside of Stiddam's performances, you know, all eyes on the running back competition, which I know I know we're going to highlight a little bit more here.

But you got to see different guys get carries. We touched on RJ Harvey getting his first looks. J.K. Dobbins had one catch for four yards. And then you had Jule McLaughlin getting the next. set of touches there had one really nice run called back due to a holding penalty unfortunately and then really Blake Watson was kind of the story of the night I'm not worried about this this is the preseason and one thing I'll say sir is I did not miss the overreaction when it comes to the preseason that's one thing football season brings is a lot of crazy overreaction look you don't want to get too high you

don't want to get too low it's a work in progress there's a lot of great stuff on film that you can go back and correct and obviously sharp and going forward that's what this is about and I love that we got a little bit more of an extensive look at the Broncos younger guys, some guys that could be fighting for backup spots or even guys fighting for practice squad spots because this is a deep young roster. And there was a lot of guys that made some plays here tonight. For sure, Sean Payton currently at the podium. I'm curious to see what he has to say after the game.

I did see some comments from him going into halftime that he was a little bit disappointed about the start for the offense and for the defense. But again, as Cody and I have talked about here on your lockdown Broncos postcast, I think that's to be expected just a little bit with this Denver Broncos team. And of course, to Cody's point, it is the preseason. Some people think Sador Sanders is the second coming after what he did last night for Cleveland in their preseason game. So let's pump the brakes. I think there was a lot of good to take away from this game tonight to your point about the depth,

you know, different players. But it was also nice just to see J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey, Evan Ingram. First opportunity to see these guys in that orange and blue for the Broncos, Cody. Yeah. And look, for RJ, you see the quick cuts, the explosiveness there. You know, we didn't get to see J.K. touched the ball. in terms of running it for the Broncos, which, you know, maybe we'll see that in Arizona,

you know, when you have this home game, you know, this upcoming week here. But I also like that we got to see a lot of Troy Franklin. We got to see Pat Bryan making plays here. I mean, you got a whole bunch of guys getting involved. Trent Shurfled out, as we mentioned, led all receivers. Obviously, it's over 70 yards on three catches.

That connection between he and Stidham was cooking up a little bit. And maybe you want to see a little bit more from the tight end room. I mean, I know Lucas Crowe had a wide open touchdown. No one was even near him at that point. He was the most productive guy at that position on the night. But just young guys getting in the mix here. And you want to see growth. You want to see guys taking steps forward.

And I think one thing that can stand out to me is a little concerning here was the penalties. You know, over eight penalties for something. I mean, no 11 penalties for 87 yards here for the Broncos. That's an area that hurt them last year. They're going to have to sharpen up on that and obviously get it going. But this is the first game of the 2025 campaign. Granted, it's the preseason. but it's the first in terms of the overall body of work of this team.

And come three weeks time from now, this team is going to look very different. That roster is going to be set. And then your room for error kind of shrinks going forward. Yeah, getting the feet wet. That's what the Denver Broncos did here tonight. But it is a 30 to 9 victory in the first preseason game of the season for the Denver Broncos. All right, let's hit a quick break. When we come back, we'll continue along with the conversation.

What did we learn? Jared Siddle looked pretty good. I thought, you know, there was a couple players in that second half that looked pretty good as well. Cody and I'll dive into that. When we come back right here on your Locked on Broncos postcast. I'm going to kick you out for a second. I'll bring you right back in my man. Here we go. Let me tell you about our friends over at Monarch money here real quick because most people can't name all of their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401k's properties or investments. And when you don't have the full picture,

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Use code locked on NFL at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NFL. Be sure to check out our friends over on Monarch Money. and let them know that locked on Broncos sent you. And let me also tell you real quick about our friends over at Yahoo Fantasy, ladies and gentlemen, this episode is presented to you by Yahoo Fantasy. It's the best time of the year. NFL kickoff is almost here, and that means fantasy football season is back in full swing.

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Stay tuned to more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy football now at Yahoo!Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. Do it. Check out our friends over at Yahoo! Yahoo! Fantasy and let them know that Locked on Broncos sent you. Locked on Broncos postcast Adilo Piro, along with my guy, Cody, Rourke. Don't worry, it's the postcast, Sarah and Cody got you covered on your standard

Locked on Broncos podcast as well. So I know it's my first time, I believe, on the channel. I think we've done some stuff previously, but I believe we're moving the postcasts over to the main feed, so we'll have some additional content for Broncos Country here as well, Cody. Yep, you'll still get your post game podcast from Sarah and I after the show Broncos Country. You just get a little bit of extra of me and you get a little bit of dicingness here from Nilo Piro. So I decided to bring it.

I try to keep it a bucket of stack with you. But you and I go back to the listeners as well. I mean, we've known each other for what, five, six, seven years. Now we've done shows together. So excited to kind of bring it all together here on the lockdown platform. But yeah, it was a 30 to nine throttling for the Denver Broncos. Look, I don't know about you, Cody. They could have lost this game 30 to nine.

And I'm not sure I would feel very different. To me, this is about, like I've said, a couple of times, get the feet wet, get some looks at some new players. And most importantly, health is wealth. And the Denver Broncos is doing pretty good on that department here tonight as well. Yeah, they came out of tonight's game healthy, which is something you want to see. Now, granted, they got a little banged up in the joint practice against the 49ers.

As Sean Payton has confirmed to us that Matt Hennington, defensive lineman has torn his Achilles. He'll have surgery when the team returns to Denver this week. So obviously a big blow. Obviously, a former draft pick of the Broncos that they had there was on the practice squad last year. So tough sledding there. And, yeah, I mean, just you want to come out of any game healthy. And Denver, for the most part right now is. And hopefully nothing pops up, you know, by the time they get back to Denver next

week when we're out there watching practice and they're expected to get Drey Greenlaw, Alex Singleton back next week who are expected to be a little bit more full go. So that's an exciting development here. Obviously, his time wears on here. But I'd say maybe let's talk about some other aspects here of this defense. You know, just a couple of standouts here. I mean, AP, the one thing I'll say is one guy who stood out to me on special teams is always J.L. Skinner having an impact, whether it be on kickoff, whether it be on punt, he's going downfield, he's making tackles. And on defense here this evening. He had a nice player where he stuck one of the 49ers running backs, forced to fumble. It was on Amirat Dula, I believe. And then it was a cover of the Broncos

defense. So once again, J.L. Skinner making a case for himself here as the Broncos have extensive depth at the safety position, he was one guy that stood out, even though he didn't get those primary reps, you know, behind Brandon Jones, Talanoa, Hufanga. It was PJ Locke and Devin Key getting those first reps after those starters went off the field here for Denver. So J.L. and the limited amount of snaps that he got made the most of those opportunities. He's someone I wanted to highlight. I think another guy that had a good bounce back after kind of a rough start there on the first drive is J-Quan McMillan. You know, got beat for a pass there early, but then you saw him make some, you know, really solid plays as the game went along.

I thought it was a nice bounce back performance from Jayquan, a guy who's going to make this team. But I think there's a lot of questions about what his role might be after they drafted a guy like Jada Barron. And of course, they've got Riley Moss on the other side. Yeah. And there's going to be competition. between those guys, it's going to be ongoing. I thought, you know, Jay Mack responded well. I mean, that was a beautiful throw by Mack Jones over the top, high to the outside, with him having inside leverage, being able to trail underneath. That was just a great play.

And obviously, that wide receiver there in San Francisco, the rookies got some speed to him, and they're really excited about what he's going to be able to bring to the table there in San Francisco. But, you know, for him to bounce back, get the interception. One thing I like about Jay Mack, you know, he plays with the chip on his shoulder. If he gives up play, he has a short memory. he goes out there and he makes a play, you know, giving the interception, given the Broncos offense, the ball back. That's always what you want to see from a guy to be able to bounce back. And then I liked what we saw from Jadae Perrin as well, you know,

working up, coming up and sticking dudes in the run in terms of the tackling department. You know, I had a bold prediction earlier for Mile High Sports in my article earlier before the game. You know, and three of them, you know, I had three bold predictions for the rookies. Two of them came to fruition. One of them being was Jade was going to blitz from the nickel spot and get a sack. That one did not register. but I did have R.J. Harvey having at least four carries that went for over 20 or more yards in this game. And then Pat Bryant having at least two catches that were going to be 10 plus yards overall.

Those two things came to fruition. The other one's going to play out there. But Jaadet gives them flexibility. And I think when they go to the dime package, you have both these guys covering in the slot. I like the Broncos chances with that. I thought it was a really good showing from the secondary from the Broncos DBs that they had in the game here, obviously on this evening. And then Joshua Pickett getting an interception in this game.

as well. Love to be able to see that for this team, especially bouncing back from, you know, some of the shots of 49ers threw at them during Thursday's joint practice. Yeah, no, 100%. And, you know, I think we, it's hard to put a ton of stock into a preseason game, but I think, you know, you kind of hit the nail on the head of how they responded as the game went along as well. And, you know, Jada Barron, in particular, being a rookie, always interested to see how he plays. You mentioned Pat Bryant. He was second in the team with receiving yards this afternoon or this evening, rather I should say the two catches for the 21 yards, which you alluded to. But you want to talk about something that I can put some stock into and something that I do think

I can take away in a meaningful way from a preseason game just because I've seen this guy at Broncos camp, have the opportunity to interact with them. Trent Shearfield today, man, three receptions, 73 yards, including a beautiful touchdown reception. I mean, I understand everyone's excited about J.K. Dobbins and R.J.J. Harvey and and Evan Engerman and Jaday Barron, right? Those are the sexy names. But Trent Sherfield might be the unsung signing, the unsung edition for the Denver Broncos this offseason. I mean, he can do it on the field, but also as a mentor to guys like Pat Bryant. I mean, he's the total package as a veteran for the Broncos, man.

Yeah, he's had a really good training camp. And obviously, that carried over into the preseason game. You know, not only, you know, he was brought in initially to be a special teams contributor. I think he's exceeded the expectations in the receiving department because all throughout training camp, he's had sticky hands. He's been a really good route runner. He's been a reliable outlet option, not only for Bo Nix, but Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ellinger, he's caught passes from all those guys throughout camp and then just goes out and has a

really great showing here. I mean, that was a tough catch that he made, too, a beautiful throw by Stiddon. But man, the two-toe tap, that's a hard play to make right there. And he got both feet in perfectly. He just continues to be a reliable option, you know, whether it be on third down, a good blocker when it comes to the run game as well. And I even thought, too, there was one pass he caught coming out of the second half. It was an underneath crossing pattern. Pat Bryant, the rookie, did a great job getting in front of a defender,

sticking his hands up in the air and then blocking with his hip to free Sherfield up the sideline. I love what I'm seeing from this wide receiver room. There's a lot of depth to this group right now. And you want to be able to keep stacking that. And obviously, I think that wide receiver room is set with Corlin Sutton, Marvin Mims, Devon, Valey, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryan. I think Trent Sherfield will round out that six spot. I think they carry six onto the 53. And I think those are the guys that are going to make it.

Yeah, no, I'm with you as well. But as we kind of wind it down here on your lockdown Broncos postcast, appreciate y'all in Broncos country for tapping in with us. I mean, talked a little bit about the defense, talked about the offense. Four turnovers, though, man. I mean, and I understand it's preseason, you know, third string, second string quarterbacks, receivers, all that kind of stuff. But the Broncos defense, even without their top guys in there past the first quarter,

I mean, four turnovers is four turnovers. That's something to read into as well. Yeah, you love to see the contributions to it. Say Dion Jones, you know, recovering a fumble. You get Q Robinson, your rookie outside linebacker who's blowing up screenplays. God, A Barron's going up and making tackles, getting stops for minimal to no gain there. And just everybody's contributing, flying around, creating pressure. You know, Karen A. Reed getting an interception as the undrafted rookie free agent linebacker.

I thought he's had a fantastic under the radar training camp here at a position where I think everyone in Broncos country is a little concerned about the depth there. But, man, he's playing really well at this point. Lavelle Bailey's had a great office season. I thought Justin Sternod and his action that he had, I thought he did pretty well sticking the run against the 49ers. getting involved there early on. We talked about the safety depth already. The corner depth is pretty good right now, and it's just about getting these guys in the mix

and that pass rush department. Chris Abrams drain, I mean, let's talk about a guy who, you know, had a couple of plays. One of the biggest ones of the night that didn't count because of a penalty on Enjoma Oaxarrique. Chris Abrams drain came up big in the passing game defensively for the Broncos, had a couple of past breakups,

had an interception and got wiped off the board. But, man, really liking what we're seeing from the second year cornerback out of Missou and you just want to see these guys continue to build that confidence. He's going to have an important role as a gunner and as a jammer on special teams. But man, if the Broncos need help at cornerback on the outside, I think they're very confident what Abram's drain is going to bring to the table. Yeah, no, I'm with you as well. I think you saw a lot of the different depth pieces on display tonight for the Denver Broncos.

And ultimately, a little bit of an ugly start, but they score 30 unanswered points to take care of business against the San Francisco 49ers here this evening, 30 to 9. Cody, before we get out of here, any closing thoughts? Anything else you want to get off the chest before we move forward to week two of the preseason? Hey, Broncos country, it's the preseason. Have fun with it. You know, enjoy the passion, but don't get all crazy with the overreactions. It's the preseason.

And we know that, hey, the Broncos, I mean, what was it? Or actually, let's go back to Detroit Lions the year. They went 0 in 16. They went 4 and 0 in the preseason. It doesn't matter in your winner loss calm. You want to see consistent growth. And surely for the Broncos offense, there's a lot of growth to be had from the starters. Will they do that this week against Arizona?

That's our hope. That's what we're going to look for. Thanks for rock with us. Sarah Betteinger and myself, we're going to be coming up here shortly for our Lockdown Broncos postgame report as well. It's going to be a good time. He's Cody Rourke. I'm anilop hero.

We have Locked on Broncos postcast in addition to all the additional Locked on Broncos podcast content with Cody and Sarah looking forward to an awesome season here. And nice to get football back on the mind as the Denver Broncos take care of business today. 30 to 9 in their first preseason game with a win over the San Francisco. go 49ers. He's Cody Rourke. Omany Lo Piro. Good win for the Broncos. We'll talk to you guys next week.