Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Broncos POSTCAST: Broncos win, but questions loom about offense

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

The Denver Broncos finished the preseason 3-0, beating the New Orleans Saints, 28-19. Bo Nix and the starting offense got off to a slow start, but a touchdown to Courtland Sutton helped get the Broncos offense on track. Aniello Piro breaks down the game on today'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. Betterhelp This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Talk it out, with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/lockedon. 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 Postcast, powered by Mile High Sports, part of Locked-on Sports, Denver, on the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ah, yes, it is your Locked-on Broncos Postcast here on this lovely Saturday, August the 23rd, here in the Mile High City. I am your host of your Denver Broncos postcast, Anilo Piro. You guys can follow me on social media at. media by AP. And thankfully, I shouldn't say thankfully. I'm thankful for any football we get anytime. But thankfully, this is the last preseason postcast that we'll have to do. Now we can turn the page and look forward to the regular season, a highly anticipated regular season for the Denver Broncos.

So we'll break down obviously today's preseason win against the New Orleans Saints. We'll also take a look ahead to the regular season, some thoughts on guys who are maybe on the bubble. We'll get your thoughts as well. Feel free to chime in in the comment section. as we have some fun here on your Lockdown Broncos postcast. And as a programming note, don't worry, Cody and Sare, they're not going anywhere. This is just in addition to what Cody and Sare do with the traditional Lockdown Broncos podcast. This is just your Locked Broncos postcast. Some more Denver Broncos conversation and coverage from yours truly.

Follow me on social at media by AP. But okay, let's get the nuts and bolts out of the way here first, folks. The Denver Broncos 3 and 0 in the preseason. They take down the New Orleans Saints this afternoon, 28 to 19, your final school. score. I think everybody for the most part, outside of just, you know, bubble watch, specifically in the second half at the running back position, everybody was, was interested to see what the offense was going to look like. Of course, they played limited snaps in that first game against the San Francisco 49ers, did not play whatsoever against the Arizona

Cardinals, that being Bo Nix, Cortland Sutton and whatnot, due to the joint practice in the middle of the week. I've been at every single training camp practice alongside with my guy, Cody Rourke, and Sean Payton chalked that up to in regards to not playing the starters in the second preseason game to, you know, having enough good work done in that joint practice. But today, supposed to be eight to ten reps for the starters. The starting offense got a little bit more there as they got out to a slow start. And I put it in the thumbnail questions about the offense. You know, should we read into what we've seen from the Denver Broncos offense and,

you know, give or take a quarter's worth of football, not even that much from the starters. And I got a couple of different takes direction that I want to go on that. But I think the big thing is the Broncos offense found their footing midway through their little stint there in the first quarter. I mean, the first couple of drives look pretty, pretty ugly there. But Bo Nix gets a nice connection to Cortland Sutton over the middle of the field for a chunk play. And they finish off a drive there with a touchdown to Cortland Sutton. So looking at the numbers from Bo

Knicks, nothing to be alarmed about. 10 of 14, 110 passing yards. Average of 7.9 yards. A touchdown, no interceptions in a quarterback rating of 118.2. Right? You like that. And it was important. You saw Sean Payton throw the offense out there, maybe for one more drive or a handful of more plays than he initially had thought to or thought he was going to because he wanted to see that offense get going. And Sean, I caught his post game press conference on the television, you know, basically said it was a loose eight to ten plays. And you saw obviously Bo Nix, Cortland, Son, Evan Ingram, who had to drop at one point in this game play a little bit more than those eight to ten snaps. But it got the result that Sean Payton was looking for,

which was a touchdown drive at some point there early in the second quarter puts the Broncos up. they don't trail after that moment, and they end up winning the game 28 to 19. They gave up, they conceded the Broncos did the two field goals there in the first half. I understand that the Broncos also were able to generate a field goal of their own in the first quarter. But really what you were looking for, at least what I was looking for from the offense, is just some continuity. And you got that as the drive progressed, as their stints and as their snaps went along. You know, the first couple of plays, you know, you had those third down opportunities.

I'm unable to convert at one point. You know, it kind of looked a little bit like that San Francisco game here, but you like the chemistry with Bo Nix. You like the reception from Court on Sutton. Two big receptions from court today, including the touchdown pass. And outside of that, the Broncos offense did what they were supposed to do.

Maybe not as quickly as you would hope they would, but they did end up going on a scoring, drop, score, and a touchdown in a way we go. Now, let me know your thoughts in the comment section here. Are you a little concerned about the Denver Broncos offense? Because we saw them against San Francisco, and we saw them there today against New Orleans. The ending, you know,

you remember the last thing that you see, right? So the last thing you saw was Bo Nixon Company walking off the field, that being the starters with a touchdown reception to Cortland Sutton. But I almost fired off a tweet at Media by AP in that final drive saying, uh-oh. Like I'm not one to overreact to preseason. I'm not. But this was now the second game after not seeing him in the preseason game against Arizona where you just kind of expected things to look right. And they didn't look right out of the gate. So I'm not trying to sound an alarm or, you know, ring a bell or this or that and say the sky is falling. with the Denver Broncos offense.

I'm not there. I've got them at 10 wins, which is controversial to some people. I got them at double digit wins. They could win 11, I think, but I got them at 10 wins myself. I just, you know,

I came away from those first couple of drives with the Broncos often saying, maybe they're not as crisp as they look at practice. I mean, that much is obvious to me. They look a lot better in practice than they have in these couple of stints offensively in the preces. But again,

I'm not going to read into that a whole lot. You know, Evan Ingram had a bad drop. Cortland Sutton kind of beat himself up, had that fade route. the end zone, which they kind of missed time. I think it was more on Cortland than it was on Bo. You know, we got a comment here from Vicki. I'm very concerned about the offense.

Another comment here from Joey, yes, it's just about the same offense as last season, and they were average. I'm curious, let me know your thoughts. What is giving you anxiety about this Denver Broncos offense? Because I'm a believer, not a bo-leaver. I mean, I am a bo-leaver, but not in this sense. But I just think they need reps. Like, that's where I'm at.

And look, I've seen them do the same routes and the same 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 in the same, you know, song and dance when it comes to practice for three weeks now. So, you know, that's a lot different trying to take what you're working on in practice and implying that to the game. And so, like I said, I'm not, you know, sound the alarm with this Denver Broncos offense, but I am coming back and saying, okay, like maybe they're not quite as good as I thought they were going to be out of the game. That doesn't mean that they can't be really good towards the end of the season like we saw

them come on last year. But, you know, what's the old saying? The cream rises to the top. Maybe that is going to be the case with this Broncos offense. But I guess I'm now mentally preparing myself. and I know they got the Tennessee Titans week one, who was the worst team in the NFL last year, got the number one overall pick.

Like, I was in my head looking at that game as that's a Denver Broncos blowout. Like I was thinking like a 35 to 10 type of game just because I don't think the Titans are very, very good, starting a rookie quarterback. But now I think the Broncos are still going to win the game, but I'm not, you know, maybe I'm second guessing myself about a big blowout victory.

Like I think it would be a disaster if the Broncos lost the first game of the Tennessee Titans. But I just, I guess I'm checking myself at the door. when it comes to my overall expectations for the offense. Offensive line in particular, like I think Bo is going to be okay. I feel okay about the wide receivers. We'll talk about the Devon-Vay trade here in just a moment. But I think Bo will be okay.

Again, let's knock those cobwebs off. And, you know, I feel good about Corton Sutton. I feel good about Evan Ingram despite the drop today. I think he'll figure it out. He's a pro. But the offensive line in the running game, you know, those are two areas of emphasis for the Denver Broncos here. And look, I think J.K. Dobbins is going to really increase the rushing attack for the Denver

Broncos as a whole. But R.J. Harvey, I mean, four rushing yards on his three carries today, not exactly anything to write home about if you're R.J. Hartman. You know, the offensive line at points today, which at one point, not even at one point, it just frankly was a strength for the Denver Broncos last year, looked a little bit shaky there as well. And, you know, I think back to the answer that Quinn Miners had, I want to say this was that Thursday's practice,

where he was asked about, like, do you like playing in the preseason? You know, do you not want to play in the preseason? He said for him personally, he likes to play in the preseason because it goes to knock those cobwebs off. and it helps to get him ready for the season. Well, the Broncos offensive line, not exactly ready for the season, in my opinion. You know, they definitely looked a little rusty out there today. Again, we'll see what happens between now and week one. If they can get some stuff cleaned up, if there's a mental switch that flips because

it's a regular season game versus a preseason game. But the offensive line today, a little shaky. Running back room today, a little shaky, at least with the ones. No J.K. Dobbins out there for the Denver Broncos. But we did, as I mentioned, have RJ Harvey. And look, he's making the team, obviously, a second round pick. He's not going anywhere. But, you know, three carries for four yards.

Not exactly late in the world on fire there. Audragestime, though, a guy who's on the bubble for the Denver Broncos in that running back room. If I had to guess right now, right now I don't think Audrey Esmey's making the team. Maybe he comes back on the practice squad. Maybe they try to flip him for a fifth or six round pick if they could get that. But I don't think Audraguestime is making the team personally. I like Audrey Estimate. I think he's got a lot of talent.

But he had himself a nice little day today. And you remember the last thing that you do, right? Eight carries for 45 yards, punches in a touchdown there. that was much needed. And we've heard some reports, you know, from in and around the building that Estime may be a little bit earlier on in training camp was kind of frustrated with the overall dynamic, maybe poutin a little bit, just annoyed, frustrated is the word. But today, you know, whatever that may have been, if that was the thing, he cast that to the side and showed out with his eight carries for 45 yards, an average of 5.6 yards per carry long rush and nine in the touchdown. So nice to see Audrey Estime find his way in the end zone there as well. And here's one other thing I'll read into before we kind of transition to the defense and some other big picture. your thoughts after the commercial break.

Jaliel McLaughlin was not, he didn't play today. I don't think he was there either. I know he's well, his wife is going through labor. They're expecting a child. But I think the fact that Jaliel McLaughlin wasn't there, let's take the life stuff aside. Like Jaliel McLaughlin's making this team. So the way that I look at it is J.K. Dobbins is a lock in the running back room.

RJ Harvey's a lock in the running back room. I feel pretty confident in saying that Jaliel McLaughlin is also going to make this team. You know, Sean Payton has gushed over Jalil, put on some weight this offseason, you know, despite the results weren't always there for Julio the last season, but they liked the upside with him. So I think Jaliel McLaughins making this team. Now, the question is, do they carry four running backs? Then if they do carry four, who's going to be the fourth?

Is it Adrakeesstimate? I don't think so. Could it be Tyler Pide? Could it be Blake Watson? And let me confirm this real quick. I'm forgetting which one, one of them went down today. Yeah, Blake Watson went down with the knee injury. So we'll see if that affects anything, only four carries for 13 yards.

But not exactly like Tyler. of a day, you know, had himself a day either with four carries for 14. I mean, Sam Ellinger, the back of the third string quarterback, not even the backup quarterback, was the Broncos second leading rusher today, six carries for 25 yards. That's a little deja vu-esque. I mean, how many times last year would you watch the Denver Broncos and going into halftime or even finishing games was Bo Nicks either the first or second leading rush on the team? So again, let's pump the brakes.

It's preseason. We haven't seen J.K. Dobbins in this game, but just food for thought here is the running back room might not be as strong as some people thought heading in the training camp. Just some food for thought there as well. But all in all, man, you can't complain. 28 to 19 victory today for the Denver Broncos. The offense figured it out after a bit of a rough start. Corton Sutton Sutton with a touchdown reception.

He had four receptions for 83 yards. So if you play preseason fantasy, you love to have Cortland Sutton on your roster today. Lucas Crowell had himself a nice day as well, three receptions for 49 yards. And away we go. But let's turn that page. The Broncos ending the preseason 3-0, 20 to 19 victory over the New Orleans Saints. All right, let's hit a quick break. When we come back, we'll continue along with the conversation.

Drop some comments, folks. Let me know your thoughts on the preseason as a whole. Today's game, the running back room, the offensive line, any concerns you have with this Denver Broncos team. Let me know your thoughts in the comments will come back and go back and forth right here on your locked on Broncos postcast. Back in just a moment, folks. All right, you guys, let me tell you about our friends over at Yahoo Fantasy because this episode is presented by our friends over at 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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Be sure to check out our friends who are our better help and let them know that locked on Broncos sent you. All right, welcome on back in to your Locked on Broncos postcast programming note once again.

Cody and Sayre, they're not going anywhere. This is just some additional content here on the Lockdown Broncos YouTube channel as well as the Locked on Broncos audio feed. So appreciate y'all. Rock with me throughout the course of the preseason. I'll be here throughout the course

of the regular season as well. I also do the Lockdown Nuggets and Lockdown Buffs postcast show. So if you want some Colorado a Buffalo's conversation. If you want some Denver Nuggets conversation when basketball season rolls around, that's where you can find me. But, okay, let's get back into it.

A big win today for the Denver Broncos. They go 3-0 in the preseason, 28 to 19. Offense starts slow, picks it up as the game goes along, running back room, some question marks, offensive line, some question marks. The one thing where there's no question marks, folks. Well, one, I think the New Orleans Saints might be the worst team in the NFL this year. I mean, yish. Diler Shuck and Spencer Rattler leaving a lot to be desired.

But I have no questions about the defense, man. I mean, you saw Patrick Sturtain making a play on Brandon Cook's, P.I on Brandon Cook's pushing off as well. Sir Tan said, I don't care. I'm knocking this ball away. The defense is going to be fine. You know, Jonathan Cooper doing his thing. You know, there's never really been a question outside of health,

and that's for every team in the NFL. You know, but specifically with the Broncos defense, like, they're going to be straight, folks. I mean, the Saints today, I wish I could pull up the stats with the starters in there, you know, because they have 236 total yards of offense, which isn't exactly. great, you know, but how many yards are they exactly generate against the Broncos first team offense? Not many. I mean, they had them in prison today despite the two field goal attempts

there early. So no questions myself about the Broncos defense outside of health. They should be one of, if not the best unit in the NFL. That is known. But I asked you guys, before I hit the break, you know, about what concerns do you have? What questions do you have? A couple of good comments here from this one from Mason. Not worried about the offense. Sean Payton is a lead at making adjustments and this defense will keep them in games if it takes a few weeks for the offense. If they start slow, go Broncos. I agree with that.

Kenneth adds Denver will be fine. I think Sean wants people to question our offense chip on the shoulder technique. Maybe that's the case. But I tend to agree with you guys. I think the offense is going to be just fine. I think Bo Nix is going to be just fine. I do have some questions about the running game. But point being, like, I'm not putting too much stock.

I'm putting a little bit of stock, just a little bit into what I saw from the ones in San Francisco. And then, of course, this afternoon. but when it's overall, like, I'm not taking what I saw from the preseason as a means to say the Broncos aren't going to make the playoffs. Like, I'm not there yet. Like, I think the Broncos are good enough. They have enough talent on offense. They'll be good to go.

Speaking of talent on offense, the Broncos made a trade earlier this week. And the person in which they traded away happens to play for the team in which the Broncos played against today. That, of course, being wide receiver Devon, Valey. And just a couple of thoughts on that. I did not see this trade coming. but I also didn't see the Broncos getting a fourth and a seven for Devon Valey. Every indication that I got, you know, from people in and around the building is that Sean Payton and Bo Nixon company, like they like Devon Valle a lot.

Great player. He is a little bit older, 27 years old. But simply put, you know, I had a buddy because I was telling him that I'm like, I think the Broncos really like Devon Bailey. He texted me that. He's like, I thought the Broncos love Bailey, question mark. And I said, well, to use a line from the Godfather, Sean Payton and George Payton were made an offer. They simply couldn't refuse. I mean, you got to think of it this way.

And off the top of my head, I'm trying to remember this from what I saw on social media. I believe the Broncos got a better return for Devon Valet than the Pittsburgh Steelers got for George Pickens to kind of put that in perspective. You know, you saw, you know, the 49ers made a couple of trades as well. You know, the point being the Broncos got tremendous, tremendous value in the Devon Bayley trade. And I think Pat Bryant, who you saw today make some plays, you know, they feel very confident in him as a whole. Pat Bryant today, two receptions for 19 yards, along a 14. You like to see that. You know, they like Quarling the Sun.

Obviously, they paid him in the offseason. Marvin Mims Jr. has made some strides. No one's made more strides this offseason than Troy Franklin. So clearly, you know, when Sean talked about how they might carry those five or six wide receivers, but they might not all dress. So there was going to be an odd man out, even if they made the roster in regards to dressing on Sundays. So obviously, you know, when the fourth round pick and Sean made a note that, you know, there was two teams that were seriously in on valet and a third team that was interested.

The fact that there was three teams calling Devon Valet, one tells you something in his skill set. But the fact that the Broncos were willing and able to move off of them for a fourth round pick, which is great compensation, in my opinion, also shows you they feel pretty confident about the depth that they have. So that's that as well. My thoughts on the Von Veilet tree. But all in all, man, it's kind of put a bow on it. It's here, baby. Denver Broncos football is here.

The Colorado Buffalo has played a football game a week from yesterday. So college football is starting up, NFL football is starting up. Obviously, we'll get roster cuts coming up here starting on Tuesday. We'll see what happens there. Running back room. I don't think there'll be any major cuts at wide receiver. Like Cortland Sutton's good. Marvin Mimps is good.

Troy Franklin's good. Trent Sherfield's good. You know, we'll see where they go. Pat Bryant's good. So there's your five as well, you know, for the Broncos wide receivers. So I'm going to be interested to see what they do at cornerback with the cuts.

I'm interested to see what they do at running back with the cuts and maybe tight end as well. You know, guys like Caleb Loner. They like Nate Atkins, who's been banged up with an injury. We'll see what happens there. But Cody and Sarah. We'll have you covered with additional roster conversation. They'll have their thoughts on this game too. So all in all, folks, I don't think the preseason, you go 3 and 0,

but again, those struggles that we saw from the first team offense, I put this much stock into it. Like a scale of 1 to 10, I put a 1, right? I'm reading into it. I got my mental notes. We'll see how they look against Tennessee. I expect they'll be a lot better. But now we can officially turn the page as Denver Broncos's regular season football is upon us.

All right, that is going to do it for me, folks. Really, really appreciate you all rock with me. You can follow me on social media at media by AP. Do me a favor. Hit that like button, smash that subscribe button on your way out the door. And you'll be able to join me after each and every Denver Broncos game throughout the course of this season. 3 and O in the preseason, onto the regular season. Talk to you guys after week one, folks.

Have a good one.