Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Broncos BEAT Los Angeles Chargers, Secure Homefield

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

The Denver Broncos clinched the #1 seed in the AFC with their 19-3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday afternoon. The win means the Broncos will be the lone team in the AFC on bye and will return to action in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. What will the playoffs hold for Sean Payton, Bo Nix and the Broncos? Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they react to the Broncos' win and look ahead to the NFL Playoffs. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rocket Money Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. DripDrop Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to http://dripdrop.com and use promo code lockedonnfl. Ultimate QB Ultimate QB is totally free to play, has no ads, and works 100% offline — perfect for when you want to sneak in a quick game or two on the go. Just head over to http://ULTIMATE-QB.COM. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern. A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. PrizePicks Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/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. Zocdoc Stop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need. Go to http://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. 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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Anilo Piro and the Denver Broncos have now accomplished goal number two that Sean Peyton set out before the season. I'm Cody Rourke and the Denver Broncos are top dogs in the AFC, exactly where they want to be. I'm Sarah Benninger. Sean Payton just proved why he's the coach of the year in the NFL. I'm Nick Ferguson and guess what? The defense shows up yet again. All that more. Let's dive into it on tonight's.

Locked-on Broncos squad show. From the South stands, it's the Broncos squad. Everything dead for Broncos every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Mile High City. The way only the Locked-on podcast network can. Gear up and squad up. The Broncos Squad Show starts now. It is your locked-on Broncos Squad show coming to you live on this January 4th,

Happy New Year to all of Broncos country out there. Our first show of 2020. And we've got an awesome action-pack year coming up for you guys here on the Lockdown Broncos Squat show and hopefully plenty of shows until the month of November. But the regular crew, Anilo Piro, Cody Wark, Sarah Bettinger and Nick Ferguson, rocking with you here on this Sunday night. Do us a favor. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button, smash that subscribe button.

That way you guys never, ever miss an episode of anything locked on Broncos. and if you're on the audio feed, we appreciate you guys as well. Real quick, tonight's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Price Picks. Download the Price Picks app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. All right, gentlemen. So I think it's kind of a two-prong conversation that we start out with here today. One, the Broncos got the job done.

We got to talk about them clinching the number one to the AFC. By any means necessary. Not exactly the prettiest game from the Denver Broncos. I do think that two things can be true at the same time. The Broncos get the win. We'll break that down. But let's start with the big news, the champagne pop, if you may. Cody, the Broncos securing the number one seat in the AFC and that ever coveted first round by.

Yeah, they needed it. And look, obviously, it's a big accomplishment. 14 wins ties the franchise record for this team. And for them to just, I think when you look back here at week 18 and you look back from the start of week one to where we are at right now, where we are at sitting there watching this team and training. camp just thinking like, okay, what are we going to get from this Broncos team this season? I tell you, it's been a fun journey. It's been a roller coaster.

It's had its ups, it's had its downs. And I think when you sit here in week 18 and now it kind of culminates and saying like, you got the last win that you needed here in order to clinch the number one seat and now you have home field advantage. And I think you look at the rest of the AFC right now, too, you look at teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who certainly played really well, you know, this season. You look at the rise of the New England Patriots who finished with the same record. luckily you had the tiebreaker, you know, based on the virtue of common opponent.

Thank you, Las Vegas Raiders. Well, that's the only time we'll ever praise you here. And it all led to the Denver Broncos getting the number one seed, which, I don't think anybody expected them to be the one seed this year. I think if anyone was going back, you go to the preseason, people are like, I don't see them being the one seed. Denver shocked a lot of people by getting here. But now, you know, the quote Spider-Man with great power. Oh, here we go. Great responsibility.

Yeah, man. It was, it's been a crazy season. Like I said, we'll kind of dive into all these big picture thoughts as we go along. But Sear, your initial reaction to Denver getting the job done here today. I love it. I mean, we've been calling for the defense to come up with some turnovers, right, since the buy. And they did that. That's what won the game.

Ultimately, you win the turnover battle. It sets you up. The Broncos got 10 points off those turnovers. Thankfully, J-Quan Macmillan was ready to play some offense once he got the ball in his hands today because the Broncos needed that. from him and they needed it from this defense. And I think, look, I was talking to Cody on the post game episode of Lockdown Broncos too. Wasn't it Jayquan Macbillon back in 2023 who got that big turnover party started as well? I believe it was, you know, against Buffalo where he forced like three turnovers by himself. So you get a game like this from the defense that looked a lot

different in my opinion than any other game since the by week. I know the defense has played well most of this year. But since the buy, it's been a little bit of a concern for, at least for me, I know some of you guys at times as well, but man, this game, it was back to the dominating ways that we had seen. Look, backups don't matter. You wanted to see the defense play a game like this, especially going into the playoffs, and they delivered big time. Yeah, they wreaked havoc on Tray Lance in this game without a doubt. And, you know, your final score here this evening is the Broncos get the job done 19 to 3. So the Chargers don't even find the end zone in this one. And again, backup or not, that's a, that's a strong showing from this Broncos defense. But Nick,

you know, you played in the NFL. You've played in playoff games. I mean, for this Broncos team to win 14 regular season games and secure that number one seat, I didn't think they were going to be this good record wise, but here they are, my friend. It is jokes on you, Jack. That's exactly kind of what it is because I'm sure when the schedule came out, we all looked at the schedule. We say, well, the Broncos are playing here. The Broncos are playing there. That's a dub. That's a loss. That's a kind of toss-up game. No one. No one that I know of is said that they projected the Broncos to be exactly where they are. I gave them 10 wins out the gate with the potential to win more, but I didn't know as far as where the ball was going to bounce as far as

that's concerned. So I didn't even project the Broncos to be where they are. They are, just to say, may be a season or two earlier than anyone may have thought they would be, but we're here at this moment. And this is an excellent opportunity for them to capitalize off of this. And I can tell you guys from personal experience, these opportunities only come around once in a lifetime, unless you're playing for the New England Patriots and your Tom Brady, you get like 20 years of this.

But most people don't get this type of opportunity. So hopefully the Broncos take. making this man celebrate it tomorrow morning, forget it, turn the page, and start to clean up a lot of things that they need to moving forward. Yeah, there's a lot of work that needs to be done for this Broncos team. And we'll kind of talk about the theme and the feel around this team heading into the postseason. The last three games are so sample size because I know there's a lot of people in

Broncos country that obviously are very satisfied in the moment. But I think we can all agree that the Broncos offense and defense are going to need to pick up the pace a little bit if they want to go out. there and defend that home field. But again, kind of living in the moment right now, the Broncos capturing that one seat. I mean, Cody, you were in the locker room with me after the game, heard from some of the players of the podium, including Sean Payton. You know what my biggest takeaway from just being in there and being around the guys, very businesslike. And I'm sure they had their little club dub celebration. I'm sure the

smoke thing was going off and they were, you know, having their thing. But the moment we got in there with the cameras and the media, it was, it felt like just like every other win this season. And I think that's a good thing. I don't think it's a bad thing whatsoever. But I think that also kind of speaks to where this team's mentality is at is, hey, we check this box, we secured the 1C, but we know we have bigger and better things on the horizon. Yeah, I mean, once again, too, I think it's a testament to just the type of mentality that the guys in that locker room have.

And I've been telling fans all season long, anyone who's going to listen is, hey, I just feel like this team has a different level of maturity. The things that they focus on, I think, are very important, right? They're never the team that's going to look behind them. They're never the team that's going to look too far ahead. They're very much in the moment. And I think the on-filled stuff that we've seen from them, certainly they are an in-the-moment type of team sometimes.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. But we talked to Jay Kwan Macmillan after the game. He said, you know, the locker room was crazy afterwards. They had the smoke. They had the music. They brought in a DJ boot. They brought in a DJ for that. But you're right.

Like once we get in there, we would have never known that that happened. Because, you know, typically we hear the music. They don't let us in to a. certain extent, right? So it's like they get actually celebrate and kind of keep that the moments kind of to themselves, which I think is good. But one thing that JMAX said after the game, he said, you know, like this is the closest locker room of guys I've ever been with, whether it's, you know, here, whether it's college. He said, we all do things together away from football. And he says, I think that we just, that's what helps us on the field. And I think it's very much

why we see that mindset when we're in the locker room. And it's like, hey, we took care of business. We won the game now. We get home field advantage. And they're a. excited, very excited for a home playoff game. Yeah, we heard from Zach Allen after the game as well. He said, no vacations, right? I believe Evan Ingraham also said that as well. Like, they're going to, you know, stick around, get some working, get some treatment in and obviously take this week to its advantage and rest and recuperate and they'll practice later this week as well. But, you know, for what it's worth, the guys are not going to be going up to, you know, Cancun or something like that. They're going to stay here in my life city and get ready for. Could you imagine, Nick? Could you imagine if somebody took it like a first round, like, all right, yeah.

Oh, Tony Robo and the boys did it like 10 years ago. Trust me. Didn't the New York Giants? Isn't that when they took that picture of Trace and whatnot? Receivers on the boat and didn't work out too well for those guys either. Astalevista, baby. I wouldn't mind. I know it's been nice, but like if they did want to take like a little getaway, like go up to the mountains and hit like a hot spring.

Like I'd be okay with that, but stay in town. I mean, that's fine. I did see Tony Romo today. Yeah, you had some thoughts about that. Yeah, we had some. I told, you know, we're sitting there getting food. Nick, you were there with us, too. Oh, yeah, I can't go to the extent of everything else after that.

AP, you know what I'm talking about, too, because you and I talked about it. Sarah's like, I'm missing out. I'm the guy who's not in on this joke right now. I'm sorry, but Tony Romo sitting there, and anyone who knows me knows my wife hates Tony Romo. He can't stand listening to those. Oh, not just your wife. Yeah, yeah. I don't like Tony either.

But, like, as a commentator, I respect him as a player and whatnot. But anyways, Tony's sitting there right next minute I turn out. I look, I'm like, I'm like, my wife hates you. AP was like, did you really say? I'm like, no, I didn't say that in my head. Telepathically I did. But Ferguson and I were sitting there right next to each other as, you know, Tony Rom was walking by.

He's got a little special guest with him. So we're, you know, we're enjoying the food spread there, man. Oh, the pork belly. I know you didn't try it today. That was the, I liked the food today. I know you were a little hit or miss on it, but that's beyond. I had three chicken sandwiches, bro. I'm good.

Yeah, you have something else. I'm excited for this playoff food, though. Sir, we got to try to get you out here for one of these games. Yes. It's an absolute time. But at the end of the day, man, this Broncos team, and look, I'm not trying to get all sentimental. Like there's plenty of games to come, hopefully more than one game, right, in the playoffs. But like 14 and 3, like one seat.

I'm just curious, like what the odds would have been of that before the season even started. I thought that we're going to be like an 11 or 12 win football team, like somewhere in that range. Even the most optimistic people that I talk to had them at 13 wins. I'm not sure anyone had them at 14 wins, Sarah. And I think it's just a testament to what they're able to accomplish this season. It really is. I mean, I think that's rare to happen in Broncos franchise history, right? And to Nick's point earlier, too, I think the Broncos since 1975 have the most number one seed finishes of any team in the NFL, which is crazy.

Nine of them since 1975. So that's pretty insane. Like Broncos country has been so blessed through the years. I just have to quickly say, too, you guys got me feeling a little bit like Michael Scott right now. You know, he's like, I love inside jokes. We love to be part of one someday. But I'm super excited about 14 and 3 because look, like this is before the season, Cody and I always joke.

I always say like 17 and no until we ain't, right? To get that close to the to 17 is pretty insane, you know, for any team. I think. And people can poke holes in it all they want to. Like overdogs, underdogs, whatever people want to say about this Broncos team, like I really don't care. It's kind of like the fact that now I'm 36. I'm married.

I've got four kids. Like people can say whatever they want to about me. And I'm just like, I really don't care. Like I'm secure in my business. You know what I'm saying? I'm securing what I got going on. Like I don't need your validation for the Broncos and what they've been doing this year. Like they're winning with defense.

They're winning with offense. They're doing it all sorts of different ways every single week. And, you know, Chiefs fans got their tails between their legs. The charters are, you know, they've got if man as the quarterback. I just love it right now. I tell people all the time, you don't even know me when my team is good. This has been eight years of misery.

You're about to get to know me when my team is good. And I love it, guys. I can't get it up. Yeah, man, I'm with you. It's been an incredible season for this Denver Broncos team. And again, hopefully there's three more games to go. We shall see how the playoff shake out. They'll take advantage of this by week.

Real quick, Nick, I've got a bone to pick with you. I'm a little upset. You're not wearing that sweater you're wearing during the game. game. I was fine. I like this camouflage you got going on too, but that sweater. I mean, that thing was hard, though. Well, I definitely appreciate that. That's a courtesy of my guy out of New York City giving me some of that T.I line. And it's what's interesting really quickly about that. It's the same thing that Garrett Bowles gives me crap about every single time he sees me because he's like, well, where's my stuff? And I tell him, look, I can't get it to you until they

give it to me. So, and then I'm just besides, I mean, The size that they make it for me, they don't make it for him. So it makes it real, real difficult. Yeah. If you're an offensive lineman or even a defensive lineman, that's got to be like a custom job, I would think. Yeah, you can't dress like a small guy? You too big.

Just imagine the shoe size of those dudes. I think you guys would be very surprised to know, I think, what Taleno who Fonga's shoe size is. This is 13? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. That's crazy.

Wow. that yeah no 100% well broncos look good on the field today they obviously played all right as they get the win here today 19 to 3 over the division rival los angeles charges a team that they might just see in the playoffs at some point as well we'll save those thoughts for a little bit later on in the program but why do we hit a break when we come back let's dive into the game itself a little bit to unpack a lot a bit to unpack you know a couple different takeaways that we'll get into here on the show as the broncos get the job done over the Los Angeles Chargers. All that and more when we come back right here on your locked on Broncos squad show. All right, you guys, real quick, let me tell you about our friends over at BetterHelp. If I can get this pulled up. There we go. All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Better Help. The new year doesn't require a new you. Maybe it's just a less burdened

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That's code Locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Price Picks, it's good to be right. Be sure to check out our friends. red price picks and let them know that Lacton Broncos sent you. All right, well, come on back into your Lacton Broncos squad show. Enilo Piro, Cody, Rourke, Sarah Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson reacting to the Broncos, clinching the one seed that came by way of their 19 to three victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Cody, I will start with you, my friend, not the prettiest of wins, but a win is a win at the end of day.

Well, I would say, you know, if you love defense, like I love defense, it was a pretty win. right if you want offense you want the fireworks the explosiveness uh you know i'd say you know for denver's offense it certainly wasn't pretty and the crazy thing about all that man i i felt like they started this game on sunday exactly how they needed to right you talk about the offense going down there what was it a 15 play drive 80 something yards 75 i mean 72 yards on the ground on your first drive unfortunately ends in a field goal right now was kind of the story of the night. I believe it was on six of their 11 drives. The Broncos punted the football away back to the Chargers. You had four obvious field goes there from Will Lutz. You wanted to see

the offense just execute a little more. But I will say this as well. This just felt like such a weird game plan to me because all we kept seeing was east and west throws behind the line of scrimmage. We didn't see a lot of downfield throws. I mean, if you look at the target share from tonight's game or the Broncos. Pat Bryant led the team of targets with five. He had four catches on five targets. I was about it. You know, Cortland Sutton had one catch on two targets in this game.

It didn't seem like there was this concerted effort to even attack downfield. Now, here's where I'm caught up, knowing Sean Payton and how much of a perfectionist that he is, I don't think that Sean came into this game and said, hey, we're going to peel the curtain back. We're not going to show as much. I just don't think that they execute a. some of the vanilla stuff to the magnitude in which they had early on in the season. So for me, that was the concern that I had. But I do think the offense isn't going to look how they did today in the playoffs.

They can't afford for it, too. Yeah, I've got some thoughts on that that I'll share with you in a second. But Sarah, why don't you give us a little debrief on the game today? Yeah, I thought it was obviously a little bit uninspiring from the offensive side of things. You're playing ball control. You're playing a bit more vanilla than anybody wanted, especially once again, you know, just like the unmet expectations against Kansas City on Christmas night, I think everything that's happening lately with these, the Broncos playing a couple of backup

quarterbacks, you can blame last year's game against Kansas City for all the unmet expectations because now what everybody's expecting whenever the Broncos do play a backup quarterback or a team that's kind of resting a number of starters is 38 to nothing. And the 50 is the end zone for that offense. And that's really the expectation from everybody else is to say, hey, you should beat the brakes off this team. You should absolutely be going out there and just dominating. And I know that you look around the league this weekend.

And I think the Rams had to come back against the Cardinals as well. I know that the margin for victory was there in the end. But I mean, I think a lot of teams kind of struggled this weekend. And it's different for everybody. But for the Broncos, you wanted to see the offense end the season on a high note, as opposed to going into the playoffs on a sour note, the way that they kind of did. And so that's just to me, like, I don't know, I've told you guys this before. And I think the same thing is true.

I don't, I'm not concerned about the offense because we've seen at times this season they can do whatever they need to to win games. Now, am I the most confident they're going to come out and beat the brakes off whoever they play in the divisional round? Not necessarily. But I do think they're capable of beating whoever they would play. And that's the biggest factor, I think, regardless of the outcome of this particular game. Mr. Ferguson, I know you have some thoughts. Yeah, I think that everyone has kind of settled into this idea of what we've seen from the Broncos offense. This is who they are.

And they are, you know, the cardiac kids, a comeback kids, whatever you want to call them. Because we've seen this team come back in several games this season. And I am one of the frame of mind is that when you have an opportunity to really, you know, put up stats, I think that you should put up stats. And I know the narrative, and I've heard it a lot, that the offense was really vanilla. And here's why I'm going to say no to that. Remember that first opening drive when the Broncos got the ball,

how they moved the ball down the field. Now, I felt as though they were going to strive to run to, you know, in this particular case, knowing as though they're trying to prepare themselves for the playoffs, and this is where we saw a lot of Jill McLaughlin, who actually had a pretty decent game. So we saw the Broncos moving the ball down the field. The crowd got really excited, and then what happened? they got inside the red zone an area of the field that they've struggled in over the past couple of weeks

and i was like okay well i want to see you one show that you dedicated to running the ball and two show me a little pizzazz inside the red zone we didn't get that right even though the broncos shut out tray lance and the chargers where they didn't score any touchdowns guess what the broncos didn't score any touchdowns either for me that's a big deal and even if you wanted to say you're running offence, at least give me a little more execution because I didn't really see that. Now, if you guys want to tell me something else, please tell me because I didn't see it. When I was in a press box talking to a lot of people, it was like a snoozer. People wanted to go to sleep because they didn't really see a lot of anything from the

offense. But I know the idea is going to be, well, guess what? You're playing the Chargers, even though they're sitting there starters. you don't really want to show them too much because you may have to play them again. I'll say this. I've been around some help, some great coaches in my time as a coach and as a player. The idea is that, yeah, you play the team that's in front of you, but you go out there and you freaking execute.

I didn't see that today. And to be fair, gentlemen, over the past three weeks, I haven't seen it. Against the Jags, 20 points. Against Kansas City with the backup, 20 points. today, right, you got 19 but no touchdowns. Now, if you want to tell me that the Broncos are playing down to their opponent, maybe I give that to you three out of 18 weeks, but not several weeks in a row. There is a glaring problem, and we have to admit, even though they got the dub,

that there's something wrong with this team and they needed to show whatever issues that they had over the past two weeks, they really don't exist. But they didn't do that today. Yeah, I find myself kind of in the middle between you and Sare, right? Because I subscribe and I agree with the thought of Sair that the Broncos have shown you that they're able to win when they need to, right? Minus the Jags game and then obviously the Chargers game and the Colts game much earlier in the season. But the body of work has shown us the Broncos offense has been able to get it going when they've needed to. But I also agree with Nick in the sense of like, this is three weeks in a row where it's like, okay, like not exactly inspiring from the offense.

And I also agree with the thought. Evan Ingram kind of deflected this question and his post-game scrum about like, do you think you guys were maybe holding back the playbook a little bit? Because I actually think there's a good chance the Broncos do play the Chargers again. And maybe that was the chess match between Jim Harbaugh and Sean Peyton. At the end of the day, the Broncos get the job done,

the game didn't really mean much for the Chargers with respect to seating. They were never going to get a home game anyway. So we'll have to see. But Cody, you and I were talking in the press box as well. I think we can all agree that if the Broncos offense plays in the play off game in the division round as they have the last three games it's going to be an uphill battle for yeah i mean i will say i wasn't i'm not honestly i was not concerned about the offense against kansas city i felt like against the chiefs they dominated the time of possession 32 minutes

you know out of the 39 were were key drives all ended in points certainly yes you want more touchdowns drops were an issue in that game on a short week i wasn't necessarily concerned with bow nicks you know the jaguars game i think the difference in that game was a fact that denver defensively couldn't get a stop on third down, but offensively, Denver had two turnovers. Bow had the interception. You had the fumble. That led to obviously points for the jags. And I mean, that stuff right there defines the potential outcome of any game.

I just think that Denver has to play sharper on the offensive side of the ball, no doubt about it. But I also think the key is simplifying it here. I mean, I love that Jule McLaughlin is getting more run. I think he deserves more touches, plain and simple. And look, I know RJ Harvey's the primary guy here. but at this point it's like, you know, Jalil will rattle off three or four big runs and then all of a sudden now he gets pulled, which realistically, that's a little bit of a stretch because he has one or two big runs on one drive.

Then he gets pulled and then he bring in another running back. I just think that is impacting things with the flow of the offense a little bit differently. RJ Harvey's the type of guy you want to get going inside a little bit more. But we're seeing Jalilil at least in this game against the Chargers. He hit the outside runs perfectly, was patient, hit the cut back. he hit the inside, fell forward for extra yards. I really think that the run game has to be between Jalil and RJ and no offense to Tyler Badee, but it's like, it's almost as if the defense has a little bit of a cheat sheet

whenever Badee's in because he's either blocking, he's either catching the screen, or he's just running a swing route there. Like he's not really going to carry the football as a runner. So it does limit and kind of tip your hand, at least if you're a defense corner, like, hey, 28's in the game. I know exactly what they're going to be doing. it's going to be a pass play. It may not go to him, but we know exactly what it is.

And now it allows your defense to go out there and play a little bit differently on a down-to-down scenario. That's one thing that was frustrating to me here, in my opinion, be Jalilil McLaughlin and try to get things going because the Broncos run game is going to be key for them in the playoffs. They need to be able to move. And Nick, you and I were talking about this, they need to be able to move defenders out of place to be able to create holes. The first offensive drive, they did that. The rest of the game they didn't. I felt like the Chargers defensive front kind of controlled the trenches in this, you know, this Sunday game.

I agree. I mean, that was a comment that I made to you at one point as well, Nick, of like they don't get any push, at least in this game. I mean, they can run east-west, but there's nothing going north with respect to what the Broncos were doing, the blocking and the rushing attack. For what it's worth, Bo Nicks today,

the Broncos leading rush with 49 yards, J. McLaughlin 6 for 41, R.J. Harvey, 15 for 28. That is not efficient whatsoever. Yeah, I mean, the Broncos at one point today had a negative two scoring drive. Like they went back two yards and kicked a field goal. I believe that was on the Nick Benito strip sack. So again, this today in a micro sense was about getting the win by any means necessary.

And Sean Payton even. All right. Listen, I want to address that really quickly because once again, this is where all the vanilla offense and just kind of downplaying whatever, you had a pivotal moment where Nick Benito, there was a turnover of that. was created and you were right in position. You didn't have to move the ball down the field 50 yards. And you're trying to tell me that, well, we're going to downplay the game plan to just play to the Chargers and kick a field goal. I'm like, I'm like, no, you're right there.

You're knocking on the door. You're like 20, 25 yards from him pay dirt. And all of a sudden now you're kicking a freaking field goal. Come on, man. That can not just be, oh, we're just playing vanilla offense here. come on. I agree. They got to get it cleaned up.

I think we're all universally in agreement with that as the Broncos got to get it cleaned up. And just for reference today to the point that you made a little bit earlier, Nick, the Texans put up 38 points. Now, they did give up 30 to the Colts. So big performance from that. The Patriots, 38 to 10 went over the Miami Dolphins. The Jacksonville Jaguars, 41 points, and their 41-7 went over the Tennessee Titans. Now, look, the Titans, the Colts, and the Dolphins are not the same caliber of opponent as the Chargers are.

But it is worth noting what some of these other high caliber playoff teams look like today in their final game of the season. Nick, your thoughts on that real quick. Yeah, I mean, listen, anything can happen and even give a point. But I'm standing with Cody and a couple of guys that I know who are scouting for some of these other top playoff teams. And that's kind of the conversation, right? Looking at what those teams were able to do.

And we know Jesse Mentor does a decent job with the charges and their defense and they were going to be stubborn no matter what. But if you were to look at some of what those teams did today, you mentioned, you know, the Jags and what they did against the Titans, the Titans, the early 7-0 lead over the Jags and the Jax. After that woke up and they just kind of, you know, put belt the ass. But this is what I was expecting to see when the Broncos play, the Raiders, the both times that they play,

and Kansas City, all being on a short week, when you face inferior teams like that, you really have to really poke out your chest. and really show what you can do and you just own it. Just the fact that the Broncos only game for me where they actually showed as though they played a complete game and freaking owned it was the Packers game. And I was like, that's the Broncos team.

That is truly what they can be when they want to play certain games, right? But you have players who are saying, hey, listen, they played like ass in certain games. Listen, it happens once in a while as a player. It can't be a consistent thing. And I guess I'm so passionate about this side of it, Because guess what? I was on the wrong side of a loss, right?

And I know how some of my teammates didn't I take that as seriously as they should. So I look at the current Broncos. It's like, look, I've seen this before. I've been there before. If you don't tighten this, tighten it up and tighten up the screws, it's going to be a one and done.

And I don't want that for them. So that's why I'm so passionate about what I'm seeing. Yeah, they just got to be clean and efficient. I think that's the thing too. like, I mean, you never know what you're going to get, right? Game plan specific, opponent specific, you know, there's obviously, you know, as a team when you self-scout, there's some warts that you also have to look at it like yourself, like, hey, what do I got to get removed? So hopefully, hopefully this first round buy is going to help them out.

And maybe they could come out things healthy, which would be a great thing, but also, I think, more efficient as well. Well, we shall see. Let's hit a break when we come back. Let's talk about the defense here today, man. I know Sarah's going to be happy. So we'll lead off with him when we come back. after the commercial break. Turnovers galore.

They did a good job of really just keeping Trey Lance in prison today. That's what the Broncos defense did. So we had a quick break. We'll come back and continue along with the conversation right here on your locked on Broncos squad show. All right, you guys. Let me tell you about our friends over at drip drop

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Show in Yelopeo Cody Works, Sarah Beninger, and Nick Ferguson. If you're watching on YouTube, appreciate all of y'all. Do us a favor, hit that like button, smash that subscribe, bud, really helps us out here on the channel. And for all of our audio listeners, we appreciate you guys as well. 19 to 3, not 13, sorry, got tripped up there. Your final score here is the Broncos finish out the regular season on a high note. We talked about the offense, but now let's talk about the defense. Sare, the floor is yours, the turnovers were there.

Love to see it. You absolutely love to see it. And Sean Payton said it after the game. I mean, if you get a defensive score, 88% of the time, that's a win in the NFL. It's just a crazy difference when you're able to make those kinds of plays defensively. I think the 2015 Denver Broncos kind of lived and died based on whether or not they could make those types of plays. They got to the number one seed because they could score frequently defensively. I don't think this Broncos team is quite to that level in terms of the discrepancy between the offense of the defense.

But when you get to the playoffs, you want your defense to have that sort of confidence that it can win the game by itself. And I think that that is something that can snowball over the course of these next handful of weeks, as I believe the Broncos are going to continually be getting disrespected. We talked about it on our last squad show. The Broncos kind of in a rough spot no matter what. If you win against the Chargers, people are going to say, well, it was against the backups. If you lose or whatever, you play poorly, they're going to say, wow, they played poorly against the backups. I don't think anybody is going to take the Broncos seriously as a number one seed in the AFC outside of Broncos country. And I think in that locker room, I hope they take it personally, especially on the defensive side of the ball, because those guys have been great most of the year.

It's not like they've just had, you know, games here and there where they look solid. I mean, they've had some cold streaks, just like every team in the NFL. has, but certainly you believe this is a defense that is capable of taking you far and deep in the playoffs. And I hope they take it personally what people are going to say these next couple of weeks. And I think it's going to be a lot of stuff. I think the Broncos are going to be getting put out there as like Alex Smith kind of just started the ball rolling, didn't he? Or we talked about this is the least dominant number one seed potentially in NFL history. You got to love that kind of stuff. I think you've got to embrace it if you're the Broncos.

You know, tune out obviously don't believe it. But, you know, you know, use it to your advantage. 100%. And, you know, they don't have like the guys that'll jaw on the field like A keep to leave did, right? There was a different level of swag. I guess you could say that this 2015 Broncos defense had. The thing that I would say is there's a bit of professionalism and moxie and belief that

this current Denver Broncos defense has. And obviously today, Nick Benito with the strip sack for the fumble. Yeah, J-Quahmick-Millan. Riley Moss also was, you know, within spit distance of grabbing interception as well. Nick, that was a big theme on our show on Tuesday about generating more turnover. Sean Payton talked about it. Look, it is Trey Lance. Trey Lance did not look very good today.

Let's call a spade to speak when we talk about his game. But I think a lot of that was in part due to the pressure the Broncos defense put on them. Yeah, shout out to those guys. I mean, four sacks. And then you can look at the number of pressures that they were able to get on that charges offensive line. And offensive line, let's be totally honest. The offensive line that's banged up.

But for me, I was happy to see those guys just get out there and hunt and seeing Nick Benito get back to where he was mid-season. When he was at a point where we were talking about maybe the Broncos would have back-to-back defensive MVP's and not Miles Garrett, but it would be Nick Benito, our own Nick Benito, that would get that sack record. But things kind of tapered down for him, and there was a number of things that kind of go into it, but it was great to see those guys get out there and have fun. And this is the one thing that happens on the demons of side of the ball,

especially when it comes to turnovers because the idea was being preached for the past couple of weeks, hey, the Broncos, they got to get turnovers, they got to somehow find a way to do it. But I can tell you, man, you can't go out there and manufacture those turnovers. And we saw Broncos players over the past week

trying to make things happen, but just kind of getting out of all out of source because they were out of a position where they were supposed to be within the confinement of the defense. But it was great to see it. And for me, you know, seeing Joaquin McMillan kind of get that, ball and get into the end zone.

To me, that was really exciting because what it said to the defense, we can get takeaways. We're getting takeaways at the right time of the year. And we know, I guess, kind of the old adages that it's contagious when you get somewhat of a turnover. And I'll say this, man, there's been a lot of pressure put on this defense. And it's funny how there's a lot of similarities to this defense and this team to where it was 2015.

and Super Bowl 50 because even then the unit that carried the team was the defensive side of the ball and you're seeing it happen yet again. If Jaquine McMillan-McMiller doesn't get that interception, would the outcome of the game

be what it is? Maybe, maybe not. But I'll say this, man, with everything that I've heard people say about the head coach and the play caller and even Bo Nix at time, once again, it just seems as though the defense continues to get overlooked. And I think that's why national people, when they look at this team, they look at them and say,

you know what, that team is not a number one seed. They look at them as being a fraud because usually when the team gets the number one seed, it's usually because of their offense, not because of their defense. No, I think it was a great points you make, right? And the defense has been the stronger unit of the two that I would say for a majority of the season. Now, the offense has certainly had their high point, but it's going to be very interesting to see what this team looks like after the Biden. So the point that Sarah made, like, I can already see the narrative, whoever they play,

where there's the Chargers, the Texans, we'll see what happens, right? About like, that's going to be a team that's coming into Denver on a whit. And a lot of people are going to look back to this, you know, a little three game stretch with the Broncos, Jags, Chiefs, and now the Chargers, and say, you know, mixed results at least from the people in the national fan bases and media and whatnot. But Cody, the defense, the last two games, I think, is, showed you that hopefully they're trying to, they've been able to clean up what they've been needing to.

I mean, you hope so, right? And look, I think anytime you have injuries, I think that definitely throws a wrench in of things. Look, no JFM in this game here for Denver. They wanted to give him some extra time because he's been dealing with the hip injury. He played 11 snaps against the Chiefs just, you know, a week and a half ago. It was limited all week in practice. I think they want him back healthy for the playoffs.

Unfortunately, you're not going to have Brandon Jones back. I think that loss is very big for Denver defensively. you know, in this game as well, PJ Locke, the guy who's filling in for Brandon Jones, he leaves the game with a leg injury. I think he'll be all right. But this is one of those things. If you have a revolving door of different guys coming in, now it's like they have to learn how to communicate with everybody,

especially with the different type of complex, you know, looks at the Broncos throw out defensively. You know, they'll play zone. They'll play, man. They'll go match. I mean, they'll blitz. They'll send six or seven guys and still gamble with a little bit of a zone from here and there. It's just you need to be on the same page.

and hopefully you get guys like Dre Greenlaw back healthy. I think the defense, once again, we saw them from weeks one through 11 really kind of carry the water. They had some moments against the Chiefs. I'm not against the Chiefs, against the Chargers and the Colts in weeks two and three. But, man, they were the strength of this team. And they got them to a point where they were able to get those stops. Now it's about can you play your best brand of football here in the month of January

going into February? I think that's going to be so crucial for this unit here. And I felt like Sunday's game against the Chargers, regardless of who is out there. We saw that. But, you know, the difficulty is going to go up because regardless, I think you look at Denver, you know, when they play, they're going to play the lowest remaining seed.

I really think that they're going to get a tough draw regardless. I think that's how good the AFC is this year. And we're going to see which, you know, which team shows up here in just about two weeks. Yeah, I believe the term that Bo Nix used after the game is just like an open tournament, right? And, you know, talking with some fellow media members, like you can make a case for a lot of these different teams in the AFC and the NFC as well. So it's going to be interesting to see how it shakes out. But Sarah, I think to kind of bring it back to the turnovers and the identity of this defense,

like Nick Benito had a game today that we wanted to see from Nick Benito, right? I think Jonathan Cooper will, you know, continue to play at a level that we've seen him play for the majority of this season. Zach Allen, right? Cody brings up Drake Greenlaw. Hopefully he's back healthy. So they've got a lot of good things working for them right now. And I feel more confident in the offense's ability to kind of flip that switch in the playoffs than that of the defense. Because I think the defense has now proven, okay,

we've cleaned some stuff up, right? We've seen the offense kind of go up and down throughout the course of the season. What we saw from the defense, I think bodes well for them moving forward in two weeks. I completely agree. And I think to your point about the offense, you know, I keep referencing this. I'm not saying that it's an exact science or anything. But after that game against the Las Vegas Raiders, that was 10 to 7. It was one of the ugliest games of the year, right?

We all watched that and we're like, dang, if the Broncos offense plays like this, they're not going to be able to win the AFC West. And then they turned it on offensively. So now would be the perfect time for the offense to turn it back on. And I think they can. I believe they can. I believe they will. I mean, we're talking about a game in which there was no downfield targets for Troy Franklin,

Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims, none of that stuff. I mean, I know we don't want to talk about vanilla. We talk about execution. And I agree with that stuff. I think they definitely had to execute better in this game. The reality to me is that they were playing. I've watched a lot of Iowa Hawkeyes games with Kirk Ferrence and the way that he likes to play. And, you know, a lot of times those games are all about one simple factor being in the green in the turnover differential at the end of a game.

That's that's it flat out. He doesn't care how he gets there. He doesn't care if he's got Brad Banks, Ricky Stansy, the new guy, Grinowski. He don't care who's out there at quarterback. He doesn't care any of that stuff. If he's in the green in the turnover differential, you get that W. That's the winning formula. I mean, that's what Sean Payton said, right?

how many Super Bowl champions over the course of history have ever been in the red in the turnover differential. I think he pointed out one team, the Rams. I can't remember what year it was. But that was the goal of this game. And you want to execute. I don't think they purposely said, hey, we're not going to execute in the red zone so that we can, you know, make this game look ugly.

So they do have stuff to clean up. But here's the thing. It's like, it's the Kirk Farrant's formula. I've seen this story many times. I've never seen Iowa win a national championship doing that. But I have seen NFL teams win championships doing that. You know what I'm saying? So I think that that's the difference in the NFL and with the Broncos is that you have a team that we put up 44 against Dallas.

We put up 36 or whatever it was against Green Bay. We've scored 33 and a quarter. We went on the road and beat Philadelphia. We went on the road and beat Houston. Like there's so many things, like so many chapters in this story that can't be forgotten or disregarded, especially by our own fan base. You know what I'm saying? I think the national media can forget us all the stuff that they want because that's how they play the game.

But when it comes to this fan base and buying this team as a contender, don't forget the chapters in the story that have already been written. If I could just take a quick pause, I've been keeping tabs on this Sunday night football game for just a moment. I don't know if you guys have been seeing this. Drunk. The Ravens just lost. They had a 44-yard field goal attempt and they missed it.

Oh, my gosh. Wow. The Steelers scored with like 55 seconds on. I'm trying to multitask. Lamar. Lamar literally converted a fourth and they had a fourth and seven. And they got 28 yards to set up a chip shot field. Gosh.

That is crazy. That is insane. Wow. I love sports, man. I love football. And actually this, I actually think this bodes well for the Denver Broncos. And we'll talk about this on the other side if you kind of do some

playoff outlook. No Lamar Jackson, no Joe Burrow, no Patrick Mahomes. So Josh Allen is like the one big bad quarterback that you got to worry about with respect to the Denver Broncos. So that factors in as well. I'm sure the entire NFL was rooting for the Steelers to get in the playoffs over the Ravens. So just a quick side note there, wow, that is an insane game, insane ending. Wow, wow, wow.

Okay, back to business. Let's hit a quick break. We'll come back and continue along with the conversation right here on your Locked on Broncos squad show. Well, if you're at that Steelers game, let me tell you. I hope you got tickets with our friends over at game time because that was a game to be at. My goodness. The NFL season is in full swing. The playoffs are here and there's nothing like being at the game, the crowd noise, the energy and cheering alongside other fans.

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being there live. Be sure to check out our friends over at game time and let them know that locked on Broncos sent you. Okay, well, come on back into your lockdown Broncos squad show. The fellas rock up with you, AP, Cody Rourke, Sarah Bedinger, Nick Ferguson. I can't get over the endings of the Steelers game. That was crazy.

So they went up 26, 24, missed the extra point. Ravens get a good return, drive down the field, missed the 44-yard field goal for the win. Aye, aye, y'i. So you got to love sports, man. Gotta love sports. And thankfully the Broncos game was not as sweaty as that one was today. Feel bad for the Ravens fans.

Obviously, the Steelers fans related. But this actually does factor in as we talked about before the break, man. Like the Buffalo Bills who have been up and down throughout the course of this season, their defense has been a bit shaky. Josh Allen's been a great quarterback as he always been. But the fact that there's no Mahomes, no Burrow, and no Lamar Jackson now in the playoffs of the Broncos, Cody, that's probably a good thing, no? I mean, look, there's more faces.

There's more, you know, young guys now emerging inside the AFC. Look, you got Bow Nicks, Drake May, you got Trevor Lawrence. I know old man Aaron Rogers is going to be back in the mix here. Obviously, since they beat the Baltimore Ravens. I know you got guys like C.J. Strider, you got Justin Herbert. You got Josh Allen. Like, this is a very, I think, on paper, an exciting crop of potential young quarterbacks. And, you know, guys who could be potentially the future face.

of this league. It's nice at times. You know, it's like, oh, no, Mahomes, no Lomor. Who cares? Like, this is the NFL. Find a way to win. Like, plain as simple. You know, I know everyone wants to market that, but when people watch the Chiefs in the postseason, they watch to complain about Patrick Mahomes, whining about getting touched by a defensive guy or crying to the refs. That's really it. I'm not going to miss that at all here. I don't think you have guys like that in this year's postseason. But anyways, outside of my tangent here that I'm on. the Broncos, we now know they're four potential opponents,

essentially for the division around. It starts with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It goes down to obviously the Houston Texans, the Los Angeles charters, and the Buffalo Bills. And I don't know, do you guys see the little bulletin board material that Tony Jefferson put out on, you know, after the game, you know, towards the Broncos? Yeah.

He said he should love to J.L. Skinner, who's his boy. Yeah, but he said, we'll see you. And like then there was a player in the background that said, we'll see you in two weeks. it's like, oh, so they're looking ahead of the New England Patriots. Okay. All right, L.A. Yeah, that was some bulletin bulletin.

Oh, Tony Jefferson. Oh, oh, oh, caught yourself there, Cody. Good job. Oh, my gosh. No, yeah, I like that. Your thought process with the NFL as a whole, right? And I think, you know, Sarah, like you've talked about it time and time again. Like, you've had the Broncos a top, if not number one in your power rankings throughout the course of this season.

Like, I just bring that up because it's a general talking point. But this Broncos team's got. got to be feeling good about whoever they play come playoff time. I think so, right? I think like we talked about, it's kind of that open tournament vibe. It really feels like it's anybody's for the taking. And to be honest, like it puts so much pressure on somebody like Josh Allen, because what's everybody in Buffalo going to look back on when they look back on this season?

If Buffalo doesn't find a way to win everything this year, they're going to say, you got a year without Mahomes and Burrow and Jackson, you still couldn't figure it out. I think it's going to put so much pressure on all these other guys who are veterans. Like, you know, I'm not saying the Broncos are going in playing with house money or anything, but I think that it's an opportunity before you to say, hey, like, you don't have to go up against the, you know, the Titans of the quarterback position in the NFL right now necessarily one after another. Remember, that was the case for that 2015 team. I don't remember the exact order in which they played them, but I think you were talking about like,

obviously week 17 you're talking about rivers and then you're talking about rothusberger and you're talking about having to play against you know tom brady and then MVP cam newton and all these other guys you're going against this gauntlet i don't think that's that exists in the nfl right now there's no quarterback gauntlet in the playoffs there's good quarterbacks there's great quarterbacks in the postseason but this is a year that's wide open for anybody to win it so hey kick that door down yeah it's a why not us mentality and i think that's the kind of mindset this Broncos team has had for a majority of this season. And we'll kind of dive into potential opponents and more real kind of deep dive playoff

outlook on Tuesday show. But Nick, you could speak to this as a former player, right? And there's the old conversation. I'm sure Sean will be asked about it, you know, whenever he does this next media availability of rest versus Rust. I think the one seat is never going to be a bad thing. I think having a first round buy is never going to be a bad thing. But what do you think the mindset, like if you were still playing, right?

Like if you were on this Broncos team and you obviously have relationships, some of these guys. What do you think the mindset is going through this week, knowing you have some extra time off to get ready for the divisional round? Well, I would say it's keep the main thing, the main thing. It is trying to sustain this momentum that you've generated up to this particular point. Regardless of how the team has played, regardless of how or what we've seen from the offense, you need the guys to stay locked in.

And we talked about it early on in the show. We don't need any guys going on these kind of. exclusive vacations. And Tala Nova Funga said it himself. You know, you could do all the vacationing in the offseason. Right now we need you to stay locked in. We need you to stay focused. And it's going to take Tala Nofiung and some of the other veterans on the team

to tell some of those younger guys who've never been in this position before. They've never been in this position in high school or even in college football, but you're on the NFL level. It's so exciting. You've done something that not too many teams have done or not too many, you know, teams in this franchise has been able to do. So I can understand the level of excitement, but it's like, calm down, little doggy. We still have more work to do.

Celebrate, you know, once the season is over, just make sure you get in, you watch the film, we sit down and we try to figure out all the ends and outs of what we did wrong. At the same time, you do a little advanced scouting, right? You start to look at maybe some of the teams that you might play or how they play in the way that they may have been effective against you because one of the bigger problems for the Broncos defense is kind of keeping a mobile quarterback inside the pocket. I know this whole thing over the past couple of weeks,

hey, let's get the cage rush. But what we've seen is though if you're a mobile quarterback, even Chris Ola Doken from the Chiefs, we even saw that guy with his level, and I'm not going to say that it's a top tier level. We saw him able to avoid pass rush and make some plays just unfortunate that he didn't have enough experience in the chemistry with the offense.

So that's what the defense need to do from that side. The offense, they have their own issues. Every single guy needs to sit down and say, well, what are we doing wrong? And for me, I'm always going to start with the run game. So those offensive linemen, they need to say, well, why are we not getting the necessary push that we need in these past couple of games

because you're going to need it as you move on, whether it's Pittsburgh you're facing, whether it's the Texans, especially if you're facing the freaking Texans, you want to make sure that you can move guys off their spot. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but these are things that they need to do. Yeah, no, all good points. All good points. I agree on all fronts there.

And we'll see. Selfishly, I'm actually happy that the Broncos have the ones see because I think Wild Card weekend is the best weekend of playoff football. And we get to kind of kick back, relax, get some popcorn, you know, whatever it might be, and watch these games and see how it all shakes out. So excited for this upcoming week of playoff football. And of course, how it affects the Denver Broncos moving forward. But winding down here on the Squatchel, let's do some game balls before we get out of here.

Our final regular season game balls of the season. Of course, it was a 19 to 3 win for the Broncos over the charges as they clinch the one seed. Cody, I will start with you, my friend. Yeah, I'm going to give one to J-Quarrant Macmillan. I mean, obviously, you know, pick six. I'm a former DB. You know, it's been a while since the Broncos have had a takeaway that resulted in a touchdown. I thought he did a really good job of just playing patient on the tip drill,

you know, finding his blockers. Riley Moss leading the way here, getting out to Tray Lanton, I thought he did a good job staying in bounds and, you know, scoring the touchdown there. I mean, that's what you want to do. Anytime you can score on defense, that's going to turn the tide, I think, for any kind of momentum or a game that you're going to have there. So that's one thing that I enjoyed seeing. Jayquan's going to get a game ball for me. Very deserving, Sarah. Yeah, I want to give a game ball to Sean Peyton for completely shifting the entire. culture of this team. Look, I know that there's a lot of people responsible for that. It's a top down thing for the organization, but you've had 85 million in dead cap to navigate the last two

years as Russell Wilson has been the highest cap hit for anybody on this Denver Broncos roster, over 50 million last year, 32 million this year. That's 11.5% of the salary cap high going to a player who does not contribute for you. And then you have injuries on top of that. You have a young quarterback, young playmakers on offense on top of that. And you have a lot of, you know, other factors that play. You playing in the division with Patrick Mahomes with Justin Herbert. You go out there. You win the AFC West. I believe this was the first time in Sean Peyton's history as a head coach that he ever reached the 14 victory mark as well. And you get the number one seed. You're on track potentially to do something that no NFL head coach has ever done,

which is win the Super Bowl with two different franchises. I think Sean Payton, it's not necessarily, for this game in particular, but the last couple of years in particular, the job that he's done turning this team around big time game ball. I think for me, especially sealing the deal here on Sunday. It's a good pick. It's definitely been a whirlwind, right? From where we started with Sean Payton to where we are now, very, very impressive to say the least. Nick, where are you going? I'm giving their entire freaking defense game balls. Why? Because they have earned it. Look at what they've been able to do this entire season, let alone the last two games, shutting opponents out. And what they did today, man, it was fantastic, even though, once again, you're playing

against Shrey Lance, backup for them to hold a team to, you know, just a field goal, right? A freaking field go. And known as though your offense didn't score a point. They didn't even hit pay dirt, right? And Will Lutz, man, look, I'll obviously, I give a game ball to Will Lutz, too. because we've seen, you know, those chip shots are not just chip shots. Sometimes you can miss them. So for me, it is 1A being the defense for the way that they've been playing all season long,

throwing a team on their back, but also Will Lutz from being able to come in and knock down those field goals. They seem like they're easy. They seem like it's a chip shot. But when the pressure is on and the spotlight is on you, it's not always the case. As the Ravens and the Steelers. Yes, exactly. I was just about to say that myself.

I'm going to go with Will Lutz. I think just today in particular, but also for what he's been able to do for the majority of this season. I mean, he's been steady at that position. And Broncos are going to need that come playoff time, right? Again, as Cody alluded to,

look what happened to the Steelers. Look what happened to the Ravens. You know, we need Will Lutz to be locked in and ready to go. And he was today as he helped push the Denver Broncos to the one seat as they capture that with a 19 to three victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. But all right. Can I add one more thing before we leave?

just to put this on your mind for the next conversation. When all is said and done, I know we're giving out game balls and all this stuff, could Bill Lutz end up being the overall MVP for this season? Could be. He's going to play a role in it for sure, especially with how up and down the offense has been. I mean, he's been clutch.

He's been clutch. There's no doubt about it. I'll say Nick Benito won the Derrett Thomas. I mean, Derrett Williams, good guy. and the Demarius Thomas Team MVP award. First time that's happened. We're one guy's won both of those awards that voted on us little local media folks.

Has ever been the kicker to do the Super Bowl commercial like, hey, I'm going to Disney one? Yeah. I don't know. Well, lots would be a fun guy to do that. He's funny. He's hilarious. If it gets to the point, he might be that guy.

Ian Croshaw? Yes. Absolutely. I can see. Are we going to Disney World, Mike? Yes. No, I love it. I love it. All right, we will be back on Tuesday afternoon. We'll have some fun with that show. We'll do a little wildcard weekend preview and obviously break down the potential opponents for the Denver Broncos.

But for now, enjoy the rest of your Sunday night. Enjoy victory Monday. Your Denver Broncos are the number one seed in the AFC. For Cody Works, Chair, Beniger, Nick Ferguson. I am anilo Piro. Thank you guys, as always for tuning into the lockdown Broncos squad show. have a good night, have a good victory Monday. And we'll talk to you guys on Tuesday. Have a good one, folks.