Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Broncos HUMBLED vs. Jaguars as win streak come to an end

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

The Denver Broncos suffered their first defeat in 11 games as the Jacksonville Jaguars beat them, 34-20. The Broncos defense was exposed in the second-half as the Broncos suffered their first home loss of the season. Bo Nix and the offense played well in the first half, but struggled to stay consistent in the second half. Despite the loss, the Broncos still control their own destiny in the AFC. Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they break down the game on tonight's Locked On Broncos Squad Show. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rocket Money Take control of your finances and cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money. Go to https://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON today. Aura Frames For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout. FanDuel If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. 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. 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) 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.

Amadillo Piro and the Denver Broncos got themselves a big old slice of humble pie against the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm Cody Warwick and sometimes a little adversity never heard anybody. I'm Sarah Bettinger. This is going to be the last time the Denver Broncos lose until they win Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara. And I'm Nick Ferguson. Why are people so damn mad? All that more on tonight's Locked on. Broncos Squad Show.

Let's get into it, fellas. From the South stands, it's the Broncos squad. Everything Denver Broncos every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Mile High City. The way only the Lockdown Podcast Network can. Gear up and squad up. The Broncos Squad Show starts now. It is your Lockdown Broncos squad show right here on your Lockdown Broncos YouTube channel and

audio feed. hope everyone in Broncos country is hanging in there after the Denver Broncos suffer their first loss after 11 consecutive wins. This is the Broncos first defeat since the month of September. So it was a great run, but the streak does come to a closing, guys. Tonight's episode of the Lockdown Broncos Squad Show is brought to you by our friends over at Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, just visit Vanduel.com and place your live bets all season long. I'm going to let Nick Ferguson start off the show here this evening. I know you've got some thoughts.

You know, you've been ridiculed in the comments section at points for your takes on the Denver Broncos. And tonight, they come up short against the Jacksonville Jaggors. Yeah, you can take this with all those other takes. I know people are upset and pointing a finger at the Broncos defense and saying, okay, well, it was their fault because the Broncos actually lost. And I told you guys a couple of weeks ago, that is going to have. happen consistently because this defense has raised the bar so high when they don't really perform as though they perform early on in the season, people are going to start taking shots.

I think it was Sarah who said that the person who was under the most scrutiny and the most pressure was Vance Joseph. And the same thing happened. Okay. Either way, it was said and what we're seeing come to fruition. But I will say this, as a defensive guy, I did not like the level. of tackling today. Even I had a damn problem with it.

Yeah, definitely not the best offensive game for the Broncos. Probably their worst offensive game of the season. I mean, the Giants game was pretty bad, but they won that one. I mean, you give up 34 points, you know, as good as this Broncos' offense has been and as clutch as they've been throughout the course of the season, you know, it's going to come back to bite you a little bit. So tough game for the defense. Cody, talk to me tonight, brother, your final score in this one on Jacksonville,

35, or 34, Denver 20. Yeah, look. I just feel like so many times in this game, the Broncos, I mean, it was just a pendulum swing of momentum back and forth. You know, the Jaguars would go up. The Broncos would respond. The Jaguars go up 1710. The Broncos come out and they score at 1717. And then all of a sudden, after RJ Harvey's touchdown run,

sitting there thinking like, okay, hey, now this is where they really kind of just grab the momentum and run with you. Like you're expecting that, okay, the defense, you're going to find a way to get a stop now. Just simply wasn't the case. And I just feel like early down execution was a problem for them. And certainly third down execution was a huge problem for the defense today. And look, I think we can go through and we can pinpoint and highlight. You know, I felt like this was a poorly officiated game for both sides. And, you know, the Broncos, they were on the receiving end of, you know, a couple of bad calls.

But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter because they didn't get enough stops when they needed to. Four or five in the red zone coming into this game, they were one of the NFL's top five, you know, third down D's, Red zone D's at one point they were the first ranked Red Zone D and third down D. And they just gave up too many big plays here and just missed opportunities. And what Nick said, and I think what was the most frustrating for me is just the poor angles in the run pursuit game. Also on the outside perimeter, usually, you know, Riley Moss, who's really good at tackling, had a couple of missed tackles in this game in the second half that led to really big explosive plays down the sideline. This was just a poorly executed game by Denver.

I'd say across the board, there was some make sense. They give up seven points in the first quarter. Denver did not score due to the Will Lutz Miss Fielgo there in the first period. Then they both put up 10 points in the second quarter. Jacksonville scores 14 to Denver seven in the third and then three three there in the fourth quarter as well. But Cody, I think you're right. I mean, Jacksonville this evening, eight for 15 on third down. I mean, that's just not going to win you many ball games when your defense is allowing the opposing team to convert third down at the over a 50% clip. But Sear, you know, we've talked about this defense. you know, Nick brought it up.

I thought Vance Joseph was under the most pressure to perform coming out of the buy in the second half of the season. And so far, I think it was you who brought it up either on Twitter or on one of these shows. Like since the by week, the offense has been the much stronger suit of the Broncos and that of the defense, which was not the case to start the season. Right. It's been a flip of the script in a lot of different ways. Obviously, we've been hoping or I've been trying to manifest the Broncos' turnover party,

which we did get a couple last week. But unfortunately, the momentum did not continue this week. And when you're giving up eight of 15 third down opportunities, when you're giving up four out of five red zone opportunities, and you're not turning the ball over, your offense has absolutely no margin for error. You can't afford to miss field goals. You can't afford to go three and now.

You can't afford to have a drive stall just past the 50 where you have to punt and try to pin them deep because your defense doesn't have your back in the game like this. And it did early on, right? We saw early on they're trading barbs. You know, they got out to start this game. unfortunately, the defense just wore down. And that's been the unfortunate trend in the first three years under Van Joseph's after the buy.

It does feel like the defense is kind of broken down late in the season, whether you want to tell people against New England last year or two years ago at Christmas time. I want to talk about the Chargers and Bengals games last year. Too much of this stuff happened to the time a year for the last three consecutive seasons. And that's my one concern at this one, right? I'm manifesting positivity and optimism always. That's my concern right now is that I thought they may be turned the corner against the hackers. That does not appear to be the case.

Yeah, and I don't want to live in the past, right? In hindsight, it's always 2020 here. But I do wonder, like, you know, if Christian Watson doesn't go out of that game for Green Bay, if Michael Parsons doesn't get hurt, like, does that shake out differently? I'm not saying that is the case. If my aunt had Wayvo, she'd be my uncle. Fair, fair. But, like, I think, I think Sayre's point is well taken, though,

is that this is now turning into a bit of a concerning trend with the Broncos defense. And I thought they were pretty good on the first couple of drives against Jacksonville. But they got to get this thing figured out and figured out quickly, Nick, because if the defense keeps playing like this, I don't know if the offense has the Josh Allen kind of factor that can will them to all these victories come to playoffs. See, here's the issue, gentlemen. You're absolutely right. It's what the offense doesn't have.

And when you think about the heavy lifting that the defense is done over the past two season, you're damn right. They're going to get tired. There's going to be some breakdowns. And as when we look at this game as a whole and we break it down, I don't want to just kind of say, here's all the things that the defense didn't do, which, you know, in all actuality,

there was some leaky coverages. They didn't get as much pressure as I would have liked for them to get against Trevor Lawrence. They did finish the game with five sacks. But once again, let's look at what. the Jacksonville Jags Wars was, were able to do from a defensive standpoint. What we knew coming into the game, they were one of the tops in the league,

if not the best, against the run. The Broncos rushed for a total of 101 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 38 of RJ Harvey's 50 yards came on one single play. So up until that burst that he had, he only had 12 yards on the ground. So the way I look at it, well, once again, the offense didn't help out,

because when you can't move the ball and sustain drives, guess what's going to happen? Your defense is going to be on the field, and they're going to get exposed even more. So I don't want anyone to assume that I'm justifying for the defense. Either side of the ball played well because when you look at the Broncos, rush for more yards than the Jacksonville Jaguars, pass for more yards than a Jacksonville Jaguars, but they were on the downside of it. So they were efficient moving the ball, but they were one for two inside the red zone.

one for two inside the red zone. That's a problem. So, you know, we can sit here and say, okay, well, what the defense did do, which, you know, I'm all here for that conversation. But once again, we got to look at that offense. They need to start pulling their fair share of the weight. They look great against Green Bay, but they didn't look great here today. Yeah, and look, tip of the captain Jacksonville.

I mean, they are now after the Broncos lost, the hottest team of the NFL right now. This is what, six consecutive wins for them. Liam Cohen, you know, has this team playing to a, you know, shifting to another gear late in the season. And Jacksonville, I believe it was Troy Franklin after the game in the locker and was like, you know, we're probably, we might see them again in the playoffs. And so, you know, this is a Jacksonville Jaguars team that is feeling themselves. They're playing excellent football. Trevor Lawrence looks to be in command. And to your point, Nick, about the running backs, you know, Jacksonville has one of, if not the best rush defense in the NFL, at least entering into

this game. So I thought that was, you know, obviously a major point of emphasis for them. But Cody, I mean, you know, the Broncos offense, like Bo Necks puts up some good numbers, you know, 352, passing guards, 28 for 47, and not to use the Embed kind of line here, but a lot of that came in garbage time. I felt like late in the fourth quarter when they're down 14 points, and Jacksonville's going to give up chunk plays over the middle. We'll talk about the Pat Bryant injury, which was very, very scary on the field as well. But I agree with Nick. You know, when the defense is out there as much as they are, I don't know if it's like blame one way or the other for the offense of the defense. I think collectively the Jaguar just kind of beat him in all three phases. Yeah, look, and I would

say too, I thought special teams wise, they did a great job on kick coverage. I thought their punter did a really good job sometimes in the offense back a little bit. Denver couldn't really get anything in the kick return game. They did a really good job of trying to contain Marvin Mims there. And you look, special teams for Denver as well, Will Lutz misses a Philgo early on, in the grand scheme of it from a point standpoint, it didn't really impact much. But obviously, you talk about missed opportunities there. Yeah, I mean, that's something that certainly stands out. Jeremy Cross shot, you know, I thought I had a pretty terrific game. Unfortunately, you know, what could have been a perfect punt,

unfortunately, the tip of the nose of the football hit the front of the touchback. But I just think the defense collectively didn't get enough stops when they needed to. Offensively, Denver couldn't convert on third down when they needed to as well. And, you know, you had a couple of turnovers. You know, obviously, I think a turnover on fourth down when you're trying to make a play fourth and two, it's intercepted that falls incomplete. It's a turnover anyway. So you're trying to take a shot and maybe get a chance.

maybe you get defensive holding or defensive pass interference. And maybe you extend the drive there if you can't convert on the back shoulder to Pat Bryant. Maybe that should have been thrown a little bit more inside, right? And then you have obviously when you're trying to do a read option type play, I don't even know it was read option. I just thinking, you know, Beau, they have this mesh point between he and Jolome McLaughlin where they put it on the ground. That led to points.

So those were kind of costly here in a sense when you look at the snowball effect of this game. Look, we could point fingers at the offense. We could point fingers at the defense collectively. This was not a good team effort. in today's game. And I think that was one thing that was echoed in the locker room. I did find it interesting, though, you know, talking to Alex Symington, you know, I can't say it because it obviously was expletive in terms of what he said.

But he said, you know, yeah, this loss, you know, it stinks, but we're not, you know, we got 12 wins. Like, we got 12 wins on the season. Like, we've won 11 straight. We're not going to let anyone crap on our parade, essentially, is what he said. He said, you know, we're going to go out there and we're going to win these next two games. Because really, at the end of the day, the Broncos win on Thursday, and they won. win on the following week against the Los Angeles Chargers.

They win the division. They're the number one seat. Plain and simple. So Alex Singleton, the player said, hey, win these next two. We're the number one seed. We win the division. That's really all that matters right now. And they got to kind of flush this after 24 hours.

I know you're going to open up the show saying something very interesting. Anilo, you may be talking right here with my words. I'm just saying. Say it. The idea is to flush it. You know, Sean Payton had different words in terms of that. But yeah, I mean, you have. You have to just let this loss.

Like you can't let it linger. You can't let it just be like, oh, my gosh, like, how do we drop this game? It's not, it's like, you know what? We didn't play good. The defense they're getting together tomorrow as an entire unit to watch the film. You go through what's going on from a communication standpoint on the back end because there seems to be a lot of miscommunications lately. How do you adjust the tackling?

You watch it as a unit and say, all right, that's not our best effort. Now we got to prepare for Kansas City. And that's exactly what the team is on to next. But Cody, really quickly, hasn't that been kind of, issue for this defense this entire season, the lack of communication in the back end, especially, well, in the red zone where you don't want to give up points. That's the one thing that I see continue to show up over and over and over again. And listen, I've had one of those kind of come to Jesus meetings where you get everyone

in the meeting and then now you're talking about what went wrong and what could have been done better. To me, I love the idea. But it's late stages in the game. game and you got to start correcting that stuff earlier. And I hope they get this, you know, kind of remedy because if they don't and once again, Jacksonville came out, they play a decent game, but this is not one of the tougher offensive teams in the league. So they need to fix it before they run into a gauntlet. Yeah, I think the big take of the game, we'll hit a break after this and kind of reset is, as Cody kind of alluded to, the Broncos still control their own destiny. And you guys got on me. And I wasn't saying that I was rooting for a lot.

loss, but I actually didn't think. I actually think the Broncos would be better because of this loss. I really do believe that. I will stand on that. It's your freaking fault. I said that before you and Nilo. Let me ask you this. Go ahead.

Let me ask you this. You know, I don't know. Like, Nick, and I want to ask you as a former player, I'm not cut from that cloth. Like, I've never gone into any kind of game. And I've played a lot of football in my life. I've gone into games where it's like, oh, if we lose this, I'm going to be more motivated, right? Like, how do you feel about that?

Because look, even when you suffer a loss, and I've suffered losses as part of a championship team. And my whole thought process is I look back on the regular season. We had one loss in one year. Okay. Like, did that motivate us? No, like we just played terribly. It's like, now we got to go back and fix it. Like, did it ever motivate you to just like, all right, this loss is what we needed?

I don't know. Because there were even some people in the comments saying they need to lose. They need to understand what it's like. It's like, I don't know. Like, you play to win the game, baby. No, look, I'm with you, man. I think what was it who said this? Someone who worked for the 49ers back in the 80s.

Maybe Ed DeBarlo, show me someone who likes losing and now show you a loser. No one really wants to embrace that idea. Like, yeah, you know what? All the team needs to do is lose a game before going into the playoffs. They're going to be ready. Gosh, darn it. It's like, no, to hell with that. You win every single game that's in front of you.

you stuck out every single opponent. So I don't want to hear of this, you know, this loss is going to propel them forward. How about not losing a damn game, period? How about that? That's fair. It's like the Blue Mountain State ritual game where the kicker just couldn't figure it out. He had all, you know, like that's where we're approaching that territory. Like, we need to lose.

Yeah, well, you know, the big thing is, like I said earlier, like the Broncos still control their own destiny. You win your final two games and you're going to be the one seed. You're going to win the division, all of that good stuff. everything is still on the table for the Denver Broncos. Okay, let's hit a quick break. When we come back, let's continue along with the conversation reacting to the Broncos first loss since September. Anilopiro, Cody Roark, Sarah Bedinger, Nick Ferguson, back on the other side. All right, you guys, real quick, let me tell you about our friends over at car gurus.

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deal ratings that make it easy. Buy or sell your next card today at car gurus.com. That's C-A-R-G-U-R-U-S dot com. Be sure to check them out, folks, and let him know. Lockedon Broncos Sancho. All right, welcome all back into your lockdown Broncos squad show. Nilo Piro, Cody, Wors, Sarah Beniger, and Nick Ferguson reacting to the Denver

Broncos loss on this football Sunday to the Jacksonville Jaguars. All right. I will read the quote from Sean Payton. And I will preface it that these are Sean Payton's words and not mine because we're talking about, you know, flushing it and this and that. I don't think Sean Payton's going to do that. After the loss in his opening statement in the post game press conference today, he said, quote, you can't spit it out. You've got to swallow it. And that starts with every one of us.

End quote. Sare, your thoughts on the comments. You come to me right after that one, huh? Yeah, yeah. I'm having Dave up. Boo, I heard that quote last night. You know what I'm saying? No, I, I,

geez, guys, you got me going crazy over here on the squad show. Come on. I think it's 100% to your point. And you know, look, like, this is the situation. Like, nobody wants the Broncos to lose a game. But here, I want to paint a little picture for all of us on the show right now. Because 10 years ago, almost exactly to the date, I just posted this on my Twitter account, almost exactly to the date, the 2015.

Denver Broncos lost in Denver, I believe, or it doesn't matter where it was. They lost in this particular day of the year to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They gave up 34 points that vaunted defense that was so dominant that season. They kind of got their butts kicked in a game. And I do think while you wouldn't have sat there going into that Steelers game where Brock Osweiler played awesome. And that kind of gave us all hope in that game of like, man, the offense might actually have a little something, something here.

the defense gets its butts kicked. And you're sitting there thinking, this is this dominant defense that held like Aaron Rogers to like 80 some yards or whatever it was. And they just dominated almost everybody that they played, even though close games, rough offense at times, inconsistent. They played dominant defense. And when those guys got their butts kicked, I think they looked at that game and they were like, oh, shoot, well, we don't want that to ever happen again. And it's not going to happen again. So I'm not saying that you would go into that game against Pittsburgh or this. game against Jacksonville being like, hey, we want to go ahead and lose this game to kind of

refocus ourselves. But I will say, because the outcome was out of any of our control and obviously out of the Broncos control as they got their butts kicked in this game, you look at that and you say, hey, we got our butts kicked. That's not going to happen again. And I think that can be a bit of a turning point for you just mentally and in terms of your competitive edge going forward, which is it's always the same. You always want to win. You never going to a game. You never going to a game. thinking you're going to lose. But when you do lose a game like that, I think it can ignite something like you woke somebody up.

You, I mean, you did the wrong thing. You always let the sleeping babies lie. You know what I'm saying? So everybody's got all their opinions about the Broncos. And now it seems like they've been validated. It gives this team a little extra chip on its shoulder. I will say, you know, and I'm just reacting to the people that are commenting live on YouTube, like Broncos country seems pretty based right now.

Like a lot of people are like obviously disappointed and bummed about the loss, but I'm not seeing a ton of overreaction. You know, obviously in game, you get some of that stuff as well. You should have seen my Twitter feed. Well, yeah, I'm just going based on what, well, we got an incredible listener base here on the lockdown. Yeah, we do. Every day.

Shout out to all you guys. But like, that's my thing is I don't think, I understand the defense, you know, was not as good as they were today or as they should have been today. They're dealing with some injuries as well. But Nick, like this loss doesn't really change much for me and my long term outlook for the Broncos, I guess I still trust them to clean up some of the issues they have in these final two regular season games. Yeah, I mean, I understand the whole idea of expecting them to clean some things up, but obviously this was out of character for the Broncos defense and also for the Broncos

offense as well. And this is one of the one of the things that I worry about, you know, at the tail end of the season, especially with the Broncos being where they are, you go back to the Green Bay Packers game. There were a couple of bumps and bruises where where guys were, you know, not playing the game, Justice Sharnard being one of those guys. RJ Harvey Harvey even coming in with the ribs, Marvin Mims with the shoulder. Now, Drake Greenlaw, there's an issue with him. So now, how is that going to impact what Vance Joseph wants to do on a short week at that in Kansas City, a game that you should actually win, right?

And listen, if the Broncos need linebaggers, I mean, I volunteer all four of us, right? We can go out there, we can plug and play. but, you know, once again, looking at what this defense is, I'm not down, I'm not upset. Well, let me take that back. I am upset about the tackling. The outcome is what it is. You knew you were going to face an underdog, you know, Jacksonville Jaguar team. They feel coming into the game, they were just as disrespected as the Denver Broncos,

and they were looking at this as not just a get right game, but just kind of to get right with all the national media and what they've said about the Jacksonville Jaguars so far. Yeah, and Liam Cohen, I don't know if you guys saw those post game comments. You know, Sean on Wednesday, he wasn't really like calling out the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it's like a smaller market team. It was kind of almost giving them respect. And Liam Cohen after the game was like, you know, a small market team like the Jaguars can come in a mile high and get a dove, right? Something along there is a habit on social media.

Yeah, Cody, I don't think you're a fan of Liam Cohen. No, I mean, I just, I didn't, I mean, being there, like, Sean didn't mean that as a slight. Like he's saying, like, look at these teams. like Denver is viewed sometimes as a small market team in comparison to like New York, Dallas, so to speak. Like the national media views them as that. Like he's just saying, hey, look, like these small market teams, like, they're, they're a top of the league.

Like, I didn't think it was a disrespectful shot. Yes, it was. But like, there was no, there was no way to say it, Cody. There's no, okay, I don't. There's no need to say it. And I can tell you this, I was standing on their sideline. So I'm going to tell you those comments resonated throughout that. side line because you can see it on the guy's faces. You can see the

Liam Korn told his players, well, the Broncos think they're high and mighty so much so that the coach said, we're a small market team. We're going to go out there and show them that we're not small market. So Sean didn't have to say that. Bulletin board it. Well, they're still going to play at one o'clock Eastern time every single week and nobody's going to be able to watch them. That's what I think. That's what I think he means is like this is a good team that we're playing and nobody gets to see them. Most of America didn't even get to see him today. Yeah, that was the way that I approached what he said with that quote.

And yes, that is very true because you need to have Sunday ticket where I live in order to watch this particular game. But what he's saying is that the Jaguars are always playing in these anonymous one o'clock Eastern games. And what you're not seeing is a really good team. And so, yeah, maybe there was no need to necessarily say, hey, it's a small market team. But hey, you are what you are. and the Jaguars, I guess, can embrace that now. Sean Payton gave them some unnecessary bulletin board material with a compliment that they turned into, you know, exactly that.

Print the shirts, baby. I just think it was unnecessary. I don't think Sean had any malicious intent behind us. No. Again, you know, you give an inch, they take a mile, right? Like, that's the old saying, and that's exactly what the Jacksonville Jaguars did with this one. Sare, you, I think it was a text message that you sent to the group chat during the game.

Or maybe I saw it on your Twitter feed. Like one thing with the Broncos defense that has me a little concerned, not just with the linebacking core. I know that's a big question mark right now. But I'm looking at the box score, right? And I'm looking at total tackles. I got to scroll all the way damn near to the bottom to see the names Zach Allen, Jonathan Cooper, and Nick Benito. And these are the three guys that all have recently gotten contract extensions for this Denver Broncos team going back to the offseason.

I don't know if it was just a down game for these guys or what it is. but the three guys that you paid a boatload of money for, maybe it was a game plan thing from Jacksonville, and they did a good job of stuffing the run for the most part with Travis ETN, at least early in the game, early in the game. What's up with Benito Cooper and Zach Allen, Sarah? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think that's what maybe separates this current Broncos team

from, as long as we're alluding to the 2015 team, those guys popped the ball out consistently. Those guys created turnovers. Those guys dominated and made big plays late in games to close out games. That's where I think that we need to see those two guys, especially Cooper and Benito really showing up. Now, I realize Bonito made the big play against Washington. But at the same time, we need to see some, like, game altering sacks from these guys. That's just my opinion.

I'm setting the standard high. Once again, I know that we're talking about, hey, like, we can't expect perfection from these guys all the time. But these are your star players, like you said, that you've paid big money contracts. They need to make those plays. Or you're getting, what, 14, 15 quarterbacks? hits this game for the Broncos defense. And I believe Alan had three, Bonito had two, Cooper had one. So like if you're getting to the quarterback that many times, it's time to start swatting that ball out. That's what I'm saying. Like I get that it's not that easy.

And I, Nick, I think you're giving me too much credit, 188 pounds. I can't play linebackers. So I could never do what these guys do, you know, playing defensive line, pass rushing in the NFL. But what I am saying is that shoot, like, you're the. that dude out there. You're one of the best pass rushers in the league if you're Nick Pinato. You're the best interior rusher in the NFL. Lead the league and quarterback hits the last two seasons. You're Zach Allen, right? Go make that freaking play and take the ball away. That's what this defense is missing right now. You know what guys really quickly. Here's what we're starting to see come to fruition. And I talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Think about the last

four quarterbacks that the Broncos face. degree those quarterbacks had some kind of mobility. And looking at what Trevor Lawrence did today, he used his mobility. But the other thing that he utilized to make sure that Zach Allen didn't get home, Nick Benito didn't get home, or John the Cooper. It was something that we would have to go back to early in the season with the Chargers and Daniel Jones and the Colts is using the quick game. If the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands on timing and rhythm, you can't get there.

The only thing that you can do is stick your hand up and try to bat the ball at the line of scrimmage. But what we're seeing right now, and the Broncos are going to face a lot of these guys in the postseason, that mobile quarterbacks are putting stress on a perimeter on our defense. Yeah. Yeah, that's the recipe for success, right? I mean, I know Riley Moss gets picked on, but also with some of the deficiencies they currently have with the linebacking position, that is probably the way to do it. And we look, we know Liam Cohen, what he did with Baker Mayfield out there in Tampa.

I believe he also comes from the Sean McVeigh coaching tree, so we know what that that's all about. And, you know, I think the Broncos, you know, they definitely got exposed today on defense. And now it'll be up for Vance Joseph and company to try to clean it on up, especially in short order here as they get ready to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night football. Okay, let's hit another break when we come back. Let's switch gears to the offense here.

Bow Nix. We'll talk about the Pat Bryant injury. We don't really have an update on him, but that was just a terrible, terrible play and what that might mean for the Broncos moving forward if he does have to miss some time. Cortland Sutton was great out of the gate, cooled off later in the game. We'll break it all down here when we come back on your locked on Broncos squad show. All right, you guys, if I could find my Fandual, there we go.

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and let them know that Locked on Broncos sent you. All right, Rock and Rolling here. Welcome on back into your Lockedon Broncos squad show. And Elo Piro, Cody Roar, to Sarah Bedinger and Nick Ferguson. If you're watching on YouTube, appreciate all of you. I'll do us a favor. Hit that like button, smash that subscribe button really helps us out. and for all of our audio listeners, we appreciate you guys as well.

If you ever want to watch the show, you can come on over to the Lockdown Broncos YouTube channel. Nick, I see your mic is muted. I don't know if you did that on purpose. But let's make sure you click off of that so we can hear your takes. But yeah, Bo Nick's in the offense here today, fellas. He finishes, I think I said it earlier, 28 for 47, 352 passing yards, a touchdown, a pick, and a rating of 81.2. Cody, how would you assess Bo in the offense?

Look, I felt like in the first half, Bo was pretty good. I felt like the offense had good rhythm to them. And look, you know, the defense was giving up a couple of plays. Bow and the offense would respond. I mean, second half, I feel like when you're in a position where now you're trailing, you have to press a little bit more. I feel like we've seen this Broncos team. And Bo and the offense respond, this is just one of those days where, you know,

the ball didn't bounce their way a few times. I mean, you have a nice, I will say, a nice design. trick play that Sean Payton kind of created in this game. Corlin goes up and catches it, but can't control as he's going to the ground there and it falls incomplete. So, you know, that type of play right there may, it has a swing. It has a negative momentum impact because now instead of being inside the five-yard line, now you're backed up the next play.

You lose four yards and you have to punt it. So and then Jacksonville goes on, I think on a nine play, 75-yard drive, the next drive to score points. So just once again, it's just in situations in the second half. the offense didn't execute fully. Now, I will say, and this isn't been talked about as much, the Broncos obviously brought Ben Powers back for this game. They had a very interesting approach. Alex Paucheschi got to start. He played the first two offensive series, and then Ben Powers came in and played two straight offensive series,

and then they would do the same rotation. Powers, two on, two off, two on, two off. In my opinion, I don't like that. I think that screws with the continuity. Even though that Powers, look, has been very important for the offensive line, Paucheschi's been playing really well. So I think when you take them in and out, I think it messes with the entire offense. Yeah, I think it's a good point. I was able to catch up in the scrum with Ben Powers after the game

and said that was indeed by design of trying to not load him up right away and ease it back into it. We do have some breaking news on the show here with respect to Broncos wide receiver Pat Bryant. And thankfully, it is good news. I'm seeing this tweet from Nick Cosmiter of the athletic. He says Pat Bryant has been released from the hospital, diagnosed with a concussion.

after all other tests came back negative according to one of his sources. So that was a scary, scary injury that we saw take place. They initially threw the flag out to the reps and then picked it up. It was a legal hit, you know, led with the shoulder, not the head. So I know there's a whole conversation about that and the flag was done, but they picked it up. But point being, guys, I'll go with you here, Sarah. Really nice to see that Pat Bryant's okay because that looks scary in real time.

It really did. I mean, anytime you see a guy taking off the field in a. stretcher and then you hear while he was taken out of the stadium in an ambulance to a hospital. I mean, you start to fear the worst, right? And so it just puts all sorts of ideas in your brain of like what the heck could possibly be going on. And we didn't see Pat give like a thumbs up on the way out or anything like that as he was laying down. Those are the things that I watch for, you know, as a fan just watching and hoping that these guys are all okay when they do have scary injuries like this. But yeah, that's great news, all things considered. I mean, of course,

don't want him to have to be going through a concussion. If we can say, hey, let's give best case scenario all around, wouldn't want him to have to be dealing with anything. But the fact that all those other tests were negative, the fact that he's got movement, his extremities, all those sorts of things, great news for Broncos receiver, Pat Bryan. He won't play this week. He's out. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how the concussion stuff works.

I mean, I would agree with him definitely not going to play this week. And, you know, they might need him for week 18. So obviously, fingers crossed. not come. Don't be surprised. Okay. That's what I was going to say. You might hold them out to the playoffs, especially if you do get the one seed, right? You get that bye. Well,

the rest of the recuperate coach. That's the hope, right? But it's entirely out of the team's hands. Really, it's just dependent upon how, you know, Pat is doing like the severity of it. You know, concussions are obviously no joke. Nick, you and I, we've had plenty of concussions. You and I did an episode when I first got started in the media game. We did like an hour-long conversation about concussions because the movie had just come out. The way that things are now at the NFL, I'm glad that it's,

taking it out of the hands of the team. And at times, I'm glad they're taking it out of the hands of the player, too, because sometimes maybe how it used to be, you could be like, hey, I'm good when you're not good. At the end of the day, yeah, I mean, we've all been there. That's the most important thing for Pat. And so other guys are going to have to obviously step up. But yeah, I mean, once again, I just felt like going in the locker room after the game after Pat got hurt. I mean, it was just kind of like, man, this is just a game.

All the other stuff, it's all meaningless at the end of day. like you just hope that Pat's good, right? And it just seemed like that in the locker room with the guys that, you know, it wasn't the end of the world. I mean, AP, you were in there with me. It was not doom and gloom. It was like, hey, like, we didn't play good. Like, that's it.

We're going to be fine. Like, that was the vibe in the locker room. So that gives me a little bit more ease. But obviously, great that Pat is going to be okay. Yeah, definitely a scary situation. I think you kind of saw some instant remorse on the face of Bo Nix in the moment. And I believe he's something along those lines as well. after the game at his post-game press conference.

That's what they call a hospital ball with the past. They were thrown from Bo Nix. And that would have been a terror if it was something more serious and thank God it's not. And a concussion is serious. But like the game was over, right? So it's one thing you've got to have that happen. Like Christian Watson, I know that wasn't a concussion, but like he got knocked out in the middle of the game to lose a guy like Pat Bryant

when the game was essentially out of hand, Nick. That's a tough look. Yeah, it is tough. I'm glad there's positive news for Pat Bryant. And just standing on the field watching it take place, it was just reminiscent of the days when I played. And also just kind of you look at your mortality. And you think that, okay, well, you're young.

You're playing this game. It's vibrant. You're having a lot of success. And then in the moment's notice, boom, something like that happened. So I'm a little concerned about Pat moving forward, how he goes through this concussion process, and how the independent neurologist, how they look at it,

because Cody is right. Of course, on the short week, you go out on the stretcher, you're not playing this week. And as far as next week is concerned, we don't know because we have to wonder about your memory. Are you experiencing nausea? Are you sensitive to light? All of these things are real things when you play this game.

But the other person that I'm now taking my focus to is Bo Nix. He threw the past. So what is he dealing with as he drives home? He sits around. He watches this back. and saying, okay, well, I could have done this a lot better. Oh, and whatever happens with Pat from here on out, Bo is going to think, well, I contributed to that.

So mentally, I'm worrying how Bow's going to bounce back from this on a short week because some may say, well, it's not going to affect him at all. I can tell you as a former player, yes, it will. Yeah, you maybe think twice you hesitate a little bit about throwing those type of passes. I mean, I think it was what Tyler Lockett of the Seahawks, like after he had a bad concussion, he would like slide down. after making receptions as opposed to taking contact, not saying that will be the case.

But we've seen this kind of in his postgame presser. He was saying, I feel awful because I was running through it. And I think you could tell like when Pat was down, like there was the camera pan to Bo for a second. You can just tell that Bo was just like, that's my fault. And he was upset with himself. Like, and there were some people in the media. I saw some tweets, man.

It didn't really sit well with me. We were like, oh, yeah, Bo should be ashamed. It's like, no, Beau's making it. It's football. It's played at a million miles. hour like it's easy to slow down stuff and say this is what bo should have how many times we've seen bow on the run throw a dart like that you know that one just happened to sell a little bit higher than it normally does and unfortunately the result of it was a bad play you know that

unfortunately his teammate got hurt just it's just like for people to pin that on bow and try to like shame him into that like i just think that's BS and it was a legal hit like they picked up the flag like it wasn't like you know spear you know vontes burfit on ntonio brown like it wasn't that it was a big hit, a massive collision, you know, something that you kind of, you know, cringe and jump out of your seat a little bit when you see that happen in real time. But it's also, it's football. Like, it's a contact sport. It's a gladiator sport, right?

Like, it's going to happen. But thankfully, we got some good news there on the Pat Bryan front. Just a concussion. Hopefully he should be a okay moving forward, but we'll definitely monitor that situation as it progresses. But getting back to the offense as a whole here today, I thought Cortland Sutton out of the gate was phenomenal. I mean, he finishes with the six receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown reception. I thought he was good, but RJ Harvey, your second leading receiver.

I mean, he had over 100 all-purpose yards, 71 of them in the receiving game. Troy Franklin, four for 66. Pat Bryant, five for 42. Evan Ingram, the one big play, he finishes two for 36. You know, they start, it's a weird game because I threw out kind of like the end of the game dynamic too when they're down 14, so they're getting chunk plays. But it felt like the offense was a bit out of sync at times in this game, Nick. Yeah, it did.

I mean, look at the quarters. And that second quarter, the Bronco scored 10 points. But it just seemed as though they were just kind of going down the escalator from seven to three. And there were some opportunities for a couple of big plays. We saw a couple of explosive. And I'm not mistaken, I think the Broncos may have finished the game with nine explosive plays, which is utterly ridiculous to know that they just lost this game and they only put 20 points on the board. So there were some opportunities.

There were some trick plays. They just couldn't come down with a lot of those cameras. And there was a moment in the fourth quarter. And I know we always talk about how opponent defenses that they're exhausted. I'm standing on the Jacksonville sideline. And I'm watching, you know, Bow trying to move the offense down the field. And some of our wide receivers are not running and getting in and out of their break. When you look at that one pass that Boe through that was interception,

he was trying to throw to Pat Bryant. And it just seems as though they were not on the same page because Boe was trying to set up the back show to throw. but I mean, Brian was thinking something else, but this is what happens when things start to go downhill and go down fast. You know, that chemistry,

that cohesiveness starts to kind of go away and this is what this team needs to get back to. But with all that being said, gentlemen, I still believe in this team fixing and fine-tuning some of the small things here and there. This team will be all right.

This is not their best performance from either side of the ball. So now they have to look at their wounds and just kind of pick up the pieces and just try to move on. Yeah, I know I'm with you on that. You know, Garrett Bowles got picked on a couple of times for the penalties today as well. It was just a sloppy game across the board. And again, I think you give credit where credit is due.

You tip the cap to Jacksonville. I mean, they're a lot better than I thought they were. They put up one heck of a game here today. And again, we can talk about the 34 points they did or that they put up rather. But it just felt like this Broncos offense was sputtering a little bit as well, Sarah. Yeah, I really did. I mean, dropped passes, I think was a huge issue. Yes.

Once again in this game for a number of different players. And you mentioned penalties, obviously, but also just not finishing drives. I think that's to everyone's point from earlier on, we were talking even off the air a little bit, like, was this a defense's fault in this game? Or, you know, is it the offense's fault? And why is it the offense versus the defense when the defense has given up 34 points? And I think that's a big reason why is there's, you have those explosive plays. you had those drives that got into enemy territory, and then you didn't finish those drives.

And I think that's been kind of the problem for the Broncos, even dating back to, I guess, I don't know if you want to maybe say this whole season. Like that's maybe the tension that I feel the most about this offense and where when we have these discussions and we have this discourse, it's like we see this offense consistently getting to or past the 50, but from that point on, it's anyone's guess what could happen. The strategy shifts,

dramatically once they get past the 50, it seems, you have all these great drives that start off with, hey, your passing game looks solid. You're getting big chunks on the ground, running the ball. And then for whatever reason, when Sean Payton gets to the 50, I feel like there's this like, this Denzel Washington character comes to life in him when he's like, Jet Right, 35, double, triple reverse on one, on one. You know, it's like the crazy play at the end of Remember the Titans every time he gets exactly the 50 yard line. So I think that's the tension that I feel with this offense is we see that they're able to move the ball consistently, pass a 50, pass a 50. And then all of a sudden it just kind of goes off the rails.

So it's like how can we capture that momentum that you started with and finish more of these drives? I think that's going to be critical if they're going to do anything in the playoffs. Yeah, no, I think all of your points are valid for all of you guys there. So I think just a rough day at the office for the Denver Broncos across the board. And again, the Jacksonville Jaguars a very good team on their six-game win streak. And they might just meet up again come playoff time. So we'll see how that shakes out. All right, let's hit our final break when we come back.

Continue along with the conversation. Put a bow on the Jags thoughts and also take a look ahead to Thursday night's matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. All right. We'll come on back into the program. Locked on Broncos Squad show, Enilo Piro Cody Ward, Beninger and Nick Ferguson reacting to the Broncos, 34 to 20 defeat to the Jackson ville, Jaguars, Denver now at 12 and 3 on the season. Their first home loss of the year, they are 7 and 1 at a Powerfield.

That is the first game they drop at home this season. Jacksonville improves to 11 and 4 and 5 and 2 on the road. And we also got a final score here in the Patriots game. They are victorious. They take down the Baltimore Ravens 28 to 24. I don't even care about that, to be completely honest. I saw some comments about it in the YouTube. I'm not trying to discredit the commenters,

but like Broncos win two games, they get the one seat. They win the division. Like away to go, right? They're still the number one seat right now. Yeah, they're in the driver's seat, right? So I don't think they're going to drop a game to Kansas City, especially after Gardner Minshu apparently tore his ACL today.

I don't even know the third string quarterback's name out there in Kansas City. Chrisa Lulicon. Never heard of them. I know he played at a North Dakota State. They represent, baby South Dakota. Say, hey, those fighting words right there. You better be careful. I apologize.

The Bison faithful will absolutely get after you. The Jack Rabbit faith. No, I'm just kidding. I respect. I hear you. All I got over there is football, bro. Well, that's true. Something like that.

Isn't it wrestling's big up there too, I think? But that's beyond the point. Like high school wrestling, college wrestling. But yeah, that's all beyond the point. The Broncos still control their own destiny. So, yes, it would have been nice for the Patriots to lose and just give you a little bit more breathing room. But you also got to worry about Jackson, though.

Right. Like that's a team. You ain't got a lot of that shot. Just win two games. Just win, baby. Plain and simple. So why don't we do kind of final thoughts here on the Jags game and then we can kind of turn the page to Kansas City. Cody, I'll start with you.

Look, I, you know, it's a disappointing loss. Certainly not their best effort in this game. I think you can look at mishaps in maybe all three phases. Denver Scott smacked in the mouth. I'd say, that's one thing that player said. And you can sit and dwell on and say, oh, gosh, what happened? Like, I'd say the number. The one thing you don't want this game to turn into is a snowball, right, where you get punched in the mouth and now all of a sudden, everybody's jumping you.

They're beating you down. I don't want that to happen. And look, you can't overlook Kansas City Chiefs team. I know as bad as they are right now, without Mahomes, all the injuries that they got, losing to the Tennessee Titans. You never overlook any team in the NFL, especially on a short week. And I just hope that this Broncos team comes out and they take it personal since like, you know what? We didn't play our best game. We're going to come out.

We're going to take it out on Kansas City on the road. I'm very curious about this game on Thursday. You don't have a lot of time to sit here and prepare for an opponent. You're going to probably really try to focus on yourself. This is the second time the Broncos have had a short week where they play on Sunday, I have to go play on Thursday. And now it's really like, we got to focus on ourselves and show up our issues. You're not really getting a chance to game playing full speed against another opponent.

So I would say that's definitely something to Sarah's point about the offense and some of the struggles. They've got to find a way to stop getting friend zoned in the end zone. That's the number one thing. The red zone has been an area of just like striking out for them. Like, yes, you want to take three points, but man, you got to find a way to put up, you know, touchdowns. And I thought overall Denver got off to a hot start in the second half they fizzled out in terms of that.

They were just neighbor to, they were not able to have the success they did early on. But once again, flush it, 24-hour rule onto Kansas City. Or I'm not going to say that. Sean Payton. We said the quote earlier. I was going to savor it a little bit. He's going to savor it a little bit. His word's not mine. Sayre, your thoughts on this one.

Yeah, you got your butts kicked, right? That's the tough part about it. And I think that's, you know, it is what it is. And how you respond to that is going to define the rest of the season. And I think that's what's going to be the best opportunity for this team now is the Jaguars, their fans, they're all gloating, all the people who doubted you, all gloating. It's all great for them now because while they've proven, the Jags proved like the Broncos are frauds, right? The Jaguars prove that the Broncos aren't true contenders. The Jaguars

proved this, that, and the other. I think that's, it's, it's perfect for the Broncos to have that kind of fodder at their disposal at this point because that's, that's, it is going to define their season, right? It's either going to be another situation. This is the first time, I think they've got blown out guys since the Buffalo playoff game. I don't remember any, any games this year where they've gotten blown out, right? They got beaten those games by the Colts and the Chargers. So this is the first time they've been blown out since that Buffalo game. And I'm saying

blown out. I mean, I know they kind of tried to claw their way back in, but you got your butt kicked all three phases. Sean Payton said it after the game. So how do you respond from that? That's what I'm going to be fascinated to see, especially against Kansas City. Yeah, that's going to be an interesting matchup. Nick, any closing thoughts from this

one against Jacksonville? Yeah, look at this game like eating sourcrow. I don't know if you guys love Sourcross. but I hate it. So the idea is, yeah, exactly. The Broncos have this taste out of their mouth. And fortunate for them, they get a chance to do it on a short week with a Kansas City team that's beat up.

They're down to their third quarterback. So like Cody said, you take out your anger and your frustration out on one of your biggest division rivals and just beat the hell out of the Chiefs. And everything that you were not able to do against Jackson, Whatever mistakes that you made, however the coaches saw when you watched film and they yelled and screaming at you, write it down, find a player, just Bobby Boucher the whole damn thing. Find someone on the Kansas City team and just run through their freaking face. That's the only way to get this taste out of your mouth. And I don't know about spitting out, swallowing all this stuff.

This is the best way to handle this is go and punt someone in a freaking face. Figitively speaking, not literally, figuratively speaking. Got to get the tackle view going. I completely agree with all of you guys. I think it was just a bad day at the office. I think this happens. It happens. It's going to be fine.

Again, I've said it like 5,000 times, but credit to Jacksonville. They came out there. Good team today. I think the Broncos will be the first ones to admit that to you. But the Kansas City Chiefs look a bit lifeless right now. They lost to the Tennessee Titans afternoon, who are one of, if not the worst team in the NFL. Look, I think we kind of expected that to a certain extent. After Patrick Mahomes goes down, they already had an outside chance to make the playoffs as it was.

Now it'll be a third string quarterback for Kansas City. I understand it's a short week, Cody, but I'm expecting the Broncos to go out there and probably win by double digits. I mean, that would be nice. Certainly. I mean, the Broncos have struggled on holiday games around the Christmas season. You know, they've played on Christmas Eve. They've struggled on Christmas Day, obviously. So you want to exercise some of those demons here.

And look, I think maybe one of the things lost in the shuffle, like even in this long, loss. Denver's defense now on the year with the five-sac performance they had in this game, they have now tied last year's franchise record in sacks. And when you're playing a, you know, a third-string quarterback who may not have the clock or the wherewithal, you know, maybe a guy like a gardener minshu certainly would have or Patrick Mahomes. This could be a game with the Broncos defense, hopefully takes out their aggressions, as Nick was alluding to on him. Try to get close to that, you know, record of 72, right? What are you? You're not away for. from being able to tie that,

you could get six sacks in this game, potentially, maybe even more. We've seen Denver do it, but they got to find a way. I mean, this is a, I hate to say it, like, and this isn't in a negative way.

Really, this is a must-win game on Thursday for the Broncos, considering where everybody else is at right now. The Chargers creeping up, playing really good football right now. Obviously, you look at the New England Patriots coming off and win on Sunday night football. Buffalo, they're, they're irking their way up to a potential conversation there.

And then Jacksonville, like there are, what, one, two, three, four, There's five teams that still have a chance to be the one seat in the AFC. So win this game and you win the division, win these next two games, you win the division and you get the number one seed. Plain and simple. Just win. Yeah, no, I'm with it, Sarah.

Thoughts on the Chiefs game. Yeah, I'm excited about it because like Cody said, the Broncos have an opportunity to exercise some demons at the holiday season, right? I talked about this earlier on lockdown Broncos. I didn't get to mention this to you guys because I was, as you say, I need a little on assignment. but the Broncos have been breaking a lot of different streaks since Sean Payton became the head coach, including my 0 for four while at Disney World. They're now two and four.

I'm happy to announce while I'm at Disney World. So they're breaking streaks while I'm at Disney. They're breaking streaks on the road against Buffalo. They're breaking streaks against Kansas City, the Raiders, all these different teams. Time to break the Christmas streak because I'm not having that when I'm trying to enjoy the rest of the day. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to be there's two sayers after a Broncos game, depending win or loss. there's Frodo after he wakes up in Rivendell and there's Frodo after he gets, you know,

stung by the spider in Return of the King. Those are the two versions. So on Christmas, the day after Christmas, boxing day, we want Frodo waking up in Rivendell, not the other in terms of my attitude and mentality that day. So I'm manifesting it right now. I love it. I love it. Nick, your thoughts?

Yeah. Normally we are told as kids, you never kick a person. when they're down, right? But I think there are exceptions to the rules, and I think you guys would agree. This is an opportunity for the Broncos to not only kick their Kansas City Chiefs while they're down, punch them, jump off the top rope,

but however you want to classify, this is an opportunity to take a team that their will has been broken in 2025 and you break it again heading into 2026. This is the perfect gift for Broncos, country fans to go into Kansas City a place that is really difficult to play on a short week. Yeah, you know what?

They don't have Patrick Mahomes. There's no Guard and Minshu. Not our problem. We're just playing the team that you put out there. So they need to go out there and drag this team. Figitively and literally speaking to let people know, you know what? What happened last week against Jacksonville?

We're going to call it somewhat of a blip or speed bump. But we're just going to beat the crap out of Kansas. city and give them. And I don't know this. I don't know what's the worst loss that the Chiefs have ever experienced, but the Broncos can give it to them on Thursday night. So Nick, what I'm hearing is style points

do matter in that game. Yeah. You should. Making sure that they don't have any style points. Yes. No, I completely agree. I think that this is, if you want to use the term, like get right game after a bad loss to Jacksonville, I think that's fair. For what it's worth as well, like

the Chargers, you know, they beat the Dallas Cowboys today. They've got the Houston Texans next week. I'll be it at home, but they do not have much of a home field advantage as it is. So we'll obviously be scoreboard watching with that one. That's the nice thing too about playing on Christmas, celebrate the holiday, you know, exercise some demons, as Cody alluded to, and then hopefully sit back and watch the Chargers take an L on that Sunday afternoon against the... And spit it out. Just spit it out. Were you going to be doing? You'd be going on some cousin walks in the Lowe? No, what is that? On the holiday season? You don't do it? You don't do cousin walks?

What is that? That's what I'm saying. That's like a Thanksgiving Christmas thing, you know? Well, all my cousins are in New York and Jersey. You guys don't get it, man. Never mind. I'm sorry. We live in the state of Colorado.

I figured you would understand what that means, but it's okay. Oh, no, I think I'm going to be like overdosed on my mom's lasagna. So I'll probably be on the couch. Mama Piro's baked ziti. I miss it. Yeah. My mother-in-law has made meatballs, so we're good to go. There you go.

Yeah, I'll be lasagna, some Italian pastries. probably be, you know, hopefully I'll be in the position to be able to take like a quick little 20 minute power nap in the second half of the Bronco game and then wake up and we'll do the postcast the next day. The Nuggets also play that night. So we'll see what happens in the world of Denver sports. Two more little tidbits. God, that's such a meathead thing to say, Cody. The NBA, you know, they care about the NFL. NFL over everything. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 100%. I'm still thrown off by this, what is this? What is this? Yeah. I don't know. Okay. I mean, Nick, you live a straight-edge life, my man. I totally understand that. You know, we live in the state of Colorado. You know, it's like, hey, after like the dinner, it's like, cousin's going to walk and then they come back and all of a sudden everything's funny. Yeah, you know, little urban spice, you know, makes everything nice. Hey, you know, listen, I like my, uh, the cheese, my time and my oregano and my oregano and my food.

There you go. Amen, brother. Yeah, I'm the same way with you guys. Something I found out, the last time the Broncos lost a game was actually the final Rockies win of the regular season, just to put that in perspective, which is crazy to think about. It's been a long time since they've lost a game. And we threw this out a couple of weeks ago. Every single Super Bowl champion team for the Denver Broncos has lost at least one game in the month of December. So if you're into omens and juju and magic and all that kind of stuff, it's actually a positive if you want to spin it that way as well. But all right, that is going to do it for us on tonight's locked on Broncos squad show. Broncos country, hang in there.

It's been a long time since you've had, you know, a loss like this, just a loss in general. They'll be okay. And we'll break down some more Denver Broncos football coming up later this week on the squad show. On your way out the door, folks, do us a favor. Hit that like button, smash that subscribe button. That would you guys never, ever miss an episode of any of your locked on Broncos content. But for Cody works, Sarah Bedinger and Nick Ferguson, I am Anilo Piro.

So enjoy your holiday season and we'll talk to you guys later this week. Peace out, yo.