Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Broncos INTENSIFY Focus with Season Start Looming

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

As the season opener looms less than two weeks away, the Denver Broncos are ramping up their preparations and making the final roster decisions that will shape their championship run. On this episode of the BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson break down the latest roster moves, discuss standout performers from camp and preseason, and dive into which position battles are still in the spotlight. With the intensity rising and expectations sky-high, the squad covers how the Broncos are fine-tuning their approach—on both sides of the ball—for a fast start to the 2026 campaign. Plus, Bo Nix was left off yet another list by ESPN. Additionally, how will the Broncos approach the start of the season without Jonathon Cooper? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! PrizePicks Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited, and this season, FanDuel is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM 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 a new little Piro, and we are officially less than two weeks away to the start of Broncos football. 11 days, to be exact, but who's counting? I'm Cody Rourke. I'm Sarah Bedinger. Football is back, and you know what? We're smooth like butter here on the squad show, baby. The butter has returned. Let's go.

I'm Nick Ferguson. And if Marry Mims can't go against Kansas City, who handles a return duties? All right, let's talk about it and unpack it all on today's lockdown. Bronco squad show. Let's go, 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 Locked-on podcast network can.

Gear up and squad up. Broncos squad show starts now. It is your locked-on Broncos squad show here on this Thursday, September the 3rd. We've got the whole crew here today. Anilo Piro Cody Work, Sarah Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson talking all things Denver Broncos footballs. We, Cody alluded to, are 11 days away from kickoff against the Kansas City cheese. But guys, today's episode of your lockdown Bronco Squacho is brought to you by the best ticketing platform on the planet. That is Game Time.

Download the GameTime app today, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. And away we go. All right. This is purgatory, right? Like we got like a little bit of a taste with training camp and preseason, right? Like the offseason done, but we're still, you know, about two weeks away here from the start of the regular season. Plenty to unpack on the show today, fellas. But we're this close to sinking our teeth into some real dead Broncos football.

What's up, guys? Excited. Let's rock and roll. Once again, I couldn't get here fast enough. The fun is here. I've kind of called this week the eye of the storm because there's a lot. lot of calm right now and then the chaos the storm it's coming next week i'm stoked what's up with the nfl putting uh the first game on a wednesday night that's so stupid uh first of all because it's

reacher night you know what i'm saying like anybody saw last the last episode of reacher you already know what i'm going to be watching on wednesday no we all tune into the nfl i mean even reacher can wait but what seriously like what come on like wednesday because australia yeah man. What is it like when it's Wednesday night for us, is it Thursday night? Find out. Or is it early Friday? I think it's technically when the Niners and the Rams will play, which is Thursday for us here, state side. I believe that's technically Friday. Is it Wednesday? No, I thought it's Wednesday night. I thought Wednesday was New England and Seattle. They'll do the Super Bowl. Let's check. I think that's Thursday. Wednesday night here would would technically be like Thursday,

morning afternoon in Australia. According to the Google machine. And the Rams are traveling literally the day of to get there. Which I've been told to smart. I've listened to some podcasts and like everything that I've heard and even that I've read about is the jet lag

it's like you know they play the Australian Open and tennis. So like sports, you know, is played consistently there with you know, fellow athletes from overseas. Everyone says the jet lag coming back is worse than the jet lag when you get there. So that's one approach compared to what the Niners are doing.

And just by the way, because I love to dunk on Cody whenever I can. The Patriots and the Seahawks play on Wednesday, and the Niners and the Rams play out Thursday. Well, that's, okay, that's weird. That is weird. It would also be weird if there was a team that played before the Defending Super Bowl champions, too. So Wednesday night, it's New England, Seattle. So we're less than a week away from, like, real NFL football.

We are. Not easy. I'm here. I'm here for. Everything matters. We're all going to be tuning in. And then you know what? We can enjoy Sunday. Like that's the cool thing is we can just watch Red Zone all Sunday,

watch all the other games, and then I get to travel to Kansas City Monday morning for the game. So I'm stoked. Get to is generous, Cody. I mean, your privilege to get to be a part of the media at the game, but get to go to Kansas City. Oh, yeah. I don't see.

I'm not excited about that, but I'm just excited to go to a football game. You want some barbecue? I mean, I'm getting there Monday afternoon, going straight to the stadium. I'm going straight to the airport right after the game. Oh, are you flying back on Monday? No,

you probably order a Tuesday morning. You got to order a Q-39 if they can have it delivered to your hotel. Q-39 is good stuff. See, I would, but I'm not getting a hotel. I'm literally going day of going back to the airport right after the game, staying and just staying out in the airport, flying home early in the morning and getting back to Denver by 815 for Sean's conference call. Wow.

So with all these games that you guys have mentioned, to open up the season. Which would you rather play on? That Wednesday game, that Thursday game, or the Monday night football game between the Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. As Monday, Monday night. Sayer?

I honestly, I kind of think, like, I wouldn't hate the Wednesday game because then you kind of get a little buy week right after that. I mean, but I don't know. I don't know what, I mean, Broncos will be starting the year with a short week and week two. I don't know. I mean, I guess I wouldn't really care personally, but what do you say?

I say Monday night football because, I mean, that's kind of the staple. I mean, we have, you know, Thursday night and Sunday night, but Monday night was that staple. That was that game that you really measured yourself by because there were so many classic games, so many players that played and had historic moments Monday night football. So for me, it always is Monday night football. You want my hot take? What is it? What is it?

Not exactly the question. Like, I haven't agree. If I was, you know, playing, I'd want money in their football. But from a viewer's perspective, like, as like a fan, I actually find myself these days enjoying Thursday night football more than Monday football. Really? Mm-hmm. Because it's like, you know, I'm like, I have had a couple of days off and it's like Thursday

comes around. It's like, oh, it's almost a weekend. And then you look, like, sometimes when I get to Monday night, like, especially in the middle of the season. And if it's not a great matchup, I'm like a little footballed out. Right versus like a little bit. Like if it's jets like, I don't know. If it's like jets chickens.

Wait, I don't know. Those just games are reserved for like Thursday night. We're not putting the Jets on Monday Night Football. I'm just saying I think Thursday night is evolving to a really fun product. I'd watch Bishop Sycamore versus the Dylan Pathers if it was money back football. That's I watched committed to the game. Hey, baby Gronk's out there making plays. I did see that video, baby Gronk.

He had like a touchdown in the first play of his eighth grade season. Good for him. Peyton Manning's son is exciting to watch. Marshall? Yeah, he's the future. That running back that they have on his team, oh my gosh, that dude is a dog, man. That's going to be fun to watch. He even has Peyton Manning's jog, which is like the craziest thing in the world.

running onto the field, they're running off. I'm like, oh my gosh, he's got the hole. Just crazy. The apple did not fall far from the tree. Don't lose yourself, Cody. What you're talking about, Willis? It's only one Peyton Manning. That's it.

No, but yeah, no, it's fun to watch, man. It's so awesome. Like, here's the thing. Like, Marshall doesn't have to go out and be Peyton. Like, imagine just the pressure Marshall probably feels just as a kid. Like, hey, my dad was Peyton Manning, a Hall of Fame legendary quarterback. I play quarterback. It's like Peyton's going to set him up and be like, no, not going to.

I don't want that guy to be there. What about the forehead? I got the Peyton Manning forehead, which is crazy because I have hair. I'm not losing any hair. I just have a big ass forehead. I've had that since I was a kid. They call the Peyton Manning forehead the eight head because it's twice the size of a forehead. I got to see if I can find this picture and I'll send it in the group chat.

I was at the office. This is probably about a month ago. I know we're off the rails to start, which I kind of love. love, to be honest with you. I found someone who has two Peyton Manning size foreheads combined in one. And I have a picture by my phone who sit behind the play for a Cubs game. I swear, I'm like watching the Cubs game in the office. And like that, I'm not even watching the pitch anymore.

I'm like, what is that? You know, I don't know if you guys are comic guys, but what you just describe is Cinesro from Green Lantern. That's what you just described. That's what it looks like. A Cinesro forehead. If you don't know what it is, look it up. Yeah. All right.

Shall we talk a little Denver Broncos football, fellas? Might as well. It is the Broncos squad show. Correct. Let's get the housekeeping out of the way, Cody. You mentioned it. Housekeeping. And a lot of Broncos fans have talked about it on social.

I don't think any of this stuff is major. Right. And Nick kind of hinted at it in his cold open. But some injury updates here on Marvin Mims and Q. Robinson that you can share with us. Yeah. I mean, we didn't see Marvin Mims Monday or Tuesday at practice on the field or even on the side field. But Wednesday yesterday when we went, we did see him on the side field.

And he was just going through his normal rehab conditioning process there. Bone bruises are a little tricky, right? And he has one, I think, at the top of his foot, because he got pleaded. And I don't know. I mean, for that ball. Who threw the ball? Jarrett Stidham threw it. He threw it to him. I didn't like, I didn't like to throw. I didn't like throw. And by the way, Jarrett Stidham is the QB2 for those that didn't know, Sean of Peyton officially kind of said it, which I'm not shocked about it. I'm not. shocked about it one bit but like that's painful ferg you've been you've been stepped on by someone with cleats before it sucks it's one of the it's painful like you ain't walking right if they step on

your toe and break your toe and you're going to be limping for another couple of weeks but uh you know good to see him on the side field that that's the question though like if marvin goes through practice all week and is still on the side field like that doesn't look good for his chances against can't see now I know we're a long ways away still there's plenty of time but who returns punts if Marvin's unable to go. That is really interesting. Kobe Katzis. No. He just so happened, man.

It wouldn't be him. He was elite returning kicks and punts in the preseason, like top tier stuff. I mean, I don't know who. It's a guy that's not even on the offensive side of the ball. What if I were to tell you it was Michael Bandy? I mean. So, Cody, are you alluded to baby Johnny Band. Jody Barron being the

fresh. Fresh. No, not even him. Yeah, Riley Monk would probably be the guy. He's the emergency punt returner. He better get a paycheck before that game then. Just think about it this way. Like ideally you could think about Colby, right?

You could think about Sean Fresh. You could think about Michael Bandy. You'd have to elevate those guys from the practice squad. Okay, that means you have to keep one of your starting wide receivers inactive. Who's going to be inactive in that situation, right? Like that very unlikely. Okay, would you put Jalen Waddle back there then if that's the case? Absolutely not.

No way. Okay. So if you're not going to put Jailen Waddle back there, I'm not going to go to Riley Moss back there. No, I'm not going to do it. He literally, he returned punts in college. That's college. Gen X brings up a good point though.

Like if Marvin's out, like, is it just like fair catch city? Like do you even like consider like if it is Riley or even Jalen, right? Like do you return a punt last year against the cowboy? Okay. So let me tell you this. Okay, I've played on the punt team. I was a wing, I was a gunner, and I was a personal protector. And as a gunner, when you run down the field, right, you better hope that guy, he better for a catch. Because if he doesn't, we're going to run through his face. And because of that, I mean, just think about it. If someone knows that Riley Maas is the Broncos starting corner, after that, it kind of goes downhill just a little from a level of production, not hating on anyone, but you got Chris Abrams drains and you have Jody Barron, right? So if you lose Raleigh Mawes, you got to go to one of those guys and it makes the Broncos secondary. It exposes them, in my opinion. So I'm not putting Rale Moss back there. No, I'm not. Chris Abrams Drain will do a fine job stepping up on the outside. He did last year. Yeah, fine job is not a great job.

And that's what Laios gives you. Well, yeah, but I understand that. But that, I mean, here's the thing. Like last year, Riley was the emergency permit return. He had to return a punt in the Dallas Cowboys game. All you need him to do is fair catch it. Or you just need him to know, like, hey, if this is going to bounce inside the 10, like you need to understand the spin of it. So let it go out of the back of the end zone versus trying to fair catch that bad boy at the 10. You don't want to do that.

Riley's got the ability to return. I've seen it since he's come in. He's been one of those guys that's always been catching returns in practice. I'm not saying, Cody, he can't do it. No, I'm not saying, you're not. You don't want him to field it. You just want him to field it. But who else you're going to put back there?

Okay, so let's put an undrafted rookie free agent, by the way, and I'll tell you this. Kobe catches at practice this week. He dropped a jugs machine punt. So what are like, are we going to put that on Monday night football in a hostile environment, a meaningful game? Like, come on. Like, it's not worth it. The Michael Bandy dropped one in freaking Houston, and it led to three points right before halftime. So it's like, I would much rather have Riley field it and secure it.

We are praying for days like this when Jordan Norwood was bumbling punts left and right back in day and we're just hoping like oh hey sunshine jordan taylor comes in he's at least he's going to fill it that's all you need you just need the guy to fill that you don't need him to return it everybody else do everything else uh his rib injuries he's fine he's fully healed from that he's good there's a good point that he makes about already having two call-ups you know set in stone when it comes to that first game right it's going to be for bony i would do fresh too yeah so you i mean how many can you only have two or can you have three i don't remember Only two.

It's only two. Only two. But I would have him return if need be. Yeah. Unless you want to put Adam Prentice back there to return. Well, it wasn't Jonah Coleman returning kickoffs during, uh, during training camp at one point? Or he was practicing returning kickoffs, a bidet. He's all the backs to it.

Colman looks at an interesting option. I would have not as a punt returner, not as a punt returner. Look, man, let me tell you, being a punt return is different than kickoff because being a punt return are you dealing with when? Now you're trying to track the ball off the kicker's foot. In Kansas City. Yes. So the lights, you have to catch it with confidence,

knowing as though there are guys around you. And I'm telling you as a guy that I was one of those wild and crazy dudes that when I get down field and I'm two yards from you. And I don't know what you're going to do. I'm going to hit you anyway. I'm going to hit you, right? So for me, I don't want to expose someone on the Broncos roster who I think is valuable.

Toss one of those other guys out there because if you lose them, so what, bring in another one. But a guy like Riley Moss, even though I understand what you're saying, Cody, he gives you sure hands. He's going to secure, but you know what's going to happen? He's going to go back to his Iowa days and he's going to like, you know what? I'm going to catch it and I'm a house it, right? That's what he's thinking.

He's going to do it. I'm just saying. I think he would be a better candidate to go back there and catch puns than anybody else. though, honestly. I mean, if you're just saying, hey, go fair, catch it. Like, who would you want to have back there besides Riley, if not Marvin Mimps? I mean. John Freck would be the only guy that I would feel comfortable.

You just can't call him up. I mean, you don't have a, unless you reshuffle the 53 before the game. I mean, you already have got to call up your long snapper and Prentice, unless you don't want to use a fullback. No, they're going to use, yeah, they're going to use a full bag. It's the way that they've built it with some of these guys, I understand the flexibility. Like the two long snappers on the practice squad to me is just blowing my mind.

Well, that means that means they don't have one on the 53, which to me is a power move. They're like, we don't, we're not rostering a, we're not going to bond snapper. We're too good for having a long snapper on the roster.

He's going to be on the practice squad. You know what I'm saying? I don't know, Nick snapped the ball to Jeremy Croshoff or Will Lutz. They have to make a decision. This, this was was a great. way of roster manipulation while you wait to the first game.

So you get a chance to look at other guys on your roster in camp. And just you can always make different decisions and take a guy off. But yeah, it's kind of ridiculous to have two long snappers on the practice squad. You know, someone has to snap the ball across, y'all. And you just can't put your regular center back there, say, hey, snap the ball. No. So we know there's going to be some things that change and they're going to move around. And as they get closer to, you know, week one against.

Kansas City, they're going to start to decide, hey, where is Marvin Mims at this point? Can we put him in? But not just can we put him in, how bad off if his foot? Is he 70%? And then you think about it, a bone bruise is no joke to play with. And someone steps on that foot again. Now you lose them for a longer period of time. So this is what they're thinking about, looking at your roster, saying, who can we put on,

who can we take off in order to make sure that we have an adequate return? because who's to say if Marvin is up for the game against Kansas City and yet foot gets stepped on again, you're going to need someone to step in in that situation as well. It's the risk you run. Oh, I love it. But PS2 back there, right? Hell no. No, no.

Hey, Mike Shanahan has putting Chant Bailey at wide receiver. PS2 is not exempt. You know what I mean? Oh, I love it. I love it. All right, let's hit a break. When we come back, let's touch on Q Robinson here a little bit as well. We'll talk about the Jonathan Cooper situation kind of feeds into that a little bit and what the Broncos plan to do in his absence.

All that more when we come back right here on your locked on Broncos Squat Show back in just a few moments, folks. Today's episode of your lockdown Bronco Squat Show is brought to you by our friends over at game time. There are more live events than ever worth seeing right now. Sporting events, concerts, comedy shows, festivals. The hard part, though, usually isn't deciding what you want to attend. It's actually getting the tickets between long wait times, confusing checkout processes and surprise fees. Buying tickets can sometimes feel harder than it should. That's why so many fans are turning to game time.

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locked on broncos squawatch we got the whole crew here today ap cody sarre and nick if you're watching on youtube we appreciate you guys if you can do as a favor hit that like button smash that subscribe button really helps us out here on the channel And away we go. To the way we go, where are we going? We're flying to Never Never Land here? We're flying to Q Robinson injury update land, Cody. All right.

I mean, he was on the side field most of the week. Wednesday, he was individual drills and then went on to the side field after Indies. So he's working his way back. He's working his way back for sure. Real quick, completely off topic. Y'all heard Tom Hardy spit bars, man? Yeah. No.

Fire. Yeah. What? Is it better than Pat McAfee? Brother, please, then never mentioned Tom Hardy in the same breath as Pat McAfee ever again. Like I said, when I get the opportunity to rile Cody up, I'm going to take it. Yeah, I bet you listen to the Pat McCarthy album.

I bet you know. No. That's in your game day bump list, man. You might do that. No, like legit. Tom Hardy. That's his work on the album. I listen to that album all week long.

He's spits, man. And he's got an alias. He's not rapping under Tom Hardy. It's called Frankie Pulitzer, man. And he's rapping like with Wu-Tang, like with Tsarface and esoteric, inspected deck, man. I was like, M-A-T-H-D, man. What you know about the Wu-Tang, AP? What do I know about the Wu-Tang?

Yeah, what do you know about Wu-Tang? I just, just, last year in a concert venue with like 75 people and I was in the flesh with the man like this, bro. What do you want to go get my, hold on, keep talking. What's your favorite Wu-Tang song? Go ahead. Go ahead. Just go ahead and keep talking. Just go.

Nothing's better than triumph by the Wutang Clan. Oh, my name is a little Piro. I just collect a poster art. Anyways, it was legit. Rowdy got it. Yeah, my, Zarface, man. Fire album. Anyways.

Sturming in the chat. Tom Hardy, nose ball. Bill Robinson is going to be bringing the flame here, you know, for the upcoming season, man. I'm excited for when he's out there. I think people are going to be genuinely surprised that maybe weren't paying attention. You know, everyone's talking about Jonathan Cooper being on the outs. People are like, all right, who's up next? Jonah Ellis is going to ball.

Hugh Robinson is going to, I think, surprise a lot of folks. I don't see why would Q Robinson shock a lot of people because last year he showed a lot of flashes. As Anilo show his jizzle, look, album cover. Liquid Swords, yes. The best album that. Rizza's legit, too. I'm insulted by Cody.

That's what I want to say. I'm insulted by you. They have the best album covers too, but now, you know, Wutang ain't nothing to mess with here. Yeah, and neither will be the Broncos pass rush, man, because if they can duplicate what they were able to do last season, I mean, everything for the Broncos as a whole is going to definitely improve. I mean, you talk about two years in a row that you led to lead in Sacks. and if they do it again, and I'm talking about taking it up, maybe 10 to 12 more sacks, that's more possessions for Bo Nix. So I know we'll probably get into a later Bo Nix ranking,

but that's going to help him out statistically. That's what I'm hoping. And the fact that you got Davis Webb now calling plays instead of Sean, that's going to get Bo a lot of opportunities because the relationship between those two guys. Yeah, and I think it's interesting that there's really not any level of worry among Broncos country, although my pulse of Broncos country is obviously just a small percentage that I see in my Twitter feed and whatnot, but it doesn't feel like anybody's overly worried about not having Jonathan Cooper in the lineup. I mean, if you would have said that

at any point last year, it would have been at least like, oh, shoot, like you don't want to be missing one of your starters and one of the best pass rushes in the NFL, but maybe it's just the fact that we've had some time to kind of come to grips with it. But I also believe truly, I think Jonah Ellis and Q Robinson are going to be able to absolutely ball out this season. I think Jonah Ellis is one of the most underrated breakout candidates on the team. I think Q Robinson proved multiple times over that he has way, way more skills than anyone really expected when the Broncos kind of surprisingly picked him coming out of Alabama. And I just think physically speaking, I think both of those guys are more gifted than Jonathan Cooper. And to Darien's point, I said it on this show earlier this offseason,

Jonathan Cooper disappeared in the second half of last year. I mean, it's not all about sacks. And I know that. It's about pressures. It's about QB hits. It's about making actual plays. Cooper was nowhere to be found for much of the second half of last season. And the Broncos still set a franchise record and led to leave.

So just imagine what can happen if these two guys can really provide some extra juice that this team sort of needed, especially when the BORN. defense was kind of collapsing in the second half of the season. Hey, you think Spyplane heard that, Cody, bro? He's always getting on me in the comment section about I, because I made, I made the same point or a similar point to what Sarah said in the last episode,

and Spyplane was ripping me a new one in the comment section, but I was talking about Jonathan Cooper, but I think you're, you're spot on, right? And I think, I think what he said was like, if you lose Jonathan Cooper, it's not the same.

I mean, you said something I think more so along lines, Is he an impact player almost similar to Zach Allen, I think. I don't think Cooper's as integral to this defense as Allen and Benito. That's what I said. But here's what's hard to replace about Cooper. We're just talking about football and the football player specifically, nothing that's going on with that.

He and Nick Benito have, out of everybody, they'd be two fastest getoffs off the edge last year in the NFL. You know, so can Jonah Ellis do that? That's going to be something I think to watch or what can Jonah do differently, you know, when he's got a little bit more of a volume in terms of a starting role, than maybe what Jonathan Cooper was able to do. I think that those are just something to pay attention to. Like Cooper's been good.

And also some context on the Cooper thing down the stretch. Like he had a groin injury that he was dealing with pretty much all throughout the second half of the season. That's what he ended up getting off-season surgery on before everything, you know, took place. He had a, he had a procedure on that. And that could impact him. We would have never known, though. I mean, it's almost like when we saw Coup in the locker room, we never once saw him like limp in. Like he never complained, never did anything like that.

So that was something we found out. That could obviously impact it. But to Sarah's point, like the Broncos defense still generated sacks. Now, I'm of the mindset here with this group specifically. Do the Broncos find, do they take a step back in number of sacks? But if their turnovers go up, are you, you guys think that's an equal payoff? I would rather take the turnovers. So, yeah.

So reduction of sacks, more takeaways. I would want the turnovers because once again, I mean, you can sack a guy and you put him, you know, third and long, right? But you still give possession to that, that opponent, and they have to decide or they're going forward on fourth down or they're punting the ball. When you get a turnover, it is just that, a change of possessions.

And now you give Bo Nixon an offense an opportunity. And let's just say they're at the rate of sacks that the Broncos had last year. Now they're having those turnovers. That is astronomically different. And think about what Sean Payton said going into that Patriots game. That was one of the biggest things. He was happy with the sacks. But he was furious about the turnovers because he knew how important it was to get those extra possession.

So the Broncos can do that. And we see the sack total go down by 20. Hell, even 30. But that means that you have 15 more turnovers. I'll take the damn turnovers all day, every day. Think about which one of those takeaways you score on too, maybe. Exactly. Exactly.

Look at the Chicago Bears last year. I mean, their defense stunk. But they, I think they were one or two in the NFL and takeaway. and ended up giving their offense all those extra possessions for Caleb Williams to make all those extra plays and make up for any three and outs that they had. Whereas the Broncos didn't get that, they didn't get those opportunities. You get a sack on, you know, third down at the 40 yard line, that your own 40 in the, the offense for the other team has got into your territory and you get a sack there. You might wipe three points off the board or you might, you know, get a force a punt,

but a takeaway, like to Cody's point, you don't know how many times you can score off a takeaway, or if you get a strip sack earlier in a drive, you're setting your offense up with a 30, 40-yard field instead of an 80-yard field or a 90-yard field, that field position aspect of takeaways versus, okay, a sack at the 50, you know, that's great, but they can still pin you deep, and it could still be a field position W for them in the long haul because your offense is buried. you have no running game to speak of, et cetera. So yes, I'm not saying the sacks are a bad thing, but what I am saying is that forcing more takeaways,

we saw the benefit of that in the playoff game against Buffalo and how critical that was for getting the offense and any situation where the Broncos had a lot of takeaways last year. The offense just explodes. So I think it's that symbiotic relationship we always talk about. Think about what happened last year when Kansas City came to Empower Field. and Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes, they were moving the ball down the field. What happened? Patrick made a mistake.

Dequah McMillan ended up with the interception. He got the ball all the way back to midfield. And that was in, you know, Will Lutz, Willhouse is right there for him to kick a field go. That's points on the board. That's points that the offense didn't have or didn't have to be forced to kind of move the ball down the field. That's easy. And known as though your defense has a capability to spot you at least 10, to 14 points.

That's kind of reminiscent of what the Baltimore Ravens defense was like back in 2001 or 2006, right? That makes the life for your quarterback so much easier because you walk into the game saying, you know what? I know we hadn't kicked the ball off, but our defense is going to sparred us 14 points. That's gold. That's money.

Plus three in a turnover battle is what you want to eat. Our defensive coach used to come up around the board. We want to be plus three in a takeaway battle. We need to force three takeaways. Our chance of winning goes up 72% if we get three takeaways and we don't turn the football over. I was like, all right, let's do it. Let's protect the football.

Kubey don't throw a pick. Let's go get some takeaways. There you go. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating. I was just going to say, how many one-score games are the Broncos realistically in last year if they have, I think it was 33 turnovers at the Bears force. If 33 takeaways.

At least cut it in half. I might have gone undefeated last year. I don't think they lose a game. I don't think they lose a game. I don't think they lose a game. Wow. Give me the I&Ts and the turnovers and you keep them damn sacks. I'm with it.

Put it on a T-shirt. It's also crazy to look at last year that, you know, Denver had every opportunity early on the season to beat the Colts, to beat the Chargers, and they lost last second. And really the only game where they clearly got beat was the Jacksonville game. Like, they could have been a one-loss team or even undefeated regular season. But, you know, once again,

they get to the ASC. Could you imagine what the narrative like would have been? Like the Broncos undefeated, Bo Nix beats Josh out of the playoffs and then, you know, like nothing happens. Like they would have been the team of destiny. Like it's crazy what the narrative would have been or how it would have changed a little bit. Maybe the national talking heads would have a little more respect for the Broncos. But I wouldn't expect that because those people don't actually pay attention. They don't watch the Broncos. So. Well, here's the thing. If you don't have respect for Bo Nix after he led the Broncos to 14 wins last season, and did beat Josh Allen straight up in the playoffs.

I don't know what to tell you. And it's an excellent bridge to our next topic as Bo Nix was once again snubbed, disrespected, however you want to phrase it, off a list from the four-letter network. Well, I hit a quick break. We'll come back and talk about it right here on your lockdown Broncos squad show. Back in just a moment, folks. Today's episode of your Lekon Broncos squad show is brought to you by our friends over at Fanduel.

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fan dual.com to get started be sure to check out our friends over at fan dual guys and let them know that locked on broncos sent you all right we're going back into your lockdown broncos squad show an elop here buddy works here bedinger and nick ferguson program is cruising along here. And I just want to answer this question from Gen X. He sees my Pink Floyd poster in the background. He says, which song is better, comfortably numb numb or hey you? I am a comfortably

numb guy myself, but I do love, hey, you. And the wall is my favorite Pink Floyd album. Hey, really quickly, a story by Pink Floyd. When I was at Georgia Tech, Penn Floyd did a concert at Georgia Tech. Wow. And I'm walking back to my dorm room. And

I swear to you, smell like a Cheech and Chong kind of when I say it was stick in the air I mean I was choking No March slareth Yes I mean listen I'm just telling They got they got down that night So yeah I believe it

I believe it No the wall is one of my favorite albums And Pink Boys is one of my favorite band So I look on the one of my conversation from Gen X That is a deep purple That is not Pink Floyd No but do you know They did like a cover

Did they really? I feel like they did I feel like I've seen that Deep Purple's fun though too I've been to a deep purpose. Oh, that's, that's dope. That's a good one. I was raised by grandparents, so that's why.

Yeah, fair enough. Real quick, Nick, you mentioned you went to Georgia Tech. I mean, they're playing CU tonight. Did you have any quick reads or thoughts about this matchup as the buffs get started? Cody's, look, Cody's wearing black and gold out there. That's Cody's Colorado Buffalo's right there. No, if you don't notice, this is the state of Oregon. All the way, by the way, go ducks.

Oh, okay. Well, really quickly, this helmet. it's here for a particular reason. And obviously, I picked Georgia Tech to win the game is going to be a tight, close game. And, you know, see you, in my opinion, they're going to be a lot better than most people actually think. They're going to be real competitive.

Are they going to win eight games this season? Probably not. But I think they have the potential to be bow eligible. So I would love to see that, too, as well. I'm with you. I'm with you. I think it's going to be a fun season. But, yeah, they'll get started here tonight.

Cody will be rooting hard for the black and the gold. So we'll have some fun with that. I'm not rooting for. anybody. I just want to watch football. Yeah, for sure. They don't care. The only team I refer to Oregon Ducks, baby. That's all I care about. Outside of that, I just like football. There we go. All right, let's talk a little Bo Nix here as he was snubbed by ESPN, where they did their top 100 players projection for the 2006 season. It is a list that is compiled by a dozen different analysts and reporters from

ESPN. And Bo Nix does not find himself. on the list. Here's a quote from the ESPN article says, quote, the rankings are based on predicting potential greatness rather than past performance. We use those 12 sets of votes to come up with our consensus list, end quote. Of course, you can expect guys like Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Jadennyls, Drake May, all to be on the list. Was Jadenials on besides his rookie year? That's what I'm saying. They caught lightning in a bottle. And then they regressed the next year, even though he was banged up. Even when he was out there, they were aggressing. Like, what are we doing? You can't tell.

Tell me, here's the one thing. Like, if you want to, like, say Drake May is a better quarterback, there's a conversation to be had. But the one thing that is constant to me is Bo Nix has been the most consistent and has had the highest floor of any quarterback drafted in his draft class. Period of a story. Yeah. It's a legendary class.

I mean, yes. A great class. No panics. Can I tell you guys why people are looking at Bo the way that they are, whether you agree with it or not, right? and what people are looking at is they're comparing him to some of these other quarterbacks. Is there a little bias in it?

Yeah, because they're looking at when he was selected and the fact of J.J. McCarthy, so on and so forth. But the other part that they add to that is, you know, the same things and the same reasons people praise, Bo,

is the same reason that people are using against him because it's the fourth quarter comebacks. The idea is that the fourth quarter comebacks, albeit all sexy at the end, you have to show the ability to be able to close it out. The problem is they're saying, for the first three quarters, it was just like, where was the offense? Where was it?

Why is it that you need to have so many, you know, fourth quarter comebacks and they hold that against them? And once again, if you really look at this, I can understand why, because they want some of the quarterbacks to show in the first half of the game that, hey, listen, you have full control of the offense, you can make those throws, you can move the ball on third down, you can score inside the red zone, but we know this team has had some issues. And for me, it is Bo Nix is taking the brunt of the Broncos, you know, skilled players dropping a lot of footballs. Because if those guys caught a lot of those passes last season, Bo's numbers would be so much better.

But because of that, it's kind of a negative reflection on Bo. I don't think it's fair, but I'm just telling you how and probably why people are looking at Boe in that particular way. But here's what I'll also say, too, they should have that same energy towards Tom Brady who had 40. six fourth quarter comebacks in his career. Yeah, that's a reason to prop him up. Yeah. That's the same guy that also, too, here's the difference in that, Cody. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I'm just saying. But that guy, Tom Brady, has more Super Bowl rings than some NFL franchises. Yes. If both start doing that. It was in the second year, though. But then you change that. That's how you change it. But until then, I guess the conversation is what it is.

I know. But still before he even had a Super Bowl, he still had, how many comebacks before he had a Super Bowl? When was it? They won in 03? I think they won almost right after he. No? Or what you were the greatest show? Right after he took over.

Yeah, because he stepped up 2001. That's when he first came into the league. He had three, three fourth quarter comebacks in his first full season. He had two the following year. Three in 2003, the year, he was third in MVP voting and was an associated press all pro. Yeah, I mean, just like, okay. You know what the difference is? I think a good thing.

But the difference. Yeah, but that's my point. That's why I'm like, why do people view fourth quarter comebacks as a bad thing? And it's like, to what Nick had said, the context of the offense, sure, is there areas where Bo could have been better in certain games or done 110 percent? We're not saying that. But also, the Broncos didn't really have a consistent enough run game. And there were even times early on in the season, like, for example, against the Colts and also against the charters,

the Broncos defense was struggling. They could not get off the field on third down. They could not give up, they kept giving up explosive. plays on first down to the Colts specifically, and it was the offense that really kind of had to calm out of those couple of games there. But that's the, that's the thing like early on, you don't have some, you don't have these issues. You know, if you have consistency and balance across your entire team and Denver didn't have that. So I think both gets unfair my spells, though. Why? Because they couldn't run the ball. Well, why couldn't they run the ball,

Cody? Right. Because their scheme sucked. Exactly. So, so, so, Bo is taking the brunt of all of that, right? He's taking a brunt. Is it fair? No, no, it's not. And then when you talk about the Tom Brady-Baddy-Bow-Nick situation, one guy was like a six-round quarterback, and another guy was the first-round quarterback,

and people judge those quarterbacks entirely different. Is it fair? No. I'm saying it's not fair, but this is what the conversation is like. But with the addition of this quarter, things are going to be different for Boonex this season. Why does Caleb Williams, though, get get different, like get the different perspective in terms of it.

When he's won, what, two fewer games than they've lost? Like, what is it? He's got 18 losses as a starter, 16 and 8 as a quarterback in terms of his record. What is it? Like his rookie season, they were 5 and 12, and people were like, oh, you know, Caleb Williams just terrible. He's a first round bust, even though his numbers honestly weren't that bad. They were not bad.

He was just sacked 68 times, which was crazy. But his touchdown interception ratio has been pretty dang good. But the way that people move the needle for Caleb Williams as in favor of he's this better quarterback and how they move the goalpost saying Bo Nix is not because this and the other one asked you look at it. What was the numbers that you were talking about, Sarah yesterday with Bo Nix? Only quarterback in NFL history to have what? What is it? 7,500 passing yards. What's the other ones?

Yep, 7,500 passing yards and 50 touchdowns in his first two seasons. He's the only quarterback to ever do that. He's also one of only three, the others being Peyton Manning and Justin Herbert, with 3. with 3,500 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns in his first two NFL seasons. He has tied for the NFL's all-time lead with Andrew Luck for the most game-winning drives of a quarterback in his first two NFL seasons. So really, it just doesn't make sense why people, there's really no reason for anybody to speak about Bo Nix the way that they do.

His quarterback rating or his passer rating, excuse me, his passer rating in the first half of games in two years, 24 and 2025. is 90.0. His passer rating in the second half of games is 90.8. His passer rating in the second quarter, 96.8, third quarter, 90.0, fourth quarter, 91.4. So I think even the idea that that Bo Nix is a different player in the fourth quarter, just because he comes up clutch and makes clutch plays. We know watching the games, he does that in the first half all the time. There's no better team in the NFL, the two-minute drill, whether it's before halftime or whether it's before the final whistle of a game, there's no team that's better than the Broncos in the two-minute drive.

And that's thanks largely to Bo Nix. And so, I mean, he's relatively the same guy for most of the game. I think, yes, could the Broncos start faster? 100%. They could start faster. They could be better at the beginning of games. But as you get into the flow of a game, Bo is kind of just the same relatively guy. It's just the situations

change. And so I think there's a lot of different factors that play into it. But there's, if, if any of those other QBs had set those records, do you think that we would ever hear the end of it? I mean, the answer is no. No, we won. But, but to Cody's point,

what's the difference between Caleb and Bo? Right? When Caleb came into the league, he was draft by Chicago and Chicago's stump, right? What about the? Wow. Come on. Wait, listen, wait a minute. Bowles drafted to the worst roster.

Wait, wait a minute. We can agree that the Broncos roster was a lot better than the Bears. And then, you take a look at this. You say, well, before Caleb Williams, who was there before? They had better skill players. And that offensive line was terrible. And what this conversation for me talks about, it's about how the league has done a great job of propping up one position over all positions.

and that's the quarterback position. And no quarterback ever wins or lose a game by themselves. They don't. Whether it's Caleb Williams, and you talked about it, the number of interceptions and turnovers the Bears created that gave Caleb Williams more opportunity. And he got Ben Johnson as an officer coordinator. That helped him out as well.

So we look at Bo Nix. You say, well, hey, Bo is making those fourth quarter comebacks. Well, how is he able to make the fourth quarter comebacks? He's making the throws. The play calls speeds up just a little. And oh, by the way, you have one of the league's best defenses that can shut teams out to allow you to have those turnover. So the way I look at it, it's not about the quarterbacks. It should be about the whole damn team.

But everyone always sectioned out the quarterbacks and we got to have quarterback conversation. No, Bo is not able to do what he's able to do that the defense doesn't do what they were able to do. And the same goes for Caleb Williams and the Bears creating all those turnovers last season. I do remember the year before the Bears defense was terrible. terrible. The bears, yeah, but the bears weren't even considered at the time. The bears were considered. Remember when Caleb was drafted, that was a pick that they got from Carolina.

They traded the Panthers traded up for Bryce Young and gave the bears that selection. And the whole talk from 2024 on for the Broncos is this is the worst roster in the NFL. This is the worst quarterback room in the NFL. They're not going to be able to recover from the Russell Wilson dead cap hit, right? One sec. you guys go ahead well i was going to say like here here's the other thing just real quick on on the question that you asked cody i think two things one there's the nature of kela williams being the number one overall pick that i think kind of feeds on that too but and here's

something that i don't think broncos fans are going to like to hear but it's still kind of the fact of the matter like the bears are like a legacy franchise right despite the bears being as bad as they've been yes cody yes like the bears are an iconic national franchise. The Broncos nationally are still overlooked as a franchise. Like that's just the fact of the matter. Like outside of when Peyton Manning was here. Like that was like the one time that they were consistently front and center.

And that was more so because of Peyton Manning than it was the Broncos organization. So like when it comes to brand that even like think back back then, like it was there's other teams that are being looked at more than the Broncos I would imagine. Like that's always been a narrative that I've heard from people that go back to John Lays. The Broncos were consistently looked at this cow town, flyover type of city and flyover type of team. The Bears are a legacy franchise. I disagree with the assessment of the Broncos, but the Bears brand is bigger nationally than the Broncos brand. Like when the Bears are good, it gets more attention than when the Broncos are good. I think that's what factors into it as well.

Well, good luck playing in Indiana. Well, I agree. You know what, Anilo, I would have to agree with you because think about when the franchise was here, right? And they had to go knocking on the door to get, you know, ticket holders to kind of buy season tickets to keep the team in town. And I understand when you think about the Chicago Bears, I mean, as of late, they haven't been, you know, that story franchise. But you're right. Historically, when you think about, you know, George Hallis and you think about sweetness, right, and what they've done, even though the Bears, even back in the day when Buddy Ryan was

running their defense, I mean, they were not a main state. but we saw John Elway get to the Super Bowl and we saw them lose several Super Bowls. So that left a bad taste in the mouth of so many fans. So much so when the helmet was changed, right? Some fans loved it. Some fans hated it. Some fans loved it because they said, you know what? We can move away from those years where we got to the Super Bowl and we didn't actually

win. And most fans love today's NFL, the Broncos symbol, because that's associated with winning Super Bowls. So there is a little truth to both sides of it. And a lot of Broncos fans are not going to one to like it. But yes, there's a lot of Broncos bias. And if you wanted more on that, think about Hall of Fame.

How long does it take Broncos players to get into the Hall of Fame? You're trying to tell me that Mike Shanahan shouldn't have been in a long time ago. Rod Smith shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. And you've had John Lynch and you had Steve Atwater. Somehow in the voting, they counseled out one another. And those two

was kind of kept out of the Hall of Fame. until recently. And if it wasn't for Jeff Legwall, none of that stuff would have ever happened. So there is a bias. If Mike Shanahan is the head coach of Chicago Bears, bro, he's in the Hall of Fame already. If all things are equal and it's Shanahan as a Bears head coach

and it's the same Super Bowls and it's the same system and all that kind of stuff, Mike Shanahan is probably like a first ballot hall of him. That's because most of the committee, they suck. The committee sucks. That's the number one thing. Like they're terrible.

I don't know how many times. Jeff Legwald has to go up there and tell people and reemphasize, this is what Mike Shanahan did to transcend the NFL. Bill Cower, who's in the Hall of Fame, even said, man, so much like Mike was ahead of his time. He was doing things that we weren't seeing. People are talking about the Super Bowl in 1998, where all of a sudden they just started doing stuff with Shannon Sharp

putting him out to the outside instead of inline. Like they're like, wait a minute, what's happening here? Like Mike saw things ahead of the game. Guess what system we're seeing run primarily in today's NFL? It's variances of what Mike Shanahan has emphasized out of the West Coast style offense. His fingerprints are on everything. And that's crazy to me. It is absolutely crazy to me.

But you know what? That's not a Denver Broncos problem. That's a problem with the ignorance and bias that some of these committees have. Some of these slap wagon little TV shows where these guys all sit around a studio desk singing Kumbaya talking about the garbage Dallas Cowboys, every freaking day. No one cares about Dallas. They've been irrelevant since Michael Irvin was playing. But here we are talking about Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl.

Makes me sick. What we're, what we're proving is that the national media is. Sucks. Definitely bias against the Denver Broncos. And yes, they suck. Like on top of not knowing ball,

which has been confirmed, Sean Payton confirmed that. Just one of the many examples, but on top of not knowing what they're talking about, They're also biased against the Broncos. They're biased against Sean Payton because how many people in the media hate Sean Peyton and would never vote him coach of the year for anything? Not even put him in the running last year.

Crazy to me. The Broncos took over the AFC West. They went to the AFC championship game, hosted it. Sean Payton is nowhere to be found in Coach of the Year voting discussions because the media is biased against him. And many in the national media are biased against Bo Nix and have been since he was, was at Oregon. there were so many reasons he was going to fail right he's too old he's too limited he only

throws screens he can't throw a deep downfield people still talk about bo necks not being able to throw down field like he's still at oregon not throwing down field which he still he did at organ the morocos talked about that after he was drafted so it's like it's the same thing with justin herbert we at the media glazed justin herbert and i think justin's a great quarterback but it's like that was the same stuff justin dealt with coming out of oregon too all he did was throw screens he's a screen project it's like not It's a system. It's like he showed he could do other things.

Yeah. And I know that it's easy to say like you don't care about the rankings and stuff. I get that. But I don't care about national rankings. I don't care about national media. Well, ultimately the reality is is that you need people to stop being stupid. I mean, that's just the, that's where it is. Nobody gives Bow Nix any credit for anything.

And I know he doesn't really care. But shoot, I mean, he's going to be laughing all the way to the bank in less than a year, I bet. I'm with you. Let's let's get a break and we'll come back on the show. No pun intended. We'll have some fun here on your Lockdown Bronco Squad Show back in a minute. David's getting Taco Bell, man. Let's go.

All right, we'll come back into your Lockdown Bronco Squad show. And I think it's a good bridge, right? We're going to do next week, we're going to kind of do our just big season preview. We'll go over the biggest games. We'll give out some preseason thoughts, best player on offense, defense, this and that, record predictions as we are up against it when it comes to the start of the Bronco season. But why don't we just look ahead towards Kansas City, right? And it's funny.

I'm a betting man. I'm not afraid to admit that. Did the fan do I read my personal? Not a surprise. But I was looking at the lines the other day, right? And I'm like, you know, I always try to look for value on an underdog. I'm like, what underdog is mischrist, right? And I get all the way to the bottom.

And the only game and I take my bias out of it where I'm like, this line doesn't seem right, is the Broncos being a three point underdog on the road against Kansas City. and everything else I can make an argument for, but it's like the Broncos were the far superior team to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Broncos are still the far superior team, X as and O's Y to the Kansas City Chiefs. And I understand there's something to be said about going on the road and playing, you know, your first game and all that kind of stuff.

But the game, in my opinion, should be like a fugal favorite for Kansas City. And again, the reason I bring up the betting is less because of, you know, money making or anything like that. But the guys in Vegas are so sharp, right? Like how many times do you see a game or a final score comes so close? close to the numbers they put up before the fact, right? Corrupt. And I think that just kind of speaks to perception, disrespect, and all that kind of stuff.

So Denver's going to have an opportunity right out the gate to go ahead and shut up some more haters, fellas. What's going to happen the first time that Patrick Mahomes has to spin out of the pocket in this game? Because he's going to have to, because Josh Simmons ain't showing up to practice anytime soon. And who's the right tackle for Kansas City? I don't know what it's going to be like when he has to. Cody and I talked about this when Patrick Mahomes has to be Patrick Mahomes because that's the biggest question mark right now is he's coming off a major knee injury with multiple, you know,

points of damage that needed to be repaired. And what happens when he has to put on the cape and do what he does best? So it's made him so special because we know that I know he can throw from the pocket. That's not what made Patrick Mahom so special in Kansas City. It's the plays that he made getting outside the pocket, forcing deep. defenses to just, I mean, scream at each other on the sideline because he's avoiding and escaping pressure and getting outside the pocket when the pressure collapses. What's going to be the first thing that I don't know what that's going to be like. I mean, he's going to get hit in this game.

He's going to get hit. Broncos are going to get to him. I just don't know what to expect from him. I think that everybody's like Sean Payton saying, well, we're expecting the best version of him because you have to. But I don't know if he's going to be the same guy. I don't know if he'll ever be the same guy. I told Cody this. Like, I'm a Bulls fan. You guys know that I like Chicago sports outside of the Broncos. Derek Rose tore his ACL in the playoffs once

upon a time. And I thought the same thing. He's going to come back. He's going to be Derek Rose. He's going to be the same guy. Like, ACL injuries are no longer a detriment to somebody's career. And it's not over at that point. Derek Rose was never the same guy.

He was never the same guy. He couldn't do the same stuff. He lost his superpowers. hours. And so I just wonder, I'm not hoping for that for Mahomes. Selfishly, I hope he stinks in this particular game. But I don't know. What's that going to be like for him? That's, to me, I think everybody's favoring the Chiefs because they believe Mahomes is going to be Mahomes, but what if he's not? Yeah. I mean, think about it too, like the likelihood, like from Kansas City standpoint, I think they want everyone to think that Mahomes ain't going to be Mahomes. Mahomes ain't going to be able to do the things that he did. Now, I think early on there's going to be an

adjustment period. But I am curious for that. one time, like, let's say Nick Benito gets in the backfield. How does Mahomes handle it? Right? That's the one thing here. But the other thing, too, is that's why they went out this offseason and they got out. They got Kenneth Walker. They want to be able to run the football a little bit more. And no disrespect to guys like Isaiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt. Kenneth Walker is a different back than those guys. Isaiah Pacheco ran his tail off. Kenneth Walker is a guy who can wear you down, even if he's not having success early on. Man, let's say it's a third quarter, fourth quarter. And this reminds me the time the Broncos and Bonix his rookie year, ironically enough, played against them.

They did a pretty good job for the most part containing Kenneth Walker. And then he broke off a couple of runs late when the defense was tired. Like that's why they went out this off season and they got him when Seattle was just like, hey, we're going to let this guy go. We're not going to pay this guy. The Broncos are going to have to account for a lot in this game. And look, I think the player's mindset is exactly where it needs to be. They're not assuming that Holmes isn't going to be who he is or who he has been.

But there is a possibility that does happen. Mahomes struggles early on. And you hopefully want it to be this game. But Denver's going to also play him seven weeks after the fact, too. So you are going to have a chance to maybe see that as the season progresses, at least in the first half. Here's the thing that changes their projections and the outcome, potentially for that Monday night football game.

You know, regardless of what Kenneth Walker can do and he's a hell of a running back. And I know everyone's praising Patrick Mahomes. And obviously, you know, you're playing on the role. I can tell you, Erie Head is a tough place to play. But the way that you tilt. the scales in the Broncos favor has nothing to do with the Broncos defense. It has everything to do with their offense. If the offense can actually score points, start fast,

something they've struggled with over the past couple of years on the Sean Payton, that changes the whole trajectory. If you're Eric B. Enemy, you're saying, okay, well, now we're down 14 points. Yeah, you've got a talented running back and Kenneth Walker, but we can't continue to run the ball that way because we're going to chew up the clock, and we are behind on a scoreboard. So the key to this game is not going to be the defense. It's going to be the offense.

Because remember the last time we saw this Broncos offense in Kansas City, I believe it was a Thursday night game. I mean, the chiefs were down to the third quarterback and Chris Oly Docken. And the Broncos almost lost that game. If it wasn't for Chris Jones jumping offside, Kansas City wins that game. Right. So that's why the odds maker are looking at this game in this particular way.

but this is why Bo Nix and Davis Webb and the offense, they need to take it up another notch because if you do that, everything that I guess Eric B. Enemy and you re planned for offensively, you really can't get into because you're behind on the scoreboard. Facts, big facts. Yeah, look, man, it's going to be fascinating. And we'll do a full preview show for our second episode next week. And we'll kind of break down some more X's and O's and get

into some score predictions and all that kind of stuff and we'll have some fun with it. But, you know, we'll be thinking about that. Oh, look at that. Show that thing off, Cody. Look at that cover right there. Look at that. The Orange Odyssey. There you go. Nick Benito. Coming after Patrick Mahomes' week one. Love it, love it, love it. All right, let us know your thoughts in the

comment section here, folks about your early predictions and thoughts about the matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. And then, like I said, once we get to next week, it is giddy up time. We'll do our overall season expectations and predictions. and we'll get into the Chiefs preview a little bit more. But that is going to do it for us on today's lockdown Broncos squad show. I want to thank you guys so, so much for tuning in for Cody Works, Sarah Beninger,

and Nick Ferguson. I am and I'm Anilo Piro. Thank you guys so, so much. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Have fun with the buff game tonight. If you're watching that, college football back on Saturday as well with the full slate. We'll talk to you guys later. Peace, y'all.

Skoducks.