Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Chiefs Demolish Broncos — Is It Panic Time in Denver?

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

The Denver Broncos opened their season with a shocking 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. On this episode of BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW, Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger an...d Nick Ferguson break down every angle of the Broncos’ embarrassing defeat. How did Bo Nix and Sean Payton’s offense stall out so badly against Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and a revamped Chiefs defense? Why couldn’t stars like Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton get going, and what went wrong for Alex Singleton and the Denver defense as they failed to contain Kenneth Walker all night? We debate whether it’s time for Broncos fans to hit the panic button after just one week, highlight the key plays and takeaways, and look ahead to what’s next. Join us for our biggest reactions, fan questions, and honest talk after an ugly start to the 2026 season! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Butcher Box If you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try. Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, new york strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always. Fabletics Shop now at https://Fabletics.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get 70-80% off everything when you sign up as a new VIP. Take a quick style quiz and be sure to select LOCKEDONNFL when prompted to unlock this offer. This is a limited-time offer, so don’t wait. Bask & Lather Explore viral bestsellers and products of healthier hair of ALL types from Bask and Lather. Go to https://baskandlatherco.com and use code LOCKEDON for 20% off. Aura Aura helps protect your personal information by actively removing your data from data broker sites and keeping it off. Start your free trial today at http://aura.com/aware. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. PrizePicks Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! KALSHI Today's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next. 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 Get three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Anilopiro, and we've had a few hours to sleep on what happened yesterday on the football field. Does that make it any better for the Denver Broncos and their fans? I'm Sarah Bedinger. Was week one for the Broncos worse than we thought, or is this just the latest chapter in history repeating itself? I'm Nick Ferguson, and I'm tired of people complaining about the damn refs. Let's go. Let's talk about it on today's lockdown Broncos Squatio. From the south stands, it's the Broncos.
Starting point is 00:00:30 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 the bronco squad show starts now it is your locked on bronco squad show right here on your lockdown broncos youtube channel and audio feed breaking down and continuing to react to the Denver Broncos disappointing start to the season a 31 to 10 loss on Monday night football to the division arrival Kansas City Chiefs. Cody will join us here in just a moment, but for now it's myself, Sarah Bedinger and Nick Ferguson. And guys, today's episode of your Lockdown Bronco Squad Show is brought to you by our friends
Starting point is 00:01:16 over at GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. We're going to have some fun on the show today, and I want to get the chat involved. I'm going to go a little, I'll be overreacting, or we underreacting, Are we underreacting true, false type of question? Wait for Cody to get in here and kind of dive into that. But just I guess to start here, fellas, is it as bad as it seems?
Starting point is 00:01:40 Like you've had a few hours to kind of sleep on it, you know, process this loss a little bit from our instant reaction last night. Sarah, I'll open it up with you. Do you feel better, worse, the same? Where's kind of your head at right now after the week one loss? I feel a little better just because, you know, you've had some time to stew on it a little bit, had some time to kind of go through and watch, okay, what went wrong? Why was the offense so inefficient? And you know what?
Starting point is 00:02:07 Taking Alex Singleton's words at face value that the defense is going to be fine, you know, over time. They're just going to figure out how to tackle. I guess maybe this week will be the week that it happens. I think offensively is primarily where my concerns have come from because that's the unit that we've seen be the most inconsistent for the Broncos. Now, I think the defense as inconsistent as the offense has been. been over the last handful of years, the defense was way worse last night than the
Starting point is 00:02:33 offense. And that's really saying something, 28 missed tackles, nearly 30% miss tackle rate. We talked about it right after the game. But where the offense struggled last night, I think you can really see where they could quickly just, okay, fix a few certain things, right? And it really starts with Bo Nix and Davis Webb getting on the same page. First, you watch this game back and you watch some of the all 22 and you see. how open Jalen Waddle was on a handful of plays, especially in the first half. And that Bo Nix just has to, he's got to pull that trigger. He's got to make sure that he's stepping up in the pocket and firing the ball and trusting
Starting point is 00:03:11 these smaller windows that are available to him if he's willing to win from the pocket. And we know that in his evolution as a player, that's really the next step for him to take. Can you win in the pocket and can you anticipate those small windows? because we know that Bo can get outside and he can make plays, right? We know that he can be that guy to come up clutch in situations. Can you be that guy who on a boring second and five is going to hit the shot play that's being called down the right sideline when there's a small opening and you trust that opening and you trust your arm talent and you trust your receiver to meet the ball
Starting point is 00:03:48 at that spot? Can Bo Nix become that guy because he was very gun shy against Kansas City? and I think the pressure affected him from the first snap of the game. He got sacked, remember? That pressure on the first snap of the game, I think affected his mentality all throughout the rest of it. Listen, there's multiple things to be concerned about. The tackling issue, that's just fundamental.
Starting point is 00:04:11 And I think that the Broncos can fix that. My biggest problem is with the offense, because, you know, last year, over the last two years, I mean, I coined this defense of McGiard defense because they would often save, they would often save Bowdo Nixon offense. And just think about it, I mean, we talk about Bowdo Nix
Starting point is 00:04:29 and the fourth quarter comebacks. Those four quarter comebacks were there for a reason. The defense gave you an opportunity to get those comebacks. And all that proved is that you didn't play well for three quarters. But in the last eight minutes,
Starting point is 00:04:43 that's when the offense came alive. And the ball was jumping off of Bowdo Nix's hands. So that's kind of a problem for me. But as Sarah pointed out, there's an underlining issue that I don't think no one's really talking about. And the reason I'm saying this is because the war was pulled over our eyes last season when PFF came out with this whole rankings and they ranked the Broncos offensive line so high based on the number of sacks that Bo Nix took.
Starting point is 00:05:11 But what they were missing and everyone else who was looking at those stats, the reason the sack total was what it was is because number 10, his mobility in the pocket. And I know most people want quarterbacks to win from the pocket. You got to stay in between the two tackles. But let me tell you, that is not today's NFL. And ideas that you have a quarterback that has a very unique skill set. I told Bo this two years in a row, told him this last training camp,
Starting point is 00:05:40 and I told him when I saw him this training camp, you're one of the better young quarterbacks in his league throwing on the run. And you would think Davis Webb would get him on the move, knowing as though the offensive line was struggling. So those tight window throws that everyone talks about, you want your quarterback to do that. And when you see it, you're like, okay, well, here's a guy that's open. The problem was, yes, Bo was having issues because of the pressure.
Starting point is 00:06:05 And you got to give spags all the credit in the world because what did he do? He took advantage of Davis Webb, Sean Payton, however you want to group it together. The problem with the Denver Broncos, they don't create spacing with their formation. They're always in these very tight formations. And know what Spags did. Spag said, hey, listen, you're going to bring your wide receivers in. We're going to blitz the corner off the right. And we're going to blitz the nickel.
Starting point is 00:06:29 So where are you going to go, Bullnicks? And then you got Ben Powers being pushed in his face. On the other side, on the short third and one, you got Mike McGillichie being beat in the inside. So for Bo, from his standpoint, he's thinking he has no breathing room. And that's why I say Webb should have got him out on the corner on the perimeter to give him an easy throw to settle. him down to build his confidence because the problem is he's not really trusting not the throws down the field or his ability to make those throws. He's not trusting some of those guys
Starting point is 00:07:00 who are blocking in front of it. You know, it's so hard, like in the more and more that I process this game, like I completely agree with everything you're saying, Nick, but it's like there's one player that I can like legitimately think of that have like a decent game and it was RJ Harvey. Right. Like I thought J.K. Dobbins and his limited opportunities, you know, was fine. I thought Pat Bryant was fine early and then some critical mistakes later in the game with the penalties. But like everything you're saying times two applies to the defense, applies to Sean Payton applies to Davis Webb, applies to fans Joseph. It was just like we've never really seen the Broncos maybe be unprepared for a game. And that's just kind of what it felt like.
Starting point is 00:07:37 I mean, it's just like they had this one specific game plan that they were going to try to execute and that game plan went belly up, you know, from the moment the game started essentially and they had no counterattack. Like it's like Mike Tyson. Right? It's like prime Mike Tyson. I'm watching Prime Mike Tyson like a month ago. And he just go out and it's like, Hey, Maker, Hey Maker. Hey, Maker. And it's like Buster Douglas starts fighting back. And Mike doesn't have an answer because Mike just used to beaten up and dominating everyone. Right. And it's kind of like that's what happened with the Broncos to a certain extent. And again, respect for the Kansas City Chiefs and give them credit where credit is due.
Starting point is 00:08:08 They had a great game plan and they executed it. But the lack of a counter punch, the lack of the ability to kind of settle in and weather the storm. I know that Evan Ingram touchdown drive was nice, but outside of that, it was just dark spot after dark spot after dark spot for this Broncos team. That to me is the biggest shocker of it all. I mean, it was truly a shocking performance from this Broncos team across the board, Sarah. Yeah, it was tough for them to overcome self-inflicted wounds. I mean, where it felt like Andy Reed and Steve Spagnolo were in their bag for the entire game. It felt like Sean Peyton and Davis Webb and Vince Joseph were trying to find the bag. Like they didn't know where the bag was. They're like, we have no bag.
Starting point is 00:08:47 There's no bag on the side. Where's the bag? So they're trying to find it and they can't. And they did have that one response drive, which coming off of a turnover and giving off a touchdown to the chiefs on their first possession of the game, it was an impressive response in that moment in adverse conditions. But then from that point on,
Starting point is 00:09:06 it becomes about game management. It becomes about figuring out the flow of the game and understanding situationally, what makes sense. And we can keep going back to certain landmark points. in the game. But I think this game was truly lost situationally for the Broncos in a couple of moments. There was the third and one where a drive that was approaching midfield called for a clear running play.
Starting point is 00:09:30 Like run the ball. Go out there and run the ball. The Broncos come out in their 21 personnel. They've got Prentice on the field. They've got a running back on the field. They come out with their run game personnel. And then they split Prentice out wide and they go empty backfield. And that's me.
Starting point is 00:09:45 You're sitting there and you're saying, Steve Spagnolo, we're throwing. And what's he, like, he's got his guys prepared. All of his guys were prepared. Three man rush, blitzes, coverage, the linebackers, the safeties, the replacement for the first round pick at corner. Everybody was so prepared. And I think the Broncos tried way too hard to do one thing.
Starting point is 00:10:07 I think they tried way too hard to feed everybody. And yes, it's nice to have depth in your offensive arsenal. It's nice to have a bunch of wide receivers. but when you're feeding Pat Bryant six times and Jalen Waddle only three, when Waddle finishes the game with as many targets as Adam Troutman, I don't think Cortland Sutton should be getting out targeted by, you know, when it comes to Jalen Waddle. I don't think Pat Bryant should be out targeting Jalen Waddle.
Starting point is 00:10:33 I don't think Troy Franklin. I don't think Evan Ingram. I don't think R.J. Harvey. Every one of those guys except for Troy Franklin out targeted or have the same amount of targets as Jalen Waddle in this game. And it wasn't because the Broncos weren't designed. playing plays to get the ball to Jalen Waddle. It's because they manufacture touches for these other guys.
Starting point is 00:10:53 They're swinging the ball out quickly to Pat Bryant. They're swinging the ball out quickly to RJ Harvey. They're swinging the ball quickly to whoever. But for Waddle, for whatever reason, it was all about the slower developing stuff, getting downfield, deeper drops. And Bo, when he's worried about the pressure and he's not trusting the old line, as Nick said, those deeper drop passing plays, the longer developing passings, passing plays, they cause like, he thinks for a split second too long and then he reacts.
Starting point is 00:11:22 And after he thinks for a split second too long and then reacts, it's no longer available. And when it becomes no longer available one time, two times, three, the dominoes start falling. And we've seen this kind of play, you know, every year. And this is just the latest version of it, like week one, 2024 against Seattle. Bo Nix had one of the worst games we've ever seen from him. and I know it was his first NFL game, but it was still really bad. Last year against the Titans, one of the worst games he's played as a pro, week one. The Broncos still found a way to win, but then the same exact story this year.
Starting point is 00:11:56 It's like, okay, maybe he should be playing more in the pre-season. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but he was very skittish out there. And I don't think it was about play design. I think it was play calling, sequencing, and then execution from Nick. So he and Webb have to get on the same page. Yeah, execution was a big issue. too as well. And I always tell people, you know, if you watch a game and you freeze frame and you
Starting point is 00:12:21 stop it at any point, you're going to find open receivers because a quarterback, he has to go through his progressions. And let's be totally honest, you know, Bo could have been a lot better, but he didn't really have all the time he needed to go through his progressions because I'm sure Davis Webb and Sean Payton had a game plan, right? Okay, if the game is going like this, these are the subset of plays that we're going to actually go to. But like you said, things were out of sequence. There was no flow. So they had to abandon what they wanted to do
Starting point is 00:12:53 and they practiced all week leading up to this game and they had to go to an alternative game plan. And that alternative game plan wasn't hitting because you're absolutely right. There's no freaking way on God's green earth that you end the game and you have Troy Franklin and Evan Ingram, a guy who wasn't even in the Broncos offense last year, and he was a healthy scratch, having more targets than Cortland Sutton and Jalen Wado, there's no freaking way. And also, I'll add this. I knew that the Broncos were in trouble
Starting point is 00:13:25 because dating back to practice, I saw a couple of plays and I was just like, okay, well, let's see what the evolution of this offense is going to look like because they were trying to use some of what Sean McVeigh and Andy Reid would do with pre-snap motion. But if you go back and look at when Jaylon Wado was in the backfield. And when I mean backfill, he was off the ball. And you knew that Kansas City was in man coverage. They never ran across with him. They just bumped it across.
Starting point is 00:13:54 And all they did was swap out Jalen Wado for freaking Marvin Mims. Because these were some of the same plays we saw with Marvin Mims running the orbit motion to try to draw the attention of the flat defender. So now they could throw the ball behind. I'm sitting there going like, oh, my God. Tell me I am not in Bizarro world because I'm seeing the same play just with a different player.
Starting point is 00:14:20 And just like Marvin, Jalen Wado wasn't getting any targets. So tell me I'm wrong. No, it was as underwhelming of a performance across the board, offense, defense, coaching staff, all of the above as you possibly could have. I mean, I cannot think of a worse way to start a season, a season that. of course is loaded with expectations and Super Bowl aspirations. All right, let's hit a quick break. When we come back, we'll continue along with the conversation. We've got Cody Wark joining us here on the other side.
Starting point is 00:14:54 He was in Kansas City. We'll get some thoughts from Cody. And we'll also do a little overreaction, underreaction, true or false, have some fun with you guys in the chat. All that more. We come back right here on your lockdown Bronco Squacho. Today's episode of your longtime Bronco Squatjo is brought to you by our friends over at
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Starting point is 00:18:21 prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calci.com slash regulatory. Be sure to check out our friends over at Calci guys and let them know that Locked-on Broncos sent you. All right, we're going back into your Lockdown Broncos squad show. Let's bring in the big guy, fresh off a trip from Kansas City. Wish you had that one back. Yeah, I was going to say, what a waste that was. My goodness. You are muted Cody is For the love of the game man
Starting point is 00:18:57 You got to travel wherever They're at Good or bad That's the nature That's what we sign up for In this industry But I'll tell you this man Arrowhead Stadium
Starting point is 00:19:07 Overrated Like it's a nice dome It's loud I can see why it's electrifying Press box mid Food mid Locker room was mid Locker room was mid
Starting point is 00:19:19 Like where we got to interview Peyton was essentially in our closet. It's a very tiny locker room. It sucked. It was, you know, I know why they call it Missouri, because it's misery at that point. Anyways, all jokes aside for the people of Missouri, people in Missouri were very nice to me specifically. But my gosh, what a, what a rough game.
Starting point is 00:19:39 And look, I understand too. Like, here we are. It's like, we don't get our overreaction Monday. Instead, it's talk about it Tuesday is kind of where we're at right now. Just a disappointing performance. I mean, I was genuinely shocked at how. they came out and they played. I felt like after, you know,
Starting point is 00:19:54 Bo Nick shakes off the interception. He throws the touchdown to everything. I'm like, okay, you know what? Nerves are settled. They're going to be right back in the sink. Yep. And they don't run the football, third and two. Third and one, they throw it on two occasions.
Starting point is 00:20:05 And don't even get me started. I know Sarah's talking about it in the last segment about Adam Prentice lined up out wide like he's Jamar Chase, 22 personnel. You got R.J. Harvey on the outside against the corner. Run the ball. have what did we see all the fullback gives for in the preseason? Why did you hand it off to the fullback in the preseason?
Starting point is 00:20:26 You can't even do it on third and one. It was just, it was perplexed. It almost seemed like the moment was a little too big for Davis Webb specifically, like in that moment. Like you get tunnel vision. I understand it. I get it. It's not the preseason. Stakes are higher.
Starting point is 00:20:40 This is a big reason, though, why I still feel like now you got to play guys in the preseason a lot more. I understand the risks. Whoa. But, man, this was, it was like a preseason game. for the Broncos all over. Let's go there with Davis Webb for just a moment. I think that's obviously where a lot of this frustration and conversation comes from. And a lot of people were expecting a lot more. Obviously, we know it was an abysmal night for the Broncos offense.
Starting point is 00:21:03 Only 10 points in a week one, in which it seemed like every team was scoring points left and right. Bow, Nick, 17th, 28, just over 130 passing yards, a pick and interceptions of fumbles as well, sacked four times. J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey, only 11 rushing attempts between those three for under 65 yards total for the team in the rushing department. Evan Ingram, your leading receiver with 43 receiving yards on four receptions with five targets, Pat Bryant, 42 yards receiving on four receptions on six targets. We talked about Jalen Wattle, Cortland Sutton kind of going ghost mode. It's alarming.
Starting point is 00:21:41 It's alarming, right? And it's not what we wanted to see from Davis Webb. Here's what I will say. It felt like to a little, to a certain extent, at least from my perspective, It was kind of like Davis Webb trying to be like, I'm here moment, right? And like, let me show you this, let's do this, let's do that. It's just like they were playing with their food and lost the plot with how they were trying to game plan on offense. Like you're talking about the Adam preton's stuff and everything else that kind of came with it.
Starting point is 00:22:03 I like getting Pat Bryant involved early. I like getting R.J. Harvey involved early, but they failed to play the hits, which is Cortland Sutton, Jalen Wattle, overall rushing. I mean, it's an extremely underwhelming debut for Davis Webb that I think is fair to warrant questions about where you go here moving forward. I think he stays, of course, is the play caller. But I think it's fair to at least ask for it. This is an unprecedented type of performance for a Sean Payton coach team on offense, fellows. Yeah, well, here's the thing too. And Harmon, it ain't that deep. No one's being a sore loser. Literally, I can talk about the press box experience. I talk about the food. It was terrible. You want me to just blow smoke up everyone's rear end anyways. It's not that deep. But to the
Starting point is 00:22:41 point, like you guys are talking about Cortland Sutton, Jalen Waddle not getting targets, here's the thing about that, right? It's also about how Kansas City plays them. Very first series. The way that they were bracketing Cortland, in a sense, where Monsour Delane does a really good job of jamming inside and shooting that, shooting what we always see on third down. What is it? The dagger route, right, that Cortland likes to run. They knew that in the playbook, that that was a big play on third down. And so they keyed in on it and they did a great job. He read it and intercepted it.
Starting point is 00:23:07 But how they also, you know, once again, okay, you go and you guard Cortland like that, right? They played a lot of zone. They played some man from time to time. But once again, when you can compress the field and you can keep everything in front of you, you can go through and react, you know, to the underneath stuff. The chiefs wanted to Denver to throw it short. So I know there are people like, how come Bowes not throwing it downfield? One, I felt like there were too many pressure issues.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Penalties set them back. And when you're down in distance changes, it really does change what you can do because, Nick, what do people think of? When it's third and long, everyone says, okay, fourverts. That's the most thing. Ah, just throw four verse. Just throw it downfield. You have to take what the defense gives you.
Starting point is 00:23:45 You have to find the soft spots. But it was a combination of bone. Knicks playing bad in this game, the run game not being present, play calling being it, and the offensive line struggling across the board. This was one of the worst collective all-around performances that I've seen. And look, there's blame to go around for everybody. But my goodness, it's this was just unexpected. And once again, it's week one. If this is the trend for the next two weeks, then I will be concerned a little bit. But overall, once again, week one, you got to shake it off and you got to get back to work
Starting point is 00:24:18 Can't feel sorry for yourself, not in this industry, not in this business. As a football player, recognize what went wrong, go out there and correct it and move on. Let me tap into something that Cody is talking about. And everyone was wondering, what was Spags going to do not seeing this Broncos offense under Davis Webb? Because a lot of the starters didn't play in the preseason. So the thing is, you go back and you play for the scheme. And we know that Sean still has his hand in the scheme. And Cody points out something.
Starting point is 00:24:48 that I saw on that particular play, that the Broncos were doing what they typically do on the third down situation. Here comes Cortland on the dig route, right? Now, if you go back to last time the Broncos played the Chiefs here at home, there was a play that Cortland made, both scrambled out to the right side. Everyone was covered because the Kansas City Chiefs ran two men. What that means is everyone underneath for underneath routes and you got two safeties high. Everyone was covered. Bo scrambles out, only one guy uncovers.
Starting point is 00:25:20 And it was a critical third down situation. And it was Cortland Sutton, right? So when you look at tendencies, you look at scheme, even though Davis Webb has been handed the car keys, it's the same office. You have to mix it up. And once again, when you see a guy with speed like Jalen Wado, he is not on the point.
Starting point is 00:25:41 He's not on the line where he can threaten vertically right or right. Defensively, you say, well, we're not really concerned about that guy. So you can roll coverage over top of Corland Sutton and take certain things away. And the Broncos never made an adjustment. And we talk about whether it's time to panic. It appears like Cody said. There was somewhat of a little panic because you were taking off your game plan. Everything that you prepare for for that week, you were out of that game plan. Like I said, before Cody joined us. You're now in third and long situations. Bo is getting a significant amount of pressure. You have to open up the formation to give him time to go through his progression.
Starting point is 00:26:20 They never adjust it. And I find that really hard to believe knowing that Coach Payton has as much experience as he has as a coach, calling plays. Well, and how much of it has to do as well with just the fact that Sean doesn't want to meddle in the middle of a game, right? I mean, obviously he wants to win the game, but how much is he willing to speak into some of that stuff in the midst of it as opposed to just saying, okay, like you're driving. But remember, he gave the analogy over the summer of like the driver's ed car where, you know, the person sitting passenger side who's teaching the student has the break right next to their foot.
Starting point is 00:26:56 And they have the opportunity to smash on that break at any point in time. I mean, we heard Sean a halftime, if you're watching the TV broadcast, basically said in the only way that you can in the middle of a game on live TV, like we are not running the ball enough right now. And I feel like that's where you really start to close yourself off to all these other possibilities in the passing game just because you, you're not committed to balance. You're not committed to exactly what the chiefs were committed to in this game, saying, we're going to hand it off to Kenneth Walker. Go ahead and stop it if you can. The Broncos didn't do that sort of bully ball. They tried any to, and the run plays that they did have, it felt like there's
Starting point is 00:27:35 just half of them were finesse plays. So I think that closes off everything else when it comes to the passing game, trying to spread the ball around, getting favorable situations for your running backs, creating those openings for Bo Nix to be able to roll out. It just makes everything so predictable. And so it's the same problems that we've been having to Daryan's point earlier. It was a true week one Sean Payton performance called by Davis Webb. And that's exactly what it looked like. I mean, the Broncos just, they don't have any sort of rhythm early in seasons. And then even when they do find some,
Starting point is 00:28:11 like on the second drive of the game, it just they can't seem to keep it going. They can't seem to build on it. Yeah, the one thing I would say too is like it is one game, right? And I'm willing to subscribe and I'll kind of give some optimistic thoughts as we go along throughout the course of the show. But fellas, the Broncos cannot afford this type of performance across the war with Jacksonville
Starting point is 00:28:31 coming out next week. No, they can't. Can't feel sorry for yourself. Got to go get it. Yeah. And then once again, last year, we remember the game. We were there. And Parker Washington was a guy that was a pain in the backside for the Denver Broncos along with, you know, Trevor Lawrence.
Starting point is 00:28:50 So the things don't get easier for the Broncos. That's why this game, not to say that it was a layup in Kansas City, but this is a game that you definitely wanted to win because now you get that early division to win on Kansas City. And you put a lot of pressure on them. The idea was come home the second week. You beat Jacksonville. Now you put pressure on them too as well. So when we start looking at the back half of the season and trying to figure out how things are going to line up with,
Starting point is 00:29:16 you know, who's going to play in Wildcar weekend, who's going to get that number one seed. And the Broncos know how important that number one seed is. And that's not to say that they still can't get to that point, despite losing this game. But the idea is that after Jacksonville, things don't get easier. I mean, things don't get easier. into we get into the month of maybe November and October because you have a tough slate of games
Starting point is 00:29:38 to play and albeit I know the Rams don't have Miles Garrett but you got to think man Aaron Donald's coming back that is still going to be a tough out and it's going to be problematic for the Broncos I mean I'll throw it out to any of you guys as well like I can't say it's a must win in week too but like I mean if you lose to Jacksonville fellas I mean knowing what you've got after that right like and I was wrong like I thought the Broncos because we clean up against Kansas City. Obviously, that was not the case. But the sense of urgency going into this Jacksonville game is massive.
Starting point is 00:30:09 Like it would have been even if they lost closed, right? But specifically losing 31 to 10 in the offense, looking out of sync and the defense, you know, just being terrible, straight up terrible in this game, in particular in the tackling department. Jacksonville, albeit against Cleveland, their offense was explosive. I mean, Denver's got to figure this out quick on a short week because, I mean, just even the thought of O and 2, knowing you've got the Rams, knowing you've got Seattle, knowing you've got San Francisco, fellas.
Starting point is 00:30:34 I mean, it's a scary thought. I hate to paint that picture, but it's just reality right now, fellas. But there have been several games over the last couple of years where we've looked at certain stretches like, oh, my gosh, the Broncos aren't going to be able to get through this stretch. It's too tough and they somehow found a way. Look, last year they started off one and two. I think a lot of people forget that. Then they won 11 straight.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Hard to do that. I understand on paper right now. Yes, you got the Jaguars who made the Broncos life difficult last year in that matchup that they had. You got the Rams. knows what version of them we'll see here early on. You have to find a way to stop the run. Because with Kyron Williams, you know, they're going to come out there and try to run the football. And they're going to try to get the dink and dunk stuff going there with Stafford. And they got two guys in Pukon, Kou and obviously Devante Adams that can, you know, kind of stretch the field a little bit.
Starting point is 00:31:18 So, you know, got to focus on Jacksonville here, figuring out what you're going to do with the receiving corps that those guys have, stop in the second year running back tooting. Obviously, Chris Rodriguez had some success against Denver last year as well as a member of the Washington commanders. But, you know, at the end of like, yes, oh, and one, not where you wanted to be. The performance on Monday night, not to the standard. And we just got off a conference call with Sean Payton. He even said that as well. He said, I didn't feel like that was our standard for what we coach as coaches and players, and we've got to find a way to correct it. He said it was a slap in the face, essentially, kind of how they played
Starting point is 00:31:48 last night. But this is the NFL. You know, you can make excuses. We can go out there and you can figure out how to get out of the funk. And I think that the players are at least just talking to guys in the locker room, there's guys that are focused on it. And ultimately, until they do it, it's lip service. But I think it's crazy. to panic. I think it's absolutely crazy to panic right now the way that a lot of people are. One game, you've got to have a sense of urgency as a Nilo pointed out, but 16 games left in the season, folks. Let it play out. But let me just phrase it. Let me spin it just a different way. And this is me just being, you know, looking at it from all angles. Like, look at what
Starting point is 00:32:23 happened to Baltimore last year. Right. And like, there was like this sentiment that like Baltimore is going to figure it out. They're going to figure it out. Like they've got Lamar and they've got hardball and this and that. And I agree. I don't think you should necessarily panic. I think it was eye opening how bad they were last night. But it's just, I think the word that it just kind of comes back to is like, sense of urgency. Because if you go
Starting point is 00:32:43 O and two, right? And Jacksonville comes out here in steam joy, then thing, like, then naturally, like emotions are going to start to flare up a little bit. They're already flared up. But even more so. Because here's the thing, like they beat Jacksonville, right? Like we saw the Patriots loose to the Raiders last year in week when they bounced back. They were fine
Starting point is 00:32:59 the rest of the year. You beat Jacksonville. You feel a lot better about just your, you know, mentality moving forward of the season. But if you lose or lay an egg to Jacksonville at home, fellas, I mean, it's a conversation in a show, frankly, that I don't want to do. But it is a possibility. AP is right, Cody, because once again, you go back to the fact that the Broncos were undefeated at home.
Starting point is 00:33:20 The team that came in and gave them their first loss, it was Jacksonville. So for Jacksonville to come back to the scene of the crime and duplicate it following a disaster in Kansas City, that would be a major blow because this game is about making plays, execution, and confidence. And we saw Bo didn't have a lot of confidence last night. So we saw how that wrecked him. I mean, what AP is saying, you go down 02. We can say, okay, well, we've seen teams bounce back from this.
Starting point is 00:33:51 Yeah, we have. But just put yourself in the player's position, the coach's position, where there was so much optimism coming off of that New England game, even that you lost because the idea was like, if 10 is in the game, we win. Training camp, we were all out there watching. It was just like, man, this team is very talented,
Starting point is 00:34:10 very loaded. That's why the frustration is what it is. Not panic, but frustration. So to lose two games in a row and lose them handedly and the offense still shows signs of struggle, whether we want to call it that or not, that's a problem. Yeah, let's just hope that it's
Starting point is 00:34:30 doesn't happen, right? Let's see them bounce back. You know, Patsy Tain was talking about Humble Pie and all that kind of stuff. I think the Broncos ultimately will be better. Maybe that's my optimistic thinking for what we saw last night in Kansas City. All right, let's set a break. When we come back, is this the low point of the year for the Broncos defense with all of the missed tackles? We'll talk about that when we come back right here on your lockdown Bronco Squatchew. Today's episode of your lockdown Bronco Squatcho is brought to you by our friends over at five-hour energy. There are Certain flavors that instantly feel like summer.
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Starting point is 00:36:02 For more information, all you got to do is visit. five hour energy.com. Be sure to check out our friends over at five hour energy guys and let them know that locked on Broncos sent you. All right, we'll come on back into your lockdown Broncos squad show. Appreciate everyone in Broncos country rocking with us on this talk about it Tuesday. As Cody liked to coin it, we got the full squad here. Enelopeiros here, Beninger, Nick Ferguson and Cody Rourke.
Starting point is 00:36:32 Spy playing in the chat. The defense falling down at the feet of players they were supposed to tackle was absolutely humiliating. I literally couldn't believe what I was watching. I mean, it actually was almost laughable, like in the second half of the game of like, it was just like what is going on. Like not even attempting to wrap up, just lowering the shoulder. I mean, we all know the tackling was as bad as it gets. I mean, the worst we've seen this Broncos defense play since they got 70 points hung on them against the Miami Dolphins. Open it up to you, Sarah. Yesterday, was that the low point for this Broncos defense all season? Talk to me.
Starting point is 00:37:08 Well, it better be. I mean, because a near 30% miss tackle rate for a defense that was talking about aspirations of setting the NFL sack record and they believe that they're one of the best defenses in the NFL. And Patrick Sertan had the article release to talk about everybody doubting this team and how the Broncos, they kind of embrace that internally. And I just think this has to be the lowest point for them. It has to be the rock bottom for them. And it's in a way, kind of nice that it's maybe happening in week one of the season because would you rather have a wake up call in week one or week 17, right? I mean, to the points that we've been talking about throughout the course of this show, the Broncos had many close encounters last year with disaster. And I think, honestly, you get a wake up call like this in week one and you realize we don't
Starting point is 00:37:57 get to just go back to the AFC championship game. We don't even just get to go back to the playoffs. Like we have to do this all over. And so I think that's a bit daunting when you're sitting there in that moment on the road. The home crowd of the Kansas City Chiefs is just, I mean, they are manifesting that team's bounce back this season. And they are manifesting that they're going to get back to their dynasty ways. And you're just kind of sitting there dejected.
Starting point is 00:38:25 And you're watching this debut of Kenneth Walker happened before you're, he's literally evading your grasp and you can't do anything to stop it. It's like the nightmare where, you know, you feel like you should be running. but you can't do it. And that's how the whole Broncos defense maybe felt. And so I think that like this is one of those games that's like, okay, yes, rock bottom, rock bottom situation. And can the Broncos kind of regress back to the mean for lack of better way of putting it?
Starting point is 00:38:51 Because we know what this defense is capable of dominating games when they are at their best. And so I think 100% it doesn't get any worse than that. Although, shoot, I mean, you don't want to put that out there in the universe and then be regretting. saying it next week, but I don't think. I just can't, I can't fathom they would be any worse than that. You've got to manifest it, right? Like when you're putting it out there in the universe, you're speaking it into existence, right?
Starting point is 00:39:15 Rock bottom, only up from here theoretically for this Broncos defense. Mr. Defense himself, Nick Ferguson, talk to me. Look, man, you can manifest it all you want to in your head, but when you get out there in this real time and it's mono and mono, I mean, that reality dissipates really quickly because you, you can say in your mind, hey, listen, I'm going to tackle Jerome Bellis. I'm going to tackle Derek Henry until you actually face-to-face with him, then you realize, oh, I'm getting stiff on to the ground.
Starting point is 00:39:47 And, you know, it's a cliche saying that we've heard it all the time when it comes to running backs. Oh, man, he can make a guy meant in the phone book. Kenneth Walker, what he did, he did exactly that. And what happened, there was a lot of defenders going into somewhat of a panic because they were diving. even Alex Singleton, you're diving at a guy, you're leaving your feet, propelling your body to grab a guy who's already in motion. You can't stop him.
Starting point is 00:40:14 The only way you can stop him is if you trip him up. But they were diving not with the intent to bring him down. They were diving with intent to be a speed bump, right? And have you guys ever went over a speed bump before going like 40 miles an hour? It's just bump and you keep moving. And that's exactly what it was for Kenneth Walker, because Eric B. Enemy is a hell of a coach. Even though people have said a lot of negative things about him,
Starting point is 00:40:44 I played against him when he was coaching for the Minnesota Vikings and Adrian Peterson was his running back. And he's going to drive and put a lot of pressure on those types of guys to finish runs because when he look at defenders, you're just an obstacle in the way. He wants you to run through that guy. face. And that's essentially what Kenneth Walker was doing. And the Broncos defenders were ill prepared for that because in practice, this is where you do it. Not in game, you do it in practice. It is the
Starting point is 00:41:15 teaching of putting your body in the proper tackling position and also putting your shoulder pads on a guy. You go through all the training camp and you're not doing that. I can't expect you to go in the game and actually thoroughly do that. I can't expect you to do that because You didn't do it in practice. You see all these guys running up there, you know, low hip band, waistband, and just throwing their arms like, hey, I made the tackle. No, you didn't because if that was a runner, he's running right through that arm tackle. And that's exactly what Kenneth Walker did.
Starting point is 00:41:49 Blame the CBA. That's what you can't have contact anymore. You can't do the things that you used to do when you played Berg. What you mean? You can't do that anymore. You're training camp with pads on. What do you mean? You can't do it.
Starting point is 00:42:02 I think the only teams that are tackling the training camp are the Detroit Lions. That might be the only team that does. But here's the thing. Denver's not doing it. Like my point is, and you're right, if you're not doing it in practice, it's hard to carry that over into a game, right?
Starting point is 00:42:14 If you're going by and you're doing near hip, near shoulder, and you're doing the run bys or you're doing the tap or the wrap up, that's exactly what you're going to get in the game. And once again, we saw this early on. You didn't see it against Atlanta in the first preseason game, but you saw it against Green Bay.
Starting point is 00:42:30 some of these same issues that we saw in this game. So I don't know what it is. Like here's my thought. And I was having a conversation with the Chief's Beat reporter over there in KC last night. You got to get to the point where if you're going to go to two preseason games, those two preseason games, you're probably going to have to play quite a bit, in my opinion. No, joint practices. Joint practices.
Starting point is 00:42:52 We're doing joint practice. I'll tell you this. I've talked to players. They wish that they did joint practices, which it helps you, It helps you in a big way here. But the thing I'll say this about the tackling the aspect of it, too, there were so many times, and I'm going to be doing a film review for the everyday club here, and they'll see it.
Starting point is 00:43:09 But there are times where you're seeing Q Robinson, specifically on that 60-yard touchdown run that Kenneth Walker had, Hugh Robinson squeezing down the edge, he's like crashing in because they're trying to run C-Gap, or they have been running C-Gap all night, and he's trying to crash it in. Well, guess what? Walker sees him commit too far inside, bouncing to the outside.
Starting point is 00:43:26 And what would advance Joseph say specifically this week when we talked to him? he said if Kenneth Walker gets on the outside perimeter one-on-one against D-Bs, that's not what you want to have happen because he's bigger. He's going to run through you guys. He's 5 foot 9, 212 pounds. Looks like Doug Martin, but more explosive, right? Obviously, the late Doug Martin, RIP, but that's what the Broncos did. And unfortunately, to the point, they missed tackles.
Starting point is 00:43:49 And I saw some interesting theories. I want your thoughts on this FERG. You know how champagne hates the arm sleeves, right? You think that had also a little bit of a problem with the slipperiness that we saw? Hell no. Yeah, exactly. Correlation is not causation. You have to get your arms on him.
Starting point is 00:44:06 Like if they actually wrapped him up, then I can say, you know what? Maybe that's true. But they never got to that point. And here's something else that I saw at training camp that I brought up. Like, I'm like, this might be a problem. And it showed up in the game against the Green Bay Packers, outside perimeter runs. Watching the Broncos in practice, they kept giving up the edge.
Starting point is 00:44:29 because they kept peeking inside, right? Do your job, man. If your job is to stay outside and put an edge on the defense, do your job. That is not your play to make. And you start sniffing around and Cody, you know this, and someone else's gap,
Starting point is 00:44:45 that runnerback is going to find your gap. So when we watch film, I don't want to hear, well, here is where Riley Moss should have been. Where was you? You were supposed to be outside. But this started back in training camp, and I brought it up.
Starting point is 00:44:59 people were telling me that I'm hating on the defense. I'm like, I don't want to hate on the defense that I propped it up because I call them, you know, McGiver defense, but that is a glaring issue. And when you get good running backs, guess what they're going to find? They're going to find those weaknesses because there are less defenders outside. So you're going to see more toss plays outside to test the perimeter of the defense, but also to test the speed of your second level players and see if they can get out. side. Yeah, I mean, I said it last night, man. What we saw yesterday was more about the Broncos
Starting point is 00:45:35 beating themselves than anything spectacular than Kansas City did in my opinion. No, I mean, I think it's a combination. I was, I think it's a combination of both. Look, here's the thing, as much as everybody hates Kansas City, you can't diminish what they did. As much as I just like Kansas City, I agree. They brought, they brought it. They went downhill. They were not, the difference was they were not afraid to come out early on and run the freaking football. And they went out in a heavy person. now. Like the Broncos, yes, they had self-inflicted wounds. They played terribly, but the chiefs also played well. Outside of the fact that early on, I thought the Broncos did a really good job with Mahomes in the passing game. And then he just started to catch some rhythm, you know,
Starting point is 00:46:11 catching a couple of those aggressive glitz. But, I mean, that's what happens when you sell out to try to stop the run after it was gashing you. Denver gave up over 100 yards rushing in the first half alone. As much as I hate KC, like you have to say, like, you know, they came out and they brought it. Like everybody, I think a lot of people, including us, myself too, overlooked them a little bit. But here's the thing. It's not up to us, but it's like you do have to give credit what credit is due. They came out and they wanted it more. And I think the emotion of Mahomes return, I think that was something that that catapulted them specifically. I think that that rose them up to the occasion. I wonder what it would have been like if we're in Denver though instead
Starting point is 00:46:45 of KC. I mean, we're going to find out here in seven more weeks. Yeah. Again, I'm not trying to take away anything from Kansas City, but it's like to me like they didn't do anything like my homes had under 200 yards passing 15 completions like Kenneth Walker ran crazy. To me, it was just more so about the Broncos getting punked than anything. Again, credit to Kansas City. They played an excellent game and they brought the Fury to the gridiron, but just Denver just rolled over, just no answer. Again, like to use my Mike Tyson analogy, like zero counterpunch from a team that we have these Super Bowl aspirations for. That was the disappointing part to me, as opposed to just like Mahomes
Starting point is 00:47:16 being otherworld. He was good, but not as good as we've seen like the chiefs in the explosive offense in years past. That's my only point when it's all said it done. All right, let's get our final. Here's the scary thing real quick. The scary thing is they didn't need Mahomes to be his best yesterday, which was the, like, they added a wrinkle that they simply know. I told you. They added a wrinkle that we have not seen from them. Isaiah Pacheco, I saw something as well.
Starting point is 00:47:40 Somebody said, Isaiah Pacheco would have had 14 yards against Denver yesterday in comparison with Kenneth Walker. Kenneth is a great back. And I think when they brought the enemy back, who obviously was responsible for the number one rushing offense and football last year in Chicago, they brought some principles. And they added a back that certainly worked. and going to two heavy offensive linemen in the backfield. I don't think anyone saw that coming from them specifically because they haven't done that in recent memories.
Starting point is 00:48:04 So there's a lot. A lot to clean up, a lot to work on short week with Jacksonville coming to town. Let's hit our final break. When we come back, give you some optimistic thoughts about the Broncos moving forward into next week. Optimism. Come back. Let's go. Hit a break.
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Starting point is 00:49:33 Make sure to check them out and make this your most rewarding season ever with our friends over at Fandual. Visit Fandual.com to get started, guys, and let him know that Lockdown Broncos sent you. All right, a final segment here on your Lockdown Broncos squad show. Look, it is what it is, right? Like, it is what it is. It was a dog water performance from the Broncos. Yeah, you have the relax on the whiteboard, you know, the famous Aaron Rogers line from
Starting point is 00:50:02 probably close to 10 years ago now. It was also just a really wacky week one. I mean, look at the Texans defense. Like a Texan's defense that I've been super, super, super high on, I'm not like necessarily like down on them like anymore after what happened in Buffalo. Like I think they had a bad day, but I'm not just like all of a sudden saying the Texas don't have a good defense, right? I expect Houston to be better.
Starting point is 00:50:25 It was hilarious to watch the Chargers collapse against the Cardinals. That is objectively hilarious. Obviously, so what happened would trick me in the Patriots. I mean, the Green Bay Packers collapsing against the Vikings guys, the Cowboys in that game against the Giants. I mean, there was a lot of wackiness across the NFL in week one. And the Broncos are just another brick in the wall in that sense. Like, I don't think week one is defining. The problem, though, with the Broncos is just what the schedule is, right?
Starting point is 00:50:51 Like, you don't have a soft spot that you can kind of feel confident about for a few weeks here. So that's where I go back to that sense of urgency. But week one across the board was a bit wacky, right? And I think the Broncos were certainly victims of that. And now we've got to see how they bounce back. They don't need a soft spot on the schedule. They need the gauntlet. Like prove yourself by going through refinement by fire.
Starting point is 00:51:13 Like if the Broncos are going to be good or if they're going to be bad, go find out if you're going to sink or swim by jumping into the deep end of the pool. Don't, don't mess around with the swimming in the kitty end and hoping that you get to play the, you know, the worst teams in the league every single week or backup quarterbacks every single week. Like, let's go out and let's talk. up and let's see what this team's made of. And we can, we can keep it real in the meantime. But what's really frustrating to me is that there's, there's no real like perspective that you can give that's going to be. It's like, it's like when your kid is upset about something that
Starting point is 00:51:47 happened, right? And you can't console the kid because all that matters in that moment is, well, I lost my, you know, I lost my whatever it might be. So and so broke my skateboard or somebody stole my bike. That's the only thing that matters in that moment. You can't say, hey, it's okay, like we'll get another bike or we'll get you another skateboard or we'll find your whatever. You can't say that in the moment because all the kids thinking about is that thing that they lost, that thing that was broken. So when you lose a game like this, it's impossible to have any sort of short or long-term perspective because now the sky is falling. One weekend, what we saw from the Broncos in week one is what the Broncos are going to be. What we saw from Jacksonville against
Starting point is 00:52:27 Cleveland is what Jacksonville is going to be. Therefore, how many points of the Jaguar score this week, 34. Jaguar is going to score 34. Broncos are scoring 10 again. It's 34 to 10. Game over. So let's just, let's just do that. Let's just use that rule all throughout the course of a season. Nothing is going to change. The Broncos aren't going to rise to the occasion. Everything's going to be bad. Bonick's going to play bad every week. They're not going to be able to run the ball better. They're not going to make adjustments. They're going to keep dropping passes. Jalen Wattle is on pace for 34 receiving yards this season. That's what he's going to end with. It's just ridiculous. Like, What I want to do is I want to help people to have some actual perspective about the game of football because you look over the last handful of years in the month of September, the Broncos have stunk.
Starting point is 00:53:12 The Broncos have stunk for multiple games in the month of September. And then they've been one of the best teams October, November, December, January. This is absolutely ridiculous that we are killing this season after one game against a Kansas City Chiefs team that was in. inspired. That was playing with the momentum of their QB coming back. That was playing with the Super Bowl MVP running Buck Wild. You're not going to miss 28 tackles every single week. You're not going to drop passes every single week. Your quarterback is not going to be bad every single week. You're not going to get out coached every single week. The Broncos are not the Cleveland Browns. Broncos do not have Deshawn Watson at quarterback. The Broncos are one of the best teams in the NFL. I'm sick of feeling like we have to be embarrassed to talk like. They're a good team. Good teams can bounce back. The Broncos can beat the Jaguars. And I'm not going to say, sorry for telling you that they can beat the Jaguars just because
Starting point is 00:54:09 it might not happen. It's ridiculous to think that this team isn't good enough to go out there and to win the rest of these games. I guess for some people, it's 0 and 17 now until we ain't instead of 17 and 0 or 16 and 1 until we ain't, right? It's 0.17 until we ain't. The sky's falling. It's just ridiculous to me.
Starting point is 00:54:28 This is a good football team with talent. They have talent. They have experience in big games. They've proven they can win a lot of different ways. Like, miss me with this idea that the Broncos is everybody on the team sucks. Everybody sucks. You can be critical for a game. You can be critical of a play.
Starting point is 00:54:46 You can be critical of a sequence. You can be critical of a moment. I think to throw the out with the bathwater and gets a better perspective. And just don't watch football if that's how you feel. Well, I'm going to tell you what. Bill Parcells once told us when I played for the Jets. And I think he's told this to a lot of his team. And this is kind of somewhat of a summation or paraphrase.
Starting point is 00:55:09 You are what your record indicates you are, and you are what you put on film. And luckily for the Broncos, they have 16 more weeks to change this whole process. Is the sky falling? No, it's not. Is it some things that they need to work on? Absolutely. But at the same time, you can't overlook.
Starting point is 00:55:31 some of the same glaring issues that are present now, that has been present for the past two years. They have to actually improve what they needed to do when it comes to certain fundamentals in the scheme standpoint. And the reason if someone is kind of acting like the sky is falling is because when the schedule came out, we did this whole exercise, how many wins or whatever, the rough part of the schedule, we knew after the Kansas City game, here comes a rough part of the schedule. And when you look at a team that did not tackle well against one running back in Kenneth Walker, you look at Jacksonville, they have Tutton, who I think is a great young running back.
Starting point is 00:56:16 Then after that, you get the Rams, albeit they lost to San Francisco, but they got two guys in Blake Coram and Conn and Conn Williams that can, you know, kind of wear down your defense. And then after that, you got San Francisco. You got Kalin Black and CMC. Those are two world coach teams. Those are great running backs. So I understand the reason to pause and to have a little frustration. I'll say no panic.
Starting point is 00:56:41 But frustration, you should be frustrated because from what we saw from this team last year and for them to bring everyone back, the standard goes up. It never goes down. And once again, it's on the coaches, on the players, for them. to come out on Sunday and to kick Jacksonville in the face. Because remember what motivated Liam Cohen in the Jacksonville Jaguars when Coach Peyton, I guess maybe he had a Freudian slip when he called them a small market. They know they can beat Denver now.
Starting point is 00:57:17 And they're still going to play that same old tune. Hey, he thought we was a small market team. We beat him before. We need to beat him now. So I understand what you're saying, Sarah. but it's on this team to go out and prove it because we can talk it into the ether, we can talk it into the universe, but they are the ones that have to line up on Sunday and prove it not just to the fans, but prove it to themselves.
Starting point is 00:57:44 Cody, I thought Nick said it very well here. Like once again, this is why you play the game. One week at a time and you've got to put your best foot forward. Like, yes, I mean, the start to the season was against everything, that we've talked about, all the hype that we have certainly talked about with this team, is the season over? No. But people got to feel what they got to feel.
Starting point is 00:58:07 I think that's, I think some of the reactions that you get from some people, I think that's more of an internalization as to like other things that are going on with them. But the number of things is like, have some perspective. You've got to remove the emotion sometimes and have some perspective on the fact that this Broncos team, what was it? 2023 had the biggest rock bottom experience that we, you've ever seen one of the most embarrassing moments in NFL history and what did they do after that they found a way to respond after giving up 70 points to the dolphins right one of the lowest moments
Starting point is 00:58:37 and if we're sitting here and talked about you know what week one was a disappointment if this is the one game right if this is the one game where you're feeling that type of feeling that you're embarrassed okay great it can get better it should get better will there be other moments where this team faces adversity absolutely we're not going to go out there and say the keel you know what the Broncos are still going to go to the Super Bowl right now. Like we've been saying, like, they've got to go out there and they got to earn it. They've got to prove it. They've got to win one game at a time.
Starting point is 00:59:03 They've got a tough schedule. And if they want to be a Super Bowl contender, this schedule here specifically is a prove it schedule that you belong in that conversation. You can't run away from it. You can't hide from it. The reality is it was ugly. It was terrible. It was no good.
Starting point is 00:59:17 It was every bad adjective or whatever you want to use to describe this game. Yes, it was that. But is that going to be the rest of the season? Ultimately, that's up to the players. That's up to them and how they respond here on Sunday. And we'll see. We'll see what happens. Yeah, I don't have much to add with what you guys said.
Starting point is 00:59:35 I think it's very simple message as we wind down here on the Bronco Squad Show. Squat there and execute on Sunday. Right? Like we can talk. Appreciate. Right. But it's true, though. It's true, though, right?
Starting point is 00:59:46 Because it's kind of like what Nick is saying. Like, you got to prove it. If you go out there and execute, there's a great. I look, the Broncos are the betting favorite for what it's worth against Jacksonville on Sunday. So as bad as they were yesterday. today as an underdog against Kansas City, the odds makers in Vegas are still believing in this team, right? And I bring that up just because we know how smart and sharp these odds makers are. And so, yeah, it is a cliche, but it's very simple.
Starting point is 01:00:06 It's like if you go out there and execute and if that's rock bottom for your defense and if that's rock bottom for your offense, and, you know, maybe it was peaking to a certain extent for Jacksonville. And if you win that game, all as well. We'll be here on Sunday evening talking about Broncos bounce back. I guarantee you that'll be in the title of this show. It'll be like, oh, my gosh, we finally got the Jalen Wildel experience and Bo looks so much better. and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But there is that pressure of facing O and two directly in the face,
Starting point is 01:00:32 knowing what comes after that with San Francisco, Seattle, the Rams, all that kind of stuff. It is very, very simple. Like, we're going to get an early gut check moment from the Broncos this season. It was a disappointing loss against Kansas City. You know, you got to wipe the slate clean and get out there because if you don't fix this thing fast, it can get off the rails quickly. So fascinating moment early in the season to see what this Broncos team is made of. So we shall see.
Starting point is 01:00:57 Anyone got any closing thoughts before we get out of here, fellows? No. Like I said, I appreciate the trolls for hanging out with us, giving us some views here in the chat today. Appreciate you spending time from the mom's base. We are so back, baby. We are so back. It's the Twitter boys.
Starting point is 01:01:13 It's the Twitter avatar boys. But appreciate all the trolls in the chat. Appreciate it. My last word before we sign off is tackling circuit. Put the pads back on. All week. All week. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. Well, here's the thing. You got to do it. You got to do it in practice. Did any of you guys catch Mike Tomlin's halftime segment that he did on the Cowboys game where he talked about the news and they talked about specifically why we were seeing so many high scoring games? I thought Tomlin's perspective on that is very valid because as we get deeper and deeper into the NFL, deeper into this current CBA, there is less hitting.
Starting point is 01:01:52 There is less contact in comparison, and we're seeing it. I don't know what the proper thing is, right? Because there's always risk involved in the portion where you're not playing real games, but you have to have that. John Payton runs a tough training camp. It's grueling. Players say it's the toughest thing they've ever been through, but you can't abandon fundamentals.
Starting point is 01:02:13 A wise coach once told me, fatigue makes cowards of us all, and you can't let the humidity be the reason why you're just arm tackling and bumbling and stumbling and trying to hit stick everybody. Well, the issue, when you talk about, you know, really quickly, Sean Payton's practices, they're hard because the length of time that you're practicing, not because of the physicality that's being displayed. Those are two totally different things. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:42 No, I think you're right. I think you're right. You know, it is what it is, man. It's a fascinating start to the season for this Broncos team. So we appreciate everyone that's been rocking with us. night late and of course this afternoon as we continue to react to Broncos and Chiefs Cody and Sarah will have you cover with some additional content throughout the course of the week on the lockdown Broncos podcast we'll be back again as a crew Sunday
Starting point is 01:03:06 evening hopefully reacting to a Broncos win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on your way out the door though hit that like button smash that subscribe button helps us out here on the channel that is going to do it for us a little trician here for the Broncos going into Jacksonville following their 31 at 10 stunning running defeat in the opening game of the season. For Sarah Beninger, Nick Ferguson, Cody, work, I'm Ely Lepiro. Thank you guys for tuning in.
Starting point is 01:03:29 Talk to you guys later. Peace. Scared.

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