Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CONTENDER: Denver Broncos BELONG as NFL’s Elite

Starting point is 00:00:00 When it comes to being amongst the NFL's elite, the Denver Broncos belong in that conversation. And it's time that people start giving them the respect that they deserve. We'll break it all down here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Tuesday, Broncos country and welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network in the country.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Shout out to all the every dares out there. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more. This is the place to be. I'm Cody Rourke. Credential Broncos reporter from Ohio Sports. Join, as always by longtime site expert over there,

Starting point is 00:00:52 predominantly orange.com. He is, Sarah Bedinger. We got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show. We'll tell you why Pat Bryant's evolution as a rookie is impressive. as each week goes on here for this Broncos offense. Plus, we'll tell you why the Broncos might be playing around a little bit with the cornerback rotation by shuffling up the lineup on a series-to-series basis. And then we'll tell you why the Denver Broncos belong in a conversation

Starting point is 00:01:16 of being in the elite category in the NFL. And people got to stop moving the goalpost. We'll tell you how they're winning, not escaping, any important difference between both of those terms. You're going to get all that on today's episode of show. Brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. Right now, new customers can bet you. $5.

Starting point is 00:01:32 And if your first bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app. Sir, let's start off here with Pat Bryant-Briottos rookie draft pick from this year's NFL draft. Early on in the season, we've really highlighted just the expectations. Okay, hey, early on, he's not getting enough snaps. Then when we've seen his snaps increase, his volume, his production, and I would say even more so, outside of stats, his impact is being felt in ways that aren't necessarily showing up inside the stat sheet.

Starting point is 00:02:01 100%. I mean, he really has embodied the, if you don't block, you don't get the rock, you know, mentality. And that's been his thing from the very beginning. And we saw that. Like you mentioned, I think it was, I can't remember exactly what game it was, Cody, but I think it was maybe right before the Cowboys game. I had posted something on Twitter. And I was talking about, hey, this is the amount of snaps that the rookies have played so far. And this is kind of the results. I didn't necessarily attach any sort of agenda to it, just pointing out the fact that they're playing, you know, a chunk of the snaps,

Starting point is 00:02:35 but Pat Bryant's not necessarily seeing the ball all that much. Jade Bayron not necessarily, you know, making a ton of plays on the ball. And then what happened in that Cowboys game? Pat Bryant got his first touchdown. I think that was a three touchdown game for RJ Harvey, and then Jada Bayron had an interception off of Dak Prescott. So we saw the rookies all come on sort of at the same time.

Starting point is 00:02:54 And Sean Payton says it, you know, confidence is born for. from demonstrated ability. So those guys, they go out, they demonstrated against the Cowboys. That felt like a launching off point for the rookies. And really specifically, I guess, for Pat Bryant, because he scored his first touchdown in that game, showed off his playmaking ability after already proving himself in the blocking department.

Starting point is 00:03:14 And I like his ability to track the football too. There's been some throws. I mean, that touchdown, his first one, the degree of difficulty for that, especially with someone playing tight coverage on your hip, that was a well-placed football by Bow Nix, but more importantly for a guy like Pat Bryant to haul it in and to track it. That's one thing that Sean Payton talked about, you know, when they drafted him, is that this guy can catch the football. He blocks.

Starting point is 00:03:35 He's a willing blocker. And he's got a, he's not a me first guy. And I would say like the stark comparison, Sarah, it's crazy how the last couple of weeks have really revealed to us. And I said it in our squad show with Nick Ferguson and Iillopiro and yourself. I said that Pat Bryant is starting to become the guy that Sean Payton wanted Jerry Judy to become in the role. that he had envisioned for Jerry.

Starting point is 00:03:57 But Jerry was not a willing blocker. Jerry had a poor attitude. It wasn't always about the team. It was always about him. And now you're seeing a guy Pat Bryant who, hey, if I don't catch the ball today, it's okay. I'm going to go block this guy. I'm going to free up our running backs.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Or if we do something, a quick pass, I'm going to create some extra yards for our receiver because I'm going to block. And as of late, we've seen him develop a little bit of a clutch factor. He's seeing more volumes in terms of targets here. He had three catches, 40-something yards in this game. I thought he had a nice pickup on third down on a slant. a slant and it made me think, hey, the slant route could be back here for the Sean Peyton offense to a guy who wears ironically enough, the number 13. So you talk about the

Starting point is 00:04:35 blocking, the commitment there, but when you need a big catcher, you need him to step up, he's going to do just that. I have loved the transformation here of what we're seeing from the Broncos rookie wide receiver, Pat Bryant. He has at least 40 receiving yards in four of the last five games. So the Broncos are making a concerted effort to get him the ball seven targets against the commanders six against the kansas city chiefs we talked about kind of wanting to see that uptick it really did happen i know kind of a little bit in that giant's game he did have four targets but it really felt more intentional against dallas and then you know it continued against houston the raiders where he had a 43 yard catch obviously against kansas city he had his

Starting point is 00:05:16 career best up to this point five receptions for 82 yards so we're seeing the evolution i think week after week with Pat Bryant. And like you mentioned, the role for Jerry Judy, that guy who's able to make plays after the catch, he's got, you know, the strong hands, he can run routes, he's physical. I think he brings what Jerry brought to the table, maybe not to the same degree, obviously, in terms of the overall, like speed, athleticism, talent, but certainly when it comes to the willingness to do whatever it takes to make a play, whether he's getting the ball or not, that's a mentality that's being shared by this whole receiver room. It's been contagious our good friend Tim Jenkins pointed that out in his Washington Commander's Bo Nix update

Starting point is 00:05:58 that he was talking pointed out of play from Troy Franklin to open up Pat Bryant on that big slant play that almost went for six in this commander's game. So it really is infectious in that room, the unselfish mentality. And now we're kind of seeing, hey, this is why Sean Payton has felt good about this room. It's not necessarily where they are right now in terms of making every single play, but their willingness to be unselfish at the, that position, I think is really important to his program. And this is something that's spreading out throughout the entire locker room, right? You talk about the D-line, the outside linebackers, the cornerback room, safety, you name it.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Like, there's just a lot of unselfish guys in this locker room that are willing to accept their roles. I mean, there's times where, you know, I remember catching Vance Joseph's interview with Peter Schrager, where he said, you know, Nick's like, hey, like he's going up to Joan Allen and saying, hey, I'm going to get you this sack right here by doing this in Vance. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I love that you're unselfish, but we need you to get after this guy in this situation. That is something I see in this locker room, almost every single day that I'm in it. These guys are never too crazy.

Starting point is 00:07:02 They're not buying their own hype. They're just saying, hey, we're going to win a football game. That's their mentality. Like, Sarah, it's so different this year from any team that I have covered for this Broncos team in the last handful of years. And I think that's a testament to the culture that Sean Payton has certainly built, but more so him giving that power to the players when you have a player, lead team that upholds the standard. You can go a lot further than most other people. And the fact that these guys, and you go back to those Super Bowl 50 comparisons of that Super Bowl 50 defense or that

Starting point is 00:07:33 2015, 2016 team, what did they say? These are guys that also did stuff together away from the football field. And look, I understand some teams have that dynamic, but it's truly special when you have guys that are close on the field, off the field, but also they don't care if they're not getting necessarily the first looks or the first targets or, you know, a touchdown run or a carry necessarily, so to speak. It's, hey, how can we help the team win? And they're doing that. Real quick, I wanted to bring this up because I was watching obviously the games of red zone because Denver played on Sunday night football. I couldn't help but think to myself. And this is just a hindsight theory. Looking back, knowing what we know now about Trent Sherfield, who's no longer

Starting point is 00:08:12 on the roster, seeing Devon Vele making plays for the New Orleans Saints, not only on offense but also on special teams. I couldn't help but kind of sit there and think to myself, ah, I, I wish Denver kind of didn't trade him. I feel like right now, Velae could be one of those really great options that Bo could have gone to, right? I mean, now it's a little Jordan Humphrey. He was kind of feeling that last role there, but couldn't help but feel like the Broncos might have been missing Devon Valle a little bit after watching all the Sunday's games. How did you feel about that? Do you feel the same way? Yeah, I really, you know, you watch him play this season.

Starting point is 00:08:47 and it's been unfortunate to see that the trade up until this past had kind of looked like a bit of a failure for the Saints. And I don't know that it's a failure on Devon Valle's part necessarily. I know they've got some rough circumstances there, obviously. So I think that for him to play well, it was a huge step in the right direction. I think for the Broncos, Cody, I 100% agree with you. Would you would rather have Devon Valle than Trent Shurfield at any point, right? But I get that you got an offer. you felt like you can't refuse.

Starting point is 00:09:17 I think Devon is going to turn what, 28, 29 years old here in a few weeks. So, I mean, I get from the Broncos perspective of saying, hey, we like this guy, do we love him long term? But over Trent Sherfield, I mean, knowing what we know now, like you mentioned, dudes off the roster. Dude's not on the team. He was cut after signing a two-year deal in free agency. So, yeah, absolutely. You'd rather have Vailate now than Trent Sherfield. But at the same time, like we mentioned, the evolution of Pat Bryant, it's happening.

Starting point is 00:09:45 Troy Franklin, obviously, he's continuing to grow week after week. So, you know, I guess, yes, 100% would rather have him than what we had from Trent Scherfield, but not mad about these other guys, you know, growing in their opportunities that they're getting as well. And I'm glad you mentioned that because seeing Troy and Pat evolve a little bit more is exciting. Cortland Sutton, we know what he's going to bring to the table. Mr. Reliable Clutch Factor, you name it. Evan Ingram, we saw his breakout on Sunday night football. And it's just like, all right, Tom Payton sprinkling a little bit more Marvin Mims for all of us to see here to unlock going forward.

Starting point is 00:10:22 If that does happen, man, I'm excited about the prospects of this Broncos offense. But that's a conversation here for another day here. But what we are going to discuss here coming up on today's show, Broncos country. The Broncos, if you notice on Sunday night football, they were shuffling the cornerback line up a little bit from series to series. What's the method behind the madness for Broncos head coach Sean Payton? We'll tell you what it is here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. This episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays, they move fast.

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Starting point is 00:11:42 com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan Duel, the game moves fast and so can you. Could there be a shuffling in the starting lineup at the cornerback position for the Denver Broncos? Cody and I are going to tell you today. At least I'm going to tell you why I don't think that's going to happen, but we did see the Denver Broncos put Chris Abrams strain out there for a little bit against the Washington commanders on Sunday night football. Very interesting wrinkle, very interesting development.

Starting point is 00:12:11 We're going to break down maybe what it means going forward on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. But Broncos Country, thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day. All you every day is out there. We appreciate you so much. Thanks for tuning into Lockdown Broncos, however you listen or watch or both content. And you know what? We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, which with the number one sports podcast network out there. So, Cody, let's go ahead and talk about this because I was, you know, doing post-game stuff all night last night,

Starting point is 00:12:40 just like you were, I saw a ton of people as we're doing live shows. People are flooding the comments with just both ends of the spectrum opinions on Riley Moss. You've got some people that are saying, hey, Riley was playing really well in this game and got caught with his pants down one time, you know, on the play to Debo Samuel late. And then you've got other people who are just so frustrated that he's, okay, why is he on the back end of all these bad plays? Like the Trelon Burks play, nothing you can do about that as a corner doesn't change the fact that number 21 is the one getting the the the play made on him right the debo samuel play at the end of the game that was tough to watch and you hate to see that

Starting point is 00:13:22 the terry mccloren play right before that you see 21 in the frame what is going on right now that you think okay we did see chris abram's drain out there is there any potential for a starting lineup change at that outside cornerback position i don't think there is i think what Sean Payton told us after the game, I do believe him in this sense, but also I think it's something that's worth monitoring. He's asked the question about the cornerback rotation. And the one thing that he said, because we did see Abrams drain for a series, after that, really from the third quarter, fourth quarter, it was primarily Riley Moss. So we're like, is it an injury thing? Nothing like there was no injury update that went out on him.

Starting point is 00:14:01 And Sean Payton basically said that it's just trying to keep those other guys game ready, right? Because they've been getting reps that, you know, now that they're not getting any, you don't want them to get cold. Part of me believe some of that, but also, I wouldn't be shocked if there's just a little bit of like, hey, competition in season, which it's not necessarily a bad thing. I think if you're high, like, if there's a

Starting point is 00:14:22 bad performance consistently, then yeah, I think you got to make some competition and maybe create and push for some change or obviously to elevate performance, but you don't have to worry about that with Riley Moss. I thought Riley Moss played a heck of a game, Sarah. I mean, a couple of past breakups when you needed to. You know, I think more importantly, there was

Starting point is 00:14:37 one where I think everybody was watching holding their breath. He was patient playing underneath, played the hands through the football. No defensive pass interferences against him. The boxing gloves work this week in practice. But then it's like, you know, Traylon Burks makes a terrific catch. I mean, Riley Moss couldn't have had better coverage on that play. Passertan, if you would have just copied and pasted him in Riley's position, pass or tan wouldn't have stopped that play from happening either because of where the football was placed and just the trajectory of it based on where the tight coverage was. That was just a terrific play by the commanders there. And I will say, yes, I think that there is some validity to the fact that that last play to Debo Samuel, definitely frustrating there.

Starting point is 00:15:16 He did give that play up and it came out of a very unfortunate time for the Broncos defense. But luckily, they held on there. I felt like there were a lot of communication issues overall. The commanders did a great job of tearing up the Broncos zone. As Sean Payton told us in his conference call that they did a really good job attacking the deep hooks for the Broncos defense there. So I'm not worried about Riley. I'm really not. I feel like in a situation too on the Debo play, Sarah, I felt like it's like, where's the safety help there?

Starting point is 00:15:44 Like, why are you putting, you know, in that situation, why are you putting him in that position to be in an island? You know, they're not going to go to Pat unless they're running a pick play, which seemingly the commanders did that quite a bit and no calls overall on that, especially on the Terry McLaurin touchdown as of late to, you know, kind of get them a chance to win the game. But I don't think that there's going to be any shuffling of the lineup. Do you feel like that's a good thing or do you feel like there should be? be some competition. I've brought up the baseball analogy before, Cody, where I feel like sometimes you do have to pull even the best starting pitchers in the game. I referenced this a number of times, but I watched a Cubs versus Pirates game where they chased Paul Skeens after two in a fraction of innings or whatever it was, three in a fraction. I mean, you can, the best pitchers in baseball

Starting point is 00:16:31 get pulled for the bullpen, right? And I get that it's not exactly the same, but sometimes getting pulled from a game or getting benched for a game or two. Like that can that can break some guys and it could also completely reinvent some guys, right? Because what happens mentally, that fortitude that you have to have as a football player, like Riley Moss was a walk-on at Iowa. So nothing has ever been given to him, right? And that's, I think, the mentality that he carries with him every single day that he comes into that facility.

Starting point is 00:17:06 Now, I think what people are going to hear when they listen to this is a drastic changing of tune from us when it comes to Riley Moss because you and I have been pretty staunch in our defending of Riley. However, what I will say is that if a guy is continually giving up big plays or if a guy is continually getting penalized, like he's the most penalized defensive back in the NFL, if that's continually happening, you may have to. to consider stretches at least during a game, maybe longer stretches where you're giving that opportunity to somebody else. And I'm not saying that Riley should be permanently bench.

Starting point is 00:17:45 I'm not saying that he should be permanently replaced. What I am saying is that the struggles this season have been extremely, extremely frustrating because anybody that's on that island is going to have a tough job. I just think you've got to come through more often than he's been lately. Well, and I think just the microscope on the cornerback position, it's tough, especially playing opposite of Pat Sertan. Here's a very interesting stat from our good friends over there, NFL next trend stats says here. Riley Moss is not allowed a touchdown across a league high. 43 man coverage targets this season, the most man coverage targets faced without allowing a touchdown among defenders lead wide. League wide, Moss has also forced a tight window on 34.7% of all of his targets faced in 2025.

Starting point is 00:18:30 the 10th highest in the league from a player who's got a minimum of 25 targets in coverage. He's faced 60 plus targets so far this season. I think when we see maybe a big play happen, it overshadows the really, really good play that Riley has had from a coverage standpoint this season, how aggressive he plays, the large volume of targets he's going to get. And also timing. I think the timing is definitely one of those things as well. like I said the one on debo is on him entirely in terms of just debo making a great play

Starting point is 00:19:04 Riley just being too far underneath in coverage but Riley's good far outweighs any of the bad and it's crazy because it's like the cornerback microscope has like the most I don't want to say nitpicky but I would say the criticism for corners is definitely very tough it's very skewed I would say in comparison to other positions that we see on the defensive side of the ball 100% and especially because of the amount of, you know, just the sheer volume of targets that he gets on that side of the field, right? I mean, you could make 10 great plays, but if the game is tight and on the 11th opportunity that comes your way, you give up that play to Debo Samuel, what is everybody going to remember? It's just like when you can get, you know, 10 great compliments. So, you know, hey, great show guys.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Hey, awesome show guys. What do you remember? You remember the one negative comment, right? So it's always the criticism that sticks right here, right? And it's not to say that you don't appreciate the good plays. Like we do. We love seeing Riley come through early in this game. He made some great plays against Terry McLaurin and, you know, even Debo Samuel as well,

Starting point is 00:20:11 made a great hit coming up on a quick passing play as well. So you can't necessarily just wipe away the good. However, those big plays, those big penalties, they loom large. And so that's where, you know, it can't be. 100% success rate every single time the ball comes your way. But I think until Riley has, you know, a pick or he has a game where he pitches a complete shutout and doesn't have any penalties, I just can't help but wonder if that's going to be the thing that really flips the script for him this season.

Starting point is 00:20:42 We're talking to you, Dragon Slayer 69 in your mom's basement with the 7-11 slurpy in terms of the negative comments. But, no, I agree with you. Look, you got to have this just constant desire to improve. And I can tell you this, being around Riley, he does have that. This is a guy who really doesn't focus on the outside noise. He knows his responsibility. He works hard.

Starting point is 00:21:02 And I feel like, if anything, Riley's harder on himself. And I think the internet might be harder on him. This is a dude who just wants to be like he's a perfectionist. And you can definitely see that competitive nature. I see it every week at practice. I see it, you know, talking to him in the locker room. I think Riley is going to be fine. But yes, got to find a way to reduce those big plays, those negative plays happening at the wrong moments.

Starting point is 00:21:23 And if you can do that, I think that the Broncos is going to be in a pretty good spot here going forward. But Broncos country coming up next, we're going to talk about an important topic that nobody in the NFL or the national media seems to be discussing. The Denver Broncos, they belong in the NFL elite status. And everybody wants to move the goalposts. We're going to tell you why we're tired of that here on today's episode of the show. This episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by ORA frames. The holidays, they're officially here, which means it's gift hunting season. Gift hunting season is on.

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Starting point is 00:23:01 Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. A lot of people want to move the goalpost when it comes to the Denver Broncos. They're 10 and 2. One of the top teams in the NFL have the best record in the national football league. But yet people keep saying, oh, they're getting lucky. They're escaping. Sean Payton says, shut up.

Starting point is 00:23:22 That's not what this is. The Broncos are elite. They belong in the conversation. And we're all tired of the goalpost being moved. We're going to share our thoughts on that here on today's show. I want to say thanks to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Sir, you see it as well as I do. We see it in the comments.

Starting point is 00:23:36 You see a lot of salty crybaby Kansas City cheese fans as of late being a little extra whiny in our comments section and our social media mentions saying, oh, the Broncos at 10 and 2. They're the most fraudulent 10 and 2 team of all time. You got national media folks saying, I just don't believe in this 10 and 2 team. I don't believe in the quarterback. Damien Woody wasn't even watching these games here yet he's rattling off takes on a national platform and people wonder why local is better. That's why you tune in to lockdown Broncos because we are local.

Starting point is 00:24:03 We bring you daily content and coverage of all things Broncos related. Sean Payton was asked a very instant question after the game on Sunday, Sarah. And the way the question was worded, Sean wasn't having it. He was making a statement saying, hey, no, like we are winning games. Yeah, exactly. when you're talking about did you escape with this win or did you win the game? I think Sean Payton takes issue with the, you know, the implication of what it means to escape with a win, right?

Starting point is 00:24:34 I think that when you're escaping from something, you need help to make that happen. You need luck on your side to make that happen. You need some things that are, you know, outside of your control to go right in order for that to happen. but if you're winning games, you're the one that's taking the bull by the horns. You're the one that's making stuff happen. Right. And so I think even I'm guilty of this because after the game, like I was putting,

Starting point is 00:25:00 you know, the escape word in my titles of stuff that I was writing and that I was talking about. And I'm thinking like, yeah, of course you escaped with a win. Like you were up by seven in overtime. You gave up a touchdown. You batted down the two point conversion. That to me looks like an escape. However, I get what Sean Payton is doing because the perception. in that locker room cannot be that this team escaped with a win in any way, shape, or form, right? Because if they're starting to think in their mind, whole, we escaped from that one, absolutely not. Then all of a sudden, you're playing in a way that's like, hey, we got to play

Starting point is 00:25:36 not to lose as opposed to playing to win a game, right? The Broncos have been great all season long at being aggressive, coming back, winning football games, escaping with a win. That's for the Chiefs last year, man. That's where, you know, you get Aiden O'Connell making mistakes on Christmas Eve, right, or Christmas Day, whatever that was against the Chiefs. Remember that game where it just felt like, oh, you get a blocked field goal against the Broncos to chip shot, right? That kind of stuff doesn't happen for everybody. So I just feel like that's kind of the mentality behind this is that we're not escaping with wins. We're not getting lucky. We're winning games. You know, it's crazy too. And you think about the national media perspective.

Starting point is 00:26:17 and even like Chiefs fans, and I hate giving them the time of day. They don't deserve it on our program, but I got to call it to hypocrisies a little bit. Last year with Kansas City, everybody kept saying like, it's not lucky. They're finding ways to win. Good team find ways to win, no matter how ugly it may be. But when it's the Denver Broncos, it's a problem. Everybody wants to have a little, you know, a grandstanding opinion where they move the goalposts a little bit. Whereas I'm looking at what Denver is doing is like in clutch moments, the Broncos they are making plays.

Starting point is 00:26:46 They're not benefiting necessarily off of a penalty to do so. They're not having anything crazy or questionable happen. That makes you question like, ah, did they deserve to make that play? No, like they're finding ways to make the plays to win. And what do we say last year after the 2024 NFL season? We said if the Broncos can find a way to flip the script to where they're in these one-score games, instead of losing it, they're making more plays. They're finding ways to win these one-score games.

Starting point is 00:27:11 They're going to be a very good team. They are doing that this year. Sarah, you don't win nine straight games in a row by luck. That is the mark of a good team. You were demonstrating it. Sean Payton, you said it earlier. Confidence is born from demonstrated ability. Denver has demonstrated that they can win these close games.

Starting point is 00:27:28 That when it matters most, they can make plays, whether that's on offense, whether that's on defense. If their backs against the wall, we've seen the Broncos answer the call here. To me, that is not escaping. That is just a winning team finding a way to win and make the plays necessary when it matters most. That's why the Broncos are an elite NFL team. That's why right now they should be discussed amongst the NFL's elite right now.

Starting point is 00:27:54 This is a season where it is wide open, wide open for the taking. And Denver is in a prime position to do just that. And with great power comes great responsibility. I think everybody in Broncos fans are just sitting back saying, we just hope that they take advantage of this moment. And I think that's a fair question. Look, situationally, any team in the NFL could beat the Broncos. right we just what we've witnessed it all throughout the year right we've seen some of the better teams in the

Starting point is 00:28:19 NFL take the Broncos to the brink and we've seen some of the worst teams in the NFL take the Broncos to the brink however when you look across the rest of the league the Broncos more so than most are winning the games that other teams are just flat out losing and that's just the reality of the situation there's no you can't use the transitive property to evaluate how good this Broncos team is right you can't say well hey the bears just beat the eagles by x amount of points and the broncos had to come back in the fourth to beat the eagle so therefore the bears at nine and three just i can't stand that line of thinking right it just doesn't work like that it's not the same the broncos have proven this season you can go on the road and beat philadelphia on their home field that was the they were the first team to beat philly in what 2021 games on their home field yeah beat the kansas city chiefs on your home field you can't be home fields. You can beat anybody who you can beat the giants who have a what 26 to seven lead in the fourth quarter or whatever that was. You can beat any of these teams. You can you've beaten the champs. You've beaten the lowest of the low. You've beaten the middle of the road teams like the Broncos are

Starting point is 00:29:31 just beating everybody. And so who can't they beat right? Who can they, who would you say going up against them straight up head to head right now? You would say, oh yeah, they're done. There's no, there's nobody. There's nobody in the NFL. And that's where. this team has grown to is that they could beat anybody on any given week. There's nobody that is inciting this level of fear that you're saying, hey, I don't think the Broncos have a great shot this weekend because they've proven they can beat the best. And the locker room believes that as well.

Starting point is 00:30:01 Jonathan Cooper said it a couple weeks ago, what do we have to be scared of? Who do we have to be scared of? Nobody. And that's the mentality that this team truly possesses that when they line up, big on big, best on best, the Broncos and those players on the field, they believe, hey, we're going to beat these guys. We're going to win these matchups. And I think we've seen them do that. They've demonstrated it. So I think that there's a lot of confidence with this team.

Starting point is 00:30:23 Ultimately, I think we all would like to see the Broncos just have this game or they just blow the doors off of whoever they're playing, right? Offense, defense, special teams, you want to see a complete perfect performance. But we haven't seen that yet, right? We've seen the offense play good in some games, the defense struggle. The defense has played great in a majority of the games. We've just seen them struggle on Sunday night football. But they made the game-winning play when it mattered most.

Starting point is 00:30:47 Special teams has been better over the course of the last two weeks. And now you got to keep that train rolling because you have an AFC matchup coming up against the Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday. And they're going to have a different look offensively since they fired Chip Kelly. So how will the Broncos prepare for that? Well, we'll have you covered here all week long leading up to the matchup here on the Locked on Broncos podcast. Thanks to all the every dares out there.

Starting point is 00:31:08 We appreciate you so much. What you're going to get on tomorrow's episode, show a little bit of an early preview on the Broncos versus the Raiders. The Raiders, they may be out of playoff contention right now, but they're in the perfect position to play spoils to some team's hopes and dreams. Broncos included. We'll take a look at an early key matchup here on tomorrow's episode. Locked on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:31:27 Broncos country, lock in. We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CONTENDER: Denver Broncos BELONG as NFL’s Elite

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