Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos RB Audric Estime In Line For More Looks By Sean Payton

Starting point is 00:00:00 According to Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton rookie running back, Audrake Estimate is in line for more touches and looks. Could he provide a Broncos offense with a little bit of a spark? It's very possible to tell you why we think he can here in the second half of the season. On today's brand new episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening in Broncos country?

Starting point is 00:00:33 Welcome to another episode. Locked-on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Thank you so much, Broncos country, all the everydayers out there and all the first listeners for making the show exactly what it is. Make us part of your daily Broncos coverage routine every single day all year long, wherever you get your podcast. We appreciate you so much.

Starting point is 00:00:55 I'm Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Join, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert, predominantly orange.com. You can check our written work at those sites, respectively. milehigh sports.com, predominantly orange.com. And here's what we're going to break down on today's episode of the show Broncos country. The trade deadline is fast approaching. And the Broncos may not do anything. As Sean Peyton said, hey, Superman is not walking in that building. We'll highlight the Broncos approach to the trade deadline on top of that. Going back and watching the

Starting point is 00:01:22 All-22 against Ravens, for Denver's offense, there were a lot of missed opportunities. Defensively, they simply got out work. We'll go back and recap some of the key standouts from that. And we'll kick things off on today's episode of show by talking about Audrick Estime. The Broncos rookie running back could be in line for some more touches, according to Sean Payton. Sarah, let's kick it off with that right here. We've got to meet with Broncos head coach Sean Payton on Monday morning following the Broncos, blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Starting point is 00:01:49 And he touched on the fact he was asked some questions about the offense and everything we'll get to a little bit later on a show. But it was brought up whether or not we could see more touches here from Broncos, rookie running back, Audric Estime. Here's what he had to say. And I'm curious for your thoughts. I think that that's a good and fair question and one that I think I would answer yes. I think we would all be excited to see a little bit more Audric Estimate, Cody.

Starting point is 00:02:13 I know that he struggled with some fumbles dating back to the preseason, had one against the Colts in the preseason there, has had a couple in the regular season as well, which is probably a big reason why we haven't seen more of Adrick Estimate early on. But, you know, he's one of those types of guys that the way that he creates yardage after contact, I know that it's come with a bit of a ball security issue, but the Broncos had him carrying a ball around a couple of weeks ago, right? And just around the facility, like, you know, hey, get it high and tight as much as you can so that you sleep, you feel like you're holding a football as tight as you possibly can, right?

Starting point is 00:02:50 I think when we see this guy out there on the field next, I hope that it's 10 plus carries. You know, when we get to see him get into a little bit of a groove, that's something that we haven't really seen from Estimate this season, is playing a lot more early in the game and kind of getting into a groove and staying on the field. He's come onto the field in short spurts, but I hope we do see more of him because honestly, Giovante Williams done a great job in pass protection. That's been probably his biggest asset to the Broncos that he's brought this season.

Starting point is 00:03:19 But in every other facet, I think that it's open season for the Broncos are running back. Like who's going to be that past catcher to emerge? Who's going to be the lead ball carrier to emerge and really be that guy for this office? I think at this point in the year, it's certainly still wide open. I think until you find a steady and consistent hand for running back production here, you have to try to play around, right? Like you and I talked about it following the game as a, hey, like Denver wants to build and grow,

Starting point is 00:03:45 but yet they keep doing the same things offensively. And we're talking about the same issues on a week-to-week basis from a production standpoint. I don't know if you noticed this. I went back and I watched the film, obviously. And I noticed it was Jule McLaughlin was the first running back on the field and Sunday's game, got the first touch. I don't know if we can read into that.

Starting point is 00:04:02 That's happened before. It happened last year for Denver. I just think it depends on, is it the look that the defense person, either the defensive personnel is coming out in for the Ravens. Is that it? Or is it, or is it, hey,

Starting point is 00:04:12 we want to maybe try to get some explosives here early on. Try to break a big one with obviously Jalil's speed. Certainly that is a factor. But you know what? At this point, you go in and you draft a young guy who look, Sean Payton had told many people in the national media that he felt like Estimate was they're still of the draft in terms of what he can do.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Certainly, you have to get on the field a little bit more. And part of that is also on Estimate. You talk about the ball security issue. Certainly that's the case. But I think we have seen flashes. Hey, this guy, he gets downhill quick. He's got good vision.

Starting point is 00:04:42 He's got good explosive burst in between the tackles. He just has to protect the football. At this point, Sare, you need a little bit of a spark. I think Estimate can be a little bit of a spark in the run game. Protect the football. That's the highest priority there. But why not at this point? Like Denver has been trying to play, you know, trying to figure out their office.

Starting point is 00:05:00 of identity. You know what? We understand it. They're rebuilding. They've been trying to figure out the tight end position. They've been trying to figure out the receiver rotation. And they've really been trying to figure out how to get the run game going. Sare, to me,

Starting point is 00:05:13 a lot of this is like you have to change it up a little bit to see if you get the spark. Right. Denver's already done that with Greg Dulcich getting benched for Lucas Crowell. But now it's like, hey, you're at a point now. You get a young guy you want to develop. Get him in and let's see him get more carries early on in games. Well, the reality is, and sorry, I almost cut you off there. Cody because you're great brother.

Starting point is 00:05:31 Numbers. And I mean, six of the first nine games this season, Javante Williams has had less than four yards per carry. Matter of fact, you can drop that down to 3.8 yards per carry or less in six of the first nine games. I know that he had the really good game against the New Orleans Saints. I know that he has had a couple of games this year in which he's gone over 100 yards from scrimmage.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Matter of fact, he had 84 yards from scrimmage against the Baltimore Ravens, but a huge chunk of that came on that one pass play across the middle of the field from Bow Nix for 34 yards. And so when you have six of your first nine games averaging 3.8 yards per carry or less, and in some of those games, I mean, an abysmal number. It's just not something the Broncos can continue to rock with. That's just the reality of the situation, not to mention. I mean, I know you and I have chatted about this before. I bring it up almost every week in our predominantly orange slack chat about how, like,

Starting point is 00:06:29 how weird is it that Javante Williams, like, he's not a very good goal line running back, a very good goal to go running back throughout the course of his NFL career. That has been a problem. And I just don't understand it for a guy who's good at creating yardage after contact, a guy who's supposed to be good in those short yardage situations. It's been a really an uphill battle for him to kind of figure that out as an NFL runner. So very interesting, very unique situation here, given the fact that six of these first nine games. Again, 3.8 yards per carry or less.

Starting point is 00:07:02 The Broncos need a better alternative than that. And they think they feel like they have it in Audrick Estimate. Yeah. And look, I'll all even make mention of this because this hasn't been talked about. Tyler Badey has been on the side field for the last, I think, week and a half he's been running. And obviously, he just posted something on his Instagram with him sprinting. And obviously, I think that's a great sign. I don't know whether or not we'll see him come back this year. We saw a little bit of a spark when he did get in early on here.

Starting point is 00:07:26 But Denver's second half offense, you know, look, the by week ain't in until after the Cleveland Browns Monday night game on December 2nd, by the way. It's going to be a cold chilly one. It's already snowing here in Colorado. But that's a long ways away. Like I wonder if we can say it right now here following week nine. Okay, hearing about the next four or five weeks, when the Broncos take the field against the Indianapolis Colts to open up coming after the buy,

Starting point is 00:07:49 who's the running back? Who's the starter? What does the storyline look like for the offensive personnel? I'm very curious and I would love to revisit that. But you need a boost in the run game. I know Denver's going with more heavy tight-end packages. You're seeing a lot of 12 personnel with Nate Adkins and also obviously Adam Trotman as the tight ends. We saw some full-back carries, which isn't necessarily, I think, something you want to see for the Broncos offense going forward.

Starting point is 00:08:12 But you need to find a way to get the run game going. We'll touch on that a little bit later because that's something that Sean Peyton said, hey, we have to be more consistent with. We'll dive into that a little bit later here on the show. But you go back, you watch the All-22 offensively, a lot of missed opportunities and some valid critiques, but also some, I think you see the game live. You see also people like, oh, well, Bo Nix missed this guy. We'll talk about some of those plays and why you have to go back and watch the film

Starting point is 00:08:36 and see exactly what happened versus reacting to it live. That's why we're going to review the All-22 here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Game Time, folks. And look, game time, they make it easier for you to go see the events that you want, whether that's sporting events, concerts, theater, or even comedy events that are going on in your area. And they have a brand-new featured called Game Time. Picks, which makes getting tickets to your favorite events even easier. Game time picks, they filter out the fluff to show you the only incredible deals that you can get on great seats.

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Starting point is 00:11:04 And the Broncos unfortunately missed plenty of those against the Ravens. Cody and I are going to break down some of what was seen on the All 22 film, how the Broncos can correct those mistakes going forward and possibly use their failures against Baltimore to maybe beat the Kansas City Chiefs in this upcoming big time. AFC West matchup here. But Broncos Country, thank you so much for tuning in. to Lockdown Broncos every single day. You every dayers know that your boys, Cody and Sarah, we got you every single day. So if you haven't already, if you're not already in every day, we'd love it.

Starting point is 00:11:34 If you become one, hit subscribe wherever you listen as well as on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about the all 22 in this game because I think people are interested to know your perspective on this being that, you know, I know the folks read your film breakdowns every week over there at Mile High Sports. But just to know your perspective, like Sean Payton says it after the game, he's always asked like, what did you think of Bo Nix's performance? And he's always like, well, I can't really say it because the game just got done. I have to watch the film.

Starting point is 00:12:01 So you've watched the film. The thing that you texted me earlier was like, you know, missed opportunities here. What did you see from this game? What do you want to highlight for the fans out there that are wondering, okay, we know they missed opportunities. What opportunities were missed and who's at fault? Yeah, let's start off here with the offensive side of the ball. We'll talk about Bo Nix in terms of where Denver was at. Let's talk about the first play, the interception, right?

Starting point is 00:12:23 It's the same exact play design that they drew up against the Carolina Panthers with Adam Troutman, where he had the 37-yard catch-and-run, right? You have a motion here with Nate Atkins to the left side. You fake the toss to Jolulu McLaughlin. You boot back the other side. Now, last week against Carolina, it was Cortland Sutton lined up near where Nate Atkins was before the motion, right? And Cortland would run the corner. This time, it was Adam Troutman lined up on the right side.

Starting point is 00:12:49 Troutman was running the corner route. Little Jordan Humphrey ran the same exact route underneath the formation there. And it was Cortland and Adam Trowman's position running the backside crosser. The corner route was covered. Cortland's backside crosser was covered. Little Jordan Humphrey was open. But then the difference this week was that Kyle Van Nuoy had a path to Boe Nix in a sense, right? You talk about getting his arms up.

Starting point is 00:13:10 You can go back and you see it on the film. Bo kind of has to throw it a little bit sideways but a little bit high. It's not an uncatchable pass. I mean, to be honest with you, Bo altered the football with his arm. the trajectory it needed to go because of Kyle Van Noy and the pressure that he was bringing, that's a play where Little Jordan Humphrey, you got to go up and you got to go get it, right? It's not like it's a too high pass. And because you don't go up and get it, because it is a little higher, you tip it and it leads to an interception.

Starting point is 00:13:35 That was frustrating. I see a lot of people saying, oh, that's on Boe Nix. That's just, it's a misplay of a little Jordan Humphrey after the game. He even said it in the locker room himself as I got to come up with that. That's on me. Aside from that, right, we go back to Little Jordan Humphrey. People are saying, well, Bo Nix missed Little Jordan Humphrey in the back of the end zone on a third down play there. What happens is you have a play here where it's Adam Troutman lined up in line as the tight end there.

Starting point is 00:14:00 Little Jordan Humphrey's kind of offset off the line of scrimmage. And you're going to have Troutman run vertical to try to draw the safety. And that's going to lead to a little Jordan Humphrey coming backside where you hope it's like, hey, there's a clear out right there. But the issue is on the left side where obviously Bo Nix got the ball, right? He's stepping up there. You look like you have an opportunity. needed to make a play. There's nobody open, right? You see little Jordan Humphrey coming back side,

Starting point is 00:14:24 but because of pressure coming inside where Bo Nix was, Bo had to throw it up because you had every underneath route covered. And your only issue was going back to the Pittsburgh Steelers game in week two, there was the defender sitting underneath, right? And you see Little Jordan Humphrey coming backside. That safety or that corner is watching Boe and could easily float back. That's why Bo had to put a little bit of touch on it. It's an incomplete pass. It would have been a very hard play to make for any wide receiver, but you would rather protect the football than turning it over in the red zone. So I'm not down on Boe for that play. And then certainly the holding call on Garrett Bulls.

Starting point is 00:14:58 I mean, Sarah, nobody was open from a passing standpoint on that play. Bo does a great job evading pressure. Kyle Hampton's a tremendous player. Garrett just bear hugged him. And it took seven points off the board. So instead of maybe going in a half time, Sarah, you know, when we're situated, well, there's still that one minute left. Instead of at that, you know, being down 17 to 10 at that point, it could have been 17. 14. Obviously, Denver's defense probably wouldn't have gotten that stop early on because

Starting point is 00:15:23 Zay Flowers went off. But it's like those things right there were missed opportunities. And then you talk about the Detroit Franklin play. It's a design shot play. It's the same exact play that they ran against the Raiders where he dropped it. Same exact play design right there. Unfortunately, you just bow overshot it. That was on Boe Nix right there. But overall, the All-22 showed me that Denver's offense, they're seeing a lot of zone coverage still. And Bo is making the right decisions on where to go with the football. which is the right and correct, you know, mindset to be taking on this day after, right? It's like you want to see him making the correct decisions.

Starting point is 00:15:58 Like you can second guess stuff all you want. You see all these different plays floating around on Twitter from people who have access to the All-22. And they're trying to say, well, Bo should have done this. And the thing that you and I were talking about off camera, that's so frustrating is like, okay, well, if Bo did this and the play failed, then everybody's going to be on Twitter saying, and he should have hit this guy on the other side, on the back side of this. Madden has a touchdown.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Yeah, exactly. Madden has ruined it. I think that's the, you know, hindsight is 2020 kind of thing here. Obviously, Bo Nix has not been perfect. Obviously,

Starting point is 00:16:31 Bo Nix has missed opportunities out there, but there's no question that the receivers, the same discussion that we had in the post game episode, the receivers are the biggest problem for the Denver Broncos right now. When targeting Will Jordan Humphrey, who you mentioned, the missed opportunity, right at the first drive at the game.

Starting point is 00:16:49 When targeting Lil Jordan Humphrey, Bo Nix's quarterback rating is 68.4. For those that are keeping score at home, that's not very good at all. Cortland Sutton leads this team in targets. Then the next two guys on the list, running back Javante Williams and Lil Jordan Humphrey, those are the next two guys in line for the most targets on this team.

Starting point is 00:17:09 The fourth guy is Troy Franklin, who currently has a success rate, according to pro football reference, of 25.9%. And in terms of non-zero on the roster, like that's the worst. So to me, Cody, when you, I know we want to see Troy Franklin grow. And I'm all for it. Get him the reps.

Starting point is 00:17:27 Get him the targets. Get him the opportunities. Get him underneath some of these deep balls. Let's see what he can do when he's actually, you know, got those contested catch situations. Let's see Devon Velae in more downfield opportunities. Hopefully Josh Reynolds can come back and make a positive impact. But until that stuff starts happening. I mean, we are just grinding away at nothingness here.

Starting point is 00:17:51 This is tough. It's tough to watch. When you talk about missed opportunities, I feel like it has a lot to do with the personnel that Bo Nix is throwing to. I see a lot of people on Twitter that are joking around about this, but how true actually is this? I mean, Bo Nix is obviously the best quarterback on the team? We know that. But is he the best runner on the team and one of the best receivers after what we saw on Sunday? I mean, I know it's a hot take.

Starting point is 00:18:16 My gosh, he made a catch on that throw from Cortland's sudden. That was unlike anything we've really seen from most of the receivers this year. Let's be honest about it. So, I mean, it's tough. It's tough when your quarterback is making better catches out there than most of his playmakers. Bro, Corlin took a shot on that play, too. He took a shot right in the thigh and was still able to throw it. Cortland's got a perfect idea.

Starting point is 00:18:37 He's a perfect 4-4-4 in his NFL career. His first, obviously, career touchdown throw goes to Bone Nixon. And I'd say another thing, too, from the All-22 that we'll, talk about. Let's be honest, defensively, that'll come out on Mile High Sports YouTube page as well. Denver's defense just got gash, whether it was man coverage, whether it was own coverage. Lamar getting outside the pocket was very problematic for them. And obviously, they're facing Patrick Mahomes this week. He can do the same exact stuff.

Starting point is 00:19:02 And that is where Denver's going to really have to key in this week. The trade deadline is here, Low Broncos country. Sean Payton shared his thoughts and told us why he doesn't believe that they'll be doing much at the deadline. Things could obviously change, but we'll also highlight some of the other goals. he has for this team down the stretch for the rest of the season here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp, and I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to all the

Starting point is 00:19:26 listeners of Lockdown Broncos. You tuning into the show has changed my life. It's certainly changed Sarah Bedinger's life as well. We're grateful for you. But this month is all about gratitude. And along with the person and all of you in Broncos country, that I just shouted out, there's another person that we don't think enough. That is ourselves.

Starting point is 00:19:41 And it's sometimes hard to remind ourselves that we are trying our best to make sense of everything. and in this crazy world, that isn't easy. Here's a reminder, send some thanks to the people in your life, including yourself. I've benefited from therapy. I think therapy is very beneficial, whether you're going through struggles in life or whether or not you're not. It's good to check in with yourself and to see where you're at, especially when we don't

Starting point is 00:20:02 have a playbook that comes with this thing called life. Better help was beneficial for me and it could be beneficial for you. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help a try. It's entirely online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and, best of all suited to your schedule to meet you wherever you're at, whether that's at an office or whether that's from the comfort of your own home. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch

Starting point is 00:20:25 therapist at any time for no additional charge. Let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash locked on. As we jump inly fourth quarter acts on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos, will be Denver makes some moves at the NFL trade deadline, whether that's being buyers or sellers, and what are the goals that Sean Payton has for his team if they're going to have a successful end to this season. We'll break that out here on today's episode.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Lockdown Broncos. Thanks once again, all the everydayers and first listeners out there in Broncos country. We appreciate you so much for making us your first listen every single day. All right, so the NFL trade deadline is here. And look, you look across the landscape of the NFL, there's been some changes. The New Orleans Saints fired Dennis Allen. and that opened up some questions. Could they become massive sellers?

Starting point is 00:21:19 At this point, I don't know if Denver wants to buy anybody right now from the New Orleans Saints that's going to make a difference right here. But we asked Sean Payton and his Monday press conference, whether or not what his plan is, what's his approach to the NFL trade deadline? Here's what he had to tell us. You're putting to bed the game we just played, and then the preparation beginning on Kansas City.

Starting point is 00:21:40 In the meantime, George and his staff will, I'm sure they'll get, you know, there's always these last minute calls either way. George will keep me a breath. He'll walk in here. He thinks it's something significant. But honestly, the focus is on the guys in this building right here. Superman's not walking in. Superman's not walking in, Cody.

Starting point is 00:22:02 But, you know, who, I mean, Robin sounds pretty good right now. I'm trying to think of other DC characters that that would be nice. So I get what Sean Peyton is saying. And I understand the long-term aspect of this as well. Like from a fan's perspective, you want the team to capitalize on the here and now. I mean, this is the moment, right? This is, this is where we're at. This is, I mean, we have a chance to make the playoffs this year.

Starting point is 00:22:26 And when you have a chance to make the playoffs, like, you don't want to squander it because you didn't get aggressive at the trade deadline and this, that and the other. I get that. But I also understand the other side of it to where, like, the Broncos, they don't have like a plethora of draft picks in 2025. Like, they do have their first round and second round pick and third round pick. and things like that. And you probably want to keep those to build with your, you know, the long-term future of this team. But at the same time, man, how many pick-swap situations do we see out there?

Starting point is 00:22:55 So I think when you look at a situation like what we saw with Carolina and Baltimore doing the Deontay Johnson trade, like you can always figure out the financials. Can you make something work in terms of future draft compensation with the pick swaps and things like that? That's where I would love to see like you would hate to see Evan Ingraham go for a pick swap to another team or David Nijoku go for a, you know, a fourth round pick or later to another team. Like those types of things would, would sting to see the Broncos pass up on. But I think if you're talking about like making a blockbuster move, obviously, you might want to sit this one out

Starting point is 00:23:31 when you're a team that really needs to, and you're emphasizing, hey, we want to draft and develop and build through that means, you know, as opposed to just bringing in these quick fixes or hopeful quick fixes. Well, and another element to that too, that Peyton touched on was the fact that, you know, when you were talking about trades for specific players, sometimes it could be a player whose contract is expiring. And so part of that is, can you negotiate an extension with a potential player in that situation? I mean, we've seen it happen before, not with Denver, but like with a player that Denver traded away. Like Bradley Chub is the most recent example that comes to mind for me. I think you look at the

Starting point is 00:24:03 L.A. Rams, they didn't do that with Vaughn. I know that Vaughn reentered free agency and there was a chance he could have came back. But like with Bradley Chub, it was, hey, he's going to Miami, but it's only if you get an extension done with him. That's really what Bradley Chubbs Camp wanted in Miami was willing to do that. Right now, I just don't know who that is going to be, right? And look, certainly Peyton is right. Superman is not walking through that door. You and I said it in the post game.

Starting point is 00:24:25 The Broncos aren't necessarily one player away, but you need to get Bo Nix and weapons. So do you sit on the standpoint of saying, okay, we're going to continue to sit here? We're going to continue to develop Troy Franklin, Devon Bailey, some of our younger guys here, maybe even bring up a guy like A.T. Perry, who's got developmental traits here and play them alongside Cortland Sutton a lot more. after the Chiefs game will be eligible to come off of injured reserve. So you factor into that situation. You also have some other moves as well. I think Denver, I don't think they're going to be like sellers like trading premier players,

Starting point is 00:24:55 but I do think that Denver will maybe offset one or two players. If I had to estimate a move today over under point five, I'm going to take the over. I think that there is going to be one move that is made. It's not necessarily going to move the needle for Denver. I think it's going to be for Denver to acquire capital because, Sarah, you have free agency coming up. Denver's going to have a good amount of cap space, going in an next. you're still paying, I think, what is it, 32, 33 million of Russ's deal. And then after that,

Starting point is 00:25:18 it's off the books. It's done for. That's going to be great. But with your draft capital, you may have a chance to double dip on some weapons. This year's wide receiver class is projected to be pretty good looking on paper. Same with the tight end class. So maybe this is where you invest in offensive weapons in the NFL draft. You make your approach in free agency. Maybe you go to try to get a guy in free agency, a playmaker there, and then you draft and you have other guys in positions. I don't know how Denver's approach is going to be. But it's trying to see the force through the trees a little bit. Denver is still in a position to compete for a playoff while,

Starting point is 00:25:49 which I think is exciting. All things consider the dead cap money, the lack of capital that they've had, the young players that are playing right now, that's an exciting position for Denver to be in. But on top of that, like Sean Payton himself, he said he's focused on guys inside the building.

Starting point is 00:26:03 He's also got to focus on some of the goals and what he wants to see for the team to maybe make a push in the second half of the season. Here's what Sean had to say to us. I think back to one important statistic, and that deals with the running game. And I think the, I would say, consistency of us offensively rushing the football efficiently. Our continued success that we've had prior to yesterday, defending the run is going to be vital to this team winning. We're minus one right now.

Starting point is 00:26:41 turnover battle. If we're having that discussion towards the end of the season, that's not going to be good. So that has to be something in our favor. You always need the turnover battle to be. The Broncos are the prime example of when the turnover battle goes in your favor, like, things are going well because they're 5 and 0, I believe, Cody, when they win turnover battle this season, which is not staggering by any means. I mean, when this team takes care of the football and they're rolling in that way. They're getting extra possessions from the defense as well. Like we've seen,

Starting point is 00:27:15 even against the Ravens. Like, I know you saw this on the film. The Broncos offense, I don't think Riley Dixon came onto the field for anything, but a hold on an extra point until the second half. So the offense was moving the ball. They just failed on a couple of four downs.

Starting point is 00:27:29 And they failed in the red zone one time. That really helped the Ravens big time. So it's not necessarily about the offense, not being able to move the ball at this point, which is a huge improvement from the discussion. after the first two games of the season. The offense is moving the ball when you take care of the ball. And the defense is causing the other team to make mistakes.

Starting point is 00:27:49 And you're getting extra possessions. Like giving this offense extra possessions right now is really dangerous for other teams. That's why I think you could see a path to the playoffs even after a devastating loss like that. So it's about finding those little edges, those little things throughout the course of a game. Like what is it going to be? and to your point about guys who could be traded, I mean, man, it's really like the Baron Brownings, the Damari Mathis, the Greg Dulcich, like are those guys in the team's long-term plans? Are they going to be part of the equation of being those, that small, you know, difference in the team at areas where they've needed help.

Starting point is 00:28:25 You know, Damari can help on special teams. He can be in the dime package. Barron provides a pass rush potentially. Dulcich could be the Joker guy. But at this point, we just haven't seen any of that from any of those guys. And are they going to factor into those? those plans, it's going to be fascinating to see what the Broncos think when the trade deadline hits at 2 p.m. mountain time. Yeah, that's the biggest key. And you know, back to the turnover

Starting point is 00:28:47 differential. Sean Payton said, like, there's instances in NFL history, right, with elite teams that overcame a negative turnover differential. He think he brought the 2022 Kansas City Chiefs. He said they had a negative turnover differential, but obviously still found ways to win. Obviously, that's key. He said the 2015 Broncos, they were another team, negative turnover differential, but we're able to find a way to go on and win a Super Bowl. He said, unless you're in that elite category, when you have a negative turnover differential, it is hard to win in the National Football League.

Starting point is 00:29:17 And certainly, I think that was a great example on Sunday against the Ravens. The Ravens are a well-oiled machine. They're a firepower right now. And yeah, okay, yeah, they lost the Ravens in week two. I didn't know what he cares about that. That was week two. They lost by an inch of the chiefs in week one. It doesn't matter.

Starting point is 00:29:31 The Ravens are a different team. And they're, I think, one of the most explosive teams right now. Them in Detroit. And look, I got a lot of flack for saying this. people are like, oh, you don't know ball. It's like, I don't care about the record here. I'm saying when this team plays their brand of football, the Ravens look like one of the scariest teams in league alongside the Detroit Lions.

Starting point is 00:29:48 Kansas City is undefeated. Sure, that's the case there. But they don't look like the best team in football despite their record. That was the point. Like people want to just argue about that. Certainly up for debate. Like Kansas City, obviously, until someone dethrones them, yeah, of course, they're going to be considered the best team.

Starting point is 00:30:03 But Denver ran into their toughest test of the season, and they failed. Like, they fell flat on their feet. It doesn't mean that the season is over. They have to accomplish a lot of things still internally that they're hoping that they can correct and rectify there because they're still in the playoff conversation. And that I think makes things very, very interesting. Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for tuning into today's episode of Lockdown Broncos. Tomorrow's episode for all you every dayers out there, it is a mailbag series. Sarah and myself, we chose the three best questions sent in from Broncos Country.

Starting point is 00:30:33 We'll address them on the mailbag on tomorrow's brand new episode of the show. Thank you.

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