Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - DILEMMA: Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton in His Own Way?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Sean Payton Dilemma is a topic amongst Broncos country this week. What is going on with his play calling? We'll break it all down here on today's 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 up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:30 We're going to bring out your team every day. What is going on with Sean Payton and the Broncos offensive. play calling over the course of the last couple of weeks. What's the difference between a really good play caller and a play designer? We'll go through all that here's break down where this team is at ahead of the New York Giants matchup here in week seven. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Join, as always by Sarah Bedinger, Cy expert over there at predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Thanks to all the every dares out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. Here's what you're going to get on today's episode of the show. We're going to dive into the Sean Payton dilemma. A lot of Broncos fans are frustrated by what they, saw in Sunday's game against the New York Jets. And it's raised some questions about play culling. We'll go through the difference between play caller, play designer,

Starting point is 00:01:13 and what is really going on here with this Broncos offense. Plus, we'll talk about the Broncos special teams unit laying a big egg so far this season after bringing in Darren Riz, who's one of the highest regarded, highly respected special teams coaches in the NFL. And we're going to go through our Broncos rookie progress report, even though some of the Broncos key rookies aren't starting. They're playing bigger roles than fans think. We'll go through all that here on today's show.

Starting point is 00:01:34 brought to you by our friends over there at the Game Time app. Download the Game Time app, create an account. Use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Sir, let's get into the Sean Payton dilemma. Now, I want to preface this before we dive into it, we are not sitting here saying Sean Payton needs to give up play calling. We're evaluating how fans are feeling. We're evaluating what we're seeing from the offense.

Starting point is 00:01:57 And we're asking questions. We're poking holes in some potential theories here. So make sure you engage with us as we go about this discussion. We obviously want to hear from you, Broncos country. But Sean, I mean, Sarah, Sean, he's a very polarizing figure, as we all know. But I feel like after this week's game against New York Jets, I've seen a lot more Broncos fans calling into question Sean's play calling and the flow of that. And I think there's valid critiques to be had. Yeah, there's a lot of critiques coming at Sean Payton right now. When you talk about play calling,

Starting point is 00:02:26 you talk about personnel groupings, you talk about how many guys are playing, how many snaps, who's getting what targets, situational stuff. all this, everything all encompassing right now is coming under fire for Sean Payton. Even after three wins in a row, even after you came back from, you know, being down 17 to three against the Philadelphia Eagles, because what everybody is seeing right now is inconsistency by the offense that's not going to be sustainable if you want to have long term success. I mean, yes, we all saw the Super Bowl 50 team. You know, they were able to do things with a below average offense.

Starting point is 00:03:03 I think we can say that at best for the majority of that year. But with what the Broncos have, with what Sean Payton has talked about, you've got your franchise quarterback and Bo Nix in place. You've got young playmakers that you have invested in their development this offseason. And you've got an offensive line, even with an injury to the left guard right now that you believe is one of the best in the NFL. So there's some situations and some play calling that we do need to kind of look at in this game against the New York Jets.

Starting point is 00:03:28 Like in particular, Cody, the play in which Bo Nix checked into a fullback dive. on 3rd and 10 to Adam Prentice, who's only on the team because Mike Burton suffered a late injury there in the offseason program and training camp in the preseason. It's mind-boggling to me that that's even an option or a play in the red zone, down in the tight red zone, that you had a chance to score a touchdown and to kind of put this game on ice instead of giving the Jets another chance. And Bo Nix takes the ball, he takes the snap. And his guys that are out to his left that are supposed to be his receivers are both blocking.

Starting point is 00:04:01 the miscommunication, the late play calls, the near delays of game, it's all so frustrating. And I don't know exactly what you have to do to correct that. Yeah. And look, I think we can all be honest here and say, and it's like, you see all these smart people apparently on Twitter. You know, the guys that are like EPA, the acronym bros is we like to call them. And this world, they're like, oh, yeah, Bo Nukes is terrible. Like look at his ADOTP, CCC, whatever the heck you want to call it. But I didn't come away from Sunday's game thinking, wow, Bo Nix was the problem for the offense in general.

Starting point is 00:04:37 It's like there are times here this season where we have watched Bo. Bo looks visibly frustrated at times, not with how things are going. I'm sure that's part of it. But he's looked visibly frustrated at times with Sean Payton. And I don't think that's a coincidence here because we're seeing and we've seen it. It's been widely inconsistent. That's the name of this Broncos offense, inconsistent. Like we talk about defense, incomplete, inconsistent.

Starting point is 00:05:00 when we talk about this offense. And these are the things that drive me, Matt. You nailed it with, you know, I understand personnel groupings. That's a big part of it. But the near delay of game penalties are frustrating because personnel is coming on late. And then you're getting in these lengthy play calls. And Bo is sitting there, okay, there's five seconds. And it's like, you have to read the defense in five seconds versus what was working against

Starting point is 00:05:21 a Cincinnati Bengals. Bo's getting up to the line of scrimmage with about 18 seconds. He's reading the field. The ball snapped with about 10. That's perfect. Like that flow right there is exactly what you want. I think Sean Payton is an innovative play caller. I think he's a great play designer.

Starting point is 00:05:37 We've seen that. But at times it feels like Sean wants to try to prove that he's this mastermind play caller. And it's like, Sean, you're one of the top winning as coaches, top 25 in NFL history. We know how innovative of a mind you are. Why does it feel like you have to prove it or like you're trying to show off at the expense of your team and your offense? To me, it's frustrating. And the number one thing that bothers me, Sarah, what do we see against the Bengals? The Broncos, they exchanged series.

Starting point is 00:06:02 They did a two-back system really against the Bengals where JK got a series, RJ got the next. And what do we see? It worked. Same thing against the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter. And then this past week against the Jets, it's JK gets one or two carries. RJ comes in or J. Or Jail is two carries.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Oh, Kailin Jal is coming in. Like, what is happening? Like now you're going backwards. You're going away from the things that have clearly been working for you. That to me, I think, is what's frustrating. And then, as my wife would say, Sean gets too cutesy sometimes with his play calls. And I think those are valid critiques here.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Yeah, a great example of being a little too cutesy at times is that situation at the, you know, near the end of the game where you had a chance to put it on ice, to bleed out the clock, to get one first down. And ultimately, then the Jets would have been powerless to stop the clock. And what does Sean Dewey draws up a play to kind of a trick play almost to Marvin Mims, not even just a traditional jet sweep. It felt like it was like a lot of misdirection. a chance of disaster happening.

Starting point is 00:07:02 And that's a situation where I was kind of talking to you and a few others about it. In that situation, you don't want to be going into your bag of tricks. You want to have your boxing gloves on. You want to punch them in the mouth and just run the ball down their throat and take whatever you're given because the play right before that Marvin Mims play, you gain four yards on the ground with J.K. Dobbins. Make the Jets stop that two more times. And if they can't do it.

Starting point is 00:07:26 If they can stop it two more times, great. punt the ball away and go for it. But don't be trying these trick plays. I know that it's easy to say when the things aren't working, right? Because that's the counter argument to all of this. Well, nobody's complaining about it when it works. And that's very true. But unfortunately, the last two games, we haven't seen much working in terms of consistency.

Starting point is 00:07:48 And the stuff that is working is what you said. When you're getting out there, what were the Broncos doing in the first half against the Jets? That was we were all sitting there saying, hey, Bo Nix looks dialed. They were getting up to the play quickly. Even Kurt Warner was talking about it on the broadcast. He's like, man, they're getting these play calls in and they're kind of playing with pace right now. I'm not saying you have to be in hurry up the entire time, but stop messing around with get your best playmakers the ball. Evan Ingram's balling out in the first half.

Starting point is 00:08:16 And then all of a sudden, everything just, where was Cortland Sutton against the Jets? Three targets, one catch. I do not like it at all. I don't like it that your best players or the guys that you've invested, the most in like R.J. Harvey aren't getting their appropriate number of targets. That's the hill that I would die on if I was Sean Payton, not Jalulul McLaughlin, not Lucas Krull, not all these other guys that Trent Sherfield, all this stuff. Let's be done with that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:08:44 Let's get the young playmakers involved and let's get the stars involved. Yeah. And look, I think how can you create flow and rhythm and when a guy gets hot, like you mentioned JK had a four year run. There was one play, I think in the second half, he had a six yard run. And then on the next play, he's pulled out. and somebody else comes in. It's like, you've got good rhythm.

Starting point is 00:09:00 Stick with it. That to me is one of the more frustrating things about this offense. And yes, you know what? If it's working, maybe we're not complaining, but it hasn't worked. The offense has been inconsistent. And fans, rightfully so, are frustrated. It's clear.

Starting point is 00:09:12 It looks like the offense themselves are frustrated with it at times. Though players are never going to come out and publicly say that, I just think that Sean is his own worst enemy sometimes, right? And fans are also calling for like Sean to give up play calling. I want to tell folks something. very clearly. Sean is never going to give up play calling. Sean is going to be, until he retires, he's going to be the head coach play caller, even if he has a coordinator by title.

Starting point is 00:09:37 And that's why I think you're going to lose Davis Webb in the offseason. He's going to go to some team as an OC. Denver's going to lose someone who might go on to have a lot of success here. It's frustrating sometimes just because it comes across as stubborn. The stuff that's working for the Broncos, they don't necessarily stick with it. And I'd say another frustration I have, Sarah, if it's like a second and 14, How many times we'll be seen one of these wonky wild play designs? You know, you get all this motion, misdirection, but then you're losing a couple more yards.

Starting point is 00:10:02 And now you've got a third and 15. Like we've seen that so many times this year. That to me is frustrating here. So can the Broncos find a way to get out of their own way? Can Sean do that? That is the dilemma. Broncos country, want to hear from you. What are your thoughts here on Sean Payton and the Broncos offense after what we saw in

Starting point is 00:10:16 week six, now going into week seven against the New York Giants? Make sure you share your thoughts with us here on today's episode of show. Coming up next, we're going to talk about another big concern. the Bronco special team's unit has not been good this season. There's been a massive drop-off over what we saw last year. What's going on with Rizzi's unit? We'll break it all down and more here on today's episode of the show. I'm Cody Roark.

Starting point is 00:10:35 From Lockdown Broncos. And this episode is brought to you by Peloton. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton, cross-training, tread plus, powered by Peloton IQ. This is Peloton's most advanced equipment yet, giving you real-time guidance and endless ways to move, whether you're running, lifting, or you're cross-training with your favorite instructors like Alex Toussaint. It's training reimagined to make your workout more personal. Peloton is built for

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Starting point is 00:11:38 Today's episode of the show is also brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. And as you all know, Fanduil, they're America's number one sportsbook. And Fandu is the perfect place to get in on all the NFL action this season. And right now, Fandu, they have an offer for brand new customers that you don't want to miss out on. right now new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right. You pick a bet. You put down five bucks.

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Starting point is 00:12:25 three hundred dollars and bonus bet so what are you waiting for visit fan duel.com to download the fan duel app today and to get started the Denver bronco's special teams has not been so special to start off the 2025 season looked a lot better last year with ben cotwika as the special teams coordinator but this year Darren rizzy is he coming under a little bit of fire is he under the microscope and the broncos they may have just made a move that indicates just how bad his has been this year. We're going to tell you all about it on today's episode, locked on Broncos. But Broncos country, want to say quickly thank you to all of you that make us your first listen of the day every single day, whether you're listening on your favorite

Starting point is 00:13:03 podcast platform or on YouTube, just stay in the discussion every single day. Keep us at the top of your feed, into your algorithm, all that good stuff. You won't miss out on anything Denver Broncos that happens, including Cody, a pretty substantial roster move, I would say. And I think we can start off with that because it sort of leads into everything else that we're going to talk about. Of course, Darren Rizzy's special teams has not been very good this year. The Broncos have been bad in a number of regards in that phase of the game, which Sean Peyton called out after the win against the Jets. He said the kicking game was something that he pinpointed on top of and right mixed in with

Starting point is 00:13:40 pre-snap penalties and things like that. The kicking game has not been good for the Broncos. So they signed J.T. Gray, former Saints, all-pro special teams player. and that move is very interesting and it kind of speaks directly to this idea that Darren Rizzy's unit, man, it's been bad so far this season. Yeah, it's been rough.

Starting point is 00:14:00 I mean, Sarah, I felt frustrated for Marvin Mims on Sunday because he's trying to set up a return, right? And obviously, I thought the Jets, Chris Banjo, obviously was with the Broncos last year's the assistant special teams coordinator. He's a special teams coach over there in New York

Starting point is 00:14:12 and he's done a fantastic job. That was probably the best unit overall for the Jets was Banjo's special teams group of guys. I mean, pretty much all their points came because of special teams exclusively there. So, but I felt like Marvin would try to return something. He wouldn't have much room to, you know, to be able to read the field. And if he did, he's making a move to, let's say, the right side of the field. Well, now he's got a backside defender from the left side chasing him down because

Starting point is 00:14:36 the, the jammers aren't beating the gunners of the New York Jets. And then you get pinned inside your own three yard line. And then the next play, you have a holding call results in a safety. But what was the most concerning element to me and Sarah, this has been an issue. season. We saw a week one against the Tennessee Titans. The Broncos have given up huge kickoff returns. They gave up a 72-yarder against the Jets. And if I'm not mistaken, I think it was 72 or 75 yards, week one against Tennessee right after the Broncos had scored. It's like, why, like what is going on here? I understand now that the NFL, the rules, it's like, hey, the kickoff is back in the game.

Starting point is 00:15:08 I love that. But it seems like there are guys that aren't necessarily doing the right job when converging on those coverage lanes there, right? Don Dre Tillman had a chance. He delivered a huge hit to one of the guys but didn't wrap him up and that's what led to the 72 yard return up the right sideline. I don't want to sound like I'm nitpicking here, Sarah, but it's like, all right, I understand in the NFL. It's about who you know and you obviously want to bring in guys. Darren Rizzy, we all know, very well respected special teams mind here.

Starting point is 00:15:35 But I will say this. It's another example. Sean Peyton bringing in one of his guys and right now it's not necessarily looking good, whereas, you know, you bring in Ben Codvico, who I don't really think was one of Sean's guys last year, but it was one of Mike Westhoff's guys, right? And so they were kind of a package deal. Ben Kotwika, as you mentioned earlier, had this special teams unit, the coverage unit. They were playing much better last year as a special teams group.

Starting point is 00:15:59 They're one of the best special teams units in the entire NFL for two seasons in a row under Westhoff and Kotwika. They're one of the worst right now in the NFL as it currently stands, minus the exception of Will Lutz and Jeremy Croshaw. Yeah, Will Lutz and Croshaw. They've been really good this year. But the Broncos, obviously, when it comes to the new kickoff return rules are not taking advantage. They lost that field position battle against the Jets, which you and I have talked about against teams like the Jets or when we were previewing that Bengals game a handful of weeks ago. You and I talked about just how important it is to bury these quarterbacks that are, they're not, you know, they're not Patrick Mahomes. They're not the best quarterbacks in the league.

Starting point is 00:16:37 These are backup quarterbacks or, you know, guys who are young or struggling or what have you that you want to give them the longest field possible. And in order to do that, your special teams can't be giving up the third most kickoff return yards in the NFL. Your special teams can't be giving up the number one highest kickoff return average of every team in the NFL. The Broncos felt like the rules benefited them as much or more than anybody because of the other side with Marvin Mims. And even Marvin Mims has, like you said, Cody, he has struggled this year. This past game against the Jets, I would say was the worst game that I've seen for. from Marvin. And yes, like you mentioned, it's not all his fault. But we saw Marvin call a fair catch when there was nobody within 15 yards from him. We saw him return a kickoff that he was

Starting point is 00:17:25 kind of running backwards a little bit that, hey, take the ball at the 35. That ball's going into the end zone. You can take the ball at the 35 and get a touchback there instead of what happened was he got out to the 25. So you sacrifice 10 yards of field position. These are the hidden yardage that Sean Peyton has talked about this frequently and how that determines the outcome of games. When you look at kickoff return yardage allowed per game, it's over 100 at this point. And we know, I mean, 100 yards of field position. What does that equate to, Cody? That's a touchdown. So you're giving yourself a seven point disadvantage based on kickoff returns alone, every single game. It's unacceptable for somebody that even I went on record on this show as saying, hey, this

Starting point is 00:18:11 might be the best non-head coach coaching hire out of any team made this off season. I think it's been anything but it's been the complete opposite, a total bust so far. Well, and as a time that we're sitting down talking about this, we don't have necessarily the name, right? It's Tuesday. We're sitting down talking about this. We have not heard the corresponding roster move yet for J.T. Gray to be able to be placed onto the roster here.

Starting point is 00:18:34 But once again, Sarah, it's that question. Okay, now you've got Sean, who obviously brought in Darren. And now you got Darren who's bringing in. obviously a guy who's a special team's ace and a captain in New Orleans, but you're bringing in yet again another Saints connection, which I think at this point, I think Broncos fans are getting kind of irritated with that. But if he can play, that's all that matters. I think that's the number one thing we have to highlight here. You want to know a sad statistic. Jeremy Croshaw, like, as worried as we were in the preseason, man, he's having a hell of a year. But here's what's

Starting point is 00:19:03 concerning. The Broncos in terms of punts, like Jeremy Croshaw has punted 30 times in six games. That's an average of obviously five per game. That's ridiculous. But the last two weeks, okay, against the Jets, six punts overall against the Eagles, seven punts. Cincinnati only four punts. The Chargers, seven punts. He had seven punts for 328 yards.

Starting point is 00:19:26 And obviously he's booming it. He's got one of the best in placement inside the 20s in the NFL right now in terms of percentage-wise. And it's like, it's great you got a great punter. But the bad news is you're punting a lot. And this is where shots not open out. Darren Rizzy's unit. But man, something's got, I don't know what the true issue is here with it.

Starting point is 00:19:44 I don't know how they just fix it. But to me, it's a concern here because, I mean, if it weren't for PJ Locks there on that final punt that the Broncos had against the Jets, which going back to Sean and what we were talking about early in the show, Sean like puts a bowl in a situation. Then he gets sacked and now you have to punt it. You're near like the 10 yard line. And now you punt it. And then they get the ball near their own 40 yard line. If it wasn't for PJ Locke making a diving. tackle. They would have gotten up to probably the 50, maybe their own 45 yard line at that point.

Starting point is 00:20:15 They would have had a better chance to maybe have a game winning field goal. And that would have been so frustrating here. But special teams, man, it has been abysmal. And once again, John fired Ben Kotwick. In my opinion, I don't think Ben deserved to be fired. Yes, there were some concerns that had happened last year with, you know, obviously the blocked PAT against the Kansas City Chiefs of Block field goal. But to me, it's like, all right, well, Darren Rizzy's unit so far early on is performing significantly worse. You've had far too many more riskier plays happen with this unit. Yeah, and I think that obviously the kickoff rule being different than it was last year.

Starting point is 00:20:48 Remember last year we thought it was going to be kind of what we're seeing this year with just a huge uptick in the overall number of returns. But last year, teams were kind of just like, ah, screw it. We'll give the other team the ball at the 30. Teams aren't doing it for the extra five yards this year. And so the adjustment that needs to be made is something that you would expect to be made from a coordinator like Darren Rizzy. And I know that he's not out there making the tackles,

Starting point is 00:21:12 but he's the one that's out there drawing up these plays. And the same thing is true on punt returns and on kickoff returns for the Broncos. And it's just you have such a weapon in Marvin Mims. It feels like for lack of better term, feels like he's been kind of neutralized most of the year. And I know he's had his moments as well, but we need Marvin Mims, the dynamic return man.

Starting point is 00:21:31 He set up so many opportunities that prevented the Broncos from having to punt very often, at least this often. last season. And it's also compounding with the lack of turnovers from the defense. And I'm not going to sit here and bag on the defense. But that's another part of the problem is that these long fields are getting created because ultimately your offense is kind of getting pinned a little bit in certain

Starting point is 00:21:55 situations against these teams. So I feel like something's got to give at some point, hopefully bringing in this one guy. I don't think he's going to fix everything. But J.T. Gray has been an all pro before. So hopefully he raises the bar for everybody else on. that group. And we know that Treland Berks is going to come in for a visit. I wonder if

Starting point is 00:22:12 Trent Sherfield's roster status is kind of in question right now. We'll have to see here going forward. But Broncos country, if anything happens, we're going to have you covered every step of the way here. But everyone wants to talk about the Broncos rookie class. I think there's a narrative out there that how can the Broncos rookies aren't playing more? They're actually playing quite a bit. Not as starters, but as key role players.

Starting point is 00:22:28 We'll share our thoughts on that and we're on today's episode of the show. Today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at the game time at the NFL season is back. And honestly, there's nothing better than being in the stadium. surrounded by fans cheering on your favorite team. But let's be honest, getting tickets to any of these events, it can be a hassle, it can be frustrating between cues,

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Starting point is 00:23:25 So check it out the Game Time app here today. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off off your first order. Terms apply. Again, that's promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-N-F for $20 off. swipe, tap, ticket, go, download game time today. How are the Denver Broncos rookie class at 2025 doing so far six weeks through the season? The returns are better than most people are talking about. We'll tell you about that here on today's show.

Starting point is 00:23:52 Thanks once again, all the every day is in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen. Sarah, we see this debate. You see national guys chiming it about why do the Broncos spend their draft picks on this guy, this guy, this guy, when they're not even starting. And I always think it's a great reminder to bring those national folks back into perspective. as we said when Denver made some of their picks, some of these guys have the chance to start.

Starting point is 00:24:11 But Denver, going into the draft, really had 10 starters on offense. Running back was the biggest question, I would say, and they had 11 starters on defense. So let's go through our Broncos progress sport. Let's start off with Jada Barron. Sarah, I have been impressed by him. I've loved what I've seen from him.

Starting point is 00:24:29 Granted, he's playing a limited number of snaps because he's in the dime as kind of the other slot. There's times where he's playing kind of as a nickel linebacker. The Broncos are getting created with their personnel. The Vance Joseph hats off to him. He's been great when in at this juncture. What are your thoughts so far in the Broncos first round pick? Well, he made a big play against the Philadelphia Eagles that contributed to a win.

Starting point is 00:24:49 And I think that, yeah, when you're playing in primarily the dime alignment and you're not out there every single snap, you're not getting targeted every other play, right? It's not necessarily going to be a situation where everybody can react one way or the other. I mean, it's very much an incomplete grade for many out there who are. are expecting a first round pick to start. I think the valid aspect of the critique is, is that you drafted guys who are older, as opposed to,

Starting point is 00:25:15 hey, positions that didn't necessarily have a clear opening in the starting lineup. That's actually kind of a good thing for the Denver Broncos. If you have so many quality starters that your top three picks aren't able to break into the starting lineup just yet, but the critique is that these guys are older. So why are you drafting the older rookies to back these guys up? And I get that aspect of it.

Starting point is 00:25:35 But look, the war on attrition in the NFL is very real. And you're going to see these guys have to step up at some point. And look, it's only been six games. Like we expect Jadae to continue to play a bigger role. We expect R.J. Harvey to have big games for this team this season. Even getting over 100 yards in a game at some point. Like, I do expect that stuff out of him. I expect the targets to go up for Pat Bryant going forward.

Starting point is 00:25:59 But it's always this microwave sort of situation. And again, I understand the critique that these are older rookies. And there's guys like, look, Cam Scataboo's playing really great. Emeka Egbuka's playing really great. A lot of these rookies out there at positions the Broncos needed help at. These rookies are playing really good football. And it's tough to see other guys thriving in situations. Tess Johnson, even, Cody.

Starting point is 00:26:22 I mean, we're seeing Tess catch that big play from Baker Mayfield. And everybody's like, why didn't we spend a day three pick on this guy? I think everybody's gripes are to a degree valid at this point. But there's so much season left. there's how many games left, 11 games left for the Denver Broncos. And then hopefully the playoffs on top of that. Let's see what this rookie class does going forward as opposed to just what's behind us at this point. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:46 And look, and I would say every other NFL team situations are different. You know, they may add, like adding a mecca Egbuka was really a luxury pick for the bucks. And my goodness, has he been, he's been great. He might be in the offensive rookie of the year conversation. He might be the front runner for that. I just think that like Denver situation is obviously different than a lot of other teams. And you can make the argument. Some teams have better situations than maybe Denver.

Starting point is 00:27:08 But it's also what have we seen here, Sarah, with this Broncos team, with Sean Payton exclusively. Like, historically, outside of Bow Nix, like Sean doesn't really like, there's not as much willingness to invest trust in a rookie right away to get significant amounts of playing time, which I find to be interesting. Like, for example, RJ Harvey, in my opinion, should be playing a lot more than he is. Like, I am on the firm train and I'm going to pound the table until this happens here. And my knuckles might end up being bloody by the time it's all said,

Starting point is 00:27:37 done because it may or may not happen. Sean should rotate JK and RJ every other series. And there's times where I think both those guys can be on the field at the same time. And you can do some really creative fun stuff with them to really get this run game going. I don't like how RJ is being used in the sense of, okay, hey, JK's getting a carry, he's getting six yards. Okay, boom, we're going to pull them off. We're going to put different personnel and we're not going to have a running back on this play.

Starting point is 00:28:00 And then on third down, okay, we're going to bring the running back in. We're just going to keep a full back in and maybe, okay, we're going to check to a full back dive. To me, it's stuff like that that impacts the flow of the game. And then all of a sudden it creates a negative perception on players like RJ. RJ, as we talked about last year, is one of the best backs right now in the NFL in terms of yards after contact. Get him the ball more. Let him get a rhythm.

Starting point is 00:28:21 Like you can't expect a guy to come off the bench after not being on the field as much and just suddenly get hot. Like you need to feed the hot hand. You need to obviously rotate these guys series to series in my opinion. We'll see if they listen. I'm sure they're not going to listen to anything. I have to say. But that was one way to get RJ going. And then Pat Bryant, man, Pat has embraced a role as a blocking guy.

Starting point is 00:28:42 He has never complained. He's never extinguished any kind of negative body language. Yes, he had a negative play on the false start this week. But, man, Pat Bryant in his role, he's been so good. And he finally got a couple of catches in the passing game. But it's just like you want to see these guys get some more opportunities. Then we talked about Jeremy Crosho. He's having a really good year.

Starting point is 00:28:59 But unfortunately, at the expense of the Broncos' offense, not doing so well. Yeah. And also, Q, Robinson made his debut this past weekend. So we got to see him finally play. I know obviously we all want Jonah Ellis back out there as quickly as possible. And Q Robinson got a chance. And so you get to see these guys a little bit early on. But I'm with you. I mean, when it comes to the offensive touches and the distribution of targets and things like that, give RJ Harvey Harvey those three touches that we've been harping on so much. The two carry attempts for, or the two attempts for Jalil McLaughlin, the screenplay that

Starting point is 00:29:32 did nothing and the time that you handed off the ball to him that also did nothing. Give those extra two touches to RJ Harvey, a guy that you said, maybe I had the best vision of anybody in this draft and who excels at making guys miss in space. Give him the chance at the very least. Don't try to shoehorn touches for Jalilil McLaughlin. Or if you're checking into a possible running back dive or full back dive on a third

Starting point is 00:29:59 and 10, like if that's one of the options that Bo Nix has, make that RJ Harvey or J.K. Dobbins instead of Adam Prentice. I mean, that's where I'm so frustrated right now is that there's situations like that, like we talked about, and it's all encompassing. This whole, this whole podcast comes full circle here with what we talked about at the beginning with Sean Peyton kind of going into the cutesy bag of tricks. This, this ain't no episode of Barney. We ain't looking in the Barney bag to see what we can see today. I mean, this is the NFL where you get your best players, your playmakers, the ball and the guys that you invested in in the draft, give them opportunities. Sean Payton's own philosophy is that confidence is born from demonstrated ability. Well, RJ Harvey can't demonstrate ability if you're giving a screen pass to Jal McLaughlin or if you're giving a full-back dive to Adam Prentice.

Starting point is 00:30:53 Let your best players and your highest draft picks go out there and do their thing. Use your two backs, plain and simple. There's a reason you sign J.K. There's a reason you drafted RJ. Those guys should get the exclusive first touches. And once again, the only way to do that, get JK going one series. He's going to fill that rhythm. Bring in RJ the next series.

Starting point is 00:31:12 Like we've seen good teams do that. I mean, even the Broncos back in Super Bowl 50 era, like when they had CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman, CJ was the bowling ball guy. He'd get a series. And then on the next series, guess what? They'd come out and they'd bring out Ronnie Hillman, who would just explode and get these big time yards and chunks. And it's like, that's the combination to having success. And we have a defense the way that Denver has a defense.

Starting point is 00:31:33 Man, if you just have that effective, consistent run game, you know what it does for your quarterback? It does everything. You think Brock Osweiler would have had the success he had if Denver couldn't run the ball with CJ and Ronnie? No, it would have been ugly. The Broncos probably would have missed the playoffs in that stretch where Peyton was out there. So it's just, it's frustrating to see just, I'd say the word here. We're frustrated with the inconsistency.

Starting point is 00:31:54 I think fans are as well. Broncos country, we want to hear from you as always here on today's episode of the show. all you every dayers, we're going to be back at the practice field. Obviously, the Broncos are out here today. They obviously have a practice on Thursday and Friday. What's the latest news coming out there? If there's anything big or breaking, you'll get that here on the show. But for all you every dayers, here's what you can expect on tomorrow show.

Starting point is 00:32:13 Sir, he sits down with a lovely Patricia Trina of Lockdown Giants to preview this juggernaut matchup between that Giants defensive front against this Broncos offensive has some questions going into this week. Make sure you tune in a crossover Thursday tomorrow on Lockdown Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - DILEMMA: Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton in His Own Way?

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