Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - GO TIME: Denver Broncos REVENGE TOUR Begins vs. Buffalo Bills

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is go time. The Denver Broncos have the perfect opportunity to go on a revenge tour as they now host the Buffalo Bills in the division round of the NFL playoffs. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. The Denver Broncos are now preparing for a playoff matchup, a rematch from last year's NFL playoffs against the Buffalo Bills. This time around, Josh Allen and company have to come to the mile high. City. Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Debra Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day, the number one sports podcast network in the country. All thanks to you every dayers out there. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:00:49 However, you choose to do so, we waited all weekend for the Debra Broncos to figure out who they're going to play. And now we know the Buffalo Bills will go on and highlight while the Broncos matchup on Saturday against Buffalo could be the start of a revenge tour for them here as they look to it to Super Bowl 60. We'll also talk about the fact that the Broncos are getting healthy at the right time with the key number of players in line to return for Saturday's game against Buffalo. And then we'll go through how the Broncos can learn from last year's playoff loss against the bills. We also hear from Sean Peyton and Pat Surtan. You get all that here on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Fandu is officially in playoff mode. Every game during the NFL playoffs, Fandu is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action. visit fandual.com to get started. I'm Cody Rourke, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Stuart is always by Sarah Bettinger, site expert, predominantly orange.com. Sarah, what a weekend of NFL playoff games. We heard all the narratives, oh, it's going to be so boring this year without no Joe Burrow, no Lamar Jackson, no Patchma Holmes.

Starting point is 00:01:53 I felt like it was the most entertaining slate of playoff games that we've seen in the last three or four years. It lived up to the hype. And now we officially know who the Denver Broncos is going to be playing. and they're going to be playing on Saturday. The Buffalo Bills come into the Mile High City on Saturday for a little playoff revenge rematch for the Denver Broncos. You know what, Cody, you mentioned our friends over there at Fandu.

Starting point is 00:02:15 Very interesting. The Buffalo Bills have the highest odds of any AFC team to win the Super Bowl. So after their win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wildcard round, which was an absolutely stellar weekend of football from start to finish, the Buffalo Bills are the team that everybody's buying into. It's like everybody all of a sudden all at once decided, oh, hey, that's right. The bills have Josh Allen as their quarterback and he's capable of doing MVP things. Go figure the MVP of the NFL last year.

Starting point is 00:02:47 So I think when we talked about this last week and talking about who do we want the Broncos to face, you and I both kind of agreed don't really care. It doesn't really matter. The Broncos are playing at home and you feel like it's going to be a tough road no matter what. but I think also at the same time, we all kind of agreed, well, you'd rather not have to face Josh Allen in your first game if you don't have to, but here we are. There's no rest for the weary.

Starting point is 00:03:09 The Broncos, they are going to get the toughest test, I believe, left in the AFC right now. Josh Allen coming to the Mile High City, it is absolutely on after last year's blowout loss in Buffalo. I think the Broncos, Cody, they're going to be looking out for a little bit of revenge. Yeah, this is the perfect opportunity for Denver to go on a revenge tour, so to speak, here. And it all culminated with last year's loss. As you mentioned, Denver made it back to the postseason for the first time in nine years last year.

Starting point is 00:03:34 After winning that last week, 18, regular season game against the Chiefs who had played all their backups in that game. But you know what Denver got into the dance. And that's what we said last year. Hey, find a way, punch your ticket, get an invite and then anything can happen. And unfortunately, Denver's season fell short. And I think you look at these two teams now, Sarah, just early on. Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Yes, they have Josh Allen. Josh Allen is a machine. And I think we saw that, obviously, in Sunday's game against the Jaguars, where they went on the road and beat them there. They have a little bit of a run, like the storylines for Buffalo. It's almost trying to be like a little destiny run for them. And the Broncos have a chance to play the revenge spoiler to them as well. And I'm very curious to see what the storylines are going to be this week. But these are two different teams compared to when they first met up last season, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And I think so many people are also forgetting the Broncos going on the road a couple of years ago and beating the bills. and Josh Allen on Monday night football. It's not like the bills have had the Broncos number in any way, shape, or form like that. But it's like, hey, we just, we forget that even during a rough Russell Wilson year with Sean Peyton, the Broncos still went on the road there and beat the bills. And now I think Denver is just a better team right now offensively, defensively, and even on special teams than they were in 2023. I think certainly than they were last year as well, though you want there to be improvement

Starting point is 00:04:52 in a lot of key areas here where it's going to require your best effort. The reality of this game, though, sir, I think early on, it's exciting because you win this game, you're going to the AFC championship game. You're hosting it if it is Denver. So the stakes are massively high for both teams here. I'm really excited about how this is going to go. And look, this is a matchup too, Sarah. Josh Allen, tough his nails. Dude is going to be banged up coming in this game.

Starting point is 00:05:16 They're also probably going to be without Gabe Davis, who suffered a really, really scary injury to his lower leg, obviously in their win against the Jaguars. they are a little shorthanded at wide receiver. This has a chance to play into the Broncos hands a little bit. It does. I mean, the bills are not necessarily the best team in the NFL or the AFC, as we've seen throughout the course of this season. But they do have guys who have been in these big games before, especially obviously Josh Allen,

Starting point is 00:05:42 who just won his eighth playoff game, right? So he's definitely battle tested. He is ready to go out there and do whatever needs to be done in order to will his team to the finish line, to victory. And it's going to take all four quarters, all 60 minutes to beat a guy like this. I mean, that's that's the reality. I mean, it's it's not the final boss, but it kind of feels like it, right?

Starting point is 00:06:04 It feels like you're going up against somebody who, okay, like you said, team of destiny this year, like this is Josh Allen's year, all the other quarterbacks, the Mahomes, the you know, the Lamar Jackson's, the Joe Burroughs, they're not in the way for him. There's no excuses. Sean McDermott's job is on the line. Like there's so many things going on for that team that. you kind of get the impression that the Broncos are going to have to play the role of stopper.

Starting point is 00:06:28 Not to mention the fact that the Broncos are only one and a half point home favorites, which we know. I mean, typically the home team is getting two and a half, three and a half points. So I think it's going to swing in favor of Buffalo as the week goes along. So we need to see the overdog Denver Broncos in this game, Cody. And I'm excited for that. Look, there's bulletin board material galore. Nobody really seems to think the Broncos are going to do anything. I saw like a Fox Sports power ranking out there that had the Broncos as like the seventh best team in the entire playoff picture.

Starting point is 00:06:59 And teams who lost this weekend were ahead of them. So I just think it's funny how this team is perceived. Everybody always likes to talk about how football is a team sport when you're talking about Justin Herbert and how he's dragging everybody around out there and, you know, struggling so bad. But they don't like to talk about how it's a team sport when it comes to the Denver Broncos, who have been one of the best teams in the league this year. And they find ways to, I'd say this is a gritty, resilient Broncos team. They're tough, right?

Starting point is 00:07:28 They've been battle tested. That's what I like about this team, I think coming into this matchup here. And yes, it's early, this is going to be a tough test for Denver. But you know what? Like I was also thinking about this as well as we were pondering all the different scenarios. You know, a lot of fans are like, you know, hopefully you don't have to play Buffalo. And in my opinion, it's like, Sarah, it's the playoffs. In order to get to the Super Bowl, you're going to play some really good teams.

Starting point is 00:07:48 You're going to be some really good teams. So why not rise up? to the challenge. Players are excited about it. And I can tell you this. There's some motivation from last year's playoff loss. I've talked to a handful of players this year inside the Broncos locker room. And the one thing they told me is that loss does not

Starting point is 00:08:04 sit well with someone. And they're like, we had a really bad taste in her mouth after that game. Because think about it, Denver got off to a hot star. I mean, you go up 7-0 early on. It's like, whoa, could the Broncos actually do this? And then they couldn't sustain the momentum. Receivers struggle with drops, which has been a problem for Denver this year.

Starting point is 00:08:20 Hopefully it's the opposite. of that when the playoffs come around, right? Because this is it. You know, it is win or go home. The stakes are high. It's do or die as players have been pointing out. So this is a huge big time matchup that we all know is going to take place on Saturday. Sarah, the time that we do not know the official time just yet. It could either be 2.30 p.m. Mountain time or it could end up being 6 o'clock p.m. Mountain time. That'll be announced officially. I think after Monday night football in the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers wrap up their matchup there, so to speak. But we do know Denver versus Buffalo. We just don't know what time it is just yet here. I'm excited about this. And look, we're going to have you covered all week long here with previews, key storylines and updates, including the Broncos getting healthy at the right time just before the NFL playoffs. As Sean Peyton says players like Drake Greenlaw and some others could be ready to return for Saturday's playoff matchup. We'll break all that down here on today's episode of the show. Today's lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you by friends over there at

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Starting point is 00:11:10 a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Guess who's back back again? You forgot about Dre in the AFC divisional round, the Denver Broncos. I think I mixed up those songs there, Cody. Obviously, you know what? It's mixing two greats all time in the rap department. But you know what? You get the point in Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:11:30 Dre Greenlaw could be back for this game. We expect him to be back. And we expect him to be absolutely delivering the devastating blows and filling that hole that the Denver Broncos show that they had against Buffalo in the playoffs last year. Broncos country where we're going to break down every single aspect of this matchup and talk about some key players coming back from injury. But first, I want to say thank you to every single one of you that makes lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day every single day.

Starting point is 00:11:56 If you haven't already done so, Cody and I would love to invite you to join the Every Day or All Access Club. You get so much bonus content, ad free episodes of the show. And during the off season, we're going to have plenty of stuff for you coming up. But before that, we hope for a lot of Super Bowl coverage for this Denver Broncos team. We'll see what the week brings. But Cody, obviously, you know, nowadays everybody want to talk. I can get back on track here, right? I mean, like they got something to say.

Starting point is 00:12:23 Nothing comes out when you move your lips, right? That's the thing. That's the song that I was going for there. But guess who's back is fitting because Drey Greenlaw, he's going to be back out there on the field, hopefully for the Denver Broncos here wreaking havoc for that defense against the Buffalo Bills. Oh, you forgot about Drey.

Starting point is 00:12:38 I was going to say, I mean, I knew exactly where you were going with that. I think so many of our listeners will relate to that as well. Great line there. But yes, Drey Greenlaw trending towards being. back here. Now, Sarah, obviously last Friday, the Broncos held a little bit of an impromptu, competitive, not official practice. You know, we were out there briefly. We got to be there for the shooting period. And then obviously, we've got to talk to Sean Payton afterwards. You're going to hear from Sean a little bit later on here. But we did see Drake Greenlaw out there for the Broncos. Now,

Starting point is 00:13:09 they only had two players that were on the side field there. And that was Drake Greenlaw, as he's working his way back from a hamstring injury. And tight-in Lucas Crowell, who I imagine this week, his 21-day window is going to begin. And the same thing for another player that many people in Broncos country have been asking about. And that is Drew Sanders. He is expected to practice this week. And now obviously with a Saturday schedule, the Broncos will practice more than likely Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, walkthrough, Saturday kickoff here.

Starting point is 00:13:40 And getting some guys back healthy at the right time. We haven't seen Drew anywhere except the sidefield as of late. But he is expected to be back on the first. here this week, which opens up his 20-day window. And it doesn't really put any pressure on the Broncos, sir, to do anything from a roster standpoint or to make any moves right now. So they're in a very good spot here, I'd say, going into the playoffs, whereas the Buffalo Bills are a little bit banged up here.

Starting point is 00:14:04 Man, that's kind of one of the benefits of having this by week, right, is you got to watch all these other teams beat each other up. And really, especially so when it comes to the AFC games, right? I mean, we saw just how physical that Buffalo Jacksonville game was. And then, I mean, maybe 10 times as much when we were watching the Chargers go up against the New England Patriots, at least watching those quarterbacks get beat up out there, Cody. I saw Justin Herbert twisted in ways that made Andrew Luck cringe somewhere out in Stanford. But I think that this game really, when you get these players back from injury or you bring them back into the practice field for their windows opening up, like for Drew Sanders specifically,

Starting point is 00:14:43 this gives him an on ramp into the off season to be able to say, you know, But I got some practices in. They don't necessarily have to activate him to the 53-man roster. But let's say they do make it to the AFC championship game. They have an injury at the linebacker position or they need somebody to step up on special teams. Hey, Drew might be able to come play for you or the Super Bowl, which is really the deadline for him to come back at this point with this 21-day window. You can decide before the Super Bowl, do we need an extra body out there? it just gives you that ultimate flexibility to get his window moving.

Starting point is 00:15:18 And so I like that from the Broncos perspective. And I also like the fact that, you know, there's this, the coy way that Sean Payton talked about J.K. Dobbins at his press conference and media availability over the weekend. I know you were there, Cody. I know you were asking questions and we're going to get to hear some of the answers to your questions a little bit later in the show. But I was very interested by the fact that, you know, Sean, he's he's keeping it close to the vest with. J.K. Dobbins, but they will not say when, if, or, you know, what we can expect with him, I'll be very interested to see when the Broncos do take the practice field on Tuesday. What's his status? Is the window opening up? What's going to happen there?

Starting point is 00:15:59 That will be exciting if it is, right? But obviously, Denver, you know, there's, you got to approach that with some cautiousness, I would say, when it comes to J.K. I'll get out here in a minute. But also, I think a little bit of an update to the rules, because I just found this out this week, right? The NFL has so many dang rules. rules when it comes to rosters, guys returning. You can have, I think, two guys return in the postseason off of IR, so to speak, there. But for me, I found out a rule that essentially the biweek did essentially count as a game for any player that is on IR. So that's obviously good news for a guy like Luke Wattenberg, who was put on IR initially, right?

Starting point is 00:16:34 Instead of them having to miss four exact games, the biweek essentially did count as a game. So I'll be curious to see. We have not found out anything official on Brandon Jones, whether it's a season ending one. You know, he was there at the game last week, hyping up Riley Moss. JK was at the game last week going on the field, talking to former Chargers, teammates, and Chargers coaches. So for me, I'm just very curious to see what this looks like. And obviously, if they return to the field, great. The thing with JK is you just have to be very careful.

Starting point is 00:17:05 Like this is a little bit of a gamble for him, so to speak. Now, I know technology has made some advancements, obviously, in this side of things, because, you know, when you have a LISFRAK injury, they do have special foot insoles that they could put inside cleats that provide more support, more stability. But J.K. runs the risk, like a LISFranc injury is already an arthritis risk as is, right, having that type of operation. But you're also twice as likely after having surgery, if you come back too soon from it, you're twice as likely to have a re-rpture or obviously, you know, another break of that.

Starting point is 00:17:36 And that obviously is far more painful. And that would obviously create a very rough timeline for him. for J-KK, I understand his positioning. He's trying to get a contract extension. He's trying to showcase that he can be, you know, a very pivotal piece. And I think he can hear in the mile high speed. The only hang up, though, Sarah, is obviously the injury. It wasn't his fault that he got injured.

Starting point is 00:17:56 But once again, we know the NFL business. And he's missed some time, obviously, with the injury to the points like, do you mess with the rotation in the running back room right now that is just still kind of uncertain as is? These are the questions I think we have here early on here in the week. Well, and the tough thing is, too, with any of these guys coming back from injury is, is how ready for game speed will they be? I mean,

Starting point is 00:18:17 ideally, I think you'd like to have had these guys back for a couple of weeks already to kind of be in the full groove of things. So, I mean, I'm not saying that they can't come back and make them, like in Dobbins case, for example,

Starting point is 00:18:30 make a miraculous come back and get onto the field and make a huge impact on the game. But what I am saying is maybe even if that does happen, which we think is probably unlikely based on the nation, of the injury, but let's say that it does happen, maybe tempering the expectations of how much he's going to be used or leaned on because of the fact that, all right, he's just coming back, you know, so you want him to help. And I think that's the thing that the Broncos really have to weigh and to balance with this is like, who's really ready to come back and play? And who would be

Starting point is 00:19:04 more, you know, in that really ready category for the AFC championship game? And of course, that's the double-edged sword, isn't it? Because you need to get to the AFC championship game and you need the help to get there. But at the same time, if it comes at the cost of these guys to get there, then you have yourself another problem on your hand. So I don't know, I'm all for the optimism and I'm all for the, you know, the storyline of, you know, Mighty Ducks D3, Dean Portman comes at halftime. And he's like, Dean Portman, you know, he comes in and the Bash brothers are back. and all of a sudden the vibes are just viking, and everybody is like at this momentum, right? That's what you want to have when these injured guys are coming back

Starting point is 00:19:45 is those vibes vibing. But man, if it comes at the expense of their long term, that would be a problem for sure. Yeah, man. So Denver's going to have to weigh everything. Obviously, in terms of, you know, what's the risk versus the reward? Is it worth it for us as a team from the player standpoint?

Starting point is 00:20:01 Are we protecting the player from himself, so to speak? Those are things that you have to ponder here if you were Sean Pays. and his coaching staff and obviously the medical staff, Bo Lowry. And I even say another thing as well, just keeping on Dre Greenlaw all week as he's anticipated to return to practice. I will say, let's give an update on the players who left the game against the chargers

Starting point is 00:20:21 with an injury or got banged up. Alex Forsyth was at Friday's impromptu practice, as was Garrett Bowles. Those guys were fine. And PJ Locke, who left that game and did not return. PJ was the only player who didn't return in that week 18 game against LA. He was on the field as well.

Starting point is 00:20:35 So we'll have you covered here all week. long, locked on Broncos. I'll be out there at Broncos practice all week as the playoffs are here, Broncos country. We're excited about it. Make sure you stay locked in here as well. But we're going to go through and we're going to hear from Sean Payton and Pat Sertanis, how Denver can learn from last year's playoff game and the loss that they had against the Buffalo Bills. We'll hear from them and more here on today's episode of the show. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at Fand duel. The wild card round was exciting. And now we're approaching the NFL divisional playoffs and Fandu is officially in playoff mode because every game day during the NFL

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Starting point is 00:22:12 that saw the Broncos fall in dramatic fashion, unfortunately getting blown out on the road by Josh Allen, James Cook, and the bills. The Broncos, they're hoping to change that result here, and they're going to face a little bit of a tough test as well here. But Sarah, I mentioned it earlier here on the show about how players have used that loss against the bills. That's kind of been fuel for them.

Starting point is 00:22:32 So many of those guys in that locker room, that it's been fuel. Now think about it this way. Outside of Mike McClintchy, Mike McGlinchy last year was the most experienced guy in the playoffs. When you talk about that playoff experience besides Sean Payton, right? It's only like those two guys where everyone's sitting around the campfire hearing them tell stories about being in the postseason. They're like, wait, I want to experience that. Well, guess what they did? It wasn't the experience that they wanted. So that's create a little bit of fuel and a little bit of hunger inside of this team that I think as we look at 2024 and now we look at 2025 to say different Broncos

Starting point is 00:23:04 team. And there was a lot that they can learn from last year's loss to the Buffalo Bills. And I think one of the biggest things that we learned from that game is at least for a half, they belonged, right? I mean, Sean Payton said that after the game, didn't he? He's like, I mean, in the first half, I felt like we belonged. And then second half, you know, the bills just kind of ran away with it. And that's just one thing that leads to another, right? And it's those self-inflicted wounds. It's giving up big plays that you shouldn't be. And so it's just this Broncos team, they've undoubtedly learned. We've seen last season, Cody, what were they?

Starting point is 00:23:38 One and six in one score games or something like that. And this year, obviously, they won 11, one score games, which I know some of those quote unquote one score games were, you know, games or teams scored garbage time points, things like that. But they're much better situationally is the point than they were last season. So they've already flipped the script. How can they do that in a big game? Well, that's why you go big game hunting and free agency.

Starting point is 00:24:01 you bring in Tallanoa Hufanga, you bring in Dre Greenlaw, you bring in guys who have played in big time playoff games, played in the Super Bowl, frankly. So that's what I'm excited about is to see how they respond to obviously now being in a similar situation, but now doing it in front of your home fans. Yeah, Denver lost that game last year, 31 to 7 on the road at Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:24:23 And I think some of the things that stood out is they could not find a way to stop James Cook. He had 120 yards rushing, but collectively Buffalo ran for over 200 yards. against Denver. Defensively, Denver struggled on third down. They allowed Buffalo to convert 8 of 15 on third down plays there. And I also think, once again, you go to the red zone. I mean, the Broncos, they actually tightened up there. In that game where you lose 31 to 7, you hold the bills to 1 of 5 in the red zone and you lose like that. It's crazy. So the difference

Starting point is 00:24:50 was things got away, right? Right before halftime, Will Lutz misses a field goal coming out. I mean, the Broncos just couldn't get off the field against Buffalo who dominated the time of possession, 41 minutes and 43 seconds to Denver's 18. So Denver's going to have to avoid the drops on the offensive side of the ball. You know, I asked Sean on Friday, and Sean was in a great mood. I mean, he gave us, what, 27 minutes of conversation? It's like Sean held his own episode of Lockdown Broncos with how long he went. But I asked him, you know, what he feels like he and the team could have learned from last year's experience being on the road at Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:25:26 Here's what he had to say. Well, I think it's short. It's a three-hour game. You know, when you play the games, man, you want to get out and start fast. I think, you know, you lose a game like last year in Buffalo and it's cold and you're up there. And you're like, we've got to figure out how to play this game at home. You know, that's one of the things that went through my mind in Chicago in 2006. We lost the NFC championship game.

Starting point is 00:25:56 It was like minus 20 degrees. And we were beyond that, like, dome tag team. We had one on the road in a number of cold weather games. But nonetheless, how do you play these important ones at home, and you guys have been a part of it? And so, man, knock on wood, we've been able to put ourselves in a position to play these real important games, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:20 in a tough environment for our opponent. But it is a... it's a quick game. It's three hours. And so ball security, that, you know, all the, all the things that we, that we harp on can be the difference between winning and losing. And it is going to be that, right? You can't have those self-inflicted wounds, especially playing out. If you want to play clean football, the Broncos have to be better at executing in the red zone against a team like, you know, the Josh Allen led Buffalo

Starting point is 00:26:56 bills. You can't be settling for field goals in the red zone, Cody. You got to get those touchdowns. But at the same time, you watch a game like the New England and Los Angeles Chargers game and you're like, shoot, I mean, at least take the field goals, right? So don't necessarily be going for it on every fourth down when you get down inside the tight red zone. But you have those opportunities. The Broncos were so good at that in the first half of the season, top 10 in the NFL at Red Zone conversion percentage. And then it dropped off, you know, over the course of the year just kind of got tougher as the year went along for them to finish those drives, especially against the teams that we saw later in the season. So I'm excited for them to

Starting point is 00:27:35 flip the script on that. And I believe that they can't. This is a Buffalo defense that's been susceptible this year. Obviously, they've played in big games as well, but you expect the Broncos to be ready, given the amount of rest they had and given the amount of time that they've had to sort of on the things that maybe they needed to work on after that finished of the 2025 regular season. Yeah, you want to find a way to just kind of bounce back from that, right? Because coming out of the initial buy, Denver came out flat against the Washington commanders. And then we've just kind of seen some ups and downs from the defense. You know, the offense at times has been good. But once again, we talk about the consistency factor. Denver has to play their best brand of football from here on out. You know, some of the things that got you by in the regular season might not get you by in the playoffs. You know what? We believe in Mile High Magic. We see it all the time here as the Broncos get ready to face off against a very tough. and talented Buffalo Bills team that obviously is very hungry. The Broncos are hungry. Who wants them more?

Starting point is 00:28:31 I think that's what's exciting as well. I also asked Pastor Tan, the same exact thing. And look, I thought Pat gave me a pretty great detailed answer as to, you know, what people can learn and kind of put the reality in perspective. Look, Denver's got three games left, but only one of them, Sarah, is guaranteed it is do or die. Here's what Pastor Tan had to say on Friday. It's a tournament for a reason, you know, is do or die.

Starting point is 00:28:52 And I think last year, obviously, it was our, you know, first taste of it, you know, going into the playoffs, obviously as a wildcard team. But now we got home field advantage, which is different. But it also reminds me, you know, to not take anything for granted, you know, I mean, because, you know, it's football at the end of the day, NFL football. So we got to definitely prep the right way, prepare the right way. And I take this thing for granted. I mean, because, you know, early on we talked about it. This is probably the last time that this whole team is going to be together, knowing how the league works.

Starting point is 00:29:30 So I feel like for this moment here, for all the marbles and stuff like that, we all got to buy in and understand that. If it's the last time they're going to be together, Cody, then might as well go win the whole dang thing, right? That's what I'm saying. I mean, that was kind of the mentality, I think, of that 2015 team, right? They knew that that was going to be the last time that many of them were playing together. Peyton, I think, knew that it was going to be his last year in the N.

Starting point is 00:29:52 NFL, right? And so you had that team rallying around that idea that like, hey, it's, it's once and for all. And so let's go, let's go get it. Let's go get this thing together. And I'm excited to see how they galvanize for this game. It's, it's the biggest Broncos football game in, in 10 years. And there's no question about that. I know we've had some huge games that the Broncos have won in the last 10 years. But shoot, I mean, when it comes to the anticipation, playing a home playoff game at mile high, you know, you're in front of the home crowd. You got the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen, the reigning MVP coming to town. It doesn't get bigger than that.

Starting point is 00:30:29 Yeah, this hasn't happened since 2015. The last time the Broncos hosted a home playoff game is against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the division around. They want on to face the New England Patriots at home in Denver in the AFC championship. And ultimately, they won that one. And it took them all the way to Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50. And the destination is the same. There's a real distinct chance that could.

Starting point is 00:30:50 obviously take place here for the Broncos, not against the Steelers, but potentially against the New England Patriots and that road to Santa Clara is what we have our eye on here. As I mentioned, three games, only one's guaranteed. The Broncos, all they have is Saturday against the bills. And we'll keep you covered all week long here. Locked on Broncos, you get a Broncos squad show previewing the game as well. On top of that, you'll get a crossover playoff preview with Joe Marino of locked on bills. We'll sit down with him and we'll discuss this matchup from every angle.

Starting point is 00:31:17 We'll keep it posted with some of the key storylines coming out of practice who's on the field who's not and so much more and on top of that make sure be coming every day or join the all access every day or tier part of the every day or club here where you get access to all 22 film breakdowns we got one dropping this week on bow nix's getting sacked four times by the chargers what happened was that an offensive line issue on top of that you get a free daily newsletter version of the show and add free episode of lockdown broncos as well in terms of your listening experience and so much more sarah and i we got you covered every step of the way Stay locked in.

Starting point is 00:31:50 We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new episode. Locked on Broncos.

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