Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - RETURN: Denver Broncos Defense BOOSTED by Justin Strnad's Return

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are likely going to be without Drake Greenland this week, but you know what? They got Justin Stern ad back, and that's going to be big for the Broncos defense on Thursday night football. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Merry Christmas Eve, everyone in Brockos Country. Welcome into another episode with Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the country. Thank you, all the everydayers out there for tuning in, making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:00:38 However, you choose to do so. Broncos Country always comes up clutch for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis and more. This is the place to be. I'm Cody Rourke, credentialed Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Join as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. We got a lot to break down here on today's Christmas Eve episode of the show. Ho, ho, ho, ho. Anyway, Bronco's Country.

Starting point is 00:01:01 I have a little fun here today. Today's episode of show, obviously, is brought to you by our friends over there. at price picks. Download the price picks out today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups. If you play your first $5 lineup, and we'll go through Justin Sternod returning here to the field this week as the Broncos are banged up at linebacker or potentially more than likely trending to be without Dray Greenlaw. We'll tell you why turnovers and takeaways have to be paramount on Thursday night against a third-string quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. And then we're going to highlight the six Broncos that were named to the NFL Pro Bowl games all on today's show.

Starting point is 00:01:32 Sir, very Christmas Eve, brother. And now, obviously to everyone out there, and Broncos country. Very excited that, you know, 24 hours from now, we'll be talking about a Broncos game and hopefully a Broncos win on the road here. But in order to get there, the Broncos banged up, as we talked about this week on the injury report, likely set to be without a few key players this week.

Starting point is 00:01:53 Yeah, Cody, you know, it is the most wonderful time of year, although in the NFL, this is about the time of year when the players around the league, they start to get banged up. I mean, I think every team around the NFL is dealing with a number of injuries at this point, especially the Denver Broncos right now, who typically haven't been dealing with a ton of injuries, which is nice, but at the same time, you don't want them to start coming in droves at the worst possible time, right? And it is going to be a bit of a white Christmas too, Cody. I wanted to just throw that in there because the Broncos are

Starting point is 00:02:23 going to be rocking the all-white uniforms, the white out against the Kansas City Chiefs. Really cool uniforms. I love, I don't know what your thoughts are on the all-white uniforms. I am bum that we're not going to see the full roster in them. However, man, those things are clean. I know I saw a lot of people saying like, oh, well, all white uniforms are overplayed. Everybody has one. Guess what? The Denver Broncos, I've never had one.

Starting point is 00:02:45 They just got their white helmets for the first time last year. And now, you know, we get to see them debut those all summit white uniforms. But you're right. I mean, Drey Greenlaw trending towards not playing. So it's Justinod to the rescue. And what's funny about that is, is that you and I had kind of talked previously, both on and off the air. like it didn't seem like Justin was going to play either. We were thinking it was going to be Jordan Turner or somebody else there next to Alex Singleton.

Starting point is 00:03:11 Yeah, it was a little dicey coming into the week. And then Monday's estimated injury report came out and is like Sternad, full participants. Like, whoa, okay, hey, all right. Now, suddenly I'm not feeling as anxious or worried here. I think Sternat has been such a valuable part to Denver's defense, Sarah, this year. I think that there's a strong argument that he should have been a starter all season long. Now, who would he step in for? That's a great question here.

Starting point is 00:03:33 but yeah, Denver likely going to be without Dre Greenlaw. We did not see him on Tuesday. He's unlikely to practice on Wednesday. Denver's not really holding a practice. They'll hold a walkthrough on Wednesday. And then they're flying to Kansas City. So we'll get the final injury report here today from this team. I do not expect Dre Greenlaw to play.

Starting point is 00:03:51 But it was also reported by our good friend, Luca Evans, so I have the privilege of seeing every day. Really, really cool young man. He's not expected to land on IR, Dre is. But that doesn't give us a real definitive timeline as to maybe how long Dre is going to be out. Justin Sternad's return comes at the right time. And I had a chance to talk to him inside the locker room on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:04:09 He says he's feeling much better, you know, even reflected on the play a little bit. It's just like one of those things that, you know, shouldn't have happened, you know, that he, what was it, the Packers player grabbed Mitchell Fiboney by the face mask and like pulled him down. And that led to him getting leg whipped. So luckily Justin's okay. He's set to start alongside Alex Singleton on Thursday. So I don't feel as worried now about linebacker as I did. I would say maybe on Monday before the initial.

Starting point is 00:04:33 estimated injury report came out. But I definitely think another big one to keep an eye on here, Sarah is Luke Wattonberg, who showed up as a surprise a little bit on Monday's injury report, played through the entire game on Sunday against the Jaguars. When we're out at practice, he was not on the field. Saw him in the locker room. And I'm just going to say it probably is not looking likely he's going to play. So I think we're going to expect maybe an Alex Forsyth starting at center this week. And maybe Calvin Throckmorton backing him up here for the Broncos on Thursday. Very interesting.

Starting point is 00:05:04 And how about a redemption shot for Alex Forsyth, right, in Kansas City? Because remember the last time the Broncos played in Kansas City, he was the guy that everybody was talking about after the game. Because when you have that blocked field goal, you're not looking at, I think it was 54 for the Chiefs who blocked it, Leo Chanel. And so you're looking at 54 for both teams on that particular play, right? And you're saying, hey, 54 blocked the kick. How did he do it?

Starting point is 00:05:30 well, he just steamrolled 54 in orange and blue, right? And that's Alex Forsyth. And that was a tough play for him. So maybe if there was an opportunity for him to get to go back out there for, I believe it's first start of this season. Cody, you correct? Yeah. On that one, what a time. I mean, a redemption opportunity for Alex Forsyth, not maybe the storyline that's going to be stealing all the headlines, but I think something to be monitoring there as you talk about, hey, last year, that bad taste in your mouth against Kansas City. Everybody's blaming you for that law. Everybody's blaming you for the blocked field goal and then digging up all the other field goals throughout the season to see, hey, what happened on the other Will Lutz misses or what happened on any other block kicks? And everybody's pointing out, look at 54 on this play. I'm as guilty as anyone, Cody, of being ticked off at Forsyth for that play.

Starting point is 00:06:18 But at the same time, look, let's get this guy shot at redemption. We know he can run block. And if the Broncos can get that run game going against Kansas City, you're going to be able to dominate, I think, this whole game. And I think that moment really kind of overshadowed when he did start for, you know, a handful of games while Luke Wattenberg was injured last year. Man, he was so good at center. You didn't have any bad snap exchanges. You didn't have any kind of high snaps, low snaps. You know, pass protection was really good from him.

Starting point is 00:06:43 And also the run blocking, as you mentioned, because, I mean, he's a very, very smart player. He's physical. He understands the appropriate angles to take to seal off certain defenders to open up lanes right there. And look, I'd say one thing that's helped him out after every practice. he and Zach Allen, they do one-on-one pass-rush sets against each other to make him better. And I just think to Alex, once again, a great guy. I love talking to him in the locker room. I think he's ready for this here.

Starting point is 00:07:08 And we'll obviously see that on Thursday night football. But no Nate Adkins for the Broncos during Tuesday's practice and unlikely he's going to play. And I'm curious today, Sarah, if the Broncos end up placing him on injured reserve because they have to make some roster moves in the next 24 hours. Obviously, with the game against KC. You have to figure out who your elevations are from the practice squad for this game. If he is going on iron, now you have to figure out who's taking over that spot on 53. Could it be Kareni Reed or is it going to be veteran Mercedes-Lewis some options here for Denver, but also one the way.

Starting point is 00:07:37 You also have Adam Prentice, who's certainly done a really good job filling in at that role as well when Atkins was initially out with the knee injury. And obviously, no Pat Bryant as he goes through concussion protocol. I think Denver's in a good spot. I mean, I think right now it's tough. Anytime you have a short week, sir, certainly to prepare. But the chiefs have the same disadvantage right now of, hey, you just played a game and now you got to come and prepare and play another game in such a short turnaround.

Starting point is 00:08:01 I'm very curious to see how the Broncos respond, but I would say the vibe in the locker room, these guys are not overlooked in Kansas City. They acknowledge, yeah, it's different without Mahomes, but they still have all pros that are playing on the offensive line, on the defensive side of the ball. They got guys that are very capable of doing damage. So Denver's not overlooking this team. You know, what's interesting to me, Cody, just to circle it all back with the Justin Sernod conversation is I feel like we saw the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:08:25 And I know that post by it has not we're not I'm not going to sit here and try to act like, Hey, Drey Greenlaw had every reason to do with the Broncos post by, you know, defensive struggles. I'm not saying that by any means. But what I will say is that I think that Vance Joseph made a comment in his interview with Peter Schrager about the fact that Dre Greenlaw's snap count wasn't necessarily only limited by his physical, you know, hey, he's trying to get back. He's working his way back health wise. It was schematic as well as, you know, getting up to speed.

Starting point is 00:08:55 on the defense. And I don't think it's any coincidence that Justin Sarnat, who's been in the defense for a couple years now, has maybe an upper hand in that aspect of things. And maybe why the defense was humming a little bit, why he was able to play at such a high level when he was out there with Singleton and that defense was really rolling against a lot of different teams. And so that to me is an encouraging thing that he's going to play in this game or potentially, I mean, a full participant for two days. It felt like when we saw him as a full on the Monday that the Broncos were making no bones about it. Like, this guy's playing.

Starting point is 00:09:29 They don't have to, you know, they could say, maybe he's a little limited in this day. He's making his way back. No, they stamped it as full on a day that didn't even have practice. So I think, Sternad, with that ability to run this defense or that experience in this defense, that could be a huge asset for this Broncos defense in this particular game. Yeah, and I'm excited to see how he and Alex Simuthson

Starting point is 00:09:51 and obviously work alongside one of those guys are so close on and off the field. You know, Justin, like I said, I think has been such a very important under the radar piece for Denver's defense for a large portion of this season. So he returns on Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs. And Broncos country will tell you why the turnovers and takeaways that the Broncos must avoid and must create are going to be paramount. And that has to be cleaned up against Kansas City on Thursday. We'll break it all down here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode, the show is brought to you by friends over there at prize picks. The holiday season is one of the best times in sports.

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Starting point is 00:11:33 Number one, turnovers on offense. And number two, takeaways on defense. Cody and are going to tell you exactly why that is and what has to change for this game in order for the Broncos to get win number 13. But Broncos country, thank you so much for making lockdown Broncos. You are first listening of the day every single day. And you know what, this Christmas season, give yourself the gift of becoming a member of the every day or All Access Club here at Lockdown Broncos.

Starting point is 00:11:57 Cody just recently uploaded some clips from the locker room, which you're going to get with the All Access Club. You're going to get all 22 looks. And you know what, Cody and I have already been brainstorming some future content that we're going to do. We have our coffee talk episodes of the show and plenty of stuff upcoming for the off season, which we know it's a long ways away at this point, but we're dreaming about it already. So sign up. Link is in the show notes as well.

Starting point is 00:12:21 Cody, let's talk about a couple things that need to get cleaned up here for the Broncos against the Chiefs. I think, of course, you look at that Jaguars game, right? And you're sitting there thinking, all right, there's a lot. I mean, there's plenty. When you get blown out by two touchdowns, you're thinking to yourself, there's so many things. But I think it starts with turnovers on offense, just sloppiness, right? You had the interception from Bo, the botched exchange on the option play between Bo and Jillel McLaughlin, and then obviously takeaways defensively, which against the Jaguars, you had none. Yeah. And look, all of these things that hurt the Broncos in Sunday's game.

Starting point is 00:12:56 You want to try to avoid that on a short week because you don't necessarily get the full on field time on task in terms of, hey, this is the opponent we're playing this week. This is the scheme that they run and you're going to get full speed practice reps. You're not going to get that obviously on a Thursday night short week turnaround here. So a lot of it is, hey, we have to focus on. We've played these guys before, right? And I think that's one thing that Bowenicks echoed is, hey, like the good thing about playing

Starting point is 00:13:19 on a short week is what's not against an opponent you haven't played yet. We know we've played the chiefs. So a lot of it's going back to that, though it's different without Mahomes. He said, but the defense for them, it's not really different. So a lot of that is just trying to be on our P's and Q's, clean up some of the things that obviously hurt them. And once again, too, even Sean Payton alluded to it early on in the week in his Monday conference call with us where he said on third down, which was an area of soreness for the Broncos offense. He had mentioned, and defense, too.

Starting point is 00:13:44 We'll talk about that. But he mentioned that some guys were trying to do too much. They were doing more than, you know, what was within the realm of, you know, their own task that was designed there on specific. place. And a lot of that is just, hey, go back to just doing your job. Point and simple. I mean, the mantra is very cliche, but it's true. Do your job. I think that's going to be a very, very big part of that here because you know Steve Spagnolo defense, they're going to send those linebacker A gap blitzes there. I mean, you just have to have that communication on par. And obviously, we know with Forsyth, more than likely,

Starting point is 00:14:14 stepping into that role potentially here on Thursday, Denver has to have the communication aspect cleaned up a little bit. I think on both sides, offensively and defensively, because it was clear that that hurt them in Sunday's loss. Now, they have to find a way to clean that up. Now, what are your thoughts on the defense, too? Because I feel like with the defense coming off the week that they had against the Jaguars, there's certainly a lot that they have to clean up themselves. 100%.

Starting point is 00:14:37 There's just way too many guys running wide open for that Jaguar's offense. And no matter who's to blame, I feel like that is, it goes back to what you said with communication. And we have so many guys running wide open, you're trying to run these different blitz concepts or you're changing coverage, depending on what look you get from the offense or whatever it may be. I thought it was interesting, Cody, on Twitter, a couple of former Broncos safeties are out there correcting our good friend,

Starting point is 00:15:01 Lou, who I think was just expressing a lot of the same frustration that many in Broncos country were about a play in particular, where PJ Locke was getting called out for being out of position, and Justin Simmons and Caden Stearns both come to his defense, and they're like, no, no, this wasn't PJ's fault. And Caden even went on kind of a little bit of, hey, he explained everything that you're seeing before the snap. So it's really interesting to get that sort of insight from some former players as well who are looking at these things.

Starting point is 00:15:28 And they're seeing the same breakdowns that we all are because they've happened now for three years in a row. And there's no question about that. I mean, I think that's the, you blame whoever needs to be blamed. That's maybe for the film room. That's for the position coaches to decide. The ultimate reality is that not everybody's on the same page. And if you have 10 guys on the same page, but number 11 isn't on that page, you are going to look like a bad defense against an NFL offense.

Starting point is 00:15:54 And so these guys have to figure it out when it doesn't matter if it's the Chief's third-string quarterback or their third-string receivers because we know Rishi Rice and a couple of other guys of their receiver room out with concussions potentially for this game. It's going to be a lot of backups out there. But just because you have maybe the edge in talent doesn't mean that your execution can be sloppy. Well, not a lot of people, I'd say even going into it, not a lot of people coming into the Jaguar's game knew about Parker Washington primarily is like the one guy, you know, we were going into like, Brian Thomas and Jacoby Myers, like you got to watch out for these guys.

Starting point is 00:16:29 And all of a sudden, Parker Washington is going on for a buck 45. So, and he was obviously, you know, one of those guys who benefited on one of those miscommunications that you were talking about on that play specifically. And I agree. Like that's where it's like when you have somebody new coming to the lineup, doesn't matter. I think like if it's at the linebacker, you know, corner or safe, you have a new player coming in. So much of it is like, hey, you have.

Starting point is 00:16:50 to be on the same page as everybody from a communication standpoint. And obviously on that playing question, we know J-Mac was blitzed from the nickel, you know, what they were kind of describing it as, it kind of turns into a little bit of a quarter's variation where they can run palms, which means instead of the corner playing the deepest man on our two-man route concept like that, corner jumps to the underneath route, safety climbs over to the top there essentially to play the vertical route there. So just interesting. And just once again, it's like, no, nobody's blaming the player.

Starting point is 00:17:19 it's just the outcome of the result. And it's like, wait, what happened here? And far too often, I think coming out of the buy, Denver's defense has had just some miscommunication blurbs that have led to some big plays. Look, and it's not saying that the Broncos defense isn't good. I think we all acknowledge the Broncos defense is good. They're elite.

Starting point is 00:17:35 They haven't been playing like that for the last handful of weeks. I'd say in the second half against the Packers, they certainly did. There's just been spurs, like lapses where they have just kind of fallen off a little bit. And I think all of that is really because of just communication. and guys being out of alignment or mistackles. Like these are things that just certainly have to be cleaned up here on Thursday night football. Because look, you're going to guess Isaiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt. You got to bring your legs.

Starting point is 00:18:00 You've got to wrap up against these guys because they can run through contact. They can run after contact. It's going to be an important game here for the Broncos defense to bounce back regardless if it was Mahomes, Gardner Menshoe, or the ghost of Trent Green at this point. It doesn't matter. You got to go out there and you've got to execute and play. And I think that's exactly what the Broncos defense will do this week. I think they're going to rebound.

Starting point is 00:18:19 Would somebody hit Trent Green, Cody? I mean, we hear him all the time on CBS. Like somebody can do it. Nick Benito or somebody can do that. But no, all kidding aside, like speaking of Nick Benito, too, he had some pretty choice, select words for himself and the way that he played in that game against the Jaguars. And he said that the defense as a whole is not playing up to their standard,

Starting point is 00:18:39 which you and I have had plenty of debates about that on the squad show. We've had plenty of debates about that with people on Twitter and things like that, of who's to blame? You know, is it the offense, is the defense, what is it. I think Nick Benito said it. They're not playing up to their standard. They're giving up about 26 points a game since the by week, or I guess, you know, since that commander's game, right?

Starting point is 00:18:58 That was after the by week. And I think that's right there where you've lost a little bit of your mojo and where you've got to find it. You've got to rediscover it. And I think it takes a game like this potentially to make that happen. Mean machine. Mean machine. Yeah, we're all getting into that there.

Starting point is 00:19:14 But no, I agree with you. And certainly just, it's just say being better on third down. I mean, giving up eight of 15 is not where you want to be. And we've seen this team respond. They've had games like that this year defensively. I think they had back-to-back games against the Colts and the Charters where they allowed those types of productions and plays to happen. And then they found a way to buckle down going forward,

Starting point is 00:19:33 especially when the schedule got even tougher for them. So I have a lot of confidence in this group being able to bounce back and glad that we got to sit here on Christmas Eve talking about meaningful football in December. And, hey, we all know tomorrow's postgame show as well. We're going to be breaking down the Broncos hopeful win. here at this point, which puts them at 13 wins on the season. We're going to stay with you every step of the way here at the lockdown Broncos podcast. But in terms of celebrating, maybe getting out some stocking stuffers, six Denver Broncos

Starting point is 00:19:59 are heading to the 2026 Pro Bowl games, and hopefully they're not even going to be playing in it. We'll break it all down here on today's episode of the show. Six members of the Denver Broncos are heading to the 2026 NFL Pro Bowl games ahead of the Super Bowl. And the hope is that the Broncos won't send any of those players there because hopefully they'll be preparing for a big game themselves in Saturday. Santa Clara 10 years after the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 in the same exact venue. All the storylines, all the different parallels are starting to come out of nowhere, Sarah. They're starting to draw inspiration from different, you know, eras and elements of the 2015 Broncos, the 1998 Broncos, the 1997 Broncos.

Starting point is 00:20:40 All these teams have had a loss in December. Then I found a way to obviously buckle down and obviously take care of business here. So can the Broncos continue the same? A lot of that is, you know, I think when we highlight here, six Pro Bowl. nominations here for the Broncos, and that doesn't even include the alternates here. Great recognition for Denver this year. And I think it's important to highlight the four starters here. You're going to get Pat Sertan listed as a starter, Quinn Miners, Garrett Bulls, and Nick Benito.

Starting point is 00:21:05 These four guys listed as Pro Bowl starters in the 2026 NFL Pro Bowl games, Zach Allen and Cortland Sutton, the other player selected as well at their position groups. I mean, for the Broncos to have the winning record that they do, six Pro Bowl selections is pretty good. And there are a handful of guys, including alternates that are in the mix as well. But hopefully none of these guys even have to suit up for that. Right. That's the hope for, you know, anytime you have guys to make the Pro Bowl, you'll love to say, well, hopefully none of these guys actually end up playing in the Pro Bowl, right? And that's what you want. You want to see these guys preparing for the Super Bowl. But how cool is it, Cody? I know that

Starting point is 00:21:40 we're crossing eras a little bit once again with this statement. But, you know, most of those guys, five out of the six drafted by the Denver Broncos, four of them, I believe, drafted by George Peyton, Pat Sartan, Quinn Miners. I'd have to maybe think about that. Maybe it's three of them. But you get the idea. I mean, these guys, they're homegrown talents. Homegrown talents is so cool. I mean, and for even for Zach Allen, I mean, that was basically advanced Joseph's selection, a guy that has been in his scheme for his entire career. So it's really cool to see the player development that's happening in Denver. And it's really great to see the recognition. Remember last year, I think of Quinn Miners, who he didn't make the Pro Bowl. And, you know, he was, I think, a little

Starting point is 00:22:19 upset about that. I think that was kind of a chip on his shoulder going into this season because Sean Payton had made that comment like, hey, you might miss out on the Pro Bowl this year, but you'll basically make up for it later in your career when you're kind of just getting voted in based on your reputation as opposed to even the way that you're playing, right? And that's the kind of player that Quinn Miners is, is we know that he's going to be playing well. Obviously, he's going to be crushing it in his later years of his career. But he does feel like that type of guy who's going to be sort of the the name that everybody recognizes when they're going and doing their pro bowl voting right at the guard position i love Sean Payton had a little bit of a gem of a quote during tuesday's press conference when talking about

Starting point is 00:22:59 the pro bowlers they had a team meeting to announce it initially and one thing he said was and i told them about their union and the management council screwed it all up because that used to be a pretty good game in hawaii and now we're doing sack races and that other stuff i i love that because sarah me You and I, we grew up watching the Pro Bowl be a meaningful thing, right? Like when John Lynch and Chant Bailey were going to the Pro Bowl, we're like, yeah, that's because the Broncos, I mean, that's a prestigious award. Like that right there is not, you're not subjecting it. No offense to fans, it's a popularity contest.

Starting point is 00:23:32 And look, Broncos country always comes up big for their guys. You talk about just like the widespread popularity of different guys. Like, what was it, Schrader Sanders at one point had like some sort of level of top level voting or was in the top whatever of consideration. Nothing against Shadur. I'm not trying to take a shot at him, but Shadur doesn't deserve to go to the Pro Bowl. That's just like a name thing, popularity contest.

Starting point is 00:23:52 And that's kind of what the Pro Bowl has become a little bit of a joke compared to what it used to be. I just remember watching those Pro Bowl games and watching Sean Taylor light up punters and everybody was getting hit left and right. And then, you know, players started getting hurt and like, well, maybe we have to change this approach. Maybe we can't do this anymore. I just miss when the Pro Bowl used to be great, man.

Starting point is 00:24:12 honor and that recognition used to mean something. And not to say it doesn't mean anything now. I think what matters ultimately to these guys, all pros. And look, Devere certainly had a lot of those guys last year. I imagine they're going to have even more this year that are worthy and deserving of that recognition. But yeah, I just, yeah, six pro, six guys named a pro. Bo Nix named as an alternate at the quarterback position. Devin Key is an alternate. Marvin Mims, I think, is the third alternate as a returner so far. But what's crazy about this, Sarah's, the format is so different because now it's just flagged football. It's like seven on seven flagged football at this point.

Starting point is 00:24:49 It's just not enjoyable to watch. So I don't know. I want to get your thoughts. I don't want it to make it seem like we're the old men yelling at clouds here. Man, like great that they're recognized, but it also stinks that the game doesn't mean as much as it used to. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think that it's lost its luster, you know, in a big way. And it did used to mean something.

Starting point is 00:25:09 It used to be where players would go. to essentially have their, this is the story that I'm going to tell my grandkids moment with a superstar, like an established future Hall of Fame guy, right? How many times have we heard stories from like Peyton Manning of somebody that he would, you know, he talked to so-and-so at the Pro Bowl and or he picked so-and-so's brain or if it was some other player who's like, hey, I got to, I got to play with, you know, Tom Brady at the Pro Bowl or whatever. You know what I'm saying.

Starting point is 00:25:40 Like it's those, it's when you get to pick the brain. of legends. Your young guys get to rub elbows with the best of all time. That just doesn't really happen anymore. I mean, it's the backups that go. It's the, it's the 10th choices that get to go at this point because everybody else is just declining it. Who wants to, who wants to play in that game, even though it is at the Super Bowl or it's in San Francisco, right? Who wants to play in that game or who wants to do those type of things that, you know, they're meaningless. And it has nothing to do with anything. It's just you barely get to rub elbows with the star players. You And nobody cares about it, right?

Starting point is 00:26:14 I mean, that's the whole thing that it used to mean something, like you said. Imagine being Brian Mormon, the punter that got hit by Sean Taylor in that one game. Just being like, well, I mean, I don't want to be, I don't want to be the guy that guy hit. But just like, you know, now that's probably something he goes and says like, you know, anytime that's brought up, it's like a moment of just like respect and recognition there. Like in the moment he was mad because like, wait, this is the Pro Bowl. and John Taylor was like, he was like Terry Tate office linebacker. He's like, you killed a Joe, you make some mo.

Starting point is 00:26:45 And he just got blown up, man. I, I miss that. I missed that about the game. And maybe there's other ways you can honor these guys, certainly the accolades that, you know, Broncos players have gotten with the all pros. Pat Sertan winning defensive player the year. I mean, there's just so many guys worthy of recognition for what they were able to do. And then you got guys who simply don't care.

Starting point is 00:27:03 Like, Talano Hu Fonga in the locker room on Tuesday, was like, I don't care. I'm just here to win a ring. Like, that's my thing. And it's like, all right. Yeah, I respect that. I get that. And sometimes guys have this kind of built into their contracts as incentives.

Starting point is 00:27:16 Like go to the Pro Bowl. You triggers like a $25,000 bonus or whatnot. Like that does matter to some guys. Some guys love the money. But I think that Denver's locker room, the way that it is, it's such an unselfish group of players, Sarah. And I mean, I can say that here on the show so many times. I don't know if I can accurately convey how evident it is when I go there. And when you talk to guys and when you see them on the field.

Starting point is 00:27:39 or you talk to them behind the scenes. Just I don't know if I can convey it enough, but it is there and it's indescribable. And I think that's why the Broncos are in the position that they're in because they really do a great job of tuning out the outside noise. Yeah, they keep the main thing, the main thing. That's the biggest aspect. I think of what they've built in terms of the culture is that these guys aren't

Starting point is 00:28:00 there for the individual accolades. You got Bo Nix, who, you know, Sean Payton tells the story about his backpack, having nothing in it, but football-related stuff. it's a roster full of those guys, guys who all they care about is football. You know, I mean, that's, that was another story that they told about Marvin Mims, you know, from his time at Oklahoma and how this guy is just, he's just a great teammate. He just, he loves the game. And that's what I think these guys all do is they love the game of football.

Starting point is 00:28:26 And that does come across. And it is cool for these guys to get recognition to as, as much as the Pro Bowl has changed and as meaningless as at times as it can be. I mean, how cool is it for Cortland Sutton to get voted in right after. He hasn't been to the game since 2019 when he made it the first time. And everybody's like, shoot, this guy's going to be a shoe in every year of his career. He tears his ACL the very next season, struggles to make a comeback. Quarterback position stinks.

Starting point is 00:28:51 And now he's developed back into a Pro Bowl receiver, which I think everybody in Broncos country was surprised to see him get voted in. That to me was a shocker as good as he's played at times this season. But I think that for Cortland to get in, awesome story. Sad for Devin Key, too. I feel like he should have been a Pro Bowl special teamer, Cody. And, you know, that's just neither here nor there at this point. But that's the type of guy you want to see get this recognition.

Starting point is 00:29:16 Is a guy who wasn't even supposed to be on the team, you know, a couple years ago. And now has worked his way to one of the best special teamers in the NFL. He leads the NFL in special teams tackles. I think he's at like 24, 25 special teams tackles on a year. I mean, that people don't realize how freaking hard that is to accomplish. You know, he's making the most of those opportunities. Every time the Broncos are kicking off, I'm in the press box.

Starting point is 00:29:38 I got my binoculars. It's like Jurassic Park out here. I'm watching number 26 run down field. And you could just tell this is a guy who's so dialed into his assignment and understands how to attack a block, how to get back on track if he avoids a block. So he's not running into guys and just being pushed out of the way. Holes get opened up. Devin Key is such a gem.

Starting point is 00:30:00 When you talk about special teams playing the NFL, I'm very, very excited. I think he's going to get that recognition. but like I said, to start to show, hopefully none of these guys even have to prepare for the Pro Bowl games and that they can get ready for a bigger game. That's what ultimately matters to all of these guys inside the locker room. But with that said, Broncos Country, that'll wrap up today's episode, show. Merry Christmas Eve to all of you and your families,

Starting point is 00:30:23 enjoy your Christmas day tomorrow. Hopefully you got a lot of Broncos gear. So if you got stuff, make sure you tag us on social media. We love seeing that stuff. And on top of that, we're going to have you cover not only on Thursday before the game with a crossover Thursday preview of the game. We're also going to have the post-game report for you as well. So a lot of things to fit into your stockings here for your game day pleasure on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:30:46 Broncos country, thank you. You guys are a gift to us. We appreciate you so much. We'll see it tomorrow for crossover Thursday plus the post-game report.

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