Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - RJ Harvey, Jahdae Barron's FIRST LOOK in Denver Broncos Preseason Game vs. 49ers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Saturday's preseason opener for the Denver Broncos against the 49ers. It's going to give us our first look at R.J. Harvey, Pat Bryant and a handful of the players. In our preseason preview, we break it all down and more here on today's episode of the show. 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 of Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Starting point is 00:00:33 You know it's your team every day for all your. at Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more. This is the place to be. So a special shout out to all the everydayers out there. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. And if you're not yet in everydayer, it's easy to become one. Just hit that subscribe or that follow button so you never miss out on all the Broncos news,

Starting point is 00:00:52 content coverage analysis and more. I'm Cody Roark. Bronco is reporter from Mile High Sports. joined, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert there at predominantly orange.com. And Sarah, we are just 24 hours away from a preseason game taking place. Bronco is set to travel while they're already in San Francisco, set to take on the 49ers, and we're going to go through our preseason preview of the matchup, our offensive players to watch, including RJ Harvey, Pat Bryant.

Starting point is 00:01:16 We'll go through our defensive players to watch, like the rookies Jadae Barron, Savian Jones, and then we're going to give our keys to victory. What is it that the Broncos must do in order to win? We'll go through all that here. I'm excited to break it down with you, my man. I think first and foremost here, we're going to open things up by going into our players to watch. the offensive side of the ball, certainly.

Starting point is 00:01:36 Look, we know the starters are going to play? Are we having our eyes on the starters? Or are the rookies and the younger players more appealing right now here? Brockos country, make sure you chime in as you're obviously paying attention to the show. We really want to see those young players stand out, don't we, Cody? I feel like that's always, it's the new guys, right? It's the players that, hey, this guy could be the future star of the team or he could be one of the future stars of the team. So I start off with RJ Harvey for me because you feel like the second round pick.

Starting point is 00:02:03 I mean, Cody, the bar has been set pretty low with the other AFC West draft picks so far, at least with Ashton Genty, minus one rushing yards against the Seattle Seahawks in his debut. We all listening today had more rushing yards in the preseason week one than did Ashton Genty. So it can't get much worse than that, right? So RJ Harvey, the bar to clear is very low at this point, minus one yards on three carries. But I think, Cody, he's got to go out there and show the full arsenal, even if it's just a handful of touches, right? You want to see the explosive runs.

Starting point is 00:02:35 You want to see the vision. You want to see the past catching ability. I want to see him maybe stick his nose in there and pass protection at time or two. RJ Harvey, to me, going to be in focus here for this first preseason game for sure. Well, I'm excited to see RJ as well because, you know, people are talking about, well, you know, he's behind J.K. Dobbins. That's okay. That's fine.

Starting point is 00:02:54 I mean, those guys are 1A, 1B. That's how the carry and the split percentage has been. I see there's a lot of debate about that on social. media, we're going to see a little bit more of R.J. Harvey. Now, I wonder what phase he's going to be in, because Sean Payton told us that there's three phases in terms of their rotations. Phase one will likely be the starters. There's a couple of players that might be phase two players that might rotate in with the phase one rotation there. So I'm curious to see where R.J. Harvey is in this situation. You know, are we going to see R.J. maybe getting a handoff from Bo Nix while Boe is getting

Starting point is 00:03:25 some reps in this game on Saturday? I'm curious for that. You've got R.J. Harvey, but you also have a player listed as well in Tyler Badee the Broncos running back competition obviously a huge focal point here of this preseason your thoughts on Bade and who's your other who's your third player that you also have your eye on yeah so I really like Tyler Badee and Sam Ellinger as players to watch or Sam Ellinger Cody how do we officially say his name I feel like I'm Sam A Sam I'm starting the bit it's going on it's going on Twitter Sam Ellinger Ellinger Elinger. Okay, I should know that. He's kind of split sometimes, though.

Starting point is 00:04:04 Yeah, I should know this because I'm Bedinger. So like, what am I doing, man? I'm just, I'm disrespecting a guy who's got the same problem I've had my whole life. So, but Tyler Badee is we got a lot of last names that we got to get straight here in Broncos country. Tyler Badee, Sam Elinger. Look, these two guys are probably going to play a lot in the preseason, right? Tyler Biday was a superstar in the preseason before. He's been, you know, in the past, like one of the most.

Starting point is 00:04:30 hyped guys on the team. Can we see him back healthy? And he's got some hype, Cody. He got some hype from Sean Payton. We talked about on yesterday's show like he could be in the mix to be that third back because we know whatever the depth chart says, screw that this year. It's going to be obviously J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, we expect to be the top two guys. If Bade is in the mix for that third spot, his preseason performance is absolutely monumental. He has to go out there and crush it. And the guy that's going to help him do that is Sam Ellinger. because Sam is going to be throwing him the ball out of the backfield. And that's where I think Badee can really make his case, Cody.

Starting point is 00:05:07 We know that J.K. Dobbins can run. We know that R.J. Harvey, they're going to be planning on him being able to run. Badee, we know you can run. You saw you do it against the Bucs. Can you be a weapon as a receiver? These two guys are going to be working together, and they might just make the highlight real together a couple of times in this game. I feel like we can throw every single running back, you know, minus J.K. Dobbins, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:29 into this mix as players to watch. Even Audrake estimated, man, I know a lot of eyes are going to be on him. I agree with you. Badey's got this chip on his shoulder. He felt like last year he should have made the 53-man roster because of what he did in training camp and preseason, his body work.

Starting point is 00:05:43 But really, it was a numbers game where things kind of formulated and kind of fell off there. You know, I think for me, I'm going to start off my offensive players to watch. I'm going to start first and foremost here with a rookie wide receiver, Pat Bryant. Pat, to me, look, this is a guy who has just continued to ascend, whether he's catching passes from Bow Nicks, whether he's catching them from Jared Stidham or Sam Ellinger. The Broncos are moving him around and getting him reps with all of these QBs, which, look, you're getting different arm styles,

Starting point is 00:06:11 but I also think you're playing your role, and it's just maximizing the more reps you get at the position that the team envisions you at, though. So how much of Pat Bryant will we see? I'm sure we'll see quite a bit. But Denver's obviously got a very deep wide receiver room. There's some other younger guys as well that we have to keep our eye on. And that's going to lead me to bring it up Jirwan Newton.

Starting point is 00:06:29 the Broncos undrafted rookie free agent who is just, in my opinion, he and Sam Ellinger, they've had this really nice connection. So you have Sam on your side. I've got Jirwan on my side just because we've seen that connection kind of blossom in these training camp practices over the course of the last couple of weeks. So I've got my eyes on him. I think he's one of those players we pinpointed. Could be somebody that makes the practice squad and could eventually maybe see time on the

Starting point is 00:06:55 field in the regular season. Maybe not this year, but maybe in, you know, one or two years from now, I think the team likes the traits that he possesses from a developmental standpoint. I think he offers value in terms of competition, your scout team looks that you're going to get on a week-to-week basis in the season. I think that's exactly where he can help. And then I'm going to go with their running back on my side. It was tough. I was debating between Adric Estimate, but I'm going to go here with Blake Watson for the same reasons you mentioned Tyler Badee. We have seen Blake have a tremendous training camp so far. He's had explosive run

Starting point is 00:07:26 after explosive run. He's been a weapon out of the backfield. And it all goes back to what Sean Payton had said initially after the team signed him as an undrafted guy. Sean was asked the question, what do you want to do with him? He's like, I'd like to throw him the football. Well, Sam Elegger is going to have running backs galore that he can connect to us, security blanket out of the backfield if defenses are taken away his primary looks and reads. I think so much of the running back room is going to fall under the microscope here

Starting point is 00:07:52 throughout every preseason game. But in particular, this first one, against San Francisco. I mean, your thoughts on, you know, these, these selections that I pick. I feel like there's so many. I mean, that's the problem with the 90-man roster. There are so many names that you could choose from. I feel like these are the ones that are going to fall under the microscope,

Starting point is 00:08:09 at least for me in this game. I know this is one of the first things that you and I ever talked about on this show, Cody, is how much shall we love the preseason because you get to watch all these different guys play. And you get to be excited about an entire 90-man roster and what you get to evaluate, the takeaways, the nuggets. the glimmers, all those sorts of things. I'm with you. I want to see these running backs,

Starting point is 00:08:30 not just as outlets too, but as route runners. We heard Sean Payton say a little while back about how R.J. Harvey hasn't got his joker wings just yet. And I think Blake Watson is in that similar conversation of can you affect the middle of the field as a receiver out of the backfield?

Starting point is 00:08:46 Can you be a weapon as a route runner? Can you win downfield if you're running a wheel route? You know, can you do all these sorts of things to be a weapon as a pass? catcher as opposed to an outlet as a receiver. I think that's a there's a big distinction between those two things. And the preseason is a great opportunity for these guys to, hey, we're not going to run the full route tree that we'll see in the regular season. But we're going to ask you guys maybe to do a little bit more as past catchers than we typically would in a preseason where we just

Starting point is 00:09:16 want to see it after the catch. That's not, don't care. I don't care about these guys after the catch, Cody. I mean, we do. But by comparison to what they do before they get the ball, before the ball gets to them. That's where I want to see these guys be dynamic. That's where I want to see them be difference makers and weapons. And ultimately, I do believe we chose the two right guys. There are the three, I suppose, but ultimately the battle between Watson and Bade is way more critical. We want to see Harvey do well because he's a high draft pick. These other guys, they're trying to make the roster. There's a big distinction, but I think they're going to ask these guys to do a lot in the preseason. And there's nothing wrong with that because you want to be able to handle that workload.

Starting point is 00:09:53 And as a coaching staff, it value it. It's when you get in a game setting. Like sometimes the pads can come on and practice. You can look great as a practice player, right? But how do you look when the game comes on? When you're going against a different opponent when, hey, they're competing for a job or you're competing for a job, the stakes become a little bit higher. We're excited about that. Broncos country, let us know your offensive players that you have your eye on here in Saturday's preseason opener for the Broncos. We're not done, though. We're still going to break things down and go through our preview here as we're going to talk about how excited we are to see Jada Baron the Broncos first round pick and a 2025 NFL

Starting point is 00:10:25 draft and the extensive defensive looks that he's going to get are defensive players to watch here on today's episode of the show. Today's lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to my friends over there at Monarch Money. Do you ever wish that managing your money felt easier with Monarch money? It can be. They simplify it, whether you're growing your savings or you're planning on a big purchase, whether that's buying a home, saving for something big. Monarch puts you in the driver's seat and it's like having your own personal CFO,

Starting point is 00:10:50 giving you full visibility and control over your finances. And Monarch money, it's more than just a budgeting app. It's a complete financial command center where you can track all of your accounts, all of your investments, and yes, all of your spending in one spot. So in addition to managing your money, you're also building wealth. Well, if you're like me, you've looked at your spending when you get something like Monarch money and you're surprised by how fast certain things add up. So like Cody said, if you're trying to save up for something specific,

Starting point is 00:11:17 if there's a big trip that you've always wanted to take, monarch money is a tool that can help you get there because like Cody said, you're not just going to be managing money. You're going to be building wealth. So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NFL at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarchmoney.com code locked on NFL for half off your first year. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy.

Starting point is 00:11:42 It's the best time of the year, folks, because NFL kickoff is almost here. And that means your fantasy football season is back in full swing. Your leagues are starting up in this year. Yahoo Fantasy, they are turning things up with a fantasy football experience. experience like never before. And this year, Sarah Bettinger, myself over here at Lockdown Broncos, we want our money for nothing and our Knicks for free. We are playing on Yahoo! Fantasy and you should too, whether you're a first timer or you're a veteran that's making your millionth league going into another year. Cody, my favorite pick that I've ever made using Yahoo

Starting point is 00:12:12 Fantasy Football's app was I drafted Julius Thomas back when Peyton Manning joined the team. And everybody thought, like, who the heck is this Julius Thomas guy? Why are you just a big Broncos, Homer, blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? I had the last. laugh. Thanks to Yahoo Fantasy. So, Cody, what everyone, what we want everyone to do is join a league this year. And there's a number of different ways that you can do that. And to celebrate 28 years of fantasy football greatness, Yahoo's dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout August.

Starting point is 00:12:41 And to kick it off, they just dropped Yahoo Fantasy Guillotine Leagues, a killer new way to play fantasy football on Yahoo, where the lowest scoring team, you get eliminated each week until there's just one team left standing. with the season around the corner, now is the time to get your league together and give this new mode a try. If you're more into the classics, you can still play in head-to-head private leagues or join a public league. Stay tuned for more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy football now at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash lockdown NFL. The defensive players for the Denver Broncos that we have in focus, of course, the incoming rookie class,

Starting point is 00:13:18 but also a couple of roster sleepers who could end up making the 53 and making an image. impact on what could be the number one defense of the season. It starts in the preseason with those reps taking advantage of every opportunity you get. And that's what we're going to talk about on today's show. But Broncos country want to say thank you so much to all of you that make Lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day every single day. Hit subscribe if you haven't already done so wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:13:45 Cody, when we get a chance to evaluate this game after the fact, I feel like defensively we're looking for key contributors. season. We'll see the starters out there. We want to see the starters play well, of course, but what's the depth going to look like for this defense? How are the rookies going to step up? Who are going to be those unheralded guys? Can we get a breakout from anybody on this unit? I'm very interested to know who you're looking forward to seeing the most play and doing well here in this first preseason game. Well, I think first off, you know, let's start with the highlight name here. And that's the Broncos first round pick. That's Jada, Barron, obviously, a corner. I'm

Starting point is 00:14:23 I'm curious to see. I think he was going to probably get a lot of his work in the nickel. But as the game moves about, you go through different phases. I wonder if we'll see him work a little bit on the outside. That hasn't really been the trend, though, of what we've seen in training camp practices. He's been getting a lot of reps alongside Jayquan, Macmillan, inside that nickel position there. So I imagine that's where they want him to play, especially considering when you're going into these joint practices with the 49ers and you're competing, that's where you're getting your work right there. And I think that's where the Broncos want him to excel

Starting point is 00:14:52 because they're going to need him in the regular season, you know, whether that's by default in the nickel, but I know exactly he's going to play quite a bit inside the dime package as well, depending on the personnel, the offensive side of whoever they're facing. That's going to be a fun kind of development to watch it unfold a little bit. But how does he look in his first NFL game action?

Starting point is 00:15:10 Look, practice is practice. You're going through things. You're making the mistakes. You're growing. But now it's like, all right, hey, it's a game. Can you go out there and can you understand what your job is and how it changes? because now you're getting a look against a different offense

Starting point is 00:15:22 than what you've been accustomed to seeing all throughout training camp. You're going into this game where you're not really scouting the 49ers. That's the thing about the preseason. Teams aren't pulling up the film and saying, all right, this is exactly what the 49ers like to do on second down, on the right hash on the 50 yard line. It doesn't get that detailed because you're really focusing on yourself. So can you go out there?

Starting point is 00:15:42 Can you run the base fundamental portions of what we want to do defensively? I want to see how Jadae Barron looks, not only in past coverage, but he's going to get opportunities to come up and play against the run. Areas that I think we both watched his film, he excelled that at Texas. So he's my one player that I am excited to watch on that side of the ball, but then I'm also going to go at the inside linebacker position here with Lavelle Bailey,

Starting point is 00:16:04 who's obviously filling in for Dre Greenlaw. You're going to see Lavelle Bailey and Justin Sternod get to start here on Saturday against the 49ers. Bailey has done a tremendous job, I think, in the reps that he's gotten here in training camp. Certainly it's valuable. And I think it will help accelerate things because if in the event there is an injury to Alex Singleton or to Dre Greenlaw in the regular season, do you have comfort in knowing that this guy can step in and play? This is going to be a great test, I think, for him. He's had a strong training camp.

Starting point is 00:16:32 I'm curious to see how he does against this 49ers offense that runs a lot of that misdirection, the outside zone, and then they hit you backside with boot action. That's what I'm excited about. Can he read his keys? Can he clog the middle of the passing lane here? If he can have a big performance here, especially with the Bronco was first team, defense. I'm excited about the prospects of him. And then I think we'll round things out here with my other defensive player that we have our eye on as well. PJ Locke, the Broncos ongoing safety competition is big, sir. I've got my eyes on PJ simply because who's going to emerge in that

Starting point is 00:17:03 rotation and that body of work that Sean Payton said in the kicking game. We'll see PJ play special teams. We'll see him play reps defensively as well. Big stakes here for that Bronco safety competition. Now, I want to pivot it to you here as well as we go through here because you've highlighted to three players as well from a rookie standpoint defensively. Who do you have your eyes on here and who are your players to watch? Well, my favorite aspect of the preseason, as you know, Cody, is pass rush. It's all about pass rush. I feel like you can get a really good look at a lot of strong young players in the preseason,

Starting point is 00:17:36 whether it's undrafted guys or guys that you drafted high, like Sabian Jones, who it's easy to forget based on the high profile nature of everybody else in this draft class that the Broncos traded up to get saved. Vian Jones at the end of the third round. I mean, when we talk about this draft class, oftentimes it goes straight from talking about R.J. Harvey and Pat Bryant. And then we go to Q Robinson and the punter, Jeremy Croshaw.

Starting point is 00:18:00 And like Savian Jones is like this mystery guy at this point. He doesn't even have any images in the imaging database yet. He doesn't have any pictures of him in a Broncos uniform. Like this is the ultimate preseason storyline type of guy to where nobody's thinking about this guy. Nobody's like, where's Sabian Jones on the field? I need to get a picture of him for our data. Like nobody cares that this guy's even on the team yet,

Starting point is 00:18:23 other than Broncos country. So we want to see Savian go out there and absolutely crush it as a pass rusher, which, by the way, had a sack against the 49ers in the joint practice as well. Next guy on my list is going to be Chris Abrams Drain, the cornerback who's had a very underrated preseason and training camp and OTAs for the Denver Broncos. The confidence that he built, Sean Payton's told us, can't be overstated based on the way that he played late last season. You know, there's not always momentum going from one year to the next,

Starting point is 00:18:52 but you feel like Chris Abrams drain has really carried that forward from the way that he finished last season. Really excited to see him play extensive snaps out there. And then Jonah Ellis, last year's third round pick for the Denver Broncos, another player that they prioritized and had a higher grade on than when they got him in the third round, Jonah Ellis is a freak as a pass rusher. He's that type of guy that can win with power. He can win with speed.

Starting point is 00:19:18 He's going to be relentless in terms of his effort. I just feel like the year two jump for him has been so underrated as well, Cody. And I don't know if it's just because, you know, you got established guys. Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper. Those two guys are at the top of the depth chart. So fans aren't necessarily trying to manifest the breakout from Jonah Ellis. But to me, he is that type of guy that if the Broncos needed another starter. We would absolutely be talking about Jonah Ellis having a huge year two for this team.

Starting point is 00:19:49 So I'm going to keep that energy up as we get into the preseason of thinking like, this guy's potential in the NFL is consistent double-digit sacks. That's where I see Jonah Ellis. So hopefully he puts a lot of good stuff out there against the 49ers. I agree with you. I like your picks there. You know, Jonah is a great selection. You can make an honorable mention for Dondre Tillman.

Starting point is 00:20:08 But no, I'm excited about Savian Jones because he has had this underrated, had not talked about enough training camp, as you mentioned. This is the perfect opportunity to go out there and make plays. And obviously, we saw this with Dondray in the preseason last year. You know, Savian is in a different position because he plays in that defensive end spot. I like where things are at, that competition between, I think, Savian and Jordan Jackson, Inoma Uwazareke, is going to be very fun to watch play out here in the preseason. And obviously, you know, your other selection that you had as well with Chris Abrams-Drain,

Starting point is 00:20:37 you want to talk about just defense and what we saw from him. I'm also excited to see him on special. teams as well, getting some reps here and competing as a gunner and also as a jammer here when Denver takes the field. I think these are great picks. In Broncos country, when it comes to the defensive side of the ball, make sure you send your picks our way, who you're most looking for to see in Saturday's preseason opener against San Francisco here. But we're going to break things down here and go through our keys to victory, including why the Broncos defense, they need to be plus three and turnover differential if they want to come away with a win against San Francisco in their

Starting point is 00:21:09 preseason opener. We'll break that down and much more on today's episode of the show. Today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at five-hour energy transfusion. It's time to fuel up and turn it up with five-hour energy transfusion because it brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of your favorite golf drink minus the alcohol into a quick and energizing shot. Whether you're sinking birdies or watching NFL preseason games with friends, this one's a hole in one for your energy game. And let's be honest, some days on the course or even off of it, you just need that extra boost to stay sharp and energized. Cody, I played a lot of fun rounds of golf in my life, especially with my friends

Starting point is 00:21:46 growing up. We used to go out to the course every single summer. And there'd be days where we'd finish 18 holes and we'd be like, you know what? We got the past. We're going to go again. And we walked this whole time. So you know what we needed that five hour energy. There was nothing better at the clubhouse and getting that little jolt that you need. And so that's what we're saying to you. I mean, golf is all about good times with good people and good flavors. Of course. So if you go to fivehourenergy.com today, that is the number five, our energy.com. You can use our promo code, Lockdown Golf, to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions.

Starting point is 00:22:23 The code is not good on subscription orders. Whether you're meeting up with friends or trying to turn 18 holes into 36, get the energizing boosts you need to power through. Order transfusion flavored five-hour energy shots today. The keys to victory are always something that's important behind the details of going into a football game, your preparation, and for the Broncos going into Saturday's preseason game against the 49ers, there are little attention to detail things that the coaching staff has these players focused on. But what is it the Broncos have to do if they want to come

Starting point is 00:22:55 out of Santa Clara with a win on the preseason? We'll go through all of our keys to victory here on today's episode of the show. Sarah, I always love these because, look, as keys to victories can be cliche, you know, in order to win, you must do this. And the question it all boils down to is, how do you do this? How do you win? These little details, they matter quite a bit in the grand scheme of things here. So let's start off with your keys to victory, my friend. Key number one, where yeah, we each have three keys. And Broncos country, feel free to send in your keys as well as you're listening or watching the show.

Starting point is 00:23:28 Well, offensively for the Broncos in this game. And let's just get this out of the way, too, Cody. You want to win in the preseason. Make no mistake about it. You got to eliminate negative plays if you're the offense. You don't want to be getting into bad down and distant situations. You don't want to be getting into, you know, oh, well, we had a huge play. This guy put something great on tape, but it doesn't count because there was holding or there was,

Starting point is 00:23:50 you know, whatever, XYZ. Eliminate these negative plays so that you can absolutely put things out there on tape that you can take forward. And look, I subscribe to the, you know, I don't, I love the Mighty Ducks, Cody. I don't love the Hawks, but I love the Hawks mentality. It's not worth winning if you can't win big, right? That's the type of mentality. Go out there and win the dang game. It's a preseason for us too, everybody.

Starting point is 00:24:14 We're doing keys to victory all throughout the course of the season. So we're going to do keys to victory for the preseason. Defensively for the Denver Broncos, I say the key to victory is as always. And you'll hear me say this all throughout the season. Pass rush. And then right behind that is pass rush. And then if you have a third one for the defense, it's going to be pass rush. Get to the quarterback consistently.

Starting point is 00:24:36 make his internal clock speed up, make life hell for him out there, and you will most likely win more games than you don't. Because if you're making life difficult for the opposing quarterback, you are going to be able to dictate the pace of the game. You're going to be able to dictate the line of scrimmage, all those sorts of things. And so rushing the quarterback is consistently a key to victory for me defensively. And then special teams for the Broncos, elongate the field for the 49ers in this one. I'm excited to see we didn't have him on the players to watch, but Jeremy Croshaw, the rookie punter,

Starting point is 00:25:11 I'm fascinated to see what he can do to elongate the field for the opposing team. We don't want him out there punting very often, but when he does have to go out there and boom this thing inside the five, and let's get some long fields for this defense to go and feast in the pass rush department. I like your keys to victory. And yeah, I'm excited about Crosha and to your point. I mean, all throughout training camp, he has been booming the heck out of the ball. I mean, we talk about five-second hang time at times.

Starting point is 00:25:38 We talk about it just spiraling perfectly and high to where it bounces. And then it goes sideways. Like the coffin corner has a chance to return to the mile high city. It's just about consistency for cross-shot. Now, hopefully, as you mentioned, he doesn't have to punt a lot. But when he has to get on the field to punt, let it be fun. Let it be exciting and entertaining. That's exactly what we're saying.

Starting point is 00:25:57 You're going to spend a draft pick on a punter. Have fun with it, Broncos Country. Let's see how things go out there. I like your keys to victory. Broncos country. Obviously, let us know what you think of Sarah's keys as well in terms of long field. You know, I think for me, my first key to victory here,

Starting point is 00:26:10 it's going to be something that the Broncos have needed to do since Sean Payton has come in. I think that's to have an effective run game and get that going on the offensive side of the ball. We had a couple of running backs on our, obviously our players to watch, RJ Harvey, Tyler Bade, Blake Watson, three backs that we really have our focus on here. And yeah, of course, we want to see J.K. Dobbins. and we'll throw Rodrick Estimé's name in there as well. There are four backs that we really want to see carries from, and even Jolil, like Jalilil's kind of going a little untalked about,

Starting point is 00:26:38 but I think we already know what that expectation is for Jalil. So for me, it's have that effective run game going because, look, if you, as you mentioned on first down, if you can start off, and let's say you have a four yard run, okay, hey, it's second and six. I mean, that's a better average in what the Broncos have been getting the last couple of years in the run game where it might be second in 10. It might be second in 12 because you lose two yards. And then that changes how you call plays as an offensive play caller.

Starting point is 00:27:03 And certainly when the Broncos defense forces stops, where it's like, you know, you get a stop on first and 10, you make him go backwards. Then it changes how Vance Joseph calls plays defensively for what he wants to do to that opposing offense on a second and long situation. So it can play to your favor. It could also hurt you, you know, in a negative way. You know, let's get to our second key to victory here for this Broncos team.

Starting point is 00:27:24 I think really the cliche, and this goes back to when I play, our coach always emphasizes this to me and the data always, suggested. If you win the turnover battle with a plus three turnover differential or turnover margin, the chances of you winning the game are astronomical. It's hard to lose a game when you have a plus three turnover differential. So that means for the Broncos offense, protect the football, don't turn it over. And for the Broncos defense, find ways to take the football away. You mentioned the pass rush as part of your key to victory. I think that's key. That pass rush, can it lead to strip sacks of the quarterback? Can it lead to tips at the line of

Starting point is 00:27:57 scrimmage that lead to picks. We saw that in the joint practice with Jayquan Macmillan getting a tipped pass and obviously picking it. All of these are kind of synonymous with one and they play into it. So I think that's going to be a big key for me as we go through our keys to victory. And last, but not least, our third, limited to three and out series. The Broncos last year offensively, and granted last year is last year. You had too many three and outs on the offensive side of the ball last year, find a way to come into the preseason and be efficient. even remember in the preseason, there were a couple series last year and a couple of those games

Starting point is 00:28:31 where the Broncos first team offense, they went three and out several times. That is not getting off to a hot start, right? Can the Broncos find a way to limit those? And if they can, I think they have great chance to go on the road here and beat a San Francisco 49ers team. Yes, even if the Broncos go undefeated in the preseason

Starting point is 00:28:47 or win this game, they're not going to win a preseason championship. We're not crowning that. We're here to evaluate players, but more importantly, while we evaluate players, how players play within the structure of the offense or defense, Sarah, that's the evaluation of the preseason. And that's why we care so much about it, because it maybe is a little bit of a telling sign as to what can adapt

Starting point is 00:29:07 and what can come going into the regular season. I think your point about three and outs is so huge, Cody, because of the quarterbacks of the Broncos have operating their second and third units, right? Jarrett Stidham, at this point in his career, should not be going three and out a bunch in the preseason, right? He should be operating at a point to where he's kind of dominating out there. Likewise for Sam Ellinger because he's going to be out there.

Starting point is 00:29:30 He's been a preseason star in the past for the Indianapolis Colts. He's been the guy out there that's giving you that gamer mentality who he's the type of guy that wants to go out and win the preseason games. These guys cannot be inefficient out there on the field in these types of situation. If it's a rookie quarterback, hey, you live with that kind of stuff, right? If it's an undrafted guy, you live with that kind of stuff. If it's an inexperienced guy, these guys are not inexperienced. These guys are well paid in their experience. So you cannot have three and outs offensively with those two guys

Starting point is 00:30:02 operating the backup units. I'm excited to see them too because even Sam Ellinger had a nice play to end the joint practice, found Kyrie Shrohan, who got behind the defense wide open. I think it was a fourth and 15 play, 52 yard touchdown to end joint practices. I'm excited to see a lot of these young guys. But man, yeah, I mean, Jared Stim's had a really good training camp. You expect him to be sharp with the guys that he's getting reps with. You know, I think the offensive lines are also going to matter.

Starting point is 00:30:26 a little bit as well. Joe Machowski with Sam Ellinger. Joe has had a rough training camp, you know, has had some errant snaps, bad quarterback center exchanges here. Can that not be a factor here in this game? I think it's something that Broncos country should keep an eye on here. And then I want to see Sammy slinging it. And obviously, Broncos country, stay tuned on Twitter. Anytime Sam Ellinger makes a great play, I'm going to throw that clip from sinners up on social media. Just because this guy's got a gunslinger mentality, he's slinging it. He's got this moxie to him. I'm excited. But man, more importantly, I'm going to be. I'm excited that there's a Broncos preseason game.

Starting point is 00:30:58 We're going to react with all of you in Broncos Country. I'm going to do a post game show of my guy, Sarah Bedinger. This is it, Broncos Country. We're locked in every step of the way all the way through February. It's going to be fun ride and make sure you're along with this. If you're a brand new viewer, listener, you like the show. Hey, do us fair. Becoming every day or hit that subscribe button so you never miss out.

Starting point is 00:31:14 But here's what you can expect. Broncos Country, Sarah and I tomorrow following the Broncos preseason game against the 49ers. We're going to break it all down with a post game report, a bonus episode just for all of you, recap and all the action. Stay tuned. We'll see you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - RJ Harvey, Jahdae Barron's FIRST LOOK in Denver Broncos Preseason Game vs. 49ers

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.