Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - UNSETTLED: Denver Broncos’ QB2 Battle Enters FINAL Week With Uncertainty

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos QB2 competition is largely unsettled with one week remaining in the preseason. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Monday, Broncos country, Cody Rourke, Sarah Bennett, here for another episode of the show. Today's podcast is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. Join all the action at Fandu.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home run. this MLB season. We've got to let the breakdown in terms of the aftermath following the Green Bay Packers preseason game on Friday.

Starting point is 00:00:42 Denver's approaching their final preseason game here this week. We'll talk about what the Broncos backups in almost the second and 13 units were wildly underwhelming against Green Bay. We'll also go back and take a look at what the All-22 told us about the Broncos defense against the Green Bay Packers and what happened there. We're going to kick things off by talking about the Broncos QB2 battle. It's largely in question here coming into the final week of the NFL pre-season. season, Sarah. We both have talked about this kind of through text message. Obviously, you did a great

Starting point is 00:01:09 job covering the big story of the Broncos preseason game on Friday, which was Bo Nix was back. Jay Lenovo, we got to see that connection. That was the positive. That's the thing we took away from it. But now it's like big picture stuff. All right, final week of the preseason here. Man, it feels like QB2 has not yet settled itself. And I kind of felt like after last week in week one of the preseason, all right, Jared Stidham's in the driver's seat. Now, during the last week of the preseason, it kind of feels like that this is one of the bigger question marks right now on this team. Which is a huge surprise considering what you just said.

Starting point is 00:01:42 I think Jarrett really played well in that Atlanta game, right? And we thought all throughout the offseason, all throughout training camp, there was talk and there was not even just talk like Ellinger was taking reps with the second team at times during training camp, right? So it was like a legitimate QB2 question mark. And then coming out of that Atlanta game, I think we were all kind of pretty clear, like, okay. You know, Jared Stidham, he's throwing it downfield. He's connecting with all the receivers, opening drive touchdown.

Starting point is 00:02:11 Like he looks like he's on page with everybody. He's making plays getting outside the pocket. And then comes this Green Bay game and complicates the whole thing. Now, I realize that it can seem like it's a, you know, well, okay, one week you're high on him after a good game. And then the next week he plays bad and it's just like that doesn't matter anymore. And I get that perception and that it's not necessarily fair to evaluate. weighed him in that way. But I do think that, unfortunately, Jarrett has missed opportunities. Cody, we talked about that on the squad show. He's been given opportunities, the AFC championship

Starting point is 00:02:45 game, this year's preseason training camp. Has he truly seized the opportunity to be this team's QB2? And with the cap savings and the potential of that, 8 million that he counts against the cap this year, potential of 4 million in cap savings that the Broncos move on, it creates a difficult question when the drop-off doesn't seem to be that significant. Look, I think with this quarterback room right now, I think we can all agree. If something were to ever happen to Bo Nix or Bow had a missed time, like that's the worst case scenario for any team,

Starting point is 00:03:16 not just Denver specifically. So for Jared, here's the moments, right? You mentioned the AFC championship game. And I don't, you know, once again, I think that he didn't do a great job protecting football, especially on the fumble that ultimately led to New England scoring their only touchdown in that game. The elements certainly play a factor to it.

Starting point is 00:03:33 then there's moments like preseason game number one. And I don't know if the Denver Broncos were that good or the Atlanta Falcons were that bad, but he commanded the offense really well in his action that he had there. He was great in all the preseason last year. Like the stuff you want to see from a backup quarterback, right? And then there's Sam Ellinger, who I felt like in this game, he didn't really get a good opportunity to showcase or have as much time to put something together. But can we all say this about the Broncos offense against the Green Bay Packers? When we're talking about Stittam and Ellinger, I don't think that the second team offensive line or the third team offensive line, I don't think those units did these guys any favors. And so I felt like that to me was probably my more troubling takeaway from the preseason game against Green Bay from the offensive perspective was I was sadly disappointed by how the offensive line play. I know we're going to talk about that a little bit more in depth later. But that does impact quarterback play. And I don't feel like both of these guys had a lot to work with because of that. Now, we'll say there were a couple of sequences, Sarah, that I was going back.

Starting point is 00:04:32 And it frustrated me watching it. In particular, it was the end of half where the Broncos have been really good from a situational awareness standpoint. Like since Sean Payton has come aboard, they've done a really good job in those kind of two minutes. Like, hey, let's steal some points and try to do it. Instead, it was Green Bay stealing points because it's fourth and four. And you've got to chuck it ball down the right sideline that falls incomplete. And all of a sudden, green bay gets the ball. They go down.

Starting point is 00:04:57 They kick a field goal. And then all of a sudden, now you have your next offensive possession with 40 seconds left, the very first play, you're staring down Lucas Crowe and the safety reads and picks you, and then they get another field goal. So that was a span of six points and less than a minute for the Green Bay Packers. Sarah, that to me was the problematic thing about Stidham's performance. I would say on other instances besides that, I did feel like the units around him in terms of offensive line let him down.

Starting point is 00:05:21 I felt like the offensive line let Sam Ellinger down as well. Yeah, definitely, especially when it comes to the running game kind of getting things started, right? when you're constantly facing, you know, second and long, third and long situations, which Sean Payton referenced after the game, right? He talked about, I don't know how many third and long situations we had, but it was basically too many is what he was saying. And he was right.

Starting point is 00:05:42 Like you get into those third and long situations, you're not setting yourself up to extend drives or to put together something that is, you know, any sort of consistency whatsoever offensively. You can't do that when you can't get ahead of the sticks on first down or when the offensive lines getting pushed around and your quarterback is having to, remember at one point in the game, Stidham dirted a screen pass.

Starting point is 00:06:05 It was supposed to go to Adam Troutman, which that's another thing. It's just like to me, man, throw those plays out into the dumpster and light it on fire and let it be gone. None of those are needed at any point, the screens to Adam Troutman. So he dirts a ball.

Starting point is 00:06:22 And then obviously you have, I just kind of felt in general, and maybe this is just a me thing, Cody. But I felt like what's the way that Stidham played out there against the Packers, it was like, okay, it's just the preseason, right? That's kind of the way that it came across. And I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. I don't like dirting the screen and not even trying to, you know, see what else is there or at least like get outside the pocket and run or something. I don't know. I'm not trying to say he has to be out there, but it did feel a little bit

Starting point is 00:06:55 like, hey, it's just the preseason. You know, throw it up on fourth down, uh, dirt the screenplay. It's not that big of a deal. Like, just totally locking in on Lucas Krull, the interception that you mentioned. And I think it's fair to be critical of Jarrett because he is, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:14 counting eight million against your salary cap as a backup quarterback. And this is the guy that you're saying, if Bo misses any time, this is the guy who's going to come in and play. And so what you need to, to see in the preseason is a guy that you feel confident can do that. And I don't know that we've seen that,

Starting point is 00:07:31 not certainly in this game from Stidham, and maybe not enough on the whole overall body of work. When you're also trailing by double-digit scores, you can't run the football anymore. And I was very evident in how the Broncos kind of approach this game. I think the leading rush guy, I think it was

Starting point is 00:07:48 Gilliam McLaughlin had four total carries on the game, if I'm not mistaken. But in defense of the screenplay, So I'll defend Stidham on that just because on a screenplay, you are letting the defensive linemen upfield. It's hoping that those guys all get upfield and you can hit the little dump off. I'm fine with dirtying it on a play like that. Whereas like if you scramble and then you get sacked, well, you lose yards and the clock keeps winding.

Starting point is 00:08:12 So that one, that was maybe the thought process there is dirtying the screen, which I'm fine with. But I agree with you. I would much rather see screenplays to guys like Evan Ingram than I would Adam Troutman in these situations here. but just an overwhelming performance from Denver's QB2, and now they've got to face the Minnesota Vikings this week. And you know, Brian Flores is a sicko.

Starting point is 00:08:30 He's going to deploy all these different blitz looks to try to get after these guys. And I think if Bo Nix plays, they're going to try to do the same exact thing. But we'll see where things are at. There's still a long ways before we know whether or not Bo is going to play this week. But QB2, arguably right now, one of the bigger questions of this team going to the final week of the preseason. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

Starting point is 00:08:49 Broncos country, let us know how you feel about Denver's QB2 battle. right now. And I know a lot of Broncos fans are going to say, get someone from another team. Well, guess what now someone else has to come in and learn this entire new system? So it has to be one of these guys. What's going to give? That's going to be the $6 million question, Sean Payton likes to say here. But Broncos country coming up next. We're going to talk about what the All-22 showed us about the Broncos defense against the Green Bay Packers, some big plays given up by Denver starting defense. What was the reason behind that and other key takeaways. We'll get to that here on today's episode of the show.

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Starting point is 00:10:35 What did the All-22 tell us about the Denver Broncos defense against the Green Bay Packers? Well, it looks like they need to work on maybe some communication skills out there. Certainly the best units in the NFL across the league. They've got to knock off some rust in the preseason. and the Broncos defense, they're doing that. That's the nice way of putting it, Cody, is knocking off Russ. But a defense this good with this much continuity, I think we expect a little bit more than giving up an opening drive touchdown

Starting point is 00:11:02 with Jordan Love and the Packers converting multiple third downs, a fourth down, converting in the red zone, doing all these things that the Broncos simply did not allow teams to do last year. And it all happens on one drive, right? You got PS2. I mean, Green Bay Packers fans feel like they won. the Super Bowl, the PS2 in coverage giving up a play to Matthew

Starting point is 00:11:23 Golden, right? So that's what my feed is full of. I keep having to click on not interested in this post because I keep watching the play to be like, wait, he didn't cook Pat Sertan. Tell us what happened here, Cody. Tell us what the All-22 says. Let's maybe start there with the Pat

Starting point is 00:11:39 Sir Tan stuff because there's a lot of Packers fans feeling really good about Matthew Golden today. What did you see from PS2 in this game against the Packers? I think we should start off on the first play that Jordan Love had to Christian Watson. That one was man coverage. Passer 10 was walked up playing press.

Starting point is 00:11:56 Watson got a nice little inside step, and it was a quick pass. Like, okay, you're fine. You're going to give those things up. But then, and other times, what Green Bay was doing was they were getting the Broncos to adjust. They had their corners to back off. And for example, the Broncos, they play a lot of zone, right? And so they'll match out of zone certain concepts. So Passer 10 on one particular play, the Matthew Golden one where he's coming up underneath

Starting point is 00:12:19 Passertans lined up eight yards off the ball, outside leverage, indicating zone. But there are certain concepts in which you match it, which means that you have to go on and you have to chase it. So you had an in-breaking route from Matthew Golden. Sertan is chasing underneath. Of course, you have safety up over the top, but it didn't necessarily get there in time based on what was happening on the other side because Green Bay used a lot of pre-snap motion in this game. So Sertan is chasing from underneath. People are like, oh my gosh, he got cooked.

Starting point is 00:12:45 I guarantee you it would probably be a different story if it was actually man-to-man cover. and PS2 was walked up and press against Matthew Golden. And then there was one play in particular where you saw PS2 deliver that shoulder blow to Christian Watson underneath. Well, they brought him all the way across the formation there pre-snap by motion. And then when the ball was snapped, they brought him all the way back in a right. He didn't run like a crosser or a drag. He came back underneath the entire formation once again to get out to the flat.

Starting point is 00:13:12 So PS2, who's chasing, has to go all the way through the traffic of the middle linebackers, the safety is to get over there. that's not getting cooked. I just, I wish that we didn't have some of these conversations on social media because once again, it's not a logical place to go through and look at it. People react in real time, oh my gosh, this guy got cooked. Now, PS2, PS2 was just fine. He really was.

Starting point is 00:13:34 But the Broncos felt like Sarah, I don't know if you picked up on this from comparison to to week one against Atlanta. It felt like Atlanta was very base vanilla. It started to seem like the Broncos, at least in this game, we're trying to add a few more blitz looks into the mix. this, you know, in this game here. But the challenge, as you mentioned, you get a third and third and six, and then all of a sudden you have an encroachment and now it's third and one. Now you convert that fourth down, like that was problematic. The one thing that stood out to me that was,

Starting point is 00:14:00 I was a little concerned about and it was very questionable was the touchdown that the Broncos gave up. Now, it was very apparent when you look on the all 22, Alex Singleton is communicating something. But guys, there's like four or five guys if you go back and watch it that are holding their hands up like, wait, wait, wait, like, what do you mean? Or like, what was the call or what did you say? And then the ball snapped and then guys have to react. You had Dondre Tillman who was matching against the running back out of the backfield. Talo,

Starting point is 00:14:26 Hufango was playing essentially on the right side corner because there was no corner over there because the Broncos were initially in man because you had Jaday Barron on the outside, J-Quan on the slot, and then initially Passertan lined up on the number three guy on the left side of the field from the defensive perspective. And you had Brandon Jones over the top, Hufango over the tight end. And then Alex Singleton was communicating something.

Starting point is 00:14:47 And based on what he was communicating, he has a deep middle drop, which usually indicates he's checking into something zone coverage. And so that's where I think everyone was confused because PS2 played number three as man. He was locked up on him. Jayquant was playing number two who kind of ran an outbreaking route. He played him as mad and Jaday's guy on the outside went in and no one went with him. So it seemed like a miscommunication defensively but costly. Now here's the bright side.

Starting point is 00:15:15 You want to get that stuff out of the way here in the preseason. I'm very curious as to what really happened there. Once again, we're just going off of what we see on the film. We don't exactly know what the call was, but that is what we saw. Yeah, we saw that ultimate confusion, and I was very confused watching the playback, Cody, and I'm not trying to just continue to pile on the guy. I was confused by why Singleton would check into something that would cause him to go as deep as he did. Maybe you can help me understand that in terms of, like, I haven't played in a defense,

Starting point is 00:15:45 obviously since high school or anything like that. So I'm not exactly sure like what he was doing. But to me, here's what I would say. I wouldn't want you dropping any further back than the goal line because even if somebody gets in front of you right there, you're giving up a touchdown. He just kept, it felt like he just kept going. Like the Energizer Bunny just keeps going and going and going.

Starting point is 00:16:08 Brian Jones was right there too in the same spot. Yes, he's got a guy right there. So that to me was concerning. because ultimately there's extra pressure, in my opinion, on Singleton this season because of the fact that the Broncos passed on, they got a lot of cap space. They got a lot. They could have spent money in free agency on Devin Lloyd. They could have gone after Caden Ellis, who we talked about on this show. They could have traded up two, three spots and drafted Anthony Hill.

Starting point is 00:16:38 They could have done a lot of things to upgrade the overall talent at that position. Instead, what they did was they stuck with Singleton, who. who I believe it was from him earlier this training camp. We heard Cody that he was talking about that's so nice. The defense doesn't have all this extra stuff that they have to learn. And it's like they've got three years in the system together. And it's really just about them continuing to perfect it. And then to see a play like that, even in the preseason,

Starting point is 00:17:06 that was a bit discouraging, in my opinion, because you don't want obviously that position to be a weakness once again this season. Yeah, no, and once again, it seems like with this defense too, because of how aggressive it is in nature, you have to have guys on the same page. Like if there's a miscommunication with one guy, as we've seen, like one spot was miscommunicated. I think Dondre Tillman did a good job. Like Dondre was essentially playing what he was told to check into there. Now, obviously, against an angle route, that's not necessarily something Dandre's game is. Dondry's used to drop them back to a hook.

Starting point is 00:17:38 But then you had Hufanga playing over the top of the time. And they were, they had to match them, right, versus just drop. into a specific spot. And then based on where Alex Singleton was dropping there, I mean, it almost made it seem like he was expecting Brandon Jones to climb over the top of Hufanga to play inside out of that tight end that Hufanga was matched up against.

Starting point is 00:17:57 It just didn't make sense because he checked what looked like zone and then all of a sudden the middle was wide open and that's where obviously things took advantage. And if they're not going to the tailback, well, then they're going to the receiver that was breaking in from Jide because there was also confusion there. So they got to get that cleaned up And I'm curious to see what Vance Joseph will say about it this week

Starting point is 00:18:16 when we get a chance to meet with him at the podium here. But Broncos Country, the All-22. It showed some glimpses of success and it showed some glimpses of, hey, what the heck were they doing right there? Well, guess what? You got to get it cleaned up here in the preseason because you don't want these things happening week one against the Kansas City Chiefs. We're coming up next, Broncos Country.

Starting point is 00:18:34 Some of the performances that we saw from the Broncos' second and 13 units on offense and defense, it was underwhelming for a team that we've braved about, player development. A lot of those guys did not have their best performance in Friday's preseason game. We'll highlight that here on today's episode of the show. What's up, Brockhouse Country? Today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at Home Chef. Life gets busy and figuring out what's for dinner every night.

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Starting point is 00:19:59 Shakira once said, hips don't lie, but in the NFL world, we say the film doesn't lie. And that certainly was the case here from Friday's preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. And as the team goes back out to practice here today, there's a lot of things that they've got to correct. I imagine Sean Payton might not be in the best mood this week when we get the chance to talk with him because I think he had higher expectations of the second and 13 units. And Sarah, I think we did as well. And that was a big disappointment. We talked about it a little bit earlier when we talked about Jared Stidham and Sam Ellinger, their struggling performances. And it also correlates with what happened on the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:20:32 I felt like the offensive line, they didn't get a lot of push in a lot of situations here this past week against the Green Bay Packers. I'm talking about the second and 13 units specifically. Now, obviously, context to the situation, Alex Forsyth, who we know is the true backup center to Luke Wanberg, did not play in this game. Calvin Throckmorton got to start. I thought he did well. Once again, I thought Calvin did well with the starters. But after Calvin left with the starting unit, right? And then you had other guys like Gavin Ortega getting the mix.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Calvin had to play some with the second team as well. Things went downhill. And here's the thing about offensive line play that I don't think a lot of people talk enough about, right? If you have one or two guys at specific spots and those guys struggle, it impacts the entire offensive line. I mean, that's why I think that Denver really loves their starting group because these guys, they're almost symbiotic in terms of their performance. If one guy struggles, the whole unit typically struggles. But their majority strength, I would say, is that that unit plays well. That was not the case with the backups.

Starting point is 00:21:29 There were multiple blown assignments, multiple guys getting blown off the ball, too much backfield penetration. And that impacted the run game for Denver. and it impacted the quarterbacks being able to have a clean pocket. I just, I was underwhelmed on the offensive side of the ball with those guys, including some of the guys who were high on like Alex Pouchesky and Frank Crum. Yeah, it's really disappointing, honestly. And you know what? These guys aren't immune from having bad games every now and again.

Starting point is 00:21:52 And hopefully this was just a, you know, something that's going to really refocus all these players, right? Because when you're getting beat up at the line of scrimmage, that's going to be a tough day in the meeting room, I imagine for these guys when they get back to the practice, facility and when they get out there with the coaches and it's there ain't going to be no field trips to go see spider man you know this week cody that's not going to happen you're going to be putting an extra time in the film room and figuring out what you got to do in the weight room to get better

Starting point is 00:22:20 in terms of your anchor because what we saw on the offensive line i felt like it was pretty similar on the defensive line as well guys just kind of getting moved out of the way and that that is an emphasis i think for the packers in this game as they're trying to evaluate who's going to be part of our offensive line this year. They're working out a couple of different spots. They've got guys that are competing, and it showed. Like, they looked like they were the ones competing for starting jobs and for playing time. And the Broncos defensive front looked like a group of guys that understood their spots on the pecking order,

Starting point is 00:22:53 which that's really the only way that I can put it, right? Because you have these guys who, like, they know their backups and they're playing like backups. I don't like that. I want to see the Tyler O'Needem splashes. I want to see Jordan Jackson making splashes. I want to see Savion Jones making splashes out there. I want to see these guys holding up at the point of attack and not just getting moved out of the way.

Starting point is 00:23:17 We know Q Robinson was the opposite of this. He's probably the one guy that I would say in this game, Cody, I mean, he really bucked the trend of everybody kind of just getting laid out in this game otherwise. But he was the exception. and everybody else, offensive line, defensive line, when you get beat in the trenches like that, that's just tough to watch. It makes preseason games way less fun

Starting point is 00:23:41 because you want those guys to be the ones showing out the most. Yeah, and I was surprised, too, because generally some of those guys like Christian Williams, Jordan Miller, I mean, you mentioned Jordan Jackson, like a lot of times, Sabian Jones, those guys were getting pushed back to the second level. And I thought that the linebackers, outside of Karenne Reed,

Starting point is 00:23:58 in terms of the rotational guys, felt like the backups didn't play well. I didn't think Red Murdoch or Tori in New York, at least from my perspective. And once again, I don't know exactly what their coaching points were based on the call. It just you look at the alignment and you look at the execution of the play and the end result. And it's like it didn't look good for the D-line and obviously for the inside linebacks. And I even felt like the backup safeties behind Devin Key and J.L. Skinner, I didn't feel like they played well either.

Starting point is 00:24:23 Once again, Tyson Anderson. Miles Scott almost had an interception on one specific play. Like in the preseason, those are got to have it. plays when you're feeling the type of pressure that Denver has. And now they've added veteran Taylor wrap to the mix. We'll see how that transpires and impacts things this week. But just a very underwhelming performance from Denver's defensive line. And once again, also to this point as well, we talk about how the offensive line play impact quarterback play.

Starting point is 00:24:46 Well, the defensive line play also impacted the linebacker's ability to fill. But there were times where they went to the wrong gaps. They simply just got, you know, next level and double team by an offensive line. And it just, it wasn't good. And when you're allowing at times five or six yards on first down, a run play. Well, now it mitigates what you can do, saying from a play calling standpoint defensively, because now you have to tighten up. And that's where I think that the Green Bay

Starting point is 00:25:07 Packers took advantage to the play action, some of that wide stretch, turning it into a boot and just finding guys open down the middle of the field. It just wasn't great. You mentioned Q Robinson. I felt like he and Jonah Ellis, once again, you don't have any questions. You don't have any worries about those guys. I also felt like Chris Abrams Drain had a heck of a game at corner. I really liked what I saw from him. Sticky covers, just good being a stride for stride.

Starting point is 00:25:30 against some guys that were making plays against Denver secondary throughout the day. But really, when I look at this cornerback room, it's like, all right, the top five ain't changing. It's those guys. The Broncos have the five guys at corner. And Chris Abrams-drain, in my opinion, probably played the best out of anybody on the second and third-team defensive units last Friday. I mean, obviously, on Friday, alongside with Q Robinson. And you know what else kind of was frustrating, too, Cody, that I think contributed. And I agree with you.

Starting point is 00:25:56 I think those are great points, especially about Abrams-drain after watching. the game back and everything. But I think one of the other things that really sunk the ship of the second and third units for this Broncos team was penalties, right? I mean, penalties were atrocious in this game. Special teams were atrocious in this game. I mean, when you give up a 68-yard kickoff return, you're not like, it's not like you're setting up your defense for great success.

Starting point is 00:26:21 I mean, you're setting them up with a short field. And what you're giving is the offense, the opportunity to really capitalize on situational football. when you're throwing an interception at the end of the half, you're not setting your team up for success, your defense up for success. So some of the stuff that was given up in this game was a result of other problems that are happening.

Starting point is 00:26:42 And there's some bad calls too, right? I mean, roughing the passer on Q Robinson. I didn't like that. Give me a break. Like, I've never liked the whole weight of a player on a quarterback being one of those penalties that they call nowadays. and that was just a great, just great pursuit.

Starting point is 00:27:00 I mean, it wipes, it, it completely erases a play that otherwise Q Robinson should be applauded for, but the most ridiculous closing speed, Tyrod Taylor couldn't even believe it. I don't think that he, he sees this guy coming at him. Hugh Robinson is a freak athlete, and he's awesome to watch. And so there's just too many penalties, man, too many, you know, this, that, and the other offense, defense, 10 penalties.

Starting point is 00:27:24 I mean, come on. Like, that's what, that's what Sean Payton, think it was ticked off about after the game, Cody. I mean, I'm sure he was ticked off about a lot of stuff, but he mentioned specifically that they're committing the same penalties in the games that they're committing in practice, which that will drive anybody crazy. So, yeah, I think that there's just operational stuff. It was great for this to happen now for this Broncos team because, like you said,

Starting point is 00:27:50 it's the preseason. It's inconsequential. You can, you know, go work on this stuff. You can use it as motivation. and it doesn't count against you for the playoffs or whatever. But it's still, it doesn't leave a good taste in anybody's mouth when we're talking up the depth all week long and saying how good they were against Atlanta.

Starting point is 00:28:08 And that's a tough thing too. And you mentioned penalties. John Payton has been pissed about penalties for three straight years because this has been a problem. And look, here's the thing, though, how do you coach the penalties from not happening, right? And so much of what Sean does and I hear him all the time, I'm there at practice.

Starting point is 00:28:25 I hear him. He says, technique, we need to. to focus on technique, technique, technique, proper technique avoid certain things like that. And understand there's so many moving pieces in the game of football. But also you don't want to overcoach to a point where we know this defense loves to play aggressive. The pre-snap penalties like the false starts by Garrett Bulls, that can't happen. That's a mental thing.

Starting point is 00:28:44 That stuff is on the player. That's not necessarily on coaching. That's on the player. So Garrett's got to get that fixed because he's had that here in training camp. And Davis Webb has kicked him out of the lineup a few times in practice for doing the same exact thing he Mike McGlinchie and so when you're seeing those things translate in the games I know that they're not happy about that I know there's extra pressure right now I'm sure Sean Payton is making Zach Streif and Davis Webb filled a little bit of the extra pressure from the aftermath of it but in a good

Starting point is 00:29:08 way because yes those units are going to have to adjust and and obviously be better the just the mental errors you can't have especially when it contributes to either going backwards or losing it down or contributing to the opposing team getting an extended drive when they should be off the field there for a fourth down punt attempt coming up so just uh you know all the a lot of stuff you look at on the film. Here's the thing that I'll say too, Sarah, because I watched it my first time, and I came away as like, man, that was an ugly game. It was sloppy from the second and 13 units.

Starting point is 00:29:36 And then my takeaway is, okay, it's never as good as you think it is. And it's never as bad as you think it is as well. There was a lot of bad. Don't get me wrong. There was also a lot of good. But at the end of the day, there are things that this team has to correct. And these young guys in particular, and this is the risk. When you run back the same roster, a lot of your younger guys have a little bit more pressure on them to accelerate their development.

Starting point is 00:29:55 because you can't keep the entire band together forever. So that's going to be a very interesting challenge as we are approaching the final week of the NFL preseason and roster cuts. And with that said, Broncos Country, tomorrow's episode of the show, after two preseason games, Sarah and I are going to give you our 53-man roster projection in the final week of the preseason. You can get that on tomorrow's episode of the show. If you're brand new viewer listener and you like what we talked about today,

Starting point is 00:30:18 hey, hit this, subscribe with that follow button so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team here on the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. We'll see you tomorrow.

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