The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - QB injuries, Justin Fields’ first start and questions for the 49ers with Lindsay Jones + a Denver Broncos team visit with Nick Kosmider

Episode Date: September 23, 2021

Lindsay Jones and Robert Mays kick things off by breaking down all of the quarterback injuries across the league. Then they discuss what’s at stake for Jameis Winston this week, Justin Fields’ first start and their questions for the 49ers. Finally, The Athletic’s Broncos writer Nick Kosmider joins the show to talk about Teddy Bridgewater, Denver’s offense and the key injuries to monitor.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. The presenting sponsor for today's episode of The Athletic Football Show is Visa, a network working for everyone. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. Today is Thursday, September 23rd. I'm Robert Mays. Great show for you guys today. Our Broncos writer, Nick Cosmiter, is going to be joining us a little bit later. We do our weekly team visit about the 2-0 Denver Broncos and the red-hot Teddy Bridgewater.

What a world we live in, Lindsay Jones. Just as we predicted that the Broncas and the Raiders would be the last two undefeated teams in the AFC. Oh, goodness. The NFL, something you can never figure out over the first month. What's real? What's not? Those are the questions that we ask ourselves. We are back for our Thursday show.

As always, we are going to start off with the news, some of the stuff that's trickled out over the last couple days. And let's start with just quarterback injuries, because there are quarterback injuries galore all over the place. I think it was a huge part of Sunday Slate. I mentioned that we'd be getting into some of the quarterback injuries later in the week. Let's start in Chicago where Andy Dalton is weak to week with a knee injury. Matt Nagy comes out today, says, Justin is going to be our starter. Then like 10 seconds later, apparently, says Andy is our starter when healthy. I'm so exhausted by all of this.

For the moment, it does not matter. Justin Fields is going to be starting a quarterback for my Chicago Bears on Sunday against Cleveland. Yeah. The way that this has been managed, I think leaves a lot to be desired. More size. I've just been waiting for the Robert Bay's exasperated size when it comes to the Bears management. So I've got at this point. But like, let's talk about the actual football side of this, right? And we're going to get into it a little bit more. But what does it mean that Justin Fields is going to be actually starting the game as opposed to coming in a relief of Andy Dalton? I mean, I think it just helps for your imprint on the game plan.

It's shaped around you, you know, the way that you prepare, the reps that you're getting. I think all of that's a benefit. I think Justin Fields played okay last week. You know, that interception that he threw, it was identical, almost identical. I went back and I watched the videos today to an interception that Lamar Jackson threw against the Bengals last year. I mean, you had Logan Wilson drop down, come out at the last second. He dropped into the exact same spot and baited Lamar Jackson into an interception. That's what happened to Justin Field.

That happens to even veteran quarterbacks, MVP quarterbacks, that interception. If Darrell Mooney catches the first ball that Justin Fields throws him and Alan Robinson corrals that touchdown, his numbers look much, much different. It's going to be a process. It's going to be a process with all of these rookie quarterbacks. But I'm looking forward to it. He's playing against a Brown's defense that has struggled over the first two weeks. You know, their secondary is inexperienced, a lot of moving parts. You know, hopefully that can be helpful as he gets settled in.

but you know it's I've been back and forth about this I've been back and forth about whether I thought Justin Field should play from the beginning of the season I understood the arguments for Andy Dalton being in there but now it's one of those things the door is open you know if he was going to be health if you were comfortable putting him in at all I felt you should be comfortable just playing him and so now we're there you know now the door is open for him to be the starter for the rest of the year and we'll see what happens I agree with you that I think the bears have left something to be desired with the way they've handled the messaging with all of this. I think it's difficult to keep the guy at bay when he's a first round pick and nobody's

excited about the starter that's in there and that you haven't been a very good offense for the last couple years. And now we're here. You know, if he plays well, I would have to assume that even if Andy Dalton is healthy, Fields will be the starter moving forward. If he doesn't, then I think that you run into sort of an awkward situation. All right. You want to move on to the other guys?

Because I know we're going to get into some more Justin Fields later. Yes, we are. So there are a few more guys that, unfortunately, were hurt last weekend. Tua has broken ribs. It was reported today. Brian Flores came out and said that he will be out this week and possibly longer. Carson Wentz is not officially ruled out with his two sprained ankles that he has somehow suffered. Two sprained ankles.

Carson Wenz is out. Two sprained ankles. It's a rough outcome for both of these teams, I think, not just because they lost their starting quarterbacks for the time being. but because these were pivotal seasons for both of these guys in both of these places. Think about how much time and intrigue was associated with these two guys stepping into these roles coming into the year. And now we're two games into the season and potentially both of them are on the shelf. Yeah, I mean, these are such, you know, critical seasons.

So much is at stake for each of these guys. For Carson Wentz, it just continues to be an availability issue. And yes, he has not officially been ruled out yet. he was walking around the facility. He did a press conference today. He's not wearing boots or anything. So he's not completely hobbled. Like he doesn't need like a cart.

I don't even know. What do you do? What if you have two significantly sprained ankles. So, but look, ankles are really tricky. He's already dealt with a broken foot this year. He has had to have a little bit of time away from the team because of a COVID issue. So it just is becoming like,

when are we going to consistently get to see Carson Went because when he's played, there have been some okay moments. we are not, to be clear, we are not giving him a pass for that shovel pass interception in the red zone. Their red zone offense has been horrifying to watch at times. But we just, this guy needs time. He just needs to be on the field with his teammates, with that offensive line, spending time with Frank Reich and trying to figure out what this offense is going to look like. And it just keeps being additional issues that he's going to be off the field with the added element there that they are not deep behind him. Their backup quarterback situation is Jacob Beeson, and that is it.

He threw three passes when he came in in the end of the fourth quarter against the Rams, which was a very unfavorable situation. I mean, I felt really bad for this kid that that was what he was thrown into face through two incomplete passes and then an interception to Jalen Ramsey. So if Carson Wins doesn't get to play, it's going to be Jacobeson in a pretty important AFC South game, their first divisional game against the Titans. So less than ideal situation for sure. So, you know, I think it's just concerning because they're already O and two.

They're a team that they believed that they were a contender. And I think a lot of us thought that maybe not a Super Bowl contender, but at least a playoff contender because they would be in the mix in the AFC South. And here they are potentially facing O in three and a division loss. The problem with this is that for both of these teams, it puts you into a holding pattern that you would have preferred to avoid. Yeah. I mean, Miami, we talked about this with Stephen earlier in the week.

It's a big year for the dolphins. We're now in like year two, three of this rebuild where you have all of these young players in the building that you've spent all this draft capital on, including a quarterback that you drafted in the top five. He did not play well last year. He's looked better in limited time this year when the offense is his and the entire off season. He looks good in the preseason. And you're kind of waiting to let this thing go, to kind of let it loose and see what this team really. is and now that process halts again. And I just can't imagine how frustrating that is as Brian Flores, as Chris Greer,

as a Dolphins fan. I mean, it's really difficult to want to see what you have in this group and then have to press pause on that again. And the same thing goes for the Colts. You know, this is a team that, you know, I'll get into it a little bit later, but speak here for them. You know, they've made this commitment to Carson Wentz. And you have this young roster that you've now committed to.

whether it's extensions for Quentin Nelson, for Darius Leonard, for Braden Smith, you know, this group, this is our group. These are our guys. This is what we're moving forward with. And now in both of those places, you struggle to move forward. And that's just a really rough place to be when it's the middle of September. Well, and I think the other thing, too, when you're talking about the dolphins in the Tua situation is that this has to be really frustrating for him, too, because he finally was kind of the guy. He was named the starter. They played. these pieces around him, especially with the skill position pieces. But then all this other stuff has been out there, all the Deshaun Watson rumors.

You know, is he a team captain? All of these sorts of things. And they kind of, this was his chance to prove that, no, I am the guy. You can stop looking for other quarterbacks. You can quit it with the Deshawn Watson flirtation, all of those sorts of things. And now he's going to be off the field. And I think he thought he was going to have a chance to play this week. It was a really weird situation where initially he was diagnosed with bruised ribs.

It was going to be a pain management situation. and then they ran some more test and determined his ribs were actually broken and ruled him out this week. So he wants to play. I think it's going to be really hard for him to kind of sit through this when there's so much personally at stake for him. I hope they get back soon rather than later. Like all due respect to Jacob Easton and Jacoby Percet, I want to see what these two teams look like with the quarterbacks that they chose. All right. Speaking of quarterback entries and just kind of spinning the wheel, Davis Mills will

start for the Texans. I guess tonight is when we're recording. We're recording this on Wednesday, but this will run on Thursday. So Davis Mills will start for the Texans tonight. Tyrae Taylor is on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, this Texan season is so strange.

And I give a lot of credit for how their offenses looked over the first two weeks and the way that they kind of built around Tyra Taylor. I mean, their performance in week one, some of the stuff that they were doing was fascinating. I mean, the offense looked like this is a cool plan. This plan makes sense. I like the things that they're building around Tyrod. And now you have this guy that they drafted in the third round.

And I guess he's kind of a dice role because they don't know what their future quarterback looks like. So now you have a chance to get an up close look at this guy. But their offense was performing pretty well. It's just such a strange, you talk about holding patterns season for the Texans. And this is now just another wrinkle on top of that. Well, I know one of your favorite bits is explain it to me like I'm five. And I literally explained who is Davis Mills to my five-year-old this morning, which was quite a challenge because she didn't really understand why somebody.

Well, she's always very concerned when people get hurt every time there's a play in football. She thinks somebody got hurt. So I was trying to have to explain this whole thing to her. But let's just make this a teaser. We're going to get into the Texans and the Thursday night football game at the end of the show. We're going to run through our reasons for you to watch tonight. one of them might involve Davis Mills. One other thing that I wanted to touch on just injury related.

It looks like the Eagles lost Brandon Graham and Brandon Brooks this week to IR. And it's tough. I wanted to hit on that just because when we're building a case for optimism with regards to the Eagles this year, it's because of their fronts. I mean, you go back and you watch that game they play against the Niners. Their defensive line played well. The Niners had trouble running the ball. And then their offensive line is the strength of that team.

And now when you start chipping away at that, I think this team's ability to be annoying, essentially over the course of the entire season and give playoff teams problems over 17 games, I think that becomes more difficult as you start to lose guys like that. So tough blow for that team because that's where the strength of that roster was focused. All right. It's time to get to who has the most at stake in the NFL this week. Lindsay, why don't you kick us off? All right. I'm going to our friend James Winston because. I don't know. Are we back to like the Jamis that we have known for a very long time? He was so good in

week one. I mean, it wasn't bonkers passing yardage numbers, but five touchdowns, really efficient, really safe with the football, no turnovers. And then we get to week two. And it's bad James again. And he's kind of yoloing it all around the football field. He threw two interceptions. Protection was really bad. Poor communication. So I just wonder kind of did he learn anything? Has he learned anything. So there's just kind of a lot at stake for him and for the Saints this week. So I don't know. What do you think? What do you think out of what you saw out of James last week? And is this just going to be the James Winston roller coaster up and down, up and down, up and down? No. We've used coaster in reference to other players before, like the whoever coaster. It has never been

more appropriate than it is with James Winston. You can feel your stomach drop in the same way that you can on a roller coaster when you watch him play. Like it's a very very important. It's a very important. It's a visceral reaction at times when he makes some of these decisions. And I think this is the argument, right? It's the argument we've had about quarterbacks for all of history. Can you become a different guy? Can you truly change your stripes and alter the way that you play the game, your mindset when it all starts to crumble around you?

And I think that's the problem is that they had issues up front last week against the team in Carolina that's doing some fun. donkey shit on defense. I mean, it has been really fun to watch them and the Saints struggle to protect. And when that's happening, and you have a quarterback kind of revert back to his most basic self on a fundamental level when you just kind of withdraw back into yourself, what do you turn into? And I think that's what we saw from James Winston. I think that that was always going to be the question is could Sean Payton, could this structure provide a different version of James Winston the one we'd seen in the past? For

One week, the answer was yes. Two weeks in, I think the answer is decidedly maybe. Well, and I've got some potentially bad news if you're James Winston and the Saints. They're playing the Patriots this week and a defensive coordinator in Bill Belichick, who is notoriously good at confusing opposing quarterbacks and forcing quarterbackbacks to make poor decisions. It was that Patriots defense that picked off Zach Wilson four times last week. you know, they've been able to get after him. Part of that is the Jets.

Part of that is, you know, Bill Belichick's record against rookie quarterbacks is ridiculous. But this is a, you know, he's playing a defense that is very good at forcing turnovers and making you do stupid things. So huge week for James Winston to prove that he is, if not a completely different guy, which I don't think he's ever going to be a completely different guy, but can be at least a better version of himself than we saw in week two. you'd hope that if their offensive line gets healthy, that will be a big step because Cesar Ruiz had to play center last week because Eric McCoy got hurt.

Now you got several guys banged up. McCoy's on the injury report. Calvin Throckmorton, which is an amazing name, by the way. Calvin Throckmorton is incredible. Incredible name. He had to play last week. They were switching some things around. McCoy is questionable with his calf injury this week.

So if he comes back and you can move Ruiz back to. to guard. Hopefully that group is just a little bit more settled, which I think would go a long way in helping them in pass protection because you talk about trying to keep track of some moving pieces. That's how New England plays up front. So I think that would be a big step, but you're right. I mean, this is a Patriots team that delights in quarterbacks who are going to potentially throw the ball to the other team. All right, mine, we alluded to it a little bit. I think the Colts up the most at stake this week. They're 0 and 2, and they're staring down 0 and 3 with a loss to a Titans team that would be 2 and 1.

Since 1980, 6 teams have made the playoffs after starting 0 and 3. 6. That is not a good number. Obviously, there are expanded playoffs this year, but like you mentioned before, this Colts team came in with playoff aspirations. And I don't know if it's necessarily important for them to make the playoffs. If they went 500 this year and missed the playoffs, I think that's okay in their overall trajectory. The problem for me is that it's about the vision for this Colts team and whether it is coming together.

We talked about their commitment to Carson Wentz, but it's everything else. It's their commitment to guys like Darius Leonard. It's their commitment to this group on defense. It's their commitment to this overall roster building plan. And if that group stagnates or takes a small step back, Carson Wentz is only part of that problem. You have to see development, improvement, progress from the overall plan. And so far, through two games, we haven't seen that. This team is 30th in EPA per play against the pass.

And No Xavier Rhodes, which is a part of that, I'm assuming. But also, this is bigger than just losing a 31-year-old cornerback. You know, you have guys that were playing well last year that aren't playing very well right now, and they make it better. You know, as their pass rush gets a little bit more experienced, as quitty pay gets more time, they're also played against. two really good passing offenses with the Rams and the Seahawks, but I still think this is a pivotal week for them.

Because even if they're not a playoff team this year, I still want to see this team start moving in the right direction. And right now they are decidedly not. And you'd be moving in the direction of potentially being able to take a top quarterback next year if you become one of those teams that's a win three. And then you see where it goes from there. Well, not of Carson Wentz plays 75% of a snap. and you hand your first round pick to the Eagles.

Well, I don't think he's going to get to 75% of the snaps the way that this is going. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's frustrating, you know, and you look at it and it's, you can make excuses, right? Well, Julian Davenport is playing right now because Brayden Smith has hurt, but Mark Lewinsky didn't play well last week. You know, it's not just these one or two pieces that they're missing. I think it's just an overall stagnation from a roster that probably overperformed last year and is underperforming in some pretty important areas right now. All right, that was kind of a dower note. Let's pick it up a little bit.

Every week we're going to talk about just appointment viewing we have heading into the weekend, whether it's a team, a matchup, something that we just cannot wait to watch on Sunday. Lindsay, why don't you kick us off here? All right. Well, there's one clear game of the week. And I am going to be there in Los Angeles. It's not a great week overall. It's not a good week overall.

But you know what? Sometimes the bad weeks on paper end up being. really, really fun. But there is one blockbuster game on the schedule, and that is the Tampa Bay Bucks at the L.A. Rams. I am going to Los Angeles. So I'm going to be there for it. I'm going out in the wild. It'll be my first game of the season. I had a couple weeks to watch games in my little home office setup with all my monitors. And now I'm going to go to SoFi Stadium and get to actually see this game. So I know you and me. The world's biggest monitor. Yeah, right? I mean, I get, I get distracted by the one at Jerry World in Dallas.

I can only imagine now to get the one in SoFi that's like an Oculus, is that what they call it? It's like a 360 kind of a monitor there. So I'm, but I'm just really excited. I know you and Nate are going to get like way into the matchups and a lot of the schematic stuff that we're going to see in this game when we've got that Rams offense against the Bucks defense and vice versa. But there's just so many intriguing things about this game. Obviously, you know, two, two and O teams. two of the top teams in our power rankings. And, you know, there's just so many intriguing elements about this game.

It's going to be the first real defensive test that this Bucks offense has had this year. I mean, they played the Cowboys who have been playing well, but nobody is super jacked up excited about their defense. And then I don't think we should count the Falcons defense as a professional defense right now. So getting to go to L.A. to play what was the best defense in the NFL last year, Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald. there's some really fun interior line matchups again. We had Aaron Donald got Quentin Nelson last week,

and now he's going to have Ali Marpet and Ryan Jensen, their center, who, you know, I think the personal foul potential is very high in this game. So there's a lot of stuff that I'm really excited about, and I'm mostly just excited to get out of my house. It's going to be really fun. It's a great game. I mean, it's such a fun game.

The way these two offenses are playing, it's must watch TV. I'm excited to see the Rams offense against the Bucks defense. Yeah. You know, this is a Rams offense that they played the Bears and Sean DeSai's first game. And they kind of just unveiled this version of themselves in a way that would be hard to plan for. I mean, some of the things that they're doing with how spread out the offense is, the way they're using Matthew Stafford.

And then now we get to see that against a Bucks defense with a lot of talent on it. It is clearly the game of the weekend. I'm very excited for you to be there. My answer here, I mean, it's Justin Fields, right? I mean, it's, we talked a little bit about what it's like to be the quarterback heading into the week and team building around you. I don't want to talk about anything football related here in terms of like the nuts and bolts of it all. This is a big moment for Bears fans, right? I mean, this is a franchise that I would argue is the most quarterback star of franchise in the history of the sport.

You guys know the list. You know the names. You know what it's been like. I can't describe to you what. it is to every single weekend for 30 years. I'm 34 years old, knowing that your team doesn't have an answer at the most important position in sports. And knowing that when it all comes down to it, everything else has to go right for your

team to have a chance. And now, especially in this era, the 2006 bearers are not a thing anymore. You know, there's no way that a defense is going to carry teams to championships. You can win a game here or there. You can win a Super Bowl with defense if you get there. But you need to be like a top five offense to be a real team week in and week out in the NFL, a top eight offense. And the Bears have just never been that. They never had a chance to be that.

It was always can the offense be good enough? And I have no idea how good Justin Fields is going to be. No idea. But I do know that his profile, what he was in college, the way that they arrived at this moment, it's worth getting excited about. It's worth paying attention to. And I can't wait to see how this goes. I don't think it's going to be this rocket ship from day one.

I think there are going to be fits and starts. I think there are going to be moments where he looks like a rookie. But there are few things like being a fan of a team and having somebody that's worth putting your hope into. And I think that's exactly what Justin Fields represents for an entire fan base that has been looking for somebody at that position to attach themselves to for a really, really long time. So it was really fun to be kind of doing a live podcast. I guess it was streaming, right, during the draft when all of the moves happened and they drafted Justin Field. So we got to watch you react to it. But what has it been like, you know, even today when he was officially named the starter last Sunday when he came in?

What was it like? Like, what were your group techs like? What are your mentions like? What is just kind of that feeling been like in Chicago for you guys who have been through this for so long? I think that there's just been a frustration with like, let's just do it already. Like, let's just do it already. Like, let's just have it happen. I understood the arguments for not wanting him to be in there from the start.

But I do think that there was a collective frustration where it's like, really? Like we're just waiting. We're just like waiting and biding time. And I think part of that is it's emotional. I mean, it's not logical. It's coming from this place of desperation for needing somebody at that position and wanting to know if you have that guy. And I think that's kind of what it is. You know, like my brother, when he came in last week, he's like, Justin Fields is in.

He was so excited, and that's kind of what he represents to the people who root for this team. It's like just this chance, this chance that it's been so long since they've had this chance. It's never happened in my lifetime where they've had a guy that panned out at that position. And I don't think the process associated with the Mitchell Tribisky pick was anything like the process associated with this one. Mitchell Trubisky was nowhere near the type of prospect that Justin Fields was. And I think that's why this version feels different. and I don't know how it's going to go. The offensive line is not good.

I do not have a lot of faith in this offensive coaching staff. I think we talked about it earlier this week. There's a chance that the best case scenario here is that he looks like a real guy, but the team clearly needs substantial changes after the season happens. But as long as the first part of that equation comes true, I think that's all Bears fans really care about because it's the inverse of what we've dealt with for so long. If the quarterback is a real guy and the rest of it needs addressing, I think that is an outcome that is more than acceptable. So they play in that early window at Cleveland on Sunday.

What is your viewing situation going to be? So the way that I have it right now is that I have three TVs in my basement. On the big TV, I have the four games on Sunday ticket. So I'll do, because the TV's big. So I can split it into four and you can still watch them all. And then on the top left TV, I have Red Zone and the top right TV I have the Bears. So I have five games going at once plus the Red Zone. Will you put sound on the Bears?

I will put sound on the Bears. I put sound on the Bears because with the four games, it's like, you don't know which sound. I can't easily change the sound because the laptop is over there. With the Red Zone, it's like a little bit too scattered. So I typically put the sound on the local game. And the Bears game will be the local game that I have on. I'm sorry to whatever CBS game is on or whatever Fox game is on. That's the other local one.

I will not be watching that on Sunday. Well, good luck. It'll be a fun and viewing experience. I actually look forward to both of our Sundays. Sounds like it's going to be kind of a. It's going to be great. This job is not the worst thing in the world sometimes. All right.

Lindsay, what is your one big question heading into week three of the 2021 season? All right. Well, I'm just going to continue to lean into my AFC West kind of bias. Just let it happen. We're going to talk to NIC Cosminder in Denver about the Broncos here in a few minutes. But I want to know, I want to have answered, how are both the Chargers and the Chiefs going to bounce back after last week? Both teams really disappointing kind of heartbreaking type of losses. And now they're behind both the Broncos and the Raiders and the division, which is just nuts.

Our Nate Taylor, our Chiefs beat writer, said that he wrote this on, I guess it was Sunday night. It's the first time since Patrick Mahomes became the starter in Kansas City that the Chiefs are not leading the AFC West. That's insane. which is just wild. And I believe it actually goes back even further than that. It goes back to the 2016 season that they haven't at least been tied for first place in that division. So look, it's two weeks in. So it's not like a huge sample size.

But, you know, I want to see how both of these teams bounce back because the way that they lost those games a little fluky, right? I mean, the Cowboys won on a 56-yard field goal at the end. The Chargers had some familiar type of mistakes. you know, the Chiefs were going to win that game until that late fumble. And there was also a fourth and one conversion at the end, which was absolutely the right call in every single scenario what the Ravens did. But if it weren't for that fumble before, they never would have been in that situation because generally, Patrick Mahomes in those situations is inevitable.

They were going to get in position to kick a game winning field goal. So I just want to see how both of these teams are going to bounce back. I don't think that the Chargers are going to attack the Chief's defense in any similar way that the Ravens did last week, but the Chiefs defense, big, big, big concerns. Lots and lots and lots of questions there. I think we had lots of questions about that unit going into the season, but now they're really just exaggerated even more after you lose the way that you lost to the Ravens. So, yeah, I just want to see it.

And I just think that this Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, could be like the next great divisional quarterback rivalry. And I'm really, really excited to watch that game. I believe it's on at the same time as the game I'm going to be covering live. So I will definitely have it up on one of my screens in the press box. But that's my big question. How do these teams bounce back? What are they made of now that they are kind of facing some adversity,

a difficult situation? I think we're going to dig into it a little bit with Nate. I have not rewatched the Chargers game yet. I want to see what they're early down. It was not a pretty game. I want to rewatch it because I want to see what's, going on with them on early downs. I mean, they've struggled to run the ball. I mean, it's really kind of been Justin Herbert put your cape on on third down. Let's see what you can do. And that's

frustrating. And I want to see kind of where they're struggling on those early downs. But I think that's a great question. I mean, what those two teams do after those losses last week is going to be huge. And those two guys going against each other for the next however long, I know that I am very excited about it. All right. My question is, what are the Niners? Like, what are the Niners? The first games, they get the lions and the Eagles, and they blow out the lions for half of that game, and then they let the lions back into it. That I'm not as worried about. For me, it's watching that game they played against the Eagles last week. I don't understand what this offense is supposed to be. Watching this offense with Jimmy Garapolo, it's like the land of a thousand

screens. He's averaging, I think he's throwing 31% of his passes at or behind the line of scriments, which is the second lowest rate in the entirely. Jaywin Hertz is first. And if that's going to be their approach offensively, if they're going to treat him like Mack Jones, then why isn't Trey Lance the quarterback for this team? It's just hard for me to understand. Jimmy Garoppolo is not playing at a level right now

and not making throws right now that I think justifies the argument that, well, we keep him in because we're an elite offensive. Jimmy Garoppos is the quarterback as long as he's healthy. It doesn't seem like that to me. It just feels like, again, talking about, holding patterns. I don't really get it. And maybe they're going to break out against the Packers.

Maybe this offense is going to find another gear. But the way they're playing right now, it's like, I just don't know what they are. I want to see what their defense does against Green Bay. Obviously, they've had some injuries at corner. They lost Jason Ferret for the year. It seems like Emmanuel Mosley might play this week, which would be big for them. I kind of just want to see what this version of the Niners is compared to another contender in the NFC. because that's what they were supposed to be coming into this year.

They were supposed to be a team that won the NFC West or fought to and had a chance to push every other team in the entire conference. And I want to see it. I want to see what they are against better competition because going back and watching that game against the Eagles last week, it was confounding. Like their offensive approach and what they're asking that offense to do is just confusing to me. And I just want to see it settle here over the next couple weeks.

Yeah. And it kind of felt like they've done this before early in the season where they've kind of grinded out these wins. It's been really ugly. In the 2019 season, they definitely did that where they had these kind of weird games early. And then whether it was weather or injuries or whatever it was. And then all of a sudden they kind of like, okay, we start getting going. You see the more dynamic elements of their run game. You see George Kittle kind of have these breakout performances.

Now they get to go back. They get to go back home. They've been on the road for a couple weeks. They've been dealing with injuries while they've been at the Greenbriar. even though those injuries did not occur while they were gone. But so they get home, like maybe there could be like a little just, it's just refreshing to have, you know, that sort of, you know, just something new happening. But yeah, I'm with you.

I don't really know who they are. And if you're talking about games that are hard to rewatch, that Niners Eagles game was really high up on the like tough, tough games to go back and rewatch because for both offenses, neither offense was really fun to watch. Yeah. just, I don't know. It's one of those things. You're watching it, and he made two throws to Debo Samuel where I was like, okay, like I get it. Like, I get that why he's supposed to be the point guard of this offense. But other than that, it's just, I just don't really understand the

plan and why that they're constructing and around him like this. And when you have somebody like Trey Lance sitting there and you have someone with Trey Lance's skill set sitting there, it's just going to be really hard for me not to believe there's another gear that Kyle Shannet could take this thing, which is the reason that they traded up for Trey Lance in the first place. is because they eventually needed that gear. So that's going to be in the back of my mind for as long as this happens. Well, it was so interesting that they, you know, they let this whole thing go all preseason about like what are the Tray Lance packages going to be like and that it's that it's going to be

Jimmy and Lance, not either or you're not an or situation, that it was going to be all about these two guys. And we saw it right away, week one. I mean, Tray Lance came in very early on that game for some packages through a touchdown pass in the first week, first quarter of week one. And was that just like Kyle Shanahan trying to mess with the rest of the league, like say, look how creative we are and we're going to make this work? And then now they've kind of dialed it back that we haven't seen anything really innovative

or interesting. Was that because they were playing the Eagles in week two? They thought they didn't need it. Are they saving some stuff for the Packers for a Sunday night game? Is this, you know, does Kyle Shanahan's ego get in there that he wants to bring some really cool shit out there when he's playing against his best friend, Matt LaFle, So I think there's going to be some really fun gamesmanship kind of elements there that, you know, Sunday night football. Maybe there can be something new and fun that we haven't already seen out of the Niners.

Yeah. I mean, the Niners offense has been good, right? Like, if you look at the numbers, it's been a good unit so far. Like, I think they're currently, I think there's sixth an EPA per play on offense. Like, their passing game has been really efficient. But it's just one of those things. It's like, the quarterback is not the reason for this. Like, there is something else here.

There is another gear to all of this. And we'll see what happens. But that is why it's my question, because it's something that I am absolutely paying attention to here over the next couple weeks. All right. You don't have to make a hard case to watch that Sunday night game is what you're saying. We do not, but we may have to make a hard case to watch this Thursday night game. And that is what I'm going to ask you to do. The early season slate for Thursday night football is not great.

So every single Thursday, we're going to try to make the case for why you should watch Thursday night football. Well, Lindsay, sell me on this week's Thursday night game. All right. Well, so first of all, everyone needs to watch Brian Burns. He is the most underrated defensive player in the NFL. And if- You're- Appreciate you to the choir here. Yeah.

And if the Fox broadcast people, if they're listening right now, if it's not too late, train a camera specifically on Brian Burns because he's really fun to watch. He's kind of the dark horse defensive of the year, defensive player of the year candidate. He's not going to win it unless he has like 24-s-ass-ass-out. which would be amazing. But look, everybody needs to watch him. He needs to be a national name. Reason number two, you're playing fantasy football, Christian McCaffrey, fantasy football stud.

So you know you have to watch him. Number three, last week we had a drinking game. I'm going to make it a Texans drinking game this week. Every time you see a player make a play and you think, huh, I didn't know he was on the Texans. Take a drink and you're going to be hammered by halftime. And then fourth is just the Davis Mills curiosity factor. We've seen these games before. It was Ben Danucci last year playing a game for the Cowboys where you're like,

who is this guy? Like what? What's happening here? And, you know, so you're going to watch it because you want to know kind of who Davis Mills is because you've probably never heard of him. And I think that there's a Sam Donald curiosity factor as well. He's played well over the first couple weeks. Coming into the season, I was very interested in the experiment that was Sam

Donald coming to Carolina. So far, the returns have been pretty good. And like I said before, Panthers defense is doing some cool stuff. Phil Snow, their defensive coordinator, he's just letting it go. Cool blitz packages. I mean, there's a lot happening there that I think is worth paying attention to. So I think some pretty good reasons to watch Thursday night football this week. All right, that's all we got. It is time now to get to this week's team visit with Nick Cosmiter. Let's get to it. All right. It's time now for a weekly team visit with one of our athletic team writers. And we're going to chat with Broncos writer Nick Cosmiter because guess what?

The Broncos are 2 and O. And Lindsay's going to stick around for this because she obviously has some institutional knowledge of what's going on with the Broncos. Lindsay, why don't you kick us off? What do we need to know about this very strange 2 and 0 start from Denver that you want to ask Nick about? Well, you know, I heard you and Stephen talking about the Broncos a little bit on the mailbag pod a couple days ago.

And I know there's a lot of people who are maybe not quite buying into the Broncos two and no start. You look at who they've played. It's the Giants. It's the Jags. They've got the Jets coming up. But I think in the context of, you know, if you live here in Denver, if you've kind of been following the Broncos for a while, they haven't won a game in September in September in a very long time. These are the first September wins of the Vic Fangio era. This team has not been fun to watch. I did not realize that. That's brutal. Yeah. First September games. Patrick Mahomes, first September interception. Vic Fangio, first September wins.

So the Bronx have largely, they've been out of it by the time you even get to October and they start figuring stuff out in previous years. So, you know, people around here at least are just kind of excited to see like a fun team, a team that's watchable, that is interesting. And that, look, they're beating bad teams, but they've been a bad team for a really long time. So, you know, I think the place to start is kind of how they got here because this is a team that's had a lot of potential in past years and has not really lived up to it. So I really think that's kind of where we need to start with it and figuring out if these Broncos are

for real or not. All right. So let's go back a little bit. I want to go back into this summer because obviously the quarterback situation in Denver was a point of conversation all throughout the off season. They traded for Teddy Bridgewater. There's a competition that's one of the open competitions, maybe that in New Orleans, in the entire league heading into the season.

So Nick, when you were looking at that and kind of keeping tabs on it, when did you think think that it became clear Teddy Bridgewater was going to be the guy? I think it was in their preseason game against Seattle. Vic Fangio decided to go for it three different times during Teddy Bridgewater's stint. He converted all three of them, including a fourth down play where he stepped up in the pocket and found Jerry Judy coming across the middle, picked up a first down, eventually scored a touchdown. And afterward, he gushed about Bridgewater's pocket presence, you know, talking

in the same breath about how well Tom Brady performs in the pocket. And that's when you just go, okay, he just said Tom Brady and Teddy Bridgewater in the same sentence. I think we know how this is going. But the thing was, you started to see what Vic Fangio values, what he has missed during his two seasons as head coach, started to obviously see that in Teddy Bridgewater, which is taking care of the ball, you know, being able to kind of have a slow heartbeat when stuff collapses in the pocket.

That's what he's displayed ever since he got here, really, in OTAs in June. And that's what we've seen in the first two weeks of this season. So that was for me, that second preseason game because it was a close competition. Drew Locke did make improvement, which, you know, again, this is 17-game season. We saw how many quarterbacks got hurt last week. You know, I still think at some point in time they're going to need Drew Locke, but it was clear by then that Teddy Bridgewater was the guy that they were going to ride with this year. to be fair to Vic Fangio, compared to what they've had over the last couple of years, Teddy Bridgewater might as well be Tom Brady. I think that's what we've realized over the last couple weeks.

Well, it's been so interesting because, you know, I think when you're looking at this Broncos quarterback situation, it was, you know, it was so back and forth of like Team Teddy versus Team Drew. And it was exhausting to listen to sports radio in this town because that's really what it's been is you had kind of had to pick a side. And there were a lot of people, I think, who were really inside the. building and certainly around town that were kind of rooting for Drew Locke to win that job, like wanting to see kind of the draft pick get another shot and people who were just really underwhelmed by the Teddy Bridgewater acquisition, in part because it came the same week that all the Aaron Rogers rumors were out there. So it kind of felt like this traumatic letdown when Teddy Bridgewater ended up being kind of the other option to Drew Locke. But now that we're here

a couple weeks in the season, it seems like Teddy has won everybody over, especially in the locker. and we, I think that the clip of Von Miller kind of their sideline chat in week one, saying that, you know, Teddy brought something to the team that they haven't had since 18, meaning Peyton Manning retired. You know, everybody saw that was kind of like a heartwarming moment. But how do you, how has he done this? How has Teddy Bridgewater kind of ingratiated himself to the team, won over the team, and now slowly kind of winning over this fan base as well?

Yeah, well, you mentioned the, you know, the Aaron Rogers thing. It was also that he got acquired the day before the draft. and then the Broncos passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones. So, you know, the thought when they picked him up for that sixth round pick was like, oh, great, he's going to be the mentor for the guy that they draft tomorrow. And then when there was no guy drafted, it was, oh, he's going to be the guy. But to your question, Lindsay, I think that it's a matter of like, it's been a great fit for him in terms of who the Broncos had on offense,

which is, as you know, a young group, a lot of talented wide receivers. But guys who I think have really gravitated toward having a guy. guy who takes that mantle. You know, Drew Locke last year was a second year quarterback who was essentially a rookie. He was still figuring it out, no offseason. It's hard to be a leader when you are still trying to figure out what you're doing. Teddy knows who he is. He's comfortable in his own skin.

And for a group that has so many, you know, first, second year players, third year players on the offensive side, I think it just filled a need for what they didn't know that they were missing. And one great example is Jerry Judy. I mean, here's the guy who, um, Teddy Bridgewater took aside from the very start and started explaining to him the nuances of what he needed to see in his routes, like where he was at in the progression. If you're my third guy, you can't burst off the line. I need you to kind of set up, set up your guy and then come open. And so those two built a strong, strong relationship. Obviously, Jerry, Judy's going to be out a few weeks now with the ankle injury.

But that's just one example. You know, he takes KJ. Hamler, moves his locker next to his so that he can be a mentor. I just think Teddy's skill set both on the field and in his leadership qualities fit what the Broncos sort of needed at this time. And I don't think they realized how much that was the case until he got here. And we know that Teddy is a great locker room presence. People love Teddy Bridgewater. He would be a stabilizing force no matter how we cut this. And I think that's why Vic Fangio was attracted to the idea of Teddy Bridgewater, right?

We want somebody to keep the train on the tracks because we have this very good defense and we have a young group of skill position players and an emerging offensive line that we feel good about. We just need somebody can hold this together. But that's not what the first couple weeks have been. Teddy Bridgewater is back there slinging it all over the yard. He's averaged 9.6 air yards per attempt, which is the fifth highest mark in the league.

And they've been fifth in the NFL and EPA per dropback over the first two games. So this isn't a passing game that's just keeping things together. It's one of the most aggressive, exciting passing games in the entire NFL through two weeks. So what have they said just about that increased aggressiveness from Teddy, the way they're approaching the offense? Has that come up at all? Because compared to what we've come to expect from Teddy Bridgewater over the last couple times, we've seen him in a starting role, this is drastically different. Yeah, it is.

And I think that we, Big Fangio was actually asked about that today of, you know, because again, you mentioned the air yard stat. he's up there with guys like Russell Wilson in terms of, you know, airing the ball out. And against Jacksonville, it was wild because they have the shot to Portland Sutton early. His jersey kind of gets tugged. He doesn't get free. It seems in the past that would have been like, okay, that was the one time we're going to try it. You know, by half time, he had gone deep for Cortland like three or four more times. And, you know, Big Fang just said, look, Teddy is like any other quarterback that when he feels the opportunity is there, he's going to take it.

Now, we need to take a grain of salt with the defenses that they face. I know New York is a good defense, but they were dealing with some entry issues as they went in that game. Jacksonville, we know that they're kind of a train wreck right now, particularly in the secondary. So I think you're going to start seeing a much better indication of how much this passing game really has improved when Ravens and Steelers in Weeks 4 and 5 played Denver. But I just think that Teddy did a really good job of melding with these guys pretty quickly when he got here.

And Sutton, who has obviously. been getting his way back from ACL injury. It's been, I think, a vote of confidence for him to have Bridgewater saying, listen, I know you can get down there. I know you're still my kind of jump ball, go get it kind of guy. And we saw that, that they kept attacking it against Jacksonville. It was sort of surprising. I didn't expect to see him attack that deep that frequently as he has through these

first two weeks. I mean, there was that first, that play where he missed Cortland. Or it was in the second quarter, is about midway through the second quarter. on the very next snap, he just let a whole shot that KJ Hamill will rip up the left sideline. I mean, he is playing with like, it's not reckless abandon because they're good choices, right? Like these are throws that are available and based on matchups once he should be making. But it's still like, oh, man, like if they're just going to play like this with this group of receivers, like this is going to be an offense I'm going to enjoy watching.

I'm going to tune into this in a way that I just never would have expected coming into the season. What I would just add to that is that Drew Locke through deep, last year, almost as much as anybody in the league. He was behind Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers. And so this is part of what Pat Schumer wants to do. He wants to get the ball down the field. The problem is Drew Locke's deep ball just wasn't there last year. He doesn't have enough loft on it.

It's something that he really tried to improve this year and did a better job in training camp. But they have the skill position players where they say, hey, let our guys go get it. Let Cortland Sutton go get the ball. Let KJ. Hamler, I mean, was roasting everybody in the offseason. and let him go get the ball. And Teddy is, we know, you know, he lays it up there. You wonder when and if it's ever going to come down.

But that's what they want to do. It's just, you know, and Teddy, Teddy has said, okay, if that's what the offense is, as you mentioned, Robert, they're good choices. There's only been a handful of throws so far. We were like, eh, these are all good choices and he's making them. Well, when we talk about the deep game, that is something that's kind of, we thought, maybe out of character for Teddy Bridgewater, who we've known about him as a quarterback. I think we've also seen Vic Fangio doing some things.

that are out of character, especially those fourth down calls in week one. What do you think is behind kind of this change in game management strategy that we've seen out of Vic Fangio over the first couple weeks? Yeah, well, I think he said his big thing was he said this in the Seattle game when he had chosen to go for it a couple of times in the preseason. He said, look, if I have, if I have confidence in the offense, that's what I'm going to do, which was obviously him saying I did not have that confidence in Drew Locke last year when they were four of 15 on on fourth down.

They already have more fourth down conversions in two games this year than they had all of last season. That's incredible. And so and again, that that does come down to Lindsay. It's a great point. I think it comes down to his trust in Teddy Bridgewater is a big part of it. And he wants to, he wants to build these leads, right? Like the, the Broncos are being able to now play defense or half through the first two weeks

the way that Big Fangio wants to. He doesn't want to blitz all the time. He wants to do that sparingly. And when he does, he's very effective. Trevor Lawrence was 0 of 8 on 9 Broncos blitzes, two interceptions and a sack, according to true media. The Broncos have been lights out when they do blitz, but he wants to be able to use that sparingly.

And part of that is, you know, getting out to these leads. And that includes some aggressive play calls. Looking at, you mentioned Jerry Judy earlier, obviously he's going to miss time, which is a bummer, because he looked really good in the first half of that first game against the Giants. but it still feels like if you think about the component pieces of what this team has, especially at receiver, it all fits together. And that's what I thought coming into the season.

It's like, all right, you have that true X in Cortland Sutton, you have that secondary receiver and Jerry Judy. You have the speed element with KJ Hamler. We know what Noah Fant is. Now without Judy, is it just as simple as we're putting Tim Patrick into that spot, everything else still makes sense together? Like overall, how do you see all the skill position pieces fitting? together as currently constructed.

I think that's exactly what it is. They've made a point to say, we're not going to dramatically change things based on, you know, who's in or out. Like the personnel groupings are going to largely remain the same. And Tim Patrick, I was just talking to somebody as we were watching the Broncos go through

warmups. He reminds you of that guy that's like a YMCA basketball player who he walks onto the court and you're just like, I don't really know how he's given me buckets all day long, but that's sort of what Tim Patrick is doing. I mean, he leads the Broncos in touchdown reception since the start of the 2019 season with eight. I mean, he's just a solid, steady guy who doesn't drop the ball, you know, manages to get open and is another guy that has just jelled real well with Teddy. And so that is what they're going to do.

They're not going to change anything up schematically. They're, you know, he was playing the outside spot. That's one of the good things about having KJ. Hamler back and healthy. He's their slot guy. He's going to be in the slot. And so really it has been as simple as, you know, letting Tim Patrick go over into that outside spot that Jerry Judy had. And then, you know, even mixing a Kendall Hinton in, you know, into a role in certain packages like they did last week. So that's that's the route they're going. They're not going to change a whole lot.

Well, I think it's interesting is that they've mixed up the personnel a decent amount. They're using a lot of 12 personnel. And I think that it's given them certain matchups. If you look at the touchdown that Noah fan scored, it was beautiful. They lined up with two tight ends, but they went. empty. So the Jags were in base and the way they lined up, Teddy knew it was manned coverage. He had no offense on a linebacker. He's like, I'll take that all day. That's easy. And so I think that they're really doing a good job of that. You're mixing in Alberto O and Soberdard and then what Javante Williams is for this team. That's the exciting part about

this is that even beyond whatever Cortland Sutton's doing, which is amazing. After coming off that injury, he looks really good. They just seem to have all of these complimentary pieces that have these roles that are fine right now, but could even grow in Williams's case. And that's why, I mean, you can sense the excitement in my voice. It's like there are places for this offense to go even with the guys that they have and the young pieces that they have, which is really exciting. Yeah.

And I think that the cool thing, I mean, you mentioned 12 personnel. They're leading the league right now and plays right out of 13 personnel. So they're using a lot of three tight ends when they barely did it at all a year ago. So I think that's the kind of thing that's been interesting to me, too, is you've seen a lot of growth out of this coaching. staff. You know, Vic Banjo said at the end of last year that they were going to take a top to bottom review of every single part of this operation. Obviously, didn't make any major staff changes. You know, a couple of assistants like Christian Parker came into coach

defensive backs, but it's primarily the same staff. But they, I just think, have been a little bit more open-minded to what they can do given their personnel. And, you know, almost the whole first drive was 13 personnel. And that is the way that they're going to, I think, mix things up when they want to go heavy, when they want to use, you know, different things that Javante Williams can do. It is exciting because it's been fun to just go every week and say, okay, what are they going to put together now? You don't, we didn't think of the Broncos going into the season as like, oh, I wonder what fun offensive things they're going to do today. But that's kind of been the story so far. Totally.

All right, Nick, catch us up on the injury situation because obviously, you know, the Jerry Judy injury happened in week one. That's what, six to eight weeks. But catch us up on everybody else. What's going on with Bradley Chub, Graham Glass, Gowler, they're going. guard didn't play last week, Josie Jewell, catch us up on all of the injury situation that's going on right now. Yeah, well, the two big ones this week, you know, it starts with Josie Jewell. He suffered a pectoral injury through the first two games. He was playing as well as I've ever seen him play. He's, he was more athletic. He was fast. He was, and he's, he's the, he's one of the

best communicators, probably this side of Justin Simmons on that defense. And so it's going to be a big loss. They're going to bring in Justinnaud, the second year player out of Wake Forest, who was promising in training camp last year before injuring his wrist. He was out for the year. You know, he came in and played pretty well in the second half on Sunday, but he's going to have obviously much bigger tests to come against some of the offenses they'll see in the next coming week. So that's why they signed today.

Micah Kaiser off the Rams practice spot because he has experience in that Vic Fangio scheme having played for Brandon Staley in Los Angeles last year. He was their leading tackler, actually, before he suffered an knee injury in November. So that's how they'll replace him. Bradley Chubb is the other one. He had surgery today to remove a bone spur in his ankle. You know, Vic Vanjo said it was a roaring success, which is a big surprise. You never hear that about guys who have surgery.

But he is going to have a, he's going to be out at least six weeks. So that's another one until the midway point of the season. They won't have Bradley Chubb. Of course, Malik Reid has been in the situation the past two years, right? I mean, Bradley Chub missed almost all of 2019. Bond Miller missed all of 2020. Malik Reed's been that kind of solid guy in there. You know, so they're going to be able to withstand.

Dan Chubbs injury, but it is a big blow. They just have not been able to get Bonn Miller and Bradley Chubb on the field at the same time since 2018. And so that's kind of the disappointing part of that. Outside of that, Ronald Darby's injury, it's not going to be one you really feel a whole lot. If Patrick Chutan is playing on the outside like he did against Jacksonville, and then with Graham Glasgow, again, depth has been the other part of the story for the Broncos.

Natani Moody stepped in. He did give up a sack in that game, but overall graded out well. and he's a guy that they have a lot of confidence that he's going to continue to develop as well. So Graham Glasgow could be back this Sunday. I imagine they probably weighed another week as they just let him get his conditioning back and get a little bit further removed from what was a little bit of a scary incident in week one. But that's where they are. The defensive thing with Chubb and Jewel, it put a little bit of a damper on this 2-0 start.

But Denver is much better built depth-wise to deal with that than they were a season ago. Of course, you know, you're only equipped to deal with it until you have, you start to have too many of them. So we'll have to see how it goes over the next couple weeks. And that's what it seems like. I think that Certan has come along in a way that they are probably happy about. He had a pass interference on a double move during that game. But he also had the previous drive.

He had a beautiful play where he like sunk underneath the route and had a really nice pass breakup that ended a drive. I mean, he clearly has a feel for this. So when you think about even with the injuries and even with the guys that have had to replace, just the way that the defense looks right now and how it's kind of crystallizing, is it emerging and kind of developing the way they would have hoped? Because I thought this defense had a chance to be like a top five unit. In their minds, after the injuries, where do you think the cracks still are a little bit? Yeah, I just think that their depth at pass pressure is a little bit concerning,

just because if they suffer one more injury there, they could be in trouble, especially if that injury is to Von Miller, right? I mean, Von Miller already has three sacks. He's looked like, you know, I don't want to say 2015, Von Miller. There definitely is not. Yeah, that's not fair, right? When will anyone? But he looks great.

And he's, you know, the sacks are one thing, but he, he wore John Taylor, Jacksonville's right tackle out in the second half of that game. And so he's still got that conditioning where he kind of gets to guys in the second half. And I think you're going to see a big sack total from him this year. So that, you know, that's what the big fanjo defense wants to do. It wants to pressure with the front four and play coverage with talented defensive backs. And that's what they did.

That's what George Payton did. And so even with like a Ronald Darby going down, they still have the depth in that secondary to be really good. I mean, just look at the second half. After the first drive for Trevor Lawrence, he was nine of 26 for 35 yards and two interceptions. Granted, rookie playing in a second game. But I mean, this defense has the, has the ability to really clamp down. And so so far, that's what I've seen out of this. group. And, you know, again, a lot of new pieces, they're still meshing together.

So I think they're going to improve as the year goes on. I also think that it's just going to be a nightmare for quarterbacks as they get to more comfortable with one another because you can already see plays where they're sinking off of routes and they're coming off of stuff because of how comfortable they feel playing with one another. I mean, I've seen Kyle Fuller just kind of sifting in areas where he's not supposed to be because he trusts that guys are going to be where they are supposed to be. And it's like this team is going to be hunting for turnovers over the course of the season. Like I truly believe that with all the guys that they have back there.

And that's absolutely been missing, right? I mean, that's probably what you were going to talk about, Nick, right? Is that, I mean, the Broncos have been one of the worst teams in the league in terms of their turnover ratio over the last couple of years. Part of that was because they were very turnover prone on offense. But even with the talent that they had on defense in past years, they just weren't coming up with. They weren't forcing fumbles. They were not coming up with interceptions. So to see, so to see kind of a multi-interception game.

last week. It was like, oh, okay, that's a formula that we haven't seen here in a very long time. Yeah. And, you know, and now the hope is that they can, they have, they have, they have Zach Wilson this week. So they're going to try to get that total. Hopefully their turnover marching further from their perspective is going to be a little bit higher come, come next Monday. But that has been the thing, right? Like each of the last two years, um, for all the good that Vic Fancho's defense did, that was the missing piece. And we know that turnover is to be sick. They're not necessarily predictive from one year to the next. But I just think that, Robert, you hit it on the head.

I think the, I think the chemistry of them developing together. And the key thing is that you have the two safeties. I don't think people talk enough about how big it was for them to get Kareem Jackson to come back on, you know, after they declined the team option for his $10 million, they got him to come back on basically half that. And he's been great. You know, it's wild. You think you forget that he's only been playing safety. This is his third season. He kind of, he dabbled in it in Houston.

But he switched over full time when Vic, when he got here in 2019 and Vic Vanjo took over. And you look at it and she's like, how is this guy not been playing safety his whole life? And so even he, even the veterans on the team are still getting kind of more and more comfortable all the time. And I agree, that's a scary thought for opposing offensive coordinators and quarterbacks.

So our newest edition of the power rankings published on Wednesday, the Broncos, I believe we're at number 13, but they were one of the highest variance teams that we had. We had somebody voted them at number five, and then there were somebody else who voted them at number 22, and just about every other spot in between, which I think says a lot about, you know, kind of how people around the country view the Broncos.

I don't want to overlook the Jets game this week, right? Because the Bronx have lost to bad teams a lot over recent years, I believe including to the Jets last season. Two years ago. Excuse me, yeah, two years ago. But the schedule after that is going to get considerably harder. After that, they've got Ravens, Steelers, Raiders. So looking at kind of where the Broncos are right now,

how do you think they're going to match up when the competition is going to get a lot stronger? Well, I just want to say that my vote was between 5 and 22, less than I think I'm too high or too low. You were neither. I can confirm. Yeah, it's a great point. I think this is kind of a, you know, the Jets thing. I remember back when I covered this team in 2017, and it was Vance Joseph's first season. And they were off to a three and oh start.

They were playing really well. And then they hosted the Giants on Monday Night Football. And the Giants that year had been, I mean, the injuries issues they were dealing with were intense. Like basically everybody but Eli Manning and Evan Ingram were injured. And then those two just came into town and torched Denver. And then the Broncos lost nine straight games after that. I don't think that's going to happen here. But I certainly still.

think this is a team that this is a little bit of a litmus test in terms of how well can you handle success because that's not something anybody on this team, you know, has had to do in the last couple of years, right? They haven't really had this feeling. But, but they, let's assume they get by the jets and take care of business. Week four with Baltimore coming into town, that's where it really starts. And if, if you can, if you can be three and oh going to that, you've given yourself a much larger margin for error going through the rest of this season, you know, they have games against at home against the lions, against the Bengals, against the Eagles. So they have an opportunity to really kind of pad their home record this year.

And they've already got a couple on the road. So the schedule always set up for them, I think, to have some success, if they could make improvements where they needed to. And so to set the table to B3 and O, if they can get by the Jets, that's going to give them some wiggle room to work with as they go into that teeth of the schedule that you just mentioned, Lindsay. All right, before you get out of here, this has been a very rosy conversation, right? There's a lot of excitement. There's a lot of optimism happening around the Broncos right now.

What in your mind is the biggest barrier to this continuing over the course of the season? What could go wrong that would prevent this version of the Broncos from being the one we see over the course of the year? Well, I think that obviously the injuries play a part. And Teddy Bridgewater, I think to me at this point, he, he, he's a pretty clear upgrade over Drew Locke. And so if he's if he's unable to play for whatever reason, you know, they might have to kind of relearn some things on the fly.

So that would be number one. Number two is what happens when they do get behind in games, you know, significantly. They've been behind by touched, you know, four points in each of the last two games. But that's not a true deficit.

What happens if the Ravens come to town and they get down by 14 points? They've been very methodical on offense, right? They've taken some deep shots. haven't necessarily hit a ton of them. The majority of their offense has come in these 10, 11 play drives to where you really put a premium on having to finish in the red zone. Can they do that against teams that have better defenses down there? That's the thing that I'm really looking forward to seeing is,

I think they're going to move the ball this year, much better than they did a year ago, but can Bridgewater in that offense finish and can they be better equipped to make some comebacks against some of the teams that they're going to probably get down on from time to time. That's, I think, the biggest question that's going to be answered probably in that Ravens, Steelers, Raiders stretch. Well, I'm going to be watching that stretch with a lot more intent than I thought coming into the season because the Broncos are much more fun, much more exciting than I think anybody could have thought before the year began.

Nick, thank you very much for the time. Really appreciate the insight. I'm sure we will catch up with you down the road. Yeah, I can't wait to see you soon, buddy. I'm going to come to that Ravens game. So I'll see you in the stadium in a couple weeks. Fantastic. Can't wait. Thanks, guys. All right, guys. That's all we got for today.

Thank you so much to Lindsay and Nick. Thank you guys for listening. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that. Please subscribe to The Athletic. Theathletic.com slash football show. So much great stuff every single day on the site. You cannot follow the NFL without a subscription to The Athletic.

Please go check it out if you do not have it already. We'll be back tomorrow, Friday 5 with me and Nate. and this week's picks with Sheal and Nate. Those guys did a little bit better this weekend, but still not great. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then,

thank you so much for listening. Talk to you guys soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.