We're gonna right out of kay commentary at the hotline that we'll bring our good
buddy, Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter covers the Denver broadcast
of the Denver Post. Parker, how you doing this evening? I'm doing
great. How do I get Joe doing? Doing pretty well? Known if
you watched any of the Euros at all, but uh, uh, like
as we was just talking about, we have the team from Yuruguay's is into
the stands to fight fans from Columbia. Yeah, I saw that. That's
uh yeah, like you said, I mean it's you know, you get
shut out and then you go, you know, try to hit something.
I guess. But it's pretty That is a pretty wild scene. Yeah,
that's I mean, it's embarrassing. But at the same time, I'm gonna
it's sports talk radio cookies, so I'm gonna I'm gonna get my feast on.
Uh you know, right now, I want to talk to uh talk
to you real quick. Of a's start off with big twelve media days.
I don't know if you've been paying attention or not. Of course, yesterday
Mike Gundy comes out admits to drunk driving thousands of times. Today Coach Prime
uh was was there talking about the Colorado Buffalo's program and how he has more
pressure on him to win than maybe others. And while I don't necessarily agree
with everything that Deon Sanders says, I think he has a point on that
because if it was literally anyone else, I don't think that five wins for
the CU Buffs this season would be seen as falling short. But if Coach
Prime doesn't win more than five games, it's definitely going to be seen as
falling short. Yeah, I think that's right. And then I think it's
also fair. I don't mean this in a flight to Dion and that program
in the least, but like, yeah, the pressure might be different on
him, but he brings that. I mean he's not. I think it
might be a little bit. It's a little bit like yeah, man,
I mean the way that you run your program and the way you talk about
your program invites that pressure, which is great. Go for it, you
know, put big expectations out there, draw a lot of eyeballs, understand
what it's going to do in terms of generating buzz, and also criticism,
some of which is fair and some of which is just sort of your general
internet babble. But like, yeah, there's pressure, and he is the
one that it starts and ends with and it's by design. So are they
going to be held to what like do they need to show progress? Sure?
Yeah they do. But it is sort of like, you know,
I mean, he's the one that's drumming this up. So I don't think
it's a surprise. He shouldn't be surprised that that there's added pressure that it's
his program, right, I absolute agree, and he absolutely does invite it.
The thing I guess I question is the vitriol that gets leveled at him
because Dean isn't doing anything original. This is the same playbook that Pete Carroll
rolled out at USC. It's the exact same playbook. It's just Pete Carroll
versus maybe Dion Sanders, who is maybe a bit more in your face than
Pete Carroll. Is that the is that the difference here? I think a
little bit, you know how that I'm sure he saw the all the clips
from the New York Giants and the off season Hard Knocks, right, and
like the one that one of the ones that was making their house today was
Joe shown with their vice president of communications, and he said something about like
he said something about Saquon and those negotiations, and the PR guy was like,
eh, I wouldn't say it that way, and Joe Shoon started laughing,
was like, hy, yeah, I'm not obviously going to say that
during the news conference, and like Dion just sometimes says that during the news
conference, and like that. I think what's funny about that is like every
once in a while it goes a little far. Every once in a while
you feel a little bit like, oh man, I mean he is talking
about, you know, making so many kids transfer and it it made like
offends the sensibility a little bit. And on the other hand, like,
especially in our business, then like we want coaches to be honest, right,
we want to not be afraid to speak their mind. We want them
to say interesting things, even if it's not always actually in their best interest
to say interesting things. And so like I will never I don't know if
he's handled everything perfectly or whatever, but like I will never complain about a
head coach, let alone one with the wattage that that Dean Sanders stakes with
them everywhere he goes being upfront and honest and saying things on a daily basis
that draw eyeballs and draw readers and listeners and viewers and all of that.
Well, yeah, and it's certainly more fun for you and I because I
mean I barely even go to press conferences anymore because they're so sanitized, they're
so scripted, and it's usually what you're getting is messaging from the team.
You're you're not getting real answers to questions. You're getting the coach or whomever
is up there framing their answer through the narratives that the team is already predetermined,
honestly practiced in an effort to get whatever message that they want to cross.
Yeah, definitely, And I mean, like listen, I mean it's
the same thing if you if you listen to a shareholder call from Bank of
America or whatever. You know, I mean, like this is you you
want to like you want Companies want polished, they want people that organizations want
people that represent them well and say the things they want them to say and
all that. And like when we buck that trend, sometimes those people catch
more wrath. Now, especially with social social media, you catch more vitriol.
And then like the same thing happens just in a different flavor. If
you're boring all the time, I can you know, think of a quarterback
who played in Denver for two years who like part of the seeming problem that
everybody had with him was he never said anything interesting and he never said anything
that sounded original. And then you've got someone just like on the other end
of the spectrum saying things that sort of make you go whoa what all the
time, and it's and and it's like you you know, it's like you
can't win regardless of sort of where you are on that. And so I
just say, hey, listen, if if he's going to be the star
of the show, he wants to put the pressure on himself, he wants
to say spiky stuff like go for it. That's that's that's my opinion on
it. Just at some point they've got to deliver that. That's the thing.
It's just that you paint the target and you accelerate the process as it
works with the Parker Gabriel at Parker J. Gabriel on Twitter works for the
Denver Post. I want to switch gears talk about the Denver Broncos a little
bit. The news came out the teams down there gathered down at TCU.
And it's interesting the way that this is sort of portrayed because the headline is
that Jared Stidham got the team together. They're down there at TCU and and
they're practicing. The reality is Botix is there too, right, and and
so this is kind of but that gets omitted from basically all the coverage.
It's that jared' Stidham has done that. That's such a it's a bizarre way
to frame what is happening there, is it not? Yeah, maybe a
little bit, you know, you know what it's interesting about that, Like
I didn't actually give that a lot of thoughts that that's the way it had
been portrayed. And I think it's probably because you know, I mean,
I think the thing that you've noticed about the summer so far is that you
know, Jared's didham like so far in his career, Like on the field,
he's been what he is, but he's like no matter what you think
the way the quarterbacks is going to go or whatever. Like, the thing
that's undeniable about Jared Siddam so far this summer is that he's in a different
position than he's ever been in before, Like he's really competing for the job,
and whether he can win it, you know, we'll we'll see.
But he's actually had this opportunity to sort of take the bull by the horns
and say, like, I'm the veteran guy in the room. We were
laughing about that. I was laughing about that with him during mini camp.
It's like you're the old man in the room, which is kind of funny,
he's like twenty eight years old, but it's true. And so I
think one of the things you notice is like he is really trying to like
sort of live up to that. And so he took it upon himself as
the veteran guy in the room to get everybody together and say we're going to
go through. And I think, you know, whether it was just because
he really, you know, wants Bo to be there and it's good for
everyone to be there, or whether it was optics in part or whatever,
like Bo's there too and that's great, and so like it's a very it's
very interesting because you know, it went to Jared Sidham's house, he's he's
down base in Dallas and all of that. But it all sort of like
it is interesting that that two of the three guys are there, and that
Jarrett has clearly sort of taken it upon himself to say, like, I'm
gonna do everything I can in the field. I'm gonna put my best foot
forward. But one of the things that they won't be able to say about
me at the end of August is that I didn't do my darness as a
leader. And these days in the NFL, this sort of thing is part
of what goes into being a veteran, veteran leader, leader and quarterback on
the team. We're talking with Parker Gabriel. You know, Bill Barnwell puts
out a lot of content, and you know he had this write up of
this the skill position groups and rank the Denver Broncos third worst in the NFL,
ahead of only the Chargers and the Giants, bemoaning a lack of firepower
not named Courtland Sutton. And the quote here is the day's Denver had a
promising young group of playmakers have passed. Jerry Judy never had his breakout before
being traded to the Browns. Tim Patrick hadn't played two years. Javante tore
up his knee, average three six a carry, Dalstch caught three passes and
Marvin Mimms didn't much behind Judy in the line. And while all that is
ostensibly true, I wouldn't say that Sean Payton's offense was really built on playmakers
so much as it was built on guys who could make plays in the structure
with what with which they were doing. Now, there were some years where
they had some great tight ends, you know, Jimmy Graham, Jemmy Shocky,
that kind of stuff, but it wasn't really like they had usually had
a slant guy on the on the right hand side, whether it was Colston
or Michael Thomas, whatever, They usually had a burner over there on the
left hand side to take the top off of it was Ted Ginn, Brandon
Cooks, you know whomever, and then a stable of running backs. Are
we worried at all that the Broncos don't have enough around bow knicks when he
eventually takes over. I mean, I think there's there's a little bit of
that, But I also think that in part it's not that it's impossible that
it exists. Certainly I think that person is unproven, right like it we
saw the flashes from Marvin Mims last year, but not the usage to really
say, Okay, he can do everything, he can do this, but
he doesn't do this well. You know, we'll see sort of how fast
Troy Franklin can adjust to the physicality, especially of playing in the NFL.
Like they have some guys that if it breaks rider they stay healthy and Greg
dlca's case, or they sort of grow into their role, maybe put on
a little muscle in Juliu McLoughlin's case, Like, you can see some guys
that that can be playmakers. I don't I think there's maybe a little don't
concern or whatever, Like I wouldn't be surprised if we get to the season,
We're a few weeks in and we go, I don't know who the
single player is that keeps defensive coordinators up right. But at the same time,
just as you're saying, Ben, like part of John Peyton's you know,
philosophy and part of the system is if you're in the right spot and
we have a vision and a role for you, you don't necessarily need like
four of those guys, right, Like, if you're in the right spot,
the timing is there. The quarterback puts the ball where it's supposed to
go, so the scheme can help the players, and the players can help
the scheme rather than being tilted too heavily one way or the other. And
so like, I don't think that their collection of skill talent, at least
as far as I've seen it so far, is like particularly daunting or impressive.
But I also am not ready to sit here before training camp even starts
and say like there's no way that as a collective group that they can't do
damage and score points, because I think it just you know, it remains
to be seen. Sehn Payton clearly seems very confident about this group's ability to
be better offensively than they were last year. That's going to take some doing,
obviously, given all of the change. But yeah, I mean I
can see both sides that I don't know who the big time playmaker is and
I don't know that it's critical to have, you know, league average or
a little better offense. I'm kind of with you on that. I know
everybody's focused on the Broncos offense, but the more interesting stories to me you
are the other two units. With the change in the kickoff roles, special
teams. All eyes are on special teams and who's going to be who's going
to solve the new kickoff rules before anybody else. And then defensively, the
Broncos look like they're in a pivot. You know, you look at the
personnel they brought in, you look at what they've tried to do here.
This looks like it's gonna be something more akin to what Vance Joseph has traditionally
run. Vance tried to have continuity with with what Vic Fangio run, and
Gero Vero kind of continued that, and they tried to continue that last year.
It didn't really didn't really work, and it's anathetical to what what you
know Vance does. Anyway, Vance is a Wade Phillips disciple. They want
to send everybody play play man, and you know, and maybe middle of
field close, whereas you know Vic and Vero it's it's middlefield open, tight,
fronts, cover four, cover two h you know, stuff like that.
A lot of own I'm wondering if we're going to see a significantly more
aggressive defense this year, and if that may be the talk of the town.
You go back and look at the winning streak the Broncos had. The
defense largely carried them, Yeah, yeah, definitely, And you know there
was a there was a sort of anomalous turnover binge in there, but those
those happen in football, right, Like the key is when you get hot
and you force a bunch of turnovers to win games. In the Broncos,
they did that in that in that stretch of five wins in a row.
I do think, you know, like you're saying, I do think you'll
see, you know, more more tweaks defensively, probably a little bit more
aggressive. It'll be interesting to watch how the sort of identity of that group
unfolds over the course of camp. But they're obviously like, you know,
you get some time playing. I really, I know it's a ways out
still, but just given the firepower that Green Bay has offensively, I'm very
interested to see sort of where Denver's at at the midpoint sort of of camp
during that joint practice August sixteenth, because it's a good test, right and
and the thing is like they're just built a little bit differently. They they
you can play more aggressively if you're not one of the worst teams in the
NFL against a run, you can get into more pass rushing situations and and
play, you know, put it on the line a little bit more,
which is how like you said, how Vans likes to play, and so
if they can, if they can be better against the run. They put
a lot of sources in sort of like several different ways in terms of like
upgrading the town on the defensive line, which we've talked about before. And
so if that if the front seven and really even like sort of the front
five to six, like the defensive line and the outside linebackers, if those
guys are a good, solid NFL group this year, that can go a
long way, not only in improving the performance against a run and rushing the
passer, but also just in like how confident you are to play aggressively and
let you know your guys in the secondary play man and make plays on the
ball. Tudlick Parker Gabriel of the Dever Post Parker, what is the bare
minimum this year? You know we talked at the beginning of the segment.
What's the bare minimum for Coach Prime? What's the bare minimum for Sean Payton?
What's the what's the benchmark they need to clear in terms of wins this
year? Man, that's a great question. I have to tell you that
I don't know the ins and outs of Colorado's schedule all that well, I
feel like I feel like in college football, like if you're not playing in
a bowl game, it's just it's hard to call it a success, right,
And so like, could they and especially when you've got Shugar Sanders flank
quarterback, like you just you have to find a way to beat the teams
that are supposed to be you have to find a way to steal one.
And so like I feel like if they find themselves out of the postseason again,
like I just don't know how it could be better, But like I
don't know how you call that good. And then you know, with the
Broncos, I honestly don't really know, Like I don't know that I've felt
that out yet. I had a pretty good feel for it at this time
last year, and it's just there's been so much change that in a way,
I feel like, no matter how many games win, it could be
ten, it could be six. If you know, categorically the answer to
the quarterback question. At the end of this year, I think that counts
as a win. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it will have been a
good year, but to me, like, do you want to make the
playoffs? Yes, with the number of teams, the number of teams that
go from postseason to out out to postseason every year, Like you're not gonna
hear me saying, oh, it's a great year if they don't make the
playoffs, but it will be a productive year if you know seven months from
now, you say, hey, listen, whether it's Bonix or either of
the other two guys, Like, if they know the answer to the quarterback
question categorically at the end of this year or ninety eight percent at the end
of this year, I think that's pretty much what this one's about. And
then they're a lot more flexible in twenty twenty five. Yeah, I think
I tend to agree, at least specifically on the Broncos, and that is
that the wins, not not they're not irrelevant, but if you know,
if you know the answer, if you have the answer, whichever one of
the three of the quarterbacks, not not that you have you know know that
they're not good enough, but if one of them is and you know and
you're willing to build around that, then that's I think the big thing.
The other thing you got to do this year, you got to beat the
Las Vegas Raiders the Bronx. The Denver Broncos had never beaten the Las Vegas
Raiders ever, never beaten the Las Vegas Raiders. That's a problem. So
you got to do that this year, Parker. We're out of time.
I appreciate you, you jumping on tonight. Yep, you've bet hav a
good night. Absolutely take care of Parker Gable. The Denver Post