Third and three from midfield, Broncos again with three receivers out. McCaffrey in
motion on the left side as Lway with a long snap count. It's on
his way. Davis handoff first down Terrell Davis A forty five Holy oh,
look out, goodbye TD for TD. Fifty yards on the kerry for Terrell
Davis. He is greeted by some happy teammates who are a salerting him in
the end zone. Welcome back to it, Broncos country tonight. Benjamin Albright,
Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you. You're gonna go right out
to the KWA Common Spirit off hotline number thirty in your programs, number one
in your heart. Bring on Hall of Fame running back Torel Davis TD.
How you doing, baby, what's going on? I'm doing doing pretty well,
man, doing pretty well. Good to hear your voice. We're uh.
We've been having a lot of discussion about these Denver Broncos these days and
the direction that they're headed, and I just wanted to start off by getting
your general thoughts about the state of the team now in the direction that it
could be heading. I don't think it's a secret man I think we all
kind of you know, you should be cleared. Yeah, I think we
all kind of feel the same way. You know, it's been rough the
last eight years, I believe, so you know, you let you bring
in Sean, you know, Peyton comes in, and I believe he's the
man. I think he's gonna do what what's necessary to get this team turned
around. I mean, you know, it's been, it's been. It's
been a while. You know, obviously as the Broncos, you know,
not only a fan, but as you know, former player, it kind
of it hurts a little bit to kind of see the team struggling the last
couple of years. And I was a disappointment and Russell coming over and not
not panting out. I rooted for him to be the answer for us.
It wasn't. So now it's time to turn the page. And and if
I'm a team, if I'm a player on that team, it's more like,
hey, man, you know, we certainly need to find that guy,
whether he's in the draft, and I pray that there's a guy that
Sean loves that he wants to either move up for or has his eyes on,
that he can bring in that fits what he's looking for. I'm not
saying going to reach for any quarterback, but you got to find that signal
caller. That's just a bottom mind. You got to find one. You
gotta get somebody in here who can stabilize this program and then try to get
this thing rebuilt and see what happens from there. Man. But it's a
tall task. It's not gonna be easy. I think we've got to be
patient because it's not gonna happen overnight. You know, Rebuilding the program is
not not easy, trying to get all the pieces that you need in to
get this thing going. So you know, I'm like everybody else, I'm
anxious to see what happens in about two weeks. I believe that's one of
the draft is. Yeah, you curious all that stuff, and uh,
you know too that happens, man. But every single year we have so
much talk about the quarterback position and and that that's great. You know,
yeah, you need one of those guys. But I feel, especially being
a defensive guy and having to stop running backs, we keep saying that the
valuing of the running back position. But I want you to tell the listeners,
why is it that having a great running game is kind of like the
best medicine for any quarterback that you have. No it is it is,
Nick, I mean, it's the obvious. Well maybe it's not obvious,
but I also think that it's tough when you don't have that quarterback you know,
running running back is he really is a quarterback best friend, you know,
and he's a defensive you know, defense of player's best friend and all
the you know, he can can really bring a lot of value to a
team. But the challenge with running back in today's football, it's it's there's
a number of challenges. Number one, when do you ever practice running the
football? You can't do it, Nick, when you play, you know
how it is, man, you can't simulate running the ball. You have
to put pads on. You have to get lineman actually hitting. They don't
do that anymore. So that's the problem. The other thing is that most
linemen aren't built now to run block. They're all pass blockers. When they
come from college, they're all in two point fans. So you have to
really commit on a whole different level if you want to bring in and have
a sustainable run game. It's just a different mindset for a team and a
lot of you know, I guess the other I mean, another point I
would to make is that a lot of coordinators aren't getting head coaching jobs because
they got a great run game. They're trying to get you know, five
wide. They want to throw the ball forty times a game. They want
to show how dynamic their passing game is, they want to show how creative
they are, and you know, getting the ball downfield. So it's not
as the part of the game to have a running game when I but I
know, believe me, I know the value of having a running game.
But it does require you to go all in with all different positions and kind
of change the whole dynamics of your team. And I don't think a lot
of coaches or gms or the presidents or owners are that's not effected them anymore.
You know, the Niners do it. They did a really good job
with that. But if you see how they do it in San Francisco with
you know, Kyle, it's it's Christian, but it's also you know,
it's it's receivers getting getting involved and everybody's involved. There's a lot of eye
candy, a lot of misdirections, just you know, deceptive kind of concepts.
But yeah, I don't know, man, It's just it's a different
game. It's a different game. But I certainly do believe that you need
a running back. But maybe you're insinuating build build a running game and then
for the quarterback in this which is what you're saying, is what I'm hearing.
Well, for me, I know the value of that the running back
position. But I look to San Francisco as being one of those teams like
they didn't go get a first round draft choice, but they have a combatant
signal caller and they just kind of build around that guy and they were successful.
And I think that that's the idea of model. Yeah. No,
I think there's two philosophies. If you want to take the appost right,
there's one where you build everything around until you find that quarterback, and that's
that's what the forty nine ers have done. And the other philosophy is we're
gonna we're gonna get a quarterback and build around him. But well, here's
what I'm saying. I'm standing that if Sean, if he likes the guy,
he loves a quarterback in this draft, and he said that's my guy,
then I hope he gets that guy. But if he does and he's
just getting a quarterback to grab one, then obviously I'm not. I don't
think that's the route you should go, you know. I'm trying that he
loves somebody and that we don't know about it. They had us. He
has his eyes on that, and he's saying, this is my guy.
I'm going to go get him. And that's where I feel like he's going
to be the guy that that fits what I'm looking for. It's either that
or you just don't. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't. I
don't believe you got to reach for a guy just because you need one.
I don't believe in that either. But I also just believe that I hope.
I'm hoping that behind the scenes that it's either I don't know, you
know what, I heard a lot of rumors about Bowenicks being the guy that
he likes. I don't know if McCarthy's going to be there when when we
pick at twelve or if they move up or Michael Pennix. I don't I'm
not sure what, you know, who he has his eyes on, But
I do hope that he likes somebody. I hope that he knows not they
like, hope he loves one of his quarterbacks. But if not, then
I'm with you, man, Let's trade down, Let's get some value,
Let's build a roster around. Let's build a roster and then, you know,
be a little bit more strategic, you know, strategic about a quarterback
down the line. But man, it's your looks. It don't look good
right now. You know, when you don't have anybody that you really like,
who really makes you excited about this franchise, that terms the quarterback position.
And that's what I'm saying. I'm saying you and we know who drives
at the end of the day, who drives you're really getting your team into
a position to make that run. You got to have a quarterback. Yeah,
I would agree, and I think I agree on just about every point
there. And in the sense that if you love somebody, go get him.
If you don't, then don't don't force it. Uh, don't don't
tie yourself to somebody just to tie yourself to somebody. That's how you wind
up with the packs and Lynch type situation as well. I've been, you
know, an advocate of if the quarterback isn't there if you can't get the
guy you love, whatever, build a bully. It's been a long time
since a Denver bronclear hearing the highlights, you know, coming in before we
brought you on, you know, hearing the highlights and everything. It reminds
me back before I lived in Denver, when everybody viewed the Denver Broncos as
a bully. And I've been here since twenty twelve. I mean, you
know, Peyton and then put up a lot of points, but it was
the last time the Denver Broncos were a bully. And I feel like that
that a return to that, a return to the culture and the roots of
what made the Broncos the Broncos are the best thing in this case? Or
am I? Am I way off face here? No no, no,
no, no, you're not. You're not You're not, bitch. But
I And so when you say that, it's so you're saying build an office
blind right, You're saying I don't believe you're saying, God, go get
a fullback. I'm not advocating for taking a full back necessarily, but I'm
not saying the offense could use one. But maybe you are. But maybe
I don't know. But to me that that that's a bully. Right when
you start getting throwbacks and you say, all right, we're gonna get an
old line, we don't get ourselves a of And most people don't even know
what a fullback is, probably, ladies and gentlemen, is a guy that
lines up in the back here right running Okay, he waits anywhere between two
hundred and twenty five to two hundred and sixty pounds. Okay. The guy
Nick Ferguson still has nightmares about yeah, yeah, wow, yeah, where's
the next he wears the next role like are around his neck? Okay.
He's very squatty, He's very thousand squatty, and he's all he does.
His whole job is to run up into the line and pit linebackers, defensive
linemen you know, doesn't matter tackles. That's his job. It's just to
commit that act of just violence and clearing the past. But are running back
if you want to bring him back, we can do that too. You're
talking about double up on tight end and then not past catching tight ends.
Ain't some of the guys who are you know, hybrids who look like look
like receivers, but the tight ends. No, we're not. We're not
talking about those guys. We're talking about some some some tight ends who look
like left tackles. Yeah, that's bullyball. Yes, if you if you're
talking about that. This again, it's just it's a different era and are
those guys out there. I just don't even know if they exist anymore.
But if you, if you decide to play a little different football, I
think you'll have success doing it because that's style of football. It definitely works.
It's just again, how much are you practicing it? Now? You
have to go get them. You have to go get personnel that fits what
you want to do, and you got to be committed to it. You
know, you can't say all right, we're going to play bullyball and then
we're halfway in and the mindset of the players don't fit what you what you
want to do. So, I mean, it's it's not it's not simple.
I think it's little. It's it's complicated. But yeah, man,
I'm I'm just I just want to see what happens. I want to see
how how these next couple of weeks ago in terms of, you know,
kind of restocking this roster and see what direction we want to go as a
guy who has a gold jacket. My biggest thing in one of the things
that comes comes up a lot, and I get frustrated. You know,
every single year it's a guy that both you and I played for, even
though we didn't play it at the same time, but we played for him.
Mike Shanahan, what the hell needs to be done to get this guy
his moment, his flowers, his gold jacket. Well, who do we
need to talk to? Man? That's the dude. That's another something that's
to crack. That's a tough one. Man. There is there is like
there's not one person you need to talk to. I think there's a room
of people you need to talk to, and they're all the voters. They
I believe there's forty something. Don't quote me on this one, but I
believe there's about forty something voters. I know each team has a represent or
of that vote, and then it's probably a couple of other couple of other
voters as well. But now I'm with you, man, I think I
think for a long time, the first hurdle from Mike was that, Remember,
Mike wasn't even in the Ring of Fame here in Denver, and I
think that that kind of hurt him a little bit early on, where people
are like, wait a minute, Denver doesn't even put him in a Ring
of fame, So why are we gonna put him in the Hall of Fame?
And so now that he's in, and I know he's getting a little
bit more traction now, but yeah, Mike two super Bowls. You know,
we've always said this man in Denver, was any any city that was
on the West coast, in la or in New York, we have more
people in the Hall of Fame, Mike would be in. And so now
we were getting them. Randy's in, so that's that's awesome. We're starting
to get more more Broncos in. But yeah, man, Mike might have
to be the next one to get to Hall of Fame. His resume is
you know, you put his up against a lot of other coaches who are
in. It's clearly that that he need is going, especially now that you
start to seeing what Kylin's doing. You see these other quarterbacks doing on the
floor. I mean all these quarters actually kind of spun off of the Shanahan
tree. I'm not quarterback, I'm s our coaches first spun off the San
Shanahan tree, you kind of see Mike genius and how great he was as
a coach. He was the best coach I've ever played for by far,
and I ended up I played for another Hall of Fame coach and George Allen.
People. Most people don't even know that in college, but Mike was
my my best Uh it was my best coach, my favorite coach, just
because his coaching style was more of a teacher and he understood the nuances of
the game. He was more Everything he did for us was like the why.
It wasn't just I'm telling you to do this because I'm telling you.
He was like, all right, here's why I'm telling you that. And
just he had he made you think differently when you played this game. And
uh, you know, we won forty six games in a three years span,
two Super Bowls, and you know we won fourteen you know, I'm
fourteen eighteen straight games. I believe so and that that is not you know,
it is not easy to do. But he just he knew the buttons
to push and everything. Man. So yeah, Mike, He's definitely going
in, hopefully sooner rather than later. Man, But Mike might definitely the
Hall of Paper. Absolutely, I think you would be Uh did you you
know a serious question here, something that has weighed heavily on the minds of
I think every listener of the show. If you and and Nick were to
square up, like pros versus Josh, who would get the better of that
matchup? And why would you stiff arm Nick through the earth speaking of pushing
buttons. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let me see. Well, here's
the why. Because I wasn't a one trick pony. Most people might think
I was one trick pony, but I think that what allowed me to really
have success was that I gave you a whole life. Like I run like
I'm gonna run you over, but I had some wiggle. I had them
with her, so it kind of kept you on your toes. Like Nick
might come up thinking I'm gonna run him over, So now you know he's
gonna drop his head, come in low, You're gonna try to take my
knees out. But yeah, I'm a blessing. I'm a blessing. I
get him with the little Henna take the bait. Nick gonna take the bait.
I'm gonna go ahead kiss them. And when I think kiss me putting
my my you know, palm of my hand on the back of it and
just put your head. Wow, man, gosh. Absolutely, I'm gonna
get one of these crack animators around here, the mack this thing out,
mach this thing. I'll put the video out there on th TV. Man.
It's always a pleasure hearing from you. Man. I hope you and
you're doing well. Thanks for taking time out of talks with tonight. Hey,
no problem, that's all right, y'all. Take it absolutely. Take
care for all day's Hall of Famer