Speaker 1: We're going to head right on out to the Kaway
Speaker 1: COMMISPERI the hotline. The I'll bringing our guy Ryan Michael
Speaker 1: at the Ryan Michael on the Twitter machine. Ryan still
Speaker 1: still reeling from a Best Denver Media account loss, so
Speaker 1: we got a rashim about that since Nick and I
Speaker 1: are still in still in the polling. Nick and I
Speaker 1: are still in it, but we're we're there fighting for you, Ryan.
Speaker 1: We're carrying on your name and your honor.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that, you know, I would say, you know,
Speaker 2: it feels good to be nominated to make the top
Speaker 2: sixty four. I got through one round down to the
Speaker 2: top thirty two, so I'll keep pegging away at it.
Speaker 3: Next year.
Speaker 1: He'll be a sweet sixteen guy. He's building the program.
Speaker 1: He's building the program. It's so we're doing. I always
Speaker 1: love having Ryan on get a chance to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, the data, what's going on with the quarterbacks. Right,
Speaker 1: of course, the contributor to the Pro Football Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame and his has worked with professional football teams before.
Speaker 3: Ryan.
Speaker 1: As we look at this this first game, I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was particularly flattering for the Broncos offense on
Speaker 1: several levels. Before we get into What was your initial
Speaker 1: impression of the Broncos against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2: Well, my initial impression is that it was disappointing. I
Speaker 2: believe I had Seattle at winning twenty eight to twenty four,
Speaker 2: so you know, twenty six twenty was close. I think
Speaker 2: your prediction was even closer. So although the final score
Speaker 2: was in the ballpark, very much of what I was anticipating,
Speaker 2: I don't think any of us will expecting the offense
Speaker 2: to struggle as much as it did, so I feel
Speaker 2: a little deflated on that end. But it's only one game, So.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ryan, it's only one game, but there was a
Speaker 4: lot of expectation based on what so many fans saw
Speaker 4: bo Niggs in the preseason. Do you think the criticism
Speaker 4: that he experience after Week one is fair?
Speaker 2: Not at all. The box score numbers were horrific, Nick,
Speaker 2: so there's really no way to skate around that when
Speaker 2: you adjusted for context. One of my favorite stats is
Speaker 2: per Ben Baldwin. His Twitter handles at Ben b Baldwin
Speaker 2: is adjusted EPA per play, and that's defined as EPA
Speaker 2: adjusted for pass protection, receiver drops, dropped interceptions, luck on
Speaker 2: interceptible passes, fumble recoveries, and interception returns given credit for
Speaker 2: expected yards after the catch only, not accounting for the
Speaker 2: defensive faced and by that metric, bo came in twentieth place,
Speaker 2: bad but not horrific, and the adjustment relative to the
Speaker 2: support of his teammates was the second biggest adjustment upward.
Speaker 2: Only Will Levis had had a greater adjustment needing a
Speaker 2: tougher playing situation. So the box score numbers were horrific.
Speaker 2: Even the adjusted numbers are still below average. But it's
Speaker 2: one game, so there's not much to read into it.
Speaker 1: Were there any statistical standouts for the Broncos in that
Speaker 1: supporting cast?
Speaker 2: Now, there were some highlights. Certainly Devon caught eight receptions
Speaker 2: off of eight targets. Didn't put up a lot of yards,
Speaker 2: but I think twenty two of them were yards after
Speaker 2: the catch. Josh Reynolds had five catches for forty five yards,
Speaker 2: three of them were first downs what's connected, three or
Speaker 2: three on field goals, and one to one on the
Speaker 2: pat One of my favorites was Ryley Moss twelve total tackles,
Speaker 2: which is the second highest mark in Denver Broncos franchise
Speaker 2: history for a cornerback. Only Tamp Bailey on one occasion
Speaker 2: had produced thirteen tackles, so that was certainly good to see,
Speaker 2: and of course Alex Singleton with an interception, nine total
Speaker 2: tackles and a tackle for a loss. There were some
Speaker 2: standouts and it was a competitive game, so I think
Speaker 2: it's important not to lose out of those.
Speaker 4: Well, once again, going back to bow because obviously the
Speaker 4: topic conversation has a lot to do with the quarterbacks,
Speaker 4: since he is the guy who's supposed to character team forward.
Speaker 4: Were there any statistical numbers that you can say throw
Speaker 4: out there that make fans change their mind about what
Speaker 4: they think about bo right now?
Speaker 2: I don't know if there were any nick from the
Speaker 2: game against Seattle that by themselves is going to get
Speaker 2: anybody too jazzed up right now. I would say, if
Speaker 2: you're digging for positives, I would note that he was
Speaker 2: better in the second half than he was in the
Speaker 2: first half. He completed twelve to twenty two passes and
Speaker 2: took two sacks in the first half. He really turned
Speaker 2: it around in the second half, completed fourteen of twenty
Speaker 2: although they were very short completions and he didn't take
Speaker 2: any stacks, and that's something that we've been talking about
Speaker 2: over the past few months is his proficiency in avoiding facts.
Speaker 2: He was sacked twice on forty four dropbacks. That puts
Speaker 2: him at around four and a half percent sack percentage.
Speaker 2: That's ninth in the NFL for one week. And sack
Speaker 2: percentage is a statnic that I always look to as
Speaker 2: an indicator of quarterbacks with high football IQ and good instincts.
Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence, who had a disastrous box score rookie season,
Speaker 2: still finish in the top ten and sack percentage. He's
Speaker 2: continued to do that every year of his career. So
Speaker 2: if you're looking for something positive, look at sack percentage,
Speaker 2: look at the completion percentage going up in the second half.
Speaker 2: And I know Ben's been touting his wheels and the
Speaker 2: mile prowur. There was some number that he had posted. Ben,
Speaker 2: I don't remember exactly what it was, but there's a
Speaker 2: few positives for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bodix had the second fastest carry in the NFL
Speaker 1: a highest top speed second HIGT top speed. I believe
Speaker 1: it was behind Tank Dell. Dell had a CA that
Speaker 1: went slightly faster, but over twenty miles an hour. Bonies
Speaker 1: can run, and you know something that bothered me a
Speaker 1: little bit was how much we did not exploit that
Speaker 1: in that game. It felt like, you'd, I understand not
Speaker 1: want to put a quarterback out there and getting hurt,
Speaker 1: but I also understand what to get him out there
Speaker 1: and getting comfortable and make the defense respect them, respect
Speaker 1: those legs.
Speaker 2: Agreed, and you know, we didn't see a lot of it,
Speaker 2: but when he did take off, he produced I believe
Speaker 2: it was a twenty three yard run in the first
Speaker 2: play of that final drive there. Then there was an
Speaker 2: incompletion and then four passes completed in a row before
Speaker 2: the touchdown runs. So hey, that put us within six
Speaker 2: and it's good to see that with the game on
Speaker 2: the line, and then the way we wanted it to
Speaker 2: didn't have a chance to touch the ball again, but
Speaker 2: it wasn't a bad way to close out the game.
Speaker 4: Well, does it give you a little optimism to know
Speaker 4: that most of the quarterbacks who were drafted in the
Speaker 4: first round and the first week, whether they played on
Speaker 4: a row or they played at home, they did really
Speaker 4: fare that well as far as passing yards. So is
Speaker 4: that another bump statistically heading into Sunday against the Steelers
Speaker 4: that Broncos fans can say, you know what, bow Knicks
Speaker 4: could be primed for a breakout game against the Steelers.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I would I would go as
Speaker 2: far as to say breakout game. I think it's going
Speaker 2: to be better. But passing yardage totals across the league
Speaker 2: were abysmal, and I think a lot of that is
Speaker 2: the function of the lack of camp and preseason reps.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna get a little bit sloppy football in
Speaker 2: Week one, a little bit sloppier than maybe it should be.
Speaker 2: But that wasn't just Bonicks. That was a number of quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: some reputable quarterbacks across the league. So I think it'll
Speaker 2: jump up as the week's carry on.
Speaker 1: It's almost a diametrically opposite philosophy that Bo's going to
Speaker 1: be up against. You're looking at you, you know, the
Speaker 1: kind of the zone that that Seattle was running and
Speaker 1: this is more of an attacking man type defense out
Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Does that benefit a young quarterback? Is it? Is it
Speaker 3: a detriment? Is it neutral? When when rolling this out
Speaker 3: and rolling them out the second start.
Speaker 2: It's really going to depend on how efficiently they execute
Speaker 2: that game plan. And you know, Sean Payton's offense is
Speaker 2: really predicated upon timing pass accuracy. We're not going to
Speaker 2: see bo Nick stretch the field. And you know, one
Speaker 2: of the things I'd mentioned on Twitter earlier tonight is
Speaker 2: just what the precedent of Drew Brees has done for
Speaker 2: expectations in a Sean Payton offense, because Drew, by the
Speaker 2: latter third of his career developed what I've described as
Speaker 2: absolute superhuman processing, pocket presence, accuracy skill set. The combination
Speaker 2: of those things has never been seen by any quarterback
Speaker 2: in the NFL outside of Peyton Manning, and the way
Speaker 2: that Drew executed it was a bit different because the
Speaker 2: system he ran with Sean Payton was very different from
Speaker 2: what Peydon Manning ran in Indianapolis and later in Denver.
Speaker 2: I think people have to understand, for Drew, before the
Speaker 2: Labram injury, he already had elite football IQ prestat processing
Speaker 2: speed and above average pass accuracy, but that Torren Labram
Speaker 2: forced to into a situation where you're taking what was
Speaker 2: a below average arm and you're making it almost unusable.
Speaker 2: And I don't think people appreciate just how much preparation
Speaker 2: and all the work that he put into that comeback.
Speaker 2: I'm talking twelve months a year of obsessively refining his
Speaker 2: reaction time, his pasth accuracy. He widened his base to
Speaker 2: shorten his pass release. He methodically just reinvented himself to
Speaker 2: lean on the strengths that he already had, but to
Speaker 2: compensate for the weaknesses that he dealt with physically. And
Speaker 2: now from what what I'm hearing, he doesn't even throw
Speaker 2: ball in the backyard with his kids using his right arm.
Speaker 2: But he was still through to the end of his
Speaker 2: career routinely completing seventy five percent or so of his passes.
Speaker 2: So when you see that precedent, that skill set, even
Speaker 2: with a weak arm, is something that would have been
Speaker 2: a favorable matchup for a defense similar to what Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: is running. I'd been calling bon Niz a poor man
Speaker 2: screw Brees, but we're really comparing in the Superman, and
Speaker 2: I think we need to take the foot off of
Speaker 2: the gas pedal a little bit and not box him
Speaker 2: into that comparison. Specifically, it's going to be a struggle,
Speaker 2: and I expecting the struggle against Pittsburgh. I just think
Speaker 2: it's going to be a little bit better than what
Speaker 2: we saw in Week one.
Speaker 4: Well, let's talk about things that could help Bow not
Speaker 4: struggle against Pittsburgh. And two of those things, am I opinion,
Speaker 4: have to do with getting Marvin Mimms more involved, but
Speaker 4: also Josh Reynolds, who the team acquired from his time
Speaker 4: in Detroit. Is there a way in your mind, because
Speaker 4: I know I have one that they can get these
Speaker 4: two guys involved that would actually take the pressure off
Speaker 4: Bow and allow him to get some more plays down
Speaker 4: the field. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think both of them have the skill set to
Speaker 2: be able to deliver in those situations. We even saw
Speaker 2: it for a play with Josh Reynolds in the season opener.
Speaker 2: I think the trouble is going to be establishing the run.
Speaker 2: You know, do we have the scheme, the blocking, and
Speaker 2: the personnel and the commitment to actually execute an effective
Speaker 2: running game, because that's what's going to open up holes
Speaker 2: for Bo to be able to nail people in some
Speaker 2: man to man situation, to be able to do that
Speaker 2: with consistency, to walk away after four quarters and say
Speaker 2: this rookie quarterback's produced well and had a good game.
Speaker 2: That means to be seen. But I don't think that
Speaker 2: we're going to be able to facilitate it without finding
Speaker 2: greater balance and execution in the running game.
Speaker 1: So what is the answer for the Broncos to bounce
Speaker 1: back in this game against the Steelers. Does it start
Speaker 1: with the run game and establishing that. Is it creating
Speaker 1: something different where what bo Nix is doing in the
Speaker 1: passing game isn't as predictable and short? Is it a
Speaker 1: combination of things? What would be the first thing you
Speaker 1: would address with this offense.
Speaker 2: It's all the above, And with a rookie quarterback, it
Speaker 2: never hurts to lean on a running game, but that's
Speaker 2: going to be on our blockers and our running backs
Speaker 2: to really gain positive yardage. There's nothing more frustrating to
Speaker 2: me as an analyst than seeing first down plays go
Speaker 2: for negative one zero one yard. When that happens, you're
Speaker 2: forcing your quarterback into second and long and oftentimes third
Speaker 2: and long situations that just put too much pressure on
Speaker 2: a rookie quarterback to execute. But I would say for
Speaker 2: bow he needs to walk away from the pressure. There
Speaker 2: were a number of Snaps's debut where he was drifting
Speaker 2: towards the pressure and they didn't necessarily result in sacks,
Speaker 2: but they definitely resulted in offensive place that didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 2: It's just going to be a matter of refining those
Speaker 2: skills and executing with more consistency. I mean, I know
Speaker 2: these are platitudes that don't really mean much until he
Speaker 2: actually see them. It's a lot easier to say that's
Speaker 2: what they should do. It a lot more difficult to
Speaker 2: go out there and execute.
Speaker 4: Well. I know we've talked to Linz about the office
Speaker 4: side of the ball and bowl knicks, but let's take
Speaker 4: a turn and talk about the defense. Because the Broncos
Speaker 4: defense did play much better in that second half. And
Speaker 4: you brought up Riley Moss and the number of tackles
Speaker 4: that he's made, but also the guy who is the
Speaker 4: king of swing and the king of tackles, and Alex Singleton.
Speaker 4: He was a guy that once again was in the
Speaker 4: mix again.
Speaker 2: Howard Singleton is phenomenal and to see everything that he did,
Speaker 2: from hauling in the interception to just tackle everybody to
Speaker 2: the site and I didn't want to. I wasn't sure
Speaker 2: if I was even going to mention this on the air, Nick,
Speaker 2: because this might be a little bit sore. So I
Speaker 2: hope that you can take it with grace. But I
Speaker 2: just happened to be browsing the Broncos all time list
Speaker 2: of solo tackles, and I'm seeing Alex Singleton at two
Speaker 2: hundred and thirteen. I'm seeing you at two hundred and nineteen.
Speaker 2: So if he keeps playing the way down that list,
Speaker 2: my friend, Oh wow, come on, Ryan, God, it's tougher
Speaker 2: for dbs to get those taxs. Y.
Speaker 3: It should be graded on a curve. Linebacker right should
Speaker 3: be should be graded on a curve? Obviously. Do you
Speaker 3: have to send him a cake?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 4: Is there some kind of congratulatory Not that I'm moving
Speaker 4: I'm aware of, but I mean, to my credit, Listen,
Speaker 4: if I'm leading a team in tackles, that means our
Speaker 4: defense is really awful. That means offensive running backs are
Speaker 4: getting twelve to fifteen yards downfield. So listen, I'm okay
Speaker 4: if I'm going down the list in this particular way.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, we'll keep an eye. We got to fir
Speaker 1: watch on the tackles. We have four watch. We'll get
Speaker 1: some theme music behind that crawler on the chiron. Make
Speaker 1: that happen Ron upcoming game against the Steelers. You have
Speaker 1: justin fields on the other side. I'm not been a
Speaker 1: big fan of his. I think it's a better outcome
Speaker 1: for the Broncos to be facing off against him the
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. We don't know necessarily that Wilson won't play
Speaker 1: in that game. He's obviously practiced last too days. But
Speaker 1: as you look ahead to this thing, how good a
Speaker 1: chance you have the Broncos winning the home opener? Here?
Speaker 2: You know, I have Pittsburgh twenty four to seventeen. But
Speaker 2: just as they said last week, it's going to be
Speaker 2: a very winnable game. And Ben, you know my thoughts
Speaker 2: on justin Field. So if we have a choice between
Speaker 2: the old man version of Russell Wilson or a fresh
Speaker 2: justin Field, I'd rather face the fresh justin Fields because
Speaker 2: I don't think very highly of him as a quarterback.
Speaker 2: I think he is a tremendous playmaker. I think he
Speaker 2: was a very good college football quarterback, but I just
Speaker 2: don't see the processing speed and ability to execute anything
Speaker 2: resembling the structured offense. So I hope he gets the start,
Speaker 2: and I hope that we play well. We'll see.
Speaker 3: Do you see any weaknesses?
Speaker 4: I know we're going into week two, but do you
Speaker 4: see any weaknesses from your film watching that the Broncos
Speaker 4: could possibly exploit when it comes to the Pittsburgh still
Speaker 4: is defense.
Speaker 2: You know, as far as their defense, it's a very
Speaker 2: different kind of matchup. As Ben had said earlier, I
Speaker 2: think it's really going to be fleshing out that identity
Speaker 2: and not changing the game plan at halftime. It's really
Speaker 2: going to be about establishing that running game and then
Speaker 2: executing the passing game. It's not about maintaining a pretty
Speaker 2: completion percentage, because that doesn't mean anything if you're completing
Speaker 2: a bunch of passes for one or two yards. But
Speaker 2: it is important to be able to execute the offense
Speaker 2: with consistency. And I think the completions build the confidence
Speaker 2: of young quarterbacks. So if we can open things up
Speaker 2: with a run game, I think it's going to open
Speaker 2: up some opportunities for gonicks in the middle of the field.
Speaker 3: Well, Ryan, we appreciate it. As always.
Speaker 1: You guys want to find Ryan on Twitter at the
Speaker 1: Ryan Michael, Give him some give him some follow give
Speaker 1: him some love. And next year he's getting to the
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen of the media the Media Poll.
Speaker 2: Oh jeez, thanks man.
Speaker 3: This is what I this is what I do for you.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: We're building the brand, we're building the program here. This
Speaker 3: is what I'm doing. I'm getting these recruits. They're hearing
Speaker 3: us now, we're getting them in.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it.