Speaker 1: We're gonna run out to the Kawa Common Spiral hotline
Speaker 1: and bring on our good buddy Ryan Michael go inside
Speaker 1: the numbers. Ryan's been out under the weather in the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. I certainly understand what that's like.
Speaker 1: Is I've been under the weather for quite some time.
Speaker 2: But Ryan, you're back.
Speaker 1: The only streak we have to worry about is the
Speaker 1: fact that the Broncos are winning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, with a three game winning streak, I
Speaker 2: think I need to get sick more often. If there's
Speaker 2: any correlation there. I would happily take being under the
Speaker 2: weather to see another three game winning streak. So it's
Speaker 2: definitely been good to see the way that our team
Speaker 2: has been playing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they really have. It's been fun and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's always more fun to cover this team with a
Speaker 1: win streak three and two through five weeks, riding a
Speaker 1: three game win streak. How are you feeling about the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Denver Broncos A little.
Speaker 2: Bit of a mixed bag. Then, to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: three and two is a better record than I had
Speaker 2: anticipated through five games. So through that, lens, I'm feeling
Speaker 2: very hopeful. I'm feeling very positive and certainly the brand
Speaker 2: of football that we've been playing over the last three weeks,
Speaker 2: winning primarily with defense, seeing the offense certainly step up
Speaker 2: last Sunday. We're winning in a number of different ways.
Speaker 2: I'm still more than a little bit nervous about the offense,
Speaker 2: despite you know, putting up thirty four points. Seven of that,
Speaker 2: you can give it to the pick six. We haven't
Speaker 2: scored thirty four points. It's the highest total in the
Speaker 2: last two years, highest under Sean Payton's regime. Defensively, we're
Speaker 2: knocking it out of the park and I'm looking forward
Speaker 2: to getting into some of those numbers if you want positive. Certainly,
Speaker 2: seeing bo go nineteen to twenty seven, he completed seventy
Speaker 2: percent of his passes for the first time in his career,
Speaker 2: average seven point six yards per a tent shooting total touchdowns,
Speaker 2: no picks, no tumbles, one hundred and seventeen point two
Speaker 2: pass the rating great box score performance. The caveat is
Speaker 2: he did it against the Raiders defense. It doesn't impress
Speaker 2: me too much, but he did complete passes to eleven
Speaker 2: different broncos of something I like seeing no picks, no fumbles.
Speaker 2: It was a clean game, so kind of in between.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. I think that there are promising things
Speaker 1: to take away from each of these games. It does
Speaker 1: look like bow is maturing slowly but surely. The first
Speaker 1: half of the game, it still seemed to tick too
Speaker 1: fast forward, but it's starting to slow down in the
Speaker 1: second half of these games. Now you just needed to
Speaker 1: get slower all the way across the board, slightly below
Speaker 1: average on the ground. You know, we had kind of
Speaker 1: an anemic passing game in the first quarter of the season,
Speaker 1: some not frankly great efficiency marks for bow Knicks despite
Speaker 1: a strong box score. Where can we pick these things
Speaker 1: up and be more consistent in moving the football and
Speaker 1: not punting as much?
Speaker 2: We have a lot to improve then, and we started
Speaker 2: to see a little bit of that last Sunday. So far,
Speaker 2: the one notable positive offensive statistic was we ranked third
Speaker 2: in the league in fact percentage. It was a big
Speaker 2: point of contention as far as sean not wanting to
Speaker 2: see quarterbacks take unnecessary sacks because sacks can be drive
Speaker 2: killers to almost the same extent interceptions are all matic
Speaker 2: drive enders. So at four point one percent, that's an
Speaker 2: elite number. As far as sack percentage. We're towards the
Speaker 2: bottom third of the league. Nineteenth in rushing yards twenty
Speaker 2: first and rushing yards per game twenty first, in yards
Speaker 2: per carry scoring twenty second in the league. So we
Speaker 2: went from nineteenth last year to twenty second through five games.
Speaker 2: That's not great twenty fourth and completion percentage twenty eight
Speaker 2: from passing yards twenty nine, touchdown passes thirtieth, yards per
Speaker 2: tent dead last in the NFL as a team in
Speaker 2: passer rating at seventy one point four. So we're starting
Speaker 2: to see a little bit of growth in the rushing game.
Speaker 2: We're obviously not going to finish the season with a
Speaker 2: quarterback as our leading rusher, so it's good to see
Speaker 2: vote knock down to number two in that stat But
Speaker 2: there's a lot to pick up both rushing game passing
Speaker 2: the football, and it's going to be a tremendous challenge
Speaker 2: against the Chargers that it is.
Speaker 1: Talking with Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the ball, the pass defense,
Speaker 1: the only thing hotter than Pats Tartanas Galgado is wonder
Speaker 1: Woman sacks and QB hits or through the roof ask
Speaker 1: Joseph turning the defense twenty seven scoring defense last year
Speaker 1: to a top three defense this year, and they might
Speaker 1: not be two or three talk to me about the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: It's been a turnaround that exceeded my most optimistic expectations.
Speaker 2: And you and I have been talking since the winner
Speaker 2: about just how much we were excited to see what
Speaker 2: Van Sturpsis could do year two in the system. Like
Speaker 2: you said, we're second in the league in points per
Speaker 2: game surrendered at fourteen point six, second in the league.
Speaker 2: And quarterback it's forty two quarterback it's through five games, fantastic.
Speaker 2: Our passing defense is suffocated tied for second yards per
Speaker 2: tenth at five point eight, third in the league in
Speaker 2: fact nineteen facts, third in TFLs. We're doing about everything
Speaker 2: right that you can imagine. And when you see patser
Speaker 2: Tan return and inter such in one hundred yards, it
Speaker 2: just brings me back to those cold DCT shows back
Speaker 2: in March when we were talking about the possibility of
Speaker 2: trading patser Tan to move up and get a quarterback.
Speaker 2: And here we are a few months later, and I
Speaker 2: think said, I've been proven right that certains the best
Speaker 2: corner of the league.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we weren't talking about that where we're making
Speaker 1: fun of it to clarify, but yeah, that is the
Speaker 1: thing that's going on. And it's not just Certan though.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the on the other side
Speaker 1: from Sir Tan, you've got Riley Moss. I mean, we
Speaker 1: might as well be calling him Randy Moss the way
Speaker 1: he's skying for sky and for interceptions out there. I
Speaker 1: was told that white guys couldn't jump like that, but
Speaker 1: Randy rather Riley Boss is breaking the mold.
Speaker 2: He really is. And I was going to save this
Speaker 2: stat and is going to post it live to Twitter
Speaker 2: right now. He has thirty three nine tackles through five games,
Speaker 2: so he leads the Broncos. If you average that rad
Speaker 2: out at six point six per game, he'veld finished the
Speaker 2: year with one hundred and twelve point two total tackles
Speaker 2: for the year. So I did some digging into the
Speaker 2: franchise record Brook there's a time two dv's same season
Speaker 2: two thousand and six, teammates teach Nicks Darren Williams had
Speaker 2: eighty six tackles and fifteen games. Cham Bailey eighty six
Speaker 2: tackles and sixteen games, so we might be a little
Speaker 2: bit early five games into the year, but he's to
Speaker 2: obliterate the franchise record for a cornerbacks as total tackles.
Speaker 1: Talking with Ryan Michael again that contributed to po Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame at the Ryan Michael on twere you
Speaker 1: one of the little deal deeper on Bonnix's numbers? Let
Speaker 1: us know where he ranks, I guess amongst his peers
Speaker 1: this year, how Sean Payton's passing game is compared to
Speaker 1: the Drew Brees eerro Sure, I.
Speaker 2: Mean fourth in the league in zac percentage at four
Speaker 2: point zero seven percent rounds up to four point one.
Speaker 2: Beyond that, thirty first in passer rating seventy one point four,
Speaker 2: suretieth in the yards per at ten five point two,
Speaker 2: twenty fifth and completion percentage, which is a stat that
Speaker 2: we were hoping he would be a little bit more
Speaker 2: proficient in sixty one point eight percent success percentage, which
Speaker 2: is an efficiency metric per Pro Football Reference here is
Speaker 2: thirty first and is twenty nine and adjusted net yards
Speaker 2: per attempt. So when you factor in Ben just how
Speaker 2: statistically dominant he was against the Raiders to still see
Speaker 2: him towards the very very bottom of the league is
Speaker 2: a testament to just how abvisimal he was in the
Speaker 2: early game to take off the season. So there's no
Speaker 2: comparison so far between him and Drew Brees, nor should
Speaker 2: that be the expectation for a rookie quarterback. You know,
Speaker 2: Drew was an absolute master of blending elite pass accuracy
Speaker 2: with fluid, live anticipation. He carved defenses apart though Nick
Speaker 2: so far has been to see it and throw it
Speaker 2: kind of guy. He just hasn't had the profits of
Speaker 2: speed to be able to hit receivers in motion and
Speaker 2: really facilitate opportunities for our guys to get yards after catch. So,
Speaker 2: you know, the elite back percentage, he certainly had that
Speaker 2: in common with Drew Brees, and that was the case
Speaker 2: at Oregon. But as far as passing efficiency have a
Speaker 2: long way.
Speaker 1: Ago, well, I think you hit the nail on the
Speaker 1: head with the see you throw at thing, because that's
Speaker 1: that's been a you know, sort of complaint of mind
Speaker 1: about bo so far. He's been sort of Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: in that regard to the see it, throw it rather
Speaker 1: than anticipatory, And I think a large part of the
Speaker 1: reason that the main route combo right now for the
Speaker 1: Broncos is curl flat instead slant flat. Is because of that,
Speaker 1: he has to see it to throw, which is easier
Speaker 1: on the curl flat than it is on the slant flat,
Speaker 1: where you have to be more anticipatory.
Speaker 2: Agreed, And it would be interesting to see if we
Speaker 2: could start to facilitate scenarios where we could turn Courtland
Speaker 2: and Sutton into a Mike Thomas and kind to bring
Speaker 2: it back to the Sean Payton Bays in terms of
Speaker 2: what he did well. Again, you're comparing a guy who is,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, the second greatest quarterback in the history
Speaker 2: of professional football and Drew Brees. And I understand I'm
Speaker 2: in the minority and having that opinion with a rookie
Speaker 2: quarterback who's entering game six. So we need to temper
Speaker 2: the expectations. The best thing you could have for a
Speaker 2: young rookie quarterback is in elite defense on the opposite
Speaker 2: side of the football. It's one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: we're winning games, and it's allowing Boe to be the
Speaker 2: best version of himself. As far as what we saw
Speaker 2: against Davis.
Speaker 1: We've seen these stats, We've heard the stats but it's
Speaker 1: five games enough of a sample size to take much
Speaker 1: from I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I mean historically speaking, then you
Speaker 2: look at quarterbacks who had low efficiency as rookies and
Speaker 2: had bounced back sophomore dominant campaigns. The two recent examples
Speaker 2: that come to mind are Jared Goff when he was
Speaker 2: paired with Sean McVay in twenty seventeen and Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 2: going from Urban Meyer to Doug Peterson. In both cases,
Speaker 2: it's going to be Sean Payton for the next few years,
Speaker 2: regardless of how he plays. Certainly this year and next
Speaker 2: year it was very minimum, so he is good. It's
Speaker 2: going to be riding or dying with Sean Payton's offense.
Speaker 2: There's no hope to bring in a new offensive strategist
Speaker 2: to see what he could do with Knicks. So given
Speaker 2: that we are now twenty two games in to Sean
Speaker 2: Payton's tenure here the Denver Broncos, and we've been looking
Speaker 2: at an offense that's been in the bottom third of
Speaker 2: the league in scoring. I've always said I'm not so
Speaker 2: concerned as far as how we're producing points. At the
Speaker 2: end of the day, you have to produce points. So
Speaker 2: we had thirty four of them last week. Gives seven
Speaker 2: of them the passer can but we have a long,
Speaker 2: long way to go offensively. And for me, it's frustrating
Speaker 2: to see a coach like Robert sala let go where
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball that just have
Speaker 2: been essentially a top defense over the last three years
Speaker 2: and five games into this year, top three defense, and
Speaker 2: he was responsible for the offensive struggles as a head
Speaker 2: coach of force to an extent he's taught to be.
Speaker 2: But in Sean Payton's case, how many seasons did we
Speaker 2: see the Sames win seven games? And because he was
Speaker 2: taking care of business offensively, he evaded criticism for how
Speaker 2: abysmal they were defensively. We are not affording that same
Speaker 2: sort of consideration to Robert, and I'm just disappointed at
Speaker 2: seeing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, same way. Some of the responses I got today
Speaker 1: were sort of weird when people talk about how terribly
Speaker 1: he wasn't like, do you guys not remember the Jets
Speaker 1: before he got there? Do you not remember the Adam
Speaker 1: Gase era at two and fourteen? That just seems ridiculous.
Speaker 1: You know, It's it's funny to me how the grass
Speaker 1: is greener or Jets greener in this particular case. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think the Jets are about to
Speaker 1: get what's coming to them. I think this season they
Speaker 1: might get a rally around the coach phenomenon for a
Speaker 1: game or two. But I think this is going to
Speaker 1: fall apart on them. We'll see, you know. I wanted
Speaker 1: to close this segment strong Ryan with some of the
Speaker 1: other standouts statistical standouts so far in the season. Got
Speaker 1: to figure Zach Allen PS two obviously there, But who
Speaker 1: are some of the standouts for the Broncos through the
Speaker 1: first quarter of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean obvious slee Zach Allen five PFLs, twenty
Speaker 2: one total tackles, twelve quarterback hits in three sacks. He's
Speaker 2: knocking it out of the park on the defensive line,
Speaker 2: and you know, passer ten to get two interceptions in
Speaker 2: one game, that's an impressive accomplishment considering people don't like
Speaker 2: to shrow in his direction. You see what happens when
Speaker 2: you do that. I've been a big fan of what
Speaker 2: Will what's is doing. He's forty two of forty seven
Speaker 2: on field goals since joining the team. Two of two
Speaker 2: last week against the Raiders in twelve of thirteen this season,
Speaker 2: So when you have money in the bank on special
Speaker 2: teams that way, I understand the Broncos are not a
Speaker 2: high flying offense just yet, but those points that we
Speaker 2: are producing is the difference between winning and losing football games.
Speaker 2: So we figure at three and two and Will has
Speaker 2: just been money in the bank. I think it's important
Speaker 2: not to overlook what he's been doing. Ryan.
Speaker 1: I always appreciate getting the chance to have you all,
Speaker 1: get you inside the numbers with the rest of us
Speaker 1: here and certainly are glad that you're not being under
Speaker 1: the weather anymore and having the issues with that. My
Speaker 1: voice is still given out at the end of show,
Speaker 1: so I know how long road back from that can be.
Speaker 1: But were shanates your brother? Yes, sir, absolutely take care.
Speaker 1: Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter