Speaker 1: We'll go right out of the Kwai Common Spirit health hotline.
Speaker 1: Bring on our guy, Nick cosmider at Nick Cosmeio on
Speaker 1: Twitter covers the Broncos for the Athletic and of course
Speaker 1: I'm jealous of his twenty twenty three Colorado Sports Writer
Speaker 1: of the Year, but he's much more deserving than I am,
Speaker 1: since I don't write anything.
Speaker 2: Nick.
Speaker 3: How you doing, good fellows, How you doing doing pretty well?
Speaker 1: You know, the only streak we have to worry about
Speaker 1: now is the Broncos winning streak. The Raiders been snap
Speaker 1: chief snap last year, and we got a division rival
Speaker 1: and Chargers ahead of us.
Speaker 3: That looks like an eminently winnable game.
Speaker 1: You don't want to overlook it, but it does look
Speaker 1: something winnable that maybe, perhaps earlier in the season you
Speaker 1: may not have thought the same way as we look
Speaker 1: at this second quarter of the NFL season for the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos.
Speaker 3: This is starting to shape up kind of nice.
Speaker 2: It is, and it really is shaping up a lot
Speaker 2: like how they were winning games during that five game
Speaker 2: streak a year ago. They just kind of figured out
Speaker 2: this formula without having to go into a one in
Speaker 2: five hole in order to do it and you know,
Speaker 2: this is a team right now turning the ball over right,
Speaker 2: one turnover total in the last three games, no interceptions
Speaker 2: by bo Nicks. And then you have a defense that
Speaker 2: you know it's taking the ball away some obviously they
Speaker 2: had the three interceptions in Sunday's win against the Raiders,
Speaker 2: but but also playing I think a more sustainable style
Speaker 2: that's not just reliant on the takeaways, the way that
Speaker 2: they're playing up front and building everything else off of that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I agree with you. You know, going into this month,
Speaker 2: when you have three home games in October sandwiched around
Speaker 2: a trip to New Orleans against a Saints team that's
Speaker 2: gonna probably be without Derek Carr, among some other issues
Speaker 2: that they're dealing with, you look at it and say,
Speaker 2: this is a real opportunity to kind of get through
Speaker 2: this month, you know, potentially six and two, five and
Speaker 2: three before you have to deal with that back to
Speaker 2: back with Baltimore and Kansas City there in early November, well.
Speaker 4: Nick, before you came on, Ben and I were having
Speaker 4: a discussion about the the Broncos and their depth and
Speaker 4: grading the depth and usually I don't like to get
Speaker 4: into the grades, but based on what we've seen the
Speaker 4: injuries that they've sustained. How would you look at the
Speaker 4: team and grade the level of depth so far.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a it's a great question, and I think
Speaker 2: one of the things that you you look at is
Speaker 2: this was a team last year that that they didn't
Speaker 2: have a lot of attrition. They were they were pretty healthy,
Speaker 2: and you didn't really have to test that depth, particularly
Speaker 2: of course on the offensive line, where they only combined
Speaker 2: to miss one start, and that was Mike McGlinchey in
Speaker 2: the in the season finale, and so right away you
Speaker 2: had that test. Alex Palcewsky, you know, had largely passed
Speaker 2: that test in terms of the way that he was
Speaker 2: playing at right tackle, that they were playing better in
Speaker 2: those three games that he was in there than than
Speaker 2: the offensive line had in general early in the season.
Speaker 2: And then you get a guy like Justin Sternat who
Speaker 2: has to step in at inside linebacker when you lose
Speaker 2: your leading tackler of the last couple of years. So
Speaker 2: I would say it's at the very very least because
Speaker 2: it is a work in progress, but but a passing
Speaker 2: grade at this point. Whenever you have guys get injured
Speaker 2: that are frontline starters and then you have to you
Speaker 2: have to dip into that. You know, you want to
Speaker 2: hold water and in some cases they're doing more than that,
Speaker 2: and so I think the depth in that regard has
Speaker 2: been a positive. Now. Of course though this week is
Speaker 2: the biggest test of that yet when you talk about
Speaker 2: being down to your third right tackle with with Alex
Speaker 2: Palcewski not practicing today, we'll see what the the overall
Speaker 2: you know, kind of timeline is for him, Luke Wattenberg
Speaker 2: being out. So now you're down to your third right tackle,
Speaker 2: your second center. You know, you've had some other some
Speaker 2: other issues there. So that will be the real test,
Speaker 2: Nick of like and they get through a game against
Speaker 2: a pretty physical Chargers front, you know, when you're down
Speaker 2: a couple guys in the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Talking with Nick Cosm out of the athletic NI there
Speaker 1: is a very pressing issue for the never Broncos that
Speaker 1: has to get resolved immediately. And that is a nickname
Speaker 1: for Riley Moss. I have positive the PS two and
Speaker 1: ex Moss three sixty. Do you have any additional eight
Speaker 1: games you would like to throw in the hat?
Speaker 2: You know, I wish I did because I was you know,
Speaker 2: that that Pat himself mentioned that the pulp fiction thing
Speaker 2: that was that was kind of going around there. You know,
Speaker 2: you got the white the white man can't jump right thing,
Speaker 2: which you know, obviously Riley turned on its head by
Speaker 2: by leaping the way that he did to catch that ball.
Speaker 2: You know that that is a pressing issue that that
Speaker 2: should be like, we should have our best people on
Speaker 2: this is essentially the way that it's going. You know, Pat,
Speaker 2: Pat's kind of leaving it up to the Broncos country.
Speaker 2: I need to I need to go through and scan
Speaker 2: some of these posts because I'm sure there's there's always
Speaker 2: good ideas among Internet minds. I just I haven't come
Speaker 2: across from yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was worried I was never going to be
Speaker 1: able to top Casa Benito. But I think I think
Speaker 1: we're I think we're getting close there. We'll see, we'll
Speaker 1: figure this one out. We'll put our we'll put our
Speaker 1: best people on it, which does not obviously include me.
Speaker 2: Norm Norm myself, I am not a like, not in
Speaker 2: the creative writing business as much, but you know, I
Speaker 2: think the defense as a whole too, like that that's
Speaker 2: another thing of you know, again, it it is five
Speaker 2: games in and you don't want to get out in
Speaker 2: front of it. But I just think some of their
Speaker 2: markers that they have are are sustainable to where you
Speaker 2: say this, this is gonna be a unit that is
Speaker 2: good all year long. And look they're they're blitzing at
Speaker 2: a rate right now that is the highest in the league.
Speaker 2: You can't do that if you're if your foundational pieces
Speaker 2: aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you have to
Speaker 2: be able to cover one on one. That's why Moss's
Speaker 2: kind of elevation into the way that he's playing has
Speaker 2: been such a such a big deal because there's nothing
Speaker 2: that teams can just you know, easily pick on like
Speaker 2: there might have been at certain times last year. So
Speaker 2: I just I just think this is a group that's
Speaker 2: going to continue to play well. You see the you
Speaker 2: see that the depths in the pass rush, like Nick Bonito,
Speaker 2: it's it's like people kind of forgetting about him and
Speaker 2: he's he's playing the way that he has. Jonah ellis
Speaker 2: you know, playing as well as any rookie you know
Speaker 2: pass rusher right now. So I just think it's a
Speaker 2: group that you look, you look at it and say
Speaker 2: that this this can keep going really all year.
Speaker 4: So we haven't seen a lot of Marvin Mahams. And
Speaker 4: dating back to last year, we were we were told that, hey, listen,
Speaker 4: you know there's going to be the concervative effort to
Speaker 4: get mems involved. And that was last year. So coming
Speaker 4: into this year, I thought personally things were going to change.
Speaker 4: We haven't really seen that. What do you think is
Speaker 4: the reason why we're not seeing more of Marvin Maham's
Speaker 4: speed utilized in this Broncos offense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think part of it is is of them.
Speaker 2: Sean has said this in a in a as an
Speaker 2: answer to a number of things, the fact that you're
Speaker 2: thirty first and third down conversion rate, you really just
Speaker 2: aren't getting enough opportunities to get to some of the
Speaker 2: things that you want to get to, and so I
Speaker 2: think that's part of it. I do think they kind
Speaker 2: of took a small step forward on Sunday in terms
Speaker 2: of you know, getting him, getting him on the jet
Speaker 2: sweep in a way that allowed him to use his speed.
Speaker 2: You know, you got him, you got him in space
Speaker 2: on the quick draw, the quick the quick out in
Speaker 2: the flat where he gained seven yards on what became
Speaker 2: a touchdown touchdown drive a lot of a lot of
Speaker 2: things they're trying to do to sort of emulate what
Speaker 2: he can do in the open field when he's when
Speaker 2: he's on special teams, because he continues to be one
Speaker 2: of the most dynamic returners in the league. So it's
Speaker 2: for them figuring out ways to get him in those
Speaker 2: similar situations. Because look, we might have seen Jerry Judy
Speaker 2: leave and say, oh, that's that that guy. Marvin Mims
Speaker 2: is gonna a step into that role. He's not the
Speaker 2: same player, he doesn't have the same route tree, So
Speaker 2: it's a matter of finding those things for him. And
Speaker 2: part of that is you just have to continue to
Speaker 2: get some more plays. But I like there was a
Speaker 2: couple of times where you saw Marvin Mims and Troy
Speaker 2: Franklin on the field at the same time. Troy Franklin's
Speaker 2: gotten a little bit more burned over the last couple
Speaker 2: of weeks, you know, Like I said, Mims had a
Speaker 2: couple of plays on Sunday, So you hope that that
Speaker 2: was sort of a sign of things to come, that
Speaker 2: they're they're kind of slowly building toward more of that, because, yeah,
Speaker 2: you get those two guys on the same field. We
Speaker 2: talked a lot about Troy Franklin's drop. Part of that
Speaker 2: other play, Marvin Mims was wide open in the middle
Speaker 2: of the field, like he could have You could have
Speaker 2: thrown to him for about a ten yard pass. He
Speaker 2: just beats the safety and he could have he could
Speaker 2: have gone all the way. So get them on the
Speaker 2: field together, let him put some stress on defenses and
Speaker 2: see what you can do.
Speaker 1: Totalen Nick Cosmider of the Athletic Nick, you know Vance
Speaker 1: Joseph and the way that this defense is performing, it's
Speaker 1: it's getting Vance some more. Ronnie's absolutely a guy who's
Speaker 1: probably going to get head coach interviews having prior experience
Speaker 1: this offseason. If he were to leave and get a
Speaker 1: head coaching job. It puts the Broncos in line for
Speaker 1: two third round compensatory picks. But which is the which
Speaker 1: is the better have at this point having Vance back
Speaker 1: and what he's been able to do or two extra
Speaker 1: third round draft picks?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I mean, it's it's a great question. I
Speaker 2: think right now, the continuity that they have on that
Speaker 2: side of the ball, and you know, obviously they they
Speaker 2: came in last year and I think Vance really wanted
Speaker 2: to make things comfortable for the players, right, so they're
Speaker 2: they're using some of the same terminology that they had
Speaker 2: used under you know, Giro Everro, which was a lot
Speaker 2: of the same Vic Fangio terminology. But but they they
Speaker 2: kind of about how you know, less than halfway through
Speaker 2: the year, just kind of scraped that and really just
Speaker 2: got back to doing it the way you know that
Speaker 2: Vance has And now that you have that continuity, that
Speaker 2: comfortability with what he's calling, you know, you would want
Speaker 2: you would want some of that back that they obviously
Speaker 2: think they have some talented coaches on this defensive staff,
Speaker 2: whether it's Jim Leonard, jamar Cain, some up and coming
Speaker 2: young coaches you know that you could maybe feel comfortable
Speaker 2: with in a promotion and that kind of uh scenario
Speaker 2: that you that you're talking about, because I certainly do
Speaker 2: think that Vance is putting himself in position already to
Speaker 2: have to have another.
Speaker 4: Look at it.
Speaker 2: But but it's so at the same it's it's sort
Speaker 2: of like a good problem to have, is kind of
Speaker 2: the way that you would you would look at it.
Speaker 2: Because we know this team has had a lack of
Speaker 2: draft capital. That's been one of the issues with the
Speaker 2: roster over the last you know, a couple of seasons,
Speaker 2: they're gonna they're gonna be back to a full cupboard
Speaker 2: or pretty close to it this uh, this offseason, and
Speaker 2: so you know, anything you can do to continue to
Speaker 2: add to that the way that they're drafting would be
Speaker 2: would be a bonus as well. But I would be
Speaker 2: in the camp of man, if you can, if you
Speaker 2: can run this back again, the way that they're playing,
Speaker 2: the way that they got some young players stepping into
Speaker 2: bigger roles like that would be that'd be a pretty
Speaker 2: good scenario going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: You know, Nick, with everything that you said and the
Speaker 4: possibility of Vance getting another opportunity to interview for a
Speaker 4: head coach, I mean, I personally feel as though the
Speaker 4: conversation hasn't really.
Speaker 3: Been about Vance and what he's done. Now.
Speaker 4: People have talked about individual Roley Moss Ps two, Jonah Eilers,
Speaker 4: Zach Allen, but I don't feel as though the enough
Speaker 4: credit here locally has been given to Vance. Joseph, do
Speaker 4: you feel the same way, And if you do, why
Speaker 4: do you think that's the case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's kind of like you're pulling out my
Speaker 2: story that I have coming out later this year because
Speaker 2: I absolutely, I absolutely agree with you are you guys
Speaker 2: are on it.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: One of the things that's really interesting. I was talking
Speaker 2: to Zach Allen after the game on Sunday and he
Speaker 2: said that the thing that Vance has done so well
Speaker 2: for this group is they sort of came in with
Speaker 2: this this mission to make sure that they were giving
Speaker 2: you know, their their pass rushers, their interior end and
Speaker 2: outside guys, being so mindful of giving these guys one
Speaker 2: on one opportunities as frequently as they can. And Zach said, look,
Speaker 2: that's as a as a pass rusher or a defensive lineman,
Speaker 2: that's all we can ask for is getting those chances
Speaker 2: because we we feel like one on one we can
Speaker 2: win most times. And so you have a team that's
Speaker 2: blitzing at the highest rate and doing it in ways
Speaker 2: where you are you're really praying on vulnerabilities of the
Speaker 2: opponent to give those one on one matchups to guys
Speaker 2: like Zach Allen. It's it all. It's all kind of
Speaker 2: a wholesale thing, right because in order for that to
Speaker 2: still work, you had to upgrade the talent. You had
Speaker 2: to get a guy like John Franklin Myers who teams
Speaker 2: can't just you know, not pay attention to so they've
Speaker 2: they've done those things where it's kind of a holistic approach.
Speaker 2: But it's Advance who's been pressing these buttons, who's been
Speaker 2: able to create these matchups, who kind of listens to
Speaker 2: his players about, you know, the way that they wanted
Speaker 2: to play being more one game. I've driven up front
Speaker 2: this year all those kinds of things I think come
Speaker 2: into play and talk about, you know, not only how
Speaker 2: he's calling plays on Sunday, but how how he and
Speaker 2: his staff have worked to understand what fits best for
Speaker 2: the group of players that they have. And I just
Speaker 2: think he's done a good job bringing all that together.
Speaker 1: Talking Cosmoity the athletic Nick want to switch gears a
Speaker 1: little bit, talk about the Denver Nuggets and what you've
Speaker 1: seen so far there the addition of Russell Westbrook and
Speaker 1: you know what that brings to this team. I've been lobbying.
Speaker 1: I know Christian brawn is penciled in is the you know,
Speaker 1: the starting two. But I've been lobbying much like Kenneth
Speaker 1: far Reid, He's an energy guy who probably is at
Speaker 1: his best coming off the bench, and maybe there are
Speaker 1: situations where you could have Westbrook start Murray at the two,
Speaker 1: Strawther or at the two, and then of course we've
Speaker 1: had seen this sort of move from Porter where he's
Speaker 1: put on some weight and is experimenting a little bit at.
Speaker 3: The four in addition to play in the three.
Speaker 1: What what have you seen so far with the new
Speaker 1: look Nuggets and what do you really expect this team
Speaker 1: to look like when we get to open the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Porter thing is like really interesting to me
Speaker 2: because I I was kind of, you know, not not
Speaker 2: necessarily as plugged in now to to sort of what
Speaker 2: they're doing in their in their offseason. So when they
Speaker 2: came back around Media Day and and then was talking
Speaker 2: to some people that were over there just about what
Speaker 2: he's done, that was kind of that was kind of
Speaker 2: surprising to me. And I and I think the way
Speaker 2: that they when when they're able to run Aaron Gordon
Speaker 2: as as the as kind of the backup five that
Speaker 2: they they've experimented more with some of those lineups of
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. Uh, that that to me
Speaker 2: is is a winning formula. If you have Porter being
Speaker 2: able to play the four and being able to hang
Speaker 2: defensively at that position enough to where you can get
Speaker 2: his spacing and then you then you can you know,
Speaker 2: that can kind of trickle down you get more shooters
Speaker 2: on the floor. So I think that'll be an interesting development.
Speaker 2: I'm just really eager to see because You're right, there's
Speaker 2: there's different combinations that they're going to be able to
Speaker 2: do in that backcourt. And that's why this this preseason
Speaker 2: is is kind of important for them. And then early
Speaker 2: in the season of you know, how how do these
Speaker 2: combinations work around when we bring Russell Westbrook in? You
Speaker 2: know what, what kind of role can we put Julian
Speaker 2: Strath and you know, can he be good enough defensively
Speaker 2: in order to potentially be that starting two for you
Speaker 2: So it's it's a pretty fascinating deal when you when
Speaker 2: you've lost two guys back to back years that were
Speaker 2: pretty important parts of that of that backcourt in Bruce
Speaker 2: Brown and KCP, and now you've got guys that are
Speaker 2: stepping into those new roles. It's going to be really
Speaker 2: interesting to see how it all pans out.
Speaker 3: The biggest concern for me is the bench.
Speaker 4: I mean because over the past couple of years, obviously
Speaker 4: the starting five, you know what you're gonna get out
Speaker 4: of those guys. But once Jamal comes off the floor,
Speaker 4: Nikola Joki comes off the floor, and Christian Brown is
Speaker 4: going from being on that second unit and the thought
Speaker 4: is inserting him in the starting unit. How is that
Speaker 4: that that second unit going to look and Kim may
Speaker 4: sustain the longevity of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that's a big part of what
Speaker 2: they're hoping for with with Russell Westbrook is is to
Speaker 2: just be a little bit more attacking with that with
Speaker 2: that second unit. But going back to when I covered
Speaker 2: the team, the thing that Malone always really wants his
Speaker 2: second unit to be is sort of pestering defensively and
Speaker 2: one that really gets out and runs in transition. Because
Speaker 2: it's not like they never play that way when Nikola
Speaker 2: Jokic is out there, but they're much more of a,
Speaker 2: you know, just a surgical half court team when when
Speaker 2: he's on the court, because that's what he does. He
Speaker 2: can he can pick you apart in that way when
Speaker 2: they are a second unit. They want to be able
Speaker 2: to win with defense and then get out and push
Speaker 2: the tempo. And that's that's a big part of why
Speaker 2: they brought Russell Westbrook in here. But that being said,
Speaker 2: even if they play that way, you still have to
Speaker 2: have the shooting. And you know, you're you're if you're
Speaker 2: bringing Christian Brown into the starting lineup, you know that
Speaker 2: that opens up an opportunity in the backcourt to have
Speaker 2: somebody who can shoot a little bit more like. That's
Speaker 2: why I think Strawther on the second unit being you know,
Speaker 2: getting some opportunity to handle the ball next to Jamal
Speaker 2: Murray or Russell Westbrook, but also like having him out
Speaker 2: there as a guy that can stretch the floor a
Speaker 2: little bit, like that's that's the guy that they have
Speaker 2: a lot kind of riding on to be that to
Speaker 2: be that answer, because yeah, the bench obviously toward the
Speaker 2: end of last season and certainly in the playoffs, it
Speaker 2: wasn't enough. And now you're you're depending more on some
Speaker 2: of these some of these other guys you know, to
Speaker 2: come through. So it's a it's a huge question. Mark.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, Nick, like that, that's that's the part
Speaker 2: that we're gonna need to see pretty early on.
Speaker 1: Nick Cosmider of the Athletic always appreciate the time, brother,
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you out there on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Absolutely so let's take care. Thanks a lot,