Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I still look at this under armoured thing, but we'll see.
(00:03):
Maybe I'm wrong because it doesn't look like I'm looking.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I was looking at the some of the rules for
like apparel stuff, and I still think they gotta wear
like Nike gear.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No, it's only only certain portions of your gear your jersey.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Of course. If you have a Nike contract.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well, the Nike the uniforms are Nike just anyway.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Yeah, but if you have.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
A Nike shoe deal, I mean, the league can't intervene
on that particular thing. But everyone else who doesn't have
a Nike contract, you gotta wear the click clacks?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh okay, Like do you have to wear the under
armour or could you wear like could you wear Nike?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What if you didn't have a deal with who you won.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
You get to pick?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, yeah I did. I mean there's certain things you
did you don't. I mean, once again, you have to
be comfortable as an athlete. Well, right, that's what I'm saying,
Like what are you comfortable in Nike?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But now under armours come along and you're like, well,
I don't want the und armored gloves.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
And maybe some guys are not gonna do it. Now
if under Armors. You know, since they're partner with the league,
they're giving it out for free.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hey man, Hey, look my cousin's getting for gear. Yeah,
I hear you on that.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
My favorite work.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Five six six's text line, can you're right up to
the kay comes through the hotline and bring on our guy,
Ryan Michael with you Ryan Michael on Twitter?
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Right?
Speaker 6 (01:12):
I know, buddy?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Doing well?
Speaker 6 (01:14):
Then?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Nick? How are you guys doing? Doing pretty well?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Still trying to get into the nuance of this.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
This under Armours the official footwear and glove partner, but
Nike's the uniform partner the NF.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I don't know anyway. I'm uh, I've gotten too old
for all this stuff. They have turned turned from Mel
Gibson Todiny Glover a.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Little bit of the news today on the free agent
quarterback at market, Russell Wilson obviously signing with the Giants,
are but still waiting on Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Two big names, maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
A little past their primes, but are Aaron Rodgers and
and uh Russell Wilson.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
What do you think or feel.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That their legacy is up to this point and what
do you think they have to gain or lose by
coming back in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
That's a really good question. You think that it had
Russell Wilson retired as a Seattle Seahawk and had Aaron
Rodgers retired as a Green Bay Packer, perhaps history would
look upon their legacies as a little.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Bit more favorable.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
But with that said, there's still history to be made
for both quarterbacks. And so you know, I look at
Aaron Rodgers as a guy who just eclipsed the five
hundred touchdown pass mark before the end of the season.
He has five hundred and three and he's six touchdown
passes away from eclipsing Brett Farv at five o eight.
If for nothing else more than that one mark by itself,
(02:27):
I think that would be motivation enough for Aaron to
come back. He's thirty seven away from eclipsing Peyton Manning
at five point thirty nine, and I don't think he's
going to be able to eclipse de Brief. He's sixty
nine away there. And so, yeah, Russell Wilson sitting at
three hundred and fifty career touchdown passes, He's seventeen away
from eclipsing Eli Manning to move into eleventh place. He's
(02:48):
not going to climb as far at the all time,
as certainly as Aaron Rodgers. But I looked to Russell
Wilson's career and I think we tend to forget just
how dominant he was in Seattle. I wrote an article
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year which
broke down his decade of dominance there. I'm of the
view that he had five seasons that you could consider
to be MVP caliber. Twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen, eighteen nineteen
(03:11):
to twenty twenty seventeen is its season of particular note.
He led the NFL in touchdown passes total touchdowns. His
running game produced one rushing touchdown in sixteen games. To
support him, russ led to Seahawks in rushing yards five
hundred and eighty sixty yards yards for carry, six point
(03:31):
two rushing touchdowns three. His offensive line was a mess
twenty six and adjusted Zach Ray, and He's set in
an NFL record nineteen fourth quarter touchdown passes. And so
Russell Wilson has produced MVP caliber seasons. I don't expect
for him to do that this year, but can he
continue to add to his legacy by playing football at
an above average level. I think that's possible.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, Ryan, when we look at bow Niggs, he has
played better than most of the so called experts thought
he would coming into last season. And I know you
were one of those individuals who were pretty high on
bow Nicks and his ability. What do you need to
see from bow in year two to let you know
that he's making a progressive leek forward.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
It's difficult to do that in year two because sophomore
regression is a very real thing. I've talked about this
time and time again, and just speaking to this as
an assistant coach coaching in Europe, coaching in the end
Or Football League. When I'm preparing for quarterbacks where I
don't have a lot of coaches film to study, it's
such a tremendous disadvantage. And so what that means is
rookie quarterbacks have the benefit of evolving their game and
(04:40):
the season goes on, the defenses might not be quite
as prepared to handle that in year one a year two.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Look no further than c. J.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Straud. He finished third in the NFL last year and
adjusted net yards per attempt and he dropped all the
way down to twenty seven. I think people don't realize
just how real that sophomore slump was because the Texans
still won ten games, but only one of those and
regular season games was against a team that had a
winning record that was Buffalo, and their defense held League
MVP Josh Allen to nine of thirty right than thirty
(05:10):
one yards.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
So CJ.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Stroud had a tremendous drop off last year, and so
bro Nick I don't expect to see the same box
score numbers in terms of total touchdowns and things of
that nature next year. But it's a matter of refining
the fundamentals, the mechanics, and just growing as a quarterback
in Sean Payton's offense.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Titler Ryan Michael at e Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
A lot of the fans don't feel that Denver has
you know, that true number one guy. Does Nicks need
a fifteen hundred yard fifteen touchdown guy, or you know,
even even do the Broncos need to necessarily go out
there and pay Courtland Sutton in the stefand DS T Higgins.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Sort of realm or has Sean.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Payton's philosophy over the years, which has been to keep
the wide receiver room cheap. You think that's that's able
for a young quarterback like bo Nicks.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
I look at the percentage of salary cap allocated to
three players in Cincinnati, and it should have Grant Smith
a little bit more, a little bit nervous. I think
a lot of NFL teams missed the memo in the
sense that you don't build teams the way the Indianapolis
Colts did around Peyton Manning. You want to, if ever possible,
to even come close to build teams the way the
(06:23):
Patriots and the Buccaneers did around Tom Brady last year.
I got some numbers for you. The top eight receivers
in the league, only two of them played for teams
with a winning record, justin Jefferson. I'm on Safe, I'm
on Russaint Brown. And so you look at the other
guys through mar Chase number one, Brian Thomas, number three,
Drake one to number four, Jerry Judie and mc neighbors,
Cde Lamb and so great receivers, stud receivers. You need
(06:48):
to build a team around a quarterback. It's not just
about one guy. And you look at some of the
notable legends who played the game fairly recently. Drew Brees
had only four top ten defenses in twenty years, and
how much did Drew Brees win compared to guys like
Tom Brady had a top ten defense seventeen times in
twenty one years. Joe Montamas started thirteen or more games
(07:09):
eight times, and in every single one of those seasons
he had a top ten defense, and in half of
those seasons he won a Super Bowl. So it's not
easy necessarily to acquire an elite wide receiver. Certainly it's
not easy at all to build an elite defense. But
out of the two, there's no question that Bo Nicks
and the Denver Broncos I think have a better approach
to building a roster.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Well, let stick right there.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
As far as building the roster, I mean, building any portion.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Of the team could be very difficult. But for the.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Broncos, the topic of conversation is.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
No longer about the quarterback. It's about the run game.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
When we look at the Broncos last season alone, he said, well,
what were the rushing yards for this particular team. Javonte
Williams led the team with five hundred to thirteen, I
mean three marks down from that was Bo Nicks.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
With four hundred and thirty.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
What is it that the Broncos need to do to
make sure they get this particular position right, as though
they got the quarterback position to right. How important is
it for them to do that?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Good question? And I think it's going to be a
bit more important for us this year than it was
last year. You know, jerun Thing only averaged three point
seven yards per carry and that was more alarming to
me than his low overall rushing total. So when you
look at the construction of the team and we see
Bronick as a guy who actually threw more touchdown passes
than Josh Allen last year, he produced thirty four in total,
(08:31):
the second highest mark by a rookie quarterback in NFL history.
If we're being honest with ourselves, he's probably not going
to produce thirty four touchdowns in year two. Our defense
top three, perhaps some bias, I think it was the
best defense and pro football and healthy, it's reasonable to
expect the rushing even if we're fortunate enough to stay
in the top ten. So what that means is we
(08:52):
need to get stronger elsewhere. Right, Bonux isn't surrounded with
Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions talent at the skill position, and
so if it's reasonable to expect some degree of regression,
even if it's in just so much as a box score,
we're going to need more production and efficiency on the
ground because if you cannot provide that balance for a
(09:13):
sophomore quarterback, you better watch out for what your two is.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Going to look like.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Tier Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Bo had a at some stats that were even better than.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Josh Allens last year.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
And there are some people that say that this is
proof that Sean Baden's indeed and offensive genius and all
this kind of stuff. Some people are saying it's proof
that Bo is the future.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
What do you kind of come down on that? Is
this a combination of both? Is this one or the other?
Where do you Where do you come down on that?
Speaker 5 (09:42):
It's somewhere in the middle. And I mean, you know,
I had Bonix as the number two quarterback on my
draft board before the draft last year. So there is
nobody more happy than I am to take a lap
and tell you that I was right. But I think
if we're being honest and we're being fair, Yeah, as
I mentioned, thirty four total question downs, he just loved
that you take a look a little bit closer at
(10:03):
some of the efficiency metrics. He finished eighteenth could adjusted
net yords per attempt, he finished eighteenth in total QBR,
fifteenth and EPA, And so he played a lot better
at home than he did on the road. He had
one hundred and two bass rating at home and dropped
down to eighty five point eight on the road. I
love the sack avoidance. That's something that was elite, beyond
anything we've seen in college football in the last decade,
(10:25):
and so he brought that over to the NFL. Finished
sixth in the NFL and sack percentage third amongst quarterbacks
who started eleven or more games. And I'm just going
through cherry pick a certain framing here. Number one in
the NFL and sack percentage amongst quarterbacks who through five
hundred or more passes. So you love seeing that those
are unbelievable numbers for a rookie quarterback. I think there's
(10:46):
a little bit of confirmation bias I'd play because there
are a lot of people, including myself in Bronxo's country,
who want to believe that Sean Payton is the offensive genius.
The label that he's carried for so long and I
would love to see those nuts as send an MVP
caliber quarterback in year two or three. The reality is
as great as last year was. When you're taking a
(11:06):
look at those efficiency metrics, it's nowhere close to Drew
Brees was able to produce. I think people forget Drew
Brees let the NFL in passing seven times. That's the
most in NFL history. He set the single season record,
didn't just leave the NFL, but set the NFL single
season record for completion percentage.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Four different times.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
The second highest single season completion percentage mark in NFL
history is Drew Breathe in twenty nineteen at seventy four
point three, so the second highest mark of his career,
higher than anybody else's NFL history. What Drew Brees was
able to do in New Orleans is special, although Nicks
was able to do in Denver for US last year
was also special, but there is a considerable gap between
(11:46):
the two.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, speaking of a guy that is especially this guy
that I played the majority of my career against, and
boy was thrown in my backside, but the good share
of himself. Peyton Manning had a birthday. Yes, now we
watched pay and play. I played against him. But what
are some like hidden numbers is hidden things that fans
(12:07):
may not know that you've done some research on Peyton
that we'll just kind of peel back to the layer and
let them know more about this great quarterback, as some
would call it, Peyton freaking many.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I love the curveball, so I'm going to go off
the top of my head and naked no order. In
twenty thirteen, before he suffered over ankle injuries, you know
that he was on pace to throw over seventy touchdown
passes if you expanded his rate to seventeen games, he
threw fifty five and fifteen and a half games. The
season finale against Oakland, he threw four at half time,
and they're like, that's enough. You've broken the single season
(12:41):
passing the yardage record. We're gonna have some mercy on
the Raiders. They pulled them out of the game. He
led the NFL and touchdown passes or came usher measure battery.
He led me in a felon touchdown batteries four times,
but he finished first or second during ten different seasons.
Mahomes has done that twice in seven seasons, and that's remarkable.
He's not just a five points NFL MVP, but he's
(13:01):
a seven time person Mull Pro selection. Nobody in the
modern era has more than four that Aaron Rodgers. Tom
Brady has three. There's never been a quarterback who has
been more dominant and independent of situation. He's going to
the Super Bowl with four different head coaches, and he's
locked down a number one or number two seed with
five different head coaches. He really is peerless, and he
(13:23):
was so dominant. If he adjust his statistics for era
that he's a complete outlier. And it's almost unfair to
compare other quarterbacks to him because he set a standard that,
in my opinion, can't possibly match. And I'm coming at
it from the perspective of somebody who's evaluated the quarterback
position since the late nineteen thirties. Ade Manning is unquestionably
the most dominant quarterback in the history of pro football.
(13:45):
I think for reason Tom Brady are close that Ade
Manning is peerless.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Well, I had no idea you were that old.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You've been evaluating since the late nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yes, it's weirder. Michael a Ryan, Michael, what's the last
one for me? What could bo do to avoid the
software slump?
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Oh boy, well, it's more about to me. What can
the Broncos do to support vote to prevent him from declining?
You know, he needs to something I learned. I only
view Kurt Warner a few years ago and and I
asked him what was his takeaway from playing in the
in the Arena Football League, And he said he looked
to other players. He did think that he could up
to where people who could do things with his legs.
(14:28):
He can never dream to do that he gets to
the NFL. He told me Peyton Manning was the greatest
information profitsor the most dominant before the staff quarterback has
ever been. He said he could have tried to be
like Peyton, but he wouldn't have been true to himself.
He was better after the snack. He was better recognizing
that defenders were doing after the snack and utilizing past accuracy.
I think any quarterback needs to be true to who
(14:49):
they are and refine the strengths in terms of what
they're good at, not necessarily play outside their comfort zone
and force themselves to be something that they're not. Particuliche.
But I think if he continues to trend in that direction.
He might not be as do dominant in your as
he was in your one, but he'll be stronger. Come
here three.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Looking forward to it. It's like we're looking forward to
hear from you next week.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Sounds good, guys, Absolutely take care.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter contributed to
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Obviously an assistant coach
with the progue Lions of the European Football League, and
we always enjoy his input on the show.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
We've got Vini Benedetto that never gets that caught it.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Next, talk a little nuggets right here on Broncos Country Tonight.
Back to the Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin all Bright, Nick
Ferguson Grat Smith here with you.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Five six six nine zero is the text line. Thanks
to Ryan Michael for joining us in the last segment.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If you miss today part of that, you go to
brockcast Country dot com, slash podcast or where each podcast,
Apple iTunes, Spotify, the totally Free, Awesome and redesigned I
Heart Radio where you get take It for Granted podcast
as well recent episode out there with Red and Crystall
h so that if you guys haven't caught up on that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You need to need to get caught up on your
Take It for Granted podcast. We run right back out
to the ka.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Comma Spirit Health hotline and bring on our guy any
bet Aetto from the Denver Gazette, Vinie, how you doing
this evening?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Well, guys, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Uh you know, I just got the news, Uh was
an hour ago, maybe a little over maybe two hours
ago that Dame Lillard he's got the blood clot gonna
be out indefinitely for the Bucks.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That is the Nuggets next opponent.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So it seems like there's a spate of these blood
clots going around. Wemby out and definitely with that with
the Spurs. Now you've got name Lillard out with that
is is there something to this or is this just
so prominent that we're connecting dots that may not be there.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
Yeah, you're gonna have to get somebody more qualified speak
on the medicine and then the science behind that. But
I did see something that was interesting, and I'm not
gonna be able to cite my source here, but just
these guys spend so much time in the air traveling
from one city to another that they might be you
know that blood cleft might be more more common for them,
(17:01):
especially you know, the taller you are. I think something
with the science there. I'm not gonna sound too intelligent
in this part, but the league ones I think are
much more concerning than like Wemby's I thought was in
his I believe it was in his shoulder, and games
is in his legs. But I think the leg is
the kind of one that can be more problematic. And
(17:22):
if I remember correctly, that was kind of the the
thing that ended Chris Bosch's career was one in the leg.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So, Vinny, I mean, we're watching the Denver Nuggets play
several games without Nicola Jokic.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
And I've been debating here with Ben, you know, over the.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Weeks, wondering if this is a legitimate injury or this
is some kind of low management. But let's just kind
of stick from the injury standpoint. It's listed in some
kind of an ankle impingement.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And what do we think that how this is going
to affect nicolea Yoki's moving forward?
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Yeah, that's it is an angle impinchment. And once again
I'm not qualified to seek on the details of such
a diagnosis, But yeah, I do believe it is a
legitimate injury. I think he told the broadcast team that
it started back on March second and against Boston if
you remember that game, I think like almost right after
(18:21):
the tip off, he was, you know, limping or lumbering
more than he typically does, and in typical Joker fashion,
I think he tried to play through it for a
few weeks and then I think it probably got to
the point where it wasn't getting any better with him
planning on it, and you know, they kind of had
to take take the longer term view and shut him
(18:44):
down for a bit and see if they can't get
this thing under control before before the playoffs start. And
I do I do expect him back sometime on this
homestand uh, you know, he's doubtful for tomorrow night's game,
but you know, and they played on Friday and then
they have a brain again Tuesday. So I would circle
that April first game against Minnesota for for a possible
(19:06):
return from him. So I do believe it is a
legitimate injury because he's the type where it's hard enough
to get him to take one game off. He's not
the type two, uh, to shut it down for a
week or so at a time, and you know, NBA stars,
especially if his caliber, have quite a bit of say
when it comes to their availability on a night to
(19:26):
night basis talking with.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Vinni Benedetto from the Gazette. Any, both these.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Teams kind of backdooring their way lately towards the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Uh, losers of three of their last five.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Each of them both had lengthy road trips, you know
in that thing. Milwaukee, they haven't guaranteed themselves a playoff spot,
but it would be pretty difficult for them to not
make the playoffs at this point. Denver, on the other hand,
has got a range of outcomes here, could get as
high as the as the two seed could finish.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Out of the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
What do we see in both these teams as we're
heading towards the start of the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Yeah, I mean Milwaukee's struggles have been it's it's just
a weird season for the Bucks. You know, they were
really bad at the start of the season and felt
like they might have to to make some changes, and
they were really good for a stretch and now it
seems back to where they're more.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
If he and certainly more inconsistent. I think you could
probably say the same with the Nuggets, where it's been
just a really tough season to get a grasp on
on who these guys really are. You know, it feels
like so of the season it was okay. You know,
Jamal is not totally right. That's that's a big problem
in typical Jamal fat And he turns it on around
(20:39):
New Year's and plays pretty well for a stretch and
it looks like everything's going to be all right, and
then you know Aaron Gordon's second skin out of the lineup,
and you know his kind of lingering injuries have had
made it really tough. So yeah, it's a it's a
tough team to get a grasp on. And I think
even if draft Michael Malone, I don't know if he'd
(21:00):
able to give you a real strong answer on who
his team is. And that's got to be a pretty
scary proposition with the nine games left in the regular season.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Well, vinywe we've seen this Nuggets team throughout the season
play great defense at times, and we've also seen them
somewhat collapse in the fourth quarters. And I know coach
maloons since he's been here, he's been appreciating that since
day one. Play defense, get out in transition. When you
look at fast breaks, the Nuggets kind of one of
(21:28):
the top teams in NBA as far as getting out
in transition. What must he do or what needs to
happen from when mentality change before the team goes into
the playoffs for them to hit those that switch in
those two areas As far as playing better defense to
close out games and also sticking to getting out in
fantas break transition.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
Yeah, you might have to try a different message, because, Yeah,
for as long as I've been covering the team, he
harps on that defense. And I think it's one of
those deals where you know, anytime you're starting five as
Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, and NICOLEI Kokich in, it
like defense is not going to be that group's strong
suit just given the makeup of that that So you know,
with Denver's regular starting five, you're acting a ton of
(22:11):
Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon on the on the defensive
end to put out some fires. And I think, you know,
as much as these guys say they don't believe, there's
you know, a flip you can switch when the playoffs
come along. I do think there is some part of
them protecting themselves against what happened last year where they
were chasing the one seed into the final two games
(22:34):
of the regular season, and you know, when you give
a twenty point lead in the in game seven in
the second round, it feels like fatigue was a legitimate
factor there. So I think I don't know how much
there is Michael Malone can do. I think the he
needs more buying from his players, and the effort level
needs to to be raised a bit, and you know it,
(22:55):
it can be hard to hold guys of that caliber accountable,
but you know, maybe some opportunities need to be decreased.
Obviously not for a guy like Joker. He is immune
and the way to Jamal Murray has been playing of
late probably also makes him immune from any sort of repercussions.
So Malone's in a tough spot here, and I'm guess
(23:16):
the only thing you can really do is hope that
this team does have the switch located and have the
ability to turn it on when the playoffs start.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Are you any betteredetto from the Gazella? Let me go
a step further with that has Muloan's message gotten stale.
I mean, is are we getting close to time for
a shake up or a change here?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I mean, you're not going to do anything before the
end of this season. But I think that's kind of
been the case all year longs that you know, if
the playoffs don't go well, you know, however you want
to define that, I would personally say, if they don't
make the conference finals, there's got to be real conversations
about changes, whether it's you know, in the front office
or shake up in the coaching staff, even if it
(23:55):
isn't you know, changing head coaches, but but doing things
a bit differently, because it's just if you look at
the games against Houston and Golden State on the last
road trip, it would sound crazy that that, you know,
the message isn't getting through, and then you look at
the middle two games against Portland and a shorthanded Lakers team,
(24:18):
and then it looks like there's real concerns about whether
or not, uh the guys are you know, still have
their ears open to the message. So you know, nothing's
going to happen in these next nine games or throughout
the playoffs, but uh, you know, if if this kind
of effort or or the inconsistencies continue into the playoffs
and it leads to a first or seting around exit.
I think there are going to be some uh, some
(24:39):
really tough conversations had at the corporate level.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Well, we are in the month of March and the
games of March Madness pick up on Thursday, and I
have to ask you, because I'm sure you know as
a sports guy you feeled out your bracket. Has anything
occurred in this year's tournament that has been a surprise
to you? And the second question is who do you
having your your your final four?
Speaker 6 (25:03):
So you're putting me on the spot here, let me
pull up my bracket because I have not paid it's
kind of attention to it. I know I lost Saint
John's in my final four. I've got Duke winning it all.
Then I've got I believe Tennessee and one quadrant, and
I've got Michigan coming out of out of whatever whatever
(25:24):
group is left there. And you know, I'm I'm I
like the kind of March Madness that features the you know,
kind of leven seeds in the elite eight and you know,
one of them making the final fource I'm a little
bit bummed out with how how this tournament has progressed
so far. I am a Creighton blue Jay and I
(25:45):
really thought we had a shot to knockoff Auburn. That
was a tough one. The lack of charity, I feel like,
is trying to surprise just because you know, with how
open things are these days, transfer, portal, nil stuff, you know,
it feels like there are some there should be some,
(26:07):
you know, school like football program. So like all of
our donor money, most of it goes to men's basketball,
but it still feels like, you know, the the SEC
is just playing in a different league when it comes
to resources and even the Big ten. So I am
a little bit bummed out, and I get surprised that,
you know, some of the some of the smaller schools,
(26:28):
some of the left heralded schools, haven't had a little
bit more success.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well it's uh, when Nick is the grinch when it
comes to the bracket, he only wants He's an anti
underdog guy, only wants the blue bloods.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Uh, it's it's it's horrible. I have to sit through
this every time we talk about the tournament. It's just, uh,
it's just awful. He never wants the Creightons of the
world to do anything.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Uh, we can't even have the expletives that he was
shouting at them, you know when they were platinums, kidd.
But hey, I mean, look, it is a it is
a different era for for college athletics, and it does
probably make it a lot more difficult for those mid
majors and underdog teams to be successful because of the
transfer portal and all the money that's out there now,
Guys like Steph Curry probably wouldn't have stayed Davidson. You
(27:10):
probably go somewhere else you get post, right, I mean,
and that's what's happening I think where we're seeing a
lot more chalk in these brackets than before.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Yeah, it does feel like a lot of the mid
majors and smaller programs are just kind of serving as
like the development league for the blue bloods in terms
of you have two great seasons at a smaller school,
you have the opportunity, and I think it's great for
those individuals to have the opportunity to go make more
money out of bigger school in a bigger spotlight, increase
(27:42):
their resume, you know, if they have hopes of being
a professional basketball player. I think all that's great, but yeah,
part of my college basketball march madness nostalgia gets the
best of me there, So you know, it's selfish, and
I understand that. I think this is all good for
the players. The coaches can do whatever they want, so
the players should be able to as well. But my
(28:03):
heart misses the Florida Gulf coasts of the world.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, I'm with you, and they have any bit of
detO from the Gazette to me. Yeah, it's good for
the players, but it's bad.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
For the sport I think.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I mean, we've already seen this with for instance, Major
League Baseball, where the haves just just raid the have nots.
I mean, the Kansas City Royals for a long time
were just a feeder pro team for you York Yankees.
You get a good player, the Yankees is gonna come
in there and buy them away. And that's the way
it sort of looks like college basketball is headed.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
Yeah, it makes it really tough for the casual thing
because I used to watch a lot more college basketball,
and then when I started covering the NBA, you know,
just on a given night like tonight or you know,
a night during the regular season of both the NBA
and college basketball. I'm watching NBA over college basketball. But
then when I check back in and March Madden is
and I was like, that guy's name sounds familiar, but
I don't remember him at Texas. And then you know,
(28:55):
I pull up his college basketball reference page or whatever,
and they're like three different. It's like, yeah, okay, I
remember him from his first school. And it's just I
think it makes it more challenging for the casual fan
like me to follow, and that's probably not great for
the sport as a whole. But you know, the student
athletes got the short end of the stick for a
(29:16):
long time, so I think it's about time they get
their due as well.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
With you have any Better Dono from the Gazette, we
appreciate it as always, sir.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Awesome, have a good night, guy, you too, any better
Dono never Gazette. We'll get a chance to talk basketball
with him.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
I do think that we have stumbled onto something here
and that we've you know, he's sort of created with
the NIL and the portal and all this kind of stuff.
There was a great interview John Calipari did. I don't
know if it was today or yesterday. I think I
saw it on Yahoo or he was talking about there's
a bunch of freshmen waiting on scholarships, and you got
all these basketball coaches waiting on the portal to get
(29:49):
shaken out before they offered scholarships to freshmen.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Now, well, the portal is both great and is bad
at the same time, because he is.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
What happens is that that pool of young talent that
you have in high school.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Those guys who were eager to, like I was, to
get the letters, a box of letters and try to
choose where you're going. You may get those letters, but
those are no guarantees that you're going to go to
those schools because a school may say, hey, listen, Benjamin Albright, Okay,
we're going to offer you a scholarship, but then renag
on that because guess what, there's a guy with a
little more experience in the portal. So what ends up
(30:25):
happening to all of those high school players is that
pool of that those players continue to grow while coaches,
and this is kind of the nature of the business.
Coaches are in the win now type of mentality, so
they have to go out and get guys who have
already been developed by someone else who went out of
that first school. So it leaves so many kids out
(30:48):
there and just kind of in the wilderness trying to
figure out where to go.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
It was a study.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I think the last portal cycle is something like forty
percent of people that entered the portal didn't find now home't.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Find a new home. Grass and always greener, uh, in
those scenarios.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Always brown.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It might be it's I mean, there's there's a lot,
there's a lot with that.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I sort of find it fascinating because I mean, if
you are a good player at a medium or smaller school, yeah,
the Alabama's the World's going to come try and poach you,
you know.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
But if you're you know, if if you're just jumping
in there because.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
You didn't win the starting job, people aren't finding a
new home forty Well, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Not just players leaving in small schools.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Did you see Scottie Pippen's youngest son, Justin Pippen, leaving
Michigan while they're still in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, but I mean that's that's what I'm getting at, though.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
I mean, you're you know, you're leaving, you guys are
leaving these schools.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
The the.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Mid caliber player at the big school is leaving and
not necessarily find a new home, and the smaller school.
The star at the smaller schools getting poached to go
to go take their places.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
What we're seeing is we're seeing certain kids make an
absorbed amount of money, and someone is in the kids ears.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Telling the man that should be you. I mean, the
team is not treating you well. Man, you know what
you should do.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
You should leave it, jump into portal, not knowing as
though there's several other players in the portal, and it's
up to the coaches at their discretion which guy that
they want to choose. And the portal's not the best
place for every single player because, like you said, those
guys think about it, they remain in the portal. You
give up a scholarship for for something you're to unsure about.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Yeah, and then you and then you.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Then if you don't land something they want, not only
you out and you know your playtime and your sport.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
You're not an education a type. Your parents are freaking
angry what you're telling me. You gave up a full
ride for something that's not You can keep your butt
over here.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
We're gonna get our butt the commercial break, but we'll
be back after this
I still look at this under armoured thing, but we'll see.
(00:03):
Maybe I'm wrong because it doesn't look like I'm looking.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I was looking at the some of the rules for
like apparel stuff, and I still think they gotta wear
like Nike gear.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No, it's only only certain portions of your gear your jersey.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Of course. If you have a Nike contract.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well, the Nike the uniforms are Nike just anyway.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Yeah, but if you have.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
A Nike shoe deal, I mean, the league can't intervene
on that particular thing. But everyone else who doesn't have
a Nike contract, you gotta wear the click clacks?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh okay, Like do you have to wear the under
armour or could you wear like could you wear Nike?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
What if you didn't have a deal with who you won.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
You get to pick?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, yeah I did. I mean there's certain things you
did you don't. I mean, once again, you have to
be comfortable as an athlete. Well, right, that's what I'm saying,
Like what are you comfortable in Nike?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But now under armours come along and you're like, well,
I don't want the und armored gloves.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
And maybe some guys are not gonna do it. Now
if under Armors. You know, since they're partner with the league,
they're giving it out for free.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hey man, Hey, look my cousin's getting for gear. Yeah,
I hear you on that.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
My favorite work.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Five six six's text line, can you're right up to
the kay comes through the hotline and bring on our guy,
Ryan Michael with you Ryan Michael on Twitter?
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Right?
Speaker 6 (01:12):
I know, buddy?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Doing well?
Speaker 6 (01:14):
Then?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Nick? How are you guys doing? Doing pretty well?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Still trying to get into the nuance of this.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
This under Armours the official footwear and glove partner, but
Nike's the uniform partner the NF.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I don't know anyway. I'm uh, I've gotten too old
for all this stuff. They have turned turned from Mel
Gibson Todiny Glover a.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Little bit of the news today on the free agent
quarterback at market, Russell Wilson obviously signing with the Giants,
are but still waiting on Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Two big names, maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
A little past their primes, but are Aaron Rodgers and
and uh Russell Wilson.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
What do you think or feel.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That their legacy is up to this point and what
do you think they have to gain or lose by
coming back in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
That's a really good question. You think that it had
Russell Wilson retired as a Seattle Seahawk and had Aaron
Rodgers retired as a Green Bay Packer, perhaps history would
look upon their legacies as a little.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Bit more favorable.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
But with that said, there's still history to be made
for both quarterbacks. And so you know, I look at
Aaron Rodgers as a guy who just eclipsed the five
hundred touchdown pass mark before the end of the season.
He has five hundred and three and he's six touchdown
passes away from eclipsing Brett Farv at five o eight.
If for nothing else more than that one mark by itself,
(02:27):
I think that would be motivation enough for Aaron to
come back. He's thirty seven away from eclipsing Peyton Manning
at five point thirty nine, and I don't think he's
going to be able to eclipse de Brief. He's sixty
nine away there. And so, yeah, Russell Wilson sitting at
three hundred and fifty career touchdown passes, He's seventeen away
from eclipsing Eli Manning to move into eleventh place. He's
(02:48):
not going to climb as far at the all time,
as certainly as Aaron Rodgers. But I looked to Russell
Wilson's career and I think we tend to forget just
how dominant he was in Seattle. I wrote an article
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year which
broke down his decade of dominance there. I'm of the
view that he had five seasons that you could consider
to be MVP caliber. Twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen, eighteen nineteen
(03:11):
to twenty twenty seventeen is its season of particular note.
He led the NFL in touchdown passes total touchdowns. His
running game produced one rushing touchdown in sixteen games. To
support him, russ led to Seahawks in rushing yards five
hundred and eighty sixty yards yards for carry, six point
(03:31):
two rushing touchdowns three. His offensive line was a mess
twenty six and adjusted Zach Ray, and He's set in
an NFL record nineteen fourth quarter touchdown passes. And so
Russell Wilson has produced MVP caliber seasons. I don't expect
for him to do that this year, but can he
continue to add to his legacy by playing football at
an above average level. I think that's possible.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, Ryan, when we look at bow Niggs, he has
played better than most of the so called experts thought
he would coming into last season. And I know you
were one of those individuals who were pretty high on
bow Nicks and his ability. What do you need to
see from bow in year two to let you know
that he's making a progressive leek forward.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
It's difficult to do that in year two because sophomore
regression is a very real thing. I've talked about this
time and time again, and just speaking to this as
an assistant coach coaching in Europe, coaching in the end
Or Football League. When I'm preparing for quarterbacks where I
don't have a lot of coaches film to study, it's
such a tremendous disadvantage. And so what that means is
rookie quarterbacks have the benefit of evolving their game and
(04:40):
the season goes on, the defenses might not be quite
as prepared to handle that in year one a year two.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Look no further than c. J.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Straud. He finished third in the NFL last year and
adjusted net yards per attempt and he dropped all the
way down to twenty seven. I think people don't realize
just how real that sophomore slump was because the Texans
still won ten games, but only one of those and
regular season games was against a team that had a
winning record that was Buffalo, and their defense held League
MVP Josh Allen to nine of thirty right than thirty
(05:10):
one yards.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
So CJ.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Stroud had a tremendous drop off last year, and so
bro Nick I don't expect to see the same box
score numbers in terms of total touchdowns and things of
that nature next year. But it's a matter of refining
the fundamentals, the mechanics, and just growing as a quarterback
in Sean Payton's offense.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Titler Ryan Michael at e Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
A lot of the fans don't feel that Denver has
you know, that true number one guy. Does Nicks need
a fifteen hundred yard fifteen touchdown guy, or you know,
even even do the Broncos need to necessarily go out
there and pay Courtland Sutton in the stefand DS T Higgins.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Sort of realm or has Sean.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Payton's philosophy over the years, which has been to keep
the wide receiver room cheap. You think that's that's able
for a young quarterback like bo Nicks.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
I look at the percentage of salary cap allocated to
three players in Cincinnati, and it should have Grant Smith
a little bit more, a little bit nervous. I think
a lot of NFL teams missed the memo in the
sense that you don't build teams the way the Indianapolis
Colts did around Peyton Manning. You want to, if ever possible,
to even come close to build teams the way the
(06:23):
Patriots and the Buccaneers did around Tom Brady last year.
I got some numbers for you. The top eight receivers
in the league, only two of them played for teams
with a winning record, justin Jefferson. I'm on Safe, I'm
on Russaint Brown. And so you look at the other
guys through mar Chase number one, Brian Thomas, number three,
Drake one to number four, Jerry Judie and mc neighbors,
Cde Lamb and so great receivers, stud receivers. You need
(06:48):
to build a team around a quarterback. It's not just
about one guy. And you look at some of the
notable legends who played the game fairly recently. Drew Brees
had only four top ten defenses in twenty years, and
how much did Drew Brees win compared to guys like
Tom Brady had a top ten defense seventeen times in
twenty one years. Joe Montamas started thirteen or more games
(07:09):
eight times, and in every single one of those seasons
he had a top ten defense, and in half of
those seasons he won a Super Bowl. So it's not
easy necessarily to acquire an elite wide receiver. Certainly it's
not easy at all to build an elite defense. But
out of the two, there's no question that Bo Nicks
and the Denver Broncos I think have a better approach
to building a roster.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Well, let stick right there.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
As far as building the roster, I mean, building any portion.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Of the team could be very difficult. But for the.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Broncos, the topic of conversation is.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
No longer about the quarterback. It's about the run game.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
When we look at the Broncos last season alone, he said, well,
what were the rushing yards for this particular team. Javonte
Williams led the team with five hundred to thirteen, I
mean three marks down from that was Bo Nicks.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
With four hundred and thirty.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
What is it that the Broncos need to do to
make sure they get this particular position right, as though
they got the quarterback position to right. How important is
it for them to do that?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Good question? And I think it's going to be a
bit more important for us this year than it was
last year. You know, jerun Thing only averaged three point
seven yards per carry and that was more alarming to
me than his low overall rushing total. So when you
look at the construction of the team and we see
Bronick as a guy who actually threw more touchdown passes
than Josh Allen last year, he produced thirty four in total,
(08:31):
the second highest mark by a rookie quarterback in NFL history.
If we're being honest with ourselves, he's probably not going
to produce thirty four touchdowns in year two. Our defense
top three, perhaps some bias, I think it was the
best defense and pro football and healthy, it's reasonable to
expect the rushing even if we're fortunate enough to stay
in the top ten. So what that means is we
(08:52):
need to get stronger elsewhere. Right, Bonux isn't surrounded with
Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions talent at the skill position, and
so if it's reasonable to expect some degree of regression,
even if it's in just so much as a box score,
we're going to need more production and efficiency on the
ground because if you cannot provide that balance for a
(09:13):
sophomore quarterback, you better watch out for what your two is.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Going to look like.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Tier Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Bo had a at some stats that were even better than.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Josh Allens last year.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
And there are some people that say that this is
proof that Sean Baden's indeed and offensive genius and all
this kind of stuff. Some people are saying it's proof
that Bo is the future.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
What do you kind of come down on that? Is
this a combination of both? Is this one or the other?
Where do you Where do you come down on that?
Speaker 5 (09:42):
It's somewhere in the middle. And I mean, you know,
I had Bonix as the number two quarterback on my
draft board before the draft last year. So there is
nobody more happy than I am to take a lap
and tell you that I was right. But I think
if we're being honest and we're being fair, Yeah, as
I mentioned, thirty four total question downs, he just loved
that you take a look a little bit closer at
(10:03):
some of the efficiency metrics. He finished eighteenth could adjusted
net yords per attempt, he finished eighteenth in total QBR,
fifteenth and EPA, And so he played a lot better
at home than he did on the road. He had
one hundred and two bass rating at home and dropped
down to eighty five point eight on the road. I
love the sack avoidance. That's something that was elite, beyond
anything we've seen in college football in the last decade,
(10:25):
and so he brought that over to the NFL. Finished
sixth in the NFL and sack percentage third amongst quarterbacks
who started eleven or more games. And I'm just going
through cherry pick a certain framing here. Number one in
the NFL and sack percentage amongst quarterbacks who through five
hundred or more passes. So you love seeing that those
are unbelievable numbers for a rookie quarterback. I think there's
(10:46):
a little bit of confirmation bias I'd play because there
are a lot of people, including myself in Bronxo's country,
who want to believe that Sean Payton is the offensive genius.
The label that he's carried for so long and I
would love to see those nuts as send an MVP
caliber quarterback in year two or three. The reality is
as great as last year was. When you're taking a
(11:06):
look at those efficiency metrics, it's nowhere close to Drew
Brees was able to produce. I think people forget Drew
Brees let the NFL in passing seven times. That's the
most in NFL history. He set the single season record,
didn't just leave the NFL, but set the NFL single
season record for completion percentage.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Four different times.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
The second highest single season completion percentage mark in NFL
history is Drew Breathe in twenty nineteen at seventy four
point three, so the second highest mark of his career,
higher than anybody else's NFL history. What Drew Brees was
able to do in New Orleans is special, although Nicks
was able to do in Denver for US last year
was also special, but there is a considerable gap between
(11:46):
the two.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, speaking of a guy that is especially this guy
that I played the majority of my career against, and
boy was thrown in my backside, but the good share
of himself. Peyton Manning had a birthday. Yes, now we
watched pay and play. I played against him. But what
are some like hidden numbers is hidden things that fans
(12:07):
may not know that you've done some research on Peyton
that we'll just kind of peel back to the layer and
let them know more about this great quarterback, as some
would call it, Peyton freaking many.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I love the curveball, so I'm going to go off
the top of my head and naked no order. In
twenty thirteen, before he suffered over ankle injuries, you know
that he was on pace to throw over seventy touchdown
passes if you expanded his rate to seventeen games, he
threw fifty five and fifteen and a half games. The
season finale against Oakland, he threw four at half time,
and they're like, that's enough. You've broken the single season
(12:41):
passing the yardage record. We're gonna have some mercy on
the Raiders. They pulled them out of the game. He
led the NFL and touchdown passes or came usher measure battery.
He led me in a felon touchdown batteries four times,
but he finished first or second during ten different seasons.
Mahomes has done that twice in seven seasons, and that's remarkable.
He's not just a five points NFL MVP, but he's
(13:01):
a seven time person Mull Pro selection. Nobody in the
modern era has more than four that Aaron Rodgers. Tom
Brady has three. There's never been a quarterback who has
been more dominant and independent of situation. He's going to
the Super Bowl with four different head coaches, and he's
locked down a number one or number two seed with
five different head coaches. He really is peerless, and he
(13:23):
was so dominant. If he adjust his statistics for era
that he's a complete outlier. And it's almost unfair to
compare other quarterbacks to him because he set a standard that,
in my opinion, can't possibly match. And I'm coming at
it from the perspective of somebody who's evaluated the quarterback
position since the late nineteen thirties. Ade Manning is unquestionably
the most dominant quarterback in the history of pro football.
(13:45):
I think for reason Tom Brady are close that Ade
Manning is peerless.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Well, I had no idea you were that old.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You've been evaluating since the late nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yes, it's weirder. Michael a Ryan, Michael, what's the last
one for me? What could bo do to avoid the
software slump?
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Oh boy, well, it's more about to me. What can
the Broncos do to support vote to prevent him from declining?
You know, he needs to something I learned. I only
view Kurt Warner a few years ago and and I
asked him what was his takeaway from playing in the
in the Arena Football League, And he said he looked
to other players. He did think that he could up
to where people who could do things with his legs.
(14:28):
He can never dream to do that he gets to
the NFL. He told me Peyton Manning was the greatest
information profitsor the most dominant before the staff quarterback has
ever been. He said he could have tried to be
like Peyton, but he wouldn't have been true to himself.
He was better after the snack. He was better recognizing
that defenders were doing after the snack and utilizing past accuracy.
I think any quarterback needs to be true to who
(14:49):
they are and refine the strengths in terms of what
they're good at, not necessarily play outside their comfort zone
and force themselves to be something that they're not. Particuliche.
But I think if he continues to trend in that direction.
He might not be as do dominant in your as
he was in your one, but he'll be stronger. Come
here three.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Looking forward to it. It's like we're looking forward to
hear from you next week.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Sounds good, guys, Absolutely take care.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on Twitter contributed to
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Obviously an assistant coach
with the progue Lions of the European Football League, and
we always enjoy his input on the show.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
We've got Vini Benedetto that never gets that caught it.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Next, talk a little nuggets right here on Broncos Country Tonight.
Back to the Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin all Bright, Nick
Ferguson Grat Smith here with you.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Five six six nine zero is the text line. Thanks
to Ryan Michael for joining us in the last segment.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If you miss today part of that, you go to
brockcast Country dot com, slash podcast or where each podcast,
Apple iTunes, Spotify, the totally Free, Awesome and redesigned I
Heart Radio where you get take It for Granted podcast
as well recent episode out there with Red and Crystall
h so that if you guys haven't caught up on that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You need to need to get caught up on your
Take It for Granted podcast. We run right back out
to the ka.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Comma Spirit Health hotline and bring on our guy any
bet Aetto from the Denver Gazette, Vinie, how you doing
this evening?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Well, guys, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Uh you know, I just got the news, Uh was
an hour ago, maybe a little over maybe two hours
ago that Dame Lillard he's got the blood clot gonna
be out indefinitely for the Bucks.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That is the Nuggets next opponent.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So it seems like there's a spate of these blood
clots going around. Wemby out and definitely with that with
the Spurs. Now you've got name Lillard out with that
is is there something to this or is this just
so prominent that we're connecting dots that may not be there.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
Yeah, you're gonna have to get somebody more qualified speak
on the medicine and then the science behind that. But
I did see something that was interesting, and I'm not
gonna be able to cite my source here, but just
these guys spend so much time in the air traveling
from one city to another that they might be you
know that blood cleft might be more more common for them,
(17:01):
especially you know, the taller you are. I think something
with the science there. I'm not gonna sound too intelligent
in this part, but the league ones I think are
much more concerning than like Wemby's I thought was in
his I believe it was in his shoulder, and games
is in his legs. But I think the leg is
the kind of one that can be more problematic. And
(17:22):
if I remember correctly, that was kind of the the
thing that ended Chris Bosch's career was one in the leg.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So, Vinny, I mean, we're watching the Denver Nuggets play
several games without Nicola Jokic.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
And I've been debating here with Ben, you know, over the.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Weeks, wondering if this is a legitimate injury or this
is some kind of low management. But let's just kind
of stick from the injury standpoint. It's listed in some
kind of an ankle impingement.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And what do we think that how this is going
to affect nicolea Yoki's moving forward?
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Yeah, that's it is an angle impinchment. And once again
I'm not qualified to seek on the details of such
a diagnosis, But yeah, I do believe it is a
legitimate injury. I think he told the broadcast team that
it started back on March second and against Boston if
you remember that game, I think like almost right after
(18:21):
the tip off, he was, you know, limping or lumbering
more than he typically does, and in typical Joker fashion,
I think he tried to play through it for a
few weeks and then I think it probably got to
the point where it wasn't getting any better with him
planning on it, and you know, they kind of had
to take take the longer term view and shut him
(18:44):
down for a bit and see if they can't get
this thing under control before before the playoffs start. And
I do I do expect him back sometime on this
homestand uh, you know, he's doubtful for tomorrow night's game,
but you know, and they played on Friday and then
they have a brain again Tuesday. So I would circle
that April first game against Minnesota for for a possible
(19:06):
return from him. So I do believe it is a
legitimate injury because he's the type where it's hard enough
to get him to take one game off. He's not
the type two, uh, to shut it down for a
week or so at a time, and you know, NBA stars,
especially if his caliber, have quite a bit of say
when it comes to their availability on a night to
(19:26):
night basis talking with.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Vinni Benedetto from the Gazette. Any, both these.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Teams kind of backdooring their way lately towards the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Uh, losers of three of their last five.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Each of them both had lengthy road trips, you know
in that thing. Milwaukee, they haven't guaranteed themselves a playoff spot,
but it would be pretty difficult for them to not
make the playoffs at this point. Denver, on the other hand,
has got a range of outcomes here, could get as
high as the as the two seed could finish.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Out of the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
What do we see in both these teams as we're
heading towards the start of the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Yeah, I mean Milwaukee's struggles have been it's it's just
a weird season for the Bucks. You know, they were
really bad at the start of the season and felt
like they might have to to make some changes, and
they were really good for a stretch and now it
seems back to where they're more.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
If he and certainly more inconsistent. I think you could
probably say the same with the Nuggets, where it's been
just a really tough season to get a grasp on
on who these guys really are. You know, it feels
like so of the season it was okay. You know,
Jamal is not totally right. That's that's a big problem
in typical Jamal fat And he turns it on around
(20:39):
New Year's and plays pretty well for a stretch and
it looks like everything's going to be all right, and
then you know Aaron Gordon's second skin out of the lineup,
and you know his kind of lingering injuries have had
made it really tough. So yeah, it's a it's a
tough team to get a grasp on. And I think
even if draft Michael Malone, I don't know if he'd
(21:00):
able to give you a real strong answer on who
his team is. And that's got to be a pretty
scary proposition with the nine games left in the regular season.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Well, vinywe we've seen this Nuggets team throughout the season
play great defense at times, and we've also seen them
somewhat collapse in the fourth quarters. And I know coach
maloons since he's been here, he's been appreciating that since
day one. Play defense, get out in transition. When you
look at fast breaks, the Nuggets kind of one of
(21:28):
the top teams in NBA as far as getting out
in transition. What must he do or what needs to
happen from when mentality change before the team goes into
the playoffs for them to hit those that switch in
those two areas As far as playing better defense to
close out games and also sticking to getting out in
fantas break transition.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
Yeah, you might have to try a different message, because, Yeah,
for as long as I've been covering the team, he
harps on that defense. And I think it's one of
those deals where you know, anytime you're starting five as
Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, and NICOLEI Kokich in, it
like defense is not going to be that group's strong
suit just given the makeup of that that So you know,
with Denver's regular starting five, you're acting a ton of
(22:11):
Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon on the on the defensive
end to put out some fires. And I think, you know,
as much as these guys say they don't believe, there's
you know, a flip you can switch when the playoffs
come along. I do think there is some part of
them protecting themselves against what happened last year where they
were chasing the one seed into the final two games
(22:34):
of the regular season, and you know, when you give
a twenty point lead in the in game seven in
the second round, it feels like fatigue was a legitimate
factor there. So I think I don't know how much
there is Michael Malone can do. I think the he
needs more buying from his players, and the effort level
needs to to be raised a bit, and you know it,
(22:55):
it can be hard to hold guys of that caliber accountable,
but you know, maybe some opportunities need to be decreased.
Obviously not for a guy like Joker. He is immune
and the way to Jamal Murray has been playing of
late probably also makes him immune from any sort of repercussions.
So Malone's in a tough spot here, and I'm guess
(23:16):
the only thing you can really do is hope that
this team does have the switch located and have the
ability to turn it on when the playoffs start.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Are you any betteredetto from the Gazella? Let me go
a step further with that has Muloan's message gotten stale.
I mean, is are we getting close to time for
a shake up or a change here?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I mean, you're not going to do anything before the
end of this season. But I think that's kind of
been the case all year longs that you know, if
the playoffs don't go well, you know, however you want
to define that, I would personally say, if they don't
make the conference finals, there's got to be real conversations
about changes, whether it's you know, in the front office
or shake up in the coaching staff, even if it
(23:55):
isn't you know, changing head coaches, but but doing things
a bit differently, because it's just if you look at
the games against Houston and Golden State on the last
road trip, it would sound crazy that that, you know,
the message isn't getting through, and then you look at
the middle two games against Portland and a shorthanded Lakers team,
(24:18):
and then it looks like there's real concerns about whether
or not, uh the guys are you know, still have
their ears open to the message. So you know, nothing's
going to happen in these next nine games or throughout
the playoffs, but uh, you know, if if this kind
of effort or or the inconsistencies continue into the playoffs
and it leads to a first or seting around exit.
I think there are going to be some uh, some
(24:39):
really tough conversations had at the corporate level.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Well, we are in the month of March and the
games of March Madness pick up on Thursday, and I
have to ask you, because I'm sure you know as
a sports guy you feeled out your bracket. Has anything
occurred in this year's tournament that has been a surprise
to you? And the second question is who do you
having your your your final four?
Speaker 6 (25:03):
So you're putting me on the spot here, let me
pull up my bracket because I have not paid it's
kind of attention to it. I know I lost Saint
John's in my final four. I've got Duke winning it all.
Then I've got I believe Tennessee and one quadrant, and
I've got Michigan coming out of out of whatever whatever
(25:24):
group is left there. And you know, I'm I'm I
like the kind of March Madness that features the you know,
kind of leven seeds in the elite eight and you know,
one of them making the final fource I'm a little
bit bummed out with how how this tournament has progressed
so far. I am a Creighton blue Jay and I
(25:45):
really thought we had a shot to knockoff Auburn. That
was a tough one. The lack of charity, I feel like,
is trying to surprise just because you know, with how
open things are these days, transfer, portal, nil stuff, you know,
it feels like there are some there should be some,
(26:07):
you know, school like football program. So like all of
our donor money, most of it goes to men's basketball,
but it still feels like, you know, the the SEC
is just playing in a different league when it comes
to resources and even the Big ten. So I am
a little bit bummed out, and I get surprised that,
you know, some of the some of the smaller schools,
(26:28):
some of the left heralded schools, haven't had a little
bit more success.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well it's uh, when Nick is the grinch when it
comes to the bracket, he only wants He's an anti
underdog guy, only wants the blue bloods.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Uh, it's it's it's horrible. I have to sit through
this every time we talk about the tournament. It's just, uh,
it's just awful. He never wants the Creightons of the
world to do anything.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Uh, we can't even have the expletives that he was
shouting at them, you know when they were platinums, kidd.
But hey, I mean, look, it is a it is
a different era for for college athletics, and it does
probably make it a lot more difficult for those mid
majors and underdog teams to be successful because of the
transfer portal and all the money that's out there now,
Guys like Steph Curry probably wouldn't have stayed Davidson. You
(27:10):
probably go somewhere else you get post, right, I mean,
and that's what's happening I think where we're seeing a
lot more chalk in these brackets than before.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Yeah, it does feel like a lot of the mid
majors and smaller programs are just kind of serving as
like the development league for the blue bloods in terms
of you have two great seasons at a smaller school,
you have the opportunity, and I think it's great for
those individuals to have the opportunity to go make more
money out of bigger school in a bigger spotlight, increase
(27:42):
their resume, you know, if they have hopes of being
a professional basketball player. I think all that's great, but yeah,
part of my college basketball march madness nostalgia gets the
best of me there, So you know, it's selfish, and
I understand that. I think this is all good for
the players. The coaches can do whatever they want, so
the players should be able to as well. But my
(28:03):
heart misses the Florida Gulf coasts of the world.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, I'm with you, and they have any bit of
detO from the Gazette to me. Yeah, it's good for
the players, but it's bad.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
For the sport I think.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I mean, we've already seen this with for instance, Major
League Baseball, where the haves just just raid the have nots.
I mean, the Kansas City Royals for a long time
were just a feeder pro team for you York Yankees.
You get a good player, the Yankees is gonna come
in there and buy them away. And that's the way
it sort of looks like college basketball is headed.
Speaker 6 (28:32):
Yeah, it makes it really tough for the casual thing
because I used to watch a lot more college basketball,
and then when I started covering the NBA, you know,
just on a given night like tonight or you know,
a night during the regular season of both the NBA
and college basketball. I'm watching NBA over college basketball. But
then when I check back in and March Madden is
and I was like, that guy's name sounds familiar, but
I don't remember him at Texas. And then you know,
(28:55):
I pull up his college basketball reference page or whatever,
and they're like three different. It's like, yeah, okay, I
remember him from his first school. And it's just I
think it makes it more challenging for the casual fan
like me to follow, and that's probably not great for
the sport as a whole. But you know, the student
athletes got the short end of the stick for a
(29:16):
long time, so I think it's about time they get
their due as well.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
With you have any Better Dono from the Gazette, we
appreciate it as always, sir.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Awesome, have a good night, guy, you too, any better
Dono never Gazette. We'll get a chance to talk basketball
with him.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
I do think that we have stumbled onto something here
and that we've you know, he's sort of created with
the NIL and the portal and all this kind of stuff.
There was a great interview John Calipari did. I don't
know if it was today or yesterday. I think I
saw it on Yahoo or he was talking about there's
a bunch of freshmen waiting on scholarships, and you got
all these basketball coaches waiting on the portal to get
(29:49):
shaken out before they offered scholarships to freshmen.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Now, well, the portal is both great and is bad
at the same time, because he is.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
What happens is that that pool of young talent that
you have in high school.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Those guys who were eager to, like I was, to
get the letters, a box of letters and try to
choose where you're going. You may get those letters, but
those are no guarantees that you're going to go to
those schools because a school may say, hey, listen, Benjamin Albright, Okay,
we're going to offer you a scholarship, but then renag
on that because guess what, there's a guy with a
little more experience in the portal. So what ends up
(30:25):
happening to all of those high school players is that
pool of that those players continue to grow while coaches,
and this is kind of the nature of the business.
Coaches are in the win now type of mentality, so
they have to go out and get guys who have
already been developed by someone else who went out of
that first school. So it leaves so many kids out
(30:48):
there and just kind of in the wilderness trying to
figure out where to go.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
It was a study.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I think the last portal cycle is something like forty
percent of people that entered the portal didn't find now home't.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Find a new home. Grass and always greener, uh, in
those scenarios.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Always brown.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It might be it's I mean, there's there's a lot,
there's a lot with that.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I sort of find it fascinating because I mean, if
you are a good player at a medium or smaller school, yeah,
the Alabama's the World's going to come try and poach you,
you know.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
But if you're you know, if if you're just jumping
in there because.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
You didn't win the starting job, people aren't finding a
new home forty Well, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Not just players leaving in small schools.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Did you see Scottie Pippen's youngest son, Justin Pippen, leaving
Michigan while they're still in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, but I mean that's that's what I'm getting at, though.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
I mean, you're you know, you're leaving, you guys are
leaving these schools.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
The the.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Mid caliber player at the big school is leaving and
not necessarily find a new home, and the smaller school.
The star at the smaller schools getting poached to go
to go take their places.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
What we're seeing is we're seeing certain kids make an
absorbed amount of money, and someone is in the kids ears.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Telling the man that should be you. I mean, the
team is not treating you well. Man, you know what
you should do.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
You should leave it, jump into portal, not knowing as
though there's several other players in the portal, and it's
up to the coaches at their discretion which guy that
they want to choose. And the portal's not the best
place for every single player because, like you said, those
guys think about it, they remain in the portal. You
give up a scholarship for for something you're to unsure about.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Yeah, and then you and then you.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Then if you don't land something they want, not only
you out and you know your playtime and your sport.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
You're not an education a type. Your parents are freaking
angry what you're telling me. You gave up a full
ride for something that's not You can keep your butt
over here.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
We're gonna get our butt the commercial break, but we'll
be back after this
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