Brandon Krisztal | KOA Denver Broncos Insider

We're pleased to welcome Brandon Kristall, the Broncos insider and with KOA Colorado as a reporter and joins us from Seattle. Well Brandon, before I get your reaction, I just want to know what the reaction to the game, the loss, how it finished, what did you hear from the Broncos themselves? Well, I don't want to say they weren't discouraged. I think they know they let a chance to beat what they think is an inferior team slip away. And in maybe the most competitive division in the NFL, you saw the Chargers and Raiders in a close one. You saw that the Chiefs are still the class of the division.

At least that's what we think after one week. You can't afford to just let games go if you want to have a shot to win the division and get into the playoffs. Because we know how competitive just the entire AFC is, especially the top 8-10 teams battling for those seven spots. So I think that if the Broncos end up missing the playoffs, and I know we can be prone to overreaction and hyperbole after just one week, but if they end up missing the playoffs, they're going to look back at this game and say if it's a one game swing, that's where we cost ourselves the playoffs. In a winnable game where we fumbled twice on the goal line and weren't able to punch it in, the 64 yard miss hurts for sure.

But they've let an opportunity to get a win in the NFL, which is not easy to do, against a team they're likely better than, slip through their fingers. Alright, I want people to hear it, Jay, if you could play this because I know Brandon was there at the press conference with Nathaniel Hackett. But for people who haven't heard it yet, he was asked the question of why he opted to kick from 64 yards instead of going forward on 4th and 5.

Hey, Brandon gave it his best shot. I mean, that's a long field goal to hit. I think he's completely capable of that, but obviously I wish we would have gotten a lot closer, but it put us in that weird spot there because we were in the field goal range, but we were on that 4th down situation. Didn't think we were going to get that many yards, so I thought it was a great job by Javonte, and we just made the decision, we want to take our shot there on that one.

What's your reaction when you hear that? Yeah, I was sitting, I think maybe the closest to Nathaniel Hackett, just based on where I happen to sit down in the press conference. Look, he's convicted in the stuff that he does. I'm not saying there wasn't some thought, but when you're a player's coach, and I think he will over time really show that he's already off to that reputation, you want to give your players a chance to prove what they can do, and Brandon Maness has one of the biggest legs in football, and I saw where Warren Sharpe put out there that he's 1-8 and kicks over 60 yards. Brandon told us last week that inside of 40 yards, he's one of the most accurate kickers of all time. He knew what his stats were, but he has a huge leg, and I keep waiting for him to make one of these 62-64.

The 70-yarder that he tried, I didn't love his chances, but it was in Denver, and so I would have loved to have seen it. I get that you want to ride with your guy, but you also did pay Russell Wilson $250 million. So if Brandon Maness's kick, which had the leg, and just ducked left, if it sneaks through the uprights, then he looks like a genius. But because he took the ball out of Russell Wilson's hands, after paying him $250 million in a place, yes it's hostile, but he knows how to make magic on that field here in Seattle, then you're going to get second guessed, and until they win a few more games, or win a game, in the Nathaniel Hackett era, I think the criticism is justified. And the other question, because I asked Brandon McManus at his locker, I said, how nice is it that you've got a brand new coach that he'll trust you to take that kick? Maybe Vic Fangio didn't let Brandon try as many of those as he wanted, or Vance Joseph didn't, and we've seen Brandon get mad on the sidelines before.

I said, I love that he let me try it, but I have to make it or they're not going to let me try it anymore. What did Nathaniel Hackett have to say, or any of the Broncos have to say, about the fact that they were getting so close, but could not get into the end zone? The two fumbles of course, the multiple times when they were taking snaps from the one, or from inside the five, they were over four in the red zone. Yeah, Hackett put it all on himself as the play caller, and I get that. You must wonder though, and this is just the conspiracy theory in us, when we were sitting in the press conference waiting for coach and some of the players to come in, it was like, hey, do you think he took the ball out of Russ's hands to not have Russ even have the chance to throw an interception? Something that obviously is not the magnitude of Super Bowl 49, where he threw that interception, he would come back here and let one slip away, or a ball gets deflected or whatever, and it gets snagged out of the air.

Well then, Russ has to live with that forever. You're not going to expect your running back to fumble, let alone both of your running backs, to fumble in that situation, and Melvin lost the ball as he was crossing the plane basically, and then Javonte Williams has Graham Glasgow knocked into his lap, who had been thrust into action as a backup guard. You're not expecting your own player to fall into you when you're trying to make a move towards the goal line.

Nonetheless, you have to execute down there. The Broncos have been terrible in the red zone in recent years. They've been terrible offensively. Now you have a Hall of Fame quarterback, and you think, okay, he's never had a year where he's averaged less than 22 points. The Broncos haven't scored 22 points since Peyton Manning retired on average. And so, you thought, okay, they're going to find the end zone and get you to 23, 24 points every week.

Well, they end up with 16 a night, and they're going to have to get these things corrected. The players chalk it up as a one-game loss, but Nathaniel Hackett took the blame, and I think he and his coaches deserve a fair amount of it, even though fumbles are flukey. Brandon Kristall is with us from Seattle following his coverage of Monday Night Football with Broncos lose to the Seahawks in a one-point game, and there are a lot of ways that you can kind of pick this apart in a negative light for the Broncos, another one, Brandon, being the 12 penalties for 106 yards. What the heck happened? Yeah, that's one where it's a bit of a head scratcher, and you have to say, is this emblematic of being a player's coach, and is Nathaniel Hackett to blame when his team is penalized this much?

Some of it is reactionary, right? A false start or an offside is a correctable thing. But when Jonathan Cooper makes a big play and instead of getting off the field, you get called for taunting, right? And Bradley Chubb shoved Geno Smith in the chest where everyone could see, and you know that that's going to be called every time. Yeah, you want to let Geno feel you and your pass rusher, and you want the other QB to know you're there, but you cost your team 15 extra yards there.

And so those things are on, I think, the coaching staff and the players alike. Bradley Chubb is a newly named team captain. He's in a contract here. Had a couple big sacks and a really nice start to his season, where he's either playing for a new contract in Denver or somewhere else.

You can't make mistakes like that. And so I think that Nathaniel Hackett and his coaching staff are going to have to get that all reined in. One thing about this staff is Dom Capers is around as an advisor, and Bill Kolar, the long-time D-line coach, is around as an advisor. But other than the wide receivers coach, Zach Azani, who I want to say is in year five or six, leading an NFL room, and the defensive back, Christian Parker, is in year two as the DB coach. Every other coach, Dwayne Stukes, in 2011, was a special teams coordinator for one year in Tampa. Every coach is in a new role.

They've all been elevated. And I think that there might be some growing pains there as well that Broncos players and fans are going to have to suffer through as these coaches figure out exactly how to push the right buttons as they're all now in new jobs here under Nathaniel Hackett. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio with Brennan Kristol from Seattle. He works for KOA Colorado. And I know a lot of what we've heard from the Broncos over preseason and training camp has been raving and glowing and just thrilled with the change that's come because Russell Wilson is now the quarterback.

How has it appeared to you? Well, he gives you a confidence that you didn't have. And I remember years ago, and I would like to use this analogy, but I worked with Kenny Smith at Sirius Radio back in like 06 when Shaq had just gotten to Miami. And Peyton Manning was the same thing here.

But the point was when you have that guy on your team, you just feel like you're going to win every game. The Broncos haven't had that since Peyton Manning retired. Well, now you have a guy that's gone to the playoffs eight of ten years, gone to nine Pro Bowls his first ten years. No quarterback's ever done that. Completes a lot more passes than ones that hit the ground or don't get grabbed. He doesn't throw interceptions.

He throws a lot of touchdowns. The one thing that concerns me about Russ, and I didn't get a chance to ask Coach Shaq at this tonight, but I will this week, is it felt like at times Russ had the opportunity to run the ball for a nice gain. I'm not saying take it to the house, move the sticks and pick up the necessary distance to get that first down. And he seemed to be turning that down. He was bailed out by a penalty towards the goal line that set up one of those goal-to-go situations. But he easily could have picked up 10 or 15 yards on the ground.

And so I don't know if there's something going on where it's a conscious effort. He's got the money now, so it's not that. But maybe he ran before. He's just not running now.

I just have about 60 seconds. Are you surprised? Actually, let me rephrase. What did it sound like to you when Russ came out of the tunnel? Was it predominantly boos? It was predominantly boos.

But here's the thing. He ran out with his entire team. So how do you parse out whether he was being booed or the entire Broncos team were being booed?

I caught a little of the man in castle while I was sitting in a breath spot listening to Peyton and Eli. And they said it sounded like he was being booed specifically. They could hear that in the food. And so I get it. But look, the Seahawks get the last laugh. They get the win. Russ may never play a game here again. Just simple math, right?

Over the next eight years. But it was a fun night. Not fun if you're a Broncos fan. Like I know you certainly are at times, Amy. But with Russ here, it's going to end up being okay. But there are certainly some growing pains. But amazing atmosphere there in Seattle, though.

They do themselves proud. And you can't tell them they're supposed to finish last in the NFC West. Yeah, no kidding. They're going to be a tough out. But losing Jamal Adams certainly hurts as well. Nonetheless, it was a fun night and I was glad I was in the building.

Good, good. All right, you can follow Brandon on Twitter at BK Denver Sports. He's our former colleague at CBS Sports Radio.

But now anchor reporter for KOA Colorado and on the road with the Broncos in Seattle. We appreciate a couple of minutes. You are the best, Brandon. Always good to talk to you. Yeah, always great talking to you, Amy. And hopefully the Broncos remain interesting and we'll talk again here soon. Sure. All right, safe travels.