Troy Renck | Denver Broncos Insider

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That's bluenile.com. We're pleased to welcome longtime Denver Broncos insider Troy Rank, who joins us from Denver 7. And Troy, I remember the last time we spoke with you was the preseason. And the Broncos had traded for Russell Wilson.

And you were telling me and it wasn't just you, it was everywhere. The excitement, the energy, the optimism emanating from the facilities, how people around the Broncos, the players, they couldn't wait to get started on the season. Here we are now with six weeks remaining.

My question is a little bit of the same. What is the atmosphere around Denver these days? Yeah, it's demoralizing. It's just such a stark juxtaposition from where we were even before the start of the season. And if they're not the NFL's most disappointing team, they're in the top three, because Wilson was going to change everything with Hackett's energy, caffeinate the building, his offensive mind and Wilson, you know, this longtime Pro Bowler with a chance to kind of finish out the legacy part of his career. And not only has it not worked, it's just been a colossal failure off offensively. And it's not just Wilson, not just Hackett. I think separately, their offensive strategies can work.

But together when you combine this recipe, it tastes like pine tar. They've been awful. I mean, 14 points a game. It's their worst offense through 11 games since 1966. That's when they had the caricature horse on the side of the helmet. They didn't even have a D on the helmet. So, you know, and they've had injuries, they've had ineffectiveness. Coach jackets look like he's been mismatched for the role.

Wilson's dealt dealt with stuff between his flat and his hamstring. But nobody cares. The NFL, you know this, Amy, like 90% of the people don't care about your problems, and the other 10% are glad you have them. And this is where they are. It's just a colossal disappointment for a team that thought they were going to end their six year playoff drought and their streak of five straight losing seasons. And none of that's possible now. Do you believe that it's more disappointing and demoralizing because the expectations were so much higher to start the year?

Absolutely. You know, it'll be seven years without the playoffs. And this is clearly the most disappointing because of the reframed expectations with the arrival of Russell Wilson, because it felt like during this stretch, at least a couple of those seasons, they were a quarterback away from being back in the hunt, you know, being in the mix.

And instead, with the addition of Wilson, it's unspeakably worse. That's the thing. Like if they were averaging 19 points a game, you're like, okay, that's what they averaged last year. It hasn't worked, but they're five and six or they're six and five. And they're not very good, but they're technically in it. That's what I would have seen as the floor.

Like the floor for me was seven and 10. I predicted them to be 10 and seven. I didn't think they were, you know, one of the Super Bowl and all that. I just thought they were going to be, have a winning record, you know, and be in the playoff hunt. And they haven't won a game, Amy, in the States since September 25th. They haven't won a road game this year in the United States. Like it's, they've lost seven of eight. They've had, they have one touchdown in the third quarter this season.

Russell Wilson has, has not thrown a touchdown pass to a receiver at home once, not once. Like I'm saying every, you just, if you dig deeper, it's this archeological excavation of stats that just make your head spin. Like it can't be this bad. And then you just put the shovel and dig another layer.

Like, Oh my God, I've never thought that would happen. And that's where they are. And again, there's a number of reasons. Russell has not played well, clearly in his regressions, been alarming, not a fit in this offense. They don't have weapons in their defense. They've been hurt.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons, but nobody, nobody thought it would be this bad. Reporters continue to ask about the locker room and you use the word demoralizing, but is that locker room staying together? Are they continuing to push forward? Are they still following Russ? Those are questions that keep coming up and there's been pushback, but what do you see from the group? Has it stayed together despite the disappointment? The report from NFL networks that he's lost guys in the locker room.

And I think you just need to make a delineation for, and I'm in there every day covering it. Have some guys lost confidence in Russ and in this vision? Yeah, they have, they're three and eight. If they're not the worst team, they're right there with the Texans. It's not even specific to Russ. They've lost confidence in believing this thing could turn around, but there's still a lot of respect for Russell and his resume. It's just NFL and he's about winning. It's about one thing winning and when you don't win, it draws all this stuff into question and Russell Wilson isn't for everybody. I've covered with 12 quarterbacks since Peyton Manning, then you're not going to have the entire locker room behind you.

That's just not the case. The hard part for Russell is everything he does is scrutinized everything and he puts himself in this position too, because he's active on social media. It was more so in camp and early in the season. He's lined himself up for some of this criticism as well, but you asked about the locker room. For the most part, guys respect Russ. They respect his work ethic. They respect what he's trying to do, but I've seen a lot of confidence in the process that guys like Hackett, they're being realistic. They're a terrible team right now.

That's just who they are. They're three and eight and they just got punked by the Panthers. So you start looking on their schedule. Who are they going to beat? That was for me the last really winnable game. Other than maybe Arizona at home, I can't pick them to win a road game.

They haven't won a road game all year except in London. This is what you deal with when you're a bad team. I've covered 15 years of the Rockies and now these last seven back on the Broncos beat. This is the kind of stories that come out when you lose and especially when you had expectations.

For sure, losing definitely exacerbates and exposes any little crack in the dam. Denver Broncos insider Troy Rank from Denver 7 is with us after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Do you believe the Broncos with new ownership now and a second year general manager will give them the time to change? Or do you believe this is something that's going to result in changes in the offseason? I would be surprised if Coach Hackett survives this.

I don't root for anybody to get fired. But Amy, he was brought in to fix the offense with potentially Hall of Fame quarterback. And not only have they not fixed it, it's gotten dramatically worse and that falls on his doorstep.

And I'm not blaming him totally, but that's what you sign up for. He was brought in really for one thing, bring energy, build relationships. But more than anything, give us a functional offense. And they've been horrible. He finally gave up play calling a couple weeks ago to Clint Kubiak. And it's looked a little better, but that should have happened weeks ago. It's just too many missteps that I don't think Hackett can survive. He ran training camp, which is a very light training camp with a lot of days off to prioritize health.

That was his whole goal. And they're the most injured team in the league. Then you say, well, these guys, they respect this way we're doing it. It makes them sharper mentally. And the way we're doing, well, they're the most penalized team in the league. Well, they're going to be better offensively because of the scheme. They're the worst offense in the league.

Those are the things. And he had to hire Jerry Rosberg out of retirement after a couple of weeks because they couldn't get in and out of the huddle correctly. It's just so many things that have worked against Hackett. I don't know that he can survive this now. Again, they were to win for their last six games and the offense would look like it's clicking and he's more comfortable in a coaching role and not being the coordinator.

You know, maybe, but he's put himself in a tough position because it's much easier to move on from him. Russell, they're going to have to trust for one more year. They're not moving on from Russell after this year because of the cap hit. Even to move on from him after next year, the cap hit would be enormous.

Basically 75 million spread over two years. But they're in with Russell at least for one more year, if not two. So essentially their wagon is hitched to his star regardless, at least for now.

That's the thing. You've got to try to make it work with Wilson. So let's say you move on from Hackett. You try to go get a Dan Quinn and a Darryl Beville, guys he's worked with. I'm not even saying that would work.

This is just me talking hypothetically. Or you promote Ageroke as a defensive coordinator and bring in an offensive coordinator that can work with Russell. I mean, he's gone through some coordinators in Seattle that they've had trouble finding a fit for him his last few years there.

But whoever the next coach is, you've got to get in and the number one thing is to try to get him right. And my concern is that if you look at since he hurt his finger and had surgery, his last 19 games dating back to last season, he's got 23 touchdowns and 10 picks. If that's who he is, even that's a problem. That would be welcome based on what he's done this year. But if that is who he is, I would suggest you need to treat him like Tom Brady and Drew Brees and that you just get as much talent around him as possible.

That at age 34, he'll turn 35 next season. He's not capable of just lifting guys by himself, which most quarterbacks aren't, and just surround him with more talent. I'm talking like five to six new offensive starters and make a run at it to see if that can revive this plan that you had when you originally acquired him. Because, again, no team's trading for him, even if the money's down and the cap hit after one year would be basically accelerate almost 80 million into the cap.

So you'd be playing on a 53 man roster with like 30 rookies to balance the payroll because you'd be paying 80 million not to play for you. But it's complicated and the easiest way out would be that Russell gets down around him and he revives and he looks better. But it's just hard for Broncos fans to have hope right now because they thought this year was going to be different and it's been anything but. Troy Rank is with us from Denver looking at what has been a mess of a science project for the Broncos.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Forge Radio. Some of the numbers that jump out to me are the ones that are the clutch numbers. So last in the league in red zone, 30th in the league on third down. That's never who Russell Wilson was.

In fact, he was the opposite, maybe not the most talented quarterback, but he certainly seemed to perform in the clutch. So when you say there's a disconnect, it seems like that's something they could do to get on the same page, that that would be fixable. And yet it's very disjointed. Yeah, I mean, especially when he and Hackney were calling plays. I mean, I've done the all 22 review a few times and against the Titans specifically.

It reminded me of like when dads coached youth football, you had like four different dads coaching and one run in the first quarter, the second quarter, third and fourth. You're just calling plays in a vacuum. You're not sequencing.

You're not setting stuff up. And it's like, I want to run my two plays. OK, then you get your two plays and then you run. And that's we watch it.

It just doesn't connect. It's like, again, individually, you could argue on the behalf of each play. But the NFL play callers, they set stuff up and we're going to run these three times because it's going to bring the safety in.

Like, it's just like sequencing with pitching. And we just don't see that. And, you know, they haven't had balance. That's the one thing they did pretty well last year is run the football. And what's most troubling about it, Amy, is they have no identity offensively. True. If you ask, what do they do well offensively?

The answer is nothing. They don't do anything well offensively. Last year, they ran the football pretty well on most games. They were pretty good on the ground. They can't even say that this year.

They can't say one thing they do well. And again, Russell likes to take chances. He likes to scramble around, but he hasn't been able to elude pressure.

His eyes go down. And so he misses some of the easy passes in front of him that this year, like in the past, he wouldn't need. Because he'd scramble around, miss, but he'd throw it up to Metcalf and Lockett and they make a play.

He doesn't have Metcalf and Lockett here. He doesn't have anyone like that on this team. So when he scrambles around, they don't seem to come back to the ball like I think he's used to. And I've asked him this, like, Russ, why don't you just take the layups and the offense, the quick hitters, the slants, the screens? And he's like, well, yeah, I get that, but we've got to still be aggressive. And again, I know what he's saying, but the personnel doesn't match that, Amy. They can't protect him. The guys aren't even at the top of their route before he's getting hit.

And so it's just problematic that way. Like, again, you wanting to do something is fine, but we've got to look, what is our personnel right now? Who are we right now? What can we do well with the guys who are rolling out there on Sunday? At times, it just hasn't made much sense to me, frankly, like they're running an offense that fit in March that does not fit now in November. It strikes me that now this is a team that resembles something like the Browns have been, or the Panthers, or even the Washington commanders, though they have had a defense that has helped them. But it's constant revolving door at the quarterback position. It's a constant revolving door at some of the key coaching positions. And I say it a lot.

It's not rocket science. Constant change in sports equals constant losing. And here the Broncos are stuck in this cycle coming off of the Peyton Manning era in Super Bowl 50. They haven't had any consistency at the key positions. That's been a huge issue is we thought with new ownership, GM George Peyton, Hackett and Wilson, it would create stability. And there's going to be some change.

That's 100% certain how deep it goes. We don't know yet. But there's going to be some change, certainly this offseason. But when you look at it, ever since Gary Kubiak, Peyton Manning and Demarcus Ware left, it has just been an absolute mess. Since Kubiak, you've had five offensive coordinators, you've had four head coaches, you've got 12 quarterbacks. It just never ends. And you can't stop the madness. And that's why the Wilson thing was supposed to stop it.

But you're right. When you look at teams that fail, whether it's the Raiders since they were in that Super Bowl with Tampa Bay or the Browns or the Lions, what is the common thread? Constant turnover at coach, GM quarterback. And if you can't get those positions right, it's hard to win. Because what I've observed in the NFL, which is different than college where one player like Caleb Williams can show up at USC and change a program, one guy can't typically do that in the NFL.

Maybe a year of Josh Allen or a Lamar Jackson. But it's an anomaly because it's so difficult in the NFL where the talent level is even for the most part to overcome dysfunction of your own franchise. And that's what we've seen here. The losing culture is so embedded after six and a half years of this.

I was talking to Nick Kossmider of The Athletic about this. It's not that you can spray Febreze or hang one of those little Christmas trees from your rearview mirror. The stench is in the in the floorboards.

It's not you can't just take it to the car wash. It's embedded and it's going to take more than a coach and a quarterback to fix it. The realization is clobbered is all over the head that this wasn't a two man fix. And they still have two games against the Chiefs on their schedule as well as a battle on the road at Baltimore coming up this weekend. And then the Chargers, too, to wrap up the season.

So at the very least, you're talking four of the last six games against playoff teams. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio with Troy Rank. Would you like to see Peyton Manning more involved? I know he's there in Denver and there be some talk about him with the new ownership group, but I don't know how much he's involved.

Would you like to see more of that? When he's ready, he's doing so much, you know, between gambling through Peyton's places, through traveling. He coaches his son in tackle football. It's just in his son, Marshall.

So he's like 10 now or 11. I just don't think the timing's right in his life. Honestly, like if he were going to be involved, it was like, he'll be the GM.

GM's work like 90 hours a week. He doesn't need to be unbelievably wealthy. He sets his own schedule. He does what he wants to do. And why would he come into this now? Like I would if I were him, I'd exercise patience and wait till it starts to turn the corner a little bit.

Does anyone that is connected to this right now just gets blamed? And you hate to see that with Peyton. But what I like to see at some point in the right role, whether that would be, you know, team president. I just don't think he'd want to be the GM.

I just me personally because of the time. Now, if his kids were off to college or something, that's totally different. But he travels every weekend. He does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It just doesn't make sense right now.

I think there might be a time it does, but I don't see it right now. I was thinking about how John Elway got involved with the front office and got involved with the team and how that seemingly did change things. After he retired, there was also a period where they couldn't find a franchise quarterback. And then he gets involved. He recruits Peyton. Things really turn around because of who he was and the credibility he had.

Seems like anything that they could do right now to find some positivity or forward energy would be a step up. Yeah. I mean, the fans would love it. I mean, because Peyton just revered here. And he lives here.

I mean, that's the thing. He's around. He goes to all the games. So he certainly has his pulse on it. But the thing about Peyton, the Peyton I know and have covered and know him, he doesn't do anything halfway. So again, it would just have to be the right fit and the right timing in his life because he doesn't really answer to anyone. Peyton's not subservient to anyone.

He's into control. So what would that role look like? Is that team president?

I don't know that. That's what I'm saying. If there's a GM, then what would Peyton's role be in that? And so because he just doesn't do anything halfway ever. And so he's more detail oriented than any person I've ever met in my life. And that's why if that role showed up that he wanted. Yeah, I just right now we're where his kids are in their lives.

Sure. I don't think he wants that. I guess he doesn't. He really enjoys spending time with his kids and being part of their life.

And once you become a GM type of president, that all kind of goes away. And we do not want to lose him and Eli on Monday Night Football because that has got to be some of the most entertaining TV that is out there. Exactly, yeah.

Don't want to lose the Manny cast. He would not be able to do that if he was just running part of an NFL team. Right. Oh goodness. Okay, so you can find Troy on Twitter at Troy Rank. R-E-N-C-K. Denver Broncos insider for Denver 7.

Also on 104.3 the fan is an insider and just kind of laid it out there with six weeks to go in the season. Troy, I appreciate it. I knew that you would give us the cold hard truth. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. You got it, Amy. Take care.

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