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Listen to and follow Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infiniti Sports Network.
Okay, last night we had the next week of the NFL season open up. We saw the Denver Broncos. Prevail Barely again over the Raiders 10-7. The Broncos have been barely getting by quite a few games. They do have eight wins and two losses.
They now have seven straight victories. They haven't been pretty, but they've been getting the job done. To talk about what these Broncos are, what they are not, and what the reality could be for this team, you know, coming out of the AFC West and maybe even going further, is someone who's covered these Broncos for years right now. You can catch him hosting, reporting on guerrilla sports, covering all things Broncos out of Denver. Welcome to the show, Brandon Crystal.
Brandon, how are you? I'm good, J.R. Getting a bit of a weekend break, watching some. College hoops right now. My Jayhawks in Carolina are going at him.
My buddy Doug Galibs, Green Bay Phoenix, are trying to hang in there with Buffalo. And then get the night cap tonight with no Steph, but the Warriors in town to take on the Nuggets. Yeah, not too bad, not too shabby.
Well, this is what happens when the Broncos play last night. Unfortunately. All of us across America. Did they play? Did the Raiders play?
Were they playing backwards? What was going on out there? Look, we know division games can certainly be closer than you might expect. And sometimes the team you think should win, because they seem like a better team on paper throughout the season, doesn't always happen. I think we were surprised last week to see the Vikings and J.J.
McCarthy going to Detroit and get a win. And we've seen lots of times where a Raiders team that hadn't seemed as good as the Broncos have come to Denver and won, have won in Oakland. They had won four straight times, eight straight games, but four straight times since moving to Vegas. And now the Broncos have ripped off three wins in a row over the Raiders. But going into it, I thought that the Broncos were going to have an easier time because we knew that the Raiders.
Haven't done much offensively. Getting Bowers back certainly helps on paper, but you trade away Jacoby Myers. Gino hasn't looked great. The arrow line looks really bad.
So Genty hadn't really gotten going, and Chip Kelly's not beaten him enough, in my opinion.
So I thought that the Broncos would be able to against a. Pretty average, and you look at their numbers. The Raiders are kind of middle of the pack across the board. Defensively, they don't take the ball away at a high clip. Get after the quarterback, even though they have Max Crosby.
But beyond him, nobody's really sacking the QB.
So I thought it was going to be a 27-17 kind of game for the Broncos, and 17 felt generous, which obviously it was, but so it was clearly 27, because this Broncos offense is just kind of lost right now, which is. You know, a stark contrast to what we've seen in flashes and to how good the defense is. They're almost the reverse of the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, well absolutely the reverse of the the Dallas Cowboys. We see the the Broncos defense carrying them.
We we saw Sertan walk away with the Defensive Player of the Year of last year. What is going on with the offense? I mean, they're having to come back late from games and barely win games. Is there time to turn things around or is it a matter of the talent? I don't think it's a matter of talent, although the players are the ones that you know the stat I'm about to throw at you that I think they may have touched on on the T V broadcast.
I was down on the sideline helping out our pals on Westwood One last night, so I didn't hear what they said on T V. But the Broncos not only are they the most penalized team in the NFL, They have the most penalties on first and second down, and that's something Sean Payton's harped on. And what makes it interesting is like, that's what we're used to seeing with the Raiders, certainly before Pete Garrell got there. But. when you're as good a coach as Sean has been, his teams haven't been A a team that is Penalized often.
You know, he prides himself just like Bill Belichick, right? They come from that Parcel school of we're not going to hurt ourselves. And the fact that. They do commit so many pre-snap penalties on first and second down or silly PI calls or holds here and there. And it puts them behind the sticks a lot.
Their third down situation ends up being less than favorable, third and eight or longer. And so I think that's been a big problem with getting the offense going. And then. Sean Payton, remember going back to last year, that, what was that, the Thursday night game against the Chargers, where it said run it on his play sheet, and Amazon cameras caught that.
Well, he hasn't taken his own advice really much since then. They don't run it enough, despite the. seemingly pretty consistent success with J.K. Dobbins and even R.J. Harvey and a really good O line.
It's been good protecting Bo Nicks and when he's dropped back to pass, but it's been good. And they thought a year ago that yards were left on the field by Javante Williams and and the other backs. And and the fact that they're still not just staying committed to that run early has been a bit of a head scratcher. And Broncos insider Brandon Cristal is here with us on the JR Sport Brief Show. We know that this is Bo Nix's second year.
Sean Payton has his guy. You talk about the frequency at which the Broncos have been throwing the football. I mean, you got Bo Nix having to throw the rock. It seems like it's 30 and 25 and 40 times. Uh uh a game What's the difference between Bo Nick's last year and this year?
Have you seen a progression or have things pretty much been kind of steady?
Well, I think if anything, you've seen a bit of a regression just in terms of some of his mechanics. And I don't want to pretend to be a quarterback expert. And some people, I think, hear things from quarterback experts and then think that they are one.
Sort of like when the Olympics comes on and all of a sudden we know everything about gymnastics.
Well, I understand we watch a lot of football, but un unless you Really played it or coached it or understand it to that level. I'm not trying to say you have to do that. Most of us don't study where your feet should be exactly and where your release point is and all that. And so, you know, you hear people, again, people that I trust, and Kurt Warner being one of them, talking about him playing sped up when they're the, I think, third least pressured team in the league because the O-line's been so good. Bo gets rid of the ball quickly in general, but I think that's one of the things Sean liked about him, and he doesn't take a lot of stacks, you know, coming out of Oregon, but he's almost sped up.
to his own detriment when he doesn't necessarily have to be. And he's not taking that you know, you hear the term easy cheese, it's there, little dump offs here and there. And he's looking downfield.
So he's got, I think, eight touchdowns over 20 yards. But he also has left the missed the most open receivers by a significant margin. I saw that stat before the game yesterday, where Cam Ward's second behind him, and then Baker and Patrick Mohammed's are right there. But they're South of 500 yards in terms of missed open receivers, and Bo was north of 700 going into the game.
So and we've seen it seemingly every week, whether it be Cortland Sutton or Troy Franklin. And so To say that he's fully regressed probably isn't fair, but Last year, I think the other part of it too, JR, is that The expectation was lower. He was the sixth of those six first-round quarterbacks taken, and they had the big cap. Hit that they were having to eat with Russell Wilson not being there.
So they were paying $50 million less in salary to their roster compared to everybody else. And they obviously not only win 10 games, they go to the playoffs. The defense certainly was great led by NFL and Sachs a year ago, and they beat bad teams. They lost. All their one-score games, except for the one in week three in New York, or rather week four against the Jets in that deluge.
They win, what was it, 10-9 against. Aaron Rodgers when Bo Nix finally throws a touchdown pass. And so. It was kind of playing with house money, if you will, whereas now the expectations are raised. Not only is the defense really good and they got better.
But you expect that a quarterback in year two is going to take a step. You know, most notably, like Drake may have, and even at times, Caleb Williams. Jaden Daniels is incomplete. Certainly, J.J. McCarthy is incomplete.
And Pennix, I don't know if he's taking a step or not. It feels like you can't really tell. But you expected Bo to be doing. what Drake May is doing consistently. We've seen the flashes, his numbers in terms of, you know, total yards and total touchdowns.
are good and his interceptions aren't terrible, although he did have two more last night. But You just expected. a steadier improvement in year two than we've seen so far.
Well well, Brandon, we know that the defense has been holding them down and the defense will continue to hold them down. What's the latest on Pat Sertan in that that chest injury? I know he's on injury reserve. Is it just kind of status quo at this minute?
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Listen to and follow my new podcast, Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts. It's the Texans game. This is a short game here. that then then the Tees game he would miss, but the bye week And then they're at the commanders on Thanksgiving Sunday night, following the Thanksgiving holiday. They should be back better.
Hope. Back by that, so they didn't want to take him off the roster for the four full games, but I heard him on the radio today here in Denver. They asked him how he was doing. He said, I'm 46%. And that can be kind of sneaky funny.
So obviously there's no way to really quantify that, I think, right? I mean, we know where 100% is, and we know where short is, we know where really bad is, but 46% was funny, but I think the translation there is just. Hey. I'm I'm not gonna be playing against the Chiefs, don't ask me. And you know, can he over the next two weeks before they're back on the field?
You know, like I said on Thanksgiving, what's that, the 30th of November? Can he be ready then? Maybe so. If he can add a a couple of twenty five s there, maybe we'll we'll see him. In a few weeks.
Well, Brandon, knowing what this team has done and what the record looks like and where the quarterback stands, 8-2, do you think it's. It's deceiving for what they actually are. Do you see them elevating to another spot? How do they fit in in this AFC West? Despite the rank Yeah, I think you're It's a question that, you know, I'm not trying to you know, cop out on not giving an answer, but it's like it'll be answered More accurately, a week from Sunday, because the Chiefs are off this weekend.
So we would expect nothing drastic would happen. Obviously, players can get hurt on their own or even working out next week when they're back on the field. But so no game injuries coming this weekend.
So next Sunday, when the Chiefs come to Denver, I think that's when we'll really know. Are the Broncos Are they playing down the competition like they did? in London, but obviously they had just come off a big win over Philly. waiting three quarters to get going against the the Giants who are clearly a work in progress at that point. And so, and then even with the Texans, they knock CJ Stroud out of the game, but they aren't able to.
Mm. You know, take advantage of that necessarily. They weren't really worried about Davis Mills, but I think that. You know, and Sean Payton talked about it last night. The old Bill Parcel's line.
You are what the record says you are because they went toe-to-toe in Indy with the Colts, who are certainly surprising people. They had them essentially beaten until they call that leverage call on the kick. They're leading the entire fourth quarter against the Chargers. Nick Benito barely misses sacking Justin Herbert, who makes a crazy throw, to Keenan Allen, who's blanketed by Riley Moss, and they end up losing that game on a last-second field goal. And so we think the Chargers, at that point, they had Joe Alt at least on the field, are pretty good as well.
And so. You know, you can make the case: could they be 9 and 0, or could they be 5 and 4? Or what I guess 10 and 0.
So I think the kind of. While it's not been pretty, because the defense is so good and putting up some historic numbers by some metrics. And because the offense has shown enough, You know, they're not totally inept week in, week out. You think that they are. I mean, is it eight and two on the plus side?
It's it's shown that they're finding ways to win games because a year ago, like I mentioned, one and six in in the seven one score games. This year they're six and two in the one score games. It a good seems fond a way to go out there and and win them. Hey Brandon, in in finality here, what is the fan sentiment surrounding this team right now? Are they cautiously optimistic?
Are they happy they are where they are? Wh how are the fans feeling overall? I think that they, yeah, I think cautious optimism, because it's been so many years since they were dominant, and even when they won Super Bowl 50, they were dominant on defense. Peyton Manning misses seven games. He has more interceptions than touchdowns that year, but he made enough plays in the playoffs when he got back in.
You know, nobody thought Brock Iceweiler should have been an MVP candidate necessarily in his seven starts. And so, but since then, you know, it's just it fell off a cliff.
So to have the. The hope finally realized last year after the Russell Wilson experiment didn't work for those couple years. The fan base is excited. And look, there are more Bo Knicks jerseys than there are for as good as PS2 is or Nick Benito or anybody else. There are more Bo Knicks jerseys being Sold by the Broncos and by the retailers than any other player by a wide margin.
They want Bonix to be the guy, like any t team does. They want their quarterback. And so I don't know if Bo's feeling that pressure.
So the fan base before they're ready to say, hey, let's book tickets to San Francisco again. We're there for Super Bowl 50. Let's get ready for Super Bowl 60. They need to see more consistent play from Bo. But they also, they play the Chiefs up even when they've been not very good.
So Next week, they could beat the Chiefs in a 20 to 17 game where the offense still may not look great, but the defense makes enough plays and the Chiefs make a mistake here or there. And you still won't really know the answer to that question.
So, at least in terms of the fans' optimism. But keep stacking wins, it makes it a lot easier to navigate the postseason, especially if you end up with a home game or two. Without a doubt.
Now we just got to see how the rest of. of this season plays out. Hey, Brandon, we appreciate your your time and your expertise. Tell everybody where they could follow, find you, all the good stuff.
So my my handles are usually just at BK Denver Sports. It's easy enough. And then guerrilla sports like Guerrilla Warfare, you know, it's our digital platform. We cover all the teams in town and in the region, cover the buffs and obviously all the pro teams here in town and the nuggets and abs just getting going. And I cover the Broncos and sometimes the Nuggets for us.
But we got Jake Plummer's there. Woody Page is doing a show with us now called After the Horn. I do a show with Chris Harris Jr. Chris Harris, Ryan Harris, and Shelby Harris from the Browns do a show called We're the Harrises. Liv Moods is with us too from VanDuel's.
We got a lot going on at guerrilla sports.
So check us out. And JR holler at me as we get closer to these playoffs. Absolutely, Brandon. We appreciate having you on. We'll catch you soon, okay?
Sounds good. Thanks so much. Listen up, football fans. You won't want to miss this. Right now, new Bet365 customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets win or lose.
So you could turn that $200 into something bigger when you bet on Money Live, Spread, Totals, Player Props. $200 in bonus bets when new customers bet $5. I know where I'm going to bet from now on. Everordinary FBET365. Gambling problem?
Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC's apply and app only. I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, and my new podcast, Unpaused, is the place for bold, unfiltered conversations about what it takes for women to thrive in the second half of life.
Listen to and follow Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts.
