We're going to head right on out to the Kaway COMMISPERI the hotline. The I'll bringing our guy Ryan Michael at the Ryan Michael on the Twitter machine. Ryan still still reeling from a Best Denver Media account loss, so we got a rashim about that since Nick and I are still in still in the polling. Nick and I are still in it, but we're we're there fighting for you, Ryan. We're carrying on your name and your honor.
I appreciate that, you know, I would say, you know, it feels good to be nominated to make the top sixty four. I got through one round down to the top thirty two, so I'll keep pegging away at it.
Next year.
He'll be a sweet sixteen guy. He's building the program. He's building the program. It's so we're doing. I always love having Ryan on get a chance to talk about, you know, the data, what's going on with the quarterbacks. Right, of course, the contributor to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his has worked with professional football teams before.
Ryan.
As we look at this this first game, I didn't think it was particularly flattering for the Broncos offense on several levels. Before we get into What was your initial impression of the Broncos against the Seahawks.
Well, my initial impression is that it was disappointing. I believe I had Seattle at winning twenty eight to twenty four, so you know, twenty six twenty was close. I think your prediction was even closer. So although the final score was in the ballpark, very much of what I was anticipating, I don't think any of us will expecting the offense to struggle as much as it did, so I feel a little deflated on that end. But it's only one game, So.
Yeah, Ryan, it's only one game, but there was a lot of expectation based on what so many fans saw bo Niggs in the preseason. Do you think the criticism that he experience after Week one is fair?
Not at all. The box score numbers were horrific, Nick, so there's really no way to skate around that when you adjusted for context. One of my favorite stats is
per Ben Baldwin. His Twitter handles at Ben b Baldwin is adjusted EPA per play, and that's defined as EPA adjusted for pass protection, receiver drops, dropped interceptions, luck on interceptible passes, fumble recoveries, and interception returns given credit for expected yards after the catch only, not accounting for the defensive faced and by that metric, bo came in twentieth place, bad but not horrific, and the adjustment relative to the
support of his teammates was the second biggest adjustment upward. Only Will Levis had had a greater adjustment needing a tougher playing situation. So the box score numbers were horrific. Even the adjusted numbers are still below average. But it's one game, so there's not much to read into it.
Were there any statistical standouts for the Broncos in that supporting cast?
Now, there were some highlights. Certainly Devon caught eight receptions off of eight targets. Didn't put up a lot of yards, but I think twenty two of them were yards after the catch. Josh Reynolds had five catches for forty five yards, three of them were first downs what's connected, three or three on field goals, and one to one on the pat One of my favorites was Ryley Moss twelve total tackles, which is the second highest mark in Denver Broncos franchise
history for a cornerback. Only Tamp Bailey on one occasion had produced thirteen tackles, so that was certainly good to see, and of course Alex Singleton with an interception, nine total tackles and a tackle for a loss. There were some standouts and it was a competitive game, so I think it's important not to lose out of those.
Well, once again, going back to bow because obviously the topic conversation has a lot to do with the quarterbacks, since he is the guy who's supposed to character team forward. Were there any statistical numbers that you can say throw out there that make fans change their mind about what they think about bo right now?
I don't know if there were any nick from the game against Seattle that by themselves is going to get anybody too jazzed up right now. I would say, if you're digging for positives, I would note that he was better in the second half than he was in the first half. He completed twelve to twenty two passes and
took two sacks in the first half. He really turned it around in the second half, completed fourteen of twenty although they were very short completions and he didn't take any stacks, and that's something that we've been talking about over the past few months is his proficiency in avoiding facts. He was sacked twice on forty four dropbacks. That puts him at around four and a half percent sack percentage.
That's ninth in the NFL for one week. And sack percentage is a statnic that I always look to as an indicator of quarterbacks with high football IQ and good instincts. Trevor Lawrence, who had a disastrous box score rookie season, still finish in the top ten and sack percentage. He's continued to do that every year of his career. So if you're looking for something positive, look at sack percentage, look at the completion percentage going up in the second half.
And I know Ben's been touting his wheels and the mile prowur. There was some number that he had posted. Ben, I don't remember exactly what it was, but there's a few positives for sure.
Yeah, Bodix had the second fastest carry in the NFL a highest top speed second HIGT top speed. I believe it was behind Tank Dell. Dell had a CA that went slightly faster, but over twenty miles an hour. Bonies can run, and you know something that bothered me a little bit was how much we did not exploit that
in that game. It felt like, you'd, I understand not want to put a quarterback out there and getting hurt, but I also understand what to get him out there and getting comfortable and make the defense respect them, respect those legs.
Agreed, and you know, we didn't see a lot of it, but when he did take off, he produced I believe it was a twenty three yard run in the first play of that final drive there. Then there was an incompletion and then four passes completed in a row before the touchdown runs. So hey, that put us within six and it's good to see that with the game on the line, and then the way we wanted it to didn't have a chance to touch the ball again, but it wasn't a bad way to close out the game.
Well, does it give you a little optimism to know that most of the quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round and the first week, whether they played on a row or they played at home, they did really fare that well as far as passing yards. So is that another bump statistically heading into Sunday against the Steelers that Broncos fans can say, you know what, bow Knicks could be primed for a breakout game against the Steelers.
I don't know if I would I would go as far as to say breakout game. I think it's going to be better. But passing yardage totals across the league were abysmal, and I think a lot of that is the function of the lack of camp and preseason reps. So you're gonna get a little bit sloppy football in Week one, a little bit sloppier than maybe it should be. But that wasn't just Bonicks. That was a number of quarterbacks,
some reputable quarterbacks across the league. So I think it'll jump up as the week's carry on.
It's almost a diametrically opposite philosophy that Bo's going to be up against. You're looking at you, you know, the kind of the zone that that Seattle was running and this is more of an attacking man type defense out of Pittsburgh.
Does that benefit a young quarterback? Is it? Is it a detriment? Is it neutral? When when rolling this out and rolling them out the second start.
It's really going to depend on how efficiently they execute that game plan. And you know, Sean Payton's offense is really predicated upon timing pass accuracy. We're not going to see bo Nick stretch the field. And you know, one of the things I'd mentioned on Twitter earlier tonight is just what the precedent of Drew Brees has done for expectations in a Sean Payton offense, because Drew, by the latter third of his career developed what I've described as
absolute superhuman processing, pocket presence, accuracy skill set. The combination of those things has never been seen by any quarterback in the NFL outside of Peyton Manning, and the way that Drew executed it was a bit different because the system he ran with Sean Payton was very different from what Peydon Manning ran in Indianapolis and later in Denver.
I think people have to understand, for Drew, before the Labram injury, he already had elite football IQ prestat processing speed and above average pass accuracy, but that Torren Labram forced to into a situation where you're taking what was a below average arm and you're making it almost unusable. And I don't think people appreciate just how much preparation and all the work that he put into that comeback. I'm talking twelve months a year of obsessively refining his
reaction time, his pasth accuracy. He widened his base to shorten his pass release. He methodically just reinvented himself to lean on the strengths that he already had, but to compensate for the weaknesses that he dealt with physically. And now from what what I'm hearing, he doesn't even throw ball in the backyard with his kids using his right arm. But he was still through to the end of his career routinely completing seventy five percent or so of his passes.
So when you see that precedent, that skill set, even with a weak arm, is something that would have been a favorable matchup for a defense similar to what Pittsburgh is running. I'd been calling bon Niz a poor man screw Brees, but we're really comparing in the Superman, and I think we need to take the foot off of the gas pedal a little bit and not box him into that comparison. Specifically, it's going to be a struggle,
and I expecting the struggle against Pittsburgh. I just think it's going to be a little bit better than what we saw in Week one.
Well, let's talk about things that could help Bow not struggle against Pittsburgh. And two of those things, am I opinion, have to do with getting Marvin Mimms more involved, but also Josh Reynolds, who the team acquired from his time in Detroit. Is there a way in your mind, because I know I have one that they can get these two guys involved that would actually take the pressure off Bow and allow him to get some more plays down the field. Yeah.
I think both of them have the skill set to be able to deliver in those situations. We even saw it for a play with Josh Reynolds in the season opener. I think the trouble is going to be establishing the run.
You know, do we have the scheme, the blocking, and the personnel and the commitment to actually execute an effective running game, because that's what's going to open up holes for Bo to be able to nail people in some man to man situation, to be able to do that with consistency, to walk away after four quarters and say this rookie quarterback's produced well and had a good game.
That means to be seen. But I don't think that we're going to be able to facilitate it without finding greater balance and execution in the running game.
So what is the answer for the Broncos to bounce back in this game against the Steelers. Does it start with the run game and establishing that. Is it creating something different where what bo Nix is doing in the passing game isn't as predictable and short? Is it a combination of things? What would be the first thing you would address with this offense.
It's all the above, And with a rookie quarterback, it never hurts to lean on a running game, but that's going to be on our blockers and our running backs to really gain positive yardage. There's nothing more frustrating to me as an analyst than seeing first down plays go for negative one zero one yard. When that happens, you're forcing your quarterback into second and long and oftentimes third and long situations that just put too much pressure on
a rookie quarterback to execute. But I would say for bow he needs to walk away from the pressure. There were a number of Snaps's debut where he was drifting towards the pressure and they didn't necessarily result in sacks, but they definitely resulted in offensive place that didn't go anywhere. It's just going to be a matter of refining those skills and executing with more consistency. I mean, I know these are platitudes that don't really mean much until he
actually see them. It's a lot easier to say that's what they should do. It a lot more difficult to go out there and execute.
Well. I know we've talked to Linz about the office side of the ball and bowl knicks, but let's take a turn and talk about the defense. Because the Broncos defense did play much better in that second half. And you brought up Riley Moss and the number of tackles that he's made, but also the guy who is the king of swing and the king of tackles, and Alex Singleton. He was a guy that once again was in the mix again.
Howard Singleton is phenomenal and to see everything that he did, from hauling in the interception to just tackle everybody to the site and I didn't want to. I wasn't sure if I was even going to mention this on the air, Nick, because this might be a little bit sore. So I hope that you can take it with grace. But I just happened to be browsing the Broncos all time list of solo tackles, and I'm seeing Alex Singleton at two hundred and thirteen. I'm seeing you at two hundred and nineteen.
So if he keeps playing the way down that list, my friend, Oh wow, come on, Ryan, God, it's tougher for dbs to get those taxs. Y.
It should be graded on a curve. Linebacker right should be should be graded on a curve? Obviously. Do you have to send him a cake?
Though?
Is there some kind of congratulatory Not that I'm moving I'm aware of, but I mean, to my credit, Listen, if I'm leading a team in tackles, that means our defense is really awful. That means offensive running backs are getting twelve to fifteen yards downfield. So listen, I'm okay if I'm going down the list in this particular way.
Okay, Well, we'll keep an eye. We got to fir watch on the tackles. We have four watch. We'll get some theme music behind that crawler on the chiron. Make that happen Ron upcoming game against the Steelers. You have justin fields on the other side. I'm not been a big fan of his. I think it's a better outcome for the Broncos to be facing off against him the Russell Wilson. We don't know necessarily that Wilson won't play
in that game. He's obviously practiced last too days. But as you look ahead to this thing, how good a chance you have the Broncos winning the home opener? Here?
You know, I have Pittsburgh twenty four to seventeen. But just as they said last week, it's going to be a very winnable game. And Ben, you know my thoughts on justin Field. So if we have a choice between the old man version of Russell Wilson or a fresh justin Field, I'd rather face the fresh justin Fields because I don't think very highly of him as a quarterback.
I think he is a tremendous playmaker. I think he was a very good college football quarterback, but I just don't see the processing speed and ability to execute anything resembling the structured offense. So I hope he gets the start, and I hope that we play well. We'll see.
Do you see any weaknesses?
I know we're going into week two, but do you see any weaknesses from your film watching that the Broncos could possibly exploit when it comes to the Pittsburgh still is defense.
You know, as far as their defense, it's a very different kind of matchup. As Ben had said earlier, I think it's really going to be fleshing out that identity and not changing the game plan at halftime. It's really going to be about establishing that running game and then executing the passing game. It's not about maintaining a pretty completion percentage, because that doesn't mean anything if you're completing
a bunch of passes for one or two yards. But it is important to be able to execute the offense with consistency. And I think the completions build the confidence of young quarterbacks. So if we can open things up with a run game, I think it's going to open up some opportunities for gonicks in the middle of the field.
Well, Ryan, we appreciate it. As always.
You guys want to find Ryan on Twitter at the Ryan Michael, Give him some give him some follow give him some love. And next year he's getting to the Sweet sixteen of the media the Media Poll.
Oh jeez, thanks man.
This is what I this is what I do for you.
Man.
We're building the brand, we're building the program here. This is what I'm doing. I'm getting these recruits. They're hearing us now, we're getting them in.
I'm here for it.