Then I need you to do three things here. Three things, okay, three things today. First things, First, I need you to get your picture taken next to Gwyneth Paltrow at a cold Play concert wearing a gold suit made of rich Corinthian leather and top gun v neck tshirt. Then I need you to link up with Chris Baron spin Doctors, write a song about Broncos Country Tonight call State Sponsored. Okay, you need to pair up with Stetson Cologne. Oh God,
create your own vet blend. You get all three of those things done, you have a seventy chance of getting back on the Taking It for Granted podcast.
Wow, you got every reference for the last five years and there that is well done.
Certain wells a boss always when that clip gets played, you guys know what's coming up next. Lana Sanderson, the mile High Hule right out if the wait comments of hot Linelands, how you doing thisce eving.
Doing good? Then you know, I was surfing through Spotify the other day and I found that song that you wrote with Chris Barren. I'm just surprised that you decided to go with a Poka theme, but the accordion solo from you absolutely tremendous man. Well done, very well done, some.
Of my best work.
People don't know that I've an accomplished accordion and harpsichord player, So you know, really, I'm just trying to break back your relevant reference, irrelevant musical interests for people, as well as promulgating German music, which is my heritage just because of my love of the Hasselhoff.
Yes, sir, Yes, sir. How are you doing it? Man? I'm good to talk to you.
I'm doing good.
Man.
We're coming off the three game win streak.
You know, the Broncos won three in a row, and I think that people probably through five games, did not see this is where the team would be.
Some of it's by.
Hook, some of us by crook, but they managed to get it done. They've been flashes for the offense and the Tampa and.
The Raiders game.
Where do you feel about this team right now through five games?
Well, quite honestly, I have to give a big shout out to Van Shijosef in the defense and what he's able to do with the players that he had, because coming into the season, you know, it was so hard to project what this defense would look like, specifically against the run. You know, you move on from Justin Simmons, you bring in Malcolm Roach, bring in Jonathan Franklin Myers.
But the issues that you had last year, the depth concerns that he had coming into the season, Van Joseph has this defense playing at a probably the best defense in the NFL level right now. Like they're third in yards per game, second against the yards play, first in EPA per play, Like they're getting after it in a very special way, and like there's so many different ways you can break this defense down, but it all starts with Dan Joseph in the aggressiveness that he is chilling.
Obviously the forty one point eight percent blitz percentage right now highest in the NFL. Utilizing that secondary which I had super big concerns with, especially at the safety position. Like I'd love to break this down and talk defensively specifically for tonight's show.
Well, I yeah.
I look, Vance Joseph getting his flowers is personally validating for me. I remember when Advance was hired as the defensive coordinator here and I had everyone of their mothers screaming that we needed to hire you know, Rex Ryan out here. Make sure you have appropriate footwear if we do. And I, you know, I liked the hire of Vance Joseph. Vance doesn't get enough credit for what he has done defensively.
When he was the head coach of the Broncos, the defense was good.
They gave out the blueprint for how to kind of slow Patrick Mahomes down back when Pat Mahomes was the hottest thing going.
And I don't realize that Pat's numbers are down.
He's still the best quarterback in the league.
Grant killing me.
I.
Know.
And then you turn around and you look at what a Dvance did People talk about that year in Miami.
He only got one year, didn't get a chance to turn it around. You go back to Arizona.
He took over ostensibly the league's worst defense, and they were good.
By year three.
Now, the wheels came off in year four with all the injuries, But what he did in Arizona I thought was good. The thing about Vance Joseph that a lot of people, I think they'll realize this is ie for talent. Van's Joseph is the reason that Zach Allen is here. Mass Joseph is the reason that Brandon Jones is here. And I think Brandon Jones has been a hidden gem
for this team. Vance Joseph is coaching the defense that has one first round pick on it in Pats Artan, and six guys that were Day three or undrafted.
To me, that's just a heck of a.
Job, dude. It's it's amazing. Like quite honestly, everybody knows that Zach Allen, I mean, he leads the league in pressures from interior defensive lineman. He's getting after the quarterback at like a sixteen point seven percent, right, Like, it's incredible what they're doing up front. And I know that everyone's given passer Tannan's flowers, which is absolutely like.
Due for him.
And the huge game that he had against Raiders this last week, two interceptions, obviously the one hundred yard picks pick return for a touchdown. But the guy that I think is really the guy that stirs the drink for this defense is Brandon Jones. Because of his versatility, his ability to line up at a single high safety if you need him to do that. He can play both
halfs of the field. But his ability as a blitzer and his tackling ability, the way that they can line him and PJ Lock and utilize those guys in that blitz scheme, utilizing the linebackers as well, and just allowing Zach Allen and Jonathan Franklin Myers and Malcolm Roach to be penetrators. That's a big thing for vanc Joseph's defense.
He wants these defensive linemen to get upfield, even against the running game, and allow his linebackers to flow through make plays, make plays at the second levels even though it's still technically the first level because they're crashing so far forward. And if Brandon Jones and PJ Lock and the versatility that they bring to the back end of that secondary is something that cannot be overstated. Right now. PJ Lock, his ability as a blitz is just fantastic
right now. Brandon Jones again, his ability to see the ball, chase the ball down, go and make big plays. He has the interception, force the fumble as well, had a fumbler recovery. This secondary, I think right now, is not getting quite the credit that it deserves for what is allowed with Vance Joseph and his pressure schemes up front.
I mean, you're talking the highest cover zero rate and the highest blitz rate in the NFL right now, just because your secondary is playing quality at the back end, it's also playing quality on the boundary.
Yeah, and I think it's interesting.
You know, you talk about that the highest covers of your highest blitz percentage, and there are shortcomings to that, and we saw a little bit of that early on in the Raiders game. They popped that big run Bowers got free on that play.
There are the.
Opportunity for busted coverages or the opportunity for one man missing and the whole thing. You know, the House of cards tumbling does exist on that and we've saw a little bit of that the Raiders game. Thankfully, Patzertan was able to make it up with the one hundred yard pick six by the way, fastest ball carrier on a pick six only ball carry out of pick six over twenty miles per hour this year. I you know, I love this style of defense. It's a radical departure from
what we had previously. Vic Fangio, who basically has the blueprint on what everybody in the league is running right now with the tight front cover four cover two see six stuff on.
The back end and very little blitzing. Now we're seeing the antithesis of that. And I love it.
It's kind of a harken back to Vance Joseph's mentor and Wade Phillips. But there does exist that is the Achilles heel to it. There does exist the potential for busts and big plays.
Yeah, but the one thing that's counteracting at even with the bust and big play potential is the tackling ability of this unit at the back end. Specifically, I mean when you're talking about yards after catch over expected. Right now, according to NFL plus dot com, the team is fourth plus thirteen yards over expected in terms of yards after catch. They were minus thirty five last week, which was forty
yards better than the next defense allowed. And I know that the big brock Hours catch and run on the first possession that sunk the hearts of Broncos country. That definitely factors into this. But even a run run yardage after contact over expected, they're six in the NFL minus nine yards yards after contact over expected just period eighth
at two point seven seven yards. This team is rallying to the ball, they're making clean, sound tackles, and they're really limiting these explosive plays from offensive I understand you've got the Kenneth Locker Junior run in Week one. That was in the Gino Smith run where they they had three lanes to run. Alex Ing Wilson miss that big tackle against Kenneth Walker Junior. You got the brock Powers play.
But every time an offensive player touches the football, they are hitting the ground and less than three yards after they touched the football, which is a tremendous boost to what this defense is and a tremendous boost to what Vance Joseph is doing as a defensive coordinator. Oh.
Absolutely, And I don't want to take away from Vance's flowers. I just want to say that's the difference between the Fangio blueprint and then the Vance blueprint. The Fangio blueprint strives to keep plays in front of you. It will, it does work in producing lower scoring outcomes designed to hold you the field goals, bogging down on the red zone.
The problem the Achilles field to the Vance Joseph excuse me, the Vic Fangil formula is that if you need a quick stop, it's probably not going to get you one. We saw that too often when Vic was the head coach, when Hackett was the head coach, and even when Vance was running the continuity sort of last year you saw that if you needed a late game stop, you just weren't going to get one. It's ben don't break, and they would be able to run the clock out.
And we saw that.
Now we have a defense that can get those turnovers and they're getting them.
Yeah. Absolutely, man. You've got obviously the three interception game against the Raiders, you had uh, Brandon Jones again with the interception against Tampa Bay. You had the force fumble that that Jones took back again here to the house. Uh, Like they're they're they're not only getting the turnovers, they're getting after the quarterback at one of the highest clips in the NFL right now. They're uh they're pass rush uh Apa for play is first at negative point two seven.
Like they're they're they're doing it very well with the exotic blitz of that dance Joseph is dialing up, allowing these linebackers to kind of play in some space, bringing the safeties and whatnot. The and Zach Allen, Johnason, Franklin Meyer is doing their dirty work up front, like getting after the quarterback. This team is just spectacular defensively, and quite honestly, it's a treat to watch, especially after what we saw in the first five weeks of last season.
I mean, this defensive turnaround right now, I don't know if you if you understand this, Like last week coming out of the Miami Dolphins last year, excuse me, coming out of the Miami Dolphins game, the defense was on pace to be one of the worst defenses in NFL history, and Miami was on pace to being one of the best offenses in NFL history. Fut that script around a year later, Denver has the best defense in the NFL and Miami has one of the worst offenses in the NFL.
This turnaround that Vance Joseph has dictated with his play calling and with the players actually stepping up, hitting the scheme, buying into what Dance Joseph is calling. Defensively, it's amazing and quite honestly that the guy should be up for Assistant Coach of the Year. As it stands right now, he's been just tremendous and I cannot give the guy enough credit.
Let me pose the question to you that I'm posing to everybody right now, is if Vance Joseph, as expected, gets head coaching interviews this offseason and takes a head coaching job somewhere, the Broncos get two third round compensatory draft picks. Back, is it worse if he leaves and takes a head coaching job and Jim Leonard as sensibly steps into that role, or is it you know, would you rather have would rather have basically the third round
picks or would rather have vance Joseph next year? Because that question, if you'd ask that question last year, universally everybody would have said they would have rather had the two third rounders.
Now I'm not so sure.
That's a difficult question to answer, man, because like I can't, like I said, I can't give Dance Joseph enough credit the third round picks to help build this team around, especially with the offensive playmakers coming out in this year's draft, Like that would be a big boost at helping the
development of Quote Nicks. But what's one of the best tools that you can give a young quarterback him a quality running game and a quality defense and just tell them to go not go out and make mistakes, don't like, take care of the football and make the plays that you need to when they're necessary, and you'll have some success with the young quarterback losing Dance Joseph, I think is going to be a big, a big loss for this Broncos team, especially right now, because like I said,
these players are buying in specifically to what they want, what he wants them to do. But I think that there's an option out there that stupidly got fired from New York. Why the New York just fired Robert Solla. Go out and pick him up, bring him in as a consultant as fast as you possibly can allow him to work with Jim Letard a little bit. Maybe you can work some kind of a co defensive coordinator impact
with those guys. With Robert Solon his linebacker play that he always seems to have high quality play coming from, and the Jim Letter continuing to work with the secondary. I mean that that to me is as a quality option there. But yeah, losing Dance Joseph would be to me. And it's crazy because a year ago everyone wanted to fire, they wanted him ran out of town, and he was scared that he was going to lose his job. For sure,
I know that for a fact. But what he's doing right now to help this team turn around everything again, it cannot be overstated nearly enough.
Yeah, I'm with you on that. Real quick, we got a couple of minutes left. I want to look forward to the Chargers game coming up.
You know, a lot of people view this as a very winnable game, myself included. But the Chargers are a little bit better than people think, at least in terms of defense. They're one of the top defenses in the league. Twelve point five points allowed per game this season would rank number one. They're third overall and takeaway differential at plus five.
They've already had a bye week and they're coming off a bye week.
They have some of the similar problems to the Broncos, and that the pass game has just not gotten going the thirty first in passing yards per game one thirty six, But in terms of rushing yardage, they've been good.
Their top ten team in terms of running the football.
Could this be a trap sort of game for the Denver Broncos as you look forward to maybe going to New Orleans on Thursday and overlook a Chargers team that's a lot more physical than they've been in recent years.
No, quite, Honestly, looking of this game as intently as you did as the Raiders game this last week, I mean, yeah, you've won a couple of games against the Chargers over the last handful of years, but it really what does
that matter. This team right now at three and two, needs to be approaching every single game as aggressively as they possibly can be, and quite honestly, I want to see what they're going to do against this charge of this Chargers defense, which has a high quality pass rush, they're doing really well against the run, they're doing really well against the pass as well, and the Broncos offense.
As much as we want Boonnicks to be the guy, I still need to see a lot more out of it, not only from Bonnicks himself, but as Sean Payton is a play caller. We need to open some stuff up against the against the Chargers and try to manufacture some more points offensively and not just rely on the defense to make plays and pushing in quality situations. Because as much as the Chargers have struggled on offense, they've done
a really good job running the football. They're controlling the ball, they're not turning it over, and they're just keeping keeping the opposing offense off the field. I mean, it's the it's the Jim Harbaugh script to every single game that he's been a coach ever since he was back at what San Diego. I believe where he was at the count ball control offense, run the football, play physically, grind the clock down, shorten the game, and keep the opposing
offense off the field. When the Broncos have opportunities. I think Sean Payton needs to open this thing up a little bit. We saw a little bit of that in the second half after bo Nicks got after him for whatever it was when it was a play call, flipping the play call, whether it was Bonicks not being under center for the Luke Wattenberg snap that hit him in the button and was the fumble, it doesn't really matter.
What happened was bo Nicks started to get a little bit more confident, started pushing the ball down the field a little bit more. They were playing with the lead, and Sean Payton allowed Boonicks to kind of grow a little bit, and to me, that was a really big sign for the Broncos offense. I want to see more of that against the Chargers.
I'm with you on that, hopefully some more. Marvin Mims reps as well. Lands. We always appreciate.
Having you or can we talk about that for a second.
Weak football.
We got to hit a break, We got hit a break, your last but we'll get to it next time.
We gotta we gotta see more. Marvin Mills.
We always appreciate you having you on there at Lant Sanderson Mile High Huddle