We go right after Kway Common Spirit Health Hotline to bring on our guy, Ryan Harris.
Ryan, how you doing this evening?
Hellas doing great? Thanks for having me.
Absolutely man, I always love having you on. We got a tough game coming up here against a really injured Chargers team. But you look at the Chargers how they played this year. They've been physical, They run the ball incredibly well.
JK.
Dobbins averaged in an absurd six yards per carry. As we look at this, the Bronco has got a couple of injuries along that offensive line. It's set a position at the right tackle position going into this division game. What do you think about about the lines for both these teams?
Well, I think the big challenge is going to be on the Broncos defensive line. No question. The Broncos defense has been able to get after the pass and being able to defend against it with the secondary. But you are going to get a consistent dose of run and JK. Dobbins has that high average because they will run the ball thirty five thirty times a game and not a
lot of players want to sit in there. Berg will tell you not a lot of defenders want to sit and make so That's what the challenge is for the Broncos defensively, can they stop the run? And if I'm the vance Joseph, now, I'm looking at this as a huge opportunity to make up for last year's you know, big loss against Miami by shutting down the Chargers and getting a second consecutive divisional win based on the strength of your defense and helping and helping your while you're off.
I think we lost Ryan there. We'll see if we can't get that connection back. But yeah, I mean he was making a point there for one of the big things. One of the one of the tough things about facing a physical, smash mouth run team like.
That is having to be in there every play for the run.
Well, the one thing you want to do from a defensive standpoint is make sure that everyone is on the same page. And I am of a friend of mine that defenders need to know where the run fits need to be. You can figure out the past, though, but if you can't fit up on the.
Run even more, we saw that against Man. I think we got Ryan back.
Now, Ryan You're there, I'm here, you got me there, Yeah.
Gotcha, No no worries at all, Man, you were cut off there or towards the end of your answer, do you want to finish that one out?
Well, I'm just saying that's you know, that defense, the challenges on the defense to stop the run and really put themselves on the map as one of the best defenses in the league.
Well, let's talk about the offensive line, because you have Luke Wattenberg who is injured, in Pochwski who has an injury himself. As a guy that played on the offensive line, how difficult is it to go into a game like this with this magnitude. It's a divisional game we're talking about. You're playing against a Chargers defensive line that's been playing pretty well thus far this season.
Well, don't play if you want to hide, that's the first part, right, I mean, if you if you are not looking for this opportunity, then you got the wrong guys on your offensive line. So it's not good to have injuries. I think Alex kel played fantastic while he was in but that means that somebody else is gonna get a opportun right. I Mean, we won the Super Bowl and Matt Parodis hadn't started a game yet and then ended up starting nineteen in a row and win
the Super Bowl. So offensive line is the easiest place to make good players great if you have technique taught at a consistent level. And so that's Zach Street's gonna have his work cut out for him this week. And if the players are being pros, they're going to ask questions. That's the biggest thing any one of us can do in a situation where we have opportunity is ask questions
to make sure you know it inside and out. Nobody's gonna get mad at you for trying to find out as much information as you can so you can play, or you can act, or you can do as fast as you can to complete the objective.
Broncos have started the season three and two. How surprised are you by that?
And as you look ahead to the second quarter of the season, you don't want to overlook anybody, but this thing is setting up pretty nice for the Broncos to get to the halfway mark with a decent chance at a winning record or better.
Well, I'm not surprised because I got to see bow Knicks play last year at Oregon when USC was there, and I saw he had all the talent, and I know that you know coach Peyton has an offensive mind. I've seen that, that skill, that play calling. So it's not as surprising, but surprising as they won two games
up to spending two weeks with each other. I mean, I don't know if you guys could do that on the show, right, if you had to lock yourselves away for two weeks and then get together and do a good show, you might be tired of each other as they're up there in Virginia. But they put it together and they're learning that to win, you have to play together and for each other. And that's not a surprise because the game of football teaches you to do that.
As a guy who is the number one receiver for the Broncos and as Courtland said, we haven't really seen Courtland involved in the offense that much. What do you think is the reason as to want it that hasn't happened.
We'll say it again one more time. Sorry you talked broke up there.
Brother Corland sums supposed to be the number one wide receiving for the Denver Broncos and we haven't really seen him involved than the Broncos offense. Why do you think that is the case? And what do you think they should do to change that.
Their bracket coveraging him because they know that's where Bonis wants to go with the football anytime he doesn't know what he's looking at. And offensively, you got to be prepared for that. And Josh Reynolds has to step up. He did last week. Let's see it again. You know, you got to find some production at the tight end position. It has to happen for an offense. You can't shoot yourself in the foot like that, and you got to convert on third down. But Corland Sutton, you know, he
has turned a corner this year. His routes, his want to, his willingness, all of the things that you want your receiver to be he has. He just doesn't have anybody anywhere else on the field that's a pass catching threat that's consistent enough to get him to at least get man coverage thirty percent of the time.
Well to that end, and I completely agree with you.
In the tight end position, why are we not using our perhaps most explosive athlete in Marvin Mims. More, We've got Troy Franklin out there, guy who struggled a little bit in the he sees it in Campbell with beating the press in with you know, I with drops. So we saw the drop of a well placed Bonix pass a deep ball in the Raiders game. But Marvin Mims, who is I don't think it's even debatable that he's our most explosive athlete, can't find the field well.
To be honest, I think it's a situation where you have a very calm demeanor, soft spoken player, and sometimes in an environment like the NFL, that's seen as maybe
disinterested board or with an attitude. But you know, Mims is an amazing person in addition to being a great player and with speed, but I think his demeanor makes it so the coaches don't trust trust him as much or know what to do with them in the same time, So it's an opportunity for him to show up every day at the right mindset and and show the coaches that he wants to be there. And I think his
time's coming. You know, he's a little bit more straight line speed than you need in an offense, but I think he's willing to do the work to improve well.
Speaking of the guy who is stepping up to and living up to the Bill, Riley Moss now Ben has coined the difference a name for Roley Moss, and Ben, you call.
You got ps two and next Moss three sixty.
So watching Riley come of age, what have you thought about his style the play up to this point.
Well, I love that Riley Moss made the improvement week after week, right, I mean the two weeks ago he's against the Jets, he gives up the pass interference late in the game, and then the very next week turns around and gets a pick on the same play. Right, So that willingness to learn, I mean, that's something that you need from a corner. Yeah.
Absolutely.
You know.
One of the other things about this defense that's really kind of stuck with me as we watched this thing early in the season, like how well they're playing. But you have one first round pick and the starters that's Patser ten. You've got six guys that are Day three or undrafted picks that are out there starting on this defense right now, and that.
Really speaks to me. It talks a lot.
About first of all, the Broncos scouting staff and how they're able to evaluate players, and then second of all, how these players are making the most of opportunity.
Well, and especially making the most of playing with Patrick Shirtam. You know what I mean. He allows you to put a baseball shift on against the offense. And I mean to think that justin Sanad is starting at linebacker and they really haven't skipped the beat is something that only anybody expects to have happened. But I think there's a I think to your point, Ben, I think the GMS wanted to get guys in there who are willing to study the game and who want to learn the game.
You can have talented, talented players who do not want to pay attention to x's and o's, and it might work for them, but you get five to six hack eleven guys that are willing to put in that work, you win many games, and not only that, you improve while winning, which is a sign of great players and great character in those players. Right.
Is there something schematically that you would like to see the Broncos explore on Sunday that we haven't seen thus far?
Berg. I want them to use the tight end. I want to put that defense in a grinder. I want two tight ends, and I want to put them in a wing formation on the week side twice. You know what I mean? I just you have to have not only do you have to have the tight ends to do it, but you need your offense to know how confident they can be when you have that tight end position, not just blocking on all, especially against the blitz, which that's coming. For Bonick, he faked a little bit of blitz.
But with the Vikings and Vance Joseph's defense doing so well in blitzing, I mean, these teams, the defenses want to be talked about too, So the blitzer are coming and I'd love to see something. I'd love to see a six yard pass over the middle on second to eight, you know what I mean, and then run it for a first down and on third down. So that's the kind of place that the players have to be willing
to work in. And to be honest, there's thirty percent of the NFL teams this year they don't got rosters that are willing to grind it out like that. And that's what you need to do. If you're the Broncos, you need to teach the young players and inexperienced players on your team how hard it is to work and win every single week. And I think they have a great They're on the right path and they're doing things the right way, and they're and they're being patient and creating urgency at the same time.
You know, you mentioned the Broncos and the Vikings, you know, with the high blitz numbers, and they are Is that the modern is that.
The new blueprint?
We've seen the league basically pivot to the Vic Fangio defense, which is, you know, that tight front and quarters match on the back end, and it's dropping everybody back and hoping your pressure gets home with three or four.
And now we're.
Seeing success with guys like Vance Joseph and Brian Flores who are blitzing on Dvance's case forty plus percent of the time, putting the corners on an island playing center field back. There is the league pivoting back to perhaps the Wade Phillips style of defense.
Well, that's how bad quarterbacks are right now in the NFL. I mean, let's be clear. You can blitz your face off against Tom Brady and you'll lose by fifty. Right, do you blitz your face off against Patrick Mahomes, You're
gonna lose by fifty. You do it to Josh Allen, you're gonna lose by fifty so I think that is I think what people miss is it's great for defenses, right because it forces offenses to communicate and to study and to pay attention to meetings, and if you don't do that, you're gonna get beat, especially in key moments. But it's also indicative of the fact that there are about five quarterbacks in the NFL that can change the play at the line of scrimmage and or change a
route to get the guy open against the blitz. So defenses are having their heyday because they don't have the same quality across the board as maybe ten years ago or even five years ago in the NFL.
If you're are offensive lineman on the Broncos roster right now, what would be your words to bow Knick's pro or coon? What would you say to him with him being your starting quarterback?
I love the social media video, Let's make one in January. That's what I'd say to him, you know, And I think that it's so easy, and for you've been there too. I mean, it's so hard to explain to people when you are in the NFL and you're winning games, and you win your first game at home in front of fans, you're on a little streak and go to the I mean, it's so hard to pay attention to the bigger goal because it feels so good in the moment for that week.
But you've got to pay attention to the fact that it's a seventeen game regular season and that if you want to win, you got to win nineteen of them. And it's just such a monstrous haul that that's what I would say. I would say, Hey, I'm so thrilled we're winning. Let's make sure we're winning so that we can win in January too.
That was Ryan Harris, former Broncos offensive tackle, Super Bowl champion alumnus of Notre Dame, as switch gears to the college football ranks. I get, first of all, an eyeball question. See if you know anything about this. You know about the quarterback from UNLV who with the nil agreements and decided to take a red shirt.
It doesn't look like.
UNLV's missed a beat because they have forty something points in the first half against Utah State right now. As a matter of fact, they've been put up points ever since he did that. That situation perfected me a little bit, because, on the one hand, I want everybody to get the money.
I want a kid to get his money. Anything that was promised, I want to get that.
On the other hand, it felt sort of like he was quitting on his team, and I didn't really know what to do with that. I guess it's the old school of me that doesn't know what to do with some of this new school in IL money.
Well, lesson learned for the player, right. I mean, look, there's all kinds of ways to go about business, but we all understand what it's like to be human. And clearly that coach told this player that he was going to get more money than he was. They were winning players stepped out to renegotiate. Now the player knows his value went down. The price just went down, right, So I love that NIL holds coaches responsible and more enshrines the individual rights of players, right, because now you can
transfer if your coach lies to you. I I know who, and Berg's got stories too. We know people who they commit to a school, and one kid I know they after he committed, they told him to cut all his hair. He couldn't show up on campus with it, and he couldn't study for the degree he wanted. It was literally the week later. So nil is great. Get young people introduced to money and contracts as early as possible so
that they make their mistakes as young as possible. And that quarterback just learned that he's going to be known for whatever people's opinions are of him stepping out on this team versus head. He kept playing and been the starting quarterback of a four and oh or five and oh UNLV team in Las Vegas and shock in the world and maybe transferring somewhere next year where he's going to get some shine as.
An offensive lineman. I got to ask this question, which quarterback would you love to play for or play with? A guy who is your premier pocket passer or that guy who has the ability to manipulate the pocket wants to starts to break down.
Which which guy did you rather block? Four?
The third guy, the one who can do both, and I'm talking about Jayden Daniels and or Patrick Mahomes. I mean, you need both, you need the What people fail to remember is that when you have a quarterback that's a dual threat quarterback that everybody knows what they're gonna do. They want to run early like a Lamar Jackson, even though he is a great pocket passer. Let's not get it twisted. However, when you sing in the pocket, you
force the defense to play its natural pass defense. And the more you can sit in the pocket, even eight nine times in a row, the more that they're gonna start doing drop coverages, especially if you're getting some yards and first down through the pass. But if you don't have a guy that can break out in those team moments and still get it downfield, you're gonna lose a lot of football games. So I'll take the guys that can do both. I'm gonna throw I'm gonna throw Josh
Allen on that list too. Now. I won't put it. He's earned that too. So the three guys in the NFL who can do it right now, I'll take those three because they can do both.
I'm with you, man Ay Ryan. We really appreciate you taking some time out for us tonight and join us. We always appreciate having you on the show.
Brother fell as fun as always, peace YEP, take care, right, Harris