The End of an Error or: A Motivational Hobbit

We're back, and we hope distance has made the heart grow fonder, just as our hearts have grown, because Russell Wilson is no longer in the centennial state.

Let's go. Deuces!

Welcome in, welcome in to the triumphant return of the Bloosfor Brothers. Life got us busy there for a few weeks, but we are back. I am Kyle Pullen, joined as always by my brother Ryan Pullen, produced by Dan the Man. The super producer and Ryan, the people of Denver were asking, nay pleading, when the news of Russell Wilson leaving the team broke, the Twitter was exploding, will, will Ryan come home? You know, the hashtag, come home Ryan. You know, there's room in this barrel man's baler, you know, just all sorts of hashtags We're flying around and so Ryan, I just want to open the floor to you. Where do you stand on your Broncos fandom? Where are you at in the process buddy? Do people want to know?

Well, it's, I mean, I was pretty clear from the beginning, right? I was clear that this was, this was a Russell Wilson based hate. Uh, and I've never been proven more right. Uh, I'm going to take my one last victory lap on that. Uh, you idiots bought in, I said, he's terrible, he's toxic, he's the worst toxic positivity, we've all had that boss who is just, the shit is going bad, and they're just telling you it's going well, uh, so, I'm happy that he's gone, because it feels good to be rooting for my hometown team again, uh, the Dolphins will always have a, have a special place in my heart, I think we all know that. Um, and we're gonna get into this, but it's not necessarily a great time to be jumping back in, in bed with, uh, your barrel man there. Like, the prospects of the team are looking rough. So, I'm not, I'm not ecstatic about it. I'm not, I'm not

ecstatic. What happened was, you had a little bit of a midlife crisis. You went on a bender and ended up with someone unbelievably hot. And You've now enjoyed a dalliance, but it's time to go back home to your significantly uglier and just all around crappier wife and kids, and you'll never forget your times. Stormy out there in Miami, but you had to come home to Cheryl. Like at some point you had to come home to Cheryl.

I like it. And welcome back. Mike and Sean.

She is wearing a onesie nightgown,

right? I just want, we can make this, we don't have to make an analogy. Like, we could just use the head coaches as a perfect example of what you're illustrating right now in Mike McDaniel and Sean Payton's, uh, ugly, like every time I see him in,

in his shot. Mike McDaniels isn't letting Kevin James ass play him, I'll tell you that. No. I don't care how much time

has passed. I was trying to remember that actor's name as I was going at this. I couldn't do it. I still haven't seen the film and won't, so. I make

so many Kevin James references on this that when my FBI agent is listening on my phone, I get King of Queens recommendations on YouTube Shorts. Like, this guy is a fan.

That is a pretty good anecdote. And I

watch him every time, so they're not wrong. Alright, underrated show. Everybody loves Raymond, got a lot of praise, but the King of Queens was just

sitting there. I had a big crush on, uh, what's his wife's name?

Uh, the uh, one who exposed Scientology. Uh, Leah Remini. Yeah,

Remini. Yeah, she was, she was a dime probably still is so good for kevin on that one. He really outkicked his coverage I don't know what sean's wife looks like, but I hope he did the same So, yeah, so back to russ well It's good to be back I guess, uh russ I mean he is now I think it's the it's double the The second largest dead cap hit that a team is ever going to swallow. So not only was it extremely stupid and failed miserably, it's going to be the most expensive, stupid mistake that an NFL team has ever made.

So you're not wrong there, Ryan, any of the things that you're saying, but it feels good to have you address the problem as a wee problem again. And with that in mind. You're right Dan and I had blind spots. We maybe can't be perfectly trusted as quarterback evaluators anymore So we need you to scan the free agency look into the draft and see what the Broncos should do so that we don't end up cheering for a motivational hobbit

That's the most perfect DNVR should make that a shirt. Actually, we should make that a shirt. We should have let's ride on a motivational hobbit. Let's, let's get some, let's get the creative team on that. Um, I think it's, I'm, I think this is really what people come to the podcast for. They really come here to, uh, listen to the former. Cross country runner talk about his preach his quarterback rankings based on Literally an hour of research that I did today and the podcast that I've been

I wish you wouldn't have said that last part Well,

all right Yes and podcast, but I did actually go in and read some stuff and actually watch some of these throws, you know And then I'm yes ladies. He can read I've been listening to people talk about the draft since the season got over so I'm not completely blind to it But to be honest until they released Russ, I wasn't letting myself fully get invested in this pick So today I was like, all right, I'm gonna start actually doing some research. And so here are my ranking initial Initial rankings unadulterated. These are going to change tomorrow. Um, but with the number one pick, and I think people might be surprised given my gumption for us, another player. Uh, but with my number one, I'm, I'm going Drake may, I think just him being. Uh, like, younger prospect, obviously there, there's a guy that I really like in free agency who we could get into right now. I'll just, I'll just run through my list and then we can sort of jive off of that. So I got, Drake, you could stop me if you really have a, a opinion, but Drake May, number one, any strong reaction?

So that means you're trading up, which

means you're giving stuff up. You gotta probably get to three. And to me, this is a draft day trade. Like if, if somebody goes a surprise two and Drake May is still sitting there, I could see us jumping in and being like, all right, Patriots, what do you want? Like, yeah, which one do you want?

Um, and then obviously. Depends on how you feel about Daniels, uh, as well, because you're probably gonna go into that and be like, hey, either one. We'll get into how

I feel about Daniels later. Uh, yeah. But then number two, I've got Justin Fields. I would just, I would trade for Justin Fields. And I think this might be the most realistic of all of these options. I think you could trade for Justin Fields and 13 or whatever we're sitting at right now. And be perfectly happy. So, uh, with my number three, I'm going Michael Penix. I, I want to cheer for this guy. I, uh, I think he's the most exciting player in the draft, like at his highest highs, you could see him being like a Lamar Jackson type of player, but obviously he's got the wicked injury, injury history. Uh, At my number four, I'm going J. J. McCarthy. I don't really understand why he's rising so much, necessarily. It doesn't, uh, from what I was reading today, it doesn't seem like he can throw left, which does seem to be concerning in the NFL. Uh As long as

it's not across the middle. It's

something different. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

I'll, I'll get to see, I'm used to watching the game in two thirds only being available.

So, it'd be nice if the middle of the field was, yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's seeing the cup half full. That's what you're here for, Kyle. Yeah, um, and I'm going, uh, Jaden Mc, Jaden Daniels, uh, what is this, my fifth pick here, uh,

Do you think him or Drake May is going

before? I think Jaden Daniels is gonna go before and I think it's a mistake. I think he's too small. And I think he, uh, I just think he's too small. I think he's gonna get destroyed. Uh, and so And I guess that's that's really I think sums up the list To round it out. I guess Bo Nix is there like he hypothetically does exist, but he is last on my list with the bullet So yeah, you can trade

back for Bo Nix and you could

yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah

No, it's

all that you could pick up an offensive lineman at 13 Yeah, um, overall reactions to our options there.

This truly is the darkest timeline. Uh, are my initial reactions.

Uh, do you feel that I left anybody off? Any snubs?

I don't think they're, I wouldn't call them necessarily snubs. What I would say is, I have some outside the box thinking about this. Of, what if you just stay at 12? You take a stud. You take the other cornerback from Alabama.

Um, and,

you just make your football team better. And then, Hartman or Rattler is gonna be sitting there in those late 5 7 rounds. You get one of them, you're taking a flyer and if you hit great, you got an even better team around them because you didn't use as many resources. And if they miss, who cares? You only did a fifth or seventh and you can always say, well, we weren't in range of getting to any of the top guys that people would really be excited about, you know? Okay,

so I don't, I don't hate this line of thinking, but I think this is why I love Justin Fields even more. Because the best part about Justin Fields is you don't have to pay him right away. He's still under contract like you can give up a third round pick for Justin Fields right now But and I don't disagree with what you're saying that they might want to take multiple cracks at this Like I don't think big because you've trade up you should be afraid to take another quarterback later Like I just think you should take as many swings at this as possible So I'm of that thinking as well but with those like secondary type of guys it just feels like a lot of times they do the best when they do Take a year to learn the system, like throwing one of those guys into the fire right away. Like you kind of need a starter. Like, so in that scenario, I just think you need to find a starting quarterback and somebody relatively competent. And I think Justin Fields fits a lot of those bills. And if you actually hit on that other guy, you can let Justin Fields walk or you could sign him and trade him. Like there are a lot, it just opens up so many different options for you.

Yeah, I think if your fields, I think if you get fields, the first question I have is who besides us is desperate enough to like really wet the appetite of the bears so much that you're maybe negotiating from a place of power where you're like, Hey, you need to get this guy out of there.

I think that's the best part of this, is that nobody is negotiating with him. Like, I think you, uh, the thing that I heard today was a third round pick. So like, jeez, that's insane, right? Like, if you can give up a third round pick for a guy that we, we both think is like, he's not the best quarterback ever, but he can be used better than the Bears were using him. Like, Sean Payton is a better coach than Ibraflux, like, he's done really well with short quarterbacks, like, Justin Fields has an arm, he's a mobile guy, like, I just think giving up a third round pick for him and then taking as many swings in the draft as possible is a pretty good strategy.

I agree with that. I think, I mean, I don't think there's anyone on that list that is more exciting to me than Justin Fields potential. He just has a lot of the intangibles and arm talent that. Are superior to even someone like a Drake May or something like that, where you're like, well, his profile, he would have been a better prospect.

And we've seen it. Like, we have literally seen him be good in NFL games. That is, that, that could not be Be kind of unstoppable. That cannot be overrated. Like, we've never seen Drake maybe in an NFL game. There are lots of quarterbacks who we have thought, the NFL is littered with quarterbacks that everybody thought were going to change their franchise and they were terrible. So, I just think, having a known commodity and then taking, uh, you know, I'm fine taking Spencer Rattler and the whatever. But like, you have to have a starting quarterback. That can't be your plan. Uh, is hitting Spencer Rattler in the eighth round. Uh, otherwise take him in the second. Like, yeah, I don't know.

Yeah. No, I think this is, uh, as good of a place as any to kind of, Wrap this conversation. And I think our overall point and words to Broncos nation that we can now address together is it's kind of all crappy options and there's no sure thing and there's no way to assure thing. Um, because for some reason you decided you wanted to win randomly in November. Like, what'd you do that for?

Russell's just out there throwing for touchdowns. Trust me. It's

a true outrage. Um, but I guess we're just saying if there's not a big splash on draft day, I'm not sure there was one to be made. And don't blow your gasket if they take a cornerback from Alabama. With their first pick. That's my word of caution. Ryan, what are your closing thoughts or closing words?

I, I will be furious. I will be blowing my gasket if they take the quarterback from Alabama. I will lose my goddamn mind, Kyle. I really will. Yeah, I will be, I will be physically upset. They better take a quarterback and they better, they should take three quarterbacks in this draft. There's no reason not to. I just, uh, that is, that's an insane strategy. Other than the rest of our

team kind of sucks.

I don't care. Go find a quarterback. You have a generational cornerback. What the fuck are you doing? Drafting another one in this first round? What are we doing? Defense

can't shut down the. I'm just saying best available. There were some that had us taking an edge rusher, some that had us taking J. J. McCarthy, um,

some that had us taking J. J. McCarthy, I'll also be devastated,

but That's what I'm saying. Like, don't you just want to be like, we got the best corner in the draft. Alright, that's dope, versus, I think we got the

13th

best quarterback in J. J. McCarthy.

I'd rather take one of the 9 seemingly awesome wide receivers in the first round. Like, give me a player that I am going watch play football. I wouldn't hate that either. What do we do at some point? I'm just saying

best available kind of a thing rather than a,

if you start running this franchise, like Walmart, I'm going to be pissed.

These are the takes we've been missing. I love it. The passion has returned, the sadness has returned. You came back, the wife is asking you to apply some cream.

How does Payton still have a job? Or Patton, what the fuck, George?

George, yeah, good old George, George Payton. Um,

he's

been mediocre at best, and I don't trust him to do the right thing here. He did Russ, what are we doing? I just, yeah, I don't, I think both you and I thought that he should have been fired before any rust decision is made. Any draft decision has made any trade because he's not going to be here. But, they made their choice.

It's just, I don't know where the incompetence is coming from. It's, uh, yeah. It's in the walls. We're gonna have to do some digging on this. I'll get my people on it.

We're gonna do, uh, one of those bad Ghostbusters shows. Where Ryan's like, I can feel the stupid energy over here. It's very strong. Oh, it's been leaking into George's office. Oh my, we better follow this. We're outside

of Elway's and Cherry Creek. Yeah,

ma'am. Really? You're going to eat that shrimp. Wow. That's wild, ma'am. All right.

I'm told John comes in there daily.

Dan's going to be, Dan's job is going to be the guy that pretends to be scared. You know, there's always a guy who's like, Oh

my God, we shouldn't go in there. Guys, we shouldn't go in there. John's going to

be really mad if he hears about this.

We will hear from John if he hears about this. It sucks. In short, it sucks. I miss Tua. Cause George Can we get

Tua? Was a good hire. That would make me feel better. Everyone

was excited. Maybe we could get Tua.

I do not want all those concussions.

Well, it's really just the NFL these days, so. Don't know what to tell you there, buddy. Yeah, it's not great.

Um, all right, moving on to happier waters, uh, the Denver Nuggets, they've come out of the all star break. Nicola Jokic said no more, Mr. Nice guy and has been giving everyone the business. The nuggets have not lost. They kind of appear like they're going to lose as we're recording, but we'll see. So what

have you made Kyle? Huh? You, you feel we'll see it from this game.

I've seen the Nuggets go on 30, 40 point runs at this point, uh, so when they decide they're going to turn it on, it's a thing and Nerkich is fouling at an alarming rate. If you are a Suns

fan,

but, uh, what have you seen from this team and you sent out a sneaky text that you're had finally pulled the trigger on a Nuggets division, but how are you feeling with that?

Uh, I mean, this team looks, I texted you after I went to two games last week and I texted you after both of them. And it's like, well, I feel like we're going to win again. This is the most confident I've felt, um, since essentially the last, uh, uh, going into the playoffs last year. Like I was extremely confident going into the playoffs last year and I'm extremely confident right now. Um, everybody's on a string. The bench has played a little bit better. Um, not Reggie Jackson, him excluded. He's not played very well, but CB started to look. Um, Peyton Watson is like rounding into himself a little bit. So I think it's just, uh, we are, we're sort of rounding into form and I'm excited. The reason I placed the division bet is because I think that this team, like while they could coast last year going into the playoffs, I feel like they, they know that they can't coast going into the playoffs this year. So. I think they're going to take this very seriously, which has been borne out so far, obviously, in terms of the, um, since the all star break. So that's why I placed the division bet. And I feel great about it. Uh, DraftKings is actually currently offering me more money than I placed the wager for to cash out. So even they're feeling a little bit worse about it, even two days later. So feeling the heat.

Um,

The wolves go more in depth, right? Like if, if we're counting on two teams to sort of struggle down the stretch, like the wolves have been looking pretty bad lately and the thunder are really young. So as the buttholes start to get tight, I trust the NBA champions more than, uh, those two teams. Yeah. I'm just a little

nervous about the, uh, three matchups with the Timberwolves down one L already, but go

three. You know, lock up that division. I would like it.

The, there were a few points that you went through in there that I wanted to get into a little bit more. I'm curious of what you mean when you say Christian looks way better. Cause I kinda come down on the other side. That Christian is back to early rookie season Christian. In which he is in offensive zero and non threat. And, unless he is out in the open floor and dunking. But he is trying extremely hard and playing disciplined defense and he

boards strong. Yeah, and that's way better than what he's been doing for the last 35 games. I guess,

by a certain thing. I'm just saying, yeah, I guess not actively trying to lose. Yeah, it's been

playable and that's huge. I mean, when you can put Do you think

that's good enough this year with no Bruce Brown? Where Bruce Brown was kind of the guy Who it was like, Oh, we got a random 26 from Bruce tonight. You know, like, I don't know that Christian can ever be that. Reggie, as you mentioned, has been trending the wrong

direction. He can definitely do that though. He can,

but what's your trust level in that?

In the playoffs, I think Reggie will have a 25 point game. That guy just, I would take the other

side of that. I don't think I just

know. I don't think, I don't think it's going to have to happen like that though. Like Mike is so much better. Like he's been he didn't miss, uh, two nights ago I mean he like I just think everybody has taken that step up to where the bench doesn't really scare me like They're not winning those minutes by They're not going to win that those minutes by outscoring anybody. They're gonna win those minutes the reason Bruce Bowne was effective in those minutes was because they were awesome on defense and then they would just run and This second unit has started to figure that out a little bit and they're getting out in Transition a little bit more and getting Christian Brown into those looks and I I think that's what they're gonna have to do Yeah

Yeah, I just worry a little bit about the offensive threat level. Um, and that's been my concern. And to be clear, that's only at like the highest levels. That's not like, I'm going to be like round one, will they need Christian? I'm like, no, they're probably. Going to beat whoever we're playing by 20, uh, with the starters. So you can lose by 15 and we'll win by five, you know, but like highest levels us first, okay. See us first Boston. That's where I get worried about that, of like a true championship.

I don't, I'm not worried, I see. Um, but, I, I do get what you mean. I mean, it's all margins, right? Like, I also think that Jokic is better than last year. And I think Jabal is gonna be as good if not better than he was last year. Like I think that there's, there's been growth by everybody on the team in a way that the bench scares me, but it scared me last year. Like it was going to be the reason we won or lost last year too. And when you're winning a championship stuff comes down to those little one percent. That's, it's hard to predict, but

I will say I would feel better about it. If we wrap up the one seed and you're just like, Oh, you guys give four games at home, like even the beginning of the playoffs last year, our bench was so different on at home other than the road, they got comfortable against the Lakers. And then the heat, I, they just were not scared of at all. So they. They did just fine there.

Yeah, it's been, uh, It's gonna be an interesting run. Stretch run. I mean, I think Uh, the bench will start to I think we'll, I'll either be proven right in the next 15 games and we'll be feeling really good going into the playoffs or you'll be proven right and we're gonna be feeling pretty nervous I think, so, um Yeah. It always just feels good knowing that Nikola Jokic is on your team. Uh, that's really what it boils down to.

Yeah, it's uh, The confidence level is

always extremely high.

Yeah, seeing him just like be so much better. Then LeBron James on LeBron James night was just like, yikes. Like

that shot that he hit at the end of the first quarter, the spinning three 63 was just like, I mean, that's MVP moment right there. Like he's going to win. Right. There's no way he doesn't win.

Nah. I mean, I think there's a world in which if he shows up and. Plays really poorly. Um, in a few games and SGA and them when the one seed or, um, Tatum and them, I don't think Tatum at all, but I mean, I guess SGA or Luca with a run and with Yoke, it's fading down the stretch. Maybe, but he's a heavy favorite for the reason.

Yeah. I haven't even looked at what it is,

but, um, the other thing I wanted to talk about is heading into this, you kind of started with it by saying you're not scared of the thunder who. Are the teams you are most afraid of to see in the playoffs right now. Uh, and let's just stay in the West because there's an obvious one. Can we just put it on there? We both are, uh, frightened of a series with the Celtics, not in like a, we can't beat them, but that would be a very hard fought series. The Celtics are unbelievable and no one else in the East scares

me. Uh, yeah, I agree with that. Um, so we can just do the West. I will actually say that Milwaukee scares me a little bit, just because in terms of just two guys going nuclear, like if they just somehow figured it out, like, Giannis were both playing, because Giannis is, he's historically been tough for us. Uh, so that is, uh,

that's, I'm telling you. We just guard him with Jokic, and then you have Brooke Lopez

out there. Yeah, we don't have to go into it, but it's

They don't scare me. You can't have Malik Baisley starting for you and have that defensive IQ out there. And be scary.

I think Minnesota scares me probably the most in the

West. Yep. We agree on that one.

I think. Hmm. I don't know if really anybody else scares me that much in the West, I would say, can I

make the, can make the Thunder

case to you. I would say the Clippers next but we just own their ass. So like it's at this point It's almost comical and honestly, it's it's almost comical with Every team who you might say like, oh the Lakers fans and all the Thunder fans. Whoa like nah

Yeah, no outside of fans I just think the Thunder have Some physical defenders to throw at Jamal, which is what you need. They are long in every position. I do think in the physicality of a playoff series. It would be a problem for them to be as kind of, it's weird to say for a team that plays Lou Dort and, uh, Williams to say they're a little light, but when you add Chet, Giddy and SGA, they are a little light.

They don't have a center.

So

I do think they

would be a bit of a problem, but I think they present a lot of problems for us. And at that point, I think we're talking about a Western conference finals. Where that's a younger team that's gotten confidence. No. And so they've had a little bit more belief in themselves.

You, that is, it's, this is awful that they are not scary to me. They, they don't have a center. They have nobody who can even remotely guard Jokic. Like you're talking about double teaming off of. Double teaming the best player in the world over a seven game series. Like what can they possibly do with Jokic over seven games? This is, it's not like, ain't a one off game. Get messed

up and beat us three times out of four. Like they have. Like Jokic does give them the business, but if Jamal Murray part of it. Can't give you the business then we become a much more beatable team

I just I don't think there's any way that over the first three games of that series they just don't immediately figure them out and Start busting their ass. I that the the lot you're saying that they have physical defenders, but they literally don't have anybody who can put a body up against Kitchen stay in their ground. There is there does not that person does not exist on their roster So you're going to have to send help and you're fucked. He will figure you out. You're just like, that's, it's a really bad recipe. Um, and we haven't played them well in the regular season, but I don't, I don't, I'm not reading too much into that. So,

yeah. I mean, they've obviously, they've kind of done the Rui Hachimura with, uh, Williams there and then having Chet as help after the first game, Jokic gave Chet the business, as you said. Um, so I think it's something to keep an eye on. It sounds like a definite no. And so I hesitate to even ask this, but I do feel that I am a little, not scared maybe is the right word, but nervous. Let's say the Nuggets get the one seed and they've crushed a decrepit Warriors or Lakers team, which fine. And then waiting for them is a healthy Zion. A healthy Brandon Ingram. Valanchunis. Does

that frighten you? I mean, you gotta be a true Nuggets fan, but hell yeah, that frightened me. Like, they, I feel like they always, when healthy, busted us up. I remember actually watching, I think it was during March Madness, when we went up to Blackhawk one time. And there was a Nuggets Pelicans game that was like on that same Saturday as March Madness or something, and we just got absolutely destroyed, uh, and it was the, it was like maybe the third time of that just kind of brutal beatdown by them, and I was like, I don't think I like playing this team anymore. I don't want to see you guys. So, I'm, I'm with you there. Not frightened, but it's not a fun matchup. Yeah.

I would be momentarily mad that we got the one seed. Like, aw, why couldn't we have avoided them? But, um, alright. I think that kind of wraps up where we are right now. It feels good to have you on board for the Broncos again. I'm happy the Nuggets are winning I can't wait for this stretch round of Nuggets and Avs and It's good to be

back with you, brother. Yeah, the Avs Are not looking fantastic. Although they did kick the shit out of somebody last night Yeah,

the Blackhawks got it, but That's kind of what's happened lately with the Avs and the Blackhawks, so

All right, all right, well, well we have to watch into this game so it's unbelievable folks

Christian Brown just made a basket. It's like he heard me talking shit All right till next week if I

can subscribe. It's because you started calling him Brown again. You gotta go back to Brown. Peace Lucifer Brothers is a Crab Shell Media Podcast