Week 10

[00:00:00] All right, The Blucifer Brothers are back this week. We are talking Nuggets, the best team in the NBA, and the Broncos are back. Will it be a push to the playoffs or a tush push to mediocrity? All that and more. Dan, play that funky music.

[00:00:20] 3, 2, 1. It is a beautiful Thursday night here in Colorado. The Blucifer Brothers coming to you live. I am your host, Kyle Poland, joined as always by my brother, Ryan Poland, produced as always by Dan the Man, our super producer.

[00:00:40] Ryan, how has your week been? We have had our first Nuggets extended homestand. Your streak has been kept alive. You were briefly sitting in a different section for a second of the Pelicans. I thought your streak might come to an end, but you powered through despite three home games in a week. Your streak lives. How was your week full of Nuggets basketball?

[00:01:11] I think it was actually four home games since we've last recorded, which is because they had Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday.

[00:01:21] So it's been a lot of ball arena, I will say. I would actually say me and the crowd were dragging a little bit in that Golden State game. I don't know how it came across on TV, but the energy in the stadium was there when it needed to go up, but it wasn't a consistent thing there.

[00:01:45] So Wednesday night late game to be expected, I suppose. But yeah, other than Nuggets basketball, you know, my week was another week, another week of watching these Nuggets just catch Ws, really.

[00:01:59] It's been a beautiful thing. The NBA attempted to absolutely screw the Nuggets. I didn't think about it until all the kind of fully the stats. I knew that we had a very heavy game schedule early on, but I didn't realize how heavy.

[00:02:21] And the fact that we are the champs and we got such a heavy early schedule when we had to play the deepest, this was set up for the Nuggets to have some schedule losses, even to some, you know, inferior opponents. And they've just kind of refused to do that. The one loss that they took was against a Minnesota team that went on to beat the Celtics at home as well and made them look very human.

[00:02:48] And then and has kind of just been beating the hell out of everybody and as the number one defense in the NBA. So that loss looks better and better by the day. And and they always play that you knew that they were going to be up for that series after they probably feel like if they had a healthy roster, they would have beat the Nuggets last year and they would be champions. I mean, Carl Anthony Towns basically said that this summer. So Carl Anthony Towns said a lot of things this summer. So, yeah, that was one of them.

[00:03:15] Yeah. But let's get into the Nuggets first as we have actual games to talk about there. Like you said, a pretty I think the biggest news and something I want to go over first, Jamal Murray hamstring. That was a hideous game against the Bulls. You could tell the Bulls were exhausted.

[00:03:38] They like the Nuggets had played there in their tournament in season game, had gone down to a last second shot in which they lost. And then obviously the Nuggets were coming off back to back in which they beat Dallas at home. Both teams were insanely tired. It was literally if I was a player and I was trying to promote why people rest, I would just show the Chicago Denver game.

[00:04:05] I'd be like, OK, but sure, all the stars played. But do you want to watch this? Because this this is what you want. Both teams played insanely tired. It was very ugly basketball, but the Nuggets were significantly better. But it did lead to a Jamal Murray injury, which just a few days ago we learned from Woj. Malone had hinted at it well before that, but he is going to be gone at least the month of November. We've now had two games, no Jamal Murray.

[00:04:35] We have seen some Colin Gillespie minutes. Reggie Jackson has had some very good offensive moments and some very, very bad defensive moments. And so I'm just curious, what kind of do you expect rotation wise? Malone got on the young guys for kind of their preparation against the Warriors.

[00:05:04] Justin Holliday made his first kind of non-garbage time appearance, hit a big three in the corner. We kind of both thought he was going to be perfect for this team and be a Malone guy. Do you think that he's going to going forward kind of be in that backup lineup or do you think they will keep rolling with Colin Gillespie? Yeah, I think it's an interesting question.

[00:05:31] I think that particular position is really hard for me to predict right now. I think right now, I think that Peyton Watson is the one that I would be the most worried about if I was a fan of the Nuggets and really felt like that young core was going to succeed.

[00:05:56] Because to me, he is the one who's coming underneath the most Malone fire. When you bring up that quote, I think we talked about it a little bit pre-pod. It's pretty clear that he's probably talking about him. If you're not going to prepare, he really will not play you. And when you have a guy like Holiday that's sitting right there who sort of plays a similar position and fills a similar role, it was clear from the beginning.

[00:06:23] I thought that it was going to be classic Malone and he was going to trust these young guys or trust the older veterans more than the young guys. And Peyton Watson, they were going to have their roles switched essentially. But whether that was the front office, Calvin saying, no, no, no, Michael, you have to play these guys. Or whether it's just they've looked better in practice or he wants to know what they look like. He's been giving them chances.

[00:06:49] But if you're not going to prepare and you start squandering these chances over and over again, he's not going to lose games because he plays Peyton Watson 15 minutes. And we've seen it with Michael Porter in the past. Once you lose the trust, it's really hard to gain it back because the team is deep enough where it's hard to earn those minutes back. Once Holiday starts eating those minutes, and I think Holiday is good. So it's just hard to predict right now.

[00:07:19] I know that Peyton Watson is going to get a longer leash, right? Because he's shown flashes and shown really good things, even in the whatever nine games that we played this year. But I don't think that Colin Gillespie is going to be a long-term answer. He just seems like too much of a liability on... It's not even really that he's doing the wrong things. He's just not big enough.

[00:07:47] And he seemingly has good chemistry. He's even played some minutes with Jokic and they seemed fine. He took a three off of the screen from Jokic. And I think even Jokic was like, all right, buddy, you're not Jabal. I mean, you were open, but don't get call it. So yeah, I don't know. It's been fun to see the young guys get some run, though. I will say that. I don't know. What have your impressions been? Yeah, I've liked...

[00:08:14] I thought Colin, especially in the second half, kind of found some confidence, as did a lot of the second unit against the Pelicans. And they were a lot of downhill, obviously Strother. But Gillespie had really a breakout second half. But in both games, people talk about targeting Jokic or targeting Porter. They were finding Gillespie.

[00:08:37] And obviously, especially with our second unit, where you have Brown, you have Najee, you have Watson, and Strother, who's 6'7", or Holiday, whoever. Those guys are all very switchable and very good defenders. And so you saw them try to get Gillespie on Ingram. You saw him try to get him on Klay. You saw him... I mean, he is just pretty small. And to me, I always think about playoffs.

[00:09:07] Right? Like, last year we were screaming, you have to trust Porter, even when he does stupid things, because our ceiling needs Porter. I think you're right, that long-term, our ceiling doesn't require Colin Gillespie. Even if, you know, Reggie Jackson is involved in a trade, whatever. I think you would play a Aaron Gordon brings the ball up, and then you use other guys. I think you would play Strother, honestly.

[00:09:35] And I know that, like, Christian Brown was supposed to be getting better at handling the ball this summer. Like, I think that there are other options before you're really relying on Colin Gillespie in a real way. And I think, honestly, like, Colin Gillespie, coming into the year, you would not have said he was going to get any run on this team. Like, he is on a two-way contract. So, like, this is not a guy who typically has been getting the run, but Malone has been going deep into this bench,

[00:10:03] and he has been giving guys spot minutes to, like, all right, well, let's see what you can do here. And, you know, he needs two minutes when Reggie picks up four fouls or whatever, whoever that was last night. So, you know, it's – he's going to have those opportunities now with Jamal, to your point. Like, a lot of these guys are going to get opportunities, and we'll see what they can do with them. It's been – to me, Strother is like – I would be giving him as many of these minutes as possible.

[00:10:32] Because I actually think that there's some two-man stuff with him and Jokic in a real game that if you can get that humming on a real way, like, you can really start to stagger Jamal and Jokic in a way that, like, allows Jamal to really run that second unit. And I think that's when you start to get really fucking dangerous. Yep. To me, it's all about your ceiling, and you want to try to play to your ceiling as much as possible.

[00:11:01] And the luxury of Jokic and Gordon – I mean, the Nuggets starters last night against the Warriors, who were typically a top five starting unit, they outscored them by 30. Like, they beat the hell out of them. Let me ask you, though. So, if you're playing to your ceiling, who of those, like, five, say, young guys to prove it, who do you think has the highest ceiling? So, it's probably Peyton Watson. Yeah. Yep. He's number one.

[00:11:30] If we're not including Brown, because we – at this point, he's in the circle of trust. He played through a whole playoff series. He's going to play. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think Watson has the highest. Then I think it's Strother. And then I would go Holiday at this point. Potentially Zeke Nagy. I just thought there are some games where Zeke Nagy, his energy is so good. And there are some games, like, against the Pelicans.

[00:11:56] And our whole second unit was kind of panicked by their shooting in that game. But he just was kind of jumping around out there and jumping at everything and just kind of out of position because he was so excited. Like, he was just trying to be like, energy, energy. And it's like, okay, but be smart, right? I don't necessarily remember every moment of this player's career enough to make this comp really confidently. But I imagine it's what sort of a young Eduardo Nahra was doing

[00:12:26] where you were like, I love that energy, Eduardo. But you don't need to one-man press when we're already getting worked at the four. Like, we need you to just go pick up your guy. Yeah. So, there are some of those moments where you're like, yeah, that's great that you hustled over there, but you really screwed yourself. So, like... Yeah. And so, because I mean, really, it's breaking into the top eight, right? Because we saw last year, everyone was so nervous about the bench.

[00:12:55] And then Malone was like, I'm not playing a backup center. Like, are you guys high? Like, I'm not doing that. We're going to play Aaron Gordon. Like, and he intentionally rested Aaron a lot. He intentionally rested Mike a lot to be like, I'm going to play them when it matters. And so, after Brown and after Jackson, it's for one spot, for all intents and purposes in the playoffs. And so, when you think of it like that, it's kind of a, hey, we played 7-11.

[00:13:24] You're eating as many minutes as you can. To your point, I think Malone has been smart about that, of saying, hey, we're already a team that has put miles on us last year. I'm going to eat a few minutes with whoever. Who'd you put in there? Hmm? Who'd you put in there? I think Reggie Jackson right now, assuming no trade. He'll play backup, point guard, and then Brown. And then you've got one more. And so, if you're Watson, you've got to convince him it needs to be a wing.

[00:13:54] If you're Najee, you've got to convince him that you are switchable enough and you're smart enough to not put the other team in the penalty in the second quarter within the first three minutes. I think it's matchup dependent. Yes. If you're coming up against the Timberwolves, like Zeke Najee is playing in that series, and Reggie Jackson may take a back seat. Well, probably Reggie wouldn't because we need some minutes somewhere. But the lineup is going to look significantly different.

[00:14:20] And whereas last year, it really felt like we only really had one option on the bench. That's sort of a nice problem to have. And the thing that I want to point out, everybody talks about defense with the Nuggets, right? Like, oh, and now they lose Bruce Brown. What are they going to do with that? We're seventh in defense in the NBA. Like, we were never this high ever last year. So, like, it's fine. And the Pacers gave up 150 to the Celtics where Bruce Brown lives.

[00:14:51] So, the Pacers are truly – they're a really fun team to watch, by the way. But they – I watched a lot of that game tonight. They are horrendous defensively. That is an over cash, let me tell you. Yeah, it's hard to make it high enough.

[00:15:09] But I think the other point that you have to make, you had two teams that have been traditionally, if you are a Nuggets fan for a while, been some Nuggets kryptonite. You had the Pelicans coming into town. Obviously, the next night that Zion had birth of his first kid and they sat – oh, I am spacing his name, the great wing defender really long for them. Zion had a kid? He sure did.

[00:15:40] Sure did. And Herb Jones sat. But all of them played against the Nuggets, right? And traditionally, Ingram, Zion, that kind of length has been really hard for the Nuggets to deal with. You thought with no Murray, that's a tough one. You have the 7th and 11. It was clear the Nuggets were tired.

[00:16:04] And even though no Draymond, I would say Jamal Murray is a lot more impactful than Draymond at this point in his career. And so it was really, really impressive victories. And I think it just comes down to Jokic has been unbelievable. And Malone talked about it in his postgame and I wanted to get your take on it.

[00:16:30] But it feels like as much as Jokic talks about playing the game the right way, just making the right decision, all of that, it felt like in that first half of that Pelicans game, he said, no one can buy a shot right now. They are shooting the hell out of the ball. We're going to get down 30 if I don't absolutely mess them up. And that second quarter, he absolutely obliterated them.

[00:16:59] Hit the two straight threes, went down to the post and messed them up. Just was absolutely killing them. And has a little bit more of that aggression where he's like, hey, I don't have Jamal. Maybe we don't have all the pieces that we need right now to win this game if I do not absolutely obliterate this team.

[00:17:28] And he obliterated the Pelicans and he ran out of gas down the stretch against the Warriors. But that stretch in the second quarter into early third, he absolutely obliterated them as well. He still won us the game. Yeah. And was awesome. Still hit clutch shots for us down the stretch.

[00:17:56] And I thought did a really, really good job when the Warriors just said, we're going insanely small. And we were like, fine, we're going to put them on Chris Paul. Like, and he got some really good contests. So when they made that substitution, I can't remember what exactly was happening in the game, but I think it was a free throw. So, and Jokic kind of looks around at the court and he looks at Malone and kind of puts his arms up and then points at Chris Paul.

[00:18:25] And Malone just goes, yeah. He's like, I guess I got Chris. Yeah. You could see they were really taking advantage. And part of it was, it was before Aaron Gordon and Porter subbed back in. Yeah. So you could see the importance and the makeup of this team of having size helping on the role because Jokic was doing an unbelievable job of playing at the level with Steph and really helping KCP.

[00:18:52] But it did mean that Looney was playing three on two. And at that stage was playing three on two versus Colin Gillespie and others, which made for some easy passes to Andrew Wiggins. So we then said, Hey, if you want to put this, we're going to put Aaron Gordon on Looney. So your best illegal screener is just going to switch Steph Curry onto Aaron Gordon.

[00:19:18] And that threw a wrench in things and Steph had a bad game by his standards. It was still terrifying when they were up to, or we were up to, and he had the ball in his hands. But KCP and Gordon did a great job on him. But I guess what's kind of been your takeaway from Jokic?

[00:19:38] Because for me, it's been he has brought some more intensity in moments, but it almost feels like he's forcing that intensity because he knows that he needs to work himself back into. He talked about early in the season, Hey, I'm not in peak shape right now. I'm not trying to be in peak shape right now. I know that I, we have an insanely long season.

[00:20:02] And so it almost feels like he's like trying to push himself through and doing a little emotional, you know, like maybe getting a little more emotional, getting a little bit more fired up as a way to push himself through. Whereas last year he was in such insane condition the whole season that he was like, this is easy for me. And now he has to put a little more effort into getting that at this stage. I think the NBA is just screwed.

[00:20:29] I don't, I'm not sure that I'm not sure that everybody truly realizes that this has not like we've been going to games for five years now. So like we've seen the evolution of this and it's looked basically the same, just adding little pieces and getting gradually better at basically every part of his game. Every time that there's a break, he comes back a little bit better and doing something better.

[00:20:57] Unfortunately for the league, he's figured out that nobody can stop it. But there isn't, there isn't anything that anybody can do. And when Malone is talking about him making the right basketball decision, I think that Jokic has just finally figured out that sometimes the best basketball decision in almost every moment of a Nuggets game is him going to the hoop and just bully ball. Like that is the best basketball play.

[00:21:25] And I think he started to realize that more and more where he's like, all right, like I've kind of done everything. And like, I have the respect of my teammates. Like everybody's probably telling him like, Hey man, will you just score 35 tonight? Like kid, will you just do? And we know you can. And like, we need you to. So like, I, I think that those conversations are finally probably just getting through to him to be like, Hey man, just be aggressive tonight.

[00:21:52] Like if they're giving you, if they're leaving you one-on-one, just go score, like go to your little hook shot floater in the middle of the lane. That's unstoppable. And like, it doesn't really matter what center in the league is on him. He's going to hit that shot. So it's, it's a really tough problem to solve. And I mean, you're watching Steve Kerr had a conniption on the sideline last night.

[00:22:17] I mean, the man has to just be incredibly frustrated because he's throwing every possible look you could throw at Jokic. Like they're guarding him with small guys. They're guarding him with big guys. They're double teaming him. They're sending a late double. They're like doubling him from weird angles and he's just passing out of it. And Steve Kerr has to know that he's exhausted and know that his team is playing terrible. And it's like, it's just best player on the floor at a certain point.

[00:22:47] And there isn't a game in the NBA where Jokic isn't the best player on the floor. So I think if this aggressiveness continues, I really don't know what is going to happen. And I think we're burning money by not betting him as MVP right now. So I, because with this Jamal injury, like he's going to go on a tear.

[00:23:14] And I think he could lock this up early because he should have won last year. And I mean, Giannis doesn't look great. The Bucks don't look great. And Beat will look fine. But like Maxie sort of having, like there isn't a clear Tatum's great, but Celtics have so many guys on that team. Like, I just think he's going to win that award again.

[00:23:35] And the way that he's playing right now, I honestly think we are going to win the in-season tournament and win the championship. And I'm sort of hoping for it because I like the in-season tournament. I'm in for it. And yeah, I hope that we win three titles in a row. Because yeah, that would be insane. Me too.

[00:24:03] But I agree with you. And the other part that I think you're seeing is to your point, the Warriors absolutely wanted that game. They absolutely threw out a lot of strategies. And I think that whether it's talked about nationally or the media, people know that coming to Denver is insanely hard for a playoff series.

[00:24:32] And so these teams that last year maybe didn't believe in the Nuggets. And, you know, I could totally see how the Warriors or Lakers would be like, dude, we're battle tested. We'll run. We'll get them. It's no problem. And seeing what they did. There was 43 years of history to support their hypothesis there. Yeah. It was not a crazy thing to be like, ah, man, it's the Nuggets. But this year, and obviously there's been some NBA differences as well.

[00:25:02] But it, I mean, teams are really trying to not let the Nuggets run away with the West again. Because they know if you've got to come here and you've got to win four games, good luck against this team. And that's the luxury that Jokic gives you.

[00:25:22] Speaking of awards, and I agree with you, by the way, fair or not, I think Embiid is in the, he's going to get a lot of the same conversations that Jokic got last year. Where people are like, listen, dude, I'm not voting for you again after what you did in the playoffs last year when you put all of your effort into the regular season. You know, and all of those conversations that Nuggets fans had to endure. Like I said, fair or not, they're going to happen for voters for Embiid.

[00:25:50] Well, I will just correct you a little bit to say that whether it's fair or not, Embiid actually sucked in the playoffs. Jokic was unbelievable in the playoffs. The team just sucked. So there is a little bit of a differentiation there. Of course, and Embiid was hurt, like obviously.

[00:26:10] And he did have the freaking, the green ghost from Ghostbusters, the green blob of James Harden on his team. So hard to win with that as the Clippers have found out. But the other award I wanted to talk about is Michael Porter. He has been playing really, really well.

[00:26:33] And I think a lot of people coming into this season, a lot of it for contract reasons, said this is going to be a season of Jamal Murray. He needs to make an all-star team. He needs to make an all-NBA team for the Supermax to be an option. Jamal Murray, if he comes back early December, basically like can't miss a game the rest of the season because now there are the minimum game requirement to make an all-NBA team.

[00:27:03] But the way that Michael Porter is playing, typically teams that have won a championship get a little bit more voting respect. It seems to me that it is an Aaron Gordon or Michael Porter could get the bump there. If you had to say, who do you think? If I told you right now, I said, I've looked into Crystal Ball, Ryan. There are two nuggets in the all-star game.

[00:27:29] For the first time in Jokic's career, he will have a buddy besides Luka there. Would you say it's going to be Porter the way that he's playing? Or is Aaron Gordon's kind of overall game, overall fit and dominance going to get it done for an all-star appearance for him? I think, unfortunately, probably for Nicole Jokic, it'll be Mike.

[00:27:57] I think Jokic would probably much rather go to the all-star game with Aaron Gordon than Michael Porter Jr., but that's just an assumption. Although I don't think they'll be hanging out a lot if they're both there. Yeah, and it's not for any reason. If I was choosing, and I'll vote as many times as the NBA allows me to, for the fan vote at least, the only reason – and I would vote for Aaron Gordon.

[00:28:26] I think his game is much more important and impressive than Michael Porter Jr.'s game. But Michael Porter Jr. is hitting unbelievable threes, and now he's doing some dribble driving. He's got a complete – Oop dunks. He's got some good throwdowns this year for the highlight reel. He loves to put it back on his own player. He dunked on Aaron Gordon the other night. Aaron was just standing there like, dude.

[00:28:55] Yeah, so I – yeah, I think I would probably lean Mike here. The only thing there is like he has been a little streaky. Yep. And the home road stuff is a little interesting. So – and honestly, like, AG could go on a tear too. Like, he's – he could go on two weeks where he puts up 25 a couple times and starts really getting some looks. And it's not to say he's not a highlight player either.

[00:29:23] Like, he's got some obviously unbelievable highlights in him too. So, I – He's also almost averaging a double-double, and he's not yet shooting 30% from three. And while Aaron Gordon is not a great three-point shooter, he is a 30% three-point shooter, especially with the kind of looks he gets. He's just going to get more of them now. Yeah.

[00:29:44] It's just how much – the other problem for AG is that he is exerting so much energy on the defensive end that it's harder for him. And that's why I think it's more impressive. Like, his numbers to me are more impressive than Mike's because Mike – like, and he's been better on defense, but he's just not getting the same assignment. So, AG's game to me is much more impressive, but I think – and honestly, put them both on there. Why not? Yeah.

[00:30:13] Oh, I'm for it. Put Mike in there and get him in the three-point contest. Let's get Aaron in the dunk contest while we're at it. Do you think Mike would be good at the three-point contest? Yes. I kind of think he'd be bad. Oh, I think he'd be unbelievable. Well, you have to shoot fast. Yeah. I think his shot is effortless and pure. Yeah, yeah. Most guys don't run out of time now, though. You know, like, guys get in a hurry, but they don't run out of time.

[00:30:41] Mike's shot takes – he's got, like, a real jump in it. I don't know. Can I share my conspiracy theory of why I think AG will get in? Yeah, I would love to. Never forget that some of the largest fan boating block is in China. Oh, 361. And AG spent a lot of time over in China. We saw at the Pelicans game there was a fan who traveled from China, had the sign, was shown a lot.

[00:31:07] So, I wonder if AG will get the appearance buff from out in China and could get that. His signature shoe is made by 361 Degrees, which is a Chinese company. So, that's why he's out there promoting the signature shoe. Maybe the China buff for the fan vote. And I think you're right that, like, coaches-wise, they appreciate what AG does. Well, don't they get a selection, too? Huh?

[00:31:35] Don't they get a selection? Yeah, the coaches get a few – they get, like – It's fan vote. And I think they get to automatically choose replacements, which there always are. And so, I can see – AG is a great replacement. Yeah. And if Adam Silver wants it to be more like a game, well, you need someone who can guard Tatum, who can guard Wings. Can we talk about that? Not that AG will. That's not – he's not fixing that. The All-Star game has sucked for forever.

[00:32:05] It's never been good. They're never going to care. I kind of – I would rather have just people running around and dunking. I don't – I'm not there. Like, I'm not watching the game to be like, oh, I want to watch a great game of basketball. Like, I'd be fine if they didn't play the game. I'd be fine if we just did All-Star Saturday and, like, we just did the scale stuff. That's what all anybody cares about. And that was all we did. I don't care. Honestly, what about, like, just – I mean, how many guys are on the teams now?

[00:32:35] How many guys get selected? 15 each? Is it 30 guys? I think so, yeah. So, just make 10 or whatever. Do, like, eight 3v3 teams. Have some subs. I would be down for that. Do a round-robin tournament. Just winner gets a million dollars apiece and, yeah. I'm down for that. Really anything else but the game. Yeah, for sure. But, yeah. Shout out, Mike. Shout out, Aaron.

[00:33:03] I think sometimes in the, you know, Jokic-gasm that people have, which is deserved, those guys' impact gets lost. And you saw it last night when both of them were off the floor. And all of a sudden, you were like, holy hell, we're small back there behind Jokic. And now Jokic is playing at the level, which is where he plays pick and roll the best because he has quick hands. He has all that good stuff. But they can just float it for forever. And Colin Gillespie will never take it from Looney.

[00:33:31] And then, you know, Wiggins can cut back, all that stuff. KCP is also having, I mean, if he's not on an all-defensive team this year, like, what are we doing? We shouldn't even do it if he's not going to make one. Yeah. It's him. Him and Jaden McDaniels are the top right now in the West. Those two guys are head and shoulders above everybody. I hope he punches a wall if we have to play him in the playoffs again. Oh, my God. I'm so happy he wasn't in that series.

[00:34:02] I cannot imagine how much I would have hated him by the end of that. Yeah. It would have been awful. But, yeah, I think that's good nuggets talk. They've got Sunday with the Rockets playing really well. Let's get into the Broncos. First of all, Ryan, this is just the biggest news about the Broncos during their bye week is

[00:34:25] we're going to outspend everyone and get the nicest facility in the NFL while the Nuggets still have leaks in their practice for the Broncos are going to have this insane state-of-the-art facility. Do you think this matters in the NFL to players and to people when you're talking about, we always talk about the stability of

[00:34:54] Bolin, but is this part of that stability of like, hey, we're always going to invest. You can know that the money is going to be there. And if you perform, we'll pay you kind of a thing. I think it's just one of those like subtle flexes by the extremely rich. The Waltons must be, I've been rewatching Breaking Bad and they must be like laundering some meth money or something. Like, I don't know what they're spending money on at this point. It feels lavish if I'm being a little honest.

[00:35:25] I get the, hey, if organizationally, I've got an MBA. We could talk about that. Organizationally, I definitely understand why you would want all the decision makers in the same place. They can all see the practice field, you know, having some synergy of the business side versus the football side. But at the end of the day, literally, who cares? No, I don't think any player is making a decision based on what the facility.

[00:35:52] I mean, it might be like a nice perk, but I don't think they're coming here to deal with Wilson doing high knees on the airplane just because they're going to have a nice cold tub. Yeah. No, I do think that I think it's one of those things where unless you're on the low end, like guys have talked a bunch of crap about the Cardinals organization of like having to pay for waters.

[00:36:17] And stuff like they're like, so unless you're on like a super crappy end where the word spreads there, everything in the NFL is like really nice now that it's probably not. And the Broncos have a great organizational reputation. It's not like, you know, they've taken care of Von Miller. They took care of a lot of guys at the end of their career. So I don't think they're making up for anything.

[00:36:44] I literally am just like, I think they're just spending money to spend it and they have literally an unlimited amount of it. So why not? Yeah, sounds great to me. Being the richest is the best. Also, Ryan, what a professional you are. Look at your transition. Bringing up Von Miller, transitioning us right into the Bills game. My Lord, what a pro.

[00:37:10] So it kind of feels like, and you and I have made our feelings clear about this, but if you are an optimist, you do think that the Broncos need to win this game. To really make some noise and to really, you know, make some things happen. The Bills are absolutely reeling. Pretty much everyone on their defense is hurt besides Von Miller.

[00:37:37] And their offense is in a weird place where they can't score more than 24 points right now, which is not where you are used to seeing a Bills team. Uh, this feels terrifying to me. Uh, this spot feels exactly like how it was for the Nuggets versus the Timberwolves after the Timberwolves blew that 20 point lead against Atlanta.

[00:38:07] Where you just go, oh, they're pissed and all their backs against the wall because the Bills are not guaranteed to make the playoffs and they are in a very bad spot if they lose this game. And it, this to me kind of feels like a get right game for the Bills where everyone comes out of this, uh, you know, and there's some upset picks.

[00:38:32] There's a lot of, uh, and the Bills are like, Hey, like they're not in our class. Um, but there's been a lot of noise on the Bills. Um, it's obviously, they've had a few weeks now where they haven't been able to get right. The last time they looked right was against Miami, um, in a primetime game where they kind of blew the doors off of them. But that was when their defense was healthy. They now don't have Milano. They don't have their best corner. They don't have just a lot of talent, um, on their defense.

[00:39:02] So what's kind of your overall breakdown of this game? Um, talk to me about, uh, any, any causes for optimism here. I know that's not typically your role on the Broncos, but I want to give you, uh, an opportunity at least to, uh, share some optimistic thoughts. It sounds like I might be a little bit more optimistic than you. I, I just kind of think the Bills might be falling apart a little bit.

[00:39:28] Uh, and if anything has improved in the last couple of weeks for the Broncos, it's been the defense. And, uh, Josh Allen is struggling right now. Like he has not been Gabe Davis had a terrible week last week. Um, you know, so I think that this, they have the opportunity to slow them down a little bit. And then it's just like, what can Russell do?

[00:39:53] Uh, which, you know, my feelings on that, but for all of my dislike of him, uh, they've sort of been putting points up. So, uh, to me, seven seems too high. Like, I don't know that the Broncos win this game. Um, but I could see a cover here and it doesn't.

[00:40:14] And seven, I mean, we, we know from our years of doing this, that, uh, a lot of people are going to have the Bills on a teaser. Uh, and a lot of people are going to be waiting for that Monday night. And often when a lot of people are waiting on that teaser leg on a Monday night, it does not come through. Uh, so, you know, if you're, if you're laying that it's, it's be careful season out there to me.

[00:40:42] So I, I would not be putting the Bills in a teaser. Uh, I'm probably going to just stay away from this game entirely until it kicks off. Cause it, it's a really hard spot for me to get a good feel. Cause I had the Bills have looked so bad. I mean, you, you mentioned that Dolphins game. They played great against them, but I don't know. It's just, uh, it stinks right now from, for me. And I was listening to something today that was talking about odds for them to miss the playoffs.

[00:41:11] And it's, it's closer to even than we might think it is. So, uh, I, I think there's a little bit of potential here for the, the, and it's not, sorry, I'm just going to keep ranting here, but it's worst case scenario. If you're Broncos fan. Cause now what are you doing? You were hoping it was a overconfident, just coming off a big win, but a physical game against the Bengals short week. And all of a sudden you're coming off a buy and you sneak them.

[00:41:39] Um, but, uh, you're not sneaking them here that I keep going back to the Broncos linebackers. Um, I don't know how Vance has hid them a lot better. Um, but the other thing is the Bills have the best offensive line at not allowing pressure. Uh, and while I fully expect, uh, Sertain to do what he always does, I still don't super love our second corner.

[00:42:09] And I certainly don't love us having to do scramble drills with, you know, having to, you're always going to have to spy on, um, on, uh, Allen. And it's going to be hard to do that with jewel or Singleton.

[00:42:30] It feels like, um, and it feels like in a kitchen sink game, you're going to get the playoff version of the bills, uh, where Allen just says, I'll run all the time. It's no problem. Like I'm not going to lay up.

[00:42:46] Um, and if he doesn't lay up and he is taking off all the time, that feels very hard for me for the Broncos to not have to bring a athlete and a safety down into the box. And once you do that, now you open up the Gabe Davis, the burners that the bills have to potentially cause some problems for you. Um, the only hope though, is that the chiefs didn't do that.

[00:43:16] And, uh, granted, I mean, they don't even have Stefan digs, much less like Stefan gigs and Gabe Davis and Dalton Kincaid or whoever the title. And like that, they had more talent on the, uh, they have more skill position talent on the bills than the chiefs. But I, I, I don't know. It's just, uh, I like the over here. Uh, I think it's 47. Um, cause I think the Broncos are going to be a 46 and a half. Yeah. I think the Broncos are going to be able to put up some points too.

[00:43:44] So, um, yeah, I I'm hoping for a Monday night shootout. Honestly, I want to see some scoring. Like, yeah, I do. I will say we've talked about it. The scripted Peyton plays. Um, I think especially with this much time to, uh, get ready for a bills defense that is very depleted. Uh, I think you can go down the field on this, uh, defense.

[00:44:11] And I think that there are, um, that score against the Bengals is kind of deceiving where you go, ah, they ended up holding them to 24 after they gave up for two. Well, Jamar Chase dropped one and Burrow just missed him for one. That was, he was five yards behind everyone. And that those would have been two touchdowns and they would have gotten beat by, uh, that, that game. It never felt like the bills were going to win. We'll put it that way. And it felt like if the Bengals, even if by some miracle, they would have come back.

[00:44:42] It felt like the Bengals were going to be able to go down and get the last minute score if they really needed to in a hurry up scenario. So I agree with you. Um, I, I liked the points here. Um, I, uh, famously when we were going through this, um, I, I had, um, I, I had the Broncos sneaking them. Uh, I thought the bills were going to get right against, uh, Cincinnati and really go, go for broke there.

[00:45:10] Uh, I don't like it as much now. Uh, I agree with you. Seven feels like a lot for this Buffalo defense to, to cover. Um, but, um, especially with the bye week for this Broncos team, that's such an advantage in the NFL to have extra rest. Um, but I'm very interested to see how, if we can hide jewel and Singleton against Kincaid and Josh Allen as a combo.

[00:45:36] Cause it feels like you're going to be hearing Mr. Allen call milk check, uh, fairly often. And, and I know I've been ranting on this show about this and the, and, you know, they, to your point, they found a way to hide them against Kelsey. Um, they found a way to, um, um, do that. But I think obviously my homes was not right. And he, uh, was still able to get out and scramble, uh, quite a bit.

[00:46:04] I think Simmons also, he entertained, deserve some credit there though, because they, they are just like, I mean, Simmons came back and essentially changed the trajectory of this defense. Like it is a complete one 80 once he was back on the field. So I think when you have those players where you're able to sort of like do a little bit of like, almost like a faux double, like, or help those live backers and play a little bit more zone or whatever. It's like, you know, it, it allows that playbook to be opened up a little bit more.

[00:46:35] Yeah. Also, uh, I love in this game, just bet at this point, Josh Allen to get a pick. Oh, I was going to talk about this. It feels like he just throws the ball to the other team. Um, I mean that pick against Cincy after, you know, they went down, it was seven, seven since he comes down scores, Buffalo's gets the ball. They're moving. And he just, I mean, I, it was one of those where you're like Zach Wilson. Is that you?

[00:46:59] Like, it was like a rookie reading the, like, Oh, I can throw it there. Cause the corner, it's like, no, no, no. There's a safety. Josh Allen did have a bazillion interceptions his first year. So this has been a long running thing and he sort of fixed it. Uh, but I don't think you're fixing it against the secondary. So I think that is a, uh, fantastic leg of a bet.

[00:47:22] Uh, I'll probably find myself taking like, uh, an over 42 and a half alternate line with the Josh Allen interception and just, uh, roll that right into something. Right. Right. Right. The wave. Um, yeah.

[00:47:40] Uh, the other thing that I did want to shout out is, um, and we, we talked about a little bit going into the vibe, but Baron Browning, uh, was unbelievably disruptive and he is going to have to continue to be unbelievably disruptive. Uh, along with Zach Allen has started looking a little better with him out there. Um, I mean, you talk about people who have changed the trajectory of this defense. We talked about the first few weeks. There was no pressure.

[00:48:10] There was absolutely nobody in the backfield and Browning wrecked the chiefs on some last minute drives. Obviously the chiefs didn't have the ball for a lot of the second half because they were fumbling punts and, you know, attempting to lose the game with all their will. Um, but it does feel like, um, if you're the Broncos and you're going to win this game, you need Browning to be really unbelievable.

[00:48:36] And you kind of need to get off to a good start because this is going to be a nervous Buffalo crowd and they want to celebrate this team and they want to, but you talk about history with the nuggets. The bills have some history of disappointment. And so if they can, that's a great point because it's going to be, it's going to be ready to blow to like, if they, if they do get like some early rust sacks or like a, you know, early turnover, it could go South quick.

[00:49:04] So that's why I think the bills are the ultimate stay away before the game. That's really, I think you're going to get a bills are the ultimate bully to where once they, they're a team that if they're up 14, nothing, they might look like the best team in the NFL. But when it's close and you know, it's a gut check kind of game, then a lot of times they'll make mistakes or they'll, they, they won't quite get those third down conversions, um, that, that they need.

[00:49:33] But out in front playing free, there's not a lot of teams scarier than, than Josh Allen, uh, in that scenario at home. So, uh, it'll be interesting. We, we will be back next week to react to that. We'll react to some, some nuggets. Uh, we will, um, you know, we'll keep an eye on the abs to see if they are going to continue fighting every team in the NHL.

[00:50:00] Um, and if they can, um, maybe look a little better at home. Uh, so we'll get into all that next week. Uh, thank you for listening, um, to the blues for brothers. So like, and subscribe, spread the word. We've had some great fan interactions. Nuggets fans have been unbelievable spreading the word about the podcast. Also, we want to give a huge shout out to Krista, who is still in the pick them. She had the saints last week.

[00:50:29] She is a stud. How are you doing? Uh, we are both out week one. Screw you. Seahawks. Uh, I still can't believe, especially watching the Rams like now, not be able to put up 10 points. You're like, what on earth happened there? Uh, but well, and watching the Seahawks. Yeah, pretty good. Wait a second. Are you going to win the NFC? Like what's going on? Yeah. Not going to beat the Ravens. I'll tell you that. Um, but Krista shout out. You have the saints. You're still alive.

[00:50:58] Um, we will, uh, follow us on Twitter. If, uh, Krista message us again. Uh, she, her, her brother shout us a DM to shout her out. Um, so throw us her pick. We'll throw it up on Twitter. Um, so we can all, uh, vicariously root for her to, uh, make it through the season. I mean, she's pretty deep in at this point. Um, she's going to have to take some ugly teams here soon, but I assume at least, but, uh, yeah.

[00:51:26] Shout out you shout out all the fans of the podcast. You guys have been an unbelievable community. We're just continuing to grow and it's been really fun to interact with people on Twitter and, uh, see the same people kind of in the community, uh, interacting and, and having fun conversations, uh, something that doesn't happen often on social media. So we, we certainly appreciate it and, and want to shout, shout those people out. Um, anything else, Ryan, before we get out of here?

[00:51:56] No, well said. All right. Well, we will talk to you next week. Go Nuggets. Go Jokic. Go Nuggets. And please God, don't embarrass us in primetime Broncos. Bye.