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Speaker 1: What's the Broncos Country? Welcome back inside the UC Health

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Speaker 1: Training Center for another edition of Broncos Now. As always,

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Sidney Jones and Broncos hit the road

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Speaker 1: tomorrow to head to Buffalo. We are now just two

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Speaker 1: days away from the team's second preseason game, in their

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Speaker 1: only road game of the preseason. As Broncos continue to

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Speaker 1: prepare for a Saturday's game, Buffalo Bill's head coach Sean

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Speaker 1: McDermott announced this morning that Bill's quarterback Josh Allen and

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Speaker 1: most of the team starters will play a healthy amount

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Speaker 1: for so Broncos this Saturday, according to their team website.

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Speaker 1: Head coach Nathaniel Hackett was asked about it during his

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Speaker 1: press conference this morning and said that it isn't going

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Speaker 1: to change any of his plans. Plus, it will be

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Speaker 1: a great evaluation for those who do play on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: It's about our team, our team and our team only.

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Speaker 1: The only time will ever affect kind of the things

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Speaker 1: that we do is during the season. That's the best

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Speaker 1: evaluation you could possibly get. I we want to we

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Speaker 1: want to see who can come out there and play

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Speaker 1: versus the best in the league. So I think it's

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Speaker 1: an unbelievable opportunity for those guys to step up and

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Speaker 1: show what they can do. An offensive coordinator, Justin now

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Speaker 1: In and a defensive coordinator, jero e Vero both chimed in,

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Speaker 1: it's great to face a different opponent in their house.

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Speaker 1: It will be a first away game for our young

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Speaker 1: guys and facing starts, and it's a great measuring stick

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Speaker 1: for some guys that are you know, first time in

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Speaker 1: the league or you know, first time in the system.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see where how it plays out. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: playing their last year and they had a bunch of

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Speaker 1: starters in as well. It was a really good test

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Speaker 1: for us to see where we were before the season.

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Speaker 1: It's a great opportunity for them to play against the best,

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Speaker 1: you know, Josh Allen and some of those starting receivers

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Speaker 1: in Lineman and uh so, they should all relishot opportunity.

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Speaker 1: With today being in the final practice before the team

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Speaker 1: heads to Buffalo, coach Hacket recap the day and praised

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Speaker 1: the defense's performance in the red zone. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was. It was great, you know to see the

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Speaker 1: defense getting after it for those first two periods. I

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Speaker 1: was all defense. It was a defensive head coach and

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Speaker 1: then after that switched back to offense. UM but um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean the defense is playing really well and you

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Speaker 1: know the offense has to step up. That wasn't good enough.

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Speaker 1: They didn't do good enough. There was some mental areas

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Speaker 1: or some miss blocks. There was some uh drops, all

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Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And it wasn't just one guy,

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Speaker 1: was a combination of everybody. And the reality of it

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Speaker 1: is is they have to work through that stuff. I

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Speaker 1: mean that happens. You saw this past game we started

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Speaker 1: slowing offense. Great thing was as they stuck together and

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Speaker 1: we were able to rebound and score three consecutive drives

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Speaker 1: in a row. So that's part of the process. They

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Speaker 1: have to learn that stuff. And it was great to

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Speaker 1: see the offense um hop out there and I mean, gosh,

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Speaker 1: they had a really good two minute drive and some

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Speaker 1: other things. So I mean that that's what that's the

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Speaker 1: whole process. They got to learn how to get through

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Speaker 1: that stuff. Coachy Vero detailed what the defense stressed today,

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Speaker 1: while coach Outland said it was a great learning experience

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Speaker 1: for the offense. Tight areas. Everything happens fast. You just

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Speaker 1: gotta be ready to anticipate. You gotta be ready to

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Speaker 1: play fast. You gotta be on the details with your stuff,

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Speaker 1: and uh so that's kind of what we stress. That

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Speaker 1: was great for us. That was great to get hit

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Speaker 1: in the mouth at practice defenses. It was playing at

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Speaker 1: a high level and we had to wake up and

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Speaker 1: it was good for us to wake up and in

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Speaker 1: that call period and move the ball and you know,

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Speaker 1: we end up getting explosive touchdown. That was the way

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Speaker 1: to respond, and um, it's gonna be a good coaching

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Speaker 1: point moving into the meetings. Here now, joining me here

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Speaker 1: and the Broncos podcast studio is Broncos lead writer Eric d. Lala. Eric,

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Speaker 1: appreciate you joining me on the show today. As always,

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Speaker 1: of course, but we heard earlier in the show from

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Speaker 1: Bill's head coach Sean McDermott, who talked about his decision

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Speaker 1: to play Josh Allen and most of their starters on

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Speaker 1: a Saturday. Co Jacket said his risk reward will not

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Speaker 1: change based on that news. What are your thoughts on

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Speaker 1: all of that? Yeah, I mean I'm kind of surprised

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Speaker 1: that the Bill's starters are going to play, that Josh

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Speaker 1: Allen is going to be out there obviously, you know,

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Speaker 1: as valuable as we can sider Russell Wilson Josh Allen

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Speaker 1: is the same thing to the Buffalo Bills. UM. Clearly

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Speaker 1: Sean McDermott needs to see more from him or just

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Speaker 1: wants him to get a few reps. They do have

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Speaker 1: a new offensive coordinator, so after Brian Dable goes to

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Speaker 1: the Giants. UM, so maybe that has part of it

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Speaker 1: with Kendorsey kind of in their their offensive coordinator chair. Now,

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Speaker 1: but UM, I do. I'll tell you what I like

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Speaker 1: is that Nathaniel Hackett isn't going to allow that to

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Speaker 1: impact him. I think it. I think it'd be very

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Speaker 1: easy tempting, almost as a first time head coach to say, Okay, well,

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Speaker 1: if johnh Allen's gonna play, like, let's see how Pats

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Speaker 1: are tan, Yeah, let's see how Pats or talentsy, how

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Speaker 1: Justin Simmons, Bradley Chub Let's see how those guys do

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Speaker 1: against maybe the best offense in the entire NFL. And

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Speaker 1: I appreciate the fact that he's saying, you know what,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna stick to our plan. We're gonna do what

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Speaker 1: we do. We're not gonna worry about what Buffalo is doing.

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Speaker 1: The same way that right now, You can't worry about

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Speaker 1: what Kansas City is doing, or Las Vegas or the

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles Chargers. You've gotta do what you need to

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Speaker 1: do to get ready for September twelve in the Broncos case.

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Speaker 1: And so I like that he's doing that. Um, it

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Speaker 1: really does not sound like Russell Well, Russell Wilson, Nathaniel

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Speaker 1: Hackett all but said is not gonna play. And it

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Speaker 1: sounds like the rest of the starters aren't gonna play either.

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Speaker 1: So in Buffalo, you're gonna get a real, you know,

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Speaker 1: a real test for guys like Baron Browning. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: if Malik Reed gets a few snaps again, p J

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Speaker 1: Lock and Caden Stern's a couple of guys that have

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Speaker 1: looked good. Those guys are gonna get a real chance

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Speaker 1: defensively to go against one of the best offenses in

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Speaker 1: the entire NFL. And I think you'll get a good

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Speaker 1: evaluation of those guys. Yeah, and I like that. A

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Speaker 1: lot of the coaches today said that this is a

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Speaker 1: great situation for them to really evaluate those younger guys

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Speaker 1: like you mentioned, Eric. I know today there's been a

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Speaker 1: ton of talk surrounding the defense's performance at practice and

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Speaker 1: you know, them dominating in the red zone still the preseason.

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Speaker 1: I know, like we just mentioned, we won't see much

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Speaker 1: of them throughout, you know, the next couple of games

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Speaker 1: of the preseason, but that has to get you excited for,

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Speaker 1: you know, come September twelve and just really how dominant

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Speaker 1: they're going to be this season. I think they will be. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think there's a real chance of that. Um. I

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Speaker 1: think if you hadn't have seen how the Broncos offense

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Speaker 1: performed against the Cowboys, you'd be a little concerned after today.

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Speaker 1: But just because the defense didn't let anything into the

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Speaker 1: end zone during our red zone period, as we heard

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Speaker 1: Nathaniel Hackett talk about, they were just dominant. That's as

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Speaker 1: best as good as I've seen them all of training camp,

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Speaker 1: all the preseason. Really impressive from them on all levels,

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Speaker 1: the secondary, of the past, rush, the defensive line. UM.

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Speaker 1: So that's really encouraging, I think if you're a Broncos fan,

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Speaker 1: because listen, this offense is going to have success against

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Speaker 1: a lot of defenses, and if this defense can not

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Speaker 1: only stand up to that offense but also have days

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Speaker 1: that they're gonna win, that's really encouraging. And they certainly

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Speaker 1: have the talent Pats or Tan Justin Simmons, Bradley Chub

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Speaker 1: just mentioned those guys, But then you also think about

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Speaker 1: I think Josie Jewels a better player than people give

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Speaker 1: him credit for. A won Williams and the slot I

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Speaker 1: think is gonna be a great addition. DJ Jones and

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Speaker 1: Draymond Jones if those guys can stay healthy up there,

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Speaker 1: those are two powerful, um, tenacious defensive lineman. This group

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Speaker 1: has a lot of talent, and we've seen some good

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Speaker 1: defenses here Sidney over the last few years. Obviously third

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Speaker 1: in points allowed last year, though they did they were

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Speaker 1: kind of a bend but don't break defense in uh,

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Speaker 1: top defense in the league again and pass um, So

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Speaker 1: they've had some good defenses here since that, you know,

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Speaker 1: storied Super Bowl fifty team. I think this group has

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Speaker 1: a chance of being really good and being right up

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Speaker 1: in that conversation. Well, another guy that's kind of under

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Speaker 1: the radar here that was really a point of conversation

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Speaker 1: today too, was rookie center Luke Wattenberg. I know just

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Speaker 1: now and really praised him today when he was up

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Speaker 1: at the podium for his press conference. What have you

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Speaker 1: really seen from him? Over the past couple of weeks,

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Speaker 1: you know, throughout training camp, in the first preseason game. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think the good thing about the first

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Speaker 1: preseason game is you don't notice him, And that's kind

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Speaker 1: of what you want in an offensive lineman. You don't

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Speaker 1: want to look back and say, Okay, well who was

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Speaker 1: that that got beaten there in past protection or who

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Speaker 1: whipped on that block? There are times when you see

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Speaker 1: that from guys that's going to happen. But um, I

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Speaker 1: liked the way that Luke Watenberg was able to go

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Speaker 1: in there handle himself in his first NFL action. He

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Speaker 1: played some center, he played some guard. Um, and I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't kind of underrate just the ability of a guy

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Speaker 1: who was a Day three draft pick to come in

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Speaker 1: and immediately cement himself. And there's a push from Graham

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Speaker 1: Glasgow right now with Lloyd Kushenberry and Luke Wattenberg looked

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Speaker 1: a little bit more on this Thursday, trying to remember

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Speaker 1: what day it is together. Um, but for him to

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Speaker 1: kind of cement himself as that number two center for now,

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Speaker 1: that's really imp us of as a late round pick

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Speaker 1: to come in as a rookie and prove enough to

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Speaker 1: the coaches that, hey, I deserve to be this guy

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Speaker 1: behind Lloyd Cushionberry. You've seen him get some snaps with

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Speaker 1: the ones at time, with Russell Wilson, which I mean

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Speaker 1: that must be kind of crazy for a young guy. Um.

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Speaker 1: So I've been impressed with him, and you kind of

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Speaker 1: go through the roster and say which workies are going

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Speaker 1: to make this team. Luke Watenberg is gonna be one

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Speaker 1: of those guys. Well, just one day now we hit

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Speaker 1: the road tomorrow. Eric, you're excited. I am excited. I've

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Speaker 1: never been a Buffalo. It's great, great town. Looking forward

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Speaker 1: to it. Eric, appreciate your time always. Yeah, of course.

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Speaker 1: Now it's time to take a look at today's injury update.

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Speaker 1: Lloyd Cushionberry, Jonas Griffith, Kareem Jackson, Natani Muti, Tyree Cleveland,

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Speaker 1: Marquis Spencer, and Billy Turner all did not participate today.

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Speaker 1: K J. Hammler was back in pads today for the

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Speaker 1: first time in a couple of weeks. This was Lloyd

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Speaker 1: Cushionberry's a third consecutive day not practicing and a Billy

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Speaker 1: Turner's second. Ki Jackie gave an update on Billy and

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Speaker 1: said that he's getting a little extra treatment, just working

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Speaker 1: through his knee and getting everything right so he can

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Speaker 1: be back at full speed. That's all the time we

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Speaker 1: have for today's episode Broncos Country. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: tuning in for another edition of Broncos Now. I hope

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Speaker 1: you meet me right back here on the Broncos podcast

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Speaker 1: network and YouTube tomorrow evening as we will preview the

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Speaker 1: Broncos second preseason game versus the Bills. I'll see you

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Speaker 1: all then,