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Speaker 1: Having you hear Broncos Country.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Broncos podcast network and YouTube for

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Speaker 2: the latest episode of Broncos Now. As always, from your

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Speaker 2: host is Sidney Jones, and coming up on today's episode,

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Speaker 2: we hear from head coach Sean and as he reflected

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Speaker 2: on a Sunday's win at home, Plus Broncos lead writer

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Speaker 2: Eric Delala joins the show free game.

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Speaker 1: Recap, all that more coming out the number.

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Speaker 2: Broncos ended their home slate with a sixteen to nine

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Speaker 2: win of the Los Angeles Chargers on his Sunday. We

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Speaker 2: heard from head coach Sean Payne today as he reflected

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Speaker 2: on the Broncos final game at in Powerfield at Mile

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Speaker 2: High this season. He detailed his thoughts on quarterback Jared

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Speaker 2: Sidham's performance and the offenses operation overall.

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Speaker 3: I think number one, our job is to score, you know,

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Speaker 3: and so we had opportunities in the type read yesterday,

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Speaker 3: it's certainly down on the one yard line, so I

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Speaker 3: think that's the first thing I thought Jared did a

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Speaker 3: good job after seeing the tape with his decisions, the

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Speaker 3: ball security, all those things that you want to see

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Speaker 3: from that position, you know, the big play do LJ.

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Speaker 3: Was the heck of a play by by LJ. Protection

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Speaker 3: was good, so a lot of positives to build off of.

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Speaker 2: You also talked about if you saw a spark on

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Speaker 2: offense when you specifically spoke about last.

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Speaker 3: Week in the comments. Last week were really a sum

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Speaker 3: total of of what fifteen games, and yet there were

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Speaker 3: some things that was really encouraged about yesterday. Certainly, if

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Speaker 3: we're going to measure it week by week, you'd say, man,

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Speaker 3: we scored under twenty points. That wasn't enough. We missed

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Speaker 3: out out on opportunities in the red zone, but we

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Speaker 3: were safe with the football. Certainly, we look forward to

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Speaker 3: this next game, but that was that was a stretch,

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Speaker 3: that was a long stretch of fifteen weeks where we'd

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Speaker 3: seen a very similar pattern. I think, I think that'll change,

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Speaker 3: and I, you know, I made the decision with the

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Speaker 3: hopes that that's going to help bring change. There's no

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Speaker 3: guaranteed that that does, but in the meantime, it's something

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Speaker 3: that I felt was necessary.

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Speaker 2: And Lastly, looking at the Broncos season finale in a

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Speaker 2: Las Vegas on Sunday, head coach Sean Paigon detailed the

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Speaker 2: team's focus for this final week.

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Speaker 3: I think what would be important for us is to

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Speaker 3: get to our ninth win, and I'm sure that's important

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Speaker 3: for them as well. So this is a little bit

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Speaker 3: more focus on us inward, and you know, and I

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Speaker 3: think that element is real important.

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Speaker 2: Now i'mjoining me on today's episode of Broncos Now for

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Speaker 2: a game recap. Is Broncos lead writer Eric de Lali. Eric,

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Speaker 2: thanks for joining me.

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Speaker 1: Happy New Year, Happy new year, Sin Broncos now looks

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Speaker 1: a little bit different here in twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. Just temporary, I think, just temporary, just

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Speaker 4: for the day.

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Speaker 2: Well, Eric, you know, it was good to end the

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Speaker 2: year with a win at home, but you know, unfortunately

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Speaker 2: the Broncos they got eliminated from the playoffs too. And

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Speaker 2: it's kind of like what we talked about yesterday after

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Speaker 2: the game, kind of mixed emotions coming out of this one.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, yea, one hundred percent agree. I think you

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Speaker 4: could steal in the locker room. The guys were excited

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Speaker 4: about the win, and obviously I think there's a benefit

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Speaker 4: and finishing the home slate with a winning record against

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Speaker 4: the first season sweep or getting the first season sweep

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Speaker 4: of the Chargers since twenty nineteen, a good point differential

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Speaker 4: against the Chargers this season, adding a way to get

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Speaker 4: to get back in the win column. All those things

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Speaker 4: are important. I think Jared Stidham, for example, said I'm

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Speaker 4: still going to celebrate this win, but there was kind

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Speaker 4: of that sense of, you know, that it was unfortunate

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Speaker 4: that because of results elsewhere across the league, the Broncos

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Speaker 4: were eliminated from playoff contention. And I think Justin Simmons

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Speaker 4: put it well when he said, we had we had

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Speaker 4: our opportunities, and this was our fault in a way

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Speaker 4: that we didn't take advantage of games against the Commanders,

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Speaker 4: games against the Patriots, and obviously the Broncos lost a

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Speaker 4: close one in Houston a few weeks ago, the Raiders

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Speaker 4: in Week one, the Jets in Week five. I mean,

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Speaker 4: there were a number of games where if you just

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Speaker 4: swap the results of one of two one or two

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Speaker 4: of them, you could be looking at a different season,

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Speaker 4: a different result. And I think all you can ask

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Speaker 4: for in the NFL is to go into that last

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Speaker 4: week controlling your own destiny. And unfortunately, because of some

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Speaker 4: of those opportunities, the Rockers didn't control their own destiny yesterday,

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Speaker 4: and they needed some things to go their way, and

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Speaker 4: it unfortunately didn't work out, so that there was kind

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Speaker 4: of that despite them, a feeling of mixed emotions for

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Speaker 4: sure that you know, you wish you could be in

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Speaker 4: playoff contention still going into the last week of the season. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Well, now that we've had kind of time to

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Speaker 2: digest yesterday's game, look at the film. You know, overall,

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Speaker 2: would you just think of Jared Sidham's first career start

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Speaker 2: as a Bronco.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. So I think

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Speaker 4: that there are some throws early he might like to

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Speaker 4: have back, Like on that first drive, there were a

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Speaker 4: couple that were, you know, just a little bit behind

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Speaker 4: the receiver. I think some of that is timing, it's

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Speaker 4: chemistry things that as Jared Stendham gets more reps in practice,

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Speaker 4: more game action, I think you'd expect those things to

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Speaker 4: be cleaned up and to get better. But I thought

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Speaker 4: he made some really good throws. He hung in there,

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Speaker 4: took some hits, delivered the ball, got the ball out quick.

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Speaker 4: Other times, you know, you could tell that he was

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Speaker 4: kind of getting the ball to guys in space. That

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Speaker 4: throw to Jerry Judy at the end of the first

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Speaker 4: half for forty one yards and he's able to hang

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Speaker 4: in there and get it to Jerry and give Jerry

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Speaker 4: a chance to do what he does really well and

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Speaker 4: show off the strength of his skill set. That's really

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Speaker 4: important there.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 4: Obviously little Jordan Humphrey made a tremendous play, but Jared

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Speaker 4: Stenham kept his eyes down the field and stepped up

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Speaker 4: in the pocket and delivered a throw that, even if

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Speaker 4: it wasn't a touchdown, was still a nice size game

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Speaker 4: and we would have put the Broncos in range to

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Speaker 4: get a field goal. At the very least, there was

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Speaker 4: a throw. After the Broncos went backwards from first and

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Speaker 4: goal at the one, Jared Sendam makes a nice throw

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Speaker 4: to Brandon Johnson, kind of a sliding catch that gets

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Speaker 4: the Broncos back down to the goal line. He scrambled

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Speaker 4: a little bit, said, which I thought was impressive, and

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Speaker 4: he just he made some plays that you know, I

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Speaker 4: thought were you know, they were NFL quarterback throws and

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Speaker 4: for a guy who hasn't played much football recently and

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Speaker 4: has only started two other games in his career, I

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Speaker 4: was impressed from that standpoint, And obviously the operation could

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Speaker 4: be a little cleaner I think at times had to

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Speaker 4: burn a turn, burning time out early, had the you know,

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Speaker 4: the false starts down there by the goal line. But

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Speaker 4: but he didn't turn the ball over, and he made

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Speaker 4: some plays, and yeah, I thought for his first start

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Speaker 4: with the Broncos, there was a lot to be encouraged

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Speaker 4: by for sure. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I mean it's like what head coach Chean Payton said.

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Speaker 2: He was just you look very calm out there, very poised, confident.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: Last week, head coach Champaign he talked a lot about,

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Speaker 1: you know, hoping Jarrett would be the spark on offense.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel like we saw that on Sunday?

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Speaker 4: Well, I thought, like Champayne said, money there there were

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Speaker 4: some signs of that. The Broncos did not go three

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Speaker 4: and out, which obviously of late had become an issue

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Speaker 4: for this offense, right, you know, and so even if

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Speaker 4: you're not scoring points, you're able to flip the field,

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Speaker 4: play the game on the opponent's side of the field.

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Speaker 4: That's a big deal. Did not turn the ball over,

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Speaker 4: Like I mentioned, I thought maybe several big time frows

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Speaker 4: he played within the offense. I mean, all those sorts

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Speaker 4: of things I thought were encouraging. But it's also about,

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Speaker 4: you know, kind of a whole season worth of work,

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Speaker 4: and Chomp Payton did make that clear that it wasn't

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Speaker 4: about from seeing a spark from one week to the next.

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Speaker 4: It was about, Hey, here's fifteen games worth of data

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Speaker 4: that he's seen. There's some recurring issues maybe that he's noticed.

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Speaker 4: How do you try to fix those? Were all of

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Speaker 4: them fixed in a win against the Chargers? No, not

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Speaker 4: necessarily obviously. Oh of two in the red zone, oh

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Speaker 4: of one and goal to go situations. You know, missed

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Speaker 4: a couple other opportunities. Still need to be able to

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Speaker 4: find a way to score points in the third quarter.

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Speaker 4: But again, I think there were signs that it was

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Speaker 4: that there was improvement in certain categories. And then I

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Speaker 4: think you hope that with another week's worth of practice,

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Speaker 4: another opportunity against the Raiders, you start to see the

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Speaker 4: next step. And so, you know, was it perfect this week? No,

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Speaker 4: you've got to score more points than sixteen, obviously, but

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Speaker 4: I think there were signs that Sean Payne saw that

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Speaker 4: would suggest that moving forward, maybe it'll help the offense

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Speaker 4: get to a better place. Right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And like you mentioned, as he looks to make

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Speaker 2: the most of this opportunity head coach jo On pay

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Speaker 2: and he did confirm today that will be the starter

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Speaker 2: again next week for the final game of the season

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Speaker 2: there in Las Vegas. So Eric, kind of just going

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Speaker 2: off of that, how do you hope to see him

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Speaker 2: make the most did this last opportunity here for the season?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, the question said, I think that this is an

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Speaker 4: opportunity for Jarrett One to go back and play against

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Speaker 4: his former team, former teammates, which I'm sure will be

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Speaker 4: cool for him. I think, you know, another week of

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Speaker 4: timing with these guys, another week of fine tuning the operation,

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Speaker 4: whether that's the cadence, whether that's making sure that you

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Speaker 4: know the checks and everything are are done correctly. It

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Speaker 4: sounded like, you know, Adam Troutman in the locker room

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Speaker 4: after the game praised Jared and said he did a

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Speaker 4: great job with that that game operation, game management element

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Speaker 4: of it. And he said that Jarrett really has a

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Speaker 4: presence in the huddle that you can feel. So that's encouraging.

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Speaker 4: I think just another week and you know, this will

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Speaker 4: be a better defense. Probably based on what we've seen

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Speaker 4: on the season. They have a dangerous rusher and Max Crosby.

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Speaker 4: They're playing really hard for Antonio Pierce, the interim head coach,

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Speaker 4: So they're going to come out, you know, and try

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Speaker 4: to get a win that could potentially get Antonio Peters

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Speaker 4: the full time gig there in Las Vegas, so they've

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Speaker 4: got something to play for too, And you know, I

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Speaker 4: just think, go out there and do what he did,

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Speaker 4: just to a little bit higher level and convert on

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Speaker 4: some of those opportunities. I mean, his passing yardage in

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Speaker 4: the first half was great. I mean he was on

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Speaker 4: pace for I think more than three hundred yards at halftime.

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Speaker 4: The Broncos two hundred and thirty five yards of total

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Speaker 4: offense where the most they've had in any first half

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Speaker 4: this season. So there were some encouraging signs. I liked

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Speaker 4: the emotion. I think you saw Jersey s Didna come

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Speaker 4: off the field after the Broncos rightfully so and smartly

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Speaker 4: kicked a field goal on fourth down to put the

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Speaker 4: lead back to two possessions there in the second half.

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Speaker 4: Jared Sidham was fired up coming off the field, and

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Speaker 4: you could tell how much this means to him obviously.

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Speaker 4: I think we talked about how he you know, right

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Speaker 4: after the game goes and Texas wife about just how

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Speaker 4: great it is to win an NFL game, and so

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Speaker 4: I just want to see more of the same from

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Speaker 4: Jared in Week eighteen and hopefully that leads to another win.

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Speaker 2: Where looking at the run game, I know they got

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Speaker 2: off to a good start yesterday. We heard head coach

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Speaker 2: Chean Payton talk specifically about Julia McLoughlin today and he's

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Speaker 2: just earned these additional touches that he's received, I mean,

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Speaker 2: which just impressed you about him in recent games and

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Speaker 2: how his role has continued to increase.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think one the fact that he has been

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Speaker 4: able to stay available is impressive. You know, he's a

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Speaker 4: smaller guy, but tough. As we've heard Sean Payton say,

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Speaker 4: there was a stretch there where maybe he wasn't getting

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Speaker 4: as much action, wasn't as successful with the ball in

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Speaker 4: his hands. But you can see the Rocks are starting

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Speaker 4: to or maybe they've just kind of, you know, developed

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Speaker 4: that vision for him in a way where he put

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Speaker 4: him in positions to succeed, whether it's running the football,

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Speaker 4: catching it out of backfield. We know that Greg Dulsage

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Speaker 4: was the intended kind of joker role entering the season

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Speaker 4: that hasn't worked out because of injuries, but Jalil is

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Speaker 4: getting closer maybe to that role here. Chum Payton talked

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Speaker 4: about that a few weeks ago. He mentioned on Monday

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Speaker 4: that Julia's come to him and said, how can I

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Speaker 4: improve as a receiver. So he's got the right work ethic,

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Speaker 4: he's got the speed, he's got the toughness, and yeah,

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Speaker 4: he's he's kind of that little boost right now for

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Speaker 4: the Broncos offense, and especially without Marvin Mims out there

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Speaker 4: or Portland Sutton has been really helpful.

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Speaker 1: The last one about a Sunday's game.

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Speaker 2: Eric, you know, want to finish off here by talking

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Speaker 2: about this defense, because they put.

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Speaker 1: Up a dominant performance.

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Speaker 2: I mean allowed just three field goals, no touchdowns, I

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Speaker 2: mean force a fumble, held the Chargers to two of

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Speaker 2: eleven on third down. It just it's impressed to you

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Speaker 2: about how you know they've just battled this entire year.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, obviously to come back from it, you know,

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Speaker 4: like this year long perspective to come back from what

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Speaker 4: happened in Miami or against Washington even Chicago and just

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Speaker 4: find a way to play this level of football is

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Speaker 4: really impressive. It's a credit to Vance Joseph it's a

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Speaker 4: credit to all the players. You know. Certainly some coaching

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Speaker 4: decisions in terms of who's playing who's not were important.

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Speaker 4: Getting some guys back like Justin Simmons was important, but

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Speaker 4: I think more than that, it was just about time

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Speaker 4: on task and fitting into the defense and getting comfortable.

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Speaker 4: And they've become one of the you know it' still

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Speaker 4: not perfect, but have had some performances you can certainly

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Speaker 4: win with over the last few weeks. In the first

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Speaker 4: three quarters of this game, again it wasn't anything flashy,

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Speaker 4: but they weren't challenged really all that much and gave

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Speaker 4: up a couple of big plays, but otherwise they kept

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Speaker 4: the Chargers behind the sticks, which we hear them talk

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Speaker 4: about so much, you know, forcing negative play on first down,

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Speaker 4: maybe one on second down, so that on third down

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Speaker 4: you can play your style of defense. You can dictate

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Speaker 4: to the opponent what they need to do. They tackled

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Speaker 4: pretty well. I thought. There were several times where the

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Speaker 4: Chargers either threw it short of the sticks or on

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Speaker 4: third down easton stick. I think once kind of ran

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Speaker 4: a little quarterback draw and the Broncos were able to

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Speaker 4: run up and make the tackle short of the sticks,

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Speaker 4: which you know, can tell your technique a little bit,

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Speaker 4: test your ability to do that. They were able to

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Speaker 4: do that well. Through three quarters, the Chargers had not

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Speaker 4: converted a third down sid which they didn't do that

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Speaker 4: in the first game either, so we were going on

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Speaker 4: seven quarters of play without a third down conversion for

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Speaker 4: the Chargers, and in the red zone when they got

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Speaker 4: on the Denver side of the field, the Broncos defense

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Speaker 4: kind of helped, kind of buckle down. Didn't allow touchdowns obviously,

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Speaker 4: and then a key moment. They're not forcing four turnovers

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Speaker 4: a game anymore, but they did force one. They won

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Speaker 4: the takeaway battle that set up a field goal that

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Speaker 4: pushed the Broncos lead to two possessions. That was a

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Speaker 4: big deal there as DJ Jones forced it and Josie

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Speaker 4: Jewel recovered. So they just played solid football. And I

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Speaker 4: think what also helps is because the Broncos offense didn't

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Speaker 4: go free and out and was able to stay on

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Speaker 4: the field at times, they weren't out there forever. There

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Speaker 4: wasn't that sudden change where now you've got to go

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Speaker 4: defend at your own thirty right away. So it's about

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Speaker 4: playing complementary football, and the Broncos defense did their job.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Eric, Like we talked about a little bit earlier,

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Speaker 2: it was announced last night that the Broncos season finale

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Speaker 2: will be taking place on a Sunday this weekend in

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Speaker 2: Las Vegas.

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Speaker 1: That's a two to twenty five kick. You know a

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Speaker 1: lot of.

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Speaker 2: Players in the locker room talked last night about just

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Speaker 2: how much it would mean to them to, you know,

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Speaker 2: end the season with a win, but to get that

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Speaker 2: ninth win, to have a winning season for the first

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Speaker 2: time in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just how important is that here?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's really important. And you know it's

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Speaker 4: not just lip serviced there because it sounds like the

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Speaker 4: Broncos are going to play. Guys, if you're healthy enough

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Speaker 4: to play and you're going to play. You can tell

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Speaker 4: from Sean Payne how much he wants to win this game.

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Speaker 4: I think there's something to be said for ending the

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Speaker 4: season on an eight and three stretch when that's impressive.

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Speaker 4: There's something to be said for being four and two

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Speaker 4: in the division, which would be the best division mark

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Speaker 4: since twenty fifteen. There's something to be said for ending

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Speaker 4: this streak against the Raiders that dates back to start

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Speaker 4: a twenty twenty to earning your first road win against

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Speaker 4: the Raiders since twenty fifteen. I mean, all these things,

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Speaker 4: you know you can end some of these streaks like

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Speaker 4: you've done all year. And then also I think just

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Speaker 4: going into the offseason with the winning record and knowing

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Speaker 4: what it feels like to accomplish that, I think is

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Speaker 4: important for this core. Seanpayne has talked a lot about

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Speaker 4: kind of building this thing and building a program, and

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Speaker 4: I do think it it means something when you're able

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Speaker 4: to have a winning record, And maybe it's not the

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Speaker 4: ultimate goal, but I think it shows progress. You'd have

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Speaker 4: more than twice as many wins or you have, excuse me,

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Speaker 4: twice as many wins going into Week eighteen this year

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Speaker 4: as you did last year. You go from five wins

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Speaker 4: to nine wins. I mean, that's not insignificant over the

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Speaker 4: course of a whole season, and I think it would

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Speaker 4: just speak to kind of what the Broncos are building.

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Speaker 4: And again, it's not perfect yet, it's not a finished product.

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Speaker 4: You've still got a waste to go before you're competing

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Speaker 4: for that ultimate prize. But I think it shows how

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Speaker 4: Sean Payne has helped this team around and how he's

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Speaker 4: built something that the Broncos, you know, they were what

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Speaker 4: four and twelve going into their game last year, and

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Speaker 4: now they're eight and eight, and so that's a big jump,

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Speaker 4: a significant change. I think they've learned. They're still learning

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Speaker 4: how not to lose at times, but they've shown, you know,

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Speaker 4: a decent amount this year that they're starting to get

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Speaker 4: a hold of that and how not to lose games,

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Speaker 4: to play complimentary football, and so I think nine to

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Speaker 4: eight would just kind of be you know, if you

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Speaker 4: don't win, it doesn't automatically kind of negate everything you've

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Speaker 4: done this year, but I do think it would be

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Speaker 4: fitting and it would be kind of a nice reward

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Speaker 4: and symbolic of everything the Broncos have done this year

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Speaker 4: to be able to go nine and eight. And that's

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Speaker 4: not to mention that they've talked about the Lions all

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Speaker 4: year and the Lions went on that run and ended

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Speaker 4: up nine to eight themselves before what they were able

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Speaker 4: to do this year. So yeah, a lot on the

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Speaker 4: line is still I think players and coaches they all

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Speaker 4: understand that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly an impressive turnaround.

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Speaker 2: Eric would be nice to you know, start the twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four year with a win and end the twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three twenty twenty four season with a win as well. Eric,

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Speaker 2: you got any New Year's resolutions?

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Speaker 4: I don't know, maybe be better at podcasting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you do great. Well, appreciate you coming on

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Speaker 1: the show today, Eric.

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Speaker 4: Thanks, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's gonna do it for today's episode of Broncos

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Speaker 2: Now Broncos Country.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for tuning in.

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Speaker 2: I hope you all have a happy New Year, and

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Speaker 2: I'll meet you right back here on the Broncos Podcast

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Speaker 2: Network in YouTube tomorrow for another episode.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you all then,