Woody Paige on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 10/07/22

[Music] [Applause] Woody paid ESPN Around the Horn contributor and uh Denver Gazette columnist and uh how's morale in Denver today Woody I want you to say hello to my little friend oh Woody oh there he is I'm Buzz Lightyear I can fly I just felt like I should bring a prop uh how's morale today in Denver well it looks like it's gonna snow that tends to make people uh unhappy but we saw a game last night that uh blogged into leather helmet period of football I think if that didn't prove that there doesn't belong a Thursday night football game I don't know what would neither team looked like they wanted to play okay but but I called it horse fit but if I look at the Broncos they're a couple plays from being four and one and granted they're not a four in one type team but they're they're not that far away from winning these games even though they haven't been impressive so if you look at this at what point do you say this is who the Broncos are going to be this season after five games is this who these Broncos are yeah I don't think we're at the Bill Parcells point where you are what you are what's lost in all of this is the Broncos really have a great defense it's in the top three four in the league and they're doing it without Justin Simmons who's an All-Pro they lost Gregory last night he wasn't able to play in the game and Browning got hurt Josie Jewel a starter linebacker and they still managed to give up uh four field goals they they have been playing defensively incredibly now I've gotten that out of the way Russell Wilson had a bad shoulder uh during the week and it looked like it last night I mean he couldn't hit the side of a barn as we would say in the South and he has been to be fair he's been terrible So when you say they could have won four games yes but they need Russell Wilson that we all know Russell Wilson is they needed uh Melvin Gordon to be what he used to be in San Diego they need an offensive line that's good and it's not very good they have no tight ends whatsoever they're dependent totally on Cortland Sutton and and Jerry Judy and Jerry Judy really has not developed into the first round draft choice that he was in that year of all the great young wide receivers drafted so when you say that they should be Ford one they could be easily holding five on the other side because offensively they're just just horrific and I wondered about Nathaniel Hackett in terms of not being fired they're not going to fire anybody but here's a guy that is bringing in more coach he already has more coaches than anybody in the league and now he's got 31 assistant coaches can you believe that I remember when teams in Denver had six defensive and offensive coaches but you mentioned the defense Woody and that's what I didn't understand the play calling why not kick the field goal want to go up by six Colts have no timeouts there's going to be two minutes left just under two minutes left and make them go the field to score a touchdown against your defense that to me makes the most sense at home well what they've done this year hasn't made any sense uh what they did here's an interesting point last night after the game Hackett told us he said I wanted to win the game I wanted to put in Russell's uh place to to go for it on fourth down this is the same coach who didn't want to put in Russell Wilson dance in Seattle he chose to kick the longest field goals in the history of the NFL and it certainly didn't work out this spot job is too big for Nathaniel Hackett at this point everybody thought he was a guy that worked with with uh with Aaron Rodgers he was with the Green Bay Packers they had an incredible offense he was the offensive coordinator he never called the place and even Rogers has said again recently oh he made being at the practice fun he made me he turned me around and made me enjoy the game again that's not happening here you ask about morale I've given you a long-winded answer but the there were people leaving the stadium at the end of regulation can you imagine you just mentioned Jurassic Park that the original Jurassic Park would you have left the movie theater when you're getting to the climax of the movie why in the world would you come out last night if you didn't want to see an overtime game the last time we saw an overtime game in Denver a guy named Tebow was throwing the football in overtime to beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs so I I morale people booing the Broncos all the time every game they've been booed on the road and at home they were booted in Vegas because they were 10 or 20 000 Broncos fans there it's a bad situation but people expected with a new coach a new general revenge or from two years ago new quarterback that's been an All-Pro forever and a new ownership that paid the record amounts in North America for franchise and you got this mess that they've had under Vic Van Geo Advanced Joseph for the last five years sure morale is at its lowest point last night I think they turned the light blue and red lights or blue and orange lights that they had on City Hall I think they turned them off at the 13th it feels like this is open season on Russell Wilson why do you think that is that you know he feels like he's a Hall of Fame quarterback feels nationally it's open season unrest he was supposed to come here after the string of a dozen quarterbacks since Peyton Manning retired and turned the situation around B Russell Wilson of not last year he was hurt four or five games last year but the Russell Wilson of the past you have to wonder now in Denver if the Seattle Seahawks said Gee it's time to get rid of him he's turned the corner he's on the slide down rather than the rise up because they got a boatload of draft picks and a couple of players and he has been mediocre I mean that's the best thing what he does best is get outside find a play they aren't doing that they're trying to keep him in the pocket he's trying to adjust to a Aaron Rodgers type offense where Rogers would occasionally take off does it occasionally take off and run but rarely but Russell Wilson I don't in the offense with uh Nathaniel Hackett hasn't worked and he doesn't have the talent at tight end this is the worst room for tight ends in the league and they just really don't have options uh offensively and now they lose Williams their best running back and they looked they looked horrendous last night but they they're the worst team in the league when they get in the red zone and you ask them why they didn't kick the field goal when you can't score or a touchdown you've got to keep yourself in the game and kick a field goal and what's funny you know I'll end on this is Hackett brought in a veteran coach to help him make those decisions in rosberg and he's still making bad decisions on timeouts uh game management it's a pitiful situation here they look pathetic last night but both teams Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson don't look like the guys that won Super Bowls they look like guys that should retire uh good to talk to you as always Woody are you on around the horn today uh I don't think so I I tried to beg in to talk about the baseball playoffs but they said uh we'll save you the money Monday oh oh I think they're trying to save them money uh thank you Woody great to talk to you again uh say hello to all the guys I will that's a woody paid ESPN Around the Horn contributor for uh 20 years now Denver Gazette columnist uh Woody said hi to you guys by the way hi buddy yeah he can't hear you when you wave though