104.3 The Fan's new team of former Bronco Orlando Franklin and sportscaster John Davis were our special guest speakers at the Denver Broncos Quarterback Club meeting tonight. Orlando and John have a talk show on the Fan during Bronco games where they give in game commentary on game action and take questions/comments from fans interacting with them on facebook live. Orlando has special insight into the team as a former Bronco and NFL offensive lineman, and John provides the fan perspective (his family are long time Bronco season ticket holders). Together they make a great team, and they shared their expertise at our Quarterback Club dinner meeting. Below is a paraphrase of some of Orlando Franklin's comments (Orlando took questions from John Davis and from our group):
Should the Broncos get rid of Vance Joseph?
"I would not recommend firing Vance during the season. Who would replace him? The team doesn't have a good replacement among the current assistant coaches. I do recommend that Vance take over the defensive play calling from Joe Woods. Vance was a good defensive coordinator for Miami - I think he would call more tight coverages to take advantage of the Broncos strong pass rush."
Should Case Keenum be replaced as starting quarterback?
"No. Case gives the team the best chance to win games. Chad Kelly isn't ready yet. The Broncos need to rely more on their running game. Throwing the ball 51 times will not work. I do think the Broncos should have traded for Teddy Bridgewater to give Case some competition. Case played his best for Minnesota last year because his starting job was always in question - he could play better here if he had more competition for the starting job."
Are the Broncos using Von Miller correctly?
"They need to keep Von on the field. In the Seattle game Von played 88% of the defensive snaps and that was his best game this season. Then for Oakland he played 73% of the snaps, and 68% of the snaps for the KC game. The more repetitions a player gets in a game the better he gets. Von can take over a game and he can handle an increased work load.
I was in the same draft class as Von. When I went against him in practice that year I wondered 'am I good enough to play in this league?' as Von would beat me constantly. Then I played against Dallas and I realized Von is a special talent - the others I would face were not nearly as good."
Is the Broncos season a lost cause?
"I still believe in this team. The strength of the team are the running backs and the defensive line. Some fans complain about Devonte Booker playing but Booker is lights out in pass protection (the best of the backs). The other position groups need to step up their game."
What about Garett Bolles?
"I thought Garett played well the first two weeks. On the road he has struggled. In the Baltimore game he was looking for the snap of the ball too much and that put him in bad position. He needs to change up his sets more."
"What was it like playing for Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, and Phillip Rivers?"
"Tim had great energy but relied on Chris Kuper (offensive right guard) to put us in the right position. Peyton always had us in the right position, When I first heard we were getting Peyton me and Ryan Clady high fived each other. Little did I know playing with Peyton was the most stress I've had in my life! He was very demanding - he'd call a play at the line we hadn't used in 8 weeks. But he elevated our play. After one play Peyton yelled at me to say 'what the hell are you doing!?' A former teammate of mine at the U of Miami was a linebacker on the other side and yelled, 'yeah Franklin - what the hell are you doing?!!' I know he isn't popular with the Denver fans but Phillip Rivers is a great guy. I felt more relaxed around Phillip compared to Peyton. Peyton was a practical jokester so you never knew what he was going to pull next."
Who was the toughest player you played against?
"In my rookie year I played against Tommy Kelly of the Raiders. I got a good pancake block against him (I was 330 pounds at the time) and was laying on top of him. Tommy lifted me off of himself like I was a rag doll. That guy was super strong - I couldn't believe it."
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Overall it was another great evening of football talk with a football insider like Orlando with John Davis and the qb club group asking questions to get further insight into the team and the NFL.
Find out more about the QB Club at our website here.
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