There are a lot of guys you can point to from Sunday night’s victory and say, “He won us that game,” but you’d be wrong every time; the Denver Broncos won that game, not any individual player.
This Broncos team, which is battling injury and transition, has come together in a beautiful, exciting way. Whether it was the defense stepping up for a struggling offense in the beginning of the season or the offense scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to beat the Patriots last night, everybody on this roster has been there for one another since day one.
As John Elway would say, “These guys are going out kicking and screaming.”
It may not be as pretty and easy as it has been in the last few years, but Denver is now 9-2, tied for the AFC’s second seed and now has the tie-breaker over the New England Patriots; for all the team has been through, the Denver Broncos are still championship contenders.
These guys are about as close as an NFL team can get, and that’s evidenced by how they talk about each other after games like last night. Instead of singling out themselves or any other player, the only answer you’ll hear is team, team, team.
Here’s what they had to say:
Gary Kubiak on the team supporting Brock Osweiler:
“You know what, our team has the locker room. That’s what it’s all about right now. Brock did a great job. He’s gotten an opportunity and he’s done a great job for his team, but his team has played very well around him. What I’m so excited about right now is the fact that everybody is pitching in to us winning football games. If you’re going to be as good as you can be in this league, everybody has to be involved. I think of [WR Andre] Bubba [Caldwell] making a big play. I watched us defensively, watched [S David] Bruton [Jr] play as a starter. It’s about the team. Brock has done a great job, but he’d be the first one to tell you it’s always about the team.”
Kubiak on the team’s to go out “kicking and screaming”:
“I love the way they compete. They never get down on themselves in certain situations. They continue to battle. I just think they’re growing in their strength as a group because of some of the adversity that we’re having—missing this guy, missing that guy, things happening, but yet they keep going. That’s a positive thing in this league because this league is about overcoming adversity many, many times over, not just once.”
C.J. Anderson on his game-winning touchdown:
“[QB] Brock [Osweiler] changed it, I said, ‘Man, this has a chance.’ And as I got a toss and I just saw [T] Ryan [Harris] deep for me, and I thought, if he can get to the hole, I better be able to get to the hole. You just got to get it to the big boys up front, they pretty much create the play and got me a chance to get on the safeties and make them miss, and the next thing you know is history.”
Osweiler on the team’s ability to stay calm on the comeback trail:
“[Quarterbacks/Passing Game Coordinator] Coach [Greg] Knapp, our quarterbacks coach, we talked last night. One of the last things that we said before we finished meetings was that no matter what happens in the first three quarters, it’s going to be a 60-minute game. That held true tonight with a little extra bonus time. There was no panic on the offensive side of the ball. We just kept going out there and doing our job one series at a time. I think, really, where the credit needs to go is our defense. Our defense played lights out. They did a heck of a job holding one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He made some plays, but at the same time, they also kept him in check a little bit, which kept the offense in the game. We started a little slow. We started picking up momentum as the game went along. Hats off to the defense and the offense coming through in the fourth quarter.”
Osweiler on being a leader:
“I don’t think that it falls onto one person. I think the thing that makes this football team so special is that there are a lot of leaders on this football team. There were a lot of guys communicating in that huddle. Something that I was told [when I was] very young in my football career, and it might sound a little cliché, was that the game is not over until zeros are up there on that clock. Even though it said 21-7, you just have to take it one play and one dive at a time and that’s what we did offensively.”
Andre Caldwell on the team’s attitude while trailing:
“I feel like this whole locker room was like, ‘We’re not going to lose this game. We’ve played these guys a lot and we’ve lost to them a lot. This time we’re not going to get denied.’ We just wanted to make a comeback and get back in the game.”
Chris Harris Jr. on how it felt to take down the Patriots:
“It felt so good. It was a great team effort. Guys on the defense, we fought all game against the best quarterback (Patriots QB Tom Brady). You’ve got to tip your hat to the Patriots; they played a great game, but we were the better team today.”
Harris on the team’s ability to overcome injuries:
“Next man up. Everybody prepared well. When you play the Patriots, they test your whole defense. They test your communication, and we had great communication all day today. Everybody was on the same page, and that’s what it takes.”
Von Miller on the team’s performance:
“It’s a great team win, from practicing all week. Things haven’t really been in our favor; we’ve just been grinding and just pulling together as teammates and we were able to get it done. Whenever you get a win like this, it’s just great motivation, it’s great chemistry and it’s great team building.”
Miller on the Broncos’ locker room:
“We’re staying in the moment. We got a great team over here; great guys; great character guys most of all and it’s just a blessing to be in the locker room with these guys to experience the win and be on the other side of these games and win. It’s primetime television and Brock [Osweiler] is blossoming and the defense is playing great; that’s what you watch the NFL for.”
Emmanuel Sanders on how the offense came back to take the lead:
“We’re resilient, and that’s what it’s about. [Broncos QB] Brock [Osweiler] came in, he was throwing some dimes. The ball he threw to D.T. [Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas], the one he threw to me. Obviously I made the catch, but I could have caught it with my facemask. [Broncos RB] C.J. Anderson coming in and running the ball hard. It was definitely a big time team win.”
T.J. Ward on the team’s character:
“I’m extremely proud, but I don’t except anything less. Just the win they fought the entire game tells you something about the character of this team. It makes it so much better because it is against a great Patriots team. It is toward the end of the season and the playoffs are approaching and it’s important to be playing your best football and we are.”
