It’s not even June and the lead story in the Mile High City day in and day out is the quarterback competition with the Denver Broncos. It would be easy to forget about the Nuggets or Avalanche, especially after their respective seasons, and no one has been taking the Rockies seriously for years.
However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Broncos just won the Super Bowl despite the below-average performance at quarterback.
With everything that has happened this offseason — from Peyton Manning retiring to Brock Osweiler fleeing to the Texans to the Broncos using a first-round pick on a quarterback — it is understandable why all of the talk is on the quarterback competition.
If the Broncos want to be just as good, if not better, this coming year, however, the real story may be looking at every position except the quarterbacks.
On Tuesday, during week two of OTAs, cornerback Aqib Talib echoed a similar mindset when asked if he was trying to be even better when going up against Paxton Lynch.
“Ah man, I’m just trying to get better myself,” said Talib. “Trying to stay square, get this all while we can press, trying to work my off technique.”
Talib: trying to get better myself. Focus on defense, not quarterback #Broncos pic.twitter.com/d5P8DxHimb
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) May 31, 2016
While every member of the media and fan might be focusing on the quarterback for each play, Talib doesn’t even notice.
“Half the time I don’t even know who the quarterback is,” said Talib. “I know I have a great receiver in front of me, [Emmanuel Sanders] or [Demaryius Thomas]. So I’m just trying to get better myself, man.”
When pressed to talk more about the quarterback situation, Talib reiterated what he had already said — he truly doesn’t know.
“Lately — I ain’t going to lie to you — lately I’ve been focused on the receiver in front of me. I won’t even know who the quarterback is until I go watch the iPad tonight,” said Talib. “Today I barely knew who the quarterback was. I was focused on [Emmanuel Sanders] man.”
Talib and the Broncos defense want to be so dominant that it truly doesn’t matter who the quarterback is when they look to repeat this coming year. Although, repeating as champs isn’t in Talib’s mind, either.
“We all want to be good; we don’t want to be no Super Bowl or bust or whatever it is,” said Talib.
According to Talib, the Broncos are focused on the journey — getting better — and not the destination — winning another Super Bowl. With all of the celebration that happened after winning the Super Bowl, Talib is excited for the two celebrations that still remain, but is also ready to move forward with the team they have this season.
“We going to go to the White House and have our ring ceremony and that deal is all the way over with man,” said Talib. “We all on the same page now, so we all now got the same amount of pressure on us to be good.”
As for getting better for this upcoming season, Talib, now entering his tenth season in the NFL, sees the importance of OTAs.
“I know how much they matter,” said Talib in reference to OTAs. “You build a lot of chemistry, you get in shape, you learn little things in the defense that you didn’t know before … I really use them to my advantage and use them to get better. Where as in the past I’ve always just felt like I had to be here.”
The two drafted rookies that Talib works with on a daily basis, safeties Justin Simmons (3rd round) and Will Parks (6th round), have already improved in his eyes.
“They workin’ man. They definitely doing better and better in the classroom and they bringing it to the field,” said Talib. “This is the time where you get in shape and you learn the playbook, and they definitely doing that… I think they’re doing a good job.”
Even though the quarterback position is the sexy story of the offseason, the continued development of the rest of the team could very well be the team’s best shot at another Lombardi Trophy, but don’t mention Super Bowl talk yet to Talib.