Life in the NFL
Lelie ‘catches the ball’
to become a popular BroncoMY catch near the end against New England sealed the game.
Coach Mike Shanahan was taking a shot, risking it. He called a play that had all the receivers on "go" routes, and quarterback Brian Griese threw it to me.
I lost my footing a little bit before the catch. It was mostly a blur, but I remember being held and someone coming across and hitting me. When I got up, I was looking for a penalty flag, but it didn't matter because we already had the big gain.
Because of the catch, the defense didn't have to go out there against New England's high-powered offense again. If they did, you never know what could have happened.
It's a great feeling when your teammates and your peers embrace you after you make a big play for them.
The win was extra special because it was against the defending Super Bowl champs. Last year, I was sitting on the couch, watching them on big-screen TV. This year, I'm part of a team that beat them.
They came back on us, kept fighting, kept hanging in there, and that's what good teams do. It made for another exciting game.
I ran a reverse for the second week in a row. After gaining over 20 yards the first time against Kansas City, I only got 4 yards this time.
The first time you run a play, it's always best because teams aren't expecting it and game planning for it.
The Patriots' defensive backs are really good and their defense is really good.
I have the same agent as some of their DBs -- Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy -- so we were joking around and having some fun at the line of scrimmage. No trash talking.
Coach Shanahan told us basically the same thing he tells us every week we win. He said it was a good win, it wasn't pretty, but we came out on top when the clock was at 0:00.
The first half of the season has gone by really fast, a lot faster than I expected. Everything just blew right by.
The team is doing really good and it's been a fun ride so far. Hopefully we can keep up the same intensity and match our 6-2 record in the second half of the season.
Because of our upcoming bye week, we get two days off (Monday and Tuesday) and we come back Wednesday and Thursday for a couple of practices.
Then we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and come back next Monday to start our normal schedule.
I'm not sure yet if my girlfriend, Jenny Gross, and I are going to visit Hawaii for the weekend or not.
People ask me if there's truth to the story that Coach Shanahan is upset about Jason Elam's performance on kickoffs. I'm not really sure. Sometimes, a lot of stuff you read in the papers around here isn't true. There might be some accuracy to it, but sometimes it's mostly speculation.
I watched the UH game against Fresno State, but I didn't see the best part of the game. I was at ESPN Zone and I felt like going home to watch the rest of it when UH was down 14-9, but I got caught in traffic.
I got home with two minutes left to watch John West make that long TD run. I didn't get to see how they got the lead.
I see a lot of guys stepping it up, like Britton Komine and Justin Colbert, and West looks like he's doing pretty good.
I consider a lot of the players on the team my good friends, almost all of them. I'm real close with guys like Colbert, Keith Bhonapha and Sean Butts, and David "Happy" Gilmore was my roommate.
I get a lot of fan support out here in Denver, and we've got a lot of local people who used to live in Hawaii out here supporting me.
People are starting to recognize me in the malls. They say "great job," but I don't get into too many conversations with them.
The worst thing I heard was, "Catch the ball."
It didn't make me feel bad because the criticism was needed. It's not like he wasn't telling the truth. I've had a few drops.
After the game, I saw Adrian Klemm, a former offensive lineman for UH who plays for New England. We talked about what a great game it was and how cool it was to play against each other.
Jenny told me Phil Simms was saying some nice things about me and my potential on the TV broadcast of the game. I take it as a big compliment and it gives me a boost of confidence. Coach June Jones had the same type of speculation about me when I started learning his offense in college.
I wish everybody in Hawaii a happy and safe Halloween and good luck to UH this week. It looks like if they win, they'll be going to a bowl game.