Life in the NFL
Lelie says Broncos will be fine,
despite injury to quarterbackSEATTLE played us close in the first half. We were letting them hang around too much, making too many mistakes and not capitalizing when we should have been putting points on the board. We were giving the ball away and not converting on third down.
But we were hungrier. We needed to win that game, especially after losing to our rivals, Oakland. This win is a confidence boost, and as long as we can keep rolling, keep everything going the right way like we're doing now, we'll be all right.
Quarterback Brian Griese sprained his knee and it looks like he's going to miss this week's game at home against Indianapolis. He has a good chance to be back the following week when we play at San Diego, but he might miss two games at the most.
It's hard to compare backup Steve Beuerlein with Brian, because they're two quarterbacks playing the same system. He's older, a little more mature, a pretty good quarterback. They make the same reads, the same plays and they've both got to play in such a way that fits our system. Beuerlein's smart. He knows his stuff and he can come in and pick it up.
It won't be hard getting used to a new quarterback. We receivers catch as many balls from Steve as we do from Brian because they split the snaps in practice. Sometimes, we don't even know which one just threw the pass to us. We'll make a catch, go back to the huddle and think we'll be talking to Brian, but it will be Beuerlein in the huddle.
Some people may think we ran more in the second half just because of the change at quarterback. But the running game was in our game plan anyway. We knew their run defense was their weakness, so that's where we attacked. We wanted to force them to make plays against our running backs.
It took us a while to figure out their defense, but we finally did it. Our linemen were picking up on their stunts and blitzes and creating holes.
The coaches were telling the team that this was a revenge game. Last year, I heard they kicked our butts when we played in Seattle. The coaches were also telling us that we needed to win this game if we wanted to be something special, and that if we lost, we would basically be average.
And we don't want to be average. We want to be in the upper-class, not hanging around the middle and hoping to make the playoffs. We want to get in the playoffs on our own.
Overall, we feel really good about our team and we believe we have the opportunity to do something special this year. We're 7-3, but we could have easily won those three games and be 10-0 right now. We lost to Miami in the final seconds. Even against Oakland, if we didn't get an interception returned on us for a touchdown and if our receivers were making plays, and if we could have changed just a few things that changed the complexion of the game, we probably could have won that game, too.
If the coaches are ever in a situation where we need another quarterback, I think Rolo (former Hawaii teammate Nick Rolovich) would be first on their list. You need three quarterbacks, and I think if the injury to Brian was serious enough, they would think of Nick. He did really well when he was here, making it to the final cut. They've done this sort of thing at other positions. When our linemen get hurt, they bring one of the linemen in who was here for camp.
Every once in a while, I look back at the time we had last year and the combination the two of us had. It was a special time in both of our lives. But you can only reflect on it for so long, and you've got to move ahead.
Against the Seahawks, the ball came to me four times. I caught two, one was deflected and the other was pass interference. The first catch was during a two-minute rush drill. The other one was on a third down and we got the first down. That catch came early in the second half on a key drive that gave us a 17-6 lead.
On the interference call, the ball was a little underthrown. When I stopped to get it, the defensive back ran into me.
Seattle's new stadium is really nice. They did a good job on it. And it was a good field to play on. They have Fieldturf, which is the next best thing to grass. I always prefer grass.
I know they're installing it at Aloha Stadium, where they can't really have grass because of the high number of events that are held there. The Fieldturf will be low maintenance.
The bye week two weeks ago was great, going to Hawaii and stuff, but I've adjusted back to the regular schedule.
We've got to keep doing what we're doing. Our first goal is to make the playoffs and after we do that we can start making other goals.
Aloha to the people of Hawaii.