Life in the NFL
After breaking 100 yards,
Lelie gets physical in career game
Lelie dwelling on Denver’s
big loss, not big gameI didn't notice until after the game against the Raiders that I went over 100 yards, but the main thing is the big "L," that's the main stat. We had fewer points than the Raiders.
I didn't feel like I played all that well. If I could have made all my plays, I could have gone over 200 yards with two touchdowns.
One time, the ball came to me in the end zone and I had plenty of time to pull it in, but the defensive back got a hand in there and knocked it out at the last second. Another time, I slipped on my route and it was a ball I could have had. Then, there was a post pattern across the middle, and I had the ball in my hands, but I got hit pretty bad by Anthony Dorsett and he knocked it loose.
A couple of other routes, if I had lined up better, Steve Beuerlein would have come to me. I could have done a lot more. Everybody could have done a lot more.
That hit by Dorsett is one of the hardest hits I've taken. He really put a hit on me. Mostly, it was just the wind knocked out of me, no bruises or anything. I had never been down that long on the middle of the field, and I didn't want to stay down there that long, but I just couldn't get up right away. And it was on national TV and everyone's watching -- and against our rival, the Raiders. That was bad. But it pumped me up for the rest of the game, to show I wasn't hurt and could come back.
The first two of the four catches I had were near the sideline and I was barely able to stay in bounds. All I know is the ball was in the air near me and I grabbed it. I can't tell you how everything else worked out. I've been playing football for so long, it just comes second nature.
I also had two catches while we were desperately trying to come back. On one of them, I was the middle of three receivers on a streak route. I thought I was a decoy, but I got behind the coverage and Beuerlein put it up for me. The other was on a fourth-and-15 and I went out 18 yards and came right back to the quarterback while two defenders kept going.
I'm irritated we lost. I wish we could have played better. Basically, the team is pretty pissed off because we don't control our destiny as far as the playoffs are concerned.
In the first half, we put the defense in a tough situation. We gave the Raiders great field position for all three of their scores. But our offense played better in the second half; we played tough, but just didn't have enough. At halftime, the coaches told us that this was our season, that if we wanted to go to the playoffs, we had to win.
We still have a pretty good chance of making the playoffs. We've got to go ahead and beat Arizona and we have to hope the Jets lose to the Packers and the Browns lose to the Falcons. The Packers and Falcons are two pretty good teams, so they have a good chance of winning. The Packers are already in the playoffs, though, so they might not play all of their veterans for the whole game, and that's a concern for us.
When I saw that I went over 100 yards, I said, "Wow," because in the NFL, 100 yards is not easy at all. It's hard enough to get in college. I got lucky and got it in the NFL. I'm also surprised that I went over the 500-yard mark for the season. I expected it to be a lot less, especially since I didn't think I was going to get that much playing time. It shows that the coaches have confidence in me. They expect you to make plays, no matter if you're a first-year guy or a 13th-year guy. So I'm glad I'm out there, doing something in the NFL and having fun.
I'll be picking up my sisters and my mom at the airport. They're coming to spend Christmas here. And I'll be doing some more shopping. As for New Year's, I don't know what I'm doing yet. If we win this game, I'll probably be here in Denver. If we don't win, I don't know if I'll be in Aspen or Hawaii. I don't know where I'll be.
We need to win this game and extend the season. I want to go out and play well in my last game of my rookie regular season and help my team win. I just want to keep improving, because I've improved a lot in the last couple of weeks. I want to keep getting better and better. I want to be better than I was last week and make fewer mistakes than last week. That's all I can ask for.
And it's a big goal to get the win.