BRONCOS HEAD COACH VIC FANGIO
On whether he is sending a game ball to Pro Football Hall of Famer Floyd Little’s family after it was shared publicly that Little was entering hospice care “We did. We talked about him, one of the all-time greats in Broncos’ history. Number 44, I remember him as a kid growing up, I was an Eagles fan growing up but from afar, I was a Floyd Little fan too. We did get him one and we are going to get it sent to him.”
On the defensive effort “I thought our defense played well, for the most part. Even after we threw the early interception, they had to work hard on that short field to get it in there. We had a bunch of three-and-outs. We had a good day on third down I believe for the most part. [S] Justin [Simmons] came up big there at the end. We had the six sacks. A lot of them were kind of late, meaning late in the down to where I think our coverage was good. I’m just really proud of the entire team.’
On whether the defense was more aggressive because they were facing a rookie QB “We were thinking to be a little more aggressive than we actually were. We did pressure some more but if you asked me before the game, I was planning on doing it even more than we did. Some of the situations didn’t come up and they beat us in a few of them, so I had to pull back a little bit to still be able to get some pressure.”
On what impressed him about the running game “It was a big part of winning that game obviously. I’ve always said a quarterback’s two best friends are a running game and a good defense and, for the most part, we had that going tonight. It reflected in Drew’s [Lock] play after he threw the early interception. I think he was pretty solid after that. It was a great team win. (Miami) had been doing a lot of things in the special teams to help them win and we were able to not give up anything there. I thought [P] Sam [Martin] did a great job punting, [K] Brandon [McManus] made his kicks. Overall, it was a great team win.”
On whether there were new run plays in the offensive playbook this week “We had a couple new runs because of the types of fronts (Miami) plays. It was good game planning by the coaches. We had success with those, couple of them popped nicely. We had a 20-yarder by [RB] Phillip [Lindsay], a 25-yarder by Mel (RB Melvin Gordon III), just some big plays. We were able to stay with it too and that’s two-fold. Part of the problem in the Atlanta game was we got too far behind. It’s hard to run it when you’re behind. Then in the Raider game, we ran it but were going three-and-out a bunch and that cuts down on your opportunities. Having success with it helped the early-down passing game too.”
On what allowed Lock to settle down after the early interceptions “I think Drew comes back from bad plays. I think that’s one of his good qualities. I don’t think he lets it linger and has a hangover from it. Again, getting the running game going helps the boot game and having the defense play well alongside that turns it to where it’s not a game where you have to throw it every play and they can tee off on the rush.”
On Simmons’ late interception “It was a great play by him. He had one earlier in the game that was negated. Justin is a great player and we love having him. He came close in a few games earlier beside the one he lost to the penalty. I think it was poetic justice that he was able to get the game-winner.”
On the play of DL DeShawn Williams “I can’t comment on his play in particular, but overall, our front had to work hard. We did get six sacks, but they were hard to get. They were a little bit later in the down and we had good coverage and had to keep grinding. We had a chance at a couple other ones as well but (Miami QBs) Tua (Tagovailoa) and (Ryan) Fitzpatrick are elusive guys, good scramblers. Kudos to our front for the way they fought.”On what was working to convert third-and-longs“We’ve actually done a pretty good job. We’ve had too many of them, but we’ve converted our fair share relative to the rest of the league. Drew can stick it in there in tight quarters, our pass protection was good. We don’t give up on third-and-10, we think we can still get them.”
On how much easier it is to coach with the early lead “I’d always like the early lead, that’s for damn sure. Again, it goes back to what I said, when you’re running it decently and you’re playing good defense, the whole complexion of the game is different. You’re not feeling like offensively, if we don’t score, we’re in trouble or you have to throw it every play. Defensively, you can call the game how you want to call it, not feeling like you have to call it a certain way because of the way things are going. It allows you to mix things up. We’d definitely like to play that style of play both sides of the ball. I still would like to improve our finish there. We obviously could have had the ball on the one-yard line or the touchdown there on Melvin’s (Gordon III)run. Those are things we can’t do and we need to eliminate that.”
On how much he prepared for Fitzpatrick coming in to the game “I kind of thought that way all week. If we played well, they would put him in. Tua had only played three games so Fitzpatrick was on a lot of the cut-ups we watched and the film we watched. I watched them myself on the side. I just kind of had a feeling we would see him if we played good.”
BRONCOS QUARTERBACK DREW LOCK
On what his mentality was coming into this game and if he was more determined than ever to prove himself “Absolutely. This was a game that was pretty much chalked up before we even played it. In a lot of people’s eyesthere was no way we were going to be able pull this one off. That’s just typical NFL football. You’ve got to take it week by week—that’s what I’ve figured out. That was a really hot Dolphins team coming in. They’ve been scoring points on defense, having turnovers and taking the ball away from the offense. I was extremely determined. There was a lot of talk about playing this week or not playing this week. There was nothing pain-wise that was going to stop me from playing in this game. It definitely wasn’t an easy week of practice fighting through it—and even today a little bit. Our offensive line fought their butts off. They kept me clean tonight. It was a nice game.”
On how impressed he was with the performance by RBs Melvin Gordon III and Phillip Lindsay “They were awesome. Phil is—I don’t really know how much Phil gets talked about in the media or if he gets pumped up or shot down, but he deserves a whole lot of credit for this run game and this offense. You guys see the plays on the field but him in the locker room—him in the huddle from last year to this year—it’s a completely different Phil. I’ve been extremely impressed with how he’s progressed as a leader for this offense and just as a football player in general.”
On how his third-and-10 completion to WR KJ Hamler on the third drive of the day helped calm him down “That was a big one. That’s one of those play calls where you’re pushing the ball down field. You’re kind of sitting there—you’ll take one if you have to—that was the mindset going into it. We timed it up great. KJ is a threat over the top. He’s got a lot of speed and when you mix that with a really good ability to be able to shut it down quick—he’s tough to guard—and that’s exactly what it was. It was perfect timing for both of us. He ran a perfect route and it worked. Those are plays that we’ve got to have in these games and they’re there for us to make. That was one of the plays that maybe last week or the week before we don’t make and we’re coming off the field with a different vibe on the sideline. I’m proud of us for always progressing.”
On if he thinks that moving forward the offense should always be as balanced as it was today “Without a doubt. A balanced offense is always the best offense. There are games where we start slow and we get down, the offense on the other side scores, and we’ve got to throw the ball a little more. That’s just the game of football. It’d be ideal to be super balanced all the time and attack and mix things up on a defense sometimes. But like I said, you get down and you’ve got to throw it more than you’d like. Our run game tonight exploded and that’s a testament to ‘Munch’ [Offensive Line Coach Mike Munchak] and [Offensive Quality Control Coach Mike] Shula and [Offensive Coordinator Pat] Shurmur and all the guys—[Running Backs Coach Curtis] Modkins—all those guys planned their butt off this week. We had an awesome planning going into this. When you see that game plan come rolling in and you do a little Monday and a little Tuesday, you’re like, ‘OK, here we go. We’re going to roll this week.’ I’m really proud of the guys tonight.”
On the hug he got from G Dalton Risner after his interception on the first drive of the game “Dalton—we’ve been like this since we got here. My first night in Denver was with him. We moved in together and got to spend the whole training camp and whole OTAs together. He knows me better than anyone else on this team—him and ‘Ryp’ [QB Brett Rypien]. I’ve been so appreciative of having those guys around to help me get through some of these things. It’s a testimony to them. I’m so proud of the way they’ve helped me throughout the week and I’m extremely appreciative.”
On the last pass completion to WR Tim Patrick being the Broncos longest play from scrimmage this season “The last play, we did it a couple times against the Jets. It’s ideal—everyone knows the play—it’s ideal to be able to run out, maybe hold it a little bit, and then chuck it. It got to the point where I tried to roll out, they brought the zero, 28 [Dolphins S Bobby McCain] came off the edge I believe, and it was tough to get it out. My main concern was you’ve just got to throw it. You’ve got to get it out. Don’t let this clock run out right here. At that moment I knew it was either going to be right out of bounds or it was going to be Tim batting it down. This time he actually ended up making a play. It might be the first time ever that you’re supposed to throw it out of bounds and something happens.”
On what he meant by saying he has to “learn week to week” “I hate this cliché line—any given Sunday—everyone says it, but it’s very true. It’s so true. You go look at the last games these Dolphins have had, and you look at the last games we’ve had as an offense, and there’s no one that will come in here and tell you, ‘Oh, God. The Broncos are going to run away with this one. They’re definitely winning this game.’ No one is going to say that, but in our locker room, with our mindset, that’s exactly what we were thinking. Regardless of how weeks went before you’ve got to learn what you need to from the last week and come into this week ready to go—fired up—taking what you learn from week by week and eventually this team is going to have learned a lot and we’re going to keep rolling and we’re going to end up being a team that’s one to watch out for.”
BRONCOS OUTSIDE LINEBACKER BRADLEY CHUBB
On containing Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa “We knew he was going to be the catalyst for their offense, and we knew they were going to try to start the run game and go out there and have him—with his big arm and the way he moves around. We just wanted to get to him early and try to rattle him up a lit bit early, and we I feel like we did that. You saw for the rest of the game, we kept getting back there. I felt like the key was to just keep him in the pocket and once we did that, those hits started to add up and it was good for us.”
On improvement along the defensive front and if the defense is starting to have more cohesion “Yes, there is a lot more cohesion. Those guys, they play hard because they have the opportunity to step up and fill those roles with [DE] Shelby [Harris] being down and [NT] Mike [Purcell] being down. You just see all those guys we have starting to play hard and starting to play together with the defense. It’s fun to see—I knew those guys were plenty enough talented and it was just about the opportunity for them. [DL] DeShawn [Williams] with two sacks, D-Walk (DE DeMarcus Walker) having a sack and Dre (DE Dre’Mont Jones) having a sack—it’s just crazy when you sit back and think about it. It was for sure fun and I can’t wait to keep it rolling.”
On if this win will help propel the team to finish the second half of the season strong “Yes, for sure. I feel like this was the ultimate team game. Our special teams played amazing, our offense played amazing and our defense played amazing. Even when the offense made a mistake, or we [the defense] made a mistake, they were right there, and we were right there to fix it up. It was one of the ultimate team games and I’m glad we had this game. It should for sure be one of those games that pushes us forward to more wins in the win column.”
BRONCOS RUNNING BACK MELVIN GORDON III
On what was clicking with the run game for him and RB Philip Lindsay “I think we just had a great scheme. I thought coaches did a great job with scheming up the fronts and the looks and being able to check some great looks for the runs—so I think that’s what it came down to. Then, honestly, everyone executed. I think the line did a phenomenal job. [T] Garrett [Bolles] was out there being a bouncer—bulldozing guys over. He was making some really great lanes for us and then all we had to do was a make a couple guys miss, so that’s what we did. It was a great team effort.”
On how big of a relief it was when S Justin Simmons sealed the game with an interception after his late fumble “I was happy as hell. It was crazy because it’s something I work on every week, something I think about, and something I try to be really cautious about. It’s cool to enter the game and pretty much score, and to have that taken away from you sucks [his fumble on the one yard-line]—the defense came through, and we prevailed and got the win. I’m happy about that.”
On if it feels good to control the line of scrimmage in the win “It definitely is. When you’re able to run the ball and pass the ball effectively, it makes the game a lot more fun. We can go out there and have some fun, and that’s what the game is about—it’s about being balanced. I think the biggest thing was, this week, we weren’t behind the chains or shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties. We were converting on third downs and we were able to stay out there and call more run plays. It’s kind of hard when you’re shooting your self in the foot when you’re in third and longs and not converting. I think we did a good job as a team executing on third down conversions—being able to keep [RB] Phil [Lindsay] and I on the field to make explosive plays.”
On QB Drew Lock keeping his confidence after taking criticism the past few weeks “I just feel like, as a quarterback, you have to be able to have that mindset to where nothing can get to you. You have to go out there and just make a play. When everyone is against you, you have to understand and know that your teammates are with you, and that’s really the only opinion that matters. He probably ran across some things and probably heard some things, but good quarterbacks block that out and do what needs to be done. Like I said, and like I tell the team all the time, this game is about wining and it’s about losing; when you win, everyone loves you and when you lose, it just comes with the job—especially at quarterback. For him to come out here and be resilient and do what he needs to do to help this team—and lead after he took so much heat last week, it just shows what type of player he is.”
BRONCOS RUNNING BACK PHILLIP LINDSAY
On what made the run game click today “At the end of the day, we came with attitude. You have to be able to remain consistent with the run game. That’s what it comes down to. When there’s a bad play, you still do it. When there’s a good play, you go back to it. You’ve got to stay consistent no matter what you do because you never know when you’re going to break one. Plus, it gets your offensive line in a groove. You guys see [T] Garett Bolles out there, the stuff he is doing is Pro Bowl. He’s having a hellacious year. His partner-in-crime [G] Dalton [Risner] doing his thing, [C Lloyd] Cushenberry doing his thing and [G] Graham [Glasgow] and [Austin] Schlottmann, all of them are out there doing their thing. That shows you that if you go and trust the run game and you go out and give it everything you’ve got, it’s going to open up.”
On what he is doing to take on a bigger leadership role “You get into the NFL and you start to see different things that happen and it’s not a shocker to you. At the end of the day, you know what you need to do. If you go out there and you’re yelling at your team and everybody’s frustrated and everyone has the sense of urgency that we have to do something fast but not the right way, that’s a losing team. If you go in there and say ‘look, if we take it one snap at a time,” it’s good. It’s a long game. Whenever I get an opportunity to get the ball, I want to be explosive and do some things. I pride myself on that.”
On whether an increased run game can make the offense more consistent “We can win all the rest of these games. It’s the NFL. We all do the same thing. It’s about executing. There’s no science to this. You can put all the cute thing together, the pass plays here and try to hire people, but at the end of the day, can you beat them in the front? Can you get five yards? Can you get 10 yards? Can you get 15? Can you get a touchdown? Can you make those first downs turn into touchdowns? You do that, that’s all there is. This generation, we make things too complicated.”
On what allowed QB Drew Lock to stay settled in after the early interception “You’re going to have to have things like that happen. It’s good that you can lean on the run game and let things develop. Get the linebackers to move up so he has more opportunities to have open holes and open receivers one-on-one. We let him know he doesn’t have to take the world on by himself. There’s ten more of us, doing it as a unit. If we all do this together, we’ll all make each other look good. It starts up front, it starts with the protection. It starts with Drew knowing his reads and it starts with the running backs running the right holes. Let things come.”
On if it’s nice seeing the defense playing well all game “Yeah, it’s great to see that. Honestly, they do it every game. It’s hard when we go three-and-out, it puts pressure on them. But if we can do this every game, you’ll see a defense that’s top two, top three, I guarantee you that. When you put them in the situation where their backs are against the wall and your back is against the wall, it’s not a good sight. When we’re doing our thing and moving the ball, you’re going to see a better defense, a more confident defense. The one you’re used to.”
BRONCOS OUTSIDE LINEBACKER MALIK REED
On transitioning from playing Miami rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa to Miami veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick “We’ve been doing a good job the past week [practicing] that offense, so we knew that it was going to be a battle and be a challenge to get back there, make them uncomfortable, and really get a rush out there. So it was amazing to see that—come out with six sacks. That’s always something we strive for as a defense up front. Just to really get after them, that was the goal.”
On how impressed he was with the guys up front sacking Tagovailoa “Very. We were hitting him, but he wasn’t really going down easy. I was impressed with—he just got in there and got after it. I feel like he’s going to be a good quarterback. To get after him, like I said, to have six sacks on him, that’s amazing and that’s something that we strive for. We just have the opportunity to come out and compete each and every week.”
On the team’s response to Tagovailoa’s first touchdown “We have belief in the entire defense. We have belief in each other. To see how we stick together but we never give up on each other. Good, bad, or different—whether things are going good, whether they score, whether we get a pick, whether we get inside someone—to see how we stay together, how we’re happy for each other’s success, I’m glad that’s something that makes our defense special. That’s something that’s going to continue to carry us on into the following weeks.”
On stopping the Dolphins at the end of the game “You never know where it’s coming from. We’ve got a defense full of playmakers. You never know where the play is going to come from. To see the play that [S] Justin [Simmons] made—I’m not shocked. He makes plays like that week in, week out. He’s one of the best safeties in the league and I stand by that. Like I said, I’m not surprised he [made that play], but I’m definitely happy he did.”
BRONCOS OFFENSIVE GUARD DALTON RISNER
On the key to having a successful running game tonight “Just sticking together. You know I mention it, and this is something I’ve been wanting to talk about. Last week in Las Vegas, I’m sitting here, and I feel like a lot of people think that what I was saying was cliché and that it’s the same old story, same old rhyme, but we know this football team is great. We have some of the best coaches in the league right now. These coaches did a great job preparing us, they did great. When we go out there and execute, man, anything can happen and we did a great job today of executing, something also I’ve been talking about. All 11 of us, on every single play, executing and doing out job. It wasn’t perfect, but we owned the men on the other side of the line of scrimmage, I feel like, for most of the entire night on pass and run. The coaches did a tremendous job. We kept fighting. The defense did a heck of a job and that stand at the end of the game was incredible. It just feels so dang good to be able to talk about how we stuck through it and we’re 3-6 and everyone’s against us it feels like. We come in there today against a 6-3 Miami football team and we get a huge win and I wanted to say that. It feels good. I’m damn proud of this football team and what we did today.”
On how much he was able to help QB Drew Lock stay focused after a tough start “You know, I don’t know how much it helped him. Maybe he could talk to you and he’d say, ‘Man, Dalton’s annoying as heck. I wish he would quit talking to me,’ but that’s my boy and I got so much belief in him. I knew he could play a great football game today and that’s exactly what he did. He stayed composed. He did some stuff out there that people probably didn’t even notice in terms of play calls. He did a heck of a job, man, so that’s my guy. I’m ride or die with him. You know, no matter what mistake he makes, his are emphasized. I make mistakes and the whole world might not see it every time and he’s always there for me so I got his back as well because I knew we would come out on top today.”
On how the Broncos changed their mindset to improve the run game this week “Put on the work gloves before we came to work today. All of us put on the work gloves and today was about the guys on the other side of the ball and it was about winning that battle. It was personal. It’s personal every week. We don’t like to lose football games. We don’t like being 3-6. We came out today and we wanted to prove that we’re a good football team. That whenever we lose, and I tell you guys, ‘You know, we’re a better football team than 3-6’ or whatever I tell you, it’s not cliché because we’re going to stick together. We’re going to continue riding together, that means the coaching staff, the offense, defense, and special teams, and we’re going to keep rolling because we knew that today could be possible. And we play another 7-3 team next week with the Saints, a great football team. The Dolphins were 6-3 today. Any given Sunday you have an opportunity to win a football game. I’m so proud of this organization what we did, so proud of Vic Fangio and the coaches. They prepared us in the best way possible. It’s a great day to be a Bronco, fellas.”
BRONCOS SAFETY JUSTIN SIMMONS
On what allowed him to make that interception in the fourth quarter and secure the win “[Dolphins QB Ryan] Fitzpatrick is a hell of a quarterback. I think he’s a guy that is just not afraid to take his shots and his chances. There at the end of the game, he’s moving the ball really well since he got in and we just kept telling ourselves essentially like, ‘We got to make a play.’ We have to make a sack fumble, couple pass breakups in a row, obviously an interception if we can, but we got to make a play because he’s going to be aggressive. I mean, that’s just how he’s made his living. Towards the end, we just, kind of like in a formation that we somewhat expected them to be in, obviously their number one targeted guy is DeVante Parker. He’s been making plays all game and he’s a really good workhorse for them and they’re a great offensive team and so just knew they were going to take a shot there in the endzone with him being so aggressive and just found a way to come down with the football.”
On how you create a Pro Bowl career and how he has grown as a player this year “I just think it’s all about being consistent throughout your play and it’s never getting too amped up on single accolades. They’re great, right. Obviously, you strive to be a Pro Bowl, All-Pro player in every regard, but the bigger picture for myself is just making sure that I’m doing my job at a high level, doing what’s asked of me as a safety for our defense and then making sure I’m bringing some guys along with me. Just making sure that I’m doing the best that I can and making sure that I’m not just worried about myself, but I’m worried about my guys, my defensive calls, things that I got to get done, putting guys in the best position to make plays. I think to answer the question in its entirety is just the consistency of your play. Making sure that you show that you can consistently make the big plays when they come to you. It’s the NFL, that’s why it’s hard to do, guys week in and week out are going to get challenged and the consistency of it is hard to do.”
On the overall team win and clicking on both side of the ball “Yeah, I think it was just that. It was kind of just being angry about how last week went down and we just know we’re better than that. Especially towards the end of the game I just thought, we talked about it a lot as a defense, I think our effort and energy throughout most of the game was pretty good and I think in the third quarter at one point, talking about the Raiders, it was maybe a minute left in the third quarter and it was still 13-6, they ended up scoring on that drive, but it’s still a close game. It’s still a winnable game and we just didn’t close it out nearly as well as we know we can. Just that feeling all week kind of just fits it right. We just knew what we had to do to come out here and beat a really good football team. An offense that moves the ball really well, doesn’t really turn the ball over all that much, a defense that obviously takes the ball away a lot and they play great on special teams. We just knew all week, like man we’re capable of winning, we just got to play the type of football that we know we can play. That’s what it came down to, just winning your one-on-one matchups and finding a way to win the football game.”
On what is contributing to him having four picks at this point in the season “A lot. Our D-line has been getting tremendous pressure which makes it easier. I’ve seen the back end. We always say, ‘Rush and coverage, work together’, so as a safety, being able to reroute concepts and having the type of players that we have—it just makes my job that much easier. Our rush is rushing the quarterback, he probably gets rid of the ball a second earlier than he wants to. Our corners have been playing great, [CB] Essang [Bassey]’s been doing a great job coming in with the nickel, so once you’re able to trust a few guys, and like I said, this is all a work in progress, right, having [CBs] A.J. [Bouye] and Bryce [Callahan] and Essang, and myself, [S] Kareem [Jackson], we just have a rotation full of guys. Once you kind of start getting that thing together, you start seeing all the gelling happen, but it’s not just one single individual effort from myself, it’s just a combination of everything that’s going on and being able to make a play on the ball, but I thought the secondary—we were challenging receivers all day and challenging throws and just found a way to come up with a win there at the end.”
On how his end-of-game interception felt since he’d had one taken in the first quarter “Obviously, especially early on in the game, obviously for the individual accolade, of course you want the pick and all that stuff, but it was more disappointing because of the momentum swing that just happened. You just had an interception—we did—and then we answered with an interception, but it got called back. So it’s just like, obviously I want the pick, but it’s more about, ‘Dang, that hurts our momentum as a team.’ I didn’t even get to look at the play, really. I don’t know if it was actually defensive holding—whatever they called—or not, but it just stinks that they threw a flag on that play. But, just being able to answer the bell when it came back up and it took all four quarters to get back to it, but we finally were able to get a takeaway and get a couple more of those.”
On if he thought he’d see Miami QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and if he wondered if the defense had done ‘too good’ of a job on Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa “There’s always that. You always prepare for it—a backup to come in—it’s just what you do throughout the week of prep and you always talk about the guy, especially when it’s a guy like Fitzpatrick, a guy that’s been in the league for a long time, a guy that knows what he’s doing, knows how to work the offensive system. You just prepare for someone like that, so we definitely prepared for him to come in, but like you said, he’s a vet. He’s been in the system for a while, he’s seen all these different defenses. He knows what he’s doing and so when he [is] out there moving the ball, you just have to stick to what you do and win your one-on-one matchup. They get paid too. They have great players on the receiving end of the football, and great running backs. Like I said, it’s just once we have an opportunity to make a couple plays, we’ve got to be able to come down with them. We had our sides a couple of times throughout a couple of those drives there with him and it took it to the very end of it for kind of a thrilling close, but [we’ve] got to be able to come up with some of those plays, especially if we want to be where we are defensively, or where we want to be
