The leadership of the Denver Broncos has had enough. Not the leadership on the sidelines, or in the front office, but the leadership that has the only chance of getting the Broncos out of the month-long funk they have been in. The players. Led by Brian Dawkins, the Broncos held a players-only team meeting on Tuesday to 'get on the same page'. According to many of the veterans, that is exactly what happened.
"We are on the same page," tight end Daniel Graham said. "There were a lot of emotions out there. No one likes losing. Frustrations came out a little bit. This team will stick together. We are going to fight through this together.
Of course, much is being made about the sideline skirmish between Brandon Marshall and Knowshon Moreno after the two exchanged words (and a couple of shoves) following Moreno's goal-line fumble in the 2nd quarter of Sunday's 32-3 loss to San Diego - easily the low point of the season thus far.
"What we do as a team, we keep that stuff to ourselves," Dawkins said, according to the Denver Post. "But if we're winning and we have that same argument on the sidelines, does anybody report that? If they do, they say it's our passion. But because we lost that game, and guys were a little emotional, then it's a bad thing.
Perhaps the best perspective comes from Champ Bailey, who knows that tough talk only goes so far. "I was pretty encouraged to talk to some of my teammates, but what’s going to encourage me more is if we play better. It’s not really what people say.’’
The Broncos now know if they are going to turn the season around it has to start tomorrow night, at home, in prime-time, against a team that has done its share of losing this season as well, and needs a win nearly as bad.
Now on the same page, the Broncos can get back to what they were doing for 6 weeks to start the season - winning as a team.