Demaryius Thomas joined Mike Florio on PFT Live to talk about Gary Kubiak, John Fox, Peyton Manning, and all that stuff. But he started with a bombshell about Denver's season-ending loss to the Indianapolis Colts. It was one he struggled to say. He said Denver's injuries had the most to do with the team's struggles in the postseason. He said a lot of guys were playing through a lot of bumps and bruises that maybe weren't well-known at the time .
"It's hard to point out anything else," Thomas said.
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Then he paused. It was clear he wanted to say something more, but wasn't sure he should say it. He stumbled through it.
"I feel like some guys," he said, pausing again, "didn't have the fight or whatever it was. It was totally a different team than last year (2013). I think we had more talent this year, but there was a little more fight in that team last year."
Thomas also said that he and his teammates were guilty of looking over Indianapolis, who beat the Broncos 24-13 in Denver, the only home loss of the season.
"I think one thing is guys kind of look over the Colts. We had guys talking, the night before the game, 'I don't want to go to New England and play New England.' I think that was one of the big things."
We all saw it. John Elway saw it. We all knew this Broncos team was a lot better than the one that lost at home by 11 points. Some of that falls on Peyton Manning's struggles, but some of that falls on the lack of fight of his teammates. Thomas himself was certainly guilty of it.
At least Thomas was open and honest about the state of his team. How else are you going to learn not to make the same mistake next year?