NFL Insider, Benjamin Allbright, joined the 1st and 10 at 10 crew on Orange and Blue 760 today to talk about the rough loss on Sunday.
Allbright shared that the players held a “players only” meeting on Monday to try to begin correcting some issues. “When you get into the season and have a ‘players only’ meeting, it’s usually to correct something. It usually becomes a situation where players are griping about things or airing grievances.”
The Denver defense likely has plenty of grievances to air, given that at least two of its veteran players have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction, with Chris Harris talking about needing to be more aggressive and unpredictable on defense, and Derek Wolfe’s comments after Sunday’s loss. Personally, I prefer that it happen in that type of forum rather than publicly in front of the media, as I don’t think that is ever very helpful.
Allbright went on to say he’s been hearing there are some “philosophical differences” between some of the players and some of the coaches and the players want those voices heard, so this meeting was also about potentially “trying to craft that message to take to the coaches.” He alluded to the fact that those dissenting voices don’t feel that the coaching staff is putting players in the best position to succeed, which is their job.
Brandon Marshall, in an interview Monday night, shed a little bit more light on this meeting as well as the coaching staff’s approach to these conversations.
Enjoyed chatting with Brandon Marshall last night. He told me the #Broncos defense had a players only meeting yesterday.
— Michael Spencer (@MichaelCBS4) October 9, 2018
"We still have time to turn things around and I’m glad we’re having these meetings right now because we all don’t want to feel the same way we felt last year.” pic.twitter.com/zFgrv9d5MP
“Defense we met together and we talked some things out. We even had a team meeting where Vance wanted our feedback as well on what’s going on and what we need. You know what, we still have time to turn this around and I’m glad we’re having these meetings and this communication now, because we all don’t want to feel the same as we felt last year.”
It’s encouraging to hear that Vance Joseph is soliciting feedback from the players and including them in the conversation about how to fix things, especially given the fact that there seems to be some potential discord between the coaches and players. Let’s hope this dialogue continues and helps shore things up.
I think Brandon speaks for all of Broncos Country when he says we all don’t want to feel the same as last year.