What are you thankful for this Broncos season?

It’s that time of year. What are you thankful for this season?

I’m thankful that Garret Bolles has figured out how to play left tackle in the NFL. Even if we don’t retain him for 2021, it still means that he isn’t or wasn’t a wasted draft pick. We can argue this if you want. Of all the things that we’ve had to worry about on offense this season, Bolles has been the one constant high level performer on offense for us this season.

- Joe Mahoney

Thankful that we had a football season to watch. I recall a few months ago when it was a very real possibility that this season wouldn’t happen. Also, that Denver players and staff have for the most part remained relatively healthy, as it relates to Covid - our thoughts and prayers are with Ed Donatell and his family, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

- Jeff Essary

I’m also thankful we have a football team to watch, something we almost didn’t have this year. And more than ever this season, I’m thankful for a team that hundreds of thousands of us - who may not agree on much else - can still get together and cheer for, get excited about, yell at, jump and down over ... and just generally have something to come together over. That’s no small feat anytime, and this year it feels even more important. Also, I have an “extra thanks” to Phillip Lindsay, Justin Simmons and Von Miller. In slightly different ways I think these three show us every week that they are all heart and soul when it comes to playing football and being good people.

- Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann

If we have learned anything over the last several months, it is that football is really just a pleasant distraction for us. Sometimes that distraction seems like the most important thing in the world. Sometimes it seems completely insignificant. While many people will be spending this Thanksgiving with friends and family, a fairly large portion of that group will be doing so over zoom calls. However you spend your day, be thankful for the trivial debates about Drew Lock’s growth as a QB, and whether or not the Broncos can still make a push for the playoffs. Smile as your crazy uncle regales you with stories of how similar this era is to the one that preceded the the success of the late 70s and early 80s. Ignore your idiot brother-in-law who loves the Chiefs, and forgive your sister for marrying him. Be thankful that you are in Broncos Country. I know I am, no matter what the 2020 season holds.

- Adam Malnati

I’m incredibly thankful that we can argue and disagree about Lock and the Broncos. It seems petty and small, but we need petty and small right now. Even if it’s just three hours, it’s three hours to feel somewhat normal. It’s three hours to escape. I’m thankful for all the people who are part of this vast community that make MHR what it is, and the envy of so many. I’m thankful to be part of Broncos Country. As someone much wiser once told me: It’s not a phrase or place, it’s a way of life.

- Ian St. Clair

I am thankful for the Mile High Report staff and community. Being an expatriated native Coloradan who has never lost love for the the city of Denver or the Broncos, I was happy to have found an outlet for my fandom when I joined MHR as fan in 2008. Here was a place populated with fans just a passionate and proud as I was. When I joined the staff a few years later, I have come to know a great many of our contributors both personally and virtually and I am proud to count them as some of my dearest friends. It’s an absolute treat to be able to come to this site everyday to laugh, scream, reminisce, fight, and enjoy the one thing that brings us all together—The Denver Broncos.

- Jess Place

I fell for football late and spent years rambling on random message boards growing up. When I moved home from abroad a few years ago I was desperate for a way to adapt back to “normal.” For some reason, I got a chance to write for Mile High Report. Even as we suffer through the worst stretch of Broncos’ football in my lifetime, I love what I do. It’s a dream come true.

Whether we agree, disagree, fight, bicker, or shower each other with praise, I wake up every day blessed to share my obsession with you all. After years being “the Bronco fan trapped in Packer land” and then off the American football grid altogether, it’s something I’ll never take for granted. Thank you.

- Joe Rowles