Theo Riddick explains why he signed with Broncos: “Denver was it for me” By Kyle Fredrickson Denver Post August 5, 2019 Theo Riddick got the news and decided he could process it in one of two ways. Riddick, a seventh-year NFL running back cut by the Lions last month, could either wallow in self-pity over the unexpected change or use it as fuel for the second act of his professional football life. Take a guess what mindset Riddick selected after his first Broncos training camp practice at UCHealth Training Center. “It just sparks that fire in you,” Riddick said. “It’s lit.” The Broncos announced early Sunday they signed Riddick, as expected since last week, to bolster their running backs room with a respected veteran best known for his receiving prowess. Riddick, 28, caught three passes in his Broncos practice debut with the first- and second-team offense in team scrimmage periods. He also considered the Saints as his next football home but ultimately chose the Broncos. “You try to find the best fit (and) Denver was it for me,” Riddick said. “They’re going to utilize my talents and strengths. I’ve got a lot of experience playing the game for six years. We’ve got a young room (and) very talented. Hopefully, I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You can only get that from experience.” From 2015-’18, Riddick’s third year in the league to last season, no NFL running back had more catches (247). Riddick trailed only running backs Duke Johnson (Browns) and James White (Patriots) in receiving yardage over that span with 1,896. Riddick also hauled in 14 career touchdowns for the Lions. “He’s had a good history in his career of being a good receiver out of the backfield and a good threat in that way,” coach Vic Fangio said. “Obviously, we’ll see if we can fit him in that way and he still has that going for him. He’s been a good receiver. I’ve seen him play the last four years in the same division and he had a couple good routes here today.” Added Riddick: “I played receiver for quite some time (at Notre Dame), so it’s kind of natural for me to be honest with you. I was always able to read coverages on the fly, so that helps as well. Again, I’ve just been very talented in terms of catching the ball and just took it and ran with it.” Riddick’s signing is surely a wakeup call for fourth-year Broncos running back Devontae Booker, whose grip on Denver’s third-down back role is loosening. The 2016 fourth-round pick has produced modest rushing totals and a mild impact on the passing game with a per-season average of 33 catches for 271 yards. He touts one career receiving touchdown. Booker, 28, is in the final year of his contract with a cap number of $818,848. He could be moved before the season begins to a team with third-down back needs.

“I don’t know if (Riddick’s addition) puts any more pressure on any one guy,” coach Vic Fangio said. “Obviously when you add a quality player to a group it’s to be noticed. When it comes down to picking the final team, it’s fluid. It’s pretty etched in stone you have to have these 40 guys … and your last 10 (or) 13 guys is based upon fit, ability, future and all that.” Riddick reunites with running backs coach Curtis Modkins in Denver after the pair was together for Riddick’s first three years in Detroit. Familiarity with Fangio’s defensive success in Chicago also aided in Riddick’s decision to join the Broncos. And he was already spotted Sunday giving hands-on instruction to second-year running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman during training camp practice. Riddick is still adjusting to his new football home in the Rockies. But it’s right where he wants to be. “It’s one more guy out there that can relieve some of the stress of the main receivers here,” Riddick said. “You just kind of go from there and try to fill in whatever spot they give you.”

Broncos training camp rewind, Day 12: No panic over Drew Lock’s preseason performance By Kyle Fredrickson Denver Post August 5, 2019 Player attendance Did not practice: LB Todd Davis (calf, 11th consecutive missed practice), TEs Jake Butt (knee, ninth) and Bug Howard (ankle, fifth), LB Aaron Wallace (hamstring, first) and WR Jamarius Way (personal absence, first). Returned to practice: WR DaeSean Hamilton (hamstring, missed five practices), WR River Cracraft (oblique, missed nine practices), OL Jake Rodgers (calf, missed four practices) and OL Ja’Wuan James (lower leg, missed four practices). Roster moves The Broncos announced they have signed Deyon Sizer and waived Jamarius Way. Sizer — a 6-foot-4, 280-pound rookie defensive lineman — was previously in camp with Denver up until July 26 when he was waived. Sizer is a former Colorado State-Pueblo standout who started 25 college games. Way — a 6-foot-3, 215-pound rookie wide receiver from South Alabama — had signed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent on July 20. Way did not attend practice on Sunday because of a personal matter, coach Vic Fangio said. Top play During 11-on-11 work with both first units on the field, quarterback Joe Flacco rolled left outside the pocket and targeted wide receiver Courtland Sutton in the corner of the end zone. Sutton displayed impressive body control for an acrobatic toe-tap touchdown reception down the sideline. Thumbs up QB Joe Flacco. The Broncos’ veteran passer connected on his first seven passes during 11-on-11 and was mostly sharp throughout the entire practice. S Justin Simmons. It’s been a strong early showing for Denver’s starting free safety as Simmons intercepted Flacco in 11-on-11 to notch his fifth pick so far in training camp. Thumbs down TE Jeff Heuerman. An ugly Heuerman drop across the middle, on a pass thrown by Flacco, led to the Simmons pick. QB Kevin Hogan. The Broncos’ backup quarterback was hardly used in team periods with only seven snaps of 11-on-11 and six snaps of 7-on-7. Odds and ends

Fangio coached Thursday with a kidney stone against Atlanta and told reporters “it’s still in there” as of Sunday afternoon. “It’s kind of moody,” Fangio continued. “It acts up sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. During practice today it was fine. Yesterday afternoon, it wasn’t so fine.” The Broncos ran 88 snaps of 11-on-11, 34 snaps of 7-on-7 and returned to practicing in pads after going without them on Day 11. Quarterback snaps (11-on-11): Joe Flacco 49, Kevin Hogan 7, Drew Lock 19 and Brett Rypien 13. Newly acquired running back Theo Riddick ran with the first- and second-team offense in scrimmage periods. He lined up in the backfield and at receiver en route to three catches and one rush between 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 work. Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders received his biggest workload in 11-on-11 since the start of training camp as he continues to recover from Achilles surgery. Sanders caught four passes from Flacco with the first unit and his health progress wasn’t lost on cornerback Chris Harris: “One day I’m gonna have to jam him up and see if he can get off the jam. But he’s looking good to me.” Quarterback Drew Lock went 7-of-9 passing in 11-on-11 work after a lackluster preseason debut against the Falcons. Coach Vic Fangio reiterated: “I was hoping for more but not surprised by his play. He’s a rookie playing in a pro system that he didn’t play in college and he’s not ready yet. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be ready in two weeks from now, three weeks from now or four weeks from now. All these quarterbacks are different about how they adapt and become an NFL quarterback. He’s not there yet, but that’s expected.” The Broncos’ offense practiced situational football during multiple 11-on-11 periods: First-and-10 at the 35-yard line with 35 seconds left and no timeouts, first-and-10 at the 50-yard line with 1 minute left and no timeouts, and first-and-10 from the 25-yard line with 2:20 left and one timeout. Denver showcased a flash of trickery during goal-line scrimmage periods with running back Royce Freeman once throwing incomplete and direct snaps to running back Devontae Booker and Rypien. Practice ended with Flacco orchestrating a successful 2-minute drive capped with a touchdown completion to Cracraft. Next practice 9:15 a.m. to Noon Monday (open to the public)

Broncos training camp rewind, Day 12: No panic over Drew Lock’s preseason performance By Parth Upadhyaya Denver Post August 5, 2019 Days after the Broncos’ season-finale loss to the Chargers last December, Brendan Langley rushed into team headquarters and requested a meeting with general manager John Elway. When told Elway wasn’t taking meetings that day, he pleaded: “I have to do this. Just give me five minutes.” A 2017 third-round selection as a cornerback, Langley wanted to make the switch to wide receiver. The idea to bring it up to Elway had been on his mind for almost a month. But when he was granted his meeting request, Elway’s reaction came as a surprise. “I was gonna ask you the same thing,” Langley recalled Elway saying, a grin stretched across the Hall-of-Famer’s face. Weeks later, Langley was off to Los Angeles to work with trainer Steve Calhoun, who also trains Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen. “I was just running routes, man,” Langley said of his time in L.A. “… Just got back to the basics, pulled out the cones, all that type of stuff. And here’s somewhat of the finished product.” He’s now ready to show the Broncos why he deserves to make the 53-man roster. For Langley, the switch to wide receiver wasn’t anything foreign. He played the position, along with cornerback and returner, at high school in Marietta, Ga. His performance in Denver’s preseason-opening win against Atlanta on Thursday night in the Hall of Fame Game, however, suggests there’s still some rust he needs to shake off. The 6-foot, 181-pounder returned the game’s opening kickoff for 26 yards, then later in the first quarter, he had an eight-yard reception in the red zone that helped set up the Broncos’ first touchdown. But minutes later, he muffed a punt that resulted in a turnover. As a player on the roster bubble, Langley will need to prove his value in the return game to make the team. He has starred on special teams before, though. Langley was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection as a defensive back and punt returner as a senior at Division I FCS Lamar University. Highly coveted out of high school, Langley chose to play at the University of Georgia, where he started the first four games of his true freshman season at cornerback in 2013. After his playing time decreased the rest of the season, he converted to receiver as a sophomore but never played a game. So, he transferred to Lamar, where he switched back to defense. The Broncos drafted him to play cornerback, but Langley struggled on the defensive side of the ball. He appeared in 11 games as a rookie, mostly on special teams, and got his first big chance in Week 12 at Oakland but did not play well.

“It was so fast. Everything was moving so fast for me,” he said of his rookie season. “And it was a learning curve. In college, I played like Cover 3 and Cover 1, a little bit of Cover 2. That was it. I never knew anything about combo coverages, match underneaths, two-high looks … So, I had to learn the system, which wasn’t all that easy.” Then, at the start of the 2018 season, the Broncos cut Langley and signed him to the practice squad before the season started. He joined the active roster in late November and played in five games on special teams. However, it was the time he spent with the scout team — where he played receiver — that reinvigorated his career. “I was on scout team on p-squad, and I was killing folks,” Langley said. “… Nobody was really telling me (I was doing great). You would get the occasional ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs.’ But I knew I was killing ‘em. I didn’t need no reassurance.” His performance inspired him to ask for a position change. But competing for a roster spot as a wideout is every bit as difficult as it was on defense. Veteran Emmanuel Sanders and second-year wide receivers Courtland Sutton and DeaSean Hamilton are locks. Tim Patrick is also a safe bet to make the cut. And in this year’s draft, Denver snagged Colorado product Juwann Winfree, who grabbed the game-winning touchdown in Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game. Still, Langley may have a shot if the Broncos opt to keep six receivers. Undrafted rookie Trinity Benson and third-year receiver River Cracraft, who appeared in eight games last season, are also in the mix. “He played defense, so he can probably be a better route-runner than a lot of us because he can notice things like that,” Patrick said. “At this point, it’s just reps, reps, reps. He can go out there and practice it, but it’s different when you’re going against a defense. The more reps he gets, the better he’s gonna get.” The 24-year-old’s speed is a huge asset, as is his athleticism, but head coach Vic Fangio challenged Langley to “become a football player” following a minicamp practice in June. Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and wide receivers coach Zach Azzani have been working with Langley, attempting to convert raw potential to tangible production. “Brendan is a guy that’s got a trait,” Scangarello said. “He’s fast…and speed is important in an offense. We are just trying to incorporate that with his skill-set. We are trying to let guys do what they do best. (We’re) trying to help him show what he can do to help the offense, and I think he has done a great job with that.” Langley’s blend of persistence and confidence is why he has a chance to make the Broncos’ 53-man roster. When he didn’t see the field at Georgia, he found somewhere else to play; when he was cut last fall, he made the most of his role on the scout team. He’s never accepted ‘no’ for an answer, not even when told his general manager was too busy to meet. “He gave me my five minutes,” Langley said. “And the rest is history.”

Theo Riddick arrives in Denver By Mike Klis KUSA August 5, 2019 Perhaps, Broncos followers were surprised when the team signed running back Theo Riddick on Friday. After all, they have a similar player in Devontae Booker. Riddick, though, is exceptional, one of the league’s top receiving threats out of the backfield. He averaged better than 61 catches his previous four seasons with the Detroit Lions. With a one-year, $2.5 million contract that includes $1 million in guarantees, Riddick is expected to join Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman as the Broncos’ running backs this season. Once he hit the free-agent market last week, Riddick received calls from nearly 10 teams before ultimately picking the Broncos over the New Orleans Saints. “Teams contact you and you try to find the best fit and Denver is it for me,’’ Riddick said Sunday after his first practice with the Broncos. Why the fit here? “Because they’re going to utilize my talents and my strengths,’’ he said. “I’ve got a lot of experience being in the game for six years. We’ve got a young room, very talented but hopefully I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You can only get that from experience.’’ Like so many NFL players, Riddick arrives with a chip on his shoulder. He was asked if he was blindsided by his release from the Lions a little more than a week ago. “I was to be honest with you, but it’s the name of the game,’’ he said. “It was no shock to me but it sparked that fire in me and it’s lit.’’ In his first practice with the Broncos on Sunday morning, Riddick got some reps with the No. 1 offense, catching at least one pass from Joe Flacco. “He’s been a good receiver,’’ said Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, who was previously defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. “I’ve seen him play the last four years in the same division and he had a couple good routes here today.’’ As for Booker, there is a chance the Broncos could keep four running backs – Lindsay, Freeman, Riddick and Booker – along with fullback Andy Janovich. Or, if the Broncos need to keep an extra player at another position, Booker could become a trade candidate as the team begins to set its 53-man roster later this month. Until then, there is still more than four weeks and four preseason games for the crowded running back situation to sort itself out.

Broncos training camp report: Theo Riddick arrives, Vic Fangio talks rookie standouts, more By Nicki Jhabvala The Athletic August 5, 2019 After six years with the Detroit Lions, Theo Riddick was dumped last week after building a resume as one of the NFL’s finest pass-catching running backs. The move itself wasn’t terribly surprising, as the Lions signed former Bronco C.J. Anderson in free agency and drafted running back Ty Johnson in the sixth round. But the timing seemed odd. “It was, to be honest with you, but it’s the name of the game,” Riddick said. “It’s no shock to me, but it kind of just sparks that fire in you. And it’s lit.” His exit from Detroit set forward a brisk free agency tour that took him to New Orleans and then Denver. He chose the latter, he said, because of fit and potential. “Because they’re going to utilize my talents and my strengths. I got a lot of experience, playing the game for six years. We have a young room, very talented, but hopefully, I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You only get that from experience, so hopefully, it comes in handy.” Riddick, 28, is now the most experienced veteran among a group that has only one player with more than two seasons of NFL experience. And that one player — fourth-year back Devontae Booker — could be on his way out with Riddick’s arrival. “I don’t know if it puts any more pressure on any one guy,” coach Vic Fangio said. “Obviously when you add a quality player to a group, it’s to be noticed. But when it comes down to picking the final team, it’s fluid as to — it’s pretty etched in stone (in that) you have to have these 40 guys meaning position-wise, numbers at a position. Then your last 10, 13 guys is based upon fit and ability and future and all that.” Sunday, in his first go-round as a Bronco, Riddick was thrown in the starting offense for some reps in team drills and was used in two-back sets, a personnel grouping offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello relies on quite a bit. Since he entered the league in 2013, Riddick ranks third among running backs with 285 catches, fourth with 2,238 receiving yards and second with 14 receiving touchdowns. He credits his knack for catching passes to his college days at Notre Dame when he moved from running back to slot receiver in 2010 and finishing second on the team that year with 414 receiving yards. Some other notes and observations from the Broncos’ first practice after their preseason opener: Injury updates

• Inside linebacker Joe Jones suffered a triceps injury during the win over the Falcons last Thursday and is expected to miss “a few weeks,” Fangio said. Jones is seeking a second opinion — standard for injuries — but he may not need surgery. • Defensive lineman Billy Winn observed practice with a large brace around his right elbow. Winn said he partially tore his triceps and may need surgery. At this point, however, he’s not sure of his timetable and if he’d be able to return this season. Winn was placed on injured reserve, clearing a roster spot for Riddick. • Tight ends Bug Howard (ankle) and Jake Butt (ACL) did not practice. Butt has not practiced in two weeks as he tries to recover from his third ACL injury. • Receiver Emmanuel Sanders participated in more team drills Sunday — as many as he has in a practice to date since suffering his Achilles injury last December. “He looks all right to me,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “I haven’t had to face him too many times, but he looks good to me. One day I might have to jam him up to see if he can get out of the jam. But other than that, he looks good to me.” • Outside linebacker Aaron Wallace observed but did not participate in practice because of a hamstring injury. And receiver Jamarious Way was excused for personal reasons, Fangio said. Enshrinement takeaways Von Miller, Harris and Brandon McManus all practiced, despite returning to Colorado in the wee hours after the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 enshrinement. The three attended the ceremony in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday to support late Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and former cornerback Champ Bailey. The rest of the team returned after their win over the Falcons but did not practice Saturday, allowing players more time to rest while coaches held their usual meetings. “I did watch some of it. I thought it was good,” Fangio said. “I thought the tribute to Mr. Bowlen was great. I thought Champ did a good job. I thought some of the other guys got a little long-winded. “I almost had Champ (Fangio was the defensive coordinator for the Colts when Bailey was drafted at No. 7 overall by Washington in 1999). When he came out, we had the fourth pick in the draft that year in Indianapolis and we were going to pick him, and then all of a sudden the day before the draft we traded Marshall Faulk, so we had to pick Edgerrin James then. But it was close to where I had Champ — which would have been nice.” Harris has said many times that Bailey, and Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins, were among his biggest mentors when he entered the league in 2011. Harris has also said that he hopes the two will someday attend his Hall of Fame enshrinement.

“Yeah, I definitely think about it,” Harris said. “I definitely know that I have a chance. But I have to continue to work every day, continue to perfect my craft every day, and when it’s time and I’m retired, hopefully, they understand how I changed the game inside and they really see that I was good everywhere they put me.” Fangio kidney stone update “It’s still in there and it’s kind of moody,” Fangio said. “It acts up sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t. During practice today it was fine. Yesterday afternoon it wasn’t so fine. So it’s kind of moody.” Reps vs. Seahawks The Broncos hit the road again in three days for their second preseason game, at Seattle, and it’s unclear how they will divvy up the quarterback reps and the rotation. Fangio said he and his staff will probably hash that out Monday night. Fangio did indicate, however, that more starters might play in this preseason game. Harris added that if he had to guess, he’d be in for 10-15 plays on defense. HOF Game assessments Fangio was asked again about the performances of some players in the Hall of Fame game. Quarterback Drew Lock played the most of the three but also struggled the most. And Fangio has been blunt with his assessment of Lock throughout the offseason. “Like I said after the game, I was hoping for more but not surprised by his play,” Fangio said Sunday. “He’s a rookie playing in a pro system that he didn’t play in in college and he’s not ready yet. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be ready in two weeks from now, three weeks from now or four weeks from now. All these quarterbacks are different about how they adapt and become an NFL quarterback. He’s not there yet but that’s to be expected.” DeMarcus Walker played 31 defensive snaps and recorded a sack and two quarterback hits. According to Fangio, Walker told his coach that he had a great game. After watching the film, however, Fangio came away with a slightly different belief. “I think he exaggerated a little bit,” Fangio said with a laugh. “It wasn’t bad, but he had me thinking he was getting nominated for Canton. It was good, but not great.” Two players that did impress Fangio? Rookies Dre’Mont Jones and Malik Reed. “Obviously there you saw his value at the end of the game,” Fangio said of Jones. “He caused the interception we got and then he applied good pressure after we scored and they had the two-minute drive. That’s valuable stuff and that’s what we were hoping for when we got him.” Reed, an undrafted linebacker out of Nevada, had the Broncos’ first of three sacks in the game and is making a strong push for a roster spot as a reserve on the edge.

“He’s been doing well all camp,” Fangio said. “In fact, on the play he got his sack on, I said to the coaches on the phone, ‘Well, that’s what he’s been doing all camp.’ So I’m not surprised that it happened in the game.” Harris, meanwhile, has remained impressed by sixth-round receiver Juwann Winfree. Ahead of the Hall of Game, Harris told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he believed Winfree was primed for a breakout showing. And sure enough, the rookie caught the game-winning touchdown. “Told y’all,” Harris said Sunday. “He’s just strong. He’s a strong rookie. You don’t see a lot of rookies like that get off their releases. Now I told him it’s just concentration. You can’t have easy drops, especially balls you don’t drop at practice. Don’t come to the game dropping the balls. It’s just concentration with the rookie and being able to do it every day. I mean, every day, every day. That’s a challenge for rookies. Some days they want to tank it in and not bring their full effort in, but I’m definitely staying on 15 because he has a lot of talent and can definitely help us.”

Broncos sign ex-Lions running back Theo Riddick By Arnie Stapleton Associated Press August 5, 2019 Blindsided by the Lions , running back Theo Riddick became an unexpected free agent just as training camps were opening across the NFL. He landed in Denver and signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Broncos on Sunday, eight days after his surprising release from Detroit. A valuable pass catcher with 285 career receptions, Riddick drew interest from several teams and met with the Saints. But he chose the Broncos "because they're going to utilize my talents and my strengths" and experience, Riddick said. "We've got a young room, very talented, but hopefully I can help them out," said Riddick, who spent part of his first practice Sunday doling out tips to second-year running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman. He also flashed some of those great hands that have allowed him to top 50 receptions four years in a row . "Oh yeah, he looked real smooth today," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. "I didn't see him run the ball more than (just) catching the rock out of the backfield and running routes. But he's definitely going to be another threat at running back that we need." Riddick said he's thrilled to team up with Vic Fangio after facing him the last four years in the NFC North when the Broncos' rookie head coach was directing Chicago's stingy defense. "It's awesome, man, because that defense there, especially as of late, has been pretty darn dominant," Riddick said. In Denver, Riddick is reunited with running backs coach Curtis Modkins, who was his position coach in Detroit during his first three seasons in the NFL. Modkins helped mold Riddick from a wide receiver and sixth-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2013 into a pass-catching running back, one who caught a whopping 80 passes for 697 yards and three touchdowns in 2015. "So, to line up with him again," Riddick said, "it's going to be another fun ride." Riddick was second on the Lions last season with 61 catches for 384 yards. He also rushed for 171 yards on 40 carries.

Since entering the league, Riddick ranks among the league leaders by a running back with 14 TD receptions, 285 catches and 2,238 receiving yards. But the Lions moved on from one of their mainstays in their backfield to make room for defensive lineman Mike Daniels, who was cut by the Green Bay Packers on the eve of their training camp. He also flashed some of those great hands that have allowed him to top 50 receptions four years in a row . "Oh yeah, he looked real smooth today," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. "I didn't see him run the ball more than (just) catching the rock out of the backfield and running routes. But he's definitely going to be another threat at running back that we need." Riddick said he's thrilled to team up with Vic Fangio after facing him the last four years in the NFC North when the Broncos' rookie head coach was directing Chicago's stingy defense. "It's awesome, man, because that defense there, especially as of late, has been pretty darn dominant," Riddick said. In Denver, Riddick is reunited with running backs coach Curtis Modkins, who was his position coach in Detroit during his first three seasons in the NFL. Modkins helped mold Riddick from a wide receiver and sixth-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2013 into a pass-catching running back, one who caught a whopping 80 passes for 697 yards and three touchdowns in 2015. "So, to line up with him again," Riddick said, "it's going to be another fun ride." Riddick was second on the Lions last season with 61 catches for 384 yards. He also rushed for 171 yards on 40 carries. Since entering the league, Riddick ranks among the league leaders by a running back with 14 TD receptions, 285 catches and 2,238 receiving yards. But the Lions moved on from one of their mainstays in their backfield to make room for defensive lineman Mike Daniels, who was cut by the Green Bay Packers on the eve of their training camp.

Sacco Sez: Impressions of a long-awaited weekend for Broncos Country By Jim Saccomano DenverBroncos.com August 5, 2019 The first week of the 2019 NFL season has ended, with the Denver Broncos getting a 14-10 win in the Hall of Fame game. And of course, far bigger than that, late owner Pat Bowlen and 12-time Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Both these facts have been well detailed and documented on this website, but my impressions are personal. Being here in Canton, for perhaps the 10th time, I have a few observations about how great this is and how big it has become. You almost have to be here for the weekend to realize how big it has gotten. I can remember when the Gold Jacket dinner had perhaps 500 in attendance, not the 5,000-plus Friday night. Back in the day, before 1977, the Hall of Fame was like a distant dream for those in Denver, as the Broncos has never before been in the playoffs. Then that changed, then John Elway came, and the team in orange from the forgotten time zone made the entire NFL take notice. Now we have seven inductees considered to be primary Broncos by the Hall, four more listed as secondary Broncos. And certainly there are more to come. Canton itself has grown and changed, but the same excitement, civic pride and enthusiasm are displayed to visitors in the week when Canton is once again center of the football universe. Back when the NFL began on Sept. 17, 1920, with George Halas sitting on the running board of a Hupmobile at the Ralph Hays dealership, no one could have envisioned this. Of course, there was no television, so one could not imagine that a country full of football fans would watch games, much less Hall of Fame induction ceremonies live from all over the map. As recently as 30 years ago, the inductions were done on the front steps of the Hall, with fans sitting on blankets or lawn chairs on the front grass of the Hall. Now there are 20,000 plus fans in a sold out stadium watching this great event. The Hall itself? It’s spectacular, as it always has been, but the recent and continuous expansions have incorporated every element of modern technology.

It is perhaps the most state-of-the-art sports museum in the country. Not everyone can make it here, but if one is ever near Canton, I highly recommend it. I was honored to have been asked to write an article for this week’s program, and I did so on Fred Gehrke — the first Bronco honored by the Hall. And this is now the 100th year of the NFL and the 60th anniversary of the Broncos, with Champ and our beloved Pat Bowlen being inducted. Praise abounds for Mr. B, and you certainly have seen much of it. On this celebratory weekend I think Mr. B would say it is all about Champ and the other players, not about him, never about him. But for a rare instance, he would be wrong. Pat always said of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, “That is where legends go.” He is a legend, and so too has he taken his place in the Hall. The NFL, Canton, Champ, Pat Bowlen — each matches the other in the tapestry of American sport. This was a richly satisfying football weekend for Denver Broncos fans and made for a most-fitting kickoff to the 100th season of the NFL.

Broncos Camp Day 12 report: Joe Flacco finishes with a flourish By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com August 5, 2019 Joe Flacco and the bulk of the No. 1 offense had Thursday night off. The final period of Monday's practice gave them a chance to make up for it. In that period, the offense was given the ball at its 25-yard line with 2:20 on the clock, a 7-point deficit and no timeouts. Most two-minute drill move-the-ball periods prior to Sunday's practice had the offense down by one or in a tie game; this time, the offense had to go all the way down the field against the No. 1 defense. After a sluggish start, it succeeded, marching 75 yards in 12 plays, capping it with a 13-yard Joe Flacco touchdown pass to River Cracraft with 17 seconds to spare. Flacco and the offense got out of fourth-and-7 at its own 28-yard line, a quandary that resulted from back-to-back incompletions on second and third downs that led to audible frustration from the offense. But on fourth down, Courtland Sutton locked in on a pass that was slightly deflected at the line of scrimmage, and hauled in the football on a crossing pattern for a 12-yard gain. After Justin Simmons was all over Noah Fant on the subsequent first-and-10 from the offense's 40, Flacco heated up. He found Fred Brown for 15 yards, hit Phillip Lindsay twice for short gains of 6 and 3 yards, then moved the chains on third-and-1 with a 16-yard pass to Tim Patrick. Three plays later, he connected with Cracraft for the score. All told, Flacco completed eight passes to seven different receiving targets: Sutton, Brown, Lindsay, Patrick, Cracraft, Devontae Booker and Kelvin McKnight. Of course, there was one catch: Von Miller's pass rush. On the touchdown, Miller surged off the edge, but held back on his pressure to avoid contact with Flacco. Under game conditions, it might have resulted in a sack. At minimum, it would have been a hurried throw. But in practice, the score stood. NOTES ... After a two-day respite following the preseason opener, Head Coach Vic Fangio wanted to push his team during a full-pad practice that lasted over two and a half hours. “We gave them two days off, which is good. They needed it. Then we were ready to come out and have a hard practice," Fangio said. "This practice here we might have had the most plays that we’ve had in any practice. I haven’t seen the total yet, but I thought they practiced well.” ... The Broncos wasted no time getting newly signed running back Theo Riddick into action, working him into team and seven-on-seven periods.

"Right now he’s going to get thrown in the mix. He’s had a good history in his career of being a good receiver out of the backfield and a good threat in that way," Fangio said, adding that Riddick "had a couple of good routes here today." ... With Ron Leary continuing to get some periods off as he completes his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon, Austin Schlottman got some first-team snaps at right guard later in practice. ... Second-year wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton returned from a hamstring injury and caught a handful of passes during the practice. "I don’t like sitting out; I don’t like not practicing. I don’t like not playing football, basically. [I’m] just being patient," Hamilton said.

It just takes a spark: A motivated Theo Riddick could bring new dimension to Denver's offense By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com August 5, 2019 When the Lions released Theo Riddick ahead of training camp, the sixth-year veteran was blindsided. “I was, to be honest with you,” said Riddick on Sunday after his first practice with the Broncos, who signed him this weekend. “But it’s the name of the game.” And in that game, the next step is to prove Detroit wrong. “It was no shock to me, but it kind of sparked that fire in you — and it’s lit,” Riddick said. Now, the Broncos will see if Riddick can add a spark to their offense. Head Coach Vic Fangio said the Broncos will look to capitalize on Riddick’s primary skill set, which is catching passes out of the backfield. “Well right now he’s going to get thrown in the mix,” Fangio said. “He’s had a good history in his career of being a good receiver out of the backfield and a good threat in that way. So obviously we’ll see if we can fit him in that way and [if] he still has that going for him. He’s been a good receiver. I’ve seen him play the last four years in the same division. He had a couple good routes here today.” Riddick averaged 7.9 yards per reception during his first six seasons and ranks second in the NFL in receiving touchdowns by a running back since 2013. He also ranks third in receptions and fourth in receiving yards by running backs since he entered the league. “I think it all kind of started back in college,” Riddick said of his receiving skills. “I played receiver for quite some time, so it’s kind of natural to me, to be honest with you. I was always able to read coverages on the fly, so that helps as well. Again, I’ve just been very talented in terms of catching the ball and just took it and ran with it.” Fangio knows Riddick well. The then-Bears defensive coordinator faced Riddick seven times during Fangio’s four seasons in Chicago. Last season, Riddick caught 13 passes on 14 targets for 108 yards in his two games against the Bears. “If there’s a threat coming out of the backfield, that adds another dimension to an offense,” Fangio said Sunday. “Usually you’re just worried about the receivers and a good tight end if the other team has one. Now you add a back in there, it’s another dimension.” And Riddick thinks he can do more than just bring his own talent to the offense. As he mentioned Sunday, he believes he can help Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman elevate their games.

“[Denver is] going to utilize my talents and my strengths,” Riddick said. “Again, I’ve got a lot of experience being in the game for six years. We’ve got a young room, very talented. But hopefully I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You only can get that from experience, so hopefully it comes in handy.” COULD’VE BEEN A CHAMP As Fangio headed into his first season as defensive coordinator for the Colts, he nearly added a future Hall of Famer to his secondary. The Colts, Fangio explained Sunday, were all set to take Champ Bailey with the fourth-overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. But a trade just hours before the draft sent Marshall Faulk to the Rams and left Indianapolis scrambling to shore up their run game. Instead, Indianapolis selected Edgerrin James, who is no slouch himself. James started his career with the Colts and is a three-time Hall of Fame finalist. Fangio, though, would have relished the opportunity to coach Bailey. “It was close to where I had Champ, which would’ve been nice,” Fangio said. INJURY UPDATES Linebacker Joe Jones will “definitely be out for a few weeks,” Fangio said Sunday. The Broncos’ coach said he couldn’t say more about the Northwestern product, who exited Thursday’s game against Atlanta. Linebacker Aaron Wallace (hamstring) and wide receiver Jamarius Way (personal reasons) were among the players to miss practice. EVALUATING THURSDAY NIGHT Rookies Dre’Mont Jones and Malik Reed both earned acknowledgment from their coach when Fangio was asked if anyone stood out to him on film from Thursday’s game against Atlanta. “The guys that played good, I was thinking they would,” Fangio said. "[Jones] played good in the D-line. … Malik Reed had some good plays. But overall, I thought the guys played well, especially on the defensive side. Offensively, I thought our line played good overall even though the stats don’t bear that. We’ve just got to throw it and catch it better offensively.”

Broncos sign running back Theo Riddick By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com August 5, 2019 The Broncos have signed veteran running back Theo Riddick, the team announced Sunday. Denver placed DL Billy Winn (triceps) on injured reserve in a corresponding roster move. Winn suffered his injury during Thursday's preseason opener. Riddick, a seventh-year veteran, played 84 games for the Lions over the past six seasons. He tallied 1,023 yards and five touchdowns on 288 career carries. He's made more of an impact in the passing game, where he has caught 285 passes for 2,238 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is the only running back in the NFL to record 50 catches in each of the last four seasons. The 5-foot-9, 201-pound player has averaged 7.9 yards per reception in his career. Riddick caught 61 passes for 384 yards in 2018 and averaged 6.3 yards per catch.

Broncos sign DL Deyon Sizer By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com August 5, 2019 The Broncos have signed defensive lineman Deyon Sizer, the team announced Sunday. The Broncos waived wide receiver Jamarius Way in a corresponding move. Sizer joined the Broncos after a tryout during the team's rookie minicamp in May. He was waived by the team on July 26. The Aurora native will provide depth along the defensive line after Billy Winn suffered a triceps injury and was placed on injured reserve.

Without even knowing it, Broncos Country paid a perfect tribute to Pat Bowlen in Canton By Ryan Koenigsberg BSN Denver August 5, 2019 It’s a sight to behold when a fanbase from halfway across the country takes over an entire town. As legendary owner Pat Bowlen and legendary corner Champ Bailey took their rightful places in the Hall of Fame, Broncos faithful painted the small town of Canton, Ohio orange from border to border. Orange face paint, pom-poms and No. 24 Bailey jerseys flooded a place more than 1,300 miles from Denver, in what served as the perfect example of what makes Broncos Country special. At Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game, it was all Denver. At Friday’s Gold Jacket Dinner, it was the Broncos who received the loudest ovations. As Saturday’s enshrinement ceremony, orange covered the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame stadium. It was a special weekend for a special fanbase, and one that brought them even closer together. “You walk around, and there’s so much love out here from just anyone from Denver or anyone that supports the team from all around the world,” said Broncos fan Ayman Badwan. “It’s crazy.” “We’re just walking around and making friends,” he added. “We made a lot of friends just based on being Broncos fans.” They cried together when Bowlen’s bust was unveiled. They laughed together when Champ Bailey shouted out his friend, “Tater Head.” But, ironically, it was something else that brought the group even closer, something that would have made the late, great Pat Bowlen proud. “I’m the first defender?” Said Bailey, highlighting a problem that has long frustrated Broncos faithful. “Like… how does that happen in a franchise like this with so many greats? I have no idea how that happens.” “That would be the first thing that my dad would be talking about at these media events,” Brittany Bowlen told BSN Denver. “‘We need more Broncos in the Hall of Fame and this is is just the start,” she said, sharing what her father would have said. “I’m going to keep working at it, talking to media members and making sure that everyone knows the stories of our players and the impact they had on the NFL.'” They say a dog will take on the personality of its owner—in this case, it’s a fanbase that has become a mirror of their owner.

While the weekend was still much more about Pat Bowlen than he probably would have liked, he would have loved how much the conversation surrounded getting more Broncos in. It was everywhere. As I toured ‘the Hall’ myself, I came across Matt Bly, a man who said he was doing his part to get Steve Atwater in by, well, wearing his No. 27 jersey inside of the building. “Steve has to be the next one in here,” he said. “We changed the way the safety position was played.” In the Hall of Fame merchandise shop, a fan pondered over a golf shirt marked at $69.99. “You know what,” he said, “I’m not giving this place a dime until they put Steve in.” When news broke on Friday that the Hall of Fame was expanding to a 20-man class in 2020, you couldn’t go far without hearing names like Randy Gradishar and Karl Mecklenburg being discussed in circles of Orange. With so many boots on the ground in Canton, the fans took it upon themselves to do a bit of grassroots campaigning, and stand up for what they believe is right in the football world. “In the last 10 years, we’ve only had a couple guys go in,” said Zachary Castro, draped in a customized Pat Bowlen jersey. “When you look at the teams we’ve fielded, it’s criminal.” With just seven “primary” Hall of Famers, the Broncos rank in the bottom half of the league, numbers-wise. Something that frustrated Bowlen mightily. As Hall of Fame President David Baker took the stage at the Gold Jacket Dinner, one fan yelled, “We need more Broncos!” And while it’s likely Baker didn’t hear that call, someone with a closer line to his ear did her part. Detailing a recent conversation she had with Baker, Brittany Bowlen told BSN Denver of a comment that just slipped out. “As we were ending the call, I said, ‘I hope we’ll talk again soon, David, but next time it will be about a player.'” Perfect. “Sometimes I feel my dad’s spirit,” she said. “All of the sudden I’ll say something and I go, ‘Oh my gosh, that was him! That was him.'” As Broncos fans used their weekend in Canton to fight for more representation in what Bowlen called “the place where legends go,” well, that was him.

Broncos Training Camp Observations: The Chronicles of Riddick By Zac Stevens BSN Denver August 5, 2019 Ah, Sunday football in the Mile High City. The Broncos returned to the practice field for the first time following Thursday’s preseason game on Sunday morning for their 12th training camp practice. There was a new intriguing face on the field, too. As always, BSN Denver was on hand for the practice. Here’s what went down. THEO’S CHOICE Moments after the Detroit Lions cut Theo Riddick, the only team he ever knew since entering the league in 2013, on July 27, 2019, the veteran running back quickly realized he was a hot commodity. At least 10 teams showed interest in the 5-foot-9, 201-pound back once he hit the open market. He narrowed that to two teams—the Broncos and the New Orleans Saints. Days after meeting with both teams, Riddick chose the Broncos because it was the “right fit.” “They are going to utilize my talents and my strengths,” he said after his first practice with his new squad on Sunday. “I’ve got a lot of experience—been in the game for six years—we’ve got a young room, very talented. Hopefully, I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You only can get that from experience. Hopefully, it comes in handy.” That experience and teaching already were paying dividends on Sunday. During his first practice, Riddick was coaching up Phillip Lindsay on intricacies of defenses. Along with his strengths being utilized and his ability to be a leader of a talented young room, Riddick also was excited to team back up with Denver’s running back coach, Curtis Modkins, who was his position coach with the Lions from 2013-15. “He’s pretty blunt and he’s pretty honest,” Riddick said with a smile, admitting he loves that trait about his coach. “He’s going to tell you when you’re doing something well and he’s going to tell you when something’s a little messed up.” Theo doesn’t need the additional motivation, however. The surprise cut from the Lions “sparked that fire in me,” he said.

“It’s lit.” RIDDICK’S ROLE It only took one rep to get a preview of what Riddick’s role will be in Denver. During his first-team rep, No. 27 split out wide right—as a receiver, not a running back—and his route followed suit—looking like a polished receiver. “Right now he’s going to be thrown into the mix. He’s had a good history in his career of being a good receiver out of the backfield and a good threat in that way,” head coach Vic Fangio stated after practice. “Obviously we’ll see if we can fit him in that way and if he still has that going for him. He’s been a good receiver. I’ve seen him play the last four years in the same division. He had a couple of good routes here today.” As Vic saw during the near-three-hour practice, Theo’s still got it with his receiving abilities. His first catch of the day came from Joe Flacco on a quick slant in the middle of the field—meaning Riddick was lined up in the slot. “He looked real smooth today. He looked real smooth,” Chris Harris Jr. said after practice. “I didn’t see him run the ball, more like catching the rock out of the backfield and running routes. He’s definitely going to be another threat—another receiving threat at running back that we need.” It’s clear Riddick is going to be a threat all over the field, including in the backfield, too. But, as the Pro Bowl cornerback noticed, he’s not going to be much of a runner, just as he’s been throughout his entire career. “I played receiver quite some time,” Riddick said, reflecting on his time in college. “It’s kind of natural for me, to be honest with you. I was always able to read coverages on the fly, so that helps as well. I’ve just been very talented in terms of catching the ball. I just took it and ran with it.” Lined up in the backfield, the Notre Dame product not only caught a pass from Flacco in the red zone, Rich Scangarello drew up a screen specifically for him when Drew Lock was in at quarterback. In his first day with the team, plays were being designed for him and only him and his veteran Super Bowl-winning quarterback trusted him in the red zone. Not too shabby for a first day on the job. “If there’s a threat coming out of the backfield, that adds another dimension to an offense,” Fangio said, explaining what Riddick brings to the team. “Usually you’re just worried about the receivers and a good tight end if the other team has one. Now you add a back in there, it’s another dimension.”

Sure, Riddick’s listed as a running back, but he’s being used as an offensive weapon, not limited to one spot on the field. When he was lined up as a receiver running routes on Sunday, it was impossible to tell he wasn’t a true receiver as his routes were just as crisp as Denver’s receiving corps. Since John Elway’s shown interest, and signed, Riddick, many have stated how it’s only bad news for the previous veteran of the group Devontae Booker since the fourth-year back profiles similar to the team’s new weapon. “I don’t know if it puts any more pressure on any one guy,” Fangio said, responding to this belief. “Obviously when you add a quality player to a group, it’s to be noticed.” But on the field Sunday, what was noticed would paint a different picture than what the masses believe. In fact, Riddick’s presence didn’t seem to hinder Booker’s role at all. With Riddick in the backfield, Booker was lined up in the slot and caught a pass in the right flat from Kevin Hogan. Nearly this exact scenario happened again, except Booker’s catch came on a slant, again with Riddick on the field. Booker continued to get in on the action, being targeted by Flacco on back-to-back passes. One was complete, the other was overthrown. If Sunday was any indication, Riddick’s role with his new team will be significant. He’s currently wearing No. 27, the same number as cornerback Horace Richardson, but doesn’t care what number he ends up with. “I just want to play ball.” SANDERS’ RISE For the first half of practice, it was impossible to tell Emmanuel Sanders was on a plan to slowly be worked back into practice following his Achilles surgery in December. No. 10 started team period with the first team and quickly made his impact felt, hauling in a pass from Flacco. The next period, Sanders was in again, this time smoothly bringing in a 20-yard out on the right sideline from Joe Cool. The Sanders train continued to roll. Flacco looked to Mr. Automatic in the right flat for a quick gain and found him yet again on a 10-yard hook. De’Vante Bausby had smothering coverage, but Sanders secured the ball for what would have been a first down. The ball never hit the ground every time Flacco put it in Sanders’ vicinity. Despite very limited reps, Sanders is quickly becoming Flacco’s go-to guy.

ADDITIONAL TIDBITS Bradley Chubb had a beautiful inside-pass-rush move to get in Flacco’s face in a hurry. Faking outside, and throwing Garett Bolles off, Chubb cut inside and powered his was through Bolles and Dalton Risner for what would have been a sack. Malik Reed was very good in an individual period, drawing significant praise from coaches, including from Fangio after practice. “He’s been doing well all camp,” Fangio said, after singling him out as a player that stood out to him in the first preseason game. “In fact, on the play he got his sack on, I said to the coaches on the phone, ‘Well, that’s what he’s been doing all camp.’ So I’m not surprised that it happened in the game.” Justin Simmons hauled in his team-best fifth interception of camp. The ball-hawking safety caught the pass after it tipped off Jeff Heuerman’s fingers in the middle of the field. Austin Fort had an incredible one-handed grab from Kevin Hogan during 7-on-7s. River Cracraft ended practice with a touchdown grab in the back of end zone from a nicely-placed ball from Flacco. In a game, the ball likely would have never left Flacco’s hands, however, as Von Miller was deep in the pocket. There was great news on the injury front on Sunday as Bryce Callahan, DaeSean Hamilton, Ja’Wuan James, Ron Leary and Jake Rodgers all returned to practice. Joe Jones will “definitely” be out a few weeks, according to Fangio, with a tricep injury he suffered in the Hall of Fame game. Todd Davis, Jake Butt, Bug Howard, Aaron Wallace, and Jamarius Way also did not practice.

NFL's 100 greatest teams of all time: Which squad is best in league history? By Nate Davis USA Today August 5, 2019 By now, the memo is fairly ubiquitous — surely you've seen it — the NFL is entering its centennial season. And what better way to celebrate 100 years of anything than by taking time to reflect, respect, enjoy, commemorate and, of course, assess the past? USA TODAY Sports will be doing a lot of that throughout the remainder of the summer and into the fall, rolling out a variety of stories, videos, graphics and more across our network platforms in honor of the country's most popular sports league, which kicked off in 1920. So with the 2019 season nearing, we're ready for the official start of the celebration with a ranking of the 100 greatest teams in NFL history. It's sure to stir nostalgia, debate, Twitter hate, and maybe even a history lesson. A quick word on the methodology, such as it is: There's no fair or reasonable way to compare teams spanning so many decades of NFL football. It isn't presumptuous to assume the 2018 Arizona Cardinals, the league's worst team a year ago pre-Kyler Murray, would make the 1920 Akron Pros look like rec league Joes were they able to share the same field. So given the way the game and players have evolved, extra weight and consideration was conceded to the modern game — you'll note all 53 Super Bowl champions are listed, however many of the NFL and AFL champions prior to 1966 didn't receive similar recognition. Metrics like titles won, victories, point differentials and such — which cut across generations with some level of equality — were taken into account, though there was also plenty of room for opinion and art in the final analysis. Hope you enjoy reading this relatively impossible assignment as I did tackling it! Let's kick it off ... 1. 1985 Bears (won Super Bowl XX): Pure dominance. Their 15 regular-season wins came by an average of 18.1 points. The defense collected 64 sacks while allowing just 12.4 points a week. Chicago shut out the Giants and Rams in the NFC playoffs before that epic 46-10 Super Bowl dismantling of New England. All told, the Bears outscored their postseason opponents 91-10. Sure, it would have been nice to see a rematch with Dan Marino and the Dolphins, who handed Chicago its only loss of 1985, on Super Sunday. And maybe you'd like the best team of all time — arguably — to feature a more renowned quarterback than Jim McMahon, but the fact that an offense led by Walter Payton (1,551 rushing yards) was almost extraneous also illustrates just how transcendent Buddy Ryan's "46 defense" was. And for a list like this, a little flair should count for something, and with McMahon, Payton, Ryan, "Refrigerator" Perry, Mike Singletary, coach Mike Ditka and many others — most getting star turns with "The Super Bowl Shuffle" — the '85 Bears had character(s) in spades. 2. 1984 49ers (won Super Bowl XIX): They lacked the pizzazz of the '85 Bears and perhaps don't get their due given the historical proximity to that Chicago team. It's also challenging to distinguish the great Bill Walsh-Joe Montana San Francisco teams that dominated the 1980s. But this bunch was unique. The Niners were the first team to win 15 regular-season games (average margin of victory was nearly 17

points), a feat Chicago would match a year later — though they remain the only teams to finish 18-1 and claim rings. Before suffocating a spectacular Dolphins team, Marino's best, 38-16 in the Super Bowl, the 49ers vanquished the Giants and Bears by a combined score of 44-10 in the NFC playoffs — those franchises would win the next two Super Bowls with teams ranking among the best ever. This all occurred a year before Jerry Rice arrived. 3. 1962 Packers (won NFL title): Widely regarded as the premier team coached by legendary Vince Lombardi, even if it reigned four years prior to the Super Bowl's debut. Green Bay finished 13-1, its wins coming by an average of more than three touchdowns. The roster sported 11 Hall of Famers, not including Lombardi. They only beat the imposing Giants 16-7 in the championship game, but it was staged in New York's 8-degree wind chill, which didn't lend itself to much offense. Regardless, that battle helped launch NFL Films to prominence. 4. 1989 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIV): Stacking them up against their '84 brethren engenders a chocolate versus vanilla debate. The '89 Niners — Rice by now the league's top wideout — were a touch less formidable in the regular season, going 14-2 with an average victory margin just short of 14 points. But boy did that '89 juggernaut hit overdrive in the playoffs, winning its three games by a combined 126-26. Their 55-10 beatdown of the Broncos remains the most lopsided in Super Bowl history and also represents the most points scored by one team. However the postseason competition for the '89 Niners didn't approach what the '84 team faced. With a career-best 112.4 QB rating, Montana earned league (and later Super Bowl) MVP honors. 5. 1972 Dolphins (won Super Bowl VII): Yes, it's still the only team to win a Super Bowl without dropping a game (17-0), and there's no real counterargument for "perfection." But it's also a lazy argument. Miami won its three postseason games by a combined 17 points. It also feasted on a horrid regular-season schedule that included just two teams finishing with winning records (both a middling 8-6). This isn't meant to shade the Fins and their "No-Name Defense," a roster with six Hall of Famers plus Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history. But context matters, and it already seems a concession ranking the '72 Dolphins ahead of 1970s contemporaries in Pittsburgh, Dallas and even Oakland — not to mention clubs previously ranked on this list. A special group indeed but not the most special for my money. 6. 1991 Redskins (won Super Bowl XXVI): After going 14-2 and outscoring their foes by 261 points in the regular season, they swept through the playoffs with an average margin of victory better than 20 points. The only Washington team to win a Super Bowl in a non-strike season, these underappreciated 'Skins would have gone all the way in most years. They topped 40 points five times and blanked three teams, so excellent balance — and that extended to special teams and return man extraordinaire Brian Mitchell. 7. 1994 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIX): With QB Steve Young now at the helm, they became the only Niners team to surpass 500 points in the regular season. After thwarting a three-peat bid by the Cowboys, they cruised past the Chargers in the Super Bowl, when Young threw a game-record six TD passes, while Rice and Ricky Watters found the end zone three times apiece. And don't forget the other side of the ball, which featured defensive player of the year Deion Sanders. 8. 1975 Steelers (won Super Bowl X): It "feels" a touch disrespectful waiting this long to mention the Steel Curtain dynasty, perhaps the league's greatest. The issue? None of those teams seemed to feature its wealth of Hall of Famers at a simultaneous apex, the defense largely showing the way in the early '70s before the offense truly flourished later in the decade. (A 1970s Pittsburgh team that did not win the Super Bowl might have been the best entry ... keep reading.) But the '75 team's case is compelling given

a 12-2 record and the largest point differential (plus-211) in franchise history. Throw in a Super Bowl win against a Cowboys team that was nearly as good, and you have the makings of a powerhouse deserving recognition as one of the NFL's 10 greatest teams. 9. 1999 Rams (won Super Bowl XXXIV): Though many sophisticated passing attacks had shined previously, the "Greatest Show on Turf" was in some ways the vanguard of today's pass-oriented game. QB Kurt Warner, RB Marshall Faulk and WRs Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt truly resembled a game of "Madden" come to life, St. Louis' 13 regular-season wins coming by an average of nearly 23 points. Remarkably consistent, the Rams were held to fewer than 20 points just once (in the NFC title round by Tampa Bay) and eclipsed 30 points 13 times. And Warner's ascension from complete unknown to league MVP and, ultimately, a Hall of Famer is a quintessential rags-to-riches tale. If there's a blemish, it would be a labored playoff run that included a semi-controversial win in the aforementioned 11-6 defeat of the Bucs. 10. 1996 Packers (won Super Bowl XXXI): QB Brett Favre was in the midst of becoming the only player to earn MVP hardware in three consecutive seasons. Reggie White, arguably the best defensive lineman ever, was still a force, collecting three sacks of Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe in the Super Bowl. And from a numbers standpoint, this club ranks favorably with any in Green Bay's vaunted history, going 13-3 in the regular season before trashing its playoff opponents by an average of 17.3 points. 11. 1973 Dolphins (won Super Bowl VIII): Though they only went 15-2, playoffs included, proponents believe this Miami team might have been superior to the undefeated '72 squad. The '73 Fins were certainly more dominant in postseason, their average margin of victory 17.3 points. 12. 2013 Seahawks (won Super Bowl XLVIII): Appropriately slotted 12th, they get my vote as the preeminent single-season team of the 21st century. Patriots fans will doubtless disagree, citing Seattle's loss to New England in the following year's Super Bowl, though most everyone can probably agree Pete Carroll gifted the Pats that title. Perhaps more germane, the "Legion of Boom" and Co. thoroughly throttled Denver, sporting the most prolific offense in league history, 43-8 in the Super Bowl two weeks after the Broncos handled the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Be interesting to see how history regards the LOB given what it accomplished in this era, surrendering a paltry 172 passing yards per game in 2013. 13. 1978 Steelers (won Super Bowl XIII): The offense had perhaps overtaken the famed defense by then, evidenced by a 35-31 victory over Dallas when league MVP Terry Bradshaw won the first of his two Super Bowl MVPs. 14. 1998 Broncos (won Super Bowl XXXIII): Their title defense was shaping up as legendary, what with a 13-0 start to the season and RB Terrell Davis on his way to 2,008 rushing yards and the MVP trophy. Denver fans loved seeing QB John Elway retire as the Super Bowl MVP ... and probably breathed a sigh of relief that the Broncos drew Atlanta instead of Minnesota on Super Sunday. 15. 1966 Packers (won Super Bowl I): After a slow start, they pulled away to win the first Super Bowl 35-10 — for you nitpickers, the game was officially dubbed the "AFL–NFL World Championship Game" at the time — which came with quite a bit of pressure for Lombardi since the world assumed such an outcome was a foregone conclusion. 16. 1968 Jets (won Super Bowl III): Their landmark Super Bowl defeat of the Colts, guaranteed by brash QB Joe Namath, is widely regarded as the most important game in the history of professional football for

legitimizing the pending merger of the AFL and NFL. Though deserved underdogs against Baltimore, the Jets weren't a fluke, fueled by Hall of Famer Namath's deep passing to a pair of 1,100-yard receivers (George Sauer and HoFer Don Maynard). Yet it was RB Matt Snell's running and an underrated defense that put the vise on the Colts in a 16-7 triumph that wasn't that close. 17. 2007 Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLII): They had a bad game at the worst time, narrowly losing the Super Bowl 17-14 to the Giants. Point conceded, but still ... This New England squad remains the lone team to navigate a 16-0 regular season. QB Tom Brady became the first player to throw 50 TDs in a season, 23 to WR Randy Moss — still a single-season record for scoring grabs. The Pats outscored the opposition by an average of 19.7 points, easily the best in this proud franchise's history, exceeding 30 points scored in 13 of 19 games. They couldn't close the NFL's first 19-0 season, but they still deserve a lofty perch in league annals. 18. 1949 Eagles (won NFL title): Philadelphia lost only once, winning a second straight championship with a star-studded team that included future Hall of Famers Chuck Bednarik and Steve Van Buren, who rushed for 196 yards in the championship game shutout of the Rams. 19. 2016 Patriots (won Super Bowl LI): They overcame Brady's four-game "Deflategate" suspension, TE Rob Gronkowski's season-ending injury and a 28-3 third-quarter deficit against the Falcons to emerge with the first overtime victory in Super Bowl history. 20. 1958 Colts (won NFL title): Led by the fashion-forward passing hookup of Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry, Baltimore won this championship in front of a massive TV audience — launching the NFL's stratospheric rise with "The Greatest Game Ever Played," a 23-17 overtime victory against the Giants in Yankee Stadium. 21. 1971 Cowboys (won Super Bowl VI): With coach Tom Landry, QB Roger Staubach and the Bob Lilly-led "Doomsday Defense," good luck finding a better edition of what would become "America's Team." Dallas limited the Dolphins, who would go undefeated the following year, to a Super Bowl record-low three points. 22. 1969 Chiefs (won Super Bowl IV): They get overshadowed by the '68 Jets but might have had the better collection of talent while giving the AFL its second Super Bowl win before the 1970 merger. A defense that boasted six Hall of Famers deserves more acclaim after allowing the fewest points, rushing yards, passing yards and total yards in the AFL that year while posting a league-high 47 takeaways. 23. 1992 Cowboys (won Super Bowl XXVII): Let's anoint them the best of the 1990s "Triplets" Cowboys. Dallas set a franchise record with 13 regular-season wins before Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith and Super Bowl MVP Troy Aikman planted their dynasty flag with a 52-17 rout of Buffalo in the Super Bowl ... though DT Leon Lett's showboating cost his team the Super Sunday scoring record. 24. 1950 Browns (won NFL title): They took the prize in their first NFL season — pretty special. Of course, Cleveland was no expansion outfit, winning the All-America Football Conference championship all four years the league existed before some of its teams joined the NFL. But the Browns proved legit from the jump, beating the two-time defending champion Eagles 35-10 — in Philadelphia — in their league debut. 25. 1968 Colts (lost Super Bowl III): They'll forever bear the cross of surrendering the NFL's perceived dominance after getting blasted by the Jets. But prior to that, Baltimore was making its case as the best

team ever, even with Unitas sidelined. Led by league MVP Earl Morrall, the Colts went 13-1, winning their regular-season games by an average of 20.6 points. Baltimore took the NFL crown by collectively beating the Vikings and Browns 58-14 in the playoffs. 26. 1986 Giants (won Super Bowl XXI): Big Blue's first Super Bowl team was led by LB Lawrence Taylor, the last defensive player named league MVP. But QB Phil Simms stole the show on Super Sunday, completing 22 of 25 passes in a 39-20 defeat of Elway's Broncos. New York won its three playoff games by an average of 27.3 points, including a 49-3 beatdown of Montana's Niners. 27. 2017 Eagles (won Super Bowl LII): When presumed league MVP Carson Wentz was lost to a torn ACL in Week 14, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Philadelphia's Super Bowl drought would endure. But Nick Foles stepped into the breach and won Super Bowl MVP honors, winning a thrilling 41-33 shootout with Brady that included a record 1,151 yards of offense. "Philly Special" indeed. 28. 2009 Saints (won Super Bowl XLIV): They started 13-0, but a three-game slide to end the regular season suggested another chapter of playoff futility. Coach Sean Payton and QB Drew Brees, however, wound up throwing a Lombardi Gras party four years after the city suffered Hurricane Katrina, beating teams quarterbacked by Warner, Favre and Peyton Manning in postseason. 29. 2004 Patriots (won Super Bowl XXXIX): The second time a franchise won three Super Bowls in four years and the last to repeat, these Patriots established a record by winning 21 games in a row, a streak initiated by the 2003 crew. 30. 2000 Ravens (won Super Bowl XXXV): Their dominion is all the more impressive considering they didn't win the AFC Central nor averaged 21 points a week. Naturally, defense was the story of this team, which allowed just 10.3 points per game, fewest since the scheduled expanded to 16 games in 1978. In four playoff wins, Baltimore ceded a meager 23 points, and Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis' crew pitched a shutout against the Giants (New York's seven points came on a kickoff). 31. 1929 Packers (won NFL title): Coach Curly Lambeau's bunch didn't lose — not even Lombardi managed that feat — finishing 12-0-1, allowing just 22 points all year and winning their games by an average margin of 14.7 at a time when points were at a premium. 32. 1976 Raiders (won Super Bowl XI): Though their 13-1 record suggests a cakewalk, Oakland scuffled through the first part of the season, even suffering a 31-point loss at New England. But the Silver & Black peaked late, rolling over Minnesota's "Purple People Eaters" 32-14 in the Super Bowl. 33. 1940 Bears (won NFL title): The original Monsters of the Midway, using the T-formation, heralded their arrival by thrashing rival Washington 73-0 in the championship round for the biggest blowout in the NFL's first 99 seasons. 34. 2002 Buccaneers (won Super Bowl XXXVII): Using their famed "Tampa 2" defense — with help from first-year coach Jon Gruden — the Bucs notched their only title with a thorough Super Bowl defeat of the Raiders, whom Gruden coached the previous year. Tampa Bay picked off league MVP Rich Gannon five times, three of those swipes of the pick-six variety.

35. 1997 Broncos (won Super Bowl XXXII): They didn't win the AFC West but did finally notch the franchise's first championship, exacting playoff revenge on Jacksonville before Elway, Davis and Co. dethroned Favre's Packers. 36. 1941 Bears (won NFL title): Chicago defended its crown, winning 12 of 13 games, including playoff blowouts of the Packers and Giants by a combined score of 70-23. The '42 Bears were statistically even better, but World War II had begun gutting the league by then. 37. 1948 Eagles (won NFL title): Their first-ever crown came in a blizzard, Van Buren's fourth-quarter TD providing the only points in a 7-0 whitewash of the Cardinals. 38. 1998 Vikings (lost NFC Championship Game): They went 15-1 in the regular season, posted a then-record 556 points and struck fear into opponents with Hall of Fame WRs Cris Carter and Moss, then a breakout rookie. However all-pro K Gary Anderson's infamous FG miss opened the door for an Atlanta upset with a Super Bowl berth at stake. 39. 1976 Steelers (lost AFC Championship Game): There's never been a Super Bowl three-peat, but they almost pulled it off despite losing Bradshaw for a chunk of the season and, worse, seeing both their 1,000-yard rushers (Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier) injured in the divisional round of the playoffs. Still, an argument this was the best team of the Steel Curtain era, the defense blanking five opponents and allowing fewer than 10 points per game. 40. 2014 Patriots (won Super Bowl XLIX): Lombardi No. 4 arrived 10 years after Lombardi No. 3. But New England ended its mini-drought in dramatic fashion, rookie DB Malcolm Butler snuffing Seattle's repeat bid with his goal-line pick of Russell Wilson. 41. 1979 Steelers (won Super Bowl XIV): The Steel Curtain labored for its fourth and final Super Bowl victory against a 9-7 Rams team before pulling away in the fourth quarter. 42. 1977 Cowboys (won Super Bowl XII): Doomsday II showed up in the Super Bowl, forcing eight Denver turnovers. D-linemen Harvey Martin and Randy White are the only players to share Super Bowl MVP honors. Dallas' average margin of victory in postseason was 21.3 points. 43. 1983 Raiders (won Super Bowl XVIII): They were very good in the regular season, going 12-4, but hit the afterburners in the playoffs, winning three games by an average of 24.3 points, dismantling a Redskins squad in the Super Bowl that had the makings of greatness. The only team to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Los Angeles. 44. 1964 Browns (won NFL title): Cleveland's lone championship since 1955 and the only time legendary Jim Brown won a ring, this team embarrassed Unitas' Colts 27-0 for the crown. 45. 1993 Cowboys (won Super Bowl XXVIII): Virtually unstoppable once Smith ended his two-game holdout. He went on to win league and Super Bowl MVP honors. 46. 2010 Packers (won Super Bowl XLV): Their fourth Super Bowl victory came via a wild-card playoff run as QB Aaron Rodgers officially emerged from Favre's shadow.

47. 2013 Broncos (lost Super Bowl XLVIII): The only team to top 600 points (606), courtesy largely of Manning's record 5,477 yards and 55 TDs through the air. However they're forever tainted for getting smoked by Seattle in the Super Bowl. Would it have been different had LB Von Miller been healthy? 48. 1992 49ers (lost NFC Championship Game): With Montana mothballed, Young blossomed, leading the Niners to a 14-2 finish. Probably the best San Francisco team not to win the Super Bowl. 49. 1961 Oilers (won AFL title): They won the AFL's first two championships, the only pro football crowns ever earned by this franchise (now the Titans) or in Houston. But the '61 Oilers stand out, the first AFL or NFL team to score 500 points, a feat that wouldn't be surpassed for 22 years. Led by QB George Blanda, Houston won its final 10 games by an average of nearly 25 points. 50. 1934 Bears (lost NFL Championship Game): George Halas' charges swept through the regular season with a 13-0 record, winning by an average of 15.4 points. Chicago lost the title to the Giants, but probably safe to put an asterisk on that one — New York, the home team, got a delivery of sneakers at halftime that allowed the G-Men to better navigate a frozen field in what became known as the "Sneakers Game." 51. 1967 Packers (won Super Bowl II): The dynasty was winding down in Lombardi's final season but good enough to slip past Dallas in the legendary "Ice Bowl" before thrashing the AFL's Raiders for Green Bay's fifth championship in seven seasons — and effectively a three-peat given the Pack also won the 1965 NFL title. 52. 1963 Chargers (won AFL title): Still the only championship in franchise history, innovative coach Sid Gillman's electric Bolts exceeded 50 points three times, including a 51-10 rout of the Patriots for the crown. Worth wondering if San Diego could have beaten the '63 Bears, NFL champs that year. 53. 1995 Cowboys (won Super Bowl XXX): The first time a club won the Super Bowl three times in four years. Glitz beyond the Triplets with Sanders' arrival. 54. 1964 Bills (won AFL title): Yes, Buffalo actually owns championships, its '64 team on the front end of back-to-back AFL crowns. QB Jack Kemp and FB Cookie Gilchrist were among the headliners. 55. 1952 Lions (won NFL title): Yes, Detroit was once relevant, too, winning three championships in the '50s. This was easily the best of the teams quarterbacked by Hall of Famer Bobby Layne, who later "cursed" the franchise following his 1958 trade to Pittsburgh. 56. 1967 Raiders (lost Super Bowl II): Thoroughly dominant on road to AFL crown, going 13-1 before embarrassing Houston 40-7 for the championship. But Oakland was no match for the fading Packers, losing the Super Bowl 33-14. 57. 1969 Vikings (lost Super Bowl IV): Like the Colts the previous year, they were expected to cruise to a title. But Minnesota, boasting what was probably the fiercest edition of the "Purple People Eaters," suffered the first of its four Super Bowl setbacks in an eight-year span. 58. 1983 Redskins (lost Super Bowl XVIII): They scored 541 points in the regular season, a record that stood for 15 years, but were shockingly thrashed by the Raiders while striving for a Super Bowl repeat.

59. 1990 Giants (won Super Bowl XXV): Bold coaching from Bill Parcells and great relief pitching from Jeff Hostetler — Simms went down with a broken foot in Week 15 — allowed New York to upset San Francisco and Buffalo on the way to its second Super Bowl win in five seasons. 60. 2003 Patriots (won Super Bowl XXXVIII): They went 14-2, yet eight of their wins were by only one score. That trend continued in the Super Bowl, when New England survived Carolina 32-29. 61. 1981 49ers (won Super Bowl XVI): Vaulted by "The Catch" — Montana to Dwight Clark — in the NFC Championship Game vanquishing of Dallas, a relative group of unknowns brought home the first of San Francisco's five titles in a 14-season stretch. 62. 2005 Steelers (won Super Bowl XL): They didn't look nearly as impressive in the regular season as the previous year's 15-1 squad. But the wild-card Steelers (11-5), helped by some playoff luck (Carson Palmer's injury, Mike Vanderjagt's missed FG, Jerome Bettis' goal-line fumble in Indianapolis, favorable Super Bowl officiating against Seattle) sent the Bus into the sunset in style. 63. 2011 Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLVI): Would Gronkowski have snared Brady's Hail Mary for a Super Bowl miracle had the star tight end not been saddled with a high ankle sprain? What if wide-open WR Wes Welker hadn't dropped that pass with room to run and just four minutes to go? We'll never know. If only TB12 could throw to himself, right Gisele? 64. 1978 Cowboys (lost Super Bowl XIII): If only Hall of Fame TE Jackie Smith had held on to what would have been a TD, Dallas might have salvaged a Super Bowl split with the Steelers and staked its own claim as team of the '70s. 65. 1963 Bears (won NFL title): The franchise owns nine titles, but the '85 Bears and this team have the only ones since 1946. Aside from TE Ditka, not much star power here. If you guessed their quarterback was Billy Wade, you're more than ready for NFL "Jeopardy!" 66. 2012 Patriots (lost AFC Championship Game): Only New England's '07 team had a higher point differential in franchise history than this group, which outscored the opposition by 226 points. But they got their doors blown off at home in an AFC title rematch against the Ravens. 67. 2005 Colts (lost divisional round): This had the look of a history-making squad after dominant 13-0 start. But Indy lost three of its final four — coach Tony Dungy's son committed suicide during that stretch — the final dagger coming when Vanderjagt shanked a game-tying field-goal attempt in the final seconds of a 21-18 home playoff loss to Pittsburgh. 68. 1988 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIII): Compensated for forgettable regular season (10-6 record) by smoking Minnesota and Chicago in NFC playoff bracket by combined 62-12 score before Montana engineered signature 92-yard drive to oust Bengals in Super Bowl's final minute. 69. 1974 Steelers (won Super Bowl IX): Aided by the finest rookie class ever (Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, Mike Webster and Donnie Shell), they brought home Pittsburgh's first championship by suffocating Minnesota. 70. 2018 Patriots (won Super Bowl LIII): Methodical march to record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy largely lacked flair and wound up being the final season (presumably) for flamboyant Gronk.

71. 2008 Steelers (won Super Bowl XLIII): QB Ben Roethlisberger and WR Santonio Holmes salvaged ring No. 6 for Pittsburgh, though struggling to beat lightly-regarded Arizona in a highly entertaining Super Bowl probably cost this defense a place in the pantheon. 72. 2001 Patriots (won Super Bowl XXXVI): Despite Brady's magical debut as a starter, including a controversial "Tuck Rule" win over Oakland in the playoffs, no one gave them a shot against St. Louis. Oops. A brilliant game plan from Bill Belichick, effective game management from TB12, and Adam Vinatieri's clutch kick launched a dynasty no one foresaw. 73. 2007 Giants (won Super Bowl XLII): They overcame ugly 0-2 start to notch a wild-card berth, a path that culminated with epic upset of previously undefeated Patriots. WR David Tyree's "Helmet Catch" became one of the league's signature moments. 74. 2001 Rams (lost Super Bowl XXXVI): The only team in franchise history to win 14 games, they were on the cusp of dynasty status — and heavily favored —before getting ambushed by New England's nascent juggernaut. 75. 2015 Broncos (won Super Bowl 50): Manning missed six games, limping through his final season, but outdueled Brady for the AFC crown. Super Bowl MVP Miller closed the deal with an epic performance (2½ sacks, 2 forced fumbles) against Carolina. 76. 2005 Seahawks (lost Super Bowl XL): Running behind arguably the best offensive line duo ever (LT Walter Jones, LG Steve Hutchinson), MVP Shaun Alexander (then-record 28 TDs) sparked a team that probably didn't get the recognition it deserved. Seattle certainly didn't get the officiating crew it deserved in its Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh. 77. 1984 Dolphins (lost Super Bowl XIX): Considering when he did it, Marino's 5,084-yard, 48-TD pass season may still rank as the most impressive ever. But Miami (14-2) was routed by San Francisco in what turned out to be Marino's lone Super Bowl. 78. 1990 Bills (lost Super Bowl XXV): Probably the best of the Buffalo teams that won four consecutive AFC titles, these "K-Gun" Bills also came closest to Super Bowl glory. But K Scott Norwood was just wide right on his team's final play in a 20-19 defeat. 79. 1968 Raiders (lost AFL Championship Game): Statistically, the reigning AFL champs stacked up better when compared to the famed '68 Jets, whom Oakland beat that year in the infamous "Heidi Game." But unlike New York, the Raiders were forced to endure a Western Division playoff against a stout Chiefs team. Namath and Co. eked out the playoff rematch at Shea Stadium the following Sunday before pulling off their Super Bowl stunner. 80. 2015 Panthers (lost Super Bowl 50): Guided by MVP Cam Newton, Carolina's best squad steamrolled to a 15-1 record before being thrashed by Miller and Denver's defense. 81. 2017 Patriots (lost Super Bowl LII): They went toe to toe with Philly in one of the most entertaining Super Bowls ever before Brady blinked, suffering a decisive strip sack in the final minutes. 82. 2011 Saints (lost divisional round): Brees fired off 46 TD passes and a then-record 5476 passing yards for, by the numbers anyway, what was New Orleans' best team ever (franchise-record 547 points and

208-point differential to go with 13-3 ledger). The club was largely overshadowed by the 15-1 Packers in 2011 but had a much better, if more heartbreaking postseason, losing a 36-32 barnburner in San Francisco. 83. 1975 Vikings (lost divisional round): Perhaps league MVP Fran Tarkenton's best team, Minnesota exited the playoffs in jaw-dropping fashion, victimized by Staubach's famous Hail Mary to Drew Pearson. 84. 1966 Chiefs (lost Super Bowl I): The AFL's initial Super Bowl entry, Kansas City hung tough with the Packers for a half before getting overrun in the third quarter. 85. 2006 Chargers (lost divisional round): MVP LaDainian Tomlinson led Bolts to franchise record 14-2 regular season, LT piling up single-season record 31 TDs. But the ride ended in frustration with a home playoff loss to the Patriots, Tomlinson angrily storming off the field feeling New England players disrespectfully celebrated on the Chargers' midfield logo. 86. 2011 Packers (lost divisional round): Rodgers reached full-blown superstardom in his first MVP season, leading the defending champions to a 13-0 start. But after a franchise-best 15-1 regular season, Green Bay lost at Lambeau in a 37-20 playoff flameout against the Giants. 87. 1968 Cowboys (lost divisional round): Probably the most dominant regular-season team in franchise history, their margin of victory in the regular season exceeded three touchdowns. 88. 1973 Rams (lost divisional round): They outscored the opposition by 210 points in the regular season, the highest differential by any of 52 L.A. Rams teams. 89. 1948 Cardinals (lost NFL title): Arguably the premier squad in this lackluster franchise's history, the then-Chicago Cardinals saw their bid for consecutive championships melt in that Philadelphia snowstorm. 90. 1982 Redskins (won Super Bowl XVII): They tied for the league lead in wins ... unfortunately, that meant just eight due to a player strike. Would have helped had they more easily handled a post-Griese, pre-Marino Miami club on Super Sunday. 91. 1981 Chargers (lost AFC Championship Game): Defensively challenged? Sure. But no team of the Don Coryell era put up points more relentlessly. Had the AFC title bout, aka the "Freezer Bowl," not been played in Cincinnati's minus-59 wind chill, these Bolts might have given San Diego an elusive Super Bowl breakthrough. 92. 2006 Colts (won Super Bowl XLI): By the standards of the Manning era, it was a rather middling outfit, expectations lowered by the league's worst run defense. But everything came together in postseason as the Colts finally knocked off Brady's Patriots before beating Chicago on a Super Sunday perhaps most memorable for the rain and Devin Hester's game-opening kickoff return TD. 93. 1980 Raiders (won Super Bowl XV): While welcoming the Iran hostages home, the Silver & Black became the first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl. 94. 1987 Redskins (won Super Bowl XXII): They'll be forever remembered for QB Doug Williams' watershed Super Bowl performance. But like Washington's '82 championship squad, this team's campaign was

muddled by a strike, the 'Skins benefiting heavily from replacement players who spotted them three victories. 95. 2012 Ravens (won Super Bowl XLVII): A pedestrian 10-6 regular season was capped with a crown as QB Joe Flacco caught fire just in time to salvage Lewis' "last ride." 96. 1999 Jaguars (lost AFC Championship Game): Easily the best team in Jacksonville's brief history, they were 0-3 against Tennessee that year, but 14-0 against everyone else — not including a 62-7 playoff win against Miami in Marino's last game. 97. 1970 Colts (won Super Bowl V): A relatively uninspired regular season (11 wins, 11.3-point margin of victory) was capped by triumph in perhaps the ugliest of Super Bowls (Baltimore combined with Dallas to rack up 11 turnovers). 98. 2011 Giants (won Super Bowl XLVI): No Super Bowl champion has a less impressive résumé, New York the only one with fewer than 10 regular-season victories (9-7), and only one to be outscored during the regular season. But Eli Manning and Co. knocked off two exceptional teams ranked higher on this list (Packers and Patriots) on their way to the franchise's fourth Lombardi Trophy. 99. 1960 Eagles (won NFL title): Not especially imposing, their margin of victory in wins was just 9.8 points, not including a four-point escape in the championship game — the only playoff defeat ever served to the Lombardi Packers. 100. 1920 Akron Pros (won APFA title): May as well end at the beginning and acknowledge the inaugural champions of the league, then known as the American Professional Football Association (it was reflagged "NFL" in 1922). The Pros never lost in 1920, but did tie three times during their 11-game slate. With a playoff format non-existent at the time, they were actually awarded their crown during a league meeting on April 30, 1921 — old school. Final note: Akron surrendered seven points the entire season, pitching 10 shutouts.

Pro Football Hall of Fame expands Class of 2020, and here are 20 with a great shot of making it in By Brian DeArdo CBS Sports August 5, 2019 The Pro Football Hall of Fame officially announced on Friday that they will have a special centennial class for 2020. The class will include a record 20 enshrines consisting of five modern-era players,10 senior inductees, three contributors, and two coaches. Along with celebrating the league's centennial year, Hall of Fame President David Baker said earlier this year that another reason for the extended class in 2020 was to help clear the backlog of worthy players who have yet to have their careers immortalized in Canton. In light of Friday's announcement, we've put together our predictions for the 20-member 2020 Hall of Fame class. Potential modern-era nominees (5) Tony Boselli, left tackle (Jaguars, 1995-2001): Arguably the greatest player in Jacksonville Jaguars history, Boselli has been a finalist for the Hall in each of the past four years. A five-time Pro Bowler and three time All-Pro, Boselli played a major role in the Jaguars' run to the AFC title game in 1996 in just the franchise's second year of existence. Isaac Bruce, wide receiver (Rams, 1994-2007; 49ers 2008-09): A four-time Pro Bowler, Bruce recorded 1,024 receptions for 15,208 yards and 91 touchdowns during his prolific career. He was one of the key players in St. Louis' "Greatest Show on Turf" offense that took the league by storm from 1999-01. In Super Bowl XXXIV, his 73-yard touchdown catch and run led the Rams to a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Edgerrin James, running back (Colts 1999-2005; Cardinals 2006-07; Seahawks, 2009): A rushing champion in each of his first two NFL seasons, James retired after 11 NFL seasons with 12,246 rushing yards and 80 touchdowns. James teamed up with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison to form one of the NFL's all-time offensive triplets during the late '90s/early '00s. John Lynch, safety (Buccaneers, 1993-2003; Broncos 2004-07): A Pro Bowler five times in a six-year span from 1997-2002, Lynch earned four more Pro Bowl selections during his final four NFL seasons in Denver from 2004-07. His pre-snap predictions of Oakland's play calls were a major reason why the Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl title at the end of the 2002 season. Troy Polamalu, safety (Steelers, 2003-14): The greatest strong safety of his era, Polamalu was an eight-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro and the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year. He was also one of the best players on two Pittsburgh Super Bowl championship teams. Next year will be Polamalu's first year of eligibility.

Potential coaching nominees (2) Tom Flores (Raiders 1979-87; Seahawks 1992-94): Flores and Mike Ditka are the only two people in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as a player, an assistant coach and as a head coach. Flores is also the first Hispanic head coach to win the Super Bowl. One year after taking over for Hall of Fame coach John Madden, Flores guided the Raiders to an upset victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl XV. The '80s Raiders, in the process, became the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl as a wild card team. Flores' Raiders again pulled off the improbable three years later, drubbing the defending champion Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII, 38-9. Jimmy Johnson (Cowboys 1989-93; Dolphins 1996-99): Johnson was the architect behind the greatest three-year turnaround in NFL history. In 1989, he inherited a moribund Cowboys franchise that would go 1-15 during his first season in Dallas. But that season, following his infamous Herschel Walker trade, would lay down the foundation for what was to come. Johnson's Cowboys reached the mountaintop in 1992, dominating the Bills in Super Bowl XXVII. The Cowboys would become the sixth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls the following year before Johnson stunned everyone by resigning that offseason. Johnson returned to coaching in 1996, leading the Dolphins to three postseason appearances before stepping away for good after the 1999 season. Potential senior nominees (10) Dick Anderson, safety (Dolphins, 1968-77): A member of Miami's "No Name" defense, Anderson picked off eight passes in a season on three separate occasions during his NFL career. A two time Super Bowl champion, Anderson was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 1973. Cliff Branch, wide receiver (Raiders, 1972-85): Cliff Branch, who died Saturday at 71, played a key role in each of the Silver and Black's three Super Bowl runs from 1976-83. Branch, a four time Pro Bowler and three time All-Pro, led the NFL in receiving yards in 1974 and in touchdown receptions in 1974 and in 1976. Branch's two touchdown receptions in Super Bowl XIV helped Oakland pull off a 27-10 upset victory over Philadelphia, while his 94 receiving yards and first-half touchdown against Washington helped propel the Raiders to a blowout victory over the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Roger Craig, running back (49ers, 1983-90; Raiders, 1991; Vikings, 1992-93): A three-time Super Bowl champion, Craig was the first player in league history to score three touchdowns in the Super Bowl and record 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in a single season. L.C. Greenwood, defensive end (Steelers, 1969-81): Greenwood earned six Pro Bowl selections and a pair of All-Pro nods from 1973-79. Greenwood, who was a member of each of Pittsburgh's our Super Bowl championship teams during the '70s, unofficially sacked Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach four times in Pittsburgh's Super Bowl X victory over Dallas. Cliff Harris, safety (Cowboys, 1970-79): Harris earned six consecutive Pro Bowl selections during his final six NFL seasons that included three straight All-Pro nods from 1976-78. Harris helped lead the Cowboys to five Super Bowl appearances during the '70s that included victories in Super Bowls VI and XII.

Chuck Howley, linebacker (Bears, 1958-59; Cowboys 1961-73): The only Super Bowl MVP of a losing team, Howley was a seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro. He was a key member of Dallas' first Super Bowl championship team in 1971. Jim Marshall, defensive end (Browns, 1960; Vikings 1961-79): While some still remember him as the defender that returned a fumble the wrong way for a safety in 1964, Marshall should be remembered as a dominant defensive lineman who was one of the biggest pieces of Minnesota's Purple People Eater defense. With Marshall helping lead the way, the Vikings won four NFC titles in an eight-year span. Jim Plunkett, quarterback (Patriots, 1971-75; 49ers, 1976-77; Raiders, 1979-86): After being labeled as a bust in New England, Plunkett became a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Raiders, earning MVP honors in Oakland's victory over Philadelphia in Super Bowl XIV. Otis Taylor, wide receiver (Chiefs, 1965-75): A three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, Taylor led the NFL in receiving yards during the 1971 season. His touchdown catch and run in Super Bowl IV helped the AFL's Chiefs stun the NFL's Vikings in the final Super Bowl before rival leagues merged in 1970. Donnie Shell, safety (Steelers, 1974-79): Nicknamed "The Torpedo," Shell, an undrafted rookie in 1974, won four Super Bowls with the Steelers while recording 51 career interceptions. He was a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. Potential contributor nominees (3) Bill Nunn: A prominent sportswriter turned NFL scout in the late 1960s, Bill Nunn scouted a slew of players from predominantly black colleges that would help the Steelers win four Super Bowls during the 1970s. Steve Sabol: The co-founder of NFL Films along with his father Ed (who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011), Steve Sabol played an essential role in the growth and popularity of the NFL during the 20th century. Paul Tagliabue: Tagliabue served as the NFL commissioner from 1989-2006. Not only did the league grow immensely under his watch, there were no work stoppages during Tagliabue's time as commissioner. Tagliabue was also commissioner when the NFL ushered in free agency during the early 1990s. Some others with a great case Steve Atwater, safety (Broncos 1989-98; Jets, 1999): A two-time All-Pro and Pro Bowler in eight of nine seasons from 1990-98, Atwater is regarded as one of the most physical defensive backs in NFL history. Atwater played a key role in Denver's back-to-back championship runs in 1997 and '98. Don Coryell, coach (Cardinals, 1973-77; Chargers 1978-86): Coryell's enhancements in the passing game continue to impact how pro football is being played today. Nicknamed "Air Coryell," his offense in San Diego took the NFL by storm during the late '70 and early '80s. While his offensive philosophy changed pro football forever, Coryell never won a Super Bowl, a fact that has likely kept him out of Canton to this point.

Alan Faneca, left guard (Steelers, 1998-2007; Jets 2008-10): A nine-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro, Faneca won a Super Bowl with the Steelers while being regarded as one of the best offensive linemen of his era. Steve Hutchinson, left guard (Seahawks, 2001-05, Vikings, 2006-12): Hutchinson, one of the best lineman of his era, earned seven straight Pro Bowl selections from 2003-09 that included five All-Pro selections. Andy Russell, linebacker (Steelers, 1963-76): A seven-time Pro Bowler, Russell was one of just five members of Chuck Noll's first team to remain on the roster when Pittsburgh won their first Super Bowl title. A two time champion, Russell helped mentor future Hall of Famers and fellow linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert. Hines Ward, receiver (Steelers 1998-2011): Ward retired following the 2011 season as Pittsburgh's all-time career leader in catches (1,000), receiving yards (12,083) and receiving touchdowns (85). He won two Super Bowls and was named MVP of Super Bowl XL. Darren Woodson, safety (Cowboys, 1992-2003): One of the best players from the Cowboys' dynasty era of the 1990s, Woodson earned three straight All-Pro and five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances while helping Dallas become the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span. Patrick Willis, linebacker (49ers, 2007-14): A seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, Willis led the NFL in tackles on two separate occasions.

A reason John Elway went vs. coaching trend with Vic Fangio: 'He’s the Sean McVay of the defense' By Charles Robinson Yahoo! Sports August 5, 2019 The notebook that helped guide Vic Fangio through the biggest job interview of his career was precisely what his NFL peers have grown to expect from him. Blunt. Methodical. No frills. A vessel of information with large font, basic subheads and no b.s. And it took all of a few hours last January – the night before his Denver Broncos interview – to piece it together. Because when you’ve coached in the NFL for 32 consecutive years with no breaks, you know what you want to say, you know how you want to say it and you don’t need anything else getting in the way of the delivery. “If you’re going to go work for an organization that has to be blown away by some fancy interview book, then that organization is probably not very successful,” Fangio said He shrugged a little as those words came out. Partly because Fangio knows that there are some organizations that will line up quickly for aesthetics, reaching to recreate what they see rather than trusting what they know. It’s hard not to be aware of that as a defensive-minded, 60-year-old coach interviewing for a job in the middle of the league’s Sean McVay hiring fever. He isn’t young and isn’t an offensive wizard, so his hire swam against the current of the 2019 offseason. “This is bucking the trend, but it wasn’t my choice,” Fangio said with a laugh. “This was John [Elway’s] choice. But there’s a lot of good defensive coaches out there, too. Take a look at Bill Belichick. He’s the most successful coach in the last 25 years. Pete Carroll is a defensive coach. Mike Tomlin is a defensive coach. John Harbaugh is basically a defensive guy. They’re out there. But things kind of run in fads in this league. As you well know, it’s a copycat league. When some owners or general managers – whoever is making those decisions – can’t come up with a picture in their mind of what they’re looking for, they sometimes go with the trends.” That’s how three guys with relatively little high-level NFL coaching experience landed head jobs this offseason, including the Arizona Cardinals’ Kliff Kingsbury, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Zac Taylor and the Green Bay Packers’ Matt LaFleur. In those situations, the organizations were either looking for someone to pair with a quarterback or recreate the McVay experience from the ground up. The Broncos went in a difference direction. Elway was about to be on his fourth coach in nine seasons. He’d settle for someone great, no matter where that came from. And that’s how Denver ended up with Fangio. The guy who lost a playoff game with the Chicago Bears and then a few hours later, cobbled together a notebook of his coaching and leadership concepts that ended up sweeping the Broncos off their feet. And in the face of skepticism, no less.

Seven months ago, one Broncos staffer told Yahoo Sports on the eve of Fangio’s interview last January that he wasn’t sure the candidate had “the juice” to be a head coach. Now? “I love the guy,” the staffer said recently. “I’m all in.” When you talk to the Broncos, that’s a top-down message. Rooted in a roster that is apparently practicing harder and more focused than it has ever been. Fully believing that what Fangio pulled off in Chicago – with one of the nastiest, most aggressive units in the NFL – can be replicated in Denver, which already has the talent to work with. Sort of like McVay transplanting his offensive scheme from the Washington Redskins to the Los Angeles Rams, who had the pieces to make the transition quickly. “McVay is a miracle on the offensive side with what he does,” Elway said. “That’s how I look at Vic on the defensive side. When we went into the search, I wanted somebody that was great on one side of the ball or the other. I just kept my mind open and didn’t have any pre-drawn conclusions. Vic fit that on the defensive side. He’s the Sean McVay of the defense.” That’s high praise from Elway, who also scored a massive coup landing offensive line coach Mike Munchak from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Make no mistake, Elway knows what is riding on this Fangio hire. As much as we talk about Elway’s record with quarterbacks, it’s not lost on him that this is coach No. 4 in his tenure as general manager. In a best-case scenario, most GMs don’t get more than two head coaching hires. And while Gary Kubiak stepped away for health reasons, there’s no getting around the reality that the John Fox era ended badly and Vance Joseph didn’t fit what Elway wanted. Fangio supposedly dovetails perfectly with what Elway is seeking. A guy he can communicate and relate with. Someone who reminds Elway of the coaches he had during his playing career. Someone who puts a premium on teaching and focus, and pushed growth. It’s why Elway was a big fan of cutting off the music after the stretch period of practices, and making assistants coach from the sideline rather than the middle of the field. Two changes that were made to force players into paying attention and focusing on the teaching aspects of practice rather than listening to music and waiting for a coach to tell them what they were supposed to be doing from one moment to the next. Thus far, the results have been what Elway was looking for. He has seen players like linebacker Bradley Chubb respond by taking a bigger leadership role on the field. He has seen cornerback Chris Harris Jr. energized by a more diverse role in Fangio’s scheme, which will mix in more zone coverages in the secondary. And he’s seen Von Miller thrive on one of the first directives Fangio delivered to the superstar linebacker: “You can be a significantly better player and we’re going to show you how.” “I just like being coached by him,” Miller said. “I like the coaches who put the extra effort into finding out what I can do better and what I don’t do as well. Even the things that I do well and how I can do them better. I appreciate that. They’re totally honest about everything and I appreciate that. I feel like I can be a better player. … I’ve bought in 100 percent twice over already. I’ve put all my chips in and bought in.”

It remains to be seen what kind of confidence and commitment that wager will buy. But thus far, there’s little question in the organization whether Fangio was the right guy for this roster. While other teams were trying to replicate Sean McVay in age and offensive ideology, the Broncos seem to care about replicating only one thing: McVay's results. If the two can manage that, nothing else will matter.

Broncos plan to throw Theo Riddick “into the mix” By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk August 5, 2019 The Broncos have added running back Theo Riddick to a depth chart that includes Phillip Lindsay, Royce Freeman, and Devontae Booker, among others. The team’s plan for Riddick is simple. “Right now he’s going to get thrown in the mix,” coach Vic Fangio told reporters on Sunday. “He’s had a good history in his career of being a good receiver out of the backfield and a good threat in that way. Obviously, we’ll see if we can fit him in that way. and he still has that going for him. He’s been a good receiver. I’ve seen him play the last four years in the same division and he had a couple good routes here today.” Riddick said he was blindsided by the Lions’ decision to cut him, but ultimately not shocked. “It’s the name of the game,” Riddick said. “It just kind of sparked that fire in you and it’s lit.” He decided that the Broncs were the right fight “[b]ecause they are going to utilize my talent and my strengths.” “I have a lot of experience being in the game for six years,” Riddick said. “We got a young room — very talented, but hopefully I can help them out in terms of things they can see before it happens. You only can get that from experience, so hopefully it comes in handy.” Ultimately, it won’t come in handy for one of the guys currently on the roster, because in the zero-sum game of putting a team together, Riddick’s arrival means someone else will be gone, assuming Riddick makes the team.

Broncos sign Deyon Sizer, waive Jamarius Way By Charean Williams Pro Football Talk August 5, 2019 The Broncos signed defensive lineman Deyon Sizer on Sunday, the team announced. Denver waived wide receiver Jamarius Way in a corresponding move. The Broncos needed another defensive lineman after losing Billy Winn to a partially torn right triceps, Mike Klis of Denver’s 9News reports. Winn will undergo surgery. Sizer is a rookie from Colorado State-Pueblo who played 41 games, with 25 starts, during his collegiate career. He made 138 tackles, 10 sacks and a fumble recovery. He originally signed with the Broncos as a college free agent on May 13 before Denver waived him July 26. Way signed July 20. He went undrafted this spring but had tryouts at rookie minicamps with the Packers, Buccaneers and Dolphins before the Broncos signed him. He caught 108 passes for 1,617 yards and 11 touchdowns in two seasons at South Alabama.

FMIA: In Remembrance of Don Banks, an NFL Conscience and a True Friend By Peter King Football Morning in America August 5, 2019 I wrote the obit for a friend Sunday night in an airport. An airport bar, to be exact, and it seemed right. Don Banks and I had spent many a pre-flight in airports from Seattle to San Diego, Phoenix to Miami, Fort Lauderdale to Boston, New York to Minneapolis. He liked white wine. I liked a pilsner. I have written obits for two brothers and two beloved dogs. It’s always painful. But this … this was particularly cruel. “Big Dog!” Don Banks, writing his first story for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, exulted Saturday to me on the phone from Canton, where he was covering the Hall of Fame ceremonies. He called me “Big Dog,” for some reason, and I never stopped him. “I’m back, baby!” Don, 56, had been laid off by Sports Illustrated as the lead NFL columnist for SI.com in 2016, and he’d been looking for that next opportunity ever since. He worked for several outlets—NFL Media, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, Patriots.com—and continued his insightful and successful “Snap Judgments” Sunday night column all the while. He and I talked often—four, five times a week. He had his bouts of sadness, brought on by a retrenching business with few options for fifty-somethings. Depression crept in. I understood. And then, when he least expected it, the Review-Journal called this summer, and it was just what Don wanted—another shot at covering the NFL as one of the most impartial, fair, biting-when-necessary columnists ever to write about pro football. So he took the gig, starting Aug. 1, and we had two or three conversations about story ideas. Over the years, he’d given me dozens, and I returned the favor on a few. He settled on his first one: With Vegas hot to trot over all things Raiders, he decided he’d do a preview of the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” with a unique angle. He’d visit the Browns, and find lessons for the Raiders from the Browns’ oft-painful “Hard Knocks” experience in 2018. That’s why he was exulting Saturday. The chase for the story—we’re always chasing unique and different pieces and, hopefully, ones with some edge—led him to a couple of Browns coaches sniping at each other on the record. He wrote, filed, and sent me the link late Saturday, and I read it. Loved it. It was the goods. And I tweeted the story out Sunday, thrilled for longtime friend hitting a home run in his debut. When I looked Sunday afternoon, that story was the leading piece in the newspaper’s online sports section. For the last three weeks, we’d been talking about the new gig, The ideas, the excitement. On Saturday afternoon, he told me about a bunch of inside stuff he’d been able to get NFL Films to agree to do. “Has anyone ever been able to do this kind of stuff with ‘Hard Knocks?’ “ he said. Don’t think so, I said. This stuff will be read by everybody. Then he said: “I’m back, baby!”

And then, hours later, in a Courtyard Marriott in Canton, Don didn’t wake up. Cruel’s the only word I can think of. Friends are fleeting in this business. It’s competitive, and there are jealousies, and you’re lucky if you have four or five really good ones. Don was one of those for me. This is when I knew he was a great friend: Early in his run at SI.com, I was talking to him about web traffic for my Monday Morning Quarterback column. I told him it was crushing everything on the site in whatever season it was. Then he started talking about his column, and some of his frustrations with how it was being treated on the site. I blurted out something incredibly stupid and unfeeling about him having to understand that SI had to spend resources to promote mine, and … “HEY! You’re not the only sportswriter in the world! Can you be any more unaware of how you sound!” He hung up. I woke up. From that point on, 15 years or so, I realized he was the only one who always would tell me the truth about myself. My wife Ann does that, thankfully. Other than that, in my profession, I had one person who did: Don Banks. How many people do you have in your life who do that? How many true friends do you have who will tell you when you’re a fool? I hope you all have one. I had one. He didn’t wake up Sunday morning in Canton, Ohio. One more story. In 2013, SI allowed me to found my Monday Morning Quarterback website, and allowed me to hire some full-time staffers. Also, I was allowed to take existing SI staffers and ask them, if they were agreeable, to write a weekly column. “What do you want me to do?” Don asked when I called. “Something from 10,000 feet,” I said. “Anytime I need to know if my stance on something NFL-related is fair, you know you’re the one I call. So I want you to be the arbiter of all things NFL. Be the conscience.” We called the column “The Conscience.” That’s who he was, and that’s how he wrote. After the league fumbled the Ray Rice discipline case in 2014, this was the lead to “The Conscience:” He’ll keep his job. Of course he’ll keep his job, because even after Monday’s swift and stunning turn of events, you won’t be able to find enough NFL team owners who think Roger Goodell should lose it. But while his job may be safe, Goodell’s credibility has been badly damaged by the league’s botched and bungled response to the Ray Rice domestic violence saga. And without credibility, it’s very difficult to respect his judgment or authority going forward. Don’s phone rang soon after the story was posted, and one league executive told him he’d been too harsh on Goodell. He called me that day and I asked him what he said to that league official.

“Gotta call it how I see it,” Don said. “That’s how I’ve always done the job. I can’t do it any different.” Till the end, that was Don Banks, good journalist and good friend. Obit: Don Banks Writer’s note: This is the brief obit I wrote for the family to distribute. Don Banks, one of the leading NFL reporters in the country, died suddenly on Sunday in Canton, Ohio. He was in Canton to cover the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies over the weekend, and his first story in his new job, as NFL columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was published in Sunday’s editions. Banks, 56, had a 36-year career in sportswriting, beginning when he covered prep sports as an intern in the Tampa Bay area for the St. Petersburg Times. He moved on to cover the Buccaneers for the Times, before moving to Minnesota to cover pro football for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and later the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It was there that Banks caught the eye of editors at Sports Illustrated. In 2000, he was hired as NFL columnist for the Sports Illustrated website, SI.com. Banks was an NFL lifer. At SI, his Snap Judgments column on Sunday evenings became appointment reading for NFL fans. After an illustrious career at SI ended in 2016, Banks moved on to write about the league for NFL.com, Bleacher Report, Patriots.com and The Athletic. That led to the editors at the Review-Journal, needing a respected national presence to cover the NFL with the Raiders moving to Nevada in 2020, conducting a one-candidate job search. They hired Banks as their NFL correspondent. He started last Thursday, and his first story appeared on the paper’s website just hours before he died. He was known for his absolute impartiality, covering the league at a time when he both lampooned and praised Roger Goodell, the commissioner who has been under fire for much of the last decade. Banks, born in Coatesville, Pa., moved to St. Petersburg at a young age. He is survived by his wife, Alissa, of Auburndale, Mass., and son Matt, of Philadelphia, and Micah, a student at George Washington University; a brother, Doug Banks, a sister, Donna; and many nieces and nephews. No good way to segue after that. Let’s move on with football. Several of the places I visited in the last week—New Orleans, Jacksonville and Miami—had to be put on hold Sunday afternoon and night as I processed the death of Don Banks and dealt with some issues related to it. Please check back next week for my thoughts on those three teams. I’d started writing about the Colts, after being in Indiana on Sunday, so we’ll begin with my trip to Colts camp and continue with the rest of the column, which I’d filed by 1 p.m. Sunday after a week on the training camp circuit. Camp: Colts This Luck Injury is Bothersome Sunday: Colts (Westfield, Ind.)

Heat index: 91. Camp Name I loved: E.J. Speed. The fifth-round linebacker from Tarleton (Texas) State has a chance to work into a starter’s role. Guy I totally forgot would be in this camp: Chad Kelly. Might be last-chance saloon time for Kelly, who had a checkered but talented college career, then behaved his way out of Denver. On the surface, the calf strain keeping Andrew Luck from practicing in training camp this week shouldn’t be too concerning. Opening day is five weeks away. A calf strain has to heal in two or three weeks, right? Of course it should. Problem is, it’s been lingering since April, and after three MRIs found nothing more severe than a strain, and aftrer Luck has previously taken some time off to help it stop barking, it’s still there. So that’s where the Colts were Sunday afternoon, as Jacoby Brissett took all the first-team snaps at quarterback and Luck was nowhere to be seen, presumably getting treatment on the calf. I asked Luck if he had any doubt he’d be ready to play opening day. “No,” he said. “I certainly believe I will [be ready]. That’s certainly the goal.” But when I asked him how stubborn the injury has been, he said: “At times I do worry about it. It can be frustrating. The arc of an injury, whether it’s a big surgical one or something you’re rehabbing through. But no, because I’ve improved. Maybe I’m not improving as fast as I want and missing things is no fun. It eats at you. But I do know at the end of the day if I’m getting the most out of myself, if I’m being the best I can that day, then that’s what I need to do.” Taken together, it sounds like Luck, and the Colts, are pretty sure he’ll play the opener at the Chargers on Sept. 7. It also sounds like this thing has been driving him nuts. He’s vague about when exactly it happened; I heard it stems from late last season. He says he thinks he aggravated a calf strain this offseason. Whatever, the MRIs don’t show significant damage. That’s why the organization isn’t chewing its nails. Yet. “When will he practice?” I asked coach Frank Reich. “We don’t know,” Reich said. The uncertainty is sort of maddening, unless you consider Reich’s perspective on this. When I sat with him around noon Sunday, he sounded much like the man who interviewed for the Colts coaching job 18 months ago. He never asked GM Chris Ballard about Luck’s recurring and balky shoulder injury. The theory was, Reich had faith he’d win regardless who the quarterback was, and he wanted the job regardless whether Luck would play. Same stuff Sunday. “As a former player and as a coach, it’s just always my instinct to trust the player,” Reich said. “I really don’t lay awake at night thinking about it. When our players have injuries, I’m not the guy who’s asking every five minutes how they’re doing. That’s just the way I am. Part of that is because I think my 14 years

of experience as a player … I know he wants to be there as bad as anybody. Me asking him every five minutes how he’s doing doesn’t help anything.” I sense the only reason why the Colts aren’t more nervous this morning is because backup Jacoby Brissett is having a very good camp, and the franchise considers him a serviceable starter if he has to play. You’ll recall he played okay in Luck’s place in 2017. On Sunday, Brissett threw a couple of beautiful balls, including an arcing 25-yard fade into the corner of the end zone to T.Y. Hilton in 11-on-11 drills. But there’s a difference between a hot Sunday against friendly faces, and road trips to the Chargers, Titans and Chiefs in the first five weeks of the season. For the Colts to duplicate or improve on their surprising success last year (11-7, including a wild-card win in Houston), Luck and a healthy left leg gives them the best shot. Luck, paired with the longtime former NFL backup Reich, is coming off the best season of his professional life. His completion rate (.673) and passer rating (98.7) were career-bests; his plus-24 TD-to-pick differential was tied for his best ever. It’s odd to think that he’s already verging on 30 (his birthday is Sept. 12), which is usually the midpoint of a quarterback’s career. Maybe it won’t be anymore. But turning 30 gives any athlete pause. Reich is comfortable enough in his skin to give his quarterback lots of power in the decision-making process, the same way Buffalo offensive boss Ted Marchibroda gave Jim Kelly and Reich power in the eighties and nineties. Carson Wentz saw it and felt it even at a young age when Reich was his coordinator in Philadelphia in 2017, and Luck felt it last year too. “I think Andrew’s been in some really, really good offenses,” Reich said. “But I don’t know if he’s ever been in an offense that wants to turn him loose like we’re going to turn him loose this year. I use this illustration. It’s like if you’re playing a video game and there’s all these easy targets, worth 100 points. Every now and then there’s this little target that pops up and it just flashes for a brief second. It’s really small. That’s worth 1,000 points. And in NFL football, that’s what happens all the time. These little targets come up. The great ones can hit those 1,000-point targets. As a coach, I don’t know when they’re going to come up. Only he knows. So you want a guy pulling the trigger who can see them and know when it’s worth it to try to hit them, then go for them.” Reich got excited as he spoke, clearly anticipating attacking the Chargers on Sept. 8 with a more mature Luck in his offense. Smart money’s on Luck making that start in southern California in five weeks. But the Colts are hedging their bets because of this odd calf strain that doesn’t seem to want to go away. Camp: Jaguars Three Notes From Jacksonville Thursday: Jaguars (Jacksonville). Heat index: 96 degrees. Camp name I loved: Fish Smithson. The 25-year-old safety from Kansas is on his fourth team in three seasons. (Runnerup: Picasso Nelson Jr., a rookie corner.)

Guy I totally forgot would be in this camp: Cedric Ogbuehi. The 21st pick in the 2015 draft washed out with the Bengals. Could be the swing tackle for Doug Marrone. Three Jag notes: 1. I love when this happens. After practice, all I wanted to do was jump in a pool of ice cubes. How these guys do it in this heat, I have no idea. But after a two-hour, 30-minute practice, Campbell signed autographs in the sun for 10 to 15 minutes, and then he met me on the field for a seven-minute on-camera interview, and then he said I had to meet Josh Allen, his training-camp protégé. Campbell, 32 and entering his 12th year. Allen, 22 and a rookie first-rounder. Campbell:“This guy’s flashin’. He’s flashin’. You gotta meet him. The real deal. The real deal.” Allen:“He’s teaching me everything! Everything.” (Campbell fist-bumps Allen.) Campbell:“I got no choice!” Allen:“I’m not gonna disrespect you. But every time I watch you on film bro … Man … Just knowing you, knowing how you are … Damn. I watch you play, and you still got it. You got it! I watch you, and you’re like lights out. Still.” (There was a puppy-dog vibe in Allen just then, like, It is so cool to be Calais Campbell’s mentee.) Campbell:“I tell you, I tell you. Take care of your body. Work. We gonna get to that conversation. We ain’t got there yet.” For Campbell, this is passing along what he knows to the next generation. If Allen down the road takes his job or even some of his playing time (and they’re different players, Campbell a huge physical player, and Allen an edge rusher), Campbell will live. It’s what an unselfish veteran does with a promising rookie, and it will pay off for Allen long after Campbell retires. It’s a pay-it-forward thing. Allen, the sixth pick in the draft, will be on some team in 2029, and maybe the coach will say something to him about mentoring the first-round rookie lineman, and maybe the coach won’t have to say anything—Allen will just do it. And Allen will drop knowledge on the kid the way Campbell did him. 2. The Foles way. Observation: Nick Foles talked to a receiver or receivers after every pass he threw in this practice. There wasn’t a play that Foles walked away and was in his own world. After practice, Foles, a devout Christian, gathered some of the (presumably) Christian players on the team, maybe 15, and they broke down the huddle by saying, “1-2-3-Jesus!” He’s assumed a major leadership role, whatever that means, very early on in the process here. 3. Jalen being Jalen. I don’t know Jalen Ramsey, but I have immense respect for his game. Some of the stuff he does—ripping players before meeting them or playing them, for instance—is a little strange. But

most of what he does is harmless, though it can be annoying. It can be fun too. At practice, I looked at Ramsey during a lull, standing behind him behind the end zone. I looked at his backplate (that piece of equipment that hangs down from the shoulder pads to protect the spine), and there was a $20 bill encased in the clear back of the piece of plastic. If you looked close, you could see, in black, “Twentyland” printed on the bottom of the bill. “It’s just swag,” he told me for my podcast dropping Wednesday. “Every time I go out there I’m trying to make some money. I’m number 20, so I chose a $20 bill. Podcast preview of the week: Me and Ramsey, post-practice, inside the Jags stadium: Me: “Do you think you’re the best cornerback in football.” Ramsey: “I know I am.” Me: “You’re sure.” Ramsey: “A hundred percent.” Me: “Will you get paid like that?” Ramsey: “Yeah I will.” Me: “Do you think you’ll play your whole career in Jacksonville?” (Smile, smirk.) Ramsey: “Maybe.” Camp: Bucs Saving Jameis Tuesday: Bucs (Tampa). Heat index: 102 degrees. Camp name I loved: Vincent Testaverde. Vinny’s kid, who played college quarterback at Albany and high school quarterback less than two miles away from the Bucs facility in Tampa, is a camp arm. He’ll have to shine in preseason garbage time to climb the depth chart here. Guy I totally forgot would be in this camp till I saw the roster: Deone Bucannon. The hybrid safety/linebacker reunites with former Cards defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, now the Bucs DC. Amazing to see that Bucannon is just 26. Feels like he’s been in the league 10 years. Favorite factoid: This has to be the most diverse coaching staff in NFL history. Thirty coaches. Eleven are African-American, including all three coordinators. Two are women.

It’s 6:27 p.m. It’s hot, the kind of heat for an extended period that makes a person think: Why’d I ever pick this line of work, and why did I choose to do this work in Tampa in late July? But here are the Bucs, practicing for two hours and 27 minutes in it. At least I get to find shade. There’s 90 players and 30 coaches out here in the unrelenting sun, and two hours and four minutes into the practice, Jameis Winston threw a pick and chased the picker down; sprinted 60 yards and tried to tackle the guy. I mean, these guys are working. As the offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich, came off the field, he stopped to talk for a minute. When I say it looked like he had a drippy faucet running down both cheeks and his chin, I am not exaggerating. The man was drenched. And he was out there coaching, not playing. “We are being real about this,” Leftwich said. “This is old-school football around here. This is how it’s got to be.” One coaching staff already got fired because, among other things, coaches couldn’t turn the franchise quarterback around. The first pick in the 2015 draft, Jameis Winston, is in his crucial fifth season here. If Bruce Arians and Leftwich and quarterbacks coach Clyde Christianson can fix him and eliminate some of the mindless errors on his pro résumé, then Winston gets signed to a rich deal and leads this team into the future. If not, well, it’s likely the Bucs go to market again, searching for the elusive franchise quarterback they’ve never really had in the 43-year history of the team. Arians thinks Winston has had the weight of the first overall pick on his shoulders, and that’s been part of the problem. (Winston in four years: 21 wins, .616 completion rate, 88-to-58 TD-to-interception ratio. Mediocre at best.) Arians has stressed to Winston, even on the field during practice, to think about being one man of 22, to not overdo the leadership thing or the pressure thing. In all ways, he wants Winston to take the checkdown. “Twenty-one other guys are gonna play their tails off with you,” Arians said in his office before practice. “You don’t have to do it all. You don’t have to fit a ball into a window. Just dump it to the back. Learn to take your checkdowns. Don’t try to be Superman on every play because you were the number one pick in the draft. You don’t have to be elite. Just play quarterback. “He’s finally [getting] it. You dump it off to the back 30 more times a year instead of throwing it into a pigeonhole, you’ll throw for 300 more yards in this game without the mistakes. And you see the light go on. He’s got so much pride, and this team hasn’t won, and the quarterback gets a lot of blame, and the coach gets fired, and he take a lot of responsibility for it.” Enough, Arians says. We’ll take the pressure. You just play. In the practice I saw, Leftwich talked to Winston for 20 minutes it seemed. Arians was a satellite coach, golf-carting around to see the whole team. Leftwich was hands-on. “It’s fun working with him every day, because he gets it, he wants it,” Leftwich said. I had to stand back from him to avoid getting rained on. “We gotta fix some decision-making, but that’s my job. It’s about decision-making. That’s what quarterbacking is. The bad decisions, you gotta wipe them out. Everybody thinks quarterbacking is about arm strength, big plays. It’s really more decision-

making in tough situations, about putting your team in the best situation to win. I’m trying to put that in him every day.” Entering this crucial season, for the franchise and for himself, Winston seems to have put all his dark clouds, on the field and off, behind him. He has a 1-year-old son and a fiancé he plans to marry in 2020. When you watch him, you see the football reasons why GM Jason Licht fell in love with him and made him the first pick of the ’15 draft. Winston’s touch on deep balls is savvy, and he and Mike Evans are one on the sideline stuff. He’s certainly got a chance to salvage his career. If he plays smarter. I asked Winston about the emphasis of this staff. “Doing my job,” he said. “Be a quarterback. Be a game manager when I need to. Be a playmaker when I need to. Check it down when I need to. Cut my losses and throw the ball away when I need to. It’s a part of learning the game—understanding a throwaway is okay. If a defense gets you on a play, it’s okay.” Now he’s got to follow that through. This staff will not let him slide. “We are not f—ing around,” Leftwich said. This looks like a quarterback getting a coaching change, and new mentors, at the right time. Now we’ll see if Winston can be the quarterback the Bucs have been praying for. It’s on him. Quotes of the Week I “On behalf of all the black men I mentioned tonight and many more out there who’ve had most of the same experiences I’ve had in my lifetime, we say this to all our white friends: When we tell you about our fears, please listen. When we tell you we’re afraid for our kids, please listen. When we tell you there are many challenges we face because of the color of our skin, please listen. Do not get caught up in how the message is delivered. Things that make us great on the field, like our size and our aggression, are the same things that can get us killed off the field.” —Champ Bailey, the new Hall of Famer cornerback, in his rousing enshrinement speech Saturday night in Canton. II “We started this sh–!” —Ty Law, in his Hall of Fame enshrinement speech Saturday. Law played on the first three Super Bowl championship teams in New England. III

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but I do get haircuts.” —Ed Reed, in his Hall of Fame speech. That’s the most authentic bust I’ve seen of a Hall of Famer. IV “We just came from the Jaguars stadium in Jacksonville. Nick Foles sends his best wishes.” —Mick Jagger, to the sellout crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field during the Rolling Stones concert. V “We lost one of our greats with the passing of Nick Buoniconti. He was a great football player, a true Hall of Famer, but he was much more than that. He was a lawyer and a successful business leader. Most of all he was a family man. The work he did with the Miami Project following the tragic accident with Marc will never be matched.” —Nat Moore, the former Dolphins receiver and current team VP of Special Projects and Alumni Relations, on the death of Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, who also raised million for spinal cord research after son Marc was paralyzed in a college football game. VI “I saw my picture and I’m not pleased … I want to get adjusted on looks rating. I look like I’m on ‘The Walking Dead’ in that picture.” —Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury, legitimately upset about his image in the “Madden NFL 20” game. The Profile Bruce Arians • Buccaneers head coach • Photographed in Tampa, Fla. Arians returns to the sidelines with the Bucs after retiring as Arizona coach following the 2017 season. “I had no thoughts of ever coaching again,” he said to me. “I was convinced it was over.” Then the Bucs called. “Retirement is great. I failed at it twice now. “Sitting back last year, I realize how much I missed the locker room, the players. To be honest with you, it’s the first time I felt old in my life. I was playing golf with old guys every day, and I’m one of ‘em. I don’t like feeling that way. This spring, I hadn’t felt this young in a while. Have a purpose. I have to wake up with a purpose. My golf game just isn’t enough.” He will not have his coaches be automatons.

“I told my coaches in our first meeting, ‘If you miss a ballgame, a recital, anything to do with your children, I’ll fire you.’ Because I missed a lot of mine. And those years don’t come back. There’s plenty of time in this office to work; you can come back at midnight if you want to. But don’t miss that recital, don’t miss that game. Those things mean so much to your children and it means so much to you. The games I did get to see my son play, I know he felt different, and I don’t want those guys to ever miss that.” Numbers Game I I’ve long believed that Cliff Branch is a Hall of Fame wide receiver. But he isn’t in Canton. He died the other day at 71 in Bullhead City, Ariz., 34 years after playing his last snap for the Raiders. That’s the only team he played for. Branch and Lynn Swann were the quintessential deep threats of their day, playing for the most fearsome AFC teams of the seventies post-merger. Swann got into the Hall of Fame in 2001. Branch never made it. It’s something Al Davis, till his dying day, fumed about. We can argue about the relative impact and play in big games of the two men. Swann was balletic, Branch a burner. It’s tough to look at the pre-analytics-era data and think one man should be in the Hall and the other shouldn’t. II A tale of two young MVPs, per the folks at Sloan Sports Conference: • Patrick Mahomes in 2018 (age 23): 5,097 yards, 66% completion rate, 50 TD, 12 INT • Dan Marino in 1984 (age 23): 5,084 yards, 64% completion rate, 48 TD, 17 INT Factoidness I The Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies ended, on my watch, at 11:53 p.m. on Saturday when Tony Gonzalez’s speech ended. Gonzalez is a very good man and a great player. But Hall of Fame speeches should not last 39 minutes. His did. II Atlanta coach Dan Quinn does not have a seat at his office desk. No chair over in a corner, no stability ball anywhere. No seat whatsoever. Not sure I have ever seen that.

Quinn has a standing desk with a PC and all the other accoutrements of a regular desk. III Oakland quarterback Derek Carr is building a home in Las Vegas next to the home of coach Jon Gruden. I have covered the league since 1984, and I have never heard of the coach and quarterback living next door to each other, which apparently Gruden and Carr will do when the Raiders move to Nevada in 2020. King of the Road I need to give credit to my two co-workers on this trip: Annie Koeblitz, NBC Sports video producer, and production assistant Nicole Granito. Both 20-something former college athletes—Annie a Rollins College lacrosse player, Nicole the pride of Sacred Heart University field hockey. This trip, basically, is one camp per day, then it’s on to the next one, often driving into the night. So far, on this segment of the trip, we’ve driven in a big Chevy Suburban from Brooklyn to leafy Jersey (Jets), to suburban Baltimore (Ravens), to south Philly (Eagles), through Delaware and Maryland and the D.C. Beltway and Virginia and North Carolina to tidy Spartanburg, S.C. (Panthers), to northeast Atlanta (Falcons). And then, in a 503-mile slog that I truly do not recommend, through endless Georgia and down I-75 (past Ted Williams’ former hometown of Hernando, Fla.) to Tampa, where we found ourselves late last Monday night. Then across Alligator Alley to Fort Lauderdale (Dolphins), Jacksonville (Jags), and Metairie, La. (Saints) … and then we stopped by Brett Favre’s home in Mississippi late Friday afternoon. We flew to the Colts on Saturday and spent Sunday with them. Side notes: Annie, a Clevelander, could have worked for Tom Coughlin. She’s a metronome. Worker bee. Never tired. Excellent idea person. (You’ll see a video out this week of Saints receiver Michael Thomas reading on-camera the best Tweets from famous people congratulating him after signing his rich new contract. Annie’s idea.) Always ready for the next video, next interview. Very valuable on a trip that requires quick and constant turnaround of video and ideas. Nicole drove the last 4.5 hours of the Atlanta-to-Tampa trip, past the peach farms of southern Georgia and through the thunderstorms of north Florida. What a horse. A driving machine. She’s done probably 60 percent of the driving, has a fleeting respect for the speed limit (she’s a Jersey girl after all), but is one of the safest drivers I’ve ridden with. She also is very good putting me in my place, which I need. Maybe 40 minutes out from the hotel Monday night, I said we needed to stop—I needed a rest room. “The next stop we make is going to be the hotel,” she said, icily. “You’ll have to hold it.” But I’m 62! Old men have to use the rest room! Nope. We powered through. On Tuesday morning, we went to see the Bucs. I was driving, and as we pulled into the facility, I explained that the gigantic Bucs flag on the flagpole, 66-feet-by-100-feet, on a 125-foot high flagpole, was the biggest flag in the world. “Pretty sure they set the Guinness record for biggest flag in the world with that,” I said.

Nicole is an enthusiastic person, and just then she said: “That is the biggest flag I have ever seen in my life!” Sometimes I hear about the work ethic issues of young people in some walks of life. I don’t have that issue. I’m with two co-workers who, for a two-week driving span of the trip (I will fly on the last week of the trip, starting next Sunday in Arizona), work from the time we get in the car till the time they go to bed. Last Monday, this was the itinerary: 4:30 a.m.: Depart Westin Poinsett in Greenville, S.C., drive 114 miles to Falcons camp. 6:40 a.m.: Arrive Flowery Branch, Ga. 6:55 a.m.: Meet with Falcons coach Dan Quinn in his office. Watch some tape of Deion Jones. Hang out. Watch practice. 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m.: Meet with Matt Ryan, Grady Jarrett, Thomas Dimitroff. Have drive-by chats with Alex Mack, Dirk Koetter, Mike Mularkey. 1:30 p.m.: Depart Flowery Branch, drive 503 miles to Tampa. 9:45 p.m.: Arrive SpringHill Suites, Tampa. “We’re savages, is what we are,” Nicole said. That was a zany day—absolutely not normal. What was normal was how much work got done. One or both of Annie and Nicole worked all the way to Tampa, uploading and editing footage from the day’s work, sending completed stories and video shorts back to NBC headquarters so they could be posted to NBCSports.com, social media accounts and also prepared for use on Pro Football Talk Live. Anyway, this whole adjustment to TV/video/podcast (added to the writing part of my life) makes the job a lot different for me. Fortunately I have two good guides helping me. Late Thursday night, I was just finishing a little writing before bed in Biloxi, Miss., 80 minutes from Saints camp. Stupidly, I scheduled an interview at Saints camp at 7 a.m. Friday, which meant a 5:10 a.m. departure. I felt bad for the two worker bees in our party, so I group-texted them and said I was sorry for working them into the ground, and I thanked them. Two minutes later, at 12:58 a.m., Nicole texted: “No worries … we are all in this grind together!! Let’s keep kicking butt. Big day tomorrow.” A minute later, this from Annie: “We’ve got this! Teamwork makes the dream work!” P.S.

On Friday, we stopped on Brett Favre’s house in Mississippi. We were there about two hours—half the time he and I reminiscing, half the time recording a podcast conversation that will air in the coming weeks. The late greatness and twilight of Favre’s football life played out in the formative years of Annie, 28, and Nicole, 23 (Annie: “He was always on TV when I was a kid”), and they were excited to meet him and talk to him. When we got back in the car to drive to Jackson, (we flew from Jackson to Indianapolis on Saturday), Nicole overflowed. “I AM LITERALLY GOING TO TALK ABOUT THAT EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE,” Nicole said before we were out of the driveway. She called her dad back in New Jersey and told him what it was like to meet Favre, and after a while, her father asked: “Where do you guys go from there?” Nicole: “I don’t care. We just spent two hours WITH BRETT FAVRE!” When we turned in the car at the Jackson airport, the odometer didn’t lie. We’d driven 3,255 miles in 10 days, starting in Stamford, Conn., and ending in central Mississippi. We did a lap of Florida—from the George-Florida line south on I-75 to Tampa, continuing down the west coast of the state till we crossed west to east on Alligator Alley (saw an apparent nighttime wildfire) to the Dolphins, then up the east coast to Jacksonville, then across the state and its endless panhandle (362 miles from Jacksonville to Alabama, crossing the southern edge of Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge). Now that’s a heck of an auto lap. Good times. The Best. The Worst What’s your best habit, Matt Ryan? “Best habit … I’m an early riser. I get a lot of stuff done early in the morning. It’s the best time of day for me. Five-thirty to seven, before my kids are up, no phone, no distractions, great time to focus on things I need to do.” And your worst? “I never have my phone on me. I’m horrible responding to people. Horrible. It’s not that I mean to not get back to you, it’s just … I’m here at the facility, I’m playing golf, I’m with my kids … I’m just in the moment. I’m here. I am not tethered to my phone, so sometimes, even with people I would normally get back to right away, it’s half a day or more before I acknowledge their text or call. That’s pretty annoying to people close to me. “But, come to think of it, in some ways, maybe that’s actually a good habit.” Rumor of the Week The Jaguars are considering playing a song over the PA system in their stadium this season when second-year wide receiver D.J. Chark does something great.

“Baby Shark.” The name fits. Sort of kitchy. Same number of syllables. “D.J. Chark, doo doo doo doo doo doo …” “I didn’t know that,” Chark said when I spilled the beans to him. “That’s pretty cool. I’ve heard the song a thousand times. I didn’t know what it was at first, but after hearing it for a year, I got the lyrics. So … that’d be unique.” Since he is only 22, I guess you could call him Baby Chark. Newman! Novel idea about expanding the season. From Jeff Curtis: “If eventually, and we all know they will be, two games are added to the regular season, why isn’t the discussion on not the number of games that are being played but the number of plays? Maybe what the owners and players should focus on is how many plays are there in an average game and how do you reduce that without shortening the game itself. My solution would be to go to a straight running time quarter with the clock stopping only for change of possession, turnovers, injuries and penalties.” Interesting, Jeff. The average game has about 63 scrimmage plays per game on each side of the ball. What you’re talking about is eliminating stoppages for incomplete passes. For players who play every snap, you’d have to eliminate about seven scrimmage plays per game on each side of the ball to have a player play the same number of snaps in 18 games that he now plays in 16. (Figure it this way, considering an average NFL offense: 1,000 scrimmage plays per season divided by 16 games is 62.5 snaps per game; 1,000 scrimmage plays per season divided by 18 games would be 55.5 snaps. I’d say it’s do-able. The side benefit for NFL coffers? The NFL would be able to play games in three hours, easily, and even add an extra couple of ad spots. On the purchase power of South Carolina Sundays. (I thought it odd that you can buy fireworks in South Carolina on Sundays but in many counties not beer.) From David H. Jacobs of Corning, N.Y.: “The bigger question, and one that somewhat rhetorically shines the light on the hypocrisy of our society, is why can you buy semi-automatic weapons on Sunday in both North Carolina and South Carolina but not be able to buy liquor? One of the answers is the power the church and gun lobbies have in our country. Ironically, the gun lobby extols ‘freedom’ and ‘rights’ as the driving forces behind their movement yet the church restricts those same elements by limiting access to alcohol on Sundays.” Good points, David. The Eagle fan has landed. From Dan Kyle: “HUGE Eagles fan here. So much so that in May 2017 I went out to Fargo to run the Fargo Marathon decked out in Eagles gear (the race began and ended in the Fargodome). Anyway, I was really not surprised by how well Carson Wentz has always done in school. [I wrote he never got less than an A in all his years of schooling.] When we traded up and it looked like

Wentz was our guy, I told every Eagles fan who would allow me to do so about Wentz’s appearance on Jon Gruden’s quarterback show, when he was asked to break down a play on the board. That’s when I knew he was special. I knew if he could physically play in this league, his intelligence would get him to elite status. He broke the play down with such confidence, with no hesitation, keeping his tone conversational the entire time. I never saw any of the other rookies on that show ever break down a play like that.” Wentz is the kind of humble guy who is embarrassed to talk about that. I learned about it at the combine in 2016 and when I pressed him for details, he was clearly uncomfortable. He’s an easy guy to root for. On my praise for 75-year-old CBS correspondent David Martin for being at the top of his game still. From George T. McNeill of The Villages, Fla.: “As a retired Human Resources/EEOC Officer, I am attuned to matters concerning protected classes and stereotypes in both the workplace and life in general. In your column you wrote about David Martin. I ask the following question because you did not mention or highlight one single skill, trait, characteristic, or talent of his other than his being employed by CBS; however, you clearly stated that he is 75. (Bummer that you missed the chance to shout out Happy Birthday! He turned 76 yesterday—so says Wikipedia.) The question: What makes his reporting from an aircraft carrier so special? If the answer is simply his being 75, then you are unintentionally being ageist or patronizing or inappropriately stereotyping. The inference: 75-year-olds should “stay home on the porch,” not out climbing around on an aircraft carrier.” I see. I appreciate you pointing that out, George. It was certainly not my intention to pat an old man on the head and say, Isn’t it nice that the old man gets up and goes to work every day. The news business is a highly competitive one. I bet the Pentagon correspondents for CNN and NBC would have killed to be reporting from the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Middle East on the simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran. It’s the equivalent of me being inside an important team’s draft room on draft weekend and reporting what goes on way behind the scenes. I should have made that clear. Martin, clearly, is still very good at his job at (now) 76, and I didn’t mean to slight the quality of his work by emphasizing his age the way I did. Thanks for the email. 10 Things I Think I Think 1. I think I hope the Pro Football Hall of Fame thought of all the unintended consequences when it announced the new policy for the class of 2020, the Centennial Class for the Hall. There will be a class of 10 senior candidates, two coaches and three contributors eligible for enshrinement in 2020. There will also be five modern-era finalists, as usual. That’s a potential of a class of 20 people. In recent years, the maximum class has been eight: five modern-era finalists and a combination of three contributors (including coaches) and seniors (men retired for at least 25 years). The difference this year, the Hall’s Board of Directors announced Friday, is that the 15 among the non-modern-era candidates will be nominated as a bloc by what the Hall said would be a 25-member blue-ribbon committee comprised of current Hall selectors and former players and league officials. A few thoughts: • I’m a fan of addressing the backlog of Senior candidates from past decades, men whose cases have never been heard. I am not a fan of selecting the 15 in a bloc. It sets a precedent—a bad one, I believe—even

though the Hall clearly intends this to be a one-time event. If you change the rules once, what’s to stop the Hall from changing them again? • Let’s say I believe 11 of the 15 nominees are solid and should be admitted, and let’s say I’m waffling on one, and let’s say I do not think three are Hall of Famers. Should I vote yes on the entire class as a bloc, knowing I will be voting yes on three or four who I believe do not belong? For me, that would be a very tough call. An unnecessary one, I believe. We should vote on the 15 one by one, the way the Hall has been admitting the legends of the game since 1963. Though a few of these names will be altogether obscure (Lavvie Dilweg of the old Packers, for instance), my experience in almost three decades on the committee is that there’s tremendous respect for the early years of the league, and probably all of those candidates would be approved—in my opinion—by getting 80 percent of the vote from the 48 selectors. • The key to this class should be the old timers. We are fixated on the three or four decades when getting outraged about who’s in and who isn’t. What about the first 40 years of the league? This blue-ribbon committee, whoever is on it, should be focused on righting the wrongs of pre-1960 football. Ralph Hay, the owner of the Canton Bulldogs, the first power franchise in history, and the man who led the founding of pro football in 1920, should be one of the contributors. Clark Shaughnessy, vital in the college and pro games in developing the forward pass, should be one of the coaches. Another good candidate? Buddy Parker, a starting back on one Lions championship team and the head coach of two other Detroit title teams, deserves a hard look too. I am bullish on the mantra of Rick Gosselin, one of the smartest football minds on the committee: “This should be a Centennial Class, focusing a lot on the early years of the game.” This should not be the cleanup class for hotly debated candidates of the last 30 years, in my opinion. • Another issue … Let’s say that a couple of the popular old-timer candidates—Tom Flores, for instance, or Joe Klecko—get bypassed by the blue ribbon committee. (I could use any deserving player. I used Flores and Klecko because there is passion behind the cases for both.) And let’s say big Klecko supporters think he got the shaft. Or let’s say the multiple California voters in Flores’ corner get ticked off he’s not one of the 15. What happens if one or more of those voters, angry at the process already, vetoes the entire class? Not saying it will happen and not saying it’s probable. I am saying it’s possible. What a black eye that would be, if enough voters vetoed the class so that none of the candidates got in. On that score, my advice to the blue-ribboners: Do not put Paul Tagliabue on the list of three contributors. He’s too divisive a figure right now. • You will think, “Oh, he’s pissed the Hall of Fame is bypassing him to admit this class.” Not exactly, though I’m not happy about that part of it either. We as a group of 48 selectors are told the Hall is so grateful for our service and the homework we do and the passion put into selection the class each year. I can hear those words in my head right now. So now the Hall plans a process to admit 15 people to Canton without the 48 selectors as gatekeepers as they normally are. Since 1963, the selection process has been the same. And now, instead of whittling lists of seniors, contributors and coaches down the way it’s been done for 56 years and 56 Hall classes and 326 Hall of Famers, this class is going to be decided in a brand-new way. The bloc of 15 candidates will need 39 yes votes. That means if 10 people vote no on the bloc, and none of the 15 get in, the Hall of Fame will have major egg on the face, and there will be no Centennial Class.

• Will this class have an asterisk? Something like: * Admitted under different voting standards by the Hall in 2020. That certainly won’t be noted by the Hall of Fame, but it’s the way I’ll think of the Class of 2020. 2. I think Antonio Brown’s bum foot—he’ll see a foot specialist for it—has cast a pall over Raiders camp. The season opens a month from today, and Oakland’s middling offense cannot afford its best weapon to be gimpy, or to not play. That’s a given. How serious is his foot condition? David Chao, an orthopedist, writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune and contributed this piece of information, which is interesting. 3. I think it’s incredible that a judge in Louisiana is allowing this lawsuit against the NFL and two game officials who blew the call in the NFC title game. How possibly, with no evidence that intentional fraud took place, can a judge allow game officials and commissioner Roger Goodell to waste their time being deposed over a bad call? Four Saints ticket-holders allege the NFL failed to enforce its rules. Well, no kidding. Get over it. The best thing in this case was said in March, by Saints owner Gayle Benson, who, despite still being angry over the blown non-interference call, said: “You understand what happened and you move on. You can’t dwell on the past.” Is there a shred of evidence that anything other than a blown call happened? No. I’m sure every fan would love to see Goodell squirm in a deposition, pressed hard by an attorney. But there no justification for it. It’s a travesty that a state judge allowed this case to go on. 4. I think my friend and a former SI editor Dick Friedman said it best about the death of Nick Buoniconti in an email the other day. Buoniconti, the Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker and so much more, died last Wednesday. Wrote Friedman: “As a charter Pats fan, I was hit particularly hard by Buoniconti’s departure. In many ways he symbolized those mid-sixties Boston teams: a savvy, hustling, overachieving crowd-pleaser. Of course he went on to more success with the more talented Miami teams. But here’s my other thought about him: Has any single individual literally embodied the highest highs and lowest lows of this sport? He played for the most glorious college program, Notre Dame. He was the defensive anchor of the only undefeated team in the Super Bowl era. He is enshrined in Canton. He became a respected commentator. But then came tragedy. His football-playing son was paralyzed during a game. Then, as with so many players, Buoniconti descended into dementia, which we probably will find was precipitated by the many hits he took on the gridiron. Gives us much to ponder. And in the end, maybe there is no way to make sense of it.” 5. I think I urge you to catch the HBO documentary on Buoniconti—“The Many Lives of Nick Buoniconti,” directed by Bentley Weiner—if you missed it when it aired last February. I wrote about it then. A few notes: It’s a story of one of the most interesting lives in football history—and how grateful Buoniconti is for it, and at the same time how tormented he is by what football did to his family. His son, Marc, was paralyzed in a football game for The Citadel 33 years ago and remains in a wheelchair today, and Buoniconti struggled with dementia, knowing the likelihood that his condition is due at least in part to a life playing the game. Marc is terrific in the documentary. “When we were growing up, football gave everything to us. And then look what it did to me. And now look what it’s doing to him. I mean, do you love the game? Do you hate the game? Do you love it and hate it?” he says.

Buoniconti, the son of a baker in working-class Springfield, Mass., used football to get out—to Notre Dame, to the American Football League and later the perfect 17-0 Dolphins in 1972, to law school while he was playing, to practicing law while he was playing, to being a sports agent, to being an executive with a tobacco company that led him to defend smokeless tobacco to Ed Bradley on “60 Minutes,” to a 23-year career on HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” and to raising more than $500 million for spinal cord research for The Miami Project. Weiner told me last winter: “It’s a classic story about what football has given a man and a family and what football has taken away,” Weiner said Saturday. “You love it, you hate it. That is the thing I really want to get across. I mean, football got Nick to Notre Dame, and he preached to his kids about the importance of education. He never wanted to get by on football, and he didn’t. He didn’t want his kids to get by on football, and they didn’t. He realizes that, and he’s grateful, but he’s angry too. It’s just … complicated.” Great work. 6. I think I agree with Hall of Fame voter Clark Judge, who wrote almost despairingly of the four-hour, 50-minute marathon Hall of Fame evening and the need to shorten it: “I’m not sure what the solution is, but the Hall better find one.” 7. I think the 25th-season-of-the-Jaguars festivities should really be fun when Tony Boselli and Fred Taylor are called to the stage. 8. I think this is my pet football peeve of the week: calling the Pro Football Hall of Fame “the NFL Hall of Fame.” It’s not. It has players who played in other leagues—most notably the Canadian Football League, the All-America Football Conference (1945-49) and the American Football League (1960-69). If this were “the NFL Hall of Fame,” Jim Otto and Joe Willie Namath and Otto Graham would not be in it. 9. I think it was interesting to see and hear peers last week say some form of The Jets solved their gaping hole at center by signing Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil. They did? The Jets replaced PFF’s 24th-rated center in 2018, Jonotthan Harrison, with the 25th, Kalil, who’d been retired. I don’t know if Kalil, 34, has anything left, and I don’t know if it’ll turn out to be a smart signing or not. But Kalil did not play well in his last two years (granted, he was hurt for part of 2017) in Carolina. This is no elixir signing for the Jets. 10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:

a. Tattoo of the Week: Amie Just, the Saints’ beat writer for the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, has this ink on the inside of her upper right arm that caught my eye at Saints training camp Friday:

b. If you have trouble seeing the tattoo, it says, “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.” Those are the core words of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and they seem rather important these days. I was blown away by young Amie Just, and impressed. I asked why she had those words on her arm. Just said in an email: “I came up with the idea of getting a tattoo of an abridged version of the First Amendment while I was in my First Amendment class my junior year at the University of Kansas with professor Genelle Belmas. Her

passion for the First Amendment definitely rubbed off on me. Her class made me passionate about sunshine laws and the rights journalists have. I got the tattoo a short time after I graduated, on May 24, 2017, at Skin Illustrations in Lawrence, Kansas. It took about 45 minutes to an hour or so. That was the same day that my future Congressional representative Greg Gianforte body-slammed a reporter. That news was the first thing I saw when I grabbed my phone off the table after getting my tattoo. I’m proud of my tattoo. It may be a little nerdy, but it’s an ever-present reminder that the work journalists do is important.” c. How great is that? I hear things like that and meet people like Amie Just and I think that in such a turbulent time in journalism and in newspapers and in our country, we’re going to be okay. d. Story of the Week: From The Wall Street Journal: “Why everyone hates customer service,” by Sharon Terlep. Stories like that make the WSJ worth subscribing to. e. Great lead by Terlep: “In corporate parlance, it’s called the ‘breakpoint.’ It’s how far customers can be pushed before their heads explode.” And she writes: “Today, companies crunch data and use artificial intelligence to determine exactly how angry a customer has to be to bolt. Many are walking right up to that line.” f. So many good writers out there, writing so many good stories. g. Jersey Story of the Week: From Jessica Remo of NJ Advance Media. Apparently, Mick Jagger went to the diner of my forties. h. I mean, if you’re from north Jersey or have lived there, you have eaten at the Tick Tock, four or five west of the Meadowlands. Man, I once did a interview there over breakfast with a young Giants receiver named Mark Ingram. Crazy. Mick at the Tick Tock. i. NJ.com reported exclusively that the Stones were served by a waitress named Kalliopi. And they ordered ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. And disco fries: crinkle-cut French Fries covered by thick beef and melted cheese, which is very much a north Jersey thing. And they were there at 10 a.m. the morning of their Meadowlands concert.. j. No one recognized them. k. Kalliopi served them. l. THE STONES ORDERED DISCO FRIES AT TICK TOCK. THE NEWS DOES NOT GET BIGGER THAN THAT. m. Thanks to the staff of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos Southern League baseball team. We stopped by the lovely new ballpark on Pensacola Bay on Thursday night, and I was invited to throw out the first pitch (actually, there were five first pitches, and I threw the last, so I think I threw out the fifth pitch), and play-by-play man Chris Garagiola (who hosted me for an inning in the radio booth). It’s a beautiful park, with Pensacola Bay beyond the outfield fence. Loved our evening there.

n. Good to see you in Jags camp, Austen Lane. Good luck in your next life, in radio. o. Coffeenerdness: Best coffee stop on this trip: The Blind Tiger Café in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, where I had some terrific iced coffee, rich and dark, the Single-Origin Brazil Cerrado. I think I shocked the president of the company there, Roberto Torres. “Can you take off your sunglasses?” he asked. I did, and he was surprised it was me. Cute. p. Beernerdness: Finally made the pilgrimage to Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, not far from the Bucs facility. Cool place, with a couple of tasting rooms and wonderful merchandise too. I tried the Florida Cracker Belgian Wit, and it was mindful of Allagash White—not quite as yeasty- or citrusy. But a solid beer. And what a cool spot. q. Hey Adam Schefter: Great podcast conversation with Tedy Bruschi. So compelling to hear Bruschi, also of ESPN, talking about his recent stroke, and what a stroke actually feels like when it starts. That’s valuable for people to hear, and good for Bruschi for being so stark and open about it. r. When are we going to do something about these shootings? When? People shopping for school supplies in Texas, blown away. Lord God. Can someone in our government do something? Anything? Vote all these people out if they won’t do something, and vote in people who will do something about gun violence. What should we do? I do not know. It’s not my job. It’s the job of our elected officials, who need to be bolder and not so married to the NRA. Stop pussyfooting! s. How much is enough? How long will we keep turning away from the story and ignoring it? What does a 21-year-old person need an AK-47 for? What!!!! When will we actually do something other than offer thoughts and prayers? When? t. Damn it! When?!!! The Week Ahead Today: Packers, Green Bay, Wis. Checking in on the Rodgers-LaFleur chemistry experiment. Tuesday: Browns, Berea, Ohio. One day isn’t enough to analyze the Browns this summer. Wish I had nine, but one will have to do. Wednesday: Steelers, Latrobe, Pa. Time marches on everywhere but Latrobe, and for every team but the Steelers. (Well, and maybe the Patriots.) Thursday, Friday, Saturday: Home. Brooklyn, sweet Brooklyn. Home court advantage for me for a few days. Sunday: Cardinals, Glendale, Ariz. Flying portion of the trip, eight days long, commences with The Kyler Show.

The Adieu Haiku To Alissa Banks: Your old man will be missed by thousands. Mostly me.