Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes vs. Baltimore – Saturday, January 12, 2013 DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH JOHN FOX On the season ending too soon “Yeah, I think you always feel that way. Unless you’re hoisting that Lombardi Trophy at the end, yeah it is disappointing. So is that game, this game, next week’s game, that has been my experience. We had plenty of opportunies in this game. We just came up short. I think turnovers led to 17 points. I think that was pretty key and critical and has been all season and will be moving forward. I told our guys they battled, they fought a very experienced, tough team. To come here on the road, credit goes to Baltimore. I thought they did a superb job with some adversity and fighting back. You know we did too, but we just came up short.” On being able to bring the kicker on the field to practice “You know, I think during timeouts, I don’t know, I don’t think there is any new rule that disallows them. But I don’t think that was the difference in the game.” On his decision to down the ball with 30 seconds left in regulation “You know, again, if you don’t win you get criticized on everything. So, that is par for the course. Thinking was with 30 seconds it is hard to go the length of the field and some bad stuff can happen as you saw at the end of the game with thirty seconds.” On his thoughts on QB Peyton Manning’s interception in overtime “You know, he was trying to make a play. Again, I’m not going to be critical. There are a lot of different plays in that game that were costly. That was one of many. You know, I’m sure he would like to have it back. But that is not what cost us the game.” On it being a tough day to gain momentum “Yeah, I think only to the very end, almost the end of regulation to be up seven, it is a pretty good situation to be in. We just came up short. I think right before half, that was a real turning point. We had a chance to go up 10, and didn’t hit a field goal very well. They got the ball back and had a big play. I think big plays were a big part of this game. They are a big reason why they were able to put up some of those scores, with explosive passes.” On WR Jacoby Jones’ touchdown “We just misplayed the ball. It wasn’t a miscommunication where the guy could have made a play. They made the play instead.” On defensive adjustments in the secondary “I think we made some adjustments. They ended up going to somebody else. It was WR Jacoby [Jones]. Early on [WR] Torrey Smith was problematic, it wasn’t new. They usually exploited that to our left, or their right. They did it over the whole season actually. Give them credit, they executed better than we did.” On if there was supposed to be safety help on any of the passes to Smith “I am not going to get into who did it and all of that stuff. They just executed those plays better than we did.” On if he is in shock they lost “There is no shock. You get to playoff season and everybody is good. My hat is off to Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh and his staff. His players played well enough to win a tough game on the road. This is a tough place to play.” On if the weather had an effect on anything “Both teams had to deal with the weather. Both teams had to deal with everything. So yeah, they were three points better than us tonight.” On if QB Peyton Manning was hit before the interception off of WR Eric Decker’s hands “You know, again, I haven’t seen the tape. You know, you deal with a lot of things in these games to try and win. The weather was mentioned, a lot of different factors. We had opportunities in that game to win it and we came up short.” Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes vs. Baltimore – Saturday, January 12, 2013 On the two-minute situation at the end of regulation “We were running the clock.” Pretty standard, as it worked out it wasn’t great. Yes, that was it.” On the overtime interception by QB Peyton Manning “Well, that was just the situation that ended it. It could have ended many times and earlier parts of the game. And it didn’t.” On Manning’s comeback season ending like this “There is only one winner at the end of this season. There aren’t a lot of happy campers because there is only one winner. Whether you are in that game, next week’s game or this game. This is a very disappointing loss just like it will be for anybody next week, or anybody in that final game. That is even more devastating. But the reality is we had a good season. We got to the elite eight. I would have like to have been that team that hoisted that trophy. But we are not now. Like I told them, “Hold your head high, we had an excellent season.” Somebody mentioned Peyton; we had a lot of guys have very good seasons. Walk out of here with your head high and we had a good year, and we will be back next year.” On if he felt bad for Manning for having to go through so much, having a great season end this way “I feel bad for everybody in there, they all put a lot of energy and time and hard work. Some guys that couldn’t even play today that were in there on crutches. So there was a lot to win this and so I am disappointed for all of them.” DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS QB PEYTON MANNING On his overall thoughts following the loss “Well, I mean, two different things. [It was] a very disappointing finish to the game. You can go through a lot of plays— certainly offensively—that you’d like to have back; [that] I’d like to have back. Certainly, we did a lot of good things this season, but as of right now it’s hard to think about anything else besides this loss tonight.” On the late third-down play, where he called an audible “You know, any plays that we call, it’s our job to execute it and try to get the first down. That was an audible. Actually, I called that play, so, don’t put that on [offensive coordinator] Mike [McCoy]. We just didn’t do much with it.” On if the weather or all the clock stoppages (penalties) stalled the Broncos’ momentum “It’s hard to say. It’s our job, like I said, to deal with whatever elements there are, or clock stoppages. I agree with you: there were, but I can’t say that had any effect on the times that we did not execute. I really think it was more a result of Baltimore defensively doing a good job, and I think we, ourselves, did some things to make it tougher on us.” “I thought we weren’t as sharp in the second half as we were in the first half. We had some rhythm in the first half, and in the second half I just thought we had some plays that weren’t as good as we wanted. I wasn’t quite as good as I wanted to be, and it probably cost us a couple scoring opportunities.” On his overtime interception “Yeah—bad throw. Probably the decision [wasn’t] great either. I thought I had an opening, and I didn’t get enough on it, and I was trying to make a play and certainly a throw I’d like to have back.” On why Denver seemed to favor the run more than the pass in the game “Baltimore was playing back—a lot of two-deep zone [and] man-to-man [defenses] in the second half. Their safeties [Ed] Reed and [Bernard] Pollard both cover a lot of ground. Both safeties were playing some man [defense] underneath, and that kind of takes away some of the deep passes down the field.” On the mood in the locker room after the game “Very disappointed, just because of how much effort and work this team put into this season and certainly we had plans of playing next week. Guys were excited, and to get beat in overtime by a field goal at the end, it’s certainly disappointing. I think it’s because of how hard everybody worked. We really have put a lot of hard work into this season and made a lot of strides and accomplished a lot. So, it definitely stings, ending on a loss like we had tonight.” Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes vs. Baltimore – Saturday, January 12, 2013 On the Broncos offensive game plan, electing for shorter plays instead of really utilizing the wideouts “Like I said, I think Baltimore—I couldn’t tell you what their defensive game plan was—but for a good bit there in the second half [they had] a lot of two-deep safeties [and] man-to-man underneath. They are going to take away some of those guys on the outside, which means you’ve got to beat them on the inside—the [running] back out of the backfield [and] the tight end.