Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003 HEAD COACH

General “It’s always nice to see your defense step up and play the way they did. Anytime you hold a team under 100 yards in offense it really speaks volumes about the type of people that you do have, and how hard they have worked during the week preparing for this football team. Obviously, San Diego did quite well last week, having almost 500 yards [total offense], so I am very impressed with our defense. Offensively, it was nice to get [QB] Jake [Plummer] back. I really thought he came in and played well. He’ll be the first person to tell you that it is very tough to come back after being off for four weeks, and ask a guy to come in and play at the level he played at. I am very impressed with that. Nothing was perfect, but he hung in there and kept on competing and really gave us the spark that we needed. On special teams, we came up with some big time plays. Just overall I am pleased with the win, and now we’ll get ready for Chicago.”

Could He Sense it would be a Big Week for TE Shannon Sharpe? “Yeah, you never know what a team is going to do, and who they are going to double-team or who they are going to have one-on-one. But the thing that has been great about Shannon that I think people don’t realize, I think everybody knows the awards or the catches, , yards, but I think people forget that in order to have a good running game you’ve got to have that tight end blocking consistently over a long period of time. He has gotten better and better at that area, and has given us a chance to give our and our fullback some yards over the years. So besides the accolades that he deserves and that everybody is aware of, I don’t want to leave out that option.”

Will WR Rod Smith Continue to Return Punts Permanently? “Well, it was a great punt return, and it is obvious that Rod has some running ability after the catch. Right now we only have a couple of guys that return punts: Rod and [WR] . Right now we’re going with Rod unless something happens or we activate [CB] Deltha O’Neal, and we know what type of ability Deltha has as well.”

Are you Concerned about Smith Returning Punts with WR Ed McCaffrey Out? “Yes, a lot. I keep on telling him to fair catch and he never listens to me because he is too much of a competitor. But yes, there are always those question marks. And if it happens I’m sure I’ll be called some names, but I guess I’ve been called some names before.”

On the Defense Playing Well, “They did everything [right]. Anytime you hold somebody to five first downs there is not really an area that you are not doing things very well at. Especially when that last drive – I’m not sure how many yards they got in that last drive – when the football game was almost over. The intensity level was there every play. We played hard throughout the game. Guys knew what was at stake going against a football team that has a great running game, a running back [RB LaDainian Tomlinson] that averages over 5.5 yards a carry, coming off of an emotional win scoring 42 points against Minnesota. They [Bronco defense] stepped up and made some plays. It was a nice win. I think we’re all smart enough to know, though, that it’s only one win and we’ve got a long road ahead. The focus right now is one game, and that is Chicago.”

On Making Big Plays Today “Well, there are a few good plays. Not only Ashley Lelie’s catch [48-yard reception], I think those are obvious. But you saw a couple of Shannon Sharpe’s plays, Rod had a couple of nice catches in there, and on defense we had a couple of turnovers and made some plays. That dictates the outcome of the game. But, you know talk is cheap. It is nice to get a few guys back, and hopefully this will be the start of a run.”

On Why He had P Micah Knorr Kick Field Goals and Extra Points at the End of the Game “I just didn’t like the way he [K Jason Elam] was kicking extra points. He said it didn’t feel bad, but it [groin injury] was a little sore, and the way he was kicking extra points, I said that I’m not going to take a chance. Because if he kicks an extra point and he pulls it, then he’s out for the next week. So I told Micah after he [Elam] kicked that one extra point, I said regardless of what the situation is, Jason is out, and you [Knorr] are going to kick extra points and field goals. We practiced with Micah during the week and he stepped up and did a good job.”

On Having the Option to Play a Back-Up “It is nice to have the option [to play a back-up quarterback]. It is also nice to have an option, if you take a look at a guy like Micah during the week when Jason went down, to see him [Knorr] kick fairly consistently in practice. It is always nice

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003 to have a punter that not only can kick off but is fairly consistent at field goals. It made me feel a little better watching him [Knorr] and seeing his production during the week.”

Did it Scare you when LB Went Down with an Injury? “Yeah, it did. Any time you have a great player and they go down, you just keep your fingers crossed that it is nothing permanent. It was a little pinched nerve, and initially I thought it was a concussion. He is a warrior and he is hard to keep out, and he’s obviously the nucleus to our defense.”

On T Ephraim Salaam’s Performance “I thought he did pretty good. We took him out in the fourth quarter, he said he was getting a little sore. We rotated Ephraim and [T] Blake [Brockermeyer] in there throughout the game in different series. Then at the end in the fourth quarter, we just put Blake in there and we took [G] Dan Neil out a little bit. He was a little sore, and played [G/T] Cooper Carlisle.”

DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS

TE Shannon Sharpe

General “I finally made it to the press room after 14 years.”

On His Statement Wednesday that it is about Deeds not Words “Actually, really, truly, this is the first time that I have been healthy all year. Early on it was my back, and then in Week 4 I hurt my knee and I could never get it to where I felt I was comfortable. [During the bye week] I went home and got away from football. I had a guy come and work on me every day for about three or four hours. I came back on Monday and I felt good, and each day it got better and better. [Offensive Coordinator] Gary [Kubiak] said, ‘I am going to call your number’, and I said ‘Gary, this is the best I have felt all season, and I will be ready to play.’ I told Mike [Shanahan] right before we walked out, I said, ‘Mike, if you’re going to call my number I’ll go in and change my shoes and come out with the red ones.’ And he was like, ‘Red shoes?’, and I said, ‘I’ll clown today if you call my number.’ And he called my number.”

On the Team Finally Making Big Impact Plays “This is the first time that we had the situation where guys made plays. I don’t really think anybody dropped a pass the entire day, [RB] Clinton [Portis] ran the ball well, and once they [the Chargers] got behind, they took some chances and we were able to catch them with the blitz. You know, I caught a pass across the middle and went to the end zone. With [QB] Jake [Plummer returning] you figure, a guy that has been out five or six weeks, and he comes in and is as sharp as he was, like he hasn’t missed a beat. It was just up to us to make big plays, and that was what we were missing the past four or five weeks. We hadn’t made the big plays when given opportunities. Once we got an opportunity to make those big plays, we were fine.”

On if He had a Similar Feeling Prior to this Game as Last Year’s Big Game Against Kansas City “Yeah, I did, but this week I kind of knew. With the Kansas City game (last year), I didn’t catch a lot of passes throughout the course of the week, and so it was funny because this week, I caught a lot of passes and everybody on defense was like, ‘Oh, they are going to call your number this week.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I hope so, because this is the best I’ve felt this year.’ Once you get into a rhythm you feel there is nothing you can do wrong. And I was always going back to the [offensive] line and saying ‘Snake, Snake, I’m going to be open now,’ and so he [Plummer] was looking for me.”

After a Great Game Like this, Do you Feel your Career has Three to Four Years Left? “No. When you have a game like that, I feel like I have two or three more months. That is exactly what I was thinking. I just don’t want to hold on too long. I’ll know when it is time [to retire], and I still enjoy playing the game. I still enjoy getting up for the workouts and giving myself that opportunity, but I always told myself that I am going to leave [football] one year too early instead of one year too late. Obviously I am going to sit down and talk to Mike, but it is a gut feeling when you know that it is time to give it up.”

Was it Important to Break the NFL All-Time Touchdowns by a Tight End Record

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003

“Well, it is nice to have all the records, but – my name is in the record books – but I look at all the people that have been around me, starting with number seven [Retired QB ], [QB] Bubby [Brister], [QB Brian] Griese, [QB] Elvis Grbac, and [QB] Randall Cunningham, and [Coaches] Mike and Gary [Shanahan and Kubiak] calling the plays for me here, and in Baltimore [Head Coach] Brian Billick, and [Offensive Coordinator] Matt Cavanaugh giving me opportunities. [It was] a lot of guys being unselfish because for a long time, I was the guy that everybody knew was going to get the football on offense, and when they set up the game plan, it was set up for me. A lot of guys could have said, ‘You know I don’t want to be in a situation like this,’ but it was a situation where they were very unselfish and able to help me get off to a great start in my career. So, even though my name is in the record book, I could not have done it without all of these guys around me.”

Have you Made a Decision on Retirement? “Yes, I’ve made a decision.”

So this is your Last Year? “I’ve made a decision (laughs). But I did tell Mike that if he didn’t throw me the football, I would play a couple more years. So I guess that answers your question.”

Are you the Best Tight End in Football “Well, I’ll put it to you like this. I know when given the opportunity, I would take my skills against else in the league right now. There is no question about that. I know I don’t get the opportunity that some of the other guys get. But, when given the opportunity, I think you would be hard-pressed to find someone that can do the things that I can do.”

So, Why Retire? “Because I said I will leave one year too early instead of one year too late. It will be a gut feeling, and I’ll sit down and talk to my brother [Retired WR Sterling Sharpe], my sister, my mom, obviously I’ll talk to Mike and see what direction he wants to go in. My girlfriend will have a role in this, and my kids. But obviously it comes down to my decision and it comes down to me having to get out of bed and 6:30 in the morning and having to go do all those things all over again, being a year older. All that I will have to weigh in…but the decision has already been made.”

WR ROD SMITH On his 600th career catch: “It feels good to get it. I’m just trying to be consistent out there. It’s like a business; no matter how many years you are around -- two, six, eight, or 10 -- you have to be consistent to get in the record books. One thing about being a leader for the team is that the guys elect you. That’s why you have to step it up – because your teammates expect you to do it. That’s a lot of pressure sometimes, but it is also something that I have learned to feed off of.” On his punt return : “It was just guys busting their butts – the other 10 guys out there. That’s what (coach) Bush always talks about – being aggressive and busting your butt for the guy next to you. All I know is that I am out there trying to dodge everybody – even my own guys. Herndon made a great block out there at the end, and I just ran with it into the endzone.”

RB On Denver’s ability to stop the run: “I might need to take the defensive guys out tonight, because they were really helping me. I’m moving up the (NFL) charts, and LaDainian (Tomlinson) is falling down them.” On Jake Plummer: “Jake give us a different dimension. He’ll pick up a third-and-six by running the ball, or he can throw it downfield and create the big play. When you have a guy who can do so many different things, then the defense has to prepare for all of that.”

LB JASHON SYKES General: “We regrouped (over the bye week) and we came out and, fortunately, they gave us some fumbles right away. After that, we were just flying around and having fun. We have some great players on this defense. When we have fun like we did today and play together, then the sky is the limit for this defense.” On his learning schemes: “I am learning on the go, but, at the same time, I am also learning a new team every week. But, yeah, I’m definitely coming along and starting to get into the flow and pick things up.” On Rod Smth: “Rod has been making plays for this team long before I got here. That’s no surprise there. Rod always makes plays and comes up big when it counts.”

DE BERTRAND BERRY On stopping Charger QB Doug Flutie: “Coming in we knew we had to keep him contained in the pocket. We knew he was a much better player when he got outside, so our plan was to keep him locked inside. We were able to get them in a lot of third-and-long situations. Anytime you do that, you can prevent an offense from doing some big things. We definitely wanted to stop Tomlinson, first and foremost, because we know he is their main guy and that their offense revolves around the run game. Fortunately, we were able to do that, but also stop Flutie. “I felt good about what we did, but there is still room for improvement if you can believe that. Now we have to get back on the drawing board and get ready for Chicago.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003

DE REGGIE HAYWARD General: “By far, this is the best (defensive outing) of the year. We went out and had a great game today. I would say that it was mostly what the offense did, though, because they controlled the clock. When you take their offensive players out of a rhythm and keep them off the field, then big things are going to happen. I attribute it (the win) to us getting away from football for a week. I also attribute it to us getting Jake (Plummer) back and just knowing what it is like to deal with a tough loss. This is more natural than what we were doing before the bye week. We were discombobulated before that. Every team goes through a rough patch, and I think we’ve gone through ours.”

CB LENNY WALLS General: “This is a big statement for this defense, and we definitely helped put our team in a position that we have to be in every week from now on. It was just being fearless and not being afraid to make a mistake out there.” On Rod Smith: “Rod is a great returner. People better stop sleeping on that guy.” On swagger: “You can’t say that you have swagger when you are losing, but I am a confident guy, and I have always had a lot of confidence in this team. I definitely think that we have it back.”

QB JAKE PLUMMER On his return: “I felt great. It’s hard to explain as a player what you feel when you’re watching and can’t do anything to contribute. But it definitely felt great getting out there. We have an expectation and a level as a team that we’re striving for. Today was a big step for us, because we came out and made plays for the first time in a while. That’s not a knock on anybody before me, because Danny (Kanell) did a great job, but we just didn’t make the plays. That goes for a lot of guys, I know, because there were some of his balls that should have been caught.” On TE Shannon Sharpe: “That’s his gameplan – to go to him every play. But Shannon is a guy who gets open. Before that first score, he was yelling ‘Hey, Snake, throw it my way. I guarantee you I’ll get open.’ After he scored, I told him that I’d have to go to him every time he told me to now.” On Sharpe and Smith’s milestones: “I am just privileged and honored to be a part of that and get them the ball. We have a lot of big-play opportunities – that’s what you want to see happen, is getting the ball in those guys’ hands.” On WR Ashley Lelie’s long catch: “I knew he was going to get there. The guy’s got speed. I would not have thrown it unless I knew that he’d get there.”

SAN DIEGO HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER

General “It’s quite obvious that our football team played poorly today. I’m very disappointed as you might well imagine. What I told our football team is that everybody in this league plays hard; if you want to win in this league, you have to do the fundamental things – blocking, tackling, running, throwing, catching – and we didn’t do that today and certainly the Broncos did. There’s no mystery to the outcome and the score.

“This is one of the most disappointing losses I’ve been involved with. I thought we performed in a winning fashion a week ago. But we were clearly outmatched in performance today; I mean, that’s obvious.”

On effort “I didn’t see any lack of fight at all. There was no lack of effort, in my opinion. They (the players) are playing hard. But that’s not enough in this league. Most everybody does play hard. You have to be efficient. I don’t have any problem with the effort of this team. My problem is with execution.”

On talking to the team at halftime “Basically, I appealed to their pride. I made a decision to try to get something going at the end of the half. I thought it was important to try to establish something. In retrospect, it worked against us because they got another score. At that moment what I wanted to do was get something going offensively. If you execute it and you score, you look like a genius; but when you do what we did you look like you’re dumber than a doorknob.”

On quarterbacking “The quarterback is an integral part of everything that goes on. There’s no doubt about that. But he’s only one piece of the puzzle. If the people around him don’t perform, I don’t care who it is – that guy’s not going to perform well.”

On ‘playing for next year’ “I only look week to week. That’s the only way you can do it in my opinion. One of the problems with looking at next year, is what about the players that are on this team right now who may not be here next year? I think you sell them short. And I won’t do that. We want to win.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003

On Denver “I used to live here. I love Denver. It’s a great place to live – tough place to play.”

San Diego Charger Players

QB DOUG FLUTIE ON THE EARLY FUMBLES—“Just before the snap of that first one, I looked down at the ball because it looked like a ‘kicking’ ball. It was real shiny and slick. Those balls seemed really slick. I don’t know what happened, and I’m not here to blame it on anybody. On the second one, I felt like I put it in the pocket, and I could feel it slide off his jersey. It was just sliding. I don’t know why. Those balls were really shiny. That’s why right away I went and got the gloves. Right after that first snap I got the gloves and wore them the rest of the game.” ON THE LOSS—“It sucked. As much as it was good last week, it sucked that bad this week. We couldn’t do anything. We’ll have to look at the film and try to come up with some answers, but the bottom line is that they took it to us.”

RB LaDAINIAN TOMLINSON GENERAL—“This loss definitely ranks up there as one of the most frustrating. Every loss is frustrating, but this one is certainly up there. When you keep losing, it gets more and more frustrating every week. We’re just going to have to try and come back, find our mistakes and get ready for next week.” ON HIS GETTING JUST EIGHT CARRIES—“It’s happened to us a couple of times this year, where we get behind and have to abandon the running game. We just can’t let ourselves get in those situations. It’s tough right now. We all have to look at ourselves and see what we can do better. I know there’s definitely some things I can do better.”

LB ZEKE MORENO ON THE LOSS—“Disappointing, very disappointing. We just didn’t show up today. Couldn’t get anything going… offense, defense, special teams. We’re not finger-pointing, but we just have to find a solution. We have to go back to square one, starting this week.” ON DENVER THIRD DOWNS (11-of-20, including game ending kneel-down)—“That was the big thing today, those third downs. We couldn’t get off the field on third down. They were executing, you’ve got to hand it to them on that. They had huge drives on us; it didn’t matter if it was third and long or third and short, they kept picking them up.” ON CLINTON PORTIS—“We knew we had to try to shut him down if we were going to have any success. We tried to load up the box, and for the most part, I think we did all right. He didn’t get a whole lot of huge runs, but that 30-yarder was a big one. That’s the way it’s going for is right now. The small mistakes turn into big mistakes, and it ends up biting us in the butt.”

S JERRY WILSON ON THE TWO EARLY TURNOVERS—“Yeah, those were tough. They had some great field position, and we kind of had our backs against the wall a little bit. But those things happen, and we needed to make a stand and didn’t get it done.” GENERAL—“We just have to pull together. We still had opportunities to get off the field and we couldn’t do it. Either we missed a tackle or something, but some drives just kept going. We’ll have to clean it up.”

CB SAMMY DAVIS ON DENVER’S OFFENSE—“It felt like we couldn’t get a stop on defense (NOTE: Denver did not have a punt). They kept getting first down after first down, and there was nothing we could do about it.” GENERAL—“We came in here pretty confident after last week’s win, but it just didn’t happen for us today. There’s not much more you can say about it. We just have to go back, see what we did wrong, and try to come up with a better effort next week. They (Denver) just came out and beat us.”

WR KASSIM OSGOOD ON HIS FIRST TOUCHDOWN—“I don’t remember. Honestly, I hit my head so hard on that play. It was a good feeling for sure, but all that matters is that we lost. But, yeah, I’ll definitely be keeping that game ball.” GENERAL—“It was tough for us. We had a few opportunities, but for the most part, they just flat-out out-played us. It’s definitely frustrating.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003 Denver Postgame Notes

! TE Shannon Sharpe. His 3 touchdown receptions today matched his career high, last done versus San Diego on Oct. 6, 1996 (third time overall)… it upped his career total to 61, thus passing Jerry Smith (60, Washington) for the most by a tight end in NFL history. He is now the all-time leader in receptions (794), receiving yards (9,786) and TDs (61) by a tight end in NFL history. Today marked the 20th 100-yard game of his career (includes one postseason; his last was at the N.Y. Jets on Dec. 8, 2002).

! WR Rod Smith. He had a season-high 10 receptions for 84 yards, with his second catch of the game (8:51, 1Q) the 600th of his career. He becomes the 29th player in NFL history to record 600-plus career receptions. He also scored the first touchdown of his career via punt return (3-93 today, with the 65-yard TD; his previous long punt return was 36 yards back in 1996).

! Denver did not punt in a game for the third time in its history and for the first time since Nov. 4, 1990 at Minnesota (L, 22-27). The only other time was against the Dallas Texans in Denver on Oct. 8, 1961 (L, 12-19). Thus, today marked the first Denver win in three games when not punting a single time.

! P Micah Knorr. His 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter came on the first attempt of his career, and will carry the irony that it came in a game where he wasn’t called upon to punt.

! TB Clinton Portis. With his 25-106 rushing effort, it marked the sixth 100-yard game of the season and the 14th of his career; he now has the third most in Bronco history, snapping a tie at 13 with . Portis now has 2,406 yards, passing Bobby Humphrey (2,386) into eighth on the all-time Denver list.

! Denver’s 44:11 of possession time is believed to be a franchise record.

! The 27 points by Denver in the first half was its most in a half this season (24 was the previous high, twice).

! The Denver defense posted some incredible numbers: --the 40 plays allowed ties for the fewest in franchise history (previously set vs. San Diego on Oct. 6, 1963): those plays broke down into 15 for positive yards (long of 19, five of 10+ and 10 of 5+), 19 for zero, and 6 for negative gains (for comparison, Denver had 37 plays of five yards or longer to the Chargers’ 10). --the 96 total yards allowed ranks as the fifth fewest ever by an opponent, the lowest since New England gained 92 in Denver on Nov. 11, 1979 (complete list on page 478 of Broncos media guide); --the 13 rushes by San Diego ties for the eighth fewest ever against Denver (lowest since Green Bay’s 11 in 1999); --through three quarters, when the Chargers had just 29 plays for 21 yards, it had just eight positive plays (and just four over five yards), 15 for zero and six for minus yards.

! QB Jake Plummer. His in the third quarter was his first since the season opener at Cincinnati, and snapped a streak of 139 consecutive attempts without. His TD-to-INT ratio on the year is now 11-to-4 with 3 TD passes today.

! Denver swept the season series from the Chargers for the 13th time to take a 49-38-1 all-time lead between the two; with scores of 37-13 and 37-8, it marked the third time Denver scored 30-plus points against the Chargers twice in the same season (in 1997, Denver won 38-28 and 38-3, and in 1973, the Broncos won by 30-19 and 42-28). The 29- point win was the most lopsided in the series since that 38-3 Bronco win in ’97. With wins of 24 and 29 points this year, it marked only the fifth time in series (88 games) that back-to-back games were decided by 20 or more points, but only the second time in the same season by the same team (San Diego won 55-24 and 47-23 in 1968).

! DENVER INJURIES. Nothing of significance to report.