Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

DENVER BRONCOS

Opening statement “It was sure nice to get a Christmas present like that…that’s for sure. Obviously we took care of business and things worked out pretty good for us and I was really pleased with the effort of our football team today. You have to take advantage of your opportunities and hopefully we keep on playing accordingly.

On how the win changes the strategy for next week “Well I’m not going to talk about strategies right in now, I’m just going to enjoy the win. Obviously everybody knows the situation that we are in….we’ll talk about it next week when we decide what direction we are going to go. The great part about it is knowing that we have a week off before we play our game and that’s always nice to at least have the mindset that we have a week to heal up. It looked like we were a little bit banged up today in two different areas but hopefully everybody will be healthy and ready to go…we’ll just have to wait and see.”

On when he found out about Cincinnati’s loss “We saw it in the locker room before our game started but I don’t believe the players knew until maybe it was announced during the game. Obviously at the start of the game I think everybody knew.

On the team’s performance “I was pleased because Oakland’s defense had only given up one 300-yd game since we played them last. They’ve been pretty stingy and playing very sound defense. They have a very talented group of players on that side of the ball so to find a way to win it here in our last regular season home game was pretty special for our football team.

On how long you enjoy this game “We’ll definitely enjoy it tonight and we’ll get started tomorrow early on San Diego getting our game-plan ready. This definitely a time of the year that is tough on players and coaches because you do have Christmas and you arte spending time with the family. It’s a time for celebration but at the same time it’s a time for business…we have a job to do. Our fans were a big part today the crowd noise was a big factor for us at the start of the game.

More on Performance “We had a lot at stake, and we worked extremely hard to get to this point. We had a chance to win the AFC West today, but we didn’t know going into the game we had a chance to be in the situation we are in. Right before the game the players did know and played accordingly. We had a lot on the line. You go through your off season programs and pre season games and everything you do for this type of opportunity. I was pleased to see they played well.”

On ’s performance “Jake played extremely well. He made a bunch of big plays. They had a lot of pressure on him and they had a very talented defensive front, you can see why 56 (Derrick Burgess) has been so good rushing the quarterback. He made us look inept at times with his ability, but I thought Jake did a great job stepping up and making some big plays. I thought George (Foster) found out how good some of those pass rushers are sometimes. It is a learning experience for him (Jake Plummer). We will get better and we did the things we needed to do to win.”

On the importance of the first round bye “I think everybody knows what a bye is worth. If you do have a bye and you win two games you are in the Superbowl. It is pretty basic math. To have the opportunity we have is a great one. Now we have to go back to work so we can take advantage of that opportunity.”

On Mike Anderson reaching 1,000 yards “It didn’t surprise me and I knew being our starting he had a good chance of going over 1,000 yards. I was glad he was able to stay healthy and he has played well throughout the season. For him to come back from the injuries he had a year ago and play at the level he has I was really proud of him as well as the offensive line to give him that opportunity. Mike Anderson is a warrior. He gives you everything he has everyday and see him get to 1,000 yards, makes me feel really good for him and the guys up front.”

On wide receiver ’s performance “Ashley started out a little bit slow, but has really picked up his game. He made a bunch of big plays today and that’s what we have to do….we have to play our best football this time of year. I thought we played well and we have to continue to play at that level especially against some of the teams we will be facing here in the near future.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS

QUARTERBACK JAKE PLUMMER

General “We knew we had to take care of business and get a win. The beauty of our situation is that we controlled our own destiny. It helped (that Cincinnati lost), but we didn’t pay attention to that. We just wanted to get a “W” against the Raiders.”

On next week’s game “I don’t know (if I’ll play next week). I am going to enjoy Christmas Eve tonight and enjoy Christmas tomorrow and then I’ll see what happens next week.”

On Winning the AFC West “It means nothing unless we go deep in the playoffs and hopefully go all the way. “

FULLBACK KYLE JOHNSON

On winning the AFC West “No one is sticking their chest out. We are happy, a little sore, but we put ourselves in a position today to get that bye week. We have to take advantage of that week and be as fresh as possible. This team has the attitude of ‘maybe this isn’t the most celebratory situation’ lets enjoy the holiday as opposed to enjoying the victory.”

On opportunity to achieve 1,000 yards next week “How close is he? (Reporters reply) Now I have inspiration, now I have my own Christmas wish list. Well, I am not going to say that because San Diego has an unbelievable defense and have been playing great ball. But I didn’t know he was so close.”

QUARTERBACK BRADLEE VAN PELT

On anticipated play time for next week’s game “I think I will play, to the extent of how much, I don’t know. I am going to enjoy Christmas with my family. I will come in next week and I am sure the coaches will tell the whole team what is going to happen. I am sure they are going to give a lot of key guys rest to avoid injuries. Then again we do have a bye week, so I don’t think you can give the starters too much time. I am going to prepare like I do every week and maybe this week I will actually play.”

DEFENSIVE END

On winning division and bye week “The bye week is the biggest thing. That is the most important thing because you get to watch every team in the first round. That is what I am more excited for.”

On playing time next week “You do get rusty. You can’t go into the playoffs without playing, so I am sure we will all play the entire game. You don’t want to limp into the playoffs and be rusty. You want everything to be clicking.”

RUNNING BACK MIKE ANDERSON On 1,000 yards “It is a good feeling. I haven’t been able to do that since my rookie year and maybe then I didn’t realize how important it was. I would like to be able to see Tatum (Bell) do it next week.”

On his ankle injury “It kind of got rolled, kind of tweaked. We will give it a couple days off and see how it looks.

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

OAKLAND RAIDERS HEAD COACH

General “Denver is an outstanding football team. They are a very good offensive football team and they are outstanding on defense. I think they are a complete football team. Obviously they deserve to win this division in terms of how they preformed. I felt our guys came in here and fought and competed. We just weren’t able to match the things they were able to do.”

On Denver’s Success with Crossing Routes “There was a combination of things. They hit a couple of those early when we were in blitz coverage. We tried to back off and play zone. They are good at what they do and they found seems. (Jake) Plummer obviously was very hot in the first half.”

On Play of OB Kerry Collins “Early we did some good things from a protection standpoint. We got the ball out quick and we did have some drops early which we have not had a great deal of. That was disappointing.

“Obviously the interception to end the first half, we had a chance to get a touchdown there. You get a touchdown there and you are in a much closer game. Once the play turned bad, (Collins) actually had the fullback in the flat, they turned him loose. He got banged a little early and I think Kerry thought he got knocked down. Zack (Crockett) kept going and he had a chance. Obviously the right thing there is to throw it away.”

On Early Success of Collins “Early I thought our protection and the things we did were good. The disappointing thing was that we nullified two third down conversions in the first half by penalties. One a false start and one a hold. You know, you fight hard to get yourself in third downs you can convert. And again you lose it because of a penalty. As that game goes on, obviously they have the lead, and they came at us with a lot of blitzes and they were able to get pressure in the second half.”

On Play of RB Zack Crockett “(He played) Like I thought he would. He just competed and fought hard and hit and ran the ball down hill and ran hard and was very physical.”

On Only Having One More Game This Season “This is an awfully physical game and we have all seen teams that when they get in the situation our team has been in, they don’t lay it on the line physically. These guys have not backed off. Our guys have not backed off in the fourth quarter. They are hitting, tackling, pounding it in there. Zack (Crockett)’s fighting and it means a lot to me to see them continue to compete that way. We have one more chance. We have a chance to go win a game next weekend, next Saturday, and that is what our focus will be on.”

On First Half Play Calling “Early in the game, in six plays, you’re not going to get them where you want them in any matter. Obviously protection has been an issue. We had a quick pass and you don’t throw any pass hoping to get four yards. You try to get a guy out there one-on- one with no help and hopefully you can make a catch and make someone miss, but that didn’t help on that play.

“There are a lot of things in terms of going out and playing. In the first quarter you nullify two third down conversions. You have third and three and you get a false start after you complete for a 15 yard gain. We have a third down and ten and we covert and it is nullified by a penalty. Those are the type of things in this league; it’s hard to convert third downs. When you give them away you can’t (win), those are examples.

On Play of Broncos’ QB Jake Plummer “Plummer had an excellent first half. You are going to get that at times a guy gets a hot hand. You have to play through it and compete through it.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

OAKLAND RAIDERS PLAYERS QUARTERBACK KERRY COLLINS General “We didn’t make the plays we needed to make, bottom line. We obviously were throwing the ball when we were down and they were giving us one-on-one coverage on the outside. But, it’s hard against a good team to make the mistakes we made today. Whether it is the dropped passes or the interception I threw. They are a good defense and make you do some things to take you out of your comfort zone.”

On end of first half interception “It didn’t help. Obviously at halftime you don’t just throw up your hands and say that’s it. Obviously it is a big play and one I wish I had back. The interception is something I wish didn’t happen and it was just completely my fault.”

DEFENSIVE END BOBBY HAMILTON General “All I can do is worry about myself. I can’t worry about the coaches and who’s going to be here next year and who is not. We can’t point the finger at the coaches. There comes a certain point where the players have to go out and execute. All I can do is worry about myself and look at what I did, or could have done, to help the team win.”

CORNERBACK RENALDO HILL General “I definitely don’t think we lost confidence in our ability to stop them (Denver’s offense); only speaking for myself. They had a goal today to keep moving towards the playoffs and we just didn’t stop them. We weren’t trying to give them a cakewalk. We prepared well all week. We thought we could come in and do to them this year what we did to them last year. We saw some of the same tendencies on film this year that we saw last year.”

SAFETY STUART SCHWEIGERT General “You can say a lot of things but you have to go out and back it up or it’s all for not. A lot of people on this team are doing a lot of talking; don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people doing the talking and then backing it up, but not everyone. I’m not calling anyone out, but there is that fine line between talking and backing it up, and just talking.”

On trying to ice kicker “That’s what Shanahan does. He hates the Raiders. It’s on the same line as that reverse they ran at the end of the game in Oakland this year. The reverse was unnecessary and they could have just ran out the clock by running it up the gut like they did today.”

RUNNING BACK ZACK CROCKETT General “We got behind and tried to play catch up after that. It just took us out of our rhythm. You’ve got to just go out there and play football. We’ve got a job to do and everybody has got to do their job. This is a simple game.”

On his play “I’m always prepared to run the way I run. I never let up and that is just my style.”

On play of offensive line “The offensive line did a good job. They know what guys were coming and they were picking up their blocks. When that was happening, it was just up to me to make my reads and make the play.”

CORNERBACK NNAMDI ASOMUGHA On defensive game plan “The first few plays we were doing a lot of man (coverage) and they were doing crosses. Everyone was getting picked. I happened like six times. When you play against Denver, you see what they are going to do and then you try to adjust to that. They were changing as we were changing so it was hard to keep up.”

On gap between Raiders and Broncos “In the first half it didn’t look very close. In the second half we figured out what they were doing and we slowed them down a little bit. The gap comes from experience. They have got a whole bunch of crafty veterans. We have to be positive going into next year even though this has been such a horrible year.”

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

POSTGAME NOTES

¾ Mike Shanahan. With this win, Shanahan passes Mike Ditka (127) for 19th in wins as a head coach in pro football history. His record as a head coach is now 121-74 in the regular season and 128-78 including postseason.

¾ AFC West Champs. With the win today, the Broncos have won the AFC West for the third time in Mike Shanahan’s tenure as head coach (since 1995). It is the Broncos’ first division title under the current four-team alignment (since ’02) and the eighth under ’s ownership of the club (since ’84). Overall, it is the Broncos’ 11th division title since beginning play as charter members of the League in 1960.

¾ First-Round Bye. The Broncos’ win against the Raiders gave the team its 10th first-round playoff bye week in franchise history. Of those 10 first-round playoff bye weeks, eight have come with Mike Shanahan on the Denver coaching staff in some capacity (3 as head coach, 5 as an assistant coach).

¾ Perfect at Home. The Broncos have finished their regular season home slate with an 8-0 record, marking the fifth time in franchise history the team has gone undefeated at home (8-0 in 1981 and 1996-98). Four of the five undefeated home seasons have come with Shanahan as head coach. Denver has now won its last 10 home games, which ties with Seattle for the longest current such streak in the NFL and is the third-longest home winning streak in franchise history.

¾ December Win Streak. With today’s win, Denver has now won 12 consecutive home games in the month of December and own the NFL’s second-longest active such streak in the NFL (Kansas City – 18 games). The team’s last home loss in December came in 1999 (12/5/99; 16-10 to Kansas City). Denver also improves to 18-2 (.900) at home in December since 1995 and own the NFL’s third-best home record in the NFL since 1995.

¾ Saturday Success: The Broncos have also won five consecutive Saturday games in the regular season, beginning with a 17-7 win at Detroit in 1999 (12/25), and seven in row on Saturdays when postseason games are included, beginning with a 38-3 win vs. Miami in the 1998 season (1/9/99).

¾ Series Stuff. With two wins vs. Oakland this season, it marks Denver’s seventh sweep of the season series in Shanahan’s 11 seasons as head coach, and the 13th sweep of the Raiders in franchise history. With two rushing scores today, Denver now has scored at least one rushing touchdown in its last nine games against Oakland. Denver (+1) also has won its last 12 games against the Raiders when recording a positive turnover ratio.

¾ Joins Elite Group. With 10 points today, Jason Elam has now scored 203 career regular-season points against the Oakland Raiders, the second NFL team against whom he has scored 200 or more points (San Diego, 202). He is now just the third player in pro football history to score 200 or more points against more than one opponent. The others are (St. Louis, 253 / San Francisco, 246), George Blanda (Denver, 245 / San Diego, 203) and Lou Groza (Cardinals, 216 / Washington, 242).

¾ Mike Anderson. Anderson finished the day with 46 yards on 10 carries to raise his season total to 1,014. It is Anderson’s second career 1,000-yard season, with the other coming in his rookie season of 2000 (1,487). With four seasons between his two 1,000-yard seasons, Anderson joins four other players who share the NFL record for most seasons between 1,000-yard rushing outputs: Gary Brown (1993 & ’98), Earnest Byner (1985 & ’90), Ottis Anderson (1984 & 1989) and Mike Garrett (1967 & ’72). Anderson is the only member of the group to post both of his 1,000-yard seasons with the same team.

¾ 1,000-yard Bonanza. With Mike Anderson topping the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season today, Denver has its 10th 1000-yard individual rusher in the last 11 seasons, most in the NFL. Indianapolis (Edgerrin James) and Seattle (Shaun Alexander) have posted their ninth such seasons already this year, tying the , who brought a total of nine into this season (leading rusher Curtis Martin, with 735 yards, is on injured reserve).

¾ Rod Smith. With five receptions for 91 yards today, wide receiver Rod Smith moved into first place in both career receiving yards (1,291) and receptions (99) by a individual player against the Oakland Raiders in NFL history.

Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005

¾ Ashley Lelie. With 110 yards on six receptions today, Lelie recorded his fifth career 100-yard receiving game, and his first of the season. His last came Dec. 5, 2004 at San Diego (4-105, 0 TD).

¾ Tatum Bell. Bell finished the day with 71 yards on 17 carries to raise his season rushing total to 869 yards. With one game remaining, and Mike Anderson already over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season, Bell needs 131 yards next Saturday at San Diego to make Denver the first team since the 1985 (Kevin Mack, 1,104 / Earnest Byner, 1,002) to have two players reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a single season. It would mark the fourth time it has happened in pro football history.

¾ Nick Ferguson. The safety posted his fifth interception of the season with less than one minute remaining in the first half, picking off Kerry Collins in the end zone. Ferguson’s five interceptions rank third in the NFL among safeties and are second on the Broncos to only , who has six interceptions. They are also the most by a Broncos safety since led the team with 9 in 1996.

¾ Turnovers. The Broncos finished today’s game with a +1 turnover ratio, posting an interception (S Nick Ferguson) and a fumble recovery (RB Cecil Sapp) while allowing one turnover off a Jake Plummer interception. Denver is now +18 for the season with 34 takeaways and 16 giveaways, marking its third best turnover ratio in franchise history (2000 - +19, 1984 - +21). Since last season, Denver has the NFL’s best improvement in +/- ratio at +27 (-9 in 2004, +18 in 2005).

¾ First-Half Dominance. Denver took a 16-0 lead into halftime against the Raiders and improved its first-half scoring differential this season to +112 (210 points for, 98 points against). That is the second-best first-half scoring margin in the NFL (Seattle, +123).