Denver Broncos Ota Quotes (5/22/12) Safety Mike Adams

Patrick Smyth, Executive Director of Media Relations ([email protected] / 303‐264‐5536) Rebecca Villanueva, Media Services Manager ([email protected] / 303‐264‐5598) Erich Schubert, Media Relations Coordinator ([email protected] / 303‐264‐5503)

DENVER BRONCOS OTA QUOTES (5/22/12)

SAFETY MIKE ADAMS

On wearing No. 20 “It’s been great. I’ve been 20 my whole career. I started to wear No. 20 because of Donovin Darius and the famous guy we all know, The Wolverine [S Brian Dawkins]. I just watched him all my career, especially when I was at the University of Delaware. I watched him play with the Eagles. Dawkins was a great player. He brings great intensity, and I try to bring that much intensity when I play the game.”

On whether he’s disappointed not being able to play alongside Dawkins “I am, but kind of I’m not because I wouldn’t have been able to have my number (laughing). I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But he’s definitely an inspiration in the locker room, on and off the field. I enjoyed watching him my whole career. Hopefully I make him proud wearing that number.”

On whether he had an idea if Dawkins would play when he signed in Denver “I’m a competitor. I always compete. If you check my track record from being an undrafted free agent to the San Francisco 49ers, they always brought in somebody to replace me. Fortunately, I’ve been able to last nine years in the league and played my 100th game last year. That’s what I do. I’m a blue‐collar guy that goes out and works and competes hard. It doesn’t matter if it’s a first‐ round pick, Hall‐of‐Famer—and you’ve got to respect that. Just go hard. You just don’t want to give anybody a position. I just had a talk with the young guys in there. [S] Rahim Moore had a great day today. I told him, ‘Don’t make it easier for me. Don’t make it easy for [S] Quinton [Carter]. Don’t make it easier for anybody. Make it hard for the coaches to make a decision who’s going to start and who’s going to play when September comes.’ That’s what I’m all about. I’m all about competing. I’m all about making everybody better, including myself.”

On whether he feels like a mentor to younger players “Absolutely. I never give bad information. But at the same time, I’m still learning, too. It’s a new system for me. It’s different from what I’m accustomed to and what I’ve been playing in Cleveland. But I’m still mentoring the young guys as far as technique, things you can look for out there, reading the tight end if he’s outside release, inside release. Little subtle things like that that will help you make a decision that much quicker and make a play on the ball.”

On whether he watched Dawkins when he played at Delaware “Definitely. Sundays after conditioning at Delaware, we definitely turned on the Eagles game and watched the game. My roommate was a big Eagles fan. I wasn’t an Eagles fan, I was a Dolphins fan. But I began to like the Eagles over the years and watch them play.”

On playing football at an FCS school “I carried [myself] with a chip on my shoulder. I felt like I was never the biggest, never the strongest, but I just wanted it more. Coming from I‐AA, I just had a chip on my shoulder. I believe I could’ve played at Miami, Notre Dame and all these other places.”

On what a ‘Blue Hen’ is (his college mascot) “It’s a chicken. It’s a hen. It’s a female hen. Alright? You got the story. Leave me alone now (laughing).”

On playing alongside CB Champ Bailey “It’s great. A humble guy; very soft‐spoken. He knows; he understands. I don’t have to say much to Champ as far as communication. Sometimes it’s like we give a nod and he already knows what’s coming. That’s one advantage he has. You’re right, I’ve never played with a caliber corner such as Champ with all the Pro Bowls and accolades that he has. I did play with a couple of young guys—Joe Haden, Eric Wright—and Joe Haden is a pretty good player. But as far as the accolades with Champ, I haven’t. I’m excited. When I first got here I spoke to Champ. We had a nice little conversation, so I was excited to be here and be around him.”

On whether the Broncos secondary can be as good as his group in Cleveland “Yes. It compares. You can say it’s similar. We were young there. We had T.J. Ward, who was in his second or third year, then Joe Haden. We were young. We were still growing. Coach Dick Jauron, he just put us in a position to our strengths. We played man‐ to‐man, let’s go, mano‐y‐mano. We challenged people. We didn’t have the front seven, as in the [LB] Von [Miller] and [DE Elvis] Dumervil, we didn’t have that. But we did get the job done. I’m pretty sure here, I’m looking forward to stepping that up a couple notches.”

On whether he’s a free safety or strong safety “Both. I don’t like being called just a safety. I’ve played a lot of different positions in my career, so call me a DB.”

On extra work to get accustomed to a new team “We talked about that. Film study is one. Just getting a feel for the chemistry, and OTAs helps. Last year, we didn’t have that. OTAs help this year only because we get to build that chemistry. I get to look at [CB] Tracy [Porter] now and give him a nod and he knows he can jump a route and I can play over top. I won’t have to make a hand signal. That’s what the offseason’s for, just to get that cohesiveness down, get that camaraderie down. Even with the front seven, it’s with everybody. It’s communication all around the board. Not just those guys. The time now helps. It’s a great thing that we have it. Right now we’re getting better. We had a good start, we had a good practice today, and we will get better.”

On whether it’s tougher to build chemistry in the regular season versus OTAs “Absolutely. When you jump right in it, they’re just throwing you to the wolves. You’ve got to get it right the first time, no excuses. You get beat deep, you get looked at like, ‘What happened? What are you doing?’ Regardless of the chemistry, regardless of how long you guys have been working together, because at the end of the day, we’re professional athletes. We expect to make those plays just as well as the media and the fans expect us to make those plays because we get paid a lot of money to play this little kid’s game. When plays come our way, we expect to make those.”

On the Broncos’ secondary in 2011 “I don’t know about last year. I watched a little film and I saw a couple things here and there, but I wasn’t in that position so I can’t really comment on the communication on the back end, on what happened. All I know is that I’m here to help out, be an addition to the success they had last year and raise the level of play.”

On whether communication falls on him as a veteran safety “I take it very personally. I learned from Tony Parrish down in San Francisco when I first got in the league. He always told me, ‘Just take care of your corners first. Make sure when you break the huddle you and the other safety are on the same page and take care of your corners.’ That’s one thing I do take personally, the communication. Make sure I do the extra studying, the extra film work. Sometimes the corners are on an island and you’re playing man‐to‐man all day. Sometimes it’s hard to focus on when you play eight snaps of man and all of a sudden the coach says Cover‐2. Now you’ve got to turn that man off and play Cover‐2. That’s my job, to make sure they know, ‘Hey, we’re going to play Cover‐2, I need you to put your hands on them, I need you to do this, I need you do to that.’ Because it’s hard for a corner. That’s why it’s a money position, that’s why we’ve got Champ Bailey there.”

©2012 Denver Broncos Football Club. All rights reserved. The individual quotes cited in this document may be used for the purpose of news reporting and other fair uses as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Duplication or posting of this quote sheet, in its entirety, or any other use of this material which is not a fair use as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the Denver Broncos Football Club. On the receiver group “Young group, pretty impressive. It’s my first time really seeing DT [WR Demaryius Thomas] in action, and I thought he was a tight end. Don’t tell him that (laughing). He’s a big boy, and he’s got some nice, soft hands to be big. Seeing [WR Brandon] Stokley in the slot, finally playing with him instead of against him in that slot, he still has it. He’s still got every little bit of quickness that he had seven years ago, five years ago. I’m excited. It’s a young group, but Peyton Manning is getting them ready.”

On practicing against Peyton Manning “I’m just glad he’s on my team. When I heard he was coming here, I definitely jumped for joy. Him and Stokley, they’ve got that chemistry already. They’ve got it down pat, whereas us on the back end at safety and corner, we’re trying to get where they are. If Stokley is going up and he’s running a stick route and the guy’s on the inside, Peyton knows he’s going out. He doesn’t have to say anything. That’s where we’re trying to get on the back end with the safeties and the corners. I know that a slant is coming and I’m telling him, ‘Jump that slant—if he runs anything other than that, I’ve got your back.’ That’s that trust factor that we all try to get right now.”

On whether having OTAs will help defenses slow down potent NFL offenses “That definitely helps. A lot of rule changes to me are offense‐friendly. We all know those, I’m not critiquing anything, it is what it is. But it’s a lot of offensive‐friendly rules out there. It’s a game that we’ve got to adjust to. I agree, it helps now building that chemistry so we can limit that. But there’s only so much you can do when you’ve got great quarterbacks out there such as Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady—they understand it. They know when you’re in Cover‐2. They understand when you’re in Cover‐1. They know when you’re disguising. So you’ve got to do a little bit more and eliminate their receivers, eliminate their weapons. Get at them with that pass rush that we’ve got.”