Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN General “I was really pleased with the effort of our football team. Offensively, going into the game, we felt we had to establish the run. At least run the ball a little more consistently than what we have been doing, very similar to what we did in the preseason. The same thing defensively; we felt (Kansas City) was a heckuva team running the football, and they have been very consistent over the last few years. I was really pleased with the effort we gave getting to the football, which is something you have to do against a team like Kansas City.” On Special Teams Play “Special teams played extremely hard. The effort was there and when you play like that, good things usually happen. We knew how great Dante Hall was, and to have that kind of effort and discipline on special teams gave us the opportunity for the offense to go the distance.” On Successful Misdirection Plays “They have to commit so many people to the run, that it opens it up for the boots and bootlegs to work. You have to establish the running game, and we were able to do that and it paid off in the second half.” On Defensive Line Play “They have been pretty consistent, except for the fourth quarter in Miami. If the D-line isn’t consistent, then your defense isn’t really that good. It all starts with the D-line. I was really pleased with their effort tonight and we definitely have more depth than we had a year ago.” On Scoring In The Red Zone “It took pressure off of us as a group by scoring in the red zone. We have not been as consistent as we would like, but we will continue to keep working on it.” On Champ Bailey “I don’t know how serious it is, he will get an MRI tomorrow (Tuesday) and hopefully it’s not that bad.” On The Running Game “We have been running the ball pretty good, we just didn’t do it in our first two games. We did have four games in the preseason where we ran the ball pretty good. We just have to get back to that form. It was about time that we were productive running the ball.” On Starting Darrant Williams “We just felt Darrant has been playing consistent through camp. He’s competed. He’s really proved to us through the preseason and the first two regular season games that he deserved a chance to start. He took advantage of that opportunity tonight and played extremely well.” On Rod Smith “Any time you get dinged two or three times in a game, you don’t want to take that chance of putting him back in, especially with the way the score was. If the game was on the line, knowing Rod, he would have wanted to go back into the game.” On Challenging Kennison’s Fourth Quarter TD “I looked up on the board, and he didn’t have possession of the ball, and I thought there was a chance he might have been down at the 1-yard line. With both of those factors, I decided to challenge the play.” Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS DT GERARD WARREN On The Broncos Defense “We were all focused on playing 60 minutes. We had that mindset going into the game and we played hard every snap. Guys were giving all-out effort, second effort. We were going to come with everything we had, no matter what call we were in. We just wanted to get to the quarterback and not let him get comfortable.” QB JAKE PLUMMER On Denver’s First Drive “It was big. Obviously, the struggles are there. You just have to forget about it each week and try to go and make yourself better in the red zone. We were able to start fast and the run game cranked up big time. It allowed us to do a lot of the things we like to do. We had a great gameplan and executed it well.” On Denver’s Offense “We just did what we were coached to do. Last week, we started fast and went into the tank, this week we started fast and kept it rolling. Hats off to the guys around me.” FS JOHN LYNCH On Denver’s Run Defense “To give yourself a chance to win, you have to stop the run. We were able to do that tonight against a very good team.” On Champ Bailey’s Injury “Although you never want to play without Champ Bailey, we feel pretty good about the young guys. We have a lot of confidence in those players and we feel they can get the job done.” WR ROD SMITH On His Concussion “I feel great….we won. We knew it was going to be a tough game, we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. I got knocked down, but not knocked out. Hey, it happens when you play a physical team like that. I appreciate (the standing ovation) but I don’t remember it.” On His Milestone “It’s special when you’ve been with a great organization and with great teammates and coaches. It’s really hard to describe it. It’s very special.” LB KEITH BURNS General “We stepped up in all three phases tonight. We had 11 guys working at one time. It was a big win tonight for everyone.” DE TREVOR PRYCE On Where This Defensive Line Ranks Among Recent Broncos History “It’s hard to judge because the season is not over yet. I think with the two Super Bowls, there is a pretty high standard of defensive line play. But over the last four years, this is the best group that I’ve been with. I think the best thing they do individually is their team speed, which is probably the difference. Also, they are a much more professional group than I have been around. On Kansas City “It just wasn’t a Kansas City game. Quite honestly, I think Priest Holmes is hurt. And we got Trent Green rattled pretty early. They just weren’t themselves. I know the offensive line got tired which is why they started holding and not moving their feet.” On Jake Plummer “I think Jake played one of the best games I’ve ever seen here from the QB position. He looked so poised.” Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HEAD COACH DICK VERMEIL General “I would like to congratulate [Broncos Coach] Mike Shanahan, his coaches and his squad for playing a very fine football game. They beat us in every way you can beat us. The only thing we out-scored them on was penalty, 13-4. They are a better football team than us. Hopefully, they won’t be by the end of the year. But they were tonight, and I give them credit. The best thing about the game is that nobody got injured for us, just some feelings hurt. They executed extremely well. They are a good football team. I know their defense is a lot better than it was last year. I don’t know how many times they knocked [QB] Trent [Green] down, but it was a ton, and we’re lucky he’s alive. Anyway, I give them credit, we have to go back to work. They put together a great game plan, and they executed well. They just took us apart. “They’re a better football team up here [in Denver]. The coaches got beat, and the players got beat. We coaches have to do a better job, too.” Putting this Game Behind Them “Hopefully, we’ll have this behind us by the time we come back to work Wednesday. It’s a short week for us, and we have to play the Eagles. We’re 2-1 and not 0-3 like we were at this time last year.” On Chiefs’ Pass Protection “We knew we would have problems with pass protection coming in, and we didn’t solve it during the game. We came in and thought we had solved our problems, but then [the Broncos] came in and executed and showed that we didn’t solve those problems. Trent got hit too many times, and we had a hard time getting the ball down the field.” On Chiefs’ Penalties “Quite a few of them [penalties] were holding. We couldn’t block them, so we were grabbing them. There were way too many penalties, and there’s no excuse for it. Every time we got something going, we had penalties that stopped us.” Denver Broncos Postgame Quotes & Notes Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs • INVESCO Field at Mile High • Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS PLAYERS QB TRENT GREEN General “It had nothing to do with the building [the stadium]. We’ve played these guys well other times. It had nothing to do with the field, stadium or crowd. They just played better than us. They outplayed us in all three phases of the game, and beat us tonight.” On the Broncos Defense “They didn’t heavily blitz us until the end when we were running no-huddle [offense].