Denver Broncos 18, New England Patriots 12
Q. Overall how did you feel you threw it after such a long layoff?
DL: Yeah, I felt good. I've kind of always been the guy, when you get into a game, the ball just comes out better than it does in practice or warmups. You don't think about anything, you don't think about your motion, your stroke, your feet. You just rely back on the thousands and thousands of reps you've taken over your life. Just comes out. That's kind of how you feel out there on the field. It's how I felt today, which I was excited about.
There's no doubt in my mind that I was ready to come out and play, try to lead us to a win. I think maybe a week earlier then I'm not 100% sure about, but I would have been ready this week. I was excited that this got to be pushed back to be able to play this game and I got to step on the field.
Q. After the second interception, how anxious were the last two minutes for you watching the defense?
DL: Very, very anxious (smiling).
That's our offense, though. We're going to take shots. The first one was 100% on me. From the look I saw, I thought I could try to squeeze it back shoulder. Of course, the defender falls off. Me and Tim will work on that this week. If I just throw it the way I've been throwing it the whole game (indiscernible) against No. 2, man-to-man, throw it like the first throw of the game, it would have been fine. Wouldn't have been able to throw the second pick. Possibly scored, get other field goal. I would have been sipping Gatorade on the sidelines instead of biting my nails.
Q. There were deep shots early. What went into today's emphasis on being aggressive with those downfield shots?
DL: We just felt like we could take those. That's the thing with our offense. That's the reason we drafted the guys that we did, kept the guys that we did. We feel like we can throw these shots, take these deep shots.
Teams are going to be have to be leery about that. They're going to have to have guys over the top to help. If they do that, then we'll run the ball.
It's going to take two really, really good DBs on each side with good safety help to stop these guys from running by them. We're that confident in our athletes that we have here in Denver. I'm excited to keep progressing in the offense, keep learning, just keep figuring this thing out.
Q. Phillip Lindsay, not only the yards he gained, but the energy he brought.
DL: Yeah, rock 'em sock 'em Bob and Phil with the hair rolling today. He was ready. He was excited. It felt good to finally have him back on the field, man. He brings an energy that is infectious, without a doubt.
Having him back is huge for our offense. I'm just excited to hopefully get everyone back eventually, offense, deep inside the ball, see how good this team can be.
Q. You talked about Tim's catch on the first play of the game. Also the 32-yarder down the sideline, catching it through the sun. What can you say about the way he's progressed here?
DL: Yeah, when I talked to Coach Shurmur before he got here, before he got to know anybody, I told him one of the guys that might not get talked about enough, he might get talked about a little bit but not enough in my eyes, was Tim Patrick. He's always been that guy to me, in my opinion. Big, strong, physical guy. Loves the game of football.
It's hard to beat him out to practice, it really is. They want to be out there. Want to work. Coach Azzanni has them wired every single day. I told Coach Shurmur before he got here, this guy is going to make a lot of plays for us this year.
He's not a media guy. No one is going to freak out about him, get 30,000 tweets about Tim Patrick this year. He's going to make a lot of plays for us. I'm excited about him being on our team.
Q. You talk about muscle memory, just going out and playing. Is that what it is with Albert O out there? Back to your time in Columbia?
DL: Yeah, without a doubt it was. That route that he ran, we've put him on that a couple times there in Columbia. I told him it's no different than college, just a little faster. You're bigger, smarter, stronger. You're going to come out here and play well.
I even called one of my buddies last night that was my roommate, Albert's friend, mine, Jack. Albert is going to go out tomorrow and make some plays, man. You got to tune in. I'm excited for him to play.
Albert is going to be upset about some of those plays in the red zone. Of course, I hold him to a higher standard than he's probably hoping for. We'll probably hit a couple of those after practices this week. But I was excited for him.
Q. How does the body feel? You did take a couple good hits. You found a way to win the past two games. Do you feel there's a bit of return to relevance, you're turning the corner now?
DL: Yeah, I mean, I feel like the media might feel like it's return to relevance, people that aren't in our building might think that. We knew we could be a really good team. It's hard to come up to Gillette and win, but better yet win without scoring a touchdown. We knew we could be a really good team. We just got to keep putting these pieces together, keep rolling.
We're playing a really, really good team next week. It's going to be a big test for us to see who we are, see if we're mentally and physically tough enough to get a win.
I truly feel like we're an extremely good team. We just got to put both sides of the ball together, all three, offense, defense, special teams. We were a little bit together tonight. But I'd say special teams and defense carried this win without a doubt.
Q. You moved the ball all day, but the red zone and the high red zone area you didn't come through. Seemed like you took a lot of deep shots. Was that the game plan? You're not getting complacent knowing you got Brandon McManus behind you?
DL: He definitely allows us to take a deep breath there, call what we feel like, call what we want. That was kind of the game plan. We saw opportunities to pass the ball on him down there. The opportunities were there. We just got to come up with it. That's the struggle of it. It's just football. We got to put those little plays together. They made some, we made some. In the end we need to make more than they do.
I guess in a way we did because we won. But as an offensive side of the ball, offensive group, we know we got a lot to work on. We appreciate or defense and our special teams.
It's a very bright future for us here without a doubt. I'm excited to keep working with these guys because we can be a special football team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports