The Monday Mommy: After all the drama, is it Thursday yet?
“Ever since the state of Colorado’s collective hearts were simultaneously ripped out of their chests following the maddening loss to the Ravens in January, life has been pretty drama filled in Bronco Country.”
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This has been the mother of all off seasons.
Ever since the state of Colorado’s collective hearts were simultaneously ripped out of their chests following the maddening loss to the Ravens in January, life has been pretty drama filled in Bronco Country.
As a whole, people were extremely happy with the acquisition of Peyton Manning in the previous off season and were all pleasantly surprised at how strong and healthy his arm actually was in 2012. One would think that this off season would translate to hard work and chemistry building between the second-year Bronco and his offense, along with the continuation of the solid defensive unit that was on the field last season.
Well, that didn’t exactly happen. Free agency brought the first of the drama to Dove Valley and the Broncos organization. Procuring former Patriots slot guy Wes Welker was a very positive start and Denver’s shot for Super Bowl glory seemed inevitable.
Then the whole Elvis Dumervil debacle happened. No one will ever really know the exact truth to how it all went down and why something like that could happen in 2013, but nonetheless due to a fax machine mix-up, Elvis Dumervil was let go and free to join the Baltimore Ravens.
While Dumervil’s absence is not a deal-breaker for the Broncos season, he was arguably the best guy they had on the line, and the manner in which it all went down seemed to be somewhat of a catalyst for the drama that ensued.
Coming into training camp, the championship hype was still focused on the Broncos. Vegas odds makers were picking Denver to win the Super Bowl along with many prominent members of the national sports media.
Peyton Manning was on track with his surgery recovery and conditioning and really gelling with his receiving corps. Life was good around Dove Valley and the team was focused on the same end goal: Super Bowl or bust.
Enter the Von Miller chronicle.
Early one lovely July morning, information was leaked indicating that Miller could potentially be suspended four games for violating the NFL’s drug policy. Rumors began to swirl about his rampant drug use. He was alleged to have failed a test for marijuana and MDMA which is also known as Molly, a pure form of the drug Ecstasy. Miller, of course blatantly denied any use of illegal drugs and claimed that he did nothing wrong.
Bronco fans were of course bummed out but believed in Miller and hoped this was all a big misunderstanding. The Broncos got back to work and waited for the appeal so that Miller could be exonerated and this could all be behind them, right?
Not so much. The weekend before that appeal was to have taken place, Miller found himself in hot water yet again. After running a background check in order to shoot some guns, it was discovered that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest, stemming from a failure to appear in court over a traffic violation.
That’s right, Von Miller was subsequently arrested, mug shot and all. After posting bail he was free to go, however, his appeal with the NFL was postponed.
Fans were once again disappointed but still hopeful Miller would come out of this whole debacle unscathed: Wishful thinking.
After the appeal hearing, the NFL announced that Miller would receive a six-game suspension for the 2013 season. Six games??? That wasn’t even part of the initial discussion. How could this happen? Once again we are not entirely sure of all the details but it comes down to the fact that Miller messed with or spilled his urine sample, resulting in a failure.
On top of the Miller suspension, the Broncos were also having a rough preseason, game-wise. They got shellacked by the Seahawks in Game 2 and sustained multiple injuries in the process.
Derek Wolfe narrowly escaped a very serious neck and or back injury when he received a harsh helmet to helmet hit in the first quarter. Wes Welker and Champ Bailey were also sidelined as a result of that game, but Denver is fortunate that all of them will be cleared for play by the start of the regular season.
Now, we can really get back to football and focus on what needs to get done for the first game, right? Well, not exactly.
The NFL rolled into town and started their very own preparation for opening night. That included a giant sized Joe Flacco banner draped across Sports Authority Field at Mile High and a bunch of smaller posters flanked along the 16th Street Mall.
The placement of those posters in the city of Denver caused a frenzy of huge proportions. People were outraged and took to the streets and airwaves to let the world know about it. So now the team is forced to deal with yet another distraction to take them away from the actual game of football.
Yes, these guys are professional athletes and should be able to tune out any outside drama. But how much is too much? Can they really be focusing on what is needed on the field when there is so much crap going on around them?
Bronco fans sure hope so.
After everything that has gone down this offseason, we will get to see what this squad is actually made of. Can they overcome all the distractions and media-hype that has taken place and get it done on the field?
Luckily, we finally have only three days to find out, and it cannot come soon enough.
