DENVER _ Surprise!
There is none. As brash-and-smash safety T.J. Ward bellowed in the winning locker room late Thursday night after infuriating and intimidating NFL MVP Cam Newton yet again: "We are who they thought we were!" They are the Super Bowl champs 2.0.
Just like last year, the Broncos' defense is meaner than a mama moose. But at the risk of crossing Ward, whose trash talk dug under Newton's skin right around winning time, there's at least one difference in the champs that were and those who want to be.
Denver's overtly aggressive act on defense won't be a surprise to anyone _ fans who think the Broncos play dirty football, opposing teams or, most important of all, NFL officiating crews. They're watching. If they weren't before, they are now. Denver's 21-20 win against Carolina in the season opener was the most violent game I've covered over the past five seasons.
"It was a physical game on both sides of the ball," linebacker Shane Ray said.
Why was that, do you think?
"The refs let us play. It wasn't really any holding calls or anything like that," he said. "So everyone was getting physical with each other. That's football. You expect that."
Expect that to change _ at least in how the officials determine what's OK and what's over the line. After Newton, the reigning MVP, was beaten so severely he underwent four concussion tests, according to Charlotte Observer beat writer Joe Person, guess who is next in the Broncos' bull's-eye? That would be Colts quarterback Andrew Luck on Sunday at Sports Authority Field.
Before he beat the Broncos last season _ a memory that very much has stuck with members of their defense, a group that never forgets a face _ Luck felt the pain. Get this: The Broncos broke one of Luck's organs. On a legal hit from former linebacker Danny Trevathan, Luck sustained a lacerated kidney. He missed the final seven games.
For opposing quarterbacks, the Broncos are quite literally NSFW. Check out the damage done over their past three games: Tom Brady, 23 hits (reportedly the most endured by a quarterback all of last season); Newton, seven sacks (tying a Super Bowl record); Newton, however you wish to describe the onslaught from Thursday.
"If you hit a quarterback enough, those hits sink in," Ray said. "It's only a matter of time before he starts to feel pressure and starts wondering, 'Am I going to get hit like that again?' "
When I wrote Thursday the Broncos are so deep into Newton's head they should be charged an hourly rate, I didn't mean it literally. But the Broncos took it literally. There were multiple shots to Newton's helmet, and it seems sensible the officiating crew assigned to the next edition of Broncos-Colts will shadow the happenings around Luck with an eagle's eye. Not an eye poke.
The NFL has rules in place to protect quarterbacks. The Broncos countered by saying Newton and his rare mobility more closely resemble that of a different position.
"Guys are just playing football and playing hard," Chris Harris Jr. said. "People don't realize how big Cam Newton is. He runs like a running back, so we've got to treat him like a running back."
Newton is listed at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds; Luck, 6-4, 240. Where do they build quarterbacks these days, on the Hummer assembly line? Folks considered John Elway to be extra large for the position, and Denver's Hall of Fame quarterback was listed at 6-3, 215.
"The thing that's different with Andrew Luck is, with Cam Newton, they have designed runs for him at running back," Harris said. "That changes how you play the game."
While Newton clearly wanted no part of the Broncos' defense by the fourth quarters of Super Bowl 50 and in the rematch, Luck is wired to take a punch and throw one back. After Trevathan leveled Luck with a fair-game shot to the abdomen, the Colts quarterback bounced up and promptly threw a touchdown pass _ on the very next play. But don't say I didn't warn you, Indy.
The money's great. But NFL players signed up for one violent, dangerous profession.
On their roller-coaster journey through Super Bowl 50, the Broncos operated with an element of surprise. The Peyton Manning factor ensured camera spotlights and media attention focused squarely on the Hall of Fame quarterback's struggles.
Even the New England Patriots and Panthers in the postseason failed miserably to account for the speed up and down Denver's defense. It was bizarre. They never adjusted. Meanwhile, Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware spun past left and right tackles like flicked quarters. Their approach from last season to this one hasn't changed. If anything, it's grown in ferocity.
"If it's still wiggling, I'll hit it," Harris said.
And if NFL officials weren't watching before, they are now, after last Thursday.
Since he's owned the Broncos in two wins, including one at Mile High in the playoffs, Luck has earned a piece of advice from this corner of the country: Slide, dude.
