ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — While Brock Osweiler took the responsibility for the five sacks he absorbed from Oakland’s Khalil Mack on his shoulders, his offensive linemen were quick to try and absolve the quarterback of blame.
Right tackle Michael Schofield, who surrendered four of Mack’s five sacks in last Sunday’s loss, placed the blame on himself for errors in technique. His sometime neighbor, rookie swing tackle Max Garcia, agreed that the line needs to “take ownership” of its play against Oakland.
“It’s our fault. It’s our duty to keep him upright,” Garcia said. “Brock is a great quarterback and if he just has time to make plays, we know he’s going to make them. We need to do a better job of protecting him. That’s what I’ve been saying. We’re going to go out here, like I said, this week of practice and regroup and really just focus.”
Although Osweiler has struggled at some times to get rid of the football quickly, there wasn’t much he could do under Mack’s one-on-one rushes against Denver’s offensive tackles; Mack got to Osweiler in an average of 2.39 seconds on his five sacks, including 1.81 seconds on the sack that led to a third-quarter safety.
But what Broncos coach Gary Kubiak wants to see is Osweiler stepping forward, and not “drifting” in the pocket.
“Until you get out there and get a bunch of starts under your belt and a bunch of snaps under your belt, sometimes it’s not natural. You tend to slide away from something instead of move up away from it and help the tackles.
“I think he’s been doing a pretty good job,” Kubiak said. “I was making reference to a couple plays, but we had a lot of guys out there that had a couple plays they’d like to have back. We just try to get him better.”
–It has been well over a year since Emmanuel Sanders said that he considered Peyton Manning a far better leader than Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, praising Manning’s willingness to stay after practice.
“I feel like Peyton is a far better leader, in terms of staying after practice, catching balls, wanting guys to get on the same page with him, things of that sort,” he said during the 2014 training camp.
But in hindsight, Sanders believes that his remarks were taken out of context.
“Yes. I never would’ve said Ben didn’t work hard,” Sanders said. “This is what the situation came down to. Obviously, you have the recorder, you asked to compare, compare, compare. Right? So, anything that I say, anything that comes out of my mouth, it’s never ‘Oh man, that’s awesome what he said about Peyton.’ It’s always, ‘Oh, it’s bad what he said about Ben.’
“What I said was everybody in the National Football League knows that when it comes to Peyton, this guy is the ultimate leader. He’s a guy that approaches the game different than anybody I’ve been around. That goes for every quarterback I ever played for, college, anybody. Obviously, this is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. The question was, ‘What is the difference?’ and I said it’s how Peyton prepares. That’s different from all of the quarterbacks in the National Football League.
“I wasn’t taking a shot at Big Ben. I know Big Ben is a great player, he’s been great. He has two Super Bowls and I was excited to play with him. Ben made me a better player, he molded me into the player I am today, just running the Bruce Arians offense and Todd Haley offense. So, I have nothing but love for Ben.”
Nothing but love, but at the same time, Roethlisberger said he has not spoken to Sanders since the wide receiver signed with the Broncos in 2014 after four seasons in Pittsburgh.
“Still, up to this day, he never reached out to me,” Roethlisberger said. “I’ve just kind of let it go like water under a bridge.”
Notes: Running back C.J. Anderson did not practice Wednesday, but Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak expects him to return to the field Thursday when the Broncos go back outside. Wednesday’s practice was held on turf, in the team field house. … Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan is still in the NFL’s post-concussion protocol, but practiced on a limited basis Wednesday. He is expected to clear the protocol and play against the Steelers. … Safety T.J. Ward is considered “day-to-day” after missing the last two weeks with an ankle sprain. He spent Wednesday’s practicing working out on the sideline with team strength and conditioning coaches. … Outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware had a full practice Wednesday and is expected to see his workload increase this week. He played 15 snaps against the Raiders last Sunday in his first action since he aggravated a back injury against the Colts on Nov. 8.