SAN JOSE, Calif. — Even before their first official Super Bowl interviews, the Denver Broncos made news, of sorts, when the team bus was involved in a minor accident.
A team spokesman released a statement that nobody on the squad was injured. The incident occurred at 1:47 p.m., after the Broncos’ first practice at Stanford University in preparation for Sunday’s Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers.
The wreck was on Highway 101 near Sunnyvale and involved a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer, who had minor injuries.
Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware may have been the first to report the incident, via Twitter.
“To keep the day interesting we had a small wreck. Looks like everyone is ok, though,” he tweeted.
Later, when interviewed at the SAP Center, Ware recalled the excitement.
“I was asleep on the bus,” he said. “All of a sudden I hear screeching tires.”
He said the bus he was on was hit by the bus behind them and he was thankful nobody on the team was hurt.
A CHP spokesperson said motorcycles provided a motorcade after the Broncos’ practice when the buses came upon slow-moving traffic. A witness said a driver cut the motorcade off, causing three of the Broncos’ buses to collide.
The third bus was disabled and seen parked on the side of a highway.
The CHP said the passengers on that bus were moved to one of the other buses and the team continued on to the hotel.
Quarterback Peyton Manning said at the SAP Center, “Kind of an exciting bus ride today. We got in a wreck on our bus, which kind of adds to the excitement of the season.”
–Pat Bowlen is one of the more respected owners in the NFL. He is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and is not expected to be with the team for Super Bowl 50.
Before leaving for the Bay Area, club president and CEO Joe Ellis addressed the team about Bowlen.
Said head coach Gary Kubiak, “We talk about Mr. B a lot. There are obviously a lot of older players in this organization that know him. There are people in this organization that know him extremely well and there are young kids who have probably never met him, maybe have not even seen him this year.”
Kubiak said Ellis talked to the team about “how he’s doing and how he’d be very proud of this football team. It was a very good moment.”
Cornerback Aqib Talib appreciated Ellis’ words.
“He gave a nice little speech about Pat,” Talib said. “He was basically just saying what Pat would say to us with him not being able to join us and everything. He gave us a heartfelt speech.”
–Broncos safety T.J. Ward, a former star at prep powerhouse De La Salle High in nearby Concord, Calif., is back home this week.
Although he was listed as questionable because of a left ankle injury,
Ward said there is no way he will miss the game.
“I’ll be out there on Wednesday and preparing like any other week,” Ward said Monday. “I’ll be ready. …
“I can’t believe I’m back in the Bay Area for Super Bowl 50. It’s great to be back. Winning a Super Bowl, it would be a lifelong goal. But we have a job to do, so let’s go.”
He said the Broncos will feed off playing the underdog role against the Carolina Panthers.
“It’s a challenge when the media or anybody else says you can’t do something, and we’ve been thriving in that,” Ward said.
–Safety Shiloh Keo, who was sitting on his couch two months ago, will play for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday.
Keo, who played college ball at Idaho and was drafted in the fifth round in 2011 by the Houston Texans, virtually was out of football since an injury early in 2014.
When the Broncos were hit by injures in the defensive backfield, Keo’s wife suggested he contact defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Keo didn’t have Phillips’ phone number, so he contacted him on Twitter.
It has been a wild ride since.
“When I think about it, I get emotional,” said Keo, who had a failed tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals in training camp this season.
“(The Broncos) believed in me, that’s why they brought me here. They trust everybody in this locker room. I just hope I can continue to come through and bring home a championship.”
Things didn’t start so well with the Broncos for Keo, who signed on Dec. 9 and was thrown into the lineup four days later against the Oakland Raiders.
Late in that game, tight end Mychal Rivera beat him to catch a 16-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr that gave the Raiders a 15-12 victory.
However, in the final game of the regular season, Keo intercepted a pass from San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. The turnover led to Ronnie Hillman’s touchdown run that gave the Broncos a 27-20 victory and earned Denver the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed.
In the AFC Championship Game, Keo helped break up Tom Brady’s two-point conversion pass intended for New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and then recovered the onside kick that clinched Denver’s 20-18 victory and sent the Broncos to Super Bowl 50.
–At the first press conference for Super Bowl 50, the Broncos and Panthers showed their mutual admiration.
Denver quarterback Peyton Manning said Carolina’s multi-talented signal-caller, Cam Newton, will be the face of the NFL the next decade.
And Newton agreed, out of respect for Manning.
“Anything the sheriff says, you can probably ink it in gold,” Newton said.
–Broncos cornerback Chris Harris thinks Denver has Rodney Dangerfield syndrome.
“We beat the champs twice,” cornerback Chris Harris, referring to the Broncos’ victories over the New England Patriots, 30-24 in overtime on Nov. 29, then 20-18 in the AFC Championship Game.
“Nobody cared, I guess. … I do feel like we deserve more credit.”
The Broncos’ linebackers are also taking a back seat to the Panthers’ dynamic duo of Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis.
Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware are the star outside backers for Denver. Carolina’s big-play linebackers are on the inside.
“That’s who they are talking about,” Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall said about the Panthers’ pair. “We just gotta keep showing every Sunday and they’ll be talking about us, too.”
Marshall did concede one thing: “I personally think Luke Kuechly is the best linebacker in the league.”
–The Sports Xchange’s Howard Balzer and Eric Gilmore contributed to this notebook.