ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — O-T-As. “Voluntary” Organized Team Activities. Doesn’t it just excite you?
If you’re a diehard fan, it probably does, if football is your job, it probably doesn’t. Hate it or love it, it’s hard to get NFL players excited about glorified walk-throughs in May.
The problem with that, though, is the fact that OTAs are a chance to get better, and if you aren’t taking it head on, there is a team somewhere that is.
Denver Broncos veteran wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders certainly never has an issue with bringing the energy, but on Tuesday he admitted he hasn’t been thrilled with what he’s seeing from the rest of the team.
“It’s good, but it isn’t where I want it to be,” he said. “That’s what the coaches preach. We have to up the energy around here. That’s one thing that I got on the guys about today, ‘Just come out here and have a bounce to yourself.'”
“Do you know how many people are sitting on the couch or how many guys wish they were out here in the NFL being interviewed by you guys or be out there?” Sanders added. “We’re blessed to do what we do. I’m like, ‘Pick up the energy. Act like you’re happy to be here.’ Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with the job, but once you’re able to forget about the pressure, and just enjoy and embrace the game, that’s when you start having fun and winning ball games. That’s what we’re trying to get around here.”
Sanders, who is needed in a leadership role on offense, can be the catalyst for that energy. He can be the spark plug, he’s the guy who is catching passes 24/7, so how can he get the team to follow?
“By constantly preaching it,” he explained. “Smile. Smile in the face of adversity. Smile no matter what. Always have fun. Enjoy the music, have conversations. Communicate. Sometimes you’ll see a young guy who’s afraid to walk up to a coach or to me and ask a question. It goes back to that whole saying, ‘There’s no such thing as a wrong question.’ If you don’t understand, find understanding no matter how stupid the question is. That’s what it’s about: communicating. Once you start communicating a lot more, that’s when the energy level starts picking up because the sound of the football in the air just makes everybody happier. We just have to start communicating a lot more.”
One Bronco, though, thought that Sanders comment was a little bit too general.
“That’s probably something on the offensive side,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said with a laugh. “I don’t think we ever lack energy on our side. We have too many guys that have a lot of energy. Today is that day where they needed somebody to pick them up and really step out and give them the energy. They needed somebody to make that real play. That’s what they’re looking for on that side of the ball.”
Sometimes “lack of energy” can be code for “our side of the ball got worked today” and there’s no doubt the defense had the offense’s number on Tuesday.
