ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Osweiler?
“Not present” was Brock Osweiler as the Broncos made their triumphant victory tour starting at the White House and ending at Sports Authority Field, where the team received their gaudy Super Bowl rings. He also wasn’t there when his “great friend” and mentor, Peyton Manning, announced his retirement.
Osweiler had moved on to a place he said gave him a “better chance” at success in Houston, and he wasn’t coming back. It rubbed most if not all in Broncos Country the wrong way.
On Thursday, after greeting the Denver media with cheer on a conference call, the former-Bronco-turned-Texan was bombarded from the jump. Where were you, Brock?
“The White House was pretty simple; we had an OTA that Monday,” he explained. “As we’ve talked in the past, learning a new offense, a new system like we went through in 2015 in Denver, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of repetitions and you can even multiply that when you’re trying to learn a new system, trying to learn new teammates and build chemistry. Bottom line, I wasn’t at the White House because we had an OTA… I felt like it was very important for me to be here with my new teammates and continue to learn this new system.”
That’s fair enough. Questionable but defensible. It’s the ring ceremony excuse, though—a similar excuse—that causes for a bit more eyebrow-raising.
“Ring ceremony, same deal,” Osweiler said. “You know, the ring ceremony was Sunday night; we had a practice on Monday, and if I went to the ring ceremony, I wouldn’t have been able to catch a flight to be back in time for OTAs. Bottom line, it’s the same deal. There are so few OTAs and when you’re trying to learn a new system and learn new teammates and build chemistry with a new team, every single day is extremely important.”
What makes this one different? Well, a quick look at the timeline is cause for questioning. You see, the Broncos hosted their ring ceremony on Sunday, June 12. The Texans, however, did not resume practice until Tuesday, June 14.
Or maybe they held a surprise practice on Monday that wasn’t on the schedule.
Or maybe he just misremembered why he didn’t go, it has been a while.
But hey, who hasn’t told a little white lie (or not white lie) about why you couldn’t make it?
Other than the fibbing (or not fibbing), Osweiler’s meeting with his old friends in the Denver media went pretty well. He gave a few candid answers, including his mention that the Broncos had a “very long period of time to extend an offer” to him but instead waited until the eleventh hour. The former Bronco handled a very tough line of questioning pretty well.
It wasn’t until the very last question of his meeting—when he was asked if he could understand why it was a “bad look” that he didn’t attend Manning’s retirement ceremony—that Osweiler got a bit defensive.
“I’m not really sure why that would come across as a bad look,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Bottom line, I was on vacation with my family when I received the text that he was going to have that press conference. I think, just like you guys, none of us knew when that was going to come and if it was going to come and how that was going to work. Bottom line, I was on vacation with my family, and I wasn’t going to leave the one vacation I get with my parents or my brother and my wife to race back last minute.”
To put this in meme terms for the millennials of the world, Brock Osweiler isn’t mad that people think he avoided the Broncos all summer, it’s actually funny to him.
