Bradley Roby has been a guy that I’ve never had an issue getting an answer out of. He’s open, he’s honest and he’s always willing to talk. But on Sunday night after the Denver Broncos defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-20 at home, I saw a different Roby than I had seen in the past.
After not really answering me the first time I approached him, the second time I asked him if he had a few minutes to chat, he said, “For What?” Before I could awkwardly explain, he said, “I didn’t do (anything), man. What’s there to talk about?”
For the record, Roby has been absolutely exceptional this season. He’s the 15th highest ranked corner in the NFL according to PFF. And that’s out of 156 corners graded. But on Sunday, Roby did not play up to his own standards. When you’re playing on what may be the greatest defense the franchise has ever seen, anything less than perfect is not good enough.
“I’m not happy at all with my performance,” Roby said. He added, “I left too many plays on the field and I could have made some interceptions that I definitely should have had.” He looked down for a moment, looked back up and said, “I was right there and I could have got the ball out but I didn’t. I gave up too many catches.”
I can honestly say that at about this point, I started to kind of “get it.” This wasn’t just a guy who was a little hard on himself. He was flat out pissed-off that he hadn’t played better and the craziest thing of all is that he actually played pretty darn good. He ended up with a -0.1 grade at PFF which means he wasn’t amazing but he was solid.
As for when Roby is going to forget about this, he said, “It’s not about forgetting about it, it’s about learning from it.” At this point in Roby’s career, in only his second year, he’s learned a ton and quickly. He’s had great veterans to learn from but playing behind two All-Pro’s also comes with a price. Roby hasn’t received the same playing time as other first-round picks due to this and it can be hard to work through.
“It’s frustrating sometimes because I don’t get in the game until third down. “ He added, “I come in on third down and I’m not warmed up or in the rhythm of the game. But that’s where I’m at right now (in my career) and I have to just battle through it and get better.”
Roby had a terrific rookie season and is looking like the best No. 3 corner in the game this year, on the league’s best defense. But that isn’t apparently good enough for him and when you’re as talented as he is, why should it be?
I think most fans love the idea that a player is as hard on himself as they are on him. Nobody likes to see the happy guy after a bad game. You don’t have to worry about that with Roby.
It’s safe to say we will see a hungry Bradley Roby on Sunday afternoon against the 2-2 Oakland Raiders.
