On Monday afternoon, the entire (massive) CBS crew that will have the coverage of Super Bowl 50 on Sunday was made available to the media here at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. We were able to catch up with 14-time Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez to talk about the tight end situation for the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos have struggled to involve the tight end all season, with the combination of Owen Daniels, Vernon Davis and Virgil Green only mustering up 78 catches, 891 yards and four touchdowns in the regular season.
But last week, the Broncos — Owen Daniels, specifically — finally broke through from that position, as Daniels caught two touchdowns in the first half.
“It’s huge, you know Peyton Manning, that’s something he’s always had, always,” Gonzalez said of finally getting that production. “You go back to his Indy days, Dallas Clark, Jacob Tamme, Julius Thomas when he got to Denver, that’s a big part of what he likes to do, he likes to throw to the tight end, that’s why I would have loved to have played with this guy back in our younger days.
“Every team wants one of those guys,” he added. “Especially in the red zone, and you saw Daniels do it against New England. The tight end is going to play an important part of this game whether it’s Greg [Olson], Owen [Daniels] or Vernon [Davis].”
That last name he mentioned, Vernon Davis, has been the interesting case at the position for Denver this year. Davis was brough in to break up the struggles Denver was having at the position, but his 20 catches have, seemingly, been matched by 20 drops and his zero touchdowns catches makes the narrative that he would be a red zone weapon seem foolish.
Gonzalez was asked if Davis’ decline has to do with his age.
“I don’t think being older — I mean, I played until I was 37 — I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” he said firmly. “It’s a matter of focus, when you drop footballs that’s a matter of focus, that’s not preparing the right way. It’s sad, because I thought he was going to have a huge impact once I saw that trade go down. We talked about it on the show — that this was going to be something that’s great for the Denver offense, a whole new dimension for them, but it hasn’t panned out.
“When you’re dropping balls that’s just pure focus and reps,” continued the future hall-of-famer. “I think catching — I always compare it to a jump shot in basketball — the more you do it, the more comfortable you are with it. I don’t know what’s going on, you’re getting open, you’re doing the hard part, the easy part is just catching the football, maybe it will show up this week. If he could get going that would be huge for this offense.”
The Super Bowl always seems to have one unsung hero, what a return from the dead that would be for Davis.
