Here's how the memory of Demaryius Thomas carried the Denver Broncos to victory

DENVER — “How are you doing?”

You probably hear those words or say them dozens of times in a given week. And what I’ve learned — sometimes the hard way — is that most people don’t really want to know.

If you give an answer other than a cursory “fine” or “good,” you catch people off-guard. “How are you doing?” might as well just be “Hi” or “Hello,” just with more syllables.

Except when those words came from Demaryius Thomas.

Those words meant something to him.

And those were at the heart of one of the stories Broncos captain Justin Simmons told his young teammates who asked him about Simmons in days since Thomas’ death on Dec. 9.

Just 10 Broncos players currently on the roster were teammates with Thomas in Denver. Another, Kareem Jackson, was with the Houston Texans in 2018, when Thomas arrived via a midseason trade.

So, that leaves plenty of Broncos to turn to Simmons and other veterans to ask, “What was Demaryius like?”

Simmons said that he shared two stories. One was about kneeling during the national anthem, something that Thomas and former Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall did before the gesture spread throughout the league during the 2017 season. That was central to how Thomas saw the world and the racial injustices that persist in American society.

“They educated me a lot on what was going on, why they felt they needed to do that, some things that they were doing initiative-wise to try to help bring more awareness to what was going on around our country social-justice wise,” said Simmons.

But the other aspect of Thomas that Simmons shared was less about social justice. It was more about Thomas’ personality, and it happened during the 2016 season, Simmons’ first in the NFL.

“I’ll never forget, like, midway through the season. I was in the cafe, and he came up to me with a big smile, and he said, ‘What’s up, young fella?’ I said, ‘What’s up, DT?’ and he said, ‘How are you doing?’

“And I immediately started answering football, I was like, ‘I’m doing good, man, the playbook — you know, I have it down pat, and I’m still learning a few things here and there.’”

But that wasn’t what Thomas wanted to know when he asked his then-new teammate how he was doing.

“He cut me off and he said, ‘No, man, how are YOU doing — like, as a person?’” Simmons recalled. “And, honestly, I gave him a short, ad-libbed answer, because just in my few weeks of being there as a rookie, your head is spinning you’ve got this, you stay late for meetings, you stay early for meetings.”

How are you doing?

It’s so simple, right?

But so many say those words without giving a damn as to the answer.

Not Thomas.

“That’s an All-Pro, Pro Bowl guy asking me how I’m doing in the middle of my rookie season,” Simmons said. “I think that just spoke to his character.”

If you asked the Broncos how they were doing as a football team, the answer would be, “Fine.”

They’re in decent shape. They throttled an undermanned Detroit Lions team, 38-10. They did exactly what they needed to do: they killed a flea with a sledgehammer. Their offense accounted for all 38 points, the most a Denver offense has put on the scoreboard since Dec. 28.

They sit tied with four other teams at 7-6. They lose the tiebreaker right now, but they have four games left against AFC foes — including three against teams with winning records — to change that. They are above .500 after 13 games for the first time since 2016. All the possibilities of a season are still in play, improbable as it may seem to some of the 10,005 who had tickets, but opted not to show up, giving the Broncos their fourth-largest no-show count since 2011.

And they got there with an all-around effort. Shelby Harris forced one fumble. Simmons intercepted a pass. Both times, the football ended up in the same place: on the patch of grass in the southwest corner of the field, where “88” was painted in a circle.

“As a defense, we talked about how every takeaway we were going to dedicate and give every ball to ‘DT,’” Simmons said. “We all made sure where the logo—the number was at. That’s what happened.”

Simmons’ interception was a diving snag of a Jared Goff pass — the kind of catch that would have made Thomas proud. The ball stuck to Simmons’ gloves as he hit the ground. Then the safety made a bee-line for the 88.

“I made the play, and I kind of blacked out,” Simmons said. “The only thing I thought of was heading over there to ‘DT’ and giving him the football.”

So, football-wise, the Broncos are fine. Better than they’ve been at this point since Thomas was still posting 1,000-yard seasons.

But if you asked the Broncos organization how they were doing in their souls, they’re hurting — especially the 10 players, handful of coaches and myriad support staff who were with the club for Thomas’ eight-and-a-half seasons with the team.

In the press-conference room after the game, Simmons and wide receivers Tim Patrick and Courtland Sutton quaked with emotion. Simmons wore a black hoodie emblazoned with pictures of his fallen teammate. Patrick and Sutton wore No. 88 jerseys, matching the thousands on display in the Empower Field at Mile High grandstands Sunday.

“It was tough and it made it a tough week. It still is tough,” Sutton said. “It’s not something that you just wake up and it goes away. He’s gone and it’s sad — it’s very sad. All we can do now is try to make him as proud as we possibly can because he showed us the way.

“He gave us the roadmap and it’s on us to continue the legacy and continue to live as ‘DT’ did.”

And that doesn’t just mean playing well.

It means caring about your fellow human beings.

Demaryius Thomas, the player, thrilled the Mile High fans and lifted his team time and again. A pregame tribute video included most of the high moments, including the 80-yard catch-and-run from Tim Tebow in the 2011 wild-card round.

But on Sunday, the Broncos won for DT, ‘Bey Bey,’ the man.

The one who truly cared about how your life was going.