Broncos look to instill fear in Patriots

It may not be the Broncos-Patriots match-up we expected…

“When you walk in a meeting room Saturday night and Peyton’s not there, and Demarcus’ isn’t there,” said Broncos’ head coach Gary Kubiak. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

But Brock Osweiler is looking forward to Sunday night against New England.

“[The Patriots] all play hard,” said Osweiler. “They all play like it’s their last play, and you can see that on tape.”

Don’t misunderstand – Osweiler isn’t scared of the Patriots’ defense.

“It’s just a football game at the end of the day,” said Osweiler. “11 guys are going to line up against 11 guys.”

The 11 guys on the Broncos’ defense hope to instill a little fear of their own.

“[We want to] keep Tom Brady rattled, keep the timing between him and [Rob Gronkowski] off, beat him up a bit, and take care of the other guys.”

Of course we’ll have to wait for the next installment of the Tom Brady/Peyton Manning rivalry. But as this is the second opportunity for the Broncos to knock a team from the ranks of the unbeaten – at home, in prime time – there’s a little extra juice going into this one.

“I’m able to live my dream,” said Broncos’ cornerback Aqib Talib. “[I get to] play in the NFL, practice with Peyton Manning, and play against Tom Brady. I mean, that’s enough pumped up for me right there.”

Aqib Talib is more pumped up than a Patriots’ football … which isn’t saying much.

T.J. Ward is all about the losses.

“We just try to give every team that comes here that we play another loss,” said Ward. “Another loss in that column – that’s what we want to do every week.”

To hand the Patriots a loss – the Broncos defense will need to contain a roaming polar bear… and the “golden boy.”

But they seem ready for the challenge.