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If you are going to be a starter in the NFL or a major-college program, you are going to have to beat out other great quarterbacks.
When we're not on the practice field, I'm watching tape, and when I'm not watching tape, I'm doing body work or something like that.
You can't take a single day for granted in the National Football League. Every single day, you need to earn your spot on the roster.
I had a tremendous one season playing for Coach Kubiak, and I have nothing but great things to say about him as a person and a coach.
When Peyton went into the game and remained the starter, it was OK with me because our team was winning games. We won a championship.
Bottom line, I have nothing but respect for Peyton Manning... He was always a great teammate to me; he's still a great friend to this day.
Any coach, any team in the NFL, if they had Peyton Manning healthy and ready to play, I think we all know who is going to play in the game.
I had to wait my turn. I had to learn that even when you're sitting behind somebody, you still have a chance to learn something every single day.
I think anytime that you can eliminate the big hit, it's obviously not only going to be good for your team, but it's going to be good for yourself.
Whenever you are in a new system, and you go on summer break and come back for training camp Day 1, you don't know how much is really going to stick.
I could probably stand up and have a press conference and thank 100 guys within that Denver organization, along with all those teammates I played with.
Decisions need to be made in milliseconds out on the field, and you need to almost know what the other guy is thinking and exactly what he's going to do.
I think any time an offense struggles with developing a rhythm, struggles with scoring points, I think the first thing you have to examine is the quarterback.
Training camp is a grind, and it truly is all about embracing that grind and coming out here and forgetting about the heat and working to get better every single day.
I have tremendous respect for both John Elway and Peyton Manning as people and as quarterbacks in the NFL, but I was not concerned one bit with playing in their shadow.
My belief is whether I'm the starter, whether I'm the backup, I'm going to show up the same exact way. I'm going to prepare the same exact way, and I'll always be ready to go.
I've always been a leader. If someone was getting picked on in school, I'd try to deflate that situation by inviting that kid to eat lunch with me. I've always tried to be a uniter.
I have great respect for Greg Knapp, who was my quarterbacks coach in Denver for three years. He taught me so much about playing quarterback in the NFL and made me a better football player.
It's very exciting... what DeAndre brings to the game is truly special. To have the opportunity to play with a football player like that, that's what gets a quarterback out of bed in the morning.
I think one thing as far as my learning curve and what I'm learning - there is a time to take a sack, and then there is also a time to try to find a way to maybe throw the ball at a receiver's feet.
I think anytime you put the weight of the world on yourself saying, 'I have to perform,' or, 'I have to get a completion. I have to throw a touchdown,' nine times out of 10, I think you're going to fail.
Any competitor would be frustrated in that moment... but it certainly made sense what Coach Kubiak did for the playoff run. I got replaced by Peyton Manning... I think we all know who is going to play in the game.
Obviously it happens very fast on the field during the game; if anything, it's more of a feel. You feel when the pocket is collapsing around you. You feel when someone is close to you. It is a split-second decision.
We all know that the NFL is the best of the best, and there's great competition across the board, so any time you're hurt or something like that, and another guy gets his opportunity, he's going to try to make the most of it.
There's not a lot of time to have conversations on the field during the game. That's where the trust and the practice comes into play, through practice, through off-site throwing sessions; that's where you build that trust and build that cohesion with a wide receiver.
I would need a book to describe Jamal Miles. He can do it all. We line him up in the slot. We bring him into the backfield. We hand the ball to him. We send him in motion and get him the ball. He throws the football. He might be the best athlete I've ever been around in my life.
A lot of people say, 'Oh, playing backup quarterback, that's the best position in the world.' Well, what they don't understand is when we leave the building at 5 o'clock on Wednesday or Thursday when practice wraps up, we still need to go home and study and prepare just like you're the starter.
I've always approached the game, going back to when I got drafted in 2012 to Denver, like I was going to be the starter. That's how you have to prepare, whether you are first string, second string or third string, because you never know when something is going to happen to the guy in front of you.
My wife will act as the offensive coordinator at times during the evening. I'll have her read the full play to me. I'll sit there and try to picture it, spit it back out to her, make sure I'm verbalizing it the right way so that when I step into the huddle the next day in practice, things are coming out clear.
For Mr. Elway to take me in the second round and show that trust that he has in me and the upside he thinks I have, I want to go out and there and prove him right. I want to be able to have him look back 10 years from now, 15 years from now, and have him be very proud about that selection and let him know that he did make the right selection.