Sports Radio Interviews

The Denver Broncos Month of Misery Is Now Over

The Denver Broncos month of misery is now over. The Broncos had a November to forget in which they went 1-4 but are now back on track after beating the Giants 26-6 on Thanksgiving night. Sunday’s win ended a four-game losing streak and has put them within one game of the divison-leading San Diego Chargers. After starting the season 6-0 it seemed as though nothing could go wrong for them when they beat the Bengals on a last-second miracle catch, held on to beat the Cowboys with a last-second goal line stand, and beat Josh McDaniels former team, the New England Patriots, in overtime. Then came their bye week and the train derailed. I am not sure what happened but they weren’t running the ball the same and their defense disappeared.

Thanksgiving night was quite the contrary. They had 138 yards rushing, created three turnovers, and sacked Eli Manning three times. Two of those sacks were by Elvis Dumervil who also leads the NFL in sacks this season with fourteen. Dumervil is in his fourth season out of the University of Louisville and has had to answer questions throughout high school and college about him being too small and slow to play defensive end. In high school, he was recruited by many colleges but most of them wanted him to change positions and make him give up his passion for rushing the quarterback, except for Louisville. It was there that he had a great career and set NCAA records for the most sacks in a game with six and the most forced fumbles in a career with eleven. If the Broncos want to win the AFC West, they better make sure Dumervil continues to play the position he loves at the level he is now playing or else…

Elvis Dumervil joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta to talk about the meaning of his name, what he did in the offseason that has helped him this season, what was going on with the team during their four-game losing streak, and his thoughts on Josh McDaniels and the way he has done so far this season.

On the meaning to his name:

“My Dad was an Elvis Presley fan and I guess that is where it comes from.”

On what he did in the offseason that has helped him this season:

“Oh man its combined a lot of things. Its hard work. A lot of hard work and faith in just believing in yourself and taking care of your body and doing things necessary to help you become a better athlete. I am surrounded by a lot of good players and a good coaching staff and it has been a great year for me so far.”

On what was going on with the team during their four-game win streak:

“It was tough. It was something that we couldnt really control but we all had to stick together and we believed in one another and we had to have better practices and be more focused and it felt good to get that four-game losing streak to an end.”

On his college days and if coaches tried to change his position because of his size:

“Yeah actually a couple colleges offered me to play fullback, some linebacker. I just had a knack for rushing the quarterback so I always wanted to play defensive end. So I went to a school that had the opportunity and Louisville was one of those schools.”

Whether he would have liked to play at a school in Florida but Louisville was one of the schools that allowed him to play defensive end:

“Bobby Bowden came down and told me that I was too short. Coaches from Miami wanted me to change positions, and the Florida Gators Steve Spurrier ended up leaving that year so it was kind of a mess. I had two brothers at Syracuse and Louisville and I decided to go where family was at.”

On Brian Dawkins calling a players-only meeting and whether that was the difference on Sunday:

“Dawkins talks and you know he is one o those emotional leaders and vocal leaders… I think at times as a team you just want to talk as players and just want to get everybody penned and just want to get everybody in the same direction. So it was just pretty much something like that. We was all just going through a four-game losing stream and we just wanted to talk as a team.”

Whether the team teased Brandon Marshall for letting Knowshon Moreno get in his face:

“I mean it is football man. Guys get emotional and it means a lot to us. Sometimes it is family members and you have a little altercation or anything happens. It was not that serious. We thought as a team those guys don’t play the same position and they just want to win and sometimes you get competitive and things like that happen… I would say as brothers you don’t want to go out and fight you just kind of want to get each others attention and that’s what happened. it was about nobody getting punked or nothing like that. Brandon just wanted to just talk to him and get his point across and that was that.”

Elvis Dumervil on 790 the Zone in Atlanta with 2 Live Stews

Tags: AFC West, Brandon Marshall, Broncos started off undefeated, Denver Broncos, Elvis Dumervil, Josh McDaniels, Knowshon Moreno, NFL