Cut on Tuesday by the only NFL team for which he’s played, defensive end DeMarcus Ware had a new job by Wednesday evening.
And he’s excited by the prospects of playing for a Broncos team doing all it can to get to the top of the mountain.
“Just their mentality is a ‘now’ mentality,” Ware told reporters at his introductory press conference. “A mentality of, ‘I’m not looking forward to the next season or the season after that -- the time is now.’ So when I see [cornerback Aqib] Talib [signing with the Broncos], I’m like, ‘You know what? They’re trying to get the job done.’ When I see them signing a guy like [safety T.J.] Ward, they’re trying to get the job done. They’re trying to get these lockdown corners so the pass-rush up front can really create havoc out there. Seeing what they’re doing, now I feel even more comfortable even being here doing that with where they’re trying to be and where they’re trying to have their defense and what they’re trying to mold.”
Ware realizes that the Broncos learned the hard way via the Super Bowl loss to Seattle that it’s time to beef up the defensive side of the ball.
"[T]he motto has always been ‘Defense wins championships,’” Ware said. “You can see a lot of teams that maybe have a mediocre offense but their defense is really good. They get good field position, they get more turnovers, short fields, so they’re able to still score points and get the job done and make the playoffs and make the Super Bowl. Now you flip that around and you can see when Seattle played the Broncos, you had a guy like Peyton [Manning] who can score points and get all that done, but the Seahawks defense can really create havoc and sort of stop guys from doing what they do best. So [the Broncos] turned around and said, ‘You know what? We’re fixing to beef up our defense. We’ve got our offense, now let’s go and get our defense right. Because we know we’re a contender.’”
The Broncos know they won’t have Peyton Manning much longer. So they decided to go all in now, plucking free agents not after the market has settled but right out of the gates, adding to a team that needs to close a 35-point gap with the Seahawks.
While the gap has indeed been closed, the Broncos likely still have work to do to outscore Seattle if they meet again in the NFL title game.