The league office may huff and puff, but at least the ratings won’t blow.
In advance of a Monday night showdown between the Texans and Broncos, which features the return of quarterback Brock Osweiler to Denver, the defense doesn’t plan to slay any fatted calves for the prodigal son.
“There’s no ill will toward Brock,” linebacker Brandon Marshall said, via TheDenverChannel.com. “I am happy he got paid. But it’s competition. We want to kill him.”
Marshall doesn’t mean that literally. We think.
Other Broncos have been less colorful with their language. And Marshall was more tactful about the team’s plans for Osweiler in comments distributed by the team.
“We know that Brock likes to hold the ball so I feel that we can get a lot of good pressure on him,” Marshall said. “Just watching their offense, I think this can be a great week for us, I can say that.”
It could be a great week for Monday Night Football, if more players provide more WWE-style quotes to hype up the game. One of the reasons that the prime-time contests seem less interesting this year could be that there simply hasn’t been enough -- or any -- public acrimony in advance of kickoff.