Broncos edge rusher Nick Bonitto discusses the upcoming AFC Championship game against New England, the team’s feelings after losing to starting quarterback Bo Nix, his confidence in backup QB Jarrett Stidham and being named a finalist for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
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ROB MADY, HOST: Welcome to football, I’m Rob Maddy. The NFL has championship Sunday. Broncos home against the Patriots. A rematch from 10 years ago when it was Peyton Manning against Tom Brady and now it will be Drake Mays against Jarrett Stidham after Bo Nix broke his ankle in the win against Buffalo. Tough, terrible news for the Broncos. You have to feel for Bo Nix, but Jarrett Stidham is going to step up there. Our guest is Nick Bonito. He’s a Defensive Player of the Year finalist, edge rusher for the Broncos, so we’ll talk to him about the game. And in the NFC, it’s Rams-Seattle, part three. The Seahawks and Rams split the season series, each at home. This time he will be in Seattle, more information will be given about it in Pro Picks.
Life as a head coach in the NFL is a tough job. Yes, there are only 32 of them in the world, and it sounds glamorous, but sometimes even winning doesn’t guarantee job security. Vince Lombardi once said, winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Well, sometimes in the NFL, the only thing that happens is winning the Super Bowl, and then some guys get fired a few years later. Look at Sean McDermott. The Buffalo Bills let him go after seven consecutive playoff appearances, six of which were with Josh Allen at quarterback. They did not advance beyond the AFC Championship Game. And they lost to the Broncos in the divisional round this year. And now, Sean McDermott is available. Buffalo has landed a great head coach. John Harbaugh was fired. He has been a winning head coach. He landed with the giants. It happened to Andy Reid in Philadelphia several years ago. John Fox in Denver, Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay. Sometimes winning doesn’t guarantee you’ll keep your job. And those owners are hoping for a Super Bowl and they may not get it.
Nick Bonito is one of the best edge rushers in the NFL. This year, he is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award. Here’s my conversation with Nick. Well, first of all, I want to start off, you’ve had a great, great year. You’re a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. What does it mean to you to be considered for that award?
Nick Bonitto, Broncos edge rusher: No, you’re lying right now.
Maddi: No, man, for sure. You are a finalist for DPOY.
Bonito: Oh God, no, this is crazy. I mean it’s just, I don’t even have words for it right now. I mean, it’s an honor to be out there with a group of the greatest defensive players in the game. So man, he was very sweet.
Maddi: What does it take for you to really have a season like this, from where you spent a few years in the league and then you really found your stride last year and now to get here and be at a point where you’re playing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl, but also getting individual accolades?
Bonito: Um, yes, I mean, it’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of, you know, just growing up and wanting to be in the league and wanting to, I mean, we have a special opportunity right now where, um, you know, some guys don’t get to play for a chance to go to the Super Bowl in their lives. And obviously it’s wonderful with the praise and stuff. But I mean when you talk about being at the pinnacle of the game and being able to get there with your team, I mean it’s pretty special.
Maddi: When you go into a season, do you set aside personal goals and say, I’d like to achieve this, that, or something else?
Bonito: Not necessary. Umm, I always go into the year wanting to be better than the year before. Like what are the things that you know, I didn’t do last year, um, things that I can be better at and you know, even the things that I did, how can we enhance those types of things and continue to be better at those as well. So that’s how I look at it on a year-to-year basis
Maddi: How much do you enjoy playing for a coordinator like Vance?
Bonito: Oh, I love it, man. I mean, you know, VJ, he’s really a guy who motivates all his players and gets the best out of them. And when they just talk about this game, I mean it’s a perfect fit for certain guys on the team. This shows us his versatility. I know with the OLB, it gives us an opportunity to show that we can rush the pass or defend the run, you know, drop back into coverage. So it provides you a lot of things to showcase your talent and what God has given you.
Maddi: And then to be part of a defense where you got Zach Allen, who’s an All-Pro, you got Patrick Surtain, who was Defensive Player of the Year last year. And you have a lot of talent on that defense. How much does just being able to focus and do your work help you, Nick?
Bonito: Oh yes, and you know that’s the beauty of it when you play with so many great players. You just have to do your work. You don’t need to step out on your own. You don’t have to try to reach plays and things like that because you know you have other people who can do that. Especially on the D-line, man, we got a bunch of dogs and even on the back end with all those guys, like you said, Pat, Huff, all those guys back there. So you never need to put too much effort into this defense. We’re just focused on doing our job and making plays.
Maddi: I know Saturday was a mixture of emotions, right? You guys win that game, you advance to the AFC Championship Game, and then you all find out about Bo and his unfortunate ankle situation. What was it like reaching the heights and then having to deal with reality?
Bonito: Yeah, I mean, obviously, it was a huge win. Everyone fought hard and we won that game. And obviously, when news like this comes out, it’s kind of… not gonna lie, it hurts. Just because we know what type of leader Bo was for our team. We know what a great player he is. We know how hard he works. So we hurt for him more than anything. But at the same time, we know we have an opportunity in front of us, and we have a great quarterback in Steedy who is capable of helping us win as well. So, it was very sad and we were hurt for him. But at the same time, we have an opportunity to play for him and win a Super Bowl for him.
Maddi: What have you seen in practice, not just this week, like in training camp or whenever you’ve had a chance to watch Jarrett in practice?
Bonito: Yes, I always tell stories. I was telling people just yesterday. He’s really funny because he’ll be there, you know, he’ll be throwing dots, like throwing no-look passes in practice, and then he’ll even tell us about it, man, talking trash to anybody. So, you know, he has full confidence in himself, and you have to play in that position, and that’s why I’m really excited for him to go out. You know, he’s earned the opportunity to go out and showcase his talents, and I can’t wait to see him.
Maddi: How do you make sure that you guys don’t put extra pressure on yourself as a defense? Because I think it can be normal, it can be natural where you feel like, OK, we’ve got a backup quarterback there, we have to be perfect. And instead of being perfect, go out and play your game. How to ensure you do this?
Bonito: Yeah, and I also feel like, you know, with Steedy or Bo, our mentality is anyway where we don’t want to make mistakes. Obviously, it’s football. Mistakes will definitely happen, but we want to minimize mistakes. We want to be able to make life easier for crime. We want to be able to create turnovers and all these different things to give them a smaller field or give them more opportunities to get the ball. So I don’t think we feel the extra pressure defensively. I just feel like we always have to come forward with a mentality where we don’t have to rely on offense to win games. We always want to have it on us.
MAADDI: Time for some pro picks. Last week the four-pack was 3-1 straight up, 1-3 against the spread. Overall this year, four-pack, straight up 56-21-1, 46-31-1 against the numbers. The Patriots are 16-3, they’re in Denver, they’re 15-3. The Broncos are a 5 1/2-point home underdog because Bo Nix is ​​out. Jarrett Stidham is at quarterback. But I wouldn’t write off the Broncos. We’ve seen backup quarterbacks step up and lead their teams to the Super Bowl. Nick Foles did this for the Eagles against the Patriots against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick a few years ago. Denver got great defense. We’ve just heard from Nick Bonito and Zac Allen, Patrick Surtain, they’ve got all those guys. And they have to try to pull off some upsets against the Patriots. Drake Mays fumbled several times in the postseason. He has also done many plays. He has attacked the ball tremendously for New England. Denver has a defense that can dominate at times. Last week, of course, he gave up 30 points against Josh Allen and the Bills and still came out on top. I see this game coming to an end. If Jarrett Stidham doesn’t turn the ball over, if he’s a game manager, he’ll put them in a position where maybe they can win it for a long time. Patriots, they’re healthy, they’ve got their starting quarterback. Drake Mays had a tremendous season. He is one of the finalists for the NFL MVP award and the Offensive Player of the Year award. Spoke to him this weekend, he’s ready to go. I think Drake Mays takes it out in the end. Denver got its chances, kept it close, but the Patriots won it 20–16. they win. The Broncos cover the numbers. The NFC Championship Game is a showdown between the two best teams in the West. The LA Rams are 14-5, 15-3 in Seattle. The Seahawks are two and a half point home favorites. The Rams are looking for their third consecutive win in these playoffs. They eliminated Carolina and then they went to overtime against Chicago. The Seahawks dominated the 49ers last week. And I look at this game and it comes to me, Matthew Stafford, MVP candidate, one of the finalists against Sam Darnold, who has struggled in his last three games against the Rams. He’s got seven interceptions, he’s been sacked 13 times. One of those games was last year’s playoff game with the Vikings. Now, they rallied the Seahawks back from a 16-point deficit in December to win a game in overtime. Ultimately I believe this game will come down to one mistake that Sam Darnold makes and Matthew Stafford does not and that is why I am taking the Rams to win this game 27-26.
That’s all for this week. Thank you for watching and listening to On Football. Thanks to Nick Bonito and thanks to Haya Panjwani and Guillermo Gonzalez for producing this episode. Please visit News.com for more pro picks, football analysis and more NFL news.
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