There’s no question the Broncos took a couple of cheap helmet-to-helmet shots at Cam Newton during last Thursday’s season opener against the Panthers…
But the Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall says that doesn’t mean they are “dirty” players.
“We’re not dirty,” Marshall said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post. “When I think of dirty, I think of stepping on somebody’s ankle at the bottom of a pile [or] twisting somebody around. Stuff like that. We just play hard, man. We hit hard. We play fast. We play faster than any defense in the league.
“Just because we hit Cam in the head a couple of times, that doesn’t make us dirty. Look at some of the dirty plays in the league. There are a lot of dirty players, and that’s not our M.O.”
“The guy is running at me, there’s nobody around and I leave my coverage — that’s how important it is,” Marshall said. “I leave my coverage just to try to hit him. . . . The guy, he ran the ball 11 times for, what, 54 yards? That’s a good day for a quarterback in my opinion.”
“We were just playing ball. Speed of the game. Dirty is intentional.”
I know a few guys who wouldn’t say intentionally lunging at a quarterback’s head isn’t “just playing ball.” Just be ready for that fine Brandon.
It’s about time the referees start giving the league MVP the same type of respect that was given to Peyton and is given to Tom.