ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — More than any other sport, football uses language associated with war. Military wars.
Blitz. The bomb. Formation. Attack. Gunners. Weapons. Battle.
From time to time, a sports editor will forbid their writers from using terms associated with the life-and-death reality of wars in stories about the game of football. A game is not life and death -- at least, it’s not supposed to be.
Broncos special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica knows the difference. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Kotwica spent eight years in the United States Army, where he flew the famed Apache Longbow helicopter and was involved in operations in Bosnia, Korea and Iraq.
This is now his 16th season as an NFL special teams coach, first with head coach Sean Payton.
“Oftentimes, people assimilate football to war,’’ Kotwica said. “Having been part of both and being in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 with the men and women in uniform, we were a great team. That’s where I would start—the team. You’re working together and everybody is pulling together for a common goal and you’re bringing people together from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and ages.
“When I was a commander, I had a 43-year-old war officer that was a pilot, and I had a crew chief that was 19 years old. I’ve used those experiences from the military. That’s what has been great about coach Payton—attention to detail, time on task, delegating authority. There is a whole plethora of things.
"The one thing I’ve seen here with coach Payton is the leadership. I don’t think leadership is something you can put your finger on, but you can feel it. That’s what I’ve seen so far.”
Fight! Fight!
They don’t wear pads during offseason practice, but during the 2 ½-hour minicamp practice at Centura Health Training Center on a warm Wednesday – long by regular-season standards, much less on Flag Day – the Broncos did get after it. They always get after it now that Payton is their head coach.
During an 11-on-11 team drill featuring backup units, tight end Tommy Hudson got into a pushing, shoving and shouting match with outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.
After the altercation was broken up, Payton called his team together for a meeting. He brought up the late-hit, out-of-bounds penalty Bengals’ linebacker Joseph Assai received on Patrick Mahomes with 8 seconds left in a 20-20 AFC Championship Game that put the Chiefs in position for a last-second, game-winning field goal, which Harrison Butker made to send Kansas City to the Super Bowl.
“We have to be able to understand—discipline-wise—how to get to the edge, but not cross the line,’’ Payton said.
Practice?
In recent years, almost every team cancels the final day of minicamp practice either altogether or for a fun-filled, team-bonding event like a golf outing or paintball or a Fangio Field Day. However, Payton as of Wednesday afternoon said he is going forward with practice for the final day of the offseason Thursday.
“Now, the time constraints tomorrow are much different,’’ he said. “Basically, there’s ‘X’ number of hours that they give you for three days (of minicamp). We took the big chunks yesterday and today. Tomorrow will be a much shorter practice, but it’ll be practice.”
Perine said to be OK
Running back Samaje Perine headed to the trainer’s room with a trainer with about 20 minutes left in practice. Payton said Perine had his thumb examined but thought he would be fine.
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