Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph "wasn't totally pleased" with how his D played last week. "I wasn't totally pleased with our tackling. We missed, like, 10 tackles for, like, 45 yards ... the 3rd downs early [weren't] very good. ... I expect us to play better."

I don't think it's possible for any player to love being with a team more than Garett Bolles loves being a part of the Broncos. "To be a part of this and watch this all evolve into something special ... It's truly a special time for me and my family to be a part of," he says.

Broncos coach Sean Payton, on Bill Belichick: "And I'll be honest with you: I miss him, not being in the league. ... And I wouldn't be surprised -- and I would be somewhat hopeful -- that he ends up back in the league. That, we'd all be better for. He's something."

Broncos CB Riley Moss points to last year's loss at Kansas City as a turning point in the Broncos starting to learn how to win close games. But that being said ...

“We don’t enjoy being that close at the end of the game. I’m gonna lose hair. I’m gonna end up bald at 35.”

There's "some magic" to Bo Nix's off-script ability, Adam Trautman says, but making it work for big plays also involves preparation, planning and experience for the receiving targets with Nix to make sure they're in proper position, as Trautman explains:

Broncos coach Sean Payton, on Bo Nix possessing traits that are not coachable: "When you can climb (the pocket) and gain 11 yards, some people have that; some don't. In other words, we can't go work on that on Field B. And -- so, he has that. ..."

Can the Broncos change some national perceptions with a beatdown of the Commanders tonight? My thoughts from Landover, Md.:

“No doubt,” Pat Surtain II said when I asked about whether the Broncos and he elected to not rush him back from the partial tear of his pectoral muscle. “Obviously we know we at a good state with the team, so … I took my time with it.”

The Broncos lead the NFL in penalty yards heading into today, CB Riley Moss leads the NFL in penalty yards, and DC Vance Joseph makes no excuses. "I do like how aggressive we play & how we bounce back from the penalties," Joseph says. "It's not the league; it's not the officials. We have to fix it."

Broncos coach Sean Payton, on points of emphasis he conveyed to his team to improve out of the bye: "The penalties stand out ... and then secondly is harping on the plus-minus turnover [differential]."

Denver has an NFL-worst 93 penalties & is T-19 in turnover margin (minus-3).

I’m an unabashed Adam Trautman enthusiast.

“If you’re talking s*** about Bo online, you’re a coward. Absolute coward… We don’t really care what people have to say, so, Dragonslayer69 w/ his 7-11 Slurpee in his mom’s basement, I don’t give a s*** what he has to say, right? And Bo doesn’t, either.”

Broncos QB Bo Nix, on tuning out the noise: “I delete all my social media; I don’t even have it. So, unless somebody says it to my face, I don’t even hear it.”

Broncos LB Alex Singleton, on his testicular cancer diagnosis: "Yeah. It's funny, the doctor all week was like, 'Please stop Googling things.' So, I haven't Googled much. I've tried not to, because obviously, you start Googling any kind of cancer ..."

Asked J.K. Dobbins about Broncos fans booing the offense repeatedly on Thursday night, and his response was simple: "They should."

"We're not very good at times, so, they should be mad because we have so much talent. We just gotta get together. ... We have the guys to figure it out and we will."

Broncos RB J.K. Dobbins: "The defense is winning us the games, and we're not helping them. We're not doing them any justice. We're not. I feel bad the way we play on offense and the way they play on defense because they're doing so great and then we're doing so bad. And they're our brothers, too."