Many viewers of the nationally televised NFL conference championships news conferences probably were getting their first look at Jake Plummer while he wasn’t wearing a helmet, pads and Broncos jersey.
Give Plummer credit. He clearly understood the gravity of making his first impression Friday.
How else to explain why he chose to wear his best long-sleeved undershirt for the occasion? And buttoned to the top button, no less.
Count former Broncos running back great Terrell Davis among those who were impressed. About halfway through Plummer’s interview with local and national media, Davis, himself decked out in an expensive suit for his gig as NFL Network analyst, felt compelled to ask the Broncos quarterback a question.
But before he got to the imminent departure of offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak to Houston, Davis couldn’t help but comment on Plummer’s appearance.
“By the way, you look very nice,” Davis said. “Very nice.”
The reporters laughed. Plummer, sporting the Paul McCartney look of the late-’60s with his thick beard, hair parted down the middle and flowing below where his collar might have been, smiled and thanked Davis.
“He’s been talking about shaving his head and keeping the beard,” Broncos running back Tatum Bell said later. “But I guess he hasn’t gotten around to that look yet.”
By the time he was finished Friday, Plummer may have inadvertently been the most endearing of the players who participated in the four-team media day. Polite, humble and friendly, Plummer also came across as focused on the challenge ahead.
Perhaps viewers were left with a better understanding of how a long-haired, hippie-looking guy has led a professional football team to within one win of playing in the Super Bowl.
The Broncos meet the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon in the AFC championship game at Invesco Field at Mile High.
“Honestly, probably the funniest guy to me is our quarterback,” Broncos receiver Rod Smith said when asked by Davis to compare the camaraderie from this team and the John Elway-led Bronco teams that won back-to-back Super Bowls after the 1997 and 1998 seasons. “John wasn’t the jokester type. John was business. He hung out with the guys, but Jake’s always relaxed; you see him smile a lot. He keeps the whole team relaxed when they see your No. 1 guy enjoying playing football and enjoying being in the locker room around the guys.”
As for Kubiak
Anyone in Broncoland holding out hope Kubiak would not accept the head coaching offer from the Houston Texans had none once this news conference was finished. Davis and Plummer reiterated what has long been reported – that a day or two after the Broncos’ season is finished, the Texans are expected to announce Kubiak as their head coach.
“It’s been fun working with him,” Plummer said. “With him as a head coach … I don’t like to think about it because he’s one of the main reasons why I came here to Denver … to be coached by him. As a head coach I think he’ll do a great job. His time has come; he’s had opportunities in the past, but this is one where he feels right. And we’ll miss him.”
Captain T.D.
For the AFC championship game, the honorary captains will be Davis and former Steelers cornerback Rod Woodson. Both are now NFL Network analysts.
The Broncos are playing in their first AFC championship game without Davis and Elway in their backfield.
“Yeah, but it’s not that unusual,” Davis said. “It’s not like a Detroit Lions drought or a Seattle drought. The NFL is cyclical.
“What was impressive about Denver supposedly being in a down cycle is they were still having success. They just weren’t winning playoff games.”
Davis’ thoughts on the game Sunday?
“Of course I’m biased, but what I’m not sure about this team is if it gets behind,” he said. “They haven’t been behind. Our team, when we got behind, we displayed in a number of games that we could rally and put points on the board. You just don’t know that about this team. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe we’ll never have to find out.”
Footnotes
Rookie cornerback Darrent Williams missed part of the final practice Friday to rest his sore groin but is listed as probable for the game. … Besides Plummer and Smith, other Broncos participating in Friday’s news conference were coach Mike Shanahan, safety John Lynch and special-teams captain Keith Burns.
Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
