He doesn’t get hurries — shoot, it’s hard to think anyone weighing a metric ton can hurry at all. And he seldom sacks. But Terrance “Pot Roast” Knighton, the devouring defensive tackle, is imperative for Denver’s defense. We don’t boast about Pot Roast the way we do DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller and, lately, Malik Jackson. But, as cornerback Aqib Talib explained Tuesday, “It all starts with T-Knight up front.”
Sixty-seven yards. That’s how many opponents run again Denver. Can you fathom this? Opponents run for 67 yards per game. Opponents total just 4.6 yards per play (pass or run). Both of these are first in the National Football League. I’m not ready to announce that this defense is better than the 2012 defense, but talk to me in December.
For the season, Knighton rates out at 4.4 on run defense on , a sturdy ranking. He’s struggled in a few of the games this season — I’m not anointing him Canton-bound — but it’s just fun to watch him bulldoze and bully and set up teammates.
Earlier in this season, Knighton called himself the “Chris Paul” of the Broncos — Knighton gets the “assist” for gobbling up the offensive linemen and allowing Miller and Ware and Derek Wolfe (WareWolfe?) to tally the sacks.
And even though it was at winless Oakland, Denver still had to ascend on the road. And this week, Denver is on the road again, this time in St. Louis.
“I just think the ultimate character of a team shows when you play on the road,” Knighton said. “It’s easier to play at home when the crowd is on your side and you don’t have to travel and you don’t have certain circumstances you have to overcome. If you’re a great team on the road and you’re a great team at home, you know you’re doing something right. It also shows the type of fight you have as a team when you go into somebody’s house and throw the first punch.”
Chew on this
• People are still talking on Twitter and Friendster about C.J. Anderson’s amazing touchdown for Denver at Oakland, comparing it to the famous Reggie Bush run. So, here’s the famous Reggie Bush run.
• Did you catch “Rand University” on ESPN on Tuesday night? It was the latest “30 for 30” documentary. I had forgotten that Randy Moss was part of one of the fascinating quartets in Heisman history — Moss, Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson and the infamous Ryan Leaf.
• With , I couldn’t help but think of other famous bullies. No man captured the essence better than , who cornered the market on teen bully with his role as not only Johnny in “The Karate Kid,” but also the “Johnny” in “Back to School,” the Rodney Dangerfield vehicle that gave us the great hot-tub line: “What’s a bath without bubbles? … Hey Bubbles, get in here!”
• Best story of the day? Newark Star-Ledger columnist Steve Politi wrote this piece:
• Happy 34th birthday to my doppelganger Ryan Gosling.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or
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