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  • Keeler: Can Broncos QB Bo Nix be fixed? Yep! But Sean Payton needs to do these 4 things first

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    Can we really call Bo Nix’s feet “happy” when they make Broncos Country so miserable?

    If I’m Sean Payton, the first thing I’m doing with Nix is sitting the quarterback down in my office. The second thing is popping open my laptop. The third is showing Nix a clip of the last 45 seconds from the first half of Broncos-Chargers this past Sunday.

    The fourth is congratulating the kid for finding Courtland Sutton over the top for a sumptuous 52-yard score on fourth-and-2. The fifth is asking Nix to lean in closer to the laptop. To take a long, careful look at his tootsies on that perfect rainbow to Sutton.

    They’re set.

    Like a mighty oak. Right foot planted. Rock back. Smooth release. Easy money.

    Nix has 21 NFL starts under his belt. He still tippy-taps in the pocket like a skittish rookie.

    We love Bo because he can go “off-script,” which is football shorthand for improvising when stuff hits the fan. The ability to turn nothing into something.

    The problem: Nix’s feet are so fast, they’re sometimes two steps ahead of his brain.

    He’s a talented young man locked in an almost constant internal struggle. His upper half is running the play while his lower half is plotting an escape route.

    When the two are in tandem, you get Sutton walking, untouched, into the end zone. But those joys are rare these days. Bo’s mechanics won’t allow it.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Broncos locker room defends Bo Nix after Chargers loss: ‘It’s not on him’

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    INGLEWOOD, Calif. — J.K. Dobbins has spent six long years in the NFL, a running back smart enough to make it to 26 in this league because of his vision between the tackles. Because of his balance. Because of his ability to see what’s coming, as an onslaught of bodies turns toward him.

    He saw what was coming in the locker room Sunday, too, as an onslaught of narratives turned toward him.

    After Bo misses a couple of throws today — nope. Dobbins shook his head. Then he nipped a question about his quarterback in the bud before it even began.

    “Nah, he ain’t miss no throws,” Dobbins replied. “He ain’t miss no throws. He played a great game.

    “And we got his back, I got his back,” the running back continued. “He’s a great quarterback. It’s a team game. We lost as a team. It’s not on him. Guys gotta — I gotta make more plays for him.”

    Bo Nix is wired to win, sure. He’s also wired to not lose. His motivation pulls from the self-expressed fear of not being enough for his locker room. That concept, Nix professed in July, is what will keep him from enduring an off year in Year 2.

    After Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Chargers, though, Nix sits well below last year’s second-half takeoff in yards per attempt (5.6), QB rating (83.4) and completion percentage (64.2%). And Dobbins might disagree — but the Broncos quarterback left a few massive plays on the field Sunday.

    There was Nix’s misfire on a second-quarter third-and-16, when Payton conjured up some magic from the dregs of his play-caller’s cauldron and Nix had a wide-open Marvin Mims Jr. streaking to the end zone … only to bomb it just long.

    There was Nix’s misfire on a third-quarter end-zone throw to Mims, when he had him streaking toward the end zone from 28 yards out … only to get whacked and fire it just past his fingertips.

    And there was Nix’s misfire on a damning fourth-quarter go-ball to Courtland Sutton, when the quarterback had his go-to man streaking free on a third-and-10 … only to chuck it just past his fingertips.

    Through it all, even as Nix has been a mixed bag to start his sophomore year, a locker room well aware of their 25-year-old QB’s psyche has formed a verbal shield around their leader.

    “I always tell Bo, it’s never always on him,” Sutton said in the locker room Sunday. “It’s a full team effort. None of us go out there and play a perfect game.

    “And, I don’t want him to ever feel the pressure of needing to be perfect for us to go out there and be successful. We all have our hand in the pot.”

    Nix finished 14-of-25 passing for 153 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions — a stat-line that’d ordinarily seem fine but belied the underlying truth of several massive missed opportunities. Head coach Sean Payton, though, emphasized there was “no conversation” necessary with Nix after overthrowing a few such opportunities, the same HC that scoffed at any need for a Nix “growth meter” early in 2025.

    “Keep slinging,” Payton said. “The last thing we want is to — I mean, man, those are almost spot-on.”

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos-Chargers report card: Bo Nix, Sean Payton’s offense can’t connect late

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    In the second straight Sunday with a gut-wrenching loss, the Broncos fell three games to the back of the pack of the AFC West with a 23-20 loss to the Chargers. Here’s The Post’s report card from the loss.

    OFFENSE — C-

    Where to even begin? The Broncos’ first three drives Sunday went for three straight three-and-outs, a haunted house of penalties, ineffective run-blocking and personnel scattering on and off the field like lab rats. Up until a two-minute drill to end the first half, Denver had exactly 42 yards of offense. And then Sean Payton cast magic.

    Bo Nix’s 52-yard touchdown bomb to Courtland Sutton on a fourth-and-2 opened the floodgates, and J.K. Dobbins got rolling in the second half after finishing with negative yardage in the first. But Denver bungled five — five — chances to extend their lead to two scores in the second half after taking resounding control of the game in the second half. The final one was a killer: Nix overthrowing Sutton streaking down the right sideline on a third-and-10 by a few fingertips. An image that’ll live in Broncos fans’ heads for a long time.

    DEFENSE — B+

    The demise of the Broncos’ pass-rush was greatly exaggerated.

    Denver had three first-quarter sacks and never let up on Justin Herbert all day, even when the Chargers’ offense got going. It takes a significant amount of force to keep the 6-foot-6, 236-pound Herbert on the turf, and yet Dondrea Tillman popped him so hard in the fourth quarter that Herbert lay for a few beats after a third-down completion. The Chargers’ offensive line seemed to be simply waving feathers at the Broncos’ front in the second half, with Nik Bonitto blowing up star Los Angeles tackle Joe Alt all afternoon. But Herbert’s iron-clad frame kept firing, and the Chargers’ quarterback diced up the Broncos’ secondary on a couple of fourth-quarter drives to finish with 300 yards on the day.

    SPECIAL TEAMS — B-

    Darren Rizzi’s follow-up to a Week 2 disaster started with … more disaster. As the defense got off the field on the Chargers’ second drive of the day, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto somehow lined up in the neutral zone in punt coverage, giving the ball back on an offsides penalty. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw’s first boot fluttered outside the 20. Chargers punt returner Demario Davis reversed a second-quarter punt for 33 yards, too.

    But Rizzi’s units pulled together nicely over the course of Sunday — and had a massive third-quarter swing on a strip-fumble by Jonah Elliss. Marvin Mims Jr. continued to feel out lanes in the return game, finishing with 56 yards on two punt returns, and Crawshaw had a banner day with a 47.1 average on seven punts.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos host Evergreen High football and flag football teams for practice

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    Nothing has been normal recently for Matt Van Praag’s Evergreen High School football team.

    The group and Evergreen’s flag football team have been displaced since the Sept. 10 shooting at the school that left two classmates critically wounded.

    The football team’s game last week against George Washington was called off and will not be made up.

    On Tuesday, though, Van Praag said he saw his team find a bit of that normalcy they’ve been looking for.

    It just so happened to be at the Broncos’ practice facility.

    The Evergreen High football and flag football teams traveled down to Dove Valley to practice at Denver’s indoor practice facility and then afterward heard from general manager George Paton and other members of the organization.

    “We practiced two days last week at Chatfield, and so on that Tuesday, when we went to the Broncos facility, it was the first time we really had a real practice where the kids were really engaged and it felt like they were having fun,” Van Praag told The Post on Sunday. “It changed the entire perspective. The other two days were a little slower; the kids weren’t really focused, it was hard for them to focus and kind of get back into the swing of things.

    “Being in the facility really just got the kids really excited. From the first warmup and getting dressed in the locker room all the way through the end of practice, it was really the first normal feeling — except for the location — for our team since the incident.”

    Evergreen’s offensive line coach is longtime Tampa Bay center Ryan Jensen. In the aftermath of the shooting, Jensen reached out to the Broncos about a potential visit. Turns out, the team also needed a place to practice.

    Soon, a plan came together.

    Evergreen High remains closed, though a phased reopening begins this week with staff back in the building Monday and, eventually, students beginning a partial return to school Thursday and Friday.

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Broncos placing inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw on injured reserve, sources say

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    The Broncos are finally biting the bullet with Dre Greenlaw.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos’ Bo Nix, Sean Payton explain — in slightly different terms — sideline interaction vs. Colts

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    As Bo Nix jogged past head coach Sean Payton on the sideline during the third quarter Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis, Payton tried to say something to him.

    Nix carried on toward the bench before Payton turned him around by calling after him. The conversation that ensued was a lively one.

    It followed a stalled drive, which began to go south when Nix and rookie running back RJ Harvey weren’t on the same page for a run play, leading to a broken scramble from Nix. Two plays later, Denver punted.

    On Wednesday, both Nix and Payton downplayed the exchange, though they remembered it differently.

    “It wasn’t what it appeared,” Payton said Wednesday. “It was an affirmation of, ‘This is what we’re wanting to do.’ I was looking at it and trying to think — I don’t recall — I think it was more about excitement. I saw it, and it was following, I think, a series where we ran it pretty well.

    “I would know if there was ever one of those moments. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think it was what it appeared. In fact, I know it wasn’t.”

    The Broncos did, indeed, run the ball well on their first possession of the third quarter, but then ran three times for 6 yards on the drive that preceded the exchange, including the Nix scramble on the broken play.

    Nix, for his part, said he had to repeat what happened on a play for the preceding series because of the noise in Lucas Oil Stadium.

    “For whatever reason, we’re allowing conversations to become bigger than what they are,” Nix said Wednesday. “We oftentimes forget that it’s a big stadium and a lot of people are talking at the same time, so you’ve got to be a little louder and more vocal.

    “That was just something as simple as, he asked me what happened on a play, I told him. I turned, and he couldn’t quite hear, so I turned back and told him again. There was no issue. Yeah, it was just a quick conversation with the head coach. Nothing pressing.”

    Nix didn’t look to be pressing much at all Sunday.

    He and the offense failed to score on three second-half drives that could have extended a lead in the Broncos’ eventual 29-28 last-second loss, but the second-year quarterback on the whole played much better in Week 2 than in Week 1.

    “There’s plenty of good plays, but I’m focused on the ones that didn’t go our way, because that’s how you learn and get better and find ways to improve,” Nix said Wednesday.

    Nix threw touchdown passes to Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin and Adam Trautman. For most of the first three quarters, he played with good rhythm despite a lack of production from top receiver Courtland Sutton (one catch for 6 yards) and Engram (one catch for 12).

    “Sometimes if it’s a progression read, then it’s a progression, and who gets it sometimes maybe isn’t as easy to predict,” Payton said. “There’s other times where you can try to work for an isolation — a lot of it is scheme-dependent. But the new guys here, we talk about (receivers Trent Sherfield Sr. and Pat Bryant), those guys are getting acclimated and obviously they give you flexibility.”

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Broncos CB Pat Surtain II surrendered his most catches ever in Week 2. Did Colts attack him?

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    Pat Surtain II, his longtime trainer Chad Wilson likes to say, is the NFL’s version of Tony Gwynn. Or Wade Boggs.

    Both were perennial .300 hitters in the MLB. Both hardly ever struck out. It takes a certain discipline in a cornerback — as it does for a batter to always make contact — to work the same rep over and over and over again, Wilson reflected.

    “He’s that one big guard gate,” Wilson said, “that a lot of guys don’t have the passcode for.”

    The thing about being a .300 hitter, of course, is that you’ll get beat seven out of 10 times. And Indianapolis beat Surtain on Sunday.

    The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year led the Broncos with 11 tackles against the Colts. It was a stark contrast to his Week 1 involvement, when he went phantom mode in shadowing Titans wideout Calvin Ridley. Surtain being that involved as a playmaker means one thing — he was around the ball plenty. Advanced stats revealed the Colts weren’t hesitant to go after the All-Pro corner, as quarterback Daniel Jones targeted Surtain nine times and completed seven of those passes.

    That was tied for the most catches Surtain’s ever surrendered in an NFL game across his five-year career. One first-quarter play summed up his afternoon: Second-year Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell stuck his foot in the ground in a one-on-one rep on the outside, came back to the ball, and secured an 8-yard grab even with Surtain hanging all over him.

    Surtain simply glanced up from his knees at Mitchell, the CBS broadcast showing a smile on the cornerback’s face. A hat-tip of sorts.

    At surface level, the Colts and Jones appeared to solve the Surtain paradox for much of Week 2’s 29-28 win over the Broncos. But they didn’t specifically attack him as part of their game plan.

    On that throw to Mitchell, Jones’ eyes ranged across the middle before pivoting to Surtain’s matchup on the outside.

    “Do I think, on those Wednesday nights and Thursday nights in game plan meetings, they were out to target Patrick? I don’t think that was the case,” head coach Sean Payton said Monday morning. “I think a lot of it is progression of the route.”

    The Denver Post dug into each of the 38 snaps Surtain played on Sunday on passing-down situations, and the film revealed his matchup was rarely a first option: Jones appeared to cycle through his progressions to find Surtain’s receiver on five of those nine targets. Surtain surrendered one fourth-quarter target, when Jones checked around and found Colts receiver Alec Pierce sprinting away from Surtain on drag route. But film showed not a single one of Indianapolis’s fourth-quarter pass plays was specifically aimed toward the DPOY’s man or his area of the field in zone.

    Surtain ultimately gave up just 63 yards on those nine targets. He was only beaten by a step on three: that Pierce catch and a couple of first-down slants from Colts top target Michael Pittman Jr. It wasn’t Surtain’s best performance. But he shadowed assignments effectively on deep routes, and tagged over to the Colts’ Tyler Warren on numerous plays, only surrendering one catch in two targets against the 6-foot-5 rookie tight end.

    A second-quarter ankle injury didn’t appear to shake Surtain much, either. The corner said postgame that was “no excuse” for his play. He surrendered four catches once he returned late in the second quarter. One catch was a box-out from Warren, and one was a perfect ball from Jones to Pittman that Surtain actually tipped.

    “I think he was able to come back and he felt comfortable enough to come back,” Payton said Monday. “But I’m sure the technique he’ll look at today. He’ll want to clean up on a handful of those plays.”

    Surtain was tasked with a dizzying array of assignments. Sometimes shadowing Warren. Sometimes following Pittman. Sometimes picking up Pierce and Mitchell. And his numbers were skewed in large part because the Broncos’ pass-rush couldn’t get to Jones, giving the Colts quarterback ample time to cycle through his reads.

    Denver had 17 pressures on Jones on Sunday. They finished with one sack, according to Next Gen Stats.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Renck: Blaming refs for Broncos’ loss to Colts is just plain dumb. This one’s on Denver

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    INDIANAPOLIS — Time to run mental lapses.

    And extra gassers at the end of practice.

    Here in Naptown, a poster with Colts players adorns the J.W. Marriott, paying tribute to late team owner Jim Irsay. It reads: For the Boss. For the City. For the Shoe.

    For the love of God, this ending was stupid. A series of cognitive disconnects, each more costly than the last, resulted in a 29-28 walk-off loss for the Broncos.

    This wasn’t just a Denver loss; this was the ultimate brain freeze. Like guzzling a 32-ounce Slurpee through a straw in a single drink.

    Unwisely conceived: Darren Rizzi, why ask Dondrea Tillman to try to block a 60-yard field goal from a kicker who has never made a 50-yarder? Poorly executed: If you are going to speed, even if by one mile per hour over, don’t get caught — and stained by failure.

    The Broncos were dealt their first loss of the season in their first road game of the season in a way that, as far as the internet can tell, was a first.

    In four weeks, if your friends ask you how the Broncos’ special season became ordinary, the story starts here. When they ask you at the office Christmas party why they have to win out against Kansas City and the Chargers to make the playoffs, remind them of the Colts.

    The Broncos put themselves in a dangerous position with upcoming cage matches against the Chargers, Bengals and Eagles by squandering a game the Colts were begging for them to win. Or at least coach Shane Steichen was as he performed his best Nathaniel Hackett Clueless in Seattle impersonation.

    When writing the Broncos’ history since Super Bowl 50, what unfolded before our wide eyes demands an entry. Let’s start at the end and work backward.

    Leading 28-26, the Broncos took possession at their 35-yard line with 8:29 remaining. On an afternoon when the offense finally awoke from its summer hibernation, this represented a chance for a statement drive in a benchmark game. Siphon the clock. Kick a short field goal, and let the beleaguered defense leave with its dignity with a clinching sack of Daniel Jones.

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    Troy Renck

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  • Renck: Time to worry about Broncos’ Bo Nix? Check back after this week vs. Colts

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    Bo Nix has more in common with Reggie Jackson than Lamar.

    Maybe the explanation for his slow starts is that simple. Nix is the Broncos’ Mr. October. His play changes with the leaves and pumpkin spice lattes.

    It was this time a year ago that Nix looked like a baby giraffe on roller skates. And it only got worse in Week 4 when he couldn’t grip the football in the rain against the Jets.

    And here we are in September again, and Nix isn’t exactly inspiring confidence. It was one week. And specifically Week 1. But man, the offense was ugly, forgettable and boring, wasn’t it? Sean Payton seems fine with Nix, blames himself for the play-calling and shields his quarterback from criticism to such a degree that it is weird.

    We have not reached the “everyone freak out stage.” Not yet. But with games on the horizon against the Chargers and Bengals, it will be time to worry if Nix plays poorly this week.

    This is suddenly a scary matchup against the Colts after they demolished the Dolphins. They looked like a playoff team last Sunday. The Broncos did not.

    No quarterback performed worse in a Week 1 win than Nix.

    “I know I can be a lot better,” he admitted after Wednesday’s practice.

    What happened against the Titans reminded me of Texas’ Arch Manning at Ohio State. We weren’t sure what it was going to look like, but we know it wasn’t supposed to look like that. Nix threw off balance. He threw into double coverage. He threw sidearm.

    He finished with two interceptions and lost his first fumble in 19 NFL games. Sometimes disappointment is traced to expectations. And that definitely applies to Nix after he led the Broncos to their first playoff berth since 2015.

    My concern is one that surfaced over the summer. He never caught fire in June, failed to wow in training camp, save for a few scrimmage series against the 49ers and Cardinals, and remained uneven in two preseason games. His play has been a mirror of the offense. There are glimpses of improvement that are quickly overshadowed by long bouts of ineffectiveness.

    The Broncos can win Sunday because their defense is so (bleeping) good. But they cannot stand more carelessness.

    Nix needs to stop chasing perfection and focus on precision.

    There’s nothing wrong with a couple of first downs and teeing up Vance Joseph’s charges with a long punt. Nix knows who he can be. He has to understand who he is on game day. If he’s not feeling it, put the ball in your pocket.

    You can’t lose to the Colts because you can’t control an impulse. Nix, a coach’s son through and through, recognizes this. But will he do it?

    Well……

    “In the future, maybe not be so aggressive,” Nix said. “But at the same time, it’s what makes quarterbacks good. It’s a fine line.”

    It really isn’t. It is a flashing neon sign in the construction zone at Dove Valley, screaming, “Proceed with caution.” This is not about taking the wag out of the puppy’s tail. We want Nix to play with passion and enthusiasm, but he must be more strategic.

    Some of you don’t see it. You see Nix as the face of the franchise, the future, the reason for hope. And it makes sense. I was right there with you after last season. But give me space to remind you that Nix never went on a heater this summer. He has earned our faith that everything will soon be all right. The time is now to minimize the wrong.

    “It’s not about the stats and perfection, for me it’s a standard I have for myself. With our defense, we can definitely make sure at times to give them great field position and we will get the ball back and go right back to work,” Nix said. “Overall, we want to play complementary football, but we definitely have high standards for our offense.”

    Nix must prove he can do it this month.

    In September games, he has completed 60.7% of his passes with two touchdowns and six interceptions in 178 attempts. In all other games, including the postseason, he boasts a 66 completion percentage with 28 touchdowns and eight picks.

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    Troy Renck

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  • La Alma Lincoln Park residents weigh new Broncos stadium at Burnham Yard: ‘It’s going to change everything’

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    Two schools of thought flitter through the streets just behind the Denver Broncos’ planned future home, separated by just one block but standing an entire world apart.

    On a sunny Tuesday morning, 35-year-old Rita Guerrero stepped out from her door on North Mariposa Avenue, lively pup Olive barely contained by her leash. Guerrero bought her home in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood five years ago, and smiled when she thinks of the wealth of possibilities that now exist a quarter mile away at the defunct Burnham Yard.

    The Broncos just announced their plans to construct a new stadium in her backyard, and it could mean a livelier neighborhood. And exciting features for families. And increased property values.

    “This is very exciting,” Guerrero beamed. “I’m very happy. It’ll be great for the team, great for the neighborhood. I really see that there’s, probably — I mean, there really can only be upside.”

    Broncos name Burnham Yard preferred site for new stadium development

    On a cloudy Tuesday afternoon, a few hundred feet away, 46-year-old Nicole Jones and 51-year-old Desiree Maestas crossed onto North Lipan Street, discussing the change to come. Jones has lived all her life a few houses up the block, and frowned when she thinks of the wealth of possibilities that now exist with the Broncos’ professed plan to develop at Burnham Yard.

    It could mean more traffic. And more construction. And increased property values.

    “I think it’s going to change everything,” Jones said. “Because everything’s going to go up. Especially in this neighborhood, everything’s going to go up. And a lot of us ain’t even going to be able to afford to live here anymore. Because the stadium is going to be right in our neighborhood. Right in our backyard.”

    “So, yeah,” she repeated, somber. “We’re not going to be able to afford to live here no more.”

    Residents of La Alma Lincoln Park who spoke to The Denver Post on Tuesday were split on the complicated reality that now awaits, after the Broncos officially announced that they’ve zeroed in on Burnham Yard as the planned site of a privately-financed mixed-use stadium district.

    Some residents lamented the change that continues to rattle the historic Denver neighborhood, one that has already experienced generations of displacement. Some residents championed the city’s efforts to keep the team local: they are the Denver Broncos, 39-year-old Barbara Ott emphasized from her porch, not the Lone Tree Broncos.

    The general median is a sort of cautious optimism, as community leader Simon Tafoya put it.

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    Luca Evans, Elizabeth Hernandez

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  • Keeler: Broncos won’t just be playing in Super Bowls. Thanks to Burnham Yard, we’ll be hosting them

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    Second stadium down, one Yard to go.

    Before you blow your top over the lid at Burnham Yard, the prospective home of the Denver Broncos starting in 2031, did you know that, since 1990, the average temperature of a playoff home game in the Mile High City was 40 degrees?

    And that of the Broncos’ last 15 postseason games in Denver, eight of them — per Pro-Football-Reference.com — were played in temperatures 37 degrees or warmer? The last five Empower Field playoff temps: 43, 46, 40, 41, 63.

    Snow down, Broncomaniacs.

    Denver won’t just be playing in Super Bowls over the next decade.

    We’ll be hosting them.

    “The Broncos have been, since Day 1 of the franchise, an important fabric and part of the community in Denver,” Broncos CEO Greg Penner told The Denver Post’s Parker Gabriel in an exclusive interview. “Finding a site of that size that we could weave into the downtown area and all that just was incredibly unique, combined with the historic nature of the site. …

    “We have the bones of the old railyard and a couple of buildings and a unique site that we think enables us to create something unique and special, both with the stadium and the mixed-use development around it.”

    The Walton-Penner Group just raised the roof without raising taxes. Despite overtures from Lone Tree and Aurora, they’re keeping the Broncos in Denver. Where they belong.

    In other words, Penner and his wife Carrie Walton-Penner read the room the way Peyton Manning read defenses at the line of scrimmage.

    “We’re really thrilled that they came with that partnership mentality and not, like we’ve seen in other cities, ‘You give us a bunch of money or we’ll leave,’” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told The Post. “I think the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is deeply committed to Denver and deeply committed to the community.”

    No overt public money.

    No political campaign.

    No drama.

    No games.

    Well, except the big stuff. The biggest. For decades, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the College Football Playoff, the World Cup or WrestleMania had a reason to fly over the Front Range and wave to us while they were taking their respective parties elsewhere.

    Not anymore. You want a venue with 60,000-plus seats that can host Taylor Swift in March or April? Check. You want a venue where football fans can still feel the elements on an autumn gameday? Got that, too. Open that bad boy up and let the Colorado sunshine in.

    We don’t need the cool kids on the coasts to tell us Denver is the best darn sports city in America. But building a multi-purpose stadium at Burnham Yard gives the Front Range many more chances to prove it — and on the largest stages imaginable.

    New Orleans officials recently estimated that Super Bowl LIX was worth more than $1.25 billion in economic impact to the Crescent City. San Antonio boasted an economic bump of $440 million from hosting the Men’s Basketball Final Four this past April.

    You wouldn’t want a piece of that?

    The Penners do. And thank goodness.

    “The goal is to create something that is active on gameday,” Penner stressed to The Post, “but also (for) the rest of the year.”

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Bo Nix shoulders blame for Broncos’ Week 1 offensive struggles: ‘I have to do a much better job’

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    They went one by one at the Broncos captains’ dinner on Monday, veterans of this league who have climbed the mountaintop and know the footing the trek requires. Wil Lutz. Talanoa Hufanga. D.J. Jones. Each gave their speech. Each bared their hearts.

    Last of all came Bo Nix, the 25-year-old anointed one who’s never met anyone who expects more of him than he expects of himself.

    He spoke and set a bar for a group of men who respected him enough to not only listen to his words but feel them. John Franklin-Myers and Marvin Mims Jr. recounted his words separately in the days to come.

    “We have this team that’s been put together. Each one of us are hand-picked,” Franklin-Myers recalled Nix saying. “But our goal should be to go out there and win every game.”

    There are three kinds of teams in this league, Nix continued, as Mims remembered. The team that wants to go out and simply compete. The team that wants to go out and win. And the team that wants to go out and dominate.

    These Broncos, Nix emphasized, needed to be the team that dominates.

    “Shoot, something like that is powerful from a quarterback, a younger guy,” Franklin-Myers said Friday. “And you see that type of fire from him, and it kinda gets you going.”

    Nix did not dominate in Sunday afternoon’s win over Tennessee, his first start since a rookie campaign that cratered and then skyrocketed. Far from it. He threw a bad cross-body interception in the first quarter on a ball that sailed to Courtland Sutton. He threw a worse one in the third quarter on a ball to a double-covered Troy Franklin that had no business even being thrown. He ran directly into a strip-sack in the second quarter for the first lost fumble he’s had since he played at Auburn. He finished 25-of-40 passing for 176 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 60, the third-worst game of his NFL career.

    And still, new safety Hufanga came strolling to a podium postgame wearing a beaming smile and a grey T-shirt that had a giant decal of Nix.

    “I got a lot of confidence,” Hufanga said. “I wouldn’t be wearing this shirt if I didn’t have confidence in my guy. He’s a Christian man that just goes out there and leads us.

    “So, regardless of what kind of day he has, I know I got his back, and he got mine.”

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos put DT Malcolm Roach on injured reserve, promote QB Sam Ehlinger

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    Malcolm Roach is going to miss at least the first four games of the Broncos’ season.

    That doesn’t come as a big surprise, but it is official after Denver put the defensive tackle on injured reserve Saturday.

    Roach sustained a Grade 2 calf strain during Thursday’s practice and had already been ruled out of Sunday’s opener against Tennessee.

    Dr. Kenton Fibel, a primary care sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Orthopedics in Los Angeles and the Anaheim Ducks’ team doctor, told The Denver Post earlier this week that the recovery time from a calf strain of that general severity would likely mean missing “several weeks.”

    In Roach’s absence, defensive linemen Jordan Jackson and Eyioma Uwazurike stand to see an uptick in playing time.

    The Broncos filled Roach’s spot on the 53-man roster by promoting quarterback Sam Ehlinger, a source said.

    The former Indianapolis quarterback and University of Texas product was one of the last men cut late last month, but the Broncos convinced him to return to the practice squad despite interest from other teams.

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Broncos WR room in good hands with Courtland Sutton, an improvement ‘thief,’ leading the way

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    The Broncos’ 2025 wide receiver corps has a high ceiling because of the upside several players in the room possess.

    Perhaps just as important: The group has a pretty stable floor because of Courtland Sutton, the trusty veteran and No.1 option.

    Sutton is coming off perhaps the best year of his professional career in 2024, is newly signed to a four-year, $92 million contract extension, and is primed to carry on into 2025 as the top option for second-year quarterback Bo Nix in the passing game.

    None of that seemed like a guarantee when the 2018 second-round pick got off to a slow start with Nix last year, but over the course of the season, their connection continually strengthened.

    By the end of Week 18, Sutton logged career highs in catches (81) and targets (135), topped 1,000 yards for the first time since 2019, and set himself up to be part of Denver’s long-term future.

    “He’s been a captain,” head coach Sean Payton said this summer. “If he didn’t say a word, the young guys watch his preparation and his work ethic. Yet, obviously, his experience (helps) with all of those players. It really starts with his preparation in (the building) and on to the field.

    “He’s everything you want in a pro.”

    In 2024, he started slow but turned himself into everything Nix needed as a rookie trying to navigate his first NFL season.

    Sutton finished third in third-down catches (30) and led the NFL in both third-down yardage (452) and first downs generated (27), according to Football Database data.

    At 6-foot-4 and 215-plus pounds, Sutton gave Nix a big target to trust down the field and in traffic.

    According to Next Gen Stats, Sutton accounted for 45.7% of the Broncos’ downfield targets, which was the second-highest share on throws of 10-plus air yards in the league.

    That led to a lot of good (812 yards on downfield throws between Nix and Sutton), some bad (six interceptions on such attempts), and a clear trust built between the two.

    Payton said this summer that Sutton reminds him of former New Orleans receiver Marques Colston, a seventh-round pick who went on to log six 1,000-yard seasons, 9,759 total receiving yards and 72 touchdowns over a 10-year career.

    “Marques was maybe a little quieter, but day in and day out, so consistent in their performance,” Payton said. “And then on gamedays, they were very similar. They both played split end, strong hands in traffic, really, really good football instincts. …

    “When you get to know (Sutton), he doesn’t have too many bad days. Those guys with the right energy, there’s a lot to be said for that because you’re going to hit some tough times and you’re going to hit some walls during the course of any season. He’s one of those guys who is part of the solution. Always.”

    Sutton turns 30 in early October — he’ll celebrate the big, round number while the Broncos are in London preparing to play the New York Jets — but has shown no signs of slowing down. Even in 2024, when he skipped the voluntary portion of Denver’s offseason in protest of his contract status, Sutton showed up to training camp in terrific shape.

    This year proved no exception.

    “Courtland has been having a really good camp,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said recently. “He looks to me even better than he did last camp.”

    Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton talks to Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) and QB Bo Nix (10) during training camp at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit in Centennial on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Dre Greenlaw misses another practice as Broncos try to keep linebacker healthy for ‘long haul’

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    As the days tick down until fans flood Empower Field again for Sunday’s home opener, the status of one of Denver’s free-agent stars remains in doubt.

    Inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw didn’t practice on Wednesday, another bullet point in a concerning list of preseason developments. After signing a three-year, $31.5 million deal with the Broncos this offseason to be a ceiling-raiser in the middle of Denver’s defense, Greenlaw’s spent much of the preseason watching them elevate from the sidelines.

    Fresh off finishing up rehab for a torn ACL that wiped out most of his 2024 season, Greenlaw tore his quad this summer. It flared up again in July. He’s missed wide swaths of camp and didn’t play any preseason snaps.

    “We’re being smart,” head coach Sean Payton said Monday. “We’re being conservative, relative to the approach. It’s a long season. So, most importantly, having him not only healthy early on, but for the long haul — is the goal.”

    That has taken a certain amount of buy-in and trust from Greenlaw, whom Payton said in mid-August was “chomping at the bit” to play.

    “To be real honest, Dre’s always going to want to go as hard and fast as he can go — that’s Dre’s mentality, and a little bit of it, too, is he’s just missed the game so much,” Greenlaw’s agent J.R. Carroll told The Post on Wednesday. “And so, there was a lot of, I think, holding back by the Broncos to try to keep him reined in so that he didn’t reinjure himself.

    “I think they did an excellent job of managing his expectations.”

    Greenlaw’s Wednesday DNP, though, makes his immediate future more complicated. Payton emphatically declined to comment on Greenlaw beyond the team’s league-mandated injury reports.

    If the linebacker does play in Week 1, it’s highly likely Greenlaw sees limited snaps, given the Broncos’ emphasis on his long-term health.

    “We gotta be smart and look at pitch counts and be ready to play some younger players and not just say, ‘Hey, Week 1, we’re throwing ‘em out there for 70 plays,’” Payton said last week of Greenlaw and fellow veteran Alex Singleton.

    And even with Greenlaw’s obvious desire to return to the field, his camp’s had no issue with Denver’s conservative approach.

    “Quite honestly, if it was a different organization, I may try to interject myself if I didn’t think that — or an organization has the reputation for not having the player’s best interest at heart, but have the organization’s best interest held first,” Carroll said. “But with the Broncos, they have done nothing but try to do what’s in the best interest of Dre.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos CB Pat Surtain II checks in at No. 10 on NFL’s countdown of best players

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    If Pat Surtain II were choosing, he’d have been nine spots higher.

    As it stands, though the Broncos’ star corner and reigning defensive player of the year is in heady company.

    Surtain checked in at No. 10 on the NFL’s countdown of the best players in the league.

    “If I had to write a text book on cornerback play, it’d be Pat Surtain,” Baltimore cornerback and fellow 2024 Associated Press first-team All-Pro Marlon Humphrey said of Surtain in a video published by the NFL. “… There’s very few people that move that smoothly at his height, his size. It’s like poetry in motion. It’s honestly beautiful to see when he’s in press man, which is what he’s best at. It’s really impressive.”

    Surtain was ranked No. 52 last year by fellow NFL players and vaulted up the list after putting together as dominant a season as a corner can author. Surtain regularly shut down opposing teams’ top receiving options and likely cemented his grip on the DPOY award when he went toe-to-toe with Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase and held him in check while guarding him in a late-December matchup.

    “Having a guy that you can go out there and put on any receiver and you don’t hear about them the rest of the game, that does wonders for a D-line,” teammate Nik Bonitto, who himself was ranked No. 38 on the countdown, said in the video.

    Surtain’s part of a deep and talented Broncos secondary that added first-round pick Jahdae Barron and safety Talanoa Hufanga this offseason.

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Renck: Broncos’ Super Bowl champion Glenn Cadrez pulls man from burning car: ‘I am not a hero. I just wanted to help’

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    Had it happened on another day, Glenn Cadrez figures he would be dead.

    The former Super Bowl champion Broncos player was driving home from a pizza party after his 14-year-old son Kannon’s Pop Warner game on Aug. 23. He was two miles from his exit around 9:30 p.m. on Interstate 15 in California, when a huge cloud of dust caught his eye in the northbound lanes.

    Seconds later, a black BMW M4 sailed through a concrete divider, veered into the southbound lanes and smashed into an oncoming car, according to a Los Angeles Times report citing the California Highway Patrol.

    “It happened so quick. I was like, ‘What the (heck) was that?’ Then it slammed into the car, maybe two seconds in front of me. Just boom!” Cadrez recalled from his Temecula home Sunday night. “Normally, I would have been in that left lane. But I wasn’t on a Saturday with my kids in another car following me. I was driving slower in the middle lane. Thank God. I don’t think I would have survived.”

    What happened next has caused Cadrez multiple sleepless nights. He said he swerved left to avoid the wreck, jumped out of his truck and ran to the scene. He saw a man hunched over outside the Nissan Sentra that was struck, so he raced to the BMW that was on fire. When he pulled open the door, his face became engulfed in black smoke and flames.

    “I couldn’t see really anything in the car, not even the passenger seat, just the silhouette of the driver. I grabbed and felt his body and began pulling him out,” Cadrez said. “It looked like he had a compound fracture in his leg, and he was in a lot of pain. … I was able to get him out, and another guy showed up and we moved him away. A few seconds later, the car was fully engulfed.”

    Cadrez’s two sons arrived with their mother not long after — and braced for the worst. When they saw his truck stopped on the shoulder, they thought he had been hit. Cadrez was overjoyed to see them, but struggled to make sense of the scene. How did that car end up here, going the wrong way?

    The 25-year-old man Cadrez removed from the vehicle sustained major injuries and charges are pending, the L.A. Times reported. But he was alive.

    Three others in his car — a 23-year-old woman in the passenger seat and a 14-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl in the backseat — were killed, the L.A. Times reported. The news hit Cadrez like a thunderbolt.

    “It was really hard to hear that. Those are the ages of my sons. It’s so sad,” Cadrez said of the crash that also took the life of the driver in the other car, according to the CHP.

    “When I got there, I was yelling to see if anyone was there. I was asking the driver if anyone else was in there. I never heard anything. No voices. Maybe I couldn’t have saved them. But I wish I could have done more to help. It hurts.”

    His mind and heart racing, Cadrez barely slept in the days following the wreck. It never entered his mind, however, not to do something.

    “I have got kids. Everything I do is with them in mind. I would like to think if they were in trouble, someone would help them,” Cadrez said. “So my only thought was, ‘I have to get this guy out.’ I just wish I could have been there maybe a few seconds sooner. It just torched so fast. The heat was unbelievable. I thought it was going to blow.”

    Glenn Cadrez attends Big Game Kick-Off Event, hosted by Jay Glazer, Merging Vets And Players, at Academy LA on February 09, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images)

    Cadrez, 55, served as a critical special teams member in 1997 and a starting linebacker in 1998 during the Broncos’ back-to-back Super Bowl championships. We like to think that we would all be good Samaritans. But let’s be honest, it takes a special person to run toward a fire.

    When news spread of Cadrez’s actions, his former teammates were not surprised. This is how they described him.

    “Glenn was an absolute rock star teammate. He showed us what it means to be tough and committed,” said former star fullback Howard Griffith. “He made sure we were all on the same page. And he always put the team first.”

    Cadrez called Hall of Famer Steve Atwater not long after the crash. About 30 Broncos from those glory days remain in a group chat as a way to stay in touch.

    “He saved a young man’s life!” Atwater said. “… Glenn was an awesome teammate, a great player.”

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    Troy Renck

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  • Broncos roster cutdown tracker: Will George Paton flip anymore Broncos for draft capital?

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    This Broncos roster, both by Sean Payton‘s own admission and by plain sight, is the deepest it’s been in Payton’s three-year tenure.

    That is an undeniable positive. It also will lead to some excruciatingly tough decisions, with players who’ve put together strong camps nonetheless likely to land on the waiver wire.

    “I was taught at a young age, the most significant thing is the right 53,” Payton said in early August. “So that’s what keeps you up at night — making sure we’re finding that group.”

    Broncos 53-man roster projection: Who will make Sean Payton’s last cut?

    The Broncos’ brass will have long hours this week as cut day dawns, with teams required to reduce their offseason rosters from 90 players to 53 by 2 p.m. MT Tuesday. The team can elect to sign a maximum of 16 players to their practice squad if they clear waivers, and the Broncos have until 11 a.m. ET Wednesday to claim players off waivers who’ve been cut by other teams.

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    Luca Evans, Parker Gabriel

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  • Broncos DL John Franklin-Myers focused on season after no extension: ‘We all just want to feel wanted’

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    NEW ORLEANS — John Franklin-Myers may not be thrilled, but he’s ready for regular-season football.

    The Broncos defensive tackle is entering the final year of a two-year, $15 million contract he signed after getting traded to Denver last spring.

    There’s been little sign of movement toward a deal, and sources told The Denver Post the sides did not negotiate this summer. That stands in contrast to veterans Courtland Sutton (four years, $92 million) and Zach Allen (four years, $102 million), who landed major long-term agreements. Fourth-year outside linebacker Nik Bonitto doesn’t have a new deal yet, but he said recently his team and the Broncos have had productive talks and that he thinks a deal “will get done.”

    Not so for Franklin-Myers, though he said any feelings he may have about his current status are now sidelined for the next several months.

    “We all just want to feel wanted, and I think when it’s time to play football, obviously money and stuff aside, I’m under contract,” Franklin-Myers said after Denver’s preseason finale. “So football is football. Obviously, we all want what we’re worth, but until then, shoot, I’m going to play football. It is what it is.”

    Franklin-Myers’ addition last year helped turn what was one of the NFL’s worst defensive fronts in 2023 into one of its best in 2024. His ability to rush the passer not only gave offenses fits, but it also kept them from being able to turn double teams toward Allen on a regular basis.

    Allen broke out with an 8.5-sack season and led all NFL defensive tackles with 67 pressures and 40 hits.

    “Zach’s my dawg. I said it from the jump,” Franklin-Myers said. “Man, (Jets defensive lineman) Quinnen Williams was a good friend of mine, played with him for a long time, and I was happier when he got paid than when I got paid. Zach Allen is no different. You talk about somebody who shows up every day. He earned the money.

    “He makes me better, makes the team better. He deserves his money. I’m all for it, and Zach deserves all of it.”

    Now, Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach appear poised to enter Week 1 without contractual security beyond this year. Roach laid out a straightforward approach earlier in camp in saying that if everybody plays well, everybody’s going to get paid. It’s just a matter of whether that’s in Denver or elsewhere.

    In the meantime, the defensive line has big goals.

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    Parker Gabriel

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  • Broncos trade Devaughn Vele to Saints for pair of draft picks

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    One of the Broncos’ breakout receivers in 2024 is heading elsewhere just a couple of weeks before the start of their season.

    On Wednesday, the Broncos announced they’d traded second-year receiver Devaughn Vele to the New Orleans Saints for a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2027 seventh-round pick. It brings an abrupt end to the 27-year-old Vele’s tenure in Denver, as the Broncos get back two pieces of draft capital for their seventh-round pick in 2024.

    Vele established himself as a key piece for quarterback Bo Nix as a rookie last season, primarily working from the slot and catching 41 passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games. He fit head coach Sean Payton’s mold for an ideal receiver to a T: large frame at 6-foot-5, strong hands, good physicality in traffic.

    “He’s got a lot of versatility,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Vele Wednesday. “He’s big, he can run, good route-runner. And, so, he’s a guy that you can plug in a lot of spots. Smart, so he can play all the positions, so that’s very helpful.”

    The Broncos added a significant piece to their room in April’s draft, however, with similarly-skilled third-round pick Pat Bryant. And Denver’s showing clear faith in its depth at receiver, with the evolutions of young wideouts Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin, in sending Vele to New Orleans.

    Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.

    Originally Published:

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    Luca Evans

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