I think he's played the best ball he's played in his career this year. I think he's playing as well as anyone in the league.

When I first got here, he was coming off the injury and being hurt every year and hearing all the things about himself, so yeah, his confidence was a little bit down. But it's back up there, and he knows he's having a good year. I think if you ask any team we've played, he's the first guy on our defense that they would mention.

I got him to close the distance on the tackle as quick as possible. He wants to get on top of him as quickly as he can and then work his swim move or use his physicality. He's got long arms, and he's powerful. Before, he was just getting ridden off the quarterback, and because his steps were off, it made him look mechanical. But he's not. He's a really fluid athlete.

Our line should get a lot of credit. We've been saying all week that we wanted to have the eye of the tiger and we did that. We want to have it all year.

He's going to play hard and compete, and that's all I want. How it all plays out as far as tackles and pressures, I don't know. But I know if he's on the field, he's going to give me everything he's got.

If these guys couldn't play, they wouldn't be here. And I think that's what people forget. Everybody buys into the hype that comes out of the Cleveland media, and nobody here in Denver has truly sat back and evaluated the situation. If they did, they'd say it's a great thing Denver did.