Wade Phillips Earned the Right to Cheesily Troll the Packers

Wade Phillips deserves this victory lap this morning. The Broncos mauled the Packers. Other stories from the evening include the resurgence of Peyton Manning and whether Green Bay got exposed, but Wade’s defense is one of those units that feels like it has 15 men on the field. They’re relentless. Von Miller and Demarcus Ware seem to disrupt the quarterback on every play, and when it’s not them they’re opening up lanes for others.

If this felt like the worst game of Aaron Rodgers’ career, it’s because it probably was:

This doesn’t happen by accident. The blizzard pass rush was complemented by a stout run defense and smothering coverage. If Rodgers always had bodies in his face, and there was a spy tasked to prevent him from breaking running plays, it would stand to reason that receivers would be in single coverage. However, they rarely gained separation. There was just nothing there.

“At my age, the people I know and have been associated with throughout my career — like Dan Reeves or Marv Levy — are out of football,” he continued. “If some of the younger guys that I’ve worked with on their way up get head coaching jobs, I think they’d hire me. It’s who you know. That’s the business. It just didn’t seem like I hit it right last season with the people who got jobs. Though, I didn’t know Marv Levy or Marty Schottenheimer all that well when they hired me.”

Whatever the case for last year was, he’s reconnected with Gary Kubiak in Denver and has had a profound impact. His guys totally shut down an offense led by a quarterback who has the chance to retire as the greatest of all-time, and even as a Packers fan I know he can say whatever he wants today.