The redemptive powers of a single scintillating touchdown catch-and-run are stunning.
Witness the buff-and-shine that’s going on with Brandon Marshall since he turned the Dallas defense inside out in the fourth quarter last week in the Broncos win over the Cowboys.
The notion that one play or a couple of weeks of “normal behavior” mean that Marshall is a new man is absurd.
Certainly, aspects of Marshall’s touchdown are worth appreciating. First, the athleticism and creativity. Next, the cathartic embrace he shared with head coach Josh McDaniels after the play. Finally, and most importantly, the seeming triumph in that moment of “team” over “individual.”
Speaking to NFL Network’s Michael Irvin, Marshall said, “That was probably one of the most emotional plays I ever had. . . . That play almost brought me to tears.”
Marshall went on to add that, “I felt like that was the play to get me going this year, to really get me back where I needed to be.”
But Marshall tries to stretch the goodwill that play engendered a little too far when he tells Irvin in an interview that will run on the network’s NFL GameDay Morning program that, “I’m a guy that prides myself on work ethic. I don’t think you try to get paid off of the things you do on Sunday. . . . It’s not easy waking up every day in February and March when there’s no crowd, there’s nobody around.”
Sorry, Brandon. You can’t make a mockery of a team practice as you did in late August then come back 50 days later and say you pride yourself on “work ethic.” You also can’t fail to know the playbook halfway through camp, disengage from practices, earn yourself a suspension from the team, or be involved in enough off-field stupidity to warrant serious questions about your overall character and then expect that a couple of weeks without screwing up wipes the slate clean.
Just because FOX analyst Troy Aikman said during last week’s game that, outside of Michael Irvin, he’s never seen a receiver work as hard in practice as you did last Friday, you are not the second coming of Jerry Rice.
Take it with a grain of salt. Aikman also said he’d never seen a quarterback throw as accurately in one practice as Kyle Orton did last Friday. Apparently, this was the greatest practice ever witnessed. At least by Aikman.
So easy on the revisionist history, Brandon. Just keep taking those baby steps forward and see where they lead.
