PRESEASON FINALE TO DECIDE BRONCOS’ ROSTER
Bubby Brister is, like a lot of you, a serious Drew Lock fan. And, also like a lot of you, the news out of Uchealth Training Center this week sort of threw him for a loop.
“It does surprise me a little bit,” Brister told me by phone this week when asked about Teddy Bridgewater’s ascension to the Broncos’ quarterback throne. “I like Drew, not that it matters who I like — it’s (up to) the coaches who are there.
“The advice I’d give Drew is to keep working hard. Try not to keep your head down. Try not to get too down on yourself. It’s the NFL. You know what that stands for, right? Not. For. Long.”
Even at 59 years young, Bayou Bubby feels Drew’s pain. We’re not here to relitigate Bubby vs. Brian vs. Shanny. Or the mess that was the 1999 Broncos in general after coach Mike Shanahan elected to roll with Brian Griese over Brister as his QB following John Elway’s retirement.
But let’s just say this: More than two decades later, it still chafes.
“Nobody wanted to play in the preseason, we’d just won two fricking Super Bowls,” Brister said of the Broncos, who’ll conclude their preseason slate Saturday night at home against the Los Angeles Rams. “So, yeah, it (stunk), and it was terrible, and I still think about it all the time.
“It is similar (to Lock). I wasn’t a (second)-rounder, but I felt like I’d earned the right to be the starter and not lose the job in the preseason.”
Brister-vs.-griese in the summer of ’99 wasn’t exactly Lockvs.-bridgewater, save for the scarring. Bayou Bubby was Elway’s backup for those glorious late ‘90s Super Bowl runs, and even made four starts in 1998 while No. 7 was hurt, piloting the Broncos to victories in all four contests.
On Aug. 30 the next year, after the 37-year-old Brister endured a shaky preseason, Shanahan announced that Griese would start Week 1 against the Dolphins. Brister lambasted the move at the time. The locker room of the two-time defending NFL champs started to split.
Sure enough, September took on a Vic Fangio feel: an 0-4 start, the gnashing of teeth and the sound of remote controls being chucked all across the Front Range, paving the way for a 6-10 finish.
“We could’ve won 10-11 games that year, no doubt,” Brister said. “And that was a shock to everybody. We went 0-4 right out of the gate, and you can’t recover from that.
“It’s probably the same kind of feeling (with Lock), when you get the rug kicked out from under you, for whatever reason. They’re the coaches, right? We’re just the players. It’s their decision to make, they’re right or wrong.
“But yeah, after visiting with you, it would probably be the same kind of feeling. It doesn’t feel good. But you’ve just got to go back to work and be tougher mentally and stay the course.”
Brister is an empty-nester down in Louisiana, but he’s planning on being back here as much as hurricane season will allow. Son Andrew is a freshman quarterback with the UNC Bears, coached by his old Broncos teammate and longtime pal Ed Mccaffrey. Bubby’s coming up to hunt with friends next week, then shoot over to Boulder for UNC’S opener at CU on Friday night under the lights at Folsom Field.
“He’s got a chance (to compete),” Brister said of his son. “He’s way better in the classroom than I was, which is going to help, too. As a dad, that’s all you can ask for. He’s in with the right people. He’s in Colorado, which we all love and miss. But he’s happy … he’s in the right place at the right time.”
Meanwhile, for Lock, it feels like the other way around.
“It’s no fun,” Brister said. “It’s hard to go to work. It’s embarrassing. But it is what it is, and you’ve got to deal with it as best you can. You’ve got to be ready and prepare … But it’s hard. I know how he feels, and it (stinks).”
Don’t sulk, Buzz Lightyear. Don’t pout. Let it burn, then come out firing. The annals of the NFL are littered with quarterbacking false hopes and failures, rebirths and comebacks.
Over 15 years in the league, with stops in Pittsburgh, Philly, New York, Denver and Minnesota, Brister won jobs and lost them. The ones who master the long game tend to have thick skins and short memories.
Which isn’t to stay it shouldn’t hurt like all heck. Or that coming to the office won’t fill you with the worst kind of awkward.
“You’re (darn) right, it’s awkward,” Brister laughed. “Anybody that says different would be lying.
“Yeah, it’s awkward. And yeah, you’re going to have to work every day. And you feel bad about it. And deep down in your heart, you know what you’ve got, or else you wouldn’t have been a (second)-rounder. I feel terrible for him.
“But you’ve got to keep grinding. The second week, you might be starting. Or the second month. If Teddy plays well, you might end up on a different team. There are a lot of guys who went somewhere else and resurrected their careers. I believed in (Lock) when he got drafted. And I believe in him, still.”