Orlando Franklin will not let nerves get the best of him

After suffering a 43-8 defeat in Super Bowl 48 at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, it has been a long week for the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos, who suffered the third-worst loss in Super Bowl history, had an errant snap leading to a Seahawks safety on the first offensive play of the game. The Broncos’ record setting offense had four turnovers in total (two fumbles) and did not look anything like themselves in their Super Bowl defeat.

After their Super Bowl disappointment, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning received the bulk of the criticism. Manning finished the game with 280 yards on 34-for-49 passing. He actually set a Super Bowl record for completions. Receiver Demeryius Thomas’s 13 catches also were a Super Bowl record. However, by the time Manning threw a touchdown pass to Thomas as time expired in the third quarter, Seattle had built a 36-0 lead. Following their defeat, Broncos’ right tackle Orlando Franklin was quick to defend his quarterback.

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of people are going to try to put it in on ’18′ because he doesn’t deserve that,” he said after the game in reference to Manning. “We all had a hand in this loss.”

Following the loss in New York, Franklin returned home to Toronto, Canada. He spoke to the media Monday and continued his defense of Manning,

“At the end of the day Peyton will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in this leagues’ history and like I said, it wasn’t just him,” Franklin stated. “We all had a hand in that game. He does not play defense, he does not play special teams and the Seattle Seahawks were able to capitalize on both our defense and our special teams so we all could have done something different.”

The Broncos’ offensive tackle understands that the blame should not solely rest on Peyton’s shoulders and that each of his teammates could have performed differently to improve their chances.

“I personally have probably seen that game over in my head about 100 times and I wish I could go back to about five plays in that game,” Franklin said. “I think that if I had played different on those five plays maybe the outcome of the game would be a little bit different.”

“When you point your finger at somebody, four point back at you,” he added.

Franklin, who grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, was humble and collected when discussing the Broncos defeat. He took some time to reflect on his experiences this season and on his Super Bowl performance. When asked what he learned most from his first experience in the Super Bowl, Franklin admitted that he was very nervous.

“The biggest thing that I realized was…and I talked to a good friend of mine, Anrel Rolle who plays for the Giants about three days before the Super Bowl and he had been to two Super Bowls, he said to just play like it’s any other game, don’t get emotional, and that’s exactly what I did. I got too emotional. After the first snap it felt like my legs were wobbling, my legs were shaking after the first snap of the game. I got too involved in it emotionally. So that is one of the biggest things that I learned and when it comes around again and I get that opportunity to play in another one, I will definitely try to keep that under wraps,” Franklin said.

Franklin, 26, was candid when discussing his emotions to start the game. He knows that he made some mistakes and all he can do is learn from them. When asked how much of his personal performance he would attribute to the nerves he mentioned, Franklin said,

“At the end of the day I got to get the job done. I had a lot of nerves going on at the start of the game but that isn’t why I played bad or anything like that but I definitely needed to play a little bit more calm than I did at first.”

With or without Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos are preparing to make another run at the Super Bowl in 2014 and if another opportunity presents itself, Franklin will make sure that his nerves do not get the best of him.


(utnsports.com)