JOHNSTOWN, Colo. –– Being the Broncos’ leading sack accumulator isn’t enough for Nik Bonitto.
Tuesday night, he was Saint Nik, too.
Instead of collecting the sacks, he filled them. Fifty, to be exact — one each for a member of the Denver Boys and Girls Club who went on a shopping spree with the Broncos’ star edge rusher Tuesday night.
Armed with a $100 gift card, the kids roamed through a Scheels that is roughly the size of a small nation-state and selected what they wanted, with Bonitto alongside offering assistance if needed.
“Ot was pretty dope seeing all them just cheering and stuff when I walked in and just seeing the smiles and how excited they were,” Bonitto said. “Just being able to give them this opportunity is pretty cool for me.”
And if it had been him back in the day …
“I was a big Yu-Gi-Oh! guy with the cards and monster trucks and stuff. I probably would have went one of those or one of the action=-figure toys. Something like that,” Bonitto said.
WEDNESDAY FOR BONITTO AND THE BRONCOS, IT’S BACK TO WORK
And that means turning the focus to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who head to Denver in the role the Broncos had last Sunday against the Green Bay Packers: as the unheralded contender looking to silence doubters and fully validate their status.
The Broncos must be ready, and to that end, Bonitto believes the Broncos have plenty to tap in their reservoir.
“I still feel like we got a lot more, especially defensively,” he said. “As good as we played in the second half, I feel like we could have doing that all game and things like that. It’s just little stuff that’s going to take us from being good how we are right now to being the great defense I know we can be.”
What’s more, a loss could seriously jeopardize the Broncos’ hopes of not only the top seed in the AFC, but the division lead. One Broncos defeat in the next 10 days and two Chargers wins would set up a winner-take-all showdown for the AFC West crown in Week 18 between the Broncos and Los Angeles.
Defeat the Jaguars next Sunday and the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day, and there’s nothing anyone else can do; Week 18 will be academic.
“We just have to stay the course. We can’t get too high,” Bonitto said. “We gotta stay level headed because Jacksonville’s a really good opponent and they’re rolling right now.”
A fact that Sean Payton is certain to remind his team on Wednesday when they convene.
