JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - When it comes to punting, Denver’s Britton Colquitt was born to boot the football.
Colquitt’s father, Craig, won two Super Bowl rings while punting for the Pittsburgh Steelers during a seven-year NFL career. His uncle, Jimmy, punted for Seattle in 1985, and his older brother, Dustin, is currently Kansas City’s punter.
“It’s really crazy,” said Britton, in his fifth season with the Broncos. “When you grow up around it, that’s what you know. All I see is Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl stuff on the wall. It was kind of normal to me. In my mind, and even in Dustin’s mind, it was always attainable and was kind of the norm. If you look at other families in the NFL, their kids play and they’re successful. It’s a belief that they have.
“It’s like any other family business and that’s ours. I am thankful for it.”
He has talked to his father several times since the Broncos won the AFC championship and received texts with small reminders to keep him focused: words of wisdom such as “Stick to the basics” and “You’ve made it here. You know what you’re doing.”
“He wants it (for me),” Britton said. “He’s like a schoolboy right now. He’s more thrilled than anybody.”
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UNCLE PEYTON: With the Super Bowl in New York/New Jersey, the Manning brothers can spend a little time together.
Peyton Manning said Wednesday that he saw Eli on Tuesday night and met niece Lucy for the first time. She was born just before training camp began.
“I enjoyed that time as an uncle last night,” Peyton said.
Peyton Manning also found interesting the Super Bowl connection with his brother that wasn’t so obvious. Eli Manning won his second title with the New York Giants in Indianapolis while Peyton was still playing for the Colts. Now big brother gets a chance at a second title in Eli’s home stadium.
“That is a pretty unique and ironic situation,” Peyton said.
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CARROLL CONNECTION: By now, most fans know of the attempts by Pete Carroll and the Seahawks to get involved in Peyton Manning’s free agent sweepstakes during the 2012 offseason.
But Manning relayed another Carroll story on Wednesday.
Manning didn’t specify the year, but one June, he was in Los Angeles for a commitment. In need of a workout, Manning called over to the USC football offices and spoke with Carroll, then the Trojans’ coach, about possibly throwing with some of his receivers and quarterbacks to help get ready for training camp.
Manning said he arrived at 3 p.m. with the intent on joining in on whatever routes the USC players were working on. What he found were eight wide receivers, four tight ends and four running backs all stretched out and ready to do whatever Manning wanted them to.
“I said, ’What routes do you want to run?’ They said, ’No, coach Carroll said we are going to throw whatever routes you want to run. This is going to be your workout,’” Manning recalled. “That is about as good a treatment as you can get for a visitor to a different team. I really had a neat day throwing.”
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BAM BAM’S PURCHASE: After signing a four-year extension with Seattle last offseason, strong safety Kam Chancellor made good on a promise to his mother back in Norfolk, Va.
Chancellor had always wanted to buy his mom, Karen Lambert, a new house. He told the story Wednesday of looking at 20 homes in the Norfolk area after Seattle’s minicamp wrapped up and then setting up the surprise for his mom.
“There was just this one house that just stuck out and I knew that it was the one she wanted and everything she wanted,” Chancellor said.
His mom also wanted a new car, so Chancellor set up the surprise by parking the vehicle at the house he had purchased. The car was in the driveway with a bow, but was locked. When Chancellor told his mom she needed to go inside to get the keys, he had family and friends waiting.
“Once she opened the door, everyone jumps out and says surprise,” Chancellor said. “She was so happy and it just felt good. She deserves it.”
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TEBOW IN SUPER BOWL?: The closest Tim Tebow came to appearing in a Super Bowl was in 2011 when he helped Denver get to the divisional round before a loss to New England.
The quarterback, who was not in the NFL last season after being cut by the Patriots following training camp, remains ever so popular. In a survey conducted by Subway Restaurants, he received 26 percent of the vote from women asked which ESPN analyst they’d like to see in the Super Bowl. Ray Lewis was next among the female voters with 19 percent, followed by Steve Young with 17 percent.
Lewis and Young, of course, won NFL titles during their careers.
Among men in the survey, Young was tops at 23 percent, followed by Lewis with 21 percent and Tebow with 17 percent.
Fans also were asked where they want to see the 2018 Super Bowl, the next one up for bidding, to land. New Orleans barely was the choice with 28 percent to 27 percent for Los Angeles, which doesn’t have a suitable stadium or any NFL franchises.
The next three Super Bowls are in the Phoenix area, the San Francisco Bay area, and Houston.
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
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