The Bron­cos’ needs are many, but it’s essen­tial for line­backer Von Miller to come back after tak­ing a year off.

— Chuck B., Boulder

Kiz: Always fol­low the mon­ey. The big bucks sug­gest the Bron­cos decid­ed after Super Bowl 50 they could get any Pax­ton, Case or Joe to play quar­ter­back, so long they paid Miller hand­some­ly. Well, it hasn’t worked out exact­ly as foot­ball oper­a­tions direc­tor John Elway envi­sioned. Nev­er­the­less, Elway insists the plan remains to lean on Miller and the defense in 2020 until quar­ter­back Drew Lock, rook­ie receiv­er Jer­ry Jeudy and a rebuilt offen­sive line can gel. How many games will the Bron­cos win? Well, here’s my fear­less pre­dic­tion: If they don’t win at least 10 times, Den­ver won’t be the place where Miller plays foot­ball in 2021.

It mat­ters to me that the Nuggets went 3–5 dur­ing their reg­u­lar-sea­son games in the NBA bub­ble. Tank­ing is weak.

— Kristi, Denver

Kiz: With rare excep­tions, the inten­si­ty of NBA games in the bub­ble has paled in com­par­i­son to what we’ve seen from the NHL’s rock ’em-sock ’em action. Hock­ey beat hoops, because the NHL gave teams more to play for pri­or to the play­offs. While tank­ing is a harsh word, the NBA offered most coach­es every rea­son to make win­ning sec­ondary to stay­ing healthy. As a result, pas­sion on the court has often felt luke­warm, at best. We missed sports, but if it’s not impor­tant for Niko­la Jokic to play in the fourth quar­ter, why should it be impor­tant for us to the game?

I said it at the begin­ning of the NHL sea­son, way back in Octo­ber: The Avalanche’s trade for Nazem Kadri was the best off­sea­son move made by any team in the league. Kadri grinds, which appar­ent­ly is a for­eign con­cept in Toronto.

— Sean, Tempe, Ariz.

Kiz: Kudos to Avalanche exec Joe Sakic for real­iz­ing even a very skilled team needs a lit­tle mean.

I used to like you, Kiz. But you have no freakin’ clue on the issue of post­pon­ing col­lege foot­ball games until spring. The safest place for ath­letes in-sea­son is with their team­mates, with an incen­tive to be safe, wear a mask and social dis­tance from gen­er­al col­lege stu­dents, not turned out free to go and do whatever.

— N.K., Corn­huskers fan

Kiz: Those who argue col­lege foot­ball play­ers are safer in a team “bub­ble” than min­gling with the gen­er­al stu­dent pop­u­la­tion have a point. But a good point? If col­lege foot­ball play­ers are iso­lat­ed from cam­pus life, it’s not real­ly col­lege. It’s more like pro foot­ball. A job. Except with­out pay. Pulling on a Nebras­ka uni­form should not make young men inden­tured ser­vants to coach Scott Frost.

And today’s part­ing shot is a pat on the back for the C.K.O. (Chief Knuck­le­head Offi­cer) here at Kickin’ It Headquarters.

Was read­ing your col­umn on the Bron­cos’ new nor­mal and thought: I final­ly need to thank this guy. I’ve been read­ing and enjoy­ing your takes on the Bron­cos for many years. Some­times you make me mad, some­times you make me laugh, but you always seem to be spot on, Kiz. Your hard work is read and appreciated.

— Thomas, Ladera Ranch, Calif.