Alex Palczewski knows the saying’s a bit crude.
The message behind it, though, is critical to his process.
The third-year Broncos offensive lineman spent six years at the University of Illinois, and his first offensive line coach was Luke Butkus.
Yeah, familiar name.
“Nephew to the big guy,” the Chicago-area native says with proper Second City reverence for Hall of Famer Dick Butkus.
Luke Butkus would, like any coach, give out atta-boys when his pupils did something well. But he had a caveat. Always.
“He said, ‘If I pat you on the (butt) you should (expletive) in my hand,’” Palczewski recalled to The Post early in training camp.
Uh, what? PG-rated translation, please?
‘It’s kind of like, ‘don’t eat the cheese,’” the 26-year-old, nicknamed Palcho, said. “Where else can you be cleaner? You had a great block, well, maybe the result of it was great. Well, will that work on the most crucial down against the best player?”
That keeps Palczewski on his toes daily despite the fact that he’s worked his way into what feels like an important role for head coach Sean Payton. He’s likely the Broncos’ No. 2 right tackle and right guard and could end up the top reserve at left guard as well.
If any of Mike McGlinchey, Quinn Meinerz or Ben Powers misses time this year, it’ll likely be Palcho stepping in to be what’s supposed to be among the best offensive line units in football.
“I try to keep that mentality of I have to earn every single day and every single day I can’t think, ‘Oh maybe I’ll just take today off or mess around,’” Palczewski said. “Every single day, I have to be able to earn it and make the most out of it. … There’s not a lot of opportunities you get to be out here and get good work with the guys.”
Payton last week said he thought the Broncos’ depth on the offensive line was good and had particular praise for the No. 2 unit.
“When that second unit came in the other night, they were really good,” he said of the preseason opener against San Francisco, noting that the club is going to have tough roster decisions to make up front.
Palczewski and the rest of the reserve units were in line for major playing time Saturday night against Arizona after Payton said he planned to sit nearly all of his starters due to the heavy workload over the past 10 days.
Palcho’s been there and done that.
He started three games last fall for McGlinchey when the veteran right tackle landed on injured reserve. That provided valuable experience and plenty to learn from — and also showed Payton and offensive line coach Zach Strief that they could count on him.
Palczewski doesn’t have graceful athleticism or play with the prettiest technique all the time, but he has a knack for getting the job done.
Among the things he’s learned in Denver: How to reset when he doesn’t.
“Raiders game last year, I gave up a sack and I was like, ‘OK, where’d I (screw) up?’” he said. “Balance, brace, stance, explode to the spot, see him through my hands. Do that again.”
This is the Strief Effect. He constantly talks to the linemen about “MOT blocks.”
“Moment of truth block,” Palczewski says. “What are the things you’re thinking about? It can’t just be ‘oh man, I hope I win this.’ … Everyone thinks, ‘I want to win this block.’ No (kidding), everybody wants to win this block. How do you put yourself in that position mentally? What’s your stance? What’s your brace? What are your cues?”
If all goes well for the Broncos this fall, he won’t see a lot of crunch-time action on the offensive line.
That, he says, is just fine by him.
“I like watching (fullback) Mike Burton, (tight end) Nate Adkins, guys like that,” Palczewski said. “They’re not guys that are running deep posts or getting touchdowns and all that. But they do their job, they work their (butt) off on special teams. On any blocking play we have, they’re going to do their job the best they can. That’s kind of how I want to be seen, also.
“If I get put out there and I’m only out there on field goal, I want to be the best (freaking) end on field goal I can possibly be. I know everybody else around here is preparing their (butts) off, so I don’t want to let anybody down.”
Spoken like a guy who can get a pat on the backside and not feel too comfortable.
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