Evidently, there’s no room for “hate” — not so much the emotion, but the very word itself — or even anything approximating it — like “revenge,” and how it ties to the Broncos’ first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers since last January’s AFC Championship loss.

“Revenge is like hate. Such a dirty word, isn’t it?” said safety Nick Ferguson.

Nick, you sound like my father.

Dad’s admonishment was to replace any potential use of “hate” with the unwieldy but civilized “don’t particularly care for.” The result was a six-year-old informing his fellow first-graders in elderly Mrs. Gray’s classroom at a suburban Richmond, Va. grammar school that he “didn’t particularly care for the Dallas Cowboys.” Slacked jaws ensued.