The Denver Broncos are entering Week 9 of the season in the best position possible, at 7-0 and coming off of a gigantic win against the previously undefeated Green Bay Packers. Everything is going well. The offense is out of its funk and the defense is smothering every opponent in every capacity. But with success, often comes complacency, and Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak is trying to combat that this week.

“I think that we’re doing a good job right now of focusing on each week. I told the guys just a few minutes ago after practice—one of the things that we did the other night was that we played very fast as a team and we carried that over to practice today.” Kubiak said Wednesday when asked about a possible letdown after Green Bay. “They know we’re playing a great football team that has a lot of new additions from last year. They were in the [AFC] Championship game last year. We’re probably playing at one of the toughest places to play in this league. We understand that. We were good and focused today.”

The game Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts is set up for what football minds call a “trap game.” The Colts are atop a terrible AFC South at 3-5 but have been dismal across the board. They have a minus-9 turnover margin, have given the ball away 19 times on offense, have allowed an average of 404.9 yards per game (29th in the NFL) and their three wins have come against opponents with a combined record of 6-16.

Despite all that the players in the locker room understand that there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance in the NFL. Coming off of the win over the Packers, the Broncos players are hoping they bring the right amount of focus on the struggling Colts accompanied by the same attitude that helped them dominate last Sunday night.

“The next game is the only game,” Danny Trevathan said Friday. “It’s the most important. For me, it is in the way of where I’m trying to go and where this team is trying to go, so its important that we go out and handle our business.”

The Broncos can also recall the last meeting between the two teams. The Colts knocked the Broncos out of the playoffs in January in an embarrassing 24-13 loss at home. The two teams will have very similar lineups as last season on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts will return 13 of the same starters and the Broncos will have 14. Many Broncos have “turned the page” to next season, but some have admitted that it will motivate them this week.

“Anytime you lose, it always leaves a bad taste in your mouth, a team that put you out. They beat us. I think we’re 1-2 versus Andrew Luck, so it’s something that we definitely want to get this win bad,” Chris Harris Jr. said Monday.

While not using last year to take the focus off of this year’s success, the Broncos also have to make sure they do not see the Colts as pushovers either. Ten-year veteran Owen Daniels was asked Friday about if teams get sucked into playing down to a struggling opponent’s level; he believes the Broncos have the right make up to avoid such a pitfall.

“Sure it can be a possibility if you don’t have the right type of guys, the right type of leadership, the right type of mentality week-to-week. ‘Kub’ [Kubiak] does a great job of making sure we aren’t feeling too good about ourselves at anytime. We kind of wipe the slate clean and start new every week. The players, this is probably the best, one of the better locker rooms at staying focused on what we are trying to do.”

The Broncos have gone undefeated while playing four games on the road and they have done so after big games in primetime. Evan Mathis, a newcomer to the Broncos and an 11-year veteran in the NFL, has liked how the team’s mental approach has come along through their first leg of the season.

“Over the course of the season you learn what works for you as an individual and as a team. Obviously we have been winning so guys are learning what works for them each week and I think this team does a good job of being mentally prepared and focused for each game and being able to block out any fluff that comes with any particular game.”

The Broncos have increasingly improved game after game on both offense and on defense. Last week, they recorded 500 net yards on offense and held the Packers to an incredible 140 net yards. The game was a shining performance on the field, but Mathis, much like Daniels, attributed the great focus and attitude to the weekly routine the coaches have established since the beginning of the season.

“It is everywhere. It is the culture around here. I guess it starts with the coaches. They keep us focused on what we need to be focused on and we are in the routine of doing that, of resetting our focus. We are putting the game behind us the day after the game when we watch the film and move on and just block all the extra stuff out.”

That focus this week shifts to “the next game on our schedule” as many players put it, but rising star Malik Jackson put it in simpler, prioritized terms Friday.

“One, it is the next game up. Two, they knocked us out of the playoffs; and three, it is an AFC game. Yeah we want to be perfect, but we also want the number one seed at the end of the year and they are in the way of us doing that.”

He also knows what can happen if you come out flat and overlook any opponent, especially one within the AFC.

“You always have to have attitude. Any given Sunday in this league anybody can beat you so you have to go out there and work. As soon as you let your guard down, chill out, that other team is not going to do that. You have to stay amped up all game until you walk off the field and shake hands.”

When asked how he would describe his team’s mentality every week, not just for “big” games, Trevathan’s answer was both telling and exciting for any Broncos fan.

“We are motivated, hungry and grinding. That’s our whole mindset right there.”

The Broncos have every reason to look back and appreciate what they have accomplish so far yet, through painful experience, it appears that everyone on the team is looking straight ahead, no further than their next opponent. A 7-0 team that remains motivated and hungry should scare whomever they meet, whenever they meet in 2015.

Email Sam at sam@milehighsports.com and follow him on Twitter @SamCowhick