There is the requisite amount of excitement and anticipation around here for the start of the upcoming Denver Broncos football season. You’ll be lined up to watch practice at Dove Valley the moment they open the gates. (Why, I’m not sure. It is after all practice people… but okay, whatever.) However, that’s about as far as the excitement goes. Nationally, few appear to be counting on Denver, with a brand new coaching staff and a quarterback entering perhaps the final year of his illustrious career, to be among the top contenders to represent the AFC in the next Super Bowl.
The Broncos and their fans remain focused on the franchise’s singular goal, and expectations around here are that nothing short of winning Big Game No. 50 will make the season a success. However, there’s certainly not an aura of overconfidence going into 2015. That’s because no one considers the Broncos, even with a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, to be a shoo-in – not even themselves.
That’s not been the case the past few seasons. As soon as Peyton Manning signed a free agent contract with Denver, Broncos fans – and even some Broncos players it seemed – considered it a given that Denver would become Super Bowl champs. Even after getting “Hail Mary-ed” by Baltimore in the 2012 playoffs, and getting drubbed by Seattle in Super 48, the Broncos came across as pretty full of themselves entering last season. It seemed like a dozen starters had their own radio “shows” and the rest had piles of endorsements. Collectively, they appeared distracted for most of the second half of last season. Perhaps it was a dysfunctional locker room as some have suggested. Perhaps the lame duck coaching staff was not “all in.” But whatever the reason, last season’s Broncos didn’t look all that eager to lay it all on the line to win another one for Peyton.
Normally, I don’t believe an athlete can be too confident; the term “overconfidence” is a misnomer in my book. But that doesn’t mean athletes can’t lose their collective edge and start taking things for granted. I think a lot of Broncos did that last season. I also think all the changes at Dove Valley will serve as a remedy for that.
The “us against the world” mentality is contrived in most cases. Coaches (effectively) use the “nobody believes in us” line to motivate their teams. In the end, talent, hard work, preparation and execution still win out, but that’s not to say that an underdog mentality isn’t beneficial. Despite the personnel losses and injuries Denver has endured this off season, there’s reason to believe a new collective outlook – being the underdog instead of having all the national pundits anoint you AFC champs before the start of training camp – can, and will, serve this team very well.
Going into this season, new coach Gary Kubiak and his veteran coaching staff – guys who are appreciative of the chance to coach in Denver and bring an “old school” approach to the game – will embrace the role of non-favorites. They will push the idea that Manning has still has something to prove. They will emphasize that teams like New England, Baltimore and Indianapolis are each rated ahead of Denver by various oddsmakers to win the conference title. They will use the “us against the world” thing now, because they can.
Make no mistake; it will still come down to talent, hard work, preparation and execution. Manning still has to have a good, if not great (and healthy), season. Wade Phillips defense still has to be a typical Wade Phillips (outstanding) defense, and the vaunted “zone blocking” running attack still has to make a patchwork (and in some cases inexperienced) offensive line perform better than the sum of its collective parts would grade out on paper.
All these things are doable.
It’s possible for Manning to have a better year throwing fewer passes. John Elway did not carry the load for the Broncos’ Super Bowl winning teams in the late 1990s. He was obviously vital, but so was the running game and so was a solid, if unspectacular, defense. It’s better that Manning not have to light up the stat sheet every week and for Denver to win games the old fashioned way, by controlling the line of scrimmage and playing sound fundamentals. Those traits win Super Bowls.
The formula worked here when Kubiak was an assistant under Mike Shanahan, and there’s no real reason it can’t work again. Do we all wish the offensive line questions were answered already? Sure. But then again, how’d things turn out when the O-line looked awesome on paper? The guys on the line that won back-to-back Super Bowls in this system were considered undersized overachievers and things worked out pretty darn well.
A lot of players need to have big seasons for Denver to win the Super Bowl. That’s a given for any team. The good news is most of them feel like they have something to prove this time around.
