Denver Native (Carol)
01-21-2016, 11:07 PM
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Three-hundred and sixty-seven days have passed since John Elway hired Gary Kubiak to be his team's new head coach, and team is exactly where he hoped Kubiak would lead it.
Despite offensive hiccups, injuries at quarterback and on the offensive line and the issues associated with integrating a mostly new coaching staff and altered offensive and defensive schemes, the Broncos still won the AFC West for a fifth consecutive year, still earned the AFC's top postseason seed and now will host the defending world champion New England Patriots with a trip to Super Bowl 50 at stake.
The Broncos aren't as dazzling on offense, but their defense was the league's best, and the team's penchant for comebacks and close wins revealed a resilience that served them well last week.
"If you look at the team that we have this year and the games that we've won and how we've won them, they've all been hard-fought football games, they've all been close and a lot of them we've won at the end, we've had to make plays at the end," Elway sad. "And so the mindset to me is that you know we play for 60 minutes -- even though we haven't consistently played well for 60 minutes -- you know our mind-set has been there.
"And that's why this team is a tougher team: because it's a mentally tough one."
rest - http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-blogs/article-1/John-Elway-Gary-Kubiak-handled-a-hot-seat-hotter-than-any-other-well/9a26c544-1c8b-418f-8492-707d155ea3a0
Despite offensive hiccups, injuries at quarterback and on the offensive line and the issues associated with integrating a mostly new coaching staff and altered offensive and defensive schemes, the Broncos still won the AFC West for a fifth consecutive year, still earned the AFC's top postseason seed and now will host the defending world champion New England Patriots with a trip to Super Bowl 50 at stake.
The Broncos aren't as dazzling on offense, but their defense was the league's best, and the team's penchant for comebacks and close wins revealed a resilience that served them well last week.
"If you look at the team that we have this year and the games that we've won and how we've won them, they've all been hard-fought football games, they've all been close and a lot of them we've won at the end, we've had to make plays at the end," Elway sad. "And so the mindset to me is that you know we play for 60 minutes -- even though we haven't consistently played well for 60 minutes -- you know our mind-set has been there.
"And that's why this team is a tougher team: because it's a mentally tough one."
rest - http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-blogs/article-1/John-Elway-Gary-Kubiak-handled-a-hot-seat-hotter-than-any-other-well/9a26c544-1c8b-418f-8492-707d155ea3a0