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The Denver Broncos were 1-4 to start the season when their bye week rolled around. Now, nearly two months later, they’ve won five in a row and lead the AFC West division. Yet again on Sunday they found a way to beat a team in the final minutes, this time intercepting Christian Ponder and kicking a field goal to beat the Minnesota Vikings.
Of course much of the credit is going to be given to quarterback Tim Tebow. As has become his national slogan, the guy simply wins. The Broncos have won their last four games by a combined 17 points. But as Broncos legendary quarterback and executive vice president of football operations points out, head coach John Fox needs to get his share of the credit for the turnaround. John Elway joined 102.3 The Ticket in Denver with Vic and Gary to discuss if he believed the team could be in this spot right now, Tim Tebow’s work as a passer on Sunday, Tebow going forward, the offense’s slow starts, Broncos fans taking to the road and the team getting national publicity again.
Given the start you guys had to the season, could you have believed you’d be in this spot now?:
“I think there’s always hope there. I’m not so sure I would’ve told you absolutely not. When you’re sitting at 1-4, you have a lot of issues and a lot of things that you’re not happy with. But to be able to turn it around and win six out of seven. Anytime you can get going like we’re going in this league and have good things happen to you but have 53 guys going in one direction and get great coaching, you have a chance to do that. That’s kind of where we are right now. We’re making good things happen.”
Did Tim Tebow surprise you at all with the kind of passes he was able to make against Minnesota?:
“No, no he didn’t. We saw him take big strides yesterday. He read out the two long passes … and I think that, offensively, especially the second half, we came out and did a little play-action, which really helped us. The receivers did a heckuva job getting open and Tim was able to get them the ball. That’s what this team’s all about. I think a lot of this credit’s got to go to John Fox. He’s done a tremendous job getting his guys ready to play week-in and week-out. Plus he’s got these guys really believing in each other.”
What are the thoughts at this point on Tebow moving forward?:
“I know everybody wants to know, but our future’s right now. When you look at where we are, the future is the Chicago Bears. We’ve got three out of our last four at home. We’re coming off five of six wins. So, we’re excited to come home. I think the city’s excited about it, the fans are excited about where we are right now. The future is now and I think the key thing is for us to continue to keep focused on each game coming up and try to win this division and get in the playoffs and see what happens.”
Can you pinpoint what’s going on that causes the offense to get off to slow starts so often?:
“I think there’s several factors. Yesterday I’d say we just came out a little bit sluggish. I think one of the tough things to do is figure out exactly what defenses are going to do to us. You never know how each team is going to react, so I think it takes a little bit of time for the offensive staff to react. I think that’s obviously one thing that we want to get better at, to be able to come out of the chute faster and put the pressure on them.”
Do you remember ever seeing that many Broncos fans at a road game so far from Denver?:
“Sometimes it was hard to tell who was doing well because there were so many Broncos fans there. I think that’s real exciting, especially with where we were last time at this time compared to where we are now, it’s a tremendous feeling to see that the Bronco fans are back on the bandwagon and we’re able to put a product out there that they’re entertained with.”
What’s it mean to see the team getting national attention again?:
“It’s always important, as an organization, to be relevant. I think that obviously with Tim’s emergence, plus the winning streak and winning six out of seven games, it has us back in the spotlight. … We’ve got a good thing going.”
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