Mile High Monday: Broncos Country Ready For 2012 Season

My piece with the Joel Dreessen interview has been pushed back a couple of weeks in order to include an interview with Loren Landow (A sports trainer who has worked extensively with Dreessen). Keep your eyes peeled; it’s a can’t miss. Thanks for reading!

While flipping through the channels on Sunday morning, I came upon a replay of the 2011 Denver Broncos-Chicago Bears game. Naturally I watched every second. Not only did it take me back to the emotional highs and lows of the 2011 season, but it had my head spinning for the rest of the day thinking about the future.

No team in the NFL has improved as much as the Broncos this offseason. They improved about as much as you possibly can at the most important position in the game when they signed Peyton Manning. Add to that some new offensive weapons such as Joel Dreessen, Jacob Tamme, and Andre Caldwell; some reinforcements for the defense with Mike Adams, Ty Warren, Tracy Porter, and Drayton Florence; some talented youth through the draft such as Derek Wolfe, Ronnie Hillman, and Omar Bolden; and the 2012 team will look drastically different than the one we saw in 2011.

We won’t see the Broncos being shut out through three and a half quarters before springing to life like last year, and the defense will not be under an immense amount of pressure to hold the opponent below 17 points anymore. We are entering a new era of Denver Broncos football, and it is going to be better on all fronts.

Think about where the Denver organization was 2 years ago. They struggled through the worst season in franchise history in 2010 with quite possibly the worst head coach/general manager football has ever seen. Since then, the franchise has added John Elway, John Fox, and Peyton Manning. That is quite a trio, and they have made all the difference. Broncos’ fans who were praying for an unlikely turnaround have had their prayers answered. Denver has seen a legitimate championship window open up in front of them and it will be open for as long as Manning is healthy and playing. My feeling is that Manning can give this franchise four good years. If that is the case, they are going to get back to the success that the Broncos fans have become accustomed to during most of their lives.

Broncos Country is flying high right now. Most everyone is counting down the days to the season opener on September ninth, and oh how glorious it will be to see Manning throwing touchdowns in a Broncos uniform! If you take the temperature of the fan base on Twitter, you will see a level of enthusiasm for the coming season that has been missing since Johnny himself was playing quarterback. Many fans, including myself, are already busy making travel plans to see the team play live in multiple locations. Season ticket holders who used to sell tickets to a few games every season will be holding on to all of them very tightly this year. The opportunity to see an elite quarterback playing for your favorite team doesn’t happen every day, and it has been a long time coming for this fan base.

For the first time in a long time Denver has a very real chance to compete for a championship. While watching the Broncos offense look so inept during the game replay yesterday, all I could do was shake my head. The 2011 season was awesome. It was a year I will remember for the rest of my life, and I was so grateful the organization became relevant again. But the realist in me knew that they still had a long way to go in order to actually contend for a Super Bowl. As they stand today, the Broncos have covered a lot of that ground faster than I ever could have dreamed. I still can’t believe that Peyton Manning plays for Denver, and I expect that he is going to take us all on a memorable ride. Get ready Broncos fans, the Manning Era is about to begin!

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