Bradley Roby on why the Broncos will be repeat champions

Denver Broncos third-year cornerback Bradley Roby thinks this team can repeat as Super Bowl champions. Why? Because of a familiar area of strength…

Why does Denver Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby think this team can win back-to-back Super Bowl titles?

“Because defense wins championships. I think people are just saying that because we lost two quarterbacks—I don’t know the last time that’s happened—but when people see events that haven’t happened before, they automatically doubt. We know that defense was a big reason why we got to the game and why we won the game. We’re very confident that we’ll be better this year. We’re going to try harder. Another year with our coaches. We know the defense a little bit better. We had a lot of mistakes. We just watched film 10 minutes ago of mistakes that we were making in games that made it closer than it should’ve been. I think we’ll be a lot better this year.”

Roby isn’t the first member of the Super Bowl champion Broncos to cite familiar coaching as a reason why this team is going to be successful in 2016. That says a lot about the culture of this organization that they have been able to keep such continuity on the coaching staff and in the front office after a win in the big game.

Many teams will see depleted coaching staffs in addition to their depleted rosters after a big run, but the Broncos simply saw a lot of turnover in the player personnel department. Only one coaching change was made this offseason — an offensive assistant position filled by Klint Kubiak.

Roby is a player who will certainly benefit from the continuity defensively, because Wade Phillips’ defense combined with the exciting pass rush potential of Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Shane Ray, Derek Wolfe, Shaquil Barrett, and all the others allows him plenty of one-on-one opportunities and chances at the football.

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“I have a lot of things that I can correct from my first two years. I can learn the game more. I was talking to [Defensive Coordinator] Coach [Wade] Phillips out there on the field. There are some parts of my game that I don’t even pay attention to that I know guys that are on the top level definitely pay attention to. Just recognizing routes in the game and stuff. There are a lot of things. Nobody is perfect, so you’re always going to find out different ways to make sure you’re getting better. That’s all it is.”

As a young player coming in, there were plenty of doubters of Roby’s game. It was trial by fire getting drafted in the first round by a team whose quarterback just set the NFL record for touchdown passes in a season, yards in a season, among a number of other things. He had to go through some embarrassing practices, and he’s not going to deprive rookie first rounder Paxton Lynch of the same treatment.

Tough love is still love. Going against this defense on a daily basis is going to give Paxton Lynch the best possible preparation a rookie could ask for.

Other than helping the rookie earn his stripes in the NFL, what’s Roby looking forward to this season?

“Just doing it again. You only get one opportunity to be in the league. I’m only going to be in the league for however many years. Why not try to win as many as possible? Especially when I’m on a team like I’m on now. I’m just doing whatever I can to keep getting better and keep winning because that’s all I want to do. I hate losing.”

So do we, Bradley. So do we.