There are a lot of reasons to think the Broncos will win their home opener Sunday. For one thing, the Broncos always win their home opener.
Well, not always, but almost always.
No other NFL team does home openers like the Broncos do. Denver has won seven straight of them and 11 out of 12 during the Mike Shanahan era.
Wait, there’s more. The Broncos are 27-5 in home openers since 1975 and 20-3 since ’84.
Yeah, but.
When last we saw the Broncos are Invesco Field at Mile High, they had lost their mojo. They won five out of eight road games in 2006, just as they did in 2005, when they made it to the AFC Championship Game.
So why didn’t they make the playoffs last season? Simple. They lost three out of their last four home games to finish at 4-4 at Invesco. And frankly, they were lucky it wasn’t worse. Or maybe you’ve forgotten that botched snap by the Bengals on a potentially game-winning field-goal attempt.
With few exceptions, the drill has remained the same for the Broncos for all these years. They don’t dominate teams on the road, so they have to win virtually all of their home games to make the playoffs.
They haven’t just won most of their games in Denver. They’ve established an aura, the likes of which few teams in NFL history have experienced. But that aura was nowhere to be found in 2006.
Recapturing it is the key to the Broncos’ season, starting Sunday against the Raiders.
Jim Armstrong issues regular reports throughout the day along with exclusive video interviews each week. Visit The Jimmy Page.
