Looking back at the most significant (for better or worse) Broncos moments over the last calendar year.
16. BRONCOS BATTER CAM NEWTON IN SUPER BOWL REMATCH
Seven months after the Broncos trounced Cam Newton and the Panthers in Super Bowl 50, they met again in the 2016 season opener. The result was similar — another Broncos victory, 21-20. But this one was even more painful for Newton. Broncos defenders pummeled him with three sacks and . Although he was clearly out of it after one of those hits in the fourth quarter, he was never removed from the game to be evaluated for a concussion. The NFL and NFL Players Association both investigated the implementation of the concussion protocol and . But it did raise questions over the protections afforded to mobile quarterbacks and all but made Newton the face of the NFL’s controversial protocol.
15. BRONCOS ASSUME NAMING-RIGHTS CONTRACT
Perhaps one of the more underrated stories coming out of Denver was the Broncos’ loss of a stadium naming rights partner. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy when nearly $20 million was still owed on its naming rights contract for the Broncos’ stadium. The remaining five years on the deal were sold to the Broncos, who have since to find a new naming rights partner. Although many fans have pressed for not having a name and using simply “Mile High,” the massive cost to maintain the stadium — Broncos president Joe Ellis estimated it will require about $300 million over the next 30 years — make a new deal necessary. Itap not every day the reigning Super Bowl champion is suddenly without a naming rights partner.
14. C.J. ANDERSON PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE
It happened on the last play of the first quarter of the Broncos’ victory over the Texans in Denver. C.J. Anderson, the Broncos’ starting running back, stayed on the ground and grabbed his knee after an 11-yard run. He finished out the game and the Broncos had their best rushing performance of the season (190 yards), but Anderson later learned and would need surgery. In seven games with Anderson, the Broncos averaged about 112 rushing yards. In the eight games without him, they averaged only 70.
13. CRITICAL OVERTIME LOSS VS. CHIEFS
The Broncos’ season seemed to turn on a brutal in Denver. Trevor Siemian threw for a career-high 368 yards with three touchdowns, but a slow start, a string of penalties late and the unraveling of a typically stout defense did the Broncos in. To make matters worse, Siemian suffered a foot injury that would and fullback that would require surgery and land him on injured reserve. The Broncos were 7-3 before that game. They’ve gone 1-3 since.
PHOTOS:
12. THE BLOCK
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The Broncos put Justin Simmons’ 40-inch vertical jump to good use against the Saints when special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis called for a leaper on an extra-point attempt with about 1:30 remaining. Drew Brees had just engineered a 75-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 23-all and the game was on the verge of heading to overtime, but the Broncos had been practicing this play all week and we were ready to give it a go. So on Will Lutz’s kick, Broncos defensive end Jared Crick pushed down the Saints center (legally), Simmons leaped over the line to block the kick and safety after a bounce and ran it back for the game-winning defensive two-point conversion.
11. BRONCOS ELIMINATED ON CHRISTMAS DAY
In a game they needed to play their best, the Broncos played their worst. A win would have kept their playoff hopes alive. Instead they took a demoralizing 33-10 loss, capped by a touchdown pass from Kansas City’s . Denver allowed 330 first-half yards, including 243 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter alone. Siemian completed only 17 of 43 pass attempts for 183 yards and zero touchdowns, the Broncos dropped to 8-7, the Chiefs completed a season sweep, and for the first time since John Elway joined the front office, Denver was eliminated from the playoffs.
10. YEAR OF AQIB TALIB
A day before the Broncos were scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., for a visit with the president, cornerback Aqib Talib was at a nightclub in Dallas — . Talib suffered a gunshot wound in his right leg that police later . He was not charged, he did not suffer major damage to his leg and he was not suspended, fortuitously paving the way for and many more Talib moments. Rated by Pro Football Focus as the second-best cornerback in the league entering Week 17 behind Chris Harris, Talib had three interceptions, including one pick-six, and a team-high 12 pass deflections in 12 games. He also started , threatened to , and got into with left tackle Russell Okung. All in all, it’s been a productive year for Talib.
9. BRANDON MARSHALL KNEELS FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM
San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whom the Broncos had pursued in the offseason, started sitting for the national anthem to protest social injustices, especially police brutality, in the United States. He began a movement in sports that Broncos linebacker . Marshall kneeled for the Broncos first eight games of the season and lost two sponsorships and received a lot of racist and derogatory mail as a result. During his weeks of protest, he met with the Denver police chief and donated money to local charities for every tackle he made. Shortly after the Denver PD announced policy, he would stand “not because everything is perfect, or because I’m changing my stance on things. But because of my hope for what we can become.”
8. GARY KUBIAK’S HEALTH SCARE
The Broncos were on high alert following Kubiak’s health scare in Houston in 2013, when he after a transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke. So when he fell ill after the Broncos’ loss to Atlanta, he was taken to the hospital by ambulance and held overnight for testing. Kubiak was diagnosed with a “complex migraine” and ordered to rest. Kubiak missed the Broncos’ loss at San Diego on Thursday night and Joe DeCamillis filled in as interim head coach.
8. BRONCOS BATTER BRADY IN AFC CHAMPIONSHIP
Tom Brady has historically struggled in Denver (3-7 record), but he’s never taken a beating like he did in the AFC championship in Denver in January. In a 20-18 Broncos win, Brady was sacked four times and hit a whopping 17 times. Two-and-a-half of those sacks and four of those hits were courtesy of Von Miller, who also had for Rob Gronkowski in the second quarter.
6. BRONCOS TRADE UP FOR PAXTON LYNCH
The Broncos lost a legend and his backup and suddenly had to fill a gaping hole at quarterback. Sure, they had a 2015 seventh-round pick in Siemian and a newly acquired veteran Mark Sanchez, but they needed help. So John Elway worked the phones early on Day 1 of the draft and made a deal with Seattle to move up from No. 31 to No. 26 and . Said Elway that day: “(Lynch) was the guy, and we’re thrilled to have him.” (The Cowboys had also tried to cut a deal with Seattle to get Lynch, but it didn’t work out and they settled on some kid named Dak Prescott in the fourth round.)
5. BROCK OSWEILER SIGNS WITH HOUSTON
Of course, that draft day deal wouldn’t have happened had Osweiler stuck around. But Manning’s backup apparently had no interest in taking the reins. Osweiler, who was benched in the regular-season finale against San Diego after starting seven games in Peyton Manning’s absence, took a four-year, $72 million deal to be the Texans’ new starting quarterback. Which left Denver without not one, but two starting quarterbacks in the span of two days.
4. VON MILLER SIGNS BLOCKBUSTER CONTRACT
The morning after Super Bowl 50, the game’s MVP said his impending contract talks with the Broncos would be “.” Hah! Negotiations dragged on and took a sour turn when details of a six-year, $114.5 million offer were leaked by the Broncos. That led to and . It also kept Miller away from the Broncos’ facility for the entire offseason workout program. But in the end, it worked out. He didn’t win Dancing With the Stars, but he and Elway made up and Miller was awarded the largest contract ever for a non-quarterback: Six years and $114.5 million, with $70 million in guarantees.
3. TREVOR SIEMIAN WINS OPEN QB COMPETITION
Back to the quarterbacks. So Manning is gone, Osweiler is gone and Siemian is hanging out, given no real thought by fans since he was a seventh-rounder out of Northwestern. But Gary Kubiak let Siemian, Sanchez and Lynch duke it out in offseason and preseason, and . On August 29, after the Broncos’ final preseason game, Siemian was named the team’s Week 1 starter. “To me, he’s earned the right to be our starter,” Kubiak said that day. “I’m very proud of him. It’s not that the other guys didn’t do something, it’s really more about how far Trevor has come as a player.”
2. PEYTON MANNING RETIRES
Speculation was rampant all season. Would 2015 be Manning’s “?” Although Manning wasn’t willing to declare immediately following the Broncos’ Super Bowl victory, in early March, just days before free agency opened, he made it official. “There is just something about 18 years,” he said. “Eighteen is a good number and today I retire from pro football.”
1. BRONCOS WIN SUPER BOWL 50
There is no topping a Super Bowl victory. After a dominant defensive season, one that put the 2015 Broncos in the conversation among the best defensive units of all time, Denver capped their bizarre and trying season by to win their third Lombardi Trophy. The Broncos set a dubious record with only 194 yards, the fewest by a winning team in the Super Bowl. But the defense crushed Carolina with seven sacks, 13 quarterback hits, an interception, 10 pass-breakups, and four forced fumbles and recoveries, including one by Malik Jackson in the end zone. Von Miller was named the game’s MVP after recording 2.5 sacks and two takeaways, including the game-sealing strip-sack in the fourth quarter.
