The Panthers Trap: Can the Broncos Avoid the…?

As two-score home favorites to beat the Carolina Panthers and go 5-3 this weekend, the Denver Broncos are morphing into a hardened football team. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, though.

If the ascending Broncos were to fall into a classic ‘trap game,’ the hopeful narrative would swiftly do a 180 and fall on its head. Sound fundamentals and a diligent professional attitude are the best way to circumnavigate competitive icebergs.

The Broncos players are setting their own standards within the locker room. The desire to push themselves to get better defines teams on a path to success.

“I just feel like it’s the culture that we’re bringing, the culture that we’re building here is how can you get better? And everybody can get better,” Broncos rush linebacker Jonathon Cooper said on Thursday via DenverSports‘ Andrew Mason. “Everybody can get better. It doesn’t matter if you were a rookie or you’ve been in the league for 10 years. There’s always something small that you can get better at or just clean up for yourself… It’s constantly working. It’s never letting off or getting like this because, like Coach says, in this league, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. And our goal is always to get better.”

Cooper is everything a coach likes to see in a player. A late-round pick from Ohio State, he’s worked his way into the starting lineup through dedicated hard work and a willingness to learn.

Guys like Cooper might not be a household name, but that’s not their primary motivation. Buying into the collective is what’s driving the Broncos defense forward, as evidenced by the stats that tell us the unit ranks second in the league in sacks, with 28 already.

While it’s fair to say that Denver’s offense is making incremental improvements, its development is still a stretch behind the stellar defensive unit. Perhaps equally important to the Broncos’ upward trajectory is solid leadership.

Young veterans like right guard Quinn Meinerz are turning into bonafide team leaders; the determination to focus fully on the finer details builds great players and, as a direct consequence, playoff-caliber teams.

“I would say just the details,” Meinerz said on Thursday via Mason. “I think there’s been—going Year 2 into a system. I don’t know if ‘easier’ is the correct word but it feels a little easier to be honed in on those details because I already kind of know the play, I know the structure that we’re gonna be trying to build against this play. And so now it’s a lot more about the details. Where’s my hands? Where’s my helmet trying to go? What kind of footwork am I trying to use? So, there’s a lot different internal communication each play.”