Horse Tracks: Broncos lament loss to Bills, look forward to even better 2025

It was a great season by all metrics.

Good morning, Broncos Country!

The Broncos may have lost on Sunday, but Broncos Country has definitely won.

With a franchise QB-in-the-making and “young-and-hungry” playmakers across the defense, this team is well on its way to rebuilding back to championship football.

We knew we were playing with house money, making it to the playoffs with a rookie QB and a locker room full of guys who think the 1990s are the Golden Oldies.

And while all lamented having to clear out their lockers this week instead of getting ready to play next, there were no pity parties.

Just gratitude.

Players understood that what they accomplished this season was far beyond expectations and now serves as the foundation for bigger things to come.

“So many great things that we did this year,” Nix said. “I’m just excited to see where we go. I’m excited to see what we bring to this team. Bring in guys that want to be part of our culture. I think we have a culture—now I can legitimately say that. It’s special and I think we’re that much closer to where we want to be. It’s just a moment of time until we break through the ice. I think we’re at the tip of the iceberg right now. I know that we’ll eventually break through and get to the bottom of it. I’m excited to see where it goes for sure.”

Jonathan Cooper agrees there’s a really healthy culture developing in Denver, and he loves being part of it.

“It means everything to me,” said Cooper about being drafted a Bronco and wanting to stay. “To be a part of this culture, being drafted here, seeing all the things we’ve had to go through and taking the step we took from last year to this year, I really believe in this team. I believe in everyone here. I’m really excited about everybody here. We’re still a young team, so there is a lot of potential to still go from this. It’s experience and learning. I feel really good.”

Offensive tackle Mike McGlnchy loves that the O-line will be the same five guys next season, allowing the unit that most relies on good communication to take advantage of even more chemistry.

“That’s a pretty cool deal,” he said. “We understand the responsibility of our group to be at the forefront of this football team. The standard that we’ve set for our building, it’s our job next year to go exceed it. We have—not just the starting five—but the whole room is a bunch of guys that are committed to getting better and committed to upholding the standard that we’ve now set for what we’re capable of. Now the standard’s set. We have to beat the standard, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Both McGlinchey and All Pro offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz believe the Broncos have just the right quarterback to do so.

“Bo captured this locker room by the way that he works, by the person that he is and the way that he progressed,” McGlinchey added. “It takes a lot of hard work to get better week-in and week-out. It takes a lot of focus, and a lot of the guys aren’t ready to commit themselves to that. I think Bo is certainly a shining example of that and it permeated through our locker room. The improvement from him going forward is just going to be exponential.”

Meinerz pointed out that Nix just kept showing improvement every week, and that’s “really all you can ask for” from the young guys in the NFL.

“Players at any position are trying to improve. I’m excited for him,” Meinerz said. “That rookie year is kind of tough. You have your college season, you have the pre-draft stuff, you have Combine training and then you go through an NFL season. I’m excited for him to get some time off. That’s what he needs right now — to get some time off and reset a little bit because the next season will be here quickly.”

Nik Bonitto is already looking forward to next season when he can make up for a few plays he thinks he left on the field, which couldn’t be much given the year he had with sacks and turnovers.

“Individually, I’m still mad I missed some plays this year just looking back at it. They could have been made a little better,” Bonitto said. “As a team, I’m just proud of the way that we fought this year and how we proved a lot of people wrong.”

Nix definitely understands that mentality. Although the bar has now been set pretty high, they all have aspirations to exceed it.

“I’m really proud of those guys. We’ve overcome a lot,” Nix said. “We’ve not really been counted in many games. We’ve just kind of been that team that has continued to battle, not really talked about. It kind of felt like everybody thought we were just there, and we were just another team. To make the playoffs was a special moment for this crew, something to build off of. It’s definitely not something that we’re… it’s not our goal just to win the regular season just to make it to the playoffs.”

Nope, he says, the Broncos goals are changing.

“I’m going to attack it,” Nix said of the offseason. “We have a lot of building, and learning and growing to do, so that’s what I’m very excited about.

Nix added that the next few months will be “time to get better” and work on his craft.

Nix said. “There are certain things that I can contribute to this team more, and that’s what I have to find and focus on this offseason.”

Broncos/NFL News

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