Brandon Marshall thinks Broncos had “maybe a Super Bowl lull”

Posted by Mike Florio on June 1, 2017, 8:39 PM EDT
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The Broncos won the Super Bowl in 2015. In 2016, they didn’t even make it to the playoffs.

So what happened? Linebacker Brandon Marshall has some ideas.

“I wouldn’t blame it on one specific thing,” Marshall told reporters on Thursday. “I think there were some distractions and maybe a Super Bowl lull. At the end of the day, nobody cares about that. All they care about is, did you make plays or not? And I didn’t. I want to reverse that this year.”

Marshall was specifically concerned about his performance down the stretch last season.

“It kind of sat on me,” Marshall said. “I had a bad feeling. I had a bad taste in my mouth all of last year. Even during the season, I was like, ‘I’m not making any plays. I’m not making plays.’ It just felt weird. I wanted to do something about that. I plan to have a complete opposite season. I plan to make all the plays. That’s what I tell my group. LBs, we make all of the plays, that’s what we’re supposed to do. Linebackers are supposed to lead the team in tackles. We’re supposed to be the playmakers on defense and I think that’s what we need to get back to.”

So how did a Super Bowl win impact the team the following year?

“Before we won the Super Bowl, I didn’t even think about it,” Marshall said. “I was so mesmerized to be on a winning team and thinking that we’re about to go to a Super Bowl. I never thought that was a real thing. You would see teams that win a Super Bowl and then next year didn’t make the playoffs. I never thought that it would happen to us because of who we have on our team. I think it’s real. One of my old trainers put it to me like this, ‘When you reach all of your goals, or when you have something that you work for your whole like and you reach it, naturally, you take a deep breath.’ Even though you reached that, we have to set new goals and new aspirations and work towards that. Once you reach those old goals, I guess those goals won’t do it for you anymore.”

He makes a good point. When a team has finally made it to the top of the mountain, it’s not easy to muster the will to slide back to the bottom and begin the climb again from scratch, knowing that the best they can do is to match what they did.

The challenges of continuing to strive for that which a team already has achieved makes Marshall respect one of Denver’s top rivals even more.

“They are always in the AFC Championship or the Super Bowl,” Marshall said regarding the Patriots. “They have a great quarterback, Tom Brady. They have a great staff. Bill Belichick is probably the greatest coach in NFL history. I will definitely give him that. All of those things come into account. But I do think it’s weird because no matter who they put in or who they put on the team, they still play well. It doesn’t matter. The one constant is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. They pick and plug guys and they’re still successful, which is crazy.”

Marshall can now understand exactly how crazy it is, given that the Broncos weren’t even able to get back to the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl. The Patriots have been to the AFC title game for six straight years, making it back both after losing a Super Bowl and winning one. Now, the Patriots try to get back to the AFC title game, another Super Bowl appearance, and maybe a sixth Super Bowl win in 2017, regardless of how many times they’ve previously been up and down the mountain, while the Broncos simply try to end a one-year playoff drought.

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21 responses to “Brandon Marshall thinks Broncos had “maybe a Super Bowl lull””

  1. History tells us that those dominating defenses that carry a team are a one year wonder in terms of championships.

  6. They will struggle to make the playoffs this year being in the same division as the Chiefs and the Raiders.

  8. raiddawgz says:
    Jun 1, 2017 10:41 PM
    Peyton was the only reason for the trophy. Hard to redo with no true qb..

    Peyton was terrible…Siemian was better.

  9. Fivehead ain’t walkin through that door.

    To the cellar with these habitual cheaters.

  10. I congratulate racist Brandon Marshal for somehow pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. He may have money but that doesn’t change the fact of what he really believes inside.

  11. Trust me, real Pats fans thank our lucky stars everyday for our coach and QB. The Pats other players always play with effort though, something that cant be said for all teams.

  12. “The one constant is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.”

    ———————————————————–

    Okay, but the other equally important constant is having 53 guys (no matter who they are) buy-in completely and live and breath by the mantra “Do Your Job”

  13. Thank you Brandon for acknowledging that Belichick is the Greatest Coach of All Time. However Brady is not just a great QB, he is without dispute the Greatest football player of All Time.

    I’m at peace knowing that for the rest of all of our lives, Brady and Belichick will be referred to as the GOATS whenever I watch a pro game. It would be hell to endure if it was that other QB with all the garbage time stats and big game chokes.

  14. churchofthehoody says:
    Jun 2, 2017 9:24 AM
    “The one constant is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.”

    ———————————————————–

    Okay, but the other equally important constant is having 53 guys (no matter who they are) buy-in completely and live and breath by the mantra “Do Your Job”

    5 0

    —————

    Absolutely true. I gotta say, I find comments like Marshall’s or recently, Dough Whaley, former GM of Buffalo claiming it’s “all because BB has Brady” which allows him to take “risks” in FA, etc, is nothing more than looking at it in short window and too black and white.

    BB has MANY genius approaches as a GM and a Coach, but it takes an entire TEAM of parts, working as one, moving in ONE direction, in order to win a title.

    It’s not so easy as Whaley claims or Brandon Marshall claims where it’s all about “BB and Brady”….It’s very insulting to all the other hardworking good or very good players who help win those games.

    I’ve personally seen Brady not play all that well in SB 42 and SB 46, where other non-star players played REALLY well (Sterling Moore, Mark Anderson, Woodhead etc) and got burned by a letdown by Brady as the star player at the QB position.

    So, it works both ways.

    As great as Brady is, or as great as BB is, it takes 1-53 and then some to win a SB.

    Teams who win know this. Marshall won a ring in 2013, ironically because he played NE’s B Squad due to a rash of key injuries which decimated the Pats.

    lmao

  15. auggiebeau87 says:
    Jun 1, 2017 9:09 PM
    Elway shouldve traded for Romo or signed Kaep. I don’t care what he thinks those two quarterbacks are trash.

    16 40
    Report comment

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    No way Denver could have EVER afforded Romo’s bloated contract.

    Now, if Romo was not going to go into the booth for tv, and Dallas released him, where Romo would play for far less for a chance at a ring? Sure. Sure.

    But, Denver’s cap is so poorly managed right now with little depth all over the roster and a subpar O Line, no way they could have afforded him.

  16. Part of the Patriot Way or whatever you want to call it is to not be static. Be like water as some famous fighter said.
    One year it is the fastest Offense the NFL has ever seen. The next, they barely play hurry up. The next they run primarily a two TE set.
    Some years it’s stacked in the backfield – like this year. Some years there is only 2 RB’s on the team.

    They build year to year- looking at the schedule, who they are facing, what kind of teams they are. What are the changes in the rules? How does this effect what we have been doing? How can we leverage the rules in our favor. In 2004 the DB rules changed. Bill invested in LB’s and DL over DB’s since PI became the game changing call. In 2014 they went out and got two stud DB’s because they faced every great QB in the game. And that stretch was the best football I’ve watched in years.
    Last year–and this year– the offensive threats they face are not as daunting, hence, build up the offense.
    The defense always evolves to what is happening in the NFL–usually people copying their offense success–like everyone jumping on TE’s that can catch as a main focus. The Pats already started having guys that were SS/LB hybrids to take on TE’s. When the league started becoming a passing league Nickle as a base became a thing in NE long before it was a thing elsewhere. What defense do the Pats play? Base what? 3-4? 4-3? The reality is there is no base. They don’t stick to one thing. They stick to what the opponent is doing. Pitt loses because they stick to their system. Zone…zone zone. It’s predictable. Good QB’s tear it apart. Yes sometimes they have personnel that make it dominant, but the years that they don’t have that group…poof.
    Yes BB and Brady are difference makers, but the culture — the buy in by the players — at this point that cannot be overstated. That will last beyond Bill and Tom, the same way as Pitt is all about Defense has lasted as a thing since the 70’s. The Patriot Way– do your job is what will carry on like The Steel Curtain mentality has for decades to come.

  17. TheWizard says:
    Jun 1, 2017 9:02 PM

    History tells us that those dominating defenses that carry a team are a one year wonder in terms of championships

    ————-

    The Patriots defense did it in 2001, 2003, and 2004.

  18. pwellz says:
    Jun 1, 2017 11:33 PM

    raiddawgz says:
    Jun 1, 2017 10:41 PM
    Peyton was the only reason for the trophy. Hard to redo with no true qb..

    Peyton was terrible…Siemian was better

    —————–

    Peyton outplayed Brady in the AFCC game by scoring twice as many TDs, how did Siemien do against the Patriots? I like Siemien but to say he was better is similar to say Garropolo is better than Brady going by arm strength alone.

  19. Come on… Peyton Manning is no longer on the team. One of the top 5 QBs in the history of the game. That`s why they lost.

    If Manning didn`t come back in in 2013 against SD, Denver probably loses that game and they may not have even made the playoffs with Brock. As you saw this year, if Brock was in there it might not have went to well if they did make the playoffs.

  20. patsfan4lifesbchamps says:
    Jun 2, 2017 12:11 PM

    Peyton outplayed Brady in the AFCC game by scoring twice as many TDs
    ————————————————————–
    How many times have you posted this absurd statement at PFT – a thousand times?

    Broncos great D won that game, and despite an awesome performance, they escaped 20-18 at home because the Pats missed a PAT earlier in the game and were forced to go for 2 at the end.

  21. Jun 2, 2017 2:26 PM

    patsfan4lifesbchamps says:
    Jun 2, 2017 12:11 PM

    Peyton outplayed Brady in the AFCC game by scoring twice as many TDs
    ————————————————————–
    How many times have you posted this absurd statement at PFT – a thousand times?

    Broncos great D won that game, and despite an awesome performance, they escaped 20-18 at home because the Pats missed a PAT earlier in the game and were forced to go for 2 at the end

    —————–

    Not sure you understand how football works. In order to win a game, you have to have more points than your opponent. Broncos great D as you put it held the Patriots to even fewer points last season but their offense couldn’t do anything. They lost 16-3 to the Patriots in the regular season. Here is a kicker, if Siemien managed to score 2 TDs like Manning did in the playoffs, they win that game. The Broncos great D couldn’t even make the playoffs because you still an offense.

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