Terrell Davis On His Expectations For Denver Broncos: They Could Win 12 Or 13 Games

Forbes

20 hours ago

The Denver Broncos won't be slipping under the radar this season.
The Broncos are coming off of a 10-7 season and their first playoff campaign since the 2015 season. The franchise — which struggled in finding a franchise quarterback and head coach — finally have their guys in Bo Nix and Sean Payton. To cap it all off, Denver has one of the top-ranked defensive units, led by reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Patrick Surtain Jr.
It's the reason why Broncos great Terrell Davis believes the sky is the limit for this team. Davis — who won two Super Bowls with the franchise — says he wouldn't be shocked if they won 12 or 13 wins games this season.
"Sean Payton is not afraid to talk Super Bowls," says Davis in a one-on-one interview. "He's been talking about it. I feel like this team could have whatever ceiling they set. I think they can certainly get to that."
During Davis' rookie season in 1995, the Broncos went 8-8 in Mike Shanahan's first season as head coach. Fast forward a year later and Denver finished with an NFL-best 13-3 record. Over the course of the next two seasons, the Broncos defeated the NFC powerhouse Green Bay Packers — led by three-time MVP Brett Favre — and the 14-2 Atlanta Falcons to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Hall of Fame running back says this team reminds him a little bit of the Broncos went they began to turn things around in the latter half of the 90's.
"I've been hearing Super Bowl talk a lot around here, and it kind of reminds me of my team back in 1995 where my rookie season we went 8-8, and internally we felt like we were really good," says Davis. "The next year we went 13-3. We took a huge jump. We added some players, but it was the confidence in that room that made it feel like we were a better team than an 8-8 record — and we knew it."
Despite Pro Football Focus grading the Broncos as having the worst roster in the NFL before the season started, Denver surprised everyone behind the stellar play of their rookie quarterback, Nix. The 25-year-old quarterback threw 29 touchdowns — second-most in NFL history for a rookie — and won the Rookie of the Week award three times. Nix also became the first rookie quarterback to post an 80% completion rate, 300-plus passing yards and four-plus touchdowns in a single game.
The addition of a true young franchise quarterback complemented by the third-ranked defensive unit in the league made the Broncos into playoff contenders last season. Denver had a strong offseason that saw the team make major additions in former San Francisco 49ers defensive standouts such as Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga along with two-time Pro Bowl tight end Evan Engram. The Broncos also added a potential starting running back in All-American running back RJ Harvey out of UCF through the NFL draft.
Davis goes so far as to not only say the Broncos could win 12 or 13 games, but they could make a deep playoff run this season. Winning 12 or 13 games would likely put them toe-to-toe with the Kansas City Chiefs for AFC West supremacy.
"That's what it is on this level -- a lot of times it's the confidence of the team," says Davis. "They won 10 games last year. Can they go 12, can they go 13 games this year? I believe so. I would not be shocked to see this team not only make the playoffs, but make a deep run."
While Davis is known for being one of the greatest running backs of all time, he keeps busy in his post-retirement life with golf. The former Super Bowl MVP hosted Bank of America's "Golf With Us" clinic on Monday in Denver. The first-year event sees athletes like Davis teach kids ages 6-18 golf skills and important lessons that will carry them through life.
The 52-year-old teaches youth confidence, discipline and focus through the game of golf. More than 86,000 kids have enrolled in the program.
"It's really designed to give more access to thousands of kids around the country," says Davis. "They've had 86,000 kids sign up for this Golf With Us program then and they now have access to golf courses, for $5.you know. That just shows the power of the program. I have never had that kind of access. It's really about trying to give people inclusion, growth of the game and joy."
Davis — who says he's a "pretty good golfer" but not on the level of a Tony Romo — details why golf is such a great game for growth and camaraderie.
"I am an avid golfer myself, and I often would say, 'Man, I wish I had picked up the game earlier,' because it's such a wonderful game," says Davis. "It's a game for life, relationships you make during this game. It's the one thing that I can do now and be competitive still at my age. Hopefully, God willing, I'll still be able to play golf until I'm 100 years old. The connections, the relationships, the fun you have with former teammates, friends, family, it is a wonderful game, and I am a golf fanatic."
The former NFL MVP calls golf a "game of integrity" and says you can tell a lot about a man's character on the course.
"The life skills you learn with golf — golf is a sport of integrity, man," says Davis. "It's a sport that a lot of times you have to do by yourself, and it's going to challenge you to do the right thing, you know. They always say you can tell a person's character, just play a round of golf with them. You're able to find out a lot about that person, integrity and the character of a person. But not only that, just the discipline the game provides, the teamwork, the focus, a lot of life skills that you learn on that course that you're going to take with you later on in life."