Stokley: Playoff berth a ‘success’ for Broncos after 2-year drought
Apr 10, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: 8:39 am
With the Colorado Rockies coming off its first postseason in nearly a decade last fall, the Colorado Avalanche sealing a playoff berth on Sunday, and the Denver Nuggets one win this week away from doing the same, the Denver Broncos take up the rear among the four major professional teams in the area in terms of postseason play.
Since winning Super Bowl 50 in February 2016, the Broncos have missed the NFL playoffs in two consecutive seasons — a feat that’s happened just once before under the tenure of John Elway, as a player or an executive.
However, with a lofty tradition of postseason appearances and achievement, could just reaching the playoffs in 2018 be a successful season for Denver?
“(It’s a) success for me. Yes, I will take that right now because of where you came from,” Brandon Stokley said on Monday. “Where have you been the last two years? Not in the playoffs. You went 9-7. You went 5-11. Back to back years of no playoffs.
“So, if you just get back to the playoffs, then that, to me, is this a success and you’re heading in the right direction I think things are back on track.”
“Stokley and Zach” co-host Zach Bye called the viewpoint a “zoomed-in approach,” wherein a successful Broncos season is defined by the “hear and now” rather than “acknowledging the legacy and the history” of the franchise.
“Because, traditionally, that is not a benchmark for success,” Bye said of the club just making the playoffs. “But because of the way that things have gone awry here, it would be a success in your mind.”
Bye and Stokley pointed to the recent turnarounds of the Rockies and Avs, whom both went from last place to the playoffs in just one year’s time, as a reason to call a Broncos comeback season a “success.”
“You’d be looking to move from five wins to nine wins, or 10 wins even,” Bye said. “Four or five wins in a football season, you can’t overstate how large of a quantum leap that is.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
