Fast Start Will Be Crucial To Broncos Success This Season

DENVER (CBS4) - Getting off to a fast start is the name of the game for the Broncos.

"The only goal that matters to me is winning," Teddy Bridgewater said.

For a team that has not won a game in September since 2018, a season-opening win is not just important, it is absolutely crucial.

A general view of the stadium before a game between the Denver Broncos and the New Orleans Saints on November 29, 2020, at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. No fans were admitted to the game. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"We were in the position last year where it just wasn't good. We started slow. We made good runs coming back but being in that hole is not a good feeling, Melvin Gordon said. "You don't want to get behind the eight ball and go 1-3 or 0-4 because now, you're in a little bit of a hole that you have to dig yourself out of that you don't want to be in early in the season."

"We want to change the narrative around here," Bridgewater said.

Changing that narrative starts with winning on Sunday. But for a team with a new quarterback and a bunch of players who haven't experienced winning early in the season, a heavy dose of belief is required.

"You have to sell hope. You have to sell hope to the guys that this might be our first time out here, but we've been doing this since we were five, six years old. So, you just continue to exude that confidence in the guys and make them have that self-belief," Bridgewater said.

Selling hope to a group of grown men can be a tricky endeavor, but Captain Bridgewater has done it and his veterans have bought in.

"We just have to try be 1 - 0. That's the mindset. I'm mentally prepared to get this team over that hurdle," Gordon said. "For those rookies that came in last year, they don't know how that feels and we want to give them that."

The Broncos open the season in New York on Sunday, Sept. 12 against the Giants. Kickoff is at 2:25 MT.