Broncos ‘used to dogfights,’ win nail-biter to start season

Close games aren’t anything knew for this defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos squad.

Of games decided by seven points or less, Denver went 11-3 in 2015.

When that figure grows to three points or less: 5-2.

So, squeaking out a 21-20 win Thursday night to kickoff the NFL season against Super Bowl 50 foe Carolina wasn’t anything new.

“I hope it’s not the blueprint,” cornerback Bradley Roby said after the game.

Head coach Gary Kubiak said after the game “too many mistakes playing and coaching” led to the game being decided by the right foot of Panthers kicker Graham Gano.

Gano, who had drilled his previous kicks earlier in the game, pushed a game-winning field goal left with 9 seconds left in regulation.

Kubiak said his squad “survived” but needed to clean up those mistakes moving forward.

“I’m proud of them. It was a great game. We won because we continued to battle and battle and believe,” Kubiak said.

Running back C.J. Anderson, who led the way for the Broncos offensively with 139 total yards and two touchdowns, said winning close games was the team’s “whole motto last year,” and they wouldn’t shy away from the challenge.

“We told the newcomers that this is the National Football League, and every game can potentially be a dogfight,” Anderson said after the game. “You’re not going to win 45-0 with you just chilling in the third quarter like when you were in college. That’s not going to happen anymore.

“We’re used to dogfights.”

In the end, the effort goes into the win column of the box score, which is the most important thing, said linebacker DeMarcus Ware after the game.

“I just look at it as ‘a win is a win,’ if it’s close or not,” Ware said. “We don’t want it to be close, but that was a great team that we played against and it’s fun to win close games like that.”