ENGLEWOOD, Colo. --On Monday, Head Coach John Fox said that players could have all of Wild Card Weekend off -- depending on how practice went on Thursday and Friday.
Apparently, things went well.
"I thought the guys worked hard," Fox said Friday. "We have a good bunch of guys that have worked hard all season long and it was no different today."
"They have Saturday and Sunday off and then (they'll) be back in Monday morning."
The Broncos used this week for a small dose of preparation for three potential Divisional Round opponents, but mostly for self-evaluation and getting better as a team.
Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio said he liked the focus he saw on the field, in meetings and in the weight room.
"We got some good work in -- little bit on all the different opponents we could face, a lot on ourself," he said. "I though it was a good, solid week's work. They lifted, we had good meetings, came out here and got some good work. Then we do get a little bit of time to rest up and heal up a little bit. But more than anything, it's an extra week of preparation -- that's the biggest thing. We want to take advantage of that and we'll begin anew on Monday."
The main takeaway from the team's playoff bye week practices was that the players and coaches aren't treating the time like a bye week. As Del Rio alluded, there's time to rest and recover, but the team isn't looking at it as time off from football.
Quite the opposite.
"Those guys are wired in and you could tell they wanted to get something accomplished these last two days," Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase said. "It was really good to see the focus we had in meetings, even though they were short. And when we came out on the field, the time we spent out there, it was impressive to see that our guys, they were ready to go."
Come Monday, the Broncos will know their opponent for next weekend's Divisional Round game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. And they'll get to work.
"We're going to do our best to – whoever our opponent is – do great on preparing for them," Demaryius Thomas said, "make sure we're ready come next week, January 12, and get the 'W.'"
