Here are some tidbits from the Denver Broncos’ 2017 media guide that was released Wednesday.
*The Broncos have the best home record since 1975: 257-90-0, .730. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the second-best home record in that span: 253-101-1, .714.
*The Broncos are tied with the Steelers for the fewest losing seasons since 1975 with seven. (Not in the media guide: The Broncos had eight seasons of 8-8 in that span and five seasons of 9-7).
*Again in the 32 seasons since 1975, only the Steelers have a better record (402-255-1, .612) than the Broncos (398-259-1).
*The Broncos have won 15 AFC West Division titles since 1977. Two quarterbacks have accounted 11 of those titles: John Elway (7) and Peyton Manning (4). The others: Craig Morton (2), Jake Plummer and Tim Tebow.
*The Broncos fell behind the New England Patriots for most Super Bowl appearances last season. The Patriots have now played in 9 Super Bowls; the Broncos are tied with Dallas and Pittsburgh with 8.
*In the past three years, the Broncos have invested more than $36 million to upgrade their headquarters, which included the construction of the 115,000 square-foot indoor practice facility known as the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.
*Since Bowlen bought the team in 1984, the Broncos have the fewest losing season with five (several are tied for second with seven), are tied with New England with most regular-season wins (322), are third in division titles with 13 (New England has 17, Pittsburgh has 14), are second in most Super Bowl appearances with 7 (New England has 9) and tied with Dallas for fourth in Lombardi Trophies with three (New England has 5; the New York Giants and San Francisco each have 4).
*The coaches with the most Broncos’ service time are Mike Shanahan (21 seasons) and Joe Collier (20 seasons).
*The winningest head coaches in Broncos history are the previous two: John Fox (.690, 49-22) and Gary Kubiak (.686, 24-11).
*Bo Jackson had the second-best career rushing average (minimum 500 carries) with 5.4 yards per rush. Jim Brown is third at 5.22 yards per carry. No. 1 would be new Bronco Jamaal Charles, who averaged 5.45 yards per attempt in his nine previous seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
*The Broncos have drafted more players from the University of Florida (19) than any other college. Georgia is next with 15.
*Since 1995, which was the start of the Mike Shanahan head coaching era, the Broncos have the best opening month record in the NFL at 56-23 (.709).
*Although the Broncos didn’t sign cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris until June 14, he made the media guide when it was released exactly two weeks later. There was his photo in a Broncos jersey and everything. Now that’s impressive stop-the-presses work.
*The Broncos enter the 2017 season with the NFL’s longest active scoring streak at 389 games. It began Nov. 30, 1992 against Seattle. They narrowly avoided having the streak snapped in Game 14 last season when they lost, 16-3 to New England.
*The Broncos are the only NFL team to have at least 90 wins in each of the previous three decades. And they have 71 with three seasons remaining in the 2010s, meaning they’d only have to average 6.33 wins in the next three season to make it four consecutive decades of at least 90 wins.
*This will surprise the rest of the country. The average temperature at kickoff for the Broncos’ 586 home games in their history is 60.2 degrees.
*It was Ward M. Vining of Lakewood who came up with the name “Denver Broncos” during a name-the-team contest in January, 1960.
*The Broncos have the most overtime wins (28) in NFL history. They are 28-18-2 in overtime games since the extra quarter was instituted in 1974.
*There have been 1,272 players who have appeared on the Broncos’ active roster the previous 57 seasons. The most common Bronco stood 6-foot-3 and weighed between 200 and 224 pounds.
*The lightest player in Broncos history is Kalif Raymond, who was listed at 160 pounds last year as the team’s end-of-season kick and punt returner. The heaviest players were Sam Adams and Alphonso Taylor, each listed at 350 pounds.
*The lightest running back was Glyn Milburn (177 pounds). The heaviest running back was Cookie Gilchrist (251 pounds).
*This wasn’t worded like this in the media guide, but despite coming off a Super Bowl title, Broncos attendance dropped last season by 1,188 – or 148.5 fewer fans per game. I say it was the Peyton Manning Factor.
*Broncos’ season-ticket sales were 2,675 in its debut season of 1960. They sold a record 74,147 in 1987, the year after The Drive, and 74,123 last season.
*The Broncos finished ranked No. 1 in total offense just three times in their history: 1996, 1997 and 2013.
*Denver ranked No. 1 in total defense just once in history: 2015.
*Although he has played just six seasons, Von Miller’s 73.5 sacks are already tied for fourth with Rulon Jones on the team’s all-time list. Miller needs just two more sacks to pass Barney Chavous for third place and six sacks to pass Karl Mecklenburg for second. (Simon Fletcher leads with 97.5.)
*You could have guessed John Elway has played in the most Broncos postseason games (with 22). You might not have known Tyrone Braxton is second with 17.
*Soon to be inducted Hall of Famer Terrell Davis graces the cover of this year’s media guide. A big reason why is he gained 1,140 yards in just eight games in the postseason. That projects to 2,280 yards over a 16-game schedule. The single-season record is 2,105 yards by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
*The Broncos television partner is KUSA (9News). The Broncos radio network is KOA (850 AM, 94.1 FM).
*The Broncos are 1-10 in postseason games played on artificial turf. Their lone win was in the 1997-season AFC Championship Game at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium.
