Brandon Marshall Says Broncos Had 'Super Bowl Lull' Last Season

On the heels of a 2016 season that saw the Denver Broncos miss the playoffs, linebacker Brandon Marshall attributed the setback partially to winning the Super Bowl the previous year.

Marshall told reporters Thursday that Denver experienced a hangover of sorts: "I wouldn't blame it on one specific thing. I think there were some distractions and maybe a Super Bowl lull. At the end of the day, nobody cares about that. All they care about is, did you make plays or not? And I didn't. I want to reverse that this year."

Marshall elaborated on his statement and explained that reaching their goal may have caused the Broncos to become complacent:

"Before we won the Super Bowl, I didn't even think about it. I was so mesmerized to be on a winning team and thinking that we're about to go to a Super Bowl. I never thought that was a real thing. You would see teams that win a Super Bowl and then next year didn't make the playoffs. I never thought that it would happen to us because of who we have on our team. I think it's real.

"One of my old trainers put it to me like this: 'When you reach all of your goals, or when you have something that you work for your whole like and you reach it, naturally, you take a deep breath.' Even though you reached that, we have to set new goals and new aspirations and work towards that. Once you reach those old goals, I guess those goals won't do it for you anymore."

Denver went 9-7 last season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

It concluded the 2015 campaign by beating the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl behind a defense that ranked first in yardage allowed and fourth in points allowed.

Denver's defense still ranked fourth in both yardage and points allowed last season, but the offense often struggled behind quarterback Trevor Siemian.

While Peyton Manning put up terrible numbers in 2015, his retirement may have left a leadership void.

if Siemian can improve or 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch seizes the starting quarterback job and plays well, the Broncos may have the pieces needed to return to contention in 2017.