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New season, same goal

Broncos gather for 1st time since Super Bowl flop
It was just three months ago that Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos were in New Jersey preparing to play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. Now, the Broncos are back to Dove Valley to begin preparation for a new season with dreams of getting back to the big game.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – No trip to the White House, diamond-encrusted rings or ticker tape parade.

All the Denver Broncos have to show for their historic 2013 season is the heartache and humiliation of getting destroyed from the opening snap at the Super Bowl.

The AFC champs aim to use that 43-8 shellacking by Seattle as motivation for 2014 starting Monday when they gather for the start of offseason workouts, stars Peyton Manning and Von Miller said.

They realize what a daunting task awaits them as they try to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to win the Super Bowl the year after losing it.

Crews have turned the team’s headquarters into a construction zone over the last three months with a makeover that will include the addition of an indoor practice complex, and, fittingly, general manager John Elway has taken a sledgehammer to his roster, too.

Gone are veterans Robert Ayers, Champ Bailey, Zane Beadles, Eric Decker, Knowshon Moreno, Shaun Phillips, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Wesley Woodyard along with Chris Kuper, who retired.

Their departures made room for Emmanuel Sanders, Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and DeMarcus Ware.

Despite becoming the first NFL team to score more than 600 points, behind Manning’s record 55 touchdown throws, the Broncos surrendered a whopping 24.9 points a game – 25.3 if you count the playoffs – and Elway focused on fixing that this offseason.

He added two thumpers in the secondary, and Miller will be back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, while refusing to re-sign players who would have cost him too much to keep around.

After all, big paydays loom for the likes of Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas. Both of them attended Manning’s annual week of workouts at Duke recently along with Bubba Caldwell, Sanders and Wes Welker.

“That’s kind of the new rules now. You have to go off-campus in early April in order to get some work with your receivers,” Manning said. “It was a good kick-start to the offseason.”

Manning also created a bit of a stir by heading to Tuscaloosa, Ala., a couple of weeks ago to pick the brain of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who in turn picked up pointers from the five-time MVP on the hurry-up offense.

Because Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who got his coaching start under Saban, visited Alabama’s football facilities at the same time, the NFL is looking into the matter. League rules prohibit players and their coaches from meeting before the start of offseason workouts.

The first two weeks of voluntary offseason workouts at NFL team headquarters are limited to strength and conditioning and rehabilitation activities.

A lot of players already have been working out at Dove Valley, including Miller, left tackle Ryan Clady (foot) and cornerback Chris Harris Jr. (knee), all of whom were sideline spectators at the Super Bowl.

Even though he realizes many Broncos fans would just as soon forget the Super Bowl, Miller doesn’t share their sentiments.

“I wouldn’t want to get the sour taste out too quick, because the year before we lost to the Ravens and that pushed us this last season. And the Super Bowl this year, I think it will just push us more,” Miller said. “We were right there. We were right on the edge of it, and all the guys have been putting in that extra 1 percent and, hopefully, it’ll pay off for us this coming season.”

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