Broncos Would Rather Be Visiting White House Than In The 'Dungeon'

By Mark Haas

ENGLWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - The Denver Broncos spent their Wednesday working out in the weight room.

The New England Patriots spent their Wednesday at the White House.

"The White House visit was special," said Broncos safety Darian Stewart, recalling the team's trip there last June. "It was a special time just to meet the president. We're ready to get back there and just back to the championship."

"I would definitely prefer to be at the White House," said Broncos safety T.J. Ward. "But you know, when you don't go to the White House, you have to go to the dungeon. Until we're back at the White House, I'll be in the dungeon."

The "dungeon," presumably would be the weight room, but a metaphorical "dungeon" might be out of the NFL spotlight. Either way, this off-season has been quite different from last year's victory tour.

"It's the exact opposite. In the dungeon, grinding," said Ward. "As soon as the Super Bowl was over, I started working out and trying to make this season a lot better than last year because not going to the playoffs, it hurt after going winning the Super Bowl. I know everybody on this team came back ready for that not to happen again."

"We all came back with fresh minds, ready to work," said Stewart. "A lot of us were disappointed last year with not getting to the playoffs. That's our mindset every year, just championships. Playoffs are expected from this group and missing that last year hurt."

The Broncos will emerge from the "dungeon" next week for a voluntary veteran mini-camp, which will be the team's first on-field work with the new coaching staff.

Mark Haas is a sports anchor/reporter for CBS4. Read his bio or follow him on Twitter @markhaastv or on Facebook.