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The Broncos won the Super Bowl earlier this year, with a crippling defense. And now they need motivation to try to do it again.

So where are they finding it? Apparently, in places like this.

“Seems like a lot of the media is doing that for us,” safety T.J. Ward told reporters on Monday. “We still don’t get the credit. I don’t know. [We just want to be] better than last year. That’s what we want to do. Be better than last year. We were learning the defense coming in and it’s so much easier coming in that second year [under coordinator Wade Phillips] when you already have the defensive plays and you know what you’re doing.”

Ward was asked specifically how the defense will improve in 2016.

“I think we can get more interceptions and make bigger plays on interceptions,” Ward said. “We want to get our missed tackles down and less mental errors. Play the defenses the way they’re supposed to be played at all times. Knock out some of the mental errors; I think those are the three biggest things we can all get better at.”

Pressed for specifics on why the Broncos aren’t getting the credit they deserve, Ward moved on.

“I don’t know, but it really doesn’t matter,” Ward said. “We’re going to the White House in a few weeks. It’s a new year. It’s a new season. We lost a couple guys on defense. Maybe they like us to play with a chip on our shoulders. It’s more entertaining that way.”

It’s definitely more entertaining. And if the defending champs can turn the bull’s-eye they wear into a chip on the shoulder, it guards against complacency keeping them from contending in 2016.

Chances are the Broncos will contend. However, a lot of things will have to fall their way in order to win another Super Bowl.