ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Denver Broncos are their own self-help group these days.

They’ve heard what people have said about their prospects for the coming season. They’ve seen the numbers a variety of analytical outlets have revealed after the requisite crunching. And the bottom line is the Broncos like the Broncos a whole lot more than most of the rest of the football world.

“No doubt," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “We know what kind of guys we have. We didn’t get it done last year, but we’ve done a lot before that, and we know what we need to do to fix it."

Von Miller and the Broncos' defense look poised to return to their form of 2015. AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

But pick a media outlet, any media outlet, roll through the musings of a variety of analysts, and the predictions of four, five, six or seven wins for the Broncos are not difficult to find. The Broncos, however, have their own version of the math.

They won nine games last season and believe they carry a better roster into this season, which will open for them Monday night against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“I think we have a chance to be a pretty good football team," president of football operations/general manager John Elway said. “I like where we are ... you play the games and that decides it, but I like where we are, I like what we’ve done."

In the world of Elway, the phrase “pretty good football team" really means a playoff team. The Broncos won the AFC West for five consecutive seasons, four of those with Peyton Manning at quarterback, before last season’s playoff miss.

When all was said and done in 2016, the Broncos made the decision that the roots of that playoff miss could be found in how things went on their offensive and defensive lines. That’s where they spent the bulk of their available dollars in free agency -- they signed two offensive linemen and two defensive linemen in the March talent grab, and then they used their first-round draft pick on tackle Garett Bolles and their second-round pick on defensive end/outside linebacker DeMarcus Walker.

They still have Pro Bowl players, such as Harris, cornerback Aqib Talib and safety Darian Stewart, on defense to go with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and running back C.J. Anderson on offense. They also still have a perennial candidate for defensive player of the year in linebacker Von Miller, one of the league's best at any position whose work in training camp made it clear he’s poised for a big year.

The Broncos also have a pile of players who won Super Bowl rings just two seasons ago. So, what gives?

What you need to know in the NFL

• Statistics

• Scoreboard

• 2017 schedule, results

• Standings

“We don’t really worry about it," Talib said. “We only can control what we can control. They base a lot of how they rank you and what they think about you on what you did last year. This is a whole new team and a whole new attitude this year. We’ll see."

Some of the outside skepticism could center around the team’s second consecutive training camp battle for the starting-quarterback job. Trevor Siemian won the job for the second time, but he is still a bit of an unknown to many in the league.

He suffered a shoulder injury in Week 4 last season that he played through the rest of the way -- he had offseason surgery to repair it -- and he had a foot injury that kept him out of one start, as well. The Broncos believe if a revamped offensive line does its job and their run game is better than the 28th-ranked finish of last season, Siemian can flourish.

“Trevor is going to have a good year for us," Joseph said. “The thinking all along has been if we don’t protect better or run the ball better than last season, a quarterback isn’t going to do what needs to be done."

Monday night will be the Broncos’ first formal opportunity to state their case about the whole thing, as well as their first chance to fix at least one of the things that got away in '16. They split games against the Chargers last season and were 2-4 in division games overall.

“Hell no, we don’t agree ... with what some people say," Talib said. “But it’s that thing: You can not like it or whatever, but you have to do something about it. We need to just handle our business, every week, go out there and do our thing and people can talk about that."