I was listening to my friend Charles Johnson (who, incidentally, didn’t even get in the end zone on the fifth down), and he proclaimed on the radio that the Broncos will go 10-6, in part due to the “gauntlet” in the middle of the schedule.

To which I say: There’s no gauntlet — the Broncos are the gauntlet!

I see Denver again winning the division, again winning at least 12 games, probably 13, which Peyton Manning is wont to do (Also, for the record, I won’t “wont” that often). With the schedule released Wednesday night, Thursday was the day that Denver dissected this thing. Everyone has predictions — on our morning Denver Post Press Box show (9-11 a.m. on denverpost.com/pressbox), my guy Oren Lomena said 10-6, as well. And I’m like — wait, where did this team get worse? Let alone three games worse?

And I don’t see the division being as tough as it was last season. Kansas City, bless their hearts, had a fun run last season, but the Chiefs lost a bunch of fellows in free agency.

Look, I know this is all on paper, be it discussing the strength of the schedule or the strength of the Broncos, but it seems pretty simple to me — the Broncos were 13-3 last year with a defense that barely kept them in the games. This season, the defense could win them games (again, on paper). A lot of pressure is on Jack Del Rio, who last season ruffled some feathers in the locker room by demoting captain Wesley Woodyard, but overall survived and thrived in the a wacky, injury riddled season.

But the choices! The options! Just look at the defensive line, it’s suddenly a bountiful buffet, a smorgasbord of smug, confident front fours. If you count Von Miller, you’ve got Von, Demarcus Ware, Terrance Knighton, Malik Jackson, Kevin Vickerson, a second-season Sylvester Williams, Derek Wolfe and surely some other dudes who perked up when the heard the word buffet. They’ll likely add a linebacker in the early rounds of the draft, and the addition of safety T.J. Ward and cornerback Aqib Talib, even after losing DRC, is an upgrade in my opinion (there’s just something about Talib’s swagger and hunger that I welcome — like I’ve said before, this was an investment in nasty).

And believe me, we’ll write enough about the offense. All you need to know is that Emmanuel Sanders will fit in just fine, and as long as Denver gets a veteran backup running back, that position should be fine, too. So expect touchdowns, not field goals, first downs on first downs.

Funny enough, I say all this thinking that one of the 3-4 losses could be the opener. The Colts figured out last year’s Broncos, and I really wonder if Indianapolis would have gone farther in the playoffs if they had Reggie Wayne. I can see Andrew Luck coming in here, stunning the stunners, and making the Denver players that much more hungry to, yes, lay down the gauntlet.

And people are complaining about the bye week being in the fourth week, the earliest in Denver since 2006, as beat guy Mike Klis pointed out. But if Denver plays to its capabilities, the final week against Oakland should be a bye week, too.

As for the three Sunday night games, the Monday game and the Thursday game, general manager John Elway said: “You have to be flexible and your mindset has to be flexible and as a football team you have to be flexible. And that’s what we’ll do. We have three Sunday night games, a Monday night game and a Thursday night game again against San Diego here at home. You have to be flexible. I think the players have done a tremendous job — especially last year, they did a great job with it. We’ll have to do that again this year. We’ll just have to figure out ways to get as healthy as we can and mentally be into every football game.”

Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman