Franklin: Broncos must win small battles

THE CONSENSUS among players and coaches is that winning the Super Bowl depends on how well a team prepares going in. For Denver Broncos right tackle Orlando Franklin, who is playing in his first this Sunday, this belief holds very true.

The six- foot seven- inch Jamaica-born player is under no illusions about what it will take to win the biggest game of his short professional career. “Making minimal mistakes; it’s the team that makes the least amount of mistakes that’s going to win,” he said.

It is why he makes sure he will be prepared to be the best he can be in a game that requires him to be. So how does he prepare? “I watch (tapes of) the person I am going up against. I watch how good he is with his hands, his favourite pass- rush moves,” Franklin said, adding that he also keeps an eye on the defence for what signs there are when they plan to make aggressive plays to get to his quarterback.

For the Denver Broncos to add to the titles they won in 1997 and 1998, they will have to win the small battles on the field. “We just have to go out there and seek to win the individual matchups,” said Franklin who was drafted by the Broncos from the University of Miami in 2011. “We have to take care of business for 60 minutes. And if we play the way the Denver Broncos have been playing all year, I don’t think we can lose. I just think we have to take care of business one play at a time.”

And while he was always confident Denver would have been in the Super Bowl, he is not getting ahead of himself in thinking about ways to celebrate, should they win Super Bowl XVLIII.

“I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” he said in response to questions about how he plans to celebrate a third Bronco title. “I am pretty sure that, when the time comes I will figure it out. Right now, I am just trying to get to know the Seattle Seahawks as much as possible and trying to help my team to get this victory.”