ENGLEWOOD, Colo. --Broncos tight end Jacob Tamme admitted that while the Sept. 5 season opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens is still a little too far off for him to start thinking about, it's not too early to think about goals for his second year in Denver.
"I'd like a Super Bowl," Tamme said. "For me, like I've said before, it's really never about personal goals. Obviously, I'd love to catch 100 passes, but I don't really care about that. It's more about what are we going to do to win games."
Catching 100 passes would nearly double his total from last season when he caught 52 for 555 yards but he understands that his role will vary game-to-game in terms of how much time he spends blocking and how many catches he'll get the chance to make. For now, he's just concerned with making himself a better player.
"What I want to do is use this time to get better," Tamme said. "I know that sounds cliché, but I really don't think about that at all until you ask me that question. Everything is so day-by-day right now that I'm just trying to do what I can to improve my craft and what I'm doing. If I do that, I'll help us and we'll do some good things."
This time of the year is a good opportunity for Tamme to hone those skills especially since he's getting the chance to line up across from Pro Bowl linebacker Von Miller and the rest of the first-team defense.
Tamme said that Miller is a tough guy to get around or get open off of, and that the rest of the defense is full of tough matchups.
"Going against a lot of guys on our defense, I feel like we have a lot of really good players," Tamme said. It's not just Von. We've got a lot of guys. Wesley Woodyard is a really good cover guy and is a good linebacker in general. Our safeties and corners, we get to match up against our corners every once in a while, the way that we move around at tight end. All of that type of stuff is big work for us, it's good."
Ultimately, the preparations that Tamme and the rest of the Broncos are making now are for the Thursday night season opener and the slate that follows. Tamme said that on some level that should be on the mind, but the more important goal for the summer time is improvement.
"It is time to focus on what we have to do out here on the field," Tamme said. "You want to be aware of the fact that you are preparing for a game and put yourself in game mode, but as far as thinking about the Ravens and stuff like that, I know it's not really time for that for me. It's time to just focus on getting better."
