ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Why does a talented roster underachieve?

It’s the question that’s been plaguing the Denver Broncos for two years now. Nobody is arguing that they should have won the Super Bowl during either year of the Vance Joseph era—their quarterback issues make that obvious—but the player-by-player talent is better than 11 wins over two seasons.

So what happened? Newly minted head coach Victor John Fangio knows exactly what happened.

Over a traditional Sicilian meal at Maria’s Bakery in Highwood, Illinois, Fangio dropped a three-word phrase that struck a chord in John Elway’s heart.

“Death by inches,” he said between bites of rigatoni and meatballs. “I promise you, we will not kill ourselves by inches.”

“I thought that was the best thing that he said in the interview,” Elway shared on Thursday, seconds before officially introducing Fangio as the 17th head coach in Denver Broncos history. “That has always stood out, and it will always stand out.”

It stood out to Elway because it’s exactly why the Denver Broncos have underachieved for the last two years. The inches got away from former head coach Vance Joseph.

“That’s our team the last couple years, death by inches,” defensive lineman Shelby Harris told BSN Denver with a nervous laugh. “All the little stuff, it kills us in the end. We were always shooting ourselves in the foot. Penalties, penalties, penalties, repeating the same penalties over and over and over again and not learning from our mistakes. Without all of those penalties, we could have changed our whole season. We need to get back to the fundamentals; we need to stop killing ourselves.”

Attention to detail Fangio’s meatballs and marinara. He’s been around long enough to know how this stuff works, and he knows how to keep things in check.

“When you see a small misdemeanor crime, that’s an inch crime, and you correct it,” the new head coach explained. “Here’s what ‘death by inches’ means: If you’re running a meeting, whether it be a team meeting, offense or defense meeting, a position coach meeting and a player walks in, say 30 seconds late, 45 seconds late—that act in it of itself really has no impact on whether you’re going to win or lose that week. But if you let it slide, the next day there are two or three guys late, or it went from 30 seconds to two minutes. It causes an avalanche of problems. That’s ‘death by inches.’”

Once again, that directly applies to what’s been going on around here for two years, just listen to what Harris, a player who proudly claims he has never once been late to a meeting, had to say.

“It’s kinda BS when people are late,” he shared. “At the end of the day, everyone has their stuff. I have a family, I have kids, and I make sure I’m here on time. Everyone should be here on time. I don’t think there is really any excuse to ever be late unless you get hit by a bus.”

Sounds like he’s been wanting to get that off his chest, no?

In 2019, nobody is waltzing into meetings on their own time. In 2019, Emmanuel Sanders isn’t going to get a pat on the back when he costs the team four points with a taunting penalty. In 2019, Jamar Taylor won’t be gently ushered off the field by the head coach as he is ejected from the game, leaving his team with just one healthy corner.

In many situations, the players wouldn’t want to hear this. In certain places, the locker room wouldn’t be receptive to the idea that every little thing is under the microscope. This team is sick and tired of losing, though. And this team is surprisingly self-aware of the reasons why.

“I like to hear that kind of stuff,” Shelby Harris said of the ship being tightened. “When you start holding everyone accountable is when you stop having to deal with all the little stuff. We need to start holding people accountable again.”

Key word: Again.

Things are about to change in Denver. The Don is in town. Keep your head on a swivel.