"I feel tremendous. As my surgeon said, I had a valve that was
the size of a pinhead and now it's the size of a 50-cent piece,"
Fox said. "Obviously, the doctors feel good about me getting
back to work. I actually would have preferred to be back sooner,
but there was a pretty hard deadline of four weeks post-surgery
and I honored that and here I am."
Truth is, Fox has been
telecommuting for weeks.
As soon as he was released from the hospital after having his
aortic valve repaired, a surgery he had hoped to put off until
after the Super Bowl, Fox set up a sort of command center at his
offseason home in Charlotte, N.C., some 200 yards from the spot
on the golf course where he fell ill on Nov. 2 during the
Broncos' bye.
Not only was he in daily contact with defensive coordinator
Jack Del Rio, who guided the Broncos (10-2) to three wins in
four games during in his absence, but Fox was also in constant
communication with his captains, including quarterback Peyton
Manning, over the toughest stretch of Denver's season.
Fox was able to keep track of his team on his big-screen TV
on game days and on his iPad play book, watching cut-ups of
practices and helping to formulate game plans.
"Other than that I was in another state, (it was) much the
same as what I would have done in my office at Dove Valley," Fox
said.
"I want to be careful how I say that. I was involved, just
like everybody in this building is involved. Like I said, it's
not one guy. It's a team. And it's a lot of people doing their
job. As I mentioned before, it's a tribute to the staff and the
players that did a tremendous job as I went on the longest bye
week in history."
Del Rio maintained his defensive play-calling duties while he
was interim head coach and he allowed offensive coordinator Adam
Gase to continue calling plays for Manning & Co.
Fox admitted there were times he cringed at the play-calling
while watching the games on TV.
"In fairness, a couple times," he said, chuckling. "But I'm
sure a lot of people do the same thing when I'm doing that. It's
just part of the game."
Fox and his wife, Robin, flew home on team owner Pat Bowlen's
jet on Wednesday and at Del Rio's suggestion he visited with the
team on Thanksgiving morning, then watched from his home in
Denver as the Broncos beat the Chiefs 35-28 Sunday at Kansas
City to take charge of the AFC West.
