Exactly four weeks after undergoing heart surgery on Nov. 4, John Fox is back. Fox returned to his job as the Broncos head coach on Monday and met with the media for the first time since having his aortic heart valve replaced.
"I'm actually in better shape now than I was a month ago," Fox said, via ESPN.com.
The Broncos coach was released from the hospital on Nov. 8 and immediately began recuperating at his Charlotte, N.C., home. Fox flew back to Denver on Nov. 27 before finally returning to coaching on Monday. Fox did surprise the team with a Thanksgiving Day appearance at practice.
"I feel tremendous, obviously the doctors feel good about me getting back to work," Fox said. "I actually would have preferred to have been back sooner, but there was a pretty hard deadline after the surgery of four weeks, and I honored that."
The 58-year-old Fox says this is the best he has felt in two decades.
"I feel as healthy as I've ever felt in the last 20 years," Fox said. "I'm going to be smart. If all of a sudden I can't hold my eyes open, I'm going to go home. But, like I said, the last three weeks I've been operating pretty much as I did the first eight weeks of the season. It's not like I'm moving furniture or doing roofs. I mean, I sit somewhere and watch football."
The Broncos schedule won't do Fox any favors as far as rest goes. Denver plays two games in four days beginning on Dec. 8. So Fox will return against Tennessee, then turn around and coach a Thursday game at home against San Diego.
With Fox out, the Broncos went 3-1 with interim coach Jack Del Rio running the show. The three victories included two against Kansas City that have given Denver control of their own fate for home-field advantage and the No. 1 overall playoff seed in the AFC.
