Three months after collapsing on a golf course with a heart valve problem, Denver coach John Fox faces the stress of trying to guide the Broncos to a Super Bowl triumph.
But Fox, who will turn 59 six days after Sunday's Super Bowl showdown with Seattle, feels like he has been given a new lease of life after surgery last November.
"I feel tremendous," Fox said Monday. "I hope to do this a lot longer."
Fox had aortic valve replacement surgery and missed only a month of the NFL season, with defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio serving as interim coach until his December 2 return.
"I'm 180 per cent better than I was three months ago," Fox said. "I had a valve that was the size of a pinhead and now it's the size of a 50-cent piece. I'm way better now physically than I have been for the last 10 years of my life."
Fox coached the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl a decade ago but lost to New England. Now he enters with the highest-scoring offence in NFL history against Seattle's top-rated defence.
"I'm appreciative of this no matter how many health scares you go through. It's a hard place to get to," Fox said.
"It was a setback. It was a little bit scary for a minute. It was a hard place to get back from. It was like getting hit by a truck. I thought about it a lot those first few days. I haven't thought about it much here recently. I never thought I wouldn't get back."
Fox had known the surgery was needed and had planned for such an operation after the season but the timetable was revised after he collapsed playing golf during an off week on Denver's schedule.
"Basically I wasn't getting any oxygen," Fox said. "It wasn't a heart attack. It's really called aortic stenosis, which is basically you're kind of smothering. It was more like suffocating than anything else.
"Luckily, I was able to get the blood flow perked up a little bit so I did get oxygen."
Fox discovered the condition while serving as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.
"It was something I monitored. It was one of those things where it was going to have to get fixed at some point," he said.
"If it hadn't happened kind of an emergency type of way I would be looking at having that like next week. So I'm glad it's over with."
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