Peyton Manning has said that the Denver Broncos are "real lucky" to have Jack Del Rio on their coaching staff.

The defensive coordinator, who had a spell as interim head coach while John Fox recovered from heart surgery during the 2013 season, signed a new two-year contract with the AFC West side earlier this week.

The quarterback told the team's website: "He wasn't just filling in, in my opinion. He was as respectful to Coach Fox as anyone should be. At the same time, for those four weeks, he was going to be the head coach the way he coached.

"He wasn't just coaching the defense at that point. We should've gone 4-0 in that stretch, we went 3-1. Probably the toughest stretch of our season. We were real lucky to have Jack leading us through that time."

Del Rio took charge of the team's defense in 2012 after being fired from his post as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.