DENVER — The smoke machine that marks victories inside Sean Payton’s “Club Dub” set off chaos as the Broncos celebrated a fifth win in their last six games Sunday.
Just before Payton made his way into an auditorium to address reporters after Denver’s 28-14 victory against the lifeless Carolina Panthers at Empower Field at Mile High, the fire alarm, tripped by the locker room celebration, was blaring. The noise had stopped by the time the Broncos’ head coach walked to the lectern, but the alarm system’s bright white lights were still flashing.
It turned out that the scene fit perfectly with the theme of Payton’s postgame news conference, which he essentially used to provide a clear, stern warning to his team: Things are about to get much tougher.
“We’re going to see a lot better teams,” Payton said. “It’s just the truth.”
#BroncosCountry LIVE: HC Sean Payton meets the media after #CARvsDEN https://t.co/ht0xTYboEn
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 27, 2024
Let’s start here: The Broncos are 5-3, their best record through eight games since 2016. Four of their five wins this season have come by at least 14 points while none of their losses have been by more than a touchdown. If the season ended Sunday night, the Broncos would be the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs and would be hitting the road to play the Pittsburgh Steelers and old pal Russell Wilson in the first round. By all accounts, a team many outsiders predicted wouldn’t win more games than the five they’ve already secured in 2024, is ahead of schedule.
But if the Broncos really want this season to go anywhere — if they want to reach the postseason for the first time in nine years — the internal standard has to keep rising as the schedule intensifies. Up next for the Broncos: back-to-back road games against perennial AFC powers. The first is a trip to Baltimore to face the Ravens next Sunday. That’s followed by a game against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Broncos haven’t won in nine years.
“These next two weeks will define us,” Broncos left guard Ben Powers said, “so we’re all looking forward to the challenge.”
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Payton is from the Bill Parcells school of coaching, where the curriculum dictates there are times you should push teams harder after wins than losses. There was plenty to like on Denver’s stat sheet Sunday, even if it was produced against the NFL’s worst team. The Broncos scored 28 consecutive points after giving up an opening-drive touchdown. They converted nine of their first 10 third-down attempts. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix set career-high marks in passing touchdowns (three), passing yards (284) and completion percentage (75.7), and he also added his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. He became the first Broncos quarterback to win five starts as a rookie and also completed a fifth game this season without throwing an interception.
“For a rookie quarterback, all of these are steps — confidence steps,” Payton said. “We’ve seen it. The key is around him. Are we good enough at these other positions around him? That’s what we’re constantly working on. We have to paint the picture. When we do that, we’ll have success. We’ll move the ball.”
Courtland Sutton had his first 100-yard receiving game since Week 2 of the 2022 season. Tight end Adam Trautman had a career-best 85 yards on four catches, including a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone midway through the second quarter. Nate Adkins caught his first career touchdown pass, part of a banner day for a tight end room that had been one of the NFL’s least productive from a receiving standpoint entering Sunday’s game.
“Good thing my gloves were sticky today.” 😅
Adam Trautman breaks down his one-handed TD: pic.twitter.com/CGbzxxh4og
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 28, 2024
Defensively, the Broncos intercepted Bryce Young twice (Pat Surtain II, Ja’Quan McMillian), sacked him twice (Jonathon Cooper, Nik Bonitto) and held the Panthers to a combined 6-of-18 on third and fourth downs. The special teams unit downed a punt at the 1-yard line for the fourth time this season, tying the mark for the most such plays by an NFL team in a season since at least 2000, according to TruMedia.
Payton after the game, though, was far more concerned with some of the mistakes the Broncos made and the opportunities they left on the table. Or, put more simply, he was lamenting the things that will get the Broncos beaten if they happen against teams not wearing Panthers uniforms.
“The most important thing is their expectations can’t be lower than mine,” Payton said. “I said to them, ‘We’re going to play in bigger games than this. In bigger games than this, some of those mistakes are going to cost us.’ We’ve got to take care of that. … We’re still not playing our best football.”
Payton was frustrated by two turnovers, fumbles by wide receivers Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Sutton. The first, by Humphrey, came on Denver’s third play of the game. It gave Young, a struggling quarterback playing without some of his top offensive weapons, a chance to gain early confidence. He completed all five of his passes on the opening drive following the fumble recovery for 39 yards and a touchdown to rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette. Sutton’s fumble came as he was trying to cross the goal line in the fourth quarter. He lamented a running game (102 yards on 32 carries) that wasn’t efficient enough. Asked to assess the career day for Trautman, Payton first shared that he was “ticked off” Trautman drew an illegal formation penalty late in the game.
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The Broncos easily survived those issues against a one-win team headed for the top of the NFL draft order. Against the schedule to come, which also includes a Nov. 17 home game against the NFC South-leading Falcons, those miscues could be the difference.
“I’m never opposed to a coach getting after us because we want to get better,” said Powers, who played his first four seasons with the Ravens and knows what kind of test the Broncos will face when they travel to Baltimore next week. “That means they care. If they don’t care, they wouldn’t be doing it.”
The Broncos are firmly in the playoff hunt. The line of demarcation will likely be 10 victories. Since the schedule expanded to 17 games in 2021, no AFC team that has reached that mark has missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, seven of the eight teams that have finished 9-8 have missed the playoffs. So it’s a drive to five from here for Denver.
But squeaking in isn’t the internal expectation — certainly not the one Payton wants his team to harbor, anyway. The Broncos have already far surpassed where most outsiders thought they’d be at this point in the season, but that will mean little if they don’t keep going up from here.
“We know we’ve got a lot left in the tank, much to improve on,” Surtain said. “That’s the best thing about it with this team. We still have a lot left on the table that we’re ready to prove.”
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(Photo of Bo Nix scoring a rushing touchdown Sunday: C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)
