The Broncos have won six of their past nine games and are on a three-game winning streak. This team is peaking at exactly the right moment as the AFC playoff race tightens down the stretch. The Broncos have a 77% chance of making the playoffs with four games left.
But as a playoff contender, what sort of threat would the Broncos pose to the AFC tournament? Bleacher Report‘s Kristopher Knox believes the Broncos “could be truly scary in the postseason” because they’re “beginning to learn how to win in multiple ways.”
“The Broncos spent most of the early season leaning on their top-10 defense while getting occasional big plays from rookie quarterback Bo Nix. However, Monday night’s win over the Cleveland Browns told a different story.
“Cleveland regularly shredded Denver’s vaunted defense. While a pair of pick-sixes gave the Broncos the winning advantage, they had to lean on Nix and the passing game to escape with the victory.
“Nix responded with a strong command of the offense, several high-level throws and 293 passing yards. The Broncos now know that if they need the rookie to carry their offense, he’s fully capable,” Knox wrote
Indeed, one of the hallmarks of a competitive team is the ability to “win ugly.” In other words, even when things don’t go according to plan early in a game, the team has the mettle to bounce back and overcome them, emerging victorious.
Another hallmark is, as Knox writes, the ability to win in different ways. While it’s fair to say that Denver’s defense is still its tip of the spear, Nix and the offense clearly turned a corner in early November.
And over the past solid month of football, Nix has played like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, regardless of experience. He’s a rookie, but he sure as heck isn’t playing like one.
“The Broncos have an experienced Super Bowl-winning head coach in Sean Payton and are just now entering their bye week. Come January, they’ll be more rested than most,” Knox wrote.
I don’t know about the Broncos being “more rested than most,” because it is the NFL. But if the Kansas City Chiefs rest their starters in the Week 18 finale, and the Broncos take care of business between now and then with matchups vs. the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, and the Los Angeles Chargers, Payton could even afford to follow suit and give Nix and Denver’s key first-teamers some R&R.
That’s a big if. And that’s why Week 15’s tilt vs. the Colts will be a big one because that’s the next team nipping at Denver’s heels in the quest for the No. 7 seed.
Regardless, the Broncos are finally trending toward snapping their eight-year long playoff drought. The Broncos not only control their playoff destiny, but they’re in firm control.
The defense has carried this team year in and year out since 2015, including Super Bowl 50. Nix’s emergence, combined with Payton’s coaching and the supporting cast around the quarterback beginning to blossom, means this ain’t a one-trick pony anymore.
The Broncos are balanced team, competent and dangerous in all three phases. Denver can win ugly and beat you in a variety of ways. Plus, they’re coached by a guy who’s hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in triumph.
That’s why the Broncos will be a team nobody wants to face in the AFC playoffs come January.