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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior WriterDec 4, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Jeff Legwold is a senior writer who covers the Denver Broncos and the NFL at ESPN. Jeff has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years, joining ESPN in 2013. He also assists with NFL draft coverage, including his annual top 100 prospects. Jeff has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999. He has attended every scouting combine since 1987.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos move into their bye week in the best playoff position they have been in since 2016, when rookie quarterback Bo Nix was a sophomore in high school. They have done it by finding some beauty in the ugliness and comfort in the discomfort they tend to create for themselves.
“We’re a confident bunch right now,” Nix said. “We’re playing aggressively. We’re playing together. We’re playing with a little bit of confidence and a chip on our shoulder — just trying to continue to prove not only to other people but to ourselves that we have a really good football team. We’re starting to play like it.”
At 8-5, the Broncos find themselves three games over .500 this late in a season for the first time in eight years. And their whirlwind 41-32 victory over the Cleveland Browns took their penchant for rough-around-the-edges play to the extreme. They’re looking to stay hot out of their upcoming bye and earn a playoff appearance for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50.
The Broncos won Monday night despite their defense’s worst day since the cathartic 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 3 of 2023. Denver’s defense entered the game third in the league in yards allowed per game (296.0) before giving up 552 to Cleveland. Browns quarterback Jameis Winston finished with 497 passing yards — the second-highest total the Broncos have ever given up to an opposing quarterback — and four touchdown passes.
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Former Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy‘s 235 receiving yards were the most they had surrendered to an individual in franchise history, which helped the Browns take a 32-31 lead with 8:57 left. But the Broncos were undeterred, scoring the final 10 points to grab their third straight win and eighth in 11 games.
“Playing with that confidence is important,” Nix said. “It’s good to see us win in games like this. It doesn’t matter how it happens. We just make the next play. Continue to do it, and don’t get down. When we go down by a point, we have to go find a way to score, and we did. Then our defense — ‘We have to find a way to stop them,’ and they did.”
That confidence was bolstered the week before, as the Broncos came from behind to beat the Las Vegas Raiders 29-19, a game coach Sean Payton said they would not have won a year ago. That sentiment was cited in the Broncos’ locker room after Monday’s win, which has them two games up on the rest of the field for the final AFC wild-card spot. They’ll host the team immediately behind them, the Indianapolis Colts, in their first post-bye game on Dec. 15.
A win over the Colts, who also have a bye in Week 14, would give the Broncos a tight hold on a playoff spot. They’d be three games ahead of Indianapolis, own the head-to-head tiebreaker and have a slight advantage in conference record (5-4 for Denver, 5-5 for Indy). The Colts are the only AFC team behind the Broncos with more than five wins. Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, Denver has a 74.6% chance to make the playoffs.
The Broncos enter the post-bye stretch with the knowledge that they can overcome the self-imposed difficulties that sunk them earlier in the season. Before his two-interception night against the Browns, Nix had two other two-interception games this season — losses in Weeks 1 and 2. The Broncos were 0-4 in games in which Nix had thrown an interception prior to Monday.
Denver also overcame its defensive shortcomings against the Browns, a drastic change from its 41-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9.
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“Just the toughness. Not only our defense, but the [whole] team,” said Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, who had a 71-yard pick-six Monday and is second leaguewide in sacks with 11. “When need be, no matter what the situation is, we’re going to find a way to win and that’s what we did … and we’ll come back and get back to work.”
The Colts game launches a challenging four-game finishing kick in which Denver will play at the 8-4 Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night to start Week 16, the league’s leading passer in Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (3,337 yards, 30 touchdowns) in Week 17 and a home tilt against the 11-1 Kansas City Chiefs to end the year.
But the Broncos should be fresh heading in. Not only is this the latest bye the Broncos have had since 2001 and the latest in Payton’s head coaching career, but they’ll also get a 10-day mini-bye between the Chargers and Bengals games after the NFL flexed the former game from Sunday afternoon to Thursday night.
With playoff opportunities still on the table, the Broncos’ players feel the rest comes at the right time.
“I’m proud of this team and where it’s going,” outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said. “… Now we get some rest, get our bodies right, come back and keep it rolling. We can correct what we need to correct, but you always want to correct after wins.”
