The Timberwolves lobbed verbal molotov cocktails at the Nuggets. Jaden McDaniels called them “horrible” defenders. Coach Chris Finch labeled their stars “floppers.”

Through the first two games, there was only one conclusion to draw: the Timberwolves view the Nuggets as soft. An NBA version of Charmin.

Thursday offered a chance for the Nuggets’ to punch back, find redemption.

Instead, the Timberwolves wiped their you know what with the Nuggets, taking control of a series with an 113-96 blowout at Target Center.

Once again, the Nuggets failed to match the Timberwolves’ intensity. Once again, they were out of sync offensively. Once again, they could not get stops, falling behind by 23 points in the first half.

With a rebuilt bench, this season started with such hope. Now, the Nuggets seem like a promise broken.

They trail 2-1 in the series, but they don’t look good enough, especially with Aaron Gordon (calf) hurt again, to regain control. The embarrassment of a first-round exit looms as an uncomfortable possibility.

The Nuggets have lost plenty of playoff games the past two springs, but few have stung like this. McDaniels punked them. Flicked spitwads off the back of their heads. The Nuggets refused to engage, declining to respond on the off day.

This was a mistake. They had an opportunity to stick up for themselves, suggesting that McDaniels is a Gucci-knockoff version of Jayden Daniels, and that Finch is acting desperate with his mind games.

Instead, they took the high road. Right off a cliff.

For all those who insisted the players were preserving their energy for the court, the Nuggets responded with one of the worst playoff quarters in franchise history. They scored 11 points in the opening period, shooting 3-for-21, while missing 16 of their first 18 attempts.

An anomaly? Hardly. Denver finished 28 of 82 from the field, the 34% mark their lowest of the season.

“When we got sped up by pressure, that led to some unorganized possessions. Everybody struggled from the field,” coach David Adelman told reporters in Minnesota. “That is not who we have been throughout the season.”

Nikola Jokic went 1-for-7 in the first quarter, remaining knee-deep in a 3-point shooting slump since the All-Star break (29.7% compared to 42 % in the season’s first half).

“This guy has played a million playoff games. There are nights that are poor,” Adelman said. “He will bounce back.”

Jamal Murray had no rhythm, forced to create off the dribble through sticky defenders, most notably McDaniels. It was left for Zeke Nnaji — yes, you read that correctly — to provide a brief spark.

There is struggling. And there is dissolving.

The Timberwolves ballooned their lead to 52-30 with 4:21 remaining in the half with a bucket by — who else? — McDaniels. He nearly outscored Jokic and Murray over the first 24 minutes, dropping 13 points.

“I talked with him a little bit (before the game),” Finch said. “Now you gotta back it up.”

His play cashed the check his mouth wrote. McDaniels delivered 20 points, converting 9 of 13 shots, and added 10 rebounds.

Given a chance to deliver a hard foul on him early in the game, the Nuggets chose the velvet glove. McDaniels did what he wanted without consequence, saying afterward that he was merely playing team ball in pursuit of a win.

His teammates knew better.

“He is our brother,” said Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu in an on-court TV interview. “We had his back.”

This is what they call getting your nose rubbed in it on the playground. Just when it looked like things could not get worse, Bones Hyland, who quit on the Nuggets before getting traded three years ago, put Spencer Jones in a blender and sank a 3-pointer from St. Paul.

That made it 80-56 late in the third.

The first three games have brought a revelation. It is clear the Timberwolves were bored by the regular season. They have lost in the Western Conference Finals the past two years, and apparently needed the higher stakes to become engaged.

In the Nuggets, they found a willing victim, a team that foolishly tries to convince itself that it can flip the switch defensively in the playoffs. Miss me with the rating over the first two games in this series.

Trust your eyes. The Nuggets give up too many blow-bys, too many uncontested shots, and the next time a Denver player takes a charge, it will be from a credit card.

The fourth quarter provided a snapshot of what separates these two teams. Down 20, Murray brought the ball over halfcourt, looking for space. McDaniels guarded him tighter than SaranWrap for 15 seconds, forcing an off-balance 3-pointer.

Typically, Jokic is the default answer when the fire alarm blares. Post him up, and let him go to work. He has toasted Rudy Gobert for years. Perhaps peeved by the lack of respect for his defense, Gobert has flipped the script.

In the first half, Jokic was minus-22 when the gangly center was on the court, continuing an alarming trend in the series.

Jokic has been unable to deliver easy buckets near the rim or get Gobert into foul trouble. The Timberwolves willingly left Jokic open behind the arc. And Jokic could not make it hurt. He is 5 for 24 on 3s in the series.

Jokic finished with 27 points on 26 shots. Murray went 5-for-17, and for the second time in the series, failed to make a 3.

For those who want to provide cover for the Nuggets because of Gordon’s late scratch, just understand it comes off as an excuse. Even with Gordon, the Nuggets lost Game 2 because the Timberwolves did everything they couldn’t — like win in the paint and on the boards.

The Nuggets find themselves in this hole because the Timberwolves have made life miserable for Jokic and Murray. They are winning in the margins. They are physical, intentional.

Go ahead, tell yourself the Nuggets are better.

But one thing is clear through three games. They are definitely not tougher.

Denver has interviewed Commanders offensive passing-game coordinator Brian Johnson for their open OC job, a source confirmed to The Denver Post Friday. With the Broncos’ previous interview of Bills quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry, Denver can now move forward with hiring any candidate under the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which mandates teams must interview at least two minority coaching candidates for coordinator roles.

Broncos passing-game coordinator Davis Webb still stands as the clear favorite to take over in Denver’s top offensive role. Johnson, though, presents an interesting option, after working closely with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in his Offensive Rookie of the Year season in 2024.

Previously, Johnson worked as the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach in 2021 and 2022, where he helped develop Super Bowl winner Jalen Hurts. Johnson also worked with Dak Prescott during his collegiate career at Mississippi State, where he was the Bulldogs’ QBs coach from 2014 to 2016.

The Broncos’ offensive staff has undergone rapid change across the past week, as head coach Sean Payton fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and receivers coach Keary Colbert Tuesday. Senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael Jr. — a Payton loyalist dating back to New Orleans — is also leaving Denver to take the Bills’ offensive-coordinator job.

Johnson’s interview is notable, too, in that he’s had no shared-staff overlap with Payton at any previous stop. And Denver now has two potential candidates for a role as a quarterbacks coach, if they do indeed promote Webb to offensive coordinator.

Would you report on win/loss records of sophomore NFL quarterbacks?

— Jim Taylor, Littleton

What’s the fun in just talking win-loss record?

Matter of fact, we wrote a while back about the impressive seasons several of the quarterbacks from the 2024 class have engineered and, more broadly, how impressive the group has been through two seasons.

Consider that three of the top four seeds in the playoffs are led by 2024 QBs — No. 1 Denver (Bo Nix) and No. 2 New England (Drake Maye) in the AFC and No. 2 Chicago (Caleb Williams) in the NFC.

Let����ap start by pointing out that wins are a team stat, not a quarterback stat. A quarterback can play magnificently in a loss and horrendously in a win. Nix is no exception. The Broncos have lost four games in which he posted a quarterback rating above 106 and won six times when he sported a quarterback rating below 70.

One of the great things about this class is that nobody’s path has been entirely linear. Nix clearly walked into the most stable situation and he’s taken advantage of it, helping the Broncos qualify for the playoffs in each of his first two seasons. That includes a 14-3 regular season and the No. 1 seed this year. He also didn’t take a big statistical leap in his second season, whereas Williams and Maye each did.

Maye has by far the best single season of the class so far. He could well win the MVP this year. Williams took a massive leap in Year 2 and forms a formidable long-term pairing with coach Ben Johnson. Daniels had a Year 2 to forget due to injury, but he looked like a star as a rookie and helped lead Washington to the NFC Championship Game.

The jury is out on Michael Penix and J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy was the youngest of the group to begin with and then lost his rookie season to injury, but 2025 provided reason for concern. Penix now will have a new head coach and, presumably, coordinator going forward after Raheem Morris was fired this week. He’s already the third quarterback in the class to experience a head coaching change and you can throw Daniels in the mix, too, because offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is leaving the Commanders.

Change worked wonders for Williams and Maye. We’ll see with Penix.

Here’s a chart with several stats, though obviously not an entire encapsulation, for the 2024 class so far. Judge for yourself. If the draft were held again tomorrow, a lot of folks around the league would bet Maye, Daniels and Williams all still get picked before Nix. But Nix isn’t going sixth again, either.

Bottom line: Four of the six teams that took quarterbacks in 2024 are very happy with their guy through two seasons. That’s already a heck of a class.

Class of 2024 QBs

Hello Parker. Whew, it’s been an amazing ride when one recalls where ����apountry stood four years ago. Heading to the playoffs, I can’t help but wonder if giving more touches (and more consecutive touches) to Jaleel McLaughlin would help improve our running game production. For several games now, he seems to be able to pick up more yards in tight spaces than we’re seeing from RJ Harvey.

— Ted Loehr, Montrose

I wrote about this some after the game, so I won’t spend a whole lot of time on it, but the bottom line is I agree with you.

McLaughlin’s up to 5.1 yards per carry and the Broncos coaching staff on a near weekly basis comments on how good he’s been since J.K. Dobbins’ injury. You lose a bit of the homerun threat when he’s in the game compared to Harvey, but right now McLaughlin’s getting the yards that are there to be had in the run game at a more efficient clip.

Here’s the trick, though: Harvey is really good with the ball in space. So can Denver dial up McLaughlin’s usage in the run game, continue to get Harvey some touches out of the backfield and in the passing game and find the balance without being predictable? That����ap the question.

While RJ Harvey has had a productive rookie season, it seems to me he is not a No. 1 back who can carry the load, primarily, I believe, because of his size. It’s been more obvious since he’s become the primary back that when he gets to the second level, he gets absolutely hammered by LBs, and stopped dead or knocked backward. He’s not a pile mover. So, while he clearly has a lot of value in the Payton system, don’t the Broncos still need a true No. 1 back with more tackle-breaking ability?

— Dave, Charlotte, N.C.

Completely agree that Harvey is not a finished product, but have to disagree with you on the rationale.

In fact, I’d say Harvey has the most make-you-miss ability among Denver backs in at least in the past handful of seasons. He’s also forceful and violent when he’s decisive. Decision-making, though, is where the rookie still has a lot of developing to do. Nearly every time the Broncos get him the ball out in space, he delivers a hit or makes somebody miss and collects extra yardage. But when he’s asked to make the run-game reads in the backfield, it����ap hit and miss. If you’re in the wrong gap or hesitating, yeah, you’re going to get thumped.

Payton’s scouting on running backs is interesting but it makes sense to me. He differentiates between short and small. Harvey is short, but he ain’t small.

Another way Payton puts it: You’ve got to have mass and, uh, rump. Harvey’s built that way. He’s explosive. He’s just not efficient in the whole spectrum of the running game yet.

Whether he’s a true lead back, capable of playing on all three downs, is still an open question. He’s talented, though, that����ap for sure.

Everyone always says how difficult Sean Payton offense is, but yet how come Bo Nix doesn’t need to wear a cheat sheet on his wrist like most QBs do? Is Bo Nix that smart that he has memorized the plays that he hears in the helmet from Sean Payton?

— Mike, St. Louis, Mo.

Hey Mike, good question. Nix wore a wrist band last year, though he had it attached to his belt rather than actually wearing it on his wrist. He had it for the season opener back in September, too, but doesn’t appear to have used it since.

Quarterbacks and play callers use those wristbands for all kinds of reasons. With Payton and Nix, in particular, part of the rationale was to get some of Payton’s most wordy calls on the band so the coach could give short-hand to Nix, creating a couple of extra seconds for the quarterback to spit out a call that might be15 or 20 words long.

That only works, though, if the play-caller and the QB are both comfortable with it. If it����ap easier to repeat the words as you hear them in the headset or if it����ap easier for the coach to feel a rhythm by saying all the words, that just might work better.

Certainly, Nix’s command of the offense has grown, too.

This a follow-up question about the hit on Pat Bryant in the Jags game.  Your answer about the defenseless player rule was appreciated.  However, following the hit, I wondered about whether there are unwritten rules of football.  Down 14 points with 30 seconds left, the viciousness of the hit seemed more about injuring than winning a game that was already settled.  We regularly hear about the unwritten rules of baseball, hockey and basketball.  Do the Broncos owe Montaric Brown or another Jag at the next meeting?

— Shawn Thompson, Denver

Yeah, you could make that argument. But you could just as easily use the same rationale to argue that there’s no reason to put Bryant in that position in the first place. I’m not going to sit here and crush Nix after the fact — he was emotional on the field and said after the game that he felt like he was responsible. And while the sequence was not all on him, if you want to make an argument that the hit was unnecessary because of the game situation (and strip away the rulebook part of the conversation), then it����ap fair to wonder what good was going to come from throwing back across the middle under the same conditions.

At this point, chalk it up to a bad deal all around that Bryant was fortunate to come out the other side of in fairly good shape.

Now, as for the Broncos and Jaguars, between that hit, the “small market” stuff, Jacksonville being the lone team to win in Denver this year and the fact that both teams have been terrific overall, you don’t need to convince me that it would be one heck of an AFC Championship Game at Empower Field.

I don’t want to take away from Matthew Stafford or Drake Maye, but I think Justin Herbert should be getting a lot more consideration as MVP. After all, what would the Chargers be without him, and isn’t that the definition of MVP?

— Mark, Centennial

I hear what you’re saying but I’m not sure Herbert����ap numbers stack up with Stafford and Maye this year.

That takes nothing away, though, from the epic job Herbert did dragging the Chargers through the second half of the season. Their offensive line was battered and he got it, too. He got hit more than any quarterback in football. Broke his left hand. Just kept on playing and winning until Week 17 against Houston.

It����ap a heck of a season. Not many quarterbacks could have done what he did. But it wasn’t MVP-level.

Josh Allen had a similar Superman run in Buffalo down the stretch. There were some incredible individual seasons across positions like San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey, Seattle WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cleveland DE Myles Garrett. You could make an argument in absentia for Green Bay edge Micah Parsons, whose torn ACL against Denver marked the exact moment at which the Packers’ defense went from among the league’s best to getting regularly shredded.

It����ap going to be Maye or Stafford. Give me Maye by a hair.

Who do you think is the worst opponent for the Broncos in the divisional round? Personally, I’d hate to see Houston. They’re scorching hot right now. I really don’t want to see them.

— Max, Colorado Springs

Good question and a totally fair place to land on it yourself. The Texans haven’t lost since the last time they played Denver. That����ap nine straight since early November. The Texans’ defense is ferocious. They have offensive weapons, too, though their production on that side of the ball has been hit and miss, particularly situationally. Houston is 23rd in the NFL on third down and 30th in the red zone.

I know I just got done saying Herbert isn’t an MVP candidate, but I’d put the Chargers at the top of the list of tough matchups.

Consider this: Nix was pressured just 27.7% of the time last year. Houston got to him 38% of his drop-backs. That was third-most in a game on the season.

The most: Week 3 at the Chargers (43.8%). Second-most: 40.6% Week 18 against, you guessed it, the Chargers and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. Khalil Mack didn’t play in either game. The Chargers sat OLB Tuli Tuipulotu (13 sacks) and S Derwin James — who made play after play in Week 3 — this past weekend.

And Herbert will be coming off a week’s rest.

There’s no such thing as an easy divisional round matchup, typically, but I agree with Post columnists Troy Renck and Sean Keeler that Pittsburgh looks like the most favorable matchup. After that, in order, let����ap go Houston, Buffalo and the Chargers

Is there a source to listen to a replay of the radio broadcast of Dave Logan’s Broncos gameday play-by-play?

— Mike, Arvada

The NFL doesn’t allow local radio broadcasters to repurpose full game replays, so unfortunately the answer is no. There are usually some clips floating around on the team’s social media and website.

Patriots, Jaguars vying for top seed. The Broncos received a massive belated Christmas gift on Monday courtesy of Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who relinquished all gamesmanship and said point-blank that Los Angeles would rest star quarterback Justin Herbert. Denver would have to absolutely implode to lose Sunday’s matchup. In such an event, though, New England (13-3) and Jacksonville (12-4) would be set up to seize that vaunted No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Patriots are playing a 7-9 Dolphins team that’s been mathematically eliminated; the Jaguars face 3-13 Tennessee, one of the worst teams in the NFL. Denver can’t afford to get too cute here.

Fernando-mania. The Raiders are the NFL’s hottest current mess. They’ve lost 10 straight. The Pete Carroll experiment seems all but destined to end after one unceremonious year. 48-year-old minority owner Tom Brady was captured by TMZ getting a little close with 25-year-old influencer Alix Earle on New Year’s Eve. Las Vegas continues to be in the news for plenty of reasons beyond the actual on-field product. The good news? Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is only solidifying his case as a legitimate No. 1 pick, with a 14-of-16 line for 192 yards and three touchdowns in a drubbing of Alabama at the Rose Bowl on Thursday. Raiders general manager John Spytek has to be licking his chops.

Rivers done, again. The great season-saving Philip Rivers Experiment is over, as the 44-year-old will now step back into retirement after three losses in Indianapolis. What a valiant effort it was, though: Rivers has a higher QBR (39.3) in three starts in 2025 than the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa or the Raiders’ Geno Smith have this season. The Colts announced rookie QB Riley Leonard will start in Week 18, with Indianapolis (8-8) removed from playoff contention. Rivers, though, expressed nothing but gratitude for the opportunity.

“I got three bonus games that I never saw coming,” , “and couldn’t be more thankful that I got an opportunity.”

Around the NFC

Teach me how to Purdy. It’s time to officially crown San Francisco as serious NFC contenders. The 49ers were a distant afterthought in their own division a couple months back, floating at 6-4 behind Seattle and the Rams. Suddenly, the Niners have ripped off six wins in a row with the return of starting quarterback Brock Purdy, who’s playing with rarely-before-seen levels of confidence. Case in point: hitting a nasty Dougie after a touchdown against the Bears last Sunday in a 24-of-33, 303-yard, five-total-TD performance. As , heaven “forbid a white guy has a little bit of motion.”

Packers get secondary help. Green Bay’s seen an unexpected influx of Cowboys into their building in 2025. First came Micah Parsons. Now, former All-Pro Trevon Diggs is joining the fray after Dallas cut bait and waived him this week. The cornerback is far from the same player who led the NFL with 11 interceptions in 2021, torched for four touchdowns and a 157.2 quarterback rating in eight games this season. But there’s still talent in there, and perhaps Diggs will be motivated by a fresh start.

Can Stafford seize an MVP? The race for the league’s top award is still wide-open entering Week 18. Support for the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, long the season favorite, has faltered significantly after he threw three interceptions in Monday’s 27-24 loss to the Falcons. The stats don’t lie, though: Stafford’s 42 touchdown passes are nine more than any other NFL quarterback entering the final regular-season game of the year. If Stafford gets back on track against the 3-13 Cardinals Sunday, consider the Most Valuable Player discussion wrapped up.

Game of the Week

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

It’s a Sunday Night doozy. Lamar Jackson vs. Aaron Rodgers for sole possession of an AFC North title — and a playoff berth. Loser’s bounced out of the bracket entirely. Jackson confirmed this week he’ll play after missing last Saturday’s win with a back contusion, in what’s been an overall-frustrating year for the MVP due to injuries and roster instability.

There could be major long-term ramifications on the line for both organizations in Pittsburgh on Sunday.  A Ravens loss could bring an end of an era to the John Harbaugh-Jackson partnership in Baltimore, with trade rumors swirling around Jackson for the better part of a strange season. A Steelers loss could bring an end to the Mike Tomlin era in Pittsburgh, with rampant speculation (okay, there’s speculation literally every year) around Tomlin’s job security. Sunday should, in general, bring a unique new chapter in a historic NFL rivalry.

Baltimore 24, Pittsburgh 20

Lock of the Week

Tennessee at Jacksonville

There aren’t a ton of playoff teams with a ton left to play for in Week 18. The Jaguars are one of them. And they just so happen to be facing the 3-13 Titans. Tennessee’s been playing much-improved offensive ball across the last month, as rookie Cam Ward has six touchdowns and zero interceptions in his last three starts. Still, the Jaguars should be motivated to put this one to bed early to preserve a shot at the one-seed and get their starters some second-half rest.

Jaguars 31, Titans 20

Upset of the Week

Washington at Philadelphia

Don’t look now, but the reigning champs should be squarely back in the thick of the Super Bowl discussion. Philadelphia’s offense is still a sludge. But Vic Fangio’s defense is playing as well as any unit in the league: the Eagles have surrendered just 14.5 points a game across their last eight weeks.

That being said, this could be a classic end-of-year stunner. Philadelphia’s resting quarterback Jalen Hurts against the Commanders, despite a shot at the No. 2 seed if they’d beat Washington. That’d signal the Eagles will sit other key starters; Washington’s suffered through a brutal season with Jayden Daniels banged up, but backup Marcus Mariota has done some solid work at times. This could be an ugly, meaningless upset.

Commanders 16, Eagles 13

Take any Super Bowl team, he said in the wee hours of Monday morning, and look through their schedule.

“The journey of a good team’s season involves games like this,” Payton said.

Games like this. Games like the Broncos’ wild, 27-26, skin-of-their-teeth overtime win against Washington.

His Super Bowl champion New Orleans team in 2009 had their share. The 2015 Broncos did, too.

There aren’t many cakewalks in the NFL. This certainly wasn’t one for Denver.

But Payton’s team has won nine straight, is 10-2 and polished off a perfect November literally as the calendar turned to December.

At 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 30, the Broncos were 2 yards from losing for the first time since Sept. 21.

By 12:01 a.m. Dec. 1, they’d run their unbeaten streak into a third month.

Here are seven thoughts after yet another wild finish.

Renck: Bo Show remains a hit, especially in clutch, but Broncos cannot keep winning this way

1. The Broncos’ biggest offensive play of the night unlocked Evan Engram and showed off a budding chemistry between the tight end and quarterback Bo Nix.

Perhaps no play mattered more for Denver’s offense Sunday night against Washington than a 41-yard catch-and-run connection from quarterback Bo Nix to tight end Evan Engram early in overtime.

It followed back-to-back 12-yard Nix completions to running back RJ Harvey and tight end Adam Trautman and put the Broncos all the way down to the Commanders’ 11-yard line.

In a sometimes sloppy tilt-a-whirl of a game, though, this particular play was anything but happenstance.

In fact, it arrived for the Broncos at the game’s critical moment in overtime because of Engram’s study during the week and Nix’s quick thinking on the fly.

As a reporter asked Nix — still in full pads in the Broncos’ postgame locker room — about the sequence, a smile creased his face.

This one had a story behind it.

Here’s how it happened.

Engram, over the course of the week, studies his own routes carefully and also how the defenders he’s likely to match up against tend to play certain looks, coverages and matchups.

“All week, he does a great job of film study,” Nix told The Denver Post. “He’s very experienced, very developed as a player, obviously. That����ap why he’s played so good in this league for a while.

“We talk about different routes and how we could set up routes.”

Engram thought he could get Washington inside linebacker Bobby Wagner to overcommit in the middle of the field.

“We knew Bobby was going to be in that position,” Nix said.

Engram and Nix formulated a plan for how they wanted to set up a potential big play in the middle of the field with a sequence of plays.

The first came during Denver’s two-minute drill drive for a touchdown late in the first half.

On first-and-10 from the Commanders’ 26, Engram pressed up the field and then ran a whip route against Wagner, where he faked like he was going to cut inside and then returned to the outside. Wagner bit on the fake but recovered in time to tackle Engram for an 8-yard gain.

An effective play, but certainly not a highlight reel entry.

Except Nix and Engram knew they were onto something. They had a quick chat on the sideline to make sure they were on the same page about what came next.

“He got Bobby to open up and then have to reverse back out,” Nix said. “So we knew that if we got the opportunity to check to this play, he was going to set it up like he did. Sure enough. I knew it, we were thinking the same thing. …

“We got (the first one) done and as soon as you show him the first pitch, you’re able to run a counter off it.  We just got to the sideline, we were like, ‘Hey, the next time we get that look, we’re getting to it.’”

In overtime, the Broncos dialed up the pace after a 12-yard completion to Trautman.

Nix hurried the offense back to the line without a huddle and surveyed the defense.

In these types of situations, the Broncos have several plays on the menu. Nix stepped toward the line of scrimmage and put his hands in an “O” shape and called the play.

Engram sensed opportunity.

“That was one that I was waiting on, for sure,” Engram told The Post. "…We got the coverage that we wanted, where we got to isolate a linebacker, and that����ap one of those plays that, when you get that matchup, you want to take advantage of it.

“Bo did a good job of seeing the coverage and getting to that play and we just went and executed it.”

Evan Engram goes for 41 yards! | 📺:

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos)

Engram again pressed up the field against Wagner and made the route look as similar as possible. He leaned inside, took a full stride like he was again whipping toward the sideline, but then darted back to the middle of the field on a jerk route.

Wagner, careful not to make the same mistake he did the first time when he overcommitted to the middle, was stuck too far outside. Nix stood calmly in the pocket, knowing Engram needed a beat to set up the route and execute it.

When Engram came free to the middle, Nix put an accurate throw on him and he exploded up the gut of the Commanders’ defense for 41 yards.

"The jerk route he ran was outstanding," Payton said.

Two plays later, the Broncos took the lead, 27-20, on a 5-yard Harvey plunge.

“That was, honestly, when you look at it, probably our biggest play of the game,” Nix said of the connection with Engram. “It got Evan looking like Evan and went down -- once we got down there, we just had to punch it in, and we did that.”

This is what it looks like for a quarterback and his receivers to start to develop real chemistry. To be able to understand matchups and planning at a high level and then to get to those looks on the fly in pressure situations.

This is what maturation at the quarterback position looks like. These are the kinds of adjustments that can be the difference between winning and losing.

“That����ap when you see the film study come to fruition and go from the film room to the field,” Nix said, “and that����ap when you feel like you’re playing at a good level. You don’t want to just do that work for no reason, so when you see that happen, you feel good about all your work.”

Engram led the team in catches (six), targets (nine) and yards with a season-high 79. All but one catch and six yards came on the Broncos’ three touchdown drives. He had three catches for 28 on a second-quarter scoring march, one for 4 on a third-quarter drive and then the 41-yarder in overtime.

“It definitely feels sweet to contribute to the win,” said Engram, who now has 38 catches for 339 yards on the season.

At 10-2, surging Broncos turn attention to AFC’s top seed: ‘It’s our moment right now’

2. The Broncos are tied for the best record in the NFL with New England at 10-2. In the NFC, Chicago sits in the No. 1 spot at 9-3.

What does that trio have in common?

They’re all led by quarterbacks from the 2024 class, which is already shaping up to be a tremendous one.

The Bears took Caleb Williams No. 1 overall. Washington took Jayden Daniels No. 2, and he promptly led the Commanders to the NFC title game a year ago. Then New England took Drake Maye at No. 3 before the Broncos ultimately took Nix at No. 12.

The Commanders have had a horrible 2025 and Daniels has missed extended time due to injury -- including Sunday night����ap loss to Denver because of a dislocated left elbow.

Williams and Maye each are working with first-year head coaches who have dramatically changed not only the trajectory of each quarterback but also the culture and stability in each of their locker rooms.

Nix had that from the start in Payton, and the Broncos won 10 games in his rookie year, but now they’re the heavy favorites to end Kansas City’s nine-year stranglehold on the AFC West and running even with the Patriots for the No. 1 overall seed in the conference.

The trio’s done it in different ways this year. Maye is an MVP candidate and is playing terrific, beautiful offensive football.

Entering Week 13, nobody in football had a better completion percentage than his 71.6% and he was running second in quarterback rating (110.7), behind only Matthew Stafford, the likely MVP frontrunner for the Los Angeles Rams.

Williams and Nix, meanwhile, have had somewhat similar second seasons. They each have their struggles, but they’ve also engineered win after win after win and have each shown they can operate in the clutch.

“(Nix) plays confident. He doesn’t get rattled,” Engram said. “He definitely gets pissed off on bad throws, but he’s really growing into himself and he’s becoming a really good leader.

“And the kid just keeps making plays. Backs against the wall, he just continues to step up and make plays.”

The Commanders have already nearly made a Super Bowl, while Denver, New England and Chicago are chart-toppers through 13 weeks this year.

All of these teams -- along with Atlanta and Minnesota, which took quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and J.J. McCarthy at Nos. 8 and 10 overall in the 2024 draft, respectively -- are squarely in the rookie quarterback window.

The Broncos are still burning off the final $32 million of Russell Wilson’s cap hit this year, so their books are even cleaner in 2026.

For the Broncos and the others, though, this is the time to press the advantage. There are really two ways to be a real contender in the NFL: Have a true franchise-lifting quarterback in the Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow class, or have a rookie who can play at a high level while he’s cheap enough to support a strong supporting cast.

So far this year, the latter reigns supreme.

Soon enough, we’ll find out if that holds through the postseason.

3. Nik Bonitto’s club-handed, game-winning knockdown came after what Sean Payton refers to as a 'Kodak' moment.

Terry McLaurin had just hauled in a touchdown to draw Washington within 27-26 in overtime. With 2:50 remaining, there was no way Commanders head coach Dan Quinn, sitting at 3-8 on the season, was going to opt for a game-tying extra point and put the ball back in Denver’s hands with a chance to win. The best he could have hoped for in that scenario was a tie and, really, it would have been asking to lose. A Denver field goal would have ended the game.

No surprise, then, that Quinn kept his offense on the field. Once the Commanders got to the line of scrimmage, Payton took a timeout.

“We call it a Kodak situation, where you have a timeout and the game’s going to end,” Payton said, meaning the Broncos can get a picture of the offensive formation the Commanders set up. “So call the timeout, regroup, collect your thoughts. Vance did a great job changing a call up. And it was the right call.”

The Broncos had a pressure dialed up, but during the timeout, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph changed it.

“The challenge in those plays are designed QB runs, which we were concerned with," Payton said. "And so some of your zone call, if you will, at the two-yard line -- we went from one pressure to another.”

Washington came back out in a slightly different look, though it was likely just a mask. Before the timeout, they were empty with trips to the left and then tight end Zach Ertz and running back Jeremy McNichols to the right.

After the timeout, everybody was in the same spot except McNichols was out to the left with the three receivers. He motioned into the backfield, which likely is what would have happened before the timeout, too, just from the other side of the formation.

At the snap, Washington's receivers crashed inside to create as much traffic as possible and McNichols sprinted for the left flat.

He was wide open.

Except Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto came free as a rusher off Mariota's left, alertly got his hands up and knocked the ball down. He barely broke stride as he sprinted toward the Denver sideline, which was already erupting in celebration.

NIK BONITTO. GAME OVER.

— NFL (@NFL)

“(Mariota) kind of drifted back kind of far, too,” Bonitto said. “So I knew he was just buying time.”

Bonitto, within moments of the game-winning play, had his phone in hand in the locker room and posted on X, “I hate wearing a cast.”

I hate wearing a cast

— Nik Bonitto (@nikkkkbonitto)

The implication, of course, is that if he wasn’t wearing it, he’d have intercepted the pass and run it back for a touchdown just for an exclamation point on the win.

“Yeah, he might have scored,” fellow outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper allowed after the game, with Bonitto nodding his head just to Cooper’s right.

A perhaps ironic wrinkle: Bonitto’s been wearing a brace or cast on his right wrist since Week 2, a walk-off loss against the Colts. When he saw the now infamous “leverage” penalty get called on the field, he slammed his fist into the Lucas Oil Field turf and injured his wrist. Now he’s got to wear the hardware for the rest of the season.

So far, it's working out just fine for him.

4. The Broncos, though, are on a wild run of wins in part because of those early-season tribulations.

Bonitto and the rest of the Broncos couldn’t believe the manner in which they lost against the Colts, and then again the next week at the Los Angeles Chargers. They didn’t trail a second in the fourth quarter of either game, but lost on walk-off field goals nonetheless.

Since then, they’ve done a 180 in late-game scenarios. On the current nine-game winning streak, seven victories have come by one score. They’ve won in walk-off settings four times in their past six games. They’ve won their past four games by three, three, three and one.

“We’ve got incredible belief no matter what,” Nix said. “We just feel like we’re going to figure out a way to win the game and make the next play. We’ve been playing some really good football teams and tonight was another.”

Payton’s seen this group grow and, in the process, become a group that figures it����ap going to win on the margins rather than lose.

“Yeah, and we began feeling it a long time ago,” he said. “But when you get on a streak -- I mean, generally, when you have a good team, you win how many games in a row at some point. And when you win nine in a row and then convert that to baseball or basketball, you guys do the math. What would it be? It����ap like 45 games. So, it����ap a lot.

“And you do begin to believe it����ap gonna happen. But there can’t be that false belief. There has to be that preparation and corrections so that next week is better.”

There are certainly things Denver’s going to have to do better to win more close games down the stretch or in the postseason.

Payton said Washington caught them off guard to some degree with how they defended the run -- the Broncos now have two pedestrian rushing efforts to their name since J.K. Dobbins’ foot injury — and the defense struggled to tackle early in the game.

“I thought it looked like we’d had a week off,” outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said.

But belief is powerful and Denver’s certainly got it.

“You never know, man,” Engram said. “This is the NFL and so many weird things can bounce around. But you just want to be prepared when your number is called, and we have a lot of good guys in this locker room that prepare for the big moments and prepare for the game-altering plays.

“When your number is called, you’ve got to step up and execute.”

5. Nix had a particularly good thought on the notion that the Broncos might now have more pressure.

The quarterback was told after the game that each Denver team that started a season 10-2 has made the Super Bowl, and was asked whether that came with any added pressure going forward. Nix’s answer in full is instructive in how he views leadership, handling success, pressure and outside opinions.

“There’s no added pressure,” Nix said. “When we started this season -- every season starts with a goal and our goal is to make a Super Bowl run. And not just make it. We wanna win the whole thing. The funny thing about stats is tomorrow you’re gonna wake up, and there’s gonna be a new stat. There’s gonna be something else that somebody else figured out. This happened or this stat. They’re just that.

“They’re just a stat. They have nothing to do with the football game. They can’t grow legs and go out there and score touchdowns for you.”

Nix continued.

“For us, we’ve got to continue to figure out ways to put all the distractions, all the noise, everything aside and just continue to play as one team. We’re 10-2. We won 10 games last year and that was at the end of the season. We’re not at the end, so we’ve shown great improvement, but we definitely don’t want to stop here. This is not where we wanted to be. We didn’t want to be 10-2. We didn’t wanna get to December and be 10-2. That wasn’t our goal. Our goal was to make a deep playoff run and we’re clearly not there yet. We haven’t even had time to get there yet. So we’re going to continue to battle, continue to fight.

“We have a great mindset in the locker room. Guys are really fighting and battling for each other. We love one another. It����ap really an honor to be a part of this team. I’ve played on a lot of close football teams, but this is up there with the best of them.”

6. The Broncos really value Nate Adkins, but trying to avoid an IR stint with him on two different occasions this season has hampered roster flexibility, and Denver’s lucky to have gotten away with it.

Adkins is a good player and he’s valuable because of his versatility. Payton made that much clear after the third-year tight end had “tightrope” surgery on his ankle in August, and the coach said pointedly that Denver was not going to put him on injured reserve to start the season.

“He’s too good a player,” Payton said, for Denver to afford having him miss four games when he could be back sooner.

Adkins did indeed return for Week 3 and worked his way up into essentially his full workload over the next couple of weeks.

Then, against Dallas, he slammed his knee on the ground while making a diving attempt at a touchdown and injured it.

Again, Denver didn’t put him on injured reserve, hoping he’d be back in time to play Sunday night against the Commanders. That strategy -- to get five weeks of rest and only miss three games because of the bye week — worked for Pat Surtain II and his pectoral injury, but didn’t work for Adkins. He didn’t practice at all last week and Payton said playing against Las Vegas on Sunday is a more realistic target than this past game would have been.

Had Denver known that when he first got hurt, of course, they’d have put him on IR. He ended up missing four games anyway.

And while the Broncos won all four games Adkins missed and navigated Sunday night with two healthy tight ends by using Engram and Trautman plus a heavier-than-normal dose of tackle Frank Crum as the jumbo TE, it didn’t have to be this way.

Had Adkins gone on injured reserve, Denver could have, for example, simply put Marcedes Lewis on the 53-man roster. Instead, he used his three practice squad elevations and the Broncos would have had to waive somebody to get him in a uniform for Sunday night.

Adkins has been on the roster but inactive due to injury for six games this season. He’s only appeared in that many.

It ends up a bit like nitpicking since the Broncos are on such a roll, but nonetheless, that����ap a steep roster cost for a player who has only played more than 38.6% of offensive snaps once in a game this year.

7a. Here’s a couple of underrated stats to close out an Open All Night edition of 7 Thoughts.

Rookie running back RJ Harvey hasn’t had a huge statistical season, but he’s done one thing really well: Find the end zone. Harvey had a three-touchdown game earlier in the season against Dallas and then he punched in two more rushing touchdowns Sunday night at Washington.

Harvey now has eight total touchdowns on the season, which is tied with Mike Bell for fifth-most in franchise history among rookie running backs.

7b. The Broncos’ rate of explosive plays in the run game, however, has dried up without J.K. Dobbins in the backfield.

Dobbins had 21 carries of 10-plus yards alone in the 10 games he played before a foot injury, at minimum, ended his regular season.

Denver’s running backs didn’t log a 10-plus yard run against Kansas City in Week 11 and had just two on Sunday night at Washington -- an 11-yard RJ Harvey rush on the first snap of the night and then a 14-yard Jaleel McLaughlin burst up the middle early in the fourth quarter.

Denver’s run game overall has dried up after being one of the most efficient in the NFL over the first 10 games of the season. McLaughlin, Harvey and Tyler Badie haven’t generated big plays, but they haven’t consistently churned out the yardage that Dobbins found between the tackles, either.

7c. When Dre Greenlaw pulled down an interception in the second quarter Sunday night, he ended a long dry spell since his last.

The veteran inside linebacker hadn’t logged a pick since Dec. 11, 2022, with San Francisco. That����ap nearly three years and 24 total regular-season games for Greenlaw, who missed substantial time with injuries near the end of his 49ers tenure and then to start his stint in Denver.

Greenlaw now has four picks total in his six-year NFL career.

Turns out, it was a big night for veteran inside linebackers who used to roam the NFC West overall. The two turnovers of the game came from Greenlaw and Wagner, the longtime Seattle linebacker who picked Nix off early in the fourth quarter when Nix apparently didn’t see him in the middle of the field and threw the ball right to his chest.

A free agent last summer, training camp approaching, Miller had not decided on a new team. Garett Bolles, in attendance at a Von’s Vision event in Colorado, urged his good friend to call the Broncos.

Von had not played in Denver since 2021. Russell Wilson had him on a group text with Chandler Jones in 2022, asking for him to return. Von wisely sidestepped that “disaster of a season,” signing with the Buffalo Bills as Denver added Randy Gregory. Three years later, there was a new coach and new quarterback. Maybe the remodeling needed an old antique to complete the project.

Von picked up his iPhone and dialed general manager George Paton.

“When Garett brought it up, I was like, ‘Come on, man.’ You have Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper. But I started thinking, ‘You have all these people on the team and there’s not a spot for me? I know there probably won’t be, but let me check and see.’ I talked with George and I already had an idea how it was going to go. And that is exactly what he said.”

There was no room for the 36-year-old Miller, not with backups Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman capable of playing special teams. The conversation with Paton, the man who traded him to the Rams in 2021, was productive, but not for the reason he expected.

“It was more about me taking the steps to get into a front office. He knows I want to be a GM someday (a goal inspired and encouraged by Bills GM Brandon Beane),” Miller told The Post on Friday. “I am still happy I did it. That was this season. What about next year?”

Sitting below the No. 24 name plate — an ode to Champ Bailey and Kobe Bryant — in the Washington Commanders locker room, Von flashed that devilish grin, the one that appeared so often after his franchise-record 110.5 sacks with the Broncos.

Truth be told, he would “love to return” to the Commanders. Would like a “rain check” after a lost season because of a battery of injuries to stars, including quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels is why Von chose Washington over the Seahawks.

“Nothing against Sam Darnold, but it was Jayden Daniels. In my opinion, it was the best situation,” Miller said. “They were coming off the NFC Championship Game. And (coach) Dan Quinn had a plan for me as a veteran player. He gets it.”

Of course, nothing has worked out, save for Von delivering as an effective situational rusher. He has five sacks in 11 games. He wants a third Super Bowl ring. But he is also motivated to collect eight more sacks, and have his sons, Valor and Victory, gain a better understanding of what their dad does for a living.

That is why he fully intends to play next season. Get that number, and he will reach 142.5 for his career, ranking sixth all-time.

“Myles Garrett is like 14 sacks behind me, and he came into the league six years after me. I don’t want to make the top 10 and get knocked out,” Miller said. “I want to stay there for 10 or 20 years. So, yeah, I definitely want to play another year, and who knows after that?”

With Washington hosting the Broncos on Sunday night, Miller cannot avoid becoming nostalgic. He never wanted to leave, but knew his time was up after he called a captains meeting with coach Vic Fangio and Paton to discuss turning the season around and aiming for a division title.

“It fell on deaf ears. What I realized later is that we were were so far removed from that. That’s all I knew from playing with Peyton Manning. But we had guys who couldn’t relate. It’s hard to get somebody to miss something they never had,” Miller said. “I was talking about winning a Super Bowl, and they were like, ‘What? We are try to win a single game.’ ”

A few weeks later, Von was shipped out. He was surprised, the news bringing him to tears. He still wonders if he would have played his entire career in Denver if the Broncos had drafted someone like Bo Nix.

“We never had a quarterback for a lot of years. No one special or elite,” Miller said. “And Bo fell in their lap. And you’ve got him with one of the greatest minds in NFL history, Sean Payton. And they have Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, and Marvin Mims, and that offensive line is way better than what we had in 2015. This year’s team is special. And if Bo Nix continues to take those leaps.”

Miller catches himself. There he goes again. He cannot help it. When it comes to the Broncos, Von is a fan.

He spent a decade in Denver, morphing into a future Hall of Famer. He made mistakes, grew up before our eyes, became a father — his third child, a daughter named Virtue, is due in January — a leader and a champion.

“I constantly reflect back on those times. The orange and blue, that����ap my squad, that����ap my city. ����apountry, those are my fans. I think they are the main reason I miss it,” Miller said. “Anytime I post something on Instagram, they comment, ‘Come back to Denver, we love.’ They are 90 percent of why I still love the Denver Broncos and why I will always root for them.”

Von will always be a Bronco whether he plays for the team or not. He can always sign a one-day contract and retire in Denver before heading to Canton.

Honestly, it is amazing Von is still playing. His legacy is secure.

But this season explains it. There is a fountain pen. Von sits in the front of meetings — “I am that guy now” — taking down every word. He wants to be challenged, even though the easiest thing would be to tip his helmet and walk off into a Broncos orange-colored sunset.

“I take more notes now than I ever did. I date it, put a timestamp on it. Man, I love everything about the sport, the locker room, the training room, the weight room, the film room,” Miller said. “I have been playing football for 26 years. This is my life. If I don’t have to leave, I am not going to.”

The reigning NFL defensive player of the year is off the injury report and set to play Sunday night at Washington after missing three-plus games with what he described Friday as a partially torn pectoral muscle.

The All-Pro Broncos cornerback participated in Wednesday’s practice on a limited basis, practiced fully the past two days, and will return to the lineup against the Commanders. He told reporters Friday he’ll wear a harness to help protect the muscle. Overall, though, he feels like he’s in a good place health-wise.

When he takes the field, it will be five weeks to the day since the injury occurred against Dallas. Surtain was able to miss just three games and avoid an injured reserve placement because of Denver’s bye week.

In his absence, the Broncos went 3-0. They beat Houston, Las Vegas and Kansas City, allowed 13.7 points over those three games and yielded just a single passing touchdown.

“Obviously, we know we’re at a good state right now with the team, so I took my time with it,” Surtain said of his rehabilitation, “But I was also, like, anxious to get back. I want to give credit to the training staff for allowing me to get better in the rehab, keep on going and keep on getting better each and every week.”

The Broncos used first-round rookie Jahdae Barron in base defense and second-year man Kris Abrams-Draine in nickel to try to cover for Surtain’s absence.

“I’ve been mentioning before how great of players Jahdae and KD are,” Surtain said. … “It wasn’t a surprise because the boys prepare the right way, practice the right way, and they have the right mindset and habits.”

He said he was there for support and to help correct mistakes, but there weren’t many corrections because the young guys played “lights out.”

Surtain said this is the longest he’s ever been off the football field during a season due to injury, so he tried to find the good in it.

“It was a little different for me, but honestly, it was like a blessing because I was able to do some things that I don’t normally do,” Surtain said. “Spend some quality time with the family, talk to the family, stuff like that. I was more at home than usual. It comes with the good and bad, but obviously you miss time sitting out, but I was able to gain a lot.”

But make no mistake, Surtain is excited about his return to the field.

“Very. It����ap not anxious, but it����ap that build-up that I’ve been feeling sitting out the past couple of weeks,” he said. “You know it����ap not going to be perfect, but just getting out there and feeling that momentum, getting your stride back, knocking the rust off. That����ap what I think is going to be exciting.”

The Commanders are going to be without star quarterback Jayden Daniels, who remains out after dislocating his left elbow earlier in the season. They are set to get top receiver Terry McLaurin back from injury, however. So this is the return of a top pass-catcher and also the top corner.

“He’s a great receiver,” Surtain said of McLaurin. “He’s been doing it consistently in this league for some time, so it’ll be a great matchup and I’m looking forward to it.”

Adkins out, Ellis questionable. The Broncos weren’t so fortunate with tight end Nate Adkins on the injury front. He was hurt the same day as Surtain against the Cowboys but has not responded as quickly to a left knee injury and is out a fourth straight game.

In hindsight, Denver could have placed him on injured reserve — it comes with a minimum four-game absence — but head coach Sean Payton thinks he could return at Las Vegas next week.

“He was close, we felt, coming into this week and realistically I think next week much more realistic,” Payton said.

Elliss injured his hamstring against Las Vegas after 16 snaps and didn’t play Nov. 16 against Kansas City. He also missed time earlier this season due to fractured ribs and a shoulder injury.

Let Moug Cook: Former Broncos assistant general manager Darren Mougey engineered the story of the trade deadline and now has two first-round picks for 2026 and three in 2027. The NFL might as well just check with him on scheduling for the next couple of Aprils because he and New York are going to be on the clock a lot the next two drafts. Trading Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams is a big bet. The next rebuild will be fascinating.

Lamar-kable: The Ravens are 3-5 and Lamar Jackson missed three games, but he’s back now and doing ridiculous things. The three-time All-Pro has a 14-1 TD-INT ratio, is completing 73% of his passes, and has played to a 136.7 QB rating so far this season. Baltimore has won two straight and has a manageable month coming up. Look out, AFC North.

Tackle-less Chargers: The Los Angeles Chargers made a trade at the deadline for Trevor Penning, but that����ap a Band-Aid on a major gash. The Chargers lost Joe Alt to a season-ending ankle injury and now will play without both him and Rashawn Slater — two players who looked like the best set of tackles in football last summer. The quest for the 6-3 Chargers to stay in the AFC West race begins this weekend in one of several game-of-the-week candidates: a home date with 5-3 Pittsburgh.

Around the NFC

Packer problems: Green Bay followed a powerful Sunday night win at Pittsburgh with a hideous home loss to Carolina. A repeat of sorts from earlier in the year when they beat Detroit and Washington in five days to open the season, then lost to Cleveland. When they’re going good, Matt LaFleur’s team looks like a Super Bowl contender. But the bad is really bad. They’ve got a marquee game on deck Monday night at home against Philadelphia, which looks back on track offensively. This game could impact the No. 1 seed in the NFC… if these teams don’t keep yo-yo-ing.

Fully loaded birds: Mike Macdonald has Seattle at 6-2, tied atop the NFC West and already looking like one of the most complete teams in football. Then the team, which is fifth in the NFL in scoring, added receiver Rashid Shaheed at the trade deadline. It shouldn’t take him long to get up to speed — Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak coached Shaheed in New Orleans last year. Another element that makes Seattle formidable: The Seahawks are 11-1 on the road under Macdonald.

Shutdown Town: There’s not much government happening in Washington, D.C., these days, and, unfortunately, there’s not much going right for the local football team, either. The Commanders were already getting blown out by Seattle the other night when quarterback Jayden Daniels, inexplicably still in the game, sustained a left elbow injury — though for now the team isn’t placing him on injured reserve. Last year’s darlings have now lost four straight and could realistically finish last in the NFC East.

Game of the Week

L.A. Rams at San Francisco

The 6-2 Rams look like perhaps the best team in the NFC through nine weeks, but the 49ers are just a half-game back in the West at 6-3 and they’ve already got a 26-23 win over Los Angeles in the bank. If Kyle Shanahan’s team polishes off a season sweep, that’d be a major boost to their division title odds — though the Seahawks will be in the mix, too. Meanwhile, it����ap a critical stretch for Sean McVay’s team. They follow the trip to San Francisco with Seattle and Tampa at home. That����ap not only a chance to take control of the division but also to position themselves well for seeding in the conference. The Niners have dealt with a raft of injuries admirably. The Rams, though, are rolling, favored by 4.5 points on the road and haven’t given up more than 10 points in any of their past three games.

Rams 23, 49ers 20

Lock of the Week

Buffalo at Miami

Much was made this week about the Bills failing to acquire a wide receiver at the trade deadline and whether that handicaps their Super Bowl chances. Sean McDermott����ap team, though, is coming off an impressive win against Kansas City and has perhaps the most dangerous ground game in football. James Cook is averaging an NFL-best 108.4 yards per game and is tied with Jonathan Taylor at 5.7 per carry. The Bills also lead the NFL in yards per game (385.5) and are third in scoring (29.4). They’re just fine with the receivers they’ve got, and their dynamic ground game, plus quarterback Josh Allen, are plenty to make them real contenders in the AFC. There’s a reason they’re 9.5-point road favorites against the 2-7 Dolphins.

Bills 34, Dolphins 17

Upset of the Week

New England at Tampa Bay

There may be better options for an upset, but this one could easily have been the game of the week. It����ap the Tom Brady Bowl for two teams that have hit their strides with quarterbacks playing at really high levels. There isn’t a better story in football than Drake Maye’s Year 2 ascension and the Patriots’ massive one-year turnaround under coach Mike Vrabel. Last year, they went 4-13 and didn’t score more than 25 points in a game. They’re currently riding a six-game winning streak during which they’ve averaged 29.5 points. The Bucs and their own terrific quarterback, Baker Mayfield, are 6-2, firmly in control of the NFC South and favored by 2.5 points at home. They need this one, too, with back-to-back roadies to Buffalo and the Rams on deck. But will they get it?

Patriots 28, Buccaneers 27

Mahomes was nearly perfect after throwing two early interceptions, one of which was hardly his fault. One of his touchdown passes , giving him 83 scores to tie Priest Holmes for the Chiefs career record, and another went to Rashee Rice, who caught nine passes for 93 yards in his second game back from a six-game NFL suspension.

It all helped the Chiefs (5-3) win for the fourth time in five games and extend a streak of dominance over Washington. They have won nine straight in the series and 11 of 12 overall; the lone loss came way back on Sept. 18, 1983.

Marcus Mariota had 213 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Commanders (3-5), who fell to 1-4 away from home this season. Mariota started in place of Jayden Daniels, who hurt his hamstring in last week’s loss to Dallas.

Terry McLaurin returned from a quad injury to catch three passes for 54 yards and the score. Deebo Samuel also returned from a bruised heel, but after two early catches, he managed just one more the rest of the night.

Most of the first half was an exercise in poor execution by both offenses.

The Commanders’ opening series ended when Mariota’s pass bounced off Samuel for an interception. The Chiefs’ ended when Mahomes also was picked off. Kansas City proceeded to stop Washington on fourth down, only for Mahomes to have a pass bounce off Kelce’s hands for his second interception — which the Commanders again failed to capitalize on when Mariota overthrew everyone on fourth-and-1 deep in Kansas City territory.

To recap: Two picks by the Commanders, who had created three turnovers all season; two thrown by Mahomes, who had thrown just two previously; and two failed fourth-down conversions by a Washington offense desperate to get points.

All told, five empty drives.

Then, two very productive ones: Kansas City marched 72 yards for a touchdown, and the Commanders answered with a 66-yard drive that McLaurin finished with a TD reception that was first ruled incomplete but was overturned upon review.

Ultimately the Chiefs, who were 12 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM, started to play like it in the second half.

They opened with a methodical 80-yard drive that Hunt finished with his second score. Then, after quick punt by Washington, the 36-year-old Kelce capped a 75-yard drive with his record-tying touchdown reception.

The clinching blow came midway through the fourth quarter, a 13-play, 94-yard drive by the Chiefs — well, 119 yards if you include all the penalties they had to overcome — that finally broke the Commanders. Rice finished it with an 18-yard touchdown reception after he had twice come up just shy of scoring earlier in the game.

That made it five consecutive games in which Kansas City has scored at least 28 points and put this one well out of reach.

Injuries

Washington: Matthew Wright kicked in place of Matt Gay, who was out with a back injury. LT Laremy Tunsil hurt his hamstring on the opening series. DT Jer’Zhan Newton hurt his ankle in the second quarter but returned to the game.

Kansas City: LG Trey Smith (back) was inactive.

Up next

The Commanders host Seattle on Sunday night.

The Chiefs play at Buffalo the same day for an AFC title game rematch.

Bolts Up: Folks, they’re not done. Remember a few weeks ago, when the Chargers suddenly seemed poised to drop out of AFC West contention after a couple losses to the Giants and Commanders? Remember how they lost both of their starting tackles for significant time and both their No. 1 and No. 2 running backs for significant time? Somehow, head coach Jim Harbaugh has righted the ship enough that Los Angeles now sits at 5-3 after a 37-10 blowout of the Vikings on Thursday night. Justin Herbert is slinging the pill and Los Angeles’ ground attack has stabilized with second-year back Kimani Vidal, who has two 100-plus-yard games in his last three. Tackle Joe Alt’s back now, too. It’s still a three-horse race in the AFC West.

Jags slumping, but Travis Hunter soaring: After a rough start to his rookie year — often not on the same page with QB Trevor Lawrence — Colorado Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter broke out last Sunday. How about eight catches for 101 yards, and the first touchdown of his NFL career? How about a pass breakup on defense, too? Unfortunately, this all amounted to a 35-7 drubbing for the Jaguars at the hands of the stampeding Rams.

Jets grounded: There may very well be an 0-17 team this season. The Jets are hopeless, with head coach Aaron Glenn and owner Woody Johnson tossing his $40 million quarterback, Justin Fields, . Now the team’s two best players — cornerback Sauce Gardner and wide receiver Garrett Wilson — . The irony of all of this? The Jets’ slopfest with the Broncos in London two weeks ago might’ve been their best chance to win a game this year.

Maye he rise: The Patriots appear to have gone from one generational quarterback to another in the span of about five years. Drake Maye, the third overall pick in 2024, is playing unreal football right now after connecting on 21 of 23 passes to beat the Titans 31-13 last week. He’s completing 75% of his passes, has 14 total touchdowns against two picks, and most impressively has a literal perfect 158.3 quarterback rating on throws of at least 20-plus yards downfield this season. If the season ended right now, Maye may well be the MVP.

Around the NFC

Back and better (in some ways) than ever: Christian McCaffrey’s averaging just 3.5 yards a carry after a lost 2024 season, and whispers about his run-game burst still flitter around Twitter with each passing week. But in the passing game? Oh, man. After seven more catches in a 20-10 win over the Falcons last Sunday, McCaffrey now sits at third in the NFL with 53 grabs and 516 yards through seven games. That’s on pace for about 129 catches across a 17-game season, which would shatter the single-season record for an RB of 116 set by…Christian McCaffrey in 2019. The Castle Rock kid is all right.

Trouble in the capital: The Commanders have lost three of their last four, just got ran for 44 points by the Cowboys, and are on a crash course for a rude reset after a dream run to the NFC title game in 2024. Sophomore quarterback Jayden Daniels hasn’t operated with the magic of his rookie year when healthy, and will miss his third game of the season on Monday night — against a Chiefs team that’s won four of its last five, no less. Washington’s passing game is iffy, and its defense is struggling.

Watch out for Seattle: Both the AFC and NFC Wests are an absolute bloodbath. The Seahawks are establishing themselves as one of the most well-rounded squads in the NFL, sitting at 5-2 after handling Houston 27-19 last Monday. QB Sam Darnold is dealing, wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba is leading the NFL in receiving yards (819) and the Seahawks’ defense is conjuring up memories of the Legion of Boom days. Not a team anyone in the conference wants to face right now.

Market watch: As the trade deadline nears, keep a firm eye on the Saints’ Chris Olave, who continues producing (behind a quietly-improving Spencer Rattler) even as New Orleans continues to slide into the dumps. After a 98-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Saints’ 26-14 loss to the Bears last Sunday, Olave now has 44 grabs for 440 yards through seven games and could be a difference-maker for a slew of teams at the deadline. His name comes up as often as any other receiver in the league in trade rumors.

Game of the Week

Green Bay at Pittsburgh

Duh. This is Aaron Rodgers’ first time playing his old Packers squad since he was traded to the Jets in 2023, and the best version of Rodgers the NFL has seen since that moment, too. The mobility is nowhere near what it once was, but Rodgers still has 14 touchdowns and a 105.0 quarterback rating through six games. The narratives are ripe in this one, with the 41-year-old Rodgers going toe-to-toe with the 26-year-old Jordan Love, who was drafted as his eventual replacement in Green Bay. Plus, this is a matchup of two four-win teams.

Packers 31, Steelers 27

Lock of the Week

Tennessee at Indianapolis

Woof. The Broncos’ Week 1 and Week 2 opponents match up here with inverse records: the Titans at 1-6, the Colts at 6-1. Tennessee has managed to score more than 20 points just once this year, and the Colts haven’t scored fewer than 20 in any game this year. Daniel Jones and his army of playmakers just hung 38 points on the Chargers last week, and Indianapolis’ defense is good enough to easily handle Titans rookie QB Cam Ward and a struggling offense.

Colts 34, Titans 17

Upset of the Week

Buffalo at Carolina

Carolina’s offense is touch-and-go behind third-year QB Bryce Young. But running back Rico Dowdle is cooking — 551 yards through seven games — and the Panthers’ defense has been truly dominant at times, shutting out the Falcons in Week 3 and shutting down the Jets (admittedly, not hard to do) last Sunday. The Bills are reeling, with two straight losses, and now face a plucky team in a hostile environment. This smells of surprise.

Panthers 21, Bills 17