This is not the weekend for the Broncos’ front office to be sensible with its Walmart money. Oh, no. The 2026 NFL Draft is a free hit. An open goal. A chance to patch holes on a good roster by taking some chances.

Denver was an ankle away from the Super Bowl last season. A freak injury from waving high enough for everybody in Kansas to see.

Act like it.

Be bold.

Be brave.

Please don’t be an inside linebacker.

We’re wringing our hands about pick No. 62, of course, a second-round selection that, as of Monday, is the Broncos’ first — and maybe only — chance to make a draft weekend splash.

Six of the Broncos’ seven picks are slated to fall on Day 3 (rounds four-seven), and three of those six currently lie in the final round. History says Paton and Payton will move around some if they see someone specific they like. But a class this small needs to be about quality — not quantity. So as the weekend approaches, here are five things you’d hope general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton keep in mind as they shop for depth:

1. If Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers is available at No. 62, or close, move Heaven and Earth to make him yours

Linebacker or tight end? Defensive lineman or slot weapon? You nuts? Did you watch the Commodores? Don’t overthink this. Stowers is a tight end who looks like a wide receiver (6-foot-3, 239 pounds), runs like a wide receiver (4.51 in the 40) and jumps like a wide receiver (45.5-inch vertical).

He’s a matchup nightmare, the kind of target who leaves linebackers eating his dust and safeties flailing to reach jump balls they can’t touch. Stowers the draft epitome of a “Joker,” the TE/WR/inside triangle hybrid that Payton spoke about so lustily in January 2025. He’s Evan Engram. Only younger. Sure, Stowers doesn’t grade out well as a blocker. Guess what? You’ve got plenty of “blocking” tight ends on hand already.

2. Grab a contributor Friday — save your projects for Saturday

Could you find a starting-caliber linebacker late in the second round, too? Sure. Assuming Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez is still on the board, he’d make a perfect understudy for Alex Singleton, who’ll turn 33 in December. Or Justin Strnad, who turns 30 in August.

But with only seven picks, and a ton of contracts slated to end after the 2027 season, isn’t time of the essence? Shouldn’t you be saving the understudies for Saturday?

This is a back-filling draft, not the foundational one that 2024 turned out to be, thanks largely to Bo Nix. But winning now means getting guys who can play, and contribute, from the jump. Ideally, that means finding someone in Round 2 who could start for you in a pinch as soon as Week 1. Nail that, and the rest is gravy. Because if you don’t …

3. Don’t fall in love with BPA if that BPA has nowhere to play

See: Barron, Jahdae. Paton’s 2025 BPA with selection No. 20 a year ago. As in, “Best Player Available.” Or is it, Best Pick Again?

You can never have too much of a good thing in this league, given the volatility and injuries. Unless, of course, it’s nickel backs, especially when you’ve already developed an undrafted one (Ja’Quan McMillian) into one of the best in the AFC. At the time of Paton and Payton picked Barron, last spring’s first-round selection, folks didn’t whoop and holler. Barron, a speedster who raised Cain at the University of Texas, made folks sort of shrug and go, ‘Yeah, well, makes sense.’

The Broncos late in 2024 got badly exposed along the perimeter in the passing game — that Cleveland game on Monday Night Football was wild — while Pat Surtain II was out and a still-young Riley Moss was forced to cover more WR1s.

Fast forward to the fall of ’25, where Moss improved and cut down on his penalties. McMillian upped his game another level and rarely left the field on passing downs.

Before last spring’s draft, pundits and fans pleaded for the Broncos to add more help at running back, tight end and wide receiver. By and large, they’re making the same pleas in 2026 — which doesn’t exactly speak well for the early returns on Barron in the first round or for RJ Harvey in the second.

There’s time. But 2027, when so many of the contracts for this current core are slated to run out, gets closer by the day.

4. Remember Bo Nix — and Nix’s costs down the road

If someone offers you picks — even late ones — for the 2027, 2028 or 2029 drafts, you’d be wise to listen. Nix’s four-year rookie deal The Bo Show is slated for a $5.08-million cap hit this fall, and a $5.92-million hit in two seasons. Justin Herbert’s first post-rookie-contract extension had an average annual value of $52.5 million. Joe Burrow’s post-rookie extension featured an AAV of $55 million.

That raise is coming. More rookies will need to be coming, too.

5. Secure a RB you can trust in January

Here’s an idea. Actually, think of it as an exercise. At some point on Saturday, or before, look at the tailbacks most likely to be on the board after Round 2 or Round 3. Ask yourself, very simply, one question: Which one would I feel good about starting, at home, in late January, come rain, sleet or shine?

Because, presuming that J.K. Dobbins is going to be there is pure hubris. Or ignorance. Or both. Presume he’s not. Presume the rest of your options are still best used as pass-catchers in space (Harvey) or as special-teamers (Badie). Which of these prospects can pound the rock between the tackles 12-15 times per game against a salty defense? Which one could help grind me to a Super Bowl?

I’m partial to Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, a workhorse for the Cornhuskers last year, a volume carrier with power who recorded just three fumbles over 550 touches as a collegian. A born closer. Johnson averaged 6.7 yards from scrimmage last November every time he saw the ball, scoring five times on 120 touches that month. Sounds like the perfect fit, on paper, for a franchise that won’t just be judged on how it finishes next season. But where.

Full disclosure: The basketball wonks in the Grading The Week (GTW) offices were fans of the Michael Porter Jr.-for-Cam trade last summer. Again, not because it was a fair swap of talents. It wasn’t — the Nets got the guy with the bigger frame and far sexier upside. It was a “win” because it got MPJ’s bloated contract off the books and enabled the Nuggets to grab the cap space to land three more veteran players (Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas) in the process.

But what’s often said about Christian Braun applies to Johnson, too — he’s got to show up offensively within the flow of the offense, not get down when the shots aren’t falling, and find ways to contribute when the moment finds him. Because it inevitably will.

Cam Johnson’s rebound — B

From last Saturday through Friday, the up-and-down In three games prior to the Nuggets’ visit to the Lakers on Saturday night, Cam was averaging 12.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 3-point makes per contest. He put up 17 points and three treys in a rout of Houston and added another 15 points in a huge win at San Antonio late Thursday night.

Here’s why that matters, and why coach David Adelman has remained in Johnson’s corner through thick and thin this season: The Nuggets look like a title contender when Johnson contributes offensively — and are more of a play-in level team when he doesn’t.

Heading into Friday night, when Johnson scored at least 11 points in a game, the Nuggets were 15-4 (78.9% win percentage), and 26-22 when Cam was 10 points or less.

When Johnson made at least five field goals in a game, the Nuggets were 13-4 (76.4% win percentage), 28-24 when it was four makes or fewer.

When Johnson drained at least two treys, they were 13-6 (68.4% win percentage), 28-20 otherwise.

“It����ap been a tough year for the Nuggets in the clutch, which is something that we’re not used to seeing.” former Nuggets coach Michael Malone, now an ESPN analyst, offered up on the “NBA On ESPN” halftime show Wednesday. “And they’ve got 17 games to go to try to figure it out.”

They figured it out in San Antonio. If they can get Johnson figured out for the stretch run and the postseason that follows, hold on tight.

Broncos’ free agency start — D

Oh, we’ve heard all the caveats by now. There’s time. You just went 14-3. The selection wasn’t that great. The locker room is full of good players and good guys who get what Sean Payton, Davis Webb, Vance Joseph and Darren Rizzi are all trying to do. And we get all that. And we get that, as of last Friday afternoon, per OverTheCap.com, the Broncos still had $22.3 million cap room for ’26 to play with — even after bringing almost everybody back.

Yet there are good reasons why ����apountry was more than a little alarmed at the alacrity with which GM George Paton and coach Sean Payton seemed to sit on their respective hands during the opening  days of the NFL’s free-agent signing period.

Why? Two words: Rookie contract.

QB Bo Nix has a cap hit of $5.1 million in ’26 and $5.9 million slated for ’27. That’s going to change. Joe Burrow had a $9.87-million cap hit in 2022, the third of his four-year rookie deal. On Burrow’s second deal, If Nix continues to trend upward, and health permitting, he should, the Broncos are going to have another Russell Wilson-sized cap number to deal with in a few years.

Which is why they may regret not spending while they were in a period of flexibility “between” big-time/franchise-level QB cap numbers. Especially when you’ve got a Super-Bowl-worthy roster that’s, quite literally, only one or two playmakers away from winning it all — and only one or two offensive playmakers in particular. But, hey, we can get admittedly panicky in the GTW offices, so maybe that’s just us. Although based on our emails and social media exchanges since Monday night, it’s definitely not just us. At all.

Josh Bulla has known Stidham since elementary school in Stephensville, Texas, when a young Bulla first noticed the kid who was a foot taller than everyone else. From that point, Bulla said, Stidham always knew he was headed for some greater destiny. Milestones came and went: he played college football at Baylor and Auburn, where he was a two-year starter , and got drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2019. The final goal — become an NFL starting quarterback — came again on the night of Jan. 18, 2026.

Just not like this, Stidham told Bulla.

He’d gotten his chances before. Two starts in 2022, when the Raiders benched Derek Carr. Two starts in 2023, when the Broncos benched Russell Wilson. Those were exciting. But Bo Nix breaking his ankle Saturday night, as Stidham told Bulla, was “gutting.”

“The first thing that came to mind,” Stidham said, as Bulla recalled, “was, ‘No.'”

“Like, this is Bo’s show.”

Over the past two years, Bo and Izzy Nix have become “like family” to Stidham and his wife, Kennedy, Bulla said. Nix’s second-year run ended shockingly after a divisional-round win over the Bills, and the emotions Stidham felt extend much deeper than his mentorship in Denver. In Stidham’s two years starting at Auburn, from 2017-18, .

It began as simple program ambassadorship, then-Auburn OC Chip Lindsay remembered. Stidham would talk to Nix and host him on visits. Eventually, though, Stidham started asking Lindsay how Nix did in his high school games. He knew that Nix was his successor, former Auburn wideout Ryan Davis recalled.

“Jarrett was basically, like, giving him the keys,” Davis said.

Seven years later, Nix is giving them back. — Nix’s first public statement since breaking his ankle — the Broncos’ starting QB offered a hat-tip, saying he “couldn’t be more confident in Jarrett.” Denver’s season now lies in the hands of Stidham, a career backup who has started four career games in six NFL seasons and hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass in two years.

Across this week’s preparation for the Patriots in Sunday’s AFC championship, Denver’s locker room has heaped praise on Stidham to anyone with a microphone. They have no other choice.

“He’s going to rip it,” head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. “And that will be our approach.”

In Year 2 in Denver, Nix and Payton found synergy as the second-year quarterback praised Payton for letting him be his “authentic self.” These Broncos formed an identity around Nix, a fiery 25-year-old whose white-hot competitiveness fueled a season of second-half comebacks. They are now rallying around Stidham, a cool 29-year-old whose serenity masks his own fire.

Stidham has kept the same routine for three years in Denver, left tackle Garett Bolles said. He eats the same food. He drinks the same water. He hits the steam room at the same time. He listens to the same music, on a Turtlebox waterproof speaker that he affectionately refers to as “Mr. Turtle.”

Nothing has changed in this week of madness. Stidham is who he is because he knows who he is. That is comfort, as these Broncos head into a war.

“He got some swag,” Bolles said Thursday. “He got some swag to him. So, that fuels us all.”

…
In 2023, 6-foot-4 safety JL Skinner arrived in Denver as a raw sixth-round pick out of Boise State. He took plenty of flak from Stidham, who’d just signed as a free agent and who had no more experience in Denver than Skinner.

Stidham wanted Skinner to be better. And he let him know about it. The QB chirped at him in practice.

“JL, what are you doing? What are you doing?”

“I’m like, ‘Man, (expletive) this guy,'” Skinner said Thursday.

“And then in my head,I’m like, (expletive), he’s actually throwing that ball right over my head, too. I gotta do something about it.”

He was born with that. The now 6-foot-3 Stidham played offensive line in Pee Wee football in Weatherford, Texas, because he was tall. Future high school coach Joe Gillespie introduced him to former SMU quarterback Kelan Luker for some training in middle school. The first time Luker worked with Stidham, he walked out to a field, saw him throw a few balls, and noticed the kid never missed.

Stidham had never played quarterback before. To this day, Luker maintains he never really taught him anything over the course of a few years.

“I think what really happened – he was so talented, he could just watch what I did,” Luker said, “and he could imitate.”

In Denver, QB3-turned-QB2 Sam Ehlinger notes that Stidham’s ball “spins really pretty.” The RPMs came naturally. So did unassuming athleticism, a trait that most every teammate or coach notes about Stidham.  Underneath six years of backup life in the NFL is years of life as a five-star gem, the No. 1-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2015 (above Kyler Murray, Sam Bradford and Joe Burrow).

“He’s just one of those West Texas boys who grew up spinnin’ it,” said Jordan Palmer, a former NFL quarterback who’s long worked with Stidham and .

After two years at Auburn, Stidham arrived in New England in 2019. It was Tom Brady’s last year; the Patriots were treating Stidham as “the next guy,” as Davis said, a former Auburn receiver who spent six months in New England’s training camp in 2019. Stidham picked Brady’s brain, and Brady once left three of his custom hoodies as a gift in Stidham’s locker. But the Patriots brought in former MVP Cam Newton two weeks before training camp the next year in 2020, and drafted Mac Jones in the first round in 2021, and shipped Stidham to Las Vegas in 2022 without ever starting him in a game.

Old habits die hard, Bulla recalled. Stidham grew up as the guy. He never stopped believing he could be. After signing in Denver, he got a taste of it late in 2023, when the Broncos benched Wilson. He lost the starting job to rookie Nix in 2024. Bulla asked Stidham how he was feeling heading into training camp this past summer, wedged squarely behind a young franchise face.

“He’s like, ‘It����ap the NFL,'” Bulla said . “‘Everyone’s talented. Crazy things can happen. And I still have to act the way I always have, and that I want to be the starter.'”

…
In December 2017, Carson Wentz tore his ACL, and the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles had to recalibrate around backup quarterback Nick Foles. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich set about watching the “Foles highlight reel,” as he dubbed it — cut-ups of every single Foles completion from five previous NFL seasons. He sat with Foles and had the quarterback walk him through some preferred concepts: a few post routes here, a deep ball there.

Outside the Xs and Os, though, Reich and the rest of the Eagles’ staff didn’t do much to try to control messaging to the team. They let Foles roam free as a personality. And Foles — whose confidence earned him a provocative — became legend across a Super Bowl run in the weeks to follow.

“If you’re trying to cover up what you perceive as some weakness, some leadership weakness of the backup quarterback, then you’re in trouble,” Reich said.

Reich, a former quarterback himself who once stepped in as a backup to Jim Kelly for multiple Buffalo Bills playoff runs in the 1990s, has taken an interest in Stidham’s particular situation in Denver. He’s watched clips of his interviews. He’s detected moxie.

“It seems like the kid’s a winner,” Reich said. “Like, he’s a winner. And everybody knows it.”

Emotion crested and fell in Denver in the span of a single hour after the Broncos’ 33-30 overtime win over Buffalo. Sean Payton went to a podium in street clothes, told reporters Nix was out for the season with a fractured ankle, and the Broncos’ locker room came away as stunned as the rest of the world. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi found out from his son, driving home from the stadium. Receiver Courtland Sutton literally didn’t believe it was true.

Utter chaos has swirled around Stidham in the days since. The Copelands were deep in the woods of West Texas on a hunting trip, cracking open a few Coors Originals and playing cards, when they got the news he was starting. Friends have let Stidham know they’ll make it to Denver in any way possible for Sunday’s game. An entire fanbase has turned its social-media avatars to pictures of Stidham in a strange form of solidarity. This shot is “everything he’s ever dreamed for,” Bulla said.

Stidham has yet to flinch, in public or private.

“Is he getting sleep this week? I don’t know,” said Brian Hoyer, a longtime NFL backup who was with Stidham in New England in 2020 and 2021. “I talked to him (Tuesday). And either it hasn’t hit him yet and he doesn’t have any words, or he hid it really well.”

There is a “calmness” about Stidham, Payton said on Wednesday. There always has been. The most worked-up Bulla has ever seen Stidham — in a circumstance not involving family or football — was when Bulla pranked Stidham in high school by hotwiring his beat-up 1995 Chevy Silverado and hiding it in a different parking lot. On-field mistakes have always brought the same reaction, Palmer described: Aw, shucks, and move on.

These days, Stidham carries that “Mr. Turtle” speaker into the team shower on the daily, blasting an assortment of Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac and country tunes. He has a rookie football card of cornerback Riley Moss pinned to the front of his locker, for some reason. He wore a full-body lion costume to the Broncos’ Halloween party in October.

“Every time I see him,” practice-squad receiver Elijah Moore said, “he’s playing music. I guess he’s just got the vibes on him. I love that.”

Stidham did not always present this way. Take it from Washington head coach Jedd Fisch, who coached New England’s quarterbacks in 2020.

“Really?” Fisch said, told the tale of Mr. Turtle. “He wasn’t like that. Yeah, I don’t remember. Maybe it����ap because we were in the middle of COVID … I would not have guessed that one.”

The years have brought Stidham’s self-awareness outward, as he’s moved into a comfortable stage of life. Stidham and wife, Kennedy, welcomed their third child in October. When he and Bulla catch up these days, they spend roughly two minutes talking football and the rest figuring out “what the hell” to do in fatherhood, as Bulla put it.

“I see a direct correlation,” Palmer said. “When people have their personal lives figured out and then get put into the spotlight on a big stage, I see that go better for the guys that have their lives figured out …. I would say Jarrett’s about as stable as it gets, for a guy his age.

“There’s no reason to change,” Palmer continued. “There’s no reason to do it different. So I’m sure that Jarrett is going into this weekend with a lot of confidence that – he is enough.”

…
Sean Payton, Skinner said, does not keep “bums” on his roster. Backups. Practice squad. Doesn’t matter.

Stidham was one of Payton’s first signings upon arriving in Denver in 2023, even as the Broncos already had Wilson. The organization made it a priority to bring Stidham back this past free agency, on a two-year deal worth $12 million. The money signals trust around the league. Moore — a 25-year-old receiver who’s now been on four NFL teams — said he’s heard of Stidham’s reputation in the past, before signing with the Broncos a month ago.

“Stiddy got signed back-to-back-to-back for a long time now,” Skinner said at his locker Thursday. “And nobody knows why, from the outside. But we know why, from the inside. Because that mother(expletive) can throw that goddamn rock.”

Payton believes Stidham’s inside the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL. So does Patriots defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr, that Stidham “could be a starter for a number of teams.” Stidham’s arm talent and sneaky mobility aren’t in question: quietly, he ran for a combined 84 yards in two starts for the Raiders in 2022.

Sean Payton called Jarrett Stidham a "real good foot athlete" today. Of note: Stidham ran for a combined 84 yards in the first two starts of his career with Las Vegas in '22.

Here's a first-down scramble against a top defense in the 49ers in '22. Plus a ball-flick celebration.

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans)

The major issue, heading into Sunday’s conference championship, is whether Stidham has enough between the ears to handle the “kitchen sink” that the Patriots’ defense throws at opposing quarterbacks, as Hoyer described. Under Kuhr, a swarming New England attack stumped Los Angeles’s Justin Herbert in the wild-card round and picked off Houston’s C.J. Stroud four times in the divisional round.

“They’re going to bring a lot of (expletive), and that����ap where he has to rely on Sean Payton, and the preparation, and I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of checks and – ‘When you see this look, you gotta get into this play or change the protection,’” Hoyer said.

The counter-move is that New England has no shred of Broncos tape on hand to prepare for Stidham. So, how does Denver design a gameplan around him in the span of a week?

Payton has made clear he sees Nix and Stidham as two different styles of quarterbacks. Others disagree. Stidham spent much of 2020 with Fisch studying tape of Jared Goff, and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, and quarterbacks in West Coast systems with plenty of under-center looks. This Denver offense has shifted more in that direction across the second half of 2025, and Palmer and Hoyer don’t see Payton’s established system needing to change much from Nix to Stidham.

“When they can run the ball and throw the play-action game, he can reach anywhere on the field with the ball,” former Auburn OC Lindsey said. “And try to create some explosives off play-action – that would be the first thing that would come to my mind.”

On one hand, Stidham’s in a position where three weeks and a Super Bowl ring would forever change his life, Bulla said. On the other hand, friends and confidants don’t see Stidham stretching himself much for Sunday. Quarterbacks who finally receive their shot, as Palmer said, generally fall into one of two mental buckets. Some hope it’ll go well. Some think it should go well.

Stidham feels, Palmer said, that he should play well.

“When we win that game,” Skinner said, “what they gon’ say now? What they’ gon say now, you know what I mean. They gon’ say — ‘Stiddy this. Stiddy that.’

“Stiddy gon’ get a brand-new contract off this, bro,” he continued. “That����ap how I’m looking at it, man. We riding out with Stiddy.”

Don’t let him be John Elway in John Elway’s house. It’s bad enough that Allen comes into Denver with Disney dropping rose petals at his feet and the NFL blowing sweet kisses at his back.

He’s the best player left in the postseason. He’s the last generational quarterback standing in the AFC. He’s the only sexy name still swinging at a party that usually has Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow waiting to break his heart.

It’s his turn, they say.

Fine. Make him earn it.

Make him throw.

into Peyton Manning.

Take away the feet.

Score enough points to force the arm.

Allen’s got an 8-6 lifetime record in the NFL playoffs. He’s also 2-5 when he’s had to pass it more than 36 times in a game. Allen’s 0-3 when he’s chucked it 40 or more times.

The talking heads want to make Saturday’s AFC Divisional tussle at Empower Field complicated. It isn’t.

Want to beat the Bills? Don’t let him run. Don’t let them run.

“Yeah, I think, with him, it’s just understanding the type of player he is,” Broncos defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who saw plenty of Allen as a member of the New York Jets, told me earlier this week. “That’s a physical football team. That’s a physical player. (He’s) a big guy also — you’re talking about a guy that’s 6-foot-5 and 250 (pounds), so he’s bigger than every linebacker in the NFL and half of the ends in the NFL.

“So you understand that the brand of football they’re going to play. And you have to match it. You have to be willing to match it.”

It was too easy for him last January. Too easy for all of them. The Bills brought baseball bats and two-by-fours to last January’s AFC wild-card tussle. The Broncos brought a happy stare.

James Cook’s first carry went for 16 yards around his right tackle, the Broncos were gashed, Bills Mafia smelled blood, and the tone was set. Buffalo ran it 17 times on first down in a 31-7 rout a year ago before their game-ending kneels. The Bills averaged an unsightly 6.5 yards per carry on those first-down runs. In terms of execution and physicality, it was like watching the JV tackle the varsity.

Allen did the rest. On third-down-and-3-yards-or-fewer, he converted all five of the chances he faced vs. Denver — four of them on QB runs. The Bills’ signal-caller was 2 for 2 on fourth-down-and-2-or-less, with one conversion turning into a 24-yard touchdown.

“He’s a special player, obviously,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph noted earlier this week. “(There are) certain guys in this league that can take over games, and (Allen is) one of those guys. But we knew to win the championship here, it was going to go through Patrick (Mahomes) and Lamar (Jackson) and Josh and Joe Burrow. I mean, that����ap the AFC side. Unfortunately, that����ap where we live. So we knew we (had) to face one of those guys eventually.”

In hindsight, maybe we should be a little thankful. Allen and the Bills reminded the Broncos of what they weren’t. What they lacked. So coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton went out and added steel to the spine last spring, signing away safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw from the 49ers.

Hufanga was a heat-seeking missile who came exactly as advertised. Even though Greenlaw was hurt much of the year, Denver allowed the fourth-fewest average rush yards on first down (3.91 per carry) in the NFL during the regular season. (The Bills’ offense, meanwhile, ranked sixth in yards per rush — 4.84 — on first down.)

The Broncos had the NFL’s No. 3 defense in average rush yards allowed on third-and-3-or-less (2.75 per carry). Denver allowed just one 100-yard rusher all year (Jonathan Taylor, back in Week 2). That hadn’t happened since 2015. The Broncos’ defense had allowed an average of five 100-yard rushers over the previous three regular seasons.

“We were watching that (31-7) game, seeing how (the Bills) played us last year and all that different stuff,” wideout/returner Marvin Mims told me. “But so many different pieces (are gone) that you don’t even think about. It’s like, ‘Dang, he’s not here anymore … we’re not doing this as much anymore.’ So it was kind of weird, looking back at it.

“But at the end of the day, (it was) a learning experience, for sure, for the guys that are still here and for everyone that was a part of it. And just kind of knowing (that) those dudes (in Buffalo) know what they’re doing. They’ve been in this stage multiple times, within all their careers, their core  — and so (it’s about) just going out there and just trying to do the best we can and knock them off.”

You can’t let up, either. Since the ’20-21 postseason, Allen has led the Bills on 10 playoff drives in the final 8:30 of the fourth quarter while Buffalo was trailing. His numbers:

• 36 completions on 59 pass attempts (61%)

• 14 rushes, 78 yards, 5.6 yards per carry

• 3.8 points per Allen possession

“And that truly is the tough part,” Franklin-Myers continued, “is that you have to be willing to play (all the way). If it’s 60 minutes, if it’s 100 minutes — you have to be willing to play every second, because that’s what they’re going to do.

“And at the same time, no lead is big enough for them. You can be up 30 points on them. That’s a smart team. One play sparks them and they come back. So, man, you’ve got to be physical.”

You’ve got to take away the lower body. You’ve got to force Allen to play to your strengths — not his. You’ve got to make him test Patrick Surtain II, Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian.

When Allen has had to throw it 41 times or more in the regular season, he’s 10-13. The dude’s 1-3 in postseason games when he commits a turnover. He’s 7-3 when he doesn’t. To win in January, it’s about making the finest miss on the finest of margins.

“I mean, it truly is,” Franklin-Myers stressed. “It’s about who’s going to make the most mistakes. But, I mean, Sean (Payton) says it all the time: ‘It’s the turnovers.’

“You have everybody’s hopes and dreams in your hands when you have the ball in your hands. You only hope that, as a home defense, every chance we get, we punch it out. And on offense, that we protect as much as possible. In the playoffs, these games are close, and teams are either taking care of the ball or making awful mistakes. And that’s how you see some of these games getting out of hand, too.”

Don’t sweat the narrative. You’ve already lost it. Sweat the small stuff. Make Allen throw. If the Winter Soldier is one-dimensional, it won’t be long before everybody in ����apountry eats.

“Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are going to the Super Bowl,” ESPN analyst and former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark declared on “First Take” on Monday. “Josh Allen showed us once again (against Jacksonville) that he’s Superman.

“Superman is a metahuman. There are no more metahumans in the AFC (bracket). Patrick Mahomes ain’t there. Lamar Jackson ain’t there. Joe Burrow is not there … What we saw from (Allen) in the fourth quarter (Sunday) is what the Buffalo Bills should be thinking every single game. ‘If it’s close and it’s late, we have the best player left playing.'”

They do. And if I’m Sean Payton, I’ve got that quote playing on a loop all week at Dove Valley. I’m plastering it on signs that get hung up all over Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Where everybody can read it. So everyone can feel it.

The best coaches play the underdog card the way . Any sound bite is a potential weapon. Any pithy comment could be turned into a rallying cry or rocket fuel. Context? Ha. Doesn’t matter. It’s just gotta stick.

Michael Malone, during his Nuggets days, was a genius at creating enemies, of underlining slights that may or may not have ever been real. Liam Coen’s use of Payton’s “small market” comment about Jacksonville last month was a great example of crafting something completely innocuous into an aluminum bat — then handing it to your guys to go bash the speaker’s team in the ankles with it.

Payton should’ve known better, in hindsight. But now it’s his turn. See that rusty knife lying over there in the corner? Shouldn’t even be that hard to sharpen the blasted thing, let alone twist it.

The Broncos are the Jan Brady of AFC story arcs. Bills this. Bills that.

As far as the national sports networks are concerned this week, Payton and his players might as well be extras in their own movie.

Remember the 2023 Nuggets postseason? Just replace “LeBron James” with “Josh Allen,” and you’ll have a pretty good idea of where the noise is going. Which means, until Saturday, you might want to keep the earmuffs within arm’s reach. Earmuffs and a stiff drink.

By Monday, ����apountry’s biggest week in 10 years had already jumped feet-first into ludicrous — especially on the respect front. Get this: The Bills opened the week as a 1.5-point favorite for Saturday’s Divisional Round game. On the road. Against the AFC’s top seed. In January. At altitude.

If that struck you as unusual, that’s because it is. According to YahooSports.com, Denver is just the third No. 1 seed since

The 2017 Eagles were the last ‘1’ seed to make that list. They won their postseason home opener and rolled all the way to a Super Bowl title. The 1971 Vikings were the other team, and Minnesota wound up falling at home to Dallas in its initial playoff contest.

So the Broncos are the rubber game in NFL history. Precedent says Payton has Allen and the Bills right where he wants them.

The Broncos are 4-1, straight up, as a Vegas underdog this season. We remember the 2025 team as one that constantly seemed to play down to its competition. But we’re forgetting the team that, more often than not, met the moment.

Philly on the road. Dallas at home. Kansas City at home. The Packers at home. Before Monday night, the last team to beat the Texans was Denver, in Houston, all the way back on Nov. 2.

And did you notice how every one of those wacky wild-card games Saturday and Sunday felt so darn familiar? That’s because, for the most part, they looked exactly like the ones the Broncos have been playing all year long. And winning.

They’re built for this. They have been from Week 1.

Now? Now the Broncos are a No. 1 seed in name only, as far as the cognoscenti are concerned, a team of wallflowers standing in the way of the narrative. The coasts have decided it’s Josh Allen’s turn. It’s ����apountry against the world. And the world’s favored by a safety.

“If Cam Newton and John Elway walked into that little machine they had , it would come out as Josh Allen,” Clark continued Monday.

“When you are that talented, when you can run that way, when you are powerful that way, when you can throw the football and place it anywhere on the field — and there is no Kryptonite in the form of Patrick Mahomes, you have to go do it. And this is the year Josh Allen gets it done.”

You don’t have to be taking Bozempic to get fired up for this one after that. If Payton’s keeping receipts, Superman is about to enter a no-fly zone.

“I told Sean Payton I thought it was the best selection in the draft at quarterback,” the former St. Louis Rams coach and offensive coordinator told The Post. “With Sean’s great understanding of the passing game, Bo Nix went to the perfect spot.”

Two years later, Nix boasts 24 wins, and will be watching from his couch this weekend after the Broncos secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed and a bye. Still, no Denver quarterback has been more heavily scrutinized since Peyton Manning.

Nix led the NFL in passing attempts and game-winning drives. Yet every Sunday feels like a race to the keyboard or microphone to criticize the mole on Cindy Crawford’s face (guilty as charged).

Win the Super Bowl with the AFC field wide open, or this season is a failure.

Do you Bo-lieve that? I don’t.

If you were watching the Broncos the past two games, you’d be fooling yourself to place that much faith in this team to go undefeated in the postseason.

So, regarding Nix, we have been looking at this all wrong.

He is being held to the same standard as the likes of Derek Jeter. Anything less than a downtown parade is a waste? Please. That is easy to say when you play for the Yankees, who use championship banners as coasters.

These days, no one affords anyone patience. But, Nix deserves context.

The Broncos are back in the playoffs for a second straight season, one game closer to Super Bowl LX, and a legitimate contender because Nix has played with a slow heartbeat in the fourth quarter.

But how about we sip the orange Kool-Aid instead of chugging it, and consider the history Nix is chasing.

Not only has a rookie quarterback never won a Super Bowl, but a second-year starter has only pulled it off four times: Kurt Warner (1999), Tom Brady (2002), Ben Roethlisberger (2005) and Russell Wilson (2013).

That is a success rate of 6.7 % in 59 attempts.

This is not meant to provide Nix with an excuse, but an appropriate frame of reference. Those aforementioned players are either in the Hall of Fame (Warner) or will be (yes, even Wilson has a strong case).

Nix has been good. Manning told me he would be last summer, stressing “he is made of the right stuff.” But nobody is rushing to get his measurements for a gold jacket.

Nix is solid, inspiring confidence in teammates, who have watched him play his best when it matters most. Still, let’s be real about the current ask: win a Super Bowl in his second season?

Here’s the thing about Warner, Brady, Roethlisberger and Wilson: they did not have to put on a cape. They had sidekicks worthy of Marvel Comics. All four of them were paired with 1,000-yard rushers in Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk, Antowain Smith, Willie Parker and Marshawn Lynch.

These guys had nicknames like “Superman,” “Fast Willie” and “Beast Mode.” Roethlisberger had Canton-bound Jerome “The Bus” Bettis as a short-yardage back for goodness sake.

Nix has R.J. Harvey — RJ for short — and Jaleel McLaughlin who doesn’t have a nickname but is known for the team misspelling his name on the back of his jersey in the preseason.

This is where Nix misses “El Toro,” aka J.K. Dobbins. He was on pace to eclipse 1,000 yards — he finished with 772 through 10 games, still a team best — before injuring his foot.

Want to be fair to Nix: Ask more of him in the Super Bowl if Dobbins returns.

Too lenient a standard?

You do realize that only eight second-year quarterbacks have even reached the Super Bowl, and Dan Marino, Colin Kaepernick, Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy all failed. And every one of them had a 1,000-yard rusher, save for Marino, who passed for a record 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns.

This is why it is important to widen the lens on the Broncos season. It has been special; you don’t win 14 games without creating goosebumps. But these Broncos are not like those of 1997, 1998 and 2015.

They are more flawed, a year ahead of schedule. They don’t have a championship offense on paper, and the resumes of Manning and John Elway dwarf Nix’s credentials.

Which is why it is fascinating how bad games cling to Nix like Bounce sheets, especially in relation to the other quarterbacks in the field.

Josh Allen and C.J. Stroud have never won a postseason road game or reached the big game. Justin Herbert’s next playoff victory will be his first. Same goes for Sam Darnold. And Aaron Rodgers has not posted a postseason victory since 2021.

Nix has delivered some ugly quarters and halves, last week among them. It is why even some of his comebacks get dinged since he sprayed an extinguisher on fires he started.

In the end, though, he has done his part without, as Warner explained before the season, a remarkable cast.

He has played a significant role while being asked to take on as much responsibility as any sophomore quarterback in recent memory.

The Broncos are not a Super Bowl team in the traditional sense, not without more weapons offensively, and a special teams boost from Marvin Mims Jr. But they do have a defense that generates pressure and, if the Chargers’ win is any indication, remains capable of displaying sticky fingers.

And they have a quarterback they trust. ����apountry understands it — they lived through 13 underwhelming starters after Manning. The locker room knows it.

And Martz gets it.

“I would love to coach that kid,” said Martz, who coached Warner to a Super Bowl title in his second season. “Absolutely, love it.”

Martz was right about Nix. All Nix has done is put himself in a position to win a championship.

But let’s be realistic: it is not a failure if he doesn’t.

Old man Rivers. Philip Rivers returning to Indianapolis and perhaps even starting this weekend at Seattle is one of the most compelling stories in the NFL this year. Can the 44-year-old really do it? Can he come off the bench cold after five years and not play disastrous football? Conventional wisdom suggests no, but what a story if he can. Everybody will be watching.

Two-way go. The Broncos should very clearly be rooting for Kansas City to get off the skid and beat the Chargers this weekend. Still, the AFC West matchup essentially amounts to a win-win for Denver. If the Chargers win, Kansas City is fully out of the playoff picture. So while a Chargers loss is by far the better outcome for Denver’s division title hopes, a Chiefs loss isn’t terrible, either. If Jim Harbaugh’s team wins and the Broncos lose to Green Bay, the race in the West is very much on.

Dudes in a dud. Not often you get a matchup of future Hall of Fame-type quarterbacks in December that has as little juice as Baltimore and Cincinnati this weekend. This could have been a top-of-the-division tilt, but instead it’s a 6-7 vs. 4-9 game. The Ravens most certainly aren’t out of the picture in the AFC North, but Lamar Jackson and the offense have been going nowhere recently. Meanwhile, the Bengals are out of the playoff race and Joe Burrow is questioning whether playing football is still fun for him. This should almost always be a dynamite late-season matchup. Not this time.

Around the NFC

Crunch time for Lions. Detroit has a massive challenge and a near must-win at the NFC-leading Los Angeles Rams. The Lions are currently sitting in third in the NFC North with 40% playoff odds, . If they manage to beat L.A., those odds jump to 60% before any other Week 15 action. If they lose, the odds plummet to 30%. So, a 30-point swing one way or the other.

Couple Bucs short. There are bad losses and then there’s Tampa Bay blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead at home against Atlanta. The Falcons had already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but stormed back to beat Baker Mayfield’s Bucs. Tampa’s lost five of six, including New Orleans and Atlanta back-to-back. Carolina can take control of the NFC South on Sunday. Todd Bowles might be looking around and asking, “Is it just me or is this seat a little warm?”

Dak attack. Dallas at 6-6-1 needs to win out to have a realistic chance at the playoffs. Their final four isn’t impossible. They start this weekend with Minnesota before a tough one at home against the Chargers. Then they finish with roadies at Washington and the New York Giants. That����ap a doable slate for the NFL’s leading passer, Dak Prescott, and his terrific receiver duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

Game of the Week

Buffalo at New England

If anybody is going to stop New England’s mega-heater, the Bills are probably the best bet. The Patriots already have a game in hand against Buffalo — the second of their current 10-game winning streak was a 23-20 victory in Western New York — and now they get the defending division champs at home with a chance to put the division on ice.

Mike Vrabel has engineered one of the great single-season turnarounds in league history in his debut season as New England’s coach and this will be the club’s biggest test to date. The final three isn’t a total cake walk — at Baltimore, at the New York Jets and home against streaking Miami — but this feels like the biggest hill left on the route to the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Well, that and the fact that Denver’s also won 10 straight. The Bills are 1.5-point road favorites. This should be a terrific one.

Bills 24, Patriots 23

Lock of the Week

Las Vegas at Philadelphia

Even after a stumble last week, the Eagles are 1.5 games clear in the NFC East and they’re the only team in the division with a positive points differential. Dallas could mount a run at them, but Philly should be in pretty good shape. All the same, they’ve chewed through a decent amount of their margin for error and still have a road game at Buffalo on the docket. Nick Sirianni’s team can’t afford a dumb loss. This would be exactly that. The Raiders are in dire straits across the board and are still in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. You shouldn’t be able to set this line high enough. The sports books have it pegged at 11.5 points. Maybe Raiders coach Pete Carroll can call for a meaningless field goal that covers the spread for the second straight week.

Eagles 27, Raiders 13

Upset of the Week

Miami at Pittsburgh

Every time the Steelers do something notable, they seem to take a step back. They did something notable last week, knocking off Baltimore in a thriller and taking sole possession of first place in the AFC North in the process. They’ve still got another matchup with the Ravens in Week 18 at home, but in the meantime, they’ve got a chance to potentially build a bit of a lead.

Miami, though, is playing well itself and has won four straight games. That����ap all probably for naught — even if they win their last four games, the postseason odds don’t favor Mike McDaniel’s team — but it makes life difficult for Pittsburgh. Can Aaron Rodgers conjure more high-level December play as a three-point home favorite? Maybe, but not this week.

Dolphins 20, Steelers 19

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.

Chiefs cooked? Kansas City went to Dallas with hopes of a second straight win and a late-season run. Instead, Patrick Mahomes’ team came up short yet again and fell to 6-6 on the season. Not only is K.C.’s run of nine straight AFC West titles coming to an end, but Andy Reid and company don’t have a ton of margin left in terms of making the playoffs. From here, they’ve likely got to win four of five at a minimum to ensure they make the dance.

Hello operator. Can you give me No. 9? Joe Burrow returned and immediately notched a big win, leading Cincinnati to a blowout of Baltimore and throwing for 246 yards and two TDs. The Bengals are just 4-8 now, but they’re not quite dead yet in the AFC North. Almost, but not quite. Their next two are at Buffalo and at home against Baltimore. Find a way to win those, and Cincinnati closes with Miami, Arizona and Cleveland. Huh.

Half Charge. Last we saw Jim Harbaugh’s team, it was getting absolutely waxed at Jacksonville. In the process, Los Angeles fell two games behind the Broncos in the division. They’ve got a chance to get right Sunday at home against Las Vegas, though. And they need to in order to keep pace with Denver and to keep the Chiefs solidly in the rearview mirror. Los Angeles is closer to getting rookie running back Omarion Hampton back from an early-season ankle injury, which should be considerable help to quarterback Justin Herbert and company.

Around the NFC

Northern exposure. Don’t look now, but Green Bay’s won three straight since back-to-back losses to Carolina and Philadelphia. The Packers are 8-3-1, notched a season sweep of Detroit with a gutsy win at Ford Field on Thanksgiving, and now set up a massive portion of the schedule. They’ve got a pair of games against Chicago sandwiched around a trip to Denver. Those Bears matchups just might decide the NFC North, though, plus the Lions are playoff contenders.

Record watch for JSN. The best receiver in football this year isn’t even a fair fight. Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 80 catches for 1,313 yards through 11 games in Seattle. That puts him on pace for 2,029 on the season, which would best Calvin Johnson’s all-time record of 1,964. JSN just keeps getting better for the Seahawks, who look like Super Bowl contenders, too. He had eight catches for 167 and two TDs last week.

Niners hanging tough. San Francisco’s dealt with major injuries all year, including to quarterback Brock Purdy. They’re playing in a division that has perhaps the NFC’s two best teams in Seattle and the Rams. And yet Kyle Shanahan’s got his team at 8-4 and in the mix. If they can get into a long-awaited bye week with nine wins after playing Cleveland this weekend, they’ll be in great shape. Piece of advice: Make sure to block Myles Garrett.

Game of the Week

Buffalo at Pittsburgh

The Bills and Steelers are both trying to keep pace with surging teams in their respective divisions. Josh Allen and company just haven’t quite found high gear so far this season and they’ve watched as New England’s reeled off nine straight victories. The Steelers, meanwhile, are in first place after Baltimore’s Thanksgiving night clunker. Aaron Rodgers has a broken left wrist, but is expected to play. Both of these teams have the horses to get hot and press their division rivals. But neither at this point looks like a true Super Bowl contender. Those factors alone — to say nothing of the QB matchup — make this a massive game. Then consider both head coaches — Sean McDermott in Buffalo and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh — have been consistent winners but neither has had a particularly smooth ride over the past year-plus, and both have groups that are underperforming so far this season.

Bills 24, Steelers 23

Lock of the Week

L.A. Rams at Carolina

After the field looked wide open for the better part of three months, the stretch run arrives with the Rams looking like clear Super Bowl favorites. They’ve won six straight and they’re playing dominant football both offensively and defensively. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had to retreat into a taco-truck-looking bus for back treatment throughout training camp, has thrown 27 touchdowns without an interception and is 30-2 for the season. The Panthers have improved this season, but this is a different level of challenge. Consider the Rams’ enviable skill talent in receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, plus running back Kyren Williams and a bevy of tight ends, and then remember their defense might be better than their offense.

Rams 34, Panthers 13

Upset of the Week

Houston at Indianapolis

Alright, so there aren’t a ton of good upset options on the board this week with the shortened Sunday slate. The Colts are in the hunt for the No. 1 seed, they’re still in control of the division and they’re 4.5-point home favorites against the Texans. They’re in pretty good shape.

At the same time, however, the Texans’ defense is on a mega heater and Indy quarterback Daniel Jones reportedly has a fracture in his fibula. For a long time, Shane Steichen’s team looked like it might waltz to the AFC South title. If Houston actually pulls an upset on the road, that changes the equation in a big way. Oh, and it would be good for Denver’s chances at the No. 1 seed, too.

Texans 17, Colts 16

Snap decision: The Shedeur Sanders Era is ready for lift-off in Cleveland. Thrown into the deep end vs. Baltimore last Sunday, the CU Buffs legend flailed and flopped to the tune of 47 yards on 4-of-16 passing in relief of concussed rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel. That came after Sanders received zero (!) practice snaps with the Browns’ starting offensive line over the first 11 weeks of the season, according to head coach Kevin Stefanski. Now, with a week of reps under his belt, Coach Prime’s son is set to make his first NFL start at the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. We eagerly await the measured, thoughtful discourse that will follow in its wake.

Backup duty: It would’ve been hard to envision three weeks ago when the Broncos had Davis Mills running for his life inside NRG Stadium, but Houston’s backup QB has revived a once-lost season for the Texans. Starting in place of C.J. Stroud the last three games, Mills has thrown for 719 yards and five touchdowns in leading Houston to three straight wins, including a surprise takedown of Buffalo on Thursday night. Of course, it also helps to have a defensive front — led by Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter — that can terrorize opposing quarterbacks for four quarters. With trips to Indianapolis and Kansas City on the docket the next two weeks, more of the latter will be needed.

First-round fodder: Your AFC division leaders entering Week 12? Denver, New England, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. Talk about a changing of the guard. Baltimore, Kansas City and Buffalo all have work to do just to make the Wild Card round in early January. And if they do? Well, let’s just say things could get awfully, um, wild during the first weekend of the NFL Playoffs. After the Chiefs’ reign of terror over the last seven years, the AFC has rarely felt more wide open.

Around the NFC

Casino Cowboys: Speculation swirled after receivers George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb were held out of the Cowboys’ opening drive at the Las Vegas Raiders this past Monday night, with one particularly salacious rumor floating around that Lamb was seen throwing up outside a casino the night before. while having dinner and drinks at Red Rock Casino on Sunday night, but denied the upchuck allegations. Far be it from us to cast judgment upon someone losing track of time in a Sin City casino. But before a Monday Night Football game with your team’s season on the line? Tsk, tsk.

What Brown can do for coup: Whoever came up with the phrase “winning cures everything” never met A.J. Brown. The Eagles’ veteran wide receiver is less than a year removed from getting fitted for a Super Bowl ring, and his team is currently No. 1 in the NFC, but you wouldn’t know it if you stood next to his stall in the Eagles locker room or scrolled through his social media accounts after the latest Philly win. Things got so bad last week, for a 10-minute heart-to-heart on the practice field. Let’s hope it produces the desired results for Brown: More targets, more TDs, and maybe even an Eagles win. (In that order, of course.)

Rodgers in Chicago: If there are football gods, Aaron Rodgers will be healthy enough to play when Pittsburgh takes on the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears on Sunday. The former Green Bay QB famously declared “” at the Soldier Field crowd after one of his many touchdowns against the Bears back in 2021. While Rodgers might only be a glimmer of the quarterback who once went 25-5 against the Monsters of the Midway in green and gold, we welcome any opportunity to turn back the clock.

Game of the Week

Tampa Bay at L.A. Rams

Either something is wrong with Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield, or his fourth-quarter magic has simply run dry. The Buccaneers have lost three of their last four games and could desperately use a win with the Carolina Panthers lurking a half-game back in the NFC South. There’s just one problem: Rams QB Matthew Stafford has been shooting laser beams out of his eyes for the better part of seven weeks. The Rams are laying seven points to the visiting Bucs — which feels like a few too many.

Rams 31, Buccaneers 27

Lock of the Week

Seattle at Tennessee

There are two things the Seahawks do better than just about anyone else in the NFL right now: 1) Win on the road, and 2) Obliterate bad teams. They’ll get an opportunity to do both on Sunday when they visit Nashville. The Titans are getting 13.5 points, and that’s still not enough for a team that is one Arizona Cardinals fourth-quarter implosion away from being 0-10 on the season. Could Tennessee really get the No. 1 overall pick two years in a row? Our Magic 8 Ball says “Signs point to yes.”

Seahawks 34, Titans 17

Upset of the Week

New England at Cincinnati

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow practiced all week and is trending toward returning to the field when the Bengals host Drake Maye and the Patriots on Sunday afternoon at Paycor Stadium. Somehow, the Bengals were still 6.5-point home underdogs as late as Friday morning against the AFC East leaders. The Pats have won eight straight since getting off to a 1-2 start to the season (Sound familiar?). A healthy and rested Joe Cool is ready to burst their bubble.

Bengals 27, Patriots 24