Good morning, Broncos Country!
At 8-5 and currently in seventh place in the AFC, Broncos’ head coach made it clear on Monday that no one in the locker room is just thinking about getting to nine wins this week and securing a winning record.
“I don’t know that one person downstairs—myself included—has thought about right now this team just having a winning season,” Payton said. “I understand the question and I appreciate it, but I think our aspirations are a little higher.”
Like, the playoffs.
The Broncos haven’t had a winning record since 2016 (a lifetime ago), and their best shot at securing one this year is likely Sunday’s game against the streaky 6-7 Colts.
Even if Denver gets the better of Indy on Sunday, its next three games are brutal, and the Broncos could easily go 0-3 over that stretch.
But don’t look to Payton for any major speeches to ensure the team is on track.
“There’s no grand message. The key for us is just the process [and] the routine as we get ready for this game this weekend,” he said. “Then certainly making the corrections in the game we just played.”
“We have a good month of football ahead of us here that’s going to be—obviously all of those games are going to be important...but it starts with the game this week at home.” - Sean Payton
The Week 14 bye seemed pretty harsh back when the NFL announced the schedule, but Payton has learned never to worry about things he cannot control.
“We have a good month of football ahead of us here that’s going to be—obviously all of those games are going to be important,” Payton said. “You want to be as healthy as possible and as rested as possible, but it starts
Sitting at 6-7, the Colts have just a 24% chance to make the playoffs compared to the Broncos’ 77%. But this is no game to be complacent. If the Broncos don’t take care of the Colts, they’ll need to beat at least one, if not two, of their remaining opponents. And between the Bengals, Chargers and Chiefs, that’s pretty far from a guarantee.
“You want to be playing well towards the end,” Payton said, recalling the year his Saints ended up winning the Super Bowl after going 13-0 then losing two games and then sitting a bunch of players for the final regular season game.
“You do want to be, [No. 1], playing for something and playing with confidence, but then also hopefully you’re eliminating some of the mistakes,” the coach said, adding the Broncos’ penalty numbers are still problematic. “I don’t like our penalties relative to the offensive line. We’re near the bottom of the league in that category. We’re in the bottom of the league relative to the secondary. Those have to get cleaned up, or they’ll end up costing you.”
Playing a relevant game in December is a great place to be, as Jaleel McLaughlin points out.
“That’s what you work for: games like this,” he said. “Games that matter is what you work for. Ever since you’ve grown up, you watch different games on TV and you see how hard those guys are out there playing, and it’s like, that’s always what you want to be in. You want to be in the best games.”
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