Don’t look now, but the Denver Broncos are 7-2 and riding all the highs that have come with a six-game win streak. With the Raiders coming to town on Thursday night, it’s possible that Denver could reach an 8-2 mark alongside some of the NFL’s top franchises and put themselves in a great position for the home stretch.
In last week’s NFL Power Rankings, the orange and blue found themselves at No. 10. After another come-from-behind win over the Texans and their top-rated defense on Sunday, it was enough — along with the Packers dropping a game to the Panthers — to bump them up to the No. 9 spot for Week 10.
There was a lot of movement with the other AFC teams in the top 10, as the Colts slid to No. 3 following a loss to the Steelers, the Bills slid up to No. 4 following a big win over the Chiefs, and Kansas City slid to No. 6 following the loss.
For the other teams ahead of the Broncos, the Seahawks and Rams slid up to the top two spots, the Eagles and Buccaneers stayed pat at No. 5 and No. 8, and the Lions dropped to No. 7.
Is Denver’s fourth quarter magic enough to move the needle against some of the top teams in the league? They struggled on offense for the majority of the game, had multiple special teams miscues that swung the point differential by six and also got to play against a backup quarterback in Davis Mills who has already failed as a starter in the NFL.
They likely won’t be tested this week as the lowly Raiders are one of the worst teams in the NFL and just traded away their best wide receiver in Jakobi Meyers, but next week will show where the Broncos stand. The Chiefs are slated to come to Denver for the biggest game of the Broncos’ season so far, and if they haven’t patched up some of those issues that have been troublesome through the first half of the year, the Chiefs will expose those flaws.
Nonetheless, Denver is still at the top of the league, even with all of these questions being asked. This is their best start since 2015, the year that they brought home the Vince Lombardi in Peyton Manning’s final hurrah. They continue to remain as a top 10 team in these rankings, something that Broncos Country has been dying to see for nearly a decade.