The Broncos continued tinkering with their offensive line mix Friday by signing center Sam Mustipher from the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad.
To clear a spot on the 53-man roster, Denver waived offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton. If Throckmorton clears waivers, he is in line to return to the Broncos’ practice squad.
The move is interesting for multiple reasons.
First, Mustipher spent 2024 training camp with the Broncos before being waived at the roster cutdown deadline. He’s a veteran player and one who is familiar to the Broncos.
Also: Mustipher played 12 games last year for the Chargers and has been on Jim Harbaugh’s practice squad for a chunk of this season, too. Denver plays what is sure to be a meaningful game and still could end up a titanic one in Week 18 at home against the Chargers.
Throckmorton served as the No. 2 center for Denver on Thursday night at Kansas City as Alex Forsyth stepped into the starting lineup.
He replaced Luke Wattenberg, who was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a shoulder injury. Head coach Sean Payton said the IR placement for Wattenberg, who just signed a four-year, $48 million extension in November, came down to roster management.
“He’s right at that (four-week) mark,” Payton said of Wattenberg.
Wattenberg is first eligible to return if the Broncos make the AFC Championship Game.
Assuming Denver gets Throckmorton back to the practice squad, it will have four experienced interior options as depth: Throckmorton, Mustipher, Geron Christian and whoever doesn’t start at left guard between Alex Palczewski and Ben Powers.
Schrader clears waivers. Running back Cody Schrader has been on and off several rosters in the past few weeks. Denver waived the back on Thursday, and he cleared waivers on Friday, meaning he’s free to sign with any team.
The Broncos have three practice squad spots open before any additions. Throckmorton and Schrader could end up filling two of them.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos placed center Luke Wattenberg on injured reserve before their game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, a surprising and significant blow to their offensive line as they take aim at a postseason berth.
Wattenberg had started the first 15 games of the season before showing up on the injury report with a shoulder problem this week. The move to the IR means he will be out at least four weeks, which would take the Broncos though the AFC title game.
Their first order of business is winning the AFC West. They can do it this weekend with a win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and by getting some help from Houston with a victory over the Chargers in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Wattenberg, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Washington, has been solid in the middle for the Broncos all season. And last month, the team rewarded the 28-year-old offensive lineman with a four-year, $48 million contract extension.
Alex Forsyth was starting in his place against Kansas City. He played four games when Wattenberg was injured last season.
RELATED: Big night of sports on Denver7 Watch the Broncos vs Chiefs at 6:15 pm on Denver7. We’ll have the Nuggets game on The Spot Denver 3 at 8:30 pm before switching over to Denver7 once Broncos game is over.
The Broncos also promoted tight end Marcedes Lewis and offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton, promoted linebacker Levelle Bailey and wide receiver Michael Bandy, and waived running back Cody Schrader amid a flurry of roster moves Thursday.
The 41-year-old Lewis was signed in late October and has appeared in four games for Denver. He’s providing some depth at tight end while Nate Adkins continues to deal with a lingering knee injury.
Bailey is providing depth with linebacker Dre Greenlaw out with a hamstring injury, and Bandy is doing the same at wide receiver, where the Broncos are missing rookie Pat Bryant in the concussion protocol. _
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos are in the enviable position of spending Christmas night at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of one of their biggest rivals, with an opportunity to close in on an AFC West title and perhaps land the No. 1 seed and first-round playoff bye.
It’s a position the Kansas City Chiefs know well.
Normally, they’re the ones with all those things to play for this time of year.
But things have flipped upside down this season. The Broncos (12-3) are barreling toward Thursday night’s matchup knowing that a win coupled with a loss or tie by the Chargers in their game Saturday against Houston would secure them the division title.
Kansas City (6-9) is just trying to survive with a third-string quarterback and a roster that is littered with injuries.
“You just have to keep winning. Whatever it takes to win the game,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said. “It doesn’t really at this point matter what it looks like. All the cool, flashy stuff can have already happened, but now it’s just who has more points.”
The Broncos did in their first meeting with the Chiefs, a 22-19 victory in November. But they did not this past week, when Jacksonville dealt them a humbling 34-20 defeat in Denver that snapped the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak.
“This game specifically — every one of these players understands the significant of where we’re at with two games left in the season,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “I think for both teams on a short week, there are defenses and offenses maybe, plays that neither of us got to use in the first game that still may apply. So that helps.”
The Chiefs will take all the help they can get.
Patrick Mahomes tore two ligaments in his knee two weeks ago. Backup quarterback Gardner Minshew tore a ligament in his knee last week in a lopsided loss to lowly Tennessee, which means journeyman Chris Oladokun will start for the first time in his career.
The Chiefs are missing their two best offensive tackles, their top two cornerbacks and their best wide receiver to a variety of injuries.
That doesn’t mean the reigning AFC champions have quit, though.
“Any time you step into Arrowhead it’s fun. You feel the love, you feel the energy,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “We are playing for something greater than yourself. There’s a lot of kids, probably, a lot of first-timers there because of a Christmas game, a lot of people who paid their hard-earned money. You owe it to them to give your all and play your best and show up for the fans.”
Like father, like son
Denver cornerback Patrick Surtain II earned his fourth Pro Bowl honor this season, one more than his father earned during his NFL career from 1998-2008. The Broncos matched the Ravens, 49ers and Seahawks with a league-leading six selections.
“I have bragging rights now,” Surtain said with a laugh. “He can’t say too much now. I think it’s definitely great for the legacy and great for the Surtain lineage. It’s something I dreamed of, but I’ll keep perfecting my craft and keep on holding that name strong.”
Let Chris cook
While Oladokun will make his first NFL start on Thursday night, he did play the majority of last week’s loss in Tennessee. It’s been quite a journey for the former South Dakota State quarterback, who was cut by the Chiefs in training camp last year and spent the next eight weeks flying around the country for practice squad tryouts with various teams.
“It’s hard to play in the NFL. It’s hard to stick on a roster,” Oladokun said. “But it really motivated me. Really made me look in the mirror to see what I needed to get better at. I said, ‘If I get another chance, I won’t let it slip.’”
Arrow-dome Stadium?
Their game against Denver will be the first since the Chiefs announced Monday that they will be leaving their aging home in Missouri for a $3 billion domed facility to be built across the state line in Kansas. They will continue to play at Arrowhead Stadium through the end of their lease in January 2031.
Sutton-ly in trouble
The Chiefs could have their hands full against Pro Bowl wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who had four catches for 59 yards against them in November. Kansas City will be without its top two cornerbacks, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, because of injuries.
“We’ll have to find a way to limit his catches,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “It’s a tough ask.”
Final farewell
Travis Kelce could be playing inside Arrowhead Stadium for the final time Thursday night. He has yet to announce his retirement, but the tight end appears to be leaning that way, and a decision is expected shortly after the end of the season.
“He’s been great,” coach Andy Reid said. “He’s everything you want from a player representing an organization.”
DENVER (AP) — Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to a resounding 34-20 win that snapped the Denver Broncos’ 11-game winning streak Sunday.
The AFC South-leading Jaguars (11-4) won their sixth straight game and handed the Broncos (12-3) their first loss since Week 3. It was also Denver’s first loss at home since Oct. 13, 2024, snapping the Broncos’ 12-game home winning streak.
The Broncos’ lead over the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West was sliced to a single game. The teams play in Week 18.
After Broncos rookie RJ Harvey pinballed his way for a 38-yard touchdown to tie it at 17 on the opening drive of the second half, it was all Jacksonville.
Lawrence scored on a 1-yard keeper, then hit Parker Washington for 63 yards to set up Travis Etienne Jr.’s 10-yard TD catch. After Bo Nix fumbled his exchange with running back Jaleel McLaughlin, Lawrence drove Jacksonville on its fifth consecutive score, a 26-yard field goal by Cam Little that made it 34-17 early in the fourth quarter.
Parker caught six passes for a career-best 145 yards and a TD.
The Broncos were driving after pulling to 34-20. But on fourth down from Jacksonville’s 41, Nix telegraphed a throw to Pat Bryant that was easily intercepted by Jarrian Jones midway through the fourth quarter. Later, Bryant was carted off after a vicious hit in the final minute.
This was a matchup of the NFL’s two most penalized teams and Denver committed two big penalties on that drive that ended with Lawrence taking it in from the 1. Malcolm Roach was flagged for landing with his weight on Lawrence and rookie Jahdae Barron was whistled for a debatable pass interference in the end zone.
Lawrence is playing the best football of his five-year NFL career, figuring out the nuances in coach Liam Coen’s offense and stoking his connection with deadline trade addition Jakobi Meyers. The Jaguars had outscored their previous five opponents by a cumulative 171-72 but this was Lawrence’s signature win.
He was sacked five times by the league’s best pass rush — the Broncos have 63 sacks on the season — but it didn’t matter as Lawrence threw for 279 yards with three TDs and no interceptions. Jacksonville was 4 for 5 in the red zone against the league’s best red zone defense.
Nix threw for a career-best 353 yards, but he wasn’t his usual sharp self, accounting for the two turnovers and a high pass that led to Bryant’s injury with 31 seconds remaining. Bryant was strapped to a body board and carted off.
In the first half, Lawrence threw touchdown passes of 12 yards to Washington and 3 yards to Brenton Strange, who got away with a push-off from safety P.J. Locke, filling in for the injured Brandon Jones.
On their first scoring drive, Lawrence and the Jaguars actually benefitted from the din that rattled Empower Field when Jacksonville was flagged for a false start. Blitzing safety P.J. Locke didn’t hear the whistle and put a vicious blindside hit on Lawrence. Only that 15-yard penalty was enforced, jumpstarting Jacksonville’s TD drive.
The Broncos trailed 17-10 at the half after Nix threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton and Wil Lutz connected from 54 yards after banging a 44-yard try off the right upright.
Injuries:
Jaguars: RG Patrick Mekari (back) got hurt in the second quarter and didn’t return. … In the fourth quarter, CB Greg Newsome II sustained a shoulder injury but returned.
Broncos: TE Nate Adkins left in the second quarter with a knee injury.
Up next
Jaguars: visit the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Broncos: visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas night.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Los Angeles Chargers eliminated the Kansas City Chiefs from playoff contention when Derwin James picked off a pass by Gardner Minshew — who had just taken over for the injured Patrick Mahomes — in the closing seconds to preserve a 16-13 victory over the reigning AFC champions Sunday.
Justin Herbert, playing through a broken left hand, threw for 210 yards and a touchdown, and the Chargers (10-4) ensured consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time since 2006-07 by completing a rare regular-season sweep of Kansas City.
Mahomes was trying to rally the Chiefs in the closing seconds, completing a series of passes to get across midfield by the 2-minute warning. But on the next play, he was scrambling toward the Kansas City sideline and throwing the ball away when he was spun to the ground by defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, leaving the two-time MVP clutching his left knee.
Mahomes was taken briefly to the blue injury tent, then helped to the locker room with a towel draped over his head.
Minshew took over and completed three straight passes, giving Chiefs fans hope on a day that began with wind chills near zero and their playoff chances about the same. But with 20 seconds to go, Minshew unloaded a pass intended for Travis Kelce, and James — his longtime divisional foil — leaped up to pick it off, allowing Los Angeles to escape.
Mahomes was held to 189 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Kansas City (6-8) managed just 239 yards as a team.
The Chargers beat the Chiefs in their opener in September in Brazil, setting each of the clubs on their season-long trajectory.
Los Angeles arrived for the rematch Sunday trying to extend the momentum built in last week’s win over the Super Bowl champion Eagles, and edge closer to a second straight playoff berth. Kansas City welcomed its longtime rival knowing a loss, coupled with the wrong results in three other games, would eliminate the AFC juggernaut completely.
The Chiefs played appropriately inspired for most of the first half.
They moved swiftly downfield with Mahomes darting in from 12 yards out for a touchdown on their opening drive. They added a field goal later in the first half, and another by Harrison Butker gave them a 13-3 lead with 38 seconds left before the break.
That’s when the Chargers started playing like a playoff-bound team. And the Chiefs like one that should be sitting at home.
Herbert completed three passes in five plays to cover 60 yards, and KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s first career TD catch got the Chargers within a field goal. Cameron Dicker knotted the game on their opening possession of the second half, then he gave them the lead when he drilled a 49-yarder on a cold, windy day at Arrowhead Stadium with 2:40 to go in the third quarter.
The Chiefs tried to answer down the stretch, despite a rash of injuries that had left them with a patchwork offensive line.
But just like so often this season, a promising drive went haywire in the red zone. Tyquan Thornton’s spectacular catch was forgotten when Mahomes’ pass was picked off by Daiyan Henley on a jump ball thrown to Kareem Hunt at the goal line.
Mahomes would ultimately end the game in the Kansas City locker room.
The Chargers would ultimately end the Chiefs’ season with one more interception in the final seconds.
Injuries
Chargers: WR Quentin Johnson (groin) was inactive. S R.J. Mickens left with a shoulder injury.
Chiefs: CB Trent McDuffie (knee) was inactive. Thornton (concussion protocol) and RT Jaylon Moore (knee) left and did not return.
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ASHBURN, VA. – Von Miller knew the answer. But he could not resist asking the question.
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’s my squad, that’s my city. Broncos Country, 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.”
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos returned from their bye refreshed, refocused and, at least in the case of kicker Wil Lutz, richer.
Lutz signed a three-year contract extension over the break, securing his role on the Broncos through 2028.
“First off, he’s earned it,” coach Sean Payton said Monday after the Broncos (9-2) reconvened to begin preparations for their trip to play the Washington Commanders (3-8) this weekend.
Terms of his extension haven’t been revealed. He’s earning $3.9 million this season.
Jack Dempsey/AP
Denver Broncos place kicker Wil Lutz (3) is congratulated by teammate Jarrett Stidham, right, after celebrates making a 35-yard field goal to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
Payton said he huddled with general manager George Paton over the bye week and discussed several players’ futures in Denver.
“The key is not affecting the mojo or how your team’s doing, I’m always sensitive to that, especially when you’re playing well,” Payton said. “Because sometimes those can be difficult discussions.
“But we were able to get Wil done. There’s a couple other players that we’ve reached out to, and I think the key is the communication aspect of it all. But he’s played well, he’s consistent and I think he’s got the respect of the locker room. Like all kickers, there’s ups and downs, but he’s been a great addition for us.”
Lutz’s extension came at about the same time he earned AFC special teams player of the week honors after tying a career high by going 5-for-5 on field goal attempts in Denver’s 22-19 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The nine-year veteran has also been named AFC special teams player of the month twice during his time in Denver, in November 2023 and October of this season.
This season, Lutz has made 17 of 20 field goals (.850) and has converted on all 24 of his extra point opportunities for 75 points.
His 35-yarder as time expired against the Chiefs was his 13th game-winner of his career and third walk-off field goal this season. He also beat the Giants and Texans with field goals as time expired.
One of Payton’s first moves in Denver was acquiring Lutz from the Saints in 2023.
Payton cycled through 10 kickers in his first decade coaching in the NFL but aside from injuries, Lutz has been his kicker over Payton’s last eight seasons as head coach, five in New Orleans and three in Denver.
“I think it’s good to always be someone’s guy in this league,” Lutz said. “Sean and I have won a lot of games together. We’ve hit some big kicks together. I think it’s just understanding each other. He knows how to kind of get me in the right place. I know how to work under him.
“It’s just a trust thing, right? I’m just grateful, nine out of my 10 seasons have been with him and my one bad year wasn’t with him,” Lutz added. “So, I wouldn’t say that’s why, but yeah, we know how to work with each other and our success together has been fun.”
Notes: Payton declined to say whether CB Pat Surtain II (pectoral strain) or ILB Alex Singleton (testicular cancer surgery) would return to practice this week. … Payton said his top priorities down the stretch are cutting down on penalties and having a better takeaway/turnover margin.
On Sundays this fall, Robert Bryant and 70-some other inmates at Lancaster Work Camp in Trenton, Florida, gathered in the facility’s dayroom around a 50-inch Samsung flatscreen television. They had to share. They shared everything. They slept in rows of bunk beds with no separation, and took turns using four showers and four toilets that had no stalls and no walls.
But on Sundays, Robert demanded the TV be tuned to whatever game the Denver Broncos were playing. And demanded nobody change the channel. This was his window into his best friend’s journey, some 1,750 miles away.
Pat Bryant and Robert Bryant first met playing youth football in the seventh grade in Duval County, Florida, and have called each other cousin ever since. They are not actually related. Or maybe they are. They’ve never traced the family tree far back enough. But they share the same surname and were raised upon an edict that snakes through the streets of Jacksonville.
“Loyalty,” Robert said on a call with The Denver Post in early November. “Loyalty comes first.”
Pat Bryant has never forgotten that, from Duval County to Illinois to the Broncos, through years fighting the gravitational pull that’s torn apart his inner circle. In March 2022, Robert was arrested for armed robbery and carrying a concealed firearm. Through the four-year sentence that followed, Bryant added money to an online Securus account so Robert could call him anytime. And Robert did.
“He kept me from going insane,” Robert said.
In mid-September, Bryant stood at his locker in Denver, gesturing at his phone. The rookie Broncos wide receiver pulled up his Securus app, and scrolled through several contacts at correctional facilities around Florida. ROBERT BRYANT. WALTER ROSAS. Bryant pointed to his notifications, where a voicemail from the Florida Department of Corrections awaited.
“See, them boys blowing me up right now,” he told The Post.
About eight or nine of his friends from Jacksonville are in jail, Bryant estimated. Sometimes he tries to help them or their families out.
“Every now and then, I’ll probably send about $1500,” he said. “But that (expletive) add up. With six, seven of them boys, that (expletive) add up.”
Bryant trailed off. He mumbled, looking back at his phone.
“That (expletive) add up.”
From the day that Robert met him in the seventh grade, Bryant wanted out of Duval County. Family was the foundation, and football was the vessel. It was easy to “fall into the street life” in Jacksonville, Robert reflected. But the street life had nothing for Bryant, his father, Patrick Sr., said. He tried to bring friends along with him. He begged them to stay straight. Not all of them heeded his words.
In Denver, Bryant has reached heights they all once saw for themselves on the fields of Jacksonville. He caught five passes for 82 yards in the Broncos’ 22-19 win over the Chiefs last Sunday, and he has established a foothold in head coach Sean Payton’s offense.
Bryant has left Duval County behind, but Robert and many others still live through his eyes. Bryant has not let them go, wherever he’s gone.
“This (expletive) like a dream come true,” he said in September. “… I see it as my livelihood. This is how I’m finna feed my family. I gotta do this for a minute. This don’t last forever. My main focus — trying to make some sort of mark, whether it’s on the field, off the field, whatever it is, just leave some sort of mark.
“So when I hang my jersey up, people gon’ remember who I am.”
Pat Bryant (13) of the Denver Broncos takes the field before the game against the Tennessee Titans at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
•••
Patrick Bryant Sr. once served as the athletic director of the Police Athletic League of Jacksonville. He spent long days monitoring games on weekends, so his son rarely went straight home after Pop Warner.
The idle hours after Bryant Jr. actually touched a football were often the most fun — he and friends running their imagination across the grass in Duval County.
They invented their own game. The rules were simple. They found an empty Gatorade bottle and tossed it high in the air. Whoever caught it had to run to a nearby gate to score. If they got tackled, though, they had to fling the bottle back into the air.
They called it throw ’em up, bust ’em up.
“I used to throw it, get tackled, throw it up, just keep catching that (expletive),” Bryant remembered. “When I got tired, I’d throw it up. Let somebody catch it. Then, I was gon’ tackle their ass.”
When Bryant put on a helmet, his Pop Warner team often struggled with blocking. Young kids don’t love blocking. Bryant was the exception. He sometimes waddled up to his father and asked if he needed to play center or guard. Then he’d sneak up on someone, and — before it was rendered illegal — throw a mean blind-side block.
The hits always made crowds murmur, Bryant Sr. remembered.
His son was fearless, Bryant Sr. said. But he still needed protection. The Bryants moved into a gated, middle-class neighborhood in Duval County because Bryant Sr. knew his kids — three boys, one girl — knew plenty of other kids who were in gangs.
Bryant had love, stability and friends. His friends didn’t all have the same. So he brought them over to his house. He met Robert in the seventh grade, and Robert still remembers Bryant throwing him a block that sprung him for his first touchdown. Bryant met 6-foot-6, 340-pound tackle Walter Rosas and basketball star Alim Denson, too. The four went on to play football together at Atlantic Coast High in Jacksonville.
“They stayed at our house on the regular,” Bryant’s mother, Louanne Harris-Bryant, said. “They came to visit Pat. But they ended up being surrogate sons to us.”
Everyone was subject to the rules. No drugs. No alcohol. No going to anyone else’s place unless the Bryants knew who, what and where. Any girls who came over had to sit on the couch — with parents in the room.
“So,” Bryant Sr. recalled, “it was no funny business going around.”
Robert still clings to the memories. The four of them in the car after football practice one day, bumping a friend’s unreleased song before dropping Robert off at his house. Singing. Dancing.
“It wasn’t no care in the world,” Robert recalled.
The city’s temptations dragged them out of that car, away from innocence.
“Everybody know how Jacksonville is,” Robert said. “How, people talking crazy, this, that, this, that. You feel like you gotta prove a point. It pull you deeper into the streets.”
Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant is kissed by his mom after the team’s 23-17 upset win over Kansas after an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
•••
When Bryant was 13, one of his friends died from gun violence.
Loss, of one kind or another, has piled up since.
Rosas once had FCS and Group of Five scholarship offers, Atlantic Coast football coach Mike Montemayor recalled. He was sentenced to a seven-year prison sentence in 2022, on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon. Denson was the captain of Atlantic Coast’s basketball team, and grew so close with Bryant that they called each other “twin.” He was sentenced to five years in county jail in 2022, on multiple counts related to grand theft auto and attempting to flee the scene of a crash.
Robert, who’d lost his father at 12 years old, stopped caring about football.
Bryant used to tell Robert that he had to make it for his friends and his dad. They wouldn’t want you to do this, Bryant told him.
“It was a challenge,” Robert said. “Going in one ear, and out the other. I went the whole opposite way. When, I wish — I wish, I should’ve listened to him.”
Montemayor used to tell Bryant: The sooner you leave, the better. Jacksonville would always be Jacksonville, he said. Nothing would change. And Bryant knew football was the exit lane.
He didn’t run much track and field in high school. He didn’t have blazing speed. Eventually, his 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine became one of the biggest knocks on him as a prospect. Instead, Bryant honed in on his strengths as a receiver. He started catching 50 balls before and after practices to cut down on drops, Harris-Bryant recalled.
“I surrounded myself around people, like, I shouldn’t have been around,” Bryant recalled. “But I had the courage and the heart to, like – ‘Nah, I’m gonna go a different route.’”
In January 2023, as Bryant was slowly finding his footing in his second year at Illinois, Bryant Sr. sent his son a news story.
Denson had died in prison.
“That really shook him up,” Bryant Sr. remembered. “That shook him up for a while.”
Bryant couldn’t save his friends. He still tried. But he realized how to save himself after he lost his first friend at 13.
“That’s when that hit,” Bryant said when asked about when he knew he wanted out. “Like … ‘Two ways to this (expletive). You’re either gonna be dead, or in jail.’”
•••
In February, Broncos receivers coach Keary Colbert took a seat with Bryant at a table at the draft combine in Indianapolis. Colbert had a standard list of football questions to get through in 10 minutes, the same he asked every player on their first meeting.
They began talking. And talking. They talked about Jacksonville, and Illinois, and life in general. Colbert realized, with 10 minutes almost up, that he hadn’t asked a single question about football. He resolved to schedule a follow-up Zoom with Bryant.
And then they went back to just talking.
“I knew, sitting across from him at that little informal table … I knew he was a dog,” Colbert told The Post. “Like, I can tell he was a dog. You know what I mean? At that point, I knew what he was as a person, as a player.”
Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant runs the 40-yard dash at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
The personality was infectious, Colbert recalled. The film was, too. The blocking, the toughness and the 6-foot-3 frame jumped out to the Broncos’ staff. All the characteristics of the Sean Payton receiver archetype.
“If they don’t bite when they’re puppies, they generally never do,” Payton said in October. “And so, you saw it.”
It was not easy at first. Payton barked at Bryant multiple times in one open camp practice. He yanked him from one team rep.
That did nothing to his confidence.
In one September practice, Bryant lined up opposite former Broncos receiver Trent Sherfield on special teams and told the 29-year-old veteran that he “wouldn’t get downfield,” as Sherfield remembered.
“Even just at the beginning of training camp, the one thing I realized about Pat,” Sherfield told The Post, “was that he’s not afraid of anything.”
Slowly, Bryant has carved out a role in Payton’s offense by doing the dirty work. He’s told running backs to “find 13” on a block if they want to score, he said with glee after an October game. Bryant has won matchups over the middle with physicality and footwork, despite not possessing breakaway speed, and has racked up 10 catches for 185 yards in his last four games.
It’s just throw ’em up, bust ’em up in Denver. Different time. Different place. Same kid.
“If you’re good at the sport, you gon’ thrive, man,” Bryant said when asked in September about compensating for speed. “If you get to worrying about, ‘What advantage I got’ – I mean, obviously, you watch film. That’s a different story.
“But when you think about advantages and all that, my mindset’s like, ‘Bruh, where we’re going, I’m better than you. I don’t give a (expletive) about no stats. None of that. I’m a better football player than you.’”
Pat Bryant (13) of the Denver Broncos celebrates catching a touchdown pass from Bo Nix (10) during the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
•••
On Sunday, Oct. 26, Robert Bryant and the members of Lancaster Work Camp sat in the dayroom watching Broncos-Cowboys on that Samsung. Late in the second quarter, Robert saw Bryant isolate to the left side of the formation. His excitement rose.
Robert watched Bryant burst off the line, beat his man, and haul in a 25-yard ball from Bo Nix for his first NFL touchdown. He watched his friend turn to the crowd at Empower Field and hit the Mile High Salute — a move that instantly made Bryant a fan favorite in Denver.
Across the country in Trenton, Robert started jumping up and down and cheering so fiercely that a correctional officer stepped in.
You’re yelling too loud, Robert recalled the officer saying.
Listen, man, Robert replied. That right there’s my brother. He just scored.
“I’m almost finna cry,” Robert said.
Not everyone picked up when Robert called across his four years in jail. Bryant did. He flipped the camera on video calls and showed his friend around Illinois’ facility.
You almost home, Bryant told his friend. When you get out, come up here.
Rosas cries almost every night now, thinking of Bryant, three years into his seven-year sentence at the Jackson Correctional Institution in Malone, Florida. A year and a half ago, Rosas got into a prison fight and was stabbed 14 times, he told The Post. Family members and Bryant held their breath.
The first phone call he made to Bryant, after a month in solitary confinement, both haunts and galvanizes Rosas. He hears the pain, still, tearing through his best friend’s voice.
What are you doing, bro? I already lost Alim. I thought I lost you, too.
“There’s some times, I’ve felt down in here, man,” Rosas told The Post, his voice trembling over a jail phone. “I wanted to give up so much, man. But I know – I know I can’t do it. For him. I gotta do it for him. Alim already died in here. I gotta make it home.”
Bryant still talks to Rosas almost every day, and the two have made a plan for the 6-foot-6 Rosas to become Bryant’s personal security guard when his sentence is done in 2028. Almost three years after Denson’s death, the 22-year-old Bryant is now the godfather of his old friend’s daughter, too.
“He always told us, like, ‘Man, we good,” Robert recalled. “‘We’re gon’ make it out of here. Just keep playing sports. We gon’ make it.’”
“Sure enough, he made it,” Robert added. “And he ain’t leave nobody behind.”
On Nov. 3 at 8 a.m., Robert Bryant was released from Lancaster Work Camp after successfully completing his sentence. He got home and got his phone.
The Denver Broncos enter their Week 12 bye with an elite defense and the No. 1 seed in the AFC in tow – but questions about their offense and keeping the momentum after knocking off the perennial division champion Chiefs.
Denver7 sports anchor Lionel Bienvenu joined the panel on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football to talk about it all Friday morning on The Spot Denver 3.
“Sean Payton says it just about every week when we talk to him: ‘Confidence is demonstrated ability,’ which means you can’t be confident about something if you haven’t done it – but the Broncos have done it every which way,” Bienvenu said. “They won games in blowouts over the Cowboys and the Bengals. They’ve squeaked by the Jets and the Raiders. They’ve had fourth quarter comebacks against the Giants and the Eagles. So they’ve done it.”
Lionel also talked about the unique timing of the Broncos’ Week 12 bye. While it could give key defensive players like Patrick Surtain and Alex Singleton time to get healthy and back on the field, it could slow the momentum for a team that’s won eight straight.
“The momentum is going to be funny, because you go into Washington against a Commanders team you’re supposed to beat, and if you lose that game, all of a sudden all the ‘Yeah, buts’ come into play,” he said. “So this is a very important game coming up out of the bye week here to keep that momentum going towards the end of the season.”
He dished on Super Bowl aspirations, Sean Payton’s impact in his third season and a great run for pro sports teams in Denver that makes the city coming in at No. 12 in a ranking of the top sports cities.
Watch the full GMFB segment in the video player below:
J.K. Dobbins, your offensive MVP for Weeks 1-10, is lost for the season. You’re replacing those touches by committee from here on out. A dash of RJ Harvey. A smidgen of Jaleel McLaughlin, now your best downhill, between-the-tackles runner by default.
But might we humbly suggest replacing a pinch of Tyler Badie with more pinches of Mims out of the backfield?
Or Mims out of the slot?
Or Mims out of anywhere?
You can fake a run game over the last seven games of the regular season. You know when you can’t fake it? Against Buffalo or Baltimore in mid-January. Even at home with 80,000 Broncomaniacs at your back, screaming to Mile High Heaven.
“(When) I get the ball. I want to make the most out of it,” Mims told me this past summer. “That’s something I pride myself in, is being an explosive playmaker.
“So being a ‘gadget’ guy is a good thing; when someone (ESPN) tells you you’re the NFL’s best at something. It’s something that you kind of raise your ears at … but, yeah, I mean, when I see ‘gadget’ (player) I think, ‘explosive playmaker.’ Whether it’s in the return game, offense, screen game, deep pass, give me the ball. I want to make the most out of it.”
Want to make the most of what’s left of this offense after the bye? Feature more of Mims in it.
The ex-Oklahoma star appeared on 15 snaps against the Chiefs — just 24% of the offensive plays. Fullback Adam Prentice (19 snaps) got more run with the first-team offense against Kansas City than Mims, a two-time Pro Bowl return man.
Yes, some of that was choosing discretion over valor. Mims can’t scare anybody from injured reserve. He’s coming off concussion protocol.
Although by the time the Broncos take the field at Washington on Nov. 30, he’ll be four weeks removed from the ding he took against Dallas on Oct. 26.
No skill player left at Payton’s disposal is as singularly explosive as Mims. And he reminded us all why against KC with another special-teams masterpiece — 101 punt return yards, a new single-game high, and the most by a Bronco since Trindon Holliday’s 121 in 2013. Mims’ 70-yard runback in the first quarter was another career best, putting the defending AFC champions on their heels at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line.
He’s averaging 11.0 yards per touch from scrimmage since he entered the league. Badie is averaging 7.0 yards. McLaughlin is averaging 4.6 yards. If you don’t want to trust your eyes, fine. Trust the math.
Payton knows how to do quirky, how to improvise when injuries wreck his best-laid plans. In New Orleans, he made Taysom Hill the archetype modern “gadget” weapon. The former BYU star became a 6-foot-2 utility piece. From 2019-2023, Hill bounced between tight end, receiver and quarterback, depending on whatever Sean had cooked up. Hill recorded five straight seasons with Payton in which he threw at least six passes, ran the ball at least 27 times, and picked up at least four receptions. Over those years, Hill averaged 456.8 passing yards, 392.6 rushing yards and 150.4 receiving yards per season.
Payton is the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein, the mind of a mad scientist merged with Bill Parcell’s crusty soul. So why does it feel as if the only guy who can truly stop Mims with a head of steam in the open field is his own head coach?
“For me, it’s like a daily race,” Mims continued. “Just going in every day, working hard. Because with me, I’m a big person (about) wasting time. I hate wasting time. I hate when someone wastes my time.”
“That sounds like your boss,” I said.
“If I’m going to go in there and I’m going to lift, I’m going to practice, I’m going to go ahead and give (it) my all,” he continued. “Because at the end of the day, if I’m not giving my all, I’m wasting my own time. What am I even doing here? So that’s been a big thing for me. So I don’t really do goals — just every day, every second, I just want to do the right thing. And then, from that point on, you’ll reap what you sow.”
This team is on the brink of sowing something special. What good is a killer gadget if you leave it on your tool belt every Sunday?
DENVER — It’s a tough time to be an opposing sports team visiting the Mile High City.
The Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche are playing at an unbelievably high level at home right now, logging a combined 19-0-2 record when playing in Denver.
The Broncos are 6-0 at Empower Field. The Nuggets are 6-0 at Ball Arena. The Avs are 7-0-2 – the NHL puts overtime losses in a different column in the standings – at Ball, having lost to the Dallas Stars (Oct. 11) and Carolina Hurricanes (Oct. 23) in shootouts on their home ice.
That means since the Broncos’ season kicked off in September, the three major sports teams in-season right now have not lost in Denver in regulation.
Another fun one for Broncos fans: Those three teams combined have the same number in the loss column (5) as the Kansas City Chiefs, after the Broncos knocked off the Chiefs on Sunday to send them to 5-5.
Here’s where the records stand as of the publishing of this article:
DENVER — The Denver Broncos beat the rival Kansas City Chiefs 22-19 Sunday at Empower Field, securing their eighth straight win and keeping themselves in the driver’s seat in the AFC West.
Wil Lutz kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired to earn the win. The winning kick had been set up by a 32-yard pass from Bo Nix to Troy Franklin with less than a minute to play.
Five plays earlier, Nix found Sutton for 20 yards on a 3rd-and-15 in their own territory to keep the would-be game-winning drive alive.
The Broncos defense sacked Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes three times and intercepted a pass to thwart a potential scoring drive in Denver territory on Kansas City’s opening drive of the second half.
A pick-six had been called back over an illegal contact penalty earlier in the drive.
Denver scored on its first drive of the game for the first time in nine weeks, settling for the first of Lutz’s five field goals on the day. The Broncos mustered just 88 yards and a pair of field goals in the first half.
Their lone touchdown of the day was a four-yard score by Jaleel McLaughlin, seeing an expanded role in the absence of J.K. Dobbins after he hit injured reserve earlier this week.
Rookie wideout Patrick Bryant had 5 catches for 82 yards in the contest, returning after being briefly sidelined by a hard tackle early in the fourth quarter.
For Kansas City, the only touchdown of the game came on a 21-yard strike from Mahomes to Travis Kelce – the 84th of his career, the most in Chiefs franchise history.
With the win, Denver sits two games up on the Los Angeles Chargers (7-4) and four games up on the Chiefs (5-5) in a division that Kansas City has won each of the last nine years.
The Broncos and Chiefs will rematch on Christmas Day in a game that airs on Denver7.
Parker Gabriel, Broncos reporter: Kansas City 23, Denver 21
The Broncos are 6-2 in one-score games. The Chiefs are 0-4. And yet K.C. is a 4-point road favorite against the team with the NFL’s longest home winning streak. Sean Payton will readily remind anyone listening that you are what your record says you are, but your record does not necessarily forecast what you’re expected to be going forward. The West tightens by one turn.
Luca Evans, Broncos reporter: Kansas City 24, Denver 20
This is not the week to be missing J.K. Dobbins, Pat Surtain II and Alex Singleton, who are among the 10 most important players on this Broncos roster. Kansas City is vulnerable. So is Denver, suddenly, with a rash of injuries and absences. Let’s circle back to this matchup in Week 17 on Christmas.
Troy Renck, columnist: Broncos 19, Chiefs 17
Everything screams loss for the Broncos with their injuries and the Chiefs’ urgency. But the reality is the Broncos have a path to victory. Every big game Patrick Mahomes has lost over the last few years involves a defensive line capable of making him miserable. The Broncos will get to Mahomes, and the upset hinges on creating turnovers and a short field for Bo Nix. The template is the Texans game.
Sean Keeler, columnist: Broncos 23, Chiefs 22
If Andy Reid’s 22-4 career record after a bye doesn’t scare you, this number might: The Chiefs are 14-1 in division road tilts since 2016 from Nov. 1 to the end of the regular season. That one loss? The “KC JV Game” here in Week 18 of last year. When they try, they fly. But once you get that 2015 vibe, it’s hard to let that go. With Empower rocking and the defense rolling, Mile High Magic somehow finds a way.
Sean Payton wears Jordans, Lululemon sweats, and cashes $15 million checks. But here is a little secret: He is at his best when he gets no respect. When everyone thinks he has no chance.
Such is the case Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. This is the biggest game in Denver since the 2015 season. What was supposed to serve as a platform to provide a definitive answer about the AFC West instead has raised an uncomfortable question.
With workhorse running back J.K. Dobbins officially ruled out with a foot injury, McLaughlin is primed for a toss in the fire against the Chiefs. He has received just one carry in 2025, stashed as inactive for nine of 10 games after finishing second on the Broncos in touches in 2024. Dobbins’ absence leaves at least 15 carries a game available to the rest of Denver’s backfield.
Rookie second-rounder RJ Harvey will likely pick up much of the slack. But McLaughlin is “ready,” head coach Sean Payton said Friday. Read Luca Evans’ story.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — So far this season, Broncos rookie running back RJ Harvey has pretty much been making more of an impact with his pass catching than his ball carrying.
That could change Sunday when Harvey figures to play an even bigger role against the Kansas City Chiefs after the Broncos ruled out tailback J.K. Dobbins with a left foot injury.
Also missing for Denver (8-2) will be AP defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II (strained pectoral) and leading tackler Alex Singleton, who is recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous testicular tumor. Outside linebacker Jonah Elliss (hamstring) and tight end Nate Adkins (knee) will be sidelined as well.
Harvey’s ready for his number to be called early and often.
“The game, I feel like, it slowed down a lot for me,” said Harvey, a second-round pick out of Central Florida. “When I first got here, things were moving quick, moving fast. I definitely feel more comfortable.”
Harvey has 50 carries for 214 yards and two scores this season. He also has caught 25 passes for 175 yards and four TDs.
“Definitely excited to showcase my running ability,” Harvey said. “Whatever coach wants me to do, I’m willing to do on the field and help my team the best way possible.”
Harvey’s most productive game this season was against Dallas, when he had two rushing TDs and another on a reception. His high-carry contest was 14 (for 58 yards) in a win over Cincinnati. He plays around 30% of the offensive snaps, while Dobbins hovers just over 50%.
“He’s just a guy that’s growing right before our eyes,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Harvey. “If his workload increases, we’re going to see his production increase and be real excited about it.”
The Broncos enter the contest leading the AFC West as they try to dethrone the Chiefs (5-4), who’ve won nine straight division crowns. Broncos coach Sean Payton is hoping Empower Field at Mile High is extra loud for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. Maybe even to the point where Mahomes needs to cover the ear holes of his helmet with his hands to hear better.
“It means things are going pretty good,” Payton said of that scenario. “The crowd noise is super-important with pass rush on third down. It doesn’t just have to be third down. When they’re in the huddle, it would surprise you how hard it is.”
After all, the orange and blue went 2-0 over the last seven days to extend Denver’s lead atop the AFC West with an 8-2 record. The Broncos set up a showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) at Empower Field on Nov. 16 that could officially end the Mahomes-Reid stranglehold on the division.
It’s how they got there. A victory over the Texans (18-15) was due to a brilliant defense and a very timely injury to Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud. A win over the Raiders (10-7) on Thursday night was an exercise in sheer agony. Brilliant defense again, but mostly agony.
Payton insisted midweek that he had everything he needed inside Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Against Vegas, his offense showed him otherwise.
Several reports over the last few weeks had the Broncos sniffing around at offensive additions, primarily at wide receiver. Denver was allegedly a suitor for New Orleans wideout Rashid Shaheed, only to be pipped by the Seahawks.
NFL reporter Jordan Schultz then claimed the Broncos reached out to the Dolphins to inquire about Shaheed clone Jaylen Waddle, only to find the reported asking price — a first-round draft pick, at the least — to be too steep.
Considering the Colts (7-2) coughed up two first-round picks to free star cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets, it puzzled the kids in the GTW offices why the Broncos wouldn’t consider a corresponding move in kind. Nix will only be on a rookie contract for so long, and the Broncos’ cap situation improves significantly in 2026.
Waddle would be an upgrade over Troy Franklin. But we’re not sure he’d be a significant improvement over Marvin Mims Jr., assuming the latter is good to go. And it would be a waste of a first-rounder to land a guy that Sean Payton would likely just be asking to block on screens anyway.
DePodesta is a Rockie! — C
The GTW gang is torn on this one. We’re mildly and pleasantly surprised that Rockies CEO Dick Monfort hired a director of baseball operations from a) outside the organization; and b) outside his genetic family tree. Baby steps, after all, are still steps.
That said, Paul DePodesta coming to Colorado is, if not straight outta left field, at least from the gap in left-center.
DePodesta was at the forefront of the analytics movement in baseball, although that forefront was multiple decades ago – the “Peter Brand” character in the movie “Moneyball” was based on DePodesta and his work with Billy Beane.
Not Peter Brand also hasn’t worked for a baseball club in 10 years. During that aforementioned decade, he was pulling strings behind the scenes with the Cleveland Browns, who might be the NFL’s equivalent of the Rockies in terms of dysfunction. With the Browns, he was part of the trade that brought Deshaun Watson to Cleveland for six draft picks — six! — and then agreed to ink Watson to a five-year, $230-million deal. Which panned out for the Browns even worse than that trade-and-sign with Russell Wilson worked for the Broncos.
We’ll try to keep an open mind, here, although we can’t shake the feeling that Monfort thought he was actually hiring actor Jonah Hill, who played Brand in “Moneyball.” Although if Paul can somehow get Kris Bryant off the books, he’ll already be a 70% improvement over Bill Schmidt.
DENVER (AP) — Look past the clunky offense and the persistent special teams gaffes and you’ll see the exact same thing that carried the Denver Broncos to a tickertape parade the last time they started a season 8-2.
A suffocating defense that erases just about all the warts.
It was Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware and the “No Fly-Zone” secondary in 2015 that carried Peyton Manning and a doddering offense across the finish line in Super Bowl 50.
This time, it’s Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Zach Allen, Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Alex Singleton and, when healthy, Pat Surtain II, that’s leading the way through all those three-and-outs by scuffling second-year QB Bo Nix and the sputtering offense along with the weekly goof-ups in the kicking game.
The Broncos edged the Las Vegas Raiders 10-7 Thursday night for their seventh straight win thanks to another stellar performance by Vance Joseph’s defense. They sacked Geno Smith a half dozen times, pushing their total to 46, more than any team’s had in its first 10 games since at least 1990.
They’re on pace for an NFL-record 78 sacks.
They allowed just one score in 13 possessions by the Raiders (2-7), of which seven straight featured zero first downs. Eight ended in punts, one of which was blocked by J.L. Skinner, which led to Wil Lutz’s game-winning field goal. Dondrea Tillman had an interception and Hufanga sacked Smith on fourth-and-5 from the Denver 38 for a turnover on downs.
“Our defense was fantastic,” coach Sean Payton said.
And their offense was abysmal again.
“Yeah, cool we’re 8-2 … (but) the defense is winning us the games and we’re not helping them, we’re not doing them any justice,’’ running back J.K. Dobbins said. “ I feel bad the way we play on offense and the way they play on defense because they’re doing so great and we’re doing so bad. They’re our brothers, too, and it just (stinks) because they’re just out there so many plays, playing their butts off. We can’t keep doing this to them.’’
The Broncos realize the way they’re playing now won’t cut it against the league’s elite, beginning next week with a showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs (5-4), who have won the AFC West nine years in a row.
“This is probably the best team I’ve been on and we owe it to the fan base, we owe it to ourselves to stop playing how we’re playing,’’ Dobbins said. “We got to do better, we just have to do better. Eventually it’s going to bite us in the butt.’’
Said Nix, “At some point we’ve got to start moving the ball and scoring some points. Between penalties and sluggish football we’re just not playing very good. It starts with me, I’ve got to be better … we’ve got to find some juice.’’
Right tackle Mike McGlinchey suggested the offense can’t keep relying on the defense to bail out the Broncos.
“We’ve got to do our part,’’ he said.
What’s working
Denver is on track to obliterate the franchise-record of 63 sacks they collected last season and eclipse the NFL record for most sacks in a season (72 by the Chicago Bears in 1984).
What needs help
Nix’s offense was stuck in neutral much of the night and was flagged eight times. Like the Raiders, the Broncos had more penalties (11) than first downs (10). The last time both the Broncos and their opponents had fewer first downs than flags was back in 1971.
Stock up
Bonitto had 1 1/2 sacks, two tackles for loss and three quarterback hits to go with five tackles. According to NextGen Stats, Bonitto has generated 28 pressures in under 2.5 seconds this season, seven more than the next closest pass rusher entering the rest of the Week 10 slate.
Stock down
Rookie P Jeremy Crawshaw regressed from a solid start to the season with three shanked punts. The first one traveled 30 yards to the Denver 41, setting up the Raiders’ only touchdown. The second traveled 36 yards and bounced out of bounds at the Las Vegas 29. And the third one, which followed AJ Cole’s second coffin corner punt for the Raiders, went 38 yards to the Denver 48. Tack on a penalty and the Raiders started at Denver’s 43.
Injuries
The Broncos haven’t missed star cornerback Surtain (pectoral muscle) nearly as much as they’ve missed WR/KR Marvin Mims Jr. (concussion). They’ve muffed two punts in his two-game absence. RG Quinn Meinerz left Thursday night’s game after getting sick in the second half.
Key stat
The Broncos have outscored their opponents 96-36 in the fourth quarter so far, and over their seven-game winning streak, that differential is 86-20.
Next steps
The Broncos get a mini-bye week before they return to work Monday to begin preparing for a visit from Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who are on their bye week. It’ll take a much better all-round effort to beat KC and build a big lead over the team that’s owned the division since 2016.
The Denver Broncos have a chance to win a seventh consecutive contest Thursday night in a division tilt against the rival Las Vegas Raiders, and you can watch the game on Denver7.
Denver left Week 9 atop the AFC West and tied for the NFL’s best record at 7-2 – the same 9-game start to a season it had in 2015, when it went on to win Super Bowl 50. Las Vegas failed to convert a game-winning two-point try in overtime Sunday, losing to Jacksonville and falling to 2-6 in the cellar of the AFC West.
Denver7 will air a special hour-long, pregame edition of Denver7 News at 5 p.m. with live coverage from Empower Field at Mile High. The station will air a 30-minute 4 p.m. newscast with ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir shifting up to 4:30 p.m.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Denver7 News will be back on the air right after the game with a postgame newscast featuring game highlights and more news stories that matter to our Colorado communities.
Thursday’s rivalry matchup will feature the league’s third-ranked yardage defense in the Broncos going up against its third-worst yardage offense in the Raiders. On the other side of the ball, Denver’s 13th-ranked offense – with a propensity to get hot when it counts – goes up against Las Vegas’s 19th ranked defense.
The Easter Bunny? Fuzzy-wuzzy fraud. The Tooth Fairy? Fake chews. But if a game is within 19 points at the start of the fourth quarter, just watch the Bo-ller Coaster go to work. Just watch him find a way.
“I think a really good issue to have is when you’re finding these ugly wins, because I don’t think it’ll always be like that,” the Broncos’ tow-headed quarterback said Sunday after rallying Denver to an 18-15 victory at Houston — a game he trailed 15-7 at the start of the fourth quarter.
“For right now, the ugly wins are how we’re doing it, so that’s just what we’re gonna continue to find ways to do. Now, obviously, we’ve got to improve in many different areas. But the ugly wins, they’re important. They’re important down the stretch. And if you can find them and you can win these one-possession games, it helps you in the future … you gotta learn how to win those.”
The Broncos are 5-2 in one-score games. They were 1-6 a year ago. Among Broncos quarterbacks, only John Elway and Peyton Manning have accounted for more fourth-quarter/overtime comebacks than Nix has in orange and blue. Seven rescues in 26 NFL starts. Tim Tebow, by the way, managed six.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
But fool me seven times?
You either got it. Or you don’t.
Bo’s got it.
“Nothing fazes him,” Broncos fullback Adam Prentice told me in the locker room after Denver’s sixth straight victory and second walk-off win in three weeks. “You think about the Giants game, we’re down a bunch (19-0 after three quarters), and (from him) it’s, ‘Hey, next play, let’s score and go to the next one.’ Which helps us in the huddle, and it keeps everybody even keel and just lets you focus on the job.
“It’s kind of the unspoken word. Like, we know we can do it, and we’re gonna do it. We’re gonna answer the call when we need to.”
Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos throws deep against the Houston Texans during the second quarter at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The stats were uglier than the scoreboard — 17 completions on 36 throws, 170 passing yards, two scores and an interception.
Context: The Texans rolled in with the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL for a reason. The 49ers managed 175 passing yards here last week. The Titans collected 93. Tampa Bay managed 191.
In Week 8, Nix scored 44 points against Dallas, the best offense in the NFL. In Week 9, he walked off the NFL’s best defense, a desperate bunch trying to avoid five losses, in its backyard.
Nix went into the fourth quarter having completed nine passes in 21 attempts for just 97 yards. Over the next 15 minutes, he made good on 9 of 16 attempts for 76 yards and a score, along with three rushes for 36 yards. His 25-yard scramble to daylight set up Wil Lutz’s game-winning kick.
“Describe Bo today in a word,” I asked Prentice.
He tilted his head for a second.
“Competitor,” Prentice replied.
“Why?” I wondered.
“Because, regardless of the situation, he’s going to come out and make plays and compete,” the Broncos fullback continued. “Like I was saying with the Giants game, it doesn’t matter what situation we’re in, he’s going to go out there and sling it or run it or hand it to the backs, do whatever he’s got to do. And we’re going to go make a play. It just doesn’t matter. We’re going to go out there and execute.”
Eventually. Yes, beating Houston backup QB Davis Mills on the road has a different aftertaste than beating C.J. Stroud, who left early with a concussion.
Yes, Nix needs to run more. Selectively. Wisely. On at least two fourth-quarter throws, No. 10 elected to stay in the pocket, step up and force the ball downfield instead of tucking and running. Both throws were fired long.
“Listen, don’t talk about that,” Broncos coach Sean Payton countered when I asked about Nix chucking when he should be tucking. “In other words, his eyes are within the progression.
“You don’t tell that player too much when it comes to something like that, you know what I mean? Like, ‘Do you inhale or exhale when you’re backswinging (in golf)?’ I don’t want anyone asking me that question, all right?
“But I think there are certainly designed runs you saw. Again, we gotta keep working with his clock, because it gets quick. There’s someone open, and there’s some throws he’s gonna want to correct. But that’s a good problem to have.”
Head coach Sean Payton locks into the action during the third quarter of the Broncos’ 18-15 win over the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Meanwhile, if you’re going to accuse the Broncos of head-hunting because of Payton’s history, put the tin foil hat away. Kris Abrams-Draine’s hit on Stroud was legal, if a tad late. Watch it again: The Broncos cornerback was making a point, at full speed, to strike well below Stroud’s head. The concussion was from the QB’s noggin hitting the turf on a late slide, not from Abrams-Draine attempting to decapitate the guy. Game of inches, kids. Game of inches.
“Winning’s fun,” Prentice said. “It’s contagious. When you want to keep doing it, it’s contagious. You just want to keep getting after it and keep getting those wins and stacking them. But yeah, it’s a lot of fun.”
Less fun: Payton’s run-pass balance. Or continual lack thereof. The Broncos rushed on three of their opening four plays. Payton handed off just four times over the next 24. J.K. Dobbins had 24 rushing yards on his initial four touches. He didn’t see the rock again until the first play of the second half — a 9-yard rush.
You tell us, Coach.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Payton said. “I like to win.”
Like the man said: It’s contagious.
“No one wants to let anyone down,” Payton stressed. “That’s a good thing.”
The best thing, really.
“What’s our record?” Sunshine Sean asked the media rhetorically. “I lost track.”
“Seven and two,” the scribes said in unison, as if in a classroom.
“That’s right,” Payton said, back in teacher mode. “That’s how I see it. Pretty good.”
Sure is. Seven comebacks in a year-and-a-half? Nobody’s that lucky. When it comes to the Bo-ller Coaster, buckle up. Just don’t forget to enjoy the ride.
May the Fourth be with you
For the fourth time in the last five games, the Denver Broncos rallied to win a game they trailed entering the fourth quarter. One of the central reasons for that: Bo Nix’s ability to elevate his play with the game on the line in the final 15 minutes. Here is a look at the second-year Broncos quarterback’s production by quarter this season, with Sunday’s numbers against the Texans in parentheses:
HOUSTON (AP) — Bo Nix threw two touchdown passes and Wil Lutz made a 34-yard field goal as time expired and the Denver Broncos rallied to beat the Houston Texans 18-15 Sunday to extend their winning streak to six games.
They improved to 4-0 this season in games where they trailed entering the fourth quarter.
The Broncos (7-2) had punted three times in a row before a 25-yard scramble by Nix got them to their 39 with less than a minute to go. J.K. Dobbins followed with a 9-yard scamper and a 9-yard run by Nix two plays after that set up the game-winning field goal.
Nix couldn’t do much in the first three quarters against Houston’s top-ranked defense, but RJ Harvey’s 27-yard TD reception and Troy Franklin’s 2-point conversion grab tied it at 15-all early in the fourth quarter.
C.J. Stroud sustained a concussion when he was hit at the end of a slide early in the first quarter. Ka’imi Fairbairn tied a career-high with five field goals, but the Texans struggled to move the ball with Davis Mills at quarterback after Stroud’s injury.
They punted six consecutive times after a field goal made it 15-7 on their first possession of the second half.
Mills was 17 of 30 for 137 yards as the Texans fell to 3-5.
Nix 18 of 37 for 173 yards with an interception.
The Broncos were down by six when Courtland Sutton’s 30-yard touchdown grab gave them a 7-6 lead about five minutes before halftime.
Houston regained the lead with a 38-yard field goal with less than two minutes left in the first half.
Michael Bandy fumbled a punt with about 40 seconds left in the second quarter and it was recovered by Jaylin Smith. Houston cashed in on the error with a 40-yard field goal to push the lead to 12-7 at halftime.
Harvey had five catches for 51 yards and his score made him the first rookie to have a touchdown catch in three straight games in franchise history.
Nico Collins had seven catches for 75 yards for Houston after sitting out last week recovering from a concussion
The Texans had a first down on the 1 on their second drive. But Nick Chubb was stopped on first down and British Brooks was stuffed on the next two plays before a false start penalty on fourth down forced Houston to settle for a field goal to make it 3-0.
Stroud was injured on the next possession. He scrambled for 6 yards and was hit on the shoulder near the end of his slide by Kris Abrams-Draine and the back of his head violently bounced off the turf.
Calen Bullock intercepted Nix on Denver’s ensuing possession to give the Texans the ball near midfield. Collins had a 26-yard reception to get that drive going and a 10-yard catch a few plays later gave them a first down at the 2.
But the Texans couldn’t do anything after that and a sack of Mills on third down left them to settle for another field goal to push the lead to 6-0.
Fairbairn missed from 51 on Houston’s first drive.
Injuries
Denver: Star cornerback Pat Surtain II missed the first of what is expected to be several games with a pectoral strain. … DB J.T. Gray left in the third quarter with a hamstring injury. … WR Trent Sherfield injured his knee in the third.
Texans: LB Christian Harris missed the second half with a shin injury. … OL Tytus Howard left in the first half to be evaluated for a concussion. … DE Darrell Taylor injured his ankle in the third quarter.
Making history
Marcedes Lewis made history Sunday, when at age 41 he became the oldest tight end to ever play in an NFL game. When he entered the game on the fourth snap of Denver’s first drive he also became the oldest player to appear in a game in franchise history. Lewis, who was signed Wednesday, is the second-oldest active player in the NFL behind Aaron Rodgers, who will turn 42 in December.
Blocked
Denico Autry blocked a 51-yard field-goal attempt by Lutz on Denver’s first drive. It’s the 13th blocked kick of his career, tying Julius Peppers for the second most in the NFL since 1991.
Up next
Broncos: Denver hosts Las Vegas on Thursday night.
Everything Dre Greenlaw brings to a team, we have not yet seen. His leadership, controlled violence and sticky coverage. That was the hype. Eight months later, it is time to examine Greenlaw’s reality in Denver.
Hmm. Absent or incomplete? Which one fits best?
First, his body let him down, a quadriceps injury costing him the first six games. Then he let his team down, yelling at official Brad Allen after the walk-off win over the Giants, resulting in a one-game suspension.
Greenlaw has made an impact behind the scenes, setting an example with his work ethic and daily intensity. But it has not translated to the field, where his season consists of six tackles on 21 snaps against the Giants. Greenlaw showed accountability on Thursday, admitting he should not have put the Broncos in position to play without him because of his outburst. This was an important step.
Now, the Broncos need the best of Greenlaw moving forward. They are a contender. Whether or not they can win the AFC West or host a playoff matchup hinges on games like Sunday. The Texans are scrambling for a wild-card berth. The Broncos can move 3.5 games ahead of them with a win. After demolishing the hapless Raiders, the Broncos would then host the Chiefs on Nov. 16 in the franchise’s biggest game since Super Bowl 50.
This will not happen without Greenlaw returning to his 2023 form, without the former star filling the vacuum left by Pat Surtain II’s absence. There is evidence that Greenlaw’s ability remains; that he can instill fear for roughly 45 snaps on Sunday.
But he cannot talk about it. He has to be about it.
Will the real Dre Greenlaw please stand up?
Return of Naz: Lost in the Avs agreeing to an eight-year, $92 million extension with Martin Necas, rumors continue to percolate about Colorado pursuing Nazem Kadri in a trade. It is way too early to get excited about the prospect. But it cannot be dismissed out of hand. The Flames are going nowhere, and Kadri’s history in Colorado was real and spectacular. He played himself into a huge contract after helping the Avs win the Stanley Cup in 2022. Making his $7 million salary fit would be messy. But when has GM Chris MacFarland ever shied away from a challenge? If Kadri is willing to return, the Avs have to look into it.
Lost season for Hunter: This brings no joy to write. Travis Hunter’s rookie season is a bust. The Jaguars spent two months showing they had no idea how to use him. Now, he might not play again after landing on the injured reserve with a non-contact knee injury. Hunter boasts 28 catches for 298 yards and one touchdown, and 15 tackles. This is not the return the Jaguars expected when they shipped the No. 5 overall pick, a second-round pick (No. 36), a fourth-round pick (No. 126) and their 2026 first-round pick to Cleveland to draft him. This week, the Jags promised to make him the focus of the passing game. So if there is any good news, it is this: When Hunter returns, either this season or next, the Jaguars might actually have a plan for him. Imagine that.
Shohei-Wemby comp: Shohei Ohtani is already a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Those of us lucky enough to stay up for the Dodgers’ 18-inning Game 3 win will never forget his 4-for-4, two-homer, five-walk performance. But as soon as baseball ends, we are blessed with another unicorn. With apologies to Nikola Jokic, that is Victor Wembanyama. He is the future, a 7-foot-5 pterodactyl who is averaging 30.2 points, 14.6 rebounds, 4.8 blocks and 3.4 assists, while shooting 31.2% from the 3-point line. As with Ohtani, no one has ever seen anything like this.
