Now that we know when the Denver Broncos will kick off against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18, the biggest question remaining is whether or not Andy Reid will rest his starters or play them in a game the Broncos must win. Regardless, Broncos head coach Sean Payton is preparing for what Kansas City does, regardless if it’s their starters or backups.

Denver Broncos preparing for Chiefs regardless of backups or starters

Historically, Andy Reid has always rested his starters in Week 18 if they’ve had the #1 seed locked up and that could very well be the case again as the Denver Broncos hope to win their 10th game of the season. A win on Sunday puts the Broncos into the playoffs as the final wildcard spot, almost guaranteeing a trip to Buffalo to take on the red-hot Bills if they can take care of business on Sunday.

Kickoff is set for 2:25 p.m. MT on Sunday. If Reid rests his starters for this game, which has been speculated upon league-wide, it won’t change how the Broncos head coach prepares his team for the final game of the regular season.

“I don’t know that it changes the game plan because the scheme is still the same,” Payton said. “I think you have to approach it like you’re seeing starters at these positions. Obviously, NFL rosters are—it’s not like you have a college roster. I’ve been in this position before on the other side of it. I think you’re looking at the scheme relative to the game plan, and then planning on seeing the player that you’re watching on film. If someone else is in that spot, then so be it.”

Let’s analyze the hypothetical that Kansas City rests their starters — they certainly can’t rest every starter on both sides of the ball considering the 53-man roster. It’s not the NFL preseason, where you have 90 players on a sideline, so even if the backups play, some starters will play.

I wouldn’t expect Patrick Mahomes, Isiah Pacheco, Travis Kelce, or Hollywood Brown to play, but Carson Wentz, Kareem Hunt, Samaje Perine, Noah Gray, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Justin Watson may all play the entire game possibly.

Defensively, I wouldn’t expect George Karlaftis, Chris Jones, Trent McDuffie, or Nick Bolton to play, but Kansas City’s backups and other starters more than likely will, considering depth.

So, what should Denver prepare for? Offensively, from a scheme standpoint, the Chiefs sent various double a-gap blitzes at Bo Nix in their first matchup, and that trend would likely continue. Steve Spagnuolo also sent nickel and corner blitz’ looks in that first matchup, so as Payton outlined, they’ll prepare for the scheme regardless of Kansas City’s personnel.

Sunday’s game is monumental for the Broncos, regardless of who plays for the Chiefs.