Sean Payton is the Denver Broncos’ streak breaker when it comes to AFC West rivalries.
When he came to the Mile High City two years ago, the Broncos had lost 16 straight to the Chiefs and eight straight to the Raiders.
Now, both streaks are dead. And Denver looks to be improving incrementally along the way.
Sean Payton led his Denver Broncos to end another losing streak against an AFC West rival
If the Broncos want to get back to the playoffs, they have to be competitive in their division.
Obviously, winning the AFC West means an automatic bid in the postseason. But with the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs in-division, that’s a tall task.
And before a team can win the division, they have to win in the division.
Rewind to 2015, the last time Denver made the playoffs and Super Bowl 50. In the eight seasons since then, the Broncos lost 16 straight games to Kansas City. Some of the losses were close. Like the 30-27 overtime defeat in 2016. And many of the defeats were straight-up blowouts.
It got so bad, Broncos Country started wondering if they’d ever beat the Chiefs again.
Then, last October, Denver faced Patrick Mahomes with the flu. They picked him off twice, sacked him three times, and forced a fumble. It was Mahomes’ worst game of 2023, and arguably the worst game of his entire career.
Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos beat the Chiefs, after nearly a decade of being bullied by them. It was just one game, sure. But it shows Kansas City is beatable.
Yesterday, the head coach led his Broncos to another losing streak breaking victory over the sorry Las Vegas Raiders. That losing streak was eight games, dating back to 2019. Vic Fangio was the coach then. Followed by Nathaniel Hackett and Jerry Rosburg in an interim role.
But it took Payton to lead Denver to a win over another AFC West foe.
“I think it is a big deal to win at home,” Payton explained after the win. “Any team that any of us have been a part of that has been successful has played well in the division and has typically played well at home…The Raiders thing, not so much. We understand that it is a division game, and it was an important game for us.”
He even played down the losing streak in the quote, and maybe that’s because the Raiders are one of the worst teams in football right now.
But in the growth of a team, beating worse teams is key. Denver is looking to go from awful to mediocre. And then taking the step from mediocrity to greatness.
Mediocre teams beat bad teams. And they sometimes find ways to beat better teams, too.
Broncos defense, special teams have improved under Payton
Denver went from 5-11 to 8-9 in Sean Payton’s first year with the team. But he was more or less playing with a group he didn’t assemble or necessarily want.
That’s why the Broncos tore down the team this offseason. They jettisoned Russell Wilson and ate $85 million in dead cap, making it difficult to build a winner. They also cut veteran leaders like Justin Simmons and Tim Patrick.
Those last two moves were tough to stomach for Broncos fans, and yet, Payton’s building something special without them.
Despite losing Simmons, and then losing Alex Singleton to an ACL tear in Week 3, the Denver defense improved dramatically compared to last year.
Currently, the Broncos are second-best in scoring defense (14.6 PPG), third in yards allowed, third in red zone scoring (33.3%), and first in 4th down conversions (0.0%). Their 19 sacks are third-best in the NFL, and they have eight takeaways already.
Vance Joseph is doing an outstanding job on that side of the ball. His defense kept Denver in their losses, and utterly dominated opponents on this three-game winning streak.
“I just think we have developed a good culture,” defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said of the defense. “We hold each other accountable when we make mistakes, but we also show love when we make good plays. It’s a healthy balance between both.”
Like the defense, Denver’s special teams have improved under Payton.
Specifically where we’ve seen it is in the punting game. The Broncos are tied for the lead in punts downed within the opponent’s 20 yard line, at 14. That’s 46.7% of Riley Dixons’ punts, a marked improvement over 2023 (34.2%).
Additionally, Will Lutz is near-automatic on field goals. He’s made 12-13 this year so far and 8-8 on extra points.
Competitive teams do the little things right, in all three phases of the game.
A lot has to be said about Sean Payton’s offense. They’re only 22nd in scoring (19.8 PPG), 30th in first downs, and 31st in 3rd down percentage (24.6%).
At times this year, they’ve been atrocious offensively.
But Broncos Country likely still has hope on that side of the ball because of Payton’s pedigree. He’s one of the best offensive coaches in NFL history, and he’s working to push this group to progress with a rookie quarterback.
Simply, Payton’s building a winner from the ground-up. He’s building a winning foundation and setting the Broncos up for playoff success in the near future.
For now, Sean Payton is the Denver Broncos’ streak breaker.