Mile High Report
The USA Today did their annual win/loss prediction of all 272 games and the hype for the 2025 Denver Broncos continues to shine through from the national media. That is either going to be good or bed, check back in on New Years Day to find out!
With the third seed in the AFC, the Broncos also take the AFC West crown from the Kansas City Chiefs here. Why did Nate Davis of USA Today end up here? The trenches. He doesn’t think any team out there is as dominant on the offensive line and on the defensive side as Denver is. Setting Bo Nix aside, those two factors alone can determine a playoff berth for most teams even when a quarterback is average.
(3) Denver Broncos (12-5): The focus will naturally be on Year 2 of the Bo Nix-Sean Payton union, which comes off a spectacular honeymoon. However the Broncos don’t get enough attention for an elite offensive line nor a defense which may be the league’s best – particularly after it was further fortified by free agency and the draft. After playing the Jets in London on October 12, the Broncos will only make one road trip over the ensuing 48 days – a good time to gain altitude at altitude. But ending K.C.’s nine-season run atop the division won’t be easy – particularly when the Chiefs get a bye ahead of their trip to Denver and, later, host the Broncos on Christmas, which lands on a Thursday.
The fan hype has been all around Bo Nix — and for good reason given how desperately we’ve all wanted this franchise to find a quarterback — but General Manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton have done some serious work on the roster as a whole. We all remember how atrocious the offensive line was under Russell Wilson, but with relatively the same group they have become one of the NFL’s best units in both pass protection and run blocking. That alone points to quarterback being a huge part of how well an offensive line functions as a group.
Then on the defensive side of the ball the Broncos already have the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in Pat Surtain II, but are generally viewed as stacked at nearly every position. That defense should be better than last year. Should is the operative word. Nothing seems to turn out the way people expect in the NFL, but I feel more confident about this roster than any roster we’ve had since 2014.
Yes, even more than 2015. I remember having a ton of worries about Peyton Manning and the offense heading into that season. Naturally, I had no idea we were going to witness one of the greatest defenses in NFL history that season. Going in 2014, I was supremely confident they were going to win a Super Bowl. That truth there is just a reminder to me to stay...
