Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos know what’s at stake.
Win today against the Los Angeles Chargers, and they secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC. With that comes home-field advantage through the AFC Playoffs and a bye for Wild Card Weekend.
This is the first time in 10 years the Broncos have been in this position, and they’re not going to take it for granted.
“Our focus is this is a playoff game,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said to the media this week. “I just finished telling the team, we have to focus on … Now we have to focus on, ‘All right, what are the strengths of (Chargers quarterback) Trey (Lance)?’ So that’s significant. They’re different style players. But our focus is on this game and winning this game.”
On top of that, Bo Nix and the Broncos know how valuable a win today is for the team.
“It’s huge,” Denver’s quarterback said to the media. “I think that’s our main focus right now, the best chance, the best position we could put ourselves in. I think that’s the next challenge for us, and it’s going to be important for us this week. We’ve got to make sure that we’re practicing hard and plan to earn that. I think we put ourselves in a great spot, obviously. We just got one more to finish it.”
Given the weight of today’s game, Nix touched on whether the anticipation changes as the games carry more weight or if the approach stays the same:
“Well, I would say at the end of the season, they start getting more and more important. Obviously, at the beginning of the season, you’re working to get to this moment now. But at this point, every game has weight of its own, and every game is really important. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily anything different game to game, but you definitely understand the magnitude of each game from here on out.”
