The Broncos beat the Chiefs on Christmas Day but had to wait until Sunday when the Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Texans to become the champs of the AFC West.
That anticlimactic finish atop the division was met with an equally anticlimactic reaction from the coach when the “champions” gear showed up in Denver.
“I said, ‘Just put them in the lockers.’ We actually didn’t even talk about it,” Sean Payton said, adding that it was his understanding the gear was “pretty ugly.”
But no matter. The Broncos
will be rocking their Throwbacks at the game anyway, and Payton only cares about winning the game and locking up that No. 1 seed.
“The focus was on this week’s game, and the Chargers and the seeding ramifications, really trying to educate them relative to what’s going to be important here down the stretch,” Payton said of his emphasis to the team.
And even though Justin Herbert is no longer playing in Week 18 as the Chargers sit him to rest up for the playoffs, the Broncos’ defense learned last week what happens if you don’t take an offense seriously just because QB1 is not in the game.
Payton made it clear that he has full confidence in the defense despite some drop-off in performance in recent weeks, but he does want more takeaways.
“The one area that has to improve is the turnover margin, and that can happen,” Payton said.
The coach isn’t concerned about the pass rush and sack numbers, however.
“I’m worried about caging the quarterback, rushing him properly. So we’re not focused on the sack numbers,” Payton said, adding that going for sacks can sometimes help a QB climb up in the pocket, so containing him is often more important. “A lot of it has to do with who we’ve been playing relative to the quarterback position, but I’m not interested in the sack numbers.”
But however the Broncos can get it done on Sunday to win and earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC is what does interest Payton.
“This game’s very much like a playoff game,” he said.
And the head coach knows that no one deserves the No. 1 seed more than Broncos Country, where the greatest fan base in the NFL deserves playoff games at Mile High.
“Certainly it’s a fan base that deserves that opportunity. I get excited for them, and I get excited for our team,” Payton said, adding that every part of that No. 1 seed is good — the week off, the home crowd, etc. “Man, all of it is important. …The challenge of winning playoff games on the road and how much more difficult that is as opposed to trying to win them at home.”
