Bring on Monday Night Football.
After setting their 53-man roster and 17-player practice squad, the Denver Broncos are now fully focused on preparing for their Week 1 road showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 14.
Denver swept Kansas City last season, but Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes missed one of those games due to injury, and KC is considered a favorite going into Week 1.
“We know we’re playing a really good football team, a divisional opponent, Monday Night Football," Broncos coach Sean Payton said after practice. "It’s not like Andy [Reid] and I have to go in and give our teams a pep talk. So you really focus on the process leading up to the game and how you handle the unique week that’s ahead with the weekend, and then the bonus
practice day Monday, and then the lead in.
"With a Monday night game, I spend more time thinking about the schedule to make sure that we’re ramping up to play our best and it doesn’t get stale because we’re not playing on Sunday, if that makes any sense. But our players will know the significance of the first game, and I think it’s the process and the details.”
Including today, Denver will have practiced three times this week following roster cuts. The club will then have another round of practices next week as they prepare for a prime-time showdown with their division rival.
"I think every week is about getting better," veteran offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We’ve done that since we started training camp. This week is no exception. You don’t want to go into a game week next week off of a three-day off day and not feel like you accomplished something the week before or get better at your job. I think it’s an incredible opportunity we have for the next three days to go and compete against each other for a couple more times here, hone in on some of the small details, kind of the introductions to what we want to do in the game plan against Kansas City, and then hit the ground running.
"Like I said, you want to be your best on Week 1, but it’s more important to be your best in Week 18. Every single week, you have to be better than the week before. It’s not going to be perfect when we first go out and start, but it’s about continuing to improve on each rep and each game as the season unfolds.”
The Broncos-Chiefs matchup will be nationally simulcast on ESPN and ABC on Sept. 14.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Broncos 'know the significance' of Week 1 showdown with Chiefs
