Broncos HC Sean Payton kept it all the way real with reporters after doing what he couldn’t do last season
The Broncos are ready now.
The Denver Broncos are back in the AFC Championship after winning their first playoff game since the Super Bowl a decade ago. Their win ends a 10-year playoff drought. Perhaps this gap will work in the Broncos’ favor. Last season wasn’t their time—they weren’t ready. Now, they’ve grown into this team.
“I’ll be darned here we are sitting and playing in an overtime game,” head coach Sean Payton told reporters after the win over the Buffalo Bills. “I’m happy for the fans. They were magnificent. It’s a really good team that we obviously weren’t ready for last year, but we were ready today.”
Last season, the Broncos lost to the Bills in the first round of the playoffs, 31-7. This time, the Broncos got the last laugh with a win at home.
2025’s version of the Broncos is night and day better than last seasons
It’s not even just the personnel. Obviously, that is better. The Broncos git better players than they had last season. They have better defensive players like Hufanga and Greenlaw, and they have better offensive players like RJ Harvey and Evan Engram. They are a better team in the tangible ways you can see.
They are also better intangibly. They are better prepared and have a better understanding of the postseason after last season. And, they have a better understanding of what it takes to win. Everyone clowned the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024 for winning so many one-score games, but I think everyone would now agree that it’s just so hard to win, and you will take them any way you can get them. A win is a win, and as long as you keep winning, how you do it doesn’t matter.
The Broncos have discovered how to win. Against the Bills, they proved it, coming through at the most crucial moments. This team is built for the big stage—and they’re ready to seize it.
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