Where the Broncos stand in the AFC race after Week 10 | Altitude Advantage

Where the Broncos stand in the AFC race after Week 10 | Altitude Advantage

Welcome to another episode of Altitude Advantage. I’m your host and team reporter, Elisa Nandez, here in the Broncos podcast studio sitting across from our lead writer on denver broncosc.com, Eric Zala. We’re going into week 11, but we need to look back a little bit at Thursday night football where the Broncos improved to 8 and2 after a hard-fought 10 to7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders getting their first divisional win um in the AFC West. So, very excited for that. We’re going to talk a little about some final thoughts, some news that came out uh over the course of the weekend and today and much more and advantage. But first, welcome back to the Broncos studio. How are you feeling today? Got a little mini by week behind us, little reset. Yeah, I’m excited to talk football. It’s Chiefs week officially. It’s good stuff and I’m excited to dive into all of it. But before we do that, um the Denver Broncos and Alex Singleton announced uh that on Friday, Alex Singleton underwent successful surgery for testicular cancer, which was diagnosed last week after a random NFL drug testing. Um it flagged indicators that prompted further evaluation. Alex is now recovering well from the procedure with doctors optimistic could return to play in the coming weeks pending additional test results. Obviously, we are wishing Alex the best in his recovery. very happy that this was caught early for him and he spoke to the media on Monday and truthfully his optimism, his positivity, the way that he is handling this entire process has been very inspiring. Honestly, the fact that he found this news out on Monday, still played on Thursday. Uh I believe he led the teams or was tied uh for most most tackles in that game on Thursday. Um and then underwent surgery on Friday. It’s pretty remarkable. It says a lot about him as a person, as a competitor, as a player, and so much more. But we do wish him the best in his recovery. Yeah, absolutely. I think you said it all right there. Um, brave, courageous, whatever adjective you want to put on it. Um, I think for a couple different reasons. One, to play in that football game and really to play in a couple of football games. That initial random drug test was the Wednesday before the Houston game. And so he didn’t know what was going on and and why there were elevated levels of hormones in his uh in his system and played in that game with kind of not knowing found out the next Monday. Immediately decided I’m playing in this football game on Thursday and said that you know football is an escape. He didn’t want his life to change yet. And so for him to to go and play in that game and be part of a defense that allowed just seven points, I I think one it shows you and we’ve seen this around the NFL in different ways, right? But you never really know what’s going on with somebody, right? And especially I know that Alex um among some fans catches some heat on Twitter. Probably a good reminder of hey, how do we treat people online and and we don’t know what people are dealing with and and all that. um and maybe show people a little grace uh I think would be be a good lesson for everybody um especially after that game and um so so that stands out to me and then I think the other part of it is the you know just the ability to to go play and be there for your teammates not knowing what’s going on. Um that’s remarkable. He’s he’s got such toughness. He played through an ACL tear last year against the Buccaneers. It happened early in the game and he just played the rest of the game. Um, and nobody knew until the next day and now he plays through this. And not even his teammates really knew about this on Thursday. Most of the teammates found out on this Monday as we’re recording. Um, and so yeah, Alex Singleton, we know, former Walter Payton man of the year nominee. We know what type of guy he is. Um, what he does for Special Olympics in the community. And now what I’m sure he’ll do for testicular cancer and awareness and preventative screenings. Um I think it sounded like listening to him talk he knows that that he’s lucky that they they caught this early. Um and still not you know they’re still waiting for test results and it was a successful surgery but they’re waiting for the pathology. So all our best to to Alex as he continues to go through that. but he had to play against Houston, to play against Las Vegas, and and really he said he felt like he’s letting the team down, which obviously he’s not. Um, but you just you hope that he’s able to get back on on the field, not because of how it helps the Broncos, and I know despite the Twitter criticism, this is a better team with Alex Singleton out there and and his intensity and his passion and his leadership. think you saw that last year when he was injured how the defense missed him and and I suspect it’ll be the same way. Hey, they’ll need to find a way to to fill in for Alex, but I hope he’s able to get back, not for the team, but because he loves it and because he wants to be out there and um yeah, I was just really impressed the way he handled things on Monday answering really personal questions and um talking about something that that I’m sure as he said, the word cancer is scary and I think everybody knows somebody who is who has been or or is currently impacted by cancer either um battling or someone who’s who’s been taken from us and and if not, unfortunately, It’s something that will touch each of us at some point. And so, um, for Alex to to talk that openly, um, man, just credit to him, hat tip to him, and shows the, you know, I was thinking, um, after the all the Twitter discourse this weekend about 8 and2 and who’s playing well, and, you know, it’s like all that stuff kind of pales in comparison to what um what Alex Singleton is going through and and kind of what he’s battled the last few weeks. weeks and um he mentioned the support his teammates gave him on Monday and Greg Penner, Carrie Walton Penner, Shawn Peyton, George Payeyton, Bo Lowry, um several different doctors, Richard Tado, he mentioned a bunch of people that that have been there for him and really they jumped on this and when he needed help, they got it to him. And so, um kudos to everybody around. But I think a good one, it’s a good reminder that if if you need to um or even if you’re not sure if you need to to get that that screening and um and that preventative care, but also I think a reminder of what’s reset and what’s important and and how we treat people and all that. So um yeah, sending our absolute best to Alex. And um I know he’d want us to talk about football because he he loves football. He loves being out there. And he did say that he wasn’t sure how the media watches football all day on Sunday because he had to do that. Yeah. Um it’s a difficult job, but we we get through it somehow. Make it look easy doesn’t mean it is, you know. Yeah. No, his positivity is definitely one of the things I admire about him, not only through this, but really just through any of his injuries. Uh I think the biggest thing that stood out from his call was just at the end, you can tell, you know, as he was finishing the call, he was just like, “Hey, man, like I I want this to be like a lesson. I want to be an advocate and go get tested. You know, I was scared of the doctor, too.” So he’s like, “Go do it. And so for him to have that vulnerability to all of his fans out there, to people that just admire his work ethic, I think is going to do a lot of good. And for him to be thinking of others at a time where this is really something he’s going through personally says a lot about his character. So again, from everyone here in the Broncos studio, I’m sure across organization and Broncos country, we do wish Alex Singleton the absolute best in his recovery and we look forward to seeing him soon uh back on the field. Now you mentioned there’s one thing that Alex love is being on the field and he mentioned like football is kind of like that escape for him and I know it was something that he’s very proud of and I remember after the game uh on Thursday he talked about just like this team and how the by-week is the mini by-week was much needed and you look at the grand scheme of things of how this team has been battling back in different games and now stand at 8 and two. You go into week 11 looking at another AFC West rival coming in with the Kansas City Chiefs. I believe they’re coming off a bye themselves. So, it’s kind of nice that the Broncos had a little reset. But just going back to that week 10 win against the Raiders, what are your final thoughts on that one as we kind of close the chapter? I feel like it’s been so long. It was last Thursday. It has been. Yeah. No, I think that there’s um kind of two things that stand out to me as I look back. One is like game specific and I think that obviously the defensive performance continues to stand out. The Denver defense is now up to third in the NFL in scoring. They’re still first and third down in red zone. They’re first in yards per play, rushing yards per play, second in pass yards per play. The only reason they’re not um and then they’re top five I believe in in total yards and rushing yards over the course of a game. Um so that defensive performance stands out. And then obviously I think offensively um you want to see improvement and the guys talked about that and Shawn Payeyton mentioned on Monday that um you know for Bo in terms of throwing quick. It’s a balance between throwing it too quick and staying in the pocket and making those down the field throws. He did mention that it’s a lot easier to coach out a getting rid of the ball too fast as opposed to the the opposing problem which is holding on to the ball too long and taking sacks. So, um, you listen, I think that we’ve seen, and there’s been a lot of discourse that we’ve seen Bo play well and play at a high level. He is still a secondyear quarterback. There’s going to be ups and downs. Um, I think on a short week, it was probably difficult to, you know, maybe be as ready as as you want to be. And, um, the Broncos talked on Thursday night about some of the unscouted looks they saw. Shawn Payeyton said that he himself could be better in certain areas. Bo talked about being better. Um, so I’m not at the point where, you know, everybody it seems like is pulling this this panic rip cord. I’m not there. And talked to John Elway on Saturday night and and he was like, “It’s funny to see how much criticism an 8-2 team is receiving.” Um, so I mean, I think that there are certainly certainly plays you want back, but but Sean mentioned on Monday that everybody’s got to play a little bit better around him and coach better around Bo Nicks. And so, um, let’s just the narratives in this league change fast, right? A couple weeks ago, the Broncos put up 44 against the Cowboys. See what they do against the Chiefs this week, but these narratives swing back and forth really quickly. Um, the Broncos obviously need to be be better, but um, on a short week, I also, it was the it had been six games or seven games in and 39 days, I think. I think seven games. and um uh to just see you could tell guys were tired after a tough stretch. Yeah. And so for the Broncos to go and seven and0 in that stretch um was impressive and and you just I looked it up. It was the first time since 1999 that this team had not had a mini buy or a buy and played 10 games. So just the rarity of that schedule Yeah. speaks to kind of what the Broncos were going through. And then I I think the other thing that stands out is I believe Shawn Payeyton since getting here has only lost one game after either a buy or a mini buy. So when he’s got that extra time, I just talked about the challenge of Thursday night game. Um when you get that extra time and I know the Chiefs are just as good um after a bye week, but I’m excited to see kind of what they have ready to go after um after this mini buy. Because the other point that stands out unrelated to the game is that you look around the league, Alisa, and it’s like seven consecutive wins starts to feel pretty good and 8-2 starts to feel pretty good when you see some of the other things that happened. Yeah. The Patriots are also 8 and2. They’re on a sevengame winning streak. The Colts hold out a tough game. They’re also 8-2 coming back from their loss. Then the Broncos sit tied with all three of those teams at 8-2. And when I talked to Teleno Hafunga after that Raiders game, I asked him a few things. I said, “First of all, how much fun do you have out there?” Given this is your first rivalry game, your team captain, like how much fun you have out there. And he was like, “Man, like these rivalry games, like there’s something different about them. Like there’s a different level of intensity and and things like that.” And when you talked about the the defense in particular, he’s he mentioned that he’s like, “Those guys up front are relentless.” And that’s really what’s been uh impressive to be a part of this defense, just to flash back really quick. On Thursday night, they had six sacks, 11 QB hits, 22 QB pressures, and one pick. Um, overall the defense has 46 total sacks, which is most by a team through 10 games since 1990. I mean, what they’re able to do on that side of the ball, has been very impressive. And I think you look at how you’re trying to keep pace like for me like I don’t know, like people get too caught up on how a win looks and it’s like this is the NFL. like they just want to win and I it’s going to come in different ways and yes you can talk about certain things but at the end of the day you’re stacking wins in the right column and you’re keeping pace with two really good teams and as you mentioned the narratives change all the time because you take down the Cowboys and it was like oh my gosh this offense etc etc and then you go play a really tough defense and you mentioned that on the podcast you’re like and you play a tough defense it’s not going to be a high-scoring game and you look back at what the Texans did this past week and although It was a high-scoring game for the Jaguars. How did they win? They win because they picked it off in the last two seconds of that game running back for a touchdown to steal the win. So, it you have to think about kind of all the all the pieces and kind of put things in perspective of like an 8 and2 team is an 8-2 team period. Yeah. I I think that it’s clear and it’s it’s not like college where you you just roll over any team if you’re an Alabama or you’re an Ohio State, right? you know, like or right now, I guess, if you’re Indiana. Um, it’s not it’s not like that in the NFL. And just look at last week’s scores. I mean, it took the Bears coming back from 10 points down to beat a Giants team that’s 2-8. The Panthers, who just had a great win in Green Bay, lost at home to the previously lost at home to the previously 1-8 Saints and and they got shut out over the final three quarters. The Colts had to have a miraculous comeback to beat the three and five at that time Falcons. Yeah. Like an all-time performance by Jonathan Taylor. Like three touchdowns over 200 yards. 80 yard touchdown. Um the Texans had to score 26 unanswered to beat the Jaguars. The uh there’s there were a couple other ones in there. The Steelers, who last week had a dominant performance over the Colts, got got run away from in LA by the Chargers. And um I’m not going to call out a bunch of quarterbacks individually cuz it that feels not necessary. But like Aaron Rogers for example, who we know is an unquestioned Hall of Famer. He was 16 of 31 for 161 yards, three sacks, a touchdown, two picks, and a 50.6 quarterback rating. And that touchdown came very late in the game. So you’re talking about a Hall of Famer that posted a passer rating that was lower than Bose. And so I just think that like it’s a week- toeek league. You’re not gonna be Oh, and I I forgot the Bills lost by 17 to the to the Dolphins who had won two games before that. And the Bills are a team that last week beat the Chiefs and have Super Bowl aspirations. And so, yeah, it is a a week-toeek league in the sense of I think it’s hard even for the best teams to be at your best every single week and to bring your agame every single week. There’s going to be weeks where you have your A game, but can you win when you have your B+ game? Can you win when you have your B minus game? Can you win where one side of the ball maybe they have a C++ game? And the Broncos over the last seven weeks have shown that, hey, a game where maybe the defense, you know, didn’t play quite its best, though this has been a really good stretch for the defense, or the offense didn’t play quite its best, the special teams didn’t play quite their best. Can you find a way to still win? And I don’t think people truly realize how difficult it look and they say, “Oh, a two-point win over the Jets or three-point win over the Raiders or a one-point win or whatever it was against the Texans.” Um, it’s hard to to get those wins even if they’re close. And so there’s that famous saying, it they don’t say how, they say how many. and the Broncos have been able to avoid a game like this, a game like um the Panthers had yesterday against the Saints, a game like the Bills had yesterday against the Dolphins. And and maybe at some point the Broncos suffer a tough loss and and end this winning streak. You know, hopefully that doesn’t happen. Hopefully the Broncos keep rolling, but but if they do, stacking these wins has given them a cushion. And so, um, yeah, I don’t I think when you look around the league and and part of it was, hey, the Broncos played in prime time. They’re the only game on and so everyone’s going to be talking about that that game, right? Especially on Thursdays, you have like three whole days. Exactly. Realistically, but then like when you when you have all these other games and you see, okay, the Jaguars were five and three and they they I think just had a big win. Um, who did they beat? Oh, yeah. Last week they had that dramatic win over the Raiders and they’ve beaten the Chiefs. They’ve beaten the ners and it’s like okay but but consistency wise they’ve struggled a little bit and the Broncos despite their flaws that they’re still working on they found a way to get wins and that’s what matters that I think that’s a tough team a well coached team um a team that listen if you’re eight and so all these people that are complaining if you’re eight and two and there’s this and there’s concerns about the offense the offense can flip that switch Now you’re talking about a team that has a chance to do something really, really special. Yeah. And so to me, I look at it as, hey, you’re winning anyway. It’s not. Some of these teams are saying, “Hey, if we flip this switch, we can start winning. The Broncos are already winning and have room for improvement.” I don’t know that that I just think that this was a Sunday that um I’m not not super petty, so I didn’t tweet anything, but like I watched the Sunday slate and all I was thinking was like hope a lot of people are kind of like maybe it’s not so easy to win seven games in a row. So yeah. Yeah. I I just this was a Sunday that was a good reminder of kind of what the Broncos have done and and now as we look ahead like you’re going to find out, right? And and not a lot of people despite it’s kind of wild despite the fact that you’re eight and two leading the division at home. The Broncos are going to be underdogs this weekend. There’s not going to be a lot of people that give them a chance to win. And I think that’s a perfect place for the Broncos to be because hey, you don’t believe in us. We’ll go out and show you kind of what we can do. And Sean Payeyton talks all the time about you’re going to be in bigger games, you’re going to play in bigger games. This is one of those bigger games when the Chiefs come to town this weekend. And when the Chiefs had their winning streak last season, they were all by one possession games and the narrative was not that. And so it’s very interesting to see how that changes. But you know, as you mentioned, I just go back to that that Cowboys game, right? And like, oh, it’s the number one total offense like how is this defense going to do? How is how is the Broncos offense going to keep up? And it’s like they did just fine. RJ Harvey had a great game. Um the defense was able to kind of, you know, show their moments. And so at the end of the day, when you look at how this team is battling in the AFC West, we’ve said this during our previews going into this season. This division will not be easy. We see how the Chargers are playing, how they’re coming back and winning. The Chiefs are starting to get their footing of a bit. They’re still the Chiefs. The Broncos still have to go through them to really win the division, I think, in a lot of people’s eyes. and this is your first big test against them. You’re going to see them again uh on Christmas on the road. And so you have a chance here to know that you’re playing really well at home. You have the crowd behind you. You have, you know, this team kind of rolling and finding different ways to win. And one thing that the guys have all said is just they knew it, but it’s like now it’s just more confirmation of like we’re never out. We’re never out. And it doesn’t matter what it looks like going into the fourth quarter, we’re never out. But we also understand like we also have lost tough ones in the fourth quarter. So we know it’s also not over. It doesn’t matter how far ahead we are. And I think understanding both sides of that coin has really helped this team. And obviously we’re going to break down the Chiefs Broncos matchup more in detail on Thursday’s podcast. Um but I’m excited for this matchup. I think I think you know just rivalry games in general are are fun. And this is a big one going into the bye-week. And as of we talked to all the guys, going into the by with a win is a lot is a much better feeling. So I know that they they have that in the back of their minds, too. Yeah, it’s a huge game from a playoff seating perspective. I think Broncos chances of winning the division go up to 68 70% somewhere in there if they’re able to win this football game. Not out of it if you lose. Obviously, you still could even maintain the division lead depending on what else happens next weekend. But I think that it’s going to be a tough one, right? And who knows how it plays out, but but I am pretty confident they’re going to be in it and it’s going to be a close game and it’s going to be a hard fought game. Um and and that’s to me is in part why the Raiders game was like that. Division teams know each other well. They’re always a little bit weird kind of and you toss in the Thursday night thing too obviously, but Saints Panthers division game, Bills Dolphins a division game. Um Jaguars Texans a division game. Those were three of the weirder games of the week, right? And they were all division games. And so, um, yeah, and one I think one other thing that we forgot to mention or that I was thinking about is you also played a really physical Houston defense if you’re Denver’s offense and then played four days later. So, I wonder if that has anything to do with it. But, I think that you’re rested up, should be ready to go. Sean Peyton said it Monday, we’ll be ready. Um, you’re going to have to Vance Joseph’s defense was good last year in Kansas City against Mahomes held him to what 16 points and then the previous game in Denver, the Broncos, I think forced five turnovers in 2023. Even the Thursday night game in Kansas City, um, the first game against or between Shawn Peyton and this Chiefs team, uh, the Broncos defense still played pretty well. offense was looking for a spark, but but that kind of I would expect a close game, a game that the Broncos defense is able to play well. Um, obviously we’ll see what happens with Pat Certan going to be without Alex Singleton. Um, we haven’t seen the injury report this week, so who knows who else pops up, but um, you know, hopefully get Marvin Mims back. So, we’ll talk about all that more Thursday. But anybody, well, maybe I’ll maybe I’ll be wrong and I’ll eat my words if I am wrong, but anybody that thinks the Chiefs are going to come in here and just blow out the Broncos, I don’t I don’t see that happening just with how tough this team is, they’ve got some rest. They’re going to be fired up for this game. And like I said, there’s a lot of disrespect for an 8- win team, an 8-2 team. So, I can’t wait for this one. It is in a lot of ways the biggest game since Super Bowl 50. Um certainly regular season just in terms of hey this is the the real chance to take the division back for the first time in basically a decade and um I can’t wait for it. I can’t wait to break it down all week. Get back into it’s only been what four days since the last game but it feels like a long time. I’m excited to get back in the rhythm and and get ready for this game. The Broncos are five and at home. The Chiefs are one and three when they’re playing away. And as you mentioned, this is a big game and a statement was made when the Broncos knocked off the Super Bowl, you know, defending champions and the Philadelphia Eagles on the road. And this is another chance to do it because obviously we all know what the Chiefs are capable of and how high of a level they’re able to they’re able to play. So, I know within the AFC West, this is the matchup that I know all of Broncos country has been waiting to see. But again, we’re going to break all of that down on Thursday’s episode of Altitude Advantage. So, make sure you guys stay tuned for that. But until then, I am your host and team reporter, Elisa Nandez, in the Bron in the Broncos podcast studio, sitting across from our lead writer on Denver Broncos.com, Eric Dala. For everything catching up from week 10 and going into week 11, make sure you guys visit denver broncos.com.

On this episode of Altitude Advantage, team reporter Elisa Hernandez and lead writer Aric DiLalla discuss where the Broncos stand in the AFC playoff race before taking an early look ahead to Week 11.

Alex Singleton announces recent successful surgery for testicular cancer (00:00-7:23)

Final thoughts from Denver’s Week 10 win over the Raiders & where things stand around the NFL (7:24-18:12)

Early look ahead to Week 11 matchup vs. Chiefs (18:13-23:58)

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