{"id":581416,"date":"2025-12-06T20:26:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/581416\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T20:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:26:20","slug":"broncos-are-winning-plenty-and-celebrate-with-a-disco-ball-smoke-machine-and-loud-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/581416\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos are winning plenty and celebrate with a disco ball, smoke machine and loud machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

When rookie defensive lineman Sai\u2019vion Jones walked into the locker room after the Broncos\u2019 20-12 season-opening win over Tennessee, he was blinded by the light and the smoke.<\/p>\n

Jones had not been tipped off beforehand on what the Broncos do in the locker room after wins. There is light coming from a disco ball, a smoke machine pumping out fumes and music, usually rap or hip-hop, blasting at a very high volume.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the smoke for the first time and it was like a club we were going into,\u2019\u2019 Jones recalled. \u201cThe whole vibe was going on in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

By now, everyone on the Broncos is quite used to their post-game victory parties. Denver is 10-2, the second-best record in the NFL, and has won nine straight games.<\/p>\n

The Broncos on Sunday face the 2-10 Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and the odds are they will have another celebration. Denver is favored by 7.5 points.<\/p>\n

In addition to all the equipment the Broncos need to play football, coming along on road trips are all the props needed for a victory party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s blinding, probably with the disco ball, and it\u2019s a lot of smoke, so you can\u2019t really sometimes see in front of you,\u2019\u2019 Broncos tight end Adam Tratuman said of the atmosphere after wins. \u201cThen there\u2019s a lot of guys going around, just like laughing, smiling and talking and congratulating each other. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trautman knew about these celebrations before he came to Denver for head coach Sean Payton\u2019s first Broncos season in 2023. Trautman had played for Payton with New Orleans from 2020-21, and the victory antics were similar.<\/p>\n

Payton, who coached the Saints for 15 seasons between 2006 and 2021, said this type of celebration started after his team won 26-24 at Philadelphia in a 2013 wild-card playoff game. He had approached Mike Ornstein, who was then a Saints executive and died last year, before the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had given him $800 and just said, \u2018Find me a boombox, we\u2019re going to need it after this game,\u2019\u2019\u2019 Payton said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where he got it. It\u2019s not like we invented it, but it became a thing. Then, well, if we\u2019re going to do something, then we\u2019re going to (continue it). So then the speaker system travels, then the smoke system, then all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Payton did not claim to have \u201cinvented\u201d such celebrations, Broncos defensive lineman Jordan Jackson said the coach has noted he at least deserves some credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here (to Denver in 2023), and he was doing that, he made sure we knew that he was the one who started it,\u2019\u2019 Jackson said. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Yeah, this is my thing.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Broncos owner Greg Penner celebrates with linebacker Nik Bonitto after the Broncos\u2019 win over the Commanders on Sunday, Nov. 30. (Courtesy photo\/Denver Broncos)<\/p>\n

Jackson, who starred at Air Force, was on the Saints\u2019 practice squad as a rookie in 2022, the year after Payton had left. But he said then-coach Dennis Allen, who had been an assistant under Payton, continued what had been going on after wins. Trautman was also with the Saints in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten (Payton) to do a dance move here and there,\u2019\u2019 Jackson said about after wins. \u201cI\u2019ve seen him jiggle a little bit. He\u2019s got a little bit of swag to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who has been with the Broncos since 2023, broke into the NFL with New England from 2019-21 under super serious coach Bill Belichick. Suffice to say, Belichick did not do any post-game dancing and there was no disco ball or smoke machine in the locker room.<\/p>\n

Payton\u2019s first win with Denver was 31-28 at Chicago in Week 4 in 2023. That\u2019s when Broncos players experienced for the first time this full-tilt winning experience in the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou walk in and the smoke is going, and there\u2019s the disco ball-type thing and then there\u2019s the music and stuff,\u2019\u2019 Stidham said. \u201cYou kind of look forward it, getting the party going a little bit. Usually (the smoke machine) is on right away and it gets so smoky and cloudy that we have to turn it off. It\u2019s a little much sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players said the props are in action as soon as players enter the locker room after wins at home or on the road and that vice president of player development Ray Jackson plays a key role in setting things set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s electric to get in there (after wins),\u2019\u2019 said outside linebacker Jonah Elliss, whose Broncos have won seven games by four or fewer points during their nine-game run. \u201cIt\u2019s super fun to celebrate with the gang after we get a big win. A lot of these games have been really close. It\u2019s always a nail-biter and when you win those, it\u2019s even more exciting when we get in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Denver Broncos linebacker Dondrea Tillman (92) (third from left) is celebrated by his teammates after an interception at the Denver nine yard line during the 4th quarter of a game at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)<\/p>\n

Safety P.J. Locke has been with the Broncos since 2019, playing under head coaches Vic Fangio, Nathaniel Hackett and Jerry Rosburg before Payton. He said victory celebrations before Payton featured plenty of loud music but no props.<\/p>\n

The celebration usually ends before the media is allowed into the locker room. The Broncos have put up videos of Payton addressing the team in the locker room after a win, with the music turned off but with plenty of smoke still visible.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Payton will) walk in when we\u2019ve already been jamming a little bit,\u2019\u2019 Locke said. \u201cHe\u2019ll cut the music and he\u2019ll say some encouraging words and give out the (game) balls and we pray. And then we\u2019ll go turn the music right back up until you (the media) all come in and kill the party.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Before the party is shut down, Locke said the \u201cenergy is high and it\u2019s just a good time.\u201d Some of the good times apparently involve Jones dancing and his teammates looking on the best they can through the smoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Louisiana and what they like is when I do my Louisiana dances,\u2019\u2019 Jones, who played at LSU. \u201cLike the one thing they like is the \u2018Trip Out.\u2019 I played at a school that was known for doing the \u2018Trip Out\u2019 and they want to see it firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cTrip Out\u201d dance involves moving one\u2019s torso back and forth and swaying hips, shoulders and arms. Jones is well schooled in those moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the best dancer on the team,\u2019\u2019 Jones said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody can compete with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

So walking into the locker room after a win for Jones has indeed become like going into a club.<\/p>\n


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