The Broncos delivered a beatdown and earned a breather.
Now they’ve returned from a long weekend and find themselves in relatively unfamiliar territory as they launch back into a regular schedule.
They’re big favorites in Week 8. As of Monday morning, Sean Payton’s team is favored by 7.5 points over Carolina in Sunday’s game at Empower Field.
If the line holds, it’ll be just the fifth time Denver’s been favored by 7 points or more since the beginning of the 2021 season. It happened twice in Vic Fangio’s last season as head coach, then once each in 2022 under Nathaniel Hackett (-10 vs. Houston on Sept. 18) and last year under Payton (-7 on Christmas Eve against New England).
With expectation comes, well, pretty much nothing new, Payton said Monday.
“The focus really always starts inward. Not as much outward,” Payton said. “Certainly we have to study the opponent, but our preparation and all the things we have to do to get ready to play a game and play our best game is what the focal point will be in the details.
“There’s still a lot of things we have to be better at.”
Carolina hasn’t been good at much so far. In fact, the Panthers have been clearly the worst team in football through the first seven weeks of the season.
Cleveland and the Patriots join them at 1-6, but nobody has metrics as poor as Carolina’s. The Panthers have been outscored by 133 points on the year. New England is second-worst in that department at minus-76.
Carolina’s six losses have all come by double figures: 37, 23, 10, 26, 18 and 33. Their lone win came in Week 3 at Las Vegas after first-year head coach Dave Canelas benched 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in favor of Andy Dalton at quarterback. But since then have come four more lopsided losses, including a 40-7 blowout against Washington on Sunday.
The Broncos, meanwhile, have won four of their past five since an 0-2 start. What’s interesting about the stretch is they’ve logged three of those wins on the road. For the season, Denver is 3-1 on the road and 1-2 at home.
“I don’t think there’s any one specific thing,” Payton said when asked about the difference in fortunes on the road so far. “Generally speaking, teams I’ve been a part of that have been real good on the road or at home have been real good teams.
“(We have to) be more consistent and obviously taking advantage of playing in front of our own fans, the crowd noise, all those things that can help us get a win.”
No game in the NFL is a gimme, but the Broncos enter their most daunting stretch of the year after Sunday against the Panthers. They go on the road back-to-back weeks to Baltimore and Kansas City, then return home to face Atlanta (currently 4-3) before playing their third road game in four weeks at Las Vegas to close out November.
If October is a month of opportunity, as Payton said when it began, then his team has one more chance to set itself up well for a November that will largely dictate whether the Broncos stay in the postseason picture.
In a general sense, the Broncos would do well over that coming run and the rest of the season if they replicate their performance Thursday night at New Orleans. They ran for 226 yards — their most in nearly 11 years — and continued a run of dominant defensive play. Denver through seven weeks is third in total defense and scoring defense and second in the NFL in sacks. You’re not going to rush for 200-plus and log six sacks every week, but excelling in those departments is always a good recipe.
“Hopefully that’s the identity of any championship team,” Payton said. “You want to play good defense. Now, there’s some weeks where you may have to throw it more than run it. A lot of it depends on the game plan and who we’re playing relative to what we’re trying to do.”
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