Everything the Denver Broncos have worked for is now in front of them. They have conquered the regular season and have the best possible position heading into the NFL postseason.
Denver, CO
Recap: Denver Nuggets win big against the Phoenix Suns – Denver Stiffs
The Denver Nuggets started the first half of their home and home with the Phoenix Suns at Ball Arena on Monday night. Both teams were shorthanded with the Nuggets missing Jamal Murray and the Suns missing Devin Booker. The other stars for both teams did their parts but the Nuggets had far more support, including a very solid night from their group of young reserves. Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. did most of the heavy lifting and that pair plus the young bench was a formula for a blowout as Denver wins 117-90.
Phoenix got an early lead through sharing the ball among their starters while Denver didn’t get a ton of easy shots but hit their threes to keep it close. Porter had a hot start to keep Denver afloat in the middle of the first but their collective defense was lacking. MPJ was relentless, an and-one put him up to twelve points in the quarter and tied the game at seventeen. Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson got minutes down the stretch of the first to leave Denver’s lineup as Jokic + the bench. There wasn’t a ton of offense outside of Joker but the defense was strong and that got the Nuggets a lead. After one quarter it was 27-26 Denver.
Perfectly placed pic.twitter.com/vqMcDZ6iEB
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 24, 2024
There wasn’t much offense to speak of to start the second quarter but the bench unit’s defense continued to be impressive. They kept Phoenix from getting a point for over two minutes and made everything difficult. Pickett had a solid shift in particular for the reserve group and helped grow the lead to five before Russell Westbrook and Jokic checked back in (Jokic immediately buried a three). Shortly after they checked back in Jokic got stepped on by Jusuf Nurkic and looked to be in pain but stayed in the game. After that, Durant started getting to the free throw line to spark an 11-0 Phoenix run to get the lead back for the Suns briefly. Denver’s starters responded, Jokic started giving Nurkic want some refer to as “the business” and the Nuggets took back the lead. After two quarters they were up 55-51.
Braun throw down ⏬ pic.twitter.com/xI4ZtEJr39
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 24, 2024
Jokic and Porter got right back to it to start the second half. After a Westbrook jam pushed the lead to eleven the Suns were forced to take an early timeout. Phoenix stopped the bleeding after that but weren’t able to make much headway on Denver’s lead either. Westbrook came alive and led an energetic shift for the starters that could have blown the game wide open if not for Bradley Beal. Aaron Gordon got in on the action by knocking down threes and suddenly the lead was up above twenty. Denver’s defense got a little bit lazy after that and Phoenix was able to work the lead back down for a little bit. They trimmed it back under fifteen but a strong close in the final minute put Denver back up big. After three they led 100-79.
TAKING THAT TO GO pic.twitter.com/r8WetN9thk
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 24, 2024
Michael Malone opened the fourth with a DeAndre Jordan plus the kids lineup (Pickett, Julian Strawther, Tyson, Peyton Watson) and they struggled to score but once again had enough defense to hold the Suns at bay. Strawther knocked down some threes and was essentially the only one getting any points until Tyson, who was as energetic as ever, hustled up a rebound and then went coast to coast with a huge jam. The DJ + bench group continued to play solid minutes and eventually made time a factor as they held the twenty plus lead through the middle of the fourth. Malone emptied the bench and gave the two-way contract guys some game time with just under four minutes to go. They kept up the energy and Denver wins big, 117-90.
A third triple for Julian 🪣 pic.twitter.com/XFsyKg2fPI
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 24, 2024
Jokic and Porter was a two headed monster
Without Murray the Nuggets needed Porter to step up tonight and he did exactly that. He came out aggressive and wasn’t afraid to go shot for shot with an all-time great in Durant. He carried Denver through big chunks of the game and when he wasn’t, it was Nikola instead. Joker was in a bit of a scoring slump coming into tonight but that didn’t last. He led all scorers with thirty-two points and went four of six from the three point line. Nurkic looked completely helpless at times and got into foul trouble quickly trying to contain the three-time MVP. Denver got on runs with the help of some other guys too but Porter and Jokic were the players they could rely on consistently to get buckets when they needed them. It goes to show how valuable a guy like MPJ can be when he’s a focal point of the offense and playing off an all time great like Nikola.
The young bench gets it done
HUNTER WITH THE SLAM pic.twitter.com/J8FNmBxUPN
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 24, 2024
Malone leaned on his young reserves heavily tonight, comprising his bench group entirely out of his steady veteran in Jordan, and players with less than three full seasons of NBA experience. It wasn’t always pretty on the offensive end but that group brought consistent energy and focus on defense to keep Phoenix from cutting into the lead. Denver’s pair of 2023 second round draft picks, Pickett and Tyson, both had nice games. You could see Pickett’s confidence grow as the game went on and he looked every bit of an NBA backup point guard tonight. Tyson didn’t score a ton but brought a ton of energy to the floor and helped shore up one of Denver’s biggest weaknesses: defensive rebounding. If those two guys can continue to put together solid rotation minutes it’s going to be an absolute boon for Denver.
Every team in the NFL has injuries every season. It is part of the game and to be expected.
In having a dominant regular season that secured the #1 seed in the playoffs, the Broncos have allowed themselves to get healthy by and large at the right time.
The one glaring link missing is going to be Brandon Jones, who is going to be missed on defense. He’s a versatile, physical safety who has played exceptionally well in the Broncos’ defense.
But getting back inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw is a big deal. He’s an enforcer over the middle and is capable of covering backs and tight ends in the passing game (which is what the Bills love to target).
With Brandon Jones out, the news of P.J. Locke returning is welcome news. The Broncos are thin at safety, and he’s been the #1 backup for the safety group all season long. Hopefully, he’s learned from last year’s playoff game and won’t let Josh Allen pick on him as he did in last year’s playoff game.
Another key player getting healthy is Jonathan Franklin-Myers, who is an absolute beast of an interior lineman and a pass-rushing nightmare. With the style of pass rush that the Broncos employ on mobile quarterbacks, Franklin-Myers and compatriot Jared Allen could have big games up front.
At the end of the day, the Broncos have no excuses for this game. They are healthy, prepared, and playing at home. Now they just need to go out there and execute on Saturday.
Denver, CO
‘I can only imagine what it’s going to be like’: Broncos eager to play in front of home crowd as postseason football returns to Mile High City
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — By the time Bills quarterback Josh Allen steps to the line of scrimmage, that’s already too late.
The noise — the deafening roar of more than 76,000 fans at Empower Field at Mile High — must start earlier.
The yells, the stomps, the claps and the screams, as Head Coach Sean Payton emphasized Tuesday ahead of the Broncos’ first home playoff game in a decade, must start when Allen and the Buffalo Bills enter the huddle.
In the leadup to Denver’s playoff opener, Payton has touched on the importance of the noise coming earlier. He’s pointed to the difficulty of the quarterback communicating the play call in the huddle — and how the communication breakdowns could provide an advantage for Denver’s defense.
“There’s a stress that goes with that, too,” Payton said in mid-December. “That’s stressful. Creating that stress is a big advantage.”
Payton pointed to Empower Field at Mile High as one of just a handful of stadiums in the league with a potential to be truly deafening, and he called for that level of noise again when Denver hosts the Bills. The request, too, is simple enough. In 10-second bursts, when the Bills are in the huddle and as they line up to snap the ball, the noise should boom through the stadium. And then again. And then again. And again, for each of the Bills’ offensive snaps.
As Denver looks to book a trip to the AFC Championship Game, Payton knows that would be “a huge advantage” for the Broncos.
Wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who is poised to play in his first career home playoff game, said he is eager to see how Broncos Country shows up for a long-awaited postseason matchup.
“I’ve been saying since I got here that we needed to get a home playoff game back in the city,” Sutton said. “The way that the fans have been showing up, Broncos Country has been bumping.
“… I can only imagine what it’s going to be like, first [postseason] home game since 2015. It’s well overdue, and I’m excited to see Broncos Country show up and show out.”
Cornerback Pat Surtain II said he’s also ready for a raucous environment that could help push the Broncos to a win.
“I know the atmosphere is going to be crazy,” Surtain said. “The stadium is going to be rocking at [Empower Field at] Mile High, and I’m looking forward to it. … I can already feel the magnitude of it and how electric that stadium is going to be. It’s going to be exciting.”
Playing a postseason game at home, of course, is not enough on its own to guarantee a win. During Wild Card Weekend, four of the six road teams earned victories.
“We have to be ready to play our best game,” Payton said.
In key moments, though, the Empower Field at Mile High crowd could help swing the game in Denver’s favor, whether via a miscommunication in the huddle or a pre-snap penalty. And in a battle that could come down to the very end, that could help the Broncos improve upon their 17-5 home postseason record.
“I expect it to be extremely loud,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “I expect it to be a great environment.
“… Something tells me it’ll be kicked up a notch, just because it’s got ‘playoffs’ on it.”
Now that we’ve got some separation from the regular season and a week without Broncos football being played, I’m ruminating on what the Broncos are going to do on the field in the playoffs.
One of the big things I love about cheering for this team today is just how dynamic and cunning the coaching staff is on both sides of the ball. Sean Payton is the real deal, both as a head coach first and foremost and as an offensive coordinator. He’s constantly shifting the team’s game plan to match opponents, keep them off balance, and take advantage of weaknesses that show up on film.
As a guy who loves to play armchair coach during the season a bit, I’m going to share some ideas I have that seem like somewhat obvious tweaks to this offense we are likely to see in the postseason.
Go with the hot hand at running back
One issue I see on offense is the disparity at times in who is getting carries at running back when you look at the production on the field. Most of the last few games have seen Jaleel McLaughlin produce more consistently than RJ Harvey in raw run play production. I think one obvious thing we may see Sean Payton do is to let McLaughlin have more carries if he stays hot.
That’s not to say that I’m down on Harvey. I just think when a guy is producing, you should adjust to give that guy more carries at the running back position. RJ Harvey is a talented back who produces both on the ground and through the air (especially in the red zone).
The only aside I can see about this idea is that it is possible that McLaughlin and Harvey aren’t interchangeable from a play-call perspective. It is possible
Punish man / off coverage looks with quarterback scrambles
Bo Nix is a scrambling weapon with the ball. In the playoffs, if the defense wants to sink coverage or play man Nix will need to be quicker to take the ground yards. For much of the regular season, we’ve seen Nix stay very disciplined with wanting to throw the ball down the field on scrambles. There’s a fine line to walk with this, as sometimes you need to just punish defenses for ignoring your athletic capability.
Nix ran 83 times in 2025 and averaged 4.3 yards per carry. He easily could have had 100 carries with a more aggressive approach. Keeping Nix healthy means it is a much better idea for him not to take the risk in the regular season. He’s pretty good at taking angles out of bounds or sliding and knowing when to do that to avoid big hits, though.
The Broncos’ offense doesn’t really scare anyone, but adding this wrinkle in the postseason should help open things up quite a bit.
Get Mims and Franklin some deep shots
Easily the most frustrating thing about the Broncos’ offense this season has been their inability to connect on their deep shots. Nix hasn’t dialed in his accuracy deep down the field yet, which is a shame. The Broncos end up in a lot of man coverage situations and rarely are able to capitalize.
In the postseason, it is time to change that. We have both Marvin Mims and Troy Franklin, who are superb deep pass targets with killer speed. If the Broncos can get their run game production geared up, they absolutely will have opportunities to hit these deep plays.
Bonus No Bull thoughts on Sean Payton
Don’t get lulled to sleep by the last few games of the season. Everyone who knows football sees the same thing I have in my game reviews: Payton kept things vanilla on purpose.
It is a hard thing to watch a team go run, run, pass ad nauseum (am I right, Broncos fans who “enjoyed” the Dan Reeves era with John Elway?). That was strategic, not senile.
Sean Payton is one of the brightest offensive minds in the game (with all due respect to Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reid, and Sean McVay). He knows exactly where this team is at and what is at stake in the postseason. The Bills are going to have to go back to some old tape to try to sort out what our offense is about.
No matter what they prepare for, I expect a good dose of plays that they won’t know are coming. The world at large may think that the Bills are Goliath. That’s just fine. Payton knows exactly how dangerous a team can be when everyone thinks your team is a bunch of young Davids.
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