Denver, CO
Denver Broncos’ late drive falls short in Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle
The Denver Broncos new quarterback Russell Wilson had his second of vindication towards his former group, the Seattle Seahawks, within the opening recreation of the season.
The play: With the ball and 4 minutes to go within the fourth quarter on a gap weekend of loopy NFL finishes, Wilson was unable to advance the Broncos additional than the Seahawks’ 46 yard line.
- With 20 seconds left and dealing with fourth down, Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett despatched in kicker Brandon McManus to aim a career-long area aim of 64 yards. McManus missed.
- The Broncos misplaced 17-16.
The underside line: The Broncos flashed — just like the 67-yard cross from Wilson to receiver Jerry Jeudy within the first half — however finally ended up within the loss column.
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Denver, CO
Find out why Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton got a $500,000 bonus on Sunday
The final weekend of the NFL regular season brought the usual intrigue over which teams would clinch the final playoff spots and who would get the No. 1 overall draft pick. But there was also the smattering of money-packed milestones for some players who were within reach of lucrative contract incentives in Week 18.
Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton was among those players. He needed 82 yards receiving against the Chiefs Sunday for a $500,000 bonus. He got 98 yards on five catches in the Broncos’ 38-0 victory over Kansas City’s backups.
“Today, with you know, trying to keep track of some of those bonuses, those are good problems,” coach Sean Payton said after leading the Broncos into the postseason in his second season in Denver. “It’s hard to keep track of yards, catches are easy. Sutton needed 82 yards.”
Sutton had a fantastic regular season for the Broncos. He overcame a slow start and exceeded 1,000 yards — 1,081 (on 81 receptions) — for just the second time in his career. He called it “really dope” that the Broncos will be playing in a wild-card game and that the team gets to “continue this legacy of this season.”
Broncos linebacker Cody Barton also had an opportunity to make a little extra money before the end of the regular season, but it didn’t come to pass. He could have made $250,000 with an interception.
Arguably the biggest reason that the Denver Broncos are going to be playing in the 2024 NFL playoffs has been the quarterback play of rookie Bo Nix. The rookie out of Oregon by way of Auburn threw for 29 touchdowns and ran for four additional scores. He has been led this season by Broncos’ quarterbacks coach and former Giants signal-caller Davis Webb.
As the story goes, the Buffalo Bills had asked Webb to be their quarterbacks coach during his tenure as a quarterback in the AFC East, but he had decided to keep playing. Sean Payton was able to snag him as his QB whisperer, and his work in Denver has been impressive. In two years, the quarterback play of the Broncos has steadily improved and now reached the point where their 30+ touchdown rookie is arguably the biggest reason they are in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Davis Webb certain to draw interest outside of Broncos organization soon
Webb flew relatively under the radar in 2023, even as the quarterback play of Russell Wilson returned to a strong form. Since then, his name has begun to gain more attention on the national stage. As coaching changes begin to take place across the league, Webb figures to be a name that comes up consistently. As coordinator openings are now rumored and openings are popping up, Webb has already been tied to a fairly high-profile job.
Newsday’s Tom Rock shared on X that Webb could be a name to watch as the Giants continue evaluating their coaching staff after a disappointing 2024. Webb, a former Giants quarterback himself, could become a strong offensive coordinator candidate for multiple vacancies. If Vance Joseph, who has been tied to the Jets opening, is to take a head coaching job elsewhere after this year, Webb could be a strong candidate to follow him as an offensive coordinator.
It has been a decent amount of time since top Denver lieutenants were named in coaching searches around the league, but between Joseph, Webb, and the potential for others such as Pete Carmichael, Zach Strief, and David Shaw to get tabbed for jobs, the Broncos could be looking to rebuild aspects of their coaching staff in the next few months. However, there is no reason not to have faith in Sean Payton to once again build one of the NFL’s premier coaching staffs, just as he did heading into the 2024 season.
The mood in the Denver Broncos locker room on Sunday following the team’s playoff-clinching win over the Kansas City Chiefs was jubilant. Tones of triumph, relief, elation… the Broncos embodied it all and for understandable reasons.
Denver snapped its eight-year playoff drought, finishing the 2024 regular season 10-7. But before the Broncos could get into game-planning mode for the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard Round, head coach Sean Payton finally gave fans a glimpse of the post-game locker room scene at Empower Field at Mile High.
For the first time this season, the secretive and protective Payton allowed the cameras in for his post-game locker room speech.
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You can see how excited and greaful Broncos CEO and co-owner Greg Penner was as he greeted the players and coaches at the door, exchanging hugs, fist-bumps, and words of encouragement. We learned from Coach Payton at the podium that his game balls went to the Walton/Penner ownership group.
“The game balls today went to ownership,” Payton said on Sunday. “They’ve been tremendously supportive. Man, I’ve been to a number of pro teams, but I told the players, you don’t get to pick a lot of times where you end up, but you guys are in a good spot. This is a group that cares about you.”
Payton has often talked about how big of a selling point the Walton/Penners were in his decision to come out of retirement and take the Broncos job. They rewarded Payton with a lucrative contract and traded a first and second-round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints to acquire his coaching rights.
Payton knew the long-standing tradition of winning in the Mile High City and was well aware of the legacy created by all-timers like John Elway, Peyton Manning, Mike Shanahan, and late owner Pat Bowlen, but in his NFL experience dating back to the ’90s, he believed that the caliber of a team’s ownership group is one of its predictors of the future.
“In today’s pro sports, I think it’s probably one of the bigger indicators of success,” Payton said of ownership. “I know for me, personally, when I went through this process, that meant a lot to me relative to where, and I said that it wasn’t like I was looking to choose to join Patrick Mahomes in this division, you know? But the ownership group here was the reason. They got the game balls.”
Kudos to Payton for relenting and acquiescing to the cameras being the locker room following Sunday’s win so that Broncos Country can partake in the message and the celebration. Now it’s on to Buffalo.
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