Denver, CO
Win over Broncos should allow Jaguars to think about ‘super’ heights
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence discusses his team’s sixth straight win
Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes and ran for one score in the Jaguars’ 34-20 win over the Denver Broncos.
DENVER — Time to recalibrate our expectations for this Jacksonville Jaguars team. Time to set a higher bar. Time to think about bigger things. Time to talk about goals beyond an AFC South title.
Like Super Bowl things.
How can you not after watching the Jaguars beat the Denver Broncos 34-20 at the cauldron known as Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday, Dec. 21? It was impressive and thorough and workmanlike, how the Jaguars ended the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak and handed them their first home loss in more than a year.
The Jaguars should believe a division title — they lead the Houston Texans by a game — isn’t enough.
The Jaguars should feel winning a first-round playoff game is only the beginning of a magical run in January/February.
And the Jaguars should be confident regardless of whether they have to return to Denver or play at New England next month.
“The fight of this team,” veteran receiver Tim Patrick said as he shook his head. “It was our first time this year going back and forth against somebody and battling and the continued will to execute at a high level when the pressure was on, I’m definitely proud of the guys.”
Welcome to the party, Jaguars. The Super Bowl Contender Party.
Hey, New England, Denver and Buffalo in the AFC and the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle, Philadelphia and Chicago in the NFC, make a place at the table for the Jaguars, who have won 11 games in a season for the first time since 2007 and have a six-game heater for the first time since 1999.
They … have … arrived.
“It’s not about ‘arriving’ — I knew what we had in OTAs (last spring),” cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. “I guess the rest of the league (now) understands who we are.”
Coen doesn’t care about narrative
Opponents should understand the Jaguars are hitting a new stride in their passing game (three touchdowns for quarterback Trevor Lawrence), have myriad play-makers (take a bow, receiver Parker Washington) and are all kinds of opportunistic on defense (two more takeaways).
But maybe to spice things up and feed the internal narrative that nobody believe in them, Jaguars coach Liam Coen found a new target last week: Broncos coach Sean Payton.
During the week, Payton said of the Jaguars: “It’s a smaller market, but you see a real good team.”
Not sure what being a smaller market has to do with winning in the NFL with revenue sharing and the salary cap, but Payton tends to stir the pot, even if it isn’t on purpose.
You really never know where Coen is going to take a press conference. To get the briefing going, I threw out an innocuous, big-picture question about all three phases contributing to the win. (And they did. The special teams was lights out.)
“Great team effort,” Coen began.
But then, he couldn’t help himself.
“Just thankful that a small-market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done,” Coen continued.
Boom. I asked Coen if it really was a rallying cry.
“You know … yes. Yeah,” he said.
Whatever works. Back in Week 4, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was the figurative bullseye. Being a home underdog to Indianapolis two weeks ago was noted. Entering this game, it was Payton.
Manufactured motivation has been a part of sports at all levels since the first newspaper was published and first microphone was turned on to gather audio.
Look, as I talked to a long-time team employee earlier this month about, the Jaguars won’t get their desired respect even if they won the Super Bowl. The headlines outside Jacksonville the next morning would be more about the losing team.
Coen kinda embraces it, but sorta not.
“We don’t really care about the narrative,” he said. “I want that narrative to keep coming. It’s only helping us.”
Team getting better each week
You know what’s really helping the Jaguars? They’re a darn good team. A team improving each week.
This is why I won’t make a habit of writing the “Nobody believes in us. Nobody respects us,” card. I’ll leave that to players, coaches and fans.
What should be the focus is how the Jaguars took the lead over Denver for good with 4:33 left in the second quarter, part of a stretch where they outscored the Broncos 27-7.
Against the Broncos’ league-best red zone defense, the Jaguars went 4 of 5.
Against the Broncos’ league-best third down defense, the Jaguars went 8 of 15.
And against the Broncos’ league-best pass rush, the Jaguars gave up five sacks, but for a total of 14 lost yards.
The Jaguars offense is borderline unstoppable with a league-high 12 games of at least 25 points.
After consecutive punts to open the game, the Jaguars went touchdown, punt, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown and field goal to take control.
After allowing a Denver touchdown, the Jaguars’ defense went field goal, punt, touchdown, punt, fumble, field goal and interception over the next seven possessions.
As we head toward Christmas, this Jaguars season — unexpectedly entertaining and successful — is presenting you, the fans, the best kind of present. And it’s a ride that may not end until mid-February in Santa Clara, Calif.
“My expectations were already high,” Patrick said. “This was just another stop.”
Just another stop, but a huge stop on the way to the Super Bowl.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com
The return of Denver Broncos football is getting closer.
In addition to facing their AFC West rivals at home and on the road, the Broncos will also face the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, conference rival Buffalo Bills and the title-contending Los Angeles Rams at home in 2026. On the road, Denver’s opponents include the contending San Francisco 49ers and conference-rival New England Patriots.
The NFL has given Denver three prime-time games this season, with national spotlights on Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football in 2026. SNF and MNF will be available to stream on FuboTV, and TNF is available to stream on Prime. In addition to those prime-time slots, the Broncos will also play in standalone windows on Black Friday and Christmas Day.
View the team’s complete schedule with dates and times below. Note that networks for nationally televised/streamed games are in bold.
- Week 1: Monday, Sept. 14, at Chiefs (MNF), 6:15 p.m. MT, ESPN
- Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 20, at Jaguars, 2:05 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 27, vs. Rams (SNF), 6:20 p.m. MT, NBC
- Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 4, at 49ers, 2:25 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 11, at Chargers, 2:05 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 6: Thursday, Oct. 15, vs. Seahawks (TNF), 6:15 p.m. MT, Prime
- Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 25, at Cardinals, 2:05 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 8: Sunday, Nov. 1, vs. Chiefs, 2:25 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 8, at Panthers, 11:00 a.m. MT, CBS
- Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 15, Bye Week
- Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 22, vs. Raiders, 2:25 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 12: Friday, Nov. 27, vs. Steelers (Black Friday), 1:00 p.m. MT, Prime
- Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 6, vs. Dolphins, 2:05 p.m. MT, Fox
- Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 13, at Jets, 11:00 a.m. MT, CBS
- Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 20, at Raiders, 2:25 p.m. MT, CBS
- Week 16: Friday, Dec. 25, vs. Bills (Christmas), 2:30 p.m. MT, Netflix
- Week 17: Sat/Sun, Jan. 2/3, at Patriots, TBD, TBD
- Week 18: Sat/Sun, Jan. 9/10, vs. Chargers, TBD, TBD
The team’s Week 17 showdown in New England is one of four candidates to be played in a Saturday window. Additionally, dates, times and TV networks for Week 18 will be announced following Week 17. The league will schedule two Saturday games and a Sunday Night Football matchup for the final week of the regular season.
Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
Legend has it that there are space aliens and lizard people living in the underground tunnels at Denver International Airport (DEN). But if it’s true (and why not?), the reptilian and otherworldly beings will soon need to find a new place to hang out.
That’s because DEN airport is planning to repurpose some of its subterranean real estate into pedestrian walkways that can serve as alternatives to, and backups for, the airport’s troubled train system.
At DEN airport, trains connect the main Jeppesen Terminal to concourses A, B and C.
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Passengers may skip the train and instead stroll or ride moving walkways from the main terminal to Concourse A. But the train — officially called the Automated Guideway Transit System — is the only transportation option for getting between concourses A and B and between concourses B and C.
The original circa-1995 train system is currently undergoing a much-needed $75 million upgrade as part of the DEN’s “Vision 100” strategic plan to serve 100 million annual passengers in the next several years.
Improvements include 16 new train cars and the replacement of aging infrastructure that is prone to malfunctions. The glitches sometimes last just a few minutes, but as recently as May 2026, mechanical problems with trains forced the airport to deploy shuttle buses to move passengers between concourses.
Train to the Gates Updates: Crews have repaired the mechanical issue and trains are now fully operational. Shuttle buses from Concourse A to Concourses C are also running to help move passengers while the train operation returns to normal service. https://t.co/BZRJheqi7V
— Denver Int’l Airport (@DENAirport) May 6, 2026
Although DEN’s records show that the airport trains run glitch-free more than 99% of the time, even short outages create stress, platform gridlock and missed flights “simply because we have so many people going through our airport,” Jim Starling, DEN’s chief construction and infrastructure officer, told TPG.
Finding an alternative to DEN’s trains
Installing ziplines between concourses as alternatives to the train sounds fun but is sadly impractical. Connecting all the concourses with bridges was considered but rejected due to time and cost.
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Instead, during planning workshops, airline and DEN officials determined that the best solution was to repurpose portions of the airport’s existing underground baggage tunnels into pedestrian walkways. Those tunnels were originally built for the airport’s ill-fated automated baggage system, whose technical failures delayed DEN’s planned 1993 opening by 16 months and left sections of the tunnel network largely unused for decades.
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In a statement announcing the underground walkway plan, Denver mayor Mike Johnston called it “a big win for Denver’s travelers.” The tunnel transformation also got thumbs up from United Airlines (Denver’s largest airline customer), American Airlines and Southwest Airlines (which counts DEN as its largest operation in terms of flights).
“The addition of pedestrian walkways at DEN is a significant investment and will give our customers more options for their connecting flights,” Jonna McGrath, United’s vice president of airport operations, said.
Lisa Hingson, vice president of customer experience and innovation at Southwest, said the new pedestrian walkways would be “a tremendous addition” to recent enhancements such as TSA PreCheck Touchless ID and Touchless ID self-bag drop. “The addition of pedestrian walkways adds flexibility and reliability for our customers and improves operational resilience,” Amanda Zhang, American Airlines’ vice president of corporate real estate, said.
Making it happen
The tunnels to be converted are wide enough for two-way pedestrian traffic and currently contain some of the equipment from the old, abandoned baggage system. So that will need to come out.
“If you go down there today, what you’ll see is a lot of concrete,” Starling said. “And that’s not the environment we’d want to have for people to walk through.”
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Making pedestrian walkways out of tunnels built to move baggage would entail upgrading the floors, adding walls and appropriate HVAC systems, and possibly installing moving walkways, Starling added.
And then there’s the challenge of what Starling termed “vertical circulation” — the tricky job of getting passengers down to the tunnels from one concourse and then back up at another.
Timeline and budget
DEN airport estimates the cost of creating pedestrian tunnels at DEN to be between $300 and $700 million.
“That’s a wide range,” Starling said, “but it reflects the fact that we are at the concept level.” Once design plans are finalized, construction of the tunnels could begin as early as 2027.
And what about the lizard people?
Over the years, DEN has neither confirmed nor denied rumors of secret Illuminati, outer space aliens and, yes, lizard people making their homes in the airport’s underground tunnels. Instead, the airport has good-naturedly leaned into the mysteries and conspiracy theories with exhibitions such as “Conspiracy Theories Uncovered.”
Johnston is happy to play along. In the announcement of plans for the pedestrian walkways at DEN, he said: “And who knows… maybe along the way, travelers will finally get a closer look at the underground tunnels and decide for themselves what’s fact and what’s fiction.”
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