Sean Payton downplays importance of Broncos and Texans clash
Dec 1, 2023, 4:01 PM | Updated: Dec 2, 2023, 12:27 am
Ask any of your favorite playoff odds sites and they will tell you the Denver Broncos playoff hopes hinge on Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.
Because the Broncos and Texans are both 6-5 and not only fighting for wins but a tiebreaker against each other, the math swings as much as 50% with a win or loss for the boys in orange and blue. Both teams are hot too, the Texans have won three of their past four as rookie quarterback CJ Stroud has surged. Meanwhile, the Broncos are streaking, winners of five straight under first-year head coach Sean Payton.
Payton, a longtime NFL coach with 17 playoff games on his record, isn’t hyping up this game like the rest of the world. The league even flexed it to earlier in the day to be ‘the game’ when its on.
“It’s one game, we have six of them here left. We add the units up at the end,” Payton said on Friday. “Look both teams are 6-5, in the AFC. We gotta prepare to play the game, prepare to play our best game. The further we play and the longer we get into the end of the season each week will present scenarios. It’s a good team, they have played well this year and they’re playing with confidence.”
The Texans are also led by a first-year head coach in DeMeco Ryans. The former pro linebacker was among the final candidates for the Broncos gig that Payton ended up landing. Ryans decided on Houston rather than Denver.
Neither the Broncos nor Texans have made the playoffs in some time. Denver’s streak is among the longest in sports, dating seven seasons while the Texans haven’t danced since 2019.
Sure, Denver could find a way to even go 11-6, even with a loss to the Texans but the Sunday game is the first in a three-game road trip. The only possible playoff teams even left on the Broncos schedule are in that trip to Houston and Detroit. And 10-7, even after a 1-5 start, seems like a coin flip for a playoff spot. Still, Payton wants to see the season’s end as a chunk and not just a Sunday. To his credit, even if the Broncos win, they’ll have to stay hot through January.
