Sean Payton: Broncos know what they need to do to make playoffs

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton knows the chatter is heating up about his team potentially making the playoffs.

That doesn’t mean he pays attention to it.

With the Broncos back from their bye week and preparing for the Indianapolis Colts, Payton met with the media on Wednesday. It was his first time talking in-person in nine days, so there was a lot to catch up on.

Payton was asked about how he handles noise from the outside, particularly with the Broncos getting a lot of love nationally. At 8-5 they’ve way overachieved this season, and are currently even with the Ravens and Chargers for the three wild card spots in the AFC.

“Well, I can’t control it for the players. I don’t pay attention to it, we don’t really have time. Look, it’s the coverage of our game,” Payton said.

Payton’s not wrong. With the NFL being the most popular sport in the country, people are going to talk about it. And even he realizes postseason speculation is more realistic in December than it is in October.

“Six weeks ago I’d always kind of roll my eyes, but now you get into four weeks left for all these teams. Shoot, each team knows exactly where they’re at and what they need to do, ourselves included,” Payton said.

For the Broncos, it’s pretty simple. Keep winning and they’ll make the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Payton was asked if he brings all the scenarios up with the team of what they need to get done.

“Listen, at the right time, I might just say ‘hey, this is where we’re at. This is what we’re looking at.’ Look, it’s a group that I think understands that,” Payton said.

And for Denver, they’re currently the No. 7 seed in the AFC thanks to losing head-to-head tiebreakers with the Ravens and Chargers. But they still have a game with Los Angeles left, and Baltimore has to play the Steelers and Texans.

On the other side of the coin, the Broncos can’t lose to the Colts this weekend. That’d tighten things up considerably for getting into the dance.

Sean Payton gets all this, and he’s beginning to share some of it with his team as Denver knows what it must do down the stretch.