Why, despite defeating the Chiefs and Bills, the Broncos shouldn’t be written out in the AFC playoffs
The Denver Broncos are back in the AFC playoff hunt after a terrible start.
Things were looking very bleak for the Denver Broncos after the first six weeks of the NFL season. Really, even before that.
The Broncos started the season 0-3, with two of those losses coming via blown fourth quarter leads to
the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders. The other loss was the 70-20 bloodbath at the
hands of the Miami Dolphins.
Luckily, they were able to get off the schneid and secure a 31-28 win over the Chicago Bears, but they
quickly dropped to 1-5 after suffering consecutive losses to the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs.
But things can change quickly in the NFL.
Denver has won three consecutive games after taking down the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
All of a sudden, the Broncos 4-5 on the season. The Bills aren’t even Denver’s signature win during this
stretch either. That came against the Kansas City Chiefs before the bye week.
Now, the Broncos are right back in the playoff mix. They’re only one game back of a potential AFC Wild
Card spot, which is currently occupied by the Houston Texans. Denver may not be able to snag a playoff
spot, but they’re not going away any time soon either. There are a couple of reasons for that.
No one would mistake Russell Wilson’s numbers the last three weeks as him ‘cooking.’ Wilson hasn’t exceeded 200 passing yards in any of Denver’s last five games.
According to playerprofiler.com, Wilson has surpassed 200 air yards in only one of those five games, and
according to NFL Next Gen Stats, Wilson’s average depth of target in the two games Denver played
before this Monday Night game against the Bills were 6.6 (21st in the NFL) and 7.1 (23rd in the NFL)
yards downfield. Sean Payton is actively reining Russell Wilson back.
So, Wilson isn’t cooking, but he is at least heating up frozen food in the air fryer, and it is working.
Denver has won the last three games with this approach thanks in large part to Wilson not turning the
ball over.
In the Broncos’ first six games this season, Wilson committed six turnovers (four interceptions, two lost fumbles). In Denver’s last three games, he committed only one turnover (a lost fumble against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8).
Wilson has thrown for six touchdowns in that span as well, composing a third of his total this season. Wilson is playing winning, complementary football as opposed to trying to cook and chuck it all over the field. At least these last three weeks, it worked.
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