ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — For the second time in three weeks, the Broncos are set to face off against a division rival.
And yet, while Denver will host Kansas City just 17 days after a "Thursday Night Football" showdown, tackle Mike McGlinchey said he doesn't expect the Week 6 meeting to have much of an impact on this week's game.
"It was a short week, and I don't know if anybody was at their full [game plan] on a Thursday night," McGlinchey said. "Obviously [we] have more time to absorb the game plan. … I think it will be a great battle. I really don't think much of what happened Thursday night's going to have an effect on this weekend.
"It's going to be a new battle. You've got to win your matchups, and that's all it comes down to."
McGlinchey did acknowledge there are benefits to having experience playing against certain players on the Chiefs' defense, and he said those matchups will "help us moving forward."
The Broncos, as a whole, will look to learn what they can from the 19-8 loss. Head Coach Sean Payton said the Broncos would evaluate the film from that game — as well as from each team's Week 7 contest — to see the "things you want to do differently [and the] things you want to do the same."
Quarterback Russell Wilson, meanwhile, noted the need for improvement in the red zone and to stay on schedule. The Broncos are 4-of-9 in the red zone over the last three games and moved inside the opponent's 20-yard line just once against Kansas City. Denver, which recorded 82 net yards passing in Week 6, will surely need to move the ball more successfully to knock off Kansas City.
Defensively, safety Justin Simmons echoed his belief that while the Broncos held the Chiefs to 19 points and to 1-of-5 in the red zone, the lack of late stops before the end of either half in Week 6 helped lead to another defeat.
"While there has been some success here or there, I ultimately measure it by if we won or if we lost," Simmons said.
As the Broncos look to snap Kansas City's streak and get back in the win column against their division foe, Simmons said the focus is solely on this year's team.
"It's frustrating, but it's a new team, it's a new year," Simmons said. "Right now, we lost to them one time. It's 2023. And we've got to find a way to get a win at home."
Wilson acknowledged that it's important to beat Kansas City and end the skid, but it's most important in the context of the Broncos' hopeful turnaround.
"It matters to go out for this season No. 1 to win this game," Wilson said. "We obviously won last week — we want to keep the momentum. That matters a lot — momentum, that feeling of winning in the locker room. There's nothing better."
With a win, the Broncos would improve to 3-5 heading into their bye week and earn their first back-to-back wins since Weeks 2-3 of last season. The path to finding a win, though, begins with preparation.
"[There's] a lot of football left," Wilson said. "What we've got to do is play great tomorrow at practice and then go to Friday and have another great practice. Go to practice on Saturday and go get a win on Sunday.
"That's the only thing we can control, and that's the only thing that matters right now."
