ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The AFC West champion Broncos' focus on Monday was on what's next.
Two days after the Broncos clinched the AFC West with the Texans' win on Saturday, Head Coach Sean Payton said the team didn't discuss winning the division. There was no elaborate celebration with the AFC West title gear, which Payton said was simply placed in each player's locker.
Instead, the Broncos' team meeting centered around a Week 18 matchup against the Chargers — and all that a win could mean for their playoff outlook.
"We just didn't really talk about it," Payton said Monday. "The focus was on this week's game and the Chargers and the seeding ramifications. [We're] really trying to educate them relative to what's going to be important here down the stretch."
With a Week 18 win over Los Angeles, Denver would accomplish its second goal and clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
"This weekend was exciting, obviously," inside linebacker Alex Singleton said. "It's been exciting, but we have one goal: to win this weekend and beat the Chargers and be the one seed. That is the message, and that's the energy in the building. One game, one opportunity. Let's go get this thing done."
With the top seed would come a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
"Just historically speaking, it's extremely important," Payton said of the benefit of earning the top seed. "Every study would show you — and there's a number of reasons for that. These games are three hours long. The first reason would be, you skip a game at which you're at risk to not play well or an opponent all of a sudden [can] have a great game. You skip the threat of potentially losing a game, if that makes any sense. You skip right to the next round.
"And then to be able to play in front of our fans with the crowd noise, the atmosphere. It's been a while since they've hosted a playoff game. Certainly, it's a fan base that deserves that opportunity. I get excited for them and I get excited for our team. All of it's important. Having been through this nine, 10 other times, you've seen it all — and you recognize how important it is."
Payton also noted the challenge of the alternative, which is playing on the road, and "how much more difficult that is" for a team looking to go on a run.
Since the playoff field expanded in 2020 — which also resulted in only the top seed in each conference receiving a bye — the numbers bear out the benefit of the top seed. Five of the 10 No. 1 seeds in that span advanced to the Super Bowl, while only five of the other 60 playoff teams made a run to the final weekend of the season.
And that makes the stakes high for the Broncos' regular-season finale.
"This game's very much like a playoff game," Payton said.
IMPROVING IN THE TURNOVER BATTLE
As the Broncos try to secure that top seed and the benefits that accompany it, Payton reemphasized a key aspect where Denver must be better.
"The one area that has to improve is that turnover margin," Payton said. "And that can happen."
Payton noted that just one Super Bowl winner in the last 25 years had a negative turnover differential in the postseason, and the Broncos will look to change their fortune as the playoffs near.
In addition to the statistic Payton noted, 10 of the last 15 Super Bowl winners finished with a top-two turnover margin among postseason qualifiers. Additionally, at least eight of those 15 teams were plus-4 across the postseason, including the Eagles' plus-12 mark in the 2024 playoffs.
The Broncos, who are tied for 25th in turnover margin this season, had a stretch from Weeks 11-15 in which the team did not lose the takeaway battle. In the last two weeks, though, Denver has lost the turnover contest.
"It's just being proactive about it," Singleton said. "During the week of practice, continuing to work on it. It's stuff that we've been focusing on, but just take that next step and really honing in on that. I think we've been really good at everything else, so it's just taking that next step to where we want to go and to be able to take the ball away."
