Sean Payton refused to let the Denver Broncos quit after they allowed 70 points in an embarrassing loss to Miami in September.
Instead, he challenged his players. And his coaching staff to embrace the embarrassment.
Payton wanted his team to practice better and prepare harder. Do that, Payton implored, and the wins and losses would take care of themselves. He was right.
The Broncos have won three consecutive games, including wins over Kansas City and Buffalo.
The Broncos beat Buffalo 24-22 on a field goal as time expired. Will Lutz missed a 41-yard field goal, but Buffalo had 12 men on the field, so he received another chance. This time, he drilled a 36-yard game-winner.
Denver is now 4-5 and contending for a Wild Card spot in the AFC, which seemed impossible a few weeks ago.
“It’s the NFL. I mean, credit (to) these guys,” Payton said after the game. “There’s a little toughness to this league. I keep saying it — there’s that fine line between a groove and a rut. You have to bow up a little bit, and you have to demand it of each other at practice during the week. You win during the week.
“I felt like we’ve been practicing during the week better — a lot better. If you do that and you demand that of each other, then Sundays become a little bit less chaotic.”
Reasons for Denver Broncos’ recent success
The Denver Broncos are winning because Russell Wilson is playing mistake-free football, and their defense is playing well.
The unit that allowed 70 points and more than 700 yards to Miami has allowed just 16.0 points per game during the winning streak. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s unit has forced nine turnovers in the last two games, including four against Buffalo.
“It just feels so good to win, man. I’m sitting here thinking about the adversity we hit and how everybody kind of answered the bell there,” safety Justin Simmons told reporters. “You’re always going to face adversity; it’s just a matter of how you respond.”
The Broncos traded first- and second-round picks in 2022 and 2023, as well as a fifth-round pick in 2022 along with tight end Noah Fant, defensive tackle Noah Fant, and quarterback Drew Locke for Wilson and a fourth-round pick in 2022.
Then the Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year extension worth $245 million, including $165 million guaranteed.
Wilson responded with a disastrous season under first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett. He completed just 60 percent of his passes for 234.9 yards passing per game with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Broncos fired Hackett after one season and hired Payton to fix Wilson.
Changes for Russell Wilson
This season, Wilson is averaging only 200.6 yards passing per game, but he has 18 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He’s completing 67.3 percent of his passes. More important, he’s playing good football at the right time.
The schedule isn’t getting any easier with games scheduled against Minnesota, which is on a five-game winning streak, followed by Cleveland (6-3), which just lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to a season-ending shoulder injury; Houston (5-4); Chargers (4-5); and Detroit (7-2).
But if they can continue to play good defense and have Wilson make plays at winning time, then the Broncos just might win enough games to compete for a playoff spot.
“Well, we know what we can do,” Wilson said of the three-game streak. “We have to come back to work this week. We’re going against a team, the Vikings, at home, who’s been playing some really good football. We’re going to enjoy this win, though. We’re going to celebrate. We’re going to have some fun.
“This is a huge one. This is a good football team we just played. Obviously, in the past couple weeks, we’ve been playing some really good teams. To beat the Chiefs, to beat these guys, sets the standard of who we should be and who we can be and who we’re going to be.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is the NFL Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter. He’s the author of Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men.