After a convincing 28-14 win over the Carolina Panthers, Head Coach Sean Payton was not so complimentary. Quarterback Bo Nix had the best outing of his rookie season, advancing the Broncos to a 5-3 record at the halfway point of the season. But with the win, the Broncos only did what they were expected to do - crush an inferior opponent.

Of the Broncos’ five wins, none have come against a team above .500, and only one team has more than two wins, the Tampa Bay Bucs, at 4-4. Now, the second-place Broncos will see what they’re made of. The next three opponents are against first-place teams, with their next matchup coming against the Baltimore Ravens, also 5-.3. They slipped to second place after a last-second loss to the 2-6 Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

“I said to them, ‘We’re going to play in bigger games than this. But in bigger games than this, some of those [mistakes] are going to cost us,’” Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton said. “So we have to take care of that…. I wish we would’ve finished better. I said this, it’s not a good offense we played. It’s just the truth. So we expected that, and we’re going to see a lot better teams.”

The Panthers had bookend touchdowns in the game in Denver, both coming on wide receiver fumbles, one on the game’s opening possession and the second in the closing seconds. First, Lil’ Jordan Humphries fumbled at midfield to start the game. The Panthers converted that to an early touchdown, 7-0. Then, after 28 straight points by the Broncos, Courtland Sutton fumbled at the two-yard line with just over two minutes left in the game. The Panthers would march 98 yards for the closing touchdown.  

“We didn’t finish how we wanted to, but we can correct that just [with] a little bit more attention to detail at the end of the games,” said cornerback Pat Surtain II. “But I think we came out firing on all cylinders, and it’s a great team win.” Surtain caught his third interception of the season in his return from a concussion 10 days ago. Sutton would still finish his best game since 2022 with eight receptions for 100 yards in the win.

Nik Bonitto registered his sixth straight game with a sack to surpass Von Miller’s record. The streak is the third longest in franchise history and the longest current active streak in the NFL. Bonitto leads the team with his six sacks, followed by Jonathon Cooper with 5.5 sacks for the season, including one against the Panthers.

“I do not feel like we put our best out there [today],” Cooper said after the game. “I still feel like we have not played our best football yet. We have to make sure we go back and clean up some things to get right on point, because we have two big games ahead of us. We have to make sure we are ready for them.”

With November next up on the schedule, the Broncos will play three of their next four games on the road with the Baltimore Ravens, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs. The only home game in November will be on the 17th against the first-place Atlanta Falcons. The Raiders will close out the Broncos month in Las Vegas on the 24th. Game time on Sunday against the Ravens is 11:00 am.

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