So let’s go be dangerous in Buffalo.
In a rare glimpse into the post-game locker room, head coach Sean Payton let his guys know that they are not going to just be happy to be there when they take on the second-seed Buffalo Bills next Sunday in the team’s first playoff berth since the Super Bowl 50 season.
Whew pic.twitter.com/ZallxSBtcN
— Michael (@RespectMyCos) January 6, 2025
“Young and hungry is dangerous,” Payton said. “Don’t you ever forget it.”
No one in Broncos Country will forget the season that helped us forget the last eight.
With a rookie at the most important position in football leading the third-youngest team in the NFL with one of the largest dead cap hits, Sean Payton has worked a near-miracle getting this young group into the playoffs.
Young and hungry is dangerous.
They don’t have a losing mentality and they don’t know that they can’t be good enough.
“Opening the season, nobody expected us to do this, but we didn’t really listen to that.”
– Bo Nix to @tracywolfson on how the @Broncos silenced the doubters en route to the playoffs pic.twitter.com/LIhwAsfJVr
— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) January 6, 2025
But as the head coach explained, it still takes a special group to buy into the process, have some resiliency when things aren’t perfect, and experience enough success to feed the energy to keep grinding.
“Most NFL seasons are filled with highs and lows,” Payton said. “Do you have the grit and the fortitude to weather the lows?”
The coach highlighted the team’s 0-2 start before a two-week road trip in which Bo Nix and the young team pulled out some wins few thought they could do.
“When you can have some success, then you can have some confidence. Then it becomes something that can repeat itself,” Payton said. “It’s hard to have confidence if you haven’t really demonstrated it yet, and so we began to see young players thrive in certain positions, some key veterans come in and fill in roles for us. So it was a number of different transactions that worked out. I’m proud of them.”
Zach Allen, who went to the playoffs with Cardinals in 2021, had one of his best individual seasons with 8.5 sacks. He’s looking forward to his second stint in the postseason.
“Obviously a lot of people were doubting us, but we knew what we had the minute we came here for OTAs,” he said, adding that it was clear the young group was mature. “We just don’t let anything on the outside come in. There were definitely points in the season, first Kansas City, last week, Chargers, it really could have ended a team’s season or cut the locker room. It made us closer and stronger. The fact that we’re in this position says a lot, and we’re excited about it.”
“It’s unbelievable. I’m very excited for the guys and just happy to be able to extend this season.”
1-on-1 with @marvindmims after his two-TD performance: pic.twitter.com/S0P60p4WQZ
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) January 6, 2025
Perhaps no one is more excited than Garett Bolles, the left tackle who took a ton of grief from fans his rookie year and has never experienced a winning season.
But he doesn’t regret those because they have made this one worth it.
“I am grateful for these last eight years. It’s just made me who I am today, made this organization who it is today,” said Bolles. “I’ve gone through so many different coaches and so many different things and so many different quarterbacks, but to be in this moment, take this franchise back to where it belongs, in the playoffs, and be one of the longest-tenured Broncos… It’s the sweetest moment that I can think of and I’m just extremely grateful.”
Justin Strnad agreed that this season’s accomplishment is even greater because of recent season’s struggles.
“It’s awesome, especially [the way we were] going into last offseason. A lot of people kept talking to me about going to Carolina or whatever it was, and [the decision to stay] was because I knew what was being built here with Coach Payton and what we had in the room. I know people didn’t believe in us going into the season, but we knew the type of team we had.”
Nix — who ended his regular season rookie campaign with the second-most touchdown passes by a rookie quarterback in NFL history with 29 (behind Justin Herbert’s 31 in 2020) and the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to record multiple games with at least 300 passing yards, four passing TDs and a passer rating of 140.0+ — is thrilled to keep competing another week, especially for veterans like Bolles and Courtland Sutton who have been resilient for far longer than anyone else on the team.
“That’s really what it comes down to. That’s all of it. Those guys have worked really hard. They deserve it, and they owned it this year. It means a lot,” Nix noted. “You hate to see the work you do each year (and) kind of be a little short, but this year was not. Those two have led us really well this year. They’re going to continue to lead us.”
Broncos can beat the Bills , they matchup real nice . Nobody wanted to see the Bengals
— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisJr) January 6, 2025
Nix is excited to duel it out against one of the best offenses in the league, but he’s not starstruck.
“It’s amazing, but at the same, as a competitor, I want to be urgent, and I want to grow and develop into where I can compete and I’m on the same level as those guys,” he said, noting that even though he’s not on the same level as the potential NFL MVP this year, he’s ready to try. “It’s fun. It’s playoff time. This is what you prepare for.”
Nix added that this is when it gets fun.
“As if it wasn’t fun already, this is when the great teams, they show up,” Nix added. “We’re really looking forward to it. [We’re] working hard to become one of those great teams.”
Pat Surtain would concur.
“We have to be the most physical team,” said the potential Defensive Player of the Year. “We need to understand that playing our brand of football wins us games. …If we just play our game individually and everybody do their 1/11th, I think we come out victorious.”
Young and hungry is dangerous.