3 most difficult games on Broncos schedule in 2023

The 2023-24 NFL regular season schedule was released on Thursday night and the Denver Broncos now know when and where they will be playing all of their games in 2023. We have known the opponents for a while now, but the Broncos will have nine home games and eight away games this coming season.

Here's a look at the team's opponents:

Denver Broncos 2023 opponents

Home:

• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Chargers
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Green Bay Packers
• Minnesota Vikings
• New England Patriots
• New York Jets
• Cleveland Browns
• Washington Commanders

Away:

• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Chargers
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Buffalo Bills
• Miami Dolphins
• Houston Texans

Denver will look to have their first winning season since 2016, the season after the Super Bowl 50 win against the Carolina Panthers. With new head coach Sean Payton, expectations are high, at the minimum to win more games than last season.

Every team has its easy and difficult games on their respective schedules ... I'll be focusing this article on the toughest ones for the Broncos, so here they are ...

These are in no particular order! Every game is winnable, but there are always harder matchups ...

Kansas City Chiefs (week 6, week 8)

September 17th, 2015, at Arrowhead Stadium, the Bradley Roby scoop and score a walk-off touchdown in overtime game, yes that game...Well, it was the last win from the Broncos over the Chiefs. AFC West games are always difficult, but KC ones are the most difficult ones in my opinion, especially over the past few years with Patrick Mahomes being their quarterback. As always, there are two games against the Chiefs...Can the Broncos finally win at least one game against Mahomes, Reid & CO? Denver fell short in both games last season. The first one was where Jeudy had a TD Hat Trick, but Russell Wilson got injured (concussion), and the second one was their first game with interim head coach Jerry Rosburg. Both games finished with a one-possession score, the first one KC won by 6, and the second one by 3.

Buffalo Bills (week 10, Monday Night Football)

Buffalo has been a historically tough opponent for the Denver Broncos. All-time Buffalo leads the series 26-13-1, the last Broncos win against the Bills was in 2014. Josh Allen destroyed Denver in their last matchup, Buffalo won 48-19, and that game was played at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium. In the past few years, the Buffalo Bills have been a Super Bowl contender team in the AFC. They have fallen short, but still, they are a very strong team. 2020 was the last year where the Broncos faced the AFC East and Buffalo was their only loss. It will be the first 1v1 matchup between Bills' star wide receiver Stefon Diggs and Broncos' star cornerback Patrick Surtian II. Can't wait for this one! The game will be played in Highmark Stadium, Buffalo.

New York Jets (week 5)

The Denver Broncos will face once again the New York Jets, for the fourth consecutive year. Denver won two, New York won two from the past four matchups. Last year the Broncos fell short, but remember that it was with Brett Rypien starting at quarterback. The Jets team has become stronger and stronger with the years going forward, they have a top-tier young defense and a powerful offense that will now probably be scarier with the addition of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Russell Wilson has faced Aaron Rodgers three times during his career and has won two out of the three. This game will be played in Denver and will have a lot of storylines. Broncos' revenge game against former head coach Nathaniel Hackett? Denver was a top candidate to land Rodgers when they hired Hackett and he failed to bring him, instead, he was one of the main reasons why he wanted to play in New York...

Underrated, but will be difficult ... here's a bonus one:

Detroit Lions (week 15)

The Broncos will face the Lions at Ford Field this year, unfortunately not on Thanksgiving. The Lions have built a special team culture, and are serious contenders to win the NFC North. Jared Goff is not the best quarterback, but they have great weapons around him that facilitate his game. On the defensive side, they have a very underrated unit starting with Aidan Hutchinson. It is going to be a very fun game to watch (I hope).

Which game is the toughest one among the 2023 Broncos opponents?