The 2023 NFL schedule was revealed for all 32 teams on Thursday. The Denver Broncos apparently were deemed worthy of receiving a fair number of primetime games during the upcoming season.
Denver will play four primetime games: two home games and two away games. Though the maximum amount of primetime games for a single team during the course of an NFL regular season is six, having four for a team who has been terrible since 2015 is nothing to be ashamed of.
To be quite honest, I’m pleased with this number. It would not have surprised me if the league gave us one-to-three games during primetime hours. We seem to be counted out more times than not. The Broncos, while losing a lot, have still been competitive in most games as of late. The NFL schedule makers probably have taken note of that.
So, let’s take a look at each of the team’s primetime games following the official release of the 2023 NFL schedule:
Week 6: Broncos at Chiefs, October 12 at 6:15 PM CT
Week 10: Broncos at Bills, November 13, 6:15 MT
Week 11: Vikings at Broncos, November 19, 6:20 PM MT
Week 16: Patriots at Broncos, December 24 at 6:15 PM MT
When thinking about the team’s record during these four games, I could absolutely see them splitting the games 2-2. The Chiefs and the Bills games feel like automatic losses, as much as I hate to say it. The Chiefs are always a tough opponent for virtually any team in the entire NFL. Although the Broncos have come close to defeating Kansas City, this is going to be an “I’ll believe it when I see it” type of situation. The Chiefs were the highest-scoring offense in all of football in 2022 with 496 points.
Could Russell Wilson show major improvement and be able to lead the Broncos to one win against the Chiefs? That would be amazing.
The Bills are a dominant force in the AFC East, going 13-3 during the 2022 season. Of course, unlike 30 other teams (excluding the Cincinnati Bengals), they only played in 16 regular season games due to the tragic situation regarding safety Damar Hamlin, who was hit in such a way that caused him to die on the field.
Buffalo has an extremely difficult offense to stop, quarterbacked by Josh Allen, who gets to throw the football to guys such as Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, and Dawson Knox, and hand the ball to James Cook. Buffalo scored the fourth-most points of the entire NFL last year at 455.
Like the Bills, the Minnesota Vikings have some powerful offensive weapons. While Kirk Cousins doesn’t live up to the quarterback hype like Mahomes and Allen, he’s still a solid quarterback and a lot of teams would be glad to have him. Add him to the mix with Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook, and you’ve got yourself a problem offense.
Lastly, the New England Patriots. The Patriots aren’t a scary team anymore with the departure of Tom Brady a few years ago. They’re an average team at best. Put it this way: Mac Jones was benched last season for Bailey Zappe, who was a rookie. That doesn’t scare anybody. Pair that with the departure of Josh McDaniels and you’ve really got an offense with hardly an identity. This is not normal for Bill Belichick. We’ll really get to see what he’s got planned.
Like I said above, I definitely can see this team going 2-2 during the four primetime games. I do admit that I would not be surprised if they went 1-3, but this is a new team so it’s pretty difficult to predict. My optimistic side likes to believe that Sean Payton can squeak out a surprising win here and there, so maybe we can see a 3-1 record in this stretch.
We’d love to hear your predictions, Broncos Country! GIve us your thoughts in the comments.