The Denver Broncos had a tall task in front of them in the Divisional Round, and the back-and-forth affair ended up going into overtime. Fortunately, the Broncos had the home field advantage, as if this game was in Buffalo, the ending could have been a much different story.
After losing a double-digit lead thanks to some poor defense and lack of execution on offense, it felt like this game was slipping away. Once again, though, a late drive by Bo Nix gave the Denver Broncos some life. The Bills tied the game as regulation ticked down, but in overtime, the Broncos were poised and made the right plays when they were needed to be made.
Heck, the Bills began to implode on the field after a series of penalties put the ball deep in Buffalo territory. After the game, Sean Payton gave a short but important quote that just put the rest of the NFL on notice.
It's clear that this Sean Payton-coached team is ready for the bright lights
Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos were clearly not ready in the 2024 NFL Season, and that was obvious, but this year, the circumstances were a lot different, and the Broncos showed the entire NFL world why they were ready:
Sean Payton: "We weren't ready last year. But we were ready today"
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) January 18, 2026
All week, the national media constantly talked about if Bo Nix and the Broncos would be able to hang with the Josh Allen-led Bills, and Allen honestly got a lot of the discussion. It was relatively unfair to here how the media was approaching this game, but the QBs were the low-hanging fruit.
There are way more players contributing in the game than just the quarterbacks, and the Broncos proved that today. The team was simply better late in the game when the stakes were the highest, and we even saw the Bills get very undisciplined as the overtime clock ticked down./
The Denver Broncos were more than ready for this one - the better team, with the better coaching staff, and the better roster won this game, and you can't argue that.