The Denver Broncos beat the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, and while it was an ugly win, it actually is a good thing.
Sean Payton's Broncos have won their first Week 1 game, and it does snap a Week 1 winless steak, as Denver hadn't won the first game of the season since all the way back in the 2021 NFL campaign. Now that the first win comes two weeks earlier than the first win in 2024, the team can turn their attention to Week 2.
They travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts, but when you think about Denver's first game of the 2025 season, them being able to come out with a win is actually a great thing for this team.
The Broncos being able to win ugly and avoid the trap game shows how far they have come
This is my logic. Coming into the game, I had a sneaking feeling that this matchup was a clear 'trap game' for the Broncos. In prior seasons, the Broncos were the bad team in the trap game scenarios, but that's flipped now.
The Broncos field the best defense in the NFL and one of the 10-best rosters in the league. They welcomed a consensus bottom-5 team into their house, so naturally, the much better team struggled. However, with all the errors the Broncos made, them being able to pull away and close it out down the stretch was simply huge.
We've seen the Broncos blowout opponents, and we've seen them win close games as well under Sean Payton. Them showing that winning ugly is doable bodes well for their chances to continue doing that. And in today's NFL, the parity has never been stronger.
The Broncos would have a huge problem on their hands if they kept playing as sloppy as they did in Week 1, but these kinds of games are absolutely going to happen in the NFL. Shoot, the three-time defending AFC champions played a sloppy game and lost.
Denver is going to be fine - Sean Payton and this coaching staff will get things under control, but there is some optimism in this Week 1 win.