The Denver Broncos are the AFC's No. 1 seed and will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. But they're not being given much credit in terms of being a true Super Bowl contender.
There are plenty of fans and critics out there who are predicting the Broncos to suffer an early playoff exit, and some of them are going on the record with it. Add Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report to that list.
Gagnon decided to come up with 10 bold statements now that the regular season is over, and he feels that the Broncos are overrated and will be eliminated by the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs. That would make the second year in a row that the Bills eliminated the Broncos.
Here was Gagnon's full summary:
"Why?
As mentioned, all of the AFC's top-end seeds are far from ready, but Denver stands out as a No. 1 seed that is ripe for the picking. Ten of its 14 wins came against losing teams, 12 came via comebacks, and 11 came by one score. Six teams had better scoring margins.
The Situation in a Nutshell
The defense is stellar, but quarterback Bo Nix suffered somewhat of a sophomore slump as the league's 28th-highest-rated passer. He threw a tied-for-league-high seven interceptions on deep passes and struggled down the stretch. And even that talented defense gave up 26-plus points three times in the last six weeks of the season.
Prediction
The Broncos lose to the Bills in the divisional playoffs, but they use that as motivation to keep building on a strong foundation in the 2026 offseason."
The Broncos were nearly unbeatable at home this season, where they will play all of their playoff games, and won 11 games in a row at one point. The fact that they won so many one-score games should be looked at as a positive, rather than a potential weakness.
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The Broncos are going to be faced with tough opponents, regardless of how things go in the Wild Card round. But it seems they are being overlooked and completely dismissed by many as a team that can come out of the AFC, which should give Sean Payton's bunch plenty of motivation.
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