Sean Payton isn’t treating the Broncos’ Week 9 trip to Carolina like some kind of alarm-clock ambush.
That’s notable, because Denver has not exactly built a sparkling résumé in early kickoffs, especially the ones that land on the East Coast. Since 2015, the last season the Broncos hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, they are 10-16 in those games. That stretch includes the 70-20 collapse against the Miami Dolphins in 2023 and the 41-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens during Bo Nix’s rookie year in 2024.
Go back farther, though, and the picture changes. Before 2015, Denver was 32-29 in early games, even if that run still came with a few ugly results mixed in.
Now comes another one: Sunday against the Panthers in Carolina, an 11 a.m. MT kickoff and the eighth such game since Payton arrived as head coach.
“It’s new because normally it’s been West, and so we’ll go out Friday night, get up on their time zone, get a workout, get a little practice in," Payton explained to reporters on Wednesday. "Then we’re kind of going here around Noon.
So whatever it is, your spark or your coffee or let’s go. So fair question.
We studied it and you talk to different people maybe that have been on the West Coast, and we spent time and then finally you have a win at Philly or there’s been a few of those and this year we’ve got... We were hoping to maybe get maybe a couple back-to-back out there, stay out there.
It didn’t work out that way, but we’re not going to Europe. We’re going to Charlotte.”
The Broncos have handled plenty of other time slots just fine this season. They’ve already played three primetime games, with the rest of the schedule mostly falling into the usual late-afternoon window. There’s only one more early kickoff left after this, a Week 14 road game against the New York Jets.
On paper, this one shouldn’t need much drama. Denver enters as the AFC West leader, riding a four-game winning streak. Carolina, meanwhile, sits in the middle of the NFC pack, recently changed defensive coordinators, and plays in what the source describes as the NFL’s worst division.
Still, the “trap game” label hangs around matchups like this one. That kind of talk usually starts before the opening whistle, not after it. If Denver handles business, Payton’s record in these early starts would move to 5-3, and the Broncos would go to 7-2.
Payton said Wednesday that the bigger lesson is less about the clock and more about the kind of team you build.
“Generally, you have better teams and good teams can... You can’t be a yo-yo team and expect to win double digit win.
You do the math," Payton said Wednesday. "So I think what you’re asking is the key to building a good football team and that would go all the way back to bringing in the right people, all those things, the right coaching staff and the right culture.
Historically speaking, and I’m just going through my experience of having teams that it’s hard to win two, lose--it’s hard to do that and then turn around and look at the record maybe that you are wanting. Each one of the games is a different type of game.
It’s like that old boxing analogy. There are certain fights for certain styles and I think that applies a little bit in our game in the NFL.”
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