The Denver Broncos head into Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs carrying plenty of noise with them, and Pat Surtain II clearly isn’t interested in letting any of it slide.
In a game-day column for The Players’ Tribune, the Pro Bowl cornerback delivered a blunt message to the skeptics who have spent the offseason and summer keeping Denver at arm’s length.
"Everyone on the outside … keep on doubting us all you want. But let me just tell you straight up: You’re making a big mistake if you’re trying to write off Denver," Surtain wrote.
That warning lands with extra force because the Broncos have done plenty to earn respect. They went 14-3 last season, knocked the Chiefs out of the AFC West, grabbed the No. 1 playoff seed and sent Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills home in the divisional round. Even so, the national conversation has still been slow to treat the 2026 Broncos like a true Super Bowl threat.
Denver’s resume from last season wasn’t built on soft treatment, either. The Broncos played both Super Bowl teams, swept the Chiefs and beat the Philadelphia Eagles on the road.
They also handled the Houston Texans and their defense away from home, took down the Green Bay Packers in Week 15 and swept the NFC East. One of the season’s most memorable moments came in Week 7, when Denver authored a comeback win over the New York Giants that will stick in the league’s record books.
Still, the doubters keep circling back to the Broncos’ 11-2 mark in one-score games as if it erases everything else. Surtain’s point is simple: that same kind of scrutiny wasn’t aimed at the Chiefs after they won 11 one-score games the year before, even with an ugly Super Bowl finish.
The broader picture is hard to ignore. Denver has won 24 games over the last two seasons.
The Broncos have reached the playoffs in each of Bo Nix’s first two years in the league. They’re bringing back all five starting offensive linemen and the entire defense except for one starter, and their quarterback is healthy again.
"Bo’s about to truly take off this season, and we’re all ready to follow his lead," Surtain wrote.
The Broncos also gave Nix more to work with by adding Jaylen Waddle and strengthening the backfield with the re-signing of J.K. Dobbins and the drafting of Jonah Coleman.
New offensive coordinator Davis Webb is also expecting a major step from Nix in Year 3, comparing it to Josh Allen’s leap in 2020 after the Bills traded for Stefon Diggs. Nix has looked sharp in camp and the preseason, and the energy around him has been described as “mountain lion” energy of a chained animal ready to be unleashed.
Surtain says he can feel that, too, and he knows the outside chatter hasn’t gone unnoticed.
"It’s funny, in some ways, I almost feel like this team … we’re kind of in the same situation we were in last year, where people are still thinking we somehow lucked into things, or that we weren’t as good as our record said we were.
"And that’s perfectly fine with us," Surtain wrote.
There’s also a broader league narrative hanging over Monday night. The NFL seems eager for Patrick Mahomes to bounce back this season, and plenty of people want to believe Kansas City’s downturn last year was just a blip. But the Chiefs had already put themselves out of playoff position before Mahomes got hurt.
That leaves Denver with a chance to make its own statement in front of the team many still want to crown again. Surtain’s column makes the mood unmistakable: the Broncos know what people are saying, and they’re ready to answer on the field.
In Other News...
Sean Payton May Unleash Denver's New Weapon At Perfect Time
Jaylen Waddle arrived in Denver in March in one of the biggest moves of the offseason, with the Broncos sending first- and third-round draft picks to Miami to land the explosive receiver. Now the real work has shifted from the transaction desk to the field, as Sean Payton and his staff have spent the summer figuring out how to fold a dynamic new target into an offense that will be asked to hit the ground running against the Chiefs in the regular-season opener.
Payton knows the timing could work in Denvers favor because both teams will be showing off several new faces, which creates the kind of unscouted wrinkles coaches love to mine in Week 1. For the Broncos, the challenge is making sure Waddles speed and versatility are ready to matter right away, even as the staff balances all the moving parts that come with introducing a major addition before a divisional showdown. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Just Caught A Huge Break Before Their Rams Matchup
The Broncos Week 3 trip to face the Rams just got a little less daunting. Los Angeles is now without defensive end Myles Garrett, who was recently acquired and is headed to injured reserve after knee surgery, meaning he will miss at least a month and be unavailable for the matchup with Denver.
Aaron Donald could also be limited for that game, which would leave the Rams front in a far different place than expected when the schedule came out. For Denver, it is the kind of early-season break that can matter in a crowded race, especially against a team whose defensive pressure was supposed to be a major part of the challenge. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Receivers Are Facing A Sean Payton Fix They Have To Prove
The Broncos spent last season dealing with a problem that showed up too often in critical moments: too many dropped passes, including in the playoffs. Sean Payton responded by making a change on the staff, replacing receivers coach Keary Colbert with Ronald Curry, and the new approach has centered on tighter fundamentals and more demanding, game-like catching drills designed to make practice feel a lot more like Sundays.
Payton and Curry have both stressed proper technique and a sharper level of work from the receiver room, a sign the issue is being treated as more than just an occasional mistake. The real test, though, will come when the games start to matter again and the Broncos have to show that the new coaching emphasis has actually changed the hands and habits that cost them a year ago. [Read more 🡒]