10 JANUARY 9-15, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Bucking the Bills IF THE BRONCOS WANT TO MAKE A PLAYOFF RUN, HERE’S WHAT THEY’LL HAVE TO DO IN BUFFALO. BY MIC HAEL ROBERT S For the fi rst time since a little game known as Super Bowl 50 in 2016, the Denver Bron- cos are in the playoffs. But their path back to the promised land is paved with pitfalls, led by the Buffalo Bills. Quarterbacked by Josh Allen, a University of Wyoming alum and top MVP contender, the Bills boast a 13-4 record with a lauded offense. And while Buffalo’s defense isn’t quite as formidable, it’s good enough that former Bronco and future Hall of Famer Von Miller is practically an afterthought. Given that Buffalo will be playing at home and the game is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, January 12 (the sort of early start that spells trouble for western teams that must head east), most oddsmakers barely give the Broncos a hope in hell, with early betting lines favoring Buffalo by 8.5 points. Nonetheless, scads of Denver fans intoxi- cated by a 38-0 destruction of the Kansas City Chiefs on January 5 are convinced that the Broncos can and will buffalo the Bills. Sure, KC’s crew in that game largely consisted of backups, but Denver faithful bo-lieve in rookie QB Bo Nix, and point out that the Broncos beat the Bills in western New York last season despite a series of special teams mishaps. So...do Nix, head coach Sean Payton and the rest of the Broncos have a chance at victory? Yes, if they manage to do these fi ve things: Don’t let Josh Allen run wild At six feet, fi ve inches tall and around 240 pounds, Al- len’s as dangerous using his feet as he is throwing. He’s capable of launching rockets with defensive linemen hang- ing on him like a set of drapes. Moreover, he can gain big yards on both designed runs and broken plays — and when there’s an opening in the lat- ter scenario, Allen tends to resemble the Incredible Hulk. Fortunately, the Broncos have an impressive defensive front anchored by Zach Allen (no relation to Josh) and Nik Bonitto, who fi nished the regu- lar season with thirteen and a half sacks. They don’t need to sack Allen to be effective, but they must keep him in the pocket and bother him into errant tosses that might end up in the arms of Patrick Surtain and the Denver secondary. If they fail, things could get ugly fast. Don’t let Bo Nix be wild Nix has clearly matured since his fi rst couple of games, when he was an intercep- tion machine who seemingly couldn’t throw the ball with accuracy more than three yards down the fi eld. But he can still be an excitable boy when he’s under pressure or time is at a premium. That can lead to unwise decisions, and it won’t fl y in Buffalo. An effective running attack would help Nix immensely, but Denver’s success on the ground this season has been sporadic at best. If Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime can’t at least average about four yards a carry, Nix needs to get the ball out of his hands quickly, but not exclusively into the backfi eld. He’s proven to be capable of working the middle, and a few quick strikes should slow the Buffalo rush enough to give him some breathing room. And when there’s no oxygen to be found, he must continue to throw the ball away rather than trying to transform a bad situation into a miracle. There are worse things than punt- ing, like pick-sixes... Don’t let the crowd go wild Being a Buffalo Bills fan isn’t easy. The team has never won a Super Bowl, but it once lost four in a row. Then there’s the weather, which frequently lives up to its terrible reputation. But surviving the wintry onslaught is a badge of honor for Buffalo residents, many of whom happily volunteer to shovel out the Bills’ sta- dium when blizzards strike before games. The presence of such lunatics gives Buf- falo an advantage reminiscent of ancient Rome’s Circus Maximus. If the Broncos want to emerge from western New York with a win, they need to avoid whipping up crowd members as much as possible — because no matter how cold it might be, the attendees’ tempers can get hot mighty fast. Give up fi eld goals, not touchdowns You don’t need to be an expert in analyt- ics to understand that three points are less than six, seven or eight. Even if Denver’s D is stout, Allen and company are too good to stay stuck in the mud throughout the contest. But the Broncos need to keep Buf- falo between the twenties and act as if the red zone is hot lava — because if Allen and running back James Cook get there, Denver will get burned. Cook has sixteen rushing touchdowns this season, while Allen has twelve of his own in 2024-2025 to go along with 28 through the air. The shutout against the Chiefs’ bench- sitters won’t happen again, but Denver will have a much better shot at staying in the game if Bills kicker Tyler Bass does most of the scoring for his squad. Sean Payton needs to keep his ego in check — and remember how to tell time The Broncos wouldn’t have had to defeat Kansas City in week eighteen if they’d tri- umphed over either the Los Angeles Char- gers or the Cincinnati Bengals during the previous two weeks — and the team played well enough to win those matchups. But Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh thoroughly outcoached Payton en route to a victory, and Payton’s decision to eschew a two-point- conversion try that could have prevented an overtime loss to the Bengals turned loads of Denver boosters orange with rage. Payton’s an infi nitely better coach than his predecessor, Nathaniel Hackett, but his clock management has been inconsistent, and his play-calling can vacillate between overly conservative and too cute. He needs to keep his admiration of his own genius on the down-low, particularly in dramatic situ- ations, and do the simple things needed to win. Then he can love himself all he wants. And we’ll love him, too — for at least another week. Email the author at [email protected]. NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS John Clauson from Iowa City, Iowa, attended the January 5 Broncos game dressed as ’80s WWF star Ultimate Warrior. EVAN SEMÓN Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix will try to upset the Buffalo Bills on January 12. MIKE CARLSON/GETT Y IMAGES
